Okay, so I have Covid right now, and have some serious brain fog going on. If you are subscribed to my story, you may have gotten an alert that I had posted a new chapter, and that alert was correct... however I had to then delete said chapter because of a little problem. You see, I thought for certain that I had already posted the content you will read in this chapter, and so I proceeded to write and submit what is actually my 4th chapter, and not my 3rd. As it turns out, the content in this chapter that I was positive I had posted... it was just a dream. I literally dreamt that I had already posted this chapter. So, I apologize for the mix up, and hopefully you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 3

The dwarves were a crazy lot, full of excitement and good food, but the partying stopped as soon as Gandalf reappeared with Sarah in tow. And not like a subtle shift in the mood of the room, rather instead it went from loud and raucous to being so quiet that all you could hear was a lot of awkward breathing. The reactions of the dwarves to seeing a human female wearing pants inside of Bilbo's home began as unanimous confusion, followed by wildly varied responses.

Gandalf went about introducing the dwarves one by one. The youngest of the group named Ori gave Sarah the largest sweetest doe eyes, two brothers named Fili and Kili gave each other looks before audaciously and openly flirting with her. Bombur was the merriest of the bunch and reminded her of Santa Clause. Next were Bifur and Bofur, neither of which made a significant impression on Sarah.

Dwalin and Balin were next, the first of which looked like he wouldn't hesitate to behead you if he were in the mood, and the second very much like a kindly grandfather. Oin and Gloin were chivalrous, if not a bit cold-shouldered. Nori and Dori were introduced last as Gandalf worked his way around the group, and they were the very protective older siblings of Ori. Now, out of the entire group, Dori was the most suspicious, and in Sarah's opinion, outright rude. When introduced to her, he did nothing more than glare in here direction, before turning to loudly whisper at Nori "It's not natural." To which Sarah was completely unsure how to respond.

After several moments of silent tension, Gandalf, ever the proverbial parent and peacemaker, broke the silence first. "This is Sarah, a guest in the house of Bilbo, and to be treated as such. Now, everyone mind your manners, and we shall have a splendid-" he was cut off mid sentence by three loud, sharp raps on the front door. "He is here," Gandalf quietly said, as Bilbo literally jumped up from his wingback chair in the sitting room to run to the large, rounded green door.

As the door swung open, a lone dwarf was revealed. Wow, he looks somber! I've never seen a storm cloud literally embodied in a person before. "Thorin Oakenshield," Gandalf's voice was somber. "Gandalf the Grey," the dwarf replied. Just before Thorin could have seen Sarah where she stood in the back corner of the hall there, Gandalf ushered her into the sitting room across the way, disguising her exodus with elaborate rustling of his large sleeves and much 'harrumphing'. He then briefly shot a look over his shoulder at her that clearly stated you are not to be seen before he turned back to observe a conversation happening between Thorin and Bilbo.

Sarah found a short, cushioned stool in a far corner where she was surrounded on two sides by bookshelves, and was hidden by some fascinating house plants on another side, leaving the entrance to her little haven facing the hearth in the sitting room, and thus cutting off any view of her from the dining room at any angle unless someone was standing directly in front of her, as well as placing her in the perfect position to eavesdrop on what was happening in the other room.

It didn't take long for boredom to set in. Sarah breathed through leg cramps and rearranged herself carefully when she started buzzing with loss of circulation as the conversation in the other room droned on. There was talk of prophecies, dragons and treasures, which was fine but ultimately a touch boring, and she started nodding off until things suddenly got exciting again.

"Incineration?!" Bilbo's shrill voice broke and he coughed. "Oh, aye, he'll melt the flesh right off your bones in the blink of an eye," an annoyingly nonchalant voice replied. She didn't recognize which dwarf it belonged to. "You alright, laddie?" Came Balin's concerned query. Bilbo was gasping at this point. "I just.. just feel a bit faint." "Think furnace with wings!" Came the annoying voice again, now with a strangely cheerful tone. "I-I need air," Bilbo stuttered. "Flash of light, searing pain, then poof! You're nothin' more than a pile of ashes." "Bofur!" Gandalf chastised. There was a moment of silence, then "Nope." From Bilbo before a thump sounded. Apparently the hobbit had fainted.

Moments later the hobbit was roused again, and Gandalf situated him in his wingback chair, his large feet propped up on an adorable ottoman, with some tea in hand delivered by Oin, who was apparently what they referred to as a 'healer', which Sarah assumed meant he dealt with medicine of some sort. Bilbo's chair placed him and Gandalf a few feet to the left of where Sarah was still hiding. The noise from the dwarves began to fade away as they moved to another room in the house, so Sarah was about to remove herself from her hiding hole when Gandalf began speaking with Bilbo.

The conversation didn't make total sense to Sarah, as she hadn't read the Hobbit book or watched the movies in some time, but given the appearances of all the 'characters' that had been introduced thus far, she was fairly convinced that she was in the movie version of things.

She experienced vague déjà vu when Gandalf mentioned Bilbo's adventuring ancestors, and something about a hobbit that had been so large he could ride on a horse, and had been involved in a battle where he knocked off the head of something and created golf. Sarah listened to the conversation with no small amount of fascination at the unfolding drama as Gandalf practically begged Bilbo to come on their adventure, and she worked diligently to remain still in spite of her cramped quarters so that she wouldn't interrupt the discussion.

However she had already greatly disturbed much dust in her little space that was now swirling about her, and it soon became too much for her nose to handle. She was surprised with a sudden sneeze that was so forceful she knocked her head on a bookshelf behind her. "By my beard!" Gandalf exclaimed as his own head smacked against the ceiling. "You can come out now, child. I had forgotten you were hiding in here, you were so quiet," the frazzled wizard massaged his head and glared at the ceiling that was entirely too short for wizards and humans alike.

Sarah refrained from chuckling as she tumbled out into the room and proceeded to stretch and massage her stiff legs. After a moment of contemplative silence, Gandalf began speaking to her as if he hadn't just been so rudely interrupted.

"For the time being, I believe the best plan is for you to stay with me. Now that it is confirmed that we will go on this journey, I propose that it is time to introduce you to Thorin Oakenshield, the leader of our company. He will then have a chance to sleep off his anger of having a woman along. Not that there is anything wrong with you being female, rather the dwarves have deep seated beliefs and traditions concerning the protection of women-folk. Do you have any skills that would be useful on our quest?" Gandalf expectantly awaited a response from Sarah as she stared at him in shock and mounting horror while her mind raced.

Thorin can't know I'm here, not yet. I don't recall much about the Hobbit, but Thorin's foul moods are legendary! I need to buy some time.

"No!" She shouted before clapping her hands over her mouth. Not like that, doofus! "I'm- what I meant was..." she paused to clear her throat and wipe her damp palms across her jeans, "Why don't we.. tell him in the morning? You know, after he's had a good night's sleep and has a belly full of food. I think he would react better then." Her delivery and tone had been less than confident, however Gandalf appeared to be taking her seriously. "I suppose that would work, if that is what you would prefer. In that case, you should get some rest, Thorin will want to make good time tomorrow. Sleep well, Sarah!" Gandalf kindly patted her on the shoulder before leaving the room.

She only then realized that at some point Bilbo had left them, and from somewhere else in the house, the dwarves were singing. She used their distraction to slip down the hall back to 'her' room, where she firmly shut and locked the door. What am I going to do?

Thanks for reading, and I will hopefully get chapter four out soon!