"So, Frodo," Gandalf said with a smile for the young hobbit as they sat in the garden while Gandalf had a smoke. He truly did love the Shire, with all the peace and quiet there and all the green and growing things. Bilbo's garden was especially beautiful. The weather was warm enough that none of the flowers were suffering from the cold and the rain had been plentiful enough that year that all of their blossoms were lovely. A busy wizard Gandalf may have been, but even he could appreciate the beauty of a garden in full bloom.
"What do you think of your Uncle Bilbo's mate?" Gandalf asked. He was genuinely curious what Frodo made of the situation. The boy was sharp and had good instincts. If he felt that something was off with Thorin, even if Gandalf couldn't sense it just yet, he would believe him.
"I like him," Frodo said with a smile. "He's been nothing but kind to me and he makes Uncle Bilbo so happy. I do wish that they were not quite so affectionate but . . ."
"Oh, Frodo my lad, that is only natural," Gandalf assured him with a laugh. "They have not seen each other in sixty years after all. They may calm in time. They were newly-bonded when they were separated." He was pleased that was the only concern that Frodo had about the situation. He knew that Bilbo and Thorin could be a bit overbearing at times when they were together, be it when they were fighting and making life uncomfortable for everyone during the quest or when they were mooning over each other like lovesick fools. He smiled indulgently at the thought. The two of them truly were a good match.
"But something about him confuses me, Gandalf," Frodo said, his brows pulling together as he tried to put his discomfort into words. While he believed what the others had said, he knew that Gandalf would give him a straight answer on the matter—if he answered at all, that was.
"What confuses you, Frodo?" the wizard asked, his heart constricting painfully within him. Part of him had known that it was too good to be true: Thorin coming back from the dead. He had known that it would not last. Bilbo's poor heart would only be broken again, though he had hoped that he was just being cynical.
"Thorin . . . he . . . he seems to love Uncle Bilbo very much," the hobbit said slowly. The wizard nodded. Even a blind man could see how much that dwarf cared for Bilbo. "How did he do it? Everyone says that he tried to kill Bilbo but . . . I don't see how he could have. He loves him. Surely he wouldn't have tried to kill him over a stone. Thorin isn't . . . he doesn't seem violent. I don't understand it." Gandalf sighed tiredly. This wasn't what he had feared would be said but it was still a difficult thing to explain.
"That is a hard thing for me to explain, Frodo," Gandalf breathed. "I was not there to witness it myself but . . . Thorin's family has a long history of, well, madness. Gold madness specifically. You are right when you say that Thorin is not violent—unless you are a Goblin, Orc, Warg or someone threatening his family, that is—or at least he is not violent when he is in his right mind. The sight of the gold . . . from what I heard, it drove him mad.
"From what the others have told me, he was not himself. He did not eat or sleep. His only focus was on the gold and one treasure in particular."
"The Arkenstone," Frodo said. Gandalf nodded sadly.
"The same," the wizard agreed, sadness etched into every line of his ancient face. "Your uncle, bless his soul, found it and rather than give it to Thorin tried to end a war with it. He couldn't have predicted the outcome of his actions, though anyone else could have. What you have to understand about Thorin Oakenshield . . . he had experienced much loss in his life. More than any being should.
"He lost his mother the day that Smaug took Erebor from them when he was only twenty-four—still very much a child to the dwarves—and then a scant twenty-nine years later his grandfather and younger brother were killed in battle. Fifty-one years after that his father disappeared leaving him to take the mantle of King and leaving him with just his sister and two young nephews as family.
"That is not to speak on the other losses he suffered. He lost his kingdom, his dignity . . . he lost everything. Due to all those losses, by the time your uncle came along, Thorin had walled himself off from everyone. He was cold, not cruel but he did not truly allow himself to become attached to things or people for fear of losing them as well." Gandalf paused and a gentle smile crossed his face before he continued.
"Your uncle," Gandalf said, his eyes shining with pride, "Bilbo is one of the most extraordinary beings I have ever met in my life. Not only did he singlehandedly save the quest from failure more than once, he also managed to sneak his way past Thorin's defenses. That, my boy, is part of the reason they are so incorrigible. Thorin and Bilbo had both been isolated for far too long and when they found someone to cling to . . . well, can we truly fault them for being exuberant about it?"
