Of silver bells and painful memories
They left quietly at first sunlight.
None of the dwarves dared to wake the hobbit. They all heard the scrubbing sounds coming from the kitchen till past midnight. Not one muttered curse nor angry looks were casted in the dwarves direction. Even though Kili and Fili as well as Ori offered their help. The cleaning lass just shook her head. She gently pushed them outside and into the living room, ordering them to rest, as they would need it.
Bombur remembered quite clearly the nervous flutter in his stomach when Fìli told him to go and see Bella. He found her sorting through some herbs.
"Would you be so kind and take these with you?" she pointed to a small sample of spices.
It sounded like a request, well it was one. On the other hand, Bombur had witnessed the whole company flinching just earlier that evening -for the second time- as she had turned around after the fire, her cheeks darkened with coal.
Bella also allowed him to take what was left from her pantry. As well as everything he would see as help to the company. He had put away most of the herbs and sat with the other dwarves in the living room when she entered again, carrying a large tablet full of cold snacks.
"I guess some of you might still like a small snack before going to bed," she smiled shyly on her way out, avoiding the eyes of the company.
Nobody except Bombur saw her taking the contract and tucking it safely under her blouse.
Bombur wouldn't judge the lass for not coming along. He, as well as the other dwarves, had a chance to observe the hobbits living in the Shire. They were all but friendly and kind. No weapons to be seen, blunt knives, only used to chop food. No gold, silver or other fine jewellery on the market. Mainly food and simple clothes.
Bombur could understand the hobbit. He as well wouldn't want to leave such a great home for a dangerous journey with an uncertain outcome. If he could, he would have stayed in this peaceful corner of the world a little longer.
He looked back. The Shire was lying still in the soft light of the morning. The hobbit would wake alone. They didn't even leave a note. Maybe it was better this way. The wild was no place for gentle folk like her.
"Bombur, keep up!"
They all stopped for a moment as if they were waiting. The dwarven king was the first one to turn around and make for Bree.
Bella woke alone. It was quiet in her smial. Even when she called out for her dwarves no answer was provided. She looked around her living room. Everything seemed to be at its designated place. The kitchen was clean. No sign that there had been thirteen dwarves in her home. Only the empty pantry and the contract in her pocket were proof for the events of the last evening. She looked down on the contract in her hands.
'What if Gandalf wouldn't make it in time to save them from the trolls? What if Thorin won't give in in the woodland realm -as if!- What if...'
While she thought of all the horrible possibilities her feat had already taken her into her own room. Excitement grew in her heart as she pulled out her mothers old backpack, sleeping bag and bed roll. Hastily she took some trousers, undergarments and her fathers old pocket knife out of the closet and placed them next to the contract. Soap and other small necessities were thrown on the pile. She rushed to the pantry on the far end of the left wing where she usually stored her winter rations and took a good arm full. She would need it in the first few weeks.
She remembered clearly her always rumbling stomach in her last life. Her mind knew that she would have to do with three meals a day instead of the seven or eight she was used to.
She would have to start her sword training all over, she realised. Her mind might remember clearly, but her body wouldn't. A small sight escaped her mouth as she thought of all the pain it would bring her and her muscles.
All packed and ready to leave she looked around one last time. She would miss Bag End, no doubt, but she was truly happy to go on an adventure once more. With a bright smile she stepped out of her door. The sun was already up for quite a while. She hurried down the steps and over to her good friend Primula and her husband Drogo.
They had agreed to watch over her when her parents passed away. As Bella wasn't of age she would likely have to ask for permission. She was not the kind of girl to just run off without a word, well at least not in this life. She slipped the thick envelope with the key to Bag End and a letter of farewell into their post box. Within was a smaller envelope for her grandfather and one for her trusted gardener Mr. Gamgee. Her grandfather would be furious to hear that she left.
With watery eyes she made her way down the hill and through the familiar neighbourhood. At some point she started running, away from the road and over the farmland, through gardens and over fences. Her heart happily beat to the drumming of her footsteps. It was freeing and finally a happy laughter escaped her chest. She ran all the way till she could see the company between the trees.
"Wait! ... Wait for me!" she huffed.
She stopped near Balin's pony to take a deep breath.
"Here, I signed it," she took the contract out of her pocket and handed it shakily over to him.
