AN: Quick explanation about how this compilation works-This will be following the chapters of my story, I See Fire, and is just some of the missing scenes and/or different POVs that I wanted to also portray to help people understand the dwarves in my story. Because of this, it will be easier for you to understand these if you've read the chapter in I See Fire, which I will make sure to mark before each of these chapters, that they are based off of before you read them. Thank you and I really hope you enjoy this compilation.
AAN: I've just decided to add this chapter to the beginning, but I hope you guys all enjoy it nonetheless, so, if all the other chapters say they are updated they really aren't I just had to move them one chapter later.
Thorin's Gamble in Thorin's POV
You wouldn't think that a round green door would be so hard to find, but Thorin was going round and round in circles and he got lost more than once. He had a suspicious feeling that it might be the hobbits' fault. More than once, he had asked for a direction only to get something completely different from what the previous one had said. It wasn't until he asked a sour-faced hobbit lass that he finally got very detailed directions as well as every wish that he get rid of the hobbit he was looking for with as little damage to the smial as possible. It was also then that Thorin realized that all the other hobbits must have been leading him astray in the hopes of protecting one of their own since he did look quite intimidating with his exhaustion from travelling from the meeting with almost no stops. It was a little strange that they should go so far as to protect the hobbit he was searching for despite obviously being afraid of him when he was a burglar. Perhaps he was just that good that none of the others had actually noticed yet.
He arrived at the door just as the sun was slipping below the horizon, but stopped before knocking on the door. He could hear the rest of his company inside and they sounded like they were having quite a lot of fun. He grinned when they started up a very loud song about just what Bilbo Baggins hates. He knew, as soon as he entered the building, their fun would be over and they would get straight down to business. Instead of knocking, he chose to sit on the bench in the front garden for a short time. He could do with a smoke, anyway.
The pipe he pulled out wasn't much of one and he probably could have gotten a better one during his travels, but Haran had given this one to him after he lost all his other ones to the dragon and it was one of the few things he had left of his soul mate. He took out some Old Toby – not a common leaf in Erebor, but Haran had taken quite a liking to it when they were forced to move this way – and began to smoke while he thought. The news that he had to tell his company was not good news. They would not be happy that there would be no aid from any of their kin, but they will not falter from their quest. His company is not so weak-hearted that they would give up Erebor so easily.
In all honesty, Thorin wasn't really sure that any of them were truly ready to face a dragon. He had planned to wait a while longer, allow his people to become better settled, before even suggesting such a dangerous adventure, but Gandalf had been adamant that this was the time. He perhaps should have been more against the idea than he really was, but he was more than eager to be home again. And, most of all, he kept thinking that he wanted to prove Haran right. They were going to return to Erebor just like his husband had always promised to the people.
Thorin heard the song inside end and decided that it was time for his introspection to be over. He had a hobbit to meet and an adventure to kick off. He knocked on the door and found it opened by the wizard. He made his excuses for being late, which weren't quite true, as he examined the hobbit. The creature didn't look at all like a burglar. In fact, he looked like every other gentle hobbit that Thorin had come across, but there was also something different about Bilbo Baggins that he couldn't quite put his finger on. It made him feel comfortable in the hobbit's presence, but that just made him more cautious. It wasn't just his own life that he would be risking if he should let his guard down and the hobbit decided to turn on them, it was also the rest of his company's.
Thorin would be lying if he said that he was disappointed by the hobbit's refusal to join them. Gandalf had assured him that having the Halfling along was the only way that they were ever going to reclaim their homeland. Even Balin lost hope when the gentle creature retreated to his room, but Thorin did not.
The way Master Baggins had reacted to the mention of a dragon was not quite right. Thorin was not at all surprised that Gandalf hadn't told the small thing about what exactly he was being hired to face, not even his own people were willing to join them once they knew that they would be facing a dragon. Yet, whatever fear everyone would have felt from the mention of facing a dragon, was also mingled with pain on the hobbit's face. Thorin was actually somewhat surprised that the creature didn't cry out with whatever it was that was paining him. The only people that Thorin had ever seen react that way in similar circumstances were those from Erebor. Those that had seen a dragon and still somehow lived.
So Thorin did not lose hope in the little gentle creature that Gandalf had decided to hire.
"Balin," he said to the old dwarf after the rest of his company had finished packing and were currently setting up the ponies. "Come and sign this."
Balin raised a brow, but did as he was told, signing his name just under the king's on the contract they had given to Master Baggins. "You think that he will come, then?" the old dwarf asked.
"Consider it a gamble," Thorin shrugged.
"Then Master Boggins will come!" Kili grinned from the doorway. Thorin had no clue how long his youngest nephew had been standing there, but he supposed that he really should have expected it. "I knew it! Fili and I already set up all the bets."
Thorin raised a disapproving brow at his nephew, their mother was very against their gambling and would have thrashed Thorin if she knew he let it go on within his company, but did nothing more. They knew not to include him in their shenanigans, so he allowed them to do as they pleased as long as it wasn't detrimental to the quest. Kili, however, didn't even look like he registered the disapproval before heading off to find his brother without telling his uncle whatever is was that he came to say. Luckily, Thorin could easily guess that he just wanted to let them know that the ponies were ready.
"I think I might get in on that betting pool," Balin grinned. "I might even put in double if you'd be willing to lend me the coins," which Thorin knew actually meant that his advisor was offering to get him in on the betting as well. As a king, he was expected to act above all that and never bet anything unless absolutely necessary, but his advisor had no such expectations and who's to say that the money Thorin slipped to Balin wasn't just a loan.
Leaving the Hobbit's hole in the hill was actually much more difficult than Thorin really thought it had the right to be. He kept finding himself looking back as a growing sense of unease came over him. It must be because they were leaving the last bit of peace that they would experience for quite some time, he told himself.
He had no excuse, then, for why all the tension that he hadn't even realized he was feeling the farther away they got suddenly disappeared the moment he heard Master Baggins calling out for them to wait while he ran towards them with a full pack and the contract flapping behind where he was holding it above his head.
"I've signed it," the hobbit said as he handed the paper to Balin who examined it for a moment before declaring that Bilbo Baggins was officially part of their company.
"Get him a pony," Thorin said, completely ignoring the hobbit's protests as he turned to set off again. They were finally ready to go.