Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bella doesn’t know why she expected to be able to live a quiet life. She's never been one to sit quietly. She's always been a person of action—of adventure. From the time she was a wandering Fauntling to the months before she lost her parents, Bella had been more likely to be found up a tree than resting below it.

In the three years since the terrible winter that took her parents, Bella has tried her best, under the new restrictions of her relatives, to be a respectable hobbit. Being wild was fine when her mother was laughing boldly behind her, but under the care of her grandfather—and a veritable bevy of aunts and uncles— a respectable hobbit is what was expected. In her grief, she had complied.

Now, three months since she reached her majority, Belladonna Baggins found that she was more in the habit of being a respectable hobbit than anything else.

So, when a wizard draped in gray robes visited her. She continues pruning the flowers in her father's garden, all the while baffled. She responded as she was supposed to and fled back inside Bag End before the truth could burst from her lips. That she would very much like to come with him.

She ignored the light scratching on the other side of her door and focused on the feeling of the wood at her back. He left and she wondered if even a single pair of her breeches had survived the near purge carried out by her aunts. No, they were all gone. Along with her good silver and the china. They had even taken father's books for all that none of them had any interest in reading.

The same emptiness that had devoured her soul ever since she lost her parents seeps back into her core. She walks through the motions of the rest of her day. Doing what is expected of her, ignoring what must have been a fluke earlier. The day passed with little fanfare.

It's when she's sat at her dining table, ready to eat a meal of food that her aunts insist will increase her fertility, that she's startled from the numbness. The pounding at her door comes again and Bella hustles to answer it, desperately hoping no one is coming to scold her for talking to that man earlier.

Opening the door reveals a bald dwarf, covered in more tattoos and muscles than she's seen.

“Dwalin, at your service.” He rumbles, bowing. The stark baritone of his voice nearly bowls her over and she desperately tries not to blush.

“Belladonna Baggins.” She half mutters as he shoulders his way past her.

“He said there would be food, is it this way.” He grumbles, looking around her smial as he takes off his cloak.

Bella snaps out of her stupor, fighting off the urge to ask why he's here. Who cares! A dwarf is a dwarf is a dwarf. And dwarves surely have stories to tell. She can deal with the consequences later.

She motions towards her dining room and closes the front door. She returns to her table to find him eating her grilled fish. She pauses for a moment before deciding against saying anything. This Dwalin cared little for propriety, her insistence on manners would likely mean little to him.

“Is there anything specific you would prefer?” She asks, leaning against the arch of the pantry. Doing her best to keep the humor from her voice.

“You’ll need a lot more before too long.” He growls.

She opens her mouth to question him when there is another knock on the door. She stares at it for a moment.

“That’ll be the door.” He looks at her from the side of his eye.

She bustles off to the door, leaving the grumpy dwarf to his own devices. Opening the door again, she finds another dwarf with pure white hair.

“Balin, at your service.” He bows.

“Belladonna Baggins. Uhm, at your service?” The last part seems to be a common part of their greetings, so she copies it.

“Have the others arrived?” He asks, seeming more polite than Dwalin.

“Others?” She mumbles to herself.

Balin makes his way in and greets Dwalin. She is partially relieved to see that they know each other, though their smashing their heads together does startle her. They begin speaking between themselves about the setting when she decides it’s better to figure out what's going on.

“Excuse me?” She raises her voice and they both turn to stare at her.

“Yes, Miss Baggins,” Balin responds, his eyes softening in kindness. He feels like the more nurturing of the two.

“Well, I was just wondering…” she trails off.

“Speak up, Lass!” Dwalin snaps, crossing his arms.

“How many people should I be expecting?” She blurts out, clasping her hands desperately in front of her. Their eyes widen before turning to look at her again.

“Were you not expecting us, lass?” Dwalin asks, voice so much kinder than before.

“Well, no.” She admits, looking away from them.

“We cannot impose upon a young lass. Brother, wait outside to stop our kin, I'll find somewhere in town for us to stay the night.” Balin starts planning and instructing Dwalin.

“Oh, no, please stay!” She waves her hands, trying to stop them. “You and your kin are most welcome here, I just might need some help setting up depending on how many are coming.”

