:: waves ::
Sorry for the long delay between chapters. :( It was an unhappy confluence of work and personal commitments, and the fact that I have known from the beginning that the chapter following Beorn's house was going to require major rewrites, yet procrastinated until I could procrastinate no more and then some. I finally finished up with some of major work deadlines late last week and sat down to rewrite - and all I accomplished was coming up with an entirely new chapter, which I believe enhances the story as a whole, but does nothing to solve my problems with the chapter following Beorn's house. Alas!
At any rate, enjoy the bonus chapter. :)
The next morning, Bilbo slept very late, having accumulated so many missing hours of sleep since leaving Rivendell that, upon waking, he was surprised to find he had not slept the whole clock round. But he was evidently not the only one in need of sleep, for the Ri brothers still lay in a heap, deep in slumber, and Gandalf was also still abed, his hat perched over his face, the rim fluttering up with every exhale. Bilbo stood quietly and stretched, enjoying the sunbeams shining bright and cheery through the small window high in the ceiling. He felt very much refreshed for his good night's rest, and whistled merrily to himself as he entered Beorn's great hall for breakfast.
Though the day was tolerably warm, the fire was already built up, crackling and hissing softly and lending a cheerful and pleasant light to the room. Fili and Kili were there eating already, Kili sitting and working his way through a rather impressively well-stocked plate, Fili leaning against the table, holding his own even more impressive plate in one hand while he picked through it with the other.
"Why, Mr. Baggins," Fili said upon seeing him, "you look as chipper as I have ever seen you."
"And why not?" Bilbo replied. "The goblins and wargs are far behind us, and we are safe and warm here in this house. Why should I not be chipper?" Though there were in fact a great many reasons to fret, Bilbo was determined to let none of them bother him on this day, nor even so much as cross his mind.
"Come," Fili said, "sit and eat. Beorn has laid out a huge feast, and he is in the kitchen cooking even more." He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Though Gandalf says he does not like guests, I rather suspect the opposite is true. For all that he was very cranky last night, he has cooked enough food for a party twice our size." He gestured to the table, a link of sausage in his hand. Bilbo kept his grimace at these ill manners to himself - after many months on the road, he had given up trying to instill proper table manners in any of the dwarves, and now spent his efforts on simply maintaining his own, which was not so easy as might be supposed when surrounded by dwarves who seemed not to know a knife had any purpose at a table other than to pick one's teeth.
After only a moment's pause, Bilbo sat next to Kili, who nodded politely at him, and served himself a full plate of the various meats and eggs and cheeses and breads that were heaped upon the many platters in easy reach. "Did you sleep well, Master Fili?" he said presently, when he had begun to put a small dent in his hunger. Kili and Fili were still rather intently focused on their plates.
"Well enough," Fili said with a shrug, rooting around his plate for another sausage that had gotten buried under a fried egg. "The night was pleasant, and the hay made a very soft bed, far better than the ground in the eyrie. But the barn did smell fiercely of horse, and poor Bombur rolled over into his sleep into a pile of dung, and is even now at the well attempting to wash the smell out."
"Well," Bilbo said primly, "none of you were forced to sleep in the barn."
"No," Fili said, "I suppose not. Believe me, I would far preferred to have been in the house with you. But there is only so far Thorin can be pushed, and some of the others are even less reasonable."
Kili frowned. "It is not unreasonable-" he began, but Fili rolled his eyes and reached past him for another strip of bacon, and Kili fell silent.
"I am just glad I woke first," Fili said cheerfully, mouth full of bacon. "For asleep, Thorin could not tell me not to take my breakfast in the house."
Kili frowned again.
"What?" Fili said, eyes wide and innocent. "I am doing nothing wrong. I am not sitting at the table with you." And it was quite true, he was very carefully not sitting, though if he leaned any further on his hip the distinction would have been entirely lost.
Now Kili scowled, looking quite disgruntled, though of course he would not say so to Fili, and Fili for his part seemed determined to ignore any and all displeasure cast in his direction. He continued his meal, picking at every bit of greasy food within his reach, and sucking happily on his fingers.
"You will make a mess of your fine clothing," Bilbo chided Fili, in a tone of voice that came out rather horrifyingly similar to his mother's.
Fili shrugged, apparently unconcerned, though he did then make a show of taking a napkin and wiping the worst of the grease off his fingers. "I shall wash after breakfast."
"The baths are very dwarvish," Kili said, rather unexpectedly, for he rarely volunteered an opinion without having been asked a question. "They are quite plain and simple. You should find them very suitable, Fili."
