Hello once more, here is another fabulous chapter! I was so excited when I wrote this one, because…. Thorn is introduced! I absolutely love the guy, I really do, and I have some great plans for him in the future for this story. Please enjoy, and please review as always!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of Tolkien's fantabulous characters, I only own my OC's.
The scene that the girls walked into was hilarious by all standards. Fili and Kili were sprawled on their backs with a huge barrel of ale between them, and it was cracked on one side. Not enough to leak, to the relief of Bilbo, but it was still embarrassing in the least for the brothers. Eliauna stood in the door way giggling, and watched as her sister walked over to the highly embarrassed dwarves. All of the other dwarves watched with smiles on their faces, as both brothers tried to get up. Elriauna reached to pick up the barrel, and Fili tried to stop her.
"That is very heavy! I would be careful, or get someone else to help you. It took both me and my brother just to lift that-" He got cut off and watched in pure awe and shock as Elriauna lifted it with ease, one handed. She held it up in the air, and offered her free hand to the blonde dwarf, who was gaping at her.
"Would you like me to help you up, or would you rather wait to see if you catch any flies?" she said with an amused expression. Fili shut his mouth quickly, and took her hand as he blushed. She helped him up, and he immediately moved to help her carry the heavy object. She placed one hand on his chest to keep him from moving to take it, and he was surprised at how strong her push was. "I think I can handle it myself, Master Fili. I can obviously carry it with one hand, and you couldn't even carry it with two, or should I say four?" She glanced at Kili, who had moved to stand next to her sister. She smirked as they both blushed with embarrassment, and the other dwarves laughed. Once she got back from putting it away, the dwarves were all sitting at the table and eating merrily. She found her sister sitting by Kili and laughing at something he said. 'Of course she would sit by him.' She laughed quietly to herself and found her way around the room to sit by Fili. At first he would not meet her gaze, but after a few seconds he finally lifted his head to stare into her eyes. She smiled at him, and it took all he had not to blush furiously as he got lost in her dazzling green eyes. She was feeling the same way as she looked at his blue eyes that shone like the stars on a beautiful night. They only looked away when Bofur called to Bomber to catch something in his mouth. When they looked over to the large round dwarf with orange hair, he caught the egg that was thrown and everyone erupted into cheering. It was then that Elriauna noticed the absence of both Bilbo and Gandalf. She leaned over Fili and Kili to look at her sister. They started talking telepathically, and the brothers looked at them oddly.
"What, are you doing exactly?" Both girls slowly turned their heads to look at the brothers, then Elriauna started laughing.
"Oh, shut up!" Eliauna said to her with a blush as the brothers looked to each other with shrugs. "Let's just go see where they are." She said with slight annoyance, and the two sisters got up and left before the brothers could ask where they were going. When they entered the hall, the twins found Gandalf and Bilbo arguing over why there were dwarves in their home. Eliauna stepped forward to try and work thing out between them, but was cut off by loud, disgusting burps coming from the room they had just left. While the two kept arguing, she walked back to the opening, and yelled loudly, "That, was very disrespectful and disgusting. If I ever hear that again, I will personally throw you all out of this house, and believe me, I am stronger than most of you. I could overtake you all." As she walked back to where her sister was standing, she was pleased to hear Dwalin say quietly,
"She has almost as much fire as her sister." At that, Elriauna called back to the dwarf.
"We heard that you know." There was an explosion of laughter, but it died down considerably when the warrior growled in anger. Elriauna looked at her sister with approval and reverence. "Nice sis. Feels nice to know that you do have some of the same personality as me." They smiled at each other, but were brought back to reality when they heard the soft voice of Ori speaking to Bilbo.
"Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt, but what should I do with my plate?" Bilbo started to answer him, but was cut off by Fili, who pushed him out of the way.
"Here you go Ori, give it to me." He gave the girls a quick wink before throwing it to Kili across the hall. Kili caught it and threw it to a dwarf standing by the sink, who then began to wash and dry it. As all the dwarves began to throw their dishes to Fili, Bilbo started to get very upset.
