Off to the side, Thorin was arguing loudly with their resident wizard. "Why would you leave!" he roared. "There were trolls about and you left us!"
"I went ahead to spy on the upcoming road," Gandalf said calmly, pulling a pipe out of nowhere and lighting it. "As you well know. And I should have been able to leave you for a day without worrying about you dying."
Thorin gave Gandalf a dry look. "There were trolls."
"And why didn't you know about them? If you're not more careful, we'll never make it anywhere." He rolled his eyes. "Absolute fools. I don't know why I travel with them," he muttered under his breath.
He stalked off, leaving Thorin and the rest of the company looking fairly disgruntled behind him. "Well?" Gandalf called. "Get a move on then!"
The company slowly followed behind, mounting their ponies and followed behind the wizard who had made the odd choice to walk beside his horse instead of riding it.
Bilbo lagged behind, questioning everything that was happening. Why was the wizard so upset at the fact that there were previously trolls in the woods? he wondered. They were gone by the time Gandalf had returned, so why did it matter? He shook his head in confusion and caught up with the group engaging himself in conversation with Thorin who also happened to be near the back of the group.
"So," Bilbo began. "How long do you think it'll take to get there?"
Thorin glared over, apparently still upset over his quarrel with Gandalf. "We'll get there when we get there," he said, whipping his head back around to face the front again.
Never one to be deterred by grumpy dwarves, Bilbo persisted. "Okay, that's fair. When do you think we'll be having lunch? Ooh, what do you think we'll be eating for lunch? Because I'm fairly hungry and we skipped lunch and typically I would have seven meals a day and-"
He was cut off quite suddenly by Thorin's gruff voice. "How do you have so many words in our head?" He quickly shook his head when he saw Bilbo's mouth begin to open to answer. "Don't even think about answering. It was a rhetorical question." Bilbo's mouth slammed shut again and he nodded.
"Back to the subject of lunch. You're going to have to get used to skipping meals, but you might be in luck today because of that river over yonder." He gestured toward the river that they were vaguely following the path of. "There's bound to be plenty of shellfish for us to catch and eat for lunch and maybe even dinner too."
This time Thorin did not catch Bilbo's mouth opening in time. "Well actually, I'm allergic to shellfish. I guess I'll have to eat some other food for lunch."
Thorin looked exasperated. "Oh, of course you're allergic to shellfish. What can you possibly mess up next?"
Just at that moment, Bilbo spotted a mountain range in the distance. Thinking quickly, he realized that he could use them as a way to further prove that no, he is most certainly not a dragon. Why do you ask?
"Is that the lonely mountain?" he loudly questioned, pointing at the nearest peak. "We're so close!"
Everyone, including Gandalf, stopped in their tracks and turned around to look at the small hobbit. After a moment of silence, Fili spoke. "I'm sorry, what?"
"The lonely mountain?" Bilbo said again, taking care to make his voice as shaky as he could. "That's it, right?"
Balin took pity on him, turning around and quietly explaining things to Bilbo. "No laddie, that's just the very beginning of the Misty Mountains. We're going to have to pass through to reach Erebor and it will be a good long while until we reach our homeland."
Bilbo nodded as though he had gained great knowledge. "Ah, I see. Thank you." He offered a shy smile to Balin, who accepted it with a smile of his own.
Gandalf appeared to be getting more and more frustrated with each passing comment from the company. Finally, he snapped. "Save me from the foolishness of this company. I will be scouting ahead to find a good place to stay for the night. If any one of you dies while I am gone, I shall be very put out." He sped ahead with a huff.
"Well," Bilbo said, breaking the silence left in the wake of Gandalf's departure. "Anyone want to play a game?"
"No!" came the collective response and they continued on their way.
Now Smaug was not happy with the proceedings. A good long while until the reach Erebor? Why, he could reach the Lonely Mountain in a day or two and not even be too tired! But instead they would all have to slowly trudge over the mountains and through the forests.
Thorin took Bilbo's grumpiness as a result of no one playing a game with him instead of just plain laziness and did not like what he saw.
"You need to stop acting so childish!" Thorin loudly said to Bilbo, making sure that he was heard by the rest of the company. He wanted to let everyone know that this sort of behavior would not be tolerated in his company.
"Well I'll have you know, I am acting quite my age for a creature of my species!" Bilbo paused there, realizing what he had just said and regretting it immensely.
"What do you mean 'your age,'" Gloin questioned, thankfully latching onto the part involving age instead of the odd way their burglar had avoided saying his species.
"Well, you see," Bilbo stuttered.
"Out with it lad," Oin called from a short distance away. "Compared to a man, how old are you?"
Getting fed up with all this talk, Bilbo stood up and shouted. "I am ten years old in relation to man, but I am fifty years old. Stop pestering me!" He stomped off, leaving a shocked company behind.
"Did he just say what I think he said?" Dori whispered to Nori.
"I sure hope not but aye, I believe he did."
"Then he is just a child! Younger than Ori even!"
"Younger than my Gimli!" Gloin choked out, looking absolutely horrified.
Similar conversations were breaking out around the clearing, none of them quite believing what they had just heard, but also feeling ashamed at having not noticed any signs that an actual child was taking part in their very dangerous quest.