I stepped closer to them as confidently as I could, clutching the white stones as tightly as I could. Balin raised his eyebrows at me and Thorin clenched his jaw, arms crossed tight across his chest. The others just looked worried and uncertain, their faces stiff and dark. I realized for the first time how afraid most of them had been that I would die inside the mountain.
"Laddie, I'm afraid that none of those are the Arkenstone," Balin said, likely regretting telling me that I'd know it when I saw it, and I forced a quiet chuckle, desperately trying to settle their nerves.
"I realize. Smaug was already awake, you see, when I went into the mountain. He gave me these for you as a gesture of good faith. He's willing to negotiate the mountain's return." I said it as calmly as I could, but it did nothing to prevent the explosion I'd expected.
"Negotiate?" Thorin snarled, taking a half step towards me, "It wants to negotiate, you say! More like it wants us all in there that we might be more easily incinerated! And you, hobbit, why have you fallen for it? You've been told more than once of a dragon's deceitful nature, I'm certain, and I'd thought you were clever enough not to bend whenever someone offers you a few pretty words." I felt too warm, and offered the gems and the necklace made of them so that I might distract myself from what I knew had to be said next. Thorin took them, Arkenstone or not, and spread them evenly between the company, even leaving a few in my hands despite how little use I had for them.
"I've… I swear I didn't realize this before I left on this quest, but I have met Smaug before, when I was a child. He fell from the sky and onto my family's garden—we helped him, and he repaid us by killing a pack of orcs coming towards the Shire. Even now I think he's still fond of me, though. We don't have to shed any blood to resolve this, if only you'll try to speak with him." Thorin's face darkened even further and I could see how close he was to snapping. Balin could as well, given the hand he settled on his shoulder, face soft and understanding.
"Fond of you?" Thorin bit, "It's fond of you, of course. After all, if not for you it could not have come here. It could not have taken the rightful home of my people, my kingdom, could not have killed so many! Who could it be fonder of than you?" Balin squeezed his arm and the others frowned, finally seeming to break from their frozen state to take a half-step towards us.
"Settle, Thorin. It isn't as if he could've known." Thorin only laughed, but it sounded false.
"It's a dragon, Balin. Why would anyone help one, when there have been none who've wrought anything but destruction? Of all the things our burglar is, Balin, he is not stupid. He knew what it was even if he didn't know precisely what it would do." Balin spoke again, but in a foreign tongue I didn't understand, and Thorin growled his response in the same language. In only a few moments every member of the Company that was with us had joined in the fray, and not a single one of the bothered to speak the common tongue or perhaps offer me a clue as to what was being said.
It seemed to take ages for them to all settle down, but when they finally did, they all seemed at least vaguely calmer, or at least perhaps willing to talk.
"Have you all finished shouting now?" I asked, after a moment or two, and Balin elbowed Thorin in the side.
"I'm sorry, Bilbo, I know the dragon's actions have nothing to do with you—I should not have suggested that you were to blame for it, I am only… I've been told that perhaps we should try this negotiation, if the beast knows you and has a fondness for you, and perhaps resolve this without further death or fighting. I would suggest that we stay on the stairs by the door, however, that we might escape should it act as if it plans to attack." He spoke lowly, and his reluctance was more than obvious, but he was nothing if not honest; he wouldn't take the concession back.
"I understand, Thorin; don't worry over it. Shall I lead the way?" I smiled faintly, and he returned it, brushing his hair back from his face and shaking his head.
"We'll go together. A king should travel at the side of his diplomat and all that," he said, and I couldn't hold back a little laugh. I wondered what the dwarf I'd met so long ago when he stormed into my house would say if he knew that one day he'd call the grocer-hobbit he wanted no responsibility for his diplomat, and only wished I could see the tantrum that would surely occur. It'd be legendary, I was certain of it.
The thoughts of that were a nice distraction as we walked deeper into the mountain again, back to the treasury, but as soon as Smaug saw us again, any hope I had of distracting myself fled. He chuckled again, standing and stretching and edging towards where we stood on the stairs, amber eyes swirling with amusement.
