Homeward Bound Part One: An Unexpected Journey

Chapter Three

"And then..."

Bilba dropped her head, hands clutched around the cup of tea on the table before her.

Across from her, Priscilla gave her a sympathetic look and gently prodded. "And then?"

Bilba sighed, shame flooding her voice. "And then I slapped him."

From the other room came a loud snort of laughter that cut off immediately when Priscilla shot a glare so potent it undoubtedly cut straight through the wall.

"It isn't funny!" Bilba wailed. "I have an entire troupe of dwarves in my house! I hit one of them, really hard, right in front of his friends! At least I'm assuming they were his friends. He showed up at my house so he must have known them somehow."

Priscilla winced. "Maybe they didn't notice."

"They noticed." Bilba pushed the cup away and folded her arms on the table, dropping her head down in despair. "He'll probably have a mark." She shuddered. Yes, the idiot had deserved it but, still, she had never hit ANYONE in her LIFE, much less a total stranger on her doorstep!

"Want to know the worst part?" She mumbled.

Priscilla looked worried. "It gets worse?"

Bilba nodded, without lifting her head. She didn't bring up marching through the Shire, at night, with a sword. Priscilla already knew about that part.

"I invited Fram to dinner and he never showed up. He probably saw the commotion and ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction."

She finally lifted her head and saw a puzzled cross Priscilla's face. "Fram? Fram Harfoot?"

Bilba nodded. "What's that look for?"

Priscilla looked about to speak and then stopped at the look of abject misery on Bilba's face. "Nothing. I'm sure it'll all work out."

"You have an optimistic view of the world bordering on the delusional," Bilba muttered.

She sighed and pushed to her feet. Now that her adrenaline had faded the fatigue from the day returned with force, dragging at her body. It felt like she was being physically pressed down toward the floor.

"Why don't you spend the night here?" Priscilla offered. "I'm sure things will look better in the morning."

"Pretty sure it won't," Bilba said. "Especially if there are still dwarves in my house."

"Oh, I'm sure they're gone by now," Priscilla said, getting up as well. "They wouldn't impose so much as to spend the night!"

They had imposed enough to barge into her house and eat all her food. Bilba had no doubt they'd impose enough to stay the night. She could picture them stumbling around, half asleep the next morning.

A brief image of what Pretty Dark Haired Dwarf might look like in the morning flashed through her mind and her face warmed yet again. She quickly looked out the window to hide it.

Behind her, Priscilla chewed on her lip for a moment before saying, "if you want, Seth can go back with you, to make sure they're gone."

"No," Bilba said. "It's alright." She could just see Seth trying to forcibly get rid of the tattooed Dwarf, Dwalin, much less any of the rest of them. Even the Pretty Dwarves had been heavily armed and she didn't think they'd been carrying them for show.

Anyway, in spite of being rude and boorish, none of the strangers had acted in a way that made her feel nervous or afraid. Even the one she'd hit hadn't made any effort to come after her or threaten her.