"But how does any of that explain what he did?" Frodo asked. He wasn't sure why Gandalf had told him any of that. It wasn't that he didn't want to know about his uncle's lover, but all it did was make his heart ache for the dwarf. Especially since he knew that Thorin had also lost his nephews. It seemed cruel that he had been forced to endure so much loss.
"It explains it," Gandalf offered closing his eyes at the pain of the memory. "Bilbo was the one being that Thorin trusted other than his family and Bilbo took the one treasure that was the most precious to him and—instead of giving it to him—gave it to the armies that were marching on him. I am not defending his actions. He was wrong in what he did to Bilbo. However, I can understand why he felt betrayed. He trusted Bilbo, brought him into his home, let him into his heart, and Bilbo stole from him to give to people making war on him. It wasn't only gold madness that caused Thorin to lash out at your uncle as he did: it was heartbreak. Bilbo broke his heart. Unintentionally, but he did it all the same."
"So did Uncle Bilbo get the same lecture that Thorin did?" Frodo asked in curiosity. He couldn't quite imagine Gandalf truly lecturing Bilbo . . . at least not successfully. And the mental image of his uncle, who approximately half of Gandalf's size, glaring up at the wizard and saying "no Gandalf, you see here" nearly made the young hobbit laugh.
"Heavens no!" Gandalf said, looking affronted that Frodo would suggest such a thing. "Your uncle was heartbroken, nearly inconsolable. And then Thorin died and it was not appropriate to explain to him why he had gotten the reaction he had. Bilbo was depressed enough about Thorin's death. I did not feel the need to rub salt in his wounds by telling him that their falling out was due to a misunderstanding of Thorin's past on his part. I am many things, Frodo Baggins, cruel is not one of them."
"I didn't mean to imply that you were, Gandalf," Frodo offered looking up at the wizard with a sad smile.
"I know you didn't, my dear boy. I know you did not," Gandalf replied patting Frodo's shoulder gently. "I apologize for my anger. This was an unpleasant topic and I was . . ."
"Don't worry, Gandalf," Frodo offered with a bright smile on his face. He knew better than to be cross with Gandalf for his flare of temper. Bilbo had always warned him that the wizard—and wizards in general—was quick to anger and not likely to give straight answers unless it suited him and that Frodo would just have to live with that if he wanted to live at all.
"Hobbits really are much too forgiving," Gandalf said with a fond smile. He may have been talking to Frodo, but it was not just Frodo on his mind. As he spoke, Bilbo's crumbled tear-streaked face in the Elf/Human camp at the base of the Lonely Mountain swam to the front of his memory. He only hoped that it would be an expression he would never see again.
ooOO88OOoo
Inside Bag End, the dwarves were also discussing the past. The second that Frodo and Gandalf had shut the door behind them Balin and Bofur had rounded on Dwalin wordlessly demanding that he tell them what he had seen sixty years ago. Dwalin looked at them levelly for a moment.
"Brother, Bofur, I will only ask this once," Dwalin said solemnly. "What I saw has haunted me since I had the unfortunate experience of walking in on them. Are you certain that you truly want to know?"
"With a lead up like that?" Bofur said, his usual cocky grin in place. "Of course I do. If it can haunt you, I have to know!" Balin, while less vocal, also agreed with a nod of his head. Dwalin sighed deeply before he began to recount the scene that he had been the unfortunate witness to sixty years before. As he spoke both Bofur and Balin paled considerably and their eyes went wide in shock.
"Bilbo was . . . he was . . ." Bofur said trying to wrap his head around the idea that Bilbo was doing that to Thorin. He would never have figured that the king would allow something like that to happen.
"While he was . . . is that even possible?" Balin asked, a confused and vaguely disgusted look on his face. He had considered himself a rather adventurous dwarf in his youth but . . . he'd never done anything to rival that. To think, a dwarf had been beaten in the realm of sexual adventurism by a hobbit.
"Apparently," Dwalin said dryly. "Bilbo was doing it so it must be."
"And Thorin was letting him?" Bofur insisted. "He wasn't . . . tied up or something?"
