Hey, how's it going? Sorry, for the wait! I was working and taking a short break! Call it a fried brain;)
Wow, I got some enthusiastic reviewers! Thanks. I sort of had the story all planned out until the end, but there's still time to debate. Besides, I have been thinking about making another story that involves deleted/AU/explicit scenes of "The Lost Dunedain." Maybe even some flashbacks of certain characters that should be put in. I have so many ideas that even though some of them might not follow up with the story, it's better to write them down separately, right? I might change the rating of this story to M for the future, but not for a while. What do you think?
For now, here's the next chapter! The real adventure begins:)
Featuring Zac Brown's "Where the River Goes" from Footloose
Chapter 10
"Come on, Nori," Oin called to the swindler, looking smug. "Pay up!"
Nori grudgingly passed a pouch over his shoulder to the healer, and Kili called out, "One more!" Then a pouch landed in his hand with a chink, causing Kili to laugh in delight and shake it for Fili and Lori, who was riding with Fili, to see.
Bilbo looked confused at the flying pouches, when Kyle, who was sitting behind him, called out over his head, "Yo, Bofur! Bifur! Pay up!"
Bifur grumbled loudly in his dwarf language, while Bofur sighed heavily, as the two pulled out their pouches. "And a fine looking toy, it looked like," said Bofur, sadly. "Oh, well...Catch!" At the same time, the toymakers tossed their pouches across the air, spinning in Kyle and Bilbo's direction.
Kyle tightened his legs around the pony, extended his outstretched hands over his head...and caught the two pouches, one hand for each clinking sack on coins, but the forceful impact threw him off balance. "Whoa!" Kyle cried out, waving his arms as he started to tilted backwards. He would have fallen off if not for Bilbo, who instinctively grabbed the boy's shirt and yanked him back upright with a loud grunt. The boy was heavier than he looked, Bilbo thought. Or maybe I'm softer in the arms than I thought.
"Boo-yah!" cheered Kyle, holding up his brand-new fortune with a toothy smile. "Hit the jackpot!" Bifur threw a hand gesture over his shoulder that Kyle could only guess was a dwarf's way of giving the finger. Just to humor him, Kyle returned his own gesture at the axe-headed dwarf, which to his misfortune, Maia saw and shouted, "Kyle! Will you quit that?"
"What? He did it!" Kyle looked at her with raised eyebrows. He then held up the two full pouches in her view. "And I just made us rich. Twice. You gotta give me some credit?"
His big sister scoffed and flipped her hair dramatically. "Screw you!"
"Screw you!" retorted Kyle, before putting the pouches in his backpack.
"Manners!" scolded Gandalf. "It won't due to behave like derogative children on the first day!" The wizard had come from the front of the group to join them, the horse much bigger than little Myrtle the pony. With his authoritative tone, brother and sister slumped on their ponies and were silent (but not before Maia stuck out her tongue at him, making Kyle tempted to turn his middle finger on her).
"Mind that I ask what that was about?" asked Bilbo.
"Two certain young members are acting immature, for starters," grumbled Gandalf.
"No, not that! The other thing..."
"Oh!" Gandalf's mood lightened up. "They took wages, on whether or not you would turn up! Most of them bet that you wouldn't."
"Ah, really?" Bilbo turned to look at Kyle, who gave him a crooked smile and shrugged. Well, young Master Dainson clearly betted for Bilbo, and a risky gamble it had been (having no money to begin with), but the boy clearly won his share. Bilbo then turned to Gandalf. "And what did you think?"
"Well, erm..." Gandalf looked ahead thoughtfully. Then, his hand shot up, catching a pouch that came out of nowhere, and the wizard smirked. Kyle looked to see Dwalin turning back around, muttering in a low voice next to Thorin, who shook his head fondly at his friend.
"My dear fellow," Gandalf said, before pocketing his money pouch, "I never doubted you for a second!"
As they rode in silence for another long while, Bilbo scrunched up his face and sneezed. Twice. He wrinkled his nose.
"Y'alright?" Kyle patted his back.
