Homeward Bound Part One: An Unexpected Journey

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Bilba had a sneaking suspicion they were lost.

Granted, it wasn't as though she could see anything to know for sure but, still, some of the twists and turns they were making felt awfully familiar.

She didn't have a ton of experience in running around under mountains, however, so she could be wrong.

But she didn't think she was.

She'd never asked how the whole dwarf ability to find the way to the surface thing worked. Was it a clear direction or more of a general sense?

Her mind went back to Thorin's ability to actually get lost in a place as small as Hobbiton, TWICE, and she sighed. They might be in the mountain a long time at this rate.

She opened her mouth a few times to ask him but immediately closed it again as her face heated. They hadn't spoken since...IT happened...and now the silence had dragged on so long it was AWKWARD, so painfully, painfully awkward.

What in the world had she been THINKING?

She could hear Priscilla now......no, scratch that, she could hear POPPY, which was a thousand times worse. She could just picture the other woman, her face twisted in a sneer, her syrupy high pitched voice, her stupid perfect curls and that dumb umbrella she always insisted on carrying perched over her head.

"What's wrong, Bilba? Finally figured out no man would ACTUALLY want you so you waited till you found one at his lowest and took advantage of his weakened emotional state?"

Bilba frowned, that wasn't exactly right. She was pretty sure Poppy wouldn't know words like weakened emotional state, much less be able to use them correctly in a sentence.

Much-Smarter-Than-She-Really-Was Poppy in her head had a point though.

Thorin's ring lay like a weight under her shirt. It bounced lightly against her breastbone as they walked and brought a pang of guilt every time it touched her skin.

Should she return it? Return it and apologize for her actions?

Her face went white hot as she remembered those "actions". To think she'd never even been kissed before leaving the Shire. She'd certainly come a long way since then.

Now she really could hear Priscilla's voice...and that wretched Lobelia. How many times had Priscilla spoken to her about chaperones and never being alone with a male, particularly one she was interested in?

"Remember, your emotions can get the best of you and you may end up doing something you regret later."

Perhaps Priscilla should have clarified; she and/or the guy she was with might do something they'd later regret.

And Lobelia, wrenching her by the arm any time she caught Bilba anywhere near a young boy, particularly as she'd entered her tweens, and hauling her off for a lecture.

"If you keep this up you'll be no better off than your mother! Everyone knows what SHE was really up to, gallivanting off on her so-called 'adventures' with that wizard. Leaving you and your poor father here all alone."

Though Lobelia's lectures were usually more an attack on her mother than anything else she usually repeated many of the things Priscilla did about being sure she was chaperoned.

She'd brushed them all off of course. Her emotions wouldn't get the best of her, she could control herself thank you very much.

Her shoulders slumped.

Way to control yourself, Bilba, her mind sneered. She remembered how she'd practically thrown herself at Fram, stalking him and desperately trying to impress him. Hadn't she JUST made the commitment to not be that person anymore? To no longer be pathetic but instead strong and capable?