A Request
"What do ye mean yer going on holiday?"
Billa smiles at the baffled Noid over the rim of her tea cup as Maisy rolls her eyes, "Exactly what I said, Master Dwarf. I am going on a walking holiday with my dear friend."
"B-But, ye…ye can't-"
"Don't worry, Noid," she smirks, "I won't tell Thorin if you don't."
He scowls instantly, "Thorin tasked me with watching over ye while Bimor recovers. Am no supposed to let ye out of my sight."
"I am not a fauntling," she rolls her eyes. "Besides I'm travelling with a wizard, Noid. Who would dare attempt to harm us with Gandalf looming behind me?"
Noid mutters darkly to himself, his scowl intensifying at the tiny muffins Maisy prepared for their weekly afternoon tea. It was supposed to be a female only affair, but Noid seems to have missed the memo this week, plonking himself down beside his new wife with a suspicious gaze trained on Billa.
"Look, would it help if I promised I wasn't planning on running after Thorin and the company?"
His tense shoulders eased slightly at her words, although his narrowed gaze remained on her, "Why don't I believe ye?"
"I'll swear on my first pantry if you'd like?"
"Hmf, yer up to something, Billa. Don't think I haven't noticed yer creeping about and whispering conversations with Fort. I may be a dwarf but I am not blind."
Maybe she hasn't been as sneaky as she thought she was. But there is only so much espionage one Hobbit can manage by herself before she needs to come clean to her friends - well, partially clean.
"Noid, dearest, Billa is an adult."
"Hasn't stopped her from doing daft things before," he mutters.
"Hey! I didn't have any issues with how I was travelling before you lot showed up!"
"Yer lucky a trafficker didn't catch ye," he says darkly, "Or worse an orc."
"You're so stubborn."
"Yes, well, one tends to be stubborn when it comes to the protection of their future Queen."
Billa chokes on her tea, barely holding back her spit take over Maisy's lovely new tea set. Maisy tries to temper down a giggle as she pats her friend on the back, while Noid continues to glare.
"Q-Queen?" Billa trembles, half-coughing over her words. "Who…who said anything about being Queen?"
"Thorin did," Noid says slowly as if she is a child. "When he decided to court ye."
"I…I just assumed…"
"That what? Ye wouldn't be a Queen?" Noid is confused by Billa's bafflement, "I thought ye knew that if Thorin reclaimed Erebor he would be King Under the Mountain?"
"I did!" Billa exclaims, her face flushing. She continues quietly, "I just didn't think…"
"That ye would be his Queen?" Noid finishes for her. "Who put that stupid idea in yer head?"
"No one, I…" she hesitates. "I'm just a Hobbit."
Noid waits for her to finish her sentence expectantly. When it becomes clear she's not still speaking, he cocks an eyebrow, "And?"
"And what?"
"Yer just a Hobbit and?"
"And nothing. I'm just a Hobbit."
Noid groans, burying his head into his hands while his wife pats his back comfortingly, "Ah for the love of-"
Billa blinks as the dwarf stands suddenly and heads towards the kitchen, pressing a kiss to Maisy's head as he passes, "Gonnae talk some sense into the dense Hobbit please, Amrâlimê."
She scowls at his retreating back. Dense? He dare call her dense? Why she could hit him with her best cast iron and he'd still have no idea what was going on. She was Billa Baggins of the Shire, twice-lived, former spinster, adventurer, burglahobbit, expert riddler, little bunny, barrel rider, elf friend, dwarf kin, and Mad Mistress Baggins of Bag End!
I'll show you dense, you rapscallion-
"He's right, you know."
Billa huffs, "Right about what?"
"You have been scheming Billa."
She averts her eyes, focusing instead of the muffins laid out before her. They must be over the moon with the amount of attention paid to them this tea time, from both her and Noid.
"Billa," Maisy sings, and she slowly raises her eyes. The other Hobbit is watching amusedly, her gaze decidedly knowing. "You know he's just worried about you."
"I do."
Maisy rolls her eyes, muttering about 'stubborn dwarves and hard-headed Hobbits' under her breath. She exhales, "I am not going to ask about whatever hare-brained scheme you and the wizard have concocted together…"
"Thank you!" Thank Yavanna someone is not nagging her about her plans.
"...but maybe you should take Noid with you."
