The smell of good food fills the air. Bilbo is cooking yet another delicious meal while I set the table for the two of us. I can't help but smile at the familiarity of it all, truly enjoying little moments like these. Soon enough, dinner's ready, and we sit down across from each other. I throw him a smile, and then get started on my food, eating in comfortable silence.
Suddenly, the doorbell rings, sounding throughout the house. Surprised, Bilbo and I share a look, the both of us standing up.
"Did you expect someone?" I ask him on my way to the door, him right behind me.
"No, did you?" He answers, sounding confused.
"No." I say over my shoulder, shrugging before opening the door.
My eyes widen in surprise. Right there, standing in the doorway, is a dwarf. He's bald, with a huge brown beard, and he's even taller than I am, with very broad shoulders and a stern look on his face. He looks terrifying, tattoos decorating his head and arms, big muscled arms that are crossed in front of his chest.
"Dwalin, at your service." He greets, giving a nod as he bows before us.
"Err… Hi, I'm Cam." I bring out after a moment, forcing myself to act as normal as possible.
"Bilbo Baggins, at yours." Bilbo mutters, still in shock.
"Do we know each other?" Bilbo asks.
"No". The dwarf walks inside as he says it, leaving the two of us behind, stunned.
"Which way, laddie? Is it down here?" The dwarf asks.
"I-is what down where?" Bilbo stutters.
"Supper! He said there'd be food." The dwarf answers, tossing me his coat. I catch it, letting out an 'umph' at the surprising weight of it. Damn, that coat was heavy!
"He said? Who said?" Bilbo asks confused, looking over to me. I simply shrug, not having a single clue what's going on here either. Then, I close the door, hang Dwalin's coat on a hanger and make my way over to the dining room, where the dwarf is currently eating Bilbo's supper.
Bilbo is staring at him, clearly unsure of what to do. He looks out of place, the strong scary dwarf sitting opposite a round-faced, red-cheeked, sweet Hobbit. Hobbits were used to visitors, in fact, they loved it, and I enjoyed seeing Bilbo cheerfully working in the kitchen all day for some relatives that would be coming over for dinner that day. What they weren't used to, were unexpected visitors, especially from a different kind. It didn't happen every day that there was a dwarf in Bag End, let alone one on our doorstep.
"Very good, this. Any more?" Dwalin asks, having already finished his plate.
"Of course, y-yes." Bilbo stutters, getting up to retrieve some bread.
"Help yourself." He adds as he puts the plate down next to the dwarf. Dwalin grabs a piece and eats it at once, shocking Bilbo and amusing me.
"It's just that, um, I wasn't expecting company." Bilbo says, clearly uncomfortable.
Then, the doorbell rings again, making Bilbo turn his head that way. How odd.
"That'll be the door." Dwalin speaks up. Bilbo gets up and walks away to open it.
"Would you like something to drink?" I ask Dwalin politely, giving him a smile. The dwarf nods at me.
"Ale?" I suggest.
"Wonderful." He grunts, making me get up and get some. When I return, there's another dwarf in our house. He's got grey hair and a big ass beard, is a lot shorter than Dwalin, also shorter than I am, and smiles kindly when his eyes land upon me.
"Balin, at your service." He says, bowing to me.
"Cam, at yours." I answer, smiling and bowing back. He was much nicer than Dwalin, who had been quite rude, to be honest.
"I'm Dwalin's brother." the kind dwarf explains, making me smile.
"I wouldn't have guessed." I answer, making him chuckle.
"Yeah, he can be quite grumpy. I apologize." Balin says.
"No problem at all. Here, sit down and eat." I say, gesturing towards my chair. He sits down and begins to eat from my plate, but I don't mind at all. I had a feeling that this would all become clear soon. Soon enough the dwarves, hungry for more food, make their way into the pantry on their own, and Bilbo desperately tries to explain to them that he has no idea who they are and what they were doing here, which they ignore skilfully.
When the doorbell rings a third time, Bilbo nearly loses his calm. Poor Bilbo.
