Good Evening!
I have managed to update in time, I've been in my nations capital this weekend but made sure that I could post when I got back. So here, I hope you like it, drop me your opinions, I love to hear them!
Cheers for the f/f: AnimiaCorn, TraumerdeAmore, colorguardgirl87, Chaotic Koi, Desert Vulpes Zerda, nuiavin, Decepticon Chick & Gingah18
Chapter 11 – Longing
"I thought wizards could change the weather?" Todd asked incredulously.
"Apparently not, Dori asked the last time it rained this much!" Bilbo replied, his voice thick with disdain and repulsion at their current predicament. It had been raining for a week now, the night of her tales of old was the last dry night they had.
Since then they had been walking for almost seven days, the last two especially were days in torrential rain. Everyone was soaked through to the bone, their packs were soaked and everything within them was completely and utterly soaked. Todd had been told to stay close to the company, with them following a distinct trail, but all she wanted was to separate and hide under the cover of the trees.
They had passed through a few different terrains to get to where they were currently. Firstly upon reaching the foothills they followed the trail over grassy mounds, and then past rocky outcrops. Camping in those parts was easy, outcrops gave them shelter to their backs and also from the weather and wind. The dwarves were extremely happy with the progress. They had missed the touch and feel of stone and were happy to have it reappearing around them. Then they passed under a beautiful waterfall, where they took the chance to refill their water skins. Then it became an uphill struggle, literally.
"Bilbo, here take this!" Todd called to her Hobbit friend. Once the path turned sharply upward, he had been fumbling and tripping with his feet. Todd had chuckled the first few times, both of them sharing the hilarity of his clumsy tired feet. Yet he was starting to get fed up and she could tell. The first long stick she saw was his. It was nestled in a rocky outcrop, sticking out of from rough brown grass. Snatching it up she rushed to his side and handed him the walking stick.
"Ahh thank you Lady Todd!" He smiled.
"Can't promise it will help, but we'll see!" She smiled back. Then they were off again.
"Hey Lady Todd!" She heard Kili call from behind her. She turned as she was walking, careful not to trip whilst doing it. Bofur reached out and absently guided her by the elbow from next to her as she looked back towards the youngest son of Durin. He had rather bright pink flushed cheeks and a shocked look about him. "Is that my bow on your back?"
"Why yes dearest Master Kili, I was wandering how long it would take you to notice!" She sniggered. It was her newest game, just started the evening before. She would take, not steal for she would always give it back, someone's belongings and then hang it from her person to see how long it would take them to notice. His face broke into a massive grin as he strode up past his Brother and Bombur to reach her. He snagged his bow from her back and nudged her in the shoulder, knocking her into Bofur who was sniggering with her.
"Since when did you become so cheeky with us?" He asked, a hint of hilarity in his tone. She nudged him back and placed her hands playfully on her hips.
"It's a new game I have designed to keep me from boredom." She stated. Kili and Bofur eyeing her from either side, smiles lingering on their lips at her open mood with them. Ever since Nori and Dori had begun chatting with her and treating her nicely she was in the best of moods. "I will take someone's belongings, and then see how long it takes for them to notice with it hanging right in their face!"
"That's mean!" Bilbo mock chided her from in front, making her shrug and blush a little.
"I think its funny!" She mumbled, a closed look falling on her face. Kili was quick to pull it away again by smiling brightly to her. "Plus, the handkerchief Lord Elrond gave you, Master Bilbo, has been on my pack for the last day and a half!"
"Really?" Bilbo stuttered, rushing round behind her to untie it and pull it back into his pocket whilst they were still waking.
"Brilliant!" Kili laughed. "Who's next?"
A light spread through her emerald eyes then. Kili couldn't help but chuckle at how happy and pretty she looked even though her wild hair was soaked and stuck to her face from the rain. She raked her eyes over the company in front and noticed that Nori had a pipe tied to the back of his bag, she pointed to it and then Kili nodded his head frantically, a huge grin at her plan.
"I will be amazed if you can take that without the thief noticing!"
"Thief?" She repeated, not understanding what he was getting at.
"Oh didn't you know?" He asked, Todd shaking her head. "Nori has been known to steal items of value and sell them on, doubles as a bit of a spy too I've heard!" Kili whispered to her, so as not to get in trouble for gossiping.
"Its not nice to whisper gossip!" Bofur mocked, a broad grin across his face, Todd smiled at how his eyes shone with flecks of warm gold through the drizzle. "I'm not afraid to clump a son of Durin over the head for bad behavior!"
Todd burst into laughter then, the mental scene of Kili getting smacked by Bofur was extremely amusing to her. Kili however, pouted and settled back to chuckling at Nori's expense.
"I will do it another time though, it would be too obvious now!" Todd added, a sly grin spread over her face making Kili chuckle deeply. The whole thing creeping the watchful Bilbo out no end.
