WAIT!
HAVE YOU READ CHAPTER 28? OR 19-27? IF NOT, READ THOSE FIRST! I'VE BEEN UPDATING VERY QUICKLY IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.
We've officially caught up to where my original drafts left off, which means I'm creating everything from scratch from here on out. Wish me luck.
Also, thank you so, SO much for reaching 200 reviews! I appreciate every single one that you guys leave me, and motivates me like you wouldn't believe to get my writing on.
Inspired by a prompt I stumbled upon by lateforerebor on tumblr.
Summary: Bilba "Bell" Baggins decides that she's waited quite long enough to take her mother's advice and old stories and go on an adventure of her own. What she didn't expect was to end up in Ered Luin and be adopted by dwarves! AU, Pre-Quest, Undecided Pairings.
-;-
Bilba woke to the first rays of daylight reflecting into her face from somewhere in front of her. Blinking, she twisted her head so that she could wake up without being blinded in the process, noting that it appeared to be a large copper pot that the light was reflecting off of.
It was warm. Ori had rolled to cling onto Nori's leg at some point in the night, while the middle brother had somehow gotten wrapped into the Dori and Bifur situation going on. Honestly, all she could see was hair, beards and one arm sticking out of that pile.
Rolling upright, the hobbit was pleased to find she could do so with minimal effort. Once back on her own two feet, she did a brief assessment of herself; despite the tightness in her chest and some truly awful pins and needles running from her shoulder to her fingers, she felt rather alright. An added bonus was to realize her head felt clearer than it had for a while, a lightness to her step as she greeted one of the sheep wandering about.
Even amongst Hobbits, Bilba was usually something of an early riser- the habit had stuck with her in her adventuring and even more so into their quest. It was amusing to no end to her, considering how light of sleepers some of the dwarrow could be. Even with the battle nerves in the cases like Dwalin and Thorin.
While she was pushed and prodded to the back step of the house for breakfast- a spread of honey cakes, bread and fruit with a soft cheese- Bilba inquired to her woollen hosts if she might be able to have a bath. From the varied grunts, bleats and bobbing of heads she received in turn, Bilba made the educated guess there was an affirmation somewhere in there.
She seated herself neatly on the already warming stones, wasting no time in nibbling at the cheese and sighing in contentment. It was just the right amount of herb and cream for her palette- Bilba would have to ask Beorn if she could get his recipe before they left- it was absolutely divine.
The rest of her meal passed uneventfully, though the hobbit did share some of the bread with a handful of songbirds near the end of it.
Just one of the things Bilba enjoyed so much about the summer months. The run rose ridiculously early, which meant there was more time for Bilba to enjoy the day without any dwarves hovering over her shoulders at every second.
Not that it was a bad thing, but she deeply missed having some space of her own to think.
As if sensing when Bilba had finished eating, a handful of sheep ushered the Hobbit back indoors, leaving the remnants of her meal behind. She protested half-heartedly before realizing that it would do no good; that, and a look from the ringleader of the sheep suggested it would be best if she just went with it. Considering she was a guest in Beorn's halls, she sighed and shrugged. Sentient animals weren't nearly the strangest thing she'd come across compared to trolls and the like, and at this point she wasn't going to start asking questions.
A small area had been set up in what appeared to be Beorn's mud room, a curtain set up to provide privacy and a large wooden tub full of hot water awaiting her as all but two sheep left. The pair of ewes gave her another pointed look before Bilba caught their drift. Before she could question what exactly her life had become, she stripped off the bandages and clothing before gingerly stepping into the tub.
"Happy now?" she asked.
One of the sheep delicately gathered the fabrics into her teeth before trotting out of the room, hooves clicking softly on the stone floor.
The sheep bobbed her head before bringing over a handheld mirror that looked like it was designed for a race much smaller than the skin changer. Bilba thanked her, belatedly remembering to ask if she would please have her things returned to her- perhaps with needle and thread to mend what she could. The sheep 'baah'ed' as if she understood what Bilba was saying before taking her leave, leaving the Hobbit to her own devices.
Again, she knew better than to start asking questions by now.
