SCARLET
Valnora Forest was the name of the thickest woods in Middle-earth, where the sun was barely able to bleed through the thick brush of the trees. All was dark to anyone who wasn't familiar with these woods. The darkness was misleading and would fool the unfortunate into thinking that the sun went down, even though it was still the middle of the day. Though, the forest wasn't just home to the pure and honest darkness where the evils of the world haven't touched yet. The sun did shine its golden rays down upon the heart of the woods, and there stood a small white cottage overgrown with rose vines and honeysuckle plants.
A young woman wandered the inside of the cottage and sat down on the table where a sealed letter waited for her. She broke the seal and unfolded the letter where it read:
My Dear Jeanne,
It surely has been a long time, old friend, and it has brought me great pleasure to ask this of you to come on an unexpected adventure with a group of merry Dwarves to reclaim the Lonely Mountain. It may be dangerous but I'm sure it won't be to much trouble. I understand that you may be afraid of stepping out of Valnora Forest, for the world to see you, but you can't stay hidden and run away from your problems forever. Trust me, I truly believe that this will change you for the better. If you wish to come, then come to the Shire. I assure you, you won't regret it.
From an old friend,
Gandalf the Grey
It was like any other night in the comfortable and homey Hobbit-hole that belonged to Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit of the Shire. The kitchen was lit with very few candles with the smell of freshly grilled fish in the air. He grilled up his nice and fresh fish and laid it upon his plate before sitting down at the table. Bilbo grabbed a napkin and stuffed it down his shirt to prevent a mess. He grabbed a lemon and squeezed the juice over the fish when the sound of the doorbell went off, stopping him in his tracks with a mildly annoyed look on his face.
Bilbo opened the door to see who the mysterious knocker was but saw quite the intimidating Dwarf on the other side with his back turned.
The Dwarf turned and introduced himself in a rough voice. "Dwalin, at your service." He bowed a bit to the confused Hobbit.
Bilbo was taken back and just shocked to see a Dwarf that he never saw before standing on his mat. Being the polite Hobbit he was, he wrapped his robe and stuttered on his words a bit before introducing himself. "Bilbo Baggins, at yours." Dwalin stepped in. "Do we know each other?" He asked.
Dwalin just gave him a look and uttered a single and confident answer. "No." He pulled off his cloak. "Which way, laddie? Is it down here?"
"Is what down where?" Bilbo said, still confused.
"Supper." Dwalin passed him his cloak. "He said there'd be food and lots of it." He marched down to the kitchen.
"He- He said? Who said?"
DING
When Bilbo opened the door for the second time this night, he saw a Dwarf once more, much older then Dwalin on his now muddy mat.
The elderly Dwarf smiled politely. "Balin, at your service." He spread his arms out and bowed before the even more bewildered Hobbit.
"Good evening," Bilbo said, barely able to get it out as calmly as he could.
"Yes. Yes, it is." Balin agreed whole-heartedly and glanced up at the night sky before he stepped in. "Though I think it might rain later. Am I late?" He asked.
Bilbo stared at the Dwarf and tried to find an answer across his face. "Late for what?"
Balin glanced over and saw Dwalin trying to jimmy his hand into the cookie jar, though having difficulty. "Oh!" He laughed and walked over to the Dwarf. "Evening, brother."
Dwalin chuckled and set the jar down. "By my beard...You're shorter and wider than last we met." He said.
"Wider, not shorter. Sharp enough for both of us." Balin winked and they both laughed. Dwalin placed his hands on Balin's shoulders and laughed before suddenly head-butting him, though Balin was unfazed and only laughed louder.
Bilbo walked up to the Dwarf reunion. "Uh, excuse me? Sorry, I hate to interrupt. But the thing is, I'm not entirely sure you're in the right house." Bilbo rambled on as the Dwarves made themselves comfortable in his pantry. "It's not that I don't like visitors. I like visitors as much as the next Hobbit. But I do like to know them before they come visiting." Bilbo continued to talk as the Dwarves messed around in the pantry and questioned whether the cheese was old or not, being blue and covered in mold in all. "The thing is, I don't know either of you. Not in the slightest. I don't mean to be blunt, but I had to speak my mind. I'm sorry."
Both Dwalin and Balin stopped their ransacking of the pantry to turn to Bilbo.
