I ran to the wizard, who seemed happy to see me. "Tanya." He said, while wrapping me in a hug. "I knew you would find your way."
I looked up at him. "I know the way. I'm not a dunce." I stated.
Gandalf's smile didn't disappear, but only seemed to get bigger. "Of course you're not. I never said you were." He replied in his happy mood. "Now let's enjoy ourselves for the time." He says, letting go of me.
'Exactly how much time was he referring to?' I didn't ask out loud, so I got no answer.
Gandalf waddled off with his head low, trying to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling. I tried hard to hide a laugh every time his head did hit the ceiling.
I strode to the dining room where all the dwarves seemed to have gone.
And what could poor Baggins do but complain about the raiding of food. "Put that back. Put that back. Put that back." He kept saying over and over. It confused me why he would say that. Didn't he know guests were coming?
Gandalf held tall a stack of plates, so I went over to help him. "Tanya, could you be a dear and help set the table?" He asks.
I nodded, and took half of his stack. I carefully set the table, not wanting to break anything because the dishes actually looked top quality.
As soon as the dwarves noticed what we were doing, they each took a seat wherever there was a plate.
When my task was done, I went over to Gandalf, who just seemed to be watching the party. I tried to never get involved with a crowd, and large groups of people kind of panicked me. And I had no idea how large the group would be, but I should have guessed by the end goal.
"Hello." I muttered.
Gandalf nodded to me." I am glad you decided to join the Company, Tanya." He said.
I wasn't sure if I was onboard yet though. I nodded in response.
"I just hope I don't disappoint anyone." I said.
Gandalf hmmed at me. "Disappoint? Tanya dear, you are powerful and strong. Believe it or not your father spoke of how all you wanted to do was help people. To use your gifts to save others."
I smiled at that. "I always wanted to be a healer. My sister and I used to tend to others when we were... when we were..." I couldn't finish my sentence. I hadn't spoken of my family in years, and I dared not remember the place.
Gandalf looked down. He wasn't there, but he knew the history. "Well, I am happy you are here." He said.
"Excuse me, Mr. Gandalf?" A friendly looking dwarf came up behind Gandalf. "May I tempt you with a cup of chamomile" he asked, holding a tea-pot.
"Oh no, thank you Dori. A little red wine for me, I think." He responded with a bit of a chuckle.
The dwarf (Dori, I believe) then turned to me. "What about you, lass?"
I nodded sweetly, not minding tea. "Oh why not." I muttered, taking the cup. I didn't want to seem rude after all. "Oh, and it's, Tanya." I added.
"Dori." He replied. He gave me a gracious look before walking away.
I smiled again, and left Gandalf's side to explore through the house, until I found a small armchair to sit in. It wasn't exactly my chair, but it was as close as I was going to get at the moment.
I sipped my tea, contemplating how the house is different from mine, until a loud crash interrupted me. I looked around to see the source, and was met by the two young dwarves from earlier, in a fight.
Of all things they were fighting over a cookie jar.
Once they saw me watching them, they stopped and aproached me.
"Hello again." I waved, trying to act polite. If there's one thing I really didn't need, it's for them to think I was a daemonium of Infernum.
"Evening." The blonde one said.
"I do not believe we weren't properly introduced." The brunette said.
"We just weren't expecting you." The blonde said.
I nodded in agreement.
"It's alright. What are your names?" I asked.
"Fili." The blonde said.
"And Kili." The brunette added.
"At your service." They say in unison, bowing. The act was a bit cute.
"Right, and I'm taking a shot in the dark and saying you're brothers?" I asked.
They both nodded.
"Well then," I put my cup down, and stood. I was only a few inches taller than either of them. "Tanya. At your service, masters, Fili and Kili." I replied bowing.
The boys smiled back at me with friendly eyes. I could tell we would get along.
"Well come on. Supper's being served." Fili said.
He and Kili ran off towards the dining room.
I grinned watching them, before heading to the dining room myself.
Gandalf was in the hallway, doing a head count. I couldn't help but smile when he looked over at me in the count.
One dwarf (lets call him ax-face, for obvious reasons) approached him, and said something in dwarvish.
"Yes, you're quit right, Bifur. We appear to be one dwarf short." Gandalf muttered a bit forlorn.
"He is late, is all. He traveled north to a meeting of our kin. He will come." A dwarf covered in tattoos said while sipping a mug. Right or wrong, I admired this dwarf's naiive sense of hope.
"Mr. Gandalf." Dori, the dwarf from earlier approached him. "A little glass of red wine, as requested." He said handing over the tiny glass to Gandalf. "It's got a fruity bouquet." He added.
I silently observed the time it took for that dwarf to get the drink Gandalf requested earlier.
Gandalf took the wine glass, and downed it in a single sip. Then he looked down disappointed at the empty glass. I couldn't tell whether I should be sympathetically disappointed or understandably laughing.