Billa blinks at her friend, a muffin halfway to her mouth, "What?"
"Take Noid with you."
"B-But, you've only just been married!"
"So?"
"I can't take him away on his honeymoon!"
"I'm pretty sure there aren't any rules against it."
Billa glances at the direction the dwarf marched off in and then again at the demure Maisy as she sips calmly at her tea, "But…but…but it could be dangerous!"
"It could be dangerous if he remains here too."
"Maisy…I…"
The Hobbit sighs, placing her teacup gently on the table between them. When she looks up again, her eyes are firm, "Look, Billa, you cannot go gallivanting off and leave me alone with a grumpy dwarf who's going to moan from dawn to sunset every day until you return.
"Also, to be perfectly frank," Maisy folds her hands neatly in her lap, "If Thorin finds out you ran off without so much as a single dwarven guard, he'll erupt. You cannot take Bimor with you, injured as he still is, nor can you take Balin, so Noid is the only sensible choice."
Billa exhales, gnawing on her thumbnail. Maisy is right, of course she is, but the thought unsettles her. In theory, she knows that Sauron is weak and that there couldn't be a safer time to embark on this journey, but she thought the same on all of the quests she undertook in her previous life - who was to say that the bad luck of Billa Baggins wouldn't strike again?
"Farewell, good thief. I go now…to the halls of waiting to sit beside my fathers."
"What happens if…" Billa hesitates, "If something goes wrong?"
"Oh Billa," Maisy reaches for her hands and clenches them tightly, "There's always a chance something might go wrong. Noid could be killed in an Orc attack protecting Hobbiton, or not cook one of his apple pies properly and poison himself."
Her eyes slide across to the plate of half-eaten charred pies Noid brought to tea.
"I know which way he'd prefer to go."
Well, Billa knows which way she'd prefer to go and it definitely would not be by half-charred pies. Maisy's words settle on her shoulders heavily, and she pinches her nose in frustration.
"Fine."
"What was that?"
"Fine! Fine!" Billa cries, "I'll take Noid with me!"
"You will!"
Billa startles at the dwarf's sudden reappearance, "Were you listening that entire time!"
He nods, a plate of fruit loaf in one hand and a freshly brewed pot of tea in the other. He grins mischievously as he places his items on the tea table between them, "I never said I wasn't coming back."
"Why, you-!" Billa drops her head into her hands. She had been played by Noid and Maisy of all people. Sneaky conniving Hobbits and dwarves! "You were never going to let me leave by myself, were you?"
"Nope," Noid confirms cheerfully.
"Fort and Bimor told you, didn't they?"
"Yup!"
"Great Yavanna," she breathes. She should have known. Her hand cards through her hair, fingers getting caught in the knots, she'd need to cut it before she left again. Thorin would not be happy.
Still.
She looks up at the couple opposite her; Noid beams, munching on one of his charred apple pies as Maisy stares adoringly, if a little exasperatedly, at him. Her chest warms at the sight. The Quest in that other life was filled with uncertainty and a gnawing unease which pricked continuously at Billa from the moment she put one Hobbity foot out of her front door. The thought knocks something loose in her, and with vivid clarity, she can see the quiet distrusting expressions on the Company's face as she raced towards them contract in hand. They had every right not to trust her, given the whole pretending to be male thing - but in this life, she's never been met with those expressions. Grumpy yes, disbelieving also yes, but never with the open distrust and weariness she was so accustomed to back then.
The thought makes her squirm with happiness. She will never know what life was like for those dwarves before they swarmed her smial, but she knows that the dwarves she has met in this lifetime are already lighter, their heavily lined brows smoothing, the greys in their hair slowing - and more appear in Hobbiton with each passing moment.
Has she really managed to make such a difference by asking for a Hobbit-sized sword?
"Billa?"
Noid and Maisy are staring at her concernedly. She flushes under their sudden attention, "Sorry! Lost in thought."
"There's nae need to worry, milady," Noid crows. "I've not yet met a foe that has been able to surpass my weapons prowess - ow! Maisy!"
The Hobbit scowls, flexing her tiny fist, "Do not tempt fate!"
"I wasnae tempting fate! Just stating fact!"
Maisy sniffs, reaching for her tea. Billa hides her snickers into her teacup.
"So," Noid asks as he reaches for another pie, "are ye going to tell me where we are going?"
