Homeward Bound Part One: An Unexpected Journey

Chapter Twelve

The door opened when they were less than a day out from Rivendell and for the rest of her life Bilba would lament the unfairness of it all.

To have gotten SO CLOSE.

She didn't know it of course. If anything, Bilba thought she might not remember the end. Perhaps they were not on the exact same path her family took, or maybe her mind was not ready for the final truth.

And then she saw the cracked and ruined remains of the farmhouse.

"Bilba! Bilba, come here!"

Bilba walked forward shyly, her eyes on the ground.

Belladonna rolled hers in return, grabbed her daughter by the arms, and tugged her forward.

The farmhouse they'd stopped at was modest, wood and stone with a thatched roof. The family living there was even smaller than Bilba's, a man and woman with their young son, a few years older than Bilba.

The family had never seen Hobbits before and welcomed them to spend the night with open arms. Bilba, who'd never seen Humans outside of the elusive and mysterious Rangers, was thrilled when her parents graciously accepted.

Bilba stood in the middle of the cracked floor and gazed up where the roof once blocked the view of the sky.

A few feet away Thorin and Gandalf were arguing about something or other, but she paid them no mind.

The sky was a brilliant blue, though from the outside she'd seen a few clouds beginning to gather at the edge of the horizon.

Gandalf stalked past and Bilba frowned.

"Where are you going?"

"To seek the counsel of the only one around here who has any sense!"

Fili, standing near the remnants of the door, said, "Who is that?"

"Myself!" Gandalf's voice floated back, and then he was gone, vanishing over the edge of a hill.

"What did you say to him?" Bilba asked Thorin, but he merely snarled something unintelligible and also stalked past. Outside she heard him giving orders to set up camp, apparently unconcerned about the burned out house and missing family that once lived there.

Bilba could hear the others moving about outside, getting everything set up.

"Bilba! Bilba!" Bungo ran up to her and grabbed onto her skirts, dragging on them to get her attention. "I wanna go exploring! Go with me! Go with me!"

Bilba laughed. "All right, where would you like to go?"

"Everywhere!"

Her father and the man were out hunting, while her mother and the man's wife sat at the small kitchen table talking.

When Bilba asked her mother gave permission and suggested taking the son, Atherton, with them.

The young man gave her a shy smile from where he was sitting quietly, reading. He was over a head taller than Bilba, thin, with long dark hair tied back in a ponytail. Bilba had felt her heart flutter the first time she'd seen him, drawn by his shy nature. It was the first time she'd felt any sort of romantic interest in a male, and so it was she stammered quite a bit when extending the invitation.

He accepted, and soon the three of them set out. Atherton took the lead, knowing the area better than they did.

Bungo ran ahead and Bilba let him, as it allowed her to walk alone with Atherton.