Hello, lovely people!
I'm so very sorry for my delay, but between my exam (I got 30/30 in US History, I never thought it possible!) and Real Life (my university is going to start in four days and my schedule is unmanageable! I mean, according to it I should be at the same time in 4 classes...FOUR! I mean, I'm in no way at all Hermione Granger, for God's sake! But, alas, this is Italian school system for you!)
So, this chapter is a bit short, but I'm working on a one-shot, in this same Universe, about Bilbo's life from birth to his meeting with Thorin, something to change the prospective from Thorin's to Bilbo's one, so I'm not actually just procrastinating, this time!
Now, I want to thank Aerafel, Blue Stone 16, BriannaDawn, CutieZ Writer, Dareagon, Gaara's Himitsu, Iyroshi, Kiku Honda of Japan, LiquidCrystal, Noah of Silence, Ranger Maestro, Redmeadow, She with the hazel eyez, SweetHummingbird, Taric123, The Artistic Dragon, TheChestnutTree , TheDominatrixIrene , Tigey-chan , Yaoishipper4eva , YoukoTink , Yvhiy , beargirl1393, chezE122091 , dawn257 , dtloer , erutan , gecko17 , not dead yet , obsessiveicequeen , safyr1000 , sakurababa27 , tex812 , vicocen , viovio for following and Alexandra198, BabyDragom123 , CrazyAnimeChild15 , IheartOakenshield193712 , Iyroshi , Kenskirae , Kiku Honda of Japan , Loki40766 , Lyness , MagicalMisto7 , Midnight Flamera , SmellsLikeTeenSpirt , TheDominatrixIrene , Thean Silvereyes , Yaoishipper4eva , Yvhiy , brokendreamer49 , cococamper , dark isn't necessarily evil , gecko17 , jewel131415 , not dead yet , oreo man , sakamui , sakurababa27 , tsukinotora , zorchide for favour...ing? (It's a word?) the story! I'm really really glad you liked it enough to spend your time reading/following/favouring (it's a word, according to GoogleTranslate!) it!
Look after the chapter for the answers to the reviews!
Enjoy!
It was raining the day after Thorin last saw the Hobbit.
And to make things worse, his cousin Dain and his delegation were supposed to arrive within the next two hours.
While he was waiting in his room, pacing about the chamber, the letter given to him by the Halfling rested in his front pocket, still unread.
It wasn't because he was afraid of what it might say, no, absolutely no.
He simply had no time to waste on reading some foolish letter written by some uncultured Hobbit about Mahal only knows what.
He shifted a bit, staring outside the window for any sign from the Landless Camp or from one of Dain's heralds, but, rain aside, it was all very calm and quiet.
A soft knock on the door made him startle and reach for his sword, Deathless, spinning around and finding himself face-to-face with his sister Dìs and a following of Hobbit faunts clinging to her royal blue dress, their wet clothes leaving a puddle on the floor.
"Hello, brother dear! I found those three wandering about the Palace, hiding behind our furnitures and I decided to take them here! They said they know you and that they are the nephews of that charming young Hobbit Dancer who visited yesterday!"
Thorin frowned, looking at the boys who squirmed a bit under his heavy gaze.
"Yes, I know them. And I know they shouldn't be here without their uncle."
"Oh, he knows we're here, Mister King! We left him a message! Mister Bofur said he would tell him!" exclaimed Merry, his fellows nodding along with his words.
"Mister Bofur? The Dwarf from the Mine Guild? That Bofur?" asked Dìs with a frown.
"That's him! He's uncle's friend, always give him a lot of money!" Said Frodo, emphasizing the 'lot' by spreading his arms as much as he could.
"Lots of money? Really? A Miner?" asked Thorin, his voice laced with sarcasm.
"Yes! And his cousin, mister Bifur, made a toy for each of us! Even for Pippin!" added Sam, scrunching his nose up "he always drools on it, though."
"He drools 'cause he's a baby, Sam! They always Drool! Myrtle does too!"
"That's disgusting too!"
Thorin rubbed at his temples, sighing deeply before addressing the kids another time, tired of listening to their childish banters, that were way too similar to the ones his own sister-sons sill had.
"I don't care if you told your uncle or not, but today I have no time to deal with you kids."
"Why not?" demanded Frodo, looking at the king straight in the eyes.
"Because, little one, I'm waiting for a guest, an important one."
"Who?"
Curse Hobbits and their curiosity.
"My cousin Dain, Lord of the Hiron Hills."
