Fili chuckled as Bella went through all her knives as she got ready for the day. "Is this why you always take so long, amralime?" he asked.
She turned, giving him a stern look. "You're still needing to translate that for me," she said, displeased. "But, yes. I couldn't go to sleep if I was nearly encased with metal. Hobbits don't have the naturally tougher skin that dwarves do."
Fili merely smiled. "How can you hide so many on such a small frame?"
She smiled slyly. "That, fangon, is my personal secret. All you need to know is that I can easily retrieve any of my six fighting knives, and it takes less than a minute to have any of my throwing knives in my hands."
Fili eyed her. "I am fairly certain I have heard that one word several times come out in a snarl, yet you make it sound like music from a brook."
She laughed. "It's not an insult. Although, I will admit that it all depends on the tone the speaker bestows upon it. For the moment, I am using it as an endearment. Now, if you'll excuse me," she stood, gathering up the knives left and her pack. "I'm going to go freshen up."
Fili watched as she jogged into a small gathering of trees. He released a quiet hum. How could other dwarves manage to be near their Ones and not know it? As every day passed, their friendship, their potential courtship, just felt more and more right. At least he knew that he had Thorin's blessing on the matter now.
He jolted as a small, yet firm hand grabbed his arm. "I would like a word with you in private," Bilbo said quietly.
Ah, he might have forgotten to mention anything to her brother. He should have remembered that. He nodded, allowing the hobbit to lead them to a place out of hearing of the rest of the company.
Bilbo just stood there, looking up at him with a dark, clouded gaze. His arms folded firmly across his chest.
After a moment, Fili started shuffling in place. He glanced back to the company. If the burglar hobbit meant to do some harm, they weren't so far out of hearing that Fili couldn't call for help. But Bilbo wouldn't harm him surely. Although his dark expression did plant some doubts in his mind.
"I have noticed that you have taken interest in my sister," Bilbo said finally.
"Y-yes," Fili said. "From the moment I saw her in Bag End, um, I believed that she was my One." He shifted. "I had actually asked her to," he swallowed, "consider a courtship with me."
"I see," Bilbo said, but his tone betrayed none of his thoughts. "I just wanted to make you aware that I am very protective of my little sister, Fili Son of Dis, Daughter of Thrain. And if I see or hear you hurting her, including but not limited to physical injury or broken heart." The hobbit's brown eyes were so dark they were almost black with the danger he promised. "Well, let's just say that a dragon will be the least of your troubles."
His face then relaxed, smiling. "Are we perfectly clear?" he asked cheerily.
Fili nodded quickly, trying to wrap his head around the complete one-eighty in demeanor. "Ye-yes, perfectly," he answered. He was shaking? He shouldn't be shaking because of a hobbit smaller than him. Right?
Bilbo was already returning to camp. Acting as though nothing had happened.
Fili searched for Gandalf before racing over to the wizard. "Master Gandalf?" he asked in a low voice.
Gandalf started before looking at him. "My dear Fili, you look as though you just spied an orc."
"Bilbo just spoke to me," Fili said, trying to hide his irrational fear. "I may have considered courting his sister before telling him anything about it. He just took me a ways off to tell me he had noticed and that if I hurt Bella – which I would never dream of doing in a thousand years – a dragon would be the least of my troubles." He cast Gandalf a worried look, hoping he wasn't coming off as begging. "Should I be worried at all? I know, take him seriously since I'm hoping to court his sister, but should I really be afraid of him?" He just couldn't shake the chill that ran through him at the hobbit's words, nor the dark, mithril strong gaze in his eyes.
Gandalf hummed a moment. "Well, I have never personally known Bilbo to react violently. But he is very protective of his last surviving member of his family. So, I'd have to say that his words are equally a promise and a threat. A promise that if something happens, he will make sure you pay dearly for it. A threat in that it should prevent anything of the sort from happening." He chuckled. "You needn't fear for your life. Bilbo, I'm sure, has also noticed how well Bella thinks of you. So, he won't kill you, just make sure you suffer in what he considers equal measure to his sister's pain."
