Disclaimer: I don't own The Hobbit characters or plot of the story!
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Night fell over the Hobbiton, lamps flickering in the dark as many of the hobbits were trying to get back to their cosy little houses; a delicious supper waiting for them at their tables and a hot blaze from the fire place to keep their lovely homes warm this evening. Most hobbits spent their evenings roaring with laughter and singing their hearts out while having tankards of ale in The Green Dragon inn.
In Bag End, Belle was preparing dinner for her and Frodo. As she did this, she thought about Gandalf and shook her head. Adventure indeed!! Unknown to her, however, outside on the door the rune mark glowed in the moonlight.
Belle who was freshly washed, with her hair in lose plait and wearing her nightgown and a patchwork dressing gown, could hear the distant sounds of the hobbits having a great booze-up, cheerful laughter and the loud singing coming from The Green Dragon. The sound always made her smile amusingly as she's cooked fish for supper while Frodo finished his bath.
At last the fish were cooked, and, while very carefully holding the handle of the frying pan with one hand and a wooden spoon in the other, Belle placed the two fried fish on each plate with chopped carrots, roast potatoes and a small herb salad. The food was placed on the candle lit kitchen table.
"Frodo!" She called. "Supper's ready!"
An echo of tiny footsteps came running through the hallway and Frodo appeared through the doorway; clean, dry and in nightclothes. He headed straight to his chair. Belle helped tied a napkin around Frodo's neck, before she went to her chair and starts to add the seasonings to the fishes.
Just when Belle dripped the lemon juice all over the fish, the doorbell rang. Belle and Frodo stopped what they are doing and looked down the corridor to the front door.
"Who could that be?" Belle thought strangely, she wasn't expecting any visitors.
"Frodo, stay here." She advised him. "I'll go see who it is." Frodo did as he was told as Belle got up from the kitchen table and cautiously went to the front door.
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She hesitated before opening the door, and there, standing outside, was a fearsome looking dwarf dressed in fur and a travel cloak with with a bristly bushy beard and hair and rune tattoos on his hands and on the bald part of his head, battle scars on his right eyebrow and the bridge of his huge nose.
Belle's eye widened with surprise by this unexpected visitor.
"Dwalin, at your service!" the dwarf said in a deep gruff voice as he bowed to her.
Belle grew flustered and a bit embarrassed that her dressing gown was open and she quickly tied her dressing gown tightly to cover herself up. "Um... Belle Baggins at yours." She replied and curtsy.
Dwalin stepped halfway through the doorway, Belle wasn't sure of having this barbarian dwarf in her home and with Frodo in the kitchen. "Um excuse me, Sir ... do we know each other?" she asked him. He looked at her oddly and answered.
"No." he went into the house while taking off his worn travel cloak, Belle swallowed when she saw that he had two battle axes strapped on his back.
"Which way, Lassie?" He asked her as he searched down the hallway. "Is it down here?"
"Is what down where?"
Dwalin turned to her and simply replied "Supper." And threw his travel cloak to her to hang up, he walked passed her to find the kitchen himself. "He said there'll be food and lots of it." He continued.
"He-he said? ...who said?" Belle asked him, confused about what is strange dwarf was talking about, she noticed that he's heading straight for the kitchen when she realised that her dinner and Frodo are waiting in the kitchen and she rush after the dwarf to stop him.
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Frodo was enjoying his dish when heard some very heavy footsteps coming to towards the kitchen and then he saw a dwarf entering the room, Frodo's eyes widened with astonishment.
"Whoa!" He exclaimed, having only read about dwarves in the books. This dwarf was the first one he had ever actually seen.
The dwarf continued in and saw the small boy sitting at the table looking at him with wide eyes as if he was a giant. He grinned at the little halfling with amusement. "Well hello there laddie." Dwalin chuckled. "Who might ye be?" Frodo stared, flushed slightly.
"I'm Frodo Baggins, pleased to meet you, Master ...?" He held out his hand to the dwarf for a handshake. Dwalin took the tiny hand in a firm grip, being careful not to crush the boy's hand and shake it.
"Dwalin at your service, Master Baggins." Dwalin went round the table to sit in Belle's place where the food was placed and Frodo began to ask him some questions about dwarves and Dwalin grinned at him taking a liking the boy.
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Belle came into the kitchen inhaling sharply at the sight of Dwalin was sitting in her chair and eating her supper. She glanced at Frodo, under disbelief that he would have been scared of the battle worn dwarf, but saw that he wasn't. In fact he was having a cheerful conversation with the dwarf about his life and where he had come from.
