Chapter 6 – Homeland?
Early the next morning, and all throughout the next day, the dwarves seemed to be more protective of the two humans' in their company. If even one stranger even glanced their way, the company would glare at that person until they turned their gaze elsewhere. Though Kili and Fili were the most protective of the girls, always sticking by their side any chance they got. And if Kili and Fili were stuck doing something, however, Bilbo was by the girl's side.
This surprised Elle and Chari greatly, as he had hardly spoken two words to the girls, save the greeting when they first met. They left Bree that night, quietly when everyone else was asleep. They rode for two more days, similar like the first few of their journey. They rode all day, and found a place to set up camp at night.
On the second night, Chari had been retelling a story about how as a child she and Elle would take sticks, and fight each other in their backyard, pretending to be mythical creatures with magical powers.
"I remember that! You always demanded that you play the heroine, leaving me to play the evil visear. Remember when Papa would always break up our fights over who got to play what?" Elle said, sitting cross legged beside Kili and her sister a few feet away from the fire with the others of the company as Bombur cooked the meal for the night.
The company was watching the exchange with attentive eyes, having wanted to know more about the girls for quite a while.
Chari nodded, getting a sad look in her eyes, but gave a small smile.
"Yea, I do. Although, you made a very good evil visear, if I do say so myself." Chari said, giggling slightly at Elle's glare, though she knew she was teasing.
"Oh hush!" Elle says, smiling as she lightly shoves her sisters arm playfully. Chari giggles.
"What's a 'Papa'?" Ori asks, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled on the group. He was one of the smallest of the group, and always was very inquisitive.
"Papa is what we call our dad." Chari said, her gaze saddening slightly.
"What about you, Ori? Didn't you play any make-believe games when you were younger?" Elle asks, wanting to steer the conversation away from the topic of their parents.
"Not really." Ori replied, shrugging.
"Dinner's ready!" Bombur called from the fire.
Immediately, the entire group scrambled up, practically shoving each other out of the way to get their first. After everyone had been given their food, they all sat around the fire.
Bilbo had noticed Chari's sad look, but didn't comment on it.
Instead, he commented on the food like a proper Hobbit.
"This is quite delicious for what it is. Simple, yet filling. Very enjoyable."
Of course, Bofur found this amusing. "It's the same thing ye had two days ago."
"Well, perhaps I thought its quality was worth mentioning again," Bilbo informed him.
Turning to the other Ur brother sitting a few feet away, he gave him a thankful smile.
"Thank you for the stew, Master Bombur. Truly – I could have this for weeks and likely never tire of it."
Elle and Chari choked mid bite, trying not to laugh. Several of the Company wound up chuckling too, confusing the poor Baggins.
"I'm being honest. A Hobbit would never joke about his food," Bilbo said, looking a little upset, though internally he was glad to see a smile on the girl's faces again.
"Oh, we know, lad. We know," Bofur told him with a grin. "That's what makes it all the better."
"Let's just say you'll have plenty of time to appreciate the fare," explained Nori when Bilbo had still not ceased in his puzzling.
"Much worse things we could be stuck eatin', though."
"Yes, I agree," Dori piped up. "You could be doing the cookin'."
"Hold on there now! I make a fine brisket, if I may toot my own horn for a moment," said Nori, puffing his chest out.
From beside him, Ori bobbed his head in concurrence, causing the other to grow even smugger. Dori sighed at his siblings and brought up a time that Nori made half the neighbors ill from a dinner party.
"Do ya cook much, Miss Field's?" Bofur asked Chari and Elle, who had finished their food fairly quickly, and watched the Ri brother's interaction with smiles on their faces.
Elle shook her head, while Chari nodded.
"No, most definitely not. Chari's the cook. She can cook just about anything, though her waffles are to die for." Elle explains, moaning a little at the end to express her love of her sister's waffles.
"Aw, thanks hermana." Chari says, ruffling her sister's hair. Elle just rolls her eyes, fixing her hair with a smile.
"Really? Think you'd be willing to teach us? I'm sure there's a few interesting ones, including the 'waffles', considering." Bofur replied, lightly shrugging his shoulders.
"Considering?" Elle asks, beginning to sound hostile, though she isn't upset with him at all.
