Chapter 2 - The beginning of the journey

Fili and Kili took their time to greet everyone, hugging them and asking for news. For some dwarves, it has been a long time since they last saw them, they only had a few memories from their childhood. Everyone has seems to arrived except Thorin was still missing. He was holding a council with dwarves from the seven kingdoms. He will arrive late in the night.

Meanwhile, the dwarves went to the dining room and moved Bilbo's furniture to have enough space to fit them all. Fili brought Kili with him to find the beer barrel. They found it in the storage room and as Gandalf was counting the dwarves to make sure everyone was here, they put it in the dining room. Every dwarf was bringing different dishes while the hobbit was trying to take back some of it. He gave up, the persistence and the stubbornness of the dwarves were to powerful for the hobbit.

They all sat at the table and ate in happiness, drinking beers, throwing food to each other, laughing and burping. Gandalf was eating with them too. The atmosphere was cheerful and warm. Kili even seems to have forgot his worries from yesterday. At the end of the dinner, his brother and him decided to smoke a little in the kitchen near the chimney. Gandalf generously proposed his own pipe weed and they accepted it happily. Balin took the opportunity to explain to the lads the reasons of their meeting here in bag end. Thorin was looking for a fourteenth member for the company, a burglar, someone discreet enough to steal the Arkenstone, the king jewel, without being seen by the dragon. This task to choose this fourteenth member has been given to Gandalf and he has chosen Bilbo Baggins. The situation and the reason of their visit in the shire were much more understandable for Kili but for him, the hobbit doesn't seem to be aware of the plans Gandalf made for him, or maybe he already knew but was against it.

"How do you feel?" Asked Fili to his brother, his pipe between his lips.

"Much better" answer Kili with a smile. "How could I be unhappy surrounded by our kin?"

Fili was about to answer when the hobbit came in. He took back a napkin from Nori and angrily folded it.

"Bebother and confusticate these dwarves!" grumbled Bilbo, his head against the storage shelf.

"My dear Bilbo, what on earth is the matter?" asked joyfully Gandalf as he went into the kitchen too.

"What's the matter? I'm surrounded by dwarves! " Screamed Bilbo moving his arms. 'What are they doing here?"

"Oh they are quite a merry gathering once you get used to them."

" I don't want to get used to them!"

The brothers looked at each other as the wizard and the hobbit were leaving the room. Fili extinguished his pipe, Kili was more and more skeptical, their host was definitely not aware of their coming.

"I will go to the dining room" said Fili. "To see if anyone needs my help."

Kili nodded and looked at his brother leaving the room. He finished peacefully his pipe and then went to the corridor.

"Excuse me. I'm sorry to interrupt but what should I do with my plate?" asked a voice to his right.

"Here you go, Ori. Give it to me." Fili took the plate from Ori' hands and throwed it toward Kili without a word.

He caught it right on time and then throwed it again to Bifur who was in the kitchen. Kili couldn't stop laughing because of Fili who kept launching the rest of the dishes. Bilbo was desperately trying to stop them. At the end, all plates and glasses were stacked perfectly without breaking. The dwarves were laughing and smiling, and Bilbo was amazed by the result. However, all laughs and joy disappeared after the knocking of someone on the front door.

"It's him" simply said Gandalf.

The wizard opened the door and a dwarf taller than the average with long dark hair was standing there. The way he carried his head with pride, the tough look he had, anyone could tell that this dwarf was from royalty. Kili arrived with his brother in the hall. They were happy to see that it was their uncle.

"Gandalf, I though you said this place would be easy to find" Said Thorin by looking at the wizard. "I lost my way, twice. I wouldn't have found it at all had it not been that mark on the door."

"Mark? There's no mark on that door" said Bilbo when he arrived in the hall as Thorin walked in his house. "It was painted a week ago."

"There is a mark" Answered Gandalf. "I put it there myself."

Thorin took off his coat and he quickly turned back to see his nephews Fili and Kili. He smiled at them then focused again on Bilbo and Gandalf.

"Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield."

"So, this is the hobbit " Said Thorin as he gave his coat to Kili and moving forward the hobbit. "Tell me mister Baggins, have you done much fighting?"

"Pardon me?" Asked Bilbo, puzzled while Thorin was turned around him.

"Axe or sword? What's your weapon of choice?" Continued the dwarf. The situation was very funny for Kili. He knew this old habit of Thorin to toy with someone to trouble him.

"Well, I do have some skill at cankers, if you must know...but I fail to see why that's relevant."

"Thought as much. He looks more like a grocer than a burglar" Thorin smiled and the other dwarves laughed.