"Ah, this horse hair!" Bilbo exclaimed, trying to act reassuring, while instantly searching in his pockets. "Having a reaction!" As he kept fumbling through his coat pockets, becoming more frantic by the second. "No, wait, wait, stop!" he suddenly shouted out, holding out a hand for a halt. "STOP!"
The whole company halted by Bilbo's sudden, panicked demand.
"Bilbo, what the heck?" Kyle exclaimed, catching himself as their pony stopped, but Bilbo insisted, "We have to turn around!"
Thorin had visibly groaned in frustration, his impatience loud and clear at the small halfing, while the dwarves exchanged startled and disbelieving looks. "What on earth is the matter?" Gandalf exclaimed, irritated.
"I forgot my handkerchief!"
Everyone groaned loudly. They were already miles from Hobbiton, from Bag End, and the hobbit wanted to turn around for a handkerchief? Lori spoke up in confusion, "Why does he need a hankie?"
"Here!" Bofur had ripped off a piece of his worn tunic and tossed over his shoulder. "Use this!"
Bilbo caught it and stared at the dirty rag dangling from his outstretched hand with slight disgust. The dwarves laughed at his expression, and Lori giggled. Kyle was trying hard not to laugh. Bilbo's pride looked wounded enough.
"Move on!" Thorin commanded, and the company instantly started moving again.
"You gonna start the pony?" urged Kyle, nudging the still-befuddled hobbit. Bilbo grunted and took up reins. When Myrtle began walked, Bilbo was still holding the rag between two fingers with a slight groan. Then he held it to Kyle.
"Oh, I'm not touching that!" Kyle said, leaning slightly back and shaking his head. "Nope! That has essence of Bofur all over it!"
"Oi!" Bofur called over his shoulder, obviously overhearing. "I swear I bathed!"
"Oh, yeah? When?" Kyle called back, earning a response from laughing dwarves and Bofur exclaiming indignation.
"Here we go," Maia moaned, as it all started.
"Is there something we should know, Miss Maia?" Fili asked, glancing at her.
"Yeah, brace yourself for hours of trash talk," said Maia. "Once my idiot brother starts something, it's gonna be a while before he runs out of fuel!"
"Yeah, and it can get boring after a while," Lori added, glancing up at Fili behind her.
"Well, then," Fili smiled, "this should be an interesting trip! I cannot tell you how many times Kili gets up in the heat of arguments!"
"I do not!" complained Kili, shooting his brother a glare.
Fili shrugged. "We'll see."
Kyle and Bofur kept making exchanges for a long time. And just as Fili predicted after some time, Kili had jumped in, and was soon battling in between the dwarf and the human's dirt talk, all while passing under trees and over green hills, unaware of passing through the wide and beautiful terrains of the Shire for next few hours.
During the day, creeping past the afternoon, they had passed by many parts of the Shire. It was a wide, respectable country, after all, inhabited with decent folk and good roads, an inn or two, farmlands tended by farmers, two or three other dwarves who nodded in greeting at the passing company (each of them having scruffy beards and dark tunics dressed for blacksmithing), and all other country folk ambling by on business.
Soon, by four in afternoon, Gandalf mentioned they were passing through Eastfarthing, one of the four regions of the Shire that became less gentle and more wild. By tomorrow, they would have reached Buckland, which bordered near the Old forest. When they would have passed Bree, that was when they will cross into the Lonelands, which would take around a week to reach. On the bright side of things, the first week traveling through the Shire was said to be an easy crossing. No trouble brewing, which sounded nice and safe.
Maia was truly taken in by the green lushes of the land-the Shire was truly larger than it looked with a wide-ranged society of its own surrounded wilderness-although she felt a little sorry for Bilbo for sharing the same ride with Kyle at this time. The hobbit looked positively tense and kept grumbling under his breath, something that sounded like "no hat, no walking stick, not even a pocket handkerchief."
Maia snorted, a smile creeping in. Fili, who riding next to her with little Lori napping upright in his arms, watched her with curiosity. "What are you laughing about?"
