Chapter 10
Bilbo awoke the next morning and smiled at Ris who was stroking his head. "Good your up it took ages to wake you, cause I didn't want to make the baby sad." She said and Bilbo smiled at his daughter.
"So what can I do for you, my little gem?" He asked her and she grinned.
"That's what Daddy calls me, silly Papa."
"Just because its what Daddy calls you, doesn't mean your Papa can't call you that too." Bilbo said and tickled her, she squirmed and started laughing. "Oh no what will the brave girl do now that the dreaded dancing fingers of death have attacked."
"The axes be upon you!" His daughter said and tickled him in response, soon they were both gasping for breath from laughing. He heard several groans and smiled.
"Hey baby, I think Daddy would love it if you jumped on him, while singing the gem song."
"The one that's really pretty, I like my gem classes the best!"
"Exactly." Bilbo said and chuckled, admittedly he didn't normally feel all that evil, but considering that Thorin had forced him out of the bed by smelling like an alehouse it was only justice.
"A is for Aconlite with a silver gleam its sure to be seen both day and night, B is for Beryl it shines when ever able, C is for Calcite if you think its yellow, you'd be right." And on it went as Bilbo held back sniggers and his little girl sang to her captive audience. Midway through the song, Fili dove out into the hall and to the bathroom. Bilbo felt a bit bad, for encouraging his little girl to yell out the gemstone song at the top of her lungs, but not so bad that he wanted his precious angel to stop. "Z is for Zircon, now my song is done, it was a lot of fun, so sing it with me and remember your stones right."
"That was very good gem, you learned the entire song and it was very well done." Thorin said and Bilbo smiled. "Very well done indeed, you spoke it like a true dwarrowdam, pretty soon you will be as fluent in khudzul as any lass your age." He smiled as his daughter beamed at the compliment. "Now let me get dressed and then we can go to breakfast together, before you start your lessons and Daddy has to go to the council."
"Okay Daddy." Ris said and Bilbo went into the same room as Thorin, as Ris went outside. Bilbo laid out his clothing for the day and smiled at Thorin.
"Sorry but I can't kiss you, not until you stop smelling like old ale, its all I can do to stay in the same room."
"Fair enough, I know how ale affects you, I'm sorry Bilbo."
"Its alright, I spent the night with our daughter, it was nice sleeping with her." He added and finished choosing an outfit that would fit, as Thorin stepped into the bath.
"I wish you could have slept beside me."
"You can once I give birth, or if you take a bath after indulging." Bilbo said and Thorin laughed.
"You aren't going to ask me not to indulge?"
"I wouldn't be so foolish as to suggest that you don't drink, because it makes me sick. You deserve to let go every once in a while, allowing yourself to have fun isn't something I'll ever criticize."
"Even if I make a drunken fool of myself?"
"I like you when your drunk, your much more silly then." Bilbo grinned at Thorin in the bath and decided that the lavender soap stopped the smell of alcohol enough for him to bathe with Thorin.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm getting in with you, I'd thought that would be obvious." Bilbo said with a grin, taking off his nightshirt and getting into the bath with Thorin. Seeing Thorin's appreciative gaze made his groin swell , as he looked Thorin into the eyes and grinned. "Even though you don't wish to penetrate me while I'm with child, doesn't mean we can't do other things."
"But I need to go to breakfast and the council, our daughter is waiting."
"What I have in mind won't take long." Bilbo grinned wickedly, before sucking at Thorin's dwarf hood. He chuckled as Thorin moaned in surprise and pleasure.
"Wha?" Thorin asked as Bilbo took him deeper into his mouth, rolling his balls in his hands. Thorin's head arched backward in pleasure making Bilbo smile. He continued to suckle, until a few moments later Thorin gave a cry and spilled his seed into Bilbo's mouth. Bilbo swallowed it and licked his lips, before turning to his one and kissing him deeper. "By Mahuel Bilbo what was that?"
"You mean dwarves don't suck the seed of their lovers?"
"I've never heard of what you preformed on me, we stay with our own kind, can I try that on you?" Thorin asked and Bilbo grinned.
"Thought you would never ask." Bilbo said and Thorin laughed, before hesitantly taking Bilbo's cock into his mouth. Bilbo groaned as Thorin sucked at him, he came fairly quick and chuckled as Thorin reared back in surprise, cum all over his face and beard. Bilbo smiled and gently wiped at his lover's face with a washcloth, before Thorin shampooed his hair and beard. Bilbo kissed him softly and gently and Throin ran his fingers through Bilbo's hair washing it gently. Bilbo sighed and leaned into Thorin's touch, as they finished bathing together. Bilbo dried off and put his clothes back on. "Where should I go to cut my hair, its getting a bit long."