He turned back toward Fili and Kili with a bright smile and hugged them. It has been a very long time since they last saw him in the blue Mountains. Their uncle was too busy to make sure everything was ready for this quest, he was barely home.

"My dear nephews" he said with his cheeks against theirs. "You were allowed to come at last. How is my beloved sister doing? "

"She is alright" answered joyfully Fili.

"She promised to kill you herself if anything happened to us." Added Kili with a half-smile.

Thorin laughed openly putting his hands on his nephews' back, leading them to the dining room. Kili couldn't keep himself from smiling, he was happy to be together with his uncle, he was a real example for him.

"I have no doubt about that!" He said. "But enough talking, I'm starving! Let's go eat something."

Thorin sat down in the dining room around all the dwarves and Gandalf. Bilbo was standing next to the wizard, he gave to Thorin the only food that has been left by the dwarves: some soup and bread. Kili was waiting patiently, his uncle had to tell them how the meeting with the dwarves from the seven kingdoms ended up. The dwarves from the iron hills promised an important support, if they accept to help them to fulfill their quest.

"Is Dain with us? " Finally asked Dwalin.

Thorin looked at him in silence, he sighed loudly, searching for the right way to announce the news. The brothers looked at each other. They knew what that silence means. Kili saw the huge deception on his brother's face.

"They will not come." Said Thorin, a lot of sighs could be heard from the dwarves. "They say this quest is ours and ours alone."

"You're going on a quest?" Asked Bilbo who remained silence so far.

As an answer, Gandalf asked him to bring some lights. When Bilbo came back, he discovered on his table a map that the wizard put out of his coat.

"The lonely mountain…" He read.

"Aye, Oin as read the portents, and the portents say it is time" Said Gloin.

"Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain, as it was foretold." Added Oin. "When the birds of yore return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end."

Kili knew those omens by heart, every dwarf from the Blue Mountains knew it. They were waiting for the return of the birds to Erebor, and now for the first time since the dragon's attack, they indeed came back. Moreover, Smaug has not shown any sign of life for sixty years, there was a small chance that it was dead, but still a chance. It was enough evidence for Thorin to decide to take back the lonely mountain. Kili remembered that day when his uncle came to announce his decision to Dis, his mother. She was strongly opposed to this quest, even before knowing that her sons will take part of it. She feared for the life of his brother, she has already lost so many beloved one in quests like that. His great grand-father and father both died in the battle of Kazakdum and his grand-father went missing. Thorin and her sons were the last family she had. Fili and Kili were eavesdropping their conversation and when they heard that Thorin wanted to take back Erebor, they immediately asked their uncle to be part of this quest too. It was in Thorin's intentions from the start to take them with him. Dis tried to make them change their mind but there was nothing she can do as Thorin already agreed. It was a lost cause.

"What beast?" Asked Bilbo from the empty pantry.

"That would be a reference to smaug the terrible." answered Bofur "Teeth like razors, claws like meat hooks, extremely found of precious metals."

"Yes I know what a dragon is" Interrupted the hobbit.

"The task would be difficult with an army behind us but we number just thirteen" Said Balïn. "And not thirteen of the best nor brightest."

The company of the dwarves started to fuss and scream all at the same time, however the silence came back immediately when Fili started to speak. He didn't have the same strong authority as Thorin, but the same blood was flowing in their veins, they all felt that they must listen to him.

"We may be few in number, but we're fighters, all of us."

"And you forget, we have a wizard in our company" Added Kili. "Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time!"

All the dwarves turned toward Gandalf, asking him about past battles with dragons but the silence of the wizard only made them shout again. Bilbo tried to calm them, but it was Thorin who shut them up by standing up, asking for silence.

"If we have read these signs do you not think others will have read them too ?" Shouted Thorin under the acclamation of the dwarves. "Rumors have begun to spread. The dragon, smaug, has not been seen for sixty years. Do we sit back while others claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor?"

"You forget, the front Gate is sealed." pointed out Balïn. "There is no way into the mountain."

"That my dear Balïn, is not entirely true" Gandalf brought out a massive iron black key from his sleeve.

"How came you by this?" Asked Thorin, puzzled that the wizard were in the possession of this old key full of memories.

"It is given to me by your father? By Thrain, for safekeeping" Gandalf gave the Key to Thorin. "It is your now."

Kili and the other dwarves got excited about the fact that there was a key, meaning there was another entry to the mountain. Gandalf told them that dwarf doors are invisible when closed by the naked eye, the answer was somewhere in this map, unknown even by the wizard.

