The Only Truth

'Bilbo, here!' Bofur's voice was hushed, as if he had disturbed some poor soul's tomb.

Bilbo crept forward, lifting his lantern higher to let its light pour into the chamber he'd revealed. It was then, with a flash of grief, that he realised a body of a sort had found its rest here. The once graceful arch of a harp lay, its pillar broken and its soundboard cracked. Many of the strings had snapped or come loose from their pegs. It was a sad sight, but something in him rebelled, determined to find whatever small life might linger in the instrument's shattered frame.

'There must be something we can do.'

----While Thorin rebuilds his kingdom, Bilbo saves a fragment of the past from the ashes of Smaug's ruination.