Chapter 9
Oh my God…You guys have outdone yourselves! Almost 50 revvs for a chapter! Yeargh! Good job! Keep it up, and I am really pumped up to write more and sooner
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After breakfast and reassuring Kili that there was still plenty of food for him to enjoy Bilbo was ready to carry on his everyday chores. While the brothers sat at the table, enjoying a pot of tea and a jar of raspberry jam the hobbit had made that summer, he bustled about, cleaning up the morning mess, fixing up the placement of miscellaneous things that made his dwelling neat and tidy, while still being cozy. Through it all Fili and Kili followed him with their eyes, slightly amazed at the quiet efficiency of somebody that size. Not that they were much taller, but still…
Kili's gaze went occasionally traveled to the oven, form which an enticing smell was still pouring off in waves. He had no idea what was in there, but he wanted it. And so, as soon as Bilbo stepped foot outside the now clean kitchen, the young dwarf threw off his blanket, and quickly dashed to the treasure awaiting him in the hot cavern. He was halfway through his journey when the collar of his tunic was seized by a small but strong hand and a wooden spoon landed on his head with a dull thud. Freezing and slowly turning his head Kili saw the calm face of Auntie Bilbo. One of his hands was still clutching his collar and the other held a long wooden spoon, raised precariously to rest on the hobbit's shoulder.
Bilbo raised an eyebrow. Aye, he could see how those three were related for sure now. This exact situation had played out a month after Thorin came to stay with him. And unlike his nephew, one bonk on the head did not stop him. Bilbo had to resort to drastic measures, of grabbing the dwarf' belt, while whacking his back with the utensil in order to halt him. Finally, after promising the other most of the pie Bilbo was able to subdue him, and settle Thorin back at the table. Now it seemed that the man's nephew was following in his footsteps. At least the other had more sense.
Or so Bilbo thought, until he heard a yowl of pain from the direction of the oven. Whipping his head around he observed Fili, his mane shaking back and fro' as he tried to stick his entire hand in his mouth in order to cool off the burn from the scorching hot pie. Smiling, and more amused than irritated, Bilbo sat Kili down on the chair he was previously occupying, leaving the dwarf to bundle up once more with a sulking expression; grabbed Fili's free hand and pulled him to take a seat as well.
"Sit tight, do not move, I'll bring something for pain. And maybe then you can tell me why you're here at all" said the hobbit as he walked to the sitting room, grabbed his medicine bag and returned shortly. Pulling up a stool, and sitting in front of Fili, Bilbo took his injured hand and placed it on the table. The skin of the fingers was red, and it looked as though the dwarf tried to grab the whole pan, pie and all, without taking any percussion against the scorching heat and flame of the oven. This surprised Bilbo a bit, as he knew that Thorin never neglected the safety procedures when handling heated things. He was still waiting for an answer to his question, but didn't push it, as they would tell him eventually, and Bilbo was in no hurry.
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Fili glanced at his brother while the hobbit was treating his burnt hand. Kili was once more an egg, and Fili couldn't help but smile at how content his brother looked here. It has been quite a long time since he had observed such an unguarded expression on Kili's face, and he reveled at the fact that it was still able to appear at all. A sharp sting of cold hit his hand and Fili winced, looking down at his appendage. The skin was still raw, but was now covered with a greenish salve with flecks of a plant in them, and their host ('Auntie' – screamed Fili's mind) was wrapping it in a loose white bandage.
"It's to stave off infection, and to let you recover better. I know you dwarfs use your hands a lot, if not your brains" smiled Bilbo as he glanced up from his hunched position and up at Fili. The mentioned dwarf reddened at that, but before he could retort, was interrupted by the hobbit.
"Your uncle, had the same experience as you, you know" said he, looking at Kili, who was eyeing the procedure. Kili's eyebrows shot up at that. Uncle Thorin? Beat up with a spoon? Oh, what he wouldn't give to be able to view that moment. A massive smile stretched over his face as Kili's imagination came to play, and presented him with the possible encounter. In his mind thought Auntie Bilbo was dressed more…"auntily" and uncle Thorin was being his usual frowny self.
"And what happened to him?" asked Fili with interest in his voice.
"He had had the taste of the same medicine that your brother got. My trusty wooden spoon." Smirked Bilbo finished with the bandages and clips to hold them together. "So unless you both would like to get a bit of said medicine…" trailed off the hobbit with an amused expression.
"No, no, no!" cried out both dwarfs "We're fine as we are."
"That's right! We can wait. I can wait. For whatever smells so very…very…good…and delicious…and…" stumbled Kili over his phrase as a particularly strong burst of aroma flew by his nose.
"Well in that case, why don't you finally tell me why you're here?" Asked Bilbo, settling back into his own chair.
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Fili and Kili, the words bouncing between the two, were finally able to tell the hobbit about their purpose in Shire in general and in Hobbiton in particular. Even more particular in Bag End. After Thorin came back to the Ered Luin, he had told his nephews about his travels, as per their usual request. Only this time, to their immense surprise, the tale was not filled with details of his stays in deserted wind-stewed field, and old run-down shacks in order to save on the rooming expenses, but rather of the comforts and peace he had found in a hobbit hole, not far from Bree. A bit of prying had gotten them a name of said hole, and its owner. Bilbo Baggins. A hobbit with a healer's disposition, amazing kindness, and food good enough to kill for. Not in so many words and colorful adjectives, but the nephews could read between the lines.
Being the adventurous sort that the two were, when it was their time to leave in order to make some more money for the family, and help support their mother, a natural choice for them to take was to head on towards the by now famed hobbit hole of Bag End, and try their luck there. They made their way through the mountains, traveling alongside of them until coming to the Grey Heavens, and crossing the Lune river, passing through tower hills, and finally stepping foot on the grassy hillside of the Shire, yellowed and scarlet with the fall season by then.
Often times in the brother's journey they had to wake up to their water skins being frozen, and frost formed at their hair and clothes, even though they slept close, and bundled in the cloaks and coats as much as they could. Needless to say that by the time a landscape they could recognize from their uncle's stories came about, they were exhausted, and couldn't wait to step inside someplace warm and dry.
Both dwarfs were resilient, and this was far from their first journey, as they had grown up traveling along with a caravan of their homeless brethren, and many times witnessed the harshness that awaited unprepared travelers. It had, after all been a long time since dwarfs had to travel far and in such numbers, and it had taken quite some time for the race of Aule to relearn the skills, necessary to survive outside the comforts of a familiar dwelling. And with so much of the population, that had never ventured out of Erebor before; the journey had not been made easy.
Fili still remembered the struggle of the first years, as his mother and uncle tried to provide enough food, warmth and safety to both boys, Kili nothing but a babe, and himself just a toddler. He remembered the sucking hunger in his gut, and the tears his mother had shed at not being able to find enough unsoiled clothes to keep his brother clean, and comfortable. And he remembered uncle coming back to them with more and more tiredness settling into his eyes, and the way his back hunched when he would sit next to the fire, with his sister under one arm, Fili under the other, and Kili asleep on his lap, suckling at Thorin's finger, as there was nothing else to suckle on.
When their uncle came back this time there was only physical tiredness in his body. His eyes were bright, and his stories held more cheer then either brother had remembered. He spoke of a wonderful being that had healed him, nursed him to health, and without whose aid they would be one uncle short. Thorin had talked about Shire, and even though he still compared it to the lands within and around the Lonely Mountain, he saw the prosperity and wealth of the acreages of hobbits, and Fili saw the peacefulness settle into his eyes.
It was after those stories that they had decided that trying their luck in Hobbiton would be worth the risk of travel, and it was the closest possibly profitable source of work from Ered Luin anyways. Fili was on his way to becoming a master engraver, and had his trusty set of tools with him, made by their uncle for his birthday a few years back, while Kili had already perfected most of the inlay techniques that were known to their people. Together they were able to create works of art, functional pieces, jewelry and decorations for house, horse, and hose. They had even brought some of their completed work with them, in order to be able to prove their skills. After hearing that Bilbo demanded a demonstration and Kili slinked out of the kitchen and came back a minute later with a satchel.
Placing the parcel on the table, the young dwarf unwrapped it with a flourish and the hobbit's eyes landed on the most exquisite pieces of engraving and inlay that he seen in his life. Not that he had seen a lot, but he was sure of his good taste, and what Bilbo saw was impeccably done.
On the soft leather of the wrappings laid several items. One of the was a small dagger, with an engraving etched deep into the metal, yet not harming the strength or durability of it. The grooves twined and twirled, starting at the hilt, and winding their way down the blade, making it appear as though a gently wind was blowing all over the metal, shimmering and tingling the air as it passed by. The handle was covered with a leather grip, and the guard twirled around, coming out at two sharp points at either side, where a small bit of a different metal was visible. Bringing the weapon closer to his eyes, after a brief confirming look at the brothers, Bilbo's breath hitched at the immaculate and miniscule work done to it. From the distance he was unable to see, but up close…All over the guard, from thin to thickest part there were runes, inlayed with a darker metal then the rest of the form, formed together in the unimaginably tiny grooves and trenches, complimenting the engraving on the blade perfectly, and even stretching to meet and complete it at the hilt, where the blade met its setting.
Placing the blade back on the cloth, the hobbit looked at the assortment of rings, ear pieces, clasps and necklaces that littered the surface. Silver, bronze, and copper. Stone, and wood. Bone and claw. Bilbo eyed a particular item. It was a ring made from an off-white bone, with an inlay of bright copper in it, formed to make a design of an ivy vine, trailing its way through the bone with an ease of a live plant.
Seeing the hobbit's eyes lingering in that particular piece of their work, Fili and Kili exchanged glanced and smiled. It seemed they knew what to give the hobbit in return for their first few days of stay.
"Here Auntie" said Kili, grabbing the ring, and dropping into the hobbit's palm. "This is a gift from us, to pay for our stay so far."
"Pay for your stay? What…" Bilbo was momentarily confused as his eyes flickered from one smiling dwarf to another "No!" he yelled indignantly, making the brothers flinch back. "You are family of a dear friend, and you think I will take pay from you? Why I have never felt more insulted in my life!" Cried the distressed Halfling, as he continue to pace up and down the kitchen, slipping the ring on in the process. "If you are to stay here, and let me tell you, you are! You will repay me by helping around the house and being here for dinner, just as your uncle does." Stated Bilbo firmly, with his hands planted on his hips and staring down two dwarfs, who were too stunned to say anything. Finally Kili woke up from his stupor and tried to reason with their host.
"But Bilbo… we don't know how long we will stay, it can be months. And we do not want to be an inconvenience to you" he said lightly, bowing his head, and averting his eyes from the small but intimidating figure in front of him.
"Bullocks! You already call me Auntie" huffed Bilbo with a slight redness to his cheeks, from excitement or embarrassment, he was not certain. "May as well treat you like family. Although why you came up with a name like that for me I do not know…"
At those words both dwarf's eyebrows shot up to disappear into their hairlines, and their eyes widened to impossible proportions. They were declared family… Did the hobbit know what he did? Was he aware that words like these were forever in the dwarven community, and were not to be taken lightly at any circumstances. By confirming their relation, Bilbo was making acknowledging them and the fact that they were now his. His nephews.
Huge grins split their faces as Fili and Kili leapt from their seats and wound their arms around the stunned hobbit.
"Thank you…Auntie" whispered Fili into Bilbo's ear as he nuzzled his head into the hair smelling of lavender and daisies.
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Chapter 9! Thank you so much for continuing to stick around and reading my story, I plan to make it a long one. So now, Fili and Kili are honorary Bagginses, and Bilbo is officially an Aunt. Congatulations! It's a boy! In double! Stick around for more of the Last Homely Hole, as the adventures continues in chapter 10, to be written up sometime this week. In the mean time, please favorite, follow and most of all…Review! Thank you, see you all later.