7/03/2020 Author's Note: Hi. So, I know it's been awhile, something like two years (13th of August 2018 if you wish to be exact), since I last posted a chapter for this fic, but I was watch Battle of Five Armies on TV tonight (I still cried, even after all these years) and something stirred me that wanted to post chapters that were written and just sitting on my USB gathering metaphorical dust.

I don't know how many of you are still interested in this fic (or in my others; The Most Precious of Treasures or The Crownless King Shall Reclaim His Throne), but if you wish to leave a review to let me know, I will see what I can do. But I do understand that it has been a few years and people do move on.

Anyway, thank you for reading these Author's Notes and hope you enjoy this chapter


Chapter 16

Parting of Ways

They spent just over a week enjoying Beorn's hospitality before it was decided that they must be on their way, moving forward with the next stage of their journey, Mirkwood.

Bilbo was of two minds regarding the huge forest that stood between the company and their goal, the Lonely Mountain.

On the one hand, there were meant to be elves living among the trees of that ancient forest but when she had tentatively asked if the elves would give the company aid with their quest, the black looks she received in return had her all but scurrying from the hall. However, the black looks were quick to fade when her obvious distress was noticed and she quickly found herself surrounded by dwarves determined to convince her that it wasn't she that they were angry at, no not at all, it was the elves of Mirkwood and no, they would most definitely not help the company in anyway.

She wanted to ask for more details but the conversation had come to a quick close when Beorn had quietly confirmed that no help would come to company from the Mirkwood elves. Remarking gravely that the Wood-elves of Mirkwood were not like their kin, that they were less wise and more dangerous. Words that simply made Bilbo's whole body sag in resignation.

She had hoped that it had just been the dwarves usual prejudice towards elves that had made them growl and scowl at the idea of asking for aid from the Elves of Mirkwood, but with Beorn's agreeing with them, the one thing she had actually been looking forward to seeing in Mirkwood was now snatched away. And she would so have liked to have seen another elf realm, but it looked as if it was not to be.

But the thought of walking through a massive forest, even with Gandalf by their side made her very nervous indeed especially when Beorn's spoke of a darkness now lying upon the forest and something about orcs and a necromancer – a word she still didn't truly know the meaning of and despite how many times she asked Gandalf, the wizard refused to answer her, replying that there were somethings in the world that were simply best not knowing.

How were they to make it through such a huge forest without a guide? And if tensions ran so high between the Mirkwood Elves and Erebor Dwarves, how was using their roads considered safe? Wouldn't there be patrols along said paths, and if they were discovered travelling upon them… well, she didn't really know what would happen then but nothing good given how the dwarves were all acting and from Beorn's description of the elves and even Gandalf's own grim expression even when he did try to reassure her that the Elven road would be perfectly safe for them to travel upon.

She had done her best not to let such thoughts stir into a well of worry inside her and instead spent a good chunk of her time curled up in the sun in Beorn's wonderful garden, either reading a book or sleeping. Sometimes she got up and puttered around his garden, pulling out weeds here and there, digging up vegetables and pruning back shrubs.

She was joined, more often than not, by the company, most of whom sat out in the sun, talking or sleeping themselves, or watching as she moved about the free growing garden.

They spent a good lot of time questioning her too; about life in the Shire and her almost marriage. She had been a little exasperated when that topic was brought up over and over again but it was far better than the one regarding her age, which was still causing something of a stir amongst the ranks. They simply could not get their heads around the idea of thirty-three being consider the age of adulthood for hobbits.

She had been quick to point out that humans reached adulthood at the very tender age of eighteen, but that was waved away with the simple reasoning that they were big folk, so of course they were different.

Bilbo had gaped at them for a moment or two before offering a tentative query that was it because hobbits were within a similar height range as dwarves, and that was the reason it had been assumed that hobbits had a similar life expectancy to dwarves? She was answered with a swift no, it was just that thirty-three was a ridiculous age for one to be considered an adult.

