A/N: Welcome readers and welcome back to those who read Rhenio mì Ennor, my previous fanfic based on Tolkien's work! I welcome you to a new part of my Lord of the Rings addiction, and this, although it was meant as a sequel to Rhenio..., can be read without having read the "first" part before. I will quickly presen to you what has happened in the previous instalment so you can immediately jump into this part. And to those who had read it in its time, then, it will serve as a quick reminder.
I do really hope you will like it. As I did before, I will jump back and forth into both the books and the movies' worlds, but I will try to remain as canon as possible. Although, of course, my OCs will be presented.
So, enjoy the ride, I do really hope you'll like it!
Last thing last: due to the amount of work such a story demands (I can't tell you how many hours I spend on ONE chapter), I will update only twice a month, maybe once more when I feel like it. I already have ten chapters at the ready, but you never know how life's gonna treat you, do you?
Disclaimer: Any recognizable piece of dialogue or character is the property of J.R.R. Tolkien and his heirs and/or of Sir Peter Jackson. I only own my two main OCs Baraz and Fìli, son of Kìli and some secundary characters.
Playlist for this chapter: Axe or sword? - Misty Mountains cold (Dwarves version) in the An unexpected journey OST.
Previously, in Rhenio mì Ennor...
Ariana, an ordinary human from our world, finds a Hobbit door in her bedroom one morning. Going through it, she stumbles upon Bilbo Baggins on the eve of his meeting with Gandalf the Grey and the thirteen dwarves. She joins the party.
Bilbo, too scared to leave on an adventure, refuses to help Thorin and his kin. Ariana, who calls herself Ari, is a huge LOTR fan and agrees to take the part in Bilbo's stead. Thorin is reluctant at first, but accepts.
As she is thrown into the story she knows so well, Ari can't help but altering things as she goes: Bifur dies in the Misty Mountains, killed by the goblins; she gives Bilbo's surname to Gollum in the game of riddles so the story doesn't change sixty years later; she befriends Bard the Bowman and helps him recover his Black Arrow before they leave for the Lonely Mountain; while her unconscious body is carried through Erebor after Smaug left for Laketown, Bofur finds the Arkenstone and gives it to her; she takes it to negotiate with Thranduil the Elvenking and retrieves Gandalf and his cousin Radagast who have joined to fight; in the Battle of Five Armies, Fíli dies saving her, Thorin dies of his wounds, but Kíli survives.
Kíli is offered Erebor's crown, but he refuses it and bows down to his uncle's cousin, Daïn Ironfoot. He moves back to the Blue Mountains and to his mother Dís.
Ari befriends several dwarves during her journey: Bofur, with whom she eventually falls in love; Fíli and Kíli; and Oin.
As a fan, she carries with her several tokens of Tolkien's world: a copy of Nenya, Galadriel's Ring, that she wears as a locket; and a Leaf of Loríen brooch.
Ari and Bofur leave Middle-Earth through the door in Bilbo's gardens and get married in our world, eventually going back to Middle-Earth three years later as Ari is carrying their first-born.
Prologue: Friendly warning
2987 T.A.
The Hobbit hole was quiet as the sun set on Hobbiton. The only sound was the cracking of the fire in the hearth as the figure of an old lady sat in a chair, her eyes caressing the red cover of an old book, her eyes glossy with tears unshed.
The figure of a younger woman then entered the room. She was looking in her twenties, long, flowing red hair reaching past her waist as she absent-mindedly passed a comb through it. Her bright blue eyes settled on the other woman, and she went to sit opposite her.
"Mother? What is that?"
The old woman's eyes lifted and met the younger one's gaze with a fierce sadness in her stare.
Ariana was 74 years-old, but felt much much older when she was gazing at her daughter Baraz, who looked ever young despite her 43 years of life.
Baraz shared the blood of both human and dwarf, and it gave her the lasting life of her father's kin. She had never looked upon her mother as an elderly, but Ariana couldn't help but feel old when she looked at her daughter. And even more so at her husband, Bofur, who, in his glorious 187th year of age, still looked like a forty-year-old human.
She glanced at the book's cover once more. It was blood red, with the golden form of an eye engraved on it. Around the eye, scripting could be made, although it was not written in a language known to many. It was written in Quenya, and it told of the blackest magic of all.
She sighed and put the book aside. "It's an old relic."
Baraz – it meant "red" in Khuzdûl and referred to her hair – leaned in and tried to read the title. "'The Lord of the Rings'. It sounds like something Uncle Bilbo would write..." she chuckled.
Ariana smiled softly at her daughter's joke. Yes, indeed, it sounded like something Bilbo Baggins would write. Although, technically, his nephew Frodo would write it. Much later...
Ariana's family had settled in Hobbiton when she and her husband Bofur came back to Middle-Earth. Although her husband took several trips to the Blue Mountains or Erebor to visit his relatives and friends, he had always been content to live among the quiet and peaceful people that were the Hobbits. And despite their at first refusal as they voiced their wish to build their own home in their precious Shire, most Hobbits were by then used to the peculiar family living on a lonely hill near Bag-End.
Ariana's fingers traced the markings on the cover again, and a sigh escaped her lips. Then, very slowly, she brought the book to the fireplace, and dropped it into the flames.
Baraz gasped and looked at her mother, blue eyes widening in utter surprise. "What-why did you do that?"
Ariana smiled sadly. "My darling...it is time I tell you a story..."
Baraz sat back in her chair and listened as her mother told her of her past, a past she knew from beginning to end. She gasped when her mother explained that some things should not have happened but that her presence had altered the timeline in a way that could never be ever mended. And that the book she had just put to death was proof that some things had yet to pass. And could not be altered.
Baraz put her comb to the side, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Some things have yet to pass? Some things concerning us, Mother?"
Ariana nodded, her eyes going to the remnants of the book still burning. "Concerning everyone in Middle-Earth, darling..." She then gazed back at her daughter, a wicked grin appearing on her lips, one of such neither Baraz nor her father ever saw anymore. "And I know you will want to be part of it..."
There was a silence, and then Ariana sat straighter, moaning a little as a pain in her back made itself known, and her stare was more serious, more solemn, than what it had been prior to that moment.
"Baraz, my darling, my little flower..." she smiled softly, but with a definite hint of sadness behind it too, "time will soon come when I am not part of this world anymore." Baraz opened her mouth as if to speak, but her mother raised a finger to silence her. "It is alright. I have lived a full and adventurous life, I have loved, I have lived, and I regret nothing. But I soon will not be there to counsel either you or your father..." She gazed into the fire again, but her gaze was far off, as if picturing another place, another time, maybe... "In a few years time, Uncle Bilbo will leave the Shire. And I want you and your father to leave with him."
"What?" Baraz stood and went to kneel before her mother, her hands encompassing one of Ariana's. "How do you know such things?"
"I know because it is fate. And fate is never to be trifled with." She placed her second hand on top of Baraz'. "Listen to me very carefully, my darling. When Uncle Bilbo decides to leave Hobbiton and to go visit Erebor one last time, go with him. Protect him. Go and visit your Uncle Kíli. For me."
Baraz stared at her mother, fear making its way in her so-juvenile eyes. "What is going to happen, Mother?"
"I can't tell you. But promise me. Promise me, my darling. Promise me that you will follow Bilbo."
Baraz nodded. "I promise."
Ariana closed her eyes, a sigh of relief leaving her tired body, and she leaned down to kiss her daughter's forehead. They remained this way for a long moment, before one last demand left the human's lips. "And when the time comes...don't follow Frodo..."
Baraz didn't ask her why she could not follow a boy who was merely 19 at the time. It seemed too important...
And so it was.