AN: Okay, so after this chapter we are finally back on track. I apologise for some of the glossing I'm doing in this chapter, I just need to stop getting stuck.
Chapter - Wives and Husbands
"Kíli?" Fíli asked as he stared up at the darkened ceiling.
"Umm?" Kíli answered, clearly close to sleep.
"What if Smaug isn't the only dragon?"
Kili felt a cold shiver go up and he turned over to face him. "I don't think we could survive another dragon."
"But you're an archer," Fili said.
"It's not that simple. You would need a windlance."
"How do we make one?"
Kili sighed, "Men made them."
Fili arched a brow, "You really think we couldn't engineer a giant crossbow?"
"In what free time?"
"Dwalin would help us," Fili insisted.
"You're serious about this?" Kili asked, sitting up.
"Iron and wood aren't that expensive. Your craft is wood, your weapon archery. Mine is engineering and crafting pointy things, we could do it."
Kili touched his brother's cheek, "Then let's make a windlance."
It became their project, especially in the winter when there was less to do.
They began with sketches and then miniature models. Then started trying to make them lighter and movable with as few materials as possible.
Whatever distance had remained between them dissolved away under the sharing of their craft.
Awkward quietness became a shared focus.
Uncertainty became problem solving.
Timidness became laughter.
Disagreement became a boisterous debate.
And if any ever doubted Fili's work based on its delicateness and origin, those doubts were washed away with pure ingenuity that came not from centuries of practice but the ingenuity of invention that has defined dwarrow from the first days of their carving.
oOo
There was a reason the elves were late to the party, and that reason was delivered to them on the swift wings of magpies in the early morning hours.
A party of orcs was coming led by the Pale Orc.
Thorin had stared at the message and he had looked up at his sister with horror.
"But I killed him."
Dís had taken the message from his hand and said definitively, "We don't stop this time till we burn the bodies."
Two things saved the hobbits from the orcs able to get through the elves and Rangers.
One, the hobbits had all turned out their second pantries into bunkers. It was the practice to keep the smelliest cheeses and herbs on the shelves that made up the now secret door to the 'second pantry'.
Thorin, unbeknownst to him, had been making iron doors for the purpose of keeping the interior of the second pantries safe even if they were discovered.
Which proved unlikely as Bilbo had made every family in the Shire herbal-bombs. You merely had to uncork the bottle and smash it on the floor. The smell wasn't so much as foul but overwhelming. Anything trying to sniff them out would be rendered nose blind for a day and night.
The second thing that saved the hobbits was their fast metabolism. No race on Middle Earth could have gotten as passed out drunk, as so many hobbits did, the night of a battle and be alright. The other races simply would not have been able to prepare themselves in a mere two hours before a siege so well after so much consumption.
Certainly, elves might claim it but the comparison is faulty at best because the amount of spirits it takes to down an elf is simply absurd and once reaching that point takes longer to recover than a hobbit.
Thorin and Dís greeted the orcs with prejudice.
Rangers from the opposite side of the border joined them and a fair many hobbits with pitchforks, scythes, and various other farming implements that Thorin had never imagined would be so effective.
The battle had its losses but for a raid on a settlement like the Shire, it was an assured victory.
Not a single faunt was killed or injured.
Still, the morning was not a pretty one as hobbits, Rangers, elves, and dwarves fought together to destroy evil.
Dís beheaded the Pale Orc and Thorin the spawn of the Pale Orc.
Leaderless, the ranks of the orcs fell apart and as they scattered, they were picked.
Not a single orc or warg survived to give tell of that day but it would be many decades before the Enemy decided to reach out its dark hand to these fair hills.
Thorin couldn't help but feel a bit victorious as they returned to Bag End.
That feeling was instantly killed when Esmeralda ran at them, "The boys are gone!"
Thorin didn't ever think he'd seen a hobbit ride a horse before.
But Bilbo Baggins turned back outside, mounted his pony bareback and road out to find their missing faunts.
oOo
Pippin and Merry had in the early hours of morning been searching for trouble, being far too wound up for sleep.
They had placed lumps of pillows and blankets in their beds and had missed all the chaos.
But they had heard it.
And while Merry was young Pippin was very young. When panic grabbed hold of him he sprinted toward the wrong side of Brandywine, his heart still in Buckland.
