Date: TA 2941

Thorin: 195 years old

Lina: 192 years old

A/N: Please check the poll posted at the top of my profile page! It's very important! Please let me know your reasoning if you can. I'm interested to know why people are voting the way they are.

The dwarves had spread out in a rough circle. Some were laying out packs and bedrolls. Others were scrounging for firewood. Bombur was already pulling food and cooking utensils from his pack, eagerly anticipating his evening meal. Gloin was in conference with his brother about how best to lay out this evening's fire.

Lina had just finished conferencing with her husband regarding the reunification of his company and hers to the east of Mirkwood. Both knew they would soon be parting ways. The edge of the dark forest was only a day to two further on. Once they reached it, Lina and Nes had to find their own company. According to Kitta, there was no word from the rest of Lina's missing company. Nor had any messages arrived from Kira's fortress. The situation bothered Lina as much as it bothered Nes. Kes's silence was concerning to Nes as he was her brother, but Kira was Lina's closest friend. If something had gone wrong, Kira would have sent word. She knew Lina's company was to arrive at the fortress.

A hand gently patted her shoulder. Looking up, Lina caught a glimpse of a friendly and tired smile from Bilbo as he passed. He dropped his load of firewood off beside Oin and Gloin. Before either could enter into a conversation, Nes claimed Lina's attention. By the time Lina next looked up, Bilbo was in deep conversation with Gandalf. Both looked quite serious, but Gandalf had a slightly conspiratorial twinkle in his eye that made Lina slightly uneasy. She wondered in whose life the wizard was planning to intervene. Hoping to take her mind off the wizard's scheming, Lina set to work repairing the scales on Thorin's armor.

Bilbo glanced across the fire at Lina as she spoke with her companion. He could not shake the sadness he had felt as Lina spoke about her lack of children. That sadness, compounded with her request to make sure her husband's name lived on, determined the hobbit to help her in any way he could.

"What's on your mind, Bilbo Baggins?" Gandalf asked, drawing lazily on his long pipe. The hobbit's recent fascination with the wife of Thorin Oakenshield did not escape the wizard's notice. A friendship of sorts appeared to be forming between Lina and Bilbo if Gandalf was not mistaken. And a wizard was rarely mistaken.

"How long have you known Lina and Thorin?"

Gandalf supposed it was a fair question. After all, he had pushed Bilbo out of his hobbit-hole on this mad venture. Bilbo knew these dwarves even less than Gandalf did.

"Truthfully, I have only know the pair personally for a little over a year," the wizard admitted. "However, many stories of the pair had reached me before we finally met. All of the wizards know how Smaug cast the dwarves out of Erebor. We remember the Line of Durin, and Thorin is now at its head. I was aware of Thror's death, and did not, until later, know what had become of Thrain. As for Lina, stories of her flaming hammer in the Battle of Azanulbizar have reached even my aged ears."

"What are your opinions of them?"

Now Gandalf was curious. Bilbo seemed to be leading somewhere with his questions, but where that was, Gandalf did not know. Thorin had, during the earliest part of the journey, intimidated the hobbit. Yet Lina had befriended the burglar quickly.

"Thorin is a decent enough fellow, I suppose," the wizard answered, pulling thoughtfully on his beard. "Quite stubborn and proud, however, and that will land him in hot water if he is very careful to control it. Lina seems to be of a different sort. She's still stubborn in her own way, but she is certainly better at keeping her dwarven pride in check than her husband."

"But do you like them?" Bilbo persisted.

"Of course I like them. Lina rather more than her husband, however. She is a good bit more rational." Gandalf muttered the last sentence, more to himself than to Bilbo.

"Would you help me?"

"With what, my dear burglar?" Gandalf rested his pipe on his knee and gazed intently at his companion.

"I want to help Lina," the hobbit answered without hesitation.

The answer surprised Gandalf. Uncertain as to what his companion meant by "help," he remained silent, waiting for an explanation.

"Is there any way to make it so she can have children?" Bilbo asked softly, turning to face the wizard. His gaze rested steadily on Gandalf.

Now they had come to the core of the matter. Bilbo had been affected by the melancholy Lina seemed to exude whenever she spoke of her desire for children. The wizard found the hobbit's reaction to the dwarf's sadness strange. Though hobbits were remarkably sensitive to those around them, Bilbo seemed to be hypersensitive to Lina in particular.

"What has changed you so, Bilbo Baggins?" The Bilbo Baggins Gandalf had known many years earlier had been a bright and adventurous child. That child had been nowhere in the hobbit during the earliest days of the adventure. Nor had this more sensitive hobbit existed, at least as far as Gandalf was aware.

"I know what it is to want children, but never be able to have them," Bilbo answered softly. His eyes dropped to stare intently at his trembling hands. The wizard waited, but Bilbo did not seem interested in sharing his story just yet.

The silence stretched out between them as Gandalf considered the options open to them. In her present condition, it would be impossible for Lina to bear children. His powers would only work if her body was in perfect condition and the issue was a simple inability to conceive. However, the wizard was well aware of Lina's injury in the Battle of Azanulbizar. The lack of a son from Thorin was a topic of concern for many of the dwarves Gandalf had met in his travels. The line of succession had long been established, but having the throne pass from one part of the line to another was often messy and uncomfortable for everyone involved. If Thorin could have a child, even a daughter, it was possible for an heir to come through the child. With the dwarven society already on the verge of collapsing, any child would bring hope to those remaining.

A small flame of hope grew within the old wizard. Perhaps he had a way to help Lina after all.

"I have a plan, Bilbo," Gandalf announced slowly. "But it will be prone to failure if things do not work out just right. First I must secure your promise: do not tell Lina about any of this. I do not want to raise her hopes only to see them dashed."

The hobbit nodded eagerly. His gaze darted over to Lina as she sat alone in thought. He was willing to do whatever was necessary to make his new friend happy.