"Gandalf, the poor hobbit does not want to be bothered." I said as Gandalf and I walked with the other dwarves up to Master Baggin's hole.
He ignored what I said and Dori rang the bell.
"There is nobody home!" I heard from inside, "Go away, and bother somebody else! There's far too many dwarves in my dining room as it is. If...if this is some blunt head's idea of a joke, I can only say, it is in very poor taste!" He said before opening the door and the dwarves in front of me fell inside the doorway.
Gandalf bent down to look at Bilbo.
"Gandalf." He sighed in relief
We got inside and all of the dwarves were making food and Gandalf started helping setting up the long table. Bilbo was complaining the whole time. Gandalf stood by the chandelier and started counting everyone off.
"Kili, Fili, Balin, Dwalin, Oin, Gloin, Nori, Ori, Dori, Bombur, Bofur, Bifur, Azaelia, ... we appear to be one dwarf short." Gandalf said, counting us off.
"He is late, is all." Dwalin said, "Traveled north to a meeting of our kin. He will come."
"Mr. Gandalf, here is your little glass of red wine." Dori said, handing Gandalf, literally, a little glass of red wine.
"Cheers," Gandalf said before drinking the glass.
A while later the food was ready and all of the dwarves ate in the dining room, cheering and eating.
"Come eat with us, lass!" Fili said from the table.
"No thank you. Too crowded." I replied before I took a few tomatoes and sat in the other room, eating them.
I watched the hilarious look on Bilbo's face as he saw the dwarves eating all of his food. The dwarves were quiet for a moment, only drinking their ale. After they ate they cleaned the dishwashers, and again Bilbo was running around, making sure they don't ruin anything. I smiled as I watched Kili and Fili throw there plates to Bifur who caught them without even looking.
"Please don't do that, you'll blunt them." Bilbo said to the four dwarves sitting at the table, banging their silverware and feet.
"Did ya hear that?" Bofur asked the other men, "He said we'll blunt them."
Blunt the knives and bend the forks
Smash the bottles and burn the corks
Chip the glasses and crack the plates
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!
Cut the cloth and tread the fat
Leave the bones on the bedroom mat
Pour the milk on the pantry floor
Splash the wine on every door!
Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl
Pound them up with a thumping pole
And when you've finished, if any are whole
Send them down the hall to roll!
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!
We laughed and watched Bilbo's face as he saw all the dishes clean. We were then silenced by a knock on the door.
"He is here." Gandalf said, taking the pipe out of his mouth.
We all waited in the doorway of the next room, looking at the door. Gandalf opened it and there was another dwarf, not unlike the others he looked meaner. Then again so did Dwalin before I got to know him a bit.
"Gandalf." The man said walking into the hobbit hole, "I thought you said this place was easy to find. I lost my way, twice. I would not have found it at all if it were not for the mark on the door." He said, taking off his cloak.
"Mark? There is no mark on that door. It was painted a week ago." Bilbo said, walking over to Gandalf.
"There is a mark, I made it myself." Gandalf replied. "Bilbo Baggins let me introduce you to the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield."
"So," Thorin said, crossing his arms, "This is our hobbit. Tell me Mr. Baggins have you done much fighting?"
"Hardly." Bilbo answered.
"Axe, sword, what's your weapon of choice?" Thorin asked, circling Bilbo.
"Well, I have some skill at conkers if you must know. But I fail to see why that is relevant." Bilbo voice dropped as he continued with the sentence, seeming somewhat embarrassed.
"Thought as much. He looks more like a grocer than a burglar." Thorin said and everyone chuckled before going into the dining room.
Thorin ate while the other dwarves asked him questions. I stood next to Bilbo in the doorway behind Gandalf and we both listened in on the conversation.
"What news from the meeting of Ered Luin?" Balin asked.
"They will not come." Thorin simply answered before taking another bite of his food. "They said that this quest is ours and ours alone."
"You are going on a quest?" Bilbo asked from beside me.
Thorin looked at him before looking to me.
"And who are you?" He asked me.
"Azaelia." I answered.
"And why are you here?" Thorin questioned.
Gandalf stood up before speaking for me, "She is coming along with the company."
Thorin stared at me for another few moments before hesitantly nodding and he continued eating. I was confused, I thought someone like him was going to put up a fuss about a woman going on a quest.
"Bilbo, let us have a little more light." Gandalf said.
Bilbo nodded before walking off and bringing back a candle.
"Far to the east, over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single, solitary peak." Gandalf said, taking out a piece of parchment and unfolding it and placing it on the table in front of Thorin.
"The Lonely Mountain." Bilbo read from behind Gandalf with a candle.
"Aye, Oin has read the portance and the portance say it is time..." Gloin said.
"Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as foretold." Oin continued.
I watched as Bilbo walked to his pantry and when the beast was mentioned, he walked into the hallway.
"What beast?" He asked.
"Well, that would be a reference to Smaug the Terrible." Bofur answered, taking his pipe out of his mouth. "Chiefest and greatest calamity of our age. Airborne fire breather, teeth like razors, claws like meat hooks, and extremely fond of precious metals."
"Yeah, I know what a dragon is." Bilbo said as Ori stood up, scraping his chair on the ground.
"I am not afraid!" He exclaimed, "I am up for it! I will give him a taste of dwarvish iron right up his jacksy!" I smiled at the young dwarf's outburst.