"Bilbo," she smiled quietly, so they wouldn't be overheard. "Him having a tick about not having his handkerchief with him, like the world's gonna end if he doesn't keep it in his pocket. Honestly, he sounds like an old-fashioned grandpa." She paused. "Except not even my grandpa has handkerchiefs. He doesn't do Victorian. Just Old Western, including beer bottles and cigarettes." She noticed Fili still staring at her, his confusion evident. She sighed, feeling heat on her cheeks. "Okay, where'd you lose me?"
"After you said Victorian and ended with….cigarettes, was it?" said Fili, titling his head. "Are these part of certain cultures that are from your world? And what's a cigarette?"
"Not good, that's what it is," she told him, sounding critical when she described its nasty content-nicotine, tar, tobacco, ect.-rolled up in a little white paper. "You light it and you smoke it, like you do with your pipes, but unlike them, its smells nasty."
"Why do people smoke them if they smell awful?" asked Fili, confused.
"They get addicted. It's an unhealthy habit people develop to keep them calm. In my world, life can get a little messy and flush you down the toilet if you don't game up." Fili laughed, and Maia exclaimed with a smile, "What? Seriously, my home-state can be one big cattle drive! It can be rough, but it's also pretty wild. A good type of wild, I might add." She winked, and then it was Fili's turn to blush.
"So, erm..." Fili looked away, cheeks still pink, but he tried to act all formal (Maia tried not to laugh at how funny he seemed), "You hate smoking, then?"
Maia hesitated. "Yeah, I guess I do. Not that I mind you guys smoking," she added hastily, hoping she didn't sound too objective. "Your pipes, I mean. Bilbo does it all the time, so do my grandparents back at home, and-and pretty much most people do it, but I just learn to live with it, you know. I mean, you guys' smoke actually smells kind of good, in a way, like it has a scent of its own. Definitely not like cigarettes! I can stand it, but I'm not gonna do it either. You don't mind, right?" she said uneasily.
"It's understandable," Fili assures her, not minding at all. "Smoking pipes is just a common habit among our people. We dwarves are given our pipes when we turn thirty, the same age we get to choose our weapons. It helps calm the mind. My whole family smokes, but there are some I know of that are determined not to break into that habit." Fili glanced at her. "Those people are mostly good singers."
Maia shuffled in her saddle. Fili smiled, reading her like a book. "Ah, ha! So, you are a singer?"
"A little," she admitted. "For fun. I was going to join a choir once I started freshmen year at college. That's beginners year for a school I'm going to," she explained before he would ask. "I was going to major in visual arts, starting in late August...but of course, that's not gonna happen until we get home, which I learned is months away from now," she added begrudgingly. Then she looked at Lori, who was still napping like a baby in Fili's arms, her teddy bear in her lap. "Look, thank you for taking Lori. Her nap time is usually in the afternoon and...Just let me know if she becomes a problem, okay?"
Fili shook his head and gazed down at the little girl asleep in his arms. "She is not a problem, at all," he said fondly, stroking her dark hair gently. The child sighed at his comforting touch, but didn't stir in her sleep, her eyelids flickering to show that she was dreaming. "She barely weighs anything. In a way, she is very much a similar version of Kili when he was a child: small, dark colors but a bright personality, curious, pure..."
Maia nodded and looked ahead toward the lean frame of Kili, "All true now, minus the 'small' part."
"Aye, Kili may be taller than me now, but for most of his life before that, he had been small for his age," he explained. Fili's eyes narrowed as past memories came back. "They all chastised him for his size," he said bitterly. "They called him a..." He stopped, unsure of whether he should be telling this to her, a human lady, even though he felt comfortable talking to her almost in a way he did around Kili.
"Called him a what?" asked Maia, her gray-blue eyes growing with concern.
