Chapter Sixty-Three: Bacon and Eggs
After four blissful weeks, during which Emelia was certain she had never smiled so much in her life, she realized, knee deep in the river and furiously scrubbing a stain out of her favorite dress, that her time in the Shire was coming to a close.
It hit her all at once, as she went through the motions that she had done a hundred times, and she found she wasn't sure how to process it.
It had been a lazy day, spent mostly lounging around indoors to avoid the heat, before Emelia managed to convince herself that she needed to actually accomplish something. So she gathered all the dirty clothes in Bag End and dragged Kili down to the river with her, mind set on finishing before the sun dipped below the horizon and she lost all her light and motivation and crawled back into their bed to spend the rest of the night enjoying her time with him.
It was shockingly easy to be convinced to stay in bed all day when someone like Kili was there with her.
He stood next to her, wringing out the clothes as she handed them to him and draping them over the side of her boat to start the drying process.
It was just the two of them, after Fili and Dwalin decided to spend the evening drinking at the Green Dragon. They had taken a liking to the smoky tavern shortly after the wedding, perhaps flabbergasted and delighted by the low price of a pint, and had spent a couple nights a week there since. Bilbo was visiting Lobelia and Otho Sackville-Baggins. He described it as a persistent chore and a near-constant headache, but he put it off as long as hobbitly possible and the longer he waited the more he ran the risk of them showing up on the doorsteps of Bag End, unannounced, uninvited, and thoroughly unwelcome.
She looked over at Kili, smiling at the simple bliss she felt. She never thought something as normal as laundry would be romantic, but there she was, swooning over her husband quite literally doing the absolute bare minimum like a lovestruck school girl.
"Kee," Emelia said, breaking the comfortable silence. Kili hummed, back to her as he laid out one of Bilbo's numerous waistcoats on the side of boat. It was Bilbo's second favorite, a banana yellow with fancy gold buttons and some of the finest embroidery Emelia had ever seen. "When do we have to leave?"
He kept his back to her for a moment, smoothing out the clothes over and over again. The delay in an answer gave her pause, but she waited for him to actually say something before she started to jump to conclusions. It was a sign that it was likely to be a serious conversation when he stepped back from the anchored boat and turned to face her, expression unreadable.
"That is your decision," He said, glancing down at her rolled up pants and water stained front. She was wearing one of his shirts, one of the many she had claimed right after their wedding, and she had no plans to relinquish it any time soon. "But, if the Mountain is still our destination, we will need to leave soon."
"What do you mean, 'still our destination'?"
Kili sighed. Rather than answering her right away, he moved to stand closer to her. His hand found hers, moving up her arm after only a moment, past her chin, up her neck and cheek and into her hair. He smoothed some of her curls back, fingers lingering on the end of the braid sticking out behind her ear.
"You're happy here, Em." His voice took on a gravely tone that stole her breath and made her heart pound frantically in her chest. "Happiest I've ever seen you, in fact."
"You might have a little something to do with that." Emelia reached up a hand to grab his wrist and pulled him back with her towards the bank. A tree hung overhead, shielding them from the late afternoon sun. She sat down and pulled him down next to her, keeping her feet in the cool water. "But what does that have to do with it?"
"We never talked about where we would live before we got married."
"I thought it was assumed we would live in Erebor. You're entire family is there, after all."
"And you've made a life here. You have a business and friends and Bilbo. There are homes for sale here that we could live in," Kili said, voice dipping in the end and showing her that he had given it a great deal of thought. "I want you to be where you're going to be happiest."
Emelia sat with the idea for a moment, a streak of joy coursing through her at the thought before she pushed it aside. Yes, she would enjoy living in the Shire, spending her days in her little boat and her nights in a hobbit hole of their own, wrapped around each other into the early hours of morning, when they would start all over again. After a few years, maybe they would have a kid or two, and then eventually grandkids would come along, and the years would slip away from them tucked away in the Shire away from all stress and worry.
Yes, she would be happy with him there.
But she knew she would also be happy to live with Kili in Erebor, or Dale, or the burned out wreckage of Lake-town. She shifted closer to him, running her fingers over the smooth silver ring of his wedding band.
"I'm happy wherever you are." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek, letting her lips linger. His skin was warm and she leaned closer to him. "You can't just walk away from your responsibilities because I happened to decide to run halfway across the world a few months back."