So they continued on with their stomping up the side of the Misty Mountains. Kili had soon found his way back to his Brother and Bilbo had managed to speed up with the help of his walking stick and caught Balin up. Leaving Todd to wander with Bombur and Bofur. They talked about the scenery and what was for dinner. Todd pretty much just asked them questions. Helping Bombur every once in a while to maneuver over rocks that were in their way, she learnt that they had never seen Erebor, but had heard and grown up, like her, with the hope of reclaiming it and seeing its glory restored. They had been tinkers and toymakers and miners for as long as they could wield the tools. Their Mother and Father had died many years previous and they had struggled. Never owning much they worked and worked for all they had.
They were extremely humble when talking about their lives. Explaining that ever since a night raid by Orcs, they had cared for their once chatty and popular cousin. His head injury had taken a lot away from him, so they explained that now they stuck together as tighter as ever.
Todd understood, when her Father and Mother were still with her, they were always together. They would spend their days together, and in the odd occasion they be apart, they missed each other immensely. She held them in her heart, and thought of them almost every second. She got the same feeling from the Ur Family. They were a unit, not right when they were apart, and it made her jealous in the nicest way. She had a wash of longing seep through her. She wanted to be apart of something like that again. To have her own family.
"What's her name?" Todd asked, after finding out that Bombur was married with little ones of his own. The thought made her smile, the bubbly bouncy big dwarf was the perfect temperament for being a father.
"Gila, and our little ones are Mina and Rina!" He proudly stated, his cheeks blushing at the thought of his wife and two girls. "Three of the prettiest Dwarrowdams you will ever lay your eyes on!"
"They have beautiful names!" Todd smiled, looking up ahead of them with a warm smile. She had always wanted a brother or sister, her mother had been pregnant once, but had lost the babe during a harsh and cold winter, it too was to have a name similar to hers.
"Took them a week to name their little ones!" Bofur quipped, his eyes rolling playfully at his Brother.
"Its an important decision!" Todd added dramatically, playing along. "You have to get them just right, ey Bombur?"
"Of course lass, he doesn't understand the importance of naming a wee little one yet!" He added, a little flustered at their joking. Not realizing his words had struck a little cord within his Brother. Bofur's eyes flashed with longing quickly. He had always loved his two nieces, but had craved his own babes. He just had to find his one first.
Sensing his discomfort, Todd moved to brighten him back up. "Well who knows what's around the corner?" She chirped. He smiled gently to her then, winking at her and she knew that was his way of thanking her for her thoughtful words. Then he jumped straight back into joking and laughing around them. He was enjoying getting so many smiles and chuckles out of the lass. Todd had the sweetest laugh, he thought, it was a proper deep laugh, not like the high pitched pretty ones Dwarrowdams normally put on to impress.
The weather was getting more and more agreeable the further they climbed, yet also colder and colder. Todd stopped at one point to dig through her bag once the rain had fully stopped, and stuck on a warmer dryer layer to keep the chill out. Bofur had also wrapped up warm and they were now moaning about the cold with each other, Bombur sighing at their groans behind them. Taking comfort and humor with each other in their cold states. They stayed close to each other, practically pulling Bombur, to the brow of the steep slope they were climbing, coming over the edge they were faced with the most amazing view.
Before them Todd could see their trail leading along the gray and brown grassy rocky topped pass, to a fissure in the mountainside. The deep gash in the mountainside was almost like a barrier of dark gray and deep crevices, for across it the mountainside was littered in clumps of snow that looked like it got deeper the further along the trail went into the distance. Todd's heart dropped and she groaned at the sight. She hated snow, always had and always would.
"What's the matter lass?" Bombur asked. Panting from the excursion of the last bit of the steep climb.
"I hate snow!" She deadpanned making both brothers chuckle. She straightened out her dress tunic and pulled at the knees of her trousers in frustration.
"It wont be too bad!" Bofur pulled her sleeve to make her continue her way with the company.
"It's horrid stuff, gets clogged in your fur and makes your paws turn to ice!" She grumbled along, starting back at her usual steady pace between the brothers. She pulled the hood of her cloak up then and took to tucking her straggly wet hair into it. With the rain gone and snow appearing she wanted to hide as much as possible so her wet hair didn't turn to icicles. She let her hand play with her braid clasp a little though. It was a sense of comfort before the snow ahead. "Plus it makes me get colds!"
"Colds?" Bombur asked. "That's not good!"
"Ohh I know, my Father was made of the same hardy stuff that you all are, but my Mother wasn't!" She explained. "Therefore we were always both catching flu's and colds." She sighed. "Father would have to put the pinny on and look after us come time for the winter bugs"
"Dwarves only normally get ill when they are weak, or if it's a really bad infection!" Bofur added, a frown on his brow as he looked to her, thinking he would have to watch out if she gets ill easy. "It would have taken a lot to make your Father ill"
"I wish I had inherited his sturdy health." She moaned, stomping her feet a little, pretending to act like that of a child.
