The Light that Wakes [Bagginshield]

The Book of Light and Shadow

It was early in the morning and Bilbo sat at his desk in the Library of Erebor, browsing through a book. It had been the last item he had placed on his desk the evening before for closer inspection the following morning. He did that sometimes. If he happened to see an interesting spine on one of the shelves that were still untouched by either him or Ori, he plucked it out immediately so he could look at it later. This one was particularly interesting. He had found that many of the Dwarven books had embellished covers, with runes written in what clearly looked like calligraphy – the sharper-edged kind that was characteristic to Dwarves, but still calligraphy, elegant and artful – and gems mounted into their covers and spines. These were important books, of course, records of history, architecture, the craft of mining and forging beautiful things, books that held the knowledge of the Dwarves of Erebor. He had already held many of them in his hands since he had joined Ori in his noble effort of restoring the library, and each of them had weighed heavily with the awareness that he was doing something significant.

The book that he gazed at now had the same markings of importance – golden runes and gems glowed gently on its cover under the light of the waking sun that came through the opening in the ceiling. It was a way for Dwarves to bring natural light into their reading space, to spare their eyes as much as possible from the burden of reading under candle light. Bilbo was in fact surprised at how much natural light found its way into Erebor during the day, and even during nights with a clear sky and a bright moon. Dwarves had proven to be much fonder of light than he had expected.

This book seemed even more embellished than the others he had seen so far, although he hadn't thought that was possible. It wasn't that it had more gold or more gemstones. It was more that it seemed like more care had gone into making it. The writing was less sharp, the gems smaller but more numerous and displayed in more graceful patters. If he hadn't known better, he would have suspected that an Elf had worked on it rather than a Dwarf. It certainly was beautiful and that was enough even if he had no clue what the runes said and what the book was about. He had to wait for Ori to join him in order to find that out.

And he did not have to wait for long. There was Ori now, making his way into the room, still looking a little sluggish from sleep. Bilbo greeted him with a smile.

"Good morning, Bilbo," said Ori, rubbing his right eye with the back of his hand. "You're here early. Have you been up for long?"

"I have been here for a while, yes," said Bilbo.

"I don't know how you do it," said Ori, proceeding to cover his yawning mouth. "I'm usually very slow to start my days in winter."

"I'm sure no one could blame you," replied Bilbo, his smile widening.

"In fact," continued Ori, "I have noticed you have been beating me to it as a rule lately. I thought Hobbits were fond of sleep."

"Oh, we certainly are."

"Are you having trouble sleeping then?"

"It seems so... I don't know what it is," said Bilbo, letting his gaze fall back to the book on his desk.

He did know what it was, however, although he did not speak of it to himself even. He did not have to speak of it. He knew in his heart what it was.

"What have you got there?" asked Ori, coming closer.

"Oh, it's a book I found yesterday. Quite a pretty thing, in fact. One of those important books, I should think. I was meaning to ask you to translate," said Bilbo, half a smile returning to his face. He offered the book to Ori.

"Certainly."

Ori took the book and studied it a bit. He sighed eventually and gave Bilbo a strange look from under his bushy eyebrows. Bilbo didn't remember ever seeing Ori doing that.