Thorin sat there, glaring at the hobbit that had just been placed in his care. He had no idea what he was supposed to do now. He didn't even know how to hold him properly!
Thorin turned to give Frodo back to Kili, but at this point Kili had gone over to lie down beside his brother who had fallen asleep mere moments ago. And when Thorin called out to his nephew, he was rewarded with the sound of snores filling the cave.
"Nephews." Thorin muttered to himself, looking down at the sleeping figure in his arms. He tried shifting him around, seeing which position might be better for the hobbit. Eventually Thorin gave up, and decided to hold onto him until someone else was awake to take care of him.
It had been several minutes, and Thorin was finally starting to get the hang of things, when Frodo decided to wake up. Thorin looked down when he felt the hobbit stirring in his arms, confused as to the cause, nearly panicking when he realised that Frodo was awake.
"Uncle?" Frodo asked groggily. "Is that you?"
"No, Frodo." Was Thorin's reply, he had clue what he was supposed to say now.
As Kili had said, Thorin had never dealt with children before. He had always left that part to the others. The only ones that he had ever had any real experience with were his nephews, and they had almost been too much for him to handle. As a result he had vowed never to look after a child again.
Yet here he was, sitting with a young hobbit child in his hands, and he was quite unsure of what was expected of him.
"T-Thorin? What happened to Kili? Did he need to go to the bathroom or something?" Frodo asked, he was rubbing his eyes, a gesture that Thorin found to be quite endearing.
"No young one. He has simply gone to sleep." Thorin relaxed slightly, he found that talking to Frodo had not been as difficult as he had expected it to be.
Frodo looked around for Kili, wondering where his new friend had gone, relaxing only when he saw that the younger dwarf had indeed gone back to sleep.
"Thorin, are you really a king of a mountain?" Frodo asked as he turned back to the dwarf. These were things that Frodo had been wondering for some time now. He did trust what Bilbo had said in his stories, but his uncle was also well known to him for adding a little extra to his tales.
Thorin was taken aback by this question; how could a relative of Bilbo's not know all that there was to know about the journey that had taken place? His spirits fell a little at this. Obviously Bilbo had not been as proud to be a part of that adventure as he had hoped. "Yes Frodo. I am indeed the king under the mountain. Do you know what it was called?"
"Erebor!" Frodo almost jumped up in excitement at the name.
'Well, at least Bilbo was excited to tell his nephew about something.' Thorin thought.
"Can you tell me about your adventure?" Frodo asked the king who sat before him. Frodo had enjoyed listening to his uncle's tale, but he wanted to hear it from someone else's point of view.
"Alright."
And so Thorin told Frodo about everything, from the moment when he had first escaped the dragon, to meeting Bilbo for the first time, to taking his rightful place as king under the mountain after the battle of five armies.
Thorin hadn't bothered to make sure that Frodo was listening. So it came as a slight shock to him when he looked down to see that Frodo had fallen asleep in his arms. Thorin chuckled to himself, then deciding that it was time for him to sleep as well, he went over and placed himself beside Bilbo. And there he fell asleep between the two hobbits.
When Frodo woke up dawn was just starting to creep over the horizon. He had just woken up from a nice dream, in which a bright white rabbit with glowing red eyes led him back to Pippin, Merry and Sam. They were all feasting together in Bag-End.
Oh how he missed his friends, but he was sure that he would have missed his uncle even more. In which case he didn't regret the fact that he had chosen Erebor over the Shire.
Frodo was starting to feel restless, so he decided to get up and have a little look around. Uncaring to the fact that Bilbo would be furious if he found out that he had gone wandering off on his own. He walked over to Kili first, wanting to know what the dwarf looked like when he slept. Although getting out of Thorin's arms had been an adventure in its own right.
Frodo peered at Kili's sleeping face. Kili was by far Frodo's favorite dwarf. He was funny and he was fun to be around, and they both had similar tales to tell. Not to mention that Kili was also the youngest of his group, and for that Frodo found a kindred spirit in the young dwarven prince.