"Apology accepted," Balin said before they went back to what they were doing.
The doorbell went off again for the third time and the sound of it made Bilbo's stomach turn left, right and totally shrivel up. Bilbo went and reluctantly opened the door and whimpered when he saw two more Dwarves, rather young and handsome ones too.
"Fili."
"And Kili."
They both bowed at the same time. "At your service." They said.
"You must be Mr. Boggins." Kili said incorrectly with a wide smile.
"Nope!" Bilbo insisted. "You can't come in. You've come to the wrong house." He tried to shut the door but Kili immediately stopped him.
"What? Has it been canceled?" He said, almost concerned.
"No one told us," Fili said and stepped up.
"Canceled? No, nothing's been canceled." Bilbo questioned them.
"That's a relief." They barged through the door and right into his once quiet and peaceful home now riddled with Dwarves. His doormat was now beyond recovery.
"Careful with these." Fili handed his weapons over to a stunned Bilbo. "I just had them sharpened."
Stunned wasn't even close to the feeling that washed over Bilbo. He was just too shocked as more and more weapons piled on to him by Fili.
"It's nice, this place," Kili said after getting a quick look around. "Did you do it yourself?"
"What?" Bilbo said. "No, it's been in the family for years." He then saw Kili scraping the mud off his boots on a box. "That's my mother's glory box. Can you please not do that?"
Dwalin then stepped in. "Fili, Kili. Come on, give us a hand." He wrapped his arm around Kili as Fili followed from behind.
Kili smiled. "Mr. Dwalin." He laughed.
They stepped into the kitchen where Balin gave them orders to shove the table into the hallway for the others to fit in.
That caught Bilbo's attention. "'Everyone?' How many more are there?" The dreaded doorbell went off for the fourth time tonight. Bilbo huffed and threw the weapons in his hands on the ground. "Oh, no. No. No. There's nobody home! Go away and bother somebody else." He angrily marched over to the door. "There are far too many Dwarves in my dining room as it is. If this is some clot-head's idea of a bag joke...I can only say it is in very poor taste." Bilbo grabbed the door handle and ripped it opened, fully ready to start ranting and raving to a Dwarf on the other side, but was caught off guard from what he actually saw.
At first, he thought it was a Dwarf by the small height of 5'1, but it was clearly a young woman on the other side, looking quite shocked at his sudden outburst. She wore quite the lovely dark gray and red dress. Her overcoat was gray with a twisted hood over her head and her dress was a deep red shade the dragged across the ground as she walked. In her hand was a wooden staff where the wood began to twist upwards like an unbloomed flower. What really stood out though was her pale white skin. The lady reached her hand up and pulled her hood off her head, revealing short, messy and very bright scarlet hair. Bilbo was shocked, say the least. He never saw such red and vibrant hair in all his life. It was like fire in his eyes. He thought it was for a moment till he got a better look.
She stared at the Hobbit with big blue eyes that shimmered with curiosity before a smile came to her lips. "Evening." She said in a soft yet chipper voice. The woman stepped through the door and shut it behind her. "You must be the one holding the meeting place, no?" she placed her staff against the wall before facing Bilbo. "Jeanne, at your service." She bowed her head slightly.
Bilbo let out a breath. He didn't know whether he should be shocked or relieved since he fully expected a Dwarf on the other side, but what he really got surprised him. By the staff in her hand was obvious that she was a Wizard. Still shocked at the woman standing before him, he couldn't help to introduce himself. "B...Bilbo Baggins."
The doorbell rang once more for the fifth time of the night, and the sound just made Bilbo feel cold. The woman, Jeanne stared at Bilbo and wondered if he was going to answer the door, but he just looked pale in the face. She reached out and grasped the golden doorknob herself and opened it wide. At least a group of 8 more Dwarves fell through the open door and began to shout and grumble at each other to get off.
"Oh, my." Jeanne stepped away from the pile of Dwarves and looked up when she saw a tall figure on the other side of the door.
Bilbo recognized the figures tall and pointed hat and let out a sigh. "Gandalf."
Gandalf leaned down and looked through the doorway. A smile then stretched across his face when he saw his old friend. "Jeanne, it appears that my letter arrived."
A laughed escaped Jeanne's lips. "Gandalf, you have a lot of explaining to do."
