MMMG: Oh my Eru! 15 reviews? You guys really do love me! And I love you guys as well, so I'm posting the next chapter for you!
Okay, this chapter has dwarven customs that I've seen near everyone use in the fandom word, (beard, braids, etc.), Gandalf is still AWOL, (he might be back next chapter, or the one following, I actually don't know since I don't have it typed out yet), and Bilbo is experiencing a crush on a sexy brooding dwarf. Oh, and I've added more backstory to how Bilbo's parents died. Don't kill me.
Azile Signer: The only things that annoy me are when readers ignore the warnings I put at the start of the chapters and then complain about it for their whole review, and when they keep repeating that they don't like a certain aspect, (ex: I don't like Bilbo x Thorin that much, can you change it?). Ugh. But I'm glad you asked. Thanks for caring!
Anime Princess: I stopped there because I was tired. It was like, 1 AM when I updated where I live. Glad you like Gandalf and the mischief makers and that Dwalin and Balin are more sympathetic towards Bilbo since they know the truth.
Nataly S. Potter: You think I'm getting humor in there? AWESOME! And wait no more, here come the meeting!
StEmpois: OOPS! Forgot it was April when I mentioned the eggplant and fresh fruit. Um... lets just say someone has some sort of greenhouse and Bilbo got his produce from there. Like you said, it is fiction.
Ethyrin Kairos: I'm getting the characters right? Yay! This is my first Hobbit story, so that makes me very happy!
GGCharms: Here's your 'next button'. LOL!
Guest: Here's another highlight for you.
Malo919: Who would want to run from a sexy Thorin? Not me, and defiantly not Bilbo. Sexy Thorin will protect him from dwarf-y antics. We'll find out what happened to Gandalf in a chapter or two. And look closely towards the end of the chapter. You might see some familiar words down there. I live in Minnesota, that's all you're getting out of me.
MMMG: Thanks for the reviews guys! I don't own the Hobbit and never will! Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 4
Bilbo stared. He couldn't help it. Thorin… alive… The last time he had seen the dwarf was right when he had died, unable to hold off joining his ancestors long enough to be crowned king.
Thorin, wearing a dark blue undershirt and tunic, both covered by armor that looked like diamond-shaped scales, a sleeveless warg-fur lined jacket covered by his oilskin, fur-lined leather boots that came up to mid-calf, arm bracers, the sapphire caged in silver signet ring on his right middle finger, raven black hair with two braids running down his face tied off with silver claps, a short sword called 'Deathless', a battle-axe, and an oaken branch used as a shield… the memories didn't do him justice.
Except, he needed Orcrist. Yes, Thorin Oakenshield definitely needed the elven blade. He just didn't look like him without it.
It was then that Bilbo realized that Thorin had spoken to him and was still waiting for an answer. So much for a good first impression.
"Yes Master Oakenshield?" Bilbo asked, and Thorin's eyebrows shot up before he frowned.
"How did you know my title?" Thorin growled.
"I'm assuming that you're part of the company of the 12 other dwarves that are currently residing in my home." Bilbo replied. "And Gandalf made of list of your names that he dropped when he came to visit me this morning. You were the only one left."
Thorin nodded his head once, accepting the answer. He didn't say anything else but kept staring at Bilbo, who stared back as he kept petting Myrtle's neck. Finally, Thorin dismounted from his bay pony.
"I believe that the ponies belonging to my kinfolk are in this pasture." Thorin said as he removed one of the saddlebags.
"Yep." Bilbo replied with a small chuckle. "I'm actually wondering how many of them Myrtle nipped when they tried to take over her pasture. She's a bit bossy in that aspect."
"Really now?" Thorin responded as he looked over the pony that would be Bilbo's mount starting tomorrow morning.
Bilbo nodded, thankful that Bungo hid him from Thorin's view. He really didn't know what to say, and it was hard to come up with anything since his last two conversations with the dwarf had been of, 1. him getting banished, and 2. Thorin apologizing before dying. And if was kind of hard to start a conversation with someone you've known as dead for the past 90 years, and Thorin wasn't the easiest dwarf to talk to in the first place.
"I think the saddlebags all ended up in the sheds." Bilbo said, amazed that his voice didn't crack as he pushed away the memory of Thorin dying.
Thorin didn't reply, but nodded his head again to indicate he had heard as he hefted the bags onto his shoulders. Bilbo got Myrtle to back up before he opened the gate to let Thorin in so he could get to the shed, and to let Bungo in so he could sleep with the rest of his pack mates. Once Thorin had exited the shed and the pasture, Bilbo turned and quickly began to lead the way back to his smial, wanting to spend the least amount time alone with Thorin as possible. He didn't know if he would be able to keep himself together for much longer.