Merry had tried to stop him but trouble found them first.
oOo
Frodo had seen his two cousins sneak out.
He woke Sam up and they followed the two youngest over the darkened fields.
Frodo noticed the magpies but didn't think much of it until he heard horns.
There was danger tonight and Merry and Pippin were running the wrong way.
By the time they caught up to each other, there were the howls of wargs sniffing about.
Frodo made the choice for all of them to continue on to the Old Forest where they could hide in the treetops.
oOo
Bilbo was happy to hear that the boys were alive.
Tom Bombadil laughed off his concerns about the faunts. "Don't worry, Bilbo my young friend, they are in good hands."
"Whose hands?" Dís demanded.
"Why the Entwives, of course," Goldberry said with a smile.
"Entwives?" echoed Bilbo, Thorin, Dís, Estel, Elladan and Elrohir.
"Yes, it has been a long time since they've awoken but your kits were so very shaken, and they had a rather unfortunate run-in with Old Man Willow, well, it stirred them to action. They were safe by the time we found them. That older one, Frodo, was it?"
Goldberry nodded.
"Well, the lad promised to lead them to Fangorn Forest where they said the Ent husbands were."
"I told you the trees were moving, Estel exclaimed to the two elves who huffed at their little brother."
At least we'll be able to catch up to them, Dís offered. "How far could the Ents have gotten?"
Goldberry laughed.
Tom Bombadil smiled widely, "Don't be so sure of that, Ents may be known to be slow, but the Entwives are a fair bit quicker than their husbands. They'd have to be to catch up to their saplings, not that there have been many of those for a long time."
"Let's go," Bilbo said. "And I don't care if he's an adult now that boy will be grounded until he's fifty."
The elves had lambes enough to go around, resting only long enough for the ponies and horses to regain themselves.
It was not encouraging when they saw smoke on the horizon.
oOo
Frodo was certain Uncle Bilbo was going to kill him but the tale the Entwives had told about their lost husbands had been so moving, how could he not offer to take them.
He knew his uncle's maps well enough to direct them and the Entwives seemed to know the landmarks well enough.
"Who knew trees could move so fast!?" Merry kept exclaiming.
Pippin kept hanging from branches to the delight of the Entwives who seemed to consider them quite cute.
Sam just hung on for dear life despite the Entwives promising not to drop him.
Frodo leaned into Sam to give him some added support.
It only took them a few days to reach Fangorn Forest where the most beautiful reunion occurred. Any tree that had the ability to wake, rose, the forest coming alive.
Frodo was very fond of the Ents and Entwives, especially Treebeard and his wife Appleblossom. But never had Frodo been so afraid of a thing until he saw smoke in the distance and a rising anger in the trees as they realised it was their home and friends being cut down and burned.
oOo
As there was a reason for elves being late to Frodo's coming-of-age party, so too was there a reason for Gandalf's suspicious absence.
Gandalf had the unparalleled honour of watching as the Ents brought down Saruman's budding spawning-caverns.
Taking down the damn seemed to end any attempts at fighting on the orcs' part.
Squinting, Gandalf murmured, "Are those– are those hobbits?"
oOo
Saruman was having much the same thought, though with far more consternation.
Climbing his tower he approached Gandalf, "What did you do!?"
Gandalf smiled, "It's not what I did, old friend, it's the enemies you made."
Saruman bared his teeth, "Mark my words, Gandalf the Grey, our precious Shire will suffer for this."
Gandalf saw the shadow cross over the sun.
As Saruman of the Many Colours raised his staff, Gandalf fell backwards off the tower.
Shocked, Saruman ran to the edge to see his old friend's tired and remorseful smile.
It was the last thing Saruman ever saw.
Both wizards, grey and white, were caught by the Eagles of Manwe, one cushioned on a feathered back, delivered to safety, and the other impaled on claws, dropped into the steaming pits below.
oOo
Bilbo grabbed Frodo by the ear, causing the boy to yelp in great discomfort, "Frodo Baggins!"
"I'm sorry! We're sorry Uncle Bilbo!" the four faunts cried.
Releasing his nephew, Bilbo ordered, with pointed fingers, "Get on the Eagles."
The Entwives, Entshusbands, dwarrow, elves, eagles, ranger, and wizard, all chuckled as the faunts shakily got onto the Eagles.
For Merry, Pippin, and Sam, they knew worse was waiting for them at home at their impromptu adventure from their parents.
