The Dwarf Prince

Chapter 3: Bilbo Baggins

The journey to Hobbiton took longer than Alithia expected. She inspected the map in her hand and then looked up. She arrived at the Shire or at least that's what she thought it was. She could see small hills and there were hobbit holes all around.

"Seems about right," she muttered.

She jumped off her horse, patting it on the head. "Come on, Maximus, just a little bit more," she said encouragingly. She took Maximus by the reigns and started to walk into the Shire, her horse stayed loyally by her side.

The Shire was a truly beautiful place. It was full of greenery and flowers grew nearly everywhere. It was very different from Mirkwood where everything seemed to be dying. A small pang of guilt hit her. She had left Mirkwood. She had left her family behind. She suddenly stopped walking, feeling the urge to ride back home and apologise to her father. What was he thinking now? He would have noticed that she was gone. But then again, she had told her father she wanted to go to Hobbiton. If her father had sent guards for her, she would have been caught by now.

Maximus lightly nudged her shoulder, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked at her horse, smiling sadly at him. "I'm just being paranoid, aren't I?" She asked, stroking his mane. Maximus let out a low neigh in reply.
With her mind made up, Alithia continued on her way to the hobbit hole Gandalf had told her about. Gandalf had said that there would be a special mark on the door so it took her quite some time to actually find the door.

The sun had already set and the moon shone brightly in the sky. Marvelling at nature's beauty, she nearly missed the door she was supposed to find. She saw a strange symbol on the door of a hobbit hole and smiled, knowing that she had finally reached her destination. Alithia guided Maximus to the side of the hobbit hole and tied him to a tree.

"I'll see you soon, alright?" She said, taking out an apple from her satchel and feeding it to the horse. She petted him and gave him a drink of water before shrugging on her bagpack and walking to the door. She stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath.

This was going to be the start of her new life.

Alithia knocked the door three times and stood back, waiting for someone to open it.

"Not another one! I swear if it's another dwarf, I'll-" the door swung open to reveal a hobbit who had been complaining. He stopped when he saw the elf and his eyebrows furrowed. Not forgetting her manners, Alithia bowed slightly.

"Alithia Thranduillell, at your service"

"Bilbo Baggins at yours," the hobbit said.

"Mr. Baggins, I hope I'm not intruding but I was told to come here," she said. The fact that the hobbit had seemed quite flustered upon opening the door did not go lost on her.

"Well, I...you know what? You can just enter. You seem to be the only one with manners anyway," the hobbit said, stepping back to allow her entrance. She thanked Bilbo kindly and stepped into the hobbit hole. The warmth of the home immediately engulfed her and she could hear the fire crackling in the fire place.

"You have a beautiful home, Mr Baggins" she commented.

"Oh please, call me Bilbo. Mr Baggins is much too formal for me," Bilbo said as he showed her where to put her bagpack and weapons. "And thank you, I just wish the others could see that this house has value," he added.

"The others?" She said and that's when she heard the voices from the kitchen. A dwarf with white hair and a beard walked out of the kitchen and paused when he saw her.

"What's this, lass? An elf? Come to help us?" He said and Alithia shifted uncomfortably.

"Hello, my name is Alithia," she said, bowing slightly. She had known her being an elf would have result in some sort of problem because of the disagreement between the two races. To her surprise, the dwarf bowed back and smiled at her.