"He must have wanted to know about the dwarves he read about in his books." She thought as she sat at the back, watching Dwalin and Frodo enjoying themselves with her supper,
"This is very good. Anymore?" Dwalin asked, his mouth full. Belle thought this dwarf has no manners and nearly missed what he inquires.
"What? Oh yes, yes let's see." She found the freshly baked scones that she and Frodo made early in the day on the window and sneakily took two for her and Frodo, before she placed the plate down in front of her guest. "Here we are, Frodo and I made them this afternoon, help yourself." She said kindly. As soon as the plate hit the table, Dwalin began to wolf down the scones. Belle thought it might be best to explain to the dwarf that there's been a little misunderstanding. "Um excuse me... Sir, there seem to be a little mix-up." Belle tried to explain without upsetting him. "You see the thing is um...it's just that we weren't exactly expecting company." Before she could explain any further however, the doorbell rang again Belle looked up startled and Dwalin gazed up at her.
"That'll be the door." He said matter-of-factly.
"Um... would you excuse me for a moment?" She excused herself "Frodo stay with Mr. Dwalin please while I'll go see who's at the door."
"Yes Auntie Belle." Frodo obeyed and went on asking Dwalin more questions about the dwarves, while his aunt went to open the front door again. Belle sighed before she pulled the door and was baffled at what she saw. Another dwarf standing outside; the dwarf this time was a friendly looking grandfather type, with snow-white hair and long beard that curled separately at each end and he wore deep crimson red robes.
"Balin." He introduced himself. "At your service, Milady." He added and he bowed to her.
"Good Evening." She greeted in puzzlement.
"Yes, yes it is." He said as he looked up at the starlit night sky. "Though I think it may rain later." He continued as he went through the doorway. "Am I late?" Balin asked.
"Late for what, exactly?" Belle questioned him becoming even more puzzled. But Balin didn't answer her; his attention was drawn by the small noise in the living room and saw to his amusement, Dwalin with help from Frodo, who was next to him eating a biscuit, tried to get the rest of biscuits from a glass jar from the mantle of the fireplace.
"Oh ha ha, evening brother." Balin greeted Dwalin. Dwalin looked up with his hand in the opened jar to see his older brother coming forward from the hall way leaving the hobbit lass by the open door. He handed the biscuit jar to Frodo and went to welcome his brother.
"Oh, by my beard!" Dwalin chuckled. "You're shorter and wider than last we met." "Wider, not shorter." Balin claimed as Belle looked out of the door to see if there are any more uninvited guests. "Sharp enough for both of us." he teased and gave a wink. They both laughed and grabbed each other's shoulders as if they about to give a bear hug, Belle came over to them quietly and Frodo looked at them with awe.
And then 'CRACK!'
Both the dwarves head butted each other very hard with a loud thud that made Frodo and Belle jump. But both the dwarves laughed and don't seem to be harmed of what they did.
"Um...doesn't that hurt?" Belle asked nervously.
"Are you both alright?" Frodo asked with concern.
Balin Looked at Belle. "It's our people's way of greeting each other." He explained and gazed down at the young Hobbit with a friendly smile. "No it doesn't hurt us, Laddie because we have very thick skulls."
"Wow!" Frodo exclaim. Dwalin gave the young lad's hair a ruffle with a chuckle.
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Belle couldn't understand why these dwarves are in her house and Frodo being friendly with them and decided to give them an explanation of this mistake.
"Uh, excuse me, gentlemen?" Belle tried to explain to them. "Sorry I hate to interrupt. But I'm not entirely sure you're in the right house."
But they did not even bother to listen to her and ask Frodo if there's a pantry in the house, Frodo guided them to where it is just across from the dining room.
As Dwalin and Balin began looking through the pantry with Frodo standing by the doorway, Belle followed them. "It's not that I don't like visitors." She continued. "I like visitors as much as the next hobbit. But I do like to know them before they come visiting."
Balin and Dwalin were too busy examining blue cheese thinking that it's mouldy.
"The thing is... I don't know either of you." Belle carried on as Dwalin threw the blue cheese over his shoulder and across the room; Belle pulled Frodo out of the cheese's way and looked after it. "Not in the slightest. I don't mean to be blunt." Belle said firmly, "but I have to speak my mind. I'm sorry."
The dwarves stop chattering and turned to look at her as she clear her voice thinking she made her point.
They paused for a moment and then, "Apology accepted." Balin simply said.
Belle was taken back, clearly they haven't listened to a word she said and they carried on talking to each other.
Once again the doorbell rang again, Belle looked in disbelief, and she thought there'd be no more visitors coming to her house. She went back to the door, Frodo following her, Belle opened the door and saw this time not one dwarf but two of them standing outside the door and she gave a whimper.
