CHAPTER 4

After we scribbled our names onto the parchment, the company of dwarves seemed a lot more open to us than before. Earning a couple of claps over our shoulders, we stood up, and with a little bit of help from the gentlemen carried Bilbo onto a comfy looking chair in the other room. After a bit of water splashed onto his face, Bilbo woke up, assuring us that all was alright with him. Hannah and I, realizing that sticking around was not wise, nodded to Gandalf and quickly left the premises, joining some of the other dwarves in the next room by the crackling fireplace. Sitting closest to the fire, Hannah turned to me with a serious look on her face.

"Are you sure about this, though? It seems like this will be very dangerous."

"What adventure isn't? I suppose there will be quite some time before we reach the destination of our journey, the dwarves will teach us how to fight better, and they'll protect us on the way."

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one who heard Thorin say he was not responsible for our fate." She looked at me, face full of sarcasm. Damn it, I had hoped she hadn't heard that.

"He might say that, but I have a hard time believing that the others wouldn't help us if we were in trouble."

"Hmmm. I don't know, I just don't think we'll be very safe."

"Obviously." Receiving a glare, I quickly continued: "But hey, Sorcerers' apprentice, ask Gandalf to teach you magic to protect yourself! Something powerful in a battle, like elemental magic!"

"Yeah, that'd be cool..." Grinning, she finally let go of her worries, well, at least for a bit.

"Good. Are you done worrying?"

"I think I'm fine for now, but I'll call you if the need to whine rises." Rolling her eyes at my tone, Hannah dismissed me.

Nodding to her, I left her to think. The trip will be no easy task; it will no doubt be taxing on us in all ways: physical, mental and emotional. We had to figure out a way to survive, and contribute to the group at the same time. As we were women, the men will no doubt ask us to oversee duties such as cooking, sewing, mending and binding wounds. For that we will need to know many things, most importantly, the herbs and their uses in Middle Earth. Hoping to find a small book in Bilbo's library on the subject, I slunk past a whispering couple of Balin and Thorin (who both watched me walk passed in the corner of their eyes) and started searching for a book on herbs in the many bookcases around Bilbo's home.

"Ah, here we go..." I muttered, finding the perfect book. Taking it with me, I walked back to the room with the fire place. Plunking down on the ground next to Hannah, I began reading.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to read for long. It seemed all the dwarves gathered in the room, most smoking their pipes, at which Hannah grimaced. Suddenly, all of the dwarves started humming. My eyebrows rose in surprise, and a quick glance at Hannah confirmed our mutual surprise. The air around us instantly filled with tension, as all the men in the room continued their humming into a song.

Far over the Misty Mountains cold
to dungeons deep and caverns old
we must away ere break of day,
to find our long-forgotten gold

The pines were roaring on the height
The winds were moaning in the night
The fire was red, it flaming spread
The trees like torches blazed with light

Their singing was beautiful, and it obviously reflected their feelings towards this mission of ours. They longed for their home, much like Hannah and I were beginning to miss ours. If this quest wasn't our best shot at getting home, I was sure we would have gone with the dwarves anyway, to help them get their home back.

After the song, things seemed to have calmed down considerably. Hannah yawned next to me, and I decided I should put down my new book for the night. Turning to Balin I quietly asked:

"When do we wake to leave tomorrow?" He smiled at me, obviously noticing how tired my friend and I were.

"It's alright, lassies, we'll wake you when the time comes. You should get some sleep in a bed while you can, we will not be stopping at inns during the journey." Nodding and smiling at his grandfatherly face, I slowly stood up, tugging Hannah's arm gently, receiving only a small groan of protest.

"C'mon, let's get an actual bed to sleep in..." Yawning, I tugged more harshly, and eventually she followed me out of the room, only leaving a trail of soft goodnights and nods in our stead.

We found two small vacant beds in a room that was most likely intended for guests. Without further thought, we removed our outer clothing and collapsed on the beds, passing out for the night.


