You're My Light in the Dark

Chapter 5: Settling In

The next morning Lauren and I woke up early. Frodo offered to let us stay in Bag End for the night. I hadn't wanted to, I had intruded upon him enough as it was, but it wasn't as if we had much choice in the matter. After putting something together for breakfast, which was the least we could have done for Frodo's generous hospitality, Lauren and I sat at the kitchen table drinking tea while we waited for Frodo to wake up.

"What are we supposed to do?" Lauren asked. "This is crazy! How... why? You fell down the stairs, and I thought you had died, broken your neck or something, you know that? You were so cold. And I kept yelling for mom to come see you, to get you help, but no matter how much I banged on the basement door she wouldn't come. I got you onto one of the couches and sat with you for a while, but I must've fallen asleep because next thing I remember is waking up in a damn field. What the hell did you do?"

I sighed. "Long story short: I talked back to Vali during practice and he manhandled me. Jill's mom stepped in and yelled at him. I talked back to mom when she started yelling at me the minute I walked in the door. Then it was to the basement… and you know the rest." I paused for a moment, thinking, and then frowned at her when something clicked. "Why were you already in the basement?"

Lauren shrugged. "Mom found my stash of granola bars. Called me a fat ass, the whole nine yards. Claimed that I don't care about the sacrifices she makes for my skating since I can't sacrifice at all. She seems to forget that eating is kind of a necessity."

A moment passed in silence as we both contemplated our mother, and what our situation would mean for her. But it was barely a passing thought. We needed to focus on more important things.

"I can't believe we're here," Lauren finally murmured, glancing around the hobbit hole, at its quaintness. "This place isn't even real…"

"We're here, aren't we? And we're real. So we happen to find ourselves in a make-believe story… things could be worse," I replied. "Besides, I think we have more pressing dilemmas other than debating our sanity."

Lauren snorted. "Of course you would say that, Kat! This must be a dream come true for you! Let me remind you that I only read those damn books and watched the movies because of you. I wasn't into it as much as you were."

"I know that," I said, "But who knows how long we're going to be here for? We might as well make the best of it and not lose our heads. And besides, you might even like it here."

Lauren crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "Okay, fine, I'll play along with this insane situation we're in. But what do you propose we do?"

"Well, first off, I think we need to find work. We need money, and without it we're pretty much screwed. We need it to buy clothes, food, and lodging," I said, ticking off the list on my fingers before taking a small sip of tea, "And perhaps if we pool our money together we'll have enough to scrape by."

"Where do you expect us to find jobs?" Lauren questioned with an eyebrow raised. "Did you even notice the looks people were giving us? I doubt anyone will hire us. Plus, how old do we have to be?"

I bit my lip. That I didn't know. I was turning seventeen in a few weeks and Lauren was fifteen. Were teenagers in the real world the equivalent to a hobbit's tweens? And if so, did hobbits even hire tweens? "I have no idea how old we have to be," I replied, "But they were only looking at me like that because of the way I was dressed." I smiled wryly, "Bright blue 'trousers' and all that."

"Still," Lauren said and threw her hands up in the air, laughing dryly. "Yup, we're screwed."

"What do you mean by that?" a voice from the doorway asked, "I don't believe I've ever heard that saying before." We turned to see Frodo smiling at us as he made his way into the kitchen and sat himself down at the table next to me.

"Screwed?" Lauren commented, "Have you ever heard of the saying 'Up a creek without a paddle'? It's sort of like that, though when I use it I usually mean 'shit out of luck.'" She took a sip of the tea and grimaced at the taste, being the coffee drinker she usually was.

Frodo laughed and shook his head. "Do you curse often?" he asked looking between the two of us as he grabbed a piece of toast.

"It's a bad habit," both of us explained in union, our voices devoid of an apology.

Obviously not expecting that sort of an answer from two lasses, he choked on his toast. "I see," he somehow managed to say with a slight incredulous laugh.

"And we really can't thank you enough for letting us stay here last night, Frodo," I said, Lauren nodding as well.

"Really, it wasn't a problem," he insisted. "We have more than enough room and I'd rather you stay here than nowhere at all. And thank you for breakfast," he gave us another grin. "Do you have anything planned for today?"

