I See Fire (The Hobbit/Reader)

Chapter 1 - A Blessing In Disguise

It began...

Well, it began as you might expect.

In a house in (country), there lived a girl.

Right now she is preparing a meal for her parents when they return - her apartment is being decorated so she's living with her mum and dad. Her mind is on nothing in particular, the usual thoughts such as her job and relationships. Man, she hates it. Always on the nights you plan on actually doing something does more work turn up. Not that she ever does...anything, really. Partying with friends isn't her thing, and neither is staying out until the early hours of the morning. She could spend her time at home, quite happily doing whatever she wished on her own terms, at her own pace.

To distract herself from the annoying thoughts of work, she focuses on the bubbling soup on the stove and the smell of the homemade loaf cooking in the bread-maker. The colors of the vegetables and feel of the towel on her hands as folded it over the rail on the kitchen cabinet. She'd noticed the details of things ever since she was small. There wasn't much else to do - life wasn't as exciting for her as others made it out to be. In this quiet house (aside from the rain tapping on the roof and the fire crackling), in this quiet country, this quiet world, nothing unexpected ever happens.

Almost.

A text tone and vibration makes her jump, reverberating through the surface of the dining table. She grabs the phone quickly and takes it back to the spot where she was watching over the food. The screen lights up and she reads the message.

Mum:

"Y/N I'm sorry, we got caught up with something. We'll be back Friday evening instead."

Three more nights? A groan leaves her lips as she roughly taps the screen: "Yeah. That's fine."

"Now what the hell do I do with all this food?" She debates for a minute, turns down the gas on the stove and is about to get a container to put the soup in, when there's a clatter outside the back door, on the paving. She goes to the door straight away, even though going outside at this time is something her parents would have discouraged. But it's not like there's anyone to tell her what to do right now.

Opening the door, she sees nothing unusual. The stone slabs are nearly black even in the day, darkened more so now with the rain soaked into it and the little light coming from the dull streetlamps over the fence not making it easy to see. She walks down the gravel path and reaches the patio, before her foot hits something. Y/N reaches down slowly and her fingers brush the surface of something shiny. It feel smooth, but as she picks it up and runs her hands over it, she feels small dips and lines across the surface. When she reaches the light of the house, she sees the object in full.

It's a bow.

There's a crack across the wood at the top, likely from where it hit the surface of the stone, but otherwise it is in good condition, beautifully engraved with swirling shapes, and the layer of metal over the handle wrapping around the wood perfectly. The base is dark and textured, the ends capped in silver, reminding Y/N of a great spruce door, part of a medieval castle of some type. The string is thin but appears to be made up of lots of little strings, all expertly attached to the decorated wood at either end so she can't see where it has been tied.

After marveling at the craftsmanship of this weapon for a minute, she is hit with the realization she isn't asking the most important question.

Where the heck had this come from?

She glances through the window outside and squints, but sees nothing more in the dark of the night. Sighing, she puts the bow on the dining table and slices a piece off the newly baked loaf before going to sit on the sofa. There's a book on the cushion next to her, and Y/N smiles. That was a welcome surprise - The Hobbit was something she had been meaning to read for ages but had never really got round to. A wonderful book full of magic and fantasy, similar to the sort of land where a bow like that would be used.

Time passes as she eats and reads, although she doesn't notice just how much until she looks down at her phone. She had been so engrossed in the story of the dwarves, the hobbit, and the wizard that the notion of sleep had completely escaped, as had the thought of the weapon on the table. The book is closed on chapter 3, "A Short Rest", as Y/N retreats to bed, and there it will remain for a rather long time...