Shrewsbury was a small city near the border of England and Wales with red brick buildings and winding streets fill the space near the river. The sun reflected off the small cathedral windows as the group walked towards the solicitor's office, having left their vehicles near the train station, Dwalin, Bofur and Bifur staying behind to guard them.
As they approached a tall building with long, clean windows, Bella momentarily panicked at the state of her clothes. She tugged at her trousers she'd quickly out on that morning in place of her dress from the day before. As it was, she only remembered to grab one frock in her mad dash out the door.
She glanced at Tauriel and noticed the same self-conscious look in the other woman's eyes. Their eyes met, and they simply rolled their eyes and lifted their chins, hoping no one was too disapproving of their casual clothes.
The hall of Elrond and Associates was pure white and a wide staircase spiraled up several floors. The floor was a lovely etched marble, and it felt cool and calming, quite unlike anything Bella had ever seen.
"Ah, Gandalf," a pleasant low voice called out. "I expected you much later; you're making excellent time, my old friend."
The man that approached them was slim and tall with high, arching eyebrows. His eyes were a warm brown that quickly looked everyone over, and Bella got the impression that this was a man who missed very little.
"Lord Elrond," Gandalf said shaking Elrond's hand. "Thank you for seeing us on such short notice." He gestured to the group. "May I introduce you to Captain Thorin Durin, Balin Fundinson, Mr. and Mrs. Kili Viren, Mr. Fili Viren and Miss Bella Baggins."
Lord Elrond inclined his head. "A pleasure to meet you all. Please, come into our meeting room. I've had some tea prepared, and we can go over your plans."
"There's no need to go over any plans," Thorin said softly. "I only wish to verify the legality of the mines."
Elrond paused and looked at Thorin, who stared steadily back. Bella glanced at Gandalf, who simply looked calm and nonplussed.
"You wish to keep your plans to yourself, then," Elrond said nodding. "A wise decision, Captain Durin. For there are many who would approve of the reopening of the mines, for safety reasons as well as financial."
"You're referring to the Woodland Realm," Thorin asked.
"Well, Mr Greenwood has seen a decline in his profits during the war, and he would not be appreciative of his family's biggest competitor returning to the market. He took over from his father and his son is also working for him, I believe," Elrond said. "However, I'm also referring to…the local element. People in that region have very long memories."
He stared at Thorin directly. "I do not believe you will find any friends in Erebor, captain."
"I'm not looking for friends," Thorin said. "I only wish to provide for my family and take back what was ours."
Elrond nodded. "In that case, come with me. I believe you won't have any legal issues on that score."
He led them to a pair of tall doors, and when they walked inside Bella sucked in a breath. Bookshelves stretched from floor to ceiling and she walked in a circle to take them all in.
"A fan of libraries, are you, Miss Baggins?" Elrond asked smiling.
"Oh, yes," she said craning her neck to see them all. "If you tell me that these are all only legal tomes, I may cry."
Elrond laughed. "The majority of them are, I'm afraid. But I have a lovely selection of first editions and a respectable reference library, as well."
Bella smiled back, but stopped when she noticed Thorin's glower aimed her way. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he looked away.
Elrond indicated for them all to sit at the large table by the window, and he put on a pair of half-moon spectacles. "Gandalf mentioned something about a survey and a letter?"
Thorin nodded to Balin, and Balin pulled out an envelope from his breast pocket. Elrond took the envelope and looked over the contents.
"This is a legitimate survey done by the Army Corp of Engineers," Elrond said thoughtfully. He frowned. "If they're correct, then the mines should provide a decent output."
Balin and the brothers breathed a sigh of relief, but Thorin remained stoic as he asked, "And our claim to the land?"
"Ah, yes," Elrond said rising from his seat. He walked over to a low table and brought back a file. "When I heard you were coming, I applied to have copies of the land deeds couriered to my office. So many were lost during the Blitz, but they were able to send me what I was looking for." He opened the file and handed Thorin a sheaf of papers. "The quadrants specified in that deed are still owned by the Durin line. They have never been sold or auctioned or reclaimed by the crown, county, or bank. They are yours, Captain Durin."
Here Thorin did breathe a sigh of relief. "Thank you," he said. "I have always believed them to be ours, but it will be useful to know they are legally ours."