They all sat around a table, chatting and eating. Gandalf and I as well. I didn't have much knowledge of what I was eating, (because my diet consisted of whatever I hunted) but the food was good.
The dwarf in a silly hat, threw a piece of food to the delightfully plump dwarf all the way across the table, and he caught it in his mouth, so the dwarves all cheered.
Then everyone seemed to be in the mood for a food fight, because that's what happened directly after. A small tomato hit my face, and so I threw a piece of meat in response at random.
It's pandemonium. I giggled while dodging and launching counterattacks with whatever dish is within reach. I was having fun.
I noticed out of the corner if my eye Mr. Baggins watching us in dismay, but I didn't care. I was having a good time.
Then Fili, climbed on the table. "Who wants an ale?" He asks passing mugs around. He kicked food off the table in the process on purpose. I shook my head at him by his abysmal table manners I passed on the offer. I honestly did not like alcohol because the taste was too dreadfully bitter for me to bear; no even mentioning the smell, which was sickening. To each their own though.
I saw mister Baggins in the hallway looking grim and annoyed, and I decided he needed some cheering up. "Greetings again, Mr. Baggins." I said merrily while skipping to him. He nodded, but looked away. I didn't take it personally. He was probably just disgusted by the dwarves' behavior; not that I blamed him or anything.
Later, when the dwarves all seemed to have their fill, they wandered about the house. I did too, but only to watch what everyone else was already doing. I particularly enjoyed watching mister Baggins. For some reason I found it funny how uptight he was about his things, and where everything went.
Speaking of, I spotted a very nice looking pipe, and even though I didn't smoke, I still picked it up to admire it. There was nothing particularly ornamental about the pipe, something about it just sparked my interest. I concealed it behind my back though, and watched mister Baggins run around his house.
The hobbit came around the corner and spied one of his doilies being used as a napkin.
"Excuse me! That is a doily. Not a dishcloth." Baggins fumed, taking said item from the dwarf that had it. He had a funny hat that had the ends sticking out sideways. I decided to call him "Mister Hat."
I really should learn their real names.
"But it's full of holes." Mister Hat complained.
"I'd supposed to look like that. It's crochet." Baggins explained.
"And a wonderful game it is too, if you've got the balls for it." Mister Hat declared. I couldn't help a smile. I like him already.
"Tanya." Gandalf came out of nowhere and stood beside me. "Did you happen to have seen my pipe around here?" He asked.
My breath hitched but I shook my head. "Sorry, I haven't." Then I slipped the concealed pipe into his pocket.
"There it is." I pointed.
Gandalf's saw it an groaned. "Of course the one place I did not look. Thank you." I grinned and nodded to him.
After all that, I went back to watching Baggins mutter to himself again. Gandalf noticed too. "My dear Bilbo, what on earth is the matter?" The wizard asked.
Baggins looked up at the tall wizard, incredulously. "What's the matter? I'm surrounded by dwarves. What are they doing here?" He demanded.
"Oh their quite a merry gathering. Once you get used to them." Gandalf muttered. I nodded, already starting to get used to them.
"I don't want to get used to them!" Baggins declared. "Look at the state of my kitchen. There's mud trot into the carpet. They've pillaged the pantry. I'm not even going to tell you what they've done in the bathroom. They've all but destroyed the plumbing. I don't understand what they're doing in my house!" He said frustrated.
"Excuse me. I'm sorry to interrupt, but what should I do with my plate?" Another friendly looking dwarf asked, holding said plate up.
"Here you go, Ori. Give it to me." Fili walked up, taking it. Then he threw it to Kili, who tossed it into another room entirely.
I went over to follow them because I had heard of the agility of dwarves, and I was curious.
"Excuse me. That's my mother's West Farthing pottery. It's over 100 years old!" Baggins tried to intervene.
Then he noticed dwarves banging his silverware on the table. "And can you please not do that. You'll blunt them." Baggins requested, trying to get them to stop.
I decide to have a little fun. "Ooh. You'd better stop then, boys. He says you'll blunt the knives."
"Blunt the knives, bent the forks"
"Smash the bottles and burn the corks" Fili and Kili sang. Then everyone joined in.
"Chip the glass and crack the plates"
"That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!"
"Cut the cloth, tread the fat"
"Leave the bones on the bedroom mat"
"Pour the milk on the pantry floor"
"Splash the wine on every door!"
"Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl"
"Pound them up with a thumping pole"
"When you're finished if their still whole"
"Send them down the hall to roll"
The dwarf with the silly hat played music on a flute and everyone started to dance as more and more dishes were tossed through the air into the kitchen.
One dwarf took my hand and we start folk dancing along with everyone. I just couldn't suppress a giggle, as it was the most fun I had in a long time.
"That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!"
I clapped and start cheering with everyone while Mr. Baggins shoved his way into the kitchen, and looked in awe at his precious dishes unbroken and in neat stacks. His facial expression made me laugh though.
Then, there was a loud pounding at the front door. Everyone fell silent.
"He is here." Gandalf muttered.