Chapter Four: And So The Quest Begins

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

I groaned as I turned off the alarm on my status file as I sat up and rubbed my eyes, sliding out of bed and stretched out my arms and legs. Shaking off the sleep from my core, I got out of the bed and got dressed into the travelling clothes that I set out last night before making my way to Bilbo's room to wake him up.

I knocked on the door before slipping in to see Bilbo sleeping so comfortably that I almost did have the heart to wake him... almost.

"Hey Bilbo, wake up." I said as I shook him sternly, hearing his groans of displeasure as I continued to shake him. After a few minutes later and still Bilbo refused to wake, I sighed as I was now left with no other option. 'Sorry Bilbo, but you asked for this.' I thought as I used magic to summon a ball of water out of thin air and as I concentrated on the temperature of the water (which I ensured was icy cold) while holding it over Bilbo's sleeping head. At the count of three, I dropped the water which then had Bilbo jump up sputtering as he looked around and his sight landed on me. I smiled smugly as I stood there with my arms crossed across my chest.

"Amara, was that really necessary?" Bilbo grumbled under his breath but I could hear it loud and clear.

"Hey, I tried to wake you up the nice way, but you refused to comply. So there was no other choice but to wake you up like this." I said with a slight grin on my face as I looked at the sight of drenched hobbit, especially a hobbit who was trying to look annoyed at me at the same time while dripping wet. Much like a cat who fell into water, so adorable. "Get your stuff ready, I'll get started on breakfast for the company." I then left the room to allow him to get dressed and pack his bags.

As I then made my way back to the kitchen, I then thought of the many guest that were staying here at the moment before we depart. So I then began to cook some breakfast for them all and Bilbo as I knew that eating food on the road is never as good as a full home-cooked meal in the safety of a warm home.

After an hour of cooking, one of the dwarves came into the kitchen. I turned to see that it was Bombur the largest dwarf in the company and the foodie in the group, I smiled softly as I then turned to greet him politely.

"Good morning, Bombur." I said in a calm and welcoming tone as I wanted to get along with as many of the company members, if not all of them, as soon as I could and with Bombur being a foodie that many believed that he was I figured we could grow closer with our shared love for food. "Breakfast?" I motioned to the table filled with all kinds of breakfast dishes from my old home that I cooked up, in this moment I was grateful for all those cooking classes in and out of school plus my love for anime foods.

"Yes please." Bombur said as he then began to help himself to all a bit of everything, "Delicious!" Soon the rest of the dwarves as well as Gandalf began to enter the kitchen, I greeted them all and motioned to the food before they all began to fill their plates.

I smiled at Bombur as I spoke. "I'm glad you like it. I even have a few recipes for when we are on the road, I can teach them to you if you like?" I said as I managed to put some food aside for Bilbo, knowing these dwarves and wizard had already eaten most of the food on the table.

"That would be wonderful." Bombur said before going back to eating his food.

As I was cleaning up the finished dishes and putting them away, I could hear the sounds of footsteps coming from down the hallway. I knew it had to be Bilbo, and so I called out: "Bilbo, don't forget to pack your handkerchief. Cause we won't be coming back for it once we leave!"

"Ok, thank you Amara." Bilbo shouted as I then heard him rush of to look for his handkerchief, once everyone else was done eating and I had cleaned and packed away the last dish, all the dwarves left to gather their packs.

I knew that meant we were set to leave soon and this wouldn't give Bilbo time to eat, so I packed his breakfast into a hand-made bento box that I had made during the last two years and introduced to the folks in the Shire. And to my great surprise, it became a great hit among the Shire.

As soon as I was done packing the bento box, I then got the idea that these would make an easy lunch not just for Bilbo and I but for the whole company. So I used a replication spell to create four days' worth of Bento boxes for the entire company and then cast another spell to keep them nice and fresh as I put all save for one into my item box.

By that time, Bilbo then appeared in the kitchen with his pack on his back. "Got everything, Bilbo?" I said with a soft sister-ly smile.

"Yep. I even triple checked, just to be sure."

"Good to hear." I said before the sound of Thorin's deep voice called out from the parlour room and reached our ears.

"Ok everyone, let's head out." He bellowed as everyone gathered and began to exit Bag-End in a single file. 'Straight to business, admirable but still give the hobbit a chance to eat.' I thought with a smile before turning to see Bilbo with a disgruntled look on his face at the notion that he would have to leave his home before he had a chance to have breakfast.

