CHAPTER TWO – THE MYSTERIOUS WAYS OF THE HOBBITS

"In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a Hobbit-hole, and that means comfort" The Hobbit Chapter One (An Unexpected Party)

Everything was black. Rory could see nothing, not even one tiny little glimmer of light. All he could feel was the bitter cold on his cheeks, and all he could hear was the sound of his own heart as it beat must faster than it should have. He had never feared anything, to him fear was something to be ashamed of, it was something that held you back, but standing alone faced with sheer nothingness Rory felt fear for the first time in his life.

The last thing Rory remembered was losing his grip on Kyle's hand and falling, the wind blowing against him as he flew ungracefully down to the hard ground below. He wondered for a moment if he was in some sort of hell. He had never believed in life after death; however he had slowly begun to reconsider as he stood alone amongst the vast expanse of blackness.

Rory's heart skipped a beat when he heard a voice. It was too faint to be heard properly, less than a whisper, but it was a flicker of hope. Rory held onto the sound trying hard to pull himself nearer to it. It spoke again, this time it was a little louder, loud enough for Rory to able to tell it belonged to an unfamiliar male.

"His eyelid flickered I swear it!" An excited voice spoke. Rory breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't alone; someone was near, even if he could not see them. "Do you not believe me Bilbo?"

"Of course I believe you dear Frodo," Another more mature voice replied. "It's just he had a very hard hit to the head. I think it could be a while yet."

"Yes...It does look very painful," Frodo sighed, "I wonder what brought him here? He doesn't look like he's from Bree; his clothes are to strange...I think he comes from afar,"

"He certainly looks it, but we mustn't speculate before he awakes," Bilbo chuckled. "I'm sure he'll have much to tell us,"

Rory tried with all his might to wake up. He felt numb, and he was almost too tired to move, but with some effort he finally begun to feel the tips of his fingers and before long his eyelids felt less heavy. They were light enough to be opened.

"Bilbo he's awoken," Frodo exclaimed "Properly this time!"

"Ah...I think he is!"

Rory finally opened his eyes and gasped a sigh of relief as he saw the light once more. He stared around and found two rather odd beings looking carefully at him. They were both strangely short, and their feet oddly hairy. One was old, his hair greying and his eyes glimmering with many stories. The other was much younger, his hair dark and his eyes youthful.

"I am Bilbo Baggins and this is my nephew Frodo," Bilbo spoke, "It is good to see you awake,"

Rory's eyes widened. "I'm R-Rory, It is...g-good to be awake,"

"I should think so; it has been five days since we found you!" Frodo exclaimed, "You must have fallen and hurt your head, it was bleeding terribly and it took five of us hobbits to carry you back here and even with five it was a struggle,"

Rory didn't know whether to be insulted or not, but he had more pressing matters on his mind. Like, where on earth he was.

"Where am I?" Rory asked carefully.

"Hobbiton young man! How is it you do not know where you are?" Bilbo asked sceptically,

"Hobbiton? I'm still in Edinburgh aren't I?" Rory questioned panicked.

"Edinburgh? I haven't heard of such a place but I can assure you that are not in it," Bilbo laughed weakly. "I fear you may have gotten lost during your travels,"

Rory thought for moment. He had fallen from the cliff, it was a high cliff and at the bottom was hard ground. There was no way he could have survived such a fall. He knew enough about Physics to know that anything that isn't made of solid metal can fall from so high and survive to tell the tale. He wondered if he was still in some sort of dream. He rapidly began pinching his arm in an attempt to wake himself.

"Why are you hurting yourself Young master?" Bilbo questioned. Rory breathed out.

"I should be dead," He murmured. "I was out with my sister. We were standing by a cliff...I fell off. Then I was falling, and everything was black, and then, then I was here,"

"And I thought I was strange, your rather odd Rory," Bilbo shook his head. "I have not the answers for you Rory, but it does not take Gandalf to work out you are not from these parts. Whatever happened is strange indeed, but the world works in mysterious ways."

"I think I'm really far from home," Rory pulled himself out of the bed; only to find that Bilbo and Frodo were even shorter than he had expected. "I've never heard of Hobbiton before, nor was I near it when I fell from the cliff,"

"You were nowhere near a cliff where I found you either," Frodo speculated, "You were by a tiny little creek with your head laid upon a stone."

Rory took a deep breath. He looked at Frodo and Bilbo once more. He wondered if he was in a sequel to the Wizard of Oz, where the Munchkins had grown up and matured and there was no yellow brick road. Rory sighed. "I want to go home,"

"I wish we could help you," Frodo spoke, "You can stay here. We would not be good hosts if we sent our guest out when he is so hopelessly lost. Perhaps you will remember more of what happened over time and you will be able to find a way home,"

"I hope so," Was all Rory said.

