Chapter Two: An Unexpected Addition
fav. me/ d5qwqcf first of the outfits, with the cloak.
Rona made her way down the hills, glad for the moonlight to help guide her on her way. It took her maybe 30 minutes to reach the outskirts of Hobbiton. Ahead of her she noticed two figures making their way to a round green door. 'That must be the place…' she sped up and saw the two dwarves bow to a small man who opened the door. 'Ever the proper greeting of a Dwarf.' She thought smiling. Then the two vanished into the house.
Rona shook her head and took her time walking down the rest of the hill. She made her way to the door and gently knocked on it. She fingered her collar, hoping it hid the marks across her neck. The door before her was flung open, a glare was what she saw before it vanished, replaced by a frown. Rona bowed to him smiling, she tilted her head and looked behind him silently asking if she could come on.
"Might as well…" huffed the hobbit stepping aside. Smiling still Rona slipped in and mouthed a thank you to him before finding a place to hang up her cloak. As she turned her back to the parlour, she heard someone call out. "Well, you are earlier than expected my friend." Rona knew that voice. She spun around and was met with the face of a shocked dwarf who had a long white beard. 'Balin!' She grinned and put her hands over her mouth. Quickly she hung up her cloak and hugged her elder tightly, it was returned full force.
"Lassie… we thought you dead…" his words were soft, but his hold on her tight. "Your father will be in for a shock… Rona, where have you been all these years?" He pulled back and waited for her to answer but she didn't. He frowned and she just shook her head, eyes watering up. She touched her throat and shook her head. Balin's face fell and he pulled her back into a hug. She always called Balin 'Uncle Balin' because of how much she loved him.
Not far behind Balin she saw three other dwarves moving things around in what appeared to be the dining room. With one last smile to Balin she went over and began to help moving things about. They didn't seem to notice her for a moment then the blond jumped, "Hello there! Where did you come from?!" there was surprise in his voice, and Rona just smiled at him shaking her head and pointed out the window, and mouthed, 'Outside, just like you did.' The dark haired dwarf next to the blond frowned, "I feel like we should know you… oh well! We'll find out soon enough! Come on lets finish getting stuff around!"
Rona nodded smiling and just as they were finishing the doorbell rang loudly. Mr. Boggins, at least that is what Kili said his name was, started ranting about too many dwarves in his kitchen, and when he opened the door they all spilled in, making Rona laugh silently.
"Gandalf…"
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Rona stayed back from the table, just watching from her place against the wall, partly hidden by the shadows as the rest of the group seemed to raid Mr. Boggin's pantry. She felt bad for the hobbit, a dwarfs appetite was nothing to snicker at.
"Put that back! Put that back!" she shook her head and slipped into the kitchen. She used to make some killer stew, so she thought she'd give it a go. She wasn't about to eat with the rest of them, all she knew there was Balin, and Dwalin of course, but he didn't seem to notice her. She didn't mind, while she did love him as well, he was the odd uncle, but then again, he was a fighter. Rona listened to them all in the while they eat. Then it got far to quiet, but only a moment later loud belching was heard.
Rona scrunched up her nose and shook her head as she moved the pot to the fire to keep warm and cook more. She left the kitchen and all the way round to the study, somehow managing to slip by those in the dining room unseen. When she entered the study she gasped, it was her heaven. It was full of maps and books.
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"Oh! Hear that lads? He says we'll blunt the knives!" Rona was pulled out of her studying when she heard someone being teased.
"Blunt the knives, bend the forks!
Smash the bottles and burn the corks!
Tips the glasses and break the plates…
That's what Bilbo Baggins Hates!"
Rona laughed softly listening to their song and tapped her foot along to the beat.
"Cut the cloth and tread the fat!
Leave the bones on the bedroom mat!
Pour the milk on the pantry floor!
Splash the wine on every door!"
"Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl;
Pound them up with a thumping pole;
And when you've finished, if any are whole,
Send them down the hall to roll!
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!
"
Rona just shook her head at their laughter, and then froze when there was aloud knock on the door. "He is here." She heard the group move to the front door, before slinking after them. She ran from the study, to the pantry, and then peaked out of the smoking room. She made it just as they opened the door. "Gandalf." There stood the man she'd been looking for for so long. Thorin took a step into the hobbit hole, "I thought you said this place would be easy to find. I lost my way… twice. I'd have not found the place at all had it not been for that mark on the door."
"Mark? There is no mark on that door it was painted a week ago!" cried out Bilbo. "There is a mark, I put it there myself. Bilbo Baggins allow me to introduce the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield."
"So, this is the hobbit." Rona didn't know she was crying until she felt the tears falling down onto her hand. She felt like a little girl all over again. Thorin went on to ask Bilbo if he knew how to fight, and his answer was basically no. "I thought as much. He looks more like a grouser than a burglar." She could hear the slight sarcasm in his voice and watched as they all went to dining room once more.
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Bilbo brought Thorin a bowl of stew form the pot Rona had made and she felt her heart swell as a light flicked in his eyes. Rona kept watch from the doorway of the kitchen to the dining room. Balin questioned her father of a meeting he had gone to, then Dwalin asked, "And what do the dwarves of the Iron Hills say? Is Dain with us?" Thorin sighed.
"They will not come… they say this quest is ours, and ours alone."
"You're going on a quest?"
"Bilbo my dear fellow, Let us have a little more light." Bilbo grabbed a candle as the group made room on the table to a map, "Far to the east, over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single solitary peak." Bilbo held the candle closer. "The Lonely Mountain."