"The bitchy, fat one?" asked Frodo, tilting his head in a way frightfully similar to his uncle.
"I...suppose he is a bit on the fat side, yes." answered Dìs, covering her laughter with her hand.
"He's very fat! He always sent guards chasing after us, when we went to the Market! He only let uncle dance because he liked to watch. Old pervert Dwarf, Grandma always said!" stated Merry happily, not noticing the shocked faces of the Royal Dwarves.
"Okay...that, I did not expect from our cousin."
"Neither did I. But now the three of you are coming with me to wait for your uncle."
"Where are we going? It's raining outside, in case you haven't noticed!"
"In case you hadn't notice, Merry, your wet clothes are slowly flooding my Chamber, so now you, me and your cousins are coming with me to change and wait for Bilbo in the Throne Room, how does this sound to you?" asked Thorin, his voice full of irony and exasperation at the kids' antics.
"Cool, can we play on the Throne?!" asked Frodo excitedly, jumping up and down, getting droplets of water on anything near himself.
"Yes, yes, but for Mahal's sake, stay still, you're getting water everywhere!"
"Thank you!" without another word the three Hobbit children ran from the Room, leaving the Royal siblings by themselves.
"You seem to have found yourself a handful of troubles again, brother dear."
"Shut up."
xXx
"...and so, the Princess of the Elves, Arwen, gave me a kiss on the cheek and she said she will marry me as soon as I'll be of age!"
The Gods must hate him, mused Thorin, sitting on his Throne, listening to Merry's endless chatter while the fauntling sat on his laps, happy to say whatever came to his mind while his two partners-in-crime played on the floor with some gems they found on the ground, tumbled from the Treasure.
"Sweet Mahal, this is not something you see everyday!"
The unexpected exclamation startled all the four occupants of the Throne Room, who snapped their heads up staring at the newcomers with wide eyes.
"Dain, my cousin. It's a pleasure to see you." said Thorin, standing to his feet, Merry still clinging to his shirt.
He came face-to-face with his cousin and bumped his own head against his relative's, startling the Hobbit in his harm who yelped.
"So, my dear cousin, what do you have here? Landless children? What use do you have for trash like that?"
"The Hobbits are my guest, Dain, and I'd be grateful if you'd not say such things, especially in front of them."
"What do you care? It's not like they're worth the clothes they're wearing. Only good for stealing and whoring, that's all."
"From what I've been told, they're also good at dancing, Cousin."
Dain sneered at him, a fake, mirthless smile playing on his lips "So you do know him, the little Dancer. He refused everything I promised him, all the gems and gold I swore to give his family! He despised me and fought me, making me look like a fool and a madman!"
Seeing him spitting saliva everywhere, face contorted with rage, Thorin had little problems seeing his cousin like the madman his people saw in him.
And by the noises coming from Merry in his arms and Frodo and Sam from the floor, the children agreed with him.
"Yes, Dain, I know him but.."
"He does dance like Nessa come to earth, doesn't he? That beautiful, beautiful jewel. I would keep him with me, should he allow it. Yes, to keep him safe!"
Thorin stared at Dain with an expression full both of concern and disgust at his cousin's behaviour, looking horrified when the Dwarf Lord started to describe how he would keep Bilbo safe, with unfocused eyes and a mad expression about him.
If only he's stopped talking for a moment to look at the faces of the ones standing before him, he would have found their shocked looks and, in the tiny Hobbits' cases, hate and disgust.
Suddenly, though, Dain's rambling was cut by the arrival of a Dwarf and the very Hobbit of whom the Dwarf Lord was talking about in such a crazed way.
Thorin's breath hitched when he saw the attire of the Dancer that day, his wet curls flat on his head and his green dress, barely reaching his mid-thigh, was stuck to his body forming a second skin, and leaving very few things to the King's immagination.
He quickly glanced at Dain and found an obsessed look in his eyes, that were focused on the visible expanse of skin of Bilbo's legs.
Clearing his throat, the King finally settled his gaze on the Dwarf, who was standing awkwardly next to the Dancer, shifting on the balls of his feet and not meeting Thorin's eyes, playing with his long scarf.
Shifting his look on the Hobbit, he met his wide eyes, the pupil almost invisible, lost in his grey-blue eyes.
He looked terrified.
Completely frightened by the sole presence of Dain.
Not even his nephews' hand clutching at his clothes seemed to calm him enough to stop shaking and Thorin could clearly see one of his hand reaching for the Miner's tunic, holding it tightly in his grasps, trying and apparently failing at finding some sort of relief by the touch.
