Summary:


Thorin waited until they were back in their rooms to ask after the yellow that had been upon Bard's hand.

"Ah, that." Bilbo said as he carried Lotho over to the basket they kept in the living aera for when it was his bedtime but Thorin and Bilbo had things yet to be done.

"Yes that. He did not have yellow hands when he arrived." Thorin said.

"So, you left for the planting fields after they arrived?" Bilbo asked raising an eyebrow.

Thorin opened his mouth and then closed it, caught.

"You silly Dwarf." Bilbo shook his head, "Yes, he got the color today, it was a light hurt, if you hadn't been looking it might have been light enough to be over looked."

Bilbo had learned early on that the amount of pain the reciever of the colors felt effected how dark the color they gained was, all of Bilbo's colors were dark, Dwarrow were strong and Bilbo hurt easily, always had, even as a child.

"Well, we will have to search out the one that marked him." Thorin announced, "Who all had contact with him?"

Bilbo listened amused as Thorin tried to name everyone that Bard may have encountered.

"I've noticed that there is one name you've left off." Bilbo said as he glanced up as Dwalin, Ori, and Dis ushered the children into the room, they'd been taken to get a book to read during their Garden time after they watered their plants.

"Who?" Thorin asked.

Bilbo smiled and took Marigold from Dis and walked May and Daisy to their room, the boys running along to get ready for bed as well.

"I hate when he does that." Thorin grumbled.

"You married him." Dwalin muttered, "What were you talking about?"

"Bard recieved Hurt-colors today." Thorin said.

"That's wonderful." Dis grinned, "We'll have to make his One an ambassador."

Bilbo laughed as he wandered back "That would be funny."

"Why do I feel as if you know something we don't" Dwalin said as he studied Bilbo.

"I was there when Bard got his colors." Bilbo told them as he checked on Lotho.

"And?" Thorin asked.

"And I think we should give them time to talk before we but in." Bilbo gave them each a look.

They nodded, "Fine." They grumbled.

Bilbo nodded back once and lifted Lotho to take him to his bed, "Good night."

Thorin saw Dwalin, Ori, and Dis out and bid them good night.

"What is it, Legolas?" Bilbo asked as the young Elf threw himself on the floor.

"Thorin gave you your hurt-marks right?" Legolas asked as he turned his face to the side to peer up at Bilbo.

Bilbo traced the colors at his throat, Thorin had offered to make him tight necklaces to wear that would hide most of the dark colors but Bilbo had refused and even though some of the Dwarrow looked at the mark with pity and shame in their eyes as they remembered Thorin's Madness Bilbo knew that hiding the colors would be worse in the long run.

Lobelia had expressed concern and after Bilbo's assurances had asked after an umbrella, proceeding to use it as a weapon against Thorin, who had allowed it for several moment until Lobelia stoppe and demanded that he prove that Bilbo was no longer in danger from his madness.

Bilbo had been given Dark gold inbetween the fingers of his right hand where Thorin had been holding his hand and had squeezed just a bit too tightly, and if Bilbo did not make a big deel about the green swirls that mixed with it then it was only because he was amused that Thorin feared Lobelia enough that he spread green on Bilbo's skin.

"Yes." Bilbo agreed, "Are you finally going to ask me about Gimli?"

"How did you know?" Legolas asked, "My father doesn't know does he?"

Bilbo sighed and shook his head, setting his papers aside and using his foot to rock the rocking crib Bifur had carved with Bofur for Marigold and Lotho's naps, "He does not, nor I think does any one else."

"How did you know?" Legolas asked as he sat up and looked at Bilbo.

"You do tend to follow him when you can and you talk to him more than any one else." Bilbo said, "You also tend to lean down, head tilted towards him when he speaks."

Legolas hid his face in his hands with a low groan, "My father is going to kill me, he'll never let me be with a Dwarf."

"I think you may find him more understanding now than before." Bilbo said knowingly, "The question is, have you told young Gimli?"

"No, he's not even of age yet, if I told him now..." Legolas trailed off.

"You'd be chaperoned better until he came of age." Bilbo told him, "You'd not be the first to meet young."

"We are not Hobbits, Master Baggins." Legolas cried, "It is not so easy."

Bilbo raised an eyebrow, "You are not Hobbits, this is true, Hobbits generally meet their matches young, part of the reasons we had such parties and invited nearly every one along was to allow the children the chance to discover their matches, Frodo even met Samwise at one of my Garden parties, but it is different now."

Legolas frowned, "How so?"

"When the Shire Fell, a great many of the children had already met their matches, and Hobbits, once they meet their matches have, I suppose you can call it a tie to the one that gives them their Colors, the stronger the bond and love between the two the closer they are, some can even feel the emotions their match feels when they touch." Bilbo explained, "If you'd noticed many of the Hobbits that lost their spouses still haven't quite recovered, and others have died."

"Yes, but what has that got to do with anything?"

