Disclaimer: I do not own The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, or any associated characters or concepts. Quotes in this chapter taken directly from The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

Summary: On the way to the Undying Lands, Billa is eaten by a time-traveling sea monster. The elves on board attack the monster in retaliation, and it escapes by swimming into the past: several decades into the past. Billa wakes up in a sweat, gasping and frightened, only to realize that she is back in her thirty-three-year old body. What on earth is she going to do?


Chapter 29

Billa had taken Balin, Dwalin, and Thorin down to the market just after elevensies. They were chatting cheerfully and negotiating over some fresh peaches when a terrified scream tore through the market. At once, everyone fell silent to listen.

"Help! Lily!" came a girl's voice. "They took Lily!" The hobbits gasped, looking heartbroken, and bowed their heads, grave. Lily's mother gave a keening wail and she collapsed to her knees, the hobbits near her crowding around to hold her in what little comfort they could offer.

Jenny came into view, bedraggled and pale-faced. Billa ran to her and spoke quickly. "Who took Lily? What did you see?"

Jenny blinked at her, confused. "Big Folk," she said, her voice a frightened whisper. The market was almost silent, and her words echoed eerily. "With chains. Lily told me to run so I did, but I saw them catch her and take her away," she whimpered.

Billa's heart clenched. In the years away from the Shire, she had forgotten about the painful rumor of her youth that hobbits did their best to ignore. Apparently it wasn't a rumor- it was true. They'd been helpless before against such things, but they weren't now.

"Where, Jenny?" she demanded. "Where were you, and which way did they go?"

"We were," her breath hitched and her eyes welled up. "We were exploring," she sniffled, "in Greenfields, looking for fairies. North." The hobbits shook their heads sadly. The girls had been playing on the very northern edges of the Shire. It was no wonder they'd been taken.

Billa nodded. "Good girl. You did well by coming to tell us. Find your mother and catch your breath," she said, gripping her shoulder reassuringly. Looking agonized by the loss of her friend, Jenny staggered towards her mother and dissolved into tears on her shoulder.

Billa grabbed Thorin roughly by the shoulders, turning him to face her.

"Slavers!" she told him urgently. "Thorin, one of the hobbits has been taken by slavers. They don't come often, and we've never had the means to go after them, and those few who tried disappeared or died. They're quick and fast, and they're usually gone before the Rangers even know they were here," she said, her voice shaking.

"Please, Thorin, can you help us? Is there anything we can do?" He stared at her, eyes hard.

"It hasn't been charity at all," he said quietly. "You truly need our help and our protection," he seemed almost surprised. Then he seemed to swell before her eyes, shedding the softness of the Shire and returning to the fierce warrior king of her memory.

"Please, Thorin!" she begged him, still clutching his shoulders. "I will do anything. Please help that girl."

Dwalin rumbled. "It's one of my girls, Lily."

Thorin nodded gravely. And then he bellowed.

"WE NEED PONIES, NOW," he roared, and hobbits shook at the sound of it. Billa darted forward, grabbed two hobbits familiar with horses, and dragged them away to Bag End to saddle the ponies.

"Yes sir!" she cried as she sprinted away. They followed after her, confused but trusting.

Thorin continued. "YOU!" a group of young hobbits cowered away from Thorin's pointing finger. "GET A MESSAGE TO THE DWARF CAMP."

"What do we tell them sir?" One of the hobbits mustered his strength and stood up straight.

"DU BEKAR. Slavers taking young ones, form an advance force of 15 muster at the work-site immediately, ready to ride," he said roughly, his face twisted into a familiar snarl as he, Balin, and Dwalin turned away to sprint after Billa. They'd need weapons and war-gear.

Billa instructed the hobbits quickly. "Saddle these ponies, as sure and as quick as you can," she commanded. One of them started to ask questions, but she cut him off quickly. "No time for that," she rebuked him. "Saddle them now."

She bolted into the pantry, throwing traveling rations and healing supplies into sacks. She left them by the door, and darted to her room. She put on her leather training gear and braided her hair away from her face. She strapped on one of Thorin's swords and the knives she'd bought from Nori before seizing her trusty walking stick and following the heavily armored Thorin, Dwalin and Balin down the hall and out the door.

She hauled up the bags of rations and dragged them after the dwarves. Thorin glanced at them curiously. "Travel rations," she said shortly, and he nodded.

"Lads," he said as he mounted a pony. The two hobbits jumped to attention. "Secure those bags to Lady Billa's pony."

Twenty ponies rode down the road towards the bridge, four of them mounted. It was a fearsome sight for the hobbits, to see their new guests in war gear and grim faces as they rode through the market. There was a grave silence as they passed, both in grief for Lily and fear for their friends.

"Thorin," Billa said quietly as she rode behind him, "If you need a scout, I offer my services. Hobbits are incredibly light on their feet and I will be all but invisible if you need me to be."

A sharp nod was all the recognition she got. Then Balin spoke. "Why didn't you tell us about the slavers, lass?" his voice was cold.

Billa gave a humorless snort. "I forgot. I wasn't even sure they were real," she said bitterly. "They were so rarely spoken about as a child. You were just warned never to wander too far, and when your friends disappeared, no one went looking. After the Fell Winter, I hardly left my house and I never heard about any other disappearances. When I was planning my trip alone to Bree, that particular danger never even crossed my mind. Bandits or robbers, maybe, but not slavers."

"Why'd you want our protection on the trip back, then, if you weren't afraid of the slavers?" Dwalin asked, his eyes scanning the road cautiously. They would reach the smials soon.

"I liked you," she admitted. "I wanted you to come and stay with me. I didn't think you'd come if I just invited you, so I asked for protection."

Balin snorted. "Are there any more of these deals where you don't actually want what you're asking for?" he asked wryly.

Billa shifted. "I'm satisfied with all of our current arrangements, and I think our current situation proves that the Shire needs the dwarves just as much or more than the dwarves need the Shire," she answered, neatly side-stepping Balin's question. "If Thorin feels that our arrangements are unfair due to the slavers, I am willing to renegotiate until he is satisfied."

"Shazara," Thorin said, tightly wound. Billa obligingly fell silent. They'd arrived. A force of 15 dwarves, armed and angry-looking, milled around restlessly. Their attention snapped to Thorin, and he reined in his his pony, Billa and the others following quickly.

"Mount," he said gruffly. "A lass has been taken by slavers. We go to retrieve her and slay the party. Bifur, you're tracking, we're heading north to the Greenfields. Billa, is there anything else we should know?"

Billa chose to ignore the acid undertone in his voice. He was justifiably angry, and she'd heard worse. "When you begin your assault, Dwalin should go to her and keep her eyes covered. Don't let her see the carnage during or afterwards. She's never seen blood spilled before. The roads directly east are usually patrolled regularly by Rangers, so I would expect our journey takes us more to the north, towards the Forodwaith and then east. The Haradrim are rumored to be notorious slavers. I can't think of a nearer market," she said.

Thorin nodded sharply. "You'll find no open market nearer, but slavers don't need an open market to thrive. Guide us to the Greenfields," he told her.

Grimly, Billa and Bifur took the lead.