"What about Smaug?" Fili asked leaning forward.
Elrond arched his eyebrow. "Is that the gentleman who took up residence in the manor shortly after you left?"
"That's him," Kili said. "According to mum, no one ever saw him. He'd arrange for supplies to be left by the gates every week."
"Well, I'm afraid to say that there is such a thing as squatter's rights," he said. "That is, there is nothing that prevents him from making a plea in front of a judge that he should be allowed to live on the property as it has been vacant for some time. However, said judge would most likely still rule in favour of the owners, not the squatter." He frowned. "How long has it been since a Durin was in residence?"
"Thirty years," Balin said.
"Well, I'd be quite surprised if the fellow is still alive," Elrond said. "Unless he's amassed an army to defend the manor from you, you have every legal right to be there and to do with the land as you see fit."
Thorin inclined his head. "Good. We will." He glanced at the rest of the room and then stood. "We'll trespass on your time no more. Thank you."
"If that is all I can do to assist you," Elrond said.
"There is one thing," Thorin said. He nodded at Bella. "I believe Miss Baggins is in the midst of an unfortunate situation regarding her own property."
Bella stared at Thorin in utter surprise while he kept his eyes on Lord Elrond.
"Oh?" Elrond said looking at Bella. "Miss Baggins?"
"Oh, ah, it's nothing really," Bella said flustered. "I, that is, my father, well."
"Her rotten relations are planning to take over her business simply because her father forgot to will it to her," Kili said. "And she's a bit stuck as to what to do about it."
Bella stared at Kili and then the rest of the company. "You lot are worse than a quilting circle, you know?"
The brothers grinned at her and Tauriel winked. Bella turned back to Lord Elrond. "That's it, in a nutshell, my lord."
"I see," Elrond said. "The property is entailed away, I suppose?"
"I'm afraid so," Bella said. She shrugged. "My family's solicitor looked at it, and there's no mistake. My closest male cousin inherits the nursery and the land."
"Has this cousin worked the land at all?" Elrond asked. "Has he participated in the running of the business?"
Bella spared a delightful moment imagining Otho and Lobelia wrestling with the manure and the irrigation system. Then she shook her head, "No, he hasn't."
"You may be able to contest it then," he said. "On the grounds that you have a valid tie to the business."
"Really?" Bella asked her eyes widened and her heart started to pound. "I could keep the nursery?"
"Only if you were willing to take the effort to contest," Elrond said. "Which can be quite time consuming." He glanced at Gandalf. "I take it, Miss Baggins, you are accompanying the Durins as an extra pair of hands?"
"I'm a medium," Bella said, her mind still racing over the possibility of keeping her nursery. "I'm along to clear the manor of ghosts."
"I see," Elrond said, those eyebrows rising once more. "The building here has a ghost."
"Oh?" Bella asked.
"One of the original senior partners," Elrond said. "He lurks about in the third floor library and never bothers anyone and seems quite content to simply drift through the archives."
"I could, ah, see to him, if you'd like?" Bella offered.
"No, no, he's fine where he is," Elrond said smiling. "I was going to offer something to you, actually. Why don't you continue on your…quest with the Durins, and I will contact your solicitor to look at the details of the situation, and I'll let you know if I think you have a decent chance of recovering your nursery."
"That's extremely kind of you," Bella said smiling. "Why-?"
"Am I assisting you?" Elrond supplied. He switched his gaze to Thorin. "Retaining one's birth right is an important thing, is it not, captain?"
"I couldn't agree more," Thorin said, his voice calm, but every line of his body screamed with tension, and Bella wondered if she touched him, would he be vibrating with suppressed tension.
Thinking that they had gotten what they'd come for, Bella quickly gave Lord Elrond her family solicitor's details and the company left the building.
Thorin strode ahead of the company, Balin at his side and they talked quietly. Bella walked next to Gandalf.
"Was Lord Elrond warning Thorin of something?" Bella asked the professor. "With all that talk of the local element?"
"Possibly," Gandalf said thoughtfully. "We're going someplace very dangerous, Bella. Never forget that. When the mine fell, Thorin's family wasn't the only one to lose their livelihoods. Villages in the area depended on the commerce of the mine. They suffered a great depression when the mine collapsed and no doubt still suffer today."
