Once the ruckus died down and the dwarves started getting tired of their feasting and merriment, a couple falling asleep in their chairs, Ash approached Gandalf. He looked down at the little hobbit, the excitement of an adventure brewing in her eyes, and he couldn't help but smile.
"So?" she said, gazing up at him.
"What exactly is it that you wish to know, Asphodel Took?"
"Can I come?"
Gandalf's face clouded for a second. It was too quick for Ash to notice that anything was wrong, but for a second he remembered the seriousness of what lay ahead – fights, battles, people who would want to hurt them all. They would be risking their lives, this was true…and yet the look in her eyes told him the answer, "Yes. I see no harm in there being a…backup burglar."
He chuckled as she whooped and ran off, making sure he fixed his mind on the fact that they would not need a backup burglar, Bilbo would be just fine, and Asphodel was coming merely to quench her thirst for adventure. But that night the thought made it no easier for him to sleep.
First thing in the morning, Ash clambered off of Bilbo's sofa, surrounded by snoring dwarves, and made her way to the kitchen, fixing herself a breakfast with the minimal food that was left in the house. Dwarves really did like food she thought, as she through the door of the pantry which was slightly ajar, revealing empty shelves and crumbs littering the floor.
She walked back into the living room, weaving her way through the sleeping bodies to the front door, where she followed the little path down to the bench overlooking Hobbiton. She sat down and munched on her pitiful breakfast, admiring the blue sky. After a while she heard the door open and close, and a few seconds later Bilbo appeared beside her.
"I'm not going, you know that?" he said, not looking at her.
"I am." She replied.
"I know, but you're built for adventure! I'm not! I'm Bilbo Baggins, who cares too much about his mother's china! What would I do without my bed and my armchair, eh Ash?"
She turned to him sadly, "You'd enjoy it more than you think."
Ash made her way back up to the house. A short while later with no Bilbo in sight, the dwarves rose and started packing up their things, readying themselves for the long journey ahead. Thorin and Gandalf stood in one corner, a very serious conversation happening in hushed tones. After a few minutes Thorin burst out, "She's a female hobbit!"
"Be thankful you have a hobbit at all," Gandalf said, "And she is more than you know. She has left the Shire before, she has been further than you would imagine she would ever go."
Ash knew she shouldn't be eavesdropping on their conversation, but it made her smile to hear Gandalf sticking up for her, and she knew that she could prove Thorin wrong, so he didn't bother her too much either. She knew most of the dwarves were interested to see how the little female hobbit coped, and she knew that she would surprise them.
Once all of the dwarves had themselves assembled on horses and with Ash on a little pony, the fifteen set off towards the edge of Hobbiton. They had hardly been gone five minutes when they heard someone running after them. They came to a halt and Bilbo Baggins could be seen running down the paths between the houses, waving a long sheet of parchment in his hand, "Wait! I signed it! I'm coming!"
Ash smiled to herself. She knew he would change his mind. She looked at Gandalf and saw he had thought the exact same.