The Shire's Deadly Flower

The Final Breakfast

When I awoke, it was not yet dawn. I shrugged off the blanket on my shoulders and quickly got dressed. I dragged my bag out into the front hall and ran to retrieve my daggers, bow, and quiver. All the dwarves were still asleep as I made my way to the kitchen to see all the breakfast orders that were left. I came upon a stack of papers that read:

Dwalin-

4 Sausages

5 slices of Bacon

1 Large Potato

Scrambled Eggs

Balin-

3 Large Seed Cakes

Blueberries

4 Slices of Bacon

Fili-

All the bacon

Baked Apples

All the sausage

Kili-

Twice the amount of whatever my brother's having

I flicked through the rest of the papers. All the Dwarves wanted similar meals. I brought out everything from a pantry that the dwarves hadn't ventured into and began frying up bacon and sausage. Sticky buns went into the oven. Fairly soon the smell lured a few dwarves into the dining room. Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, and Nori appeared sniffing and licking their lips.

"That smells delicious, lass!" Bofur tried to sneak a slice of bacon out of the pan, but I smacked his hand. I hugged him and turned to the other dwarves.

"I have sticky buns in the oven right now. Let's move the table into the living room so we can see the sunrise."

"Bombur, Dwalin, help us carry the table into the living room!

"I'm coming laddie, hold your horses!"

By this time Dori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Fili, and Kili had emerged from their rooms followed by Balin.

"Fili, Kili, before you have breakfast I want you to clean up the mess you made in the bathroom last night. Don't just shove everything to one side."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Will do." They trotted off and Balin came up to me.

"Good morning, lass. The food smells delicious."

I gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Thank you! I think the sticky buns and the hot cakes should be out of the oven soon. I have eggs on the stove if you'd like some."

"That'd be delightful. Could I have a cup of tea as well?" Balin pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Of course! On the way back I'll check on how the boys are doing with cleaning up the bathroom. Oh, that's them now! Boys, I hope you actually cleaned up that mess you made."

"When I walked past, they had just barely started." it was not the boys.

"Thorin, I'm glad to see you up. Sit down. We have sausage, bacon, seed cakes, fruit, ham, baked apples, hot cakes, bread and jam, and I think we also have potatoes and some honey and butter for the bread if you don't want jam. Here's a plate and some silverware. We also have eggs."

Thorin quietly thanked me, took the plate, loaded it up with food, and sat down. Fili and Kili waltzed in and sat down. They then began fighting loudly over the bacon.

"I suggest that you put half that bacon back. That is unless you want to face the wrath of Dwalin and Balin combined." Fili and Kili's faces paled. Kili sheepishly dropped some on Dwalin's plate. I stood and watched the dwarves eat.

"Are you hungry?" Thorin asked curtly.

"No, not really."

"You need to eat too. Sit. We can't have our burglar collapsing on the road." I obeyed Thorin's command and sat between Fili and Kili with a full plate.

After everyone had finished eating in comfortable silence, I asked if the Dwarves had thought of how to get to the Lonely Mountain. They replied that they had bought ponies in Bywater and that we only needed to pick them up.

"Well, let's clean up and we can go. I think it's nearly six o'clock now. What time will you want to leave?"

"10:00. Or thereabouts." Balin put down his fork and smiled at me.

"Did everyone like their breakfast?"

"Yes. I did." Thorin was looking up from an empty plate. Dwalin, Balin, Fili, and Kili exchanged looks.

"I said everyone Thorin. Not just you." I took out the braids in my hair, retrieved my pack, and slung my bow over my shoulders.

"Let's hurry and clean up. If we do, we can hit the Bywater Market before it gets too busy. We should find everything that we could need." The Dwarves quickly cleaned up and I gently opened the door. I stuck my two daggers into their sheaths under my coat. I breathed in the sweet morning air.

Change and strawberries. Just like the day Gandalf had approached Bilbo and I about this quest. Bilbo was lying curled up in his comfortable bed. I was on the verge of stepping into a new world.

I was getting out of The Shire. Finally.