Nervous, she glanced at the other dwarves. Fìli was nodding and nudged his brother to hide his wide grin. The Ri brothers were looking at her slightly relieved, as she would be the one to enter the mountain and face the dragon instead of Nori. Dwalin looked annoyed down at her. Her heart dropped for a second there. It had always been hard for her to read the big warrior, but she could imagine him to be happy even if he wouldn't show.
Bofur grinned at her openly and she couldn't hide her own grin seeing him. Bombur was delighted to see her and smiled heartily at her. Bifur made a few signs in her direction when she met his gaze.
The only one she could decipher was something like 'welcome'. It had been some time for her to actually communicate in their ancient language. She only tilted her head with a small grin on her lips. She wouldn't want to scare them by replying to him with thanks.
Thorin was the last one she looked at. He reacted just as she remembered, frowning. She gave him a sweet smile as she would to Lobelia and turned back to Balin. The white bearded dwarf studied the contract a moment longer before declaring it as right.
"Get the halfling a pony," Thorin grunted.
He wasn't sure why he was so annoyed by the smile she gave him. It didn't feel right. Somehow it bothered him to see her so openly smile at Bofur and his sister-sons while she gave him a political smile. He clenched his jaw, stubborn looking ahead.
"I am half of nothing!" the angry voice of the hobbit made him turn around. He had to control his body, as not to flinch at her angry tone. He himself wasn't sure why, but seeing her angry made him feel guilty. When he saw the slight hint of hurt in her eyes a cold hand seemed to grab his heart. His mouth was suddenly too dry to speak. Thorin would like nothing better than for her to smile all day, to be happy and safe.
'You could let her ride with you. She would be safest with you, near you' a small voice whispered in the back of his brain. He was tempted to give in to this voice. Before he could do something he would regret later. 'As if!', the voice continued angrily.
"Don't give me that look, Thorin Oakenshield! You got lost! In Hobbiton! All ways are marked and everything has signs!" she hissed at him.
With her hands on her hips she stared up to him, challenging.
For a moment he was stunned. Only a few people would talk to him in this manner.
She stared at him, angrily, one foot tapping. Before she or Thorin could say any more Kili and Fili gently grabbed her by the elbows and lifted her onto a pony.
She glared at them halfheartedly. She could never be angry at them for a very long time. They meant well and she knew.
A coin purse flew past her head and landed safely in Kilis hands. She lifted one brow, "You took wages on me?"
"I knew that you would come with us!" The dark haired dwarf swiftly escaped her question by smiling brightly.
Bella filled the time chatting with the company. Gloin was more than delighted to tell her everything about his son Gimli. She had heard a lot about him in her last life. He was a good friend to Frodo and even friends with an elf.
Somewhere in the middle of Gloins extended story of how Gimli threw his first axe, Bofur groaned displeased.
"Mistress Baggins… Tell him to stop! I can't take any more!" With his hands he covered his ears.
Gloin, disbelief written all over his face, opened his mouth to respond to his friend but was interrupted by an apple flying in his direction. Bombur was the one to throw it and continued to give out their lunch, ignoring Gloins muttered curse and Bofurs thanks. Watching them a warm tingly feeling began to grow in Bella's stomach.
Gently she nudged her pony to go a bit faster and set herself next to Gloin.
"I would be more than delighted to take first watch with you, master Gloin. I am happy to hear a bit more about your son," she inquired.
The proud dwarf immediately straightened his back and seemed to grow a few inches.
"It would be my pleasure, Mistress Baggins." He responded enthusiastically.
Bella slowed her pony again to fall back to the back of their group.
Ori was writing in a leather bound book all by himself. To Bella he looked quite focused, so he took her by surprise when he glanced up to meet her curious look.
"I didn't mean to stare, I am just a bit curious. What are you writing there, Master Ori?" Bella tilted her head.
The young dwarf blushed lightly and lowered his head, looking at the written pages in his hands. Careful he closed the book and tucked it safely into his coat. Ori fiddled with the buttons on his shirt as he glanced at the hobbit, only to take on a deeper red.
"I am- I am the scribe for this journey. I will write down the events and the p-progress on the road. We will need to keep track for later…" he mumbled.
"That is a really important role, right? May I ask you something, Master Ori?" again she tilted her head slightly, watching his reaction.
