Chapter Text
Bilbo wouldn’t help but feel that it was seriously a shame he had never seen this dwarven market in all his rounds. Despite it being in a small alley with very little natural light, all the jewels and toys and things glittered so beautifully. He figured they must be used to working with little light since their markets must normally be held in the mountains. A true dwarven market must be a spectacular thing to beheld. Bilbo wouldn’t know. He’d never had the courage to go see the dwarves after Thorin died and the dwarves who visited him later had the good sense to never talk about the mountain around him. Perhaps this round he could maybe go and visit the mountains later? Or perhaps not. He would just have to be satisfied with what he saw here and possibly plan to come to this market from now on.
Unfortunately, Thorin didn’t give Bilbo the chance to linger, taking him straight to the blacksmith. “Ardick,” Thorin nodded at a big, burly dwarf with big arms and soot on his face.
“I’ve been expecting you,” said Ardrick, using the towel on his neck to wipe the sweat from his face. “Let me see it.”
Bilbo was a little surprised by how casually Ardrick spoke to Thorin. He hadn’t known many dwarves besides those in his party, but those he did know always spoke about Thorin with such reverence that they would never speak to him so casually. The only way Thorin would allow such disrespect is if Ardrick was part of his inner circle. Bilbo tucked his head to hide the smile he couldn’t quite contain. Thorin must really trust him to actively introduce people of his inner circle. He was never going to do another round without Khuzdul ever again.
Thorin handed his sword to Ardrick who scowled as he looked at it. “It’s not got much left in it,” he said finally. “Maybe a few years. Less if you plan to be using it a lot.”
Bilbo bit his lip. So that was why there had been one year where they had skipped raiding the trolls’ cave and Thorin’s sword had shattered in the goblin tunnel. They had been quickly overrun. Bilbo still sometimes woke to the sound of the dwarves screaming as they were ripped limb from limb on the goblins’ torture devices. He had tried everything he could to save them, but in the end he was pushed from a cliff and this time there was nothing to break his fall.
“I’d like to say I’ll make you a new one, but I don’t have the right material for it. It’d be shoddy at best,” Ardrick was saying.
“It’s fine,” Thorin said, resheathing his sword. “I’ll make it work.” No. He wouldn’t. But Bilbo would make absolutely sure that Thorin would get Orcrist even if he had to enter the goblin hoard himself. “He’s looking for some throwing knives,” Thorin gestured to Bilbo who stepped up immediately.
He felt a bit small against the counter of this blacksmith, like a child peering for some treats in the kitchen, but it was far better than that of the men where he couldn’t even look over it.
“I don’t need much,” Bilbo said. “I could manage with just a few I think.”
“Interesting,” Ardrick said, raising his brow. He ducked under his counter and pulled out a large pouch. “I imagine you’ll be wanting something light weight?”
“That’s right,” Bilbo said. Although, he wasn’t sure what a dwarf would consider lightweight, he knew for a fact that Fili’s knives were heavy in hand to him.
“Try this.” Ardrick pulled out the smallest knife Bilbo had ever seen outside of his homeland and handed it over.
The knife was remarkably well balanced. Bilbo even tested it out by tossing it in the air a couple times. Nothing too crazy of course, since he still needed to retrain his muscles for such tricks, but the knife always landed perfectly within his grasp.
“Didn’t think I’d ever find these ones an owner,” Ardrick said. “Too lightweight for a dwarf’s hand and too small for a human’s”
“Well,” Bilbo said, “they’re perfect for me. How much?”
“I’ve got 10 here,” Ardrick said, dropping the pouch on the counter. “5 silver for the lot.”
“Excuse me?!” Bilbo gasped. He usually spent 10 silver for 3 knives when buying from the men and they weren’t nearly so well made. Ardrick was seriously selling himself short.
Ardrick sighed. “Look. I can’t go any lower. I’ve already given you a discount since you’re a friend of dwarves.
More like friend of the king, Bilbo thought as Ardrick glanced between him and Thorin. “I’m sorry,” Bilbo said quickly. “I was just surprised you would charge so little for such excellent craftsmanship.” Thorin smirked and crossed his arms. Bilbo couldn’t help but feel proud of himself for showing Thorin that he was in fact someone worthy of trust. Maybe this round he would be able to get into Thorin’s inner circle too. “You said there were 10 knives right?” Bilbo pulled out his purse and started counting out coins. “5 silver per knife would be 50 silver.” And he dropped the whole pile on the counter beside the knives.
“Now hold on a minute-“ said Ardrick.
“I apologize,” Bilbo said, quickly taking the knives and backing away so Ardrick couldn’t do anything crazy like try to return any of his money. “I know it’s a lot to carry, but I don’t deal in gold.” In fact, at the beginning of every round he took all of his gold coins to the market to trade for silver. He doesn’t even remember how much gold was in his coin purse and the hobbits could be ripping him off every time, but it was a small price to pay to never have to look at the gold again.