#the trolls were also lost on what bilbo was and every thing that meets the hobbits in the lotr is like ???? :) Friend???

[youareunbearable]

What if Hobbits aren't creations from Yavanna like everyone thinks?

Sure they like growing things, and sure their home is a beautiful little paradise of green and goodness, and sure, I love the parallels of Dwarf/Hobbit ships because they reflect Aule/Yavanna

But Yavanna already created the Ents, she already made her creatures to protect her beloved trees and green things.

But shes not the only Vala to live in a beautiful, nature filled garden

So I'm suggesting another Vala made the hobbits: Irmo

Irmo is the Vala of Dreams and Visions, he lives in the Gardens of Lorien with his wife is Este, the Vala of healing and rest for the weary.

He is never called upon during times of war or strife, but he would still work behind the sceens and in subtle ways to send hope amongst the Children of Illuvatar. He is associated with hope, inspiration, love, desire, dreams, sleep, and visions.

Don't a lot of these traits sound familiar? Aren't all of these traits the roles hobbits play in every story they're involved in?

Dwarves are going on an impossible mission to reclaim their home from a dragon? you are gonna need a lot of hope for that, and here is Bilbo, noticing things that need to be noticed (like the Hidden Door) and is always working behind the scenes to get the Dwarves to the mountian, and to find their stone, was the only not to be corrupted by the Gold Sickness, and inspired love and dreams of a better future to so many during the quest (like Thranduil, Bard, Thorin, Gandalf, Elrond, etc)

Being a symbol of hope and inspiration is literally Frodo's role in the LotR. Along with Merry to the Rohirrim, and Pippin to Faramir and Gondor, and both of them to the Ents. They become these types of mascots because people feel joy and love and hope when they see these cheery little folk

Hobbits are just friend shaped. Bilbo stole 13 Dwarves from Thranduil's dungon and he was so charmed by him that he called him Elf Friend. You just see one and wanna adopt them. They just emit these vibes of hope and love and dreams of a better world where everyone could just live as peacefully as Hobbits do

None of the Hobbits (besides Gollum) are really tempted by the visions and desire the Ring pushes forward, and if they are they shake it off fairly quickly, and I think this is because of Irmo. Of course he would make HIS children impervious to wicked temptations/desires/dreams, which is why none of Sauron's evils really tempt them, and if it does they don't really do anything with the power given. Like Gollum had it for a couple hundred of years and all he did was sit in a cave and look at it. If ANY OTHER race had that ring kingdoms would have fell.

I like to think that Irmo saw how fell whispers, temptation, greed, and hope was used against the Elves in Valinor, so he created his people (Hobbits) and their perfect little pockets of peace in Middle Earth for them to find rest and care.

But he messed up.

The Garden of Lorien is located very far away from everything else in Valinor, to help make it a peaceful getaway, so he does the same thing with his Hobbits. Except that no one knows where they are and now can't find them. This becomes a habit of his people, that since Hobbits were so isolated when they were born, they don't really like to interact with others. Of cource they'll accept any that comes to their land, but making them leave it?? naw nice try.

But they do have some interactions with others during the First Age, as they live between the Greenwood and Moria in the Gladden Fields, they probably talked with the Avari and Durin's Folk. Then in the Second Age they had Oropher's Sindarin people too. Then in the early Third Age they travel Westward. They befriend human Kings and the Dunedain and settle in the Shire, and it becomes a Haven, one that Gandalf recognizes. Oh sure it doesn't have the splendor of Lorien, nor the echo of delicate voices in the air to calm you, or the brilliant beauty in its landscapes, But it is a place to recuperate and even the air seems lighter in this lands then any other he's been within Middle Earth.

(If Maglor was found and rested in the Shire, he would heal there just as he would in the Gardens of Lorien in Valinor, for only he, with his mastery over Song and Music (for an Elf) could hear and understand and appreciate the strings of the Song of Irmo within the heartbeats and breaths of the Hobbits, as it dances around their Party Tree, burbles in the Brandywine, and echos from the branches of the Old Forest)

The Shire doesn't hold the same beauty of Lorien, but it holds a beauty that suits the peoples Middle Earth, and it still a haven for all that come across it, the people that dwell within, and to those that meet it's inhabitants .

For Hobbits follow in their Creator's footsteps and bring love, dreams, visions, desire, inspiration, and most importantly, Hope to the peoples of Middle Earth

One little, subtle, sneaky Hobbit at a time

[middleearthpixie]

Someone to Watch Over Me ~ Chapter Four

In honor of Fanfiction Writers Appreciation Day, I thought I'd move up tomorrow's chapter and let it go out into the wild today. So, if you enjoy it, please let me know - comment, reblog, recommend, what have you! <3

Author's Note: Here is where the story will begin to mirror the events of The Hobbit, with some poetic license taken, of course.

Summary: Thorin and Seren arrive in the Shire, and she meets the Company, as well Bilbo Baggins.

Pairing: Thorin Oakenshield/Seren (female OC, formerly of Dale)

Characters: Gandalf the Grey, the Company, Bilbo Baggins

Rating: T

Warnings: The sexual tension between Thorin and Seren ratchets up a bit now.

Word Count: 4,359

Tagging: @tschrist1 and if anyone else wishes to be added, just let me know!

Thorin stared up at the ceiling, only just barely able to make out the stains on the plaster. Water stains, most likely. He couldn’t imagine what else they might be. Didn’t want to imagine what else they might be.

To his right, Seren was sound asleep in her bed. Every now and again, she let out a snore that made him smile. At least one of them could sleep. He was far too busy mentally berating himself for his idiocy earlier.

He hadn’t meant to try to look down her tunic. It simply… happened. He didn’t know why he asked her about it, either. Up until the words crossed his lips, he had given no more than a passing thought about the fact that she was a girl pretending to a certain extent to be a boy. Her reasoning made perfect sense, after all, and he could hardly fault her.

But once she’d told him her secret, his eyes slid of their own accord to her chest. There was no indication whatsoever of any sort of curvature. Which made him wonder. Which made images pop into his mind. Images he neither wanted nor needed.

Trouble was, they were there now and that was why he couldn’t sleep.

Perhaps it would be easier if she looked more like a mountain troll. Or a goblin. But, in fact, she was actually cute. Pretty, even. Her hair was a pale, shimmering gold, like that of the elves of the Woodland Realm. She kept it back in a neat braid, which she then tucked into the neck of her tunic (stop thinking about that damn tunic!)

But her eyes were by far her most striking feature. They were wide and green, but unlike no green he’d ever seen. The outer ring of her iris was the deep green of a forest in summer, but as the color swirled nearer to her pupils, it softened to paler green, and finally yellow. They were almost mesmerizing in their tranquility. By far the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen.

And that was also why he stared up into the darkness, at the questionable stains. The fire smoldered on the grate. The fire she’d ended up having to start because all he was successful in doing was crumbling the flint like a fool.

That seemed to amuse her as she took it from him, saying, “Perhaps I should do this. I have the feeling that nasty little man at the desk wouldn’t be too keen on giving me another flint, knowing I’d be using it to keep a dwarf warm.”

He’d rolled his eyes. “I’ll go down and get a new flint. He won’t dare try to put me off.”

“You don’t know that.” She’d shaken her head. “He might have steel of his own or worse. It would be better for me to deal with him, if it comes to that.”

His gut twisted with irritation over that. A girl coming to his defense. Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time she came to his defense, much as he hated to admit it. He appreciated it, but would rather not think about it, if at all possible.

Which led his mind right back to what happened earlier. He groaned softly into the darkness, rolling over to punch his pillow as he tried to will himself to sleep. It didn’t help. All he could think about now was what she kept hidden beneath that oversized tunic. And that was enough to drive him mad. His imagination ran wild, torturing him as the night wore on and the logs on the fire were slowly consumed by the flames.

He rolled onto his side, facing Seren. A mistake. She lay on her side, facing him, with only the light sheet drawn over her. In the darkness, without the shapeless clothes to hide her, the curve of her hips, the slope of her waist, were as plain as the nose on his face. And when he closed his eyes? It made things worse. Now he saw her in the rain, peering up at him as she had that first night. Rain beaded on her cheeks, caught in her eyelashes, shimmered against lips that he suddenly wanted to taste.

He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to will alway the sudden rush of desire he felt for this woman. No. She wasn’t for him. She was of Man and should stay of Man. Dwarves and Men would do well to remain far apart from one another. Nothing good could come of his desiring Seren Gilwynn, nothing at all. He would enjoy himself in the moment, no doubt, for he had the feeling she would be far different from any woman he’d known prior to meeting her, but in the end, it could never work. They were far too different and their paths would never be the same.

Now if only he could convince himself of that.

Finally, sleep crept in and his eyes slid shut. But, his dreams were every bit as frustrating as his waking thoughts; steamy and erotic and when he woke at the first light of dawn, the ache that settled into him was all too real.

He opened his eyes slowly, his entire body humming from the force of his dreams. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d dreamed so vividly and as his gaze fell upon Seren, whose back was now to him, he bit back a groan. Perhaps letting her accompany him was a terrible idea, after all.

No. He’d overcome this. It would pass, as every other infatuation did. He had far more important matters with which to concern himself, and with that, he threw back the quilts and sat up. His trousers were draped over the foot of his bed and he slid into them before crossing to Seren to catch her shoulder.

“We need to move on,” he said, giving her a gentle shake. “Seren?”

She rolled over with a low sigh and her eyes slowly opened. She gazed up at him and his belly gave a sharp flip as a sleepy smile lifted her lips and she said, “I was dreaming about you.”

“Were you?” He tried to keep his voice as neutral as possible as he turned away.

“I was, yes.” The linens rustled and he peered over his shoulder to see she’d sat up and was now rubbing one eye with a fist. “It was interesting, really. We were in an earthen cavern, surrounded by goblins. And one was about to stab you through the throat, when Gandalf appeared.”

He spun around to face her. “What?”

“It was so odd,” she said softly, looking up at him. “But so vivid. I’d swear it was real, but we are right here in Bree, and there are no goblins here, so…”

He sank onto the edge of his bed. “Perhaps you should remain here, or in the Shire. If we are to go to Erebor and face a dragon—“

“That dragon destroyed my home as well,” she told him, her voice low and soft. “I want it to pay as much as you do.”

He looked over at her. Her eyes held a sadness he hadn’t seen before, and his first instinct was to offer her comfort. “So, you and I fight for the honor of killing Smaug?”

To his relief, she offered up a sleepy smile. “I don’t delude myself into thinking I could kill a dragon. But I would like to be there when it happens.”

“How is it you lived in Dale, yet I only ever saw you that one afternoon?”

She lowered the hand that had been rubbing her eye. “I didn’t wish you to see me.”

“You hid from me?”

“More or less, yes. I watched you, but after that day, you thought me a pest. I’d follow you if you came into Dale, with my little sword at my side, just in case anyone thought to give you trouble.”

“I thought you a pest?”

To his discomfort, she nodded. “You caught me once, around Athluna Farydale’s shop. I’m sure you’ve put it from your mind, but I remember it as if it was yesterday. I confess, Mr. Oakenshield, I had a bit of a crush on you back then. You were so handsome and fearless… But then, you laughed at me and said I was but a child and I should go home.”

He tried to bring up the memory, and little by little, it came into focus.

He’d first spied her as she ducked behind a table displaying Miss Farydale’s goods, and had thought nothing of it. But then, the distinct feeling of being watched had settled over him and at least twice more, he’d turned to catch a flash of blonde hair disappearing around a corner, behind a table, lost in a crowd.

It went on that way as he’d made his way from one end of the square to the other, when finally, he ducked behind a corner and as the girl passed, he stepped out to grab her by the arm, growling,“What are you doing?”

The tiny girl with long blonde curls and wide green eyes blinked up at him, gazed up at him as if the sun rose and set on his shoulders. In one hand, she held a sword. At first glance, he thought it was a toy, but then realized it was anything but. Small, perhaps, but honed to a lethal degree from the looks of it.

He released her, folding his arms. “I’m waiting.”

Those green eyes met his and to his surprise, her fair cheeks grew pink as she stammered,“I—that is, you—well… I mean… I’m here for you to watch over.”

They winced in unison and he’d replied, “I beg your pardon?”

“I’m here to watch over you. In case Alfryd tries to make good on his threats.””

“Watch over me? Whatever for? I need no one to do such a thing. Especially not a child. Run along now, and bother me no more.”

“But—“

He didn’t wait for her to finish, but turned and stalked off, shaking his head at the very thought of that child thinking she was protecting him from the people of Dale, from Alfryd. Laughable.

“That was you?” he murmured, reaching for his tunic, draped over the foot of the bed as well.

As he drew it on, she said, “It was. Do you remember? I made a fool of myself.”

“I remember I was far too old for you at the time.”

“Yes, you probably were.” She kicked back the coverlet and rose and he swallowed hard at the sight as, once again, she was in only her tunic.

To make matters worse, her trousers lay draped over the table, before the windows, and as she stepped before them, the sunlight streamed in behind her and the effect stunned him into silence. No matter how he tried not to look, he couldn’t help but see the outline of slender, shapely thighs, softly curved hips, the slope of her waist, and the faint hint of those bandages of which she spoke last evening.

He turned about, the only way he could avert his gaze. “I was and I still am and we need to go.”

“Well, it no longer matters,” came her pert reply and he breathed a sigh of relief as the swish of fabric against skin reached his ears. Her trousers, hopefully. Unless of course, she was trying deliberately to drive him mad. “I’m not that same girl any longer.”

A relief that. He turned back to find her dressed once more, which came as another relief for him. Now, they just need to make for the Shire and once the entire Company was assembled, his thoughts would no longer center on the girl in his room at the moment. In time, she would just be one the others.

Or so he hoped.

“So,” Seren was saying as she tugged on hose that had seen better days, “how long will it take us to reach the Shire?”

“No more than a few hours.”

“Good. And do you know where we’re going?”

“Haven’t the foggiest,” he replied as he fastened his scabbard about his hips. “But, we’ll find it.”

“And if we don’t?”

He offered up a long look. “We will.”

“Very well.” She tugged on her left boot, then her right, and straightened up. Her brows pulled low as she peered at him. “Is something wrong? You look a little flushed this morning.”

“I’m fine,” he told her, shrugging into his fur wrap and then his cloak. “We need to move.”

“If you say so.”

He held open the door for her. The sooner he put this room, and its two comfortable beds, far behind them, the happier he’d be for it. Perhaps then his thoughts would stop torturing him.

Seren shielded her eyes from the sun as she waited for Thorin to emerge from the inn. Something bothered him. He avoided meeting her eyes, or even looking directly at her, and that made her smile. He had no trouble doing so until she teased him about catching him trying to peek down her tunic. It wasn’t until she’d teased him about it that this sudden change came about.

Was it possible that he really had tried to look down her tunic? She thought that’s what he’d been doing, but it was entirely possible she was wrong.

Or so she’d thought.

Then, he came thudding down the steps and out into the road and she smiled up at him. “I thought you’d gotten lost.”

“It seems our innkeeper friend thought we damaged the room. I don’t know what he thought we were doing, but he charged us an extra fifty for it.”

“Fifty?” Her belly kinked sharply. She didn’t have much more than a hundred or so left in her purse. Still, she set her sack on the ground to open it. “Well, let me—“

“Worry not about it,” he said, catching the sack to lift it in one smooth motion and thrust it back at her. “I let him think we’d had the time of our lives up there and paid him. It was the quickest way to get out of there.”

She bit back a smile. “I wonder what he thought we were doing?”

He shrugged. “I neither know nor care. Now, come along. We still have a way to travel.”

For the first time since catching up with him at the bridge, when he’d dragged her into the underbrush, she fell into step alongside him. “How far is the Shire from here?”

“About half a day’s walk. We will be there by nightfall.”

“And is there an inn there?”

He shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you. But no matter, we will find somewhere to sleep.”

She cast a sideline glance up at him. The sunlight danced along the dark strands of his hair and highlighted the silver streaking through it. The small silvery cube braided into his hair caught the light, threw it off in flashes of blue and white light. “What is that?”

“What is what?”

She gestured to her own ear. “That block in your hair. What is it?”

“It’s a rune. Woven in by my nephew, Kili, when he was a toddler.”

“And how old is he now?”

Thorin glanced down at her. “Not much older than you, I’d wager. He would like you.”

“Really? What makes you say that?”

He shrugged. “Kili likes pretty girls. Fili as well, but he isn’t quite the flirt as his brother is.”

Hearing him say he thought her pretty did something odd to her. It made her belly flip in a way that was as delicious as it was unnerving. But, she didn’t wish to embarrass him again, and so merely smiled and said, “Tell me more of them.”

“Kili and Fili?” He glanced down at her, then looked ahead once more. “They are the sons of my younger sister, Dis. They are typical boys—reckless and headstrong and eager for a fight. You will meet them at some point in the next day or so.”

“I look forward to it,” she replied.

Perhaps it was but her imagination, but it seemed to her that his shoulders tensed with her words. But then, he said, “And they will most likely thank you,” and smiled down at her.

They walked on in silence a bit longer. As the sun warmed the air, she unfastened her cloak to drape it over her arm, and winced at the hint of sweat trickling down between her breasts. The linen wrapped around her was even warmer, and she wished she at least had the satisfaction in knowing she’d be able to unbind herself soon.

But, the truth was that as long as she traveled with a group of men, she would have to pretend to be a boy. And that mean remaining wrapped tight.

Not exactly the most pleasant of thoughts.

She tugged her braid from her tunic. The ends of it rubbed oddly against her skin, which irritated her as the healing blister on her foot irritated her, as the cut on her arm irritated hers. But, she kept her complaints to herself. Mama always said it did no good to complain and that energy was best spent trying to find a solution instead. Trouble was, the only solution was to confess her true gender and she wasn’t at all certain that would be wise. Thorin, she could trust. The others? She didn’t know them. And anyone else with whom they might cross paths, such as orcs, goblins, or trolls? She definitely did not want any of them to know the truth about her.

“Thorin?”

He peered down. “What?”

“Do you think I should come clean about who I am to the others? To Gandalf?”

He stopped and faced her. “Why?”

She also stopped and shrugged. “It’s warm. And that makes me a little… uncomfortable.”

She half-expected his gaze to lower, as it did the night before, but to her surprise, he held her gaze as he said, “It’s up to you. No one will touch you, if that is your fear. But, I cannot say the same for anyone we might meet along the way.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she said softly, looking off into the distance, where the fields rolled an even deeper emerald green than the woods from which they’d come. She saw curious buildings in the distance, ones that looked as if they’d been built into the countryside. It all looked so lush, so peaceful, it was unlike anything she’d ever seen. She’d never been this far west before.

“How uncomfortable are you?”

“Fairly.” She resisted the urge to tug at the bandage where it rubbed along the left side of her ribcage. “My skin gets sore.”

“How quickly can you rewrap, if necessary?”

She smiled up at him. “I’m quick. Maybe a minute or two. As I said, I haven’t much to wrap.”

He looked around, only there was nothing but rolling lush fields, beautiful lush trees, and those odd buildings in the distance. Behind them, Bree was but a smudge on the horizon. “Unwrap yourself then. At least for a night or two.”

“Here?”

He nodded. “No one is around and I promise,” a hint of mischief glinted in his blue eyes, “I will not try to peek.”

She couldn’t help but smile. “Do you really promise?”

Another nod. “I really promise.”

And with that, he turned his back to her. She looked around, then dropped her sack, shrugged out of her scabbard and set the knives down, then tugged her tunic free to reach beneath it. The bandage was knotted between her breasts, and it took her only a minute to work it free and then, with a low sigh, she unwound the length of linen. At first, the sore patch just below her left breast stung, but after a minute or two, the sting faded. The relief was so great, she couldn’t hold back her lusty sigh.

Thorin turned back to her then. “Are you all right?”

She held up the roll of bandages, tossing it into the air and catching it in the same hand. “Freedom feels wonderful.”

He grinned and she didn’t miss the hint of blush that crept across his cheekbones. She couldn’t resist teasing him a little. “You are blushing, Thorin Oakenshield.”

“The deuce I am,” he retorted, turning away.

But she wasn’t letting him off that easily. She darted about to stand before him again. “You are, you know.”

Then, she tossed the bandages at him. “Catch!”

He did just that. “What are you about?”

“Did you ever have a splinter that hurt. That hurt no matter what and when you finally got it out, it just felt so good, that your mood improved tenfold?”

“I have.” He tossed the roll back to her. “If it hurts so much, why do it?”

“Because I have to. You don’t understand. You’re a man. A dwarf warrior. No one will trifle with you. I, however,” she pressed a hand against her chest, “have no such luxury. I have to pretend to be what you already are and hope no one learns the truth.”

“I know the truth.”

She dropped the roll into her sack and gazed up at him. “But I know you won’t tell anyone. I trust you.”

“No one will harm you, Seren. Not as long as I walk this earth with you.” He stepped closer. “I give you my word. If you wish to remain unbound, know you will be safe with us. With all of us.”

He sounded so serious, his eyes holding not a hint of mischief and his blush had vanished. She knew her trust had yet to be misplaced or unfounded. She nodded. “Will you tell anyone?”

“Not if you don’t wish me to, no.”

“Can I let you know once I’ve met everyone?”