"You're my responsibility, Emelia. My only responsibility right now, as far as I am concerned," Kili said, turning his head slightly so that he could press a light kiss to the corner of her mouth. "And I married you without telling you how much your life was going to change in Erebor. You deserve to make the decision without feeling like you do not have other options."
"My life has changed more times than I can count in the last year. Some of those changes were not so great, but I promise you, nothing about this scares me or makes me want to pick a different option. I'm all-in on whatever decision we make, but I want us to make it together. And I want you to be honest with me about how you feel and where you want to live. Is there something going on? Is it Thorin?"
Kili sighed and pulled back slightly, the look on his face causing her a great deal of worry.
"I have not spoken to Thorin more than necessary in several months," Kili said, surprising her with the admission. Dwalin had mentioned something to that effect, although in her happiness she had hardly paid much attention, but it seemed that the problem was far more serious than she could have ever anticipated.
"Kili, he's your uncle."
"That relation did not seem to matter much to him when he banished you, or when he left the people of Esgaroth to die."
"It's been eight months. Have you and him not talked about it at all?"
"What is there to talk about? If you had not been here, or Mahal forbid, something worse had happened to you, I would just as soon forget him entirely."
"But I'm here," She said, snaking her arm around his waist. "And I don't think you really mean that."
"He was so hateful, Emelia. I've never seen him have such a disregard for everyone around him. I don't know how I am supposed to ever see him the same way again."
"Maybe you won't. But that doesn't mean you don't try."
"I would not expect you to feel that way," He said, glancing sideways at her, a slight quirk to his mouth
"Yeah, well, we can't both be bitter assholes. One of us has to talk some sense into the other." She squeezed him a little harder, scooting a closer so she could rest her head on his shoulder. "What Thorin did hurt me, Kee. And I would be a liar if I said that there wasn't part of me that still felt that way. But, I'm ready to move on."
"How can you forgive him?"
"I don't know if I can yet, but I'm going to try my absolute hardest because I love you and I know you love him and Erebor is going to get really awkward if me and you don't be the bigger people. He's your family and that means he's my family. We'll just take it one step at a time. Maybe it will take a month or two, maybe a year, or maybe a decade. But we'll figure it out."
Kili sighed again as he turned to kiss the top of her head. "And here I was hoping you might encourage my pettiness and let me stew in it."
"Stew away, babe. We've still got several months of travel ahead of us during which you can tell me all the things you absolutely despise about him."
"You're absolutely certain? It will not be ea…"
Emelia cut him off with a hard shove, pleased when she was able to get enough power to send him flying into the shallow river. He flipped over almost immediately and grabbed one of her feet still dangling in the water, pulling her into the water right after him. She landed on top of him, water rushing into her open mouth as she laughed out loud. His arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer to him as he sat up. She settled on his lap, smirking at him for a brief moment before she spit the water out of her mouth.
"Charming," He said, leaning forward.
"You know, you look super hot all soaking wet and smiley." She moved her hands up to the back of his neck, fingers trailing into the ends of his hair.
"You're trying to seduce me," He said, groaning when she gave a slight tug.
"Is it working?"
He shifted his hips, finger digging into her as he pulled her closer to him. She sank down a little further, moving her own hips without thinking about the fact that they were very much in public. He closed his eyes and gripped her harder, using her as leverage to start rocking up and down. She could feel everything through her thin pants and she resisted the pressing need to reach down and do something about it. Instead, demonstrating all the self-restraint she could muster, she stopped moving and pulled her hands back from his hair.
"It's working a little too well," She breathed, disentangling her hands to move them over his shoulders and down his chest.
"You also look, what was it you said?"
"Super hot."
"What does heat have to do with attractiveness?" He asked, eyes moving from her face downward. "You should know, though, that your body heat is irrelevant to me when your shirt is currently see through." Emelia followed his gaze, blushing crimson when she saw that her shirt was, in fact, almost entirely transparent when soaking wet. She surged forward and pressed herself against him, instinct telling her to cover up despite them being very much alone.
"Useless."
"I agree. You would be just as well served taking it off."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"More than anything at the moment, save for you taking off your pants."
Heat rushed southward, flushing her water chilled skin and making her fingers shake. Four weeks and the feeling of being so unbelievably and unquestionably turned-on still alarmed her. It felt alien in her body, like a pleasant little invader that took all her nerve endings hostage and refused to give them back for hours. Sometimes days, if Kili was in rare form. From the way he was looking at her and from the way her stomach seemed to be doing absolute summersaults, she didn't have much hope for getting over it anytime soon.