She had huffed at that, ready to march away from the lot of them when the topic of ages and reaching adulthood was dropped and she was being bothered about her almost wedding and about Lotho and this and that and honestly, they were worse than a group of gossiping aunts.

But she, rather grudgingly, answered all their queries about her almost wedding and about Lotho – she had scowled every time she spoke of him, which seemed to deeply amuse the dwarves, so they brought him up often much to her chagrin.

But despite her grumpiness over answering their numerous question about her would have been marriage she seemed to have endeared herself all the more to the dwarves and whatever wall that had been there before, separating her from the company was all but gone and they were all as friendly towards her as they had been that first night she had met them, though for the life of her she couldn't understand why.

But she had decided that she would not dwell upon the strangeness of dwarves – how they could go from being incredibility secretive around you and not wanting you to be near them one moment, to all but embracing you into the fold as if you were family the next – and instead, decided she would accept the offers of friendship and the feeling of finally being considered a true member of the company.

HiBtWH

They left Beorn's home at dawn, seven days after they had first arrived at his lodging. He allowed for them to borrow ponies for their ride to Mirkwoods border, though with the strictest of instructions to send the ponies back to him once they had done so.

They thanked the giant man heartily for his hospitality and promised to do as he asked. He had only nodded before catching Bilbo under her arms to set her upon the gentlest of all his ponies. Bilbo accepted this with as much a grace as she could muster, though her face glowed a hearty pink in the dawn light.

"Stay safe little bunny. Visit again and tell me more of your green lands." Beorn told her in a gruff yet fond tone that made Bilbo feel warm inside and had her grinning brightly in return.

"I will." She promised, "I would like, if it is alright with you, to take some seeds from your garden back to Shire. Your garden is so lovely and you have flowers that I have not seen growing in the Shire."

The great man let out a booming laugh.

"You may take as much as you please." He replied a bright twinkle in his eyes that made Bilbo wonder if he knew about the acorn that was sitting already in her pocket. It wasn't stealing, no not really, it was…

A large warm hand settled upon her head, gently ruffling her curls and she felt the worry that had started to build inside her gut wash away.

She smiled shyly back at him, hoping beyond hope that she would meet with him again to talk about gardens and making the best honey.

"What is it with you and endearing yourself to folk much bigger than yourself?" Kili hissed as Beorn and Gandalf moved a distance away from the rest of the company to share a final conversation.

Bilbo only shrugged, not wanting to point out that the dwarves were bigger than her also, and it had taken quite some time for her to endear herself to all of them.

Whatever the final conversation shared between Gandalf and Beorn had been about, it had clearly left the wizard troubled as he swung himself up onto his horse. But he refused to answer any of their questions and instead told them to focus on something useful, like riding to Mirkwood as quickly as they were able, as their hunters, though deterred by Beorn's bear form, were not far behind them.

That had set Bilbo's worry off with strength and she spent the whole day looking frantically around them for any sign of the orc pack, almost causing her to fall from her pony on numerous occasions.

"Bilbo!" When she had almost fallen from the her pony for the tenth or so time, a guide rope was tied to her pony's reigns and held by Bofur who shook his head as he lightly flicked her nose as he rode beside her.

"Head out of the clouds." Her cheeks burned but she couldn't help the dread within her, though it did fade whenever she saw a huge bear shape on the horizon before it quickly disappeared behind a rock or several large trees.

However, even with the reassurance that Beorn was following the company in bear form was not enough to stop the sick feeling that filled her when Mirkwood slowly grew darkly into view. A sick feeling that only grew and grew until they were right at the forest's border, rain falling glumly upon their heads.

Bilbo walked to the edge of the forest line as the dwarves took the provisions Beorn had given them from the backs of the ponies, dropping lightly to her knees as she dug her fingers into the forest soil. She wrinkled her nose at the smell, which was rotten and filled with death. Hastily, she wiped the dirt from her finger, but was unable to get the smell out of her nose.