"I'll get it." I quickly say, giving him a comforting pat on the shoulder before making my way to the door. I open it, and find two handsome young dwarves standing in front of me.
"Fili." The one on the left introduces. He has blonde, braided hair, a beard and even a moustache with braids in it. His green eyes give me a charming look.
"Kili." The other one adds. This one has brown, curly hair and equally brown eyes, a bit of dark stubble decorating his cheeks.
"At your service." They say in unison, bowing before me. The two of them look up at me with identical smirks. They're less tall than I am, but not that much, maybe a head shorter. The two were adorable, and I could tell they were troublemakers.
"Cam, at yours" I answer, grinning widely at the two.
"Come on in." I add, stepping aside for them to enter.
"Thanks!" They exclaim, handing me their coats and weapons. I grunt at the weight, making them hurry to take their weapons back and place them somewhere.
"How rude of us, letting a lady carry our heavy swords!" Fili exclaims, a look of guilt in his eyes.
"We didn't think that through, sorry lass." Kili adds, quickly helping me out.
"No problem. There's two others of you inside already." I say, making them rush into the pantry. Loud laughter sounds from where the four meet, and I walk back to find Bilbo on the edge of losing it. Poor Hobbit.
'Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.'
I turn around slowly, cautiously eyeing Bilbo who seems to boil over at the sound of the bell. He disappears off into the hallway, yelling something about how many more dwarves would show up and how he was sick of it all. I can hear him open the door, and a crash follows, startling me. Quickly, I rush into the hallway, finding even more dwarves lying on top of each other on the floor, clearly having fallen inside, a mischievously smiling Gandalf standing behind them. I can't help but chuckle at Bilbo's face, and begin to help the dwarves up by giving them my hand so I can pull them up. They all introduce themselves with an 'at your service', but I don't think I'll ever be able to remember all their names, so I just smile and nod and say hi back. After leading them inside and greeting Gandalf, Bilbo keeps freaking out about them raiding his pantry, while I allow the two charming brothers named Fili and Kili to drag me along to the table, being placed in between them.
"There's so many of you." I mutter, staring at the chaos in amusement. It was the opposite of what I was used to, since living with Bilbo was very peaceful and calm, but I wasn't exactly minding their strange ways, it was just… very different. Currently, they had put everything Bilbo had that was eatable on the table, throwing food at each other to catch and yelling a lot, even having a drinking and burping contest. It was a little gross, but also amusing.
"It's not that much! You have Dwalin and Balin, Oin and Gloin; they're all Thorin's cousins. Then you've got Dori, Nori and Ori whom are remote kinsmen of Thorin, and Bifur, Bofur and Bombur, whom are descendants of the dwarves of Moria. And you've got us, the best of the best, Fili and Kili. We're Thorin's nephews." Fili explains with a smile, pointing out every single one for me.
"I think you're gonna have to repeat that a couple more times!" I bring out, making the two laugh.
"It's fairly easy, you know, just gotta link em to something to remember them by. Dwalin's looks like he can kill you in 5 seconds, Balin looks like your average sweet grandpa, Oin has a horn to help him listen better, Gloin has the badass beard, Dori is the mother bear, Nori's hair is shaped like a star, Ori looks like a sweet potato, Bifur with the axe imbedded in his head, Bofur's the one who always wears a hat, and Bombur likes to eat a lot." Kili quickly runs over it with me, pointing at everyone.
"I'll try to remember that. Also, who's Thorin?" I ask, noticing he's not here.
"He's the rightful King of Erebor!" Fili explains.
"He's our uncle!" Kili adds.
"And the greatest warrior ever!"
I laugh, enjoying the brothers' presence. Life in the Shire was peaceful and quiet, and I liked that, but the change the dwarves brought with them was a welcome one. In my opinion, that was. Bilbo looked like this was the worst day of his life, poor thing. He feels me looking and our eyes meet, making me smile at him.
'You okay?' I mouth, making him shake his head. I pull a face at it.