"I saw many things," Dwalin replied with a shudder as the image of naked pale flesh against naked tanned, haired flesh streaked through his mind once more, "bonds weren't one of them." The two dwarves that hadn't witnessed the event shared horrified glances. If it wasn't for the fact that Dwalin had been traumatized by it they would have accused him of having one over on them. It was just too outrageous. There was no way that Bilbo had been . . . no it was too much. They were only sure of one thing: they would never be able to look at their ex-king or their ex-burglar the same way again.
ooOO88OOoo
Thorin and Bilbo had been walking in a companionable silence ever since they left the forge. The night was quiet and there was no one about. The dwarf had been thinking about the conversation he and Bilbo had had earlier all day and he had come to a decision. Now all he had to do was convince Bilbo that it was a good idea. Not an easy task. The hobbit was more stubborn than most dwarves Thorin had met in his life time. Perhaps surprising him with it would be his best bet.
"A hobbit," Thorin said suddenly. Bilbo looked at him as though he had lost his mind. That was a rather random thing for the dwarf to say and Thorin rarely said random things. Even if he was more talkative now than he had been at the beginning of the quest, he never said things that did not need saying in some way.
"I'm sorry?" Bilbo asked quietly. If he hadn't been sure that he heard an "a" in front of the word "hobbit" he might have assumed that Thorin was addressing him as he had at the start of the quest.
"I've thought about it and if we get a child I would like it to be a hobbit," Thorin clarified, looking warily at Bilbo. He wasn't sure how his lover was going to take the fact that he hadn't dropped the subject. At the first hint of madness he was prepared to let if pass for now.
"Really?" Bilbo said, his tone showing his surprise. "I'd figured that you would want a dwarf. They're sturdier than hobbits and you could teach it all manner of dwarvish things that you can't teach a hobbit."
"Aye, dwarves are sturdier than hobbits," Thorin replied with a smile, "but that is irrelevant. Hobbits have a surprising strength in them. I can still teach a hobbit many things that I would teach a dwarfling. As my adopted child I can technically teach it whatever I desire. It will be an honorary dwarf, much like you, âzyungâl." Bilbo could tell that Thorin had used the Khuzdul word both because he knew that Bilbo liked it and to prove his point that he had already allowed Bilbo into the secret world of the dwarves.
"Yes," Bilbo agreed, "but would it not be easier with a dwarfling?"
"It might be," Thorin said with a shrug. "However a dwarfling poses additional problems. Not only are dwarflings rare, they age very slowly. If we were to adopt one less than fifty years old it is possible that even I would not be able to see it to maturity. It would not do to adopt an orphan only to orphan it again. Hobbits, with your shorter lifespans, do not pose this challenge. Even if we were to somehow acquire a newborn, I'm nearly guaranteed another sixty years of life—unless something comes along to end me prematurely—I would nearly see our child to the end of his or her life."
"That makes sense," Bilbo said. "So a hobbitling. Do you have a preference on gender? I'm not saying that we will be able to choose something like that, or that I am agreeing to this just yet, but if we are planning we may as well do it right." Thorin felt a smirk cross his features and thanked Mahal that it was dark enough that Bilbo could not see it. If Bilbo was planning that far ahead the battle was won. It was like Balin had said about the settlement and Thorin moving in: Bilbo just wanted to drag his feet a bit and bluster about before he consented to it. But he would consent in the end.
"I would prefer . . . I believe I would like a little she-hobbit," Thorin said with a smile. He had already raised two boys and girls were so rare among the dwarves. Even had he had children of his own the odds of having a daughter had been slim. If he could choose, he would like a daughter. He had no kingdom to worry about needing an heir for and this would make it easier on the succession at any rate. Even if she was not a dwarf, any child of his would be of the senior line to the throne and could disinherit Dáin's son. A daughter would eliminate this difficulty as daughters were ineligible to rule.
"A she-hobbit?" Bilbo asked with a laugh. "You do know that they are nothing but trouble, right? There's a reason I never married a hobbit lass."
"I'm glad that you think so," Thorin said, pulling his lover against him and leaning down to plant a tender kiss on his lips. "Had you have married a hobbit lass I would never have been able to claim you as my own. However, after the two terrors I have already raised a little she-hobbitling can't be any trouble." At his words Bilbo's eyes grew sad and he raised a hand to gently stroke Thorin's face with the pad of his thumb.
"Are you sure that you want to do this?" Bilbo asked. "I do not actually need a child. I don't want you to feel that you need to do this to please me. I know that it won't be easy for you. Not with . . ."