Days turned to weeks and weeks into months into years. Rory was no closer to finding his way home as he was to remembering anything of how he came to arrive in Hobbiton. The young man however was not finding Bag End, totally terrible, in fact if he had been given a second life as something different, he'd have chosen to be a hobbit.

Rory was fascinated by the simplicity of their lifestyle and he loved how it seemed to evolve entirely around food. He could hardly imagine what his life was like when he had just three meals a day and he didn't want to remember. He had a daily routine that he kept to. In the mornings he and Frodo would sit out in the green talking to Sam as he gardened. By the afternoon Rory would join Merry and Pippin for a little hand-fishing or a spot of critter catching, and when it came to suppertime he would sit with Bilbo and listen wholeheartedly to the old hobbit's many stories, some of which Rory could hardly believe.

It was a Summer's night in Hobbiton and Rory's routine still hadn't differed. He carefully sat himself down on a chair. It was far too small for him and he was secretly petrified that it would break beneath him. His stomach let out one loud rumble and his host must have had good hearing as he heard it all the way from the larder.

"Are you hungry?" The voice of Bilbo Baggins echoed. "I have some Seed Cake that needs eating!"

Rory let out a weak laugh. "Of course I'm hungry Bilbo, when am I not?" He replied cheerfully. "I wouldn't mind a cup of tea while you're at it,"

"Since when have you been so demanding Rory? Make your own tea, the kettle is closer to you than it is to me," Bilbo shook his head placing the plateful of seed cake onto the table.

Faced with the prospect of having to leave his undersized yet surprisingly comfy seat to make himself a cup of tea, Rory had decided against tea. He took a large slab of the cake and bit into it as Bilbo watched him with mild amusement.

"You may not be a hobbit, but you have the belly of one," The Hobbit smiled. "Your stay here has left you with quite a stomach,"

Rory looked down at his stomach and he frowned. It hung over his trousers. He was fat. He shouldn't have looked so surprised; obesity usually came with excessive eating and lack of exercise. He cast Bilbo a frown, he had preferred it when had been blissfully unaware of his weight problem.

"I've never been fat in my life. You and Frodo are a bad influence on me," Rory grumbled. "My sister would laugh herself senseless if she saw me now. She's always saying how I'm a walking heart attack,"

"You miss her?" Bilbo asked.

"Every day, I was very close to her. We argued all the time, but at the end of the day, Kyle was the one person I could trust with anything," Rory pondered. "I wonder where she is? I think she fell of the cliff as well, I'm not sure if I'm being honest. Everything happened so fast,"

Bilbo didn't say much, he gave a weak smile in response. Rory often had a habit of saying the wrong things and destroying any prospect of a light-hearted conversation. The door opened and Frodo entered with Merry and Pippin close at his back.

"Hallo, Rory, Bilbo!" Merry grinned widely, the pipe hanging out of his mouth as he spoke. "How are things?"

"Perfect Merry," Bilbo smiled, "Shall I fetch you all something to eat?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Pippin asked incredulously, throwing himself down onto a seat, "How is our giant friend Rory?"

Rory hadn't found the term "Giant" offensive till he had realised of his weight gain. He had a sneaky suspicion, that the term "Giant" was not being used in describing his height, but rather his width.

"I am fine Pippin," Rory answered carefully "I was actually just wondering if any of you would join me for a jog?"

"A jog?" Merry asked,

"Yes, I want to exercise. It has come to my attention; I am no longer as fit as I thought I was. It is time I lost a little bit of my extra baggage if you know what I mean," Rory answered.

"We'll join you for a jog Rory," Pippin nodded. "Maybe we could bring a picnic basket and make a day of it,"

Rory took a deep breath. Hobbits did not seem to understand the purpose of "dieting" and he didn't much want to be lumbered with the task of having to explain it. He merely nodded, accepting that his stomach may continue to increase in size during his stay in Hobbiton.

Bilbo finally returned with more food and nearly as soon as it touched the table the Hobbit's had reached forward and grabbed as much food as their little hands could grasp. In the blink of an eye the food vanished, not even crumbs were left upon the plate.

Rory smiled, he loved his new found family with all his heart. But they were not his real family; his real family were far away. He missed his mother's hugs and nagging tone, and his father's wise-cracks and useless facts. He missed his sister's caring and accepting nature, and most of all, he missed his own bed. Rory had realised, that being away from home wasn't nearly as enjoyable as he had once imagined it to be.