The Hobbit: An Unexpected Reunion

Chapter 10

Night again had fallen in Rivendell. Fili chose to wait after dinner before he breached to Thorin the possibility of making up with Fróia. The two sisters had excused themselves with meals with Thorin's company since after the first night, a statement that expressed their crossness to Thorin and his men, most of whom didn't quite understood what had passed between the two captains of the companies. They were served by the elves in the large houses that the rest of their people resided in. Come morning, the company of the Wolfguards would leave Rivendell and continue on to Erebor.

Bilbo had abandoned the company after dinner, taking another stroll through the city in the cool, refreshing air. He noticed Gandalf walking with Lord Elrond, and he followed their conversation from across the way. The two were walking on a bridge that lead to the rotunda that Fróia had drawn days ago.

"Of course I was going to tell you. I was waiting for this very chance," Gandalf disclosed to the elf-lord. "And really, I think you can trust that I know what I'm doing."

"Do you?" replied Lord Elrond, the doubt clear in his tone. "That dragon has slept for sixty years. What should happen if your plan should fail and wake that beast?"

"But if we succeed," Gandalf insisted, "If the dwarves take back the mountain, our defenses in the East will be strengthened!"

"It is a dangerous move, Gandalf."

"It is also dangerous to do nothing! Oh come now, the throne of Erebor is Thorin's birthright!"

Bilbo felt a looming presence behind him and turned to find Thorin standing behind him, also listening to the elf's and wizard's conversation.

Gandalf continued, "What is it you fear?"

"Have you forgotten? A strain of madness runs deep in that family. His grandfather lost his mind! His father succumbed to the same sickness," Lord Elrond reminded Gandalf.

Bilbo then realized what Fróia had so delicately alluded to days ago. The cause of the line of Durin's downfall. His ears keenly listened for more, even though Thorin was there nearby.

"Can you swear that Thorin Oakenshield will not also fall?" asked Lord Elrond. "Gandalf these decisions do not rest with us alone. It is not up to you or me to redraw the map of Middle-Earth!"

Bilbo turned back to descend the stairs when he noted the heir of Erebor's demeanor. He looked, Bilbo was taken aback, wounded. Clearly his grandfather and father's madness had taken a strain on him and the probability that he carried that sickness within him, terrified the dwarf. Thorin didn't notice Bilbo's scrutiny, his mind wandered back to that time during Fróia's combat lessons where she had asked him whether he preferred to die of old age or in battle. A death in battle almost ensured that Thorin did not fall the way his forbearers had.

The conversation they had overheard also put into perspective why Lord Elrond was so hesitant to let the company depart. The elf-lord feared the dragon's wrath and he had raised valid points, in Bilbo's opinion. Their quest had appeared impossible to Bilbo, but Lord Elrond's uncertainties almost felt like slamming the door of a tomb on their venture. Bilbo guessed that Thorin too felt the unsurety that came from his host's concerns.

The quest was putting a lot on the line for Middle-Earth as a whole. If they failed, they all would certainly die, horribly, and the line of Durin would be burned to a crisp. The Lonely Mountain would be lost for many more years to come, if not forever. And worse, they would infuriate the dragon, and that could very much not end well for anyone in the vicinity for a good few hundred miles.