"Here Bilbo, I had a feeling you wouldn't make it to breakfast, so I save some of the food and turned it into a bento for you to eat while on the road." I told him as I held up the bento box, I watched as the expression on his face change from displeasure to overwhelming joy. Much like in an anime.

"You're a saint, Amara. Truly." Bilbo praised me as he then took the bento as we followed the dwarves out the door, I quickly rushed to my room to grab the backpack I had set aside last night and raced out to the garden where Bilbo and the rest of the company was waiting for me. Once out the front door, I turned to the door and looked up at the top of the door frame where I saw the large crystal I had place there last night.

Reaching up, I touched the stone and sent a bit of my magic into it before chanting:

"Estate Lock." I chanted in Ancient Latin, then not only the stone above the front door but all the stones at ever door and window began to glow as I sent my magic into them. This then created an invisible barrier around Bag-End and locked out anyone or anything that was not invited in.

Once the stones were charged with enough magic to last a strong 16 months, I lowered my arm and turned to face the company. I looked to see many of the company member were looking at me funny but none more so than Thorin, 'I'm gonna have to work on gaining his trust on this journey.' I thought as I then stepped out of the front gate and walked up to Bilbo before Thorin bellowed.

"Let's go, we're wasting the day away."

And with that, the company then made their way to the stables where they left their ponies before arriving at Bag-End last night. I smiled before making my way over to a male hobbit that I knew very well.

"Hi Mr Wanderfoot." I greeted the middle-aged hobbit.

"Oh hello Miss Amara, surprised to see you here." Mr Wanderfoot greeted my back with a kind smile, I met Mr Wanderfoot three months after my arrival here in the shire and I had become close with his young children, whom I have babysat from time-to-time. "Finally planning to leave the shire?" Mr Wanderfoot asked as he knew my plans to leave the shire to explore the outside world very well and understood that it was only natural for me to want to explore as I was not a hobbit by any means.

"Yes, and I need a stead of my own for it. Is Wildfire still here?" I asked while pointing to the stables.

"Of course, he's all yours." He said as he motioned for me to go ahead, I walked into the stabled and passed a few stalls before coming across the stall that had the one I was after. A beautiful black stallion stood as if waiting for me to arrive to see him, I remembered the day I found Wildfire as if it was yesterday.

It was about six months after I first arrive in the Shire, I was exploring the woods surrounding the shire when I came across the corpse of a wild horse and only after searching around the area did I find a young foal. The dead horse was most likely the foal's mother and she died protecting her baby from any predators.

I knew that the foal wouldn't be able to survive in the wilds on its' own as it was still too young to be without its' mother, and being the compassionate person towards animals that I was I decided to take the foal with me. However, I knew that I couldn't keep a foal in Bag-End as Bilbo would never allow it, so I asked Mr Wanderfoot if I could keep Wildfire in his stable until I was ready to leave the shire.

I made an agreement with Mr Wanderfoot that I would pay for the stall in the stable and for Mr Wanderfoot to handle taking care of Wildfire whenever I wasn't there, I visited the stable every day after combat training with Bilbo and spent several hours taking care of Wildfire until he was able to start eating on his own. And once he was big enough, I began training with him to ride him both with and without a saddle, I even trained Bilbo to ride Wildfire like a pro.

"Wildfire! Are you ready to go on a journey?" I asked as I entered the stall and patted his nack while he nuzzled into my neck, Wildfire nodded his head in affirmation to my question as I knew he was just as eager to explore all of Middle-Earth as I was. I turned and opened my Item Box before reaching in to grab that saddle that I had made over time, once in hand I strapped it onto Wildfire's back and fastened the straps before slipping the reigns over his ears and onto his face.

With Wildfire saddled and everything, I grabbed hold of the reigns and led him out to the square where the whole company was waiting for me. I walked out with Wildfire over to Bilbo, who was nearby talking to Gandalf about something.

"Ready to go, Bilbo?"

"As I'll ever be." Bilbo said, I then motioned for Wildfire to lower down so that both Bilbo and I could get on his back. "Thank you, Wildfire." Bilbo then leapt onto Wildfire's back and I followed suit behind him, once on Wildfire then stood back up on his feet while Bilbo took hold of the reigns albeit hesitantly.

I placed a hand on his shoulder which caused him to look behind at me. "It'll be fine, Bilbo." I said to calm him, I had hoped after all the training he would feel more confident riding a horse/pony but it seems that I was mistaken.

