Chapter Text
While Gandalf and Radagast continued their talk, the others began their own conversations to pass the time. Bilbo, though, sat down on a rocky surface to relax his shoulder and look at his sword more closely.
*it is a beautiful sword…*
Bilbo was fascinated by the weapon, but he was hoping he never needed to use it. He wasn’t a fighter, nor was he all that brave. According to a few of his dwarf companions (Bofur, Bombur, Ori, Fili and Kili) though, he was, but he didn’t see it. How could someone who hides away his pain and is scared out of his mind of being touched be brave? No, the correct word he would use to describe himself is coward.
*you are a coward Bilbo Baggins. That’s all you’ll ever be.*
He sheathes his sword with a low sigh. He takes a look around him; all of the dwarves were doing their own thing as they waited. Bilbo’s eyes watched everyone until they landed on a certain dwarf (Thorin). Though, said dwarf hardly spoke to him or looked his way, Bilbo always found himself looking for him and when he found him, he couldn’t help but be mesmerized by him.
Bilbo isn’t entirely sure what to call the feelings he has whenever he looks upon him. Infatuation? Adoration? Love? Thorin had not said anything that seemed remotely like the word that was engraved on his skin, so there was no way he could be his soulmate. Why was he feeling this way then? It was too early to tell what feelings he had towards the dwarf.
When he was young and before he learned his soulmate may not be another hobbit, he had hoped to find his soulmate and hear from them the word or words that would be engraved on his skin….that they would have a happily ever after, but after what happened to him so many years ago, he wouldn’t allow himself to hope that his soulmate would love him. What soulmate would love someone who is tarnished and broken? He sighed to himself sadly, but continued to look at Thorin with a look of longing he didn’t even know was easily etched on to his face.
The two young dwarf princes busied themselves with teasing each other as they always do, but as Fili was saying something, Kili spotted Bilbo. He studied the hobbit for a moment before following his line of sight to his uncle.
*he is looking at uncle..*
“What’s wrong Ki?” Fili asked once he realized his brother was no longer paying him any mind. Kili looked back to his brother with a look that made Fili wonder what had his brother so curious.
“Fi, Bilbo is looking at uncle. What do you think that means?” He asked, though he was sure he already knew by the look on the hobbit’s face. Fili looked to Bilbo who was, in fact, looking at their uncle before turning back to his brother.
“Perhaps he is admiring him?” Fili asked more than stated. Kili gave his brother a “are you serious?” look before shaking his head.
“I don’t think it’s that Fi. I think it’s something more than that.” Kili stated matter of factly. Fili looked to Bilbo once more, much more closely to study his face for a moment and realized with wide eyes what made Kili say what he did. Bilbo had a look that he’s seen on his mother’s face whenever she spoke about his father.
“I think you may be right Ki…”
Kili got up from his spot on the ground and grabbed his brother’s arm, hauling him up as well and with a smiling face he said, “let’s go talk with Bilbo!” Fili allowed his brother to drag him to where the hobbit sat.
Bilbo heard footsteps approaching and looked towards the sound, only to see Kili dragging his brother along by the hand. Once the two brothers made it to him, Kili sat down next to him with a smile.
“Hello Bilbo!” He said enthusiastically while Fili shook his head with a smile and sat himself down next to his brother, giving Bilbo a nod.
Bilbo felt a growing fondness for the young dwarf brothers. They have their mischievous moments of course, but they are truly kind, genuine and strong. They are like two young fauntlings he needed to watch and fuss over.
Goodness…I feel like a mother hen
“Hello boys..” he said with a small smile on his face.
Just as Gandalf and Radagast finished their conversation, the alarming sound of a warg howling ripped through the air. Everyone stopped their conversations and immediately grouped together.
“What was that? A wolf?” Bilbo asked nervously.
“Not wolves, that was a warg.” Bofur answered just as a warg shot through the trees and attacked. Kili shot an arrow and Dwalin brought his axe down on its head.
“Warg scouts! That means there’s an orc pack nearby!” Thorin yelled.
“An orc pack?” Bilbo questioned.
“Who did you tell of this quest besides your kin?” Gandalf asked Thorin.