Bilbo turned to Gandalf with a pitying look, "That one was never my favourite wizard."
Gandalf laughed outright, leaning on Estel as he was half-starved and dehydrated.
Dís looked at the wreckage of Saruman's creations, "Evil grows stronger."
Gandalf nodded, "The Shire is alright?"
"Yes," Thorin agreed.
"We need to get back," Bilbo said. "Or Esmeralda is going to shave the hair off my feet."
Elrohir laughed, "You're in luck the Manwe Eagles we'll have you home in no time."
Thorondor, Lord of the Eagles, bowed his head to Bilbo's level, "Fear not, Child of the Kindly West, your hatchlings have brought forth a light in the darkness. We owe you a debt."
Bilbo bowed, "We thank you."
Dís exchanged a look with Thorin that seemed to say, We're taking him back home with us.
Thorin sighed, wishing with all his heart that that was so.
oOo
Back in the Shire, the Eagles of Manwe may have caused a bigger stir if it hadn't been for the terror they had all endured.
Thorin and Dís would be leaving the following night after supper, planning to travel the dark through the Shire so it would be day by the time they passed the boundaries on their way back to Ered Luin.
Dís kept picking on him for the admiration he couldn't help but direct toward his hobbit. His hobbit who had thrown rocks with deadly precision against their enemies and used a dagger to slash the heels of anyone who got too close to them.
But it was Esmeralda who took him aside to speak in private about his infatuation with their Thain.
"You love him," she stated as soon as the door to her room shut.
Thorin couldn't, wouldn't, deny it, so he nodded, "I do."
"There are things you should know," she said, gesturing him toward a chair. "If you were a hobbit you would already know these things."
He waited.
She sighed again, "The Shire failed Bilbo. We… Well, either we were needlessly cruel to him or we abandoned him when he needed us most. Drogo was rather good to him but… Some fools blame Bilbo for his death which makes his raising Frodo more contentious than it ought to have been."
His hands fisted, "By fail him, what do you mean exactly?"
Esmeralda smoothed her skirts, "After the Fell Winter, we all were afraid to travel. So even Drogo stayed away. But Bilbo had lost both his parents and…"
She sighed again, "Ultimately, he felt chased out of the Shire. I only saw him a few times in those years. I think he went to live with the elves. Belladonna, his mother, was rather close with those folk. But Bilbo never talks about those years… I, we have been trying to make it up to him."
Thorin didn't like any of that one bit. "He was alone?"
"Not since he adopted Frodo, none of us have let him be alone since then. But the hobbits in Hobbiton are a bit half-baked, if you take my meaning, some say Bilbo's cursed. Personally, I think that's a cruel thing to do to someone who's had a hard go of things. Just because the worst happened to them doesn't mean he's the cause of it as one understands it, Master Dwarf."
Thorin inclined his head. He did understand, especially as his line had been considered cursed and had been partly to the evils that befell their people. That anyone could think…
Blaming Bilbo for losing first his parents? Then driven out of his home, only to return and be blamed for his cousin and his wife's demise, was an unspeakable cruelty.
"Thank you for telling me. Bilbo would be welcome among my people, you all would be," he said.
And if any didn't then he was King and there were certain benefits to that.
"Bilbo isn't likely to leave Frodo, if recent events proved anything, he's not fully grown yet. But I think he would give up being Thain for you. It's not something he wants, and my eldest brother is perfectly capable of helping or taking over when needed."
"But his grandfather chose him."
"Grandfather chose him because we need the others to take healing seriously and we need the other races to take us seriously. Whatever resentment lingers from Bilbos wandering years has been washed away by that raid."
"I wish there was more I could offer you all," Thorin said.
Esmeralda smiled sadly, "A new homeland, where we could grow our flowers and faunts?"
Thorin winced, knowing that of the rocky foothills of Ered Luin that were not already settled was not fit place for Yavannah's children.
She reached forward to pat his hand, "Love is a gift, a song once sung can never be unsung. Enjoy what you have, and savour the memories."
Thorin inclined his head, "Thank you."
"You're Took-kin, Dwarf Thorin, our door will always be open to you."
Thorin was once more overwhelmed with the generosity of hobbits.
oOo
Goodbyes were always difficult.
Dís nearly squeezed the life out of his One, whispered something to him that he could not hear as he passed her a letter.
