Title: Boats and Blisters
Fandom: The Lord of the Rings
Author: Endaewen
Disclaimer: All characters and settings belong to the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Summary: Shirebound inspired nonsense, really. The aftermath of one of the days of paddling. From a shirebunny.
Rating: G

“They’re blisters, Frodo,” Merry said. He inspected his cousin's hands carefully. “If you’d spent more time in Rivendell practicing with your sword, and less time reading about Elvish history, you would have had all this over and done by now.”

“It was not Elvish history most of the time,” Frodo replied, still staring at his hands in the red light of the fire. “Most of the time it was maps and descriptions of the lands we're likely to pass through.” He winced as he tried to close one of his hands. Most of the palm of each hand was swollen, whitish and tender. It was particularly bad at the base of each finger. There, the blisters had long since broken. “Anyway, I know what blisters are. I've just never seen them this bad before.”

All of the hobbits though, were affected by the strain of paddling the boats. Some more than others though, and Frodo was the worst off by far. Not only was he affected by the blisters, but also, his arms and shoulders were rapidly stiffening up. However, both Merry and Pippin weren't much better in that sense. All three of them knew that the next morning was going to be a trial, at least until they had gotten warmed up again. Sam was spared the ordeal as he never spent time on the paddles.

That night, Frodo found himself dreaming of a steaming hot bath. He wondered about his two cousins, and their dreams, as they had to be equally sore.

The next morning, he found his hands to be still badly blistered, but not quite as sore, though it still hurt to close them, or to lift anything too heavy. At any rate, they had decided that they didn't need to paddle that day, and spent it drifting down the river again. A decision which was appreciated by all the hobbits, especially the three stiff ones.