“Of course.”

She nodded. “Good.”

“We should keep moving. We still have a bit of a way to go.”

She nodded and crouched to slip the sack’s strap over her shoulder again, then stood and they continued along the road to the Shire. The sun sank low, streaking blue and coral across the sky. Red skies. A promise of good weather to come. Thank the maker the rain had finally come to an end.

But the landscape was deceiving, as it seemed they wandered from one end of the Shire to the other. She began to wonder if Thorin had any clue as to where they were actually supposed to be when he stopped for the third time, muttered something under his breath and said, "There it is!"

It was a house built into the hillside, with brilliant green trim and a round door that looked like the bottom of a barrel. On the brilliant green door, someone had carved a sigil and Thorin sighed as he grumbled, “Easy to find, my foot.”

Seren peered through one of the windows. Warm light filled the interior, and she heard the cheerful stamping of feet and the muffled voices rising as one in song. A party? It seemed odd that this was where Gandalf had sent them, and she was about to say as much to Thorin when he rapped on the door with a fist.

She held her breath as it swung open and Thorin leaned in to say, “Gandalf! I thought you said this place was easy to find? We lost our way. Twice.” He ducked as he stepped through doorway. “We wouldn’t have found it at all, had it not been for the mark on the door. You remember Seren, don’t you?”

He turned, saw she still hung back, and reached to catch her by the wrist. As his fingers brushed hers, a jolt rippled along her arm, strong enough that her head snapped up and she looked at hi. But he didn’t seem to notice as he tugged, pulling her through the doorway into a small house. For the first time in her life, she felt tall—almost giantlike—in that house. Everything was small. The furniture was tiny, the ceilings were low, she almost had to bow her head as she followed Thorin into a cozy, warmly lit dining room and found herself staring at twelve very curious dwarves and one very stressed halfling.

“Who’ve you there?” A dwarf with huge white hair and an even bigger white beard, gestured to her.

“Everyone, this is Seren Gilwynn, of Dale. He will be accompanying us and—” he held up a hand as a chorus of protests rose—��Enough. I’ve seen him with steel and his fists. He will be an asset.”

Then, he turned to her. “Seren, this is the Company.” He pointed to the white haired dwarf and moved along the crowed, “Balin. Dwalin. Oín. Gloín. Bofur. Bifur. Bombur. Nori. Dori. Ori.”

Then he moved to two young dwarves, both strikingly handsome, one blond, the other dark. “Fili. Kili.”

His nephews. She smiled. There was no way she would ever remember all their names, but at the same time, she nodded and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet all of you.”

They all greeted her with friendly, if confused smiles and minutes later, she and Thorin sat at the table, plates of something delicious before them, and she just listened as Gandalf outlined their plan for retaking Erebor, with the halfling being the burglar who was going to take something called the Arkenstone. The halfling who looked terrified at the very prospect of doing so.

With a sigh, she settled back in her chair and just listened. And as she did so, she couldn’t help but gaze over at Thorin. Had he felt that jolt when they touched or was she just projecting what she wished he would feel? Because truth be told, she still had a crush on him. Only now, she was no longer a child and that could mean serious trouble for both of them.

[soyeahitsmiddleearth]

*not sure how this works, but here goes...* Imagine meeting the company in Bag End, but they don't know you're mute. There's question as to whether or not you should even come on the quest because you don't even have a sign language in the Shire (how will you signal any trouble, call for help, etc). You have some skill throwing knives and can whistle quite loud. There's debate amongst the company about teaching you the secret dwarven sign language (objections being from the older members mainly)

OH MY GOD THIS IS MY 100TH CHAPTER (on ao3)!! Should I do something special for it?

Also for this one I kinda just imagined Tinkerbell (Peter Pan) when writing the reader? Idk. Tinkerbell is quiet, feisty, clever, and like, the best? So I used her for inspiration.

---

You weren't born like this. 

For the first few years of your life you could speak, scream, cry, whisper, and make usual noises like every other child.

You were not a disliked child whatsoever, but you were always quite small, small even for a hobbit, and were also considered rather odd. The other kids considered you odd because you didn't like to play the games children usually liked playing, nor were you particularly good with conversing with others. Other children made you nervous, so you avoided them. 

Unfortunately, they took your avoidance for you being stuck-up and mean, so they often liked to pick on you and torment you for things. The fact that your older brother Bilbo would always stick up for you didn't help this fact either. 

It happened when you were 8; the incident that lost you your voice.

Some of the other Shire children were being mean to you as usual, throwing things and running after you when you tried to get away, and they chased you up a tree. They were armed with branches, rocks, and various other 'weapons' which you didn't much like being hit with, and so you raced up a tree and hid from them in the high branches to wait them out. 

You tried to call for help several times, but you were too far away for any adults to hear your cries, and at one point one of the children nailed you right in the head with stick. 

You fell from the tree screaming, and when you hit the ground, you never made another noise again. 

The fall damaged your larynx, and while you can still do things like hum, cough, and make some simpler noises, you cannot laugh, speak, or even whisper. 

That may sound horrible, but you actually got lucky all things considered, since many larynx fractures and damages can be life-threatening. 

Suffice to say nobody messed with you after that, though it's very sad that it took a life altering injury to stop your torment. 

You have long since given up your anger and hate for what happened to you that day, though sometimes you do feel a great deal of frustration for not being able to voice your thoughts or outright tell people what you mean or need. 

With all the negatives that come with being mute, however, come some positives as well. 

For example, you are a master of silence and stealth in your own right, you're an excellent listener (not that you can reply anyways), you've made good on plenty of other talents like writing and cooking with your brother to name some, you've got excellent aim, and your patience and charades skills are unrivaled. 

So when Gandalf the Grey comes about one lovely morning and proposes an adventure for you and your brother, suffice to say you were overjoyed to finally do something. 

The first meeting with those rowdy dwarfs was a doozy, and you got lots of questions about why you wouldn't speak, though, clearly, you couldn't answer them. 

When Gandalf announced that you and Bilbo would be coming along there was a lot of apprehension, and not just because you're mute either. 

Bilbo is, quite literally, the softest and least durable hobbit in the entirety of the Shire; and mix that with a verbally challenged hobbit as well? 

Suffice to say there was a lot of protest, but Gandalf shut it all down without hesitation and demanded that the two of you be welcomed onto the trip and treated fairly. 

Bilbo didn't want to go, and at some point he passed out and a bunch of things happened, but you made up your mind and let Gandalf know that you would do it with or without Bilbo. 

He can't look after you forever, after-all. 

You were as silent as usual that next morning while everyone traveled, joked, and placed bets on whether or not Bilbo would show up, but you were fairly certain that he would arrive eventually - so you didn't worry much about it. 

Some of the dwarfs tried to make small talk with you while you rode along with them, and though they knew you couldn't verbally respond, you still did your best to act out what you wanted to say; that, or you let your facial expression do the talking for you. 

It seemed that you could get your point across pretty well too, either that or they were sparing your feelings and pretending to understand, because they give an appropriate response to you each time. 

Bilbo did, ultimately, show up at some point, and from there the journey really began. 

---

Your inability to speak really does make things a lot harder a lot of the time, but you usually manage to push through. 

No matter what weaknesses you have because you've spent so much of your life in silence, the strengths always shine through in the end. 

This is one of those times. 

Fili and Kili managed to lose track of some of the horses and stumble upon three trolls, and then they had the bright idea to send in you and your brother to retrieve them! 

Obviously you both did it, but unfortunately Bilbo got caught and all the dwarfs came out and began to fight the trolls with everything they have. It wasn't enough, though, for soon they are all bagged and piled up. 

You got lucky and managed to hide in a nearby bush, and while you know for a fact that you can't take on three trolls by yourself, you can certainly find a way to release the poor. frightened ponies. 

Eventually, once the trolls are completely distracted by other things, you creep out from beneath the bush and army man crawl towards the little pen they made. 

The forgotten weapon lay there on the ground next to the gate, and without hesitation you pick it up and start to saw away at the rope holding it shut. 

Like usual you manage to go by unnoticed up to the end, and once the rope is cut, you open up the gate and watch as the ponies rush away at top speed. 

"Oi!" One of the trolls yell when it notices the fleeing ponies, taking a few quick steps in their general direction before another one of the trolls tells him to forget about it since they've got something better. 

"But how did they get out?" The same troll asks suspiciously, looking over in your direction. 

When he turns towards you, you dive to the ground and hide behind one of the supporting pillars of the gate, squeezing your eyes shut while your heart hammers in your chest when loud footsteps approach. 

Even though you know he can't hear you, you still find yourself holding your breath and awaiting his descent upon you. 

Only it never comes. 

"Huh..." The troll grunts, then turns and rejoins his troll friends around the slow roasting dwarves they've tied above their fire. 

You slowly poke your head up and look at the backs of the trolls who are gathered around the fire, then you glance over at the pile of dwarfs and meet Thorin's gaze from across the way. 

Slowly you bring up your hand and point at yourself, then point at him and make an untying motion with your hands. 

He glances at the busy trolls, then down at the dwarfs by his feet before looking over at you again and slowly nodding his head. 

As soon as you get confirmation you drop back low to the ground and carefully pick your way through the underbrush and manage to avoid crunching or snapping any dead leaves and sticks that may be in your way. 

Eventually, you manage to sneak your way over to the rock just above Thorin, and once you're sure none of the trolls are looking in your direction, you slide down it and land right next to him. 

He looks at you and whispers, "As quiet as a mouse, as always." 

With slightly shaky hands, you begin to try and undo the ties keeping him contained in the sack, but it seems that the knot is rather sturdy since you can't get your fingers into any of the holes in the rope. 

You tug on it a bit and furrow your eyebrows in frustration, going in to pick at it some more before he whispers again, "They're looking this way, hide!" 

As soon as the words leave his mouth you drop to the floor and roll over so you're hiding behind the stack o' dwarfs and fit yourself between Thorin and Balin's legs, reaching up discreetly to begin working at the knot entrapping Gloin. 

It's around this time that you hear Bilbo begin to speak and try to convince the trolls to let them go, though his logic doesn't do much, so you start to work faster 

You're so engrossed on freeing him that you don't notice the loud and large footsteps coming back towards you, and it's not until you hear, "What's all this then?" that you realize you've made a mistake. 

It's unfortunate too, cause you just managed to get Gloin free from his bindings. 

The back of your shirt is lifted suddenly, and then you're in the air next while the dwarfs you were trying to free start to yell and freak out, and Bilbo cries your name in a panic. 

You flail your arms and kick your legs, swinging your fists and beating on the hand holding you by your shirt while you mouth silent curses at the troll. 

"What's this? Another hobbit?" The troll asks, lifting you up to eye level so he can see you more clearly. 

You lash out and hit it right in it's big ugly nose, feeling a moment of triumph when it yelps and reaches up with it's other hand to rub it's abused nose. When that works, you start to beat on it's stupid face more, but before you can get in much more it pulls you away from it's face and starts to shake you back and fourth quickly. 

Troll uses earthquake; it is very effective. 

In seconds you're in a daze and left dizzy when it stops shaking you back and fourth. 

"Well now what? Can we eats that too?" The one with the lower pitched voice asks, looking at the other two while it resumes its turning of the dwarfs hovering over the fire. 

"Of course we can! Go get another bag." The higher pitched one holding you states, dropping you onto the ground from up high. 

When you hit the ground with a silent 'oof' you smack your head and the dizziness increases, but you still hear Gandalf's booming voice and the yelling of the trolls as they turn to stone when the light hits their skin. 

Slowly you push yourself up to your hands and knees and press a hand to your aching head, whining softly when the throbbing gets worse as you move. 

"Y/N!" Bilbo calls from behind you , worry clear in his voice. 

The sound of his voice snaps you out of your stupor, so you hurriedly get to your feet and scramble over to him with slightly wobbly steps, immediately going to the knot holding him in the sack and cutting him loose. 

Once he's freed, he reaches up and moves your head out of your face to check for any injuries, and when he sees none he sighs in relief. "You're not hurt anywhere, are you?" 

You shake your head no, then point over at the still trapped dwarfs, Gloin being the only one free at the moment while he tries to free Bombur from his prison. 

He seems to understand your point right away and nods his head, walking over to them so he can release them. 

You look around the camp for a moment while Gandalf rejoins you all and grab one of the heavy discarded swords, bringing it over to Gandalf then pointing at the few suspended in air and no doubt roasting hot in their position. 

The elderly wizard smiles at you kindly and accepts the blade, immediately going over to cut loose those still stuck. 

When you turn back around almost everyone is freed, and you find an unconscious smile spreading across your face when you see that they're all okay. 

Bilbo bounds over to you as soon as he's done freeing them, though not before getting some praise for his quick thinking and distraction that saved Bombur's life and gave Gandalf more time to free them, and when you overhear their praise of him your smile broadens. 

"But of course, Y/N provided an excellent distraction as well. Gave the young one a good beating." Thorin muses while he dusts off his coat and trousers, looking at you with a pleased expression on his face. 

You can feel your face heating up slightly at the compliment, but your smile remains and you nod your head eagerly in thanks. 

"Though, I suppose your job would be a fair bit easier if we could properly communicate with you..." He adds slowly, reaching up to stroke his beard lightly. 

Your joy deflates at that, and right away your smile is replaced with a pout.

There is no unspoken form of the language you once spoke, for if there was, you would've learned it a long time ago. Of course you can write well, but there's no time to write what you're thinking in the middle of a conflict. 

Bilbo sighs and shakes his head, "There is no other language for her to speak. I have no knowledge of any other signed languages, unfortunately." 

A few moments of silence pass on by before Bofur hesitantly suggests, "We could teacher her some iglishmêk." 

As soon as the words leave his mouth there is some protesting from Balin, Oin, and a few others, them saying things like, "only dwarfs can speak iglishmêk," "that's a horrible idea," and, "that's against our customs!" 

Bofur shrinks under the scolding and yelling of the older members of the company, but Thorin, surprisingly, says nothing. 

Kili comes to Bofur's rescue, thankfully for him, and states, "Well we need to communicate somehow! I think it's a good idea. We all know it, and I think it would be beneficial to the group." 

HIs brother nods in agreement as well as some of the other younger dwarfs, meanwhile you, Bilbo, and Gandalf kinda just sit back and watch them argue it out for a few moments.

It's not until something catches you eye that you leave the arguing, and once you catch sight of that odd glimmer from somewhere off to the right you follow it.

Nobody notices you slip away as per usual, but no matter, for you've just found a lovely gold coin. 

Right before you turn to go show everyone, you see another, and then another, all the way leading to a big hole in the ground. 

You can tell it has a strong stench even from your spot above it, but your curiosity gets the best of you so you venture cautiously into the small tunnel and see various things inside. There's some bones, more gold, a whole bunch of weapons, some random trinkets and horse saddles, and, like mentioned before, an awful smell. 

"Where did Y/N go?" You hear someone ask loudly suddenly, and right away you remember that you shouldn't go wandering off alone.

You crawl back out of the slippery slope and pop your head up out of the ground, seeing everyone looking around frantically for you. Since you can't yell for them, you take one of the gold coins you collected and chuck it at them, hitting Thorin in the back with it.

He turns and sees you, and right away his shoulders relax and he calls, "There you are! Why are you all the way over there?"

You gesture for them to come over with a 'come here' wave of your hand, then walk out of the cave completely and point at the hole in the ground when they come over. 

A few of them go in, but you stay outside with Bilbo this time and look at the handful of coins you collected from inside there. 

Bilbo looks at them over your shoulder and states, "As far as I'm concerned, you have first claim over everything in that tunnel." 

You look up at him with a big smile on your face and laugh soundlessly, shaking your head at his words. You only found it after all, that's nothing too special or hard, and it was the gleam of a coin that caught your attention anyways. 

To show him this, you lift up one of the coins and shrug your shoulders, then point back down at the cave and shrug again. 

"I know you think it was nothing, but you always manage to find and do things that later help us out. You're by far the best of us." 

You pout at that and shake your head in disagreement, putting the handful of coins into your pocket so you can cross your arms over your chest. 

"Don't you look at me like that. You know I'm right." A smile creeps onto his face while the two of you jokingly argue back and fourth, for he's missed this wordless banter (on your part) between the two of of you. "Just take a compliment for once, won't you?" 

A little longer do you stare at him, but when he doesn't waver or relent, you sigh and nod your head.

"You seem to understand those gestures and facial expressions really well." Balin comments from off to the side, smiling at the two of you with that same old sweet and cheery expression on his face. "It's like you know what Y/N is thinking." 

"Well to some extent, I do. We're siblings after all, and we've been around each other since even before the silence came about." Bilbo explains, putting an arm around your shoulders in a very brotherly manner. 

You nod your head in agreement and look over at Balin with a smile of your own. Honestly, you don't know where you'd be if you didn't have someone like Bilbo to understand you. 

A moment of silence passes by where you all just look at each other before Balin's smile lessens and he sighs, "Maybe we should teach you iglishmêk..." 

That certainly makes you brighten up. 

Oh how you crave the ability to properly communicate with others, so if they teach you and Bilbo this secret sign-language then you'll be able to properly talk to him for once, to talk to them too. 

You get up and walk over to Balin, kissing his rosy cheek lightly while the smile on your face remains just as vibrant and happy as before. 

Oh, you hope that they will. 

[elles-writing]

When the worlds collide - Kili x reader - part II

gif not mine

gif not mine

Pairing: Kili x reader

Requested: No

A/N: Second part, hope you enjoy. Also my school started, and we’re not really doing anything just yet. I also do have some imagines in drafts I’ve started writting, but I’ve never posted them, so idk if I’m gonna finish them and then post them at least once a week along with this series (once every two to three days I’d like to post parts of this series as a thank you for 30 followers!)...? Also, I’ve been thinking of maybe drawing some fan arts to this series? Also, I’m writting this in Word, and so far we are on a ten pages, so I’ve decided to cut the end of this one and post something else tomorrow.

warnings: Kili being jealous of Bilbo, some dwarves being a jerks

masterlist   part one  part three 

tags:

@moony-artnstuff​

All of them looked at you with different mix of curiousity, suspicion and hope. You looked over to Gandalf with pleading look to help you, but he was already talking with some of the dwarves, from their angry tone you assumed they weren’t very pleased of where this was going, so you decided to talk, even through you were still a bit shocked, to some of whom weren’t in any discussion.

Which happened to be Bilbo.

He looked very lost and his face held sad and hopeless look. You sighed.

„I’m really sorry for you all, but you, Bilbo, got another shock, didn’t you?“ You asked that hobbit. He jumped up and when he realized it was you, he sadly with sad smile shook his head.

„Yeah, it’s been very...difficult to deal with leaving my home. I’ve been missing it all the time, but I got used to it.“ You offered him a warm smile and patted his shoulder.

„I belive you’ll see your hobbit hole again. I’ll try and help you.“ He gave you a weak smile and nodded.

„Thank you a lot, it’s really nice from you, miss...?“ He looked at you and you realized you didn’t even introduced yourself.

„Oh, my name’s Y/N. I’m Y/N.“

„It’s very nice to meet you, miss Y/N.“ You glanced over and noticed by the corner of your eye Kili’s expression.

Third person pov

Kili have been eyeing you since you’ve let him, Fili and Thorin inside and wanted to learn more about you, especially when you called him by his name. You knew him, but he didn’t knew you, for Mahal’s sake!

The clothes you’ve given to him was dry and comfortable, even if it wasn’t something he was used to back in Middle-Earth. He wanted to talk to you, not only because of being curious of where did you knew his name from – but also because he felt something and wanted, needed to be close to you.

When you started talking, he was watching you, every single move of yours – he could see you were nervous and still a bit pale from shock, but he was hanging on every single word you said (which, he knew, will Fili take advantage of and tease him on every single opportunity he will get).

When you said you thought about a way to explain why do you know all of them, Fili turned to him to affiliate him into discussion, but he noticed the way his brother’s jaw clenched and if looks could kill, Bilbo would be dead.

You and Bilbo were talking about his home and Fili noticed that when you assuringly smiled at Bilbo and placed your hand on his shoulder, Kili averted his gaze, but in a few seconds he looked back at you. Fili chuckled. He’s gonna be teasing him about being jealous of that halfling they were playing pranks at.

It seemed like Kili got back for his prank with horse hairs, which he rubbed over handkief, then gave it to Bilbo, whom couldn’t use it, because he was sneezing all the time.

Now that hobbit got not only your attention, but also you touched him.

Kili was now having a pouting face he did since both Kili and Fili could remember, and Fili chuckled to himself. Kili wouldn’t admit he was jealous, especially because of you and Bilbo talking. And Fili knew that.

He nudged him to ribs and murmed.

„I’m begging you, behave.“ Kili flinched, but his eyes weren’t leaving your face.

„I am behaving.“ Fili chuckled.

„If looks could kill, Bilbo would be dead. That is not behaving.“

„I didn’t do anything!“ He whispered-hissed-yelled. Fili chuckled.

„You look like you want to jump over the table and choke him. Tsk tsk brother.“

„What are you two talking about?“ Kili froze and Fili did too. It was you.

„I-uhm-“ Kili looked to Fili for help. He was doing this rarely, but if he did, Fili knew he was hopeless.

„It was nothing, really.“ He said and inhaled to say something else, but Kili was quicker.

