Assistance
Bilbo had gotten used to a bad sleeping schedule from the entirety of the quest thus far, but he had probably never been as uncomfortable and physically constricted from sleep as he was trying to get rest in Mirkwood. He wasn't really sure that he had truly fallen asleep at all. It was like he was constantly dozing off all night. The hobbit blamed this partially on the Durin brother, who had been talking and laughing about him for what felt like hours. Sure, they had emotional catching up to do, but the rest of the Company had sleep to catch up on. Needless to say the grumpy hobbit was in no mood to be sympathetic, especially when an overly energetic Fili shook him from his dazed state. For a dwarf that had gotten little to no rest was far too excited. What about the crack of dawn was so amazing?
"Time to move Master Baggins. The Bargeman should be arriving soon." The burglar grumbled, not really forming any intelligible words. "Oh come on. You'll be awake in a minute."
"Easy for you to say," Bilbo muttered. "You've been awake all night. Talking." Fili practically giggled.
"Wrong. Kili did most of the talking. I just listened."
"Well all the members of this Company have been listening to your conversations, and are all about ready to behead you if they have to hear any more of it." Thorin's nephew grinned.
"Not a fan of bonding?"
"If you consider 'bonding' to be interrogating your long lost brother about his sex life, then yes. We are all not fans of your 'bonding.'" Fili's eyes bugged out slightly, as if he just realized they could all hear him. Instead of actually acknowledging these clear feelings of embarrassment, however, the prince instead simply said, "Disappointing, wasn't it? It appears that elves are not at all intimate creatures." Before he swung down to the next branch to wake the others.
"Dwarves," Bilbo mumbled, untying the rope that had kept him tethered to the trunk through the night. Complaining all the way, he slowly worked his way back to the ground, where some of the others were already waiting.
The gray dawn light filtered through the trees, leaving pale shadows across the forest floor. The thick layer of branches and dead leaves was noisy beneath their feet, though it seemed to not at all hinder the elves from sneaking up on other creatures, or bother Kili for that matter. Looking around at the thick twisted trunks of the clustered trees, Bilbo could only imagine what living in such a forest would be like. How could they ever find their way around? The paths seemed to be always changing, and he was sure that the bushes never stayed in the same place for more than a couple of hours. Maybe the elves had some sort of sixth sense that enabled them to maneuver through such an environment. He considered this for a moment, before shaking his head. No. Kili was an exception to the rule. He could find his away around and the hobbit was sure that a descendant of such a proud family would have not a drop of elven blood in him. Then again, Thorin's younger nephew was the exception to every rule. Dwarves like gold. Exception. Dwarves are most indebted and attached to their biological family. Exception. Dwarves are relatively slow and bulky. Exception. The only really dwarf-like qualities Kili had were big ears, the overall body structure and shape, and his overwhelming and infuriating stubbornness. The hobbit sighed, looking around for the exception, only to see him ducking behind a tree off by the river. The other dwarves were chatting with one another and getting something to eat, while none of them seemed to be very concerned with the "favored of Mirkwood" as Bilbo had heard him called.
"Fili?" Bilbo asked tentatively, pulling on his jacket. "What's your brother doing?" The gold-headed dwarf shrugged nonchalantly.
"He said he is keeping an eye out for Bard." Bilbo wanted to believe him. He really did. But, such a thing was impossible as he watched Kili pull out a long strip of his festival robes, and quickly tie it to the trunk of a seedling. The dwarf looking over his shoulders, clearly worried that someone was watching him, but finished his knot, and brushed off his hands, heading back to the group. The burglar acknowledged that it was probably something that he should inform the others of, but something about the tender and melancholy look on the prince's face that made him want to keep this gesture to himself.
"What's going on?" Thorin asked, crossing his arms. His eyes were sharp, even after waking up only minutes before. How was it that the king always looked like he was ready to march into battle?
"He's coming. I can see him coming." The Company members exchanged skeptical looks, before they followed him. The clusters of dwarves broke into several separate conversations, none of which involved Bilbo. Usually, they wouldn't exclude the hobbit, but it was too early for any sort of talking. As they trudged through the trees, cracks of the lake could be seen, dark and gray water that expanded for what seemed like forever. And beyond, stood the Lonely Mountain, and in there, Erebor. As they approached, the Bargeman could be visible as he rowed into the shore. Kili waved, the most eager gesture that Bilbo had seen from the elven dwarf thus far.
"Good to see you again," he called out. Bard nodded, as the barge glided onto the fine rocks.
