A/N: A revised chapter 2!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

My Brother's Lullaby

Meeting A Wizard

Nearly twenty-two years had passed since that day I had joyfully awaited a walking holiday with Bilbo; in which time Bilbo and I lived comfortably. Comfortably, but not contentedly, at least it was not for me. Very little differed in our lives, a fact that bothered me. But as the years past I noticed a change occurring in both myself and Bilbo. It was a small change at first, small and gradual. I had begun to notice that Bilbo was taking fewer and fewer walking holidays with me, before they had stopped altogether. And then I noticed that Bilbo had become keenly interested in what the neighbors thought of him and he started putting up the appearances of a respectable hobbit. I soon realized that Bilbo wasn't just putting up appearances, he was becoming a respectable hobbit. Bilbo was quickly becoming the Baggins of his name. He seemed content with this change. I couldn't have been less so. I was restless, and I felt stifled. I felt like I had no room to breathe and so I became distant to Bilbo.

It wasn't as though I didn't care for Bilbo, and the Shire was in, many ways, my home, and in many other ways it was not. I could not, on several occasions, repress the feeling of belonging far from the safe stifling borders of the Shire. And as I grew older I found those feelings harder to overcome. I would disappear for days at a time, impulsively giving in to feelings. Hamfast called me 'rebellious', though I would not have called it that, far from it in fact. It was more like the overpowering urge to be free. And as Bilbo began to situate himself more comfortably within the halls of Bag-End, I grew more restless and with that restlessness came recklessness. As the time passed I became more reckless than before, almost as if to counterbalance Bilbo's respectableness.

Bilbo had often despaired over me, as I would once again, drag or be dragged, back home, sporting various new, minor injuries. I had once braved going all the way to the edge of The West Farthing alone. At the time I had been angry with Bilbo for something that I can't now remember, and the feeling of needing to be far from the Shire surged once again. I had had only one thought then, to get to Ered Luin, where I knew there were dwarves that would understand me. I had gotten myself lost and was almost eaten by a pack of wolves when a group of strange men garbed in grey had come to my aid. They kindly accompanied me until I was far enough into the Shire that I feared little danger. I never forgot them. They were kind and stern, and more powerful than any other being I had ever known, but then I had only ever known hobbits and they weren't exactly know for being powerful, unless powerful eaters counted.

I sat musing over my thoughts as I shared breakfast with Bilbo. I turned my eyes on my guardian. I was not surprised when I barely recognized him. The years had passed by but it was as though I was frozen in time and Bilbo had somehow managed to speed his up. I was older yes, even older than Bilbo was now, but I was no less reckless and impulsive. I sighed dispiritedly. Where was the Bilbo that cared not a whit about how peculiar the neighbors thought him? Where was the Bilbo that would get covered in head to toe in dirt to catch lightning bugs with me? Where was the Bilbo that would run through the woods with me in search of elves? Where was the Bilbo that dreamed of exploring the far corners of Middle Earth with me by his side. I missed that Bilbo. I sighed again.

"Why are you sighing Kian?" asked Bilbo.

"Oh, no reason really..." I said evasively.

Bilbo looked ready to argue the point, I was not in the mood for such a conversation and feeling restless again, so I asked quickly.

"Bilbo, were you going to need me for anything today? I was going to be out and about."

"Where are you off to, Kian my boy?"

"I was going to go over to Regrin's smithy. He going to let me work on a few projects of mine if he isn't too busy and has the metal to spare."

Bilbo even with his limited knowledge of dwarves knew that we had a certain talent for smithing and had spent a great deal of time convincing old Regrin to let me apprentice with him. Regrin quickly learned of my raw abilities and after only a short time let me have full run of the forge.

"Well go on then and had fun!" laughed Bilbo, as he stood and gently shoved me from my seat. "And stay out of trouble!" he added seriously.

After pledging that I would do my utmost to behave, I grabbed a few things I would need and took off down the road, Bag-End quickly disappearing from sight.

oOo

I wiped the sweat from my brow. I had been working on a new hairclasp for myself. I was quite proud of myself for the intricate design I had inscribed. It was my sigil. Regrin came over to inspect my craftsmanship. He turned and left with an approving nod and a grunt, the highest praise he ever offered, and only if he thought the work was good enough. He had often laughed at my work when it came to anything that was practical. However if I was making a sword, or armor, and even sometimes jewelry, he said I was unmatched. I smiled again at my handiwork and laid the clasp in the box that contained the sword and the vanbraces that I had made. I said a word of thanks to Regrin, slipped the package into my knapsack, which I threw over my shoulder, and turned to leave. I reached for the doorhandle, but jumped back startled when it swung open and Rehur, Regrin's son, came tumbling across the threshold.

"Land's sake, Son!" exclaimed Regrin "Whatever has happened to put you in such a fuss?"

"T-t-there's tales" Rehur took a great breath. "There's tales going around of Big Folk in the Shire!"

I laughed.

"Oh, sure, Rehur, occasionally the Big Folk will pass through, but it's certainly nothing to get this worked up over."

"N-no! Not just any Big Folk! Gandalf the Grey! The wizard! He's back in the Shire!"