„I, uh, you know my name, right?“

Your pov

„I, uh, you know my name, right?“ Said Kili and you nodded. He was your favourite character, even if you didn’t liked the moments when him and Fili made Bilbo to go against the trolls, or when they were pranking him and making fun of that poor little thing.

„Yeah, I do.“ An awkvard silence came up between you two. You shyly smiled towards him, finding him attractive, and looked over the table. You stood up again.

„Don’t be afraid. Only that...,“ you looked at Gandalf and he nodded.

„I’m not sure how are you going to take it.“ You went to your living room and pulling out a visibly readen book, The Hobbit. It was in the upper shelf, where nobody really paid attention to the books. This book was old and you couldn’t risk if somebody would lose it or destroy it.

You came back to the kitchen and inhaled deeply.

„This is the first thing, but before that I need you to tell me, honestly, what happened before you appeared in-or near-,“ you said, looking over the Durins,

„My house.“

„We were escaping from the Mirkwood,“ Thorin said with a glare shot to Thranduil, whom snorted quietly. Legolas furrowed his brows.

„We were on a feast of starlight,“ He said, being absolutely certain.

„Wasn’t it more of escaping from the goblins?“ Balin looked at Thorin sleepishly. This time it was Bilbo who furrowed his brows.

„I thought we were-“

„Bilbo!“ That was Kili.

„Kili!“ That was Fili.

„You two!“ That was Thorin.

„Dwarves,“ That was Thranduil and Legolas.

„Can you just calm down? Miss Y/N is trying to help us here and you’re making it more difficult than we need it to be.“ Bard got up from his seat. You smiled at him, thankful he stood up for you.

„Thank you, Bard. Okay, so you don’t wanna tell me that. Great. But you’ll understand why I was asking this question,“ you said mysteriously. All of them sat closer now, even if the dwarves would be still arguing it was true.

You sat down, opened the book, deeply inhaled and started reading.

They were shocked, to say at least.

You’ve red a first few pages and let them to ask questions. There was many of them, to say at least.

„How do you know all that?“

„How old is that book?“

„Where is it from?“

„Are you a magician?“

All of the questions, creating live and happy chit-chat, quickly shutted down by Thorin’s gaze, when he stood up and suspiciously stared at you.

„How do we know we can trust you?“ You opened your mouth to answer, but Thranduil’s eye-roll was quicker. You giggled.

„Well, I know your stories. And if you don’t believe me after you’ve seen and heard something from this book – I‘ve got a few editions of them, from different years – you are probably gonna believe me after you’ll see the movies.“ Thorin’s brows furrowed.

„A movies? What is it?“ Balin placed his hand on Thorin’s shoulder and murmed something, before the dwarf king sat down.

„Does she wants to offend us?“ Turned Dwalin (getting angry) to Gandalf.

„You have to believe her, Dwalin. She knows this world, and this is surely nothing that would have the intention to offend any of you.“ He looked also at Thorin while he way saying these words, and he looked back at you and you nodded. Meanwhile, Thranduil shot him a glare and turned to you.

„Alright, so are you going to show us, that, ehm, movie? What is it about?“ He asked the question that any of them was thinking of. You nodded and dramatically inhaled, overhearing Fili’s ‚Is she okay?‘ and smiled inwardly.

„It’s about an introvert being forced to go outside.“ All of their faces fell and you started laughing and shook your head.

„What is introvert?“ Kili asked, bit confused. You decided to tell them about this later.

„Well, actually, it’s about Bilbo, here,“ you patted his shoulder and the hobbit’s eyes grew wide.

„Who was sighed as a burglar by Gandalf to the company of Thorin Oakenshield,“ you looked over the table to find Gandalf nodding and Thorin looking slightely surprised, but pleased.

„To get back the dwarvish kingdom Erebor,“ You looked over the dwarves and noticed Kili’s eyes sparkling and your stomach did a backflip. Oh, these puppy eyes were always a thing you knew you couldn’t resist to.

„From dragon called...“

„Smaug,“ Kili and Fili said at once. You chuckled.

„Now, wait here and you can read the book, the movie is based on it. Just, please,“ You looked especially on Fili and Kili,

„be careful. It’s an old book, I found it in antiquarian bookstore, and red it way too many times, because it’s my favourite edition.“ And left to prepare living room for the movie.

Fili’s pov

„You were unusually quiet,“ I nudged Kili. He just shrugged it off.

„I’m not loud all the time,“ He tried to argue but I only chuckled. I knew him my whole life. I couldn’t unnotice his sudden change of behavior.

„Yes, you are, plus, you’re staring at Master Baggins as if you’d wanted to kill him, again. So, aren’t you going to tell me what’s going on, Kee?“ Kili shook his head and averted his gaze to the table. Then, he mumbled something and refused to meet my gaze.

„Oh, I see,“ I mumbled enough for him to hear it. I tilted towards him.

„You like her and you hate that she’s giving Bilbo more attention than to you.“ Kili did pouted his lips and still refused to meet my gaze. I chuckled.

„I knew, it, I knew it!“ I laughed and Kili was hissing at me.

„Shut, it, just shut up, Fili, she’ll hear-“

[introvertguide]

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001); AFI #50

The current movie for review from the AFI top 100 is the most recent of the films, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). This was the introduction of director Peter Jackson to much of the mainstream American audience despite him having a 20 year history of film making in New Zealand. The film is beautiful in so many aspects, from the special effects to the cinematography to the sets creating the world of Middle Earth. The film received 12 nominations at the Academy Awards and received 4 of them, a feat unheard of for an epic fantasy film. This is also the only “incomplete” film on the AFI list because there are no other “too be continued” stories. There are some films that are first and second parts (specifically The Godfather 1 and 2), but this is the only one that intentionally stopped with intent for the story to pick in the next film. With that being said, the sheer number of characters and the intended incomplete nature of the film makes it almost impossible to summarize without just going scene by scene. There are 100 movies on this list and I am not going to set any precedence that I will be doing that, so here is a very brief synopsis of what happens in this film without diving into too much of the lore concerning the rest of the trilogy or The Hobbit:

SPOILER WARNING!! I DON’T KNOW WHY IT IS NECESSARY ON THIS ONE, BUT I DO IT EVERY TIME AND I WANT TO BE CONSISTANT!! IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THIS BY NOW OR ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE STORY, THEN YOU ARE LIKELY VERY YOUNG, LIVE UNDER A ROCK, OR PURPOSEFULLY AVOIDING IT!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED SO I DON’T WANT TO GET ANY NOTES ON THIS ONE!!!

So here is the general outline, there was an evil guy named Sauron that gave out rings of power to the Elves, Dwarves, and Humans in a realm called Middle Earth. This land is a fantasy realm that has a mix of Dark Age castles mixed with monsters and human like races. It looks strangely like New Zealand through a lot of the country side. Coincidence I am sure. Anyway, Sauron tricked the different races because he kept for himself one ring to rule them all and bind the ones wearing the rings to him. This did not go over well so the humans, elves, and dwarves rose up and fought Sauron and his armies and were able to get the master ring during battle. There was a chance for them to destroy the ring but human corruption prevented this and the ring was eventually lost. It eventually ended up in the hands of a man that kept it close and allowed it to suck away his life until it was stolen by a small human-like creature named Bilbo Baggins. The ring was taken on many adventures (see The Hobbit films for this story) and it gave this little hobbit prolonged life, but it also became an addictive burden. Bilbo decided to go off and leave the ring for his nephew and this is where the story begins. I know, it’s a lot.

A wizard named Gandalf (Ian McKellen) comes to the hobbit village as Bilbo is leaving and makes sure the ring is left in the hands of the nephew Frodo (Elijah Wood). The wizard confirms the ring is the one that rules them all and reveals that Sauron is regaining power and wants the ring. For the safety of the shire, Frodo must take the ring to Rivendell, home of the Elves, to figure out what must be done. Gandalf has to take care of some business so some other hobbits - Sam (Sean Astin), Merry (Dominic Monaghan), and Pippin (Billy Boyd)  - get wrangled into the journey and the group of four go off to a local human town to meet Gandalf and continue forward. This short trip proves treacherous as the 9 humans that were given rings of power had been corrupted and turned into Nazgul that are attempting to track down the little group of hobbits. Gandalf does not show up, but the group run into a ranger named Strider at the human tavern and he helps fight off the ring wraiths. With the help of his elf girlfriend, Arwen, the group are able to make it to Rivendell where they are presumably safe for the time being.

A meeting is held at Rivendell and representatives of the different races all show up to decide what must be done. The ring must be destroyed so a fellowship to transfer the ring to Mount Doom is formed. It is made up of the four hobbits, Gandalf the wizard, an elf named Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Strider the Ranger who is actually a human king named Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson), a dwarf named Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), and another human named Boromir (Sean Bean). I have seen enough movies with Sean Bean as a side character to know that he is for sure going to die. It is only a matter of when.

So the group heads off toward Mount Doom and initially start by taking a path through snowy mountains but have to turn back and instead decide to go under the mountains. The dwarf is excited because he can visit his cousin who is king under the mountain. Alas, all they find is skeletons and an evil race created by Sauron called orcs. This race also seems to have other evil creatures enslaved including a cave troll. The Fellowship is chased through the bowels of the mountain until the orcs suddenly back off and the group finds something even worse, an ancient evil called a Balrog. Gandalf takes on the creature at a stone bridge and screams the now memed words “You shall not pass!” The Balrog falls into a pit but drags Gandalf down as well, reducing the number in the group by one wizard.

The group mourns the loss very briefly (and dramatically) before traveling to an elven forest where Frodo is told by a queen that he will have to take on the quest alone and that one of the fellowship will betray him. They continue on and it turns out that a wizard named Saruman that was corrupted by Sauron (confusingly close in name, I know), has created super buff orcs called Uruk-hai (pronounced “Orick Eye” all blended together) to hunt down the party. Boromir tries to take the ring from Frodo but immediately makes up for it by sacrificing himself to protect the hobbits from the super orcs. Sean Bean was kind of a bad guy and was killed. What a surprise. That actor really needs to find different roles or he is going to spend his entire career being type cast. 

Anyway, Frodo and Sam break away from the group to go off on their own, the other two hobbits are captured and taken by the orcs, and then Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli decide to track everybody down. To be continued.

This probably seems like quite a short synopsis for a 3 hour movie...but legitimately the movie is a visual spectacle in which not a lot happens. Most of the movie is traveling, fighting, introducing the lore of the world, and introducing characters. Not a whole lot of plot progression in this particular movie, but it sets the stage for the second film to be nothing but battle and progression (an hour long battle of Helm’s Deep which is amazing), while the last one is nothing but battles and resolution of every story line. It is an incredible trilogy and this is only the beginning and it had audiences drooling for more.

In fact, Peter Jackson films set the standard for special effects for the early 21st century. His team took home the Oscar for best visual effects in 2001 for Fellowship of the Ring, in 2002 for The Two Towers, in 2003 for The Return of the King, and in 2005 for King Kong. No film series with consecutive releases has done this except Lord of the Rings (not even with Star Wars, Marvel, and DC universe films coming out constantly).  The series really is something special. Attempts had been made to tell the trilogy as an animated movie, but no drawings could do the world justice. It took advanced computer graphics, motion capture technology, an expansive New Zealand countryside, a quirky director that had envisioned this world his whole life, and a dedicated cast and crew that was fully committed to the project. It is an amazing piece of filming.

If I have any complaints, it is that there is some really corny drama. The amount of times that Elijah Wood overacts in pain or despair is more digits than I have. Especially when the group is mourning the loss of Gandalf...it is kind of embarrassing. It is that “inconsolable parent who lost a child” acting with scream crying and shouts of “Noooooo!” It is all the hobbits, too, which doesn’t help that they are the size of children and are having a despair tantrum. Luckily they keep going and that is a one minute scene, but still it is embarrassing. Also, Frodo is stabbed and presumed dead twice. I can see why there were no nominations for best actor because it was not the best acting.

It is all made up for by the incredible battles. For me, it is the chase under the mountain with the orcs and the cave troll and the balrog. That is about 30 minutes of constant fight or flight that left me short of breath. I realized I kept forgetting to breath I was so mesmerized by the constant intensity. There is also a good amount of comedy since the hobbits are generally peaceful farmers and they don’t know how to (or want to) have adventures and keep messing things up. Pippin and Merry keep touching things that they shouldn’t and it brings all kinds of trouble. I think it is one of them that knocks some armor into a well that catches the attention of the orcs under the mountain.

Two specific scenes that I found memorable in that they are burned into my brain forever were the Nazgul fight and the appearance of the cave troll. The Nazgul are absolutely terrifying in that they have no face and have only one intent: kill whatever they are hunting. A good comparison would be to Dementors in the Harry Potter universe. The Nazgul are like Dementors with swords and armor. What is worse, Frodo can use the one ring to make him invisible, but it puts a target on him for the Nazgul and they come straight for him. They idea that you can’t hide from this evil and attempting to will make you stand out more is kind of horrific. I found the Nazgul truly disturbing. The cave troll is just awesome and huge. At no point was I worried for the team on this occasion because the wizard, elf, dwarf, and humans seemed undefeatable. It was more of curiosity about how they were going to handle this challenge. The detail of filming all the actors and sets so they were affected by the troll made the huge beast and the threat it posed in an enclosed space seamless. 

There was some question why this movie was on the AFI list and the other movies in the trilogy were not, especially with the third film winning 10 Oscars including best picture. It is because this was the watershed film that made the others possible. I got to see the film in the theatre and it was an experience like no other. I cannot think of a movie that had created such a complete fantasy world like LOTR and it made for a truly cinematic experience. I generally do not like movie theatres because people around me whom I have no control over can affect my experience and I am not normally willing to pay for that. However, the theatre I was in had tiered level seating that was graded enough so that nobody blocked my view and ample leg room that also prevented kicking from behind. It was a thing of beauty and I went and saw the other two films in the theatre as well. It was amazing.

So does this film deserve to be on the AFI 100? My goodness, I would think less of the AFI if it wasn’t. It changed audience expectations of what a movie could be and set the tone for the new millennium as far a big budget cinema. Would I recommend it? Please, I own it. If you come by my place and you haven’t seen it, then I will be happy to put aside 3 hours and watch it again with you. It is the easiest epic film to get through, in my opinion, and I don’t think you will be sorry to give up the time. Just a fantastic movie.

[decadentenemyturtle]

Some other nights

Chapter 1 for @sdavid09​ ‘s year long writing challenge. Prompt for the chapter: The answer was written in her eyes.

Story’s summary:  Follow Rionna’s and her brother's adventure across the worlds and dreams. There will be more to see than what you know of the story, and more dangers than just orcs, and wargs and Sauron.

Pairing: Dain Ironfoot x Rionna (not mentioned yet in the chapter)

Words: 2625

Warnings: Despriction’s of violence and death, blood.

Masterlist, all the chapter's can be found from here!

The forest was silent, expect for the distand screaming of what sounded like a man. But a man it was not, not anymore. A young woman was crouching next to a spruce, her brother behind her. Two other man were crouched on their left side. They all had gun's ready and eyes glued to what appeared to be an gigantic, blood red dog with multiple spike's growing on it's back. But dog it was not, never had been. It was called SCP-939 by the goverment and scientist's, and Doggo or giant dog by the rest of the people.

Or what was left of them.

An sudden movement from behind the spruce got the little group's attention, as well as it got Doggo's attention. The monster-like dog turned away from the four to the noice and growled.

"Shit!"

"Sound the alarm!"

"There's no time, fire the dimensional bomb!"

"But..."

"FIRE IT!"

As the four heard the shouting of the men, probably the soldier's of goverment, slowly and quietly they got up and started to move away from the men and Doggo. But since they couldn't walk fast or run away, they didn't get far when an explosion sounded from behind them and then the air around them started to pull towards the spruce. They all turned to see what had happened while trying to keep their ground. There, on the ground right next to the tree, was an big black hole. And the gigantic monster was being pulled to it like a magnet. And then it disappeared.

The soldier's were nowhere to be seen.

Just as the group was about to turn and continue, the girl let out an scream, when her legs gave out and she started to slide towards the hole.

"Rionna!" her brother shouted, running after her.

"Gabriel, no!" dark haired man shouted after him. But when the other didn't stop, the dark haired cursed and glanced towards the other one next to him. "C'mon" he said and then sprinted after Gabriel, the brown haired man right after him. Rionna, the younger one of the siblings, had already disappeared in the hole. Without hesitating, Gabriel dived in, after his sister.

And then the hole let out hissing like sound and closed, the air around it exploding. The two men, who were left behind, flew through the air before hitting the ground. Groaning they both sat up.

"What the hell was that thing?" the brown haired one asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"I don't know, Alek. But I suppose the Einstein's found a way to sent those shit's to another area" the older man says, then he turns to the sound of someone speaking. "We better leave, before those soldier's find us" And so the two left, not knowing what had happened to their two young friends.

  Rionna fell to the ground from the hole, and groaned. And then she saw her brother nosediving from the hole over her. She had a mere seconds to roll to the side, before he thud's to the ground. Rionna sat up and watched how Gabriel groaned and then lifted himself to sit. He looked pretty pissed.

"We're been falling for tihrty minutes" he hissed. Rionna jut uplifted her brow while rubbing her back. There was going to be bruises there, and laying down for the night would hell.

"Doggo seems to have been here too" Gabriel suddenly says. Rionna looks at him and then to ground. Indeed, big marks of the beast's paws were on the soft ground. Then Rionna frowned. There was an campfire not far from them, and what seemed to be an empty camp. The kettle over the fire let out bad smell of burned food. Quickly she counted 19 backbags. And since the campfire was up and lighting the area, it was already dark. Or early morgning, she wasn't really sure. The sky was illuminating the stars, but the sun was coloring the horizon.

"And who ever were camping here got an unpleasant surprise" she finally said grimly. Gabriel nodded and stood up. Just as he was giving his hand to Rionna to help her up, they heard screaming and seconds later shouting. Rionna jumped up and shared an look with her brother.

"We could save our ass from Doggo, but those people could be our hope of finding our way back home" she said. Gabriel stared at her for a second before he nodded. So in the woods they went, nearing the sounds of shouting and the distand light. Until someone ran right in front of them, before stopping. Rionna and Galadriel had stopped too, both having identical frown.

The person was old and was wearing grey ropes and grey, pointy hat. Slowly he turned to them and was frowning. Then he pointed at them with his wooden stick and told them to follow him. Then he turned and ran to a big bolder, without even checking whatever they were following him or not. The siblings shared an look, before they walked to the boulder, stopping next to it.

There they saw Doggo and three gigcantic monsters, two already laying on the ground, as dead as they could be. Their bodies were ripped open, blood still flooding out from the deepest cuts. The other monster was missing half of its face. And then the third creature, seemingly horrified, died, collapsing to the ground.

Just then did the old man jump down from the boulder, sword in hand and his stick pointing to Doggo. And before neither of the siblings could take the gun and point it to Doggo, the man was murming some weird mambo jambo and Doggo started to fall back, tail between it's legs. And then it turned and ran away with snarl. Rionna sighed, but was still ready grasp the gun if needed to.

Gabriel took a step from behind the boulder to the clearing and all the eyes turned to him, and to his sister who had followed him. The older man was staring at them wearily. Rionna couldn't help but stare, for these weren't the kind of people she had expected to see. She should have known it when she saw the older man. Small men, probably head smaller than she was. She couldn't really tell, since half of them were in sack's and half being barbequed on a stick over the fire. Everyone else expect one had beard and long hair.

Rionna looked up to Gabriel, who was eyeing the companion. Then she turned to look at the old man and their eyes met.

  Thorin could still feel the horror in his gut as he stared at the three now dead trolls. He didn't blame the hobbit for fainthing after first troll went down.

After the red dog-like monster had appeared from behind the boulder and attacked the first troll, and after it went down so easily, all hope had lost from Thorin and the company. For surely the wizard would not make it in time, and Thorin even suspected if the wizard could take this monster down. But the wizard had appeared there just in time to somehow drive the monster away, instead of killing it.

And then he finally let out an growl. Kíli and Balin sent worried look to their king, but before neither could say anything, a young man walked from behind the boulder.

And Thorin's eyes were glued to him. He had honey blond hair, just like Fíli's hair was, that he kept on a ponytail, well trimmed, short beard, about as long as Thorin's own. And his eyes were brown, taking in every danger there might be, untill their eyes met. Then there was the young woman and for a second Thorin tought that they were married. But it couldn't be so.

The woman had also honey blond hair that she kept open, and she was smaller than the man. Her brown, observant eyes were taking in the scene there had been mere minutes ago. She seemed shocked and surprised when she saw the trolls, even more surprised when her eyes finally stopped to the company. For a while she stared at them, before she turned to the wizard. And for a while they stared at each other, before Gandalf turned to the company.

"Well, shall we get you back on the feet" Gandalf says, instead of questioning the siblings. Thorin turns to look at Gandalf, who walks over to him, crouching down next to him and pulling the sack down.

"Those two came through a portal of sorts near the camp. But fret not, they didn't touch anything nor took anything" Gandalf murmur's to Thorin, and he frowns. They came trough a portal? But from where? For clearly they were not from this world. When the sack was down enough, Thorin turned enough so that Gandalf could cut the rope open. "I am not sure if the monster came from the same portal, but given the fact that I have never seen anything like it before, I can only assume the worst" Thorin could hear the wizard continuing.

