After a rich and delicious breakfast Bilbo started cleaning his hobbit hole. He was gone for more than a year and so much of his furniture was covered in dust.

He didn't want Fili to help though. So the young dwarf decided to have a first look at his new working place.

The forge was down the hill on the outskirts of Hobbiton. Fili passed many hobbit holes, fields and a small pond. Children played in many gardens and ran through the village. They looked at the dwarf in surprise. As Bilbo had said, the adult hobbits were suspicious and reserved towards him. Fili still greeted everyone and smiled. He wondered if one day his own children would run through Hobbiton.

Soon he arrived at a small building. It was made of stone but still had a round door coloured in a bright red. Next to it was a small shed with fire wood, a huge wooden blog and several axes.

Fili unlocked the door to inspect the the inside of the forge. It was small and not very well equipped. In a corner was a box with some metals. If the hobbits bought his products, he would soon have to travel to Bree to buy more metals and better equipment.

For the beginning Fili would manage though. He remembered that his uncle had worked with much less after Smaug had come. Fili groaned in frustration. Why did everything remind him of his uncle?

Fili's mind drifted off to happier days. When he was 50 his uncle had started to teach him some crafts. The young dwarf had enjoyed working with wood but he always wanted to be a blacksmith like his uncle, who had always been his role model. After a few years of practicing, Fili had started to help Thorin in the forge. He wanted to help to support his family. Everyone had told him that his work was very good but his uncle never did. Thorin had always only told him what could have been better. Fili snorted. He had never been good enough. He shock his head to clear his mind. Hopefully the hobbits would value his work. He didn't want to rely on Bilbo's money.

It was still early in the morning, so Fili decided to start cleaning the forge. He wanted to start working as soon as possible. He hoped that the work would distract him and that he could let some steam off.

After a while he heard someone in the garden close by. To his surprise it was Poppy, the barmaid from the Green Dragon Inn, picking a bunch of the flowers she was named after. She looked completely shocked when she saw him. Fili worried that she might be scared. After all he was a stranger standing in a house that had not be used for months or maybe even years. But then she started to smile.

Fili shyly smiled back and went over to her. "Poppy! I didn't mean to scare you. I'm sorry!" Fili mentally wanted to hit himself for being so rude and not greeting her properly, but he simply couldn't think straight when she was around.

"Good morning! Don't worry, you didn't scare me. I simply hadn't expected to see you again. And you even remember my name." Poppy blushed "I'm sorry but I can't remember if your name is Kili or Fili."

"That's no problem. Sometimes even our uncle would mix up our names." Fili smiled though the thought of Thorin stung in his heart. "I'm Fili by the way."

"Right, I promise that I won't forget your name again. Are you going to work in the forge here?" Poppy asked.

"Yes, I have decided to stay with Bilbo and the Thain allowed me to work here. I hope I won't bother you and your family with too much noise."

Suddenly Poppy looked sad and sighed "As long as you don't work in the middle of the night. I'm at the inn most of the day anyways. Is Bilbo back? I have to see him again."

Fili noticed that something he had said, had troubled her deeply. He didn't want to make things worse and so he simply said "Yes, he's back. I'm sure he would be happy about some visitors. Normally he should be at home. His smial is quite dusty and he doesn't like that at all."

"Thank you! I thought that I might lose him... too. I hope you don't mind if I go to see him now." Poppy mumbled.

"No, have fun with Bilbo." He didn't want to disturb them, so he continued "Could you please tell him that I won't come home for lunch? Good bye, Poppy!" She simply nodded and went up the hill to Bag End.

Fili wondered if something had happened to her family. There was only one chair in her garden and no noise could be heard behind the round yellow door. A few vegetables grew in her garden but they wouldn't be enough for a whole family. He decided to ask Bilbo later and continued his work.

When he went back to Bag End, it was already very late and Bilbo was asleep. He would ask him tomorrow.

The next morning Bilbo was nowhere to be found. Fili noticed a letter next to the bunch of poppies on the kitchen table.

Fili,

I hope you didn't worry because I had suddenly disappeared.

Yesterday I received a letter that one of my cousins in Buckland is sick. He might die soon. So I left to visit him one last time.

I should be back in two weeks.

I stocked the pantry yesterday. So you won't have to worry about food.

See you soon!

Bilbo

Fili sighed. He would have to wait another two weeks until he could ask Bilbo about Poppy's family.

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