After a long time of the dwarves eating and chatting and generally being loud and rowdy and borderline impolite, I can feel myself growing tired. Being in a room full of 12 dwarves, a wizard, a hobbit and myself made me tired really quickly, more than I had realized before.
They get started on cleaning the table, starting to throw around cutlery and plates, banging them against tables and walls. Startled, I lift my head to look at the dwarves tossing each other everything.
"Will you not do that? You'll blunt them!" Bilbo exclaims, sounding distressed. My eyes are wide as I watch plates fly through the air, worried they'll break something. I knew how much that stuff meant to Bilbo. It was his mother's antiques, if I remembered correctly.
"Ooh, ya hear that lads? He says we'll blunt the knives!" Bofur exclaims, making the others laugh.
"Blunt the knives, bend the forks
Smash the bottles and burn the corks
Chip the glasses and crack the plates
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!
Cut the cloth, tread on the fat
Leave the bones on the bedroom mat
Pour the milk on the pantry floor
Splash the wine on every door!
Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl
Pound them up with a thumping pole
When you're finished if they are whole
Send them down the hall to roll"
The dwarves start singing, and all I can do is listen to it in amusement. They were really good singers, but I could tell that what they sung was really getting on Bilbo's nerves. When they finish, I join the laughter, relieved they hadn't actually destroyed anything, the dishes clean in the kitchen, until we're interrupted by three heavy knocks on the door.
'Knock. Knock. Knock.'
The entire room turns silent, for only one dwarf could be waiting behind that door. Bilbo moves to open the door, and I can feel nerves in my stomach. I was curious to finally see the King Fili and Kili had been talking so proudly about.
"He's here." Gandalf says, voice serious. As if on cue, everyone rushes to the front door, and I find myself sandwiched by the two dwarf princes. I roll my eyes when Fili and Kili wrap an arm around me simultaneously, but leave them be.
The door opens, revealing a handsome dwarf. He turns to look inside, a stern look on his face. His dark curls frame a strong face, a beard covering up a nonetheless defined jawline. Blue eyes remind me of a storm at sea, seeming to hide many things. He looks like a King, dressed in a heavy fur coat. I don't think I've ever seen a dwarf as gorgeous as him, or any other being for that matter. Blimey.
"Gandalf," He greets, his voice deep and demanding to be listened to, "I thought you told me this place was easy to find." Thorin adds, walking inside.
"I wouldn't have found it at all if it weren't for that mark on the door."
"Mark? There's no mark on that door, it was painted a week ago!" Bilbo exclaims, distressed. The two brothers on either side of me snicker, but I feel rather sorry for Bilbo. The poor guy was going through a lot right now.
"There is a mark. I put it there myself." Gandalf admits, an innocent look on his face as he closes the door.
"Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce the leader of our Company, Thorin Oakenshield." Gandalf says, drawing Thorin's attention to the Hobbit. Thorin steps towards him at that, everything about him screaming dominance and intimidation.
"So, this is the Hobbit." He states, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Tell me, Mr. Baggins, have you done much fighting?" He asks him, beginning to circle around him like a predator would do with its prey.
"Fighting?" Bilbo asks, the poor Hobbit, clearly intimidated.
"Sword or axe? What's your weapon of choice?" Thorin continues.
"Well, I have some skill at conckers, if you must know. But I fail to see why that's relevant." Bilbo answers, trying to stand up to the Dwarf King. I surely do admire him for it.
"Thought as much. He looks more like a grocer than a burglar." Thorin says with a smirk, causing the others to laugh, except for me. I kind of pitied Bilbo. He didn't choose this to happen, the poor guy.
"Hey! Don't mock him like that." I speak up, frowning.
"And who may you be?" Thorin asks, eyes narrowing when he sees his nephews' holds on me.
"I'm Cameron." I say, shrugging myself out of the brothers' hold to walk over to him. Protectively, I move to stand in front of Bilbo, narrowing my eyes at Thorin as I cross my arms in front of my chest.