"So they are at fault of that monster coming in this world" Thorin says bitterly, feeling a little bang in his gut. They didn't need anymore monster's in ths world, they had their hands full of with the orcs, wrags and dragons and what not.

"That I do not know" Gandalf murmur's just as the rope loosens and Thorin is free. He turns to help his younger nephew and sees how Balin's questioning eyes are on him. The old advisor had heard their conversation, and whatever he had his own questions to ask, they had to wait. They needed to release the company first.

When the rest of the dwarves and now awake Bilbo were freed, Gandalf finally took it upon himself to question the siblings, who had helped to free the ones over the fire. The dwarves didn't seem too happy about it, but since the woman - Rionna - had assured them enough many times that she didn't mean to hurt to but help them, the dwarves let them help.

"And now, who might you two be and where do you hail from?" Gandalf asks, his voice soft and eyes concerned. Thorin steps next to the wizard and Dwalin and Balin appear behind them. Thorin's eyes rise and meet the young man eyes. They were attentive and hid some of his worry. His hands were resting on his broad hip, his person being a bit relaxed yet ready to trike if danger approaced. Then it hit Thorin, this man standing next to him was an warrior, yet Thorin didn't see him carrying any weapon's with him.

"My name is Rionna and this is my older brother Gabriel..." Thorin hears the woman tell to the wizard, since he and this man - Gabriel - were having a staring contest. So, Thorin tears his eyes with all his might from Gabriel and looks at the woman. She was a head taller than him, but much shorter than her brother. "... And, well... We come from Scandinavia's United Nation. And... where exactly are we?" Thorin's eyes narrow. United Nation of what? Skandi...?

"There's no such thing in all Arda" Dwalin grumbles. Thorin and Balin throw a look to him, silently agreeing with him, while Gandalf leans a bit more to his staff.

"No, indeed there is no such kingdom in Arda, my dear fellow. Our new friends seem to come from completly different world" Gandalf says, his wise eyes studying the siblings, who in turn share a worried look.

"That bomb those soldiers were using... It must be some sort of new SCP" Gabriel says as his brows knit together. Thorin's mouth opens a little and he feels confused. Never had he heard these weird words. But then he frowns. He had to admit that they were from different world, it was the truth.

"What are you talking about, laddie?" Balin asks, also seemingly confused of what Gabriel had just said. Gabriel's eyes lift to the white haired dwarf and it is Rionna, who explains the situation they had been in before being pulled in the hole on the ground. They had been hunting for food, but had instead stumbled to the dog-like monster and then the soldier's had stumbled upon them, or rather to the monster. The dimensional bomb was their new weapon they used to kill these monster, or at this case, to send them somewhere else.

"So, ye mean tae tell me that yer not the ones who sent that beast tae kill those trolls?" Dwalin asks. Gabriel snorts, as Rionna just looks at him with small, sad smile. Dwalin sends an glare to the older sibling.

"Those monster bow to no-one, takes orders from no-one. We're not their masters!" Gabriel says, deathly look on his face as he spats the words from his mouth. He talked about them with so much hatred in his voice that Dwalin almost believed him. That kind of hatred came from the heart, not from acting.

"Indeed, we're, as most of our people, been trying to kill those kind of monsters for the past 24 years. They've been terrorising our lands and other kingdom's to the point where the population has lowered to over half of what it once was" Rionna tells. Their eyes snap to her and they stare at her in shock. They had been figthing and trying to kill those things over two and half decades?!

"So, you come from different world where these kind of monster are roaming freely around you. Why don't you plea to your king and ask him to send an army to kill them off?" Gandalf asks. Rionna sighs and Gandalf turns his eyes back to her, as does Thorin, Balin and Dwalin. Thorin swallows and turns his eyes away. The answer was already there in her eyes. The hopless, disapointted look. There was no help coming from their king.

"Because, the goverment takes care of those who are seen as noble, important and have enough money to assure safety to themselves. If you are nobody, normal citizen like the two of us or the thousands and thousands of others, there's nothing the goverment and army would do. They don't care about their people, they never do" Gabriel spats out. Thorin feels his throat tightening. Not everyone were like that, he wanted to tell him.

"Uncle, we found the troll's cave!" Fíli shouts.

"Mr. Thorin, the ponies are dead!" Ori pipes right after the older prince. Thorin closes his eyes and sighs. He had better things to worry about that these two, and he would do a favor for himself if he'd just drop them out of his mind. The dog was gone, but would come back and he wanted to get his company out of here and from that creature before it would come back. And so he turned and addressed what should have been mattered to him more this whole time than attent to a meeting with the wizard and the two strange siblings.

"Fíli, Dwalin, Glóin, Bofur and Nori, we'll go to the cave. The rest of you, go back to the camp and back up. We will leave shortly" Thorin orders and turns to follow his older nephew to the troll cave. He can feel the brown eyes over his back, and when he makes the mistake and glanses over his shoulder, Gabriel's is looking after. And his words come back to him, and Thorin sighs.

"We could use a little help, especially if that monster comes back!" he announces. Gabriel and Rionna share an surprised look, while Gandalf admits aloud it to be the best thing to do. So, Gandalf and the siblings follow Thorin and the other dwarves to the troll's cave. 

[foxrun-fluffery]

The Greatest Distance

Summary: Thorin’s company is displaced in time by Gandalf, due to an emergency. They land in front of country girl Piper and her son. After recognizing them, mostly, she realizes that in no way can they be left on their own in this modern world, and now she has to cope with some of the strangest house guests ever!

Tag List: @sdavid09, @fallnangelcreations @sherala007 (I tried)

CHAPTER FOUR

READ FROM BEGINNING | PREVIOUS CHAPTER | NEXT CHAPTER

Dinner and a deconstruction

By the time the meat was cooked, and the potatoes mashed, Piper realized she had lost track of the dwarves milling about her property. Riordan and the three youngest were still out in the yard, having fun. Riordan had gotten Fili, Kili, and Ori into a game of tag. Through some careful chit chat with Bombur and Bilbo, she had discovered that the company had not yet encountered the trolls, but had dealt with the rain she recalled Dori referring to as a ‘deluge’ and the wizard telling Bilbo about the other four wizards. She realized the poor hobbit had little time to endear himself to the dwarves yet, aside from filling their stomachs on that first meeting. They hadn’t yet met the brown wizard, nor the elves. As she could recall, Thorin’s attitude did shift after Rivendell or Imladris, she did like the elvish name for it, but imagined the dwarves would not. Not that she would mention it, thinking it only as a passing thought.

Seeing a figure pass by the doorway, she leaned out, “Oh, Gloin! Could you please let everyone know dinner is about ready?” That certainly seemed to get him perked up and trotting quickly out the door. “Bofur, could you give me a hand with the table?” “Aye, settin’ it then?” He asked, getting up from where he had sprawled on her overly plush sofa. It was comfortable, and he was regretting that Thorin had already staked it out as his bed for their stay. While Piper had guest rooms, she said they would have to wait until she emptied the stuff she had stored in them out. For tonight the floor would do. He hurried to her side, smiling brightly up at her. Some part of his brain had always regretted the height of human females, but this time he found he didn’t mind it at all. No, even her strangely short and brightly colored hair wasn’t at all disconcerting. It fascinated him, like a cut gemstone.

“Nope, gotta put the leaf in, otherwise we’ll never fit everyone in here.” Piper quickly guided him through adding the extra sections to the table, and was rather amused by his curiosity about the extended table. She grinned as he crawled under it to inspect the mechanism, and how he watched as all of the pieces fit together. In all likelihood she had just changed the way tables were made in Middle Earth from now on. Then she went to get the dishes out, humming a little tune as she did.

“Ah, do ye sing, lass?” Bofur asked curiously, having finished his examination of her dining table, he had appeared at her side.

Piper jumped slightly, realizing she was quickly adapting to the loud steps of the dwarves she hadn’t really taken notice of him coming up on her. “Me? Ehh… not a whole lot. Mostly just lullabies for Rio, though he’s starting to outgrow them. Anymore he only wants me to sing for him when he’s sick.” Her smile was a touch sad, for she felt, as most parents did, that her little boy was growing too quickly. “He’s so independant already.” She sighed, bittersweet.

Bofur reached out to take a stack of plates from her, and he lightly set his hand on her forearm. “He’s a good lad, that boy. Ye have every right t’ be proud o’ him.”

“Growing up with just me to raise him, he’s had to learn a lot, and fast.” Piper’s expression softened under his touch, and she nodded gently. “He’s bright, he likes working with his hands, there’s a whole bunch of old tools in the shop that are his, he’s always tinkering with bits and pieces of things. My grandpa sort of hoarded everything, so Rio’s had a lot to experiment with.”

This made Bofur laugh, grinning brightly. “Aye, he’d make a great dwarf then!”

Smirking, Piper eyed him, “That’s a helluva compliment.” There was a moment, she and he held each other’s gaze. He was admiring her, and she was studying him, wondering what he thought, how she and her boy seemed to the dwarves. “With luck, anything he learns from you guys will be positive.”

“Aye!” Bofur mocked indignance, “How could it no’ be?!”

By then others were drifting in, attracted by the smell of the roasts cooking. Each member of the company was happy to lend a hand in setting the table. Though Piper wasn’t certain she appreciated their method, she wasn’t surprised by it. Claiming herself a spot out of the way, she watched her plates being tossed and flung through the air, along with the silverware. Someone, she thought it was Nori, starting humming a light tune, and soon the others were humming or wordlessly singing along. She realized they were using the beat of the song to keep track of each other’s movements. How ingenious!

Riordan had come in near the end of the table being set, Balin keeping a hand on the boy’s shoulder so he didn’t dash right into the middle of it. Still the boy clapped along and cheered when they were done. “Momma, can we set the table like that all the time?!”

Piper barked a laugh and shook her head, “No way, half-pint, I can’t afford the dishes you’d break!” With a grin, she jumped forward, sweeping the four year old up and onto her hip, tickling his ribs and making him shriek with laughter. “Okay, young man,” she set him back on the ground, hiding a wince from him. He was getting far too big to be carrying about like that. “Go wash up.”

The boy gave his typical groan, but he ran off to the bathroom to do what he was told, a few of the dwarves, and the hobbit, following suit. Some of the older or more stubbornly set in their ways ones stayed and took their seats at the table.

Piper, Bombur, and Bofur all brought trays of food over, while upon his return from washing, Bilbo managed the numerous bottles and containers, in a quick dash back and forth, of things Piper told him were condiments. He’d never seen bottles like that, nor had he heard of a few of the things she set out. Whatever “sour cream” was, though it sounded wholly unappetizing even to a hobbit, she insisted it was set on the table, along with the bacon crumbles she had cooked off, and the diced chives. He also was directed to a big bag of shredded cheese, and a bottle of “ranch dressing” as the woman told him that was the only way Riordan would eat his potatoes. That was a shocker to the little hobbit. Someone who didn’t like potatoes!?

Once they had everything set, with glasses of water, much to the disheartenment of the dwarves, everyone sat down. Thorin sat at Piper’s side, as everyone insisted she had the head of the table. Riordan naturally was at her other side, and the others filed in. Bombur was more than happy to cut the food, after giving her serving utensils a good looking over and an approving nod. Though the dwarves seemed to take their food in a rather raucous fashion, Piper insisted that Riordan use his best manners still.

Bofur, who was sitting on the other side of Riordan, reigned in his jovial eating habits to set a good example for the boy, though he did so in a playful way. Sometimes he would be so polite it was very clearly over the top, and other times he’d challenge the boy to cut his meat in certain sizes and shapes, keeping him from cramming huge mouthfuls in after he saw the look of disapproval from his mother at one particularly giant bite. At the boy’s insistence, he gave the ranch dressing a try on his potatoes and had to agree that it did make them a great deal better. However, he had bargained with the boy that he would try the ranch, if Riordan would eat chives on his potatoes.

Piper smiled, watching the dwarf and her boy, wondering for the hundredth time throughout the last four years, how life would have been different if they’d have a more normal family. But then again, normal wasn’t really their thing. She turned to Thorin, smiling pleasantly. “So, have you got everything figured out for wood cutting? I can always run in and get things we’d need.”

“We?” He mused, arching a brow at her as he chewed his roast.

“Of course! I grew up cutting wood, you don’t think I’d make you do it all yourselves!” Piper scoffed, shaking her head at him with an amused twinkle in her eyes. “I told you, I’d do what I can to help all of you here.”

Canting his head slightly, in a grateful nod, Thorin smiled. “I appreciate that. We will need your guidance to make sure we’re doing the job acceptable to the standards of this world.” He looked to his plate then and then back up, “This is a fine meal, we’re very grateful.”

Piper blushed, “Well, Bombur and Bilbo were both wonderful help getting it prepared.” She turned and found her fellow cooks at the table and smiled at them. “Bilbo is quite good with his seasonings, even I’m impressed, and I usually everyone says I’ve got a good sense for flavors.”

Bilbo’s cheeks, too, pinkened, “It’s nothing really, just some things my mother used to use when I was growing up.” He cast a warm quick look at Riordan. “I’m just happy to pass them on.”

The woman chuckled, “Oh yes, I’ve written down everything you used, I’ll be doing my best to copy it in the future.” She lifted her head a little, hearing amongst the soft and less than soft chatter at the table, someone bemoaning the lack of mead or ale. She noticed that Thorin had heard it too, and she grinned, “You know, if anyone here drank so much at every meal, they’d be written of as an alcoholic. You dwarves must have one hell of a constitution.”

The king cracked a smile, venturing even to laugh. “That we do. It’s probably best your kind do not try to keep up,” He told her with no malice, it was simply fact to him. Men could not drink like a dwarf. “We have a greater appreciation for well crafted ale, is all.”

Piper let the conversation fall for a while, as everyone filled their stomachs. She spoke up after a while, addressing the king once more. “Without risk of offending anyone, can I ask a question about dwarves? There are few details known and a number that are suspected, but we’re not certain.”

“Very well,” Thorin wiped his mouth with his napkin and sat back in his seat, his meal eaten and his stomach filled comfortably. True, all of them could eat a good deal more, but this was enough to satisfy for now. “What do you wish to know?”

“Do dwarvish braids have meaning?”

The king’s brows rose, and he was surprised that details such as that had filtered to this world. “Yes, they do. The braids and the ornamentation on them.” He motioned his own, “Mine display that I am warrior, this,” He indicated a decorated clasp behind his ear, “bears the crest of my house.” He motioned for Fili and Kili and both turned to show their own clasps that looked very much the same. “Had their father been alive, he would have made those for them. In his absence I crafted them myself.”

“And mine,” Gloin piped up then, taking cue from their leader that it was acceptable to speak about it, “Show my standing in the banker’s guild.” He motioned to the evenly spaced braids in his beard.

Dwalin puffed, his shoulders square as he held his head up with pride. “I mark my braid with victories in battle.”

“So you choose what you wear then, or is there a sort of baseline?” Piper had leaned forward, looking at each of them as they spoke, noticing their pride.

“Everyone chooses what they want to represent, what they take pride in, or what means the most to them.” Thorin explained.

Dori grinned, pointing to his youngest brother. “Ori has started his set of braids in the scholars guild.”

The young dwarf in question smiled sheepishly, and tilted his head to show the braids in his own hair and beard. “I’d like to earn a warriors braid too.”

“Oh hush you’re doing quite fine!” Dori admonished, not liking the thought of his brother in danger such as battle.

“I’m sure you’ll do great things, Ori.” Piper smiled reassuringly to him, glad to see his smile grew more confident.

“And this one,” Gloin spoke up again, “Me wife an’ I braided on our wedding day! This she crafted for me!” He showed her a slim braid that was nearly hidden in his bushy hair, and an intricately detailed bead that bound the end. “She has one I made of course.”

“That’s beautiful, Gloin. I can see she really loves you, so much detail!” Piper exclaimed, rising a little to lean across the table and see his bead clearly. She didn’t miss the way his eyes misted. “I’m sure she misses you just as much as you miss her.”

“Aye.” He said, quietly, and he ran his finger over the bead before he tucked it away into his wild hair again. Although he was misty eyed, he had a warm smile on his face, and his brother was watching him fondly, as were a few others. They all appreciated families and the like, even if most dwarves never married.

Nori caught Piper looking towards him next and he pursed his lips, clearly not sharing, yet he gave her a wink.He grinned at her smirk, seeing the determination growing in her eyes.

“I want braids!” Riordan piped up suddenly, looking around at everyone, and smiling when it started an uproarious laugh around the table.

“Maybe, if you had enough hair,” Dwalin chuckled, amused at the boy’s declaration.

The child had a very short cut, that wasn’t even uncommon among dwarven children. As much as they did like their hair, until a child was old enough to help wash, and to keep their hair from getting sticky and messy things tangled into it, short hair was not unseen. It wasn’t until a child was around eight or nine that their parents allowed their hair to grow, by then the little dwarfling was mature enough to take care of it to a degree. Their mothers still tended to the most of the care, in particular the brushing and braiding, but the children could help wash it then.

Riordan pouted, looking around at the dwarves at their table. “How long does it take to grow?” Piper chuckled, “If you wanna grow your hair out, it’ll be a while.” Knowing her boy he’d change his mind four times before it was ever long enough to do anything with. “But remember the last time your hair got long?” Riordan looked down at his plate, nodding quietly. He remembered. Oh did he remember. It had only been a couple of months ago. Thinking about it, he reached up and rubbed the side of his head. “Yeah…”

Piper caught a few curious glances and explained, “He got a sticky candy stuck in his hair when he fell asleep on it. And that’s why we had to cut his hair all off.” She chuckled, seeing her boy still pouting about it. “I think that was a lesson well learned.” Seeing everyone had just about finished up, she rose, startled when a number of them started to rise too. Ah, old fashioned manners. “Settle down boys. I’m just gonna go get us some tea.”

“Momma, can we have a soda?” Riordan asked, sounding as sweet and hopeful as he could.

“What’s soda?” Kili asked, looking from the boy to his mother.

Hearing his question, and the way the others gradually fell silent, Piper knew the dwarves behind her were all waiting for her answer. Quickly she debated a few factors, how much soda she had, and the risks of giving the dwarves caffeine.. .eh, you only live once! “Yeah, kiddo, sure.”

“Root beer floats?”

“Now you’re pushing it.” Piper laughed, shaking her head at her son and going to get the case of soda she had in the walk-in pantry. She distributed cans to the dwarves, setting one the table before each, quietly got their attention with a hand held up, then demonstrated how to pop the top on the cans. The dwarves, to her amusement, followed suit in a split second, and then there was a mixed reaction after that.

Nori, Balin, Gloin, Dwalin, Bifur, Dori, and Oin all stopped to sniff their drink first. Thorin and Bofur were both looking at Piper, though with very different expressions. Bofur seemed almost to forget he had a drink, and Thorin waited to say a polite thank you, before he raised his can to sip. The rest of the dwarves however, instantly went to chug their drinks. Most of them got the wonderful sensation of bubbles up the nose, and they stopped to clap hands over their noses, objecting in either language. And Nori gave a fine belch, but Kili outshadowed him. Riordan, feeling it was, this time, acceptable, followed suit and got a cheer from some of the dwarves for his attempt. But it was, as had happened before, Ori who won the prize. All the while, the quiet hobbit was grimacing at the belches and sipping as politely as he could, though he kept having to stop to rub his nose, looking mildly amused at the tickle.

“Mighty unusual drink, this!” Balin said, sniffling and rubbing his nose. “It’s got bubbles in it like nothing else!” He did seem to be enjoying it though. In fact, not a one of the dwarves had stopped drinking their soda for long.

“There are tons of flavors, but we just have this one right now. It’s very sugary, so we don’t drink it very often.” Piper explained. “Glad you all like it.” Then she rose to start clearing the emptied plates, but found a hand on her wrist. She looked up, surprised, at Thorin.

“Allow us. It’s very kind of you to prepare the meal, and offer your home. The least we can do is help clean up.” Thorin gave the others a pointed look, and soon Piper was privy to a clean up scene not too dissimilar to the one from a certain movie. Though, as when the table had been set, they only hummed a tune, rather than setting to a full song. Bombur, having learned how the sink worked, no longer got to polish off leftovers, but was in charge, with Bifur, of washing plates.

Riordan was sent off to wash up, as he had ranch dressing all over his face. He didn’t return, instead going to his room to play for a while, before his mother stuffed him into pajamas and sent him to bed.

Once dinner was cleaned up, for it was simply a matter of doing the dishes, as there were no leftovers at all, the dwarves settled in, sitting around the den. A few started to pull out pipes and flint, and their tobacco pouches. Only Bofur saw Piper grimace at the sight, though she didn’t actually forbid them. He looked down at his pipe in his hands that he was filling just then. Did the people here not smoke at all? “Uhm… is it… is it alright, lass, if we smoke?”

“Mmm yeah, just not on my white couch, okay? Even the best cleaners don’t get the smell out all the way.” Piper also didn’t want any pipe ash ground into the fabric. “Alright, if you guys are good for now, I should go get some more work done on this project I’ve got going. Should be a nice big payout if I can get it working, but the deadline is coming up.”