Lauren shook her head. "Just going to look around town," she replied.

"I could show you around," he offered.

"No, it's okay," I said with a smile, "You don't have to do that. We've been enough of a burden as it is."

Hobbiton was mostly farmland, with rolling green hills and crops as far as the eye could see. "It's beautiful, in its own way," Lauren commented. I couldn't help but agree.

Hobbiton's town square was noticeably busier than the evening before. With the sun up it was easier to really appreciate the architecture of the small buildings around. The market was going on, many carts were lined up in the streets displaying their merchandise and all of the small shops in the square had their doors open to invite their customers in. The only words that came to mind to describe it all were quaint and cozy. The atmosphere was amazing, thick with good cheer and there was a palpable innocence hanging about the place that I hadn't taken the time to notice the night before.

The two of us had decided to split up. While Lauren headed toward the Green Dragon, I made my way into one of the shops. I stumbled upon a cloth store first, which happened to be owned by Lily's aunt. I knew this because an excited Lily was working there when I arrived and practically pounced on me when I walked in.

Lily's aunt, Angelica, was a kind hobbit. She had dark curly hair, much like Lily's, and pretty hazel eyes. "Hello there," Angelica said as Lily introduced us. "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you needed any help around the shop?"

"Are you looking for work, dear?" she asked kindly. I nodded, feeling a bit nervous as she glanced me over once more and bit her lip in thought. "Well, I do need help organizing the orders and fabrics, and dropping off some orders…"

After she asked a few questions about me, all of which I answered very carefully, lest I give too much about my true origins away; in the end Angelica had given me a job — albeit a small one — but it was a job and I was thankful nonetheless. Lily, having finished her work for the day, dragged me out of the shop by the arm.

"So you are staying here after all!" she grinned excitedly as we walked around the square, dodging other passerbys, "When I heard you're a traveler I'd figured you'd only be here for a few days before continuing on your way as the Baggins' foreign friends usually do."

I forced a meek smile. "I'm not sure how long I'm going to be staying, but this seems like a friendly enough town so I thought about staying for a bit at least. I only met Mister Baggins just yesterday, though."

"Oh?" Lily looked surprised. "Is that so?"

I nodded. "I had gotten separated from my sister and had gotten lost in the woods on the outskirts of this town and—"

"Your sister?" Lily cut in.

"We'd been traveling together," I answered, piecing together a half lie, "And we got separated. I just so happened to stumble upon Frodo by chance and he offered to show me the way into town, and invited me to join him at the Green Dragon."

After a moments thought, Lily smiled and nodded a bit, "He's always been such a gentlehobbit like that, very caring and thoughtful of everyone."

The two of us wound up in front of the Green Dragon pub, and with a sigh, I leaned against the rock wall in the square, stationing myself directly across from the pub's front door. Might as well wait for Lauren here, I figured.

"Are you staying with Frodo?" Lily asked.

"We had last night, my sister and I, I mean. Though I'd rather not put Frodo out any longer. He's been so nice to us and I hate depending on people like that, on practically a stranger no less," I replied, biting my lower lip in thought.

"That's why you wanted the job," Lily stated. I nodded in return. "And your sister, she…" she trailed off.

I nodded again, motioning to pub we were standing in front of. "Went to try and find work here," I finished. A silence fell between the two of us, Lily shifting from one foot to the other as she glanced up at the pale blue sky.

"I'm here, you know, if you ever need anything," Lily said, not lowering her gaze from the heavens, "I know I don't know you that well and haven't even met your sister yet, but I'd like to be your friend if that's all right."

Her words gave me comfort. That perhaps this whole situation Lauren and I found ourselves in wouldn't be so bad after all. I flashed her a smile. "Thanks, Lily. I'd like that." Lily returned the grin, when all of a sudden, the front door to the pub slammed open revealing a very proud looking Lauren. She sauntered over to me in a little jig, humming merrily to herself. Lauren was a bit taller than me, still even now at our new 'hobbit height', and she came up behind me, wrapping her arms around my neck in a hug as she leaned her weight on my shoulders.

"Guess who's a new barmaid!" she grinned, bouncing on her toes.

"Good for you," I muttered, "Now would you please stop choking me?"