Frodo, who had now wandered over to Fili, was about to pull on Fili's braids to see if they came off, when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He looked towards the source, unable to identify what it was that had caused the flash of white. He moved closer, trying to get a better look, when he tripped over Fili's leg. Fili felt nothing though, and continued to sleep.
Slowly Frodo got up again, moving closer to where he was sure the flash had been, more aware of his surroundings this time. What he saw shocked him. He had been expecting to see something interesting, not the sight that now lay before him.
There in front of Frodo, sat a snow-white rabbit with glowing red eyes. It was trying to get into Bilbo's bag. Most probably because that's where all the food was kept. This disappointed Frodo greatly, for he had been hoping for something a little more interesting, something a little dangerous even.
Frodo was about to go back and continue with his examination of the dwarves, when suddenly a thought struck him. This actually was interesting, for this rabbit was identical to the one that had led him back to the shire in his dreams!
Suddenly the rabbit looked up, and upon seeing Frodo ran away in fright. Upon impulse Frodo ran after it, hoping to catch it. He kept chasing it until the cavern was long out of sight.
It was just after dawn by the time the rest of them woke up. Fili started complaining almost instantly. He was going on about how something had attacked his foot sometime in the night, and that Kili was his prime suspect.
Bilbo got up and stretched, feeling much better after a good long rest. He was sure that with the way he felt, there was no chance that he would be catching a cold from the previous day's storm. Bilbo walked over to his pack, hoping to get some breakfast ready for himself and the others, only to find that his pack had been opened and that all the food had become spoiled. This made him frown a bit, what was he going to tell the others? He had a feeling that this was not going to turn out well.
Thorin walked over to Bilbo, checking to make sure that Bilbo was feeling as well as he seemed. He walked up to Bilbo, and on impulse hugged him from behind, wrapping his arms around Bilbo, not carrying that the others could see his every move.
Upon feeling Thorin's touch, Bilbo's skin started to tingle in a way that he felt was rather embarrassing. But Bilbo said nothing, secretly hoping that Thorin would do more, so much more, then hug.
Bilbo shook his head, telling himself that now was not the right time for that. He moved slightly, hoping that Thorin would sense his discomfort and release his grip. But Thorin did not let go. "Just a little longer." He whispered, and Bilbo could feel goose-bumps crawling across his skin.
"Alright." He replied, feeling that if he said more, he would end up telling Thorin everything about how Thorin made him feel. The things that being near Thorin did to him.
Thorin finally let go of Bilbo, allowing him to go about his business. Fili and Kili could be heard giggling in the background, but where silenced when Thorin approached them.
"We leave as soon as we are ready." He said, all business now. "We must get going, we need to make up for the ground that we could have covered had it not been for the storm." Then he went to pack his own belongings.
"Leaving? But what about breakfast!?" Fili and Kili asked together. Both of them Feeling extremely hungry after last night's events.
"About that-" Fili and Kili both turn to look at Bilbo. "I'm afraid that the food has all been spoiled. Something got to it during the night I'm afraid."
Fili and Kili looked like they were about to cry. "Oh why must we be cursed like this!" Kili started calling to the sky. Thorin, who did not have the patience to deal with this, walked over and smacked his nephew upside the head,
"That's enough of that. Now get packing."
XXX
After much effort on Kili's part, they decided to throw everything away. Kili could not find a single piece of decent food to eat, and so they all had to go without breakfast. Though Kili did forget about his hunger eventually, for it was beautiful weather, with not a cloud in sight.
"What a beautiful day! Don't you think so uncle Thorin?" Kili asked, he was practically skipping with joy. Fili and Bilbo also walked with a bit of spring in their steps.
Thorin chuckled, glad to see that everyone was in such high spirits. As a matter of fact, he felt that absolutely nothing could go wrong today.
Little did he know just how wrong he was.