Bofur smiled kindly, nodding his head, “Best o’ luck t’ ye, lass.” He watched her as she walked out, his gaze lingering, his pipe forgotten. Until he heard a snickering from the young princes. Then he turned and saw most of the others were looking at him. “Oi! Mind yer own!” He waved them off, trying to hide the way his face heated up. “Pesky nosy lot o’ ya…”

“Oi, Nori! I didn’t get you those fancy sleeves to get them all greased up! How did you even manage that?!” Dori griped, looking at the smudges on Nori’s intricately stitched sleeves. “What did you get into to make that mess?” Nori ducked his head, looking down at his sleeves. Sure enough there was a smear or five of dark grease on them, that could almost be mistaken for orc blood, if it wasn’t for the smell. “Uh, we just looked around… kind of well… come see.” Grabbing his brother’s wrist, he pulled Dori up and out of the room to the front door. Ori, Balin, Fili, Kili, Bifur, Bombur, Oin and Gloin all followed along, either part of the guilty party, or very curious. Nori lead them to the garage beside the house, thinking it was some sort of workshop. There he pointed to some sort of deconstructed contraption. “See? We uh… well we got a little carried away.” He scratched the back of his neck nervously, shuffling his feet from side to side.

“Lad… ye have to put it back t’gether.” Oin grumbled, “It wasn’t yers to take apart!”

Gloin coughed, knowing he had been a part of the trouble. “We didn’t mean to, it just looked… useful.”

Balin sighed, shaking his head, “Of course it was useful, for whatever purpose it had before!” He rolled his eyes, not to unlike what his brother might have done. “Do any of you remember how it all went together?” “I think we lost a couple of parts…” Nori admitted. “Fix this!” Balin insisted sharply. “Before the lass finds out.” He turned and headed back to the house, stroking his beard irritably. “Curious bunch of half-wits,” he mumbled as he walked back in the front door. What were they thinking!? His thoughts must have been obvious, both his brother and their king approached him.

“What have they done?” Thorin asked, his voice low as the three stood, huddled, Dwalin at his shoulder looking stern.

The elder dwarf sighed heavily, “Seems they found some machine in the workshop and have taken it apart, and lost a piece, and it seems they don’t quite know how to put it back together.”

Thorin grimaced, rubbing a hand over his face. “Balin, Dwalin, go supervise them. I’ll… talk to Piper about it.” Huffing, he turned, knowing the two brothers would be just the motivation the rest needed to fix their mess. He descended the basement stairs and followed the short hallway to the room he saw a light in and knocked, then he heard her call to him, so he opened the door. He wasn’t sure what she was doing, she was curled up in a chair, in front of a flat slab that stood upright on a stand, tapping away at a panel of little buttons. “Piper?”

“Mmm just one second okay? Kinda… middle of… numbers….” She typed away furiously, trying to remember the sequence as she entered it. Not realizing she had just asked the heir to the crown of Erebor, the wandering king of the dwarves, to wait for her.

The heir in question didn’t mind at all, he was looking around the room, studying everything. There were a ton of electronics, which he didn’t recognize of course, and schematics on the walls to great vessels, but by the design he couldn’t comprehend how they could float on water. What even was a turbolift or a power nacelle? This Enterprise vessel was a strange one. Then there were pictures in frames. They were so clear he almost expected them to come alive. But there was Piper, Riordan, and a number of people who looked similar to them by their features, so he guessed they were her family. He found himself looking closely at them, smiling when he could see they were clearly enjoying themselves in each picture. Nowhere were there any formal portraits, but daily life images, smiles and fun and memories. It made his heart happy to see such things, but at the same time he ached for the dwarves lost when Erebor fell, and the hardships that fell upon them after. There were few smiles and happy memories made then. He quietly prayed to Mahal, not certain his prayers would be heard, that this kind woman and her precious son would never face such hardships.

“Oh! Thorin! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you wait!” Piper turned her chair to look at him, blinking owlishly. “Is something wrong? You okay? Do you guys need anything?” She rose and crossed the distance to his side, eyes wide and searching his face.

Holding his hands up, Thorin shook his head, missing the way Piper’s eyes traveled to watch his hair sway. “No, nothing is wrong… well, that is not entirely true. It seems that some of my company have gotten a little out of hand, and I have come to apologize.” He sighed when she only seemed confused, “They found a machine in your workshop… and have taken it apart. I have ordered them to reassemble it, but they seem yet uncertain as to whether or not they can.”

“Workshop…? Oh my garage! Uh… there’s just a snowblower and a lawnmower in there… huh.” She frowned, thinking about if she could afford to replace either right now. Probably not. But they had very little lawn, as most of the ground around them was pine needles and natural growth. She only maintained enough lawn for Riordan to play on. Her mother had done more, but she seemed to like the natural approach better. Hopefully they hadn’t taken the snowblower apart. That she needed. “Well, if they can’t I’m sure I can find a repairman who can.” With a shrug she smiled. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty easy going. Things happen, life goes on. Getting all twisted about it doesn’t help anyone.”

Thorin stood, staring at her for a moment, before one of his handsome smiles spread on his face. “If only more people had your heart, Lady Piper.” He grunted when she thumped him on the shoulder. “My apologies, Piper. Just, Piper.”

Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes. “Damn majestic dwarf.”

“Majestic?” He queried, sounding far too amused. “You think I’m majestic?”

Piper laughed, grinning at him. “Well, it’s probably the most used term to describe you that I’ve noticed.” She looked over at her photo wall that he’d been admiring. “Tell me about yourself.”

“I thought you knew of us already,” He countered, raising a brow as he watched her face.

She shrugged in that lopsided way she had. “I do, sort of. I mean, I know the major facts, but not the little details. Tell me about you, Thorin. Not Thorin Oakenshield, the great warrior, the crowned prince, but tell me about Thorin, the m--dwarf. Do you have anything you enjoy doing? Hobbies, interests, dirty little secrets?”

Thorin laughed then, “It would only be fair if you shared with me the same.” His blue eyes were lit with a mischief that he rarely let show. But she had a way of drawing that out in people, it seemed. He found a low-set overstuffed chair and sat in it, while she returned to her desk. They chatted for roughly two hours before she finished her work and had to go up to put Riordan to bed. There was a big smile on her face, that none of the other dwarves missed.

“Had a good time?” Fili asked in a teasing tone of his uncle as the older dwarf joined them, taking his spot on the sofa.

“Mind your tongue. We simply spoke.” Thorin reprimanded him lightly. “Our hostess is quite interesting.” He didn’t see behind him, that Bofur was studying his boots, making certain to meet no one’s gaze. It was a sickening feeling twisting in his gut, he wanted to jump up and scream at their king, but he couldn’t. He wanted to run and find Piper and find out all of these interesting things for himself, but he couldn’t. Instead he grabbed his blanket, pulled his hat down over his eyes and curled up on his spot to sleep, even if it was early. He didn’t feel like being a part of the world right at the moment.

Bifur and Bombur shared a glance, knowing that was unlike their Bofur to act that way, but they understood it. Bombur sighed, and sat back, puffing on his pipe, while he watched Bifur measuring a block of wood he had hewn from the oak outside. He wondered what sort of toy his cousin would craft, as Bifur wasn’t telling anyone just yet.

Eventually the group came in from outside, claiming they had the machine mostly put back together, or so they thought. And they would finish in the morning, as a couple of them were starting to nod off while working. After another hour, Piper had come to bid those who were still awake sweet dreams, and she went off to bed herself, promising the dwarves and hobbit they could have baths tomorrow. Bilbo seemed the most pleased by this.

[lostinaseaoffictionalbliss]

Tattooed Love

Summary: Soulmate AU. You have a small tattoo of your soulmates first initial and while you know him as soon as you see him it takes time to tell him how you feel.

A/N: this is for @thatfanficstuff 500 follower challenge. I also want to thank @mirandaaustin93 for being my beta. She isn't even into The Hobbit, but she watched it just for me and read over this. I can't thank her enough.

If you like this post and can Buy Me a Coffee

Warnings: none. I actually even made sure the boys lived because I can't handle their deaths.

Word count: 2203

Loyalty, honor, a willing heart. Those were the things Thorin looked for in a person, the things he respected. It was also something you had to offer. You were at the meeting in Ered Luin. You heard about his quest to reclaim Erebor and while Dain and the others told him it was the company's quest and theirs alone you refused to sit back and do nothing. The desire to help, to prove yourself, and to do the right thing burned deep in your soul and coursed through your veins hotter than a forge’s fire. That was how you found yourself riding with Thorin to the Shire to meet the rest of the company and meet the burglar Gandalf had chosen to assist on the quest.

But truth be told those weren't the only reasons you had for joining such a dangerous quest. Even though they were the main ones. In the back of your mind and somewhere in your heart you hoped to meet your soulmate as well. Ever since you were old enough to understand what the little D rune tattooed on your ankle meant you had been looking for him. Everyone was born with a similar mark. For dwarves or in your case half dwarves the letter was a rune, but it was always the first letter of your soulmates name. It always looked like a tattoo, but the markings weren't always located in the same spot.

As soon as you met the stoic warrior with tattoos on his head and forearms you knew it had to be him. Just his rough voice sent a tingle down your spine and while most found his gaze and the way he held himself intimidating you didn't. It made you feel protected and if you were being honest a little bit aroused. However you kept this to yourself. For one you had just met him and wanted to get to know him before you blurted out you thought he was your soulmate. For two you were about to embark on a dangerous mission and more important things needed to be discussed.

You sat listening intently to Thorin as he spoke of the mountain and seizing the chance to take back Erebor with a smile. You were proud to call him king, but then talk of the front door being sealed began and arguments once again broke out because no one thought Bilbo could survive the wild. It made you sigh. Dwalin looked over at you with a raised brow. “What seems to be the matter lass?” You shook your head. “Pointless arguing. Gandalf clearly chose the hobbit for a reason. So what if he's gentle and doesn't know how to defend himself. There's thirteen and a half dwarves here we can defend him if need be until we reach the mountain.”

Dwalin let out a gruff laugh. “Thirteen and a half. You're funny lass.” After that moment you wanted to hear him laugh more and so you made it your personal mission to make him do so. Even if you weren't sure how to do it. That night everyone of the dwarves sang and you joined in, but your eyes were locked on Dwalin the entire time. His deep voice, the glint in his eyes that said he was a fierce warrior, and the way he held himself all drew you in. Like a moth to the flame or a dwarf to gold. There was no doubt in your mind he was your soulmate.

As you left the Shire and traveled over rolling hills and across little rivers you talked to all the company getting to know them better. You made friends with Fili and Kili easy enough. They were sweet and could easily make you laugh. You also talked to Balin enjoying the stories he told you, but your favorite talks were with Dwalin. You could listen to his voice all day. He told you stories of battles he had fought in, mischief he had caused as a dwarfling, becoming best friends with Thorin and many more. In return you told him stories of your childhood, how you learned to fight because you wanted to honor your father who had died in battle, how people put you down for being a halfbreed, and anything else you could think of.

The more you talked to him the more you fell in love. Dwalin was everything you could hope for in a soulmate. He was brave, strong, protective, loyal. Most importantly he had a soft side that not many got to see, but you did. One night while most of the company slept you and him sat up talking long into the night. “There was this little fawn it had gotten separated from its ma, ya see. Well it was so tiny it was gonna die on its own. So I smuggled it into the house, fed it milk until it was big enough to survive in the wild and let it go.” He told you. It was the sweetest thing you had ever heard. This big tough dwarf who could easily crack skulls with his bare hands had taken care of something as gentle and precious as a lost fawn.

Getting to see that side of him made you realize there was more to him than meets the eye. And so you spent every night you could listening to his tales whether they be of gruesome fights or of helping someone in need by escorting them home safely, stories of boys’ night and getting plastered or of buying a single mother food for a week. Yes, Dwalin was a tough seasoned warrior, but he was also a soft kind soul once you got to know him. It warmed your heart that he allowed you to see the deeper part of him. You even had to stop yourself from telling him you loved him a few times.

Things seemed to be going great between you and Dwalin as well as for the company until one night you made camp near what used to be a farmer's  home. Gandalf and Thorin argued and the wizard took off. That was just the beginning of the trouble that would ensue that night. Just as you were about to take the last bite of the stew Bombur had made Fili came running toward camp saying trolls had Bilbo. You dropped the bowl grabbed your sword and followed after him like all the other dwarves. The battle was going in your favor until one of the trolls caught you and threw you into a tree. You landed on your leg funny and felt your ankle roll painfully. There was no doubt it was sprained.

Bilbo was captured and the dwarves dropped their weapons. Some were put on a spit over the fire while the rest of you were put in sacks. You closed your eyes and held back the whimper that was in the back of your throat. If you were going to die you would do it bravely. You wouldn't let the others know you were hurting as bad as you were. You were a warrior and you would die being strong like a warrior. You watched the spit looking at Dwalin sadly wishing you had told him how you felt. Now you would never get the chance to tell him, he was your soulmate and you loved him. Or so you thought.

The hobbit had managed to play for time. While his plan was a bit strange it had worked and Gandalf had showed up in time to turn the trolls to stone. All of you were released from your bags and off the spit. While some of the company went to look for a cave you sat there letting your ankle rest. You poked it and let out a hiss. “Let me have a look at it lass. You took a pretty hard hit.” You looked up at Dwalin and nodded not even thinking about the little soulmate tattoo he would find. You just wanted to make sure it wasn't broke as you didn't want to be a burden the rest of the journey.

Dwalin knelt next to you and pulled the leg of your trousers up, untied your boot and pulled it off. He lifted your leg and went to examine it. When he spotted the little D rune he took pause. The stoic warrior had felt himself falling for you more and more as you grew to know one another. He also remembered the rune on his right shoulder that was the first letter of your name. Deep inside he had prayed that you were his soulmate, but you were so soft, so gentle, so sweet, and perfect. He was none of that. He didn't want to get his hopes up in case he was wrong, but now he had a reason to have hope. For the first time in a long time he felt his heartbeat pick up and was honestly a little nervous.

“Y/N, lass.” He looked up at you his eyes more serious than you had ever seen. You could see the different emotions playing in his eyes. Nervousness, happiness, pride, love, and a little fear. All of it made you very nervous, but you didn't take your eyes off his for a second. “I think it's time I showed you something.” He shrugged his fur coat off and moved his tunic showing you his mark. There it was for you to see. A little rune depicting the first letter of your name. Honestly you didn't know how to react. This whole time you had been afraid to tell him how you felt when you had nothing to fear.

You smiled at him, the pain in your ankle completely forgotten and pulled him down for a kiss. His lips were chapped and rough just like he was, but having them pressed to yours was the sweetest feeling in the world. Tingles ran down your spine, your heart picked up pace and you felt like nothing bad could happen as long as he kept holding you like he was. Dwalin’s hands had come to rest of your hips and despite his tough exterior he held you gently, like a butterfly he was afraid to crush. When he pulled away he rested his forehead against yours. “I love you, Dwalin,” you whispered knowing he would hear you.

“I love you too, Y/N. And I swear to protect you to the end of my days.” He promised. And no matter the hardships you endured on the quest he kept that promise. He made sure the orcs didn't get you as you ran, he protected you during the thunderbattle, in the goblin tunnels he hit any one of the nasty creatures that dared touch you, hanging from a tree he protected you then too. A skinchanger, spiders, elves, and a dragon. He watched over you through it all. He even kept you safe during the battle of the five armies. There was nothing he wouldn't keep you safe from. You thanked Mahal for giving you such a perfect soulmate. Without Dwalin you just knew you would be lost.

When the day finally came for your wedding you couldn't be happier. The smile on your face was more stunning than even the Arkenstone. What made the day better was the fact your best friends, Fili and Kili were walking you down the aisle while Thorin was officiating. It had been a miracle they had survived the battle, but they had and here they were to experience the happiest day of your life with you. You fussed with your hair one last time before opening the door and smiling at the boys. “Time to get you married,” Fili said. Kili had a cheeky grin. “I know you're excited for what comes after.” The young prince wiggled his brows. You smacked him, but accepted his and his brother's arm as they were offered.

Dwalin blinked rapidly. He couldn't believe how beautiful you were. The stoic warrior felt he was looking at an angel as he watched Fili and Kili bring you closer to him. As soon as you were standing across from him he held your hands in his and smiled. For anyone that didn't know how he was with you it was a strange sight, but for the company they expected nothing less. You stood there barely hearing a thing Thorin said as you gazed at your soulmate with all the love and adoration your small body could muster. If someone asked you what was said during the ceremony you wouldn't be able to tell them.

The only thing you remembered was promising to always love Dwalin and him promising you the same. Of course Kili then yelled from the crowd, “Kiss already.” Dwalin let out a growl, but did just that. Normally he wasn't one for public displays of affection, but today he made an exception as he kissed you with everything he had. “Your mine and I'm yours for now and until the end of our days,” he whispered. “I wouldn't have it any other way,” you whispered back.

[stories-by-shanna-p]

Tale Teller’s Adopt a Plot Bunny Challenge

I wanted to do some special things to celebrate the end of NaNoWriMo, and one idea I had was a challenge!  I know there is a lot of seasonal challenges out there, so I wanted to try to do something different.  With the stories I’m writing (and being very behind on them...who said that?!) I have had a lot of plot bunnies, but not the time to write them.  So I thought, let’s find these plot bunnies a good home by doing a special challenge!!!  If you are interested in writing for the challenge, see the entry rules below!  

Thank you again to for your amazing support and encouragement this last month!!! I know I haven’t been active, but I promise to make it up to you all this month! :D 

Rules for Entering the Challenge: 

If you would like to enter the challenge, send me an ASK with your chosen plot bunny that you would like to adopt!  There are plot bunnies from different fandoms, so be sure to check them all out! The plot bunnies are below the keep reading line! 

If I put reader/OC, you can pick either or...or you can do a ship.  I am not putting any rules on that, it can be any type of ship or combination you would like to write.  I want you and your plot bunny to have a good relationship, so go with whatever you feel works the best! 

You can only adopt one plot bunny at a time, if you submit early, you are welcome to adopt another! They all need to go to good and loving homes!  

You can write one shots, drabbles, or mutli-chaps.  Whatever you feel like! 

A plot bunny can only go home with one person, so once they have a home, they will be taken off the adoption list.  I will do my best to keep this post updated as often as possible so you can make an informed decision about your new plot bunny.  

Plot bunnies will be up for adoption until December 15th.  At that time, any plot bunnies that aren’t adopted will go back to my plot ideas list.  I will try to tackle them as soon as I can! If a plot bunny does get adopted, I will take it off my list, so you can have that plot bunny all to yourself! 

I would like to post the Master Post on January 1st, to kick off the new year with a bunch of new stories, so please try to have them done by then.  If you don’t, it isn’t the end of the world, but that will be when I put up the post.  If you want tagged on that post (writers will automatically be tagged) just send me an ask and I will add you! 

I hope you all find a plot bunny to adopt!  Happy Writing!

Plot Bunnies Up for Adoption:

(Supernatural Plot Bunny) Dean is happy in his serious relationship with reader/OC/ship character.  It is going well...until he finds out that they gave their V-card to Sam at Stanford.  

(Supernatural Plot Bunny) Reader/OC/ship character is dating Dean when he gets hurt on a hunt and forgets who they are.  Another person comes into his life and pushes reader/OC/ship character out.  And when Dean remembers anything, will he fight to get them back? 

(Supernatural Plot Bunny) Reader/OC/ship character is in a relationship with Dean(or Sam or other) and their anniversary comes around.  Although they promise, Dean (or Sam or other) forgets.  How will they make it up?

(Supernatural Plot Bunny) Reader/OC/ship character is saved by Team Free Will and makes the offer that if they are ever in the area, their home is always open to them.  Surprisingly, Team Free Will take up the offer.  It leads to a relationship with one of them, and their home becoming a quazi-hunting stop, visiting every chance they get.  

(Supernatural Plot Bunny) Reader/OC/ship character gets help from Sam with studying for a big exam.  

(Supernatural Plot Bunny) A dinner surprise from Sam...that doesn’t go as well as planned.

(Supernatural Plot Bunny) Castiel falls for a very bad ass hunter...his skills in trying to earn their affection is really, very...not good.  

(Supernatural Plot Bunny) Human!Cas/Steve meets a regular human and befriends them, finding a new human life outside of heaven and hunting.  

(Supernatural Plot Bunny) Crowley has many acquaintances the Winchesters don’t know about, including a very serious relationship with a human hunter. 

(Supernatural Plot Bunny) Crowley is pissed at first, and then slightly amused, when he discovers that a college student doing research for an ancient religion course summons him by accident.  What start out as anger when they first meet, turns to hilarity when she summons him (accidentally) the third time.  Perhaps Chuck is trying to tell them something and they should take a hint?  

(Supernatural Plot Bunny) Gabriel decides to work his trickster magic to bring reader/OC/ship character to a new world to let them live through their favorite Disney movie, where he is their prince (or princess). 

(Supernatural Plot Bunny) Gabriel will do anything to win an argument, especially when his significant other (in the heat of an argument) tells him he doesn’t understand how hard it is being human sometimes.  So...5 days, as a human, just to prove his point, how hard could it be? 

