"Chapter 3"

"Mr. Frodo—"

"No."

"But—"

"No, Sam, and that's final."

Thorin watched in bemused amusement as the two hobbits argued. He didn't think that this was a normal occurrence for the master and his servant to be quarreling like this, but he decided that he wasn't going to intervene. Let Bilbo or one of the Elves do that—the King Under the Mountain wouldn't be bothered. He simply walked with them along the halls of Rivendell, not surprised when they headed outside. The hobbits and the Dwarf walked along the tranquil garden paths, passing several Elves along the way; Thorin nearly growled at them but ultimately decided that it wouldn't be too much longer and he would be leaving and he would never have to deal with Elves again. (He swore to himself that he was going to take an early retirement.) So he kept silent, his customary glower on his face as they went along. Before too long the three of them came along a pavilion standing by the water's edge, and he saw that the two hobbits he had seen the night arrived were seated there, smoking their pipes and swinging their large, furry feet below the table, not quite able to reach the ground. Frodo and Sam stopped their argument mid-word and hurried over.

One of the two hobbits, the one with bright copper curls, jumped up in his seat excitedly, flinging his arms out in a grand gesture of greeting. "Hurray!" he crowed in the usual high clear voice of his kind, "Here is our noble cousin! Make way for Frodo, Lord of the Ring!"

"Hush!" came Gandalf's voice from where he stood in the shadows of the pavilion. He turned a stern eye on the young hobbit as Frodo and Sam took their own seats across from their companions. "Frodo is no more the Lord of the Ring than any of us can be, and although the Shadow has not yet marred this place there are still yet some matters that should not be called aloud for all the hosts to hear about." Thorin thought he saw the wizard's eye look at him and realized that on some level Gandalf was talking about him.

He was thinking about what the young hobbit had cried, however; Lord of the Ring. What was that referring to? It was surely Bilbo's ring that he'd found on their Adventure, but why would it be so important? Then the pieces fell into place: the Ringwraiths chase of the younger Baggins, for something that was hidden and valuable to the Enemy. The cloaked monster at Erebor asking for Bilbo's whereabouts and for information on the ring he carried. There was only one ring still left in the world that the Dark Lord would be so desperately seeking.

Had Bilbo been so unlucky enough to have found the One Ring? It was the only possible answer left, but it was one that he did not care to contemplate. Feeling someone's attention upon him he looked up to see Gandalf still gazing at him, his eyes still stern and untouchable—even a mite concerned. But the wizard did not speak and instead turned back to the gathering of hobbits.

"What's made Sam look so unsettled?" the fourth hobbit, the one with golden curls, asked around the mouth of his pipe. He was looking curiously at Frodo, who sighed in a mix of exasperation and fondness.

"He wants to be the one who waits on us during the feast tonight," he replied, but there was a hint of a smile on his face. "No matter what I tell him he still insists that that is his rightful place and job."

"Aye," Sam responded, still quite upset. Thorin didn't understand why Frodo was so adamant about Sam not serving during the feast. That was one of the duties of a servant, was it not? As king of Erebor, Thorin would never think about allowing one of his servants to eat with him. "I wouldn't feel right, Mr. Frodo, sittin' up there among all them important folk—"

"Samwise Gamgee!" Frodo exclaimed. "There are times where your Gaffer is right to call you a ninnyhammer!" His patience with his servant seemed to have finally run out—but Thorin was not expecting to hear him continue: "You all here deserve praise and honor—especially the three of you. Without you I would not have likely survived the journey."

"Be careful, Cousin," said the golden-haired hobbit remarked flippantly, "You may give me and Pip big heads." But there was a look of strain to his dark blue eyes, barely able to be seen, that said all too plainly that he was not as frivolous as he pretended to be.

"Whatever you may think, Merry," Frodo replied with a gentle smile that said he saw this as well, "I will be forever thankful for the three of you and your actions during our adventure. It will make me very happy to see you be honored for your actions and bravery."

"Indeed," Gandalf agreed, seeming to catch the sight of Sam's still-dubious expression. He turned fully to the latter. "This feast is in your honors—all of yours. A servant you may be, Samwise, but tonight you will be waited on by those who feel it to be a privilege."

Sam flushed crimson under the wizard's praise as Frodo beamed up at the tall figure. Gandalf winked at him with a hint of a smile of his own.

"Merry, Pippin," Frodo said after a moment, seeming to remember Thorin's presence, "I want you to meet an old friend of Uncle Bilbo's: Thorin Oakenshield, King under the Mountain."

The looks upon the two latters' faces was almost comical: they both stopped mid-puff in their smoking and turned equally wide eyes onto the Dwarf. The copper-haired one's mouth fell open in a mix of awe and excitement, while his companion looked at him with wonder and a hint of calculation as if he were being evaluated. One with a quicksilver mind, Thorin thought to himself, and nodded at the two.