Not that she wanted to.
On her list of marriage perks, and there were now literally hundreds even after only just a month together, it certainly ranked in the top five, just below not being embarrassed about farting in front of each other and just above having him to always finish the food she didn't want on her plate.
"So, Erebor?" Emelia said, desperate to change the subject before she did something she would regret and ended up with the hobbit equivalency of a public indecency charge.
"Erebor," He agreed, hands moving from her hips to her stomach. They traveled underneath her shirt, peeling it away from her soaked skin. His fingers were feather light, sending shivers up and down her spine. His mouth found her pulse point, whatever objection she might have dying on her lips when she felt the slightest scrape of teeth. His hand snaked below the hem of her pants, pausing for just the briefest of moments to get her permission.
Against her better judgement, she nodded, throwing her head back as his mouth continued to work at her pulse point.
Just as his finger brushed across her, one teasing touch that set her skin on fire, he pulled back and removed his hand from her pants.
"We should finish the laundry," He said, clearly smiling against her skin.
"Asshole."
"I am absolutely positive you will find a way to return the favor later."
"Count on it," She said, looking at him in the eye for a brief moment before she sighed. "Fine. Fine. Let's finish the domestic nonsense so we can hurry home and…"
"Give each other favors all night?"
Emelia blushed again, but she couldn't help but laugh. "Who knew this whole marriage thing would be so much fun," She said, leaning forward to give him a quick kiss on the lips before she stood up. "Come on, you've distracted me long enough."
Kili pushed himself into a standing position. He threw a wink at her over his shoulder as he walked back to the boat to continue laying out the clothes, dripping water and mud after him. Emelia bit her lip, reveling in the near constant happiness that had infected her for the last month. Even doing laundry, her least favorite task of all time, she felt like she was smack dab in the middle of a romantic comedy, complete with brewing family drama and, what she was sure, were countless misadventures to come.
Emelia stared down at the plethora of bags, each overflowing and bursting at the seams, and felt a deep well of sadness open up inside her. Of course, she was excited to get back on the road. Although there were terrible things that happened, trolls and goblins and giant rock monsters to name a few, she was eager to get started on the next chapter. But she was not sure she was quite ready to close this chapter just yet.
"Do you think you have packed too much?" Kili asked, eyeing the bags with an amused smile. "You can replace anything you want when we arrive home."
"It's not a want, it's a need," She said, gesturing to the bag that consisted entirely of her collection of summer dresses. "Bilbo paid good money for these dresses and I'm going to wear them until they're nothing but threads."
Kili held up her wedding dress, peering around it with raised eyebrows. "And this?"
"We have at least one more wedding, don't we?"
"Yes, but you will offend my mother if you do not let her help you pick a new dress."
Emelia stared at the dress, realizing that there wasn't an occasion to wear it again. She crossed to the other side of the bed and took it from his hands, running her fingers over the delicate silk a few times before she nodded. "It's a shame, though. I was a total smoke show in that dress."
"Bring it. If for nothing else, then it will be nice to look at."
"Maybe our daughter will get to wear it one day," She mused, holding it up against her chest. She was so lost in the thought that she hardly noticed the slight choking noise he made at her words. It registered after a moment, cutting through her far away musings of a little girl with dark brown hair and bright green eyes, and she turned to look at him, confusion etched all over her face. "What? Is something wrong?"
"Daughter." The word sounded like it weighed heavily on his tongue.
"Or son. I'm not one to judge if he decides he wants to get married in a dress."
Emelia was quite used to the wide variation in all his smiles. His sleepy smile, his cocky smile, his playful smile, his blissful smile. She knew them all and cataloged them in her mind like precious gems. But this one was so wonderful it nearly knocked her on her ass. The dress drooped in her hands as she stared at him, alarmed and borderline terrified that he might think she was picking that moment to tell him that she was pregnant.
Which she was very much not.
And she planned on keeping it that way for at least another year.
She might be comfortable being a teen bride, but she drew the line at teen pregnancy. It was not just any line, either. It was a giant rock wall, unscalable and covered in pointy things meant to keep her from changing her mind. She was so determined, in fact, that she had suffered through drinking moon tea that tasted like worms and dirty toenails every single morning just to prevent it.
