Chapter Text
Dwalin had arrived at the Shire first.
He could feel the burning stares and muttered whispers all around him as he walked down the paved paths that curved and twisted this way and that. Every whisper that the dwarf heard slowly brought his anger to a simmer, and after a few indiscreet points his way, a boiling roar.
If their burglar was anything like these fat and short…hobbits, then Dwalin was quite sure that he would beat the wizard that convinced Thorin to go on this quest, powers and retribution be damned.
Finally, after ten minutes of searching for the sign on the door that Gandalf had told Thorin about, Dwalin spots it. It was barely a scratch on the green, round door before the rather burly dwarf, and if not for the faint light that weakly broke through the scratch, he wouldn't have noticed it he was sure.
Dwalin knocked on the door a bit harder than he probably needed to, but he thought that he was entitled to exerting his frustrations somehow. He stood there a moment in the now silent night, as all those in this particular neighborhood seemed to have already settled down in their homes.
He heard shuffling in the house and a muffled ‘one moment please’ before the green door was opened, greeting him with kindly wide eyes that nearly exactly matched the door’s color.
A short woman stood before the dwarf, which by itself surprised him, though he did not show it. The lass looked upon him not with contempt as her fellow hobbits had as he walked through their Shire, but instead she gazed at him with cool curiosity in the tilt of her head. The hobbit spoke as she tied her robe slightly tighter around her waist.
“Hello, sir.” The lass gave a polite little smile as she said this, her voice a pleasantly smooth tenor.
Dwalin replies with a stilted bow from the waist and a ‘Dwalin, at your service’. The hobbit responded with the nod of her head as she said, “Billa Baggins, at your’s.”
Billa’s eyes went a tad wide as she said quickly, “Oh, where are my manners? Please come in.”
She opened her door wider for the dwarf to step into the hole in the hill she lived it. Or, at least he had thought that it would be a mere hole, with dirt compacted tightly into walls and ceilings and floors, with the smell of earth permeating the air strongly. Instead, he caught a whiff something sweet, along with -fish, if his memory serves him well, along with many other things that he cannot quite place. He walked on warm wooden floors and walls that made the hobbit hole more homely than he expected.
The hobbit closed the door behind them and spoke, holding out her hand. “I can take your coat, if you like. There’s also some dinner in the dining room across from the kitchen.” She smiles politely at him once more, as she hangs his green coat onto a rack. “I was told that there would be more than just one guest. I suppose the others shall be a tad late?”
Dwalin shrugged stiffly, as he quite honestly did not know both when his companions would arrive, and how exactly to act without offending the lass, as he did not touch up on the customs that hobbits held. He was fully prepared for a fussy little nuisance that he could easily intimidate and hate in equal measure, however that is not what he was met with. Already the lass was different than the rest of her kin, as she did not snub him nor did she stare at him with distrust. He had heard from merchant dwarves, such as his brother, that hobbits tended to be very prudish and holier-than-thou towards anyone that did not measure up to their expectations.
As Dwalin walked to the dining room Billa had indicated, he nearly froze at its entryway. The table was laden with foods, so much so that with the addition of plates and cups there wasn’t really any table to see. The delectable and mouthwatering smell was much stronger now, and as he gazed at everything there he could spot some stuff he knew. Fish as he had smelt before, along with chicken and roast and potatoes, along with a plethora of eatables that he did not recognize, but would be more than happy to tear into.
He sat down in one of the chairs and started with the fist, not thinking about his manners in front of the lass until he was halfway through with his first dish. Usually he would not give a rat’s ass about table manners, but the hobbit had been hospitable towards him thus far, and he honestly did not wish to ruin a feast for his companions before they even showed up.
As Dwalin looked up to the doorway, however, Billa simply gave him a bemused smirk before turning to pull a pan out of her oven. “I just have one more tray of cookies to make and then everything will be done, master dwarf. I hope I’ve made enough for you and your fellows that will be showing up? Gandalf didn’t deem it noteworthy to tell me how much dwarves tend to eat, the troublesome wizard.”
Dwalin cleared his throat and replied gruffly. “Aye, it’ll do.”
“Good!” She called over her shoulder, just as there was another knock upon her door. The lass closes her oven with her foot and briskly walks out of Dwalin’s sight, supposedly to meet her next guest, as the dwarf helped himself to a chicken leg.
He heard some muffled chatter before heavy footsteps led to the room he was seated in. Looking, Dwalin stood and grinned at the dwarf before him. His beard had gotten longer and whiter since he last saw Balin two years ago, yet the merriment in his eyes had not left.
The two exchanged an enduring head-bump and laughed, before Dwalin led his older brother into the dining room.
Balin’s eyebrows went higher as he took in the feast before him, much like his younger sibling reacted. Dwalin shrugged and led him to the seat next to his, and as they caught up with one another time seemed to fly for the two.
