Homeward Bound Part One: An Unexpected Journey

Chapter Twenty-Two

Fili and Kili hadn't been exaggerating when they said the journey from that point on would be harder.

The ponies were left at Rivendell as Thorin stated they couldn't pass over the mountain and he didn't want to release them in the wilderness to try and find their way back.

That meant they had to carry their own packs and the supplies. Where the journey to Rivendell had been over reasonably even ground, or at least what she'd noticed from the comfort of her pony, the ground now seemed determined to be as rocky, unlevel, and uphill as much as possible. By the end of the first day her body was screaming at her and she collapsed to the ground at the camp with a groan, only to immediately have to get up again as Thorin began barking orders to the Company about setting up camp.

Thorin only spoke to her to give her a task or telling her what shift she would be taking on watch. She hadn't done watch before leaving Rivendell but Thorin seemed intent on not only giving them to her but on giving her the worst hours too.

In a way being on watch helped because the nightmares didn't stop after leaving Rivendell. She didn't have them every day, or even every week but they were there. Sometimes they were about her family, sometimes about other things, Fili and Kili dead on the ground, sometimes Thorin with them. And over all a wheel of fire she could not seem to escape.

On those nights she generally had to be woken by one of the others. Surprisingly, Thorin never commented on her nightmares, even though her screaming probably alerted every living creature nearby and gave him clear evidence that her presence endangered the Company.

The nightmares lessened eventually, the farther they got from Rivendell but, by the time they did, Bilba had learned to love watch for the excuse it gave her to not sleep. Additionally, Thorin never let her work a shift alone and paired her up with a different member of the Company every night. Bilba took the opportunity to get to know each member better, sharing stories and discussing the journey to come.

Her favorites were watches spent with one of the Ri brothers, sharing lessons on Black Speech and Khuzdul, or with Fili and Kili.

On the first night she was paired with Dwalin he gruffly apologized for not standing up for her at Rivendell but reiterated his belief she was not prepared for the wilderness. Bilba retorted that if he didn't think she was prepared he should teach her.

She had forgot about the words by the next morning but was reminded quite sharply that evening when she went to train with Fili and discovered Dwalin waiting for her as well.

After that both of them would train her and Bilba realized immediately Fili had been going easy on her before that point. At some point both got together and made the decision that she would work well with two blades, that or Fili just thought she would look good that way, she wasn't quite sure. Regardless she soon found herself wielding her sword in one hand and a short, thick blade from Fili in the other. The two showed her how to use the shorter sword to block and parry blows while coming in with the long sword to stab the attacker.

They also began having training drills where both attacked her simultaneously, after Dwalin pointed out it was unlikely she would only ever be attacked by one individual and it was equally unlikely her foes would politely line themselves up and wait their turn.

Eventually Kili decided to get involved, citing it never hurt to be proficient on multiple weapons, and Bilba soon found herself practicing archery as well. To her surprise she proved quiet adept at it and also found she enjoyed it far more than the other lessons, not that she'd ever admit it. Kili would never let his brother live it down if she did.

And so it went, day after day. Bilba found herself slowly growing stronger, the few extra pounds of fat she hadn't been aware she had stripping away to lean muscle, the exhaustion she felt at the end of the day decreasing steadily.