(Supernatural Plot Bunny) Cowgirls and Angels.  What a great combination.  

(Supernatural Plot Bunny) You thought you were making a great sacrifice when you took on Halucifer instead of Cas.  But actually...once you worked out some ground rules...it was actually kinda fun! 

(Hobbit Plot Bunny) What exactly were Fili and Kili doing when the ponies were taken by the trolls?  

(Hobbit Plot Bunny)  The line of Durin lives... but will then when Dis (mother of Fili and Kili) get to Erebor and find out all the stupid crap they all pulled?  

(Hobbit Plot Bunny) Fili has always loved using daggers.  He had them hidden all over himself...but he learns the hard way one day that he needs to take extra care that they are all secured properly. That was not a great place to get a cut.  

(Hobbit Plot Bunny) Dwalin has a cold.  How ever will his significant other cope?! 

(Hobbit Plot Bunny) Dwalin and Thorin have always been best friends, that didn’t change when Thorin became king.  But now that Thorin is king, he can’t just laugh when Thorin does something ridiculous and hilarious...how does Dwalin cope? 

(Hobbit Plot Bunny) FIli and Kili’s first day of weapons training...do I need to say more?  

(Hobbit Plot Bunny) Thorin claimed he got lost in the Shire because he didn’t know the area...so Bilbo would love to know Thorin’s reasoning for getting lost in his own kingdom.  

(Hobbit Plot Bunny) Thorin was courting someone when Smaug attacked.  When he couldn’t find her afterwards, they assumed she fell in the attack. She didn’t.  

(Hobbit Plot Bunny) After being scolded for bad behavior by Thorin, Kili decides he needs some help with what is a good idea and bad idea...who will be is conscience?  

(Hobbit Plot Bunny) Playing a game of hide and seek with your significant other can be cute...unless your significant other uses a magical ring to cheat.  Yes...I’m looking at you Bilbo Baggins! 

(Hobbit Plot Bunny) The Company of Thorin Oakenshield decides to see Bilbo back to the Shire, where they interact with other Hobbits and such.  How will Bilbo’s respectability survive not only the behavior of his friends, but also his new title, “Dwarf Herder”.  

(Hobbit Plot Bunny) Where exactly did Bofur get that funny hat from? 

(Hobbit Plot Bunny) Disney AU based on Aladdin.  Thorin is Jasmine, Bilbo is Aladdin.  

(Hobbit Plot Bunny) It’s just an old fashion cook off.  Hobbit Bilbo Baggins versus Dwarf Bombur.  

(Harry Potter Plot Bunny) George Weasley is having troubles approaching that amazing person who has caught his eye.  They are so smart... so he figures he will flunk a class, just so they will have to be his tutor.  

[hobbithabitthings-blog]

Falling Stars (4)

Pairing: Slight Lindir x reader and Fili x reader in here. Send me your requests! Word count: 2404 (lmao its so long im sorry)                                                Summary; You just wanted a normal day for once but turns out you just can’t and end falling into middle earth and accompanying Thorin’s epic quest         Warnings: Swearing, oblivious!modern!reader                                                   A/N: Hey guys I promise this chapter is actually good unlike the last one lmao. Also there’s a little lindir x reader in here so be warned haha.

----> (1) (2) (3)

****************************************************************************************************

Everything hurt, and when you said everything you meant everything. Even your arms hurt and you were given the lightest pack!

You wished the ponies hadn't run away... Or you know, eaten.

It wasn't your fault you had stumbled upon the trolls when you went to pee, they just sort of popped outta nowhere carrying away the company's ponies. Your brain couldn't even process what you saw and to top it all off after Kíli, Fíli, and Bilbo found you hiding near a fallen log, the princes forced you an Bilbo to go check them out. Some friends they were!

The trolls were probably the most ugly things you had the pleasure of gazing upon and you certainly did not want to 'check them out' as Fíli put it. You weren't a warrior or Bilbo's size and so once the two of you stealthily padded over to where your captured ponies where, the one sharpening a knife, William, had spotted you.

Bilbo of course-that lucky bastard, escaped once Tom, the one with the cold, snatched you up by the ankle.

You really hated your life right then.

Though, just as the trolls decided to make you into a pie, your heroes, beards and all, came to your rescue. Yet, as brave as they were it didn't go as planned and poor Bilbo almost had his limbs ripped off. And so, you were all shoved into burlap sacks while some of the dwarves were strapped onto a spit. You were included in that bunch lucky enough to roast on the fire and strapped on under Bofur's stinky feet and above Dwalin's tattooed head. You made sure your feet dug into his back each time he complained about your own smelly feet or how the fire singed his skin.

But, as always, Gandalf came to the rescue just as the sun rose and cracked the giant stone. Just like in Narnia! Anyways....

Now you had no ponies, and that meant you could feel the full wrath of your Converse shoes plus thin socks. Helllooooo blisters!

At first you didn't think it was such a terrible idea to walk the rest of the way, like, Erebor couldn't be that far away right? Also, the weather wasn't terrible and although you hated walking, it was better than getting sore muscles from ridding a pony all day.

Boy, were you wrong.

The first bad thing to happen besides the trolls of course, was the strange other wizard with bird shit in his hair and screamed about evil and spiders and shit. The only good thing that came out of the chance encounter with Radagast the Brown was that Fíli and Kíli had the balls to actually apologize to you for forcing you to meet with the trolls. You gave them each a good punch to the stomach, not that it hurt them in anyway at all...Really, it hurt you instead to the point of your knuckles bruising.

Damn those dwarves! At least they gave you kisses upon your injured fist and a group hug that left you gasping for breath when they squeezed too hard.

At first you thought nothing about the howls that echoed around the forest but after a wolf, which most definitely was not a wolf, nearly killed poor Bofur, but your Hulk with tattoos whacked it over its head with his intimidating axe before it could do any harm.

And now you were running. That's right, running while the Company and you bolted across the land covered in yellow grass to God knows where.

It was no secret that you weren't the most athletic human being to ever live, but sometimes a girl gotta lift some weights every now and then. So in no way you were considered weak(at least for human standards) but running! You despised running.

Goddamnit, I knew I should of used the treadmill, you thought gloomily.

"(y/n)! Keep up!" Thorin barked, yanking you from your horrid thoughts of impeding doom.

"I could if I didn't have short fuckin' legs." You hissed under your breath while picking up your pace.

You legs burned but the thought of being consumed by an angry pack of oversized dogs and strange mutated goblin things kept you going. That is, until you were surrounded by the snarling beasts.

Oh, what have you gotten yourself into?

"(y/n)!" Thorin shouted, snatching your arm to pull you out of the way as one of the wargs charged.

His blade easily sliced through its pelt and you winced as the beast fell. You sure hoped you'd never be on the receiving end of his blade...

"Stay behind me," Thorin ordered, glancing behind his shoulder. "I intend to keep you alive."

"Great." You breathed, glancing behind you to see if there was another escape rout. There wasn't anything but rock behind you. Or so you thought.

"This way, you fools!" The sudden voice of Gandalf ordered, his pointy hat popping out from the rock.

You didn't hesitate in throwing yourself into the alcove of rock, desperate to escape the threat of a having your face ripped off. Try explaining that to your mother once you returned home.

The rest of the dwarves and Bilbo barreled in after you, some of them landing right on top of you. Namely Bombur.

For some reason the idea of getting squashed by a massive dwarf was better than being eaten in your mind. Maybe it was because Bombur gave you food. Yeah, that was it.

Anyhow, with a devious smirk from Gandalf and moody grumbles from the dwarves, you all piled into the narrow passageway that smelled like wet rock and moss. You tried you best not to trip over the stones that jutted out on the path, but it happened every so often anyways. Thankfully Fíli caught you each time.

"Careful, lass." He chuckled, blue eyes twinkling. "Wouldn't want ya to hurt yourself."

"I'm surprised I haven't yet." You laughed. "Knowing my luck I'll probably be sliced into pieces soon, or thrown off a cliff, or maybe eaten..."

You missed the flash of worry present on Fíli's face, too occupied with trying to maneuver safely out of the crevice, or as you deemed it, a secret passage. You for one wanted to get out of the small space as quickly as possible.

And as if someone answered your prayers, the passage opened up to probably the most beautiful thing you'd ever seen. You let out a gasp and wandered to the edge of the small cliff that led into the valley.

"The Valley of Imladris," Gandalf spoke. "In the common tongue it is known by another name. Here lies the last Homely House East of the sea."  

It was gorgeous and magical all at once from what you saw, with it's ornate buildings built upon the various rivers and cascading falls. Already you could feel the spray of the waterfalls from up on the ledge, a bubble of excitement building inside you.

The rest of the dwarves seemed to be as mystified as you were but after a few angry words from Thorin in that harsh language of theirs, they were snapped out of the spell. You, not really giving two shits about what Thorin said, happily trotted along with Gandalf who led the line of dwarves down the pass and onto the beautifully carved bridges.

"Gandalf?" You said dreamily.

"Yes, dear one?"

"What is this place?"

"It is called Rivendell in the common tongue. The elves call it Imladris." The wizard answered with a smile.

"Elves?"

Your second question was left unanswered as you crossed a final bridge and into a courtyard. Trees with shimmering green and golden leaves swayed around the circular area, the rushing river hugging the left side of it. You spun around and breathed in the sharp mountain air as it rustled your hair, the scent of lilacs lingering as an after taste. If magic had a smell this would be it.

Just as you did another spin to memorize the scenery, a man with long brown hair with a silver diadem placed upon his brow, gracefully descended down the steps towards the Company. He wore a purple robe, but as he got closer you realized the cloth wasn't just purple; t was black and silver and gold, and the deepest shade of something similar to purple that you could not name. It truly was magic.

In your confusion to name the color of the mystery man's robe, you also took note of his not-so-human like ears. They were pointy. When Gandalf mentioned elves your mind took the courtesy of imagining little tiny people with brightly colored clothes with golden bells and pointed shoes, not drop-dead gorgeous men with long flowing locks.

"Mithrandir." The elf called.

"Ah! Lindir!" Gandalf greeted, placing his hand on his heart, the elf doing the same.

The rest of the conversation went right over your head as the two fell into some other kind of language you couldn't hope to comprehend. It sounded nice though. Much more gentle and smooth compared to what the dwarves spoke, like comparing water to rock.

At least while they spoke you could dreamily stare at 'Lindir', as Gandalf called him. Unfortunately it didn't last long since the sudden sound of a horn being blown echoed around the valley. An iron fist wrenched you away from Galdalf's side and threw you into the center of a smelly dwarf circle along with Bilbo. The dwarves all bared their weapons as at least 50 horses surrounded them, towering over the party.

They were all so pretty even if the carried swords and spears.

You were too lost in your thoughts and overwhelmed by Rivendell and its inhabitants to notice that the Lord of Rivendell had welcomed you with open arms. Too overwhelmed it seemed that even as the company followed Lord Elrond up the stairs, you didn't even notice.

"Excuse me, my lady." A soft voice spoke as you leaned over the edge of the courtyard to peek at the running river.

You whipped around, you fascination now fixed on a certain elf who stood before you. He was even more impressive up close and seeing his near perfect self you realized you probably looked like utter shit. Dirt covered your clothes and shoes and you probably had mud streaked across your forehead along with a couple of bleeding scratches you hadn't bothered to worry about. In all honesty you were surprised you were even allowed in here. Speaking of not being allowed in places...where did your friends go?

"Um...hi?" You stuttered, faltering under Lindir's intense gaze.

"I do not mean to be insensitive, my lady, but you are not a dwarf." He stated, his head tilting to the side. "Why would a human girl such as yourself be traveling with them?"

Why indeed, you thought bitterly, flashes of that night where you had fallen into Middle Earth spinning inside your head.

You shrugged and gave Lindir a wry smile. "Dunno, it wasn't like I had much of a choice."

Lindir's puppy dog eyes widened. "You were kidnapped?"

"What? No!" You laughed, scratching the back of your head. "It's just-it's a long story and I'd probably bore you out of your mind if I told you. Plus you'd never believe me."

Lindir gave you an empathetic smile and brushed a pale hand over your shoulder, the touch sending shivers through you. "Come, I will bring you to your friends, and if you wish you may tell me your tale while we walk."

"Oh, o-okay.." You said, blushing a fiery red that put tomatoes to shame. "Your name is Lindir right?"

"Yes, my lady." He said, folding his arms behind his back as you both climbed the marble steps.

"That's a nice name." You said without thinking. After processing what you did, you hurriedly blurted out something before Lindir realized what you said. "My name is (y/n), by the way. Not that you care or whatever. Just thought you should know since you keep calling me 'my lady'. I'm not a princess or anything...ha..ha.."

You swore at yourself for rambling. Goddammit (y/n), this is why people think you're crazy!  

"(y/n)." He repeated as if testing to see how it sounded on his own tongue. You blushed again. "A lovely name for an equally lovely lady."

You swore you just had a heart attack. This man- or rather elf, was a smooth talker and eye candy. Though, he was probably just being nice. I mean, you looked like a hobo and you were  a guest and all. You sighed.

Oh well, at least you could say you got complimented at least once by a hot guy even if it was just out of hospitality.

As Lindir escorted you through the swirling designs and patterns of Rivendell, you couldn't help falling a little in love with the place. It was so peaceful and lovely here, much different from your journey here and the urban life back at home.

You rounded another corner and Lindir stopped in front of an ornate looking door. Flowers hung from the ceiling, framing the wood and you reached out to thumb a scarlet petal, marveling at the color.

"This is your room Lord Elrond has provided you, lady (y/n)." Lindir smiled, pearly white teeth flashing behind his lips. "A bath has been drawn and clothes are laid out for you if you decide to dine with Lord Elrond and your Company tonight."

Your heart swelled at his kindness. "Thanks Lindir."

He bowed his head in acknowledgement, his hand unclasping from behind his back to reach for your own. His soft hand held your forearm with a certain tenderness and swept down towards your wrist, his nimble fingers brushing against the fragile bone, then finally down to grasp your hand in his, knuckles faced up. Meeting your eye, he brought your hand to his lips and placed a gentle kiss upon your bruised knuckles, much like how Fíli and Kíli did earlier that day.

"I hope to see you at dinner, (y/n)." Lindir murmered. "You still have not told me your tale, and I wish to hear it."

"Alright." You hummed sheepishly, your face matching the scarlet flowers that hung from the potted plants.

With one last smile, Lindir turned gracefully on his heel and disappeared down another corridor, his purple robes and his dark hair flowing behind him. You couldn't help the dopey smile that lingered on your lips.

Rivendell was rockin'.  

[berjhawn]

Elastic Heart - Part 1 - An Unexpected Journey

Warnings: Mentions of Rape, Abuse, Sexual content, ETC

Pairings: Hobbit X OFC; LOTR X OFC: Thranduil x OFC; Fili X OFC

Parts: 

Prologue 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had become a type of amusement for my captors. Every night I was raped by a different man. This went on for weeks until they made a mistake. One tiny mistake thinking I had just given up. They were sadly mistaken. When night fell I slaughtered every last one of them, taking their swords and horses, and leaving their dead carcasses for the Wargs.

I rode back to where they had found me and found nothing of my father’s body. That made me happy and sad all at the same time. I hoped and prayed that the elves had taken him back with them. I rode like the wind toward Amon Lanc. It took me months to reach the capitol city, home to Oropher and Thranduil.

As I stared at the great gates of the woodland realm I felt a smile cross my face. I had lost my father but hopefully I hadn’t lost Thranduil. I climbed off the horse I had stolen from my captors and tying it to a nearby tree I pull the hood of my cloak over my head. I wanted to keep my hair a secret until I was able to speak to my friend. When I reach the door I look around to see that the elves were jubilant and celebrating.

I slowly walk over to a nearby elf and say, “What is going on?” The elf raises an eyebrow at my appearance before saying, “The Prince Thranduil is getting married today.” I gulp down a breath of air as I feel my heart clench. I give the elf a polite nod as I slowly make my way through the huge crowd celebrating their prince’s recent nuptials. I reach a close enough spot and looking forward see my friend Thranduil standing there a smile on his face as he stares at his new wife.

She was beautiful; her long blonde hair cascaded down her back like silk. I felt tears fill my eyes as I realize that even if I had made it sooner I wouldn’t have been his wife. I was tainted now, sullied by the desires of mortal men. With one last look at him I silently wish him happiness before I turn around and head out of the front gates not even glancing back toward them. I quickly climb back onto my horses back and without a second glance ride far away from the woodland realm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was no longer the beautiful enchanting daughter of one of the last descendants of Fëanor. I was Randír, roughly translated to the Wanderer. I could never be Melethril ever again. For centuries I lived off the land. I stayed away from people both mortal and non. As the years passed people began to fear me; saying a mysterious hooded being, preyed on bandits, goblins, Trolls, and Orcs; and killing them mercilessly. I avoided people as much as I could until one day a wizard wondered onto my path.

I watch him like a hawk as I hide in my perch like a bird. “Mae Govannen Hiril Vuin Melethril.”

I hear him say and I narrow my eyes before jumping down and saying, “That is not my name Mithrandir.”

He smiles as he turns to me and says, “But it was once, a long time ago.”

“What brings you to my neck of the woods?” I ask as I gently place my hand on the hilt of my elven sword, Ithildin.

The wizard smirks as he says, “I have need of your expertise,”

I raise an eyebrow as I say, “With?”

He reaches into his grey cloak and pulls out a map. Holding it out to me he says, “If you are willing, meet me on the location marked the day after tomorrow.”

I eye the map and a smirk fills my face as I say, “The Shire? What sort of adventure is this?”

“An unexpected one.” He says before turning and walking away. “Oh and the person you must seek out is Bilbo Baggins.” I nod before I turn back to his map. What type of adventure did he have in mind and why did he want my help? Deciding since I had nothing better to do I follow the map and quickly make my way to Hobbiton.

When I arrived in the Shire it was dark and I groan in annoyance as I search for the hobbit Bilbo’s home. I was so busy looking around that I didn’t notice a dwarf walking in my direction also mot paying attention. WHAM!

“AH!” I cry out as fall back onto my back. “You should watch where you’re going!” I hear the dwarf say and I raise an eyebrow as I say, “You are one to talk, you ran into me as well!” He lets out a sigh as he holds his hand out for me to take. Letting out a sigh I reach up and taking his hand let him pull me to my feet. He was tall for a dwarf and his long raven hair had tints of grey in it.

“You are much taller than any Hobbit I’ve ever met.” He says and I sigh as I say, “That’s because I’m not a Hobbit. They call me Randír, what may I ask is your name?”

He pauses for a moment before he says, “Thorin,”

I give him a polite smile as I say, “Are you familiar with this place because I am lost? I am trying to reach the home of Bilbo Baggins.”

He stares at me for a moment before he says, “I am also looking for the home of one Bilbo Baggins.”

“Shall we look for him together?” I ask as I dust the dirt of my backside. I watch as he stares at me for a moment before nodding. I silently think to myself that he is being a little strange but quickly put it to the back of my mind as we walk along.

“I take it Gandalf sought you out for this quest?” He asks after a few moments and I nod as I reply, “I do not know the details, only that he needs my skills; and I have nothing better to do.” I watch as he stares ahead until we come to the last home on the hill. I look at the door and seeing the mark say, “I guess this is it.”

“Indeed it is,” He says and I watch as he walks forward and knocks on the door. A few minutes later I watch as the small round door slowly opens to reveal a young male hobbit standing in the doorway.  “Gandalf. I thought you said this place would be easy to find. I lost my way, twice. We wouldn’t have found it at all had it not been for that mark on the door.” Thorin says as the two of us walk through the door.

“Mark? There’s no mark on that door. It was painted a week ago!” Bilbo says and I raise my eyebrow as I stare at all the dwarves sitting in the next room.

“There is a mark; I put it there myself. Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield; and our guide, Randír.”

“So, this is the Hobbit. Tell me, Mr. Baggins, have you done much fighting?” Thorin asks and I stand back watching them.

“Pardon me?” Biblo asks his face turning confused.

“Axe or sword? What’s your weapon of choice?” Thorin asks as he stares at the young hobbit.

“Well, I have some skill at Conkers, if you must know, but I fail to see why that’s relevant.” Bilbo says and I sigh as Thorin says, “Thought as much. He looks more like a grocer than a burglar.” The dwarves all laugh, and they walk back to the dining table. I keep Gandalf in the main hall as I say, “Burglar? Why do you need a burglar?”

The grey wizard smirks as he says, “You shall see, but first would you like some food?” I raise an eyebrow but sigh as I say, “Sure.”

As Thorin and I eat, the rest of the dwarves talk to him. I sit quietly my ears hidden beneath my hair as I survey the room. There was a total of thirteen dwarves in all. They sure were a loud bunch. It had been centuries since I had been this close to dwarves. My father had been very close with the dwarven blacksmiths of Khazad-dûm before his death, I was definitely not unused to dwarves but it was definitely a reawakening.

As I look around at all the dwarves I find my attention lingers upon one of the younger dwarves. His hair and beard was a golden color which was strange for a dwarf. They usually had black, red, or brown hair; but I had never seen a blonde one. I couldn’t help but stare at him in curiousness. Before he is able to catch me staring I look back down at my plate and suddenly a faint memory of the last time I had eaten a meal with others fills my mind and I find that I am no longer hungry. Sliding my plate away I fight the urge to throw my dinner back up.