"My older sister is so grumpy!" Lauren pouted playfully, obliging my request only to give me a nogie atop the head. I scowled at her, rubbing the abused spot. She then proceeded to stick her tongue out at me, before nearly biting it off at the priceless look of both shock and happiness on Lily's face at my sister's antics. "Who's this?" Lauren asked suspiciously, shoving a thumb in Lily's direction. Suspiciously, I say, because after our little discussion this morning, Lauren had decided that aside from Merry, Pippin, and Frodo, she didn't entirely trust hobbits much.

"Any society where people are so close-minded about other cultures that they shun them, I don't entirely have much respect for," she had said earlier.

"It's not so much different back home, Laur," I had pointed out.

"Still!" she insisted, "It must be a conspiracy! How can the women around here want to wear nothing but dresses? They must be brain washed or something, since pants are way more comfortable!"

I had to roll my eyes at that one. "I think it has to do with what they think is proper attire for a lady. Besides, they've grown up wearing them all the time, like we grew up to wear pants all the time, so perhaps, to them, they are comfortable."

Lauren, however, didn't entirely see my reasoning, and as she glanced at Lily with an almost evil eye now (which I'm sure wasn't directed at Lily at all, but more at the dress she wore) I could tell that she was going to go into a whole women's rights speech if I didn't cut in soon.

"Lily, this is my sister Lauren. And Laur, Lily's actually a lot like you, so I'm sure you two will get along just fine." The raised eyebrow Lauren sent my way was a tell tale sign that she was very doubtful of that, so I elaborated, "She's friends with Frodo, Merry, and Pippin."

That in itself seemed to quell at least some of her previous suspicions of poor Lily, seeing as it was plain that not just any normal hobbit hung around the two trouble makers and their 'crack pot' of a cousin. So Lauren sent a smile her way, seeming to accept her a bit more.

Later on that evening found Lauren and I trekking our way back up to Bag End with our arms laden with quite a few different dresses, all hand-me-downs from the very awesome Lily. Lily, you see, was very much like her fellow hobbits. While undeniably gorgeous, she was definitely a lot bigger – rounder – than either Lauren or I were. In fact, the 'issue' revolving weight around here had exactly the opposite mentality of what it was like at home. Back home, it had always been a problem if you weren't what people considered skinny. Here in the Shire, the majority of the women were plump and completely adorable.

This left my sister and me, the two hardcore competitive athletes that we are, to be the odd ones out in yet another respect. "Dainty" is what Lily called us, taking note of our skinniness. Not that we were entirely complaining about this, seeing as it happened to help us out a lot in the long run; for if it hadn't been for Lily's generosity or our slim frames, we wouldn't have been able to afford anything else to wear.

After arranging the new wardrobe in our shared room, we had a little talk with Frodo. He firmly insisted that we stay in Bag End with him, at least until the two of us got on our feet. We offered to do house work – hobbit-hole work? – in compensation, to which he waved us off, saying it was really unnecessary, but ended up reluctantly agreeing in the end when we refused to back off about it.

We went off to bed not long after, Frodo bidding us goodnight from his door down the hall from ours. That night, as it turned out, happened to be a long one. The two of us stared at the blank darkness of what I knew to be the ceiling for quite awhile, neither of us saying a word. I could tell Lauren couldn't fall asleep either, for her breath was uneven and she kept on fidgeting uncomfortably every so often, as if her thoughts troubled her so much that they made her want to squirm about.

At long last, Lauren heaved a heavy, almost bone weary sigh. It seemed to have come from deep within her soul, as if her body was trying to expel the emotional stress it's been under the past two days.

"This… this is a good thing, right Kat?"

I had been asking myself that very same question, and thus far haven't been unable to answer it. We had been plucked from a life we had been so familiar with, a difficult life sure, but I still couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that we truly were here in Middle Earth. Or perhaps I put that the wrong way – for there was no denying that we were here, the proof was everywhere – right down to the hair on our suddenly very large and awkward feeling feet. I suppose the only thing that truly bothered me was that I didn't know the reason why we had found ourselves here; how it had happened, why we were the ones that had been chosen for the odd situation – if in fact we had been chosen at all.

"I dunno, Lauren," I replied, feeling a bit sorry for not being able to give her the reassurance she desired. "But I'm sure this will all work out in the end."