"I'm not pregnant," She blurted out, dropping the dress on the bed.
Kili let out a small breath and she was pleased to see that he didn't look upset.
"You're relieved?" She asked, pushing the dress aside so she could sit on the edge of the bed.
"Relieved is perhaps not the right word."
"We haven't talked about it, so I have no idea what you want," She said, face quite serious for a moment until it morphed into a playful smile. "Although, I can make a few assumptions considering you bought us a hobbit voodoo blanket meant for the sole purpose of encouraging breeding like rabbits as a wedding present."
"In my defense, it is a really well-made blanket that will keep us very warm if you ever decide you want to use it." Kili bent to the side and pulled the blanket out of one of her numerous bags. He held it aloft, turning it side to side for a moment before he dropped it on the bed on top of her dress. "And, I can also make a few assumptions about how you feel considering you spilled melted chocolate on it five minutes after I gave it to you."
"I still feel really bad about that."
The little stain, furiously scrubbed mostly away while Emelia apologized to a very amused Kili, was only on one corner. It would only be noticeable if someone was looking, but she still felt absolutely horrible.
"It gives it something unique and it is very you."
She moved her fingers over the outline of one of the fish, chest swelling in appreciation. It was quite sweet, considering he took the time to tell the quilter what pattern he thought would represent them the best. It was all superstition, and she didn't really believe that sleeping underneath it would suddenly cause her to get pregnant, but she still hadn't quite been able to stomach the thought of letting it be on the bed at night yet.
She wasn't superstitious, but she might be a little stitious, and she had learned over the last year and a half of her life not to tempt fate.
"I suppose I'll just say what I want so we can stop dancing around it," Emelia said, pulling the blanket into her lap. "I want to have kids. Full stop. Whether or not we can is another problem for another day. But I definitely want to have kids with you. More importantly, though, I want to wait. Like at least a couple of years, if that's possible? Pregnancy sort of terrifies me and I don't have my mom anymore to help me through it, so I want to wait until I'm emotionally ready."
"Then we will wait." He grabbed her hand in his and gave it a tight squeeze. "It is something we both agree on. A few years of just the two of us sounds wonderful."
"So we'll put the dress away for a little longer until our son or daughter needs it."
"Do men often wear dresses where you're from?" He asked.
"Some do." Emelia looked at him, hoping that she wouldn't find any sort of negative judgement on his face. Instead, she was delighted to see that he had an amused look.
"Our cultures have something in common, then. Dwarves have never held to the same rigid beliefs as the societies of men."
"You're not finished packing?" Fili appeared in the door frame, slightly frazzled and very clearly annoyed to see that her room still resembled the aftermath of a tornado. "What have you two been doing all this time?"
"Discussing having children," Kili said with the straightest face he could muster.
Fili, who had been in the process of taking a few steps into the room, froze, eyes wide. He, sounding very much like Kili in that moment, choked on thin air. "Oh, forgive me, I…"
"Fee, its fine. It's not that serious." Emelia stood up and folded the blanket, handing it to Kili as she turned to face Fili. "But, I hate to be the bearer of bad news that you're not going to be an uncle anytime soon."
"Not for lack of trying," Fili said, looking around the room. "Nauseating though it may be for everyone else who has to live in the house with you."
"It's a beautiful and natural thing," Emelia said, sharing an amused look with Kili as he waggled his eyebrows at her. "And you better get used to it, because I'm willing to bet the acoustics will be even better in the mountain."
Fili narrowed his eyes, lip curling as he tried very clearly to hide a smile.
"Will you be able to finish packing tonight? Dwalin wants to leave at first light."
"I think so." She turned in place, giving the small room an assessing once over before she looked back at him. "I might have to throw out half of my most prized possessions, but I'll be ready."
Even as she said it, the words felt hollow. But she thought, if she said it enough to herself over the night she just might start to feel it.
The morning of their departure was a somber and bittersweet affair. Emelia woke up to her empty bedroom, arms wrapped securely around Kili's middle, and tried to take it all in one last time. It was a claustrophobic space now that there were two of them living full time in it, and neither of them could turn over at night without running into the other, but she loved it more than any place she had ever stayed.
Kili shifted, abdominal muscles flexing as he stretched his arms above his head. He let out a loud sigh as he settled back down, left arm wrapping around her shoulders, right arm dropping to the floor. They had long since abandoned the blankets in favor of just using the sheets, but even that became too hot as the night progressed. Dwarves, as Emelia was delighted to discover, ran about ten degrees hotter than humans. It would be an absolute gift come winter, but at the moment, in the dead of summer, they always woke up covered in sweat.