Fili felt his heart nearly crumble into his boots. This was not helpful at all. Oh, what was he thinking? He should have spoken to Bilbo first chance that he had so that it wouldn't appear that he was trying to go behind his back.
"I believe he would have given you this warning whether you had approached him first or not," Gandalf said, seeming to have read, or at least guessed, his thoughts. "As I said, since Bella is the last family he has, he is very protective of her. Even before their parents passed away, he was protective. Their deaths just happened to make him more so." The wizard gave him a wise twinkling eye. "Not much different than how you, Kili, and Thorin may react if some dwarf asked to come calling on your mother. Or, how you may react when Kili starts courting."
Fili felt himself calm as he considered this. Aye, Bilbo's reaction wasn't much different than a dwarf's. Although dwarves tended to have their weapons in plain sight when they voiced their protective threats.
"So," Gandalf concluded, "heed Bilbo's warning, protect her as you would your own heart, and you will have no need to fear him."
Fili slowly nodded. "I will," he said.
"Now, prove it through your actions," Gandalf said.
Fili nodded before returning to finish packing his sleeping area.
"Bilbo," Bella said behind him, "you look a little too pleased with yourself."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Bilbo said.
Fili looked over to watch the siblings as the two packed up the last of their things. Bella eyed Bilbo as her brother calmly packed his bags. (As though he hadn't threatened the well-being of the Crown Prince in Exile of Erebor.) Bilbo looked completely unbothered, nearly ignoring his sister.
"Bilbo Baggins, what did you do?" Bella demanded.
"I might have spoken to someone who was showing interest in you," Bilbo answered.
Bella's mouth dropped open. Then she started scolding her brother in rapid Sindarin. Fili was able to catch a few words, but not enough to fully get an idea of what she was saying.
Bilbo however looked unmoving. When she stopped to catch her breath, he asked, "Are you done?"
Bella crossed her arms. "Maybe," she grumbled.
"All I told him was that I had noticed his interest in you and that I wanted his word that he wouldn't hurt you," Bilbo said.
Fili felt his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. That was a mild way of putting it.
"Did you at least tell him whether or not you approved?" Bella asked, still grumpy.
"That would depend on how you feel about him," Bilbo answered. "If you don't like him in that way, I'll make it clear that he should leave you alone. If you do like him and are seriously considering spending your life with him, I'll support you."
"Thank you," Bella said. She then scowled. "You could have at least told me that you'd be threatening him."
"I did not threaten him," Bilbo said. "I just promised him that if he hurt you, he'd receive equal or greater pain."
"Bilbo! I am a grown woman!"
"And I am your older brother who feels responsible for both your safety and happiness."
Bella whirled round with a mighty scowl that Fili thought might rival Smaug's monstrous face and arms crossed tightly across her chest.
Bilbo sighed. "Bella," he said, resting a hand on her shoulder, "I would have had a similar talk with any hobbit you had shared mutual interest in. It's not just because he's a dwarf, and . . . I just want to make sure that he doesn't hurt you." He brushed back some hair with a knuckle. "I don't want to lose you in anyway, Rosa. You're all I have left. I just want to be sure that if I lose you to someone outside the Shire that he will treat you right and that you will be honestly happy." He half-smiled. "I'll confess that I may have let my Tookish side take over for a moment, and if he believes that you are worth it, he'll be willing to risk that dangerous side of me."
Bella sagged. She turned her head toward him. "Would it have made a difference if he had mentioned his intentions to you first?"
Bilbo shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Depending on when he made his intentions known, I doubt that I was available."
Bella smiled. "He may have asked me to consider courtship the evening we first met."
Bilbo's eyebrows shot up. For the first time since Fili started unintentionally eavesdropping, Bilbo's brown eyes met the prince's blue. "If that was a proposal of marriage, I certainly would be having more words with him. One does not do such things within twenty-four hours of meeting."
"I was still debating whether or not I would go with them," Bella explained, seemingly unaware of the silent exchange. "He asked me to consider courting him when he returned so long as he survived the quest."
"And now that you are on this quest?" Bilbo asked, his eyes returning to his sister.