"I'm honored to meet your acquaintance," he said.

The copper-haired one nearly fell backwards out of his chair with a squeak of shock and delight. "Peregrin Took at your service!" he said when he righted himself, very breathless. He probably would have gotten up and bowed but he would have fallen over completely if he tried.

The golden-haired one did bow politely as was a hobbit's wont. "Meriodoc Brandybuck at the service of you and yours," he said, and sat back down while Frodo, laughing, helped steady Pippin in his seat.

"By the Valar, Pip, you'd think you just met Eru himself."

"Thorin Oakenshield, Frodo!" Pippin exclaimed. "Right out of Cousin Bilbo's story! And a king!" He turned bright, excited eyes to the Dwarf-king. Merry mock-groaned and turned to Thorin with a sympathetic smile.

"If you value any quiet at all, Your Majesty, I think you should leave now as quickly as you can. Pippin here will beg you for stories and ask you so many questions you'll quite lose your head."

"I haven't heard you complaining about it all these years!" Pippin said, looking at his kinsman indignantly. And just like that the two of them were set off bickering playfully with each other, recounting past excursions and activities that they had done growing up, with Frodo joining in. Thorin looked at them all with a heightening sense of bemusement, unsure of how to deal with such creatures. Having only ever dealt with Bilbo before he was not so familiar with hobbits and this was showing him just how little he knew.

Gandalf moved to where he was standing with a knowing smile and twinkling eyes. "You will discover, Thorin," the wizard said softly for him alone, "that hobbits will always find a way to surprise you."

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The feast was loud and long and crowded. Thorin hated to admit but it wasn't actually too bad—for an Elf's anyway. He sat with Gloin who, seated beside Frodo, soon struck up a conversation with the hobbit about their activities at Erebor. Thorin listened to the long commentary with an amused grin as he ate: it was not often that Dwarves found a willing audience for their stories or how they'd rebuilt Erebor, and Gloin fairly ran himself out, because Frodo listened attentively, clearly interested.

Following the feast, he bid the four hobbits goodbye for the night and went to his own quarters. Gloin, followed by his son Gimli, walked beside him.

"You did not tell Frodo about the messenger," Thorin stated.

Gloin looked over at him. "I felt it best for now," he answered. "I did not want to worry him about Bilbo. He will find out about it at the council, after all." He paused. "Was I in error? Should I have told him anyway?"

Thorin shook his head. "No, my friend. You were right in your thoughts. We will wait until the Council to see what they'll make of it."

Of his suspicions about the One Ring he spoke of nothing.

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The Council, when it was over, made Thorin realize just how grave the danger was; not just for Bilbo, but for all of Middle-earth. The One Ring was found, held in Frodo Baggin's hands, and Sauron was actively seeking for It. It needed to be destroyed… but how could a small Company of people hope to accomplish that? He thought the idea of taking the Ring to Mount Doom suicidal, dangerous beyond words. Frodo's offering to take It there had floored him, leaving him stunned in his seat; looking at Bilbo it seemed like the old hobbit felt the same way, looking at his nephew like he'd never seen him before.

Or perhaps looking at him in a new light. There was a stunned, almost hollow look to Bilbo's expression, and fear, but it was not for himself—rather, it was for his nephew. But even as Thorin watched the fear and hollowness vanished to be replaced by an aching pride that nearly made Thorin call out to Frodo to step back and let someone else take the burden of the journey.

How could a hobbit possibly accomplish what no one before had been able to? But he kept silent, thrusting his fears away for the moment, and instead focused on the here and now.

He just had to figure out what he was going to do in the face of this awakened Evil.

A/N: I hope I didn't disappoint too many of you with such abbreviated versions of the feast and the Council, but in all honesty I didn't want to play too much with the Master's already-masterful work. So I just wrote about what I thought Thorin's actions would be in both circumstances. As to Bilbo's reaction at the Council, Tolkien never actually really wrote about his reaction to Frodo's offer of taking the Ring to Mordor at the Council, and I think that in those first few moments I think Bilbo would have been terribly afraid for Frodo; and his looking at Frodo "differently" just meant that he was seeing why he thought Frodo was so unlike all the other hobbits and why it had been Frodo he adopted in the first place.

As to another note, I'm sorry if some of you didn't like Thorin's looking down on Sam because he's a servant, but it just seemed to me that he would. I don't know if Dwarves a society actually have what we call "servants" but as king of Erebor Thorin must have people waiting on him. That's just historically accurate, since any royalty always had someone there as a servant.

Until Chapter 4, all!