Rivendell's night was exceedingly tranquil, and the food was so pure that no one could find the slightest flaw in it... or any trace of meat.
Baggins and An Yang were not the sort of carnivores who could not live without meat. They had eaten delicacies every day over the past few days, so the vegetarian fare in Rivendell instead struck them as light and delicious. After all, this was no longer the harsh forced march they had endured last time.
Though the diet of Rivendell's Elves was somewhat monotonous, even An Yang could find nothing wrong with it. A cabbage leaf was like emerald, while the stalk was like white jade—truly a rare sight.
Even in the Silver Moon Empire, the ingredients specially supplied to the military and civil ministers of Silver Moon Castle did not reach this standard.
After dinner, Baggins lay on the bed, but tossed and turned for a long time without falling asleep.
The room was separated from the night by only one window. Whenever he turned over, he could see the bright moon hanging high above the mountain cliffs, its light passing through the window and leaving square patches of radiance on the floor. There were no howls of beasts outside, nor the clamor of traffic from that unknown world Baggins knew nothing about. At most, there was birdsong and ethereal music drifting from somewhere unknown, so faint it was almost inaudible. Even when heard, it only made the silence feel deeper.
Yet for some reason, he simply could not sleep.
"The bed must be too hard." Baggins lay alone on the bed and said this aloud, his eyes fixed brightly on the floor.
At times, the figures of Thorin, Balin, and the others flashed through his mind. At others, he saw the stone