An Expected Travel: A Traveler's Tale

The Meeting of the Company

Darcy was picking at her leftover squirrel. "Am I annoyed, or disappointed that it doesn't taste like nuts?"

"Annoyed." I remarked. I twisted some knobs on the binoculars, trying to get Bilbo in focus.

My sister and I were hiding in the big tree near Bilbo's smial. Gandalf has gone off to round up the other Dwarrows. He left specific instructions that we wait here for them to arrive, not to enter until Gandalf came back. The two of us settled in the tree to wait.

Luckily I had some surveillance gear packed in my Bag for emergencies. There were worse uses for it.

My sister had managed to wait five whole minutes before being bored. She pulled out the leftover squirrel from lunch to eat. Though I'm surprised there was any left.

"Nah." Darcy chewed the meat off the bones. It was some grotesque form of a corndog. "Disappointment. This guy eats Shire nuts, you'd think those had enough flavor for-"

"No. I'm annoyed with you." I corrected.

My sister scoffed, derisively. She peeled off more of the squirrel. She tossed it in the air, catching it in her mouth. "Jealous of my supper." She mused between bites.

"You're eating a roasted squirrel!" I argued, keeping my voice low as a hiss to keep quiet.

Darcy held the squirrel closer. She pulled her legs up beneath her, sitting in a squat. "Are you jealous that I have a squirrel and you don't?"

"I will push you out of this tree." I warned, meaning it.

She chuckled.

Now I really wanted to push her out of the tree. My leg jabbed out to meet her thigh. Darcy threw her head back to laugh to the heavens.

Later that night, Bilbo prepared himself for supper. The fish he was finish looked good, I will admit. The sun had set long ago on the Shire, while the Hobbits had their dinner. Darcy herself was having supper beside me: roast squirrel. She had picked me some of various herbs in Hobbit gardens to make a proper meal out of it.

"Oi, oi!" My arm flung out beside me. It hit Darcy, so I repeated the action. "We got confirmation!"

"For fucks sake, watch your aim. You could've hit my squirrel." Darcy complained.

"Confirmed Dwalin!"

Darcy tried to pull the binoculars out of my hand. I grabbed them back. They were on a lanyard around my neck. That'd hurt. She rolled her eyes, reaching for her own.

The two of us watched Dwalin knock on the door.

I'd gotten an idea while watching.

Bilbo opened the giant green door.

"Dwalin, at your service." I recited in a voice similar to Dwalin's.

Beside me, Darcy burst out laughing. She had to quickly cover it up in her robe sleeve.

She laughed into her sleeve again when I recited Bilbo's like in his voice. "Bilbo Baggins, at yours."

"Stop it. You'll kill me." Darcy laughed.

Now that was the wrong thing to say.

Darcy continued to laugh. She didn't take notice of my distressed silence until more lines had passed unspoken. The door to Bilbo's smial slammed shut.

"What? Come on!" Darcy prompted me, still grinning. "Those were good! Your accent is on points...or whatever the fuck kids say."

No response from me.