I rewrote this chapter featuring Bilbo as well, he's kind of in the background but I think I like the way this turned out better. Let me know if you prefer this version or the previous version better.
Enjoy!
While the dwarves sat around the table silently mumbling as their leader ate, the close proximity made Daisy feel claustrophobic in her usually empty house. Gandalf sat in the corner next to Bilbo puffing on his pipe sending wispy green smoke rings around the room. The accumulating cloud dimmed the lights giving the room and even more somber tone.
"What do the dwarves of the Iron Hills say? Is Dane with us?" Dwalin inquired.
"They will not come." Thorin answered in a disappointed tone. "They say this quest is ours and ours alone. Dane will not risk his men on such a gamble."
As if on cue, each of the house guests let out a sigh of disappointment at the thought of no reinforcements, wherever they were headed they were on their own. She wondered what kind of foolishness these dwarves were getting themselves into. She shook that thought, it was none of her business – they would be gone soon and Daisy would never see them again but she just couldn't bite her tongue.
"So you're going on a quest?"
"Bilbo, good fellow, let us have a little more light." Gandalf requested.
Bilbo sent a quiet plea in Daisy's direction, silently asking his sister to fetch some light. She scampered over to the kitchen and lit a few candles which she carried back and placed near a map Gandalf had laid out. Daisy loved maps, she spend hours in the study pouring over maps of all different places wondering what it would be like to see the peaks and valleys that were so skillfully placed on the parchment. She inched closer to get a good look at this folded and tattered piece.
"Far to the East beyond the rivers, forests, and waste land, lies a lonely peak." Gandalf stated.
"The Lonely Mountain." Daisy read off the map.
"Aye, the Lonely Mountain. Oin has read the portents, and the portents say that it is time." Grumbled the dwarf with a great red beard, Gandalf introduced him as Gloin.
"Ravens and birds of other kinds have been seen flying toward the mountain as we were foretold." Oin stated matter-of-factly. "When the birds of yore return to Erabor the rain of the beast will end."
"Beast?" Bilbo squeaked. "What beast?"
"That would be a reference to Smaug the Terrible, the greatest calamity of our age." Bifur, the one with the hat, explained. "airborne fire breather, teeth like razors, claws like meat hooks, extremely fond of precious metals. He'll melt the flesh off your bones in seconds flat – think furnace with wings."
"A dragon…" Daisy's mouth went dry. Up until now dragons had always been the stuff of legend, now these dwarves were telling her that they still existed.
"I'm not afraid of it… I'll give 'em a taste of dwarfish iron right up his jaxie." The sweater clad dwarf, Ori, spoke up. Daisy couldn't help but smile, Ori was clearly too small and inexperienced to do anything of the sort.
"Sit down." The dwarf to his right, Dori, pulled him back to his seat.
"Even with an army behind us this task would be impossible." Balin stated. "For we are just thirteen, and not thirteen of the best – or brightest for that matter."
"Yes Master Balin, we may be few in numbers but we are warriors. We will fight down to the last dwarf here." Fili tried to rally the crowd.
"And we have a wizard on our side; he must've slain a hundred dragons in his time!" Kili added.
"Well I wouldn't say that." The wizard stammered.
"How many have you killed then?" Dori inquired.
Gandalf began to say something but choked on a cloud of smoke. That sparked a heated exchange amongst the group, insults went flying and it looked as if a brawl was about to break out in the study. It appeared that ANYTHING would set this group off.
"ENOUGH!" Thorin bellowed at the squabbling company.
The room went silent as the leader of the company stood from his chair.
"If we have read these signs do you not think others have as well? Rumors have spread and the Great Dragon hasn't been seen for neigh 60 years. Many eyes now gaze East toward the Misty Mountains – wondering if the vast wealth of our people now lies unprotected. Do we sit back while others claim what is rightfully ours? Or do WE seize this chance to take back Erabor and restore it to its former glory?"