Fili was quiet for a moment. Then, in a tone so that no one else overheard (especially Kili), he found himself whispering in a growl, "They called him a runt, an elfling, a mongrel...Not only because he was smaller and skinnier than normal, but also lacked a beard and preferred a bow to an axe. Even now, when he reaches his growth spurt and becomes an acceptable hunter and warrior, they still rebuke him for being an improper dwarf, for his love of trees and sunshine rather than stone and darkness. They whisper behind our backs, Man and Dwarf alike, spreading gossip our whole lives. I don't care what happens to me, but I wanted to hurt them for not only dishonoring my brother, but my mother for bringing his existence. I just want to protect him from words, from evil, from pain...he deserves so much more." Fili stopped when seeing Maia's speechless expression, realizing with embarrassment that he was spilling a lifetime of his personal thoughts to a girl he barely knew. Whenever he had talked like this, especially concerning his little brother, he usually went to Thorin or Dis. Sometimes Balin or Dwalin, who were his teachers.
He looked away, feeling ashamed of his outburst. "I don't why I am telling you this," he mumbled. "Forgive me. It was inappropriate."
"No, it wasn't," said Maia, sounding comforting. "I'm just...You really love your brother, don't you?"
"More than anything."
"Then I don't see how speaking for your brother is inappropriate, and I especially don't understand why anyone would make fun of someone for liking the dark better than the light. It's all sound like a bunch of BS."
Fili was confused. "I'm-I'm sorry, I don't understand that last reference."
"It's bullshit," she told him, and Fili laughed aloud at that.
"Aye, I would have to agree with you on that!" he said, breathless with laughter. "And just so you know, Miss Maia, I prefer the light to the dark, as well. It's just how Kili and I were raised. It cannot be helped."
"Exactly! And enough with the 'miss' already. It makes me feel like an old lady."
"No, it doesn't. It's a formal way of showing respect." When Maia eyeballed him, Fili relented. "Alright, as you wish. Maia."
"Thanks." Maia smiled, and then sighed. "Kyle also gets bullied, almost all the time, back in Texas. Middle school isn't exactly heaven on earth, and he doesn't really have a lot of friends. His firecracker pals don't count."
"Firecrackers?" For a moment, Fili thought fondly of his childhood with Kili, whenever they caused trouble and mischief that has earned them endless scolding. They still performed such mischief, even when newly grown.
"His prank buddies, or his former bullies from third grade or something." Maia scoffed. "He wouldn't tell me, or my folks, but sometimes I think they still pick on him. Either way, Kyle was hanging out with the wrong people before we came here."
"Doesn't your father try to get through to him?" Fili asked, frowning. "Or your mother?"
"We live with our grandparents," she automatically said. "And I bet they're practically having a heart attack while calling the police, the FBI-well, everyone to go search for us. They all probably think we've been kidnapped or something. Obviously, they're not gonna find us until we manage to find our way back, but when we do, I still don't know what we're gonna tell them when they start asking us about where we've been. I mean, it was bad enough telling y'all where we came from! I don't know about you, but I think some of your friends up front still think we're crazy!"
Fili shook his head, snorting. "They will get over it! Right now, we are more focused on trying to reach the Mountain than reasoning between truth and myth. We are traveling with a wizard. And your clothes...they are very unusual. Especially your...erm, what is the fabric of your pants?" Sudden his face heated up intensely, realizing how the question sounded like coming out of his mouth.
Maia also blushed, but answered, "They're jeans. Almost everyone wears them from my world."
"Well, we definitely do not have that sort of fabric from anywhere I have been or heard of. Everything you wear or carry shows that you are from some place very different. Even your accent is different. If my friends and kin still deny your words after all that, then they are the ones being absurd."
"I guess."
"When you said you lived with your grandparents, does that mean...What happened to your parents?" Fili said slowly, the possibility occurring to him that Maia, Kyle, and Lori may be orphans. Seeing Maia's discomfort, he quickly said, "You don't have to talk about it, of course. I'll understand."
Maia hesitated. She really didn't want to talk about it, not now when they were enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Shire, but also felt extremely guilty for not being able to open up like Fili did, which she had to guess was extremely personal for him. So she made a decision. "Later," she assured him. "Promise. But only if you promise not to tell Kili and Kyle that we were talking about them, 'cause I'm pretty sure they wouldn't appreciate it."
