The Last of the Guardians Part 1 - A Hobbit Fan Fiction

Chapter 5

The next day, the travellers entered another forest growing around the base of a huge mountain. The forest was bright and full of life and the sun cast a dappled light on the path.

Towards midday, Bifur, who had been all but silent throughout their journey, slid off his pony to collect a branch from the forest floor. He deftly cut it down into a solid block and remounted with the wood in his hand. Bifur spent the rest of the day carving with one of his small knives.

At one point, because he was so focused on his work, Bifur allowed his pony to wander away from the group. They stopped when they realised their companion was missing and Nemaiza and Bofur went back to look for him. They found the absent-minded dwarf still carving the wood and sitting astride his pony, which was grazing in a lush meadow. He looked up as they approached and gave them a dazed smile. Bofur smiled back at his cousin, sadness in his eyes, and took the reigns of the other pony.

The three made their way back in the direction of the group, Bifur carving all the way. The wood had taken on a new form but it was still too rough for Nemaiza to work out what it was.

"What do you think he's making?" She asked Bofur. The dwarf peered at the lump of wood his cousin was so fixated with.

"I'm not sure yet, though I know it is some kind of toy."

"Toy?" She took another look at Bifur's work. It now had what looked like a head and at least one arm. "Perhaps he is making a model dwarf. He's very good, I had no idea that he could carve."

Bofur smiled sadly. "We both used to be toy makers," He told Nemaiza, "after we were driven from our home by Smaug, that is. I enjoyed my work but to say the same for Bifur would be an extreme understatement. He could make the most beautiful and most imaginative toys in the whole of Middle Earth. You could never tell what he was making until the very last moment when he would knock all the excess wood off to reveal a masterpiece. People came from far and wide to watch him make the toys and to buy them." Bofur paused in his story to look over at his cousin. Although he was there physically, Bifur's mind seemed to be far away, lost in his own little world. "But then we had a run in with trouble," his voice was deadly quiet and Nemaiza knew that thinking about this area of his past made him very angry. Bofur turned in his saddle to face her. "See that axe in his forehead?" she nodded. The axe head was buried in Bifur's brow, horribly disfiguring the top part of his face. "Orc attack. The blade went straight through his skull...miracle he's still alive."

"That's awful, Bofur," sighed Nemaiza. She wanted to say something, anything that would make the pain in Bofur's heart go away but she couldn't think. She was too horrified by the idea of Bifur having his head cracked open by a beastly orc.

"It was," Bofur agreed, "still is."

They had caught up with the other dwarves by now and as they rode on, Fili guided his horse so that he was between Nemaiza and Bofur, preventing them from continuing their conversation. He didn't like the idea that she was getting friendly with his dwarven brothers. In his eyes, she was a menace and a danger to the group. Nemaiza held back a sigh. She was begining to tire of the dwarf's behaviour towards her. In an attempt to escape his gaze for just a few moments she nudged her horse into a trot and moved ahead to ride beside Gandalf who engaged her in an interesting conversation about her past, something which the old wizard seemed to have been a major part of.

It was not only Nemaiza that Fili had annoyed. Bofur had found that talking to her had been a nice change from the constant babble of his dwarven brothers. Not that he did not enjoy their company, it was just that Nemaiza offered a different perspective on things. Bofur vowed to himself then that, regardless of what Fili or any other dwarf with them thought of her, he would make an effort to make Nemaiza feel welcome. Thanks to the order they were riding in, Bofur did not get a chance to continue their interrupted conversation until they had stopped for the night, whereupon he made a point of sitting down beside her while they ate. She smiled at him as he lowered himself to the ground and Bofur took this as an invitation to start talking again.

"He escaped with his life," he began, knowing that Fili would not be able to interrupt him again as the other dwarf was with Ori and tending to the ponies, "but the orc left more than just an axe blade in my cousin's head. The damage to his brain affected the way his mind works. He understands no language besides Khuzdul and he's practically inarticulate," Bofur paused and looked into Nemaiza's eyes. She was listening intently and the dwarf could see how much she seemed to care for his cousin despite the fact that she had only met him a couple of days ago, "and do you know what the worst part is?" she shook her head. "He rarely makes any toys now, and when he does they are merely grotesque, twisted lumps of wood and of no use to any child."  

"Bofur, I-" Nemaiza stopped. What comfort would her words be? She took Bofur's hand and gave it a light squeeze. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. Bofur looked down at their hands.  

"Don't be," Bofur whispered back, "it's a shame Bifur has had to go through this but I guess it's just one of those things. You just have to get on with it. Bombur and I look after him."  

Bombur, who had been listening to them talking, brought over three bowls of the broth he had been making and passed one to Nemaiza and one to Bofur. Bombur then sat down with them and he and Bofur recounted to Nemaiza fond memories they had of Bifur before the attack. They found her to be an excellent listener. She laughed in all the right places and asked the best questions when they were required. Nemaiza found that most of the stories were of Bifur and Bofur playin tricks involving food on Bombur, who was considerably larger than his cousin and brother.  

The night moved on and they found their eyes would no longer stay open, but Bofur wanted to say one more thing to Nemaiza before he fell asleep. He rolled over to face her and her tired eyes fluttered open. "Thank you...for listening. It means a lot to me, Nema." 

"It's my pleasure," she smiled and whispered back.