Imagine being a fire mage and being part of the Fellowship.
Gandalf was a wizard and very skilled in magic, even if he was just a gray. Legolas and Aragorn both knew a little magic themselves, enough to get by. But none of them knew the ancient magic like you did. You had focused on one area of study since you had learned how to walk, being taught by your father. Fire. You controlled it. You manifested it. You even ate it on occasion. You could control it. And that made you extremely useful to the Fellowship. Even if you could not melt the ring the way that everyone wished that you could.
There was no struggling to light a fire on the cool nights as you got closer to the mountains. You were on top of it. And you could smother it out without smoke if any of Saruman’s spies took the skies. You’d light your hands for a while, then put them out and hold onto the little hobbits to make them warm. They all ‘warmed up' to you so to speak quickly, even Boromir who seemed to have a slight disconnect to everyone.
And then came the Mines of Moria.
You swung your fire around, hitting any and every orc that came anywhere near you. You had your back to Aragorn’s, watching his while he watched yours. An overflow of orcs started to come in your direction, straight for you. You were growing exhausted but you had to push through, to be able to do this one thing to save your life, and those of your fellowship.
You took a deep breath, lit up your palm - and shoved it into your mouth, feeling it burning on your tongue. The acrid taste of charcoal. And you swallowed it down, let it warm you in your belly. The hoard came in closer. “What are you doing?” Aragorn hissed. You felt eyes on you.
“Trust me,” You commanded of him. Of all of them that were watching. You felt it rise, the fire inside of you, coming closer, closer, closer to the surface. And you opened your mouth. It didn’t feel pleasant in the slightest. It felt like burping while having severe heartburn. But it worked. Out spewed the fire, right into the faces of those that were running towards you. It wasn’t pretty. The helmets would melt, fusing onto their faces. Burning through their flesh into their brains, bringing them down quickly.
Your fire had helped against the orcs but it was nothing compared to Belrog. You lost Gandalf as you escaped the mines, the feeling heavy in the air from the grief. You had somehow become the main distraction. “How did you do that?” Sam asked, trying not to cry, coming up to your side. “That - fire eating thing?”
“Years of practice, Samwise Gamgee. I wouldn’t recommend it.”
“Does it taste good?” Pippin asked. Merry gave him a slap on the arm. “What? I’m curious!”
“Quite ashy. Like if you actually ate what was left after a bonfire. But still hot. Very, very hot.”
The ‘adults’ as you tended to call them, yourself included, didn’t have any questions, but you could still see curiosity in their eyes. The halflings kept asking you questions and you were glad to give them answers, if only to keep them from feeling the grief too intensely.
Requested by: Anonymous