“Why did you let me in if you didn't know of our arrival?” Dwalin’s question carries a weight that she doesn’t know what to do with.

“I had hoped to hear stories of your adventures.” She rubs her arm, looking away and ignoring the fact that he had pushed past her rather than been let in.

There's another knock at the door and Bella rushes to answer it before the brothers can stop her.

She finds two younger dwarves before her, a blond and a brunette.

“Fili” the blond starts.

“And Kili” the brunette continues.

“At your service” they finish together, bowing low.

“You must be Master Boggins” Kili grins.

She decides to let the butchering of her name pass and grabs each of them by the wrist, dragging them inside. She brings them over to the older pair of brothers.

“Now, tell me, how many dwarves I am to be expecting?” She levels a strict look at them, having decided the only way to get them to stay is to stealroll them.

“13,” one boy says from behind her to the right.

“Did he not already know that?” The other says, stepping up to her left side.

“13…” she mutter, looking around her home.

“Miss, you don’t need to cater to us.” Balin tries to assure her.

“Right, younglings, there is a table two rooms over, bring it here.” She instructs, pointing them toward her tea room. “Dwalin, there are chairs in there as well. Balin, come look at the food with me.”

“Miss Baggins, Gandalf told us that you were expecting us.” Balin pleads, seeming to be the only one who still thinks that they would leave her smial tonight.

She sends him the brightest smile she's given anyone in years as another knock comes from the door. Raising her skirts slightly and running to the door; Bella ducks under the table, carried by Fili and Kili, and spins around Dwalin with a chair in each hand.

She unlatches the circular door only to nimbly hop out of the way of a pile of dwarves as they fall in. She pauses for a moment to take them all in. She has to stifle a giggle at their moaning and groaning. Behind them, the man, from this morning, bends down to peak in through her door.

“You lot are going to get me in trouble.” She chuckles. “If you want anything to eat, I recommend getting up and helping the others get everything together.”

The man in the back raises an eyebrow at her. She turns on her heel and heads back inside to get a keg from the cellar, she has a feeling this group is going to go through the four she already has up in her pantry. She returns to the top of the stairs to find dwarves everywhere.

They move as one chaotic, cohesive, group. The keg is taken from her hands and Bella decides it’s better to stand back and watch them work. As they create chaos, Bella finds herself slightly glad for the first time that her relatives have taken everything of value from her. She cares little for much of what was left and her small secret treasures are safely hidden in her room. They can break as many replacement dishes as they like, it’s all worth it to giggle at their foolishness and know that the joy is real.

As they finally settle in to eat, Bella watches their games and antics. One dwarf, with a hat, tries to offer her a seat at the table, but she smiles and waves him off. The table is crowded enough as it is.

She snags a roll and perched on one of her window sills. She caught a glance of her pantry earlier and has an almost vindictive pleasure in seeing all the specialty food put there by relatives, completely gone.

She notices Gandalf with a small wine glass by her standards and gets up to look for a larger one. After much searching, she pulls out a huge glass that would probably be perfect for the tall man. She returns with the glass full of wine and has only just put it down when one of the young dwarves approaches her to ask what to do with his plate.

Another comes and throws the plate over her shoulder. She twisted to find a different one caught it and threw it in another direction. Soon plates and bowls are flying in every direction.

“Is this a wise idea?” She yells over clattering, a little worried that someone may be hit with a dish as they fly by. Most of them aren't even looking where they're throwing.

Before she knows it they're singing a song about destroying her cutlery and by the end of the song she almost agrees with them, even if just for the fun of it. She finds huge stacks of clean dishes in the kitchen when a pounding comes from the door.

“He is here,” Gandalf says gravely.

“I thought you said 13,” Bella calls over her shoulder as she heads to the door, the group following behind her.

“Aye, 13 dwarrow.” Someone responds.

She pays it no mind and opens the door to the thirteenth dwarf draped in furs. She pauses as his sullen gaze shifts towards her. His eyes are the bluest blue she's ever seen and she feels as though they pierce straight through her soul.

“Belladonna Baggins, may I introduce to you the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield,” Gandalf says from over her shoulder.

Company? What company? Is that what this group is? They are certainly