Dís Arrives
"So this is the Shire?" The dwarf said to themself as they encouraged a pony across the little bridge in the middle of Hobbiton. "It's very pretty. However did they convince the Burglar to leave it?"
Following directions from a map sent by that same Burglar, the dwarf continued up a path signposted as 'Bagshot Row'. The pony was gently eased to a halt when the sound of a hammer hitting an anvil could heard from the creek-bank off to the left. The pony was turned in that direction and allowed to take a few steps before a dwarf head shook and the pony was resolutely turned back onto Bagshot Row. If anyone had been close enough they would have heard the dwarf mutter.
"He can wait."
Quietly the dwarf tied the pony to the fence at the gate of Bag End. Once in the gate the dwarf took the steps, still quietly. A dwarf hand knocked firmly on that green round door and waited. It took only a few seconds for the sound of approaching feet to be heard and the door to open.
Bilbo Baggins looked at the dwarf standing on his front stoop. Raven-dark hair, fine beard, stunning sapphire eyes. All these things he attributed to his intended, could easily apply to this dwarf, bar one thing. This dwarf's beard was long enough to have braids, two delicate braids, just in front of her ears, hers, because this could be none other than Dís.
Dís.
Dís. Thorin's sister. She's early.
Oh, well. Start as you mean to go on.
"You're early. We weren't expecting you for another week. Good thing the smial-crafters are finished. Well, come on in." With that Bilbo turned from a startled Dís and gestured for her to follow him inside.
Dís stood for a moment before shaking her head and following the little hobbit inside.
"Boots off and shut the door behind you, please. Nearly elevensies, that batch of scones should be just about ready, we'll have them with tea. I'll just have to do some more for luncheon." As Dís entered the kitchen, she wondered how this fussy little hobbit could have possibly caught the attention of her brother. Small, fussy, big fee-
As she entered the kitchen her should bumped the end of a dresser, a cup rattled and fell. Before Dís could react, the little hobbit had jumped forward and before the cup could hit the floor, one of his long feet had slid under it and tossed it back into the air, where a swift but tiny hand plucked it out of the air.
Fast, he was very fast. But still… small. Impolite, too.
"Are you Master Baggins?" she finally asked.
"Well, of course I am." He spluttered.
"There were no introductions, Master Baggins. I am-"
"You're Dís, of course. Being Thorin's sister and mother of my boys, this makes you family. Why on earth would we need to be introduced to family? Absurd, just absurd." Bilbo shook his head.
"Now, have you seen your brother or did you come straight here to interrogate me?" he asked as the kettle started to boil.
"Straight here, of course. How else was I to get a chance to talk to you without him around. My brother only tells me what he wants me to know." Dís replied with a smirk.
"Hmm. Well. What do you want to know?" As he talked to Dís Bilbo was taking piping hot scones from the oven.
"Everything. But let's start at the beginning, Master Baggins, with you meeting Thorin." Dís nodded her thanks as Bilbo slid a scone onto a plate in front of her.
"Dís. Your sons call me Uncle Bilbo, it's a bit formal of you to call me Master Baggins if they call me uncle isn't it? Bilbo if you please. Hmm. If you want to start at the beginning, then it starts way before Thorin." Bilbo smiled in reflection.
"Wherever you wish then, Bilbo. Tell me a story." She smiled.
"It all started with a wizard…."
"They came running from every hallway, Fíli had both swords drawn, Kíli had a knife in each hand, as did Tauriel. Thorin had Orcrist in hand. What use is a sword in a smial? Couldn't even swing the damn thing in here. I barely had a chance to say 'no weapons in the kitchen' before I was sandwiched between the boys, Tauriel had to take Kíli's knives off him, he'd forgotten they were in his hands. Silly boys."
Thorin entered the smial to hear Bilbo telling of his arrival home.
"Scared the blazes out of us, he did, making the smial sound like Gandalf had let lose a thunderstorm inside. He wasn't due home for another few day, so when we walked in the night before and Fíli tripped over-…" Thorin rounded the corner to the kitchen and his voice trailed off. "Dís?"
Thorin and Dís looked at each other for second, finally they started to move. Dís leapt from her seat and Thorin surged across the empty space to meet his sister. They collided in a tangle of arms and hair, holding tight. When Dís leant back Thorin let his arms loosen about her.
"Oh, my brother. My thundercloud. Oh, how I've missed you."
"Dís. My sweet raven, my sister. I'm sorry, so sorry."
The two continued in this manner for minutes, before Dís turned away, wiping her eyes. Then a frown marred her face and she was turning back to face Thorin. The crack echoed around the room.
"That's quite enough of that, Dís." Bilbo wasn't going to let anyone but him hit his intended.
"You idiot, you blundering idiot. How could you? They were my sons. My. Sons. And you took them off on that quest. You could have been killed. They could have been killed. How could you?" Emotions had obviously got the better of the Princess of the Blue Hills.
It wasn't Thorin who put a stop to her ranted, but Bilbo.
