[This time, Dick's sigh is voiced. He reaches up, rubbing his hand across his face then back through his hair. When he opens his eyes, he looks...thoughtful. But perhaps accepting.]

No. No, they have a point, as much as I hate to say it. Think about the stories that we've all been brought up on. The hero of the piece stumbling into what needs to be done.

The Chosen One doesn't get asked. There's always a prophecy or some item that comes to their possession that needs to be dealt with.

"I wish it need not have happened in my time." Remember that? [He might not have gone with that particular quote had they not been in Rivendell, had they not been surrounded by that very story.] And remember the answer? "So do I. And so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what we do with the time that is given us."

[Tim is going to give him so much crap for knowing those quotes off the top of his head. Though, at least, this quote was a bit better known and not as much of a deep cut as what was said when Frodo woke up.]

Even the ones that would have wanted to couldn't ask because, by narrative rules, we can't be asked. We can only be thrown into the deep end and see if we can swim.