"Wait." Thorin stopped walking and pulled out his map. "We're meeting in the opposite direction of where you're going."
"I do believe I know how to get to my own home master dwarf." Bilbo replied as he stopped glancing over his shoulder.
Thorin frowned and looked back down at his map before looking at Bilbo again. And then Bilbo remembered. Last time Gandalf had shown Bilbo the map the night before the troll incident because Bilbo felt low in spirits. And the map did cheer him up, because it had been guiding Thorin to the tannery instead of his house, hence why he told the trolls that the dwarves needed to be skinned first before they were cooked. Thorin's map leading to the tannery had been on the forefront of his mind that evening.
"May I look?" Bilbo asked as he held up his hand.
Thorin stared at Bilbo again, and it was all Bilbo could do to not shift around uncomfortably. Finally, the royal dwarf handed the map over for Bilbo to view. Nodding his thanks, Bilbo held it up to the moonlight. The map was neatly drawn, there was the Brandywine River, the launders, the chimney sweeps, and the…
"This leads to the tannery!" Bilbo made sure to exclaim.
"The tannery?" Thorin questioned as he got right up close to Bilbo's right shoulder so he could get a good view of the map.
"Yes." Bilbo said without stuttering, but knew he was starting to blush at their close proximity, and started to point out locations on the map. "My house is right here. This is downtown Hobbiton. Out along this road, where Gandalf was having you go, are the launders, the chimney sweeps, the blacksmiths, and the tannery, where the X is marked for you to go."
"He tried to delay me?" Thorin growled. "Why?"
"Probably to convince me to go on whatever adventure you're going on." Bilbo replied as he gave Thorin his useless map back and started back towards his home again. "That wizard has a bad habit of turning up the day before someone needs aid on an adventure. Did it to my mother when she was younger, and now he's doing it to me."
"Are you saying you have no knowledge of this quest whatsoever?" Thorin demanded as he quickly caught up, stopped Bilbo by grabbing his shoulder, and turned the hobbit to face him.
"None." Bilbo replied, staring into Thorin's blue eyes. "Aside from this morning, the last time I saw Gandalf was 9 years ago at the end of the Fell Winter. When he arrived too late to save my parents from the orc ambush that killed them while we traveled to my grandfathers in hopes that he still had food and wood left."
Bilbo lowered his eyes as the memories flashed before his eyes. A pale warg tackling his father to the ground and burying its teeth into his neck while the claws tore at his clothes and skin. His mother firing the arrow that killed the beast before its rider killed her with the metal claw replacing his severed left forearm.
Bilbo had screamed at the horrid sight, his mother's stomach impaled by the crude claw before being flung into a snowbank and bleeding to death. And then the tall, pale Gundabad orc had turned to him with a blood chilling smirk. The crude claw had swung forward, but the young Bilbo had enough sense left in him to move back and away from the metal claw that had just killed his mother. But it was not far enough.
Azog's 'left hand' had caught Bilbo across the chest, slashing thought the clothes and cutting deep into his skin. The pain had sent Bilbo to the snow covered ground where he lay still, and things blurred from there. Azog had laughed before he left, thinking Bilbo to be dead. Gandalf and the rangers showed up about a minute after the last of the orcs and wargs had left. It was too late to save Belladonna and Bungo, but Bilbo was able to be saved.
And he had three long horizontal scars across his chest to prove it.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Thorin's voice brought Bilbo back to the present.
Bilbo realized that he was rubbing his scars through the fabric of his clothes and quickly brought his hand down with a shaky inhale. Raising his eyes back to Thorin's, Bilbo could see the dwarf truly meant it, and was probably recalling the grandfather, father, and brother that he had lost during the Battle of Azanulbizar.
"Thank you." Bilbo nodded, and then cleared his throat as he turned back towards his home again. "If you'll follow me, we may get back to snag some food before it's completely gone."
Thorin nodded and followed. Neither the dwarf nor the hobbit tried to start a conversation. Thorin was at a loss. He had originally been planning to ask the halfling if he had any skill in a fight and what his choice of weapon was, but the new information of Gandalf springing the quest of him today and not even telling him what it was about, along with the info that he had lost his parents to an orc ambush recently, had him holding his tongue.
Bilbo on the other hand, was having a hard time not crying. How he hated those memories. Seeing his parents get cut down always reminded him of how Thorin got cut down years later, and how he had been unable to save any of them. He also knew that dwarves saw tears as weakness, and it lessened their opinion of someone they saw weeping, unless it was at a funeral.
Thankfully, Bag End came up quickly and Bilbo opened the door for Thorin, who looked confused as to how a round door could open. Stepping inside, Bilbo slipped off to the side so Thorin could follow. Thorin glanced around the home before handing his cloak off to Bilbo, who quickly hung it up on the coat rack before gesturing to the dwarf to follow him.