All the other dwarves were cheering before Dori pulled Ori down into his seat, "Sit down!"
"The task would be difficult enough with an army behind us. But we are just fourteen, not fourteen of the best nor brightest," Balin said and more mumbles of protest once again over the other dwarves as being called weak and stupid.
"We may be few in numbers, but we are fighters! All of us to the last dwarf! And lady." Fili said, adding the last part while looking at me.
"And you forget we have a wizard in our company. Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time!" Kili said before we all looked at the wizard.
"Well, now, I-I" He started.
"How many then?" Dori asked.
"What?" Gandalf questioned.
"How many dragons have you killed?" He repeated and for some unknown reason all the dwarves except for Thorin stood up and started yelling.
I caught Bilbo's eyes and he looked at me, wondering why they were yelling. I shrugged my shoulders before I saw Thorin stand up.
"Enough!" He yelled and everyone shut up and sat down, "If we have read these signs, do you not think others would have read them, too? Rumours have begun to spread. The dragon, Smaug, has not been seen for sixty years. Eyes look east of the mountain, assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lies on protecting, and we sit back, while others claim what is rightfully ours. Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor?!"
The other dwarves started cheering before Thorin sat down.
"You forget that the front gate is sealed." Balin said, "There is now way into the mountain."
"That my dear Balin is not entirely true." Gandalf replied, taking out a key.
"Who gave you this?" Thorin asked, looking at the key with awe.
"It was given to me by your father." Gandalf answered. "For safe keeping. It is yours now." He said, handing it to Thorin.
"If there is a key, then there must be a door." Fili said.
"These ruins speak of a hidden passage to the lower halls." Gandalf said, looking at the map.
"There is another way in." Kili smiled.
"If we can find it. Both doors are invisible." Gandalf replied before sighing, "The answer lies somewhere in this map. And I do not have the skill to find it. But there are others in Middle Earth who can. The task I have in my mind would have a great deal of stealth, and no small amount of courage." He said looking a Bilbo, "That is if we are careful, and clever. I believe it can be done."
"That is why we need a burglar." Ori said.
"And a good one, too. An expert I imagine." Bilbo commented.
"And are you?" Bofur asked.
Bilbo looked behind him before answering, "Am I what?"
"He said he is an expert." Oin joked and a few of the dwarves chuckled.
"Me? No, no, no, no. I am not a burglar. I have never stolen a thing in my life." Bilbo replied.
"I think I am going to have to agree with Mr. Baggins. He is hardly burglar material." Balin said.
"The wild is no place for gentle folk who can not fight." Dwalin agreed.
Everyone started discussing with each other, making wild hand gestures and throwing small bits of food.
"That is enough, I say." Gandalf said, standing up. "Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet. In fact, they can be unseen by most if they choose. And while the dragon is custom to the smell of dwarf, the scent of hobbit is all but unknown to him, which gives us a distinct advantage." He said before turning to Thorin, You asked me to find two other members for the company, and I have chosen Mr. Baggins and Azaelia. You must trust me on this."
"Very well. We'll do it your way." Thorin replied after a moment of silence and turned to Balin, "Give them the contract."
"It's just the usual about pocket expenses, time required, funeral arrangements, so forth." Balin said, holding out the contracts to us.
"Funeral arrangements?" Bilbo questioned, looking at me.
I didn't really care about the contract, so I signed it right away and gave it back to Balin while Bilbo actually read the long piece of parchment. We all stared at him as he kept reading.
"Incineration?" Bilbo asked.
"Melt the skin off your bones in the blink of your eye." Bofur said.
"Huh."
"You alright, laddie?" Balin asked as Bilbo put his hand on his knees and started breathing heavily.
"Yeah, I just feel a bit faint." He replied.
"Think furnace, with wings." Bofur said, standing up and leaning on the doorway.
"I-I-I need air." Bilbo said.
"Flash of light, searing pain, then puff!" Bofur gestured wildly with his pipe, "You are nothing more than a pile of ash."
Bilbo stood, he looked like he was thinking for a moment, shuffling his feet.
"Nope." He said before fainting.
"Very helpful, Bofur."
After a few minutes we got him to wake up and he sat in a chair next to the fireplace.
"Are you okay, Master Baggins?" I asked handing him a cup of tea.
"I will be alright. Just let me sit quietly for a moment." Bilbo replied.
"You have been sitting quietly for far too long." Gandalf said, waving me off to the other room with a few of the other dwarves inside. I leaned quietly against the wall, watching Gandalf and Bilbo speak to each other.
"He is not coming, is he?" I asked Gandalf after Bilbo left the room.
"He has disagreed to come." Gandalf replied.
"I think he will change his mind." I smiled.
"And why is that, Azaelia?" Gandalf asked.
"No one would give up the chance to go on an adventure like this." I answered.
A few minutes later I found myself sitting in the corner, watching all of the dwarves who had gathered around the fire.
Far over the Misty Mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns cold
We must away, ere break of day
To find our long forgotten gold.
The other dwarves joined in, familiar to the song.
The pines were roaring on the height
The winds were moaning in the night
The fire was red, it flaming spread
The trees like torches blazed with light.
I found my eyes becoming heavy during the song and I fell asleep as it ended.