“No one.”
“Who did you tell?!”
“No one, I swear.”
Everyone was in a panic.
“Enough! Gandalf, what do we do?” Thorin asked, but before Gandalf could respond, the brown wizard chimed in.
“I’ll lead them away from you.” Radagast said confidently.
“These are Gundabad wargs, they will catch you!” Gandalf protested. The brown wizard smirked in response.
“These are Rhosgobel rabbits, I’d like to seem them try.” And with that, the brown wizard hopping onto the sled and took off. Thorin nodded his head at Gandalf before turning to the others.
“Let’s move! Now!” Thorin announced. Everyone gathered their things quickly and followed.
Just as they got to the end of the forest, they waited until the brown wizard rode by, being followed by wargs and the orcs riding them. Once it was clear, they made haste to a tall rock. Bilbo was having a hard time carrying his things due to his aching shoulder, but did his best to ignore it, finally reaching the tall rock where everyone else was waiting.
“Bilbo!” One of the dwarves, Bofur, whisper yelled and pushed the hobbit against the wall of the rock. Bilbo looked over to him to protest how that had hurt, but saw Bofur use his eyes to tell him to look up. As he looked to where the dwarf told him to, he suddenly felt his heart stop for a moment. Above them, stood a warg with its orc rider. Apparently, one of the scouts hadn’t followed the brown wizard like the others had. The warg was sniffing the air carefully for them and slowly walking forward. Just as it got closer to Bilbo and Bofur, an arrow was shot into the warg’s face causing it to yelp. Another was shot at the orc scout just as it blew a horn, killing him instantly. The warg didn’t even get a chance to retaliate as Gloin brought his weapon down on to its head, killing it in one blow.
Gloin pulled his weapon from the dead warg and walked looked at Bofur and Bilbo.
“You two alright?” He asked. Bofur nodded his head and Bilbo quickly did the same while thanking him.
“Y-yes. Thank you.”
“Be ready!” Thorin yelled out.
Everyone pulled their weapons out and got into position. Bilbo nervously unsheathed his sword which was glowing blue and with shaky hands, held it in a similar manner.
Chaos ensued as the other scouts entered the open valley. Kili was releasing arrow after arrow at the wargs and their riders, while Ori was pelting them with rocks. Gloin, Bifur, Bombur, Nori, Dori, Oin, Balin and Dwalin were bringing their weapons down hard onto the heads of wargs. Fili, Gandalf and Thorin were slaying the orcs one by one with their swords.
“Just stay by me Master Baggins. I’ll do my best to keep ya safe.” Bofur spoke as he brought his mattock down on to the head of a warg that had charged at them. Bilbo nodded, but was scolding himself. You are a coward! The others are fighting and Bofur is protecting you while you stand here shaking!
Bilbo was scared. How could he not be? He had never been face to face with orcs or wargs, and just like the stories his mother had told him, they were utterly frightening. While Bofur was caught up with another warg that had charged at them, Bilbo dug up some courage and swung his sword at the beast, hitting it in the face. This caused the beast to stop attacking long enough for Bofur to kill it.
“Thanks fer that” the dwarf told him. Bilbo smiled a little and nodded his head. Before he could say anything in return, he saw Fili get hurt by a warg he was fighting. Something in him snapped.
No!
Without thinking twice, he threw himself at the warg just as it was about to attack Fili again, ramming his sword into the roof of its mouth.
“Bilbo!” Fili yelled in panic. Bilbo could smell the beast’s foul breath and feel sharp teeth stabbing him in one of his arms.
I won’t allow you to hurt him!
An axe, Dwalin’s, soon found its place in the warg’s head with an awful cracking sound, the warg fell motionless to the ground. Bilbo released his grip on his sword and stumbled backwards into someone. He turns his head around only to see Fili.
“Bilbo! Are you okay?! What were you thinking?” The young prince said in a raised voice, his hands on the hobbits shoulders. Bilbo flinched and felt a familiar sense of fear at being touched, but did his best to ignore it and hoped that the way he reacted wasn’t noticed.
