She wasn't positive, but Baylee felt that having her eye rinsed out a second time hurt even more than the first.
This time, however, it was Elrond who was rinsing her eye and he wore a grim expression similar to the one Oin had worn that morning. The liquid he used was a mixture of medicinal waters and essences he had combined in a bottle instead of just plain water, which may have accounted for the increase in pain. After a few seconds, he stopped pouring so that he could check her sclera; despite her quick blinking, he was able to see that the blood was beginning to dissipate from her eye, making the area fade from dark red to pink to white over the course of just a few minutes.
"Is-is there anything you can do about her vision?" Bilbo asked, wincing slightly as Baylee squeezed his hand. He badly wished he could take his daughter's pain away, especially when he heard her let out a small sniffle. "Surely there has to be some way you can bring it back, right?"
"I'm afraid not, Master Baggins," Elrond told him. Using a cloth, he gently dabbed Baylee's face dry. "These scratches are deep; deep enough that I'm surprise her eye wasn't punctured. And I'm afraid the skin around her eye will be scarred from this, as well." Folding the cloth, he set it aside before looking back at the lass. "Do you know what it was that did this to you, Miss Baggins?"
She shook her head. "I only remember hitting the ground and rolling some ways after the troll threw me."
He nodded in understanding as he went over to a shelf. Grabbing a second, smaller bottle, he returned to her side. "Head back once again, please." When Baylee tilted her head back, he opened the bottle and let exactly three drops of the liquid drip down into her eye. Her jaw clenched as she held back a cry. "A puncture is much harder to treat than scratches on the surface. As it stands, however, your eye should heal quite nicely." He then put two drops of the liquid on both her upper and lower eyelid where the skin was quite mangled.
"Will it go completely blind, Mister Elrond, sir?" she sniffled. The liquid stung quite badly at first, but the pain was quickly fading into an almost pleasant, tingly sort of numbness.
"There is a strong chance, yes," he answered, "but there is also a chance you'll retain some vision in it. As skilled as I am in the healing arts, even I cannot predict just how a wound will heal. What I can say with a great deal of certainty is that in both cases, you will find that you have more difficulty watching moving objects and you will no longer be able to judge distance or depth very well—if at all. Because of this, stumbling and falling more often is a very real possibility." Grabbing a roll of fresh bandages, he began to gently wrap them around her head, being sure to cover the entirety of her eye.
She frowned; so that's why she had kept tripping…But hearing that she would have difficulty judging distance worried her more than how well she could walk. "…Does that mean I won't be able to fight?"
At that, Elrond's brows rose and he glanced between the two hobbits. "You know how to fight, Miss Baggins?" He carefully tied off the bandage, being sure to not catch any of her hair in it.
"N-not very well…the lads have been teaching da' and me how to fight," she explained.
"They insisted that we learn," Bilbo sighed. "And with good reason, I must admit. We won't always be able to hide ourselves away in case of an attack…as we learned last night and today…"
"To be able to defend one's self from an enemy is always a good thing to know," Elrond agreed with a small nod. "You can still use weapons with only one good eye, Miss Baggins, though I daresay it will be twice as difficult. Without the use of both eyes, judging how quickly to block an incoming blow or how far to draw back an arrow will be very tricky…Aiming at moving targets would be even harder."
Baylee felt her stomach drop as she nodded in understanding. Between remembering the parrying positions and the weight of the weapon wearing her out, using a sword had already been hard enough.
As if sensing her discouragement, Elrond gave her an encouraging smile. "It is possible, however. I knew a few warriors in ages past that had lost an eye in battle. They didn't let that keep them from fighting." Hearing the slightest bit of shuffling cloth, he looked at the doorway to find Lindir standing there.
"My lord, your presence is requested in the kitchens," he said, glancing between Elrond and the hobbits.
Nodding, Elrond turned to leave. "Will you please show the Bagginses to their rooms?" he asked.
A bit of an uncertain look came to Lindir's face. "Ah…Yes, about that…it's been requested that the Company of Thorin Oakenshield all share the same quarters," Lindir told him, clearly confused about this arrangement. "They claim they would feel more at ease this way."