Sighing, Bilba lifted the mirror, cringing as she got a good look at herself. Her cheeks weren't flushed, thankfully- her usual telltale sign of a fever- but one side of her face was bruised and scabbing over from where the creature in the tunnels had managed to get her. It was compounded by the amount of dirt and Yavanna knew what else still crusted onto her skin.
Her hair was, to say the least, a lost cause. The only bit of it that didn't look like it was knotted or turned into a rat's nest was her small braid, though the trio of beads looked like they needed a thorough clean and investigation to ensure they hadn't been cracked or damaged.
She was probably going to have to cut her hair. A tad morose at the thought, Bilba sunk lower into the warm water, careful to set aside the mirror before she had the misfortune of cutting herself on it.
Despite her less than stellar thoughts, there truly was nothing quite like a good bath. Even without the full use of her left arm, the hobbit made quick work of scrubbing herself from hairy feet to shoulders. Callouses, bruises and scrapes revealed themselves under the layers of grime and old blood from the road.
Her hair… well, she gave it her best shot. But she'd already resigned herself to having to cut some of the length off by the time she'd scrubbed the roots to the best of her ability. None of her dwarves would be pleased about that, Bilba could say with surety.
Somewhere between washing her face and cleaning dirt out of her hair, her clothing had been brought back, along with a large, fluffy towel and her tunic from Rivendell. Tunic being the loosest term of the word, considering that it had fallen to her shins the first time around.
Idly, Bilba wondered if one of her dwarrow had given it to the sheep, or if they had somehow known to look in her pack for it. Either way, the mental image that it painted was worth the short peal of giggles that stole over her as she reluctantly got out of the water and swaddled herself in the soft towel.
By the time she finally wandered back to the rest of the company, most of them were bundled around the table and eating breakfast. Oin caught her eye and clambered down with a dexterity that belied his age, immediately honing in on her unwrapped shoulder and arm.
"Bloody wizard." He muttered, gently leading Bilba away from the table and prodding at the swollen joint. "I'll grant him his knowledge of healing spells. It's already on its way to healing, lass. We'll need to wrap it to ensure ye don't pull it out of place again, but so far, ye look a sight better than when we pulled ye onto the Carrock."
"I finally managed to clean some of the dirt off." She snorted, wincing as Oin lifted her arm to test mobility. "I managed to get the bandages clean, if you'd like to wrap it now."
"It'll be fine for now. Best to try and get blood flow back into it before we wrap it back in a sling." The dwarf shook his head. "If it does start to bother you, come find me and we'll get it wrapped again."
"Of course." She nodded, offering him a small smile. "I think I'm going to go sit in the sun a while in the garden. Try not to let Dori get into too much trouble with Thorin?"
"Bah. They're both dwarflings." Oin sniffed. "Dwarflings with injuries, but dwarflings nonetheless. I'll be stuffing as much willow bark as I can into our fearless leader today, don't you fret, lass."
He winked conspiringly as he turned back to the table, shooing the hobbit along subtly.
Bless that dwarf.
It drew nearer to mid-morning as Bilba slowly stepped into Beorn's gardens, immediately feeling at peace amid the plants and flowers. Large bees buzzed around lazily, easily the size of her head- she shooed a couple away gently as they flew over to investigate.
It was quite peaceful out in the gardens. Even more so without the company being within a ten-foot radius at all times. Downside of being the only competent one on the team and a female to boot- absolutely no time in which to not have an entire company of men bickering around her.
Bilba investigated a small pathway of sorts that opened into a patch of long grass, lavender growing thickly along a decorative hedge further off. An ideal place to sit down and get to her task uninterrupted.
Sitting herself down, she pulled out the needle and thread she'd been provided, tucking the needle between her teeth as she examined her skirts and the abuse it had suffered thus far. The sun warmed her shoulders as her hands followed the torn seams, trying to best sort out how she was going to fix the damage she'd done in the first place.
With the original length being what it was, it would not be at all proper by Hobbit standards to have it any shorter. However, Bilba was far from a perfect Hobbit, and having slightly shorter skirts would provide more mobility in several ways so long as she could create form fitting breeches to wear underneath.
Not to mention the number of pockets she planned on adding to literally every piece of clothing she owned and would ever own again. If there was something she'd already figured out from their time in the mountains, it was that their packs wouldn't always be reliable to keep all of their belongings safe.