"There is no possible way into the mountain, the gates are sealed." Balin declared.
"That, my dear Balin, is not entirely true." Gandalf corrected the kindly old dwarf as he pulled a small key from the folds of his robe. "This key was given to me by your father, Thrain, for safe keeping. Now I'm giving it to you."
The awestruck group examined the key as the old wizard carefully passed the key to Thorin who looked upon the key with wonder and confusion. He turned it about in his hand like it was a delicate heirloom. The little silver key was bright with a long barrel and intricate designs distinctive to the dwarf culture. Daisy admired its simple beauty; clearly it had its own story to tell.
"How came you by this?" Thorin asked in a low and breathy tone.
"That I fear is a story for another time. But if you look at the runes on the map it speaks of a hidden passage to the lower halls." Gandalf moved the map closer to Daisy and pointed out the sharp runes scrawled on the parchment near the sketch of the Lonely Mountain. "The door will be small, size enough for a dwarf to fit through. "
"So… that means there's another way in!" Kili exclaimed.
"Only if we can find it, dwarf doors are nearly invisible. You must be in the right place at the right time before you can even hope to open the door. I'm sure that the answer lies here in this map somewhere. I'm afraid I do not have the skills needed to see it, but I know someone who can. The task we have in mind will require a great deal of stealth…" the wizard explained and turned to Bilbo, "and no small amount of courage. But if we are clever and take care it can be done."
"Is that why we need a burglar?" the small dwarf clad in knitwear asked.
"I'd say. You'd need an expert from the looks of it." Bilbo said in a tone louder than he meant.
"And are you?" Inquired Gloin in a suspect tone.
"Am I what?" Bilbo all but shrieked. Surely they didn't think HE was a burglar.
"Ah, the wee lad says he's an expert." Oin slapped the table in excitement.
"ME?" Bilbo shouted. "I'm not a burglar! I've never stolen a thing in my life!"
"I'd believe it." Balin nodded. "He's hardly burglar material."
"Aye, the wild is no place for wee gentle folk who can neither fight nor fend for themselves." Dwalin said gruffly.
The room erupted in arguments about whether or not Bilbo was right for their quest or if they should locate another burglar.
"IF I SAY MASTER BAGGINS IS A BURGLAR THAN A BURGLAR HE IS!" Gandalf bellowed. "Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet, they can even pass unseen by most others if they so choose. Not to mention the dragon is accustomed to the smell of dwarf, a hobbit would be an unfamiliar smell. That alone can give us a huge advantage. You gave me the charge of finding the fourteenth and final member of your company and I have chosen Master Baggins. There are more to hobbits than mere appearances suggest and he has more to offer than any of you know – especially himself. You must trust me on this my friends."
"Very well wizard, we will do it your way." Thorin conceded. "Balin give him the contract."
As the round dwarf with white hair approached the color drained from Bilbo's face and he started to hyperventilate. He pulled out a piece of parchment from his pocket and carefully unfolded it and put it in Bilbo's trembling hand.
"It's the typical contract," Balin explained. "Out of pocket expenses, time required, remuneration, funeral arrangements… that sort of thing."
While Bilbo read over her paperwork, Gandalf ushered the party into the living room. Daisy looked up to see Gandalf relaxing in a chair and the others gathered around the fire place, their leader looking pensively into the fire as though the licks of flame would convey some divine meaning. Thorin began to hum a low somber tune, so sweet and heart breaking that Daisy forgot the chaos of the evening; she was carried away into the dark historic halls under a strange moon. Far away from The Hill and everything she knew. The moon illuminated the room through the big glass window in the side of The Hill; the fire crackled and popped in tune with the music. As the other dwarves joined in with beautiful dwarfish harmony Thorin began to sing in a deep and silky voice unlike anything Daisy had ever heard.
"Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To seek the pale enchanted gold.
The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls beneath the fells.
For ancient king and elvish lord
There many a gloaming golden hoard
They shaped and wrought, and light they caught
To hide in gems on hilt of sword.