"Oh no, not more of them!" She thought. The two dwarfs looked young and were good looking; one was blond with his beard in braids and carried many weapons with him. The other who was dark-haired with a stubble beard carried a bow with arrows in his quiver.
"Fíli." The blonde dwarf introduced. "And Kíli." The dark-haired dwarf presented. "At your service." They said together, and it was immediately clear that the two are brothers.
"You must be the lovely Miss Boggins." Kíli declared.
His blunder of saying the wrong surname made Frodo snigger. But Belle didn't find that amusing because she had enough of dwarves for one night.
"Nope!" She erupted with frustration. "You can't come in. You've come to the wrong house!" She tried to shut the door on them, but Kíli stopped it dead and push it back open to stand in the doorway.
"What?! Has it been cancelled?" Kíli asked in uncertainty.
"No one told us." Fíli joined in.
Belle was about to respond to them, but Frodo told them without thinking and before Belle could stop him. "No, Master Dwarf, nothing's been cancelled." This made Belle put her hands to her face in defeat.
"That's a relief." Kíli said to the young hobbit gratefully as he heads into the house with Fíli following his younger brother and turn to Belle. "Be careful with these, love." Fíli advised Belle as he handed her an armful of his fairly sharpened weapons. "I just had them sharpened." The weapons in her arms were heavier then she thought and being careful with them she advised Frodo not to go near them or he'd cut himself. Kíli was looking round the house inspecting its surroundings.
"It's nice, this place." Kíli complemented. "Did you do it yourself?" Belle had her head turned halfway to answer him.
"What? Oh no, it's been in the family for years." Belle explained with an armful of weapons that Fíli kept piling up from different places on his person. Frodo remained careful as he helped his aunt by carrying the smallest of the weapons.
Belle noticed a scrapping sound and turned to see Kíli wiping his muddy boots carelessly on her mother's glory-box making her gasp in horror of how this idiot could do such a thing to her mother's box of precious things. "Hey!" She scolded at Kíli with a tone to make him jump. "That's my mother's glory-box! Can you please not do that?" This made Kíli stop what he's doing by that Mother's cross tone that made him a bit scared and he immediately obey her command.
Dwalin came into the hallway a few moments later.
"Fíli, Kíli come on, give us a hand."
"Mr. Dwalin." The boys greeted him and Balin as they entered the dining room with Belle and Frodo following them with weapons in their arms, Balin carefully took the little weapons from Frodo so there'd be no danger of injury on the poor lad. Frodo was grateful because they were getting heavy for him. "Shove this in the hallway." Balin instructed to Dwalin, Fíli and Kíli as they moved the furniture. "Otherwise we'll never get everyone in."
Belle was horrified by Balin unexpectedly mentions 'everyone'. No surely not more of them were coming to her house at this time of night?
"'Everyone'?" Belle asked in alarm of having more dwarves in her peaceful home. "How many more are there?" Just after she asked this question, the doorbell rang for the fourth time and this was the last straw for Belle Baggins, as she looked down the hallway to the door, she just had about enough of this poppycock.
"Oh no. No, no, there nobody home!" She called out to the door in frustration, with Frodo following her at her heels as she headed to it and she recklessly threw down the weapons in the corner, picking up a frying pan on the way to make these intruders leave. "Go away and bother somebody else! There's far too many dwarves in my dining room as it is!"
She and Frodo almost at the front door once again. "If this is some Clot-head's idea of a joke?!" She continued and laughed sarcastically as she reached the door; Frodo stepped back from his aunt, never having seen her losing her temper like this before and was a little bit nervous of her.
"I can only say; it is in very poor taste!" As she opened the door, with a frying pan in her hand up and ready, a bundle of eight dwarves tumbled over through the doorway and into a jumbled pile on the floor. Frodo and Belle were dumbfounded by these many dwarves that are having trouble untangling themselves.
Their eyes were now drawn to another figure behind the dwarves; a very tall figure bent down to the level of the door and they saw who it is.
"MR. GANDALF!" Frodo cried out happily of seeing the wizard again, climbed over the pile of dwarves and leaped to hug Gandalf, Gandalf laughed merrily as he caught Frodo just in time and gave the little fellow a hug in return, before his gaze rested upon his aunt who, in contrast, did not seem happy.
"Gandalf." Belle groaned, who now understood who was behind of the dwarves coming to her house.
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Why have Dwarves come to her home?
Find out in the next chapter...
With thanks to yinyangswings for proof reading my work, until next chapter Ta-ra!