Not that pockets would either, but it certainly helped Bilba feel better.
It was a good thing she already knew how to sew hidden pockets.
(She'd had to smuggle out Lobelia's wines from luncheon somehow, after all.)
"Hiding from Oin already?" she asked, ears twitching as Nori all but collapsed down next to her. The pained wheeze he let out a moment later clued the hobbit into his belated realization that throwing himself at the ground while suffering from broken ribs was a bad idea.
"Seems damned intent on keeping the two sides from tryin' to kill each other." He muttered, accent thick. He rolled onto his back to stare up at the hobbit pitifully; to her credit, Bilba managed to keep a straight face before shaking her head with an amused snort.
"Thorin will behave for now. He and I have an understanding." Bilba replied absently, pulling out one of her daggers and making quick work of taking off more of the hem of her skirts. That done, she threaded the needle and began to sew the frayed edges underneath- good as new. "It's Dori I'm worried about."
"He was halfway through a mug of willow bark when I made my escape." Nori informed her. "As was Thorin."
"And what about you?" she asked dryly, glancing down at him as she continued her work.
"Already had mine. Wanted to come find you."
A soft warmth bloomed in Bilba's chest as she looked down at her dwarf. His ginger hair had already been pulled into its usual points, but it wasn't nearly as pristine as usual. Sprawled out in the grass, she could see the faint smattering of freckles across his nose.
"Your hair's a mess, sweets." He frowned next, reaching up with a wince to pull at a lock of what she'd managed to brush loose.
"I figured I should let one of you have a go at it before I took a knife to it. I'm afraid it's too knotted even for someone with two arms to work at." The hobbit sighed. "It's clean, at least?"
Nori huffed out a snort before pulling himself back upright, making some kind of motion that she took to move. She stuck her tongue out but did as much, wincing as her shoulder twinged uncomfortably.
"I managed to liberate your comb from your pack earlier. Figured ye could use a good brushing after everything we've been through." The dwarf commented, taking her hair into his hands and working at the ends patiently. "I'm sorry we didn't do anything about all of this before, Bell. It wasn't fair to ye to pretend like nothing happened."
"It's alright, Nori. I know you had your reasons." She said.
"It's not, Bell. You were right. We should never have put ye in the position we did." He replied firmly. "No matter the reasons- you're kin now. And the House of Ri should never have put ye in the middle of a spat between the prince and us."
"I do feel much better after scolding him, though." The hobbit sighed, perhaps a bit dreamy. It had been a high point in her memory, despite the circumstances.
"Alright, I'll give ye that. I don't think I've seen him cowed like that since his sister gave him a tongue lashing a few years back…"
Nori's voice faded into a pleasant background noise as they both continued in their tasks. Bilba managed to get nearly halfway around the hem of her skirt before she felt her eyes beginning to close at the ministrations on her hair. He managed to work half of her curls into something more manageable, pushing the long locks over her shoulder to tackle the more difficult knots still to go.
Judging by the impressed and impressive amount of cursing, it wasn't going as well as he'd hoped.
"Ye might have been right, sweets." He finally muttered sulkily. "Hand me your knife?"
"I tried to tell you." She chuckled, handing over her current dagger. "Hobbits don't usually have long hair since it grows so quickly. Not to mention that if we don't at least trim it from time to time, it starts to lose strength and can become quite thin over time."
"I'll try not to cut it above your shoulders."
"Much appreciated."
She sat still, tilting her head as she was directed as Nori carefully slid the sharp blade along her hair where the knots were too thick to dislodge. In a way, it was downright enjoyable to feel the weight dropping off of her, sighing as she closed her eyes and let Nori at his task.
If Ori happened to stumble across the sight of a quietly laughing Bilba allowing Nori to cut her hair, he didn't say anything.
And if he conveniently had his writing things with him, well… he would of course be documenting the scene they made for later use.
(Likely blackmail, but who was to say?)
-;-
Beorn's return heralded a much-cheered skin changer pushing into his home the next morning, a broad grin on his features as he scooped an alarmed Hobbit into his arms. He barked out a growling laugh as he settled her into his palms, mindful of her injuries as he raised her entirely too far away from the ground to her liking, declaring that she and the company were welcome to stay within his halls for as long as they needed.