On silver necklaces they strung
The flowering stars, on crowns they hung
The dragon-fire, in twisted wire
They meshed the light of moon and sun.
Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away, ere break of day,
To claim our long-forgotten gold.
Goblets they carved there for themselves
And harps of gold; where no man delves
There lay they long, and many a song
Was sung unheard by men or elves.
The pines were roaring on the height,
The winds were moaning in the night.
The fire was red, it flaming spread;
The trees like torches biased with light,
The bells were ringing in the dale
And men looked up with faces pale;
The dragon's ire more fierce than fire
Laid low their towers and houses frail.
The mountain smoked beneath the moon;
The dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom.
They fled their hall to dying –fall
Beneath his feet, beneath the moon.
Far over the misty mountains grim
To dungeons deep and caverns dim
We must away, ere break of day,
To win our harps and gold from him!"
As they sang Daisy closed her eyes, the story of their people played against her eyelids in time with the beautiful song. She could feel the love and fellowship of these rowdy men, their loss and their desire to find a home. This quest wasn't just about seeking gold – they wanted to reclaim their family and to go back to what they once had. How would she feel if a dragon swooped into The Shire plundering the houses and lighting it all ablaze? A slight shiver rand down her spine at that thought, she did know loss but not at such grand a scale. There was nothing she wouldn't give to get her family back.
Something woke the Took inside her, she wished she could see the great mountain halls, hear the sounds of the forest, explore caves and waterfalls, even wield a sword rather than a walking stick. Looking out the window, the stars shone bright above the trees like diamonds. This took her mind to the jewels and trinkets the dwarves left in the dark caverns, and she surprisingly felt a pang of jealousy at Bilbo's opportunity. Daisy's heart dropped as the music ended.
"So what say you?" Gandalf inquired.
"I just need a moment to think." Bilbo answered as politely as he could.
"You've been holed up in this house thinking for far too long. If boring normalcy is what you want we will leave right now and not look back. It's a pity; I remember two young hobbits running around in the woods in search of pixies and elves, with a great thirst for adventure. Two hobbits that dreamed of seeing what was beyond the shire. The world isn't in your books and maps – it's outside."
"I can't go swanning off into the blue. I want to keep what little family I have left, and the only way I can do that is by staying here. I will uphold the Baggins name."
"You are also a Took. Did you know that your great-great-great-great uncle Bullroarer Took was so large he could ride a REAL horse? Why at the Battle of Greenfields he took a swing at the Goblin King. Took his head clean off, and he did it with such force, and may I add style, that it sailed a hundred yards and went down a rabbit hole. Thus the battle was won… and the game of golf was invented."
"I thought that was nothing but a tall tale."
"All good stories deserve embellishment. You my dear hobbit, will most certainly have a tale or two to tell when you return."
"Can you promise I will return?"
"No, and if you do… you won't be the same."
"That's what I thought." Bilbo said pensively. "You've got the wrong hobbit. I just can't do this."
"Has this life robbed you of your dreams?"
"Fine." Bilbo pulled out the contract and scribbled his name across the page. "Is that all?"
"Of course. We leave from the Green Dragon Inn promptly at 11 a.m. If you're not there we will leave without you." Thorin said gruffly.
"Will your company be staying with us this evening Master Gandalf?" Daisy inquired.
"Heavens no," he replied sweetly. "We've already imposed enough. We shall be staying at the Green Dragon."
"If that's it I should like to retire for the evening." Bilbo snapped at his company before he leaned in close to his sister's ear to whisper, "take care to lock your door and windows. I'm not sure I trust this motley crew."
Bilbo disappeared into his room leaving Daisy to see their guests out. Each one quickly thanked her for her hospitality before scuttling out of the house. The house was dark and silent once more, the emptiness was overwhelming.
"It was my dreaming that caused this life…" Daisy lamented quietly and disappeared to her room, the melodic dwarfish song played through her head all night.