"No offense," he said, "but if you yerself are so strange, with such odd belongins' and clothes and demeanor, I can only imagine what food in your world is like."
Elle and Chari nod.
"True, we do have much more…. Greasy foods. Not particularly our favorites." Chari says, shaking her head.
"Your food is one of the most delicious ones we've had in month's." Elle offers with a fake smile, though the small reference to their living situation was lost on the dwarves.
Though Chari heard it and gave Elle a small fake smile.
"You mean there's no food you'll miss, being away from home?" Kili asked from Elle's right, surprised.
Fili leaned forward, stretching one leg out as he said, "We've only just begun and already I miss the way Amad could fix a steak pudding."
Elle kept her face neutral, though both her and Chari were disgusted and confused at the same time.
Chari's look of disgust wasn't missed, and Fili raised an eyebrow, asking, "Have you never heard of steak pudding? It's very common amongst… well, Dwarves."
He seemed to realize then, why it sounded so odd to her.
Chari heard Bilbo mutter something that sounded like,
"Even Hobbits have never heard of such a thing… Steak pudding…?"
His monologue and subsequent expression made her giggle.
"Unless she's been around other Dwarves before, it's no wonder she's never heard of it. Men ain't got the taste," Nori added. "It happens to be one of my favorites."
From the little group off to the side, Balin suddenly seemed intrigued and joined the discussion.
"Well, Miss Field's … Have you been around many dwarrow?"
Chari shook her head in a definite no, wondering why this warranted interest. Elle also was confused as to the sudden change in topic, and knew her and Chari had to tread lightly. A slight shift of their vision revealed Thorin to be watching as well, probably stowing information away for future inquiries, while Gandalf beside him was not nearly as tense in his observation. They did their best to disregard the hawk eyes of the King.
"Are we the first you've ever met?" Kili asked eagerly.
With Elle's nod and a hum of assurance from Chari, a grin sprang to life and his eyes lit up like Elle had just handed him a plate of cookies. His brother was in a similar state, practically glowing in satisfaction at the news.
"In that case, we should work even harder to make a good impression," Fili said, grinning like a mad man.
Their preening was making the girls start to giggle at their enthusiasm.
"Do ye still have Dwarves back home though? Even if you've never met 'em?" Bofur questioned as he stood up and took their empty bowls to stack onto his.
He grabbed a few more from others who were finished, glancing back to Elle and Chari for a response. Bofur wasn't the only curious one though, and as the rest of the group waited, they grew nervous.
"Um, uh… see about that..." Chari started in a quiet voice, scratching the back of her head nervously.
Elle cut her sister off, knowing there was no beating around the bush.
"No, we haven't any dwarves in our home."
There were a few noises of distress at this – a murmur from Gloín, some incoherent whine from Ori, and an unrestrained "What?" from Oín.
"There are no Dwarves where you come from, whatsoever?" Balin asked, disbelieving, as the Company grew silent.
Elle and Chari shook their heads resolutely, which earned another curious stare from Thorin. He looked like someone had just insulted him.
"Just haven't gone far enough out of your home to find 'em, is all," Dwalin said boredly.
Elle and Chari shook their heads resolutely.
"Trust me, there aren't any dwarves." Elle said, rolling her eyes, a little irritated that no one believed them.
There were mumbles again, though Dwalin wasn't the least bit bothered by their irritation.
There was a shuffle from Kili, as he sat up straighter.
"Well that – that just doesn't make any sense! How can there not be Dwarves in your world?"
The poor prince looked as if he were a child who just learned Santa wasn't real. Elle gave him a genuine, sad smile, not sure how to reassure him.
"So… do you at least have Hobbits? Back home, I mean?" Bilbo asked tentatively, like he was afraid of what the answer might be.
"No, we have no Hobbits, sorry." Chari says, sounding sad that she had to tell Bilbo such news, though it truly wasn't that sad for her.
His round little nose did some kind of twitch as he sniffed, frowning. Bilbo thought for a minute before asking, "Well then – what about Elves?"
There were a few grumbles amongst the Company, mostly along the lines of, "Why would ye even want to know?" or "Blasted pixies," mixed with a few profane things.
Elle and Chari shook their heads.
"Nope." Elle said, biting her lip. There was troupe-wide glee at the exclamation.
