The Wanderer

Chapter Twenty

The following morning was a solemn one. The people left alive were in mourning for the dead. A great horn was blown from the highest tower facing Erebor, in honor of all those who had fallen.

Rieka and I, now reunited and in better health, stood next to Bard and his family. Bard held his girls tightly while I had an arm around Bain, who looked close to tears. I wonder if he had lost any friends last night, or people he knew. Rieka sat patiently at my feet, a bandage wrapped around her broken front leg.

My eyes traveled to those around me; these people I had met just days before, I would now die to protect. Funny how love worked, whether it be towards a brother or a daughter or a friend, you wouldn't be parted from them, even in death.

I had greatly weighed my decision on staying in Dale, but I have found that it is perhaps the best decision for now. I've never had a home before, not since Fae Thalas, and standing here, with the people I loved and cared about, I realized that this was home. It was a feeling, not a place or a destination. And where I felt this feeling would change over time, and I was perfectly content with that. Dale may not be my home forever, but it was for now.

To my surprise, I heard a small sniff from Bain. I looked down to see the young man crying, but he turned away when he saw me looking.

I only held him tighter and whispered into his ear, "It's alright to cry, Bain. It does not show weakness, not when you have already shown so much strength."

The boy gulped loudly and nodded, before leaning his head on my shoulder. Poor boy, he was probably exhausted; there had been no time for sleep, not when there had been dead to bury and people to see off. Many of the people from Lake-town had left this morning, going off to start farms in the countryside.

Speaking of farewells, there was one hobbit I needed to see before he left.

"I'll be back," I whispered to Bain as I let go of him. Seeing me leaving, Rieka got up and followed. We walked silently through the crowded streets slowly, both for mine and Rieka's benefit.

At the gates of Erebor, I saw Balin and Bilbo standing just outside with Gandalf and his horse waiting nearby. I smiled in greeting to Balin who was speaking to Bilbo as I came to stand next to Gandalf.

"Well, I think I'll slip quietly away, will you tell the others I said goodbye?" Bilbo was saying.

"You can tell them yourself."
Surprised, Bilbo looked up to see me and Rieka, grinning at him, and then he turned to find the nine other dwarves standing anxiously in the gateway. Bilbo chuckled in appreciation.

"If any of you are ever passing Bag-End, uh...tea is at four. There's plenty of it, you are welcome any time. That includes you and Rieka, Lady Farren." The dwarves and I bowed are head in acknowledge at his words. "Uh...don't bother knocking."

I didn't know what that meant, but it seemed to be a joke among them for the dwarves softly laughed. Even Gandalf chuckled. Bilbo smiled at his own joke, then turned to go, but before he jumped on his horse, I stopped him.

"Gandalf said you might be needing this." I handed Bilbo a blue handkerchief, one I found abandoned in Dale that morning.

"A handkerchief?" Bilbo asked in disbelief, then he laughed, a good hearty one. When the dwarves saw what had happened, they chuckled along with him.

Bilbo took the handkerchief gladly and left Erebor on a merrier note. The dwarves, Rieka, and I watched him and Gandalf ride away, towards their own homes.

"Do you think we'll ever be seeing him again?" The youngest dwarf, who I finally found to be named Ori, asked.

"I do hope so, he's a rather entertaining fellow," I said shortly. "Well, are we having a feast or not?" I turned to the dwarves, hands on my hips. "You'll need to clean the kitchen and prepare the food and invite all the guests. It wouldn't be much of a party without any of that."