AN:
Lobelia paces around Bag End. Her normally perfectly curled hair in vast disarray. In her hands crumpled and torn is a note. Now normally she didn't show this much anger to a mere piece of paper, she much prefered taking her brella to grabby gentlehobbits who thought that her dissolved marriage to Otho meant they could just touch her if they wanted to, this piece of paper had the unfortunate luck to be the bearer of bad news. Otho is watching her pace, worry is in his brown eyes.
"I'm sure he's fine Belia. Please calm down," Otho tries to soothe.
"Calm down!? You want me to calm down while Bilbo is out there with Gandalf. Are we thinking about the same to people? Bilbo is a trouble magnet!"
"Be that as he may, he is also a Baggins."
"A Baggins would have stayed home," Belia snipes with a sniff. Otho rolls his eyes.
"Fine. He is also a Took and Took's can take care of themselves."
"How can you be so calm!?"
"I'm not. I'm fuming. However, Bilbo is the Head of the Baggins family so I can't say too much. The joys of being the child of a younger son," Otho says drily, "Besides you've already written angry letters to both Rivendell and The Blue Mountains."
"You made them less angry."
Before Otho can retort a large black bird appears at the window and pecks at the glass.
"Belia darling, there is a raven at our window."
Lobelia opens the window letting the bird into the smial. It lands on her shoulder and sticks out its leg. Otho approaches slowly and takes the letter from it. A shrill trill of a bird song draws Lobelia's attention away from her ex-husband to see the rook she sent out earlier. It looks decidedly unimpressed with the raven on her shoulder. Behind her, Otho begins to chortle.
"It appears we are not the only ones with errant family. Princess Dis, the sister to one Thorin Oakenshield and likely co-conspirator in spiriting Bilbo away, says that her oldest brother came to the Shire to recruit a burglar-"
Lobelia lets out a squawk of affront on Bilbo's behalf.
"And her other- blind apparently- brother snuck out of the mountain and is wondering if maybe we have seen him. He's blond and has blue eyes."
Lobelia is still smarting over the perceived slight to Bilbo's honor pauses in her ranting.
"I think I heard some of the younger lasses talking about a blond dwarf."
"Then you better write her back. It seems she lacks an Otho to proofread her letters so she may enjoy battling wits."
"Oh, I will battle wits," Lobelia mutters under her breath.
Bilbo takes a deep breath and tries not to scream as the dwarrows around him start to toss food. One would think that princes would have better manners but no! Frerin is throwing food right along with his nephews and Thorin is allowing it! After Gandalf had released his indignation at being called a hobbit snatcher Elrond had ridden up and made a dramatic entrance and now Bilbo is in this hell.
A hand starts to snake toward his salad so without thinking he smacks it with his fork.
"Unlike you, I am enjoying my dinner. Feel free to throw Ori's," he says not looking up from his bowl.
"My apologies, Bilbo," Frerin says and when Bilbo looks up he can see the sincerity in Frerin's face. Of course, that is when someone bumps into Frerin's chair knocking him into Bilbo. Their lips smash together and they both freeze before pulling apart and laughing awkwardly.