Seemingly all at once, all but one of the dwarves had arrived. The company was laughing and rough-housing and tossing food at their fellows as the hobbit lass seemed to disappear into the background. If they had bothered to pay attention to her, they would have seen as she watched them with an absolutely blank expression, her eyes narrowed and calculating. The wizard was the only one who would catch a glimpse of her mask-less face, and he knew that the only reason he was able to accomplish that was because she allowed him to.
It was the whole reason why he chose her for this journey. Gandalf hoped that he could kill two birds with one stone on this little adventure, through his meddlesome ways, of course.
The table was soon nearly cleared of its delectable content, including the cookies that Billa had presented not five minutes prier. Then, the whole smial was brought to silence as there was a definite, commanding knock at the door. Gandalf stood slowly and spoke in a very ominous voice. “He’s here.”
Billa’s face was once again that of the polite hostess. “Well, I should hope so! Any longer and he would not have had any supper!” She said in a teasing voice to the dwarves that had cleared out her food stock quite effectively.
The hobbit strode to the door and opened it, stepping aside with but a glance to the tall dwarf before her. “Hello. Billa Baggins, at your service. Come on in, you're rather late, sir.”
Thorin stepped by the short woman, very obviously ignoring her. Billa’s eyes narrowed dangerously at him, but quickly lost their edge before anyone could notice.
Thorin handed his sword to one of his nephews while giving his coat to the other as he spoke to Gandalf. “You said this place would be easy to find, wizard. I got lost; twice.”
Before Gandalf could retort, Billa closed the door to her home and stepped in front of blue-eyed dwarf who loomed over her.
“Yes well, the Shire is quite easy to navigate, and Bag End even more easily spotted. You must have as terrible sense of direction as you do manners, master dwarf.” The dwarves around the two stared at her in shock. She had been very quiet but polite towards them, enough so that they barely noticed her after introductions were given.
It seemed to be the first time any of the dwarves bothered to actually see the lass, Thorin included. She was indeed the shortest of them all yet with the biggest feet. Her hair was down and pushed to one shoulder, golden ringlets tumbling down to the curve of her breasts. Her silken robe cascaded the length of her body until it reached just below her knee, the light blue of it complimented her smooth skin.
Though her appearance was that of a gentle-hobbit, her stance before the leader of their company was rigid and strict, not in the least lenient towards him nor his manners as she was with the rest. Thorin glared rather viciously at the little las before him, and before he could snap a response Gandalf quickly stepped forward.
“Billa Baggins, this is Thorin Oakenshield, the leader of this company.”
Billa turned her razor sharp eyes to Gandalf before back to the dark haired dwarf before her. “Indeed.” The lass’s voice is quiet and rather empty all of a sudden. She continues staring at the dwarf for a moment, before turning her gaze to her audience. “Well then, perhaps we could begin what you came here for now, as the esteemed dwarf eats his supper, hm?” The dwarves could see the irritation still in her green eyes, and they grumbled affirmatives.
Stiffly, Thorin Oakenshield walked into the dinning room, where Bomber put together a plate for the somber dwarf. As he ate, his fellows pelted him with questions and he answered them. They asked about Dain and his involvement of their journey- or rather, his lack there of apparently. The group deflated at that, before Thorin roused them rather impressively into excitement once more by way of a small speech.
Billa finally sits between Kili and Ori, the latter of the two giving the hobbit a shy smile. She returned it politely, before turning her gaze to Gandalf and Thorin. “So, what do you need me for? It seems you have everything you need already.”
The company stared at her in surprise, having thought that she knew their purpose in coming to her home. Then all eyes turned to the wizard, seemingly simultaneous.
Billa watched this and continued, “Gandalf came to me yesterday and proposed an adventure to me. I was inclined not to accept, but he said that he was sure it would catch my interest and left it at that. All else he told me was that I would have thirteen guests tonight and that I should better prepare for them, if I wished to be a proper hostess.” She chuckled gently. “And a Baggins must always put up a proper front. Now here we are, and I am interested. So, how can I be of service to the Company of Thorin Oakenshield?”
Thorin cleared his throat in order to get the attention of those at the table. “We are in need of a burglar, mistress Baggins. I was against the idea of having not only a hobbit, but a woman participating in this endeavor, however Gandalf has assured me that we will fail without you.” He did not sound or look at all happy with this notion.
Billa gave a noncommittal hum. “I presume there is a contract I must sign?”
Balin quickly produced a rolled up piece of parchment that he then handed to the lass, who promptly unrolled it and read quickly.
She raised an eyebrow and looked at the group before her after a moment. “Incineration? Not liable for funeral expenses?” Without looking for a reply she finished reading, then left the room only to return with a small bottle of ink and a pen. She signed her signature in a quick, elegant scrawl, before handing the contract back to Balin, who smiled widely at her.
“Well then, lass. Welcome to the company of Thorin Oakenshield. We’ll start the first leg of our journey in the morning”
And how very interesting of a journey it shall turn out to be.