Brandine Brightbuckle and Ferdum Frûnrer, a hobbit and a dwarf in love!

In the autumn gilt edges of the Fourth Age, when the East Road ran smooth with trade and the worst goblins had long been smoked from their holes, a curious pair traveled the high passes beyond Dale: Brandine Brightbuckle, of the Tookish line (though she’d deny it with a scowl and a tankard), and Ferdum Frûnrer, son of Brodun, a dwarf with shoulders like brick walls and a beard like a river of ash.

They met, as such tales often begin, by accident, defending the same wandering bard from a pack of frost wolves, and promptly argued over the pelts. Ever since, they'd quarreled and kissed in equal measure, sharing firelight and fair journeys.

But the world was changing, and not always in ways the erudite professors of Gondor could chart. The stars spun differently and time frayed like old banners.

Brandine and Ferdum were an unconventional couple, but everyone who drank and sang with them could agree that they were as fine a match as any in the annals of middle earth.