"Ai, Oin has read the portents, and the portents say it is time. Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold. 'When the bird of yore return to Erebor; The reign of the beast will end.'"
"Um… What beast...?" questioned Bilbo.
"Oh now that would be a reference to Smaug the Terrible. Chiefest and greatest calamity of our age. Airborne fire breather; teeth like razors; claws like meat hooks. Extremely fond of precious metals."
"Yes I know what a dragon is."
"I'm not afraid! I'll give him a taste of dwarfish iron right up his…" Rona's eyes widened, he had to be younger than her and yet he used such words? It made her blush. "We may be few in number, but we're fighters. Down to the last dwarf!" cried Fili, then Kili spoke, "And you forget, you've a wizard in our company! Gandalf will have sleighed hundreds of dragons in his time!"
The group began to question Gandalf of a number of dragons he had kill and he started to choke a bit on his smoke. The group began to fuss and Thorin stood up yelling at them.
"If we have read these signs do you not think others will have read them too?" Thorin stopped and looked around the table, "Rumors have begun to spread… the dragon Smaug has not been seen in 60 years. Eyes look east to the Mountain, assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people lays unprotected. Do we sit back and let others claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we cease this chance to take back Erebor?"
The group cheered, oh she longed to join them, if only she still had her voice! "You forget! The gate is sealed! There is no way into the mountain…"
"That my dear Balin, is not entirely correct." Gandalf pulled a key from what seemed to be thin air and held it up for the group to see, "How came you by this?" asked Thorin in a hushed voice.
"It was given to me by your father, Thrain. For safe keeping. Tis yours now."
"If there is a key, there must be a door." It was Fili that spoke.
"These runes speak of a hidden passage into the lower halls."
"There's another way in…" said Kili softly
"But only if we can find it. Dwarf doors are invisible when closed… The Answer lies somewhere hidden in this map, and I don't have the skill to find it. Though there are those who can. The task I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth, and no small amount of courage. But if we are careful, and clever, I do believe it can be done."
"That's why we need a burglar!"
"Hm…. And a good one to…" said Bilbo looking at the map over Thorin's shoulder, "An expert I'd imagine."
"And are you?" asked Gloin, starting at Mr. Baggins.
"Am I what?" said a confused Bilbo.
"He said he's an expert!" cried out Oin, who had a hearing horn tucked against his right ear.
"Wh…Me?! No! N-N-No! I'm not a burglar! I've never stolen anything in my entire life!" He seemed horrified at the thought. Balin spoke up with a sigh, "I must agree with Mr. Baggins on that one. He is hardly burglar material…"
"Ai… The wild is no place for gentle folk… especially if they can't fight or fend for themselves…" that voice was gravely in her ears, and it was met with sound of agreement from the others of the group.
"That is enough! If I say Mr. Baggins is a burglar; then a burglar he is!" Rona jumped and backed up more into the kitchen and listened to Gandalf speak, "You must trust me on this…"
"Very well… We'll do it your way… Give him the contract." Balin passed something to Thorin, who slapped it against Bilbo's chest. Bilbo walked off and Rona slipped closer to the door as she saw Thorin lean down to Gandalf's ear, "I cannot grantee his safety…" Gandalf said he understood, but then in an even lower voice she heard her father say, "Nor, will I be responsible for his fate."
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"Shall not be held responsible to injuries sustained…" he mumbles a bit before she picked up his words once more. "… Lacerations…Evisceration…in…Incineration?!" Rona couldn't help but smirk as she watched the hobbit read the contract.
"Oh ai! He'll melt the flesh off your bones, in the blink of an eye!"
"You alright there laddie?" asked Balin.
"Feel a bit faint is all…"
"Think furnace, with wings! Flash of light, searing pain… then Poof! You're no more than a pile of ash!"
"Hm… yea nope…" she watched at Bilbo fell down in a dead faint, and she was laughing hard, though she made no sound.
"Well done Bofur…" huffed Gandalf. Rona wiped her eyes and shook her head cleaning up things here and there in the kitchen. Rona heard footsteps behind her but didn't bother paying much attention until she heard them speak. "Who are you?" Rona's back was to him, and she stiffened. "What's the matter? Can't speak?" she could hear warning in his voice but was frozen, shaking slightly. "I said who are you!?"
She felt a large hand on her shoulder before she was spun around and met with the steely blue eyes of her father. Thorin froze, he knew her face, or at least he had known the face that belonged to the child. He saw tears in her eyes and knew what he had said hurt her. He had to be sure it was her. Slowly, so as not to scare her, he lifted his hand and pushed the bandana away that covered her forehead, there lay the same tattoo she had had since she was a child. "Rona…"
Not but a moment later she found herself in bone crushing hug, which she returned with equal force, her head tucked under his. She felt him shake ever so slightly. "I thought you dead… I am such a fool… forgive me… I should have known…" she heard despair in his voice and pulled back holding his face in her hands and smiled at him kissing his forehead. She knew she was crying, but she couldn't help it. He wiped away her tears and rested his forehead against hers.
She went to say 'I love you Papa' but her voice didn't come to her aid, instead it left her choking on air, her hand clutched at her throat, pain written across her features.
A.N. So, tell me the good the bad and the ugly, but just remember keep comments nice. Again sorry if he seems OOC still, I'm trying to work in all I can here, but can only manage so much on my sleep deprived mind.
Also, Really? Really?! I want to have at least have one review if you want chapter three posted in the next 24 hours. I am happy the story had 1 fav and 4 followers, but is one review to much to ask for?
If you haven't seen it go to YouTube and look up JckSparrow and The Hobbit, her parody if great! Shots!