Bilbo smiled as he then took a deep breath as Thorin's voice bellowed yet again.

"Let's get moving!"

And with that, the company made its way out of Hobbiton and on our way towards the boarder near Bree, I looked around at each of the company members and smiled as I saw them socializing amongst themselves.

Then all of a sudden, Gandalf appeared next to Bilbo and I on his horse. "Excuse me, Miss Amara?"

"Yes, Master Gandalf?"

"If it's not too much to ask, what did you do to the hobbit's home earlier?" He asked.

I knew this would come up as I never gave Gandalf the chance to talk to me properly last night, given the company that was wondering around Bag-End and probably listening in on conversations that they shouldn't.

"I cast a spell to keep any uninvited guest out of Bag-End until Bilbo's return. Just to make sure a few of his relatives doesn't try to steal what isn't theirs." I replied.

Bilbo turned and said: "Which I am truly grateful for, by the way." I giggled as I pictured Lobelia Sackville-Baggins trying everything to get her hands on Bag-End as she had always wanted but ends up running into my barrier like a bird flying into glass windows.

Gandalf looked to be in deep thought before he then said to me. "Perhaps you and I could have a talk about spells and compare."

After thinking about it for a few minutes I figure it would be both interesting and educational to learn of the magic spell used by the Istar of Middle Earth. "Sounds good, I look forward to it." I said with a smile.

Gandalf then looked quite please before he then trod off to the front of Bilbo and I, smiling at the notion of the old wizard acting like a young child getting what he wants was quite amusing as Bilbo directed Wildfire forward.

I suddenly remembered something that I had forgotten to tell Bilbo, so I tugged on his sleeve.

"Hey Bilbo?" I said as he turned his head around to face me. "Don't forget that we are going to spar after dinner from now on, ok?" I knew that Bilbo didn't like to train so soon after meals but since we were not going to have much time to do it during the day, it was best to do it after dinner at night when the company are all resting.

"Understood." Bilbo said with a sad tone, I smiled as I knew Bilbo was not please but if he wanted to get home safe and sound, he had to endure my training. While it was true that he managed to return home alive and well in both the movie and book, he had come close to being seriously hurt or even killed a few times because he didn't know how to fight so I was going to change that.

000

Hours later, the sun was beginning to set over the horizons and the company had decided to set up camp for the night, Thorin assigned a few tasks to some of the company members while I set up my magic tent. I had thought about setting up a magic barrier, but we were still in the Shire and perfectly safe so far, but I was looking forward to sparring with Bilbo after dinner. I joined Bilbo as he was helping Bombur cook dinner.

I offered to help, which Bombur was more than happy to take me up on and turned to Bilbo who was cutting up some meat that Fili and Kili had hunted a little earlier. "Hey Bilbo. Don't forget, you and I are sparring after dinner."

"Yes, I'm not going to lose this time." Bilbo said with confidence.

I couldn't help but laugh at his statement. "That would imply that you actually won a sparring match in the first place, you're standing on 730 losses so far, right?" I said albeit a bit smugly.

This cause us to catch the attention of the other company members. "You mean to tell us that Master Bilbo has never won a fight?" Fili asked interested.

"Against me: No. But he can hold his own very well against the Rangers from the North whenever we come across them on the boarder of the Shire." I explained as calmly as I normally was, but I could see the shock on their faces, granted Bilbo and I told them that I had been training Bilbo to fight for some time now, but we never told them about anything specific in regard to that said training.

After an hour, I had my magic tent up and everyone sat by the fire and ate their supper, I looked over at Thorin and could see him talking to Balin and Dwalin comfortably. I couldn't help but be mesmerized by how handsome he was, though I quickly turned away as I felt a hand on my shoulder to find it was Bilbo holding two wooden swords.

"Ready when you are, teacher." Bilbo said with a cheeky smirk on his face, I placed my dish by the stack of finished ones and took the second wooden sword from Bilbo.

"Let's give these dwarves a show." I said as I snapped my fingers and nearby a sparring ring appeared out of thin air, 'Gods I love being a mage!' I thought as Bilbo, and I entered the ring and took our positions while the dwarves and Gandalf gathered around to watch.

I saw Thorin standing with Balin and Dwalin, watching us as I then turned back to Bilbo. "You remember the rules, Bilbo?" I asked.

"Yes." Bilbo nodded confidently.

And with that, I shouted:

"GO!"

And our spar match began.