“I-I saw that you had gotten hurt…and the warg..it was about to attack you again…” he responded to Fili almost breathless. Fili’s face softened at his answer and immediately hugged him. He froze in the embrace and did what he could to will away his fear.
“Thank you Bilbo.” Fili spoke into his ear.
“Y-you’re welcome” he responded in a stutter.
“C’mon lads!” Dwalin yelled to them. Fili released Bilbo from the hug and went to the dead warg to retrieve the small sword.
“Let’s go!” He said to Bilbo, handing the sword to him.
The company had managed to escape the chaos through a cave after a group of elves had shown up.
“Welcome, to the city of Rivendale.” Gandalf spoke once they finally reached the end of the cave. Bilbo looked around as they proceeded on and was in awe. It was more beautiful in person than in the stories his mother had told him about.
“You lead us to a city of elves? Do you think they will bless our quest? They will try to stop us.”
“Yes, but we have questions that need answers.”
After walking the path that lead to the city, they arrived in front of a set of stairs and greeted by a lone elf. The dwarves gathered around in a huddle with weapons ready, while Gandalf only smiled and walked up to the elf and spoke in elvish.
“Lord Elrond is not here.” The elf responded in common. As Gandalf was about to ask for his whereabouts, horses with elves riding them were soon surrounding them. Bilbo was suddenly pulled into the middle of the dwarves as one of the elves removed his helmet, dismounting his horse.
“Gandalf” The elf greeted with a big smile.
“Lord Elrond” Gandalf greeted with a smile in return.
“What can I do for you my old friend?” Lord Elrond asked.
“We seek shelter and rest….”Gandalf responded in common at first and then again in elvish.
Lord Elrond nodded his head, then looked to the group of dwarves huddling around a hobbit. Bilbo could swear he saw a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.
“Thorin, son of Thrain…” he spoke in common before speaking again in elvish.
“Does he offer of us insult?!” Gloin asked, or more growled.
“No, he offered you food” Gandalf said to Gloin in exasperation, shaking his head. That caused everyone to relax. Thorin nodded his head, telling the others to follow.
“This place is so huge!” Ori said excitedly to his brother Dori. Dori nodded in agreement, but had a disgusted look on his face.
They were following an elf who had been tasked with leading them to some rooms they could stay in. Bilbo thanked the elf once they arrived since he knew none of his companions would. The elf nodded his head in thanks and left the room.
Once they all sat their things down on a bed, Oin got to work checking everyone over for wounds and such to which they all protested against. After checking most of them over, he made his way to Bilbo.
“Master Baggins, let me check those wounds of yours.”
Bilbo wanted to run away to avoid being touched, but he knew he couldn’t handle the wounds himself, so he allowed the healer to do what he needed to do. After all, he was beginning to trust his companions as time went on. Oin cleaned the wounds made from the warg’s teeth thoroughly.
“Don’t forget his shoulder Oin” Kili said after some time shad passed. Oin paused for a moment while bandaging the wounds on both arms.
“What about his shoulder?” He asked looking at Kili.
“He was dropped onto his shoulder by one of the trolls.” Kili said as he walked over to them.
Oin made a face as he finished binding the hobbit’s arms. “Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” He questioned.
“S-sorry. T-there didn’t seem to be a good time…” Bilbo answered nervously. He was hoping no one knew about his shoulder. Oin’s expression softened at the look on Bilbo’s face.
“It’s alright laddie. Let me take a look.” Bilbo’s breath got stuck in his throat. Oin noticed the way Bilbo was starting to shake; the look on his face made concern bubbled up in him.
What could that be about? The healer asked himself.
Oin reached for something in his pack, a round tin the size of Bilbo’s palm. “No worries lad, if it’s just a bruise, you can rub some of this ointment on it as soon as you are able by yourself just fine. It will help ease the pain and hasten its healing.” The old dwarf said. Bilbo seemed to relax with this news and reached out to take the tin with shaky hands.
“Th-thank you..” he said quietly. Oin nodded his head and moved on to the next patient. Kili moved to sit in front of Bilbo after Oin had left. He had noticed that something seemed wrong.
“Are you alright Bilbo?” He asked. Bilbo looked up, took a deep breath to calm himself some, and nodded his head.