"What about Dragons?" Ori chimed in, then glanced over to Gandalf, "Or Wizards?"
"Orcs?" Dori wondered as well. "Goblins?"
When these were all answered with negatives, a short laugh rang out from Gloín as he said, "Aside from the not havin' dwarrow part, it sounds like paradise to me."
"I think I could handle the Men just fine," Dwalin said, seeming to believe their words a bit more, "if it meant no Orcs or Dragons, and especially none 'o them pointy-eared bastards."
Gandalf heaved a sigh, choosing to puff on his pipe and pointedly ignore this conversation, whereas Bilbo… Just, chose to be Bilbo.
"I find that more than a little offensive, Master Dwalin, considering we Hobbits share that particular trait," he started up, and Elle and Chari cringed as he continued, "And besides, Elves can't be all that bad."
Elle face palmed at Bilbo's naivety. Chari jabbed Bilbo in the ribs slightly from where he sat on her left, though this didn't seem to deter him. He just discreetly rubbed his side as he continued speaking, having no filter whatsoever.
"I've read many books about them. While I've never had the pleasure of meeting one, they're supposedly wise and clever, but also generous beings," Bilbo said, like some kind of Animal Planet host gushing facts about giraffes.
All of the company seemed to be steaming at the ears. As the Hobbit stared halfway skyward with a hand on his chin, trying to remember a certain quote about Elves by some unknown author, the girls glanced around. Most of the Dwarves resonated with a flaming hatred, though some of the younger ones were just scrunching their faces in disgust. Thorin, however, looked ready to kick the Hobbit to the curb and find a different burglar. Or simply strangle him. Either way, it didn't seem to be a good outlook for the hobbit in the future.
Elle, panicked, knowing if Bilbo kept talking it would only end in disaster. Then, she got an idea.
"…though it may have been in the volume prior to that, there was another section which – wha – mUGHMHUMPF?!" Bilbo huffed indignantly, as a hand was slapped over his mouth. Elle had moved to kneel behind him, slapping a hand over his mouth to get him to shut up. With a glance in Chari's direction, Chari licked her finger and shoved it in his ear. After Elle thought he had stopped talking, she moved her hand, discreetly wiping in on her leg.
He recoiled instantly.
"Why that… was… quite horrible!" Bilbo exclaimed in between rubbing his ear, desperately trying rid it of leftover spit.
"Might I ask what that was about?"
Elle and Chari just glared pointedly at him, crossing their arms over their chests. The Hobbit looked around to see if anyone else witnessed their insanity or if he was just going crazy, and the girls watched his expression change slowly from befuddlement to awareness.
"Did I… say something?" Bilbo asked carefully.
"Of course, I've heard there's a history of tension between your races, but I never – "
"Master Baggins," Thorin began loudly, cutting the other off with purpose.
He stood and clasped his hands behind his back, in a similar fashion to what he did in Bag End while playing vulture. A few deliberate steps were taken towards them as Thorin stared at something unseen, and continued,
"You have joined this mission to reclaim Erebor from a dragon. Naturally, this means there must've been a day when said dragon first overtook the mountain."
Bilbo was completely silent at this point, as were the rest of the Company. Elle moved to sit beside Kili again, who grabbed ahold of her hand out of reflex, and lightly squeezed it, as if to reassure himself she was fine.
"Your books and your collections could not have portrayed the Fall of Erebor with any amount of accuracy," Thorin said, blunt and steely-eyed.
"Had they done so, you would not hold such a high opinion of Elves."
Enraptured at the intensity of the King, Bilbo waited, now thankfully keeping his literary prowess to himself.
A long pause. Then the inevitable.
"Tell me – are you familiar with the name Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm?"
Bilbo had been attentive, if a bit concerned, as Thorin spoke of the day Smaug took the mountain. It was plain to see from the faces of the Company that this story didn't get any easier to hear or tell over time, and the previously good-humored atmosphere disappeared in the wake of Thorin's bitter words. This was an ordeal that several of them had been alive for, and that the younger ones had heard about since the day they were born. It wasn't just a story, at this point, and that made it all the worse.
Even Elle and Chari felt awful hearing this, feeling the somberness of the story. Elle lightly squeezed Kili's hand, as a way to reassure him.