"Not like those fancy chambers of the elves?" Fili asked, a little darkly. "All those flowers and scents. As if I should want to stink myself up with perfume after just having washed! What is the point of that?"
"I suppose to some they might smell nice," Kili said, but he sounded doubtful, and Fili scoffed in agreement. Bilbo was frankly astonished by this, and also more than slightly embarrassed, for he had rather liberally applied the pretty perfumes of the elves during their days in Rivendell, and even thereafter, as the elves had generously gifted him with several bottles of his favorite scents. Those were lost now in the caverns of the goblins, of course, and Bilbo wondered briefly what use those horrible creatures might make of such fine fragrances.
Hoping his face was not too terribly red, Bilbo asked, "But he does have soap, I trust?" He wished very much for the answer to be yes, as he was rather covered in dirt and tree sap and eagle droppings. It was sadly true that the eagles' eyrie, while safe and free from wargs, was not so fastidiously maintained as a hobbit hole, and certainly the caves of the goblins had had no proper facilities. Bilbo had faced rather a difficult decision when he had woken whether to bathe or eat first, but the scent of the food had proved impossible to ignore, even though he suspected he smelled almost as pungent as the sausage, though hardly as appetizing!
"Oh yes," Kili said. "Soap and shampoo and whatever else you might need."
"Combs and razors too, I see," Bilbo said, for Kili's hair was neatly done, and his face was again as bare any hobbit's.
Fili's mouth quirked oddly at this, though he said nothing. Kili said, after only a moment, "Beorn left out combs and brushes of all sorts. But he did not have any razors. He was kind enough to lend me a suitable knife." He looked curiously at Bilbo. "I did not think hobbits needed to shave."
"Most do not," Bilbo said, "except for some of the Stoors. I thought only that some of the company might wish to, given the chance." Several of the dwarves' beards were looking to Bilbo's eyes rather tatty, though he was no great expert on beards.
Neither Kili nor Fili answered, but gazed at him peculiarly, as if he were behaving particularly odd and hobbity. Finally Kili said, rather slowly, "None of the others will shave, Mr. Baggins, though they might take the opportunity for a little grooming."
Bilbo felt suddenly very stupid, and heat flared in his cheeks, for though he knew little of dwarves but what he had learned on the road, it was clear to him now that Kili shaved not by choice, but because he was khazd khuv; whether this was law or custom, he knew not, but it hardly seemed to matter. "That is too bad," he said in a rush, "for to hobbit eyes, of course, a beard is no great attraction. Why, if you walked about in the Shire, Master Kili, the lasses would be all aflutter."
He meant it kindly, of course, as he meant almost everything he ever said, but Kili's mouth tightened so that Bilbo guessed it had not been a kindness at all.
After a moment of awkward silence, Fili grinned. "Did you hear that, Kili? You would have the hobbit lasses swooning at your feet. You must keep that in mind, should we ever run across any of them."
Kili grimaced and rose to his feet, picking up his plate and Fili's and Bilbo's as well. "I think I shall go help Beorn in the kitchen, if you will excuse me."
Fili nodded and Kili left, shoulders stiff.
"You should not tease him so," Bilbo chided, when Kili was out of earshot. "He cannot defend himself against you."
Fili turned to him, surprised. "Why, if you do not think he ought to be teased, you should not bring up shaving and hobbit lasses, Mr. Baggins."
"But that is different," Bilbo cried. "I did not mean anything by it!"
"That is as it may be," Fili said with a shrug. "But you could not have imagined he would be pleased to hear that he is attractive to hobbits." Bilbo was a bit abashed, as he had not really given it much consideration at all, but had in his desperate embarrassment blurted out the first thing that had come to mind.
"He would have a fine beard, you know," Fili continued, "if he were permitted to keep it. In truth, he can hardly shave fast enough. It is a bit of a pity, really, though I suppose it is something for him to look forward to when his sentence ends. In any event, I think a little teasing will do him no harm. He takes everything so very seriously."
"Why, you certainly cannot blame him for that," Bilbo said. "He has little choice. But do you not take it seriously as well?"
"Oh," Fili said, sighing, "I take it as seriously as I must."
This was hardly an answer in Bilbo's opinion. "I see that you are more comfortable around him than any of the others," he said. "Do you not then believe he brings bad luck?"
"Well," Fili said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "it is not a question I have ever asked myself, to be honest. Our tradition holds he does, and he believes it to be true. As for me, I suppose it matters little whether I believe it or not, for even if it is true, I am surely immune by this point. We did grow up in the same house, after all, and I dare say I have had more exposure to him than even Thorin." He threw a grin at Bilbo then, again full of cheer. "This is too much deep thought for such a bright day! Come, it is almost noon. Let us wake the others. By the time they are all up, I dare say we shall have enough room in our stomachs for one of your famous second breakfasts."