"So you've stayed the night," the man commented. "Any trouble?"
"No."
"Good." After months of conversations only pertaining to battles, orcs, goblins, and mountains, such ordinary small talk seemed downright bizarre. Bilbo could barely remember days when that was all he could speak about.
"I'll take them for here." Thorin began to protest, but before the words were out of his mouth, they came out of Kili's.
"Actually, Bard," he corrected. "I'll be coming with them." The man glared at the Company, as if they had just stolen something from him.
"Are you sure? I mean, do you even know that what they are doing?" Kili looked over his shoulder, making direct eye contact with his brother. Fili bit his lip. The prince turned back to the man.
"Don't worry. I know." Bard cast a final, judgmental look at the dwarves. Being a hobbit, Bilbo wasn't used to not being trusted. Most creatures simply found him plain and unthreatening, cute, even. Now that he traveled with Thorin Oakenshield, everyone was suspicious, especially because he stuck out of the crowd like a sore thumb. Yet, despite the bargeman's obvious stipulation with such an idea, he agreed.
"If you trust them," was all he said, allowing them to board. Everything seemed fine to Bilbo. The boat was safe and large enough to carry all fifteen of them. As they began to move it didn't rock very much or list to one side. However, something seemed to be bothering their leader. Thorin was scowling at the horizon, and beyond it, Laketown.
"How exactly do you plan to get thirteen unauthorized creatures into Esgaroth?" Bard chuckled. He had an air of expertise about him, which was well complemented by his tall stature and handsome face. When Bilbo read stories about heroes as a child, the bargeman was the kind of person he would picture.
"Are you joking? When you're with him?" he jabbed a thumb at Kili. "You'll have trouble leaving Laketown. The Master likes kissing up to Thranduil, so by that, he enjoys pleasing your…" he trailed off, not knowing what Kili's relationship to Thorin was, exactly.
"Nephew." Bard's eyebrows jumped up onto the expanse of his forehead.
"A prince in both families? The fates are on your side, my friend." The youngest dwarf gave a half-hearted laugh.
"I was never the prince of Mirkwood."
"But Thranduil wanted you to be." All of the previously chatting dwarves stopped their banter, focusing on the conversation at hand. Finally, it seemed, they were getting real reliable answers about what their family member had been up to for so long. Even Bilbo found himself drawn in by their intensity. After spending so much time with the dwarves, he found that he cared more than he liked to admit about their issues. When Bofur spoke about the dwindling customers for his toys, the hobbit cared. When Ori expressed worry about his brother's kleptomania, the burglar listened. When Dwarlin gave long-winded speeches about battle-axes, the thirteenth member of Thorin's company was interested. And now, it happened again.
"Legolas is the one who will take over, and he always has been." Bard shook his head, as if he were amused by the very idea.
"Legolas is the stuck up one," Ori clarified. "With the long blonde hair? He looks just like the king?" Kili nodded.
"The one who broke your arm?" Fili interjected, a half-moon grin on his sunny face.
"Broke your what?" Thorin growled, his expression darkening. Side chattering broke out again. Bilbo found his leader's immediate protective instinct towards his lost nephew almost adorable. It would have been even more so if Thorin didn't turn to Dori and muttered "Elves." The constant quarreling between the two races was beginning to make Bilbo want to crawl into a hole and never come out.
"Off the topic of my…cousin," Kili shouted over them. Slowly, the crescendo of voices died down. "If we are going to make this work, I need to know all your names at least." Thorin looked from side to side, as if this was a given. As if on cue, Balin recited everyone, gesturing to each member respectively.
"There are two sets of three brothers: Ori, Dori, and Nori, and Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur. I'm Balin, and this is Dwalin. You know Fili and Thorin already. Oin is the healer, and his brother Gloin. And this is our hobbit, Bilbo Baggins." Bilbo smiled slightly, and Kili nodded at him, but lingered on him for a moment. He supposed that the dwarf had never seen a hobbit before, living in Mirkwood for the portion of life he could remember. It was downright frightening to think that some creatures could not know what race he belonged to, but Bilbo had encountered many of such creatures on his journey so far. "Why don't you give it a try, laddie?" Kili looked terrified for a moment, but tried anyway.
"Bilbo." He pointed at each member as he guessed their name. "Thorin. Fili. Balin. Dwalin." He faltered, trying to come up with the other names. "Oin. Boin." Gloin coughed.
"Gloin," he corrected. Kili looked flustered, but frustrated as well. "Gloin." He repeated. "And then…" He was floundering. "Bofur, Nofur, Trofur."