"We need to get moving," He said, voice thick with sleep.
"You first."
She nuzzled her nose into the side of his chest.
"How do you feel?" His eyes were still closed but he tilted his chin down.
"I'm sad," She admitted, knowing that he would understand the feeling. "But I'm also really excited to get back on the road."
"We will not be sleeping as comfortable as this."
Emelia closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, remembering every single root, rock, and clump of hard dirt that had found its way into her back on her first trip to Erebor. But she thought, as long as the second trip was even marginally less stressful, she could handle it with ease. "That's fine, I'm not difficult."
He made a noise at the back of his throat that settled somewhere between skepticism and amusement and she pinched the skin just below his right armpit.
"When we get back to Erebor, we will have to sleep separately," He said, shifting in place once again.
In addition to being a living, breathing furnace, she had also discovered that he was always restless in the morning. Where she was perfectly content to be as lazy as possible, he was always itching to do something. The fact that he had stayed in bed that long was a miracle in of itself, and she tried to appreciate it as much as possible.
"Fili said dwarves aren't so big on those kind things."
"Dwarves are not. Royal dwarves and the preservation of the royal line is an entirely different standard. We cannot be married until you receive clan approval. Until then, you will have your own quarters."
"How long does clan approval usually take?" Emelia asked, sitting up and crossing her legs. She let her hand rest on his chest, but she leaned back against the wall, letting out a small sigh at the feeling of the cool wood on her skin.
"No longer than a few months."
"Months?"
"Sometimes shorter, if the prospective partner is particularly remarkable." He rolled sideways and faced her, grabbing the hand that rest on his chest and giving it a small squeeze. "For you, I expect a week at most."
"I'll hold you to that. A week will be torture enough. I've gotten pretty used to sleeping next to you," She said, smiling at him.
"I never said we wouldn't be sleeping next to each other." He sat up, a mischievous look on his face. "I am rather committed to sneaking into your room every night like a villain."
"And incur the wrath of Thorin?"
"It is not Thorin's wrath that I fear in this regard, but my mother's."
"I have to admit, it's kind of scandalous and exciting. We technically eloped with each other like a pair of Brontean protagonists. It's all very romantic."
Kili smiled and leaned forward, kissing her cheek. "I am glad you see it that way. Now, we really do have to prepare to leave."
Emelia sighed, accepting one final kiss from him before she followed him out of bed. Everything that was not packed was not going and she had already sorted it into cloth bags and set them aside. She implored Bilbo to sell them, but so far all she got from the hobbit was a simple nod and nothing more. The only evidence that she had lived in the room was her traveling clothes thrown over the dressing screen and her shoes laying by the door. But those would soon be gone too and the room would be back to how it was before she descended upon it like a hurricane.
Kili left her alone to finish getting ready, his own list of things to be done nearly a mile long and barely half done.
The room felt even emptier with him gone.
Emelia turned around in place, looking at everything while she could. It had a whiplash effect one her, sending her to and fro, backwards and forwards through happiness and sadness. Part of her wanted to beg Kili to stay just a little longer, to let her spend just a little bit more time in the Shire and with Bilbo. But a greater part of her couldn't wait to get back to Erebor and truly start their life together.
The conflicted feelings were not likely to go away, whether then or a month later, so she walked over to her dressing screen and started the process of layering up her traveling clothes. She would be hot at first, but Kili had warned her of how long it would take to get back to Erebor and they would soon run into the worst of fall and winter.
"Emelia?"
She peered out from behind the screen at the sound of Bilbo's voice, smiling despite her swirling emotions.
Bilbo was hovering. This time, standing at the edge of her now bedroom and clutching one final cup of tea for her and a plate of breakfast, he looked very much like he might cry. Which, of course, would cause her to cry and it would be an absolute mess of tears and snot.
"I brought you some breakfast," He said, crossing over to sit on her bed. "Dwalin seems particularly keen to get on the road as soon as possible."
"And we thought Thorin was bad." They shared a knowing look as she stepped out from behind the screen and joined him on the bed. He held out the plate to her the moment she was settled.
"Bacon and eggs," He said, voice hitching up at the end. "Delightful and wonderful, just like us."