A deep rumble coaxed me from my sleep.

Once I opened my eyes, the room was dark, so it must have only been a couple of hours since we fell asleep. Hannah still lay peacefully in the other small bed, seemingly not disturbed since I last laid eyes on her.

Then, the house rumbled again.

Rising up in my bed, all sleep forgotten, I quickly and silently dressed and left the room, Hannah still sleeping soundly. Carefully closing the door behind me I glanced around the dim halls. During the night, half the candles went out, making large dark shadows cast throughout the hallway, giving it a foreboding appearance.

My head snapped to the left hall. There was that rumble again! Determined to find the reason for the sound, I started tiptoe-ing closer to the origin of it.

There it was again! Wait, but now it's behind me..?

Turning around, I saw only a door to one of the rooms. Another rumble confirmed my suspicions: the thing making the noise is behind that door! Carefully, I twisted the handle and peeked through the crack, trying to make the least amount of sound possible.

Inside the room were dwarves. They were all sleeping in beds, and snoring loudly enough to make me think we were having an earthquake. Mouthing 'oooh' and giggling under my breath I closed the door, knowing well that I did not wish to disturb the group.

Curiosity sated, I started to walk around the house, as quiet as possible for me. I checked all the rooms, finding the dwarves all stuffed inside two relatively big rooms with beds. Since I was positive I will not be able to sleep until sunrise, I decided to start cleaning up.

The few more candles I found gave the halls and rooms a little more light, so I was able to see the mess left after the party. Surprisingly, the house wasn't that messy at all. All the food has been cleared out and the dishes washed, so all I had to do was straighten some stuff out and wash and sweep the floors. Well, the toilets would need cleaning too, but sorry, Bilbo, you're gonna have to take care of that yourself.

The hours passed quickly. The house was huge, so even if there wasn't much cleaning to do, it still took up a lot of time. Oddly, I did not notice the time slip by while humming and dancing quietly with a broom until the first light of dawn seeped through the windows. Around the same time grumbles and soft thuds of feet started to sound from the rooms the dwarves were in.

I put the broom away and started looking for breakfast. While I danced into the pantry, Fili swung open the door to the room, shushing the others behind him, muttering something about others still sleeping. I decided to surprise them and stuck my head out the pantry doorway.

"G'Mornin'!" I stage whispered, making Fili and Thorin, the first ones out the door lance at me with surprise on their face.

"Good morning, Lady Alice, I hope you slept well?" Weird, Thorin in the morning seemed a lot more... nice? Awake? Not so stuck up? Maybe the stick up his ass grows later in the day, though his voice still held that tired exasperation. Fili smiled and also muttered a hello.

"Oh, I only slept a couple of hours, woke up in the middle of the night and started cleaning, I figured it wasn't nice to leave Bilbo's home in such a messy state!" I grinned. Alright, a couple of things are becoming apparent about me now: 1. I am always sleepy when the sun is in the sky. 2. When I don't sleep enough, I become hyperactive and cheery and loopy and then crash horribly in about an hour. Let's hope we get on the ponies by then.

Thorin nodded, I guess that's his expression of slight gratitude, and ordered to wake up the others, Bombur first, so we could all get some breakfast, but to not wake Bilbo, as he will not be joining us. I saluted him, nodded to Fili and raced to Hannah's room, knowing she'll appreciate the time to get ready even though she'll hate me for waking her up (again). I threw open the door to "our" room and jumped inside, half expecting her to already be awake. Only a mop of red hair sticking out of the covers of the second bed destroyed those expectations. Skipping across the room, I leaned over her head, my long hair hanging next to hers.

"Hannah... Hannah..." I sang. Receiving no response, I sighed, grabbed her blanket and tugged it away from her face.