"I'm certain," Thorin promised. "I would like to raise a child with you. Yes, at times it may hurt me but I . . . it will be worth it. That may be the other reason I want a hobbitling rather than a dwarfling. I hadn't realized it until now, but that could be a factor. A little dwarfling . . . even if it didn't look like them . . . I'm not sure that I could endure that."
"You don't have to endure it at all if you don't wish to," Bilbo reminded him. Even as he looked at his lover he could see the pain fading to determination and knew that Thorin truly wanted this. Bilbo had never been able to deny the dwarf anything and he knew that in the end this would be no different. Even if he was far too old for this, he knew that soon he would become a father.
"I'll agree to this," Bilbo said with a resigned sigh. "You can have your little she-hobbit if we can find one. On one condition."
"Name it," Thorin breathed. He couldn't believe that Bilbo had given in so quickly. He had expected this to take months of careful hints and coercion to get Bilbo to agree. He figured that the condition would be something about Bilbo not being the one to change diapers or something to that effect. He should have known better. Bilbo was a shrewd little creature and knew that he held a powerful bargaining chip.
"Before we try to find to find a child, you have to go talk to the mother of your boys," Bilbo said, his tone allowing for no argument. "You have to at least attempt to make peace with your sister." Thorin sighed. Of course that would be the condition he had agreed to without asking to hear it first. That was evil of Bilbo. But Thorin could see no way around it. He wanted to try to find a child and he needed to attempt to make peace with Dís and he had already agreed to it.
"Fine," Thorin said sadly. "I will try to make peace with my sister. You are aware that you may be forcing me to my death, are you not?" Bilbo scoffed at that, thinking that Thorin was being melodramatic. "I am not joking. Dís may very well behead me. I took her sons, Bilbo. She won't forgive me even if I come to her on my knees. She's not going to be pleased to see me."
"Well then," Bilbo said with a sad smile, "I suppose that I'll have to come with you then." Thorin snorted at that. He had a sudden mental picture of Bilbo standing between him and Dís, brandishing Sting and telling his sister that she was not to touch him. What he didn't have the heart to tell Bilbo was that Dís was more formidable than Bilbo could ever imagine. He would stand no chance against her . . . or he wouldn't have sixty years ago. Thorin didn't know if Dís could still wield an axe or not, though he assumed that she still could. He knew that he'd probably find out. He tried to keep his voice light and clung to the funnier mental image than the last depressing thought.
"You will defend me from my sister?" Thorin asked wryly, lifting an eyebrow at the idea.
"I'll try if that's what it comes down to," Bilbo replied. "I was actually thinking more along the lines of 'I'll come along so that if she kills you she can kill me too.' I don't want to outlive you again. Not so soon." By the end of his speech all the laughter was gone from his voice and he sounded as though he was near tears. Thorin pulled him into his chest, burying his nose in the soft curls and breathing in his scent as Bilbo fought for control of his emotions.
"I won't let that happen," Thorin promised. It was a baseless promise and they both knew it. Thorin could no more assure his own survival than he could predict the weather or remember directions. "I won't force you to live without me again, my dear Bilbo." Once Bilbo was in control once more, they resumed the walk home.
Neither of them knew what the future would bring, but they were content that they had a workable plan for the time being. Thorin would visit Dís, a small army of dwarves was going to descend on the Shire, and they were going to adopt a hobbitling. It looked like a brilliant plan. However, both of them had enough experience with "brilliant" plans to know that something was going to go wrong. They just didn't know what it would be.
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There we are all, another chapter out. I hope that you enjoyed it. And if you are just dying of curiosity about what exactly Thorin and Bilbo were doing, chapter two of "Past and Present Entwined" is called 'Traumatizing Dwalin' and gives you as much detail as you want :)
As always, thank you to everyone who took the time to read this chapter or to add it to your alerts or favorites.
And a special thank you to those of you who reviewed.
Guest: I'm glad that I can amp up the love for this fic with each chapter :) It's rapidly becoming my favorite of my fics. I hope you enjoyed the newest update :)
Donna: Thank you so much! I hope that you continue to think so!
Guest: Thank you! I'm glad that you think that I have done a good job of it :) And yeah, I've noticed . . . you just have to keep in mind that a lot of the writers on this site are young writers. They will get better with age :) and there really are some gems in the mix.
That's all for now folks. I hope you enjoyed it and would love to know what you think (even if you hated it) so please leave me a review if you have time and/or feel so inclined.
Stickdonkeys