Frodo had been chasing the rabbits for a while now, it was already sun-up by the time he finally lost track of it and decided to head back.
'I wonder what uncle is going to make me for breakfast.' He thought as he heard, more than felt, his stomach growl. So he started walking, but then a thought came to him that made him stop in his tracks. He had not been paying attention to where he was running, and now he was undoubtedly lost!
Frodo starts shaking; he has never been in such a situation before, for he always had Bilbo with him. Or at least Pippin Merry and Sam where there to guide the way. Then coming to his senses, he tried figuring out a plan to find his way back to the others.
He sat down, noticing how tired he was after all of that running. He stared up at the sun, noticing how he could see it now that he was out of the cave.
"That's it!" He cried suddenly. 'The sun"
Frodo had realized something, the sun hadn't been visible at the campsite because the cavern entrance was facing away from the sun, but now he sat there staring at it. He came to the conclusion that if he simple walked towards the sun, he would find his way back to the others eventually, so off he went.
It was nearing evening now, and the company had come to a halt. Thorin told them all to stay where they were while he went to find a place that was well out of site of the main road. When he came back he noticed that they all looked wide awake, and not as tired as they probably felt.
"Come! I've found s dip in the ground; we shall spend the night there!" Thorin called out to them. And without waiting to see that they were following him, he went back the way he came.
The campsite was indeed perfect, even though it seemed to have been used multiple times before. None of them thought ill of it though, assuming that it had been home to rangers at some point or other. Bilbo set down his stuff on a leaf-covered part of the dip. He was just getting his stuff out of his pack when Fili and Kili ploughed right into him, causing all three of them to fall to the ground.
Thorin turned around at the noise, drawing his sword as a precaution. When he saw what they had gotten themselves into, he laughed lightly and sheathed his sword, walking towards them and pulling them off of each other.
Poor Bilbo had been stuck at the bottom of the pile, but could not help but laugh along with the others. It had been a good day for him, even considering that all of them were probably on the brink of starvation, but other than that he felt like he could do anything.
Thorin came over to Bilbo, offering him his hand. Bilbo took it, albeit a bit shyly, and allowed Thorin to help him back up. They stood there awkwardly for a moment, looking into each other's eyes.
Suddenly Thorin cleared his throat and turned away from Bilbo, finding a spot for him to place his things, ending the moment.
Bilbo huffed in frustration, Thorin was a difficult person to read, one moment they had a connection, and the next… Well, Bilbo felt that they were worlds apart. Bilbo sighed, and then turned to reorganize his belongings, which had been scattered during the incident.
"Alright, Fili, go get the firewood, Bilbo, I want you to see if you can find something decent for cooking in that bag of yours, I'm going to see if I can hunt anything down." Thorin commanded, acting the part of a true commander.
"What should I do uncle?" Kili asked, realizing that he had been forgotten. "Anything that needs taking care of?
Thorin growled at his nephew. "Don't ask stupid questions Kili, you are to look after Frodo, seeing as to how he has taken quite a liking to you."
Kili just stood there for a moment, expecting Thorin to suddenly hand Frodo over. "Well uncle? Where is he?" He asked after a while.
Thorin glared at him. "Do you mean to tell me that you don't know where he is?" He asked.
Bilbo perked up, realizing what was going on. "Where is Frodo?" He asked, looking around to see where Frodo could have possible gotten himself off to.
Thorin and Kili both looked at each other, while Bilbo looked between the two. Fili meanwhile just sat there looking confused. Where could Frodo possibly have gone?
Bilbo was really starting to panic now, he couldn't see Frodo anywhere. And now that he thought about it, he had not seen Frodo leave the camp with them, always assuming that he was with one of the others.
Fili and Kili had been of the same mind, thinking that maybe Frodo had fallen asleep inside of Thorin's coat. Thorin on the other hand, could not believe that they had been so irresponsible.
