Not Forsaken

Chapter 11

Gandalf greeted the group of dwarves, who were stumbling over themselves to get to the round door. "I'm starving!" One grumbled. "Is there going to be ale?" Wondered another. They were all shoving and pushing at the door, as Luliana stood back a bit, the dwarves taking no notice of her. She could hear a frantic voice inside the home, sounding very irritated indeed.

"It is in very poor taste!" She could hear, as the door swung open. It must have been quite unexpected to the dwarves, as they all fell forward into the house, a big, clumsy pile of arms and legs and beards and....oh dear! Was that the poor hobbit's doorbell?

"Gandalf." The hobbit said, clearly annoyed. Luliana knew this must be Mr. Baggins. He looked quite flustered and annoyed at the entire situation. The dwarves, however, took no notice, hardly stopping to even greet their host, pushing and shoving to get in the house.

"Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce Luliana." Gandalf gently guided her into the doorway, she had stopped to tie Gypsy to a post, and gingerly climbed the stairs to the hobbit's front door.

"Hello Mr. Baggins, it is a pleasure to meet you finally." She smiled politely, waiting to be invited in by the hobbit. This was, after all, his home.

"Very good to finally meet someone with some manners. Won't you come in?" he finally offered, casting an irritated look at Gandalf. The obvious cause of all this unexpected and uninvited excitement. He closed the door and rushed off, yelling as politely as he could at the small army of dwarves that were invading his pantry.

Luliana glanced at Gandalf, who looked quite large standing in the hobbit's home. The ceilings were clearly not made for anyone but small folks. He stooped down, peering around at the dwarves, with a sly smile on his face. She herself was feeling quite flustered by the frenzy that all these dwarves were causing. She could not imagine that poor Mr. Baggins was happy with it himself. Quite the opposite, she though, as she watched the red-faced hobbit snatch a chair from an offending dwarf.

There was a flurry of activity all around her, and Luliana tried to stay out of the way, ducking into a shadowed corner. She was not used to such a commotion, and was afraid she may be quite bruised up should she get in the way of any of these dwarves. They shoved each other, throwing food and things to one another. My word, she thought, are they always like this?

She studied each dwarf with interest, wondering if any of them were women. Her mother had a full beard, and she knew that dwarf women always dressed as men when they travelled. No, she thought. They are all men. She suddenly felt very alone, surrounded by all these dwarves. They were her people, well, her mother's, at least. But there were no familiar faces. They all seemed to know each other, however, and Gandalf as well. Luliana saw poor Mr. Baggins, standing alone, with a flustered look on his face. She caught his eye, and smiled at him. He tried and miserably failed to smile back.

One dwarf finally walked up to Luliana, and said "Miss, can I offer you some tea? It's chamomile." She smiled, and nodded. "Thank you," she said quietly. He quickly stepped away, offering some to Gandalf, who seemed to be counting dwarves. She could hear him saying strange sounding names, some rhyming with others, and she heard a dwarf speaking what sounded like gibberish. That must be Khuzdul, Luliana thought. She remembered hearing her mother speak the same way sometimes, usually under her breath when she was annoyed with her father. She had never learned much of it, and had quite forgotten the little she had learned. She suddenly felt quite awkward, and out of place. What kind of dwarf was she? She knew nothing of the language, and very little of the culture. But she was only half dwarf, she reminded herself.

That was when Gandalf hit his head on the chandelier in the entry way. Luliana muffled a laugh that had burst forth suddenly at the sight. Gandalf looked just as out of place as she felt that moment, which gave her a small measure of comfort. She then noticed a rather tall dwarf, with a bald head and markings all over his face and head. He had them on his arms and hands as well. He was a terrifying sight, and Luliana thought that he could easily snap her in two. She recognized the markings all over this beastly dwarf as runes, similar to the ones on the large bead in her hair. 

"He'll come," she heard him say to Gandalf. Thorin! She thought suddenly.  Her heart started to flutter. When would he arrive? She heard the tall dwarf saying he had travelled to a meeting with kin, or something of the sort. She couldn't make out all his words because suddenly dwarves were swarming around the dining table, which was covered in every sort of food imaginable. It was to be quite a feast, it appeared.

With that, food started flying through the air, drinks were being spilled, loud laughter and belching was filling the dining room that was clearly much to small for this many dwarves. Gandalf had taken a seat that was much too small for his long legs, and although he didn't seem to fit in with the dwarves, he did not seem to mind them. Luliana wondered in bewilderment if this was how she was to spend her next days and months. She had stepped out of her corner to try speaking to Gandalf when she was suddenly pelted in the side of the head with a large biscuit.

"Who is this Lass?" One of the dwarves called out, with the strangest hat she had ever seen.

"Allow me to introduce a dear friend of mine," Gandalf said. "This is Luliana," he said, smiling at the poor woman who was trying to pick crumbs out of her hair.

"Hello," she said quietly, quite embarrassed by the awkward introduction.

"I'm sorry lass, that wasn't meant to hit you. I was aiming for that one!" And with that, more food started flying.

"Excuse me!" Gandalf had stood, as much as he could. "I would like to give this young lady a proper introduction. She will be joining our company, after all."

Silence suddenly filled the room.

The bald dwarf glared at him. "He'll not be pleased with ya, bringing a woman. Tis bad luck!"

Gandalf ignored his statement, and simply began to introduce the dwarves, one by one. The tall, balding one she learned, was Dwalin. Next to him was Oin. Dwalin had rudely poured ale into his ear trumpet, which was quickly sprayed all over the rest of the food. So much for dinner, Luliana thought, quite disgusted by their lack of table manners.

Then there was Gloin, Bofur, Bifur and Bombur who was impossibly fat. Balin was a kind looking dwarf, with a very long white beard. "Lass, I have your contract here to sign," he said with a wink at Gandalf. Next were Ori, Dori and Nori, and Fili and Kili.

"My goodness," said Luliana at last. "It will take some time for me to learn all of your names!"

Kili looked over at her, gave her a cheeky smile and winked, making her blush slightly. "Don't worry lass, I'll teach you." He was then elbowed by Fili. "Stop it, brother!" He scolded.

What have I gotten myself into? Luliana wondered to herself, inwardly groaning. She quickly left the room to go find Gandalf who was trying to calm down poor Mr. Baggins. "They have all but destroyed the plumbing!" He wailed to Gandalf. "I don't understand what they are doing in my house!" This confirmed Luliana's suspicions. The poor hobbit had no idea these dwarves were coming to invade his home. Because to her, an invasion is what it was. And quite a messy, loud one at that.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," said Ori politely to the hobbit, "but what shall I do with my plate?"

Fili grabbed it from his hands before Mr. Baggins could even answer and tossed it to Kili, who was standing down the hallway. Suddenly there were plates flying, and poor Luliana cowered in a corner, wondering what in the world was happening. The hobbit was nearly squeaking, so worried that his dishes would be smashed to bits, and asking the dwarves not to use his knives as instruments. This only seemed to amuse the dwarves more, and they suddenly broke out into song.

Dishes flew this way and that, knives, forks, cups. It was a wonder that no one was injured! Finally the song ended, and Mr. Baggins was presented with a large pile of clean, unbroken dishes. Quite to his surprise, and Luliana's as well.

Suddenly three loud thuds echoed through the hobbit hole.

"He is here." Said Gandalf.