Bella turned her face to the East, digging her toes into the earth beneath her. She felt the earth pulsing through her, much like a heartbeat, and she furrowed her brow in confusion. Closing her eyes, she spread her magic across the land, and nearly reeled back when she hit a wall. Not a physical wall, although it very well could have been, but a solid presence of evil in the land somewhere far, far to the East nearly overwhelmed her. She searched through it, feeling like she was wading through everything and nothing at the same time, hoping to find a sign. For surely something that engrossed in evil wouldn't still be living, but she was a hobbit, and she could never give up on the land that so desperately needed help.

Although she used the land as a boost for her senses, the dead land greatly dampened it and she could feel her strength waning. In a final bid, she took a deep breath and spread her senses as far as she could and hoped it would be enough.

She waited a second, and then another, and then another, until finally-

There.

It was faint, but far in the distance she could feel a pulse, buried beneath all the evil. But if there was a pulse, then there was hope yet.

And if there was still hope left, that was all Bella needed.

Drawing her senses back to herself, she blinked at the sharp sting of the sun, before turning around and going inside Bag-End to pack.

She had work to do.

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not just any hobbit, though. This hobbit was Bella Baggins, daughter of Bungo and Belladonna Baggins, and she was as wild as they came. Her mother was a Took, and she was the most adventurous of the Tooks since Bullroarer. Bella took after her mother quite well, but she also took after her father. Bungo was a steady Baggins, the most respectable hobbit in Hobbiton, and while Bella was adventurous for a faunt (especially a Baggins faunt) she also knew where home was, and what that meant for hobbits.

Yes, Bella was the perfect combination of her two parents, with a love of adventure, home, and books, but there was another reason she was such a special hobbit.

Her magic was the strongest of them all.

Hobbits are the children of Yavanna, the Valar of the earth and green, growing things. Because of this, they were gifted with magic, a magic to make things grow and prosper. They can speak with the land (some hobbits are gifted with the ability to speak with animals as well, while others can sometimes move the land), and help it heal. Every hobbit is born with this ability, it's just a matter of how strong that ability is. Now, obviously, having several hobbits in one spot will make the land prosper, like the Shire, but even having just one hobbit in a place where the earth is wounded helps it heal.

The hobbits of the Shire liked to stay in one place; it meant they could keep the Shire prosperous, keep its riches growing, but that didn't mean they would never step outside it. If they heard the call of another place for help, they would pack up and move. They called them adventures, and while generally it was frowned upon to leave home and wander, every hobbit knew what the calling felt like, and knew that if somebody did leave it was for a good cause.

Belladonna Baggins was one such hobbit who, like the others, heard the call of the world outside the Shire. She just acted upon it more, and as she did so, her gift for healing grew and she was called more often than other hobbits. When Bella was born, it was a toss-up of if she would have a strong healing magic like her mother, or if she would be more laid back like her father, or if she would be a mix of the two, and her magic averaged out like the rest of the hobbits. Growing up, though, she ran around and even occasionally went on adventures with her mother to Bree, healing the land as they went but never being gone for long. When the Fell Winter came, it was her mother that led the other hobbits, her father included, to try to heal the land from the darkness that winter brought, and also to hopefully grow some defensive walls of bramble and other such to protect them from the starving wolves. Bella had to stay home, as she had fallen ill and was in the process of recovering.

Her parents never came back.

By the time the snows melted and the wolves left the Shire alone, several smials had been broken into, and hundreds of hobbits had died, whether from the cold, wolves, or starvation themselves.

After that, the hobbits focused even more on the land around them, placing their magics deep into the ground to root themselves and help the Shire grow stronger and heal from the brutal winter. No hobbits wandered off on any adventures during those first few years after, and once the land was nearly fully healed, hardly any went off again. They ignored the call from the other lands, blocking their senses to the rest of the world, and worked to make the Shire so whole it could never be hurt again.

Hardly any hobbits, except for Bella Baggins, that is.

Her magic had been exceptionally strong when she was born, and going around with her mother only strengthened it. Falling ill and the ensuing winter had dampened the ability slightly, but as soon as winter was done with, she was out there with the rest of the hobbits helping make the Shire whole again. After it was as healed as it could get from them, she turned her senses outwards and followed the call to other parts of the world, even going almost as far as the Misty Mountains at one point. She always returned back, and made sure her smial would never fall into the hands of the Sackville Bagginses. Nobody even battered an eye at her suddenly disappearing anymore. So long as her sign was posted, they knew she would be back eventually, and left her be. Some called her odd, or mad, of course, but she shrugged it off. It had been her mother's calling and now it was hers to keep the lands alive.

That was why, when a wizard showed up at her door only to see a sign Gone on an adventure! Be back soon! nobody thought to inform him that this was a normal occurrence, and he shouldn't try to wait for her.

The dwarves weren't too happy at this, though, and grumbled the whole time back to the Prancing Pony Inn to restock supplies - that they wasted on a halfling with no sense of honor, leaving their home for a silly little adventure right before they were to meet with the dwarves - before heading back out into the wild, trudging their way to Erebor.

Thirteen was an unlucky number, and they all knew it, but hoped that their flaky companion of a wizard would be enough to stop the bad luck heading their way.

They hoped, but based on their absent so-called burglar so far, though, it was a very fragile one. They knew it was in vain the first night they heard the orc cries in the distance. Still, if they were lucky, some of them might make it all the way to Erebor.

That was the plan, and desperate plea by all of them, at least.

Another orc screeched.

It was going to be a long trip.