Snow and the 13 dwarves

Chapter 3: The Gathering

(Sarah's POV)

A day later, just as I had predicted, we returned to Bilbo's house. The night before, we had dinner at the Green Dragon. I laughed at the hobbits singing their drinking songs, and I couldn't help but attempt to hum along with their tunes of merrymaking. Politely refusing the ale offered to my, I happily ate the hot meal before me and asked about where we would sleep. "Our party is to meet us at Mr. Baggins' estate tomorrow afternoon," he said, "therefore, we must camp on the boundaries of Hobbiton. If you wish to sleep elsewhere, the Green Dragon serves as a temporary substitute, should you have any money." Since I didn't have any, I expressed my contentment for the outdoors by sticking with him. Considering the circumstances, he was very nice to me.It was a warm night, so I wouldn't have to worry about the cold. He built a fire, and I lay gazing at its dancing flames until I at last fell asleep.

The next morning, I awoke and wondered where I was before remembering how I'd gotten here. "Oh. Right," I said, slowly getting up and stretching. As I brushed the dirt off of my clothes, I saw a beetle crawling up my leg. In my state of panic, I stood up and hurriedly brushed it off, all the while expressing my dislike for it. Turning around, I thankfully saw that Gandalf wasn't there to see it. Then I realized that he wasn't there.

I began to look, calling his name and hoping he hadn't abandoned me. At last, he came out of the bushes with a pile of cloth in his hand. "Ah, I see you are awake. Well that is good. We have people to meet and matters to discuss with the others. That includes your fate amongst the group. But here." He stopped, handing me the cloth. I unraveled it, and realized there was a coat and pair of smelly pants. "What are these? Oh. Thanks," I said, shaking them out, "Where did you get them?" "It is not worth discussing," he replied, taking the pants in his hand, "But they will prove useful to year once the conditions of the road become harder to bear. I believe  that since the daylight is on our side, it would be best to wash these and set them out to dry." "Yeah, you're right," I said, grimacing at the dark brown trousers and trying not to think of who'd worn them.

Making our way towards the nearest source of water, I plunged them underwater and tried scrubbing them with a bar of soap given to me by Gandalf. With a bit of a struggle, I washed them until I thought they were clean and proceeded to hang them on a branch to dry.

As I waited, Gandalf asked me again as to how I had gotten here. "I dunno," I replied, "Honestly. I was riding my bike, and then someone hit me with their car, I guess." "Bike? Car? I have no understanding of what those words mean." "Well," I tried to explain what they were before saying, "It's hard to explain, but I think I hit my head. It's my fault for not wearing a helmet."

For the rest of the day, we discussed possible explanations as to how I could've gotten here, but in the end we just settled it was by chance I'd arrived in Hobbiton. When the sun began to set, we started to make our journey back to the Baggins estate. Surprisingly, as we walked down the dirt road, I realized that I wasn't homesick yet. Sure I was concerned as to why I had appeared here, and I didn't like that I wasn't prepared, but I couldn't help feel excited. Probably because I had been wanting to get away for the longest time.

Walking down the road, we saw three dwarves ahead walking in the same direction as us.  "Ah I see they've already begun to arrive," said Gandalf, quickening his pace.  Thinking back onto the book, I asked, "That's Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur, right?"  I could tell the last one was Bombur without a doubt because if his plump shape.  "Correct," Gandalf replied, and we hurried to catch up with them.

A few minutes later, we reached Bilbo's front door.  The mark was shining a faint blue in the twilight, and I couldn't help but stare.  "Oooh that's really cool," I whispered to myself, tilting my head to get a better look.  The dwarves must have heard me because they turned around, looked me up and down, and before I could say anything they turned back around as if they didn't really care.  Wellokthen, I thought to myself with a snort.  Bofur rang the door bell.  Ding-dong-a-ling-dang, it rang, shining brightly in the light of a lantern.  I heard a commotion coming from the hobbit hole, and soon guessed there were dwarves already accommodating it.  I heard Bilbo weakly shout, "Go away! There's nobody home!" over the ruckus of the dwarves that were already inside. "Aw poor Bilbo," I said quietly, pitying the hobbit.  I also didn't like it when things happened unexpectedly.