"Everything." Bilbo said, "Most of the children, with the right amount of support can survive the loss of their match, their colors dull a little but remain, Lobelia's purple used to be the darkest purple and now it only holds a trace of the color. There is every possiblity that she will fade in a few years."

"Are... are you saying that some of the children could die because their matches have?" Legolas asked, softly.

"Yes, I have been keeping an eye on the ones I know had met their matches, most of them are doing well, and I have been setting up apprenticeships for those that need a bit more focus." Bilbo explained.

Legolas was silent for a moment, "You thought Thorin was dead for a time did you not?"

Bilbo nodded, "Yes, but my situation was a bit more complicated than most."

"How?"

"I never had time to recover from our stay in Mirkwood, and Laketown, well Hobbits don't care much for water, it makes us uneasy when there is no ground beneath our feet, and even here, once we arrived..." Bilbo looked into the fire, "So many had died in dispare here that it had sunk into the very stones, I could feel the sorrow and helplessness, some places I can still feel it." Bilbo looked back at Legolas, "When I finally returned to the Shire I was in bed for nearly two months before I even had the strength to stand for longer than a few moments. And I didn't know how being Matched to a Dwarrow would affect my colors, no Hobbit was matched outside of our people before, not in our written records anyway, and our oral traditions faded by the wayside when we settled in the Shire."

"What would have happened to you if he had died?" Legolas asked quietly.

Bilbo smiled sadly, "I suspect I would have lingered through the rest of my life, a piece of myself always missing, but remaining for the children."

"How long would you have lasted?"

Bilbo shrugged, "It depends upon the will of the Hobbit, my mother lingered for seven years, but that was desparation to see me to my coming of age, my great aunt did not even make a day after her wife died, following her into the next life hours after she'd made her exit."

"What would she have done if Thorin came to the Shire had you still been too young?" Legolas asked.

Bilbo smiled a little, "When she was still energentic she used to tell me that I should go on an adventure with her, she'd always had wandering feet, my father swore they got worse while she was pregnant with me, said that near my birth my mother actually started to go on another journey, to the Blue Mountains and went into labor two days from the Shire, I was the first Hobbit that was born outside of the Shire. Knowing that Thorin and his people had made the Blue Mountains their home a few decades before I wonder if something was calling her to go there because I belonged there."

Bilbo's eyes were soft as he gazed at Legolas, "I suspect that my Mother would have planned the wedding for as soon as possible but threatened Thorin with death if he touched me before I was ready. Many Hobbit parents have a sort of Junior wedding for their children when they meet their match, and engagement if you would, some Hobbits never have a formal wedding as such, they just sort of move in together once they are old enough, oh, some will have a party to celebrate but generally we are considered married by other races' standards as soon as our colors appear."

"So, techniqually Frodo and Samwise are married already?" Legolas asked, shocked.

"Yes." Bilbo said, "Why do you think I let them stay with each other, even to sleep."

"But... they are so young." Legolas cried.

"Yes they are young, but they belong to each other, regardless of what ever else happens, they are not ready to do as adults do and when they are they will come to me and we will talk." Bilbo explained.

"You seem sure of that."

Bilbo smiled, "Hobbits have fewer taboos when it comes to enjoying oneself, I was hardly pure when I met Thorin, I had, for a time, thought I'd never meet my match."

"I see." Legolas said slowly, "So I should tell Gimli?"

Bilbo nodded, "You may wish to speak with his parents first and explain that you do not intend to go further than courting until he is of age. The main thing is to be honest, secrets are bad when it comes to love."

Legoas nodded, "Thank you, Bilbo."

"Of course." Bilbo said as Legolas stood.

"You wouldn't know how Dwarrow court, would you?" Legolas asked hopefully.

"No clue, Thorin just kind of built me things, gave me trinkets and flowers and braided my hair." Bilbo shrugged, "I've been told that he did nothing right as he'd braided my hair while I was sleeping and he gave me the gifts directly, Dwalin and Nori explained that they should have gone through a family member or a close friend. Apparently contact is limited until the wedding, and chaperones are a must, but well, his arguments were that I had no family and we were on a quest with others so they are all mrked down as chaperones in the little contract thing that Ori has somewhere on our Courting."

Legolas laughed.

"You might endear yourself to Gimris and Gloin if you ask how you are meant to Court a Dwarrow properly." Bilbo advised.

"What should I tell my father?" Legolas asked suddenly.

"If nothing else you can mention how it would make our political ties stronger."

"How?"

"Well, Gimli is the son of a Dwarrow that helped take Erebor back and he is a member of the Royal line." Bilbo reminded him.

"But the Men might feel threatened." Legolas pointed out.

Bilbo smiled secretly, "I wouldn't worry about the Men."

Legolas frowned at him, "What do you know?"

"What don't I know?" Bilbo returned, "Gloin and Gimris should be enjoying a private lunch at their quarters, now would be the perfect time to go see them."

Legolas looked down at Bilbo but nodded, his furture with Gimli more important than discovering Hobbit secrets.