The Ranger ➵ Kili Durin

PART I : CHAPTER 2

That morning, the light shining through the round windows was the only thing Bilbo Baggins saw. He crept from his bed, careful of the idea that there was still a large company of dwarves sleeping in his living room. But as he carefully made his way to his front room, he realized that he was the only living thing in the house anymore. The company had left, and Bilbo let out a quick sigh of relief, but this was cut short, when the reality truly sunk in. And for once in his lifetime, Bilbo felt lonely.

His eyes caught sight of the large contract sitting on the table, yet to be signed by him where the line said "burglar". And at that moment, Bilbo Baggins, the young Hobbit from the Shire, knew exactly what he had to do.

    He sprinted from his home on the hill, jumping over livestock and large pumpkins that lay in the ground. Many other Hobbits in the Shire asked him where he was off to, and the only thing he could respond with was "I'm going on an adventure!"

    Bilbo ran for nearly 20 minutes before finally catching sight of the company that left his home early that morning. He saw the back of the dwarves astride ponies, and he yelled for them to wait for him, as the young hobbit was very tired of running and quite out of breath at this point.

    When he finally caught up to the company who had stopped to wait for him, out of breath, he cheered proudly, "I signed it!" And waved it in the air before handing the contract to Balin to look at.

    "Everything appears to be in order. Welcome, Master Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield," Balin cheers. A few ponies down, Elvira smiled widely, feeling a strange sense of pride and comfort knowing that the Hobbit managed to find them. She felt a sense of duty in needing to protect Bilbo, and she vowed that nothing would happen to him while she was still a part of this quest.

    Thorin, who did not seem impressed with the Hobbit, ordered, "Give him a pony." As Bilbo struggled to order against riding one, Kili and Fili rode on either side and lifted him by his waistcoat to place him on top of a brown pony that was all his own, snickering to each other at Bilbo's look of absolute discomfort.

    The Hobbit looked fairly uncomfortable riding it, so Elvira, who was a couple of dwarves behind him, managed to maneuver up beside him, still riding the horse that she had stolen from Bree. She became quite fond of the young horse, and decided to keep him for herself instead of returning him to his owner like she had originally planned. No doubt, whoever this horse belonged to was looking for it, but she knew that they would soon get over it. Her new horse was proving more useful to her than it would have with it's previous owner.

    "Bilbo, why the long face?" Elvira asked as they rode side by side. Instead of answering the intimidating young woman, he sneezed wildly, Elvira flinching slighty at the suddenness of it. "Oh," he gasped. "It's this horse hair, I'm having a reaction." She looked at him, amused as he searched for his handkerchief, only to find it not where he would have put it.

"No, no, wait, wait, stop! Stop!" Bilbo yelled frantically. "We have to turn around." The entire company comes to a halt, and the dwarves start objecting to Bilbo's request. "I left my handkerchief."

    "Here, use this," Bofur calls to Bilbo. The dwarf ripped off a strip of his seemingly damp clothing, and tossed it at the Hobbit who just barely managed to catch it, his face twisting in disgust. Elvira and the rest of the company laughed, but Elvira shook her head and pulled out one of her handkerchiefs that was a gift to her from the Elves of the High Realm, still smiling.

    "Here Bilbo," she said and handed him the handkerchief. "This will be of more use to you than I."

    The Hobbit took it gratefully, and used it for the remainder of the time he needed it. Money was passed around as bets had been taken place on whether or not Bilbo would, in fact, show up. Elvira received quite a large sum from Dwalin, Nori, and Fili, who all said he wouldn't show up. She knew he would, eventually. She just did not expect him to show up so soon, but nevertheless, she was happy he did.