Raven: An Unexpected Adventure

Two

Bilba

Buckland, by the Old Forest

Early September 2958

Bilba paced nervously around the smial. She hated feeling so helpless, but there was nothing else that she could do. Once upon a time she'd have had the bounders at her back or, better, a Company of dwarrow ready to jump to do her bidding. Those days were gone. When she'd woken up that morning she'd found Raven gone and the bed beside her cold. It wasn't hard for Bilba to guess where Raven had gone; her dagger and her sling were missing and she'd been anxious the past few days to check her trap-line. Then noon had come and gone and Raven had still not appeared. Bilba knew it didn't take Raven that long to check the trap line. In a panic, Bilba had raced back to the smial, trying to figure out where else her daughter might have gone and to decide where she should go to search first. She'd found their cart missing. It had been there that morning when Bilba retrieved their basket and headed to harvest tomatoes so Raven had apparently returned and snuck out again. That, combined with the absence of their coin purse, could mean only one thing: Raven was going into town.

As ridiculous as it was, the notion of Raven alone in town frightened Bilba more than her daughter wandering the countryside alone. Raven could use her dagger and she knew how to hide in the forest, but the dangers that the other hobbits posed were entirely different. At sixteen, if Raven had only been a hobbit lass, then she would have been well on her way to adulthood, however, with her half-dwarrow heritage she barely looked eleven years old. Still, Primula had warned Bilba that hobbits were still beginning to look at her in less than innocent ways. In their eyes after all, Raven was still sixteen, no matter how youthful she might appear.

Bilba herself had fended off their advances before, but she worried about Raven. One day, sooner rather than later, Bilba knew that she'd have to explain the darker side of the world and specifically their social position to her daughter. Without anything else to distract her, Bilba found herself praying that she'd not regret keeping Raven in the dark even this long.

Usually, Raven had Primula's protection and Bilba knew that her feisty Brandybuck cousin would never let anything happen to her daughter. Luckily, hobbits would still face legal action if they attacked Primula and, though Bilba's cousin could be propositioned, the chances of attack were low. When Raven went on her own, however, there was no such protection. Luckily, however, Bilba also knew that Raven's youthful appearances were no reason to underestimate her. Raven was smart and capable, and any hobbit who tried to underestimate her would learn that quickly.

When Bilba had returned to the Shire she had dreamed about being able to protect her daughter from the harsh realities of the world. She had envisioned Raven growing up in Bag End, as Bilba had, with seven full meals a day and a peacefully sheltered existence. Instead, Raven had been forced to grow up far too quickly. Without Primula's arrival, midway through Bilba's first winter at the smial, they might not even have made it this long. Primula was their lifesaver, she had given up a comfortable life in Brandy Hall and chances of making a good marriage and Bilba would never be able to repay her. In spite of Primula's help, Raven had still been forced into a state of independent maturity far sooner than Bilba preferred. Indeed, the mother in Bilba still protested whenever Raven followed the game trail or ventured into town on her own. Raven knew it upset her to have to give permission so she had stopped asking; she simply did what needed to be done. Bilba respected Raven for her determination, but it didn't make her feel any better nor did it allow her to put a stop to it. As long as Raven was able to contribute to the farm then Bilba and Primula had to take advantage of her maturity, not to mention her strength. Although Raven was still young, her dwarven heritage showed in her strength and, with the proper diet and training, Bilba was sure that she'd also make a formidable warrior, much like— Bilba forced herself to stop that thought. At least for the time being Raven wasn't a warrior yet, she was only a child.