Fili hesitated, before nodding. He didn't like keeping secrets from his brother, and Mahal knows he has kept quite a few, but this was different. He didn't feel as uncomfortable keeping this secret with Maia. She too was an elder sibling, and he already felt that he can trust her. "Alright," he said, "we have a bargain. Eldest sibling to eldest sibling." Then he smirked. "If..."
"Uh-oh, I hate 'ifs.'"
"If you sing a song you know well."
"Sure, maybe later."
"No, now," insisted Fili with a grin. "We sing songs all the time when on road trips, and believe me, once Mister Bofur gets in the mood, he can pick the best songs at the best moments. Bar tending tend to develop that talent."
"I thought he was a toymaker?"
"He has three jobs. Toy making, bar tending, and mining, but only in the summer when it's warm. Mister Bifur works with him in mining and toy making, and Mister Bombur-who is Bofur's younger brother, I might add-works as a cook with him in the Brewing Pot's Inn with his wife and children."
"Wow, that's a lot of work! No offense, but Bofur didn't really strike me as the type weighed down by three jobs," said Maia.
"That's because he's content. More so than others, I believe," Fili said fondly. "He's been making me and Kili's toys for as long as I can remember, and is a great friend. We are all workers by heart, because we normally choose what we prefer to work with. Most choose forging, others mining...but then there are trappers, hunters, traders, and teachers." Fili frowned suddenly. "Oh, hey, don't change the subject," he scolded lightly, making Maia smile, "Sing something. For me. Just one song."
Maia bit her lip shyly, trying not to look at him, but when she peeked from beneath the curtain of her hair, brushing back from the breeze, Fili was looking at her with wide, adorable blue eyes. Giggles choked her.
"You're seriously giving me the puppy-dog pout?!" she exclaimed. That was Lori's face.
"One song," he repeated, not dropping the look. "Please." He gave her a crooked smile, his braided mustache twitching, making her tremble with laughter.
Once she calmed, Maia sighed, unable to resist his look, his hair shining as brightly as the afternoon sunlight, framing his kind, handsome features, looking nearly as young as she was. They were passing under tall trees from their left and alongside a high rocky mountain up close on their right, tangled with forest vines, tree roots from above, green shrubs, and summer flowers. A blue stream, crystal and clear, ran alongside the mountain, its waters trickling calmly through the bend framed with tall, green grass. Its watery sounds soothing, along with soft whinnying of the ponies and the dwarves muted chattering, Maia thought of a song she liked.
She hummed its tune, trying to imagine the guitar music from back at home before starting to sing in a familiar, flowing voice:
Some saints have fallen from on high through cold stain glass
The fire's calling, crawling down the burning match
[Incomprehensible], the wicked bells they crash
No [Incomprehensible] to save me from my haunted past
Hey man, I know where the river goes
Hey man, you will reap what you sow
You can find a way to take your heart and make it fly away
So you can live another day without this pain
Better loved than lost than never loved at all, that's what they say
A black heart is gonna pay for what it's done
Lay down, upon the cold, cold ground
Come now, the water's raging out
Hey man, I know where the river goes
Hey man, you will reap what you sow
Hey man, I know where the river goes
Hey man, you will reap what you sow
Hey man, I know where the river goes
When Maia had finished, she was mortified to realize everyone had been listening in silence. Some of the dwarves were peeking at her, but they looked entranced. Maia Dainson had a really good voice.
Finally, it was surprisingly Dwalin who spoke, "You got any more songs for us, lass?"
As all the rest of the dwarves cheered in agreement, Maia beamed.
For the rest of the day, the dwarves were singing songs Bilbo had never heard before. Nor had the Dainsons, for that matter, but as music lovers by heart, they tried following along with the lyrics as best as they could. It all turned out to be full of fun and laughter, like it had been at Bag End.
Though none of them knew it, Thorin had been listening with a small smile as he lead them on.
It was swiftly getting dark, the sky turning into its sunset colors when Thorin had finally announced that they stop to make camp for the night. They settled their belongings near the stream, tied up the ponies, and gathered the firewood. Bombur had already started cooking the food.