Ori, as Gloin before, straightened himself in the saddle and grinned happily at her. He was always more than delighted to share his knowledge with others. In her past life he had been the first one to tell her about dwarven manners and morals.
He had also been the only one to tell her -flushed deep red- that asking Thorin to undo her hair was equal to inviting him to sleep with her. She had somehow managed to tangle her hair into the buttons on the back of her blouse. Thorin was the nearest dwarf at that time and so she had asked him to lend a hand. He did, very gently for someone gruff as him, without any kind of discomfort on her side. He didn't say a single word and the bigger part of the company watched them silently, only Fili and Kili snickered in the far back.
"Mistress Baggins?" the soft voice of Ori brought her back to the present. "You had a question for me?"
Bella blinked at him for a moment. The butterflies in her stomach settled and the memory faded. Unconsciously her fingers had wandered up, to brush over her lips. Slowly she put her hand back down to rest on the warm neck of her pony.
Interest sparked in Oris eyes, with a spymaster as a brother everyone would learn to pay attention to smaller details. Even though he didn't dare to ask about her unusual behavior, he would just have to watch her a bit closer from now on.
"Ah, well you see, I – I never encountered dwarves before, so I am a bit lost. I don't want to offend any of you by accident," she hesitated a moment, looking around as if she was expecting someone to listen in on them, "well, I would love to know more about your customs. Only if you are free to tell me… Obviously I would be answering any question of yours about hobbits if you are interested."
Unsure how the young dwarf would react Bella played with a loose strand of her auburn curls.
"Dwarrows."
Her head jerks around. "What?"
"We prefer 'dwarrows' over 'dwarves'," he smiled at her.
Bellas face heated immediately. Eyes wide she clutched her hands, covering her mouth.
"Oh, oh my. Good gracious! I am terribly sorry! I- I am so ashamed, please do take my sincere apology, master Ori."
She had called them dwarves in her past life too, the entire time! This was more than shameful.
"No harm done." The young one chuckles. "We didn't know either, that 'halfling' is so insulting to your people. I say we are even."
"That is a relief. Please do ask away, master Ori. I would be more than happy to answer your questions."
They talked for a good while, taking turns in asking questions. Bella learned a few more things about her fellow dwarves – pardon, dwarrows – and confirmed some of her assumptions.
Ori was just about to teach her the difference between dwarven craftsmanship and the 'poor quality of any other race who might try'.
"Belladonna Baggins! Get down from that great beast this instant!" the voice was piercing her ears, she would have recognised her anywhere.
"Lobelia, my dear. A wonderful day to you too. Isn't the weather just lovely? Perfectly right for a small trip, don't you think so too?" she smiled down at Lobelia as she did smile up to Thorin this morning.
Her knuckles turned white so hard was her grip on the reins of Myrtle. She wouldn't let Lobelia have the satisfaction of her obeying like a little faunt.
"I always knew you would take after that hideous mother of yours! Up to no good. I can see you follow in her footsteps, going on with a whole harem of men, Belladonna." Lobelia nearly spat her name as if it was some kind of insult.
"At least the Shire will once more be entirely peaceful. Don't say I didn't warn you, when you come back, pregnant with a bastard, crawling into the Shire and weighing down some respectable hobbit, just like your mother did."
A growl climbed up in Thorin's throat. Only Dwalin's hand on his shoulder held him on his pony. Insulting the gentle hobbit lass was one thing, but also insulting her mother and the whole company in one breath on top, an entirely different.
Thorin had no doubt that she would climb down her pony to give that detestable woman on the sideway a piece of her mind.
She didn't.
"You made your choices and I made mine. Just because you can't live with yours doesn't mean you should shame me for living with mine," she turned around, nudging her pony and rode -head held high- past the stuttering, gasping woman and the stunned dwarrows.
There was a moment of silence. None of the dwarrows dared to move. They all were watching their burglar moving on. Bofur was the first one to break the silence.
"Loud that one," he grinned.
They moved one, behind them a distant cry: "In trousers!"
They stopped in Bree that evening. Bella had been silent for the most part of their travels. The others had been respectfully keeping their distance, giving her some space for herself.
Kili and Fili were the first to approach her after she left her room in the tavern.
"How about you come with us? We were planning on going shopping for a bit."
She hadn't imagined meeting Lobelia of all people on her departure. Well, no harm done as she wasn't going to come back any time soon.