That was all it took. I heard the words Gandalf the Grey and Wizard and I was hard on my feet running as fast as I could out the door. A wizard! Merciful Middle-Earth! And Gandalf the Grey no less! Bilbo had told me tales of his fireworks on Midsummers Eve when I was little. I could not pass this opportunity up. I raced through the fields, in the hopes that I might get a glimpse of him. I leaped over a fence and landed on a loose stone in the road and I slipped, falling forward. A wizen old man was what broke my fall. I fell into him, causing him to stumble to one side, before he turned, surprisingly quick considering his age, and caught me in his arms. I looked up at him as he put me back on my feet.

He was entirely dressed in grey, and he wore a tall pointy hat. His grey beard, weathered face, and wooden staff, were the only indicators of his many years. His eyes, which looked down at me from beneath his bushy eyebrows, glinted merrily like a child's, and the grip of his hand, as he held me whilst I found my feet, was as strong as a man's in his thirties. He was a strange man, quite possibly the strangest of the Big Folk I had ever seen. Apparently he found me to be just as strange as I found him to be, for he looked me over and said.

"Well, here is something you don't see in the Shire. A dwarf! And dressed like a hobbit, no less! Have the dwarves taken up residence in the Shire, and begun to adopt the ways of it's natural inhabitants?" He began to chuckle at the absurdity of the situation.

I laughed with the old man. He had the air of adventure about him and in my mundane little life here that felt like a breath of fresh air.

"Not to my knowledge, no. I believe I am the only dwarf to have ever lived within the Shire. I don't live far from here, just up the hill, at Bag-End."

"Bag-End?" the old man quirked a eyebrow at me. "Then you know Mister Bilbo Baggins."

"I should hope that I did." I laughed "He's raised for nearly twenty-two years!" I laughed again.

The old man joined me briefly, but then turned thoughtful eyes on me.

"Twenty-two years? Well then you must be in you sixties as far as dwarves go."

"I turn sixty-four tomorrow actually."

"Well happy birthday in advance, though I could have waited until tomorrow, I suppose. You see I've just been to see Bilbo Baggins, who was most kind enough to invite me to tea tomorrow."

"He did?!"

Bilbo had promised to go on a walking holiday with me, but now I would spend the day being the polite host to this old man. I frowned, highly upset with Bilbo and angry tears threatened to spill from my eyes.

"There, there now, there's no need for that, I can safely bet that there are few people in the Shire that can say that Gandalf the Wizard attended their birthday party." He said as he pulled my chin up.

I blinked. I surely could not have heard right. Gandalf the Wizard? The very person I had run through so many corn fields just to glimpse at? He caught me staring at him, but he didn't act offended and smiled.

"What is your name, master dwarf?"

"Kian of Bag-End."

"Well, Kian of Bag-End, I look forward to seeing you at you birthday party, and I can assure you that it will be a party indeed!"

He turned and with a polite nod, went on his way. I stared at the ground and blinked in shock for a moment. I looked up and began to ask when we were to be expecting him, but to my surprise Gandalf had vanished. I blinked again in utter confusion, but then shrugged and started off for Bag-End.

I let myself in and called for Bilbo. After Gandalf had mysteriously disappeared in a matter of seconds I wasn't sure that he had not just been a figment of my usually overactive imagination. I would need confirmation from Bilbo that he had indeed seen the wizard, and to ask why the now unadventurous Mr. Baggins had decided to invite a wizard to tea. Perhaps Gandalf had wanted to come to tea and Bilbo hadn't been able to refuse. Somehow I figured that it might be hazardous to ones health to refuse a wizard something that they wanted.

I closed the door behind me and searched the halls for Bilbo. I found him in the kitchen, sipping a glass of Old Winyard and eating a second breakfast.

"It's a little early in the day to be drinking, don't you think, Bilbo?" I said as I cast Bilbo a devilish grin.

"Oh, Kian my boy! I've just had the most shocking surprise of my life!"

I quirked a brow at him.

"Did Lobelia come to bother you again Bilbo?"

He made no indication that he had heard me.

"Gandalf the Wizard was here in the Shire-"

That confirmed it then, Bilbo had indeed seen Gandalf. I grinned and interrupted him.

"I know! I ran into him, quite literally, in fact!"

"Y-you did?!"

I nodded and asked,

"What did Gandalf want here?"

"That was what was so shocking! He came to ask me to share in an adventure! Of course I told him immediately that he had come to the wrong place for adventurers, and that he had better try over The Hill or across The Water. He eventually went on his way."

I felt my heart sink to my toes. If only Gandalf had come ten years ago, we might have been half way across the Shire by now, having a grand time. I tried to keep my disappointment from showing on my face, but somehow couldn't keep it from my voice.

"B-but you asked him to tea, Bilbo!" I said as though that meant that somehow Bilbo would change his mind.

"What? O-oh, yes, well, I had to get him to move on somehow. We don't want any adventures here, now do we Kian, my boy?" said Bilbo, as he went back to sipping his wine.

I could help but wish that a wonderfully horrid adventure might come knocking on Bilbo Baggins door.

I hope that the revisions have helped with the general story! :)