"Hannah, wake up." I said more sternly, feeling the need to crash slowly creeping up on me. She needed to hurry up! Her eyebrow twitched, but she remained still otherwise. I stopped breathing for a second, listening to her breath. It was different than before, so she was already awake.

"Get up! Or we're leaving without you!" I threw the covers back on her face and stepped away, grabbing my last scattered things.

"What..?Already? What time is it?" Her croaky morning voice and squinty eyes met mine as she tried to clamber out of the sheets.

"Just after dawn. Thorin told me to wake everyone up, so get dressed and ready quickly and come down for breakfast." I said dully, all cheer gone from my voice. I only wanted to sleep, and soon. Seeing her nod from the corner of my eye, I strode out of the room, closing the door behind me and set out to find the dwarves to wake up.

20 minutes later a slightly sleepy and groggy company was gathered around the same table, waiting for breakfast that was being put into plates by Bombur and Ori. Waking the dwarves was less of a challenge than I thought it would be, since they were all eager to leave for the quest. That did not mean some of them were not almost falling asleep at the table along with me. Hannah seemed alright, if not a bit dull as well, but the warm cup of tea in her hands seemed to be helping. I, on the other hand, was practically asleep; my head lay on my crossed arms on top of the table, eyes unfocused, and glasses askew. Hannah glanced in my direction.

"What's wrong with you?" Some dwarves glanced our way.

"I didn't sleep much. Woke up a couple of hours ago and cleaned the place up." That earned me a couple of 'well done's and 'thank you's, though I barely remember what was said by who. The soft murmur of morning conversations threatened to lull me to sleep.

"Your scrambled eggs are here." Hannah's dead pan voice directed to me temporarily snapped me out of my sleepiness.

"Oh thank you so much Bombur..." I let out a breath, immediately grabbing a fork and shoveling food into my mouth.

Breakfast passed relatively quickly also. I ate the food, I drank the tea, I washed and put away my dishes almost on auto-pilot, I don't even remember much of it. Soon, it was time to leave the house, and Bilbo.

I gathered all my things and Bilbo's book'o'nature, as I started calling it my head, and followed Hannah to the front door. While we gathered all our cloaks, the men struck up a conversation.

"D'you think Mister Baggins wants to come with us after all? Maybe we should wake him, to say goodbye at least?" Kili said to Hannah, though it was clear the question was for all of us, while pulling on his coat.

"Do not wake the hobbit. He made his decision clear last night. I doubt he would be of much help anyway." Thorin grumbled, heaving his pack onto his shoulders. The packs were heavy, since we all gathered some left over food and skins full of water each, not to mention the bed rolls and the weapons strapped to us. Man, were Hannah and I gonna be sore in the morning.

"He'll probably wake up and think this was all a dream. I almost did the same thing." Hannah quietly said, chuckling and shaking her head. Kili smiled at her goofily, while I choked down the imaginary vomit over their sweet display.

"I bet he'd go after us if he was given the choice." I grumble, throwing on the last of the things on my back.

My words caused a massive dwarven bet. Note to self: don't say 'I bet' as a joke around the company.

Immediately, the group divided into the ones that bet with me and the ones that did not believe Bilbo had the balls to come after us. Apparently, the trigger for his decision would be the contract, which Balin conveniently set somewhere in sight for him.

After the commotion, we grabbed the last of our things and stepped into the light morning sun. The slight chill in the air woke me up a little bit, but not enough to raise my mood. Hannah, who was making googly eyes and whispering something to Kili was completely unaffected by anything around her, though.

I clambered sleepily after Dwalin, eyes half closed. Rumble snorted a horsey hello to me, so I fed him an apple to be polite. Soon, we were all on our ponies and heading out of the Shire, while I was trying to get into a position where I could sleep and not fall off of the pony. I put my forehead on Rumble, glancing one last time at Hannah, who just rolled her eyes at me and continued to make small talk with the younger dwarves instead of waking me up, and fell asleep, the last thought echoing in my head... I'm going on an adventure!