Note: This chapter contains a few direct quotations from The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Chapter Three: The Ring Goes South. For the sake of flow, they have not been specially distinguished.

Chapter Four: Questions and Quarters

The council was over. Legolas was talking to Glorfindel in one corner, and everyone else was heading out the door. Frodo turned to Sam.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He was fairly positive that he would not be able to persuade Sam otherwise, but he wanted to give him a chance to back out.

"Of course I do, Mr. Frodo," said Sam, surprise in his voice. "You can't be going all the way to Mordor by yourself. What if something was to happen to you? No, you need someone to look after you a bit, and it should be me."

"Sam," said Frodo, desperation in his voice, "this is going to be a difficult and dangerous journey. I don't think any of us, save Gandalf, Elrond, and perhaps Strider, truly understand the perils that may befall those who choose to undertake it."

"All the more reason you'll be needing me," said Sam. "Besides, I couldn't live with myself if something was to happen to you, so far away from home and with strange folk. You won't be changing my mind on this, Mr. Frodo, try as you might. I'm going with you."

"All right," sighed Frodo, "but I hope you won't regret it."

"Regret it!" cried Sam, indignant. "Mr. Frodo, don't you know your Sam better than that?!"

Your Sam. They were words that Frodo had heard for ages, but suddenly they sounded different to his ears. From behind him, he heard a voice say his name, and he turned around. It was Strider.

"I would like to commend your bravery, Frodo," he said gravely. "It is a decision that many would not make if they were, like yourself, given the choice."

Frodo nodded and smiled a small smile, not sure of what to say to such praise. It felt undeserved. As he had said, he did not fully understand the danger that he had chosen to follow. "Thank you, Strider," he said, the words feeling strange and awkward in his mouth.

"I believe that Meriadoc and Peregrin are waiting to hear your report of the council," said the Ranger. "When last I heard, they had been caught spying at the keyhole."

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"Sam's to go with you!" Merry exclaimed later when the hobbits met in Bilbo's chamber. "Well, if he's to be your companion, so are we! If they think we're just going to go home while you go off to Mordor, they've got another thing coming."

"It's most unfair," said Pippin. "Instead of throwing him out, and clapping him in chains, Elrond goes and rewards him for his cheek!" Sam blushed, and Merry shot Pippin a reproachful look.

Rage surged inside Frodo – not so much at Pippin, but at his youthful ignorance. "Rewards!" he said, and his voice was harsh. "I can't imagine a more severe punishment. You are not thinking what you are saying: condemned to go on this hopeless journey, a reward? Yesterday I dreamed that my task was done, and I could rest here, a long while, perhaps for good."

The dream had come to him in the fresh hours of the morning, just before he had awakened. The more Frodo saw of Rivendell, the more he thought that he might like to live there, especially because he would be with Bilbo again. The only problem in the plan was Sam. Frodo knew that he would stay there with him immediately if asked, but it didn't seem fair to ask Sam to live so far away from his family.

"I don't wonder," said Merry, "and I wish you could. But we are envying Sam, not you. If you have to go, then it will be a punishment for any of us to be left behind, even in Rivendell. We have come a long way with you, and been through some stiff times. We want to go on."

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"Here is the key to my room," said Frodo to Sam after the meeting of the hobbits has dispersed. "My dreams…they haven't always been pleasant lately." That was a severe understatement, but Frodo was reluctant to burden Sam further with more of his problems. "If I should shout, come in and wake me up."

"I'll do better than that," said Sam. "I've been thinking that it might be a help to you if I was to move my bed into your room. Then I could be there right away if you were to have nightmares, if you follow me."

"I do," said Frodo, trying to ignore the leap that his heart gave. "I'll speak to Elrond about it."