The evening following the meeting with Lord Elrond was spent in thoughtful silence. Food was made, and everyone ate silently. Bella supposed that the others were thinking on what Lord Elrond had said about their claim on the land as well on the mine. There would be a lot of work to be done should they find the mine to still be usable.
She, on the other hand, thought about whether or not she wanted to take the chance and see if she could contest Otho's claim on the nursery. She had spent a great deal of time and money and her own personal resources on the nursery. Did she want to spend even more time and money, and no doubt add a great deal of gossip to the village to fight for her nursery?
Let's get through the ghost clearance first, she thought. Let's see if we can survive what is promising to be the biggest challenge of a lifetime, before you take on the second biggest challenge of a lifetime.
Bella slept restlessly that night, unable to find a comfortable position on the hard ground and, in the morning, presumed others had the same trouble if the dark circles under everyone's eyes were anything to go by.
The day was spent in constant motion as Thorin wanted to make it to the border before nightfall.
"We have to be there before the end of the month," he said as they drove quickly. "I don't want to be exploring the mines in the dead of winter. We need to be there before summer's out."
The drive was quiet for the most part, with Bofur and Bifur humming in the back of the Rover.
They reached the border between Scotland and England and stopped at a pub just on the outskirts of Gretna Green.
"Could've done it this way," Kili said to Tauriel as they got off of their motorbike. "If we'd felt the need to elope. Add a bit of excitement to the event."
"True," Tauriel said smiling. "The registry office did have a lack of shadiness attached to it. I suppose we needed more excitement after surviving a war."
Kili smiled back and pressed a kiss to the side of her neck. "Nah. A lifetime with you is going to supply all the excitement I'll need."
"Enough," Fili said rolling his eyes. "You have wedded bliss, we get it."
"Aw, Fee," Kili said laughing. "When you find someone willing to put up with that ugly mug of yours, you'll understand."
The rest of the company left them to it, and Bella joined them in the pub. They took over a long table in the corner and sipped, or in Dwalin's case, drained their pints. Bella looked around the pub and felt her skin prickle the longer she sat there.
"Anyone else feeling out of place?" she asked.
The others just shrugged.
"Border villages are often rowdy," Gandalf said as the volume of the pub started to increase. "It'll be fine, my dear."
"Right," she said taking a long sip of her cider. She made a face. Clearly they used apples that had already begun to turn. She wrinkled her nose as she took another sip.
The rest of the company seemed content to simply continue to drink and talk amongst themselves. Eventually, Bella found herself caught up in a conversation with Tauriel about Europe and places the other woman had seen.
They were deep in conversation about the French countryside and how it compared to the English green hills when Bella felt the very strong call of nature.
"Be right back," she called to Tauriel, who nodded and waved her off.
Bella got to her feet and blinked quickly when she realized that while the cider wasn't the best tasting, it certainly had more of a punch than she expected.
"Where are you going?" Thorin asked taking hold of her arm as she walked past him. He didn't even look at her and she narrowed her eyes at him.
"The powder room," she said. "Such as it probably is."
She pulled her arm free and headed for the bar to ask for the toilets.
"Outside in the back, lassie," the florid barman said as he pulled a pint for the crowd. "You want the one of the left."
"Right," Bella said nodding.
"No, left!" He burst into raucous laughter and the others bellied up at the bar joined him.
Bella laughed weakly and then headed to the dim hallway that led to the back of the pub. The door creaked open as she made her way outside. The toilets were as disgusting as she'd imagined and she was rather grateful for the dim light as it meant that she couldn't quite see what she was walking on. She cringed her way through doing her business and thought longingly of her lovely clean bathroom and the crisp, fresh streams perfect for wading in the woods behind her home.
She emerged from the toilet and breathed in the night air. A chill had settled in and it dawned on her just how far north they'd travelled in the last few days. She looked up at the clear night sky and rubbed her arms to ward off the chill and breathed in again.
"Huffs and puffs, she does, doesn't she, Smeagol?" a rasping, croaking voice said.
Bella jumped and looked around for the source of the voice.
"Smells of grass and light, she does." The voice hacked, a wet, coarse sound as it answered itself.
Bella spotted a small man, hunched over just on the edge of the light that spilled out from the pub windows. He looked up at her through straggly wisps of grey hair. He tilted his head to the side and peered at her.
