Saving Durin {Hobbit/Thorin}

Chapter 50: Home is where the heart is

"You forget that Phoenicians can travel great lengths in just a few hours," I respond with a grin, which soon mirrors itself on the hobbit's face. "Family will come into your life back in Hobbiton, but have no fear of leaving them, my friend. As long as you love them, you can give them eternal life as well. I have thought all this through, Bilbo, and it's fully workable."

Bilbo falls into another state of silence as we move closer to the voices of the company. And, soon enough, our feet fall to the outside of the doorway where the rest of the company waits. My eyes catch on Thorin, who watches me from a couch, before I pull Bilbo back around the corner so I can get an answer.

"I would like you to decide before we go in there. You are one of the most important people in my life, and I don't want your choice to be swamped in others. This is a private decision between us, and I am giving you my full attention. Whatever you choose, I will love you and take joy in your company, it's just how long that company lasts," I tell him as I push him back into a darkened corner, out of the eyes of the company's vision. Bilbo looks to me, his eyes bounding away from his thoughts, as a smile awakens his face in the darkened hallway.

"I will do it. This journey, I have made connections to others like no other time in my life. I have made friends, alliances, and family. I cannot leave that behind when I leave these lands. So, give me a tear and I will never move from your side," Bilbo says with a large smile. I grin back at him, joy radiating from my every pore, as I think of my future with Thorin and Bilbo at my side. It's a heart-warming notion, to be surrounded by family for eternity, and one that I never want to give up.

"Okay then, my dear Bilbo Baggins. Sit down and tilt your face up at me. Would like the tear in your mouth or eye?" I ask, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the question. Bilbo stutters away at the question, his eyes moving around as if traversing over his choices.

"Eye," he decides before lifting his head up as I directed. Rather than thinking back to the sad times of my life, I reflect upon the great times I've had with Bilbo: meeting him in the Shire, traveling by his side on the ponies, helping him save the company from trolls, laughing with him in Rivendell, leading him away from the Goblin tunnels, fighting with him against Azog, eating beside him at Beorn's, watching him save us in Mirkwood, conversing with him in Laketown, offering him help with Smaug, catching him with the Arkenstone, holding his hand at the council, seeing him alive after the war, listening to his decision to live with me forever. All of these things add up in a single tear that falls from my right eye, down my cleaned cheek, and into the air. It plummets to the earth, like a fallen bird, before hitting home in Bilbo's eye which winces at the contact. Blinking away the feeling, Bilbo stands with discomfort.

"That felt weird," he remarks as his skin begins to glow gold, illuminating the dark hallway about us. Just as Thorin did yesterday, though Bilbo bears no injury, the hobbit's existence is transformed with the entrance of light into his veins. His slightly withered skin and dark circles fade away with the look of a golden glow, making him seem ten years younger. The light fades slightly as he adjusts into his new form, looking at his hands and shrugging his shoulders.

He shines along with me as we move back into the sitting room where the dwarves gather around Thorin and the nephews. Thorin looks up to me, as if innately knowing I have returned to his side, only to smile upon the now glowing Bilbo who holds my left hand. The dwarf king gestures me over with a smile, where he stands in front of a sitted company on a group of couches. I laugh at the lack of space in the room, Gloin sitting on Oin's lap and Bofur laying splayed on the ground. The dwarves look at Bilbo peculiarly, as if questioning whether he now holds the blood of a Phoenix.

"Listen up, you lot!" Thorin yells over there disgruntled sighs and muttering lips. I laugh at the way he treats his family, though I know he doesn't mean to insult them. The dwarf king looks at me with confusion, grabbing my right hand, for Bilbo holds my left. Looking about now, I see my future around me: Bilbo and Thorin by my side, and the company in our presence. I can only hope the other dwarves agree to the prospect of immortality, as it will break my heart to lose even one of them.