The company traveled for many miles over plains and hills, up into the Misty Mountains. They donned their furs as they reached higher and higher into the mountains. Bilbo was beginning to get cold feet, so Halien asked the company to hold for a moment before she took some fabric and wrapped his feet.
"This should help some, Bilbo. Hobbits are not accustomed to this type of terrain," she said.
Bilbo thanked her and they continued on their way. They made it to a mountain pass, safely as they could, but a torrential rainstorm battered at them, making the pass slippery and dangerous. To make matters worse, lightning began to strike and the mountains began to move. It was a thunder battle between stone giants.
"Well, bless me..." Bofur said, in disbelief. "The legends are true! Giants, stone giants!"
They tried to escape the battle, but the company was split into two groups- Thorin with one and Halien with the other- as the mountain they were traveling upon stood and they realized they were at the knees of a stone giant that had joined the battle. As the giants fought each other, the giant they were on hit a mountainside and Thorin's group managed to jump onto a ledge, escaping the giants' wrath. Halien and her group were still trapped on the other knee of the giant and when it fell, the giant's knee slammed into the side of the mountain. Thorin cried out, fearing the worst for his wife and the others. When the giant moved on, Thorin and his group hurried to the area where the giant's knee fell and sighed in relief when they saw Halien and her group safe against the wall of the mountain.
"Halien!" Thorin cried as he ran to her, pulling her into his arms. "I thought I lost you!"
Halien buried her face in his hair. "I am fine, Thorin. The others are all safe?"
Thorin nodded and Bofur looked around.
"Where's Bilbo?"
They looked around and found Bilbo hanging from the edge, about to lose his grip. The dwarves scrambled to reach him, but he was too far away. Thorin climbed down a tiny distance and grabbed hold of Bilbo as his grip failed him. Thorin managed to hoist him up high enough for the others to grab him, but as he tried to climb back up himself, he slipped. Halien cried out to him while Dwalin grabbed him.
"I thought we lost our burglar!" Dwalin said.
"He's been lost ever since he left home," Thorin said, his tone ragged and harsh. "He should never have come. He has no place amongst us."
Thorin turned, ignoring Halien's words as she tried to tell him it was not necessary for him to say such things, and found a small cave. They made camp, but there was no fire that night, so Bofur took first watch and the others tried to get some sleep.
Sometime in the night, Bilbo had tried to sneak away. Halien hadn't fallen asleep, so she looked up when Bilbo stepped over her. Bofur was still on watch and asked where he was going. Bilbo explained that he was going back to Rivendell, that he didn't belong there. Bofur tried to tell him that he couldn't leave, that he was part of the company. Halien came over and put a hand on Bilbo's shoulder.
In a hushed voice she said, "Bilbo, it is alright. I know that you feel as though you do not belong. Some of the others haven't been too keen on having you around. They have only seen you cook, but nothing else. They have not seen you prove your worth past that and that is why they do not approve. It is not that you are useless; you are far from it, lad. You have to understand, though, that you need to find the courage to stand up and do more than what is asked of you. Look at how things worked out for me: I have become part of this company and have been accepted, even by Dwalin because I have proven myself worthy of being on this journey. I have healed, cooked, used my magik to help us on this quest, and I have scouted and hunted. When we were attacked by wargs, I stood and fought, even though all the fear I felt when that Orc grabbed my hair. I have tried to prove myself and fight through the damage my father did."
Bilbo understood what she was telling him and looked down when she showed him her sword. "This is Fenumë Dagnir: Dragon's Bane in the Common Tongue. This was my mother's sword, but when I was a little girl, a fire drake like Smaug came upon us while we were returning home from visiting a family friend. Giliath and his wife Gweran had a vast amount of wealth in gold and other jewels, having struck lucky in a nearby mine, and the drake wished to claim it. My mother was severely injured when she tried to protect my brother and me. The dragon had thrown her against a tree. My father tried to save her, but he suffered the wrath of the dragon's fire and was severely injured. When my brother had been knocked aside as well, I took up my mother's sword, and with the help of my magik, I redirected the fire back at the dragon and threw water at it to weaken it before I drove the blade in between its scales and into its heart and I slew the beast that day.
My mother began to recover, but then the Battle at Gundabad, near the kingdom of Angmar, came and she insisted on going with my father. She fought bravely with the others and when my father returned, I expected to see my mother walking by his side. Instead, my father looked at me and I knew by the look in his eyes that I had lost my mother- the only one of my people and kin to have loved me unconditionally. After she had died, her body broken, my father had not brought her body back home to have her buried in her favorite grove. There is nothing new, no grave, no memory of her. I had gained some respect from my people the day I killed the dragon and my mother's sword was given to me and my father told me its name. It meant little to me with my mother dead, though. My father never opened up to anyone after that, never once spoke of my mother. This is not only a reminder of her, but it is a reminder of how hard I have had to work every day in my whole life to gain respect and recognition of others, to not be shunned and cast aside as my father did to me."
Halien looked back towards the other dwarves, a soft smile upon her lips. "Yet, with these dwarves, I am free to be myself, to be happy. I have proven myself to them and they have accepted me. My point in telling you this, Bilbo, is that even you can prove to Thorin and the others that you are worthy to be on this quest. If you leave now, you will only prove that they were right to doubt you and I do not think that you could make it back home alone, safely. That Orc pack will not give up on us so easily and they will not hesitate to kill you. I want you to stay, Bofur wants you to stay. We are one company and should never be separated. We have done so well of late up to this point, together and all of us working to reach Erebor. We need you, Bilbo, much more than you could ever realize."
Thorin had been awake the whole time and listened to what they were talking about. Halien had never mentioned what happened to her mother, but he felt that perhaps she could help Bilbo understand the situation.
"Thorin said I shouldn't have come and he was right," Bilbo said. "I should have never run out that door."
"You're homesick," Bofur said. "I understand."
"No, you don't." Bilbo tried to explain to him. "None of you understand! You're dwarves! You're used to this, living on the road, never settling in one place, not belonging anywhere!"
Bofur's face fell at that and Halien stared at the hobbit in shock. "Bilbo..." she muttered, shaking her head.
"I'm sorry, I..." Bilbo started to say, knowing that he crossed a line. Bofur had been the only one of the dwarves to completely take Bilbo into the company, treat him like a close friend, almost like kin. Bofur stood up for Bilbo and made sure that he was OK whenever something went wrong. He was always there for him.
"No, you're right..." Bofur said, looking around at his kin. "We don't belong anywhere." Turning back to Bilbo and putting a hand on his shoulder he said, "I wish you all the luck in the world, I do."
As Bilbo started to turn away, Bofur looked down and asked, "What is that?"
Bilbo stopped and looked down at his sword- or letter opener as Balin called it- and he, Bofur, and Halien saw it glowing blue. Halien gasped and sent a message through thought to Thorin.
