Daughter of Destruction chapter 9
The days past without problems and to everyone's joy no more rain fell upon them either. It wasn't until the last night of their journey to the Shire, that the nightmare returned. Farrah had been wrapped up in Fili's arms sleeping peacefully when she began to feel the heat from the dragon's flames. The fire burning her flesh from the bone. She began screaming from the terror and the pain and she could not help but cry out.
Everyone jumped up from their bedrolls and grabbed for their weapons. Fili held tightly to Farrah and tried to wake her but her eyes were closed tightly as she screamed for help. Dwalin reached his daughter and shook her begging her to open her eyes but his words too were ignored.
"What is wrong with her?" Fili cried out his eyes wide with fear as he looked to his uncle for help.
"It's just a nightmare," Dwalin said. He had been through these before.
"Then why will she not awaken?" Thorin demanded to know. H wouldn't admit it but she was beginning to freak him out.
Dwalin took his daughter from Fili's arms and cradled her in his own. He rocked her gently whispering how much he loved her in her ear and how much she needed to come back to him.
The others just looked on in awe to see such a fierce warrior being so gentle with his daughter. Soon her screams stopped and she opened her eyes and began to cry.
"Was it the bad one again?" Dwalin asked her. There were several nightmares that plagued her but only one was enough to send her into such a frenzy. She nodded and sobbed in his arms. "She is alright," he told the others and sent them all back to their bedrolls. He held her until she cried herself back to sleep.
Fili and Kili sat and watched it all unfold before their eyes. Neither one knowing what to say. Dwalin motioned for Fili to move the blanket so he could lay her back down on the bedroll.
"She'll be fine now," he said to the young lad and nodded at Fili to take over. Fili laid down next to her and pulled her closer to him as he wrapped his arm around her. She was breathing softly and seemed at peace despite the turmoil just a short while ago.
Dwalin returned to his own bedroll and Thorin asked him about Farrah. "Is she alright?"
Dwalin nodded and sighed as he laid down. "Some of them get really bad. I just hope this quest will find her peace."
Thorin looked at the other dwarves and the wizard and told them all to return to their slumber. He would be taking the next watch.
Farrah opened her eyes and found herself looking right into a pair of blue ones. "What are you doing?" she asked, startled to find Fili only inches from her face. He was so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. "I'm watching you like your father told me to do." Then he laughed and pulled her up to a sitting position. "Are you alright after last night? You gave everyone such a fright."
Farrah looked down not wanting to meet his eyes. She felt embarrassed at her nightmares but it was completely beyond her control. "It is horrible."
"Tell me about it," he coaxed. "Sometimes mother tells us if we have nightmares it is good to talk about them."
Farrah looked back up at him. "I'm on fire and burning, just like my mother did. I can feel the dragon's fire melting my body to the bones."
Fili felt a chill go up his body at her words. They were painful to hear. She noticed his reaction and changed the subject. "But they are gone now. I am fine. It is just a nightmare."
They ate a quick breakfast and got back on their way. They were only a few hours from the hobbit's home and they hoped to take a day to relax and restock their supplies before starting out for the Lonely Mountain.
"Now when we get there," Gandalf spoke up, "allow me to do the talking. We don't want to scare the little fellow."
They received odd glances from the hobbits they passed and soon Gandalf stopped in front of a quaint little door built in the side of the hill. Farrah watched Gandalf get down from his horse and knock on the door. The door opened after a few moments and Farrah saw her first hobbit. He was a small fellow even she had a few inches on his height. She noticed the kind look on his face when he saw the wizard and then it changed to a puzzled one when he saw the group behind.
"Ahh Bilbo Baggins," Gandalf said. "So good to see you again."
"Yes Gandalf, it is good to see you too," Bilbo replied not taking his eyes off of the motley group of dwarves that were with him. "What is going on?"
Gandalf gave the hobbit a sly grin and simply said, "How would you like to go on an adventure?"
Farrah sat in the hobbit's dining room between Fili and Kili at the large table loaded with food. Everyone was digging in and feasting as Gandalf explained their visit to the hobbit. She had to say, Bilbo looked less than thrilled with his company.