"The task I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth and a small amount of courage" Said Gandalf.

"That's why we need a burglar" Shouted Ori.

"And a good one too" Added Bilbo. "An expert I'd imagine."

"And are you?" asked Gloin.

Bilbo only had the time to answer "no" that already the dwarves started to shout and fuss again, this time, Gandalf intervened. He stood up and his voice changed, he seems taller than he already was. Kili found the wizard scary at this particular moment.

"Enough! If I say Bilbo Baggins is a burglar then a burglar he is. You asked me to find the 14th member of the company and have chosen Mr. Baggins. There is a lot more to him than appearances suggest. And he's got a great deal more to offer than any of you know, including himself. You must trust me on this."

"Very well, we will do it your way" Said Thorin. "Give him the contract."

Kili saw Balin stretched the contract to Bilbo who was still protesting. Even if he trusted Gandalf's choice, he doubted that the young hobbit that loved his home will be able to be part of this dangerous quest. Bilbo was not a warrior, he has never left the shire, Kili could tell that just by looking at him. He knew his brother was thinking the same way. However, it seems to the dwarf that when Gandalf showed the map to the hobbit, he had seen a strange glow in Bilbo's eyes. As the hobbit was reading the different way he may die and Bofur was explaining to him what an incineration is, Bilbo passed suddenly out. Kili sighed, he was definitely not ready for an adventure.

After Bilbo regained consciousness, he gave his final answer to Gandalf. Thorin and Balin were the one to announce to the others that the hobbit wanted to stay peacefully in Bag End, nobody was surprised. The departure to Erebor the next morning, and the way was long. They didn't have much time to waste. Kili was disappointed by the result of this meeting, he had hope after all that the hobbit might decided to join them. However, nobody was more affected by Bilbo's decision than Gandalf who didn't say anything ever since then.

The following day, all the dwarves were ready to leave. They left the house in silence with Gandalf and make sure to not wake up Bilbo. Fili and Kili rejoined their ponies they have left down the hill.

"It was a waste of time to come here" said Fili as he was saddling the pony. "Mister Baggins will never leave his hobbit's hole."

Kili didn't know what to answer because he knew his brother was right. Nevertheless, the young dwarf kept a slim hope that somehow the hobbit might change his mind. He saw the way Bilbo was looking at Thorin when his uncle talked about Erebor. This look was the desire of adventure and discovery, Kili had the same during his youth. Fili helped him get on his pony and then went on his own.

"Let's meet the others, they are waiting for us."

Thorin, Gandalf and the other dwarves were waiting for them near the shire's border. When they rejoined them, they left for Bree in a heavy silence.

"We shouldn't have come" said Gloin. "A hobbit would have never left his pipe weed and his garden."

"You should not under estimate the bravery of the Hobbit master dwarf" answered Gandalf. " And we are still in the shire, it is not too late."

"I could bet all I have that he will not come." Laughed Gloin.

"Do you"? Asked Kili from behind them.

"What are you talking about lad?"

"You said you could bet anything" said Kili as he joined Gloin with his pony with a malicious smile. "I think that Mister Baggins will come, are you ready to bet?"

"I bet that he will not come!" screamed Fili while laughing. He knew his brother by heart, nothing can surprise him anymore.

Gloin grumbled but ended up accepting the game. Gandalf obviously bet that Bilbo will come with Balin, Dwalin and Bofur. Dwalin, Oin and Gloin bet on the opposite.

"Don't you have anything better to do rather than betting on this kind of useless things?" Asked Thorin with a very authoritative voice. "This is not a place for a weak hobbit, his cowardness saved him from a certain death."

Everyone kept silence. Fili had a false reproving look towards his brother but couldn't stay serious much longer and they both laughed. Thorin turned to them with an angry face but only saw the brothers with an unexpressive face. When they were traveling together, Fili was always more serious, as he was the oldest and has much more responsibility. However, when Thorin is here, they both have their playful spirit.

The company was about the leave the shire when they heard a voice from behind.

"Wait! Wait!"

All the ponies stopped and turned towards the voice. Bilbo was running after them, a huge bag on his back and waving the contract in the air. Gandalf had a satisfied smile on his lips while Thorin was confused. Kili looked at his brother who looks happy to see Bilbo but disappointed by the bet at the same time.

"I signed it" said Bilbo as he gave the contract to Balïn.

The old dwarf took it and looked at the signature with his monocle. Balin couldn't really hide his happiness to see the young hobbit here.

"Everything appears to be in order" Said Balïn as he stored the contract in his purse. "Welcome, Master Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield."