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.
On the way to the Undying Lands, Billa Baggins is eaten by a time-traveling sea monster. She wakes up in her 33-year-old body and realizes she has a chance to change everything. Unfortunately, Thorin has a tendency to run around shirtless and Dis thinks she has improper designs on Fili and Kili, but if she can convince the Shire that Dwalin is a dance teacher, things might be okay.
Chapter 38
Nori, being the sneak that he was, couldn't resist eavesdropping when Thorin finally went to give Billa her knives. He was excited to teach her how to use them; he thought she'd be a natural. Also, he'd also have proof to end the bet he and Bifur had taken up about when they would finally kiss. Thorin would kiss her tonight, he was sure, and Nori would win. Unfortunately, instead of the sweet, sappy scene he was expecting, Billa panicked, and that put Nori on his guard.
He'd overheard Balin's suspicions, of course, but he hadn't taken them seriously. Even if Billa had been a mercenary-for-hire in a past life, there was no doubting the fact that she was completely devoted to Thorin now, and had irrevocably tied her reputation in the Shire to him and his dwarves. Nori figured that yes, she could have a secret, but it was probably a much bigger deal in her mind than in reality.
But he snuck out after them, just to be sure.
Billa had been far too overwhelmed with telling her story to overhear his footsteps, and Thorin was too distracted listening to her, and Nori was careful to keep his steps in time with the ponies' hooves.
He listened to her unbelievable story. Time travel? Really? Who had ever even heard of such a thing. The implications made his head hurt. But, Nori was a thief and a good judge of character. He knew when a person was lying, and he knew Billa and all of her tells.
Whether the story was true or not, the fact was that Billa believed that it was true. She earnestly, genuinely believed that she had met them before, and fought with them and traveled with them on a quest to reclaim Erebor. Nori had been young when they fled Erebor, but some of what she described sounded familiar, and listening to her descriptions made him smile wistfully. Then she told of Thorin's descent into madness and then death, which had made Nori shift uncomfortably. That had been hard to take. But still, her voice rang true.
Either she was a seer of some kind, she was subject to particularly vivid and uncomfortably accurate nightmares, she was slightly mad, or she was telling the truth. Considering that her tale had a fifty-fifty chance of being accurate, Nori shrugged and decided that he may as well believe it could have happened, but it no longer would, and that was enough.
He snuck into the house before them and lurked in the shadows, wondering what Thorin would decide. Would he really kill her for this? Nori rather doubted it. But, Thorin had been hurt and shocked by what she had to say, and there was really no telling exactly what he would do.
Then, he loomed over Billa and she knelt willingly before him, straight and proud and unyielding. Nori thought that it was rather a beautiful picture of bravery and trust. Then, Thorin ruined it by leaning over to whisper in her ear, making her blush and shiver and tremble. His hand came up to cup her neck, pulling her close against his lips. His nose was pressed into her curls and his hand stroked her neck, and Billa's face was beet-red by the time he pulled away. There, thought Nori, is the sappy scene I was waiting for. Then, Thorin walked out of the drawing room, but paused in the shadows like Nori to watch her reaction.
She tumbled down to her hands and knees, deeply affected by whatever he had said. In her hands was one knife, its hilt wrapped in plain cloth. She brought it up to her lips to kiss it, and whispered an apology to Thorin. Then she staggered to her feet and clenched her eyes closed, gripping the knife tightly in one hand while she trailed a hand against the walls with the other. She walked quietly back to her room, and Nori watched her go. Thorin followed her silently on socked feet, and waited by her door.
After a few minutes, Nori could hear a quiet melody coming from the room. He couldn't quite make out the words, but he didn't have to. He knew that song, and from the way Thorin's head fell into his hands, Thorin knew it too.
Thorin's hands scrubbed at his face, and he sighed deeply, his shoulders stooped and weary. Nori watched as Thorin trudged into his room, right next to Billa's and shut the door.
Nori stared after them for a long time. That was not how he had expected the night to go.