She beamed up at the brothers.
"It would be my pleasure, I do actually have some shopping to do. You two would be a great help to me."
And so they went on, visiting a smith to buy a stone to sharpen her pocket knife and a grocer for her to replenish her rations for the next days on the road, as well as a rather large bag of dried leafs neither of the brothers could identify.
"Do you happen to know a junk-shop? Fili here has a pretty good eye for things that can bring a fine price once repaired and polished," Kili boasted about his older brother, proudly looking up to Fili.
Fili on the other hand blushed at the tip of his ears, scratching his neck and avoiding eye-contact.
"Oh my, I hadn't noticed we had such a skilled and handsome dwarf in our very middle," she teased him.
Kili tried to hide his laughter by coughing, while his brother turned as red as Bella's winning tomatoes.
Each of them were rummaging through the shelves of the small junk-shop. Fili focused on finding some hidden treasures and gems beneath all the junk that occupied most of the space. Kili was more interested in watching their newest member of the group carefully.
The hobbit was searching the shelves, picking up this and that, nothing really seemed to catch her eye. Then she went stiff and Kili watched her more closely. A pair of silver bells had caught her attention.
Gently, almost awestruck she touched them. Yanking her hand back immediately as if she had burned herself. A pained expression ruled her face and a shadow lowered itself over her eyes. Fast, almost running she made her way into the opposite direction.
Kili picked the bells up as soon as she left. They were nothing special, a small pair of silver bells, a bit beaten and bruised but still repairable. Shrugging he added the bells to his other findings. He would tell Fili later about what he had witnessed.
The 'prancing pony' was rather crowded on this particular evening. The company managed to get a table in one of the more secluded corners of the room. Dwalin was the first one to spot the young princes and the hobbit lass. The dwarrows had their arms full with food and other bags, as well as the small lass, who looked like she would fall over every moment. He nudged Thorin to shift his attention to his nephews. The king frowned slightly at the sight of the packed trio.
"Do you think we can't care for your wellbeing, burglar?" his voice was no more than a low rumble, they still could hear him perfectly fine in the noisy room.
The lass opened her mouth, no doubt to give him a portion of her mind, but Fili lowered his head to whisper something in her ear, resulting in her staying silent.
Everybody was surprised, as Ori cleared his throat.
"W-well, as I have learned today, hobbits eat s-seven meals a day. She told me, she would just need a f-few weeks to adjust her eating habits and I wouldn't have to worry," he mumbled, shyly looking down on the table.
"Seven?! By my beard, weren't you starving lassie?" Balin questioned the hobbit.
Bella was more than uncomfortable. Of course her stomach would choose this particular moment to rumble on like a great bear. She flushed crimson red to the very tips of her ears, attempting to hide her face behind the bags in her arms. Dwalin hopped down from the bench, took the bags without a comment and shoved them into Kili's arms.
"Come here lass, have some food while the lads bring your purchases to your room. We don't want to alert anyone with that sound of your stomach."
With a swift motion he swept her off the ground and placed her next to Thorin on the bench.
A large bowl of soup was placed before her, bread and some kind of drink. She started eating under the watchful eyes of the company.
"Care for another drink, small lady?" the faint smell of alcohol accompanies the lulling words.
Slowly she turned around. The man behind her was the perfect example of a drunken idiot. Oily hair and bloodshot eyes. His friend had to stabilize him as he swayed forward.
"Oh, well thank you for your kind offer, sir. As you can see I am already in a very fine company. I have to politely decline your offer," she didn't even bother to smile at him.
"Don't be shy. Come on, little lady, give us a smile. We promise you to be gentle," he laughed at his own words.
Bella frowns, slightly crossed. With her strong hand she adjusted her grip around her fathers pocket knife.
"You heard the lady. Scram." Thorin's words were more like a growl than anything else.
Without looking up he had his sword drawn and held it protective between Bella and the drunkard.
She relaxed a bit as the two of them raised their hands and left the tavern shortly after.
"Thank you, Master Oakenshield," ever so lightly she touches his -very damn muscular- arm, smiling at him.
Shortly after she returned to eating her meal, tucking away the knife. She didn't notice the curious look of Nori, the spymaster of the group, nor the slightly red ears beneath the dark hair of the dwarven king.