All I've ever known

24

"Don't bother cooking 'em! Let's just sit on 'em and squash 'em into jelly!" Mivera had a disgusted look on her face. Thorin looked down at her,"Well, how do you propose we get out of this?" She turned her head, which was on his lap, and looked at him,"How do we get out of the bags or how we avoid getting eaten?" Thorin rolled his eyes and she giggled,"Sorry, now's probably not the time to be joking. Besides, I think Bilbo has got things under control.", she glanced towards the fire. Thorin to looked up to see a small bagged figure hopping forward.

"Wait! You are making a terrible mistake!" From the spit, Nori shouted,"You can't reason with them they're half-wits!" Bofur furrowed his brow,"Half-wits? What does that make us?" Bilbo talked over them,"I meant with the....uh, with the....with the seasoning." The troll named Bert leaned forward,"What about the seasoning?" Bilbo nodded towards the bagged dwarves,"Well, have you smelt them? You're going to need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up!"

All the dwarves voiced their anger over Bilbo's suggestion."What do you know about cooking dwarf?", the troll William asked. Bert interrupted him,"Shut up, and let the...uh, flurgerburbur-hobbit talk." Bilbo was furrowing his brow as he saw a movement in the bushes, Mivera saw it to,"Thorin, he's buying time. Gandalf is over there." Thorin nodded, finally comprehending the situation.

"Uh...the-the secret to cooking dwarf, is um.." The trolls looked at him with anticipation,"Yes? Come on." Bilbo was still thinking,"It's uh..." Bert was becoming impatient,"Tell us the secret!" Bilbo shushed him,"Ye-yes, I'm telling you! The secret is...to...skin them first!" All the dwarves shouted at him. Mivera leaned her head back on Thorin's lap and closed her eyes. Thorin knew he was blushing like crazy now.

"Tom, get me filleting knife." Tom was not to pleased about them listening to the hobbit. "What a load of rubbish! I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scoff 'em I say, boots and all." Tom agreed,"He's right! Nothing wrong with a bit o' dwarf!", he picked up Mivera, she squirmed and kicked trying to get out of his grasp,"Nice and crunchy!" Thorin furiously tried to get out of his bag. Just as she was about to drop into the trolls mouth Bilbo spoke out."Uh...not..not that one, she's...she's infected!"

The troll stopped and looked at him,"You what?" Mivera glanced at him, blood rushing to her head. Bilbo stammered,"Yeah she's got worms in her...tubes." Disgusted the troll threw her down, hard. She landed on the solid ground, her head hitting a rock. Bilbo kept the charade going.

"In-in fact, they all have. They're infested with parasites, it's a terrible business, I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't.", he said. This earned numerous shouts of anger towards him. Oin asked,"Parasites? Did he say parasites?" Kili was awfully offended,"Yeah, we don't have parasites! You have parasites!" Bilbo closed his eyes in frustration. Thorin saw and kicked Kili, who looked up and saw the look on Thorin's face."I've got parasites as big as my arm!", Oin shouted."Mine are the biggest parasites, I've got huge parasites!", Kili added. The other dwarves joined in. Nori shouted,"We're riddled!" Ori nodded,"Yes, I'm riddled!" Dori added,"Yes we are, badly!"

William looked at Bilbo,"What would you have us do then? Let 'em all go?" Bilbo said in a small voice,"Well.." The troll got angry,"You think I don't know what you're up to. This little ferret is taking us for fools!" Bilbo scoffed,"Ferret?" Bert also scoffed,"Fools?" Just then Gandalf emerged from where was hiding and stepped onto a giant rock,"The dawn will take you all!" The trolls turned around,"Who's that?" Bert answered,"No idea." Tom was curious,"Can we eat him to?" But before that question was answered, Gandalf jabbed his staff into the rock next to him, splitting it in half and letting sunlight stream in. The trolls screamed with agony as they slowly turned to stone"

The dwarves laughed with triumph as Bilbo and Gandalf helped them out. Once out of the bag, Thorin ran over to Mivera. She had landed upside down and was leaning against a rock. She looked up at him,"Enjoying the view?" Thorin didn't respond, he just turned her right side up and untied the bag. He was extremely startled when her arms were around his neck. Still confused he hugged her back. Pulling from the hug, he offered her a hand up. She gladly took it. Gandalf walked over.

"Where did you go, if I may ask?", Mivera said. Thorin noticed that they were still holding hands, he was not objecting to this at all. Gandalf looked around,"To look ahead." Mivera tilted her head,"What brought you back?" He glanced back to her,"Looking back.", he looked to the trolls,"Nasty business. Still they are all in one piece."

Thorin scoffed,"No thanks to your burglar." Mivera tightened her grip on his hand as she looked at him,"He had the nous to play for time. None of the rest of us thought of that." Even thought that was true, Thorin would not go pave Gandalf the satisfaction.

Gandalf looked off into the mountains,"They must have come down from the Ettenmoors." Thorin wasn't the brightest pupil when it came to his geography, luckily Mivera was star pupil in everything."Since when do mountain trolls venture this far South?", she asked. Gandalf had a distant look on his face,"Oh, not for an age. Not since a darker power ruled these lands." Seeing Mivera and Thorin looking up at him, he quickly changed the subject,"They could not have moved in daylight." He held back a smile as Mivera's eyes widened with excitement,"There must be a cave nearby!" She gave Thorin an excited smile before she ran off the gather the others.

Balin laughed. Thorin looked at him in confusion,"What?" Balin reclaimed his composure,"Oh, nothing of to much importance. I was just inquiring when you two may finally announce your love for each other." Thorin was taken aback, was he really that obvious in his feelings?"You can tell I love her?", he asked, not caring for his pride at the moment. Balin smiled,"Yes, my fellow. It's in your eyes." Mivera shouted Thorin's name and told him they were ready when he was, he walked over. Before following them, Balin smirked,"I see it in her eyes as well."