Stay With Me [Thorin Oakenshield]

Chapter 2: The company of Thorin Oakenshield

Louisa tried to move between the twelve dwarves bustling about the home of her friend without bumping into someone every two steps. It almost seemed to be impossible.

"Gandalf!", she called excitedly across the room, trying to make her way over to him. The tall wizard turned around, bumping his head on the chandelier hanging from the ceiling, not yet spotting the small woman amid the many dwarves. She finally made her way over to him grinning like a child in a candy shop.

"Ahh, Louisa Goldsby, it is good to see you again! How long has it been?", the elderly wizard exclaimed heartily.  "Too long!", she responded warmly. "I was afraid you wouldn't remember me!" She had to somewhat raise her voice to even be heard over the loud chatter of the visitors and the cursing and worried shouting of Bilbo Baggins. The wizard smiled down at the young woman fondly. "Of course, I remember you, my dear. How could I forget the fierce little girl, that so desperately wanted to learn how to fight with a sword. You were quite a force to reckon with back then. I do hope you've kept your adventurous spirit?", he questioned.

Louisa shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I never did learn how to fight with a sword because my mother used to take them from me whenever I had sneaked one in and watched me with eagle eyes to keep me away from any danger. But I dare say my desire for adventure has not been diminished, that she could not rid me of, no matter how hard she tried.", she explained. The wizard looked at her with a content twinkle in his eye. "Good!", he exclaimed. "You'll need it!"

With that he turned and walked away. Louisa stared after him for a second. "Wait what? What do you mean, I'll need it?!", the woman tried to call after him, but he hummed to himself head counting the dwarves and either didn't hear or deliberately ignored her question. She huffed a breath and went off to try and find Bilbo to see if he was doing alright. The entire situation seemed to stress him out a lot more than she deemed necessary.

"No! Let it go!", he hissed at Ori whom he was wrestling for a bowl of tomatoes. "Bilbo!", she approached him as soon as he had won his battle. He turned to her obviously extremely exasperated. "My god Louisa, what are all these dwarves doing in my house, I simply do not understand!", he cried out desperately while the dwarves finally finished their preparations to gather at the dining table for supper.

There was food all over the table and food being thrown around while Fili walked on the table passing out ales. The dwarves were laughing merrily while feasting on the hobbits food before toasting to each other and chugging down their ales without setting down their cups once. Louisa watched on from the side in a mixture of disgust and wonder as the ale dripped down their chins before setting down their cups and erupting into a competition of who could burp the loudest and longest. Fili called out to her, spotting the smile that she was so desperately trying to hide to not further ail Bilbo.

"Louisa! Come join us!". She shook her head in playful disgust and cautiously tried to back away without getting far as Fili and Kili each grabbed an arm and lifted her over the back of a chair to plant her right between them, making her squeal slightly in surprise. The dwarves laughed at her horrified face and cheered when Fili finally convinced her to have an ale and loosen up a little. She chugged it down only when Bilbo was off ranting to Gandalf about the state of his house, making sure that he didn't see her drinking it. She didn't know how much more his poor nerves could take.

Some time later the hobbit walked back into her line-of-sight shouting at the wizard, "I don't understand what they're doing in my house?!", when Ori carefully interrupted him. "Excuse me? I'm sorry to interrupt, but what shall I do with my plate?". Louisa failed at trying to choke back a laugh at the murderous look on Bilbos face. Noticing this, Kili, whom she had been goofing around with near the kitchen, clasped a hand over her mouth to shut her up hissing, "Ssshhhhh!", which only resulted in him sounding like a dying snake because of his own silent laughter. This only resulted in Louisa struggling to control herself even more while Fili decided to head over to the young dwarf to prevent a potential escalation.