"Well, well, you never cease to surprise me, hobbit. How did you manage to convince them to negotiate with the beast that stole their treasures?" Thorin clenched his jaw, probably trying to let me talk at least a little before he exploded towards the dragon as he surely desperately wished to.
"They don't want more bloodshed, Smaug. We've all seen enough of that on this journey, and before it. They only want their home back." The dragon laughed at that, but it was not like the other times I'd heard him laugh. This was cold and dim and dull, no smoke on his breath or sparks on his tongue.
"Their home you say? I'm sure if I offered them their gold and their gems now they would leave without a care for the mountain beyond how to carry the treasures away. Dwarves are such greedy creatures," he sighed, and I could feel the tension radiating from Thorin and the others. Fingers were already twitching towards weapons—I'd assumed the talk would collapse, of course, but I'd hoped it wouldn't happen so quickly.
"Smaug, you should not make presumptions when you don't know the dwarves about which you're presuming, and Thorin, please try not to let your anger get the better of you. We can resolve this peacefully, I'm certain of it."
"I presume, Bilbo, only because I have seen enough of dwarves to know that they are all the same," Smaug hissed, his voice settling over Thorin's like oil to water.
"That beast is the reason for all I and my people have suffered. Perhaps I do not want a peaceful end." I felt myself tense—the other dwarves shifted, waiting only for Thorin's word to attack. Smaug swayed a little where he stood, head lowering some and eyes narrowing, faint glow burning low in his chest.
"You said you wanted to negotiate, Smaug, and Thorin, you said you were willing to try. Smaug, please, under what terms will you concede the mountain?" The dragon seemed to sigh and I imagined the mountain shook with it.
"You may look a bit like a dwarf, hobbit, but I have never known a creature so different from one. There is no greed in your heart, is there? No lust for the gleaming treasures of this mountain or any other. It's a strange thought, but in some ways I find it interesting. Pleasant, even. Simplicity is something I lack, after all." I saw Thorin's jaw clench, and he pawed at his side for the lost Orcrist, finding instead only the weak blade taken from Laketown.
"Get to the point, dragon." Smaug seemed to roll his eyes, lowering his head even more and edging closer to us, until Thorin and I both could've reached out and touched him.
"Why the rush, oh great king under the mountain? Your treasures will not flee the mountain in the few extra moments I take to speak! Still, if you are in such a hurry, then here are my terms: if you wish me to leave this mountain, then you must allow me to stay for a time. I will wear the form of a man, and should you wish it I will even help you repair the damage I have done, or I will live in the dungeons, or in some sort of magic prison should you wish to have the Wizard you traveled with for a time build one to hold me. I will remain for two months, and my main request is that the hobbit stay here at least as long as I do. After the two months pass, I've a choice I would like you to make, oh mighty king Thorin, though I will not yet say what that choice will be." Surprise did not even begin to describe what I felt at those words.
"Why, dragon? What do you have planned?"
"Nothing that could result in the second loss of your mountain, I assure you. Admittedly, I've grown bored of it. Perhaps I would even have left of my own will after a time, but now that you have sent the hobbit of my past to me again, how could I simply leave? I am curious, after all, and there were many things I could not ask that night when he and his family aided me." Thorin growled and the sound rumbled low in his throat. I thought he might've made a passable dragon himself if one only heard his voice.
"But you admit you have a plan."
"Who doesn't? The earth moves on plans—everyone makes them every day, even if they are only as simple as getting out of bed. I swear that I will not cause any of you harm, in any case, and if that is not enough for you then you may leave or die here. I care little." I could see Thorin preparing to refuse, and probably to do it quite spectacularly, and settled a hand on his arm, shaking my head.
"It's alright, Thorin. I know that he is certainly not simple to trust, but for this… just for a while, hm? We'll try it, and soon dwarves will be coming here from miles around and should he try anything we will have more defense should he break his word." For a while, Thorin fell thoughtfully silent, and a simple glance showed me the differing opinions amongst the company. I thought for certain that he would refuse, honestly, but I suppose I should have known better than to think too little of him.
"I agree to your terms, dragon," he finally murmured, and for a moment, one might have heard a pin drop in the treasury. And then, Smaug flashed his teeth and began to change once more into the shape of a man, just as he had been the night I and my family saved his wing.