"You are going to slay a dragon?" the hobbit repeated. Not sure he had heard the wizard correctly.
"Well, not personally, that is up to Miss Farrah over there. She will slay the dragon. We will just be accompanying her." Bilbo looked at the she dwarf and smiled at her. Farrah gave him a little wave in return.
"And you want me to go … why?" Bilbo asked.
Gandalf took a hit on his pipe and let out a few fire rings. "Because I promised your mother Belladonna Took that I would not allow you to sit idly and waste your life away reading adventure books when the real adventure is out there Bilbo, in the real world."
"Will there be any real danger then? I mean will I have to actually go near the dragon?"
Gandalf just chuckled. "We will rest up for a day and then be on our way in this quest," Gandalf said. Bilbo looked over the group of dwarves who were merrily eating and drinking in his home. He did not know any of them but they seemed like a lively bunch. Perhaps it would be fun to journey with them?
"I will think it over," Bilbo finally said as he saw one of the dwarves grab his mother's 100 year old plates. "Don't use those!" he cried out as he went to grab it from the dwarf.
"These?" Kili said as he tossed the plate into the air and caught it easily again. "Fili catch!" he yelled out and tossed the plate at his brother. Fili stood up and caught it effortlessly before tossing it onto Bofur.
Farrah just watched as the hobbit's eyes widened every time a plate went sailing through the air. "Guys," she laughed. "Stop teasing him."
Surprisingly they listened to her and everyone settled back down again. Soon the group began gathering around the hobbit's fireplace in the parlor area. Farrah felt it was a very cozy home that he had and she was happy to be able to sleep indoors for a change. Bilbo was fretting about their sleeping arrangements. He had three guest rooms but way more guests than rooms. "Calm down Mr. Boggins!" Kili laughed. "We will be happy enough sleeping in a chair or on the floor."
"Miss Farrah there," Bilbo said as he pointed to the girl. "She can have this room over here." He moved to another one and said, "Half can sleep in here maybe. There is the bed but also a chaise and a chair. Oh and that big rug over there should be comfy enough."
"He frets too much," Thorin grunted as he smoked his pipe by the fire. Balin nodded his agreement. Once Bilbo was calmed down enough the room took on a somber mood. The group was tired from their journey and several went off to find a sleeping spot. Farrah yawned and stood up to excuse herself for the evening, heading into the room the hobbit had pointed to. Fili stood up to follow her but Dwalin stopped him by putting his hand out.
"Where you going?"
Fili took on a nervous look and Kili stood back to watch this unfold with a grin. "I was going to retire for the night." Fili said his voice shaking a little.
"That's my little girl in there."
Fili knew he was stuck now. He didn't think anything of it by following Farrah into the bedroom. They had been sleeping with each other since the first night of the journey. "I didn't think.. I mean. I wasn't going to.. well, you know.. " Fili stuttered. By now Kili was laughing so hard he was about to roll around on the floor.
"You thought what?" Dwalin growled. Thorin had an amused look on his face and when Fili looked to him for help he shook his head. "It is Dwalin's daughter Fili, you will have to deal with him."
Fili took a deep breath to calm himself down. "We have been sleeping .. by.. each other the whole way," he said choosing his words carefully with Dwalin's glare upon him. He noticed Dwalin's weapon wasn't far from his reach either.
"Aye, that might be true but it wasn't in a room by yourself or in a bed lad." The older dwarf refused to back down. He wasn't going to have his daughter's reputation spoiled.
Fili looked at the room Farrah had gone into one last time before nodded at Dwalin and going into the other room Bilbo had said to use. Kili followed him laughing all the way.
"Dwalin," Thorin snickered and shook his own head. "I think you scared the boy."
"Good," was all the older dwarf said as he laid back against the wall outside the door to the room his daughter was in. "It will keep him in line."
There were various snickers throughout the room and Farrah could hear them from where she was at. She had heard the whole thing unfold and even though she could not fault her father's actions, she was going to miss being in Fili's arms….