As it was nearly midday, the time for second breakfast had long since passed, and the meal they had just eaten would better be described as (late) elevenses or perhaps even early luncheon, but Bilbo was feeling pleasantly full and fat, and so he did not quibble. It did in fact take quite some time to rouse the others - Oín was so soundly asleep that only a link of sausage dangled over his nose was sufficient to wake him, and Bifur had to be picked up by his feet and shaken upside down (or so Fili and Bofur claimed, though they seemed unnecessarily jolly about it).
Bilbo did not see Beorn at all that day, for by the time he had finished luncheon (he had, it turned out, sufficient room in his belly for another meal), Beorn was nowhere to be seen. When Bilbo had stopped into the kitchen to greet their host he had found only Kili, elbow deep in suds, industriously working his way through an imposing heap of dishes. "No," Kili said, "he left almost directly after I came in." And, "No, he did not say when he would return." And then, "There is really no need, Mr. Baggins. I do not mind doing the washing up." But this last, Bilbo would not accept, and he rolled up his sleeves and found a clean towel, and they spent a very companionable time together putting the kitchen to order.
Gandalf too was not to be found that day; he disappeared as soon as he had finished his breakfast, and it was only their faith that he would not have left them for good without at least saying goodbye that kept them from despair. Without Beorn or Gandalf to tower over them, and with a seemingly endless supply of hearty food available, the dwarves spent a very merry and relaxing afternoon together, singing and telling tales and whittling new pipes to replace those lost to the goblins.
Kili passed most of his time outdoors, trying out the bows he and Beorn had chosen the night before, and by the end of the afternoon he had settled on a few as his favorites. Fili spent some of that time with Kili passing him arrows while heckling him amiably; Bilbo was pleased to see that Kili was rather skilled at ignoring his not-brother when it was just the two of them alone. With no back and forth, however, this game apparently grew dull and Fili eventually wandered away. Bilbo saw him soon thereafter speaking in low tones to Thorin, who scowled and shook his head quite firmly, to Fili's evident displeasure. But Fili soon grew cheerful again as he always did, and Bilbo found he could not fault him for being so young that his spirits could not stay long dampened.
Gandalf returned that night in time to share their dinner, which was quite informal after a day of commendable overindulgence. No one said a word about anyone eating in the barn, though Kili had taken his meal early with Bilbo and Ori and Nori, and if he excused himself before anyone else could be forced to sit with him, at least he seemed comfortable enough to eat with dwarf companions on either side, which Bilbo took for the great victory it was.
Beorn himself did not return until the next morning, and he was in fine spirits when he did, for he had proven to himself that the dwarves' story was true, and he had killed a goblin and warg besides. Though he was still cool to Thorin, he was warm enough to the rest, especially Oín, who had been sitting at the breakfast table across from Kili when Beorn had walked through the door.
"Killed the Great Goblin, killed the Great Goblin!" Beorn chuckled fiercely, and though Bilbo was not ordinarily the sort to take any sort of pleasure in the death of another living creature, he found he could not disapprove of Beorn's glee. Beorn was so pleased that he offered far more assistance to the dwarves than even Gandalf had dared to hope for. From his cellars Beorn brought up jars and pots of all sorts of practical food for traveling such as he could provide: dried fruits and nuts and cakes and grains, and skins as well for water, and even such things as soap and combs to keep themselves a little clean on the road. "I have already given you bows," he said, "and as many arrows as I can spare, and I shall lend you ponies to take you to the edge of Mirkwood, though I must ask you to return them ere you enter the forest, for I would not have them set even a single hoof in that foul place."
Well, this last did not ease any of their nerves, but still they were pleased to be so well-rested and well-fed and well-stocked for the next part of their journey. And when they left late that morning, each upon a friendly mount, Bilbo found that Ori soon forsook his brothers and fell back to ride with Kili, telling him a tale that Bilbo quickly recognized as a favorite children's story from the Shire. Kili said not a word, but listened very intently to the account, which in Ori's rendition was a good deal more violent and involved a stolen treasure of some sort. Perhaps it meant nothing, Bilbo thought, but that Ori had found for himself a new audience, one who would not dare interrupt his rather long-winded story telling, but when Bilbo looked back and saw the dwarves riding side by side, he could not help but feel very cheered, and whistled to himself a very merry tune.
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And thanks once again to my marvelous beta SapphireMusings for putting up with my unreasonable demands. Not sure what I did in my past lives to deserve you .. xoxoxo!