Emelia really and truly was committed to not crying, but seeing the plate held out to her and steam mug of tea she couldn't stop herself.
"Thank you," She managed to splutter, hand shaking as she took the plate.
"It's just breakfast."
"No its not, and you know it." She set the plate aside and took the mug of tea, setting it on the ground so she could wrap him in what she hoped was the tightest hug of his life. "It's everything, Bilbo. Everything."
"You have a home here, Emelia. Always. Just promise me if anything happens, you will remember you have a home here and you have me."
"I promise."
"And that you will write the moment you arrive so that I know you are safe."
"Promise."
"And you will not let Thorin treat you poorly."
"Promise."
"And…"
"Bilbo," Emelia cut him off, laughing. "I'm going to miss you so much. I wish I could go without leaving, if that makes sense." They both pulled back and Emelia whipped away a few wayward tears. "Can I convince you to come with us?"
"No, not right now. I think I have had my fill of adventure for a time."
"It was worth a try."
"Maybe one day," Bilbo said, wiping away a few tears of his own. "But for now, you need to eat your breakfast and finish getting ready before Dwalin comes in here and drags you out to the ponies. No more tears. This is a happy day."
"This is a happy day," She agreed, picking the plate back up and looking down at it, appreciation swelling for the hobbit with each passing moment. "This is a happy day."
"You're certain he will return?" Fili asked, squinting up in the sun. Dwalin scoffed next to him, already sitting on his own pony. It tapped back and forth, mirroring his rider's anxious energy.
"He should, but who knows? Birds don't have a sense of time."
"Clearly human women do not either," Dwalin said, raising his eyebrows when she turned around to scowl at him.
"There he is," Fili said, sounding very relieved that they wouldn't have to wait much longer.
He appeared as a little speck of black against the bright sun, impossible for her to see at first until it swooped down and came into view. The raven careened into her, missing her shoulder by a good inch and a half, and slammed into her chest. It recovered quickly and flipped around, holding out its leg despite its plethora of mussed up feathers. She took the letter and handed it to Kili before she smoothed out the bird's feathers as best she could.
"It is from the elf," Fili said, peering over Kili's shoulder at the delicate scrawl.
"Which one? I know several now." She gave the bird a quick peck to the top of its head, smiling when it leaned into the gesture. "Can I trust you to read it without vomiting all over it in abject disgust?"
"We will endeavor to find out together," Kili said, unfurling the letter and smoothing it out. "It's in elvish."
"And?"
"And we do not read elvish."
"All that princely education and neither of you managed to learn enough elvish to read a short letter?" Emelia moved her raven up to her shoulder and held out her hand, taking the letter to read it for herself.
"'Short' might not be the best word to describe that."
Emelia waved her hand to shush him, trying to focus on the words and translate their meaning. It was very Legolas to write his entire letter in elvish, knowing full well that her understanding of the language was not nearly enough for that. But she made due. And she was able to decipher enough to figure out that he was in the north with the ranger and was very unlikely to venture south anytime soon.
"Well," She said, folding the letter up and tucking into her coat. "I guess that's that."
"Can we go?" Dwalin asked, clearly not understanding her hesitation as she turned around in place just to give herself a bit more time.
And perhaps she was being silly, delaying the inevitable. She had already sold her boat, paid off her debts to Ghoff, and said her goodbyes to the few hobbits that she counted amongst her friends. She even apologized to Roper Gamgee, a thing that hurt her pride worse than anything. Everything she owned was piled up on the ponies and her room was empty.
Everything was ready to go.
Her mother's boots were on her feet, ready for one final trip.
All that was left now was getting up the courage to climb atop her pony.
She looked over at Bag End one last time as she wrapped her hand around the smooth pommel of her saddle, committing it to memory.
Emelia hauled herself up and made herself comfortable in the saddle, sadness at leaving washing away and being replaced by a crackling excitement. Bilbo walked over to her and placed his hand on her knee, giving it an affectionate squeeze before he stepped back. He, seemingly reading her mind, gave her a reassuring nod.
Bilbo was right.
This was a happy day.
Kili steered his pony closer to her and grabbed her hand, flipping it over to kiss her palm. "Ready?"
She nodded, feeling surer of her decision with each step the ponies took. "Ready."
And we're off! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and I hope to see everyone in 2021 (if a meteor doesn't decide to strike us as the closing act to the hell-scape known as 2020)