"This forest," She started turning back to Gandalf and surprisingly several dwarves had stopped what they were doing to watch her, "feels sick, as if a disease lies upon it." she looked up at the trees, their trunks huge and gnarly, their branches twisted and their leaves dark and dead looking. Every tree seemed to be choking under the weight of heavy thick vines that coiled around them.

"Is there no way around?" Bilbo asked as she looked back at Gandalf whose worried expression seemed to have grown even more intense.

The wizard gave a firm shake of his head as he looked into the forest himself.

"Not unless we go two hundred miles north, or twice that distance south." He trailed off as he spoke, heading down a little ways down the Elven road – which looked terribly unkempt to Bilbo, who might have missed the entrance entirely if her sharp eyes hadn't spotted the faint hint of an elvish stature.

Bilbo held out the hand she had dug in the forest soil to the rain, hoping to wash the last of the foul smell from her fingers.

"You wouldn't garden in there lass?" Dwalin asked as he swung a heavy pack onto his back.

Bilbo shook her head firmly.

"No, most definitely not." She hugged her arms around herself as she remembered all the stories that were whispered late at night during her childhood when staying with Brandy Hall, the ones about the Old Forest, the large woodland on the eastern border of Buckland. The story about trees that housed malevolent spirits that would lure hobbits from a possibly safe path and ensnare them in their roots, to bury alive and crushed into fertilizer.

She must have turned somewhat green at the memory for she had several dwarves asking her if she was alright.

"Yes, sorry, was just remembering some stories about the haunted woods that grow near to the Shire."

"Can't imagine the Shire having anything haunted in or near of it." Fili commented lightly, nudging her in the friendly fashion.

"Oh no, we do. The Old Forest is most definitely haunted." Bilbo replied earnestly. "The Forest doesn't like us Hobbits. You see, we cut down and burnt trees that had grown too close to the protective hedge that separates Buckland from the Forest, and it has never forgiven us for that. My mother went in there once and almost got strangled by a tree. It was only from the quick thinking and a flaming torch that saved her from being forever lost to that wicked forest.

Bilbo hugged herself closer as the rain fell heavier down upon their heads, making everything feel grey and miserable.

Her misery only grew when Gandalf came whirling out of the forest, a grave look upon his face as he barked, "Not my horse! I need it!" to Nori who had been starting to remove the saddle from Gandalf's horse, having already removed their bags from the Beorn's ponies who were happily trotting away from the forest and back the way they had come. Bilbo rather wished she could join them.

Heart in throat, she rushed forward to Gandalf's side.

"You do not mean to leave us?" She cried as Gandalf caught hold of his horse's reigns while Nori stepped away with a frown.

"I would not do this unless I had to." Gandalf replied his tone gentle as he rested a hand upon her wet curls.

Around her she could hear protests from the dwarves, the offers of treasure and of glory, all which fell upon deaf ears as nothing they said seemed to have the power to change the wizard's mind.

The only dwarf who did not join the chorus of protests and pleading from the company was Thorin, who had simply stared at Gandalf for a long moment, before looking away, his expression hard and stone-like.

Gandalf ignored the dwarves, their pleading and their curses, but he did not ignore the little hobbit who simply stood at his side, looking up at him dejectedly. She wished for him not to leave even more than the dwarves, but she had not spoken a word since her first cry of dismay.

"Do not look so glum, my dear girl." Gandalf said softly, fondness lacing each of his words, "You are to look after all these dwarves for me, to give them tongue-lashing and keep them in line."

A tiny smile twitched against the hobbit's lips, but her brown eyes were still frighten and her left hand kept twitching towards her waistcoat pocket. Again, he felt a worrying, nagging sensation in the back of his head.

He leant down a little to look his hobbit straight in her sorrowful eyes.

"You've changed, Bilbo Baggins. You are not the same hobbit as the one who left the Shire." He meant to ease some of her fear, to give her assurance that he had full confidence in her abilities to help get their company through those wretched trees and to that even more wretched mountain. But instead, he seems to have stirred something else within her, her dark eyes widening in panic as her left hand pressed heavily against her waistcoat pocket.