"Excuse me, that's my mother's West Farthing Cutlery, it's over a hundred years old!" He was yelling at the dwarves now, but the sisters were quite amused. As Bilbo stormed into the kitchen, he came across some of the dwarves sitting at the table and playing with the forks and knives. "A-And could you not do that, you'll blunt them." He said to Bofur, who just smiled and laughed.
"Oh, do ya here that lads! He says we'll blunt the knives," he said, which made all the dwarves laugh. After they laughed, Kili started singing.
"Blunt the knives, bend the forks," Then Fili joined in with,
"Smash the bottled and burn the corks," Then the rest of the company joined in for the rest.
"Chip the glasses and crack the plates, that's what Bilbo Baggins hates! Cut the cloth, tread on the fat, leave the bones on the bedroom mat, pour the milk on the pantry floor, splash the wine on every door! Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl, pound them up with a thumping pole, when you're finished, if they are whole, send them down the hall to roll!" Bofur started to play his flute, and the other dwarves kept throwing the dishes around. After a few notes from Bofur, they dwarves finished the song with a big ending. "That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!" They all laughed as Bilbo came in and looked with a surprised expression at the cleaned and neatly stacked plates on the counter. The twins were laughing also, but everyone stopped immediately when there were three loud pounds on the door.
"He is here." Gandalf said with a grave expression. They all gathered around the door as Gandalf opened it to reveal a tall, proud looking dwarf with a very annoyed look as he spoke the wizard's name.
"Gandalf." He said with a deep voice, and he strode in proudly. "You said this place would be easy to find." He took of his coat, and bundled it in his hand. "I lost my way. Twice." At those words, Elriauna couldn't help herself and let out a small giggle. Thorin turned to her with a furrowed brow, and as his eyes swept over her body, he spoke to her. "You find that funny, half-elf?" He said the last words with such disgust and hate in his voice, that Elriauna lost her smile and replaced it with one of her famous death glares.
"Yes, yes I do. Is it really that hard to find your way around somewhere that isn't a palace? I guess not, Thorin Oakenshield, and yes, I know your filthy name." she spat at the dwarf. The dwarves stood in shock at the girl's words, waiting for Thorin to answer. To their relief, he turned back around and again addressed Gandalf.
"If it had not been for that mark on the door, I don't believe I would have found it." Elrianna scoffed.
"Do they have to have marks on the doors in Erebor too?" she muttered to herself, which earned her a hard kick in the shin from her sister. Luckily though, everyone had been listening to Bilbo when she said it, so no one heard.
"Mark? There's no mark on that door, it was painted a week ago." Bilbo said with confusion.
"There is a mark, I put it there myself." Gandalf reassured the hobbit. He gestured to the hobbit to introduce him to Thorin. "Bilbo Baggins, allow me, to introduce the leader of our company; Thorin Oakenshield." Bilbo walked up to the dwarf to say hello, but was cut off when Thorin spoke first.
"So, this is the hobbit." He began to slowly walk around Bilbo, and Bilbo kept turning so that he was always facing the dwarf. "What weapon do you prefer?"
"Excuse me?" Bilbo asked, not quite understanding.
"What is your weapon of choice? Do you have any skill with them?" Bilbo furrowed his brow as he thought.
"Well, I have some skill with conkers, if you must know, but I fail to see how that's relevant." Eliauna face-palmed, but it turned out to be louder than she meant, so it prompted Thorn to turn to the sisters with a slightly amused look.
"And what of you two?" She moved her hand out of her face, and looked at him seriously.
"I have been trained in twin blades, throwing daggers, long bow, and axe." Thorin looked more surprised than anything else, but the look quickly left his hard features. He turned to Elriauna and looked glaringly at her.
"What about you?" She cocked her head, and looked at him with a wild glint in her eyes.
"Um, well. How long do you have?" She smirked as he glared at her.
"I mean it girl. If you want to go on this quest, then you would do well to tell me." She gave him a glare before speaking.
"Let's see, twin blades, long bow, short bow, throwing daggers, axe, slingshot, double and flat edge swords, and hand to hand combat." Thorin now looked defeated as he realized that she knew how to use more weapons that he did. He looked back to the hobbit and laughed, to the surprise of the sisters.