"We must turn back! Frodo is probably scared to death out there all on his own!" Bilbo cried after a moment's silence. Fili and Kili nodded in agreement.
"I agree, but I don't think that it would be wise for all of us to leave. I say that only one of us ought to accompany Bilbo on the way." Thorin said, he was finding it rather difficult to keep the uneasiness out of his voice. How could he have been so stupid to not have done a head count first? And if anything happened to Frodo… Well, he preferred not to think about it.
The sun was starting to go down, but Frodo wasn't worried. He was in a part of the forest that he recognized now, having passed this way before.
Of course Frodo was oblivious the dangers that came out as soon as the sun set, it all just felt like a grand adventure to him. But he was starting to feel lonely, and there was a chill that was starting to creep it's way towards his bones.
Frodo quickened his pace. Was that howling he had heard? Or was it simply just the wind? Of course Frodo knew about wolves, for his father had mentioned them often in the stories that he told Frodo when he was a young Hobbit. Or at least younger then he was now.
XXX
The sun had set completely by the time Frodo had finally managed to find his way back to the cavern. But the sight that greeted him was not a pleasant one. For as Frodo entered the cavern, he could see that it had been completely abandoned, and that his friends were already long gone.
This frightened him a bit, what was he supposed to do now? He had no idea where any of them could possibly have gone, or why they had left without him in the first place.
He could hear the sound of wolves howling in the wind again, but they didn't sound like big wolves. Definitely not the howl of a warg. According to Bilbo wargs had a howl that made the flesh want to peel of your boned, that they were the most terrifying things to be caught with on a cold night.
That's what Frodo was thinking about now, even knowing that these wolves sounded quite unlike that. But the thought still frightened him.
Suddenly a branch snapped, causing Frodo to run towards the back of the cavern. Before he got there though, he tripped over his own feet, falling and cutting his hand on a rock. Then there was silence.
Frodo was truly afraid now, afraid of what unknown things were lurking just beyond the entrance to the cavern. He was clutching his hand to his chest, trying to stop the bleeding.
Suddenly there was the sound of footsteps, but they weren't heavy enough to belong to Kili or the others. He looked towards the entrance, hoping to see something familiar. But his wishes were not granted.
There was a small fox standing at the entrance of the cavern. It's eyes were cross, and it had an odd look about it, like something was wrong with it. It started sniffing the air, moving slowly in Frodo's general direction. Frodo shrunk back, trying to hide from the fox, not knowing what it would do if it found him there.
Suddenly it's head popped up, it was looking straight at him. Frodo tensed, hoping with all hope that it wouldn't move any closer towards him.
Bilbo was running as fast as he could, having been unable to wait any longer. They had taken a while deciding who would be coming with Bilbo to retrieve Frodo.
While they had been arguing, Bilbo had started to feel very uneasy about the whole situation. He had finally come to a point where he couldn't bring himself to wait any longer. Night was almost apon them, and Bilbo knew full well what kind of creatures lurked in the darkness. He shuddered at the thought of Frodo being out there all on his own, cold and afraid.
He had waited until they were all in heated discussion, until the moment came when he was sure they wouldn't notice that he was gone until a good long while later.
So now he was running, he was almost at their campsite from the previous night. So far he had seen no sign of his nephew, and was starting to worry. 'What if Frodo had been captured my orcs?' He thought, then shook his head. 'Don't think thoughts like that Bilbo, I'm sure that he's fine, Frodo is a brave lad…' And he let the thought trail off, thinking of how bravery can often be mistaken for stupidity.
Bilbo had finally reached the cavern, he paused for a moment, needing to catch his breath. He had never run so fast and far in his life! He took out his sword, sting, and checked to see if any orcs were near. His sword was not glowing, so he knew that if anything had happened, goblins most certinaly had not been involved, unless they were already long gone.