"Where's Mr. Boggins?" Kíli asked as Bilbo opened the door to the backyard.
"Baggins." Bilbo, Balin, and Thorin all corrected at the same time.
"Uncle!" Kíli grinned.
Fíli and Kíli leapt out of their seats and ran towards their relative. Bilbo step-sided and winced at the sound of foreheads connecting. Dwarves have such weird customs. Ah well, at least there was some decent food left, enough that it wouldn't need to be turned into a stew.
It was then that Bilbo noticed the all the dwarves were looking at him. Dwalin, Bifur, and Thorin had unreadable expressions, Nori, Dori, Glóin and Óin were staring at him with guilty expressions and Balin, Bofur, Bombur, Ori, Fíli, and Kíli were looking at him guiltily/sympathetically.
"What?" Bilbo asked in confusion and quickly checked the front of his clothes.
No, no bloodstains or torn clothing. So why was everyone looking at him oddly?
"We're so sorry Master Baggins!" Ori exclaimed.
"Master Balin explained to us that you had no idea we were coming until today." Dori explained. "And that Master Gandalf didn't even tell you what our being here was about."
"And so, as in within your rights, you can cut off our braids or beards." Balin finished with a barely suppressed shudder.
"Cut off your- What?" Bilbo frowned, pretending not to understand. "I'm sorry, what do you mean?"
The hair, beard, and braids of a dwarf were highly prized and honored in dwarven society. They told of your standing, your heritage, battles you've won, if you were engaged or married, and so many other things. For their hair to be cut, unless it was to make you look less like an orc went at it with a pair of garden sheers, it was because the dwarf, or the one doing the cutting, was considering the dwarf to be disgraced and shamed.
And Balin explained it that way word for word.
"I don't want your braids or your beards." Bilbo replied in protest. "You have nothing to apologize for. The only one who does is Gandalf."
"But…" Kíli bit his lip.
"Hobbits find other things more worthy of 'braid cuttings' then arriving unannounced because the messenger knowingly left out the details." Bilbo cut off the dwarf. "Did you track mud in the house?"
"No." Kíli shook his head. "Well, maybe a little bit."
"But you wiped your feet before you entered." Bilbo reminded him gently. "Are any chairs or tables broken? Dishes ruined? My home burned down?"
"No." Fíli shook his head.
"Then there is nothing for you to be sorry for." Bilbo said firmly and looked to the rest of the dwarves. "And that goes for all of you."
The dwarves could do nothing but stare at the creature who had welcomed them into his home on such short notice and with such good food prepared in the limited amount of time he and 'his neighbors' had. In their society, dropping by unannounced was a huge show of disrespect and braids could be demanded in compensation. All unexpected parties were guilty, but the hobbit insisted that the blame lay with Gandalf, and Gandalf alone.
Speaking of which…
"Where is Master Gandalf?" Óin asked. "He got dragged away by some hobbit children after we pastured the ponies."
"Who knows." Bilbo shrugged as he, Thorin, Fíli, and Kíli approached the table. "You can never tell with fauntlings. That's what we hobbits call our kids."
"So you have no idea when he'll turn up?" Balin asked.
"Nope, depends on when they let him go." Bilbo replied as he found the mug of ale he had been sipping on earlier and downed half of the contents. "It could be when their parents call them in for bedtime, or tomorrow morning when they're done using him as a teddy bear. I'm actually hoping he'll arrive with pink ribbons in his hair, colors of the rainbow paint-stained clothes, and his face painted."
"I'll do it myself if he isn't." Nori muttered.
"I'll help." Ori offered with a grin.
"Oh no you won't." Dori growled.
"Oh, lay off the lad." Bofur grinned down the table. "He's got to grow up sometime, and might as well start with a good prank."
"Oh my!" Bilbo yelped.
All the dwarves looked at him, and several had their daggers drawn to cut off their braids, thinking he had changed his mind. But all Bilbo did was rush to the large oven, open the door, and quickly pull out the long rack that was covered in pies, cakes, and cookies.
"Not burned." Bilbo sighed in relief and turned to the company. "Dessert anyone?"
MMMG: Why yes, I did just have Azog kill Bilbo's parents. This is why I said that you're going to kill me, so before I go off to hide, I'll explain a few things.
1. The warg we see Azog riding in the movies is the child of the one Belladonna killed.
2. No, Bilbo won't tell the dwarves his story now. He's going to wait until later, (I'm thinking the night Balin tells the story of the Battle of Azanulbizar, Rivendell, or after Azog attacks them after Goblin Town/Gollum).
3. I can't actually find anything about LOTR dwarvish customs online, so I'm going with the fandom world customs of braids and beards and how important they are to dwarves.
That's all I have. See you when you're done wanting to kill me. Please review? -runs away to hide-