"Thought as much for you." He turned back to the company. "Looks more like a grocer than a burglar." As the dwarves all laughed and moved into the dining room, Bilbo stayed back with a slightly hurt look on his face. Eliauna came up to her brother to comfort him.
"It's ok Bilbo, he will warm up to you. Who couldn't? You are one of the funniest guys I have ever known." That made Bilbo smile, and she slowly led him back to the table, where the dwarves were now quietly watching Thorin eat.
"What news from the meeting in Ered Luin? Did they all come?" Balin asked. Thorin nodded his head.
"Aye, envoys from all seven kingdoms." He answered. A cheer erupted from the group, and Balin shook his head in amazement.
"Ah, all of them." Dwalin looked expectantly at Thorin, and waited till the cheering had died down to speak.
"And what do the dwarves of the Iron Hills say? Is Dain with us?" At that question, Thorin looked downcast.
"They will not come." He paused as moans and sighs came from the group. "He says this quest is ours and ours alone." As more groans went up from the group, Bilbo spoke up.
"Your, going on a quest?" Gandalf looked at the hobbit with uncertainty, and all was quiet for a moment.
"Bilbo, could we have some more light please." Bilbo nodded and went into the next room to get another two lanterns. "Far to the east, over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single, solitary peak." As the old wizard talked, he began unfolding a map and laying it out in front of Thorin. The dwarf pushed aside his meal and looked at the map with what Eliauna thought was slight reverence. Bilbo came up with more light, and leaned over to read the title over the corner of the map that the wizard was pointing to.
"The Lonely Mountain," he read slowly, enunciating each syllable.
"Aye," Gloin said loudly, "Oin has read the portents, and the portents say it's time." At that statement, some of the other dwarves rolled their eyes and shook their heads.
"Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold. When the birds of yore, return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end."
"Oh, what beast?" Bilbo said with uncertainty.
"Well that would be a reference to Smaug the terrible, chieftest and greatest calamity of our age." Bofur said casually. "Airborne fire breather. Teeth like razors, claws like meat hooks," he paused, looking for something else to say. "Extremely fond of precious metals-" he was cut off by Bilbo.
"Yes, I know what a dragon is." The hobbit said with slight irritation. Ori suddenly stood and cried out,
"I'm not afraid, I'm up for it. I'll give 'em a taste of dwarvish iron right up his jacksie!" As the other dwarves called out praises to the young dwarf, his brother Dori pulled his arm and plopped him back into his seat.
"Sit down!" he said with a motherly nature.
"Could be difficult with an army behind us, but we number just thirteen." Balin called out, quieting the group. "And not thirteen of the best, nor brightest." The other dwarves again began yelling, until they were again quieted by Fili.
"We may be few in number, but we're fighters! All of us! To the last dwarf!" Elriauna smiled, and quickly looked to Kili when he began to speak.
"And you forget we have a wizard in our company, Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time!" Kili looked very proud of himself at his statement, but both of the sister's just face- palmed in perfect unison.
"Uh, well no," Gandalf started to say, but was cut off by one of the dwarves.
"How many then?" One called out.
"Well how many dragons have you killed," Dori specified. As Thorin looked to Gandalf with an amused look, the wizard just coughed nervously until Dori called out impatiently, "Go on, give us a number!" Before Gandalf could answer however, the dwarves started yelling again. All of a sudden, Thorin stood and yelled something in Khuzdûl, and all the dwarves immediately stopped.
"If we have read these signs, do you not think other will have read them too?" Elriauna detected a hint of desperation in the dwarf king's voice, and for some reason, she began to feel sorry for him. "Rumors, have begun to spread. The dragon Smaug has not been seen for 60 years. Eyes look east to the mountain, assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lies unprotected, do we sit back, while others claim what is rightfully ours?! Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor!" He yelled the last few words, and as the other dwarves began to yell with him, Elriauna felt something spark inside her. No matter what, she decided, she was going to do whatever it took to help them get their home back.
I know that I have been at Bilbo's for a while, but don't worry! They will be kicking off on the journey in either chapters 6 or 7. We are almost into the action, so please bear with me!