"No one here would cut it for you, to have your hair short is a mark of shame within dwarven culture. Please don't cut it Bilbo."
"Soon enough its going to be puked on, pulled and smell like vomit constantly." Bilbo said. "Its hard enough getting little fingers away from my hair when its short, let alone long." He added and Thorin smiled at the thought.
"I'll help you braid it." Thorin offered and Bilbo nodded.
"Alright." Bilbo said and sat on a stool by the tub, he smiled as Thorin gently braided his hair into an incredibly complicated dwarven style. "You're going to have to unbraid this soon, if you don't I think its going to be horribly tangled."
"Of course I'll braid it again for you, any time you want." Thorin said and Bilbo kissed his cheek, before getting out of the bathroom and going to breakfast.
"You look very fine Bilbo." Gera said and Bilbo grinned.
"Thorin did it for me, I was going to cut it off because it was getting long, but apparently that's some form of dwarven taboo. I suppose that makes sense considering that whenever I got near Ris with the sheers she screamed bloody murder."
"You cut our daughter's hair?"
"Once and that was a fight to remember, after that I decided it wasn't worth the bother and if she wanted her hair long I'd just make sure that it didn't get horribly tangled."
"You cut my hair Papa?" Ris asked and frowned. "I don't remember it."
"You were a baby at the time sweetheart." Bilbo said.
"You cut a baby's hair?" Thorin demanded.
"Well I didn't know I was hurting her, did I? I only did it because she'd scream and fight me, every time I tried to brush it. However trying to cut it was worse." Bilbo frowned at the memory.
"Of course it would be, if someone kicked you in the balls, would you fight them Bilbo, or just sit still and take it."
"It hurts that badly?" Bilbo demanded.
"If its cut yes, but improper brushing hurts as well, dwarven hair is very sensitive." Thorin said and Bilbo frowned.
"I would never deliberately hurt our daughter."
"I know that Bilbo." Thorin assured him and Bilbo smiled. "I've nearly finished all my trials, I thought it better that you saw them the day of our wedding."
"That would be lovely Thorin."
"You just have ours left, you need to learn four dwarven lullabies Bilbo and you need to learn four hobbit ones."
"I can help with that!" Ris said and clapped her hands excitedly. "Papa sings them all the time to me and so does Daddy." Ris said and Bilbo smiled.
"I'd be glad to have your help Ris." Bilbo said. "Maybe we can sing them together to the baby, once it is born."
"Yes! I'm going to be the best big sister ever!" Ris said and everyone laughed. "Why's that funny."
"Sweetie it wasn't, we're all just glad your happy about the baby." Bilbo said. "Why don't you sing the flower song for Daddy?"
"Okay, darkness falls across the meadows, flowers close their petals, waiting for the sun to rise. Rest my child, rest my love, know that you are guarded by moon above. Sleep now my child, like the petals close your eyes, in the morning, like the sun you will rise. For now dear child, rest, in the morning, you can run through the meadow, brushing off the dew. Now it is night, so we must sleep till the sunlight." Ris said and smiled at Bilbo. "Did I sing it good Papa?"
"Very good." Bilbo said and then Thorin sang the song and Ris smiled at both of them.
"You got it right Daddy, now its Papa's turn. Rest my treasure, rest now my gem, so you might sparkle bright in morning light. The moon is high in the sky, all the world is asleep. Rest now my child and in my thoughts you will keep. I will watch over you as you sleep, my precious treasure, my greatest gift, rest for now. In the morning your eyes will lift, together we shall greet the day, for tonight while sun has gone and moon holds sway, rest."
"That was very beautiful Ris, but can you sing it in Westron, so Papa can understand it?" Bilbo asked.
"But Papa, you know khudzul."
"Just enough to talk to you sweetheart." Bilbo said and Ris repeated the song and Bilbo smiled at her.
"How are your lessons going?" Thorin asked.
"Slowly." Bilbo replied wishing to surprise his friends.
"You seemed to understand the vows well enough." Balin said.
"Gera helped me get them right." Bilbo replied and shrugged.
"It was fun, anytime you want to talk some, I'd love to. Now that Gimli is turning into a young dwarf, I find that I have a lot more time on my hands. We could also do some crafting together, if you aren't too busy with your garden project."
"I should actually start that fairly soon, so what do you have in store for us Nori? Dori?"
"Bilbo you will learn four dwarven dances and Thorin will learn four hobbit dances."
"That sounds like fun!" Bilbo said and grinned at Thorin. "We'll have to figure out time to practice."
"I'm taking the day off, I'm entitled to a bit of time off every once in a while." Thorin said and grinned. "I'd love to know at least one of your traditional dances."