"Dís! Enough! The boys are alive and almost well. You know your boys, there was no way Thorin was going to be allowed to leave them behind. If he had they would have just followed him and quite probably got into more trouble by themselves. As it was they got into enough without his help. Their injuries had little to do with Thorin, Fíli was protecting Kíli, sending him away from danger as much as he could. Kíli fell trying to reach Tauriel who was trying to reach him. Thorin was hurt taking the life of the two Orcs who tried to kill them. Right now they are both within yelling distance. Alive and working on your smial."
"My what?"
"Your smial. Hobbit homes are called 'Smials'. We've been building one for you. Just around the bend. The Raven's Tree Smial will have offices for you, accommodation for you and any guests you may have, as well as a stabling area and pastures. The Company are building the outbuildings as hobbits don't build above ground much, there's to be room for ponies, horses and Dwalin reminded us that some dwarrow still use Rams, so we made sure of a space for them, too. Now that the smial-crafter have finished, Fíli, Kíli and Tauriel have taken over the inside of the smial and are doing a marvellous job of decoration and setup for you." Bilbo explained as he pulled bowls and spices down from shelves.
"Thorin, dear. Please fetch me the flour, apples, some carrots, bacon, butter, eggs and sugar. I need to make some rolls, cakes, gingerbread, muffins and more scones for luncheon."
"Yes, love." Thorin without hesitation picked up a basket and left the kitchen.
Dís giggled.
"How do you do it? How do you get him just… do things?" She said between bouts of giggling.
"I know what he can make with the things he asked for. Bilbo's cooking is superb." Thorin muttered as he plonked the basket on the table and sat down.
"Superb? The scones were good, but… superb?"
"Oh, they weren't Bilbo's scones." Thorin and Bilbo spoke at the same time.
"Tauriel's learning to bake. They certainly better than my mother's and almost as good as my Da's, but I'll admit that she's still got a way to go to challenge me."
"Challenge you? Bilbo, my love, Old missus Wheaten." He paused and turned to Dís, "Missus Wheaten is Hobbiton's bakery specialist. According to Missus Wheaten, nobody can challenge Bilbo's scones, but she says that every so often someone wanted to try. It's gotten to the point that the Thain holds a bake-off every year, I hear tell, and that only the winner get to challenge Bilbo, now."
"Oh, you. Stop that nonsense. It's silly. A bake-off, just to challenge me. Utter rot."
A knock at the door turned out to be young Hamfast, asking if they wanted him to see to Dís' pony. Thorin thanked him and fetched in her packs.
"Dís? Where are your guard? Please don't tell me you snuck off without them? Again. Dís?" Thorin growled as he returned to the kitchen.
"Of course. They should know better that to try and stop me by now."
"Dís." Oh, how his sister exasperated him. Oh, how he loved her for it.
Bilbo had been mixing, kneading and slicing while the siblings talked and now he slid trays into the oven.
"It's time the younglings come home for lunch. Thorin, if you would please?"
"Certainly." Thorin got to his feet and out the front door. A moment later Dís heard him yell.
"Fíli. Kíli. Tauriel. Luncheon." He came back inside to Dís giggling again and Bilbo nodding
"Yes. Every time." Bilbo was saying.
"Every time what?" Asked Thorin.
"Never mind, dear."
"Why do you came them younglings, Bilbo?" Dís directed her question at Bilbo.
"They are younglings. While Tauriel may be roughly 1350 years old, it wasn't until she and Kíli started Courting that she was able to be a youngling. Her parents were killed when she was a young child and growing up in the Woodland Court was no place to be a child. Being with Kíli is giving her a chance to embrace her inner child. And, of course, Fíli, Kíli and Ori have only just reached their majority… Oh. Ah. You haven't been told have you?"
"Told what? What now?"
"Seems Ori has decided not to wait any longer."
"Ori? Wait any longer for what?"
"Ah. It seems there's been a spate of Courting requests."
"Ori? Courting? Little Ori?"
"I wouldn't let Ori or Dwalin hear you call him that."
"Ori and Dwalin? Dwalin? Our cousin Dwalin? Really?"
"Oh, yes. We've been waiting for it for a while. When we gathered arms in Erebor to fight the Orcs, Dwalin gave Ori Keeper to fight with. That when I knew for certain that Ori was his One."
"Ori and Dwalin. That's going to take a little getting used to."
"Yes, well. I doubt that Bofur and Nori are that much of a surprise?"
"No, not really, brother."
"Well, what about Balin and Oín?"
"Really? I suppose it fits?"
The smial door opened and there was a clatter of feet.
"Boots." Bilbo reminded the younglings.
"Yes, uncle." Fíli's voice reached the kitchen soon followed by the rest of him. He froze in the doorway from the parlour.
"Fíli. Shove up." Said Kíli trying to get past him, before he saw what caused his brother to stop. He too froze. Tauriel looked over their shoulder and her eyes widened when she saw who was in the kitchen. She looked from Dís to Thorin and back again. Obviously no one had thought to tell her they looked that much alike.
"Amad!" Both boys leapt at their mother.
"Now, now boys. Time for luncheon. You can show Dís the smial after lunch. Food now, bother your mother later."