It felt strange to speak so frankly about the suffering of their people, but Balin knew that this one time, typical dwarven stoicism would win them no points.
He spoke of Erebor, how it had been before- comfortable, and glorious.
He spoke of the coming of the dragon, and how it felt to have one's fate changed entirely rather literally in one fell swoop.
He spoke of their time wandering.
He spoke of the hardships of the road, of the losses, the deaths, the orphans, and the lost children. He spoke of how few had helped them, and fewer still had been willing to offer refuge.
He spoke of how though they would be forever grateful to their Ered Luin kin for taking them in, the Blue Mountains was barely able to support them, let alone the several thousand survivors of the fall of Erebor.
He spoke of a century of poverty, of being naught but wandering tinkers, where once they had been craftsmen.
And finally.
He spoke of hope.
He spoke of the hope that the wizard had brought, when he had said that now, finally, this was the time, and that maybe, after so long, their wandering might be over.
They might be able to go home.
"Very well, you've convinced me," said Laura, dabbing slightly at her eyes with a lacy handkerchief.
Balin was startled. He had not expected it to be so easy.
"Truly?" he asked, not bothering to hide his surprise. "We have been called vagabonds, and we have been called tramps, but you are one of the few to be sympathetic to our pathetic wandering state."
"You should know," said Laura quietly, still sniffling a little, "we hobbits once wandered too, and we are not ashamed of it."
The dwarves exchanged shocked glances. This was not something they had known.
"My grandmother used to tell me stories that her grandmother had told her," Laura continued. "She told me of how we were forced to leave the Gladden Fields, and to wander, hungry, thin, footsore. Being attacked by orcs, and bad Men, and ignored by all who considered their troubles to be greater than ours." She half-smiled at the widened dwarven eyes. "Yes, we too wandered, until we were lucky enough to find the Shire. The Shire was not always so green- we had to make it so. Fortunately, we hobbits are blessed by Yavanna, and good at arranging things for our own comfort, and so several generations later, and you would never know that this place used to be entirely empty of our kind." She placed her teacup aside. "I used to wonder what would have happened if we could not find a place we could settle. I suppose now I know. An alternative history, I suppose."
She paused suddenly, and then called out, "You can come in now, I know you've all been listening at the door."
The dwarves looked up to see the door opening.
Bilbo came walking back in, carrying Frodo, with the Took couple, and a third who looked enough alike Bilbo and Flambard that the dwarves could only assume he was also related.
"You came here looking for a Tookish Baggins to help you on your journey," said Bilbo without fanfare, and not bothering to hide that they had indeed been listening to every word. "How would you feel about a Bagginsish Took?"
The dwarves blinked. Not many had a clue what Bilbo was talking about, and even those who did, had not expected this.
Gandalf, the senior dwarves weren't slow to note, looked somewhere between gobsmacked and thoughtful. It was not an expression that they had seen before on Tharkun's face, and the very unfamiliarity of it made it all the more worthy of interest.
"This is my cousin Adalgrim," Bilbo continued. Adalgrim bowed slightly. "He's been a bounder for twelve years, is a decent shot with a bow, and…" Bilbo grinned a little mischievously, "He needs to get away from his wife for a bit before she kills him."
"Oh Addy," one of the bounders behind Isembard's back groaned with a giant smile on his face. "Another? Didn't she say that little Paddy was the last, and that was that?"
Adalgrim beamed a little sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "What can I say, I love my dear sweet Briar, for all that she's about to cheerfully murder me for getting her pregnant again."
To the surprise of most of those present, the three Ur brothers groaned in sympathy. "As much as I love my darling Kala, suffice to say that I thought facing a dragon would be preferable to sticking about when she said she was going to add a third bairn to my brood," Bombur said. "I figured with my share of the treasure we'd actually be able to afford another mouth to feed, and I'd be able to placate her with something shiny," he said, though the glint in his eyes suggested he was at least half-joking. "The babe will be a blessing when it comes of course, but…"
"My sister-in-law wields a pickaxe something terrifying even without whatever it is that makes females so terrifying when they're with babe," finished Bofur with an exaggerated shudder.
Adalgrim shook his head. "You think you have it bad now, wait until it's your fifth one."
The dwarves stared at him in amazement.
"And you'd be happy to leave your family, to come with us?" Dwalin tested.
Adalgrim smiled a little ruefully, and stepped up to stand beside Laura's chair, gently taking her hand. "Oh, I'll miss them dearly, sure as anything, but I'm out most of the year on bounder business at any rate. My faunts will barely note the difference, and I'm frankly not as needed as much as Bilbo here- I'm breadwinner, but Briar's taken her old mum in to keep an eye on her as she's going a bit senile, and the old bat hates me," he explained cheerfully. "And in between Briar's inheritance from her Goold side, and the family from my Took side, I know she and the kiddies'll be well-looked after should anything happen to me."