His own goodbye was awkward, his heart breaking as he turned away.
"Thorin," Bilbo called softly, catching his hand.
He was all too eager to turn back, any excuse would do.
Dís chuckled but continued on down the path.
"I–" Bilbo fumbled, looking up at his home. "Frodo is growing up."
Thorin nodded, "Aye, he's a good lad. You did right by him."
"Yes, well," Bilbo stumbled. He was rarely so flustered, he opened his mouth to say something, then snapped it shut, a look of deepest shame and regret colouring his features.
Thorin cupped his chin gently with his palm, and his One closed his eyes as he leaned into the touch. "What is it that troubles you so?"
Tears seemed to well up in his eyes but determination released him from his silence, "I haven't been completely honest with you."
Thorin let his hand drop, he'd known for a while that there was something his love was holding back from him. "Oh?"
"My place–" Bilbo began but again stopped to gather his thoughts.
Thorin felt his heart sore only to plummet into the fire depths of a volcano as his hobbit continued.
"My place isn't with you," he said, his face flushing an endearing pink. "I've no right to ask for it or accept it if you were– if you were even interested."
"You have every right," Thorin said feircely.
Bilbo shook his head, "I don't though. I could not go to Ered Luin with you. Your family deserves better than me."
Thorin frowned at the phrasing, it was he who didn't deserve such a One as Bilbo, his family would adore him. "Dís would be overjoyed if you but wanted to visit us."
Bilbo looked so sad then, and he met Thorin's gaze, "I cannot. My family history is too complicated."
"Complicated how?" Thorin demanded. It hurt something deep inside him that Bilbo thought himself unwanted. What Esmeralda had shared with him spurred the coals of rage inside him.
Had he not opened his door to him and any dwarf who arrived with his blessing, Thorin might have accepted 'complicated' as an answer. Yet there seemed to be something he was missing.
Bilbo sighed and looked away, "There was a time, I would not care what my– my adoptive father would have thought. But even if I had his blessing, my grandfather..."
Thorin felt irritation, even if he himself didn't believe he was good enough, that it would be incredibly difficult to provide for his One in the way the Shire did, he remained a prince among his people. Therefore, he was very much a representative of dwarrow and there were implications in Bilbo's statement that the secrets he was keeping were no minor things. This smelled of politics which he should be able to overcome.
"Your father doesn't like my people," he said, unable to keep the heat from his tone.
Bilbo took in a long breath before exhaling, "My adoptive father is an elf, a race you've made clear, on a number of occasions, you disapprove of."
Thorin glowered, "They are silly creatures who are fickle and in their longevity are able to ignore the suffering of us mere mortals far too easily. However, that does not mean I can't reconcile with an individual. Elrond's sons were fine, including Estel."
Bilbo nodded, "Thorin I–" he seemed to bite his tongue, arguing with himself. He changed course. "I have no way to contribute to your family if I lived in Ered Luin. I would be a burden."
"You would not be a burden," Thorin interrupted, hotly.
"Thorin, I eat seven meals a day. Maybe all that is not necessary per se but I could not bear to be another burden on your shoulders. Besides, neither of our families would support our union."
"You're wrong."
Bilbo hesitated before saying, "I'm also Thain, my people need me, at least, for now. And likely for a fair few years to come."
Thorin nodded, understanding all too well.
Bilbo stepped forward, resting a hand on Thorin's chest.
He froze, his heart thundered under his One's touch.
"Thorin, I–" Bilbo pulled back far enough to retrieve a hidden chain from around his neck.
The pendant captured the last of the days' evening light in a gleam that Thorin had not seen in such quantity since the scaled worm invaded his home.
Mithril.
Bilbo caught his hand and placed the flower shaped pendant in his hand. The petals were carved out of uniquely golden-orange topaz while the clearest and palest blue sapphires he had ever seen were woven into its heart.
"I know you are not fond of elves, but this was my mother's, her father's, his grandmother's, and so forth. It is the most precious material thing I've ever owned. I want you to keep it."
Thorin jerked his gaze upward, his mouth falling open slightly. This was a courting gift fit for a king, though as far as he knew, Bilbo did not know who Thorin truly was.
It was an elvish token of partnership.
Elves, like dwarves, loved only once. Thorin now had an insight into the attachment Bilbo's ancestor held for his hobbit love, to the descendants who passed on this token and why he would name them his daughters and sons.