As the dwarves talk amongst themselves I stand up and slowly walk out of the small clustered room. I needed air. I look around and suddenly feel like the walls are closing in on me. I am about to walk outside when I hear one of the dwarves say to Bilbo, “And are you?”

Bilbo stares at him confused for a moment before he says, “Am I what?”

“He said he’s an expert! Hey, hey!” Another of the dwarves says causing the others to laugh. I take a deep breath as I try to calm my nerves as they continue their conversations.

“M-Me? No, no, no, no, no. I’m not a burglar; I’ve never stolen a thing in my life.” He says and I nod in agreement. He lived far too nicely to have ever even left his home.

“I’m afraid I have to agree with Mr. Baggins. He’s hardly burglar material.” Balin says as Bilbo nods in agreement.

“Aye, the wild is no place for gentlefolk who can neither fight nor fend for themselves.” Dwalin says and Bilbo continues nodding in agreement; Causing the dwarves to begin arguing. Gandalf, growing angry, rises to his full height and casts darkness over the group as starts speaking in his “powerful” voice. The others stop in awe. I rub my forehead in annoyance as I contemplate telling Gandalf to find someone else to help him.

“Enough! If I say Bilbo Baggins is a burglar, then a burglar he is.” Gandalf says as he goes back to his normal self. “Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet. In fact, they can pass unseen by most if they choose. And while the dragon is accustomed to the smell of dwarf, the scent of hobbit is all but unknown to him, which gives us a distinct advantage. You asked me to find the fourteenth member of this company, and I have chosen Mr. Baggins. There’s a lot more to him than appearances suggest, and he’s got a great deal more to offer than any of you know, including himself. You must trust me on this.”

“Very well. We will do it your way.” Thorin says and I watch as Bilbo says, “No, no, no.”

“Give him the contract.” Thorin says as he sits back down at the table.

“Please.” Bilbo says clearly not wanting any part of what they were planning.

Balin hands Bilbo a long contract as he says, “It’s just the usual summary of out of pocket expenses, time required, remuneration, funeral arrangements, so forth.”

“Funeral arrangements?” Bilbo says curiously. As Bilbo steps back a few feet to read the contract, Thorin leans toward Gandalf and whispers to him. “I cannot guarantee his safety.”

“Understood.”

“Nor will I be responsible for his fate.”

“Agreed.”

Bilbo reads parts of the contract out loud, “Terms: Cash on delivery, up to but not exceeding one fourteenth of total profit, if any. Seems fair. Eh, Present company shall not be liable for injuries inflicted by or sustained as a consequence thereof including but not limited to lacerations ... evisceration … incineration?”

“Oh, aye, he’ll melt the flesh off your bones in the blink of an eye.” Bofur says and I face palm. Bilbo looks a little breathless, “Huh.”

“You all right, laddie?” Balin asks and I watch Bilbo carefully as he bends over, nauseous and pained as he says, “Uh, yeah...Feel a bit faint.”

“Think furnace with wings.” Bofur says and I roll my eyes as I say, “That’s enough,”

“Air, I need air.” Bilbo says as he starts fanning his face.

“Flash of light, searing pain, then Poof! You’re nothing more than a pile of ash.” Bofur says and I am about to yell at him when Bilbo breathes heavily, trying to compose himself as the others stare at him. “Hmmm. Nope.” He says as he falls toward the floor in a faint. Before he reaches the floor I reach out and grab him.

“Ah, very helpful, Bofur.” Gandalf says as I carry Bilbo over to his chair. After I set him down I turn back toward the dwarves and Gandalf and say, “So you are going to start a fight with a dragon? That sounds like a great plan.” I say the last part as sarcastic as I can.

“Randir, you only need help us navigate the fastest terrain. If you do not wish to go with us to the mountain then you need not follow us past the Greenwood.” Gandalf says and I sigh as I say, “I will lead you to the wood, when we reach it I will decide whether or not I continue on this quest with you.”

Gandalf nods and then a few moments later we are all standing in Bilbo’s living room as he sits in his chair holding a mug, and talking to Gandalf. “I’ll be all right, let me just sit quietly for a moment.” Bilbo says and I watch as Gandalf gets irritated and says, “You’ve been sitting quietly for far too long. Tell me; when did doilies and your mother’s dishes become so important to you? I remember a young Hobbit who always was running off in search of elves and the woods, who’d stay out late, come home after dark, trailing mud and twigs and fireflies. A young Hobbit who would have liked nothing better than to find out what was beyond the borders of the Shire. The world is not in your books and maps; it’s out there.”

“I can’t just go running off into the blue. I am a Baggins, of Bag End.” Bilbo says and I stare at the dwarves surrounding him. They all had indifferent looks on their faces.

“You are also a Took. Did you know that your great-great-great-great uncle, Bullroarer Took, was so large he could ride a real horse?”

I follow Bilbo’s eyes to a photo of Bullroarer Took on Bilbo’s wall. “Yes.” Bilbo says and I force a smile.

“Well he could. In the Battle of Green Fields, he charged the goblin ranks. He swung his club so hard it knocked the Goblin King’s head clean off, and it sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit hole. And thus the battle was won, and the game of golf invented at the same time.”

“I do believe you made that up.” Bilbo says and I smile genuinely as Gandalf replies, “Well, all good stories deserve embellishment. You’ll have a tale or two to tell of your own when you come back.”

“Can you promise that I will come back?” Bilbo asks and my heart clenches for the young hobbit.

“No. And if you do, you will not be the same.” Gandalf says and I bite my lip to keep from remembering my past. I knew all too well the horrors of the night.

“That’s what I thought. Sorry, Gandalf, I can’t sign this. You’ve got the wrong Hobbit.” Bilbo walks away down the hall. Gandalf sighs.

Balin and Thorin see Bilbo walking away and Balin says, “It appears we have lost our burglar. Probably for the best. The odds were always against us. After all, what are we? Merchants, miners, tinkers, toymakers; hardly the stuff of legend.”

“There are a few warriors amongst us.” Thorin says and Balin sighs as he says, “Old warriors.”

“I will take each and every one of these dwarves over an army from the Iron Hills. For when I called upon them, they came. Loyalty. Honor. A willing heart. I can ask no more than that.” Thorin says and I smile at his courage.

“You don’t have to do this. You have a choice. You’ve done honorably by our people. You have built a new life for us in the Blue Mountains, a life of peace and plenty; a life that is worth more than all the gold in Erebor.” Balin says causing Thorin to hold out the key Gandalf gave him.

“From my grandfather to my father, this has come to me. They dreamt of the day when the dwarves of Erebor would reclaim their homeland. There is no choice, Balin. Not for me.”

“Then we are with you, laddie. We will see it done.” The dwarves gather in Bilbo’s living room, smoking their pipes by the fire. They all begin humming, and soon Thorin begins to sing, and the others join him. Gandalf and I listen from nearby. Their deep voices start to lull me into a dream.

“Far over the misty mountains cold

To dungeons deep and caverns old

We must away ere break of day

To find our long forgotten gold

The pines were roaring on the height

The winds were moaning in the night

The fire was red, it flaming spread

The trees like torches blazed with light”

As the night lurches on I sit on the porch with sudden thoughts of my father and my home. “Do you miss Eregion?” I hear Gandalf say causing me to let out a heavy sigh.

“My father, I miss my father.”

“As you would,”

“I try to remember a time when we were happy; but all I seem to remember was him being tied to a banner with arrows piercing his body. I don’t sleep for fear I might dream about him.”

“He was a great man, his pride was his downfall.” I feel my stomach churn as I remember everything else that had happened to me. I subconsciously reach up and tug on a strand of my red hair. “It is a shame that the Lady Melethril decided to forgo her life and become a ranger.”

I sigh as I say, “I can never go back to being her. Too much has happened. I am no longer worthy of being an elf.”

“Rubbish!” Gandalf says and I smirk as I pull a dagger out of my boot and twirl it in my hand.

“I found this on the battlefield of Dagorlad, It is an Elvish dagger made by my father for the Elven King Oropher. I meant to return it to Thranduil but as the centuries passed on I couldn’t force myself to return it to him. Even if it belonged to his father it was made by mine, just like Ithildin.” I gently run my finger across the hilt of my father’s sword. “I keep these things to remind me of what I lost, what was taken from me.”

“Perhaps one day you will find yourself before Thranduil again.” Gandalf says and I smirk as I say, “Yeah that’s not gonna happen.” With one last twirl I slip my dagger back into my boot and let out a heavy sigh.

“You should get some rest, we have a long journey ahead of us.” He says and I suddenly feel a cold air blow past me cooling me all the way to my bones. I give him a nod as I stand and walking over to the door use it to climb on top of the little hole in the ground and sprawl out on the grassy roof. “What are you doing? I meant for you to sleep inside.”

Rolling over I raise an eyebrow and say, “With all those men? No I think I’ll take my chances out here. Good night Mithrandir.”

“Good night My Lady,” He says before he walks back inside. When I hear the silent creak of the door closing I let out a heavy sigh, “I wish he wouldn’t call me that, it just brings back bad memories.” That night I didn’t get much sleep at all for every time I closed my eyes I saw my father’s mangled body.

Will Continue In - The Beginning

[readbookywooks]

A Short Rest

They did not sing or tell stories that day, even though the weather improved; nor the next day, nor the day after. They had begun to feel that danger was not far away on either side. They camped under the stars, and their horses had more to eat than they had; for there was plenty of grass, but there was not much in their bags, even with what they had got from the trolls. One morning they forded a river at a wide shallow place full of the noise of stones and foam. The far bank was steep and slippery. When they got to the top of it, leading their ponies, they saw that the great mountains had marched down very near to them. Already they I seemed only a day's easy journey from the feet of the nearest. Dark and drear it looked, though there were patches of sunlight on its brown sides, and behind its shoulders the tips of snow-peaks gleamed. "Is that The Mountain?" asked Bilbo in a solemn voice, looking at it with round eyes. He had never seen a thing that looked so big before. "Of course not!" said Balin. "That is only the beginning of the Misty Mountains, and we have to get through, or over, or under those somehow, before we can come into Wilderland beyond. And it is a deal of a way even from the other side of them to the Lonely Mountain in the East Where Smaug lies on our treasure." "O!" said Bilbo, and just at that moment he felt more fared than he ever remembered feeling before. He was thinking once again of his comfortable chair before the fire in his favourite sitting-room in his hobbit-hole, and of the kettle singing. Not for the last time! Now Gandalf led the way. "We must not miss the road, or we shall be done for," he said. "We need food, for one thing, and rest in reasonable safety-also it is very necessary to tackle the Misty Mountains by the proper path, or else you will get lost in them, and have to come back and start at the beginning again (if you ever get back at all)." They asked him where he was making for, and he answered: "You are come to the very edge of the Wild, as some of you may know. Hidden somewhere ahead of us is the fair valley of Rivendell where Elrond lives in the Last Homely House. I sent a message by my friends, and we are expected." That sounded nice and comforting, but they had not got there yet, and it was not so easy as it sounds to find the Last Homely House west of the Mountains. There seemed to be no trees and no valleys and no hills to break the ground in front of them, only one vast slope going slowly up and up to meet the feet of the nearest mountain, a wide land the colour of heather and crumbling rock, with patches and slashes of grass-green and moss-green showing where water might be. Morning passed, afternoon came; but in all the silent waste there was no sign of any dwelling. They were growing anxious, for they now saw that the house might be hidden almost anywhere between them and the mountains. They came on unexpected valleys, narrow with deep sides, that opened suddenly at their feet, and they looked down surprised to see trees below them and running water at the bottom. There were gullies that they could almost leap over; but very deep with waterfalls in them. There were dark ravines that one could neither jump nor climb into. There were bogs, some of them green pleasant places to look at with flowers growing bright and tall; but a pony that walked there with a pack on its back would never have come out again. It was indeed a much wider land from the ford to the mountains than ever you would have guessed. Bilbo was astonished. The only path was marked with white stones some of which were small, and others were half covered with moss or heather. Altogether it was a very slow business following the track, even guided by Gandalf, who seemed to know his way about pretty well. His head and beard wagged this way and that as he looked for the stones, and they followed his head, but they seemed no nearer to the end of the search when the day began to fail. Tea-time had long gone by, and it seemed supper-time would soon do the same. There were moths fluttering about, and the light became very dim, for the moon had not risen. Bilbo's pony began to stumble over roots and stones. They came to the edge of a steep fall in the ground so suddenly that Gandalf s horse nearly slipped down the slope. "Here it is at last!" he called, and the others gathered round him and looked over the edge. They saw a valley far below. They could hear the voice of hurrying water in rocky bed at the bottom; the scent of trees was in the air; and there was a light on the valley-side across the water. Bilbo never forgot the way they slithered and slipped in the dusk down the steep zig-zag path into the secret valley of Rivendell. The air grew warmer as they got lower, and the smell of the pine-trees made him drowsy, so that every now and again he nodded and nearly fell off, or bumped his nose on the pony's neck. Their spirits rose as they went down and down. The trees changed to beech and oak, and hire was a comfortable feeling in the twilight. The last green had almost faded out of the grass, when they came at length to an open glade not far above the banks of the stream. "Hrnmm! it smells like elves!" thought Bilbo, and he looked up at the stars. They were burning bright and blue. Just then there came a burst of song like laughter in the trees: "O! What are you doing, And where are you going? Your ponies need shoeing! The river is flowing! O! tra-la-la-lally here down in the valley! O! What are you seeking, And where are you making? The faggots are reeking, The bannocks are baking! O! tril-lil-lil-lolly the valley is jolly, ha! ha! O! Where are you going With beards all a-wagging? No knowing, no knowing What brings Mister Baggins, And Balin and Dwalin down into the valley in June ha! ha! O! Will you be staying, Or will you be flying? Your ponies are straying! The daylight is dying! To fly would be folly, To stay would be jolly And listen and hark Till the end of the dark to our tune ha! ha.'" So they laughed and sang in the trees; and pretty fair nonsense I daresay you think it. Not that they would care they would only laugh all the more if you told them so. They were elves of course. Soon Bilbo caught glimpses of them as the darkness deepened. He loved elves, though he seldom met them; but he was a little frightened of them too. Dwarves don't get on well with them. Even decent enough dwarves like Thorin and his friends think them foolish (which is a very foolish thing to think), or get annoyed with them. For some elves tease them and laugh at them, and most of all at their beards. "Well, well!" said a voice. "Just look! Bilbo the hobbit on a pony, my dear! Isn't it delicious!" "Most astonishing wonderful!" Then off they went into another song as ridiculous as the one I have written down in full. At last one, a tall young fellow, came out from the trees and bowed to Gandalf and to Thorin. "Welcome to the valley!" he said. "Thank you!" said Thorin a bit gruffly; but Gandalf was already off his horse and among the elves, talking merrily with them. "You are a little out of your way," said the elf: "that is, if you are making for the only path across the water and to the house beyond. We will set you right, but you had best get on foot, until you are over the bridge. Are you going to stay a bit and sing with us, or will you go straight on? Supper is preparing over there," he said. "I can smell the Wood-fires for the cooking." Tired as he was, Bilbo would have liked to stay awhile. Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars, not if you care for such things. Also he would have liked to have a few private words with these people that seemed to know his name and all about him, although he had never been them before. He thought their opinion of his adventure might be interesting. Elves know a lot and are wondrous folk for news, and know what is going on among the peoples of the land, as quick as water flows, or quicker. But the dwarves were all for supper as soon 'as possible just then, and would not stay. On they all went, leading their ponies, till they were brought to a good path and so at last to the very brink of the river. It was flowing fast and noisily, as mountain-streams do of a summer evening, when sun has been all day on the snow far up above. There was only a narrow bridge of stone without a parapet, as narrow as a pony could well walk on; and over that they had to go, slow and careful, one by one, each leading his pony by the bridle. The elves had brought bright lanterns to the shore, and they sang a merry song as the party went across. "Don't dip your beard in the foam, father!" they cried to Thorin, who was bent almost on to his hands and knees. "It is long enough without watering it." "Mind Bilbo doesn't eat all the cakes!" they called. "He is too fat to get through key-holes yet!" "Hush, hush! Good People! and good night!" said Gandalf, who came last. "Valleys have ears, and some elves have over merry tongues. Good night!" And so at last they all came to the Last Homely House, and found its doors flung wide. Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway. They stayed long in that good house, fourteen days at least, and they found it hard to leave. Bilbo would gladly have stopped there for ever and ever-even supposing a wish would have taken him right back to his hobbit-hole without trouble. Yet there is little to tell about their stay. The master of the house was an elf-friend-one of those people whose fathers came into the strange stories before the beginning of History, the wars of the evil goblins and the elves and the first men in the North. In those days of our tale there were still some people who had both elves and heroes of the North for ancestors, and Elrond the master of the house was their chief. He was as noble and as fair in face as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer. He comes into. many tales, but his part in the story of Bilbo's great adventure is only a small one, though important, as you will see, if we ever get to the end of it. His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all. Evil things did not come into that valley. I wish I had time to tell you even a few of the tales or one or two of the songs that they heard in that house. All of them, the ponies as well, grew refreshed and strong in a few days there. Their clothes were mended as well as their bruises, their tempers and their hopes. Their bags were filled with food and provisions light to carry but strong to bring them over the mountain passes. Their plans were improved with the best advice. So the time came to mid -  summer eve, and they were to go on again with the early sun on midsummer morning. Elrond knew all about runes of every kind. That day he looked at the swords they had brought from the trolls' lair, and he said: "These are not troll-make. They are old swords, very old swords of the High Elves of the West, my kin. They were made in Gondolin for the Goblin-wars. They must have come from a dragon's hoard or goblin plunder, for dragons and goblins destroyed that city many ages ago. This, Thorin, the runes name Orcrist, the Goblin-cleaver in the ancient tongue of Gondolin; it was a famous blade. This, Gandalf, was Glamdring, Foe-hammer that the king of Gondolin once wore. Keep them well!" "Whence did the trolls get them, I wonder?" said Thorin looking at his sword with new interest. "I could not say," said Elrond, "but one may guess that your trolls had plundered other plunderers, or come on the remnants of old robberies in some hold in the mountains of the North. I have heard that there are still forgotten treasures of old to be found in the deserted caverns of the mines of Moria, since the dwarf and goblin war." Thorin pondered these words. "I will keep this sword in honour," he said. "May it soon cleave goblins once again!" "A wish that is likely to be granted soon enough in the mountains!" said Elrond. "But show me now your map!" He took it and gazed long at it, and he shook his head; for if he did not altogether approve of dwarves and their love of gold, he hated dragons and their cruel wickedness, and he grieved to remember the ruin of the town of Dale and its merry bells, and the burned banks of the bright River Running. The moon was shining in a broad silver crescent. He held up the map and the white light shone through it. "What is this?" he said. "There are moon-letters here, beside the plain runes which say 'five feet high the door and three may walk abreast.' " "What are moon-letters?" asked the hobbit full of excitement. He loved maps, as I have told you before; and he also liked runes and letters and cunning handwriting, though when he wrote himself it was a bit thin and spidery. "Moon-letters are rune-letters, but you cannot see them," said Elrond, "not when you look straight at them. They can only be seen when the moon shines behind them, and what is more, with the more cunning sort it must be a moon of the same shape and season as the day when they were written. The dwarves invented them and wrote them with silver pens, as your friends could tell you. These must have been written on a midsummer's eve in a crescent moon, a long while ago." "What do they say?" asked Gandalf and Thorin together, a bit vexed perhaps that even Elrond should have found this out first, though really there had not been a chance before, and there would not have been another until goodness knows when. "Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks," read Elrond, "and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the key-hole." "Durin, Durin!" said Thorin. "He was the father of the fathers of the eldest race of Dwarves, the Longbeards, and my first ancestor: I am his heir." "Then what is Durin's Day?" asked Elrond. "The first day of the dwarves' New Year," said Thorin, "is as all should know the first, day of the last moon of Autumn on the threshold of Winter. We still call it Durin's Day when the last moon of Autumn and the sun are in the sky together. But this will not help us much, I fear, for it passes our skill in these days to guess when such a time will come again." "That remains to be seen," said Gandalf. "Is there any more writing?" "None to be seen by this moon," said Elrond, and he gave the map back to Thorin; and then they went down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve. The next morning was a midsummer's morning as fair and fresh as could be dreamed: blue sky and never a cloud, and the sun dancing on the water. Now they rode away amid songs of farewell and good speed, with their hearts ready for more adventure, and with a knowledge of the road they must follow over the Misty Mountains to the land beyond.

[decadentenemyturtle]

Amulet of bad luck

Re-posted!

Based on; Imagine feeling ignored or disliked by Bofur because he's cheerful around everyone else but quiet and distant around you, but you soon find out that it's because he is nervous around you as he secretly loves you. 

Pairing: BofurxReader

Words: 2529

No warnings (:

You had always secretly loved him, even you sometimes felt it wasn't right and your feelings weren't returned. His cheerfulness and smile had set some little light in your heart soon after you had first met in Bag end. And later you had realized that you loved him. Yet you always wondered, if a dwarf would return to a simple human being feelings. Maybe he would, but you were sure that this one wouldn't. You two hadn't speak almost nothing at all on this journey. And when he did say something to you, he seemed like he didn't want to be anywhere near you. And it broke you.

