Once Upon A Dream || The Hobbit ¹

02| 𝓴𝓮𝔂𝓼 & 𝓬𝓪𝓵𝓪𝓶𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓮𝓼

hobbiton, the shire

— SOON ENOUGH, THE DWARVES ARE SITTING AROUND THE TABLE ONCE MORE. This time though, it's in calm peace, lit only by gentle candlelight. "What news from the meeting in Ered Luin?" The one Scarlett knows to be called Balin asks. "Did they all come?"

"Aye." Thorin replies. "Envoys from all seven kingdoms." small cheers and chuckles pass over the table before quieting again.

"And what did the dwarves from the Iron Hills say?" Dwalin wonders. "Is Dain with us?"

Thorin sighs. "They will not come. They say this quest is ours, and ours alone." This time it's mutters and grumbling whispers that fill the quiet.

"You're... going on a quest?" Bilbo pipes up.

"Bilbo, my dear fellow," Gandalf says. "Let us have a little more light." the Hobbit nods before quickly fetching another candle or two. "Over ranges and rivers... beyond woodlands and wastelands..." Gandalf lays a small parchment map on the table. "Lies a single, solitary peak."

"The Lonely Mountain." Bilbo reads.

"Aye." Gloin pipes up. "Oin has read the portents, and the portents say it is time."

"Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold." Oin agrees. "When the birds of yore return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end."

"Uh... what beast?" Bilbo wonders.

"Well that would be a reference to Smaug the Terrible," Bofur tells him. "Chiefest and Greatest Calamity of our age. Airborne fire-breather. Teeth like razors, claws like meathooks..." Scarlett begins to tune him out unintentionally, her dreams suddenly returning to her. She has yet to admit to Gandalf that she's been having nightmares about the dragon since about a week before he asked her to join this quest. He is one of the very few who is aware of the visions that plague her in her sleep, some reminiscent, some warning, some prophetic.

"Yes, I know what a dragon is." Bilbo's interruption of Bofur's vague descriptions snaps her back to the present."

One dwarf stands suddenly. "I'm not afraid. I'm up for it! I'll give him a taste of dwarvish iron right up his jacksie!" He's met with both encouragement and irritation before the dwarf sitting next to him pulls him back into his seat with an irritated 'sit down'.

"The task would be difficult enough with an army behind us." Balin says. "But we number just thirteen. And not thirteen of the best... nor brightest."

Protests and grumbles follow, and Scarlett can most distinctly hear a disgruntled voice saying, "Who are you calling dim??"

They fall silent when the blond brother who's name is Fili speaks up. "We may be few in numbers, but we're fighters. All of us. To the last dwarf!" In that moment, it clicks in Scarlett's mind. It's the way he interacts with Thorin, the respect the others show him despite his evident youth in contrast to them. Thorin's heir. Not a son, though... perhaps a nephew.

"And you forget we have both a wizard and a shapeshifter in our company." the younger brother, Kili, pipes up almost excitedly. "Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time."

Scarlett doesn't react, but bites the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling as the Grey Wizard tries to lower their expectations reasonably. "Oh, well, no, I wouldn't say-"

"How many, then?" Another chimes in.

"What?"

"Well, how many dragons have you killed?" Gandalf returns to clearing his throat, a few puffs of smoke escaping as he does. And suddenly the dwarves are back to near-riot level. "Come on! Give us a number!"