"Well, just keep wrapped up!" Bombur smiled.
The snow indeed got right on her nerves, no matter what anyone said to her. They reached it within the hour and began their march. The dwarves were stomping through it, their boots getting clogged after a while, but they soon brushed them off and started again. Todd was getting extremely frustrated, and began huffing and puffing from beside Bofur. Thorin was at the head of the Company, creating the first footprints for everyone to follow. Todd was trying to step within them, but their strides were slightly longer than her own. Seeing her problem Bofur reached out and tugged at her elbow.
"Hmmm?" She mumbled, and turned to look at him with wide emerald eyes.
"Here look" He smiled sneakily as they slowed and Bombur overtook them. She watched in confusion as he pointed towards the rotund dwarf as he waddled along before them. He pointed down, and she noticed that due to his weight, Bomburs strides were short like hers, so she could walk within his footprints easily. She started then and chuckled to herself lightly, throwing her gaze back to Bofur, who's hand still lingered at her arm.
"Thank you!"
"That's quite alright Lass!"
"We camp here tonight!" Thorin shouted as she sun finally set over under the reaching mountain peeks before them. A large shadow was immediately cast over them and the cold started to bite at their extremities.
For the last hour Todd had been staring blindly at Bomburs footprints before her, her nose had started running and there was a fuzzy feeling in her head. She cursed herself for mentioning illness that morning with the Ur Brothers. After the days of being continuously soaked and now freezing in the snow, she was bound to catch a cold. The beautiful scenery of reaching Mountains and far off forests did nothing to her mood either. Bofur had tried to cheer her up, but in the end opted for silence also, believing that she was just too cold to laugh anymore.
"Thank goodness!" She smiled when she heard Thorins call. She rushed to follow the dwarves to an over hanging rock that was offering a little shelter from the cold winds. There was still snow on the ground, but the thought of a fire was warming her up already.
Oin and Gloin were on the case of a fire and had almost sorted it, and had it lit by the time the company were set up and ready to rest for the night. Bedrolls were set up in little dugout holes in the snow next to each other, in a semicircle around the fire. That way everyone had their backs covered by the rocky outcrop and, the front heated by the fire. Once again though, Todd stood and watched while she shuffled awkwardly on her feet, sniffing and wiping at her nose with her sleeve.
"Lady Todd?" Ori sounded from where he had snuck up to stand next to her.
"Oh good evening!" She smiled, turning to face him. "Are you ok?"
"Very well thank you, not too keen on all this wet cold weather though, haven't been able to get my journal out in days." He whined.
"Soon you can, and we can talk over all we have seen to fill those pages!" She smiled to him, looking forward to that small rest. Just like they had done in Rivendell. Ori had been walking with his Brothers for most of the last week, they only chatted a few times, but when they did it was full of what they had seen, and she would just sit and stare as he sketched in his book, thinking his talent for drawing and handling knowledge was truly fascinating.
"We have dug you out a spot next to Bilbo, if you want it?" He asked, pointing towards the said gentle Hobbit. Todd's eyes widened and she blushed a little.
"Oh really?" She stuttered.
"You don't have to sleep there lass, if you don't want to of course!" Ori started reading her reaction wrong, but Todd jumped up a little on her toes and tapped her fingers to his forehead. For they were not close enough yet for her to place her own forehead to his. He froze and blushed also at her sign of affection.
"No, I… just thought I would be on the outside again!" She mused, shifting her weight from one foot then back to the other. "Thank you very much, I would love to!"
"Well, come on then, before Bombur steals it!" He pulled her by her elbow then. Gloin, Oin and Dwalin watching with wary eyes.
She settled down, and laid out her bedroll in the dugout spot. Bilbo was already sat within his bedroll shivering, but when he saw her dump her stuff next to him she offered her a warm smile and a friendly nod. His eyes warmed instantly, and his nodded to Ori who scurried off back to his Brothers.
"Nice to see you keeping close!" He joked.
"Ori said I could sleep here, I just thought everyone wanted me to stay out the way before?"
"There's a few of us that don't like that fact that you sleep on the outskirts, you know!" He stated, his wise old hobbit self-shinning through. "Best if you do sleep closer from now on"
Bilbo was extremely happy that Todd was sleeping closer with them; he had hated the fact that she always disappeared off to the furthest point to sleep. She would have a fitful and interrupted sleep, with the fire not close enough to keep her warm. Not to mention she would have been the first to come to harm if anything were to storm them in the night. No, he was glad she was safely tucked between himself and Bofur, who he was sure would appear at her other side as soon as he had finished helping his Brother cook.