As Thorin loved Bilbo, this token was proof that once an elf had loved a hobbit lass.
Perhaps, Bilbo was no half-elf, but as the line of Numenar proved, elven blood could show itself for a long time afterwards. Bilbo had told him quite a few times that the Took family was known to be different, rumoured to have a faerie ancestor. Which many blamed for their adventurous spirits and longing to look outside the Shire when few other hobbits would ever consider it.
"This belongs to Frodo," Thorin said.
"No, it belonged to me, and now it belongs to you, and one day, your nephews or their children. It is a token of the heart, Thorin, not blood."
His hand curled around it, not fearing it would break in grasp, knowing the mithril would long outlive him in strength and beauty. "You will not accept my heart, yet you give me yours?" he asked, no longer hopeful but confused all the same.
"I love you, Thorin. You are the only one I have ever loved like this; there was no one before you and there will be no one after you. All the stars in the sky might burn out and the earth may stop spinning, but I will always love you.
"I want you to have this. I want you to know that you are loved, that you will forever have my heart, and a place in my home. The fates did not align for us, but I love you no less because of it. I thank Yavanna every day that you found me, that we got to share some time together. My door will always be open to you and your kin."
Tears spilled down Thorin's cheeks.
He pulled his hobbit into an embrace and bent part way to offer a kiss.
Bilbo stood on tip-toes to claim it, his lips were soft despite the pain of this goodbye. He was a warmth in Thorin's arms that lit up his whole world.
It broke him to know that this was a state of being he could not keep.
Yet it remade him to know that even though his suit had been rejected, he and his love had not been.
He might never share a life with his One, but this would not be the last time they met.
Nor their last goodbye.
oOo
Bilbo cried himself to sleep that night. He loved Thorin, and truthfully he believed there were things he could do to help support Thorin's family even in the Blue Mountains but that wasn't the problem.
It was an honour to be Thain.
He wished with all his heart that he had not been entrusted with such an honour.
oOo
By the time the reached home, Thorin felt as if he could sleep away the winter. There was a minor celebration at the news that the Pale Orc and his ilk had been fully defeated. But Thorin had excused himself as soon as possible to sit with his thoughts.
Dís kicked him, "Why are you so… Depressed? I thought things were going well with your One."
He had refused to discuss it on the journey back, she seemed to have finally lost patience with his silence.
"He won't have me, Dís."
She snorted, "But he loves you."
Thorin sank further into his seat, "I know."
"You do?" She asked, surprised. "Then why–"
"He gave me this."
He uncurled his fist and his sister gasped sitting beside him to look. She ran a finger over the metal without taking it from his hand.
"I don't understand, this is a kingly courting gift. How does a hobbit come by mithril? Elves crafted this without doubt, it must have cost a fortune that I thought not even hobbits possessed."
"His mother was the elf's daughter, or one of his descendants he took as a daughter."
Dís pursed her lips, "Then why is it the problem? If an elf can love a hobbit, then a dwarf loves a hobbit."
"He cannot move to Ered Luin because he believes he will be a burden and–"
"Nonsense, he knows enough about plants to be a healer. He could hardly think–"
"He will not leave the Shire because he is Thain. You know this. He's their equivalent to the hobbits' crowned prince despite how many times it was explained to us that the hobbits don't have kings."
His sister sat down next to him on the bed and wrapped an arm around him, "I believe that love will find a way. Mahal and Yavannah did not craft you together so you would forever grow apart."
He leaned against her, "At least he loves me still." He blinked back tears, "Once, when we were but children untouched by dragon fire, I would have thought little of such a courting gift, especially it being of elvish make. Once, when we were starving, I would have thought if I could just get this much wealth back in my hands our troubles would be lessened.
"But now? I could never trade this away, for it is priceless to me. Yet I would gift it Smaug himself if I thought it would buy me more time with my One."
Dís hugged him , held him close in his woe that did not compare to the love she had lost.
He was glad when in the following two years he met with Gandalf the Grey.
Surely, poking a dragon in its lair was easier than facing the abyss that carved out a bit more of his heart each day.
He was grateful, up until Gandalf gave him the address of their burglar.
Mahal save them all from the meddling of wizards.
oOo
AN: Thoughts, euryhaline plesiosaurs, or feedback, pretty please?