Suddenly a branch snapped, causing him to whip his head back to see what had caused the sudden noise. Brandishing his sword. He relaxed a bit when he noticed that it was just a fox, and lowered his sword slightly. Then he noticed that something was off about the creature that was standing no more than four feet in front of him.
Foxes where of a wondering sort, and where often excited to explore new things. But this one was standing there, very still, not even flinching when Bilbo took a step forward towards it. In fact it was standing so still that Bilbo could have sworn it was a statue, except for the fact that it had not been there before.
Suddenly the fox started moving about in an odd manner. It was taking very small steps forward, it's hind legs being dragged behind slightly. It was waving its snout back and forth through the air, searching for a smell that for all Bilbo knew wasn't even there. Suddenly the fox snapped, jumping upwards in the air with a growl, then landing awkwardly.
Bilbo stopped moving, seeing that something was most definitely wrong with the animal in front of him. Bilbo turned his head, checking to see if anything had snuck up on him while he had been distracted. Noting that there was nothing, he turned around to look at the fox.
But the fox was gone, having moved further into the entrance of the cavern. Bilbo stood there, deciding on whether or not he should go in and find out what it was up to. He had decided against it, and was about to turn back when he heard another snap, and then a cry.
He knew that voice. "Frodo!" He called, and ran into the cavern, brandishing his sword as he went, fearing the worst.
Thorin was pacing madly around the camp, anger burning up inside him. How could Bilbo have been so stupid? Leaving without saying anything like that. What if something dreadful were to happen, and none of them were there to protect him. Thorin understood what had caused Bilbo to leave in such a hurry. In fact he would have done the same thing if it had been Fili or Kili that had been left behind, even knowing full well that they were capable of taking care of themselves.
Fili and Kili watched their uncle, wondering what was going through his head. It had been awful when they had first realized that Bilbo was missing, because Thorin had gone mad with anger. He had calmed down considerably. Though the two of them were afraid to speak, afraid that they might anger their uncle even further.
That's when Kili said something beyond stupid. "Uncle, why don't you just go after him if you're worried that much-"
Kili was pulled back by his brother, who placed a hand over his mouth. But it was too late. Thorin turned to face the young dwarves, his eyes burning with anger and annoyance. "And why, pray, should I do that?" He waited for a moment, and without hearing a reply, he continued.
"Why should I be bothered to follow after him, when it was his own stupid choice to go out there alone!" He stopped pacing now, but was simply turning on the spot. "All that he needed to do was wait for a few simple moments, and one of us could have gone with him!"
Fili let go of his brother, knowing that he wouldn't bother mentioning anything to Thorin at the moment. The two of them just sat there, watching their uncle, and listening to his rant. The two of them couldn't help but smile knowingly, knowing that there was more to the situation then Thorin was letting on.
Thorin obviously cared about Bilbo, very much. And they knew what Thorin was thinking, that if anything happened to Bilbo on this journey, he would be the one to blame.
It had been Thorin who had wanted to bring Bilbo with him to Erebor since the beginning, but had kept his thoughts to himself, not being able to face rejection after all that the company had been through. And he had regretted it ever since. For the two years that he had been king, he had always wanted to go and visit the hobbit, but there was never enough time since they were in the midst of rebuilding their new kingdom. He had made several new acquaintances, including one female that had nearly caused him to forget his love for the hobbit that had tunneled its way into his heart those years ago.
Eventually he had made up his mind to go and bring Bilbo back with him, not being able to stand it any longer. For had almost forgot, and he was determined never to forget again.
He certainly wasn't forgetting now. He had finished his rant, and with a last sigh he went and settled himself by the fire, telling his nephews to sleep and that he would keep watch. For Thorin didn't think that he would be able to sleep again until he knew that the two hobbits had been found safe and alive. In truth Thorin wanted so badly to chase after Bilbo, but thought that Bilbo would feel incompetent if he did. For even hobbit's have their pride. So he had stayed behind.
Eventually Thorin dozed off, still thinking about what he would say to Bilbo once he came back. If he came back at all.