"Thranduil turned his back on my people in their time of need. When we were suffering, he looked on without remorse, denying even the scarcest of aid," Thorin growled. "No help came from the Elves that day, nor any day since."
Elle blinked at the recognizable words. Thorin continued, telling the Hobbit of how they had no one to depend on besides their own, how they had to make their own way in the wilds, as Chari pondered the familiarity of his sentence.
Had Bilbo directly quoted Thorin in his book? Had this tale stuck in his mind so vividly, that he remembered those exact words after all those years, and put them in?
Feels came to sucker-punch the girls in the gut, on top of the already disheartening story of Erebor.
"So, forgive me if I cannot appreciate the wisdom and generosity of Elves," Thorin finished as he stopped pacing, and glared at the Hobbit, "for I have seen none of it."
Bilbo was sitting quietly, and was still doing so long after the story had ended and the order was given for sleep, Thorin now in a right awful mood. Elle let Bilbo be for a few moments as she organized her bedroll beside Kili and Chari's out of habit.
No doubt, our Shire friend was probably feeling like a bit of a dunce, but it wasn't really his fault. How was he supposed to know just how personal this was for Thorin? Hobbits didn't have gruesome stuff like that. They were tiny folk who smoked pipes on their porches, and had vegetable growing contests, and ate eleven times a day. It wasn't like they could Google catastrophes and see the headline, 'Worst Elf King ever? Ereborians think he is! Read more about Thranduil's bad neighbor skills here.'
If Bilbo had known any history about The Lonely Mountain, Elle doubted he would've been so confused during the meeting at Bag End. Even if he'd read something about it in passing, then like Thorin said, it couldn't have been very accurate.
The Hobbit had a fascination with Elves, so whatever his books contained was probably geared towards an Elven bias, which was not the best information to have bouncing around your brain in this Company.
He was still sitting, staring ahead thoughtfully with a slight frown when Elle came back over. Everyone else was pretty much done getting their sleep gear laid out and were settling down, save for Gloín, who had first watch. She crouched beside the Hobbit, lightly touching his shoulder to snap him out of it. This worked, even if he did jump about a foot in the air, and looked to see who gave him a spook.
"Ah – yes, right, sorry," Bilbo murmured, upon realizing the camp status. "Thank you, Miss Field's."
As he wandered away to prepare for bed, Elle returned to her own, sitting down beside Kili and Chari and adjusting her blankets one more time. She glanced over to Bilbo and pouted as he set up farther from the Dwarves than usual. Not half a mile out in the wilderness or anything, but just enough for her to notice and feel mildly upset about.
Chari, noticing her sisters feeling, quietly whispered to her in Spanish.
"¿Quieres pedirle que venga aquí?" Chari asked.
"No pedir, la demanda. ¿Quiero ayudar?" Elle asked, hopeful.
Chari nodded. "Por supuesto. Vamonos."
Elle stood from her position beside Kili, and walked over to the hobbit, who was standing beside his recently rolled out bed roll. Elle grabbed the hobbit by the arm, and began to drag him over to where Chari stood. Elle let go of his arm, and began to stroll back over towards his stuff, gathering it up in her arms. She could faintly hear Bilbo's protests as she neared the two, Chari having grabbed Bilbo's arm so he wouldn't stop Elle.
"what are you- this is not a good idea. Not at all." Bilbo protested, glancing between Elle, Chari, and a certain steely eyed dwarf across the camp. Elle looked over to the person he'd paused on, and wasn't surprised to see Thorin sitting there. No doubt he was still thinking about Erebor and Elves and shit all over again, and that was probably not the most enjoyable, but this was just unnecessary drama. Bilbo didn't know about Thranduil's ass-buttery and now he did. Ta-da, problem solved.
Thorin realized Elle was staring at him and met her concerned look with the same agitated expression that seemed to come pre-installed.
She quirked a troubled eyebrow at him, wondering what he thought pushing his would-be Burglar away was going to accomplish, which only earned her a pair of narrowed blue eyes. Thorin wasn't exactly thrilled by her resistance to the group thought process, and evidently lumped her into the 'ignorant little girl' category, if she was reading that face right.
With a huff, Elle broke eye contact with Thorin, and continued on her mission. Chari let go of Bilbo's arm once Elle had finished laying out Bilbo's stuff exactly how he had it before she moved it. Elle settled down beside Kili, Chari setting on her other side. Then they waited expectantly, and a bit creepily, for him to lie down.
