My Unexpected Journey

A Starry Night

I felt my head, it was pounding in pain creating the worst head ache I've ever had. My eyes opened when I heard murmurs. It was night time, I looked around and saw Bilbo and Dori perched on the ground.

"She's awake look!" Dori pointed and Bilbo rushed over to me, I was lying down on my back.

"Are you alright? Do you need anything-" Bilbo said.

"No!" I said rejecting his sympathy, I was still angry at him, I wasn't sure if he was angry at me still.

"What?" He asked in a defying tone.

"I don't want to talk to you right now Bilbo," I said turning my back to him.

"And why is that?" He asked.

"Dori why are we sitting here, and where is that Orc," I said still with my back turned.

"Well because you hit your head on a rock, and we've been on the look out and we've come to the conclusion that he retreated," he said.

"You tripped over a-" Bilbo started.

"Dori what did I trip over," I felt kind of bad for giving Bilbo the cold shoulder, I admit that I'm being harsh.

"A root," Dori said.

"YN can you-" Bilbo said.

I got up without saying anything to him, and starting walking toward the river, I wanted to be alone.

"Bilbo..." I heard Dori say.

"What did I do!" He said.

I sat on a boulder close to the water, and rubbed my head. I kept playing back what he said to me, when he said I was selfish.

I heard footsteps behind but didn't bother to turn around.

It was Bilbo and he tried to sit next to me, but I said, "There's another rock over there."

"Um okay," he said and sat where I pointed.

"YN," he started but I didn't look at him, "YN!"

I rolled my eyes and looked his way. Before he could speak I said, "Do you know why I made the decision to leave the group? Because I was scared Bilbo!"

"I was scared that you were going to-"
He had a sad look on his face while he listened to me.

"I was scared that you were going to die, and so I couldn't standbys okay," I felt tears in my eyes but no drops fell.

"I guess it was really stupid of me to turn that way, I lost control of the horse and I could go the other way, so I had no choice," he explained.

"And then when you called me selfish, that hurt me," I said angrily.

Bilbo swallowed hard and looked down.

"I'm sorry those weren't the right words, it's just that when I saw that you were with us, all I could think was that you were jeopardizing your own life," he looked up, "and that you weren't thinking about yourself! The right words is selfless, and I'm sorry."

I took a deep breath and did not let any tears stroll down.

"It's okay," I said, and changed my body language.

"I didn't want you to have to lose your life when trying to save mine," he added.

"But that's what friends do!" Also known as love, I thought in my head, but couldn't say it out loud. Why couldn't I?

"I understand, thank you, thank you," he said and got up to sit next me. I could tell he meant what he said, Bilbo always did.

I put my head on his shoulder feeling more relaxed and no longer angry, but also because my head hurt still.

He looked at me, surprised that my head was on his shoulder. He cleared his throat nervously, and fidgeted a little.

I looked at the stars, how could you not want to gaze up at a sky like this.

"Why are the stars so bright here?" I said.

We were both silent and looked up at the sky together and admired the stars once again. I thought back to last night when we both could not sleep. But this felt more heavenly, with my head on his shoulder.

"Because you are here," Bilbo said.

"Huh?" I asked.

"You belong here YN . . . you belong on Middle Earth. The way you handled the situation with orcs was amazing, you are leader,"

He was still gazing at the sky but I was gazing up at him as he spoke.

"I was just using common sense, and I'm not that special, not anymore special than I was on Earth," I said.

"That wasn't common sense YN! You are special, don't minimize yourself," he said and looked down at me.

His eyes looked intent, I saw the river's reflection in them, but it didn't get lost in the color's blueness.

Then he looked back up and paused, almost looking to the night sky for his next words. And he continued to speak.

"This world has had something missing until you came. The sky has never been this bright before, and that is why the stars are so bright," he said, my head stopped hurting.

"They could not have gotten brighter maybe it's because of that magic portal," I said, those weren't the words I wanted to say though, I wanted to say thank you.

"No. It's not Middle Earth that has gotten brighter YN," he said.

"Oh," I said disappointedly.

"It is my world that has gotten brighter, my life, ever since I met you," he said passionately.

I felt like crying, he made me feel so special, my heart was beating so fast. Was this a confession?

"Bilbo," I said softly.

He stopped looking up at the sky and turned his head to me and looked deeply into my eyes, deeper than ever, it almost felt like we were communicating. My head was still on his shoulder.

"Bilbo . . . I am not afraid of love anymore," I said.

"Good, because I think I have found it," he said while swiftly and seamlessly lifting my chin up so his lips could kiss mine.

I wish I could live in this moment forever.