It had not escaped his attention that Todd had spent the last few days walking between Bofur and Bombur. He would chance glances behind him every now and again to make sure that she wasn't on her own. Yet she was always engrossed in conversation, or laughing with bright red cheeks in the snow and drizzle, to one of Bofur's jokes. He had been keeping a watch on his hatted friend, for there was a seed growing in his mind, that he wasn't sure would be a healthy tree or not.
"There you are!" Bombur called as he handed Todd and Bilbo their meals. Todd now using Bombur's spare wooden bowl, instead of her tiny mug after the bog dwarf had complained bitterly about her thin face and sparrows legs.
"Thank you!" They both smiled, before tucking in and, low and behold. Bofur plopped down with his stuff and his bowl of stew down on Todds other side. Bilbo couldn't help the knowing smile he had growing, and when he glanced around the fire, Kili was sharing his look.
"Feeling warmer now?" Bofur asked her.
"Definitely, much warmer than I would be out there!" She gestured to the outskirts of the camp. Bofur nodded, the flaps of his hat wobbling with the motion.
"Well, it's safer over here too." She looked to Bofur, at his words, and noticed a gentle look in his eyes, something that she had never really seen before. It was different to his usual mirth filled eyes.
The rest of the evening was filled with group chatter about what they were to expect over the next day. Balin mentioned that the pass they were to take would be very small and dangerous. He wanted to make sure that everyone looked out for each other, to help each other so as not to loose anyone over the edge.
Todd looked around as everyone was nodding and expressing their opinions on the road ahead. Thorin was watching too, they caught eyes and he nodded to her, before carrying on. She was nervous. Very nervous. She normally avoided such dangerous passes for she wasn't too good with heights. She just hoped that they didn't run into anything unsavory along the way. Goblins and Orcs quite often occupied caves and outcrops in Mountains such as the Misty Mountains, she had heard whispers of them overrunning camps and killing and taking everything in their wake. It scared her, she didn't want anything bad to happen to the Company on their journey, they were a family and she would jump in front of an army of great worms to keep them from being torn away from each other.
"We will have to look out for Goblins and Orcs, will we not?" She asked, over the low chatter, Balin sighing at her question.
"Yes, we will!" He started, a few of the companies faces fell, especially Ori and Bilbo's. "But, we have faced them and won before!"
"We had a large Fox helping us then!" Dwalin grumbled. "Could you not change back?"
"If the pass is as thin and dangerous as Master Balin says, then I would be safer on two feet!" She explained. "Sorry"
"What use are ya then?" He snorted. Todd lowered her gaze back down to her boots then. Her mind sunk at his question. She wasn't of any use, that he was correct on assuming. She had promised to look out for the Company but what good was she if she was too scared to shift to protect them. A few others in the company shared frowns of annoyance to the burly warrior, namely Kili Bofur and Ori, but no one said anything. Bofur thought Dwalin to be an ignortant dwarf at the best of times, and was used to his ramblings and comments, but the one directed at Lady Todd had put his back up no end. His fist had tightened a little, but he also noticed Kili, Ori and even Fili shoot the warrior frowns. No one really realized that the thought stuck with her as everyone settled in to sleep also. Nori was on first watch and Bofur on second.
Once she had wrapped herself up in her warm spare clothes, she pulled her cape over her and pulled the hood up over her head, only her eyes were peeking out and she rolled over to her side and into a ball facing Bilbo. She could hear him twitching and wriggling, trying to keep warm and sleep like she was so she reached out her hand to poke him.
"Hey!" She whispered.
"Hey" he whispered back, taking her hand and holding it, she noticed then he was trembling a slightly.
"Are you ok?" She asked.
"Do you think we will make it across?" his voice cracked a little at the end. She smiled sweetly, yet she knew he couldn't see. He was scared and she didn't blame him, but she sure as hell was going to make him feel better. Bilbo was her friend, almost like the brother she never had. She didn't want him to be scared and upset.
"Of course!" She whispered, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. "We are all strong, even you Master Bilbo!"
"Please, just call me Bilbo" He replied after a small silence. Todd's eyes widened a little, and she sucked in her own sharp breath.
"Are you sure?" She asked tentatively.
"Of course!" He mimicked her words of comfort.
"Thank you, Bilbo"
"You are most welcome, Todd!"
AU: This was a bit of a filler, I wanted to set the scene and the pace before jumping into the exciting stuff. I want to make sure that nothing is rushed. I thought her playing tricks on the company could be funny, but I want to bring that in more further in, just wanted to see how it settled a little in this chapter.
Alllsssoooo, If any of you cheeky chickens fancied asking me quick questions or generally seeing me rant about this fic sometimes then my tumblr url is kingofcarvenstoned, Take a peek and follow if ya like. Animewtlife4me already found me today by chance, which was super wicked!
Cheers, till the next time!