Meanwhile, the Dainsons were off to the far side, gathering firewood with Gandalf. Bilbo joined them, feeling more comfortable with them than the dwarves. Even Lori helped go collect wood for the fire with Kyle, who turned out to be familiar with camping out. Kyle shuffled the stick into the wood until smoke appeared and blew it until a fire appeared. After a minute of some difficulty, their fire was set, though Kyle complained that he missed modern-day lighters.
Bombur had made plenty of food for everyone, one bowl of rabbit stew for each. Bilbo, who was considered part of the company, took his own bowl and Gandalf's, but had shyly asked Bombur if there was any left for three more people, meaning the Dainson siblings. Bombur was happy to say that he made sure everyone got a bowl, especially the human children.
"I have six children back at home, you know," he said lightly, while scooping the stew into the bowls. "Three of them are still too young to take care of themselves; their mother does that for them. They may not be part of the Company by contract, but the Dainsons are welcome to my cooking whenever possible. You and they are going to need it, Master Burglar. I don't care what Thorin thinks. They're far too skinny."
"Er, thank you, Bombur," Bilbo smiled awkwardly when being referred to as a 'burglar.' As Bilbo picked up two bowls, he was shuffling them so that he could pick up the third when Kili leapt in view and picked it up.
"Mind if we join?" Kili asked lightly, Fili following close behind.
Bilbo swallowed and said politely, "Not at all." When they started to walk back, Bilbo noticed at the corner of his eye that Thorin was glaring in their direction. His blue eyes narrowed with disapproval and jaw was clenched, but he didn't object. When their eyes met, Bilbo was the first to look away and walked faster toward the second campout. That dwarf really shook him to the core...yet at the same time, intrigued him, made him wonder what Thorin Oakenshield's thoughts were.
No doubt that I shouldn't be here on so-called quest to begin with, he thought bitterly. Well, if it gives him any consolation, I think I'm starting to agree with him. I already missed breakfast, lunch, and tea!
"Oh, hey," greeted Maia, as Fili and Kili sat next to them. "What's up?"
"Oh, we just thought you could use some company," Kili said with a shrug. "It can get a little spooky at night."
Lori scrambled up close next to Kili and gripped his arm. "The dark is scary," she whimpered. "And Kyle says the fire's gonna go out when we sleep."
"It's true," grumbled Kyle. "Not my fault. It's a chemical fact. Oh, thanks," he added, taking the bowl of stew Bilbo handed him, before the halfling gave the other to Maia. "I'm starving!"
Kili wrapped an arm around Lori's little body. "Don't worry," he comforted her. "Fili and I will protect you." He held out her bowl of stew and smiled. "I got your supper. You hungry?"
"Yeah!" Lori took the bowl and wooden spoon eagerly before digging in. "Mm, good! What is it?"
"Rabbit stew," answered Kili, before taking his own bite. "Bombur's recipe."
Lori paused, spoon in her mouth, her eyes wide. Maia noticed and quickly said, "And the rabbits', I bet. They probably gave their ingredients to Bombur." Fili, Kili, and Bilbo started staring at her like she grew a second head.
"Really? Bugs Bunny, too?" Lori said. Kyle choked on his stew, trying to cover his laughter by coughing; Gandalf patted his back, watching the exchange with amusement.
"Yeah, he probably named the stew himself. Rabbit stew. Get it?"
"Oh, cool!" Lori smiled widely and then kept eating, unaware of the silence that exchanged around her. Kili opened his mouth to ask, but Kyle made a cutting hand gesture across his throat, shaking his head to not ask in front of Lori, who still didn't know where meat really comes from. When Fili looked at Maia for an explanation, she mouthed, "She likes rabbits. She doesn't know about the..." She gestured her spoon meaningfully in her spoon, and everyone figured it out right there, before deciding not to discuss the topic further for tonight, except when Kili asked curiously, "What's a Bugs Bunny?"
