HOME | DD

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

Bilbo watched you closely over the next few days of travel, you had insisted he keep your extra cloak after the rain, stating that it was slightly too short for you anyways and the color, a rich forest green, suited him better.

It seemed you had a good relationship with each of the dwarves and even Thorin seemed to view you with some respect, but you preferred the company of Fili and Kili, as you enjoyed their enthusiasm and playful attitudes, and Balin, who was always willing to lend a listening ear, tell a tale of old, or offer some advice.

Now that didn’t mean you ignored the others. Dwalin often asked you to spar and, though you always refused, you would gladly referee for anyone else who wanted to practice, when you weren’t stealing his hat, Bofur taught you to carve small gears to make little moving toys, and you often helped Bombur with the food, chatting away about what spices went with what.

The thing that surprised Bilbo was that you spent a good amount of time with him. At first you would pull him into what ever fun you were having or invite him to join your thoughtful conversations with others and then one day you found him on the edge of camp looking out over the rolling green hills and plopped down next to him.

You followed his gaze for a moment and then gave him a shy grin, “Tell me, Bilbo, what was it like growing up in Bag End?”

He was surprised by your question and thought maybe you were playfully teasing him as you often did but when he searched your face there was genuine curiosity radiating from your eternally intelligent eyes. You listened with childlike interest as he spoke of his childhood, giggling at his jokes and funny memories and nodding seriously at the darker ones.

He meant to ask you about your own youth but Fili and Kili had other ideas, bounding over to pull you up and whisper in your ear, you grinned widely and then feigned seriousness, “I very much appreciate you sharing with me, Bilbo, but I’m afraid there is something of the upmost importance I must attend to.”

This turned out to be drawing a series of designs in ink on a sleeping Dwalin’s bald head. Bilbo couldn’t help but smile as you exchanged gleeful looks with the two young dwarves upon finishing your work, soft chuckles resounding from approving dwarves and head shakes from those who thought your antics childish but knew they kept the mood on the road light.

Balin laughed lightly as you gracefully settled in next to him, “Your handiwork may have improved his appearance child but I doubt he will be happy when he wakes.”

You puffed out your cheeks, “As long as no one tells him it could be days before he figures it out.”

Balin nodded in agreement before gesturing to a snickering Fili and Kili, “True but I believe those two will give it away long before then.”

You chuckled, “Perhaps but should that happen the blame will be squarely placed on their own shoulders.”

Balin raised a questioning eyebrow at you and you lifted your hands to show him that your fingers were completely clean unlike those of the dwarf brothers, which where covered in incriminating ink.

Balin grinned, “Clever girl. You never cease to surprise me.”

You flashed him your customary grin, “One does not spend as much time as I have with Gandalf and not learn a trick or two.”

Bilbo moved towards the fire and you waved him over, patting the place next to you, so he joined you and Balin in a serious conversation about the applications of some medicinal herb or other. Bilbo listened intently, adding in information when he could, he was well read after all, but his attention often wandered elsewhere, to you.

You were a difficult individual to pin down, one minute you were innocent and curious, then playful and devious, and then completely serious, your intellect almost over powering. You could bounce from cheerful and playful to deadly serious and back quicker than he could blink. He couldn’t make sense of it and finally concluded that it was part of what made you who you are and in the end you always knew what type of behavior the situation called for.

After that day it became common for one of you to seek out the other just to chat or to come up with some activity to entertain yourselves on the long road. It wasn’t really any different than the friendships you had with any of the dwarves and certainly couldn’t compare to your relationship with Gandalf, but it was something all the same and he enjoyed it. It allowed him to discover more about you.

You never talked directly about your past but if he asked you would gladly tell him of your adventures with Gandalf and the things you had seen and you were always eager to show him new things, from a plant that captured it pray with a net-like appendage to the curious shape of a particular cloud. He shared things with you as well, offering up his memories and tales from his books that you seemed to enjoy just as much as they intrigued you. You were quick to sweep him into a hug when happy or to playfully tease him to bring his spirits up when down and while at first the familiarity had made him a little uncomfortable he had grown to accept it, to enjoy it even.

It was a good friendship he decided one afternoon as he watched you chatting away with Gandalf about something he would likely never understand, a wide grin plastered across your face. A good friendship indeed.