"You...you are here! My pretty emerald, my precious diamond, my wonderful ruby, you're here! I missed you so!"
Bilbo backed off, avoiding the hand that had come towards his face.
"You have to stop avoiding me, little Dancer, if you don't stop I'll might become angry and you don't want me to be angry, right, little Emerald?"
"Don't call him that! Leave him alone or I'll be forced to make you leave!"
"You won't cousin, you need me for your trades. You can't force me to do anything. I can."
With those last words the fat Dwarf Lord turned to leave, glancing behind his shoulders to look at them one last time before leaving.
"Remember my words, cousin Thorin: I always get what I want, and I want him. He'll be mine and mine alone."
As soon as he was out of the Throne Room, Bilbo seemed to collapse, the only thing keeping him from hitting the floor was his hold on the Miner's tunic, but when he met Thorin's eyes again, they were clear, hard and unreadable.
"Boys, we are going now. Bofur, take Frodo, please. Your Majesty, I apologize for any trouble caused by my presence here. Had I known Lord Dain was here, I wouldn't have come."
Thorin just nodded dumbly, staring at the Hobbit before him, the very Hobbit who had opposed, without even saying a word or raising a hand, to one of the greatest Dwarf Lord in all Middle-Earth and had won.
After he and the other three little Hobbits left, followed closely by the Dwarf Miner, he finally read the letter the Thains had written him, which he found full of errors, but that clearly asked him to restock their supply.
He went to bed after writing his reply, allowing the Hobbits to take whatever they needed from his stocks, and with a sense of uneasiness settled in his bones.
He bolted awake in the middle of the night, when he felt a hand on his mouth, keeping it closed.
A knife pointed at his throat.
Complete darkness surrounded him and his assaulter.
Notes:
I thought a lot about whom would have been the best choice for "Frollo" and, in the end, I opted for Dain, because I really don't know a lot about him, apart from the fact that he'll become King after Thorin's death in the Hobbit and that his son is also called Thorin (the third) and because of this I didn't particularly feel concerned about writing him as a mad and greedy Lord. Let me know what you think about it!
Bofur is a sweetheart. In the one-shot I'm writing we're going to see how he and Bilbo met and became friends and the role he has in the relationship between the Hobbit and his King. And no, Bilbo and him were/are/will not be lovers or something, not because I don't ship Bilbo with him (actually I ship Bilbo with half the Company), but because this story is about Bilbo and Thorin. We'll meet him again, anyway!
Dain says that Bilbo "dances like Nessa". Now, Nessa is one of the Valier, a Queen of the Valar, the goddess of dance and beauty, wife of Tulkas. She's something akin to Aphrodite, for her beauty and Artemis, for her affinity with nature.
I'm just sorry for the cliffhanger!
Reviews:
SmellsLikeTeenSpirt: Thank you for all your wonderful reviews! I always feel so happy after reading them! And seeing as you reacted to chapter 3 cliffhanger, I guess you'll want me dead by now! :) thank you again!
Saphireanime: thank you very much, hope you've enjoyed this chapter too!
XxXSmiles101XxX: Sorry if I'm late with my answer, but thank you a lot for your support!
Smiles101 : thank you for your appreciation, I'm really glad to know what I write is liked! Thank you, again! And thank you for you reviews on first chapter, too!
SweetHummingbird: Thank you very much for your review, and sorry if I always keep you waiting for an update, I'll try and do better next time!
IheartOakenshield193712: First, your icon is the cutest thing ever, second, sorry for my late answer, third, I really really don't like living in Italy! At all.
BeautifulAngel: By now, we've met Belladonna, what do you think about her? Hope you weren't disappointed!
not dead yet : Thank you for your review! Hope you're liking the story so far!
Dareagon: thanks a lot for your review, I hope you'll keep reading and enjoy this story!
Asian9090: I'm glad you like the whole gypsy-royalty thing! I hope I'm doing the Gypsies the honour they deserve, I mean, their life is a difficult one!
Traveller: Happy to hear you like my Frodo and my Bilbo, even if a bit (okay, maybe more than a bit) different from canon! Thank you!
Okay...I think I answered all of you...next time, I swear to God, I'll answer as soon as I get your reviews, because one, you deserve it! It's only thanks to you if I keep writing and two, I really can't feel my hands any more by now.
So, thank you again, leave me a review if you have time and you want to or send me a PM!
See ya,
Erika