Chapter 10

DAY 11

Bilbo winced as he tried to sit up, there was someone curled up next to him with their head on his naked chest. After a few seconds four things occurred to Bilbo in the space of a second. 1: it was Thorin who was laying on him. 2: they were both naked. 3: his lower back and opening were pleasantly painful. 4: his glamor was down. As Bilbo wriggled around to get comfortable a fifth thing occurred to him, there was no sign that they had used protection. Fuck.

Later after everyone was up and about Bilbo took Thorin aside, "Thorin there was something I didn't tell you. In Hobbit culture when Kindred-Spirits sleep together, as in full penetration, they are considered engaged."

"We were already considered engaged by Dwarven standards." Thorin replied.

"That's not all. In Fae culture we are now considered married."

"Married, oh. A-are you upset by this?" Thorin asked.

"No of course not, I just feel a bit guilty for not telling you before," Bilbo smiled at Thorin and wrapped his arms around him.

Bilbo bit his lip as he stared off into the sunset, should he had told Thorin about the possibility of there being a child growing inside him right now? If he did then Thorin would be distracted. Bilbo could always tell him at the end of the quest.

The forest of Mirkwood was not cold like one would have expected, instead it had a wet, muggy sort of heat that plasters your shirt to your back and makes it hard to breath the heat seemed to radiate from the trees themselves. The Company was setting up camp for the night and Bilbo was just laying out his bed roll when a thought occurred to him, he hadn't menstruated. Bilbo took a deep breath, it didn't mean anything it could just be stress. Bilbo sat a tried to remember exactly how many days overdue he was, Bilbo calculated it to be about a month, how did he not notice? Bilbo scrambled for his pack and started going through his medical kit, he found three herbs that when combined with a blood sample would show if someone was pregnant or not, it wasn't used much in the Shire anymore as there were more reliable tests but Bilbo had none of them with him. So he gathered the things he needed and snuck away to the edge of camp, Bilbo set himself up and started by crushing the herbs and then took some blood from his arm. When the herbs and blood were mixed together it all turned a dark blue colour, positive, fuck. Bilbo packed up the mess and headed back to camp no one seemed to have noticed his brief absence, Bilbo sat himself down on his bedroll soon a warm arm wrapped around him, "Are you alright Âzyungâl?" Thorin asked as pulled Bilbo into his lap.

Bilbo smiled up at the Dwarven King, "I'm as well as can be expected in a place like this."

"You seemed very deep in thought," Thorin replied as he pressed his face into Bilbo's hair.

"I was trying to think of a faster way through this blasted Wood," Bilbo said leaning back into Thorin's embrace, "I might have a way but it is very much a last resort."

"What is it?" Thorin asked.

Bilbo smiled, "It's a trick my Seanmháthair taught me to find my way when I'm lost."

"Shorn-mat-hair?"

Bilbo laughed, Thorin's attempts at learning Bilbo's language were always so fun, "No honey, she-an-mh-ath-air."

"Right, that. What does it mean?"

"Grandmother."

"Oh," Thorin said, "How does this trick work?"

Bilbo smirked, "That's a family secret."

It was only three days later when Bilbo decided that it was time to use the guide magic that Grandmother Fedlimid taught him, "Do any of you have something from Erebor or Dale?" Bilbo asked as the Company ate their meagre breakfast.

"Why?" Thorin asked after everyone had denied having anything from Erebor.

Bilbo smiled softly, "Remember the trick I told you of?" Thorin nodded, "I think it's time, the path is slowly killing us I can guide us through the forest in a straight line. But it will be harder without something from our destination"

"Why did you say nothing before now," Thorin growled.

"Because it is difficult and a secret, I'm not meant to show anyone this trick. But I trust you, all of you not to tell anyone of this." Bilbo retrieved an arrow from his pack and a small dagger and began carving, he flattened both sides of the arrow and on one inscribed three Ogham words.

"What are you doing?" Thorin asked watching Bilbo's nimble fingers carve the small lines into the wood.

"This is the archaic writing system of the Fae, I can channel my energy through it and whatever is written will be done, in this case the writing means: Guide. Lonely. Mountain." Bilbo held his palm flat and focused of the spark of energy inside him, it flared to life and made the arrow spin on his palm, once it had stopped Bilbo used his other hand to grab Thorin's, "Hold on to each other and follow me."

And thus Bilbo guided the Company across Mirkwood and closer to their goal. The Company continued on in this way for nearly a month until they were captured by Elves.

"William," Bungo called.

"Yes daidí?" ten year old William answered.

"It is time for you to learn the Creation Method of light manipulation."

"Really?"

"Yes, now go to the training room and I will meet you there."

Several minutes later Bungo and William were sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor in the training room. "There is a spark inside all Hobbits, son. This is where your light comes from, all living things give off some light but only Hobbits can control it. I want you to reach for that spark inside you, when you find it explore it and get to know the feel of it."

Bilbo closed his eyes and thought about the spark he was supposed to find, it took a few tries but eventually Bilbo found his spark, or more accurately, sparks, they were of equal size and brightness and similar colour, the two sparks orbited each other like a binary star system. Bilbo reached out for the slightly bluer one and felt suddenly light. He snapped his eyes open and found himself to be floating two feet above the floor. His concentration snapped and he fell to the floor in a heap staring up at his father's astounded face.

Translations

Âzyungâl - Lover

Daidí - Dad