It was a sharp relief, knowing that their host would indeed continue to be hospitable. Bilba needed something to distract her dwarves from their continued dismay that she had the audacity to cut her hair.
As it happened, the entire company were insulted on her hair's behalf, and had been constantly glancing over to her as though Bilba had personally offended every single one of them. Aside from Dori and Ori, who knew that if Nori wasn't able to pry the knots out, there wasn't likely anything that anyone could have done to prevent the ultimatum.
The hobbit didn't mind it; her hair fell just below her shoulders again, and Nori had already taken the time to braid her beads back into her hair.
Well, the two that hadn't been damaged. Dori's bead had been cracked so badly Bilba had little doubt that it would not survive the continued journey. Nori, by some miracle, had managed to keep the fourth bead- originally intended for her to carve- and had handed it over to the eldest Ri so that she would at least have a partial set to work with.
In the meantime, Bilba was content to wander the grounds of Beorn's home. While at first she was completely lost as to where any of the haphazard hidden pathways went, the hobbit found she didn't care as much once she realized she could see the chimney of the house wherever she went.
And oh, the plants. Bilba had never seen so many different flowers, herbs and flora in her life, and Hobbits were known for green things and growing them. She took to documenting them whenever Beorn was around, inquiring their uses to the delighted skin changer.
She still didn't quite know what to make of the constant endearments of "little badger" though.
Whenever she wasn't in the gardens, the hobbit had asked Beorn if he might spare any leathers or fabrics so that she could repair her clothing and perhaps create slightly more durable items going forward in the quest. An elven tunic and her newly repaired skirts were simply not going to cut it in the long run, and she knew it well. And, considering his fascination with Bilba, the skin changer was all too happy to provide whatever she wished.
Gandalf had made himself scarce since their first night in Beorn's home- Bilba was fairly certain he came and went on his own personal agenda- but she caught glimpses of the wizard lurking around the gardens.
He took the time to murmur another spell over her shoulder to aid in her healing a couple of days in, citing that if they wanted their burglar to make it to the Lonely Mountain, she might as well be in good health. She appreciated it more than he knew; weeks of healing had turned into a matter of days of healing. It meant that she would be able to use both hands to a fuller extent and needed less assistance clambering up onto the too-tall furniture around Beorn's home.
While Bilba was more than content to spend the majority of her time outdoors, it was a much greater struggle to coax the company out to join her. Nori was seemingly intent on not allowing Bilba out of his sight, which usually meant that Dori and Ori would follow. Bifur seemed to enjoy the sun almost as much as the hobbit, and had found several more pieces of wood to carve as they sat out in the long grass. Bofur came and went- he was sticking close to Bombur thanks to the ongoing spat that Dori and Thorin had yet to settle.
Oin didn't care a whit- he didn't discriminate in who he medicated with willow bark and other medicines to keep his company as healthy as possible. If anyone tried to start something or complain… well, an extra helping of herbs usually ensured a nap in the offender's future.
But despite the stubbornness of dwarves, the hobbit managed to get the majority of the company to submit to her Hobbitish ways, lazing about in the summer sun and allowing themselves the rest that they all so desperately needed.
All that was left now was to see how Thorin and Dori were going to resolve their ongoing stony silence. Well, stony on Dori's account. No matter what peacekeeping attempts she made on that front, Dori was as stubborn as ever in the slight that the line of Durin had placed against the House of Ri. Of course, she couldn't very well out that she and Thorin had already spoken on the matter, considering that that would only ignite some other fight.
Bilba had a feeling that whatever answer Thorin came up with was going to be terribly dramatic. Everything that she knew about dwarven politics- and Dori's past settlings with those who had issue with him- was pointing to that result.
Oh well. She needed to believe that everything would turn out alright. Otherwise, she would be holding to her word and fulfilling her promise of making the remaining journey to Erebor as miserable as possible, to the fullest extent of her skills as a Hobbit.
Given that she could think of sixteen ways alone to worm under Thorin's skin off the top of her head, it was safe to say that an irked Hobbit was not one to trifle with- especially if one was a Took.