While they were eating and talking, Kyle and Lori explaining all the characters from Loony Tunes, a frog had suddenly appeared in Bilbo's lap, croaking so loudly that the hobbit gave a startled yell and spilled his stew. Fili, Kili, and Kyle were all laughing, while the girls started accusing the boys of pulling a prank on Mr. Baggins. The frog was hopping away, and Lori went to chase after it, resulting in them chasing after her while Bilbo stomped over to the stream to clean himself up.
"Bother those dwarves! Bother these wilds, and bother me for leaving home!" he grumbled under his breath, while splashing the freezing water on his legs and shivered. "Oh..." he groaned.
"Do not tell me that you are already bemoaning your choices over an incident with a frog," Gandalf said, coming up from behind him. "It was a prank pulled by boys, Bilbo. You couldn't expect any less from them. You yourself should know from experience."
Bilbo stood up, swinging his arms in frustration while looking up at the wizard. "I'm not a boy anymore, Gandalf!" he said bitterly. "I don't do pranks or crave adventures as I once did. I'm far past that. I don't even know what I was thinking, signing the contract, running out my door...as if-as if some form of madness sprung from my mind, making me believe that I could actually….that the dwarves, or-or Thorin could actually…..I am ill-prepared!" He held up his fingers and started counting, "I don't have my cloak, I don't my hat, I don't have my walking stick...I do not even have my bloody handkerchief!" He dropped his hands to his side and cried, "How does will I survive if I could not even grab my own essentials?"
"Tell me, Bilbo," said Gandalf, smiling gently, "what sort of madness has made you come in first place? No one forced you to make this decision. What changed your mind?"
"The Dainsons. I couldn't just-" Bilbo stopped and looked at Gandalf. He gaped and pointed at him in accusation. "Lori's drawing! It was right next to the contract on my desk! You put it there, didn't you? You knew that I would..."
Gandalf chuckled, not looking ashamed at all. "It was a gamble, I admit, but seeing how deeply you care for your young guests, I knew you would not leave them to face this journey alone. But my dear fellow, your concern for Maia, Kyle, and Lori Dainson is not the madness you are referring to, however touching it may be." He leaned downward to look Bilbo in the eye. "The true madness comes from your own desires. I meant it when I said you have been sitting quietly for far too long, Bilbo Baggins. You have wanted this all along, but it only took a small nudge out the door to make you realize it." When he straightened up, Bilbo opened his mouth to reply, but the wizard was already walking away back to the fire.
"The journey has hardly begun," Gandalf called to Bilbo, turning to face him, "you will have to manage without pocket handkerchiefs and good many other things, Bilbo Baggins, before we reach our journey's end. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire...but home is now behind you. The world is ahead."
Gandalf then returned to the lit fire, where the Dainsons and dwarf brothers regathered to observe the frog they caught. Lori, who had been holding the frog, suddenly squealed and dropped it.
"It peed on me!" she whined, and everyone laughed.
Bilbo thought about what Gandalf said. Then he sighed, nodded to himself, and then went to return to the warmth of the fire. It wasn't his hearth back at home, nor was the grass his warm bed, but he supposed it will have to do. They had a long day tomorrow, followed by a long journey ahead.
Hello! First thing to say: I hope you enjoyed this chapter, which is mostly a money exchange between Kyle and dwarves, a heart to heart conversation between Maia and Fili:), and a little wisdom from Gandalf to Bilbo. And second: WTF with the shutdown!:0
I was going to post last night, but my fanfiction page had shut down out of nowhere, during which I also made a fatal mistake. I didn't copy and paste from MyPages on some really good stuff I wrote down in my doc, and when I pressed save, the internet crashed and I lost it all. I freaked out and nearly cried, having to start over from scratch, so sorry for the delay:( Please tell me I'm not the only one whose fanfic page crashed! Or was it the servers' break time? Either way, a little warning would be nice!):(
I am also writing this story called "The Little Lionheart," which is about the Durins' life before "The Lost Dunedain." It will be about how Thorin earned his name in the battle of Moria, how Fili and Kili's father died, where Kili was born, and some later tales of Thorin and Dis raising Fili and Kili. It will have very little reference connected to TLD; TLL was written so that I could create flashbacks for this story. Big connections:)
Stay tuned and review!