Ch. 1
On the fifth day of spring following the reclaiming of the Lonely Mountain, much awaited news arrived in the Shire about one Bilba Baggins. The news itself was quite sensational and caused a stir among her relatives. Not only was their dear cousin still alive, but she had found her mate among one of the dwarves; the king to be exact, and was expecting her first faunt.
"Prim!" A honey blond yanked the covers off pf an identical hobbit lass, "Why are you not up yet!?"
"Peri…" a whine issued from the bed as Primrose Took sat up and gave her sister an unimpressed look, "It's hardly even sunrise, why are you even awake yet?"
"Come on Prim, you promised that you would go visit grandfather with me today so that we could read Bilba's letter for ourselves instead of hearing about it second hand from Aunt Rosa. I for one want to know if it's true about a Raven of all things delivering the letter. And the Dwarves! I heard from cousin Marigold that Bilba married their king! A king Prim! Oh we just have to go right now and find the truth of it all!"
"Peridot, we haven't even had first breakfast yet, do you really expect grandfather to be up yet? Now hand me the blue ribbons so I can fix that mop you call hair and we will start fixing breakfast for everyone."
…..
Primrose and Peridot Took, the youngest daughters of the Thains youngest son; they had three older brothers and one older sister, all married good and proper mind you, and were dear cousin to one Bilba Baggins. A dear cousin they were quite put out with after she ran off on an adventure without so much as a farewell. Now, according to her letter, she would not be returning to the Shire at all. This would simply not do the girls decided.
After dropping in on their grandfather for second breakfast and confusing him with dozens of questions asked one on top of the other they were finally allowed to read the letter for themselves. A raven really had delivered the letter to the Shire, and Bilba had gone on a most exhilarating adventure with a group of dwarves and Gandalf of all people. She had met her match in one of the dwarves who really was the king of the dwarves, and she really was expecting her first child. This, however, was not what the girls considered to be the best part of the letter; apparently a caravan of dwarves would be passing through on their way to the mountain to collect a few things that Bilba requested from her home. This is where the girls saw an opportunity, one way or another the girls were determined to join that caravan.
….
In the week leading up to the caravan's arrival, the twins kept making offhand comments to their grandfather about how different childbirth must be between the two peoples. How this was poor sweet Bilba's first ever child and how nervous she must be. How she would feel much better if she had some of her hobbit family with her, family that was experienced in childbirth as trained midwives. After only three days the Thain said that if the dwarves agreed then they could take the menaces away and keep them so long as he could finally enjoy a meal in silence.
In smug satisfaction the girls retreated to their rooms in the great smiel and go through their things. What did one bring along on an adventure?
…
When the day finally arrived, only a small group of dwarrow with a few wagons could be seen making their way down Bagshot Row, the rest of the caravan had stayed in Bree to wait. The twins stood waiting in the front garden with Bilba's cousin Drogo and his intended Primula Brandybuck. Drogo was going to be moving into Bagend at Bilba's request now that she would not be returning.
…..
When Dwalin had agreed to escort the caravan with Dis and Bilba's personal belongings, he had been prepared for almost anything; Orcs, goblins, maybe even another Troll. What he was not ready for was an identical pair of grinning blond haired, green eyed lasses to come bounding out of Bagend's front gate as he pulled his pony to a stop. Bilba had said that some of her cousins would be meeting them, but she had failed to mention who. He can still remember the conversation the company had had about family on the trip to Erebor. They had all been shocked to learn that Bilba's mother had been one of eleven children, with most hobbit families having five or six children. He was sure Balin had almost fainted when she began to speak about multiple births and how common they were among hobbits. Apparently she had not been spinning fairy fluff like he first thought.
The one calling herself Peridot was taking the ponies and carts around the back with another hobbit called Drogo while the one that introduced herself as Primrose welcomed them inside with another lass named Primula and kept chattering about tea and biscuits and how lunch would be ready in about an hour if they wanted to rest themselves. Dwalin opted to have a lie down, twins hobbits, much more addling than wargs.
….
Lunch with the four hobbits had been an interesting affair, the twins peppered them with questions and filled in the near silence of the other two hobbits with an almost constant stream of information. Dwalin learned that they were some of Bilba's Took cousins, Drogo was a Baggins cousin, and Primula was his betrothed and a Brandybuck, also a distant cousin of some kind.
Despite their young age both twins were apparently learned midwives and to his growing horror would be accompanying the caravan to Erebor to be with Bilba when her time came.
Dis loved them. The traitor.
"We are so glad to have you on the journey Lady Dis," one of the twins spoke up, he still couldn't tell them apart, "I hope you don't mind if my sister and I grill you for information on the particulars of dwarven pregnancies," Each race carries so differently," the other cut in, "men carry for nine months while elves for twelve for example." "How long to dwarven pregnancies tend to last?""
This conversation had swiftly devolved into territory Dwalin did not want to be present for. Dis shot Dwalin a grin as if sensing his discomfort before answering. "A dwarf will typically carry for five seasons, so fifteen months."
The Brandybuck lass began to choke on her tea while the other three hobbits turned pale.
"Fif…fifteen months!?" Peridot exclaimed, "Oh sweet green lady!"
Dis began to look worried, "How long to hobbits tend to carry?"
"Two seasons!"
Dis gasped. "So short?"
"This might be much more complicated than we anticipated. If you will excuse us we need to write a letter to Bilba and begin preparing to depart as soon as possible."
Dwalin and Dis watched as the girls began having a strange silent conversation with head tilts and eyebrow raises as they moved to one side of the room containing books on herbs, no longer paying their guests any mind.
"Don't mind them," Drogo spoke up, "Even among other hobbit multiples and their own Tookish cousins the girls have always been an oddity. Fairy blood they say."
"Nonsense." The other lass broke in, "the girls are no more fairies then they are elves. It's just one of those twin things."
"Twin things?" Dis asked intrigued.
"Yes, well, while multiples are common among hobbits, identical twins are actually quite rare. It is said that each set has a special connection or gift of some sort. The girls are able to speak without words, and across great distances if they find themselves separated."
Dwalin looked between the two little lasses with interest; he had never heard of such a thing before and longed to tell Ori. Maybe there was something about it in the library at Erebor.
When the twins next spoke it almost startled him he was so deep in thought. They had apparently decided that they would need much more than originally planned, and would need to return to Took Hall immediately to repack.
After repeated apologies and promises to return as soon as they could, Dwalin watched two blond hobbit lasses race out the green door and up the lane before vanishing over a hill.
Standing next to him was Dis, planning all the ways she could introduce the girls to Erebor with a gleam in her eyes. Her sons had gotten their mischievousness from her after all.
If there was one thing Dwalin was sure of, it was that introducing Bilba's cousins to Erebor was going to almost as exciting as facing a dragon.
….
Author's Note
…
So first chapter of something new. The hobbit fandom has claimed much of my attention lately and I felt the need to add. If you have read any of my other stuff don't worry I'm abandoning anything. Just taking a detour.
As always my stuff gets posted without being beta read, I'm too impatient to let anyone else read it before posting so all mistakes are mine. Let me know if you see something that is confusing, sometimes the girls will go back and for while talking and I'm not very good at dialog to begin with so there is that.
I'm posting the first two chapters together so please make sure not to get confused.
Other than that… please let me know what you think.