Again, Elrond nodded; whether he was surprised by this information or not, it was hard to tell. "Understandable. Have pallets taken to our largest guest room as well as blankets and pillows." He then glanced back to the hobbits. "For the time being, please show the Bagginses to where their friends are."
Baylee slid off of the bench and started to walk alongside Bilbo as they followed Lindir out of the room. As they walked through the halls of the building, both hobbits found themselves looking around in awe rather than paying attention to the path they were walking. Everything had been built so organically; shapes and designs had been copied from the surrounding flora, giving both beauty and strength to the buildings.
"It's so lovely," Bilbo sighed, a smile on his lips. "The Shire is beautiful, but it certainly can't compare to this." He looked at his daughter, finding the same wonder on her face. "Wouldn't it be nice to retire to a place like this one day?" he asked her, chuckling.
"It is beautiful," Baylee agreed. Seeing how enamored her father was, she felt it best to not admit to him that being here made her feel even smaller. The lofty ceilings, the tall railings—even the statues stood more than twice her height. It made her miss the Shire and how everything there was within reach.
"Imagine how Primrose and Halfast are going to react when you tell them you got to stay in an actual elven town," he then said. "Primrose, especially, is going to make you describe everything in the greatest detail possible."
She laughed, her brow rising slightly. "That's if she's not too upset with me for leaving without saying goodbye. You know how she's a stickler for social etiquettes. Breaking a rule as important as saying goodbye before a long trip is a very severe offense, you know."
He lightly shook his head, still chuckling. "Well, even if she's too mad to listen, I know for a fact that Halfast will be hanging off your every word…And when he hears about your troll encounter, he'll probably think you some sort of warrior princess."
Though his tone had been teasing, Baylee felt her stomach drop once more. "I doubt that," she replied, managing a normal-sounding laugh. "He'd probably be more concerned with how long the meat he gave me lasted." Inwardly, she sighed and resisted the urge to raise a hand up to her injuries. 'That's even if he'd want to talk to me anymore,' she thought. 'I don't know how bad my face looks right now, but if it's as ugly as everyone else is saying…Halfast may want nothing to do with me anymore.'
Rounding a corner, the two found themselves being led out onto a wide, open terrace where the rest of the company was already gathered—save for Thorin. Where he was, neither hobbit could see. A set of low tables had been brought out with rounded cushions lined up on either side for the dwarves to sit on. Some of them were already sitting at the tables, looking just a bit too big for the seating arrangement.
"Aha! There's our hobbits!" Bofur chirped, drawing everyone's attention.
Baylee felt her cheeks turn a bit pink, but she smiled at the group as she went to go sit on one of the cushions. Bilbo sat beside her, wincing slightly as his arm was jostled.
"What's the verdict on the injuries?" Dori questioned. "I see you've gotten yourself a sling."
Bilbo nodded. "Ah, y-yes, I have," he replied. "It seems I have what's called a separated shoulder. Despite its name, it means I've torn or partially torn something in the area. Lord Elrond said it wasn't horrible, but I should keep my arm in this sling for a couple of weeks to be safe."
"An' what about the plucky lass? What's her diagnosis?" Dwalin asked, his brow rising.
She felt her cheeks turn a bit more pink as she was called 'plucky'. "Not much different from what Oin told me. There's a chance I'll go completely blind in this eye," she replied. "And the area around my eye is going to scar…I won't be able to judge distance or depth very well, either." Glancing around, she found it strange that she couldn't see as much as she was used to.
"Hm. That's going to affect your sword training a great deal," Fili said, a frown on his face. "We may even have to stop."
Frowning as well, she shook her head. "No, I want to keep learning," she said, her voice firm. "It'll be harder, yes, but after what happened last night and this morning…I want to know how to defend myself in case we're attacked again."
"It might actually be a bit o' a good thing you don't know much fighting yet, then," Balin told her. "If you were a seasoned warrior, you'd have to learn everything over again. But, being that you're still fresh to learning how to fight, you can learn right from the beginning how to work around the loss of vision."
