A Hobbits Secrets - The Hobbit

{2 - The Dwarves}

The next day, I sat down at the long dinner table. It could fit multiple people, but is now only used by one. So alone, yet so content. Most Hobbits around my age were married and had children just above their knees. Not me. No, it was quite hard to find someone to marry. Because liking the same gender isn't a common occurrence and therefore, people just left you alone. Which was good, I didn't have to explain things to everyone. I mean. It's not like I was shunned or anything, I was friendly with most of my neighbors and we got along pretty well, I just wasn't knit close with anyone.

I sigh, plucking at the cod I had just made. I was just about to take my first bite when the doorbell rang.

I looked up, confused. It was quite late to have any visitors and I wasn't expecting anyone, which is weird because the unexpected has rarely fallen upon me.

I carefully get up, move to the door, fix my robe shut as I go, and peer outside. All I could see was someone's shadow. It wasn't the same shadow as Gandalfs but it also wasn't a hobbits shadow. No, this shadow was thicker, as if it belonged to a man with muscle.

I unbolt the door, swinging it open to reveal just that. He was about 5 feet, maybe a little shorter. His height told me that he was not a hobbit and not a wizard, but a dwarf. The top of his head was bald, but he had scraggly brown hair that reached his shoulder, his mustache and beard doing the same on the sides and all around.

He wasn't facing me so I looked at him for a moment before I finally came back to my senses. "Um, hello, how may I help you?" I ask as politely as possible. The dwarf turns his body so that he's facing me.

"Dwalin, at your service," Dwalin bows as he introduces himself.

My mouth opens in shuts for a moment before I finally clear my throat. "Yes, hi, hello. Um, I'm Bilbo Baggins, at yours. I don't mean to be rude, but what are you doing here? And do we know each other?" Dwalin doesn't respond but ducks inside the smial as I step aside to let him in.

As he is just about to pass me, he looks me in the eyes and answers "No."

Okay so now I have someone in my house, who I have no idea who he is except that he's a dwarf and his name is Dwalin. "Okay," I say, still confused, but following him.

"So where is it?" Dwalin says as he takes off his jacket.

"Where is what?" I am just getting more and more confused.

"Supper, of course! I was told that there was going to be plenty of it." He says, throwing his jacket at me and walking down the hall.

"Who told you that?" He kept walking until he reached the dining room, where I had left my food.

"Aha, here it is, thanks, laddie!" Dwalin settled himself into my seat and started to eat my food. As he devoured the food, I sat quietly to the side watching him eat it with his bare hands. He briefly looks at me "aye, this is good!" His voice thick with an accent "Can I get some more?" He asks through a mouthful of fish.

"Uh, yes, um here" I stand up and make my way to the biscuits I had baked earlier that day, I grab one for myself before setting them on the table. "Here you go. Hope they are..." I trail off as he grabs two and stuffs one in his face, "...to your liking."

I stand there for a few moments. "So, um, what brings you here?" I try to start up a conversation but almost immediately, the doorbell rings again. I look up towards the door, surprised. One unexpected guest was okay but two were quite unordinary.

"That would be the door," Dwalin looks at me from under his eyebrows, as he continues to eat.

I go to the door and open it to find another dwarf. This one smaller than Dwalin, but still somehow on my front porch. His hair is long and poofy, a striking white, grown out to his midchest. He also wasn't as muscular as Dwalin but looked quite smart indeed. Older too.