"Me too." Bilbo said and grinned. "So is there an empty hall somewhere we could use."
"I believe the old dance hall can be put to such a purpose." Thorin said and Bilbo grinned, so they went together to a dance hall and some of the company brought along instruments, as Bilbo took out his pipe and taught his friends a hobbit reel. He then grinned at Thorin before clasping hands with the dwarf.
"We'll start slow, just watch my feet and step at the same time, this is the midwinter dance." Bilbo said and started stamping the floor in a pattern, it took Thorin a moment to get it, but soon they were both dancing and laughing. "Good you've got the basics, hobbit dancing is mainly in the feet."
"As would be most things I suppose." Thorin said and Bilbo laughed.
"Possibly." Bilbo said and grinned and did a complicated cross motion and held back his laughter as Thorin nearly fell trying to repeat it. "We'll stick to the easier dances." Bilbo said and grinned. He showed him the hand fasting dance next, having Thorin put up his hand as Bilbo danced around it, his grip never leaving Thorin's hand. "Its supposed to symbolize how no matter how far we may be from each other, at heart we are always connected."
"That's a beautiful sentiment." Thorin said and Bilbo grinned.
"Now its the one we do at the snow melting festival."
"What's that?"
"Its to celebrate the melting of the snow, people make a bit of a market and we dance and sing for a day and a night." Bilbo replied and grinned. "Its my second favorite next to midwinter."
"So what do you do for midwinter?"
"We decorate one of the largest trees in the shire and leave presents under it. People also take saplings inside during autumn and keep them in their houses all winter to help the trees survive. Once midwinter comes, they hang decorations on the leaves and exchange gifts. After we celebrate at home, we go out to the party tree and celebrate with our less immediate family and friends."
"It sounds nice, our midwinter is much the same, except there's the competitions, people compete from all guilds and Thorin judges who wins each event. After that everyone takes out the food they brought and we make this large spread. Then there's the singing and dancing, oh and the ale and food competitions."
"I imagine most aren't good for anything after the ale competition." Bilbo said and his friends all laughed. "Now midsummer and finally I'll teach you a Hobbit drinking dance."
"You have drinking dances?"
"I think all the races do." Bilbo replied and grinned showing Thorin both the dances and then waiting expectantly. Thorin grinned and pounded his chest on one side, then on the other. Bilbo copied him, as he was lead through a complicated dance, which was very male stylistically. They pounded their chests and slapped their legs and stomped their feet, Bilbo gave up his fight to not laugh when the grunting began.
"This is a very traditional dance." Thorin said but his lips were curved in a smile. "Its to show our might."
"Its fun, but do we really have to grunt?" Bilbo asked his eyes dancing with merriment.
"People have been dancing in this manner since my people were first formed. The first dwarves, much like the other races were more primitive than we eventually became." Thorin said and Bilbo smiled.
"So what's the original purpose?"
"Its a mating dance." Thorin said and Bilbo laughed.
"What really?"
"Of course, just because we are from the same stone, doesn't mean you would accept that fact. Before the more modern traditions men would prove their worth to women, once they were of age. Whoever the dwarrowdam's father liked best would merry her. However soon this tradition stopped as dwarrowdams are fiercely independent and refused to have men decide whom they would be marrying. It became a traditional dance for at weddings, as we are two men, we will take it in turn to dance."
"So I'm going to have to shout?"
"If you want to be considered worthy." Thorin said and Bilbo laughed as he winked at him. "It would be nice if you could, at any rate its quite enjoyable. Now here's another one." Thorin said and started spinning round and round with Bilbo in his arms, Bilbo laughed as he followed Thorin's lead and followed the steps. "That's a style of dance that we do during festivals, mostly after people have drunk a fair amount of ale. It becomes a competition as to who can stay up the longest." He said and Bilbo laughed.
"I'm not drunk and it made me dizzy, that must be fun to watch." Bilbo said and his friends smiled.
"Do a knocking game next Uncle." Fili said and Thorin grinned.
"Alright." He said and started to stamp and clap his feet in time to the beat, Bilbo copied him, although he was a bit surprised as Thorin called out instructions to him, as he taught Bilbo a series of claps and arm crosses, while their feet beat out the time. "Now for the hardest dance. This one is difficult, but considering how you managed your own dances I think you will be able to do it." Thorin said and Bilbo stared at him as they whirled around slapping, clapping and beating time with their feet. Bilbo had always loved dancing and had been disappointed when his daughter showed little interest in it. He laughed and picked up the pace, as Thorin arched an eyebrow and danced the pattern with Bilbo. Finally they stopped and Bilbo hugged Thorin grinning from ear to ear.
"You both did very well, you have passed the last challenge and won our consent to marry."