He paused for a long moment and stared at them, wiggling his fingers in that odd manner that signaled uncertainty, while Bofur chuckled.
"They seem a bit determined. I'd just go with it, if I were you, lad," the Dwarf said tiredly.
Of course, Bilbo went with it. Hesitantly, and a little worried about King Broods-A-Lot, but he still went with it. The girls smiled as he got settled, feeling satisfied.
A light snickering caught Elle's attention before she could lie down entirely, and she turned her head to see Fili wiping his ear quickly, glaring at his brother. Kili, the source of the laughter, was immediately pushed to the ground. Fili then proceeded to cover his finger in saliva and stick in his brother's ear, repaying him for the wet-willy he'd obviously just received.
Elle stifled her giggles, finding that most of the company had fallen asleep, until Kili did the same thing to her.
"Ugh! Kili!" Elle groaned, wiping out her ear with the edge of her shirt allowing Kili, Fili, her sister, and Bilbo to see her stomach in the diminishing firelight.
There were three long scars stretched horizontally across her abdomen, and a few other cross-crossing it, like someone took a sharp knife and decided to play tic tac toe. There were two long vertical scars that were white, clearly being the oldest out of the red, pink, and varying shades of color the scars gave off. The two long scars disappeared beneath her leggings as it wrapped around her hip, and beneath her bra as it wrapped around her shoulder.
Chari bit her lip, knowing exactly what caused the wide scars that marred her sister's body. Kili and Fili let out identical gasps, while Bilbo just stared.
Elle, not realizing what they saw, just looked at them oddly, until she realized what she'd done. Shoving her shirt down quickly, she wrapped her sweater around her, hoping to disappear, though she knew it was impossible.
"Wha – What happened?" Bilbo asked hesitantly, glancing between Elle, her stomach, and her sister, who had also crossed her arms over herself, as if to hide similar injuries.
"I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind." Elle whispered, feeling tears prick her eyes at the memories. Elle glanced up at Kili and Fili, wanting to gauge their reactions, and she wished she hadn't.
Kili looked like someone had kicked his puppy, then threw it in a shredder. He looked so heartbroken, but also a tad angry. Whether at her or whom caused her scars, Elle wasn't sure of. Fili looked so… upset. It was like a mix of angry, sad, remorseful, and curious, though Elle couldn't be sure.
Without another word, Elle curled up on her bed roll, and rolled over so she faced her sister and Bilbo, though she buried her face in her arms, hiding the tears that slowly begin to roll down her face. Chari followed suit, however, she gave Kili and Fili a small smile, though she was sure it looked more like a grimace.
The playful night took a turn that Elle had been hoping to avoid. She was praying that they wouldn't ask about it the next morning, knowing she couldn't handle it if they did.
Across the fire, another pair of icy blue eyes watched Elle as she curled up on her bedroll after accidently showing her friends her scars. Thorin merely stared at her, his curiosity growing.
How had she come by these injury's, if they have no evil being's in their world? What could have left such a mark? He wondered.
Thorin finally shut his eyes, though his mind was too awake to sleep right away. He knew there was more than they were telling, but this simply confirmed his suspicions. As he began to fall into an uneasy sleep, he knew that they'd have to talk.
As Chari and Elle fell into an uneasy sleep, Bilbo not long after, Kili and Fili whispered quietly to each other.
"Do you have any idea what that was about?" Fili asked Kili, knowing his brother was closer to Elle then he. Kili shook his head, looking troubled.
"No, but I have suspicions. I just hope I'm wrong." Kili mutters the last bit to himself. Fili looks over at his two new companions, and sighs a little.
"Me to, nadadîth. Come, we'll need our rest for the morrow. We can ask them in the morning." Fili says, giving his younger brother a smile. Both brothers then lay down on their bed rolls, and fall asleep quickly.
Spanish
1. 1. "¿Quieres pedirle que venga aquí?" - You want to ask him to come over here?
2. "No pedir, la demanda. ¿Quiero ayudar?" - Not ask, demand. You want to help?
3. "Por supuesto. Vamonos." - Of course. Let's go.
Khuzdul
1. Amad - Mother
2. nadadîth - Younger brother