“J-just not too good with undressing in front of so many people..” he answered, hoping that the partial lie would suffice. It was true he didn’t like undressing in front of others, but he didn’t want to risk them seeing his scar; some of the scarring was close to his shoulder. That would bring out questions I don’t know if I can answer…
Kili didn’t believe that to be the entire truth, but decided it was better not to push it since Bilbo seemed unwilling.
“I wanted to thank you for what you did for Fili.” He said, changing the subject much to Bilbo’s delight. Bilbo took a breath before responding.
“I couldn’t just let him get hurt or worse…” Kili smiled at him softly.
“Still, thank you.” With that, he got up and walked off. Bilbo felt his heart squeeze. He had never been thanked for anything, at least not in many, many years. With a sigh, Bilbo undid the lid to the tin and gently rubbed the contents of it onto his bruised shoulder. Once finished, he closed it back up, placed the tin on his bed and decided to go for a walk before dinner in hopes of calming himself.
Dinner had been eventful. Bilbo mused at the dwarves complaints of there being no meat. Lord Elrond had told Thorin and Gandalf of their swords and while Bilbo had wondered about his own sword, Balin’s words had stopped him from asking.
After dinner, Thorin, Balin, Gandalf and Bilbo talked with Lord Elrond about the map and found that he could read it, but would have to wait a few days for the correct moon cycle to see the secret message. While Thorin seemed to dislike having to stay any longer, Bilbo was happy. Ricendale was a peaceful and calming place. No one here gave him dirty looks or talked bad about him openly. He was at peace for once outside of his home and he rather enjoyed it.
When they rejoined the others, Thorin informed them that they were going to be staying for a few more days, which caused a round of complaints, but everyone settled down soon enough and went about being rowdy like always before bedtime.
Bilbo was sitting alone a ways enjoying the rowdiness of his companions when Fili and Kili and plopped themselves on either side of him. Ori had followed, but sat down much more gracefully.
“Bilbo!” They both said in unison while Ori waved. Bilbo smiled at the them.
“Hello boys, what brings you over here to me?” He asked.
“Ori wanted to ask some questions about hobbits and Kili and I wanted to listen.” Fili answered with a smile. Ori’s face had grown red and he nodded to confirm.
“What would you like to know Ori?” Bilbo asked the rather shy dwarf.
“Do hobbits have ones?” Bilbo tilted his head to the side. Ori asked this question because he has always been curious if other races had something like a one. He finally had a chance to ask someone and Bilbo had become a friend to Ori since meeting him. He grew to like the hobbit even more after the trolls. Bilbo was also always very kind and willing to answer his questions.
“Ones? Can you explain what that is?” He asks curious.
“Ones are our one true love, the other half of us. It’s rare for us to find them though, so when we do, we burn with a love and passion for them that exceeds our love and passion for our chosen craft.” Kili answered. Bilbo nodded in understanding.
“We have something like that, except we call them soulmates.” Ori smiled at the answer, nodding for Bilbo to continue, “At a certain age, hobbits receive a soul mark. A word or sentence that is engraved somewhere on their skin..”
“A word or sentence?” Kili asks.
Bilbo nods his head. “Yes. The word or sentence is what will be said to us when we meet our soulmate. All hobbits will have a soul mark, but if their soulmate is of another race, the soulmate will not have a soul mark.” Bilbo finishes with a sad smile.
The look on Bilbo’s face caused Fili and Kili to look at one another.
“Have you already found yours?” Ori asks.
“No. I have not found mine.” Bilbo answers, his brows furrowing slightly. Bilbo looked to his lap, his right hand lightly hovering over the word engraved on his collar bone. Kili noticed where his hand hovered. That could be where his soul mark is.
“What does your soul mark say?” Fili asked the question that all three of them were thinking.
“You are my treasure” Bilbo spoke the words with a sadness that overwhelmed him. The three dwarves noticed this and looked on at him with concern. “I believe it is getting late, let’s head to bed shall we?” He finished after clearing his throat.
The three of them nodded to Bilbo as he walked away and were left to wonder what made him so sad.