"You're a human." He states, scrunching up his nose in disdain. I was a bit taller than him, but I felt smaller due to his dominant posture. Fuck, he was so gorgeous that I felt like a sack of potatoes in front of him. Suddenly, I become very aware of my looks, imagining what he must be taking in now. I'm absolutely not in shape, my curves accompanied by a little extra fat due to delicious hobbit food. Chestnut brown hair that never seems to do what I want, that's just hanging loose and wavy since I didn't expect anyone to visit Bilbo and I. I have hazel eyes and a round face, with dimples when I smiled, which was nice. My hands weren't that of a skilled warrior, although I knew how to handle a weapon, and I'm sure I look more like a gardener than a fighter myself, my skin tan from working in the sun so much. My clothing's simple, as I'm wearing a pair of soft white trousers and a darker blue, loose shirt to go with it. Probably not such a great impression.
"And you're a dwarf. Got a problem with that?" I ask him, tilting my chin. I was not going to let some dwarf scare me, king or not.
"Is she coming with us?" Thorin asks Gandalf, not looking away from me.
"Coming where?" I ask.
"Yes." Gandalf answers at the same time, making me frown as I glance over to the wizard.
"I am?" I ask him, raising an eyebrow. He nods.
"Where are we going?" I ask.
"An adventure." Gandalf says, a mysterious look in his eyes.
"Fine. I'll come, but only if Bilbo comes too." I state seriously, throwing a look at Bilbo over my shoulder.
"Can you fight?" Thorin asks, sceptical. Gandalf snickers at it, as does Bilbo. It was a ridiculous question to those who knew me.
"Yes."
"Weapon of choice?" Thorin continues, annoying me.
"Throwing knives."
"Hmm." He hums, unimpressed, then walks away into the dining room.
As Thorin walks towards the dining room, Fili and Kili drag me along eagerly.
"That's our uncle." Kili brags, obviously proud of his Uncle.
"I know that, my Prince." I say teasingly, making him grin.
"Please, darling, no titles for us." He answers, the three of us bursting out with laughter. Everyone returns to talking and eating, the tension from earlier forgotten as I lean back against the back of my chair, counting to ten and back to calm myself down, relaxing my shoulders.
"You sure have nerve to talk back to my Uncle like that." Fili mutters in my ear, an astonished look in his eyes. I merely shrug as Kili agrees with a nod of his head.
"I'm not going to let anyone bully my friend and try to intimidate me, especially not a man." I state casually, taking the goblet of wine that's standing in front of me to take a sip, eyes darting across the table, finding Thorin staring at me still, those blue eyes piercing through mine. I was curious as to how this night would continue, that was sure.
"I can't believe we're actually doing this." Bilbo speaks up, shocked. I chuckle at it, riding alongside him on our ponies. Last night, we'd found out that the dwarves were going on a journey, one that had the purpose of reclaiming Erebor, the lost kingdom of the dwarves. Many years ago, long before I was even born, Smaug had attacked the kingdom. He'd killed thousands of dwarves and taken the Mountain, leaving the dwarves to run for their lives. Now, they wanted to reclaim the mountain, and they'd come to us because they needed a burglar, and for some reason Gandalf had assigned Bilbo this job without him even knowing about it. Apparently, I was meant as an extra warrior, which got responded to by most dwarves with scepticism. I didn't mind, however, since most of the time it was an advantage to be underestimated. Balin had pulled out two long documents to sign, speaking of how it was to arrange the share of the treasure for each of the Company, but also to arrange a funeral should this be necessary. This was followed by Bofur going into great detail about how one could be killed by a dragon, and poor Bilbo even fainted on the spot. I scolded Bofur after that for scaring him so much, although I was a bit shaky myself after hearing all that. Being burned alive wasn't really on my to do list anytime soon.
