#meddling wizard

[quiterespectablyyours]

Gandalf will be accompanying us to Dale, where he’ll take back the devices once more. When we told him we were headed back to the Shire for a bit, he chuckled and said for us to take care of the treasures we hid away in Bag End. I told him he was being ridiculous, as the spoils of the troll hoard had long been used to get my old furniture back after they got accidentally sold at auction. He tapped at his nose in that infuriatingly Wizard way of his and said, “All that is gold does not glitter.”

The older I get, the less Gandalf makes sense. His firework show tonight, however, was spectacular.

[quiterespectablyyours]

Gandalf and I have gone for a smoke, for old time’s sake, out on the parapets over the front gate. He asked me how I was faring. I said I had been so caught up in preparations for this day that I hadn’t had time for a proper panic, and was getting that all out now.

Smoke ring total: 9 perfect rings, 2 clumsy attempts at creating something other than rings.

Gandalf gave me the rest of the Old Toby he picked up in the Shire, which he claimed was a wedding present. I told him if he really wanted to make it a wedding present, he ought to have sent me a cartload. 

[quiterespectablyyours]

no one unannounced knocking at your door this evening to interrupt your dinner, master baggins?

Only Gandalf took part in unannounced knocking this morning, though he's disappeared in the time since. 

In previous years on this anniversary, we've usually taken dinner with the rest of the Company. With the current precautions, however, we're keeping dinners between myself, Thorin, and our immediate family. Dwarves have natural immunity to this illness and I am inoculated, but it never hurts to be careful, especially for the sake of others!

[quiterespectablyyours]

On our way back from the ramparts, we ran into Gandalf, who had apparently spent his day in Dale checking in on the inoculations. I was concerned about him potentially exposing himself to the pox at his age, and he laughed and said that Wizards didn’t get sick, either. 

He told me how heartened he is that I have been able to spend more than a year in Erebor without serious incident, since the last time had ended so poorly for my health. I told him what I had told Thorin — I had purpose here now, and an even stronger support group than before, and of course it doesn’t hurt that now the lands surrounding the Mountain are green and flourishing again.

Gandalf hummed at that, as if he thought I was hiding something from him, before saying that he will be collecting our devices again in the morning, as he will be going on his way then.

When we asked him if he would let us update you when we finally get married in Erebor, he only tapped his nose and said some cryptic thing about how he only let us have the devices this time because it felt “oddly necessary”. So I hope all of you are in good health. Giver keep you safe and well, and please get inoculated!

[quiterespectablyyours]

Welcome back, everyone! I suppose you haven’t missed us dreadfully in the year since we gave our devices back to Gandalf, but guess who came by to let us have them for the day? (It’s Gandalf.) 

So much has passed in the time since and we’ve been keeping journal records of our day to day dealings but I won’t bore you with any of that. The point is, today is the anniversary of the unexpected party, and we have some long-expected guests who should be here in time for lunch! If you don’t hear from me, it’ll be because I’m spending the morning cooped up in the kitchen with barely time to breathe from all the cooking I’ve got planned.

[quiterespectablyyours]

Gandalf will be coming by in the morn to collect these devices, and so once more we must part. This record of Thorin and my life together is but a small one in the large tapestry of stories being woven each day, and I hope it has brought you solace to hear we are as well as ever.

I bid you all a fond farewell, and good luck on your journeys wherever they may take you.

[quiterespectablyyours]

After parting ways with Gandalf, I ran into Lady Morwen of Lossarnach. She took one look at me and knew, somehow, that I was worrying about the crowds. 

She told me about her own wedding to Thengel, son of Fengel King, and how all of the Captains of the Riddermark came upon the White City to witness it. They called her Steelsheen then, for she was to them as fair and sharp as a keen silver blade. She had not understood at the time why they would liken her to a sword, as it seemed unlike her. She had learnt, later, that it was a token of respect for their future queen. 

I have grown to understand the respect wielded by sword and steel, but also the respect yielded through good, green earth. Lady Morwen is younger than me, with eyes of steel but a face soft like flower petals, and she has survived a royal wedding with her dignity intact. It would be a poor showing for the Shire if I were to get cold feet now, wouldn’t it?

[quiterespectablyyours]

Gandalf came by for tea today, partly to ask after us and partly to collect the devices on which we have been recording our adventures from us. I had not known he had been responsible for such a thing in the first place, and when I asked him why he had us do this he just laughed his enigmatic laugh and said it had all been very entertaining for him. 

I fear that by the end of tonight, our story will draw to a close for now. Thorin and I are embarking on a new chapter of our lives together. I imagine married life for me will be an adventure all on its own, and we don’t even have to leave Bag End to do it. 

I would like to say that it is truly the readers of this account that have made it what it is, and I thank all of you faceless grey shapes for contributing your voices to the story, even during the parts in which I’d wished you would all sod off. I can’t wait to get my privacy back, but at the same time I will miss seeing endless amounts of well-wishes from people who truly want to see me happy. 

A story never ends; this is merely turning the page to a new chapter, and though I will no longer have the means to record it, I can already imagine the ending:

And he lived happily ever after until the end of his days.

Thank you.