Smaug's daughter

Barrels Out Of Bond

I jumped down on the ledge, and walked at a fast pace down the hall where Bilbo had disappeared down.

"Galion, you old rogue, we're running out of drink."

I stopped dead in my tracks. The voice came from a room down a set of stairs to my right, but I hadn't found Bilbo yet.

"These empty barrels should have been sent back to Esgaroth hours ago. The bargeman will be waiting for them." Another voice answered.

The barrels. Of course. Those were the barrels. The barrels we would be traveling in! Bilbo would be down there.

"Say what you like about our ill-tempered king, he has excellent taste in wine." - "Come, Elros, try it."

Indeed he did. I could use that to my advantage. Rushing down the stairs with the air of someone stressed, I took a chance and exclaimed at the sight of the two elves.

"What are you doing?" I hissed at them in elvish. They turned to me as if they'd been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Giving them no chance to question my presence and authority, I continued. "The king's guest ordered more wine an hour ago!"

"So she is awake now? With a night like that, I assumed she would be out for days." One of them commented slyly. It took a great amount of effort to keep my jaw from falling to the floor. They'd heard me. Who else had heard me? Fuck. How embarrassing.

"Did you get a look at her?" The other asked me. "I heard she is elven."

"An elven woman traveling with dwarves? What for?" The other protested.

"Please, I didn't get a look at her, I was just instructed to bring wine!" I gestured around to all the wine. My reason for being there.

Annoyed by my lack of information, they collectively sighed. What a bunch of gossips. I hoped all of Thranduil's guards weren't this loose-mouthed. "And what does she want? I have the dwarves in my charge." The elf sighed over-dramatically, as if that was the most tedious responsibility in the world.

I made a face. "I don't know. I'm not good with wine."

The two friends shared a look. "Why don't you watch the dwarves, and we bring her the wine. That way, we get to see her, and you get to not get in trouble." They told me, as if they'd just made a bargain and won.

I sighed, as if I'd lost. "Fine, but you owe me."

The keys to the dwarves' cells were unceremoniously dumped in my hand before they took off with a whole casket of carefully selected wine without giving me a second look. Were there that many elves here that they didn't know everybody? Or were these two guards just particularly irresponsible?

I waited until I heard they were out of hearing distance before I looked for Bilbo. The ring was very loud so I was sure he was close. Before I had to actually call for him, he suddenly showed up from behind a barrel. I fake-jumped, pretending to be very surprised to see him here.

"Bilbo! Where have you been?!" I exclaimed with the most enthusiasm I could muster.

"I could ask you the same..!" He countered, then blushed. Shit, I hope he hadn't heard me. I hope he was only connecting the dots of Thranduil's guest being loud = you know. Which was bad if he had half a brain cell to understand that the guest was me. Maybe he didn't know? He hadn't been with the dwarves when I was taken up to meet the king.

Bilbo took a couple of steps closer. His face displaying worry now. "Are you..." - "...okay?" It was sweet of him to ask, albeit embarrassing. He must have heard and realized then.