You were a simple human being from alternative universe called Earth, dumped in the Shire right in Bilbo's grip and after you both had survived from the heart attack, you stayed with him in the Bag End. And only day after the dwarves and a wizard arrived. After that Bilbo had thought you sort of an amulet that brought bad luck. And, you felt like that. You and the company had encountered many dangerous situations and you were now only in Rivendell. You would probably die before you were anywhere near Erebor. It was a miracle itself that you were still alive, and still travelling with these dwarves. You thought that no one else but Gandalf liked you. Even sweet and caring Bilbo was distant towards you.They could've just pump you any trench, or let the trolls eat you, or leave you behind when the orcs had chased the company. Or just simply say no, when Gandalf had suggested to take you with them. Yet here you were, sprawling in the tub full of hot water and feeling very alive.

You sighed and closed your eyes. The bathroom smelled like lily's, thanks to the oils the elves had. After you had washed yourself, you got up from tub, fold the towel around yourself and went back to your room. Only to find out that two elf maiden were there waiting for you, with a beautiful dress. The elves were kind and nice towards you, even friendly. Probably only because you tried to be polite and kind towards them, and they saw that you weren't such a big asshole as your travelling companion (minus Gandalf and Bilbo).

"Lord Elrond has sent you this dress to wear while we get you new travelling clothes" other maiden told you. Your jaw dropped as you realized that it indeed was brought to you. And they were going to get you new clothes to replace your old and worn ones. The dress was green like the leafs of early spring and it was made from silk.

"Th-thank you, that's so kind of you" you said awkwardly. Elf maidens helped you to dress up. The dress was to your surprise right size even though the hem was dragging the ground a little. You weren't as tall as the elves but taller than the dwarves. Other elf maiden even comb your hair and made simple yet elegant braid. It felt nice and special that someone made these little things for you, since you hadn't gotten use to it back home. You looked yourself from the mirror and felt like you were entered in fairy tale. You felt like - if not princess - some sort of magical human-elf creature. A forest fairy maybe. You thought you looked prettier than you ever had been, and ever probably would be.

"The food will be served soon" elf maiden told you, with a little smile. You followed her to the balcony where dinner had already been served. The dwarves, Bilbo, Gandalf and lord Elrond and the elf who had greeted you when you had arrived to Rivendell were there already, so you figured that you had bathed far too long. It had been just so luxury to bath again in a warm water and really feel to be clean again and even smell good. Every pair of eye turned to you and the balcony fell in utterly silence as you fully entered there. Even the birds seemed to quiet down. You felt awkward when almost every dwarf was staring at you their mouth more or less open, given the fact none of them seemed to like you. Even Bilbo was gaping at you. Bofur was only one who wasn't looking at you. He stared at the plate in front of him, a little plush on his cheeks. Biting your lip you sat the end of the table where the dwarves and Bilbo sat.

"Such a beauty should be sitting with the royalty, not with folks like us" Gloin muttered and glared the elf maiden who brought you here and lead you to sit on your seat.

"Aye" few other dwarf admit. Some other dwarfs grunted their answers.

"Aye, even Gandalf can sit with 'em, so why not (Y/n)" Fili said, maybe little louder than he should have. You heard Gandalf sigh. You felt your cheeks burn as you stared your very vegetarian food, poking your fork in the salad. You weren't comfortable with this much of an attention, at least not from the people who had ignored you and let you understand that you weren't liked or wanted among them. Yes, they all acted like that, but Bofur seemed to be the only one who changed even his character around you. Every other dwarf seemed to be just less friendly and were grunting more. Then again you thought that dwarves were just flattering your beauty, but not caring much of your person. You gritted your teeth to the thought and lifted your eyes just in time to meet Bofur's eyes. His eyes widened a little and then he turned away again. You frowned and turned back to your food. You knew Bofur was always acting a little different around you and it felt bad to have no idea why. Had you done or said something to insult him?

You had finished eating quite quickly and left right after, apologizing from lord Elrond. Now you were standing one of the balcony's, looking the surrounding nature of Rivendell. The setting sun was coloring everything in warm colors. You sighed again and wished that you could stay here. But the dwarves - well Thorin and Balin - and Gandalf expected you to travel with them until you reach Erebor or until you'd drop dead. You sighed and turned, deciding to go and grab a book from lord Elrond's library and read it somewhere in the garden. You got lost twice, ironically, before one of the elves took you to library. You thank him and gave him a sweet smile. These guys had been kind towards you this little time you had been here, unlike your travelling companion who's with you'd been travelling about an month.

Then your thought's went back to one particular dwarf. Why did you care about him so much? Grabbing a book from the shelter, you wandered aimlessly until you found the garden and a nice place where you could read. You sat down on bench, leaned on back and opened your book. It was a story book, telling about a warrior's and their bravery. You didn't know how long you had been reading, when noisy company of dwarves showed up to the garden. You looked up from the book, seeing Nori, Dwalin, Fili, Kili, Bifur and Bofur stumbling in middle of the garden.

"Oi, Kili, this is a wrong place!" Nori said in annoyed voice.

"Aye, this ain't our balcony!" Bofur said. Kili was looking around himself and was scratching his head, looking troubled. Dwalin grossed his arms and Fili rolled his eye's. Kili seemed to have his uncle's sense of direction, obviously. You rolled your eyes and continued reading your book. They'd find their way back on their own, not that you even knew where they were spending their time.

"Oh, hello (Y/n)! I thought ye were an elf maiden!" Kili suddenly shriek. You looked up from your book, eyebrows nearly touching your hairline. Kili was pondering to his toes and was smiling wildly. All the other dwarves were looking at you, non of them smiling. Clearly they thought you had been interrupting their 'getting lost' talk, even you'd been here first and had done nothing but read.

"Uh... Hi there" you said a little awkwardly. You were eyeing the members of the company, who were for their part eyeing you. No one said anything and the silence between you seemed to get worst every second. Your eyes had turned to Bofur more than once and one time he was looking at you and other time he wasn't. His cheeks were growing red again. You also noted that Bofur was carrying some sort of sac, full of something. When he sifted his leg, you could hear a slight clatter from bottles. So, they had been in the cellars.

"Can I help you, guys?" you finally asked. You wanted to return your own peace and reading the story. One of the warriors was just gonna slay a dragon. Dwalin huffed and murmured his 'No thank's, lass' and left from the balcony, followed by Fili, Nori and Bifur. Bofur was about to leave too, when Kili grabbed him by the sleeve and made him stop.

"You should talk to 'er, ya know" Kili said, surprisingly serious tone. You almost had started to read again, when you had heard this. You were looking between Kili and Bofur, questioningly. "It'll ease yer mind, Bofur" Then Kili was leaning close to Bofur's ear and whispered something to him, before he patted his shoulder and left. Bofur stayed behind, looking after the youngest Durin and reminded there before Kili showed himself back there.

"I'll take that, thank you" he said and took sac from Bofur's hand. Bofur opened his mouth to say something, but Kili silenced him by pointing Bofur his finger. "Tell 'er" Then Kili was gone, leaving you alone with Bofur. Alone with him, with no one really around you. Not his cousin and brother bustling somewhere near. Just him. After sighing and rubbing his face and cursing silently in dwarves language, he turned to you and his face fell. You were looking down at the closed book. You didn't want to know anymore what happened to the brave warrior, or the dragon. You felt bad some reason, and you were afraid of what Bofur might say to you. You were afraid that he'd break your heart. And if that would happen, you would probably...

"Lass, I... I'm sorry that I've been acting different towards ye" you heard Bofur say. You lifted your head and met his brown eyes. He had sneak closer to you while you had been staring down and not paying any attention to anything.

"What are you...?" you started, too confused to understand what he said. Or why he said it. Sure he already understood that you knew the reason. He didn't like you, nor did anyone else. He didn't need to explain himself. You didn't want his reasons, for you didn't want to cry over your heartbreak. And his reasons would probably make you just stay behind in the end.

"Oh please, don't look so sad, lass. It's not like I hate ye or anything!" Bofur rushed to say, kneeling in front of you. Now you truly were confused. You frowned, while single tear failed you and dropped to your cheek. Bofur lifted his thumb and wiped away your traitor tear.

"If you don't hate me, then why...?" you asked, your voice trembling slightly. Bofur put his hands on top of yours, that were resting on closed book. He was looking at your hands, frowning and thinking.

"Ye see, lass, the truth is that I... I adore ye. Ye are pretty, even more beautiful now with all those dresses and braided hair. Ye are kind, even when I've been actin' so coldly towards ye. And to tell truth, I dunno how to act when I'm with ye. I get nervous and... well, ye know... I never dunno what to do or say. So, there ye have it" he blurted it all out. You were looking at him, not really knowing what to say yourself. This was quite opposite of what you had thought. So, he liked you? Adored? Was that the word he had used?

"You don't... hate me?" you asked, searching his eyes. You started to feel that he was joking around. That this was some sort of prank that he - or perhaps the whole company - had set. Bofur let out a little laugh and looked down at your twos hands again. Your heart sank as you thought that this was a prank indeed. You let your face fell, only that Bofur's other hand cupped your cheek and lifted your head.

"Nah, lass, I don't hate ye, non of us do. Bilbo's just been muttering about ye being an amulet that brings bad luck and ya know, dwarves are a little jumpy when it comes to things like those" Bofur said, in his usual humorous side. This was the first time he ever was like this around you - himself. And this was also the first time you ever wanted to hit the poor Hobbit, for accidentally telling everyone of you being bad luck bringing amulet. You decided not to say anything of the dwarves being superstitious. You let out a little laugh and shook your head. You felt better, knowing now that no one from the company didn't hate you, not even Bofur. Though the other members of company didn't still particularly liked you that much.

"Yer fine lass, and am sure that ye'd make a perfect wife" Bofur said and winked. Your face went to crimson red in seconds. Big grin appeared on Bofur's lips and he clasped your hands. You gave him a little smile and ducked your head. Did he just confess his feelings? Or did he just point out something he thought.

"What were ye reading before we disturbed ye?" Bofur asked suddenly, changing the subject. You lifted your head and then showed him the book. Bofur looked over the book, flipping over the pages and smiling a little. Then he uplifted his eyebrow and looked up to you.

"A storybook of dragon slaying warriors?" he questioned. You shrugged your shoulder. It had been first book you had picked, not really caring what it told about. You had felt the tiny little irony reading the book, it reminded you so much of this quest you were on. Bofur stood up and sat next to you, tugging you closer to him. Then he turned to look to you and smiled.

"If ye don' mind starting the story from beginning, we could read dis together?" Bofur asked. You smiled and nodded to him. You'd never read with someone else from the same book, but you were ready try it out. Bofur folded his arm around your shoulder and you leaned to him, opening the book. And so you started to read, sitting there who knows how long, enjoying each others company and your newly started friendship.

[readbookywooks]

The Last Stage

It was on May the First that the two came back at last to the brink of the valley of Rivendell, where stood the Last (or the First) Homely House. Again it was evening, their ponies were tired, especially the one that carried the baggage; and they all felt in need of rest. As they rode down the steep path, Bilbo heard the elves still singing in the trees, as if they had not stopped since he left; and as soon as their riders came down into the lower glades of the wood they burst into a song of much the same kind as before. This is something like it: "The dragon is withered, His bones are now crumbled; His armour is shivered, His splendour is humbled! Though sword shall be rusted, And throne and crown perish With strength that men trusted And wealth that they cherish, Here grass is still growing, And leaves are yet swinging, The white water flowing, And elves are yet singing Come! Tra-la-la-lally! Come back to the valley! The stars are far brighter Than gems without measure, The moon is far whiter Than silver in treasure: The fire is more shining On hearth in the gloaming Than gold won by mining, So why go a-roaming? O! Tra-la-la-lally Come back to the Valley. O! Where are you going, So late in returning? The river is flowing, The stars are all burning! O! Whither so laden, So sad and so dreary? Here elf and elf-maiden Now welcome the weary With Tra-la-la-lally Come back to the Valley, Tra-la-la-lally Fa-la-la-lally Fa-la!" Then the elves of the valley came out and greeted them and led them across the water to the house of Elrond. There a warm welcome was made them, and there were many eager ears that evening to hear the tale of their adventures. Gandalf it was who spoke, for Bilbo was fallen quiet and drowsy. Most of the tale he knew, for he had been in it, and had himself told much of it to the wizard on their homeward way or in the house of Beorn; but every now and again he would open one eye, and listen, when a part of the story which he did not yet know came in. It was in this way that he learned where Gandalf had been to; for he overheard the words of the wizard to Elrond. It appeared that Gandalf had been to a great council of the white wizards, masters of lore and good magic; and that they had at last driven the Necromancer from his dark hold in the south of Mirkwood. "Ere long now," Gandalf was saying, "The Forest will grow somewhat more wholesome. The North will be freed from that horror for many long years, I hope. Yet I wish he were banished from the world!" "It would be well indeed," said Elrond; "but I fear that will not come about in this age of the world, or for many after." When the tale of their joumeyings was told, there were other tales, and yet more tales, tales of long ago, and tales. of new things, and tales of no time at all, till Bilbo's head fell forward on his chest, and he snored comfortably in a corner. He woke to find himself in a white bed, and the moon shining through an open window. Below it many elves were singing loud and clear on the banks of the stream. "Sing all ye joyful, now sing all together? The wind's in the free-top, the wind's in the heather; The stars are in blossom, the moon is in flower, And bright are the windows of Night in her tower. Dance all ye joyful, now dance all together! Soft is the grass, and let foot be like feather! The river is silver, the shadows are fleeting; Merry is May-time, and merry our meeting. Sing we now softly, and dreams let us weave him! Wind him in slumber and there let us leave him! The wanderer sleepeth. Now soft be his pillow! Lullaby! Lullaby! Alder and Willow! Sigh no more Pine, till the wind of the morn! Fall Moon! Dark be the land! Hush! Hush! Oak, Ash, and Thorn! Hushed be all water, till dawn is at hand!" "Well, Merry People!" said Bilbo looking out. "What time by the moon is this? Your lullaby would waken a drunken goblin! Yet I thank you." "And your snores would waken a stone dragon - yet we thank you," they answered with laughter. "It is drawing towards dawn, and you have slept now since the night's beginning. Tomorrow, perhaps, you will be cured of weariness." "A little sleep does a great cure in the house of Elrond," said he; "but I will take all the cure I can get. A second good night, fair friends!" And with that he went back to bed and slept till late morning. Weariness fell from him soon in that house, and he had many a merry jest and dance, early and late, with the elves of the valley. Yet even that place could not long delay him now, and he thought always of his own home. After a week, therefore, he said farewell to Elrond, and giving him such small gifts as he would accept, he rode away with Gandalf. Even as they left the valley the sky darkened in the West before them, and wind and rain came up to meet them. "Merry is May-time!" said Bilbo, as the rain beat into his face. "But our back is to legends and we are coming home. I suppose this is a first taste of it." "There is a long road yet," said Gandalf. "But it is the last road," said Bilbo. They came to the river that marked the very edge of the borderland of the Wild, and to the ford beneath the steep bank, which you may remember. The water was swollen both with the melting of the snows at the approach of summer, and with the daylong rain; but they crossed with some difficulty, and pressed forward, as evening fell, on the last stage of their journey. This was much as it had been before, except that the company was smaller, and more silent; also this time there were no trolls. At each point on the road Bilbo recalled the happenings and the words of a year ago-it seemed to him more like ten-so that, of course, he quickly noted the place where the pony had fallen in the river, and they had turned aside for their nasty adventure with Tom and Bert and Bill. Not far from the road they found the gold of the trolls, which they had buried, still hidden and untouched. "I have enough to last me my time," said Bilbo, when they had dug it up. "You had better take this, Gandalf. I daresay you can find a use for it." "Indeed I can!" said the wizard. "But share and share alike! You may find you have more needs than you expect." So they put the gold in bags and slung them on the ponies, who were not at all pleased about it. After that their going was slower, for most of the time they walked. But the land was green and there was much grass through which the hobbit strolled along contentedly. He mopped his face with a red silk handkerchief-no! not a single one of his own had survived, he had borrowed this one from Elrond -for now June had brought summer, and the weather was bright and hot again. As all things come to an end, even this story, a day came at last when they were in sight of the country where Bilbo had been born and bred, where the shapes of the land and of the trees were as well known to him as his hands and toes. Coming to a rise he could see his own Hill in the distance, and he stopped suddenly and said: "Roads go ever ever on, Over rock and under tree, By caves where never sun has shone, By streams that never find the sea; Over snow by winter sown, And through the merry flowers of June, Over grass and over stone, And under mountains in the moon. Roads go ever ever on Under cloud and under star, Yet feet that wandering have gone Turn at last to home afar. Eyes that fire and sword have seen And horror in the halls of stone Look at last on meadows green And trees and hills they long have known." Gandalf looked at him. "My dear Bilbo!" he said. "Something is the matter with you! You are not the hobbit that you were." And so they crossed the bridge and passed the mill by the river and came right back to Bilbo's own door. "Bless me! What's going on?" he cried. There was a great commotion, and people of all sorts, respectable and unrespectable, were thick round the door, and many were going in and out-not even wiping their feet on the mat, as Bilbo noticed with annoyance. If he was surprised, they were more surprised still. He had arrived back in the middle of an auction! There was a large notice in black and red hung on the gate, stating that on June the Twenty-second Messrs. Grubb, Grubb, and Bun-owes would sell by auction the effects of the late Bilbo Baggins Esquire, of Bag-End, Underhill, Hobbiton. Sale to commence at ten o'clock sharp. It was now nearly lunch-time, and most of the things had already been sold, for various prices from next to nothing to old songs (as is not unusual at auctions). Bilbo's cousins the Sackville-Bagginses were, in fact, busy measuring his rooms to see if their own furniture would fit. In short Bilbo was "Presumed Dead," and not everybody that said so was sorry to find the presumption wrong. The return of Mr. Bilbo Baggins created quite a disturbance, both under the Hill and over the Hill, and across the Water; it was a great deal more than a nine days' wonder. The legal bother, indeed, lasted for years. It was quite a long time before Mr. Baggins was in fact admitted to be alive again. The people who had got specially good bargains at the Sale took a deal of convincing; and in the end to sav6 time Bilbo had to buy back quite a lot of his own furniture. Many of his silver spoons mysteriously disappeared and were never accounted for. Personally he suspected the Sackville-Bagginses. On their side they never admitted that the returned Baggins was genuine, and they were not on friendly terms with Bilbo ever after. They really had wanted to live inhis nice hobbit-hole so very much. Indeed Bilbo found he had lost more than spoons - he had lost his reputation. It is true that for ever after he remained an elf-friend, and had the honour of dwarves, wizards, and all such folk as ever passed that way; but he was no longer quite respectable. He was in fact held by all the hobbits of the neighbourhood to be 'queer'-except by his nephews and nieces on the Took side, but even they were not encouraged in their friendship by their elders. I am sorry to say he did not mind. He was quite content; and the sound of the kettle on his hearth was ever after more musical than it had been even in the quiet days before the Unexpected Party. His sword he hung over the mantelpiece. His coat of mail was arranged on a stand in the hall (until he lent it to a Museum). His gold and silver was largely spent in presents, both useful and extravagant - which to a certain extent accounts for the affection of his nephews and his nieces. His magic ring he kept a great secret, for he chiefly used it when unpleasant callers came. He took to writing poetry and visiting the elves; and though many shook their heads and touched their foreheads and said "Poor old Baggins!" and though few believed any of his tales, he remained very happy to the end of his days, and those were extraordinarily long. One autumn evening some years afterwards Bilbo was sitting in his study writing his memoirs - he thought of calling them "There and Back Again, a Hobbit's Holiday" - when there was a ring at the door. It was Gandalf and a dwarf; and the dwarf was actually Balin. "Come in! Come in!" said Bilbo, and soon they were settled in chairs by the fire. If Balin noticed that Mr. Baggins' waistcoat was more extensive (and had real gold buttons), Bilbo also noticed that Balm's beard was several inches longer, and his jewelled belt was of great magnificence. They fell to talking of their times together, of course, and Bilbo asked how things were going in the lands of the Mountain. It seemed they were going very well. Bard had rebuilt the town in Dale and men had gathered to him from the Lake and from South and West, and all the valley had become tilled again and rich, and the desolation was now filled with birds and blossoms in spring and fruit and feasting in autumn. And Lake-town was refounded and was more prosperous than ever, and much wealth went up and down the Running River; and there was friendship in those parts between elves and dwarves and men. The old Master had come to a bad end. Bard had given him much gold for the help of the Lake-people, but being of the kind that easily catches such disease he fell under the dragon-sickness, and took most of the gold and fled with it, and died of starvation in the Waste, deserted by his companions. "The new Master is of wiser kind," said Balin, "and very popular, for, of course, he gets most of the credit for the present prosperity. They are making songs which say that in his day the rivers run with gold." "Then the prophecies of the old songs have turned out to be true, after a fashion!" said Bilbo. "Of course!" said Gandalf. "And why should not they prove true? Surely you don't disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself? You don't really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!" "Thank goodness!" said Bilbo laughing, and handed him the tobacco-jar.