After that, I'd told the Company that I'd only sign if Bilbo signed, and that he'd probably have to think about it some more. None of them actually believed he'd join the journey after him fainting, but I had a hunch that they might be surprised in the end. As the evening continued, and I put Bilbo in his bed, far away from the rowdy dwarves, the poor guy still shaky, the dwarves seemed to quiet down a bit. Everyone ended up sitting by the fireplace, and I find myself sitting beside Bofur, who's rather amusing if you ask me, talking softly to me about how he enjoys making up songs. Then, everyone turned silent as if on cue, and Thorin started singing the most beautiful song I had ever heard, perhaps due to his deep voice that sounded wonderful, blue eyes solemnly staring off into the fireplace. The other dwarves slowly join in, and create one of the most beautiful harmonies I've ever heard before. I ended up with tears in my eyes.
"Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away, ere break of day,
To find our long-forgotten gold.
The pines were roaring on the height,
The winds were moaning in the night.
The fire was red, it flaming spread;
The trees like torches blazed with light,
Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away, ere break of day,
To find our long-forgotten gold.
The pines were roaring on the height,
The winds were moaning in the night.
The fire was red, it flaming spread;
The trees like torches blazed with light"
After that, everyone agreed they were going to bed, the atmosphere solemn and sad. I had offered Kili and Fili and Bofur to join me in my room to sleep there, the other dwarves being settled into spare bedrooms I quickly prepared for them. This meant that the 13 dwarves were split over 3 rooms: Thorin, Dwalin, Balin, Bifur and Bombur were roomed up into one, but not before the last two threatened me not to dare ruin their sweet brother Bofur's virtue, which actually resulted into me having a hard time to act serious and not laugh at them. In the other room, you had Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin and Gloin. The fact that they were all packed in the rooms like sardines made the Princes and toy maker/miner very grateful that they slept with me, and all three of them ensured me multiple times no harm would be done to my innocence and virtue, which this time did have me laughing out loud, but I appreciated their sweet behaviour nonetheless. My bed was big, but it had still been a tight fit for the four of us, ending up with me squashed in between the two Princes, Bofur lying at my feet, and I found him cuddling them when I woke up. Their thankfulness had been worth it, however, since they were clearly glad their last night before the big journey was spent in an actual bed. As soon as they moved in the morning, I was awake as well. I'd told them that I'd stay behind for Bilbo, and that we'd see them soon, which not all of them believed. But sure enough, as soon as Bilbo woke up and saw the house empty, and then me sitting on top of two backpacks, he was convinced. And look, here we were!
"It will be good for us, to see the world. It'll be an adventure of a lifetime." I answer, throwing him a smile.
"It'll be dangerous as well." Bilbo says, a worried look in his eyes when they meet mine.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you. I'd give my life for you, Bilbo." I assure him, feeling my sword resting at my hip , ready to fight in case something would happen.
"I don't worry about me. It's you I'm worried about, Cameron." He answers, making me swallow harshly. He was just so incredibly sweet.
"Don't be, Bilbo. We'll be fine." I say, feeling my heart clench in my chest.
"How romantic! Don't make us puke, lovebirds." Kili shouts, making me and Bilbo laugh.
"We're so not in love!" I bring out in between my laughter, surprising the young dwarf.
"Aww, I lost this bet too!" Kili groans.
"Alright boys, give me the money." Thorin calls out, a smug look on his face when I raise an eyebrow at him. Several dwarves groan, and little bags filled with coins start flying through the air, Gandalf receiving some money himself.
"That's not fair, Gandalf. You've known me ever since I arrived here." I say, shaking my head at him with a smile. He merely smiles back at me, that mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
"Well, since you're not married to Mr. Boggins over here, you can finally admit your love for me!" Kili says smugly, moving his pony to ride besides mine.
"Brother, it's obvious that I am the one she loves." Fili argues, giving me a wink.
"Sorry guys, but you ain't really my type." I say with a shrug, chuckling when they gasp in shock, throwing me a fake hurt look. When Bifur says something I don't understand, everyone bursts out with laughter.
"What? What did he say?" I ask, confused.
"He told us he's the one who holds your heart!" Kili barely manages to squeak out in between his chuckling. When I look over to Bifur in shock, the bastard even winks at me! Dwarves!