"I was going to tell you. I found something in the Goblin tunnels." her voice was high and frighten and suddenly he wished that he could stay and talk with his hobbit, wished that he had pushed further to find out exactly what had happened in the dark tunnels under the Misty Mountains, but the little hobbit had grown so pale and had started to shake, that he had left his questions unanswered and now he truly wished he had not.

"Found what?" He asked leaning forward watching how her fingers were fumbling with something in her waist coat pocket, "what did you find?"

He watched as she took a breath and then another, and for a moment he thinks she will tell him what troubles her so, but again something shifts within that tiny body and she is forcing a smile up at him.

"My courage." She says finally and while the wizard truly does belief that she has found her courage that is not what she has found in those terrible tunnels beneath the Misty Mountains.

He decides in that moment that when he returns he will have a long chat with his hobbit, have her tell him of the terrible time she had clearly had within those dark tunnels and maybe, just maybe she will admit to whatever it is she has hidden so protectively away in her pocket.

"Good." He forced himself to smile in return and ruffle her wet curls, "That is very good. You will need it!"

He swung himself onto his horse and watched as Bilbo fell back to stand with the dwarves, half who were turned away from him, cursing him, while the rest looked back at him mournfully.

"I'll be waiting for you at the overlook, before the slopes of Erebor." He spoke to the dwarves as whole but he was certain that only Bilbo was truly paying heed to his words, nodding slowly as she mouthed 'slopes of Erebor'.

"Keep the map and key safe." He shot Thorin's back a hard look, "Do not enter the mountain without me."

Thorin glanced back at him with a dark, furious look and Gandalf knows that this abandonment will take a long time for the dwarf king to forgive. But there was nothing else to be done; he must leave for High Fells at once.

When the stubborn dwarf finally gives the slightest incline of his head, Gandalf continued.

"This is not the Greenwood of old. There is a stream in the woods that carries a dark enchantment. Do not touch the water. Cross only by the stone bridge. The very air of the forest is heavy with illusion. It will seek to enter your mind and lead you astray."

More grumbles from his dwarven company, but Bilbo is nodding her head diligently as she listens to every warning he gives.

"You must stay on the path; do not leave it. If you do, you will never find it again." Bilbo's eyes widen in horror but again she was nodding and he is certain that once she is out of the rain she will be writing down everything he has said down into her little notebook.

He turned his horse westward, lifting his hand in farewell, "Good bye!" He called, "Be good, take care of yourselves." He cannot help but add, in a teasing tone even though the words he spoke were nothing but truth, "Do listen to our hobbit, for she is the clever one now."

He can almost see the redness of his hobbits cheeks at his words, and the way she has probably covered her face with hands while all around her he hopes there is good-natured teasing.

"STAY ON THE PATH!" Was he final word to them all before he was gone into the grey light of the morning storm, disappearing into the heavy fog.

"Come." Bilbo turned her despairing gaze away from the direction Gandalf had ridden off into and looked back towards Thorin who was now standing by the path leading into the foreboding forest.

"We must reach the mountain before the sun sets on Durin's Day."

All around her dwarves stirred themselves into action, pulling on the heavy packs weighed down by water skins and food onto their back and their weapons held ready in their hands.

Bilbo clenched and unclenched her hands several times before turning her back fully upon the direction Gandalf had ridden off into and made to stand with Thorin, adjusting her heavy pack upon her back.

"Do not worry," she jumped when Thorin spoke directly to her, "it will get light enough all too soon."

Bilbo sighed heavily as she continued to wrestle with the pack so that it sat more comfortably upon her back.

"Oh, I do believe you are right." She replied a little cautiously, "With us all too soon wishing that our packs were this heavy again, when the food and water starts to run short."

"Very comforting, the pair of ya." Dwalin grunted from where he had come to stand with them.

Bilbo opened her mouth to apologies but was surprised when Thorin shook his head and rolled his eyes, motioning instead for her to fall in line behind him to start following the path in to the dark, twisting forest, where the only light was from their lanterns and the very air felt as if it would like nothing better than to suffocate them.