Billa hesitates, "You have to promise not to freak out."
Noid's eyes instantly narrow on her, "Ye promised ye wouldnae be chasin' after the King…"
"I'm not!"
"...cause I wouldnae be happy if ye were lying to me, Billa."
"I wasn't lying to you," she huffs, "I do not want you to panic."
Noid watches her carefully, taking a slow bite of his apple pie, "So?"
"We're going to Mount Doom."
Noid chokes, spraying half-eaten crumbs across the tea set. Maisy reaches for him in an instant, patting his back as he coughs up his half-masticated pie and wheezes heavily.
"Yer…" Noid gaps, "Yer joking!"
Billa shakes her head, "I'm not."
"Wit sorta business in Mahal's name could ye possibly have at Mount Doom?"
"I-"
"Ye know it's swarming with Orcs?"
"Yes, I-"
"Then what the-" Billa slaps a hand over the dwarf's mouth. He scowls at her, growling behind her palm.
"If you do not listen to me, Noid, I will leave you behind."
The dwarf's searching eyes dart across her face, until finally he nods staccato. She pulls her hand back slowly, returning to her seat opposite the couple.
"Tell me," he says gruffly.
"Thorin is in danger."
"Thorin is a capable warrior-"
Oh for the love of Mahal. "Not even Thorin's weapon's prowess would save him from this evil, Noid," Billa cuts him off firmly. "There is something I must do, and if I don't do it, then darkness is destined to fall over Middle Earth."
"Oh!"
Billa and Noid turn to face Maisy who is staring openly at Billa with horror on her face, "You're speaking of him, aren't you?"
She nods firmly.
"Then the rumours are true then?" Maisy says softly, "He's not truly dead."
Billa shakes her head, "He will return if I do not travel to Mount Doom."
"What rumours? What are yes ramblin' on about?"
"Did you know the Boffins have roots that can be traced all the way back to Dunland," Maisy explains to Noid. "You see before we settled in The Shire, us Hobbits used to roam all over the place. There were rumours, stories really, that have been passed down the Boffin line for, oh, centuries it must be."
"Stories?"
"Yes," Maisy nods. "They tell of a great evil, one that once laid waste to Middle Earth, set to inevitably return and cast darkness over us all."
"So what?" Noid glances between the two Hobbits, "Ye reckon this evil is gonna return unless ye go to Mount Doom to stop it?"
"I know this evil will return if I don't go to Mount Doom to stop it."
The dwarf looks between the two lasses, the fear in his new wife's eyes and the heavy weight that seems to have settled on Billa's shoulders. He wants to protest, to tell her that she must remain in The Shire where it is safe until his King can return - but it is that weary look on her face that gives him pause.
Back when they first arrived in The Shire, Boid mentioned that she seemed so much older than she said she was, said it was in her eyes, that they held ghosts the same way their older warriors did. Noid brushed his brother's comment aside, attributed it to the copious amounts of ale he'd been drinking in Bag End since their arrival. Now, he's not so sure. She always seemed like such a bright and positive little lass to him, but the way she is looking at him now, like the entirety of Middle Earth is balanced on her shoulders, well, she seems like an entirely different lass to the one he's come to know.
He exhales heavily, swiping a hand across his brow, "It's a long journey to Mount Doom, and a possibly dangerous one."
"I know," she nods.
Noid looks into those eyes and sees a will as steely as the one that lives within the Line of Durin. He mentally groans, Thorin is going to kill him.
"When do we leave?"
Billa grins, her eyes dancing with hope, "Tomorrow."
Noid really does groan aloud then, "Ye Hobbits will be the death of me, ye know - ow! Maisy!"
"Don't tempt fate!"
"For the love of Mahal, wife, I wasnae tempting fate!"
Billa watches the couple squabble, and tries not to let the grin grow wider across her face. Maybe this quest wouldn't be so bad after all.
...
A/N: So big BUMPER chapter for your delight. There may be a gap between this update and the next as I try to continue writing Part Two. It's proving a bit more finicky than I first thought, but I should hopefully be back by the 4th August fingers crossed. Enjoy, kudos and comment in the meantime! Thank you again you amazing humans for every comment you leave, especially to all of you who have been following this adventure from the start. You're the ones who keep me going. Thank you x