Laura snorted rudely. "As though I'd let my niece's grandchildren go wanting. Get ye gone, rogue, and we'll barely notice you missing," she said, although the twinkle in her eyes and the way she gripped Adalgrim's hand tightly belied her harsh words.
(What was not said in front of the dwarves was the fact that though Adalgrim indeed loved his wife and children, and did spend a reasonable amount of the year away working to keep the Shire safe so that they could all live in comfort, Ivy Goold, his mother-in-law was a hard hobbit, who even before her mind had started to go loathed Adalgrim, and would say cruel things to him in front of his children. However, she had only her daughter to take her in now that she was ill. Adalgrim and Briar had talked about what they were going to do in the interim, and had come to the conclusion he would have to stay with friends for a while, until other arrangements could be made. (Or, neither of them said aloud, the old bat either died or forgot him entirely. He wasn't picky.) In this context, the quest was timed perfectly. Briar would be relieved.)
"And so you would be happy to sign the contract to join our venture?" Balin asked tentatively, looking rather as though he could not believe his luck.
"I'll have a look over that contract first, nephew," said Isembard rather firmly. "Make sure you aren't being taken advantage of." Laura Baggins nodded her indication that she too would be looking over the contract.
Adalgrim smiled and made hand motions that seemed to say, 'as you please.'
"Though if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to also take my friend and partner Dinodas Brandybuck along with us. He's a little younger than me, but he's a good solid hobbit, and a fantastic shot."
Balin conferred with Thorin for a moment. They supposed that it would be reasonable that the hobbit would want someone he knew to be there to watch his back. And after all, a party of fifteen was a better buffer from an unlucky number than a party of fourteen.
(And they had come to realise that these hobbits might not be dead weight on this journey after all. More volunteering was hardly a thing they should discourage, especially considering that they had received none from the Iron Hills that they had hoped for.)
"Would the two of you be willing to split your share of the treasure between you?" Balin asked.
"Sure," replied Adalgrim easily.
The dwarves blinked in surprise.
"So long as you're all willing to pay my out of pocket expenses up-front to get me and Noddy kitted out properly before we get going," he continued breezily. Hobbits might not be overly concerned with gold in the general scheme of things, but it was bad business to let people think that could be taken advantage of.
If a job was worth being paid to do, then it was worth getting paid in full to do it.
Besides, Adalgrim had five children, a wife and a thoroughly ungrateful mother-in-law to provide for. They would not starve if he were not there to provide for them, but he would like them all to be fat, comfortable and generous like the best of hobbits. A bit of extra gold could help immensely with that goal.
Balin threw him a shrewd look. "I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement."
Adalgrim poked his head out the door. "Noddy! Get over here!"
A few minutes later, and Adalgrim Took's and Dinodas Brandybuck's signatures sat together on a contract that had been hastily modified under the gimlet gazes of Isembard Took and Laura Baggins, and the interested gaze of Bilbo Baggins, who had quietly suggested a few points, including the fact that hobbits seemed to eat quite a bit more than dwarves.
"What, really?" asked Oin, surprised when it came up.
Bilbo smiled mirthlessly. "I thought Gandalf might be bringing out five extra guests at the outside, and prepared food accordingly. When Dwalin told me that there were thirteen dwarves coming, I thought I was going to have to break into my second pantry. Imagine my surprise that we haven't."
They considered that thought for a moment, and then Balin added a few lines about time set aside for hunting and gathering, and purchase of an extra pony for carrying supplies without complaint. Though the hobbits watched the dwarves with a light of suspicion, Thorin and Balin, the only two negotiating, were both on their best behaviour, and intent on being forthright, to offset the diplomatic issues created by Gandalf.
Bilbo cleared his throat. "Well, now that we've got all of that sorted, it's well past this little mite's bedtime." Indeed, Frodo was clearly nodding off in his arms, eyelids flickering at half-mast.
Adalgrim cleared his throat. "Whilst my cousin Bilbo would no doubt be willing to put you up for the night, a good half of you would be sleeping on the floor. Could I interest any of you in beds? It's a bit of a walk to mine, but we've two guest bedrooms, so at least four more of you could avoid the floor."
In the end it was agreed that Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur and Bombur would go with Adalgrim, whilst the others would stay at Bag End.
Isembard, three of Isembard's retinue, and Laura preceded the dwarves out the door.
"It's alright, everything has been properly sorted out. You can all go home now!" Isembard shouted.
For a moment, the dwarves wondered who he was speaking to, and then suddenly as though by magic, a hundred-odd hobbits appeared as though from nowhere.
"Mahal!" Bofur breathed. "Where did they even come from?"
Laura Baggins heard his exclamation, and chuckled. "Isembard no doubt told you of the thirty bounders. The rest are all spectators. This is one of the more interesting things that has happened in the Shire in a while, so of course everyone wanted to have a first-hand look. Mind you," she continued, a twinkle in her eye, "if you had caused trouble, then they would not have been spectating anymore."
The dwarves nodded a little faintly.
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