Bilbo took up the reigns of his pony without a moment to lose and scrabbled back up on her back. "I'm becoming quite good at this I think," he said once he had settled on her back. "I think I might be the best horseman in all the Shire." He giggled. Now that he knew that he was worried for nothing, there was too much nervous energy in his system making him giddy. "Though I'll never be like Bullroarer Took. He was so large he could ride a real horse you know. Not that you aren't just as good as a horse, Myrtle. I dare say you are quite a lot better because you don't have all that extra space."

Myrtle did not respond. She only continued forward through the Greenwood until they reached the other side with nary a lick of danger finding them in the end (though Bilbo did have a few close calls with some plants that he figured out were decidedly not safe for consumption). She made such good time, in fact, that it was barely a week later that they found themselves at the edge of a large lake.

"Oh dear!" said Bilbo when he brought Myrtle to a halt at its edge for water. "If I idn't know any better, I would think we were on the edge of an ocean. It's a good thing we aren't, of course. I don't think you would like the water from the ocean, after all. It's too salty. But now how will we cross this great massive thing. I'm quite certain that I need to be on the other side of it. Perhaps there are some docks around where I can ask them for a ride. They'll have to have a big boat to get us both across. I hope we can find someone."

Unfortunately, there were no docks to be found on this side of the lake, but Bilbo was able to wave a couple relatively good sized boats towards him. All of them were kind enough to offer Bilbo aid in getting to Laketown (mainly because all of them thought him to be a lost child looking for his mother), but when he mentioned that he actually wanted to get across the water they were all quick to find reasons to be anywhere else.

"I'm sure they're all very busy," Bilbo said to Myrtle when he finally decided that the men would be no use to him and he would just have to go around the entirety of the lake. "Still, I think at least one of them should have been able to spare the time you know. Not that it's a big deal now. Since the danger's gone, I'm on no sort of a time schedule. Though I do wish that I could meet my soul mate just a little sooner. Oh well. Father always said: Patience is a virtue."

It took far longer than Bilbo was really expecting to go around the river, but he blamed that on his maps that always made everything look smaller than they were (though it also might be because he unknowingly went the long way around). It took him a full week and a half to get around with stops to catch fish (a pass time that he had never been all that fond of, but had learned nonetheless) and allow Myrtle some rest and water. There was no reason, after all to push them as he had before.

Besides, he was starting to get somewhat nervous. "What if my soulmate doesn't like me?" he asked Myrtle in a fit of nerves. "I've heard that not all the other races have soul mates. That's not exactly a bad thing, mind, but what if my soulmate already has someone that they love? What would I do then?" Myrtle, as always, did not answer and the travel continued until they came upon the city of Dale many days later.

"Oh dear!" Bilbo gasped. "What on this Green Earth happened here?" The city of Dale (which Bilbo knew to be a city of men filled with beautiful white stone buildings from his many books) was in ruin. There was not a single building that stood unscathed. They were blackened beyond recognizability and many were crumbled to ruin. The land around Dale (which Bilbo hurried through as it seemed more of a ghost town to him now) was blackened and not a single green thing was visible in any direction. The land was scarred and charred and there were many places that had deep gouges that Bilbo was sure could only be killed by something truly massive.

"It's fine," he said to Myrtle, coming finally upon the Lonely Mountain (this he supposed had to be his destination since it was directly in his path and he knew of nothing useful beyond it). "I'm sure my soulmate took care of whatever it is and is just in the mountain helping everybody recover."

Bilbo spurred his pony on, fully intending for Myrtle to take them both into the mountain, but quickly thought better of it. "I don't think the dwarves really let ponies walk around their mountains. I've heard that they like to make slim bridges high in the sky. I don't think you would like that, Myrtle. You understand if I leave you here, don't you? I'll come out again and visit you, of course. I wouldn't leave you all alone." Myrtle's head bobbed and Bilbo smiled as he tied her reigns to one of the few trees that remained standing despite its blackened state. Just for her compliance, Bilbo fished out the best of his apples and fed it to her as he unstrapped his own bags to take into the mountain with him. "Now," he said to her, hesitating only a few feet away, "I best be off. My soulmate awaits!"

AN: Hey guys! Sorry about the short chapter. I was planning on going onto the next part in this chapter, but I just didn't think it felt right. So this is really more of an interlude than a chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless.

Also, I actually have no idea how long it would take to go around Laketown's lake, so I hope I didn't get it too far off.