"Once I am satisfied or unsatisfied with who I discover him to be, I'll give him an answer," Bella answered. She then turned to Fili, a stern gleam in her eyes. "I have yet to decide if his eavesdropping is troublesome or endearing."
Fili ducked his head down to his pack, feeling his cheeks flaming. So both had become aware of him watching and staring. "Sorry," he said. He'd have to make sure to not do that anymore. Or be more sneaky about it if he felt he needed to.
Bella lightly shook her head before turning to tie her pack's flap closed.
"Well?" Bilbo whispered in Sindarin. "Do you know which direction you're leaning?"
She considered. "I may be thinking about saying yes," she answered. "But I want to see how he acts in times of danger, and when we reach Rivendell."
Bilbo pursed his lips, wobbling his head back and forth. "Fair enough." He smiled, squeezing her shoulder.
"You still should have told me what you were planning to do," she said.
"And give you a chance to warn him? I think not."
He only laughed when Bella shoved him. Honestly, Bella appreciated her brother's concern, even if she thought it unwarranted.
Gandalf puffed on his pipe as he waited atop his pony for the dwarves and hobbits to be ready.
"What do you think, Gandalf?" Thorin asked. "You've known that hobbit lass since she was a child."
Gandalf hid his pleasure behind a few smoke rings as he watched Bella securing her pack to her pony. A moment later, Fili approached, subtly helping her. Bella slapped his hands back, a faint scolding on her lips. Alright, not so subtle.
"I think that so long as they're willing to hear each other out, understand what to stand for, and what they can make compromises on, they may have a chance," Gandalf said.
"Just as any dwarven couple," Thorin noted.
"And hobbit," Gandalf said. He chuckled as he watched the couple in question as Fili turned it into a game.
He touched a fastener then snatched his hand away before Bella could slap him. He'd even tug a thong, undoing a tie, eliciting a "Fili!" from Bella's lips. After two times of this second action, Fili threw in, "Bella!" echoing her enunciation.
Bella threw up her hands. "Are you always this impossible?"
"Only when I want to," he answered with a grin.
She slapped his shoulder as both broke into laughter.
"Let me double-check it's secure for the day?" Fili asked. "I've heard a couple possible predictions of bad weather either today or tomorrow. We don't want to risk losing anything."
"Fine," Bella said. She shook her head.
Fili jolted. "What did you just call me?"
"Nothing insulting," she replied.
"Come on, tell me," he said as he checked the fastenings.
"Only once you've translated what you've been calling me," she returned.
Thorin released a grunt that Gandalf assumed was his version of a chuckle. "They better work, since it would appear that he's teaching her Khuzdul."
Gandalf chuckled himself. If that was a determining factor, the fact Bella was teaching Fili Sindarin should seal the deal. Very few dwarven women would be willing to marry a dwarf who spoke elvish. But the wizard wasn't willing to be the one to break the news to Thorin if the king in exile wasn't yet aware of it.
Author's Note: I am so sorry for this long delay. My laptop started to die on me the weekend before the corona shutdown. And because of the shutdown, it took a little longer for me to get a new laptop. Once I finally got it, I needed help getting a word processor installed, and the general getting used to new versions of programs. And never fear for the stories. For to paraphrase/quote a semi-popular miracle man, "There is a difference between dead and mostly dead." And considering that my laptop is better than mostly dead, I was able to retrieve everything safely. The only thing currently suffering now is finding a program that can properly open my movies-in-progress. (Just fun things, but still projects I've poured collective hours into.) But hopefully that will also be eventually resolved.
Anyway, to the story. What did you think of Bilbo's little talk with Fili? Never underestimate a hobbit. especially a Tookish Baggins. :-) Hope you also enjoyed the interactions of Bella with both Bilbo and Fili, and Gandalf and Thorin's talk.
I plan to get the next chapter to you all this Monday. I just wanted to give you guys an early/late update since it's been two weeks. So, any thoughts about what could be coming up? Any theories about what could happen? I hope through all this you are playing it safe and staying healthy during this shutdown/quarantine. See you on Monday.