"She's got the paths behind her eyes, she does," he said excitedly. "Straight, straight the paths are. Bet the ghosties just slip right through and down. Through and down, the way they're supposed to." His face twisted. "Not like they do us, Smeagol. Not like they do for us. When they gets all stuck."
"I'm sorry?" she said in a small voice. "What do you mean? Who are you?"
"Oh, she talks to us," he said hopping and grinning. "No one other than the ghosties talks to us."
He scuttled towards her, and she took a step back when he came into the light. He still wore what had to have been a uniform of some kind, and his eyes were wide in the light, his face pale and worn. She couldn't put an age on him, he looked so wretched.
She took another step back.
"Oh, mustn't get too close, must we?" he said sneering. "Well, we won't. Wouldn't like the little girl to be like us, would we?"
His face brightened. "Oh no, mustn't be like us. Mustn't get a winding path behind her eyes like us."
"A winding path?" she asked, horror taking over her, her heart racing as she stared at the small man.
"The ghosties go in," he said, "but they don't go out. In they stay and they speaks and they moan and groan and it hurts us. It hurts us!"
He clapped his hands over his ears and shook all over then rocked back and forth.
"Oh, my God," Bella breathed. Well, hadn't she wondered what might happen if the ghosts couldn't find their way down the path. She'd wanted to see what ghost-sickness looked like. It looked like this. Her heart ached, and she felt a mixture of pity and disgust and helplessness.
"Can I help you?" she asked taking a step towards him.
He dropped his hands and looked up at her with those big mad eyes. "Help us? Help us! Yes, yes, help us! Take them out! Take the nasty ghosties away from us!"
He hurried to her, and she cringed from the stench that came with him. She bit her lip and stared into his eyes to see if she could lure whatever spirits lurked in his mind. But the longer she stared the more she realized that there wasn't anything she could do. Whatever spirits that had entered had situated themselves so firmly in his mind, there wasn't any way to separate them.
She shook her head. "I can't help you. They aren't there. I'm so sorry."
His face fell and then twisted into a rictus of anger. "You just don't want to take them from us. You want Smeagol to suffer. You mean, mean, nasty, nasty girl."
Bella started to walk backwards. "I'm sorry, I truly am. But there's nothing I can do."
"Nothing? Nothing anyone can do for us! It'll happen to you," he said his head tilting back and forth. "Oh, yes. The path will wrinkle and they'll stay and you won't be able to get them out. They won't get out!"
Bella turned and walked quickly back to the pub.
"They'll come!" the man called after her. "They'll keep coming! They like the light! They'll come and come and come and you won't be able to stop them! He'll send them to you!"
Bella ran the last few steps to the pub and wrenched open the door. She slammed it shut behind her and rested against it. She pressed her hand to her chest and tried to calm down. Then she walked slowly into the pub and looked towards the corner but the company wasn't there.
"Oh, no," she breathed.
A hand came down on her shoulder. She shrieked and jumped around. Bifur held up both his hands as he looked at her with wide eyes.
"Sorry, sorry!" she said slumping against the wall. "I'm so sorry. Where is everyone?"
Bifur cringed and looked at a group of men by the bar who were looking at the pair of them with angry eyes.
"Oh," Bella said. "I take it someone made an impression on the locals?"
Bifur nodded and then jerked his head towards the front entrance.
"Yes, okay," Bella said. She chafed her arms again and glanced back down the back hallway. She turned back and looked at Bifur who cocked his head to the side.
"I'm fine," she said nodding. "Just…fine."
He nodded and they made their way to the door, not looking at anyone as they left.
The company stood beside their cars as they waited for Bella and Bifur.
"Leaving already, are we?" Bella asked as they approached.
"Things started to feel decidedly hostile, I'm afraid," Balin said.
"They called me a bloody Englishman!" Dwalin roared. He moved to go back into the pub, and Bofur and Fili held him back. "I'm no Englishman!"
"Enough!" Thorin said. He stood in front of Dwalin. "You're no Englishman and soon the world will know it. Let's move on."
"Let us just drive on and find a place to sleep for the night," Gandalf said. "We still have quite the distance to cover."
"I agree," Thorin said. "Get in the cars and let's-"
He was interrupted when the lights from the pub went out and the road plunged into darkness.