1.
Thorin Oakenshield had taken first watch on this particular cold and dark night. He eyed the members of his company, who were nestled close together in order to stay warm. He could tell that most of them were fast asleep already. However, one of them got up and walked over towards his leader. It was Balin.
'Bombur appears to be snoring even louder than usual,' he smiled and sat down next to Thorin.
Thorin snorted but didn't say anything and stared ahead, closely watching the other figure that was not yet sleeping. Balin followed his gaze and found himself looking at Bilbo Baggins.
The Hobbit was feeding his pony an apple, like he did every evening ever since they had left the Shire. He had changed over the past few weeks. He seemed less afraid and less concerned. In fact, he had begun to feel at home with the dwarves and made sure they all remained cheerful throughout the day.
'Look at him, Balin,' Thorin muttered.
Balin sighed. 'You should not have brought him with us. He should have stayed in Rivendell when he had the chance.'
But to his surprise, Thorin shook his head. 'I don't know,' he whispered, 'Have you not noticed, how much our company has changed?'
His loyal friend frowned. 'What do you mean?'
'The days are growing darker, we meet more enemies every day and something is telling me it won't be long before we found ourselves in a real battle. And I think they, too, are aware of what lies ahead. And I believe they're beginning to lose hope that we'll ever return to Erebor.'
Balin did not reply, causing a long silence to fall. He held the bridge of his long nose for a while and looked away from the hobbit, to face Thorin again. 'You can't deny that there's a great chance we will fail,' he muttered, slightly worried about how Thorin would take it.
He didn't take it well. 'Not you too?' he said, raising his voice, 'One by one it appears you are losing faith in me. Losing hope that we'll ever see the Lonely Mountain!'
Balin shrugged. 'We're not losing faith in you, Thorin,' he said in an apologetic manner, 'We're losing faith in ourselves.'
Thorin shook his head. 'Then you are wrong. You should have faith. Just like him.' He gestured towards the ponies, where the Hobbit was still talking to the animals.
Balin coughed, not believing Thorin was serious. 'I don't care if all the twelve of you have already given up hope. But not me, nor Gandalf,' and then added with a small smile, 'and nor our burglar.'
'He is foolish.'
'He saved our lives multiple times.'
'He is merely a hobbit, Thorin!'
'I think you're wrong,' the dwarf-prince said earnestly, 'I think Gandalf is right and that there is more to him than meets the eye. But we'll see, in the end.'
As soon as he had spoken the last words , wished he hadn't. For they forced him to think of what was ahead of them. What the end of their journey would bring… He would never admit it to any of his companions, but he was as worried as any of them.
'Yes,' Balin agreed, 'I suppose we will. But Thorin, let's be serious here. You don't truly believe that this hobbit can reclaim the mountain for us? Pass by Smaug unseen?'
'I do,' Thorin said. 'But I do not believe there is need to look that far ahead yet. Especially not for him.'
'Sometimes, I think you care too much about that hobbit,' Balin smiled at his future king.
'Yes,' came the reply in Thorin's low voice, 'Maybe I do.'
Balin didn't keep Thorin company much longer after that and returned to the group, where he dropped himself to the floor and soon fell asleep.
Thorin in the meanwhile, went over Balin's words. There was a chance they would fail. There was a chance they would not even reach Erebor at all, let alone take it back with so few.
But then he remembered Gandalf, and how much faith the wizard had in him, in the hobbit and in all the others. As for the hobbit, he was an interesting one and Thorin had started to care for him more than he had thought possible. Like Balin had said, he was merely a hobbit and the dwarf leader had not expected to ever even like a Halfling.
'What did Balin talk to you about?'
Thorin looked up in surprise. He hadn't heard Bilbo walk up to him. Perhaps he was burglar material after all, he smiled to himself.
'Sorry, I did not mean to startle you,' the hobbit said a bit hesitant.
Thorin immediately recovered. 'You did not startle me, obviously. Although I have to say, you did seem to turn up out of the blue.'
Bilbo grinned, then shrugged. 'Well, I don't know. Perhaps you were just not paying attention.' And as he said this, he quickly slipped a ring back into his pocket, hoping that Thorin hadn't noticed.
He had not. He beckoned Bilbo closer, and gestured for him to sit down. So the hobbit did.
'Well?' he asked curiously, 'what did Balin say to you?'
Thorin smiled at him. 'Nothing important. He just wanted to know what tomorrow plan is,' he lied.
'Well, then, what is the plan?'
'We're just going to follow the road again. And then, just like today, when the sun goes down, we rest.'
Bilbo nodded. He had expected something of the sort. It was like a never ending road they had to follow forever. And as he thought of that, a song came to mind. And before he could stop himself he sang in a quiet voice;
'Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea.
He stopped, suddenly aware of Thorin sitting next to him, staring at him fondly. 'You have a nice voice,' he said calmly. 'How does it end?'
'Wh- no. Oh no, no, no,' Bilbo stammered. 'I- I don't remember.'
Although he was used to singing in front of an audience back in the Shire. He didn't dare sing a song to Thorin, afraid the dwarf would burst out laughing. He simply didn't want Thorin to think badly of him.
Thorin raised an eyebrow. 'You don't remember? I thought hobbits had some sort of gift for remembering old song lyrics no matter what. And it seemed as if you were about to continue singing…'
Bilbo was about to shake his head again and tell his friend no, but changed his mind when he looked at his face. Thorin's eyes seemed to sparkle and he looked at Bilbo with a certain curiosity that made Bilbo give in. So, he took a deep breath and licked his lips and continued;
'Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.
He stopped. 'That's it. So far. There will be a next verse, for when we go home.'
Thorin had to make sure. 'You do believe we will be home soon?'
'You certainly will be,' Bilbo laughed. 'We'll see the Lonely Mountain soon enough, I'm sure of it!'
'I am so glad to hear that, Bilbo,' the dwarf prince replied with a small smile on his face.
Thorin's words surprised the hobbit. 'How do you mean?' he asked, 'Surely you know we'll get there, right?'
He shrugged, then frowned and finally turned to his friend. 'Listen,' he said, unconsciously putting a hand on the hobbit's leg, 'As long as you have faith in this quest, it will come to a good end. Trust me.'
Bilbo frowned. 'I know that, Thorin,' he said confused, 'You don't have to tell me. We can't forget , that we've got a wizard in our midst and some very brave dwarves. Not to mention; we've got you as our leader.'
'I do believe you are leaving someone very important out…' Thorin whispered.
Bilbo genuinely didn't know who he could possibly be referring to, so ignorantly asked him; 'Who?'
'This particular burglar,' Thorin grinned.
Bilbo's face lit up at once and he felt himself getting fairly shy. 'M-me? Oh no, surely you can't be serious. I am…' he hesitated, 'no one, really.'
Thorin looked at him with penetrating eyes, 'I am serious. And you are someone to me.'
And with that being said, he pressed a small kiss on the hobbit's forehead and pulled him a little closer. 'Now sleep, little burglar, there are some long days ahead of us.'