"She could shoot a bow with just one eye," Kili said. "Fili can teach her swordplay while I teach her archery."
Bilbo frowned at this. "I-I think I'd like my daughter to only learn one weapon, thank you very much. It's bad enough she's having to learn how to use one at all, but learning more than one? Don't you think that's a bit much?" Some of the dwarves shook their heads, making him shrink back slightly.
"It's good to know how to use more than one weapon, Master Baggins," Balin told him, his voice gentle. "Which is why both of you were to learn how t' use multiple weapons over the course of the journey. You never know when you'll need t' defend your life and the only thing you have is an oversized soup ladle or a set o' bolas."
At the mention of the ladle, Baylee's eyes widened. Feeling her pockets, she found them to be completely empty, which made her curse—which, in turn, made the dwarves snicker. "Oh, Bombur, I'm sorry," she said, looking at the large dwarf. "Last night, I took your cleaver so I could protect myself in case the trolls tried to snatch me up again, but I lost it in that field when the wargs were chasing us!"
A reassuring smile came to his lips. "That's alright, Miss Baylee," he told her. "I've plenty of other knives I can use in its place. Though…why my cleaver o' all things?"
Her cheeks turned a medium shade of pink and a sheepish smile came to her lips. "It was the biggest and sharpest thing I could find, since the trolls took all of your weapons." The words earned her a few hearty laughs and plenty of snickers from the group.
"You wielded it rather well," Dwalin told her. "You knew just where t' hit that orc to keep him from gettin' up again."
"Wait, what?" Bilbo looked at Baylee in shock, which made her turn even more red. "Baylee, what's he talking about?"
"You didn't see it?" Dwalin questioned, his brow rising. "When that orc an' rider nearly got us in the plains, she jumped right in and started hackin' at the orc's leg."
Biting her lower lip, she looked down at her lap and started to unconsciously run her hands along her braid. She had actually entirely forgotten about that orc; with how much had taken place since last night, most things were a blur to her. "I-I'm not sure why I did it, to be honest," she admitted, her voice betraying her nervousness. "Something just—something just came over me and-and-and I jumped forward. And Fili and Kili are always joking around, telling me to go for the tendons…"
Bilbo rubbed the side of his neck; he already hadn't liked the thought of his daughter learning to use weapons, but now that he knew that she had actually used them against enemies? He let out a heavy sigh and told himself that everything would be alright—Baylee wasn't about to become as rough-and-tumble as the dwarves just because she stabbed a troll and chopped an orc tendon. As he looked over at her, a small smile came to his lips.
'No,' he thought. He watched her get up and walked around a bit, inspecting the statues around them as well as the plant life. 'She's still my sweet little girl. The poor thing doesn't even look happy about doing what she did, even if it was to try and save her life.' But then, seeing her injured eye, he felt his stomach drop. 'She's going to have those for the rest of her life…if she goes completely blind in that eye, things are going to be far harder for her than if she went only partially blind. Oh, Yavanna's grace, I hope it doesn't affect her chances with Halfast, either…Hobbits can be so finnicky when it comes to scars…'
Gandalf, Elrond, and Thorin came walking out on the dais, followed by a handful of servants bearing trays of food and bottles of wine. Seeing their arrival, she turned and went to go sit back down. With her original seat now taken by Ori, she moved to sit next to Kili while Bofur sat at the head of their table.
As the servants began to put down platters of food, Baylee both felt and heard her stomach grumble as it reminded her she hadn't eaten a proper meal since morning of the previous day. And when she saw heaps of roasted vegetables on the trays, a grin started to spread across her lips. It had been so long since she last had roasted vegetables that, as soon as everything was laid out, she started to heap them onto her plate. Using the utensils, though, was a bit of a challenge—everything was bigger than what she was used to, meaning she had to hold her spoon and knife differently from normal.
The dwarves, however, weren't nearly as enthusiastic about the vegetarian dishes. In fact, most of them were downright annoyed by them.
"Where's the meat supposed to be?" Bofur questioned, using a knife to poke through the vegetables.
