"Fili, Kili, help me off the table. Bilbo, I'll get the door." Fili and Kili each took one of my hands and I leaped off of the table gracefully. I smoothed out my dress, adjusted my pearl necklace, and gently opened the door.
The dwarf on the other side was the most handsome being I'd ever seen. He turned and my jaw dropped. His face was young, but not too young and his face was framed by black hair that was streaked with gray in places. He looked rugged and dangerous. He looked like a king.
"Belladonna Baggins a-aa aat your service," I curtsied so I sunk even lower then the at least two foot difference between our heights," but you may call me Bella, i-i if you like." I almost face planted as I attempted to rise from my curtsy but a pair of strong arms caught me. My face was beet red as the mysterious stranger bowed to me and pressed his lips to my knuckles. He looked over my shoulder towards Gandalf. I could hear Fili and Kili chuckling in vaguely the same direction.
"Gandalf," I let out a tiny gasp. The stranger's voice was deep, rich, husky, and just downright beautiful. He stepped inside and I took his cloak from him.
"I thought you said this place would be easy to find. I lost my way. Twice. And I wouldn't have found it at all if it hadn't been for that mark on the door." I was too busy staring at the handsome dwarf to comment on the absurdity of getting lost in the Shire.
"Mark? There's no mark on that door, it was painted a week ago!" Bilbo's head popped out of the cloud of dwarves.
"There is a mark. I put it there myself. Now Bilbo and Belladonna Baggins, allow me to introduce the leader of our Company, Thorin Oakenshield." So that was the handsome dwarf's name.
"So, these are the Hobbits. So tell me, have you done much fighting?"
"I've done a fair bit." Bilbo nearly choked.
"Axe or sword? What is your weapon of choice?" the question was directed at me. Nevertheless, Bilbo answered.
"Well, I do have some skill at Conkers, but I fail to see how that's relevant." I shot Bilbo a look that told him to shut it.
"I'm fairly good with a sword and a bow and arrow, and I can handle a mace, but I'm not too good with axes. But I'm learning."
"You've never fought in your life!"
"Remember all those time I said I was going to Buckland to visit family? Well, I actually went to Bree to ask traveling dwarves to teach me to fight."
"Thought as much. However in your brother's case he looks more like a grocer than a burglar." All the others dwarves laughed.
I brought more ale and Thorin's plate of meat and bread to the table and set a bowl of barley stew before him. I stood in the corner of the room leaning against the wall.
"Did they all come? What news of the meeting in Ered Luin?" Balin leaned over his mug.
"Aye. Envoys from all Seven Kingdoms." Thorin went back to sipping the soup. He seemed to be enjoying it. Or it could be the fact that he'd been on the road for who knows how long. Yeah, probably that.
Dwalin spoke up, "What did Dain say? Are the dwarves of the Iron Hills with us?"
"No, they will not come. They say this quest is ours and ours alone."
"You're going on a quest?" Bilbo finally seemed interested.
"Bilbo, Bella, let us have a little more light my good Hobbits." Bilbo fetched a lamp off of the wall and I leaned over Thorin's right shoulder. "Far to the East, over ridges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single solitary peak." Gandalf pointed at the mountain on the map.
"The Lonely Mountain..." Bilbo read thoughtfully. I was more concerned with what hovered above the Lonely Mountain. A great red worm with hideous wings was coiled upon itself.
YOU ARE READING
The Shire's Deadly Flower
Fanfiction"He looked rugged and dangerous. He looked like a king." The sister of Bilbo Baggins has been raised to be a high society hobbit woman all her life. However, she has been learning of the outside world just as long. She is particularly interested in...