"I'm not going to even try…" Bombur snickered, trying to hold back his booming laughter. Kili's nostrils flared.
"And Ori?" Ori nodded. "Stori, and Mori?" There was a moment of silence before the Company broke into peals of laughter. Even Bard chuckled. The boat was moving through narrower straits as they got closer and closer to their destination. Bilbo cracked a smile at Kili's obvious horror at their amusement. He really did behave like an elf, so conscious of how people reacted to him. "Dwarf names!" The prince begged. "They all rhyme! How do expect me to get it right the first time? At least elves have meaning in their names. You just take a suffix and add different letters to the front!" Fili, who was howling with laughter, gasped his reply.
"At least we don't name our children after words! Can you imagine being named something that means nothing? Imagine if you were named…" Fili giggled as he thought of a possility. "What if you were daft enough to name your child Green Leaf?" Kili paled. His brother furrowed his eyebrows. "What? Did I say something off?"
"No, it's just," his younger sibling shook his head. "Legolas means 'green leaf' in elvish." This resulting in even more cacophony, Bilbo joining in as he realized the elf he had feared so much had such a ridiculous title. The boat emerged from the mist. The hobbit was suddenly acutely aware that Thorin was not joining in at all. Perhaps the burglar's original theory was correct, and the would-be king really was made of stone.
"Quiet." The Company complied, shutting their mouths almost immediately. Thorin turned to his nephew. "I do hope this works, or our whole quest could be put in jeopardy. Don't fumble it." Kili looked at the quickly approaching Laketown. While Bilbo had seen many run down places in his life, there was something about Esgaroth's leaning form that gave the impression of the most depressing place in Middle Earth. Every house looked ready to cave in. All the people he could see looked hungry, wet, and cold. Frankly, the town looked like it wanted to sink to the bottom of the lake and never be bothered again. He could not imagine a worse place to live as they drifted into the channel that led to the entrance of their destination. The narrow streets were littered with fish traps, nets, and barrels. They barely avoided knocking into several tiny, lopsided rowboats. No one spoke, but the residents of the town stared. It wasn't every day the bargeman brought a boat full of dwarves and a hobbit. Based on the man who was now running alongside the barge, it was also not a desired activity.
"Oi! Bard? What are you doing?" He was a stubby looking person with greasy black hair and an overall rat-like appearance. His eyes were narrowed into slits and his nose was scrunched in an overall ridiculous looking expression. He waved his short arms over his head, as if that would make him more noticeable, and as if Bard didn't already clearly see him. The barge was slowing as they reached the check-in point, or at least that's what Bilbo assumed it to be, but the bargeman didn't seem to really care much about the distressed person, or how much they shouted.
"I am giving assistance to a group that needed passage into Laketown. I believe that is my job as a bargeman." The dwarves looked straight ahead of them, not making eye contact with anyone. Bilbo supposed he should do the same, but he continued to watch the scene unfold.
"Oh, I can see it now!" The stubby man howled. "Bard brings illegal dwarves into Laketown because he wants to. That'll be a story to tell. Well, you can't. These creatures are illegal. All of them!" He raved. "They do not have authorization from the Master-"
"That's alright Alfred," announced Kili in a fake comforting voice. Bilbo could hear the patronizing note in his voice as clearly as if it were played on an instrument. "I gave them authorization. No need to work yourself up." The prince smiled. Alfred, however, looked like he had just been hurled off a cliff. He froze, that same stupid expression on his face, and simply looked at them all, wide eyed and terrified. When he spoke again, his voice was two octaves higher, and full of cheeriness.
"Kili!" He yelped. "We weren't informed that you were visiting."
"It was very last minute. My family came to visit me in Mirkwood." He waved his hand at the Company. "It can be arranged for them to stay, I hope." Alfred nodded vigorously, his eyes almost popping out of his head.
"Of course. Anything else I can do for you, sir?" Thorin turned to Fili, his eyebrows raised.
"If I could speak with The Master sometime before nightfall, that would be great."
"Of course, sir. Anything I can do to assist you, sir." Kili grinned like the child he had been when his family lost him.
Author's Note: I am staying on schedule! Hooray! I hope you enjoyed that. It will probably be the last completely fluffy chapter you get for a long time. Hold on to it while you can. There is much suffering to come. As always, thank you for reading this little story of mine. If you want to be informed of when I post the next chapter, please follow this. If you really, really liked it, I encourage you to favorite it as well. And last but not least, please leave any predictions, critiques, etc. in the comments. I love hearing from you guys. Until next time…