"It might just be a first course," Baylee told him, cutting up a carrot. She popped a bite of it into her mouth, her eyes closing as the mixture of seasonings and the carrots own sweetness coated her tongue.
"It better be just a first course, because it isn't much of one," Dwalin grumbled, throwing a lettuce leaf down onto his plate.
"We're dwarves, not elves—we need meat," Nori muttered in agreement.
Baylee's brow rose slightly; she didn't see the problem with the lack of meat. 'Then again,' she thought, 'while they do eat some vegetables, they're mostly in soups or stews…the nights we got fresh, fire-roasted meat, I didn't even see them eating some of their dried fruit rations.' Glancing over at the other table, where her father sat, she saw him happily devouring the vegetables as well. 'Whatever kind of seasoning this is, it's really good…' She shoved another, larger bite of food into her mouth.
She looked up as Bofur nudged her. "Don't eat so fast, lass," he gently scolded. "You'll get a stomachache. Anyway, we're clearly not going t' be eating much of this, so you've no need to worry about running out." He stabbed a piece of roasted beet with his knife and held it up, a look of displeasure on his face. "Ugh. Beets." Despite his words, he put it in his mouth and started to chew.
"They're really quite yummy," she said, cutting up a beet of her own. "They're nice and tender…and the seasoning used on them is quite nice." Before taking another bite, however, she reached over and plucked up her wine glass. She gave the contents a small swirl as Bilbo had taught her and then smelled the drink, finding its scent to be much more fruity than she expected. Perhaps it wasn't wine, but juice? Taking a sip, she found that it was, indeed, wine, but not like any wine she had tasted.
"Well, now we know what t' use to catch a hobbit," Nori snickered. "Lay out some cooked rabbit food." As he spoke, he picked up his own wineglass. After taking a long drink, he started to carefully look it over, silently appraising its value.
"No, no—it's not rabbit food," Kili corrected. "She's a Mouse-Lass, not a Rabbit-Lass. This is mouse food and, if ever we need to catch another Mouse-Lass, we'll be sure to sauté up some vegetables for the trap."
She pursed her lips in a small pout, which was a bit funny looking considering her mouth was full of food. After she finished chewing and swallowing, she stated, "I'll have you know, the proper way to catch a Mouse-Lass is to lay out any sort of dessert flavored with lemon." Glancing over at Bilbo, she found him happily eating his vegetables; his head, however, was turned slightly so that he could listen in on the conversation being held between Gandalf, Thorin, and Elrond.
"Lemon desserts, huh?" Bofur repeated, his brow rising slightly. "Must say, I didn't expect that t' be your answer. Roast beef, apple pie, mushroom soup—now those I can see bein' an easy way to lure over a Mouse-Lass. But lemon?"
"It's too tart," Dwalin said, his nose scrunched up. "Takes too much sugar or honey t' get it palatable."
"Its tartness is why I like it," Baylee chuckled. "It's a refreshing sort of sour that other fruits don't' really have." She served herself some more vegetables before taking another sip of her wine. "With a bit of oil, salt, pepper, and the tiniest dash of mustard, it makes a lovely dressing for salad. Or, slice it up and put it in the cavity of a chicken along with some rosemary, seasoned salt, and thyme before roasting it to get a really delicious bird."
The table of dwarves couldn't help but chuckle at her words; it was endearing to hear her ramble on about the different culinary uses for lemon.
"Sounds like we should have stayed a few more nights at your home," Kili told her, his brow raised. He speared a small potato with his knife before popping it into his mouth. As he chewed it, he glanced past the other table at an elven woman—at least, he thought they was an elven woman.
"If you lot had stayed a few more nights instead of just one, I don't think da' and I would have had any food left in our pantry," she half-joked.
Nori snickered. "Think of it this way: When the two o' you return home, you won't be havin' to toss away a lot o' spoiled food now."
She paused, thinking about how horrible the stench would have been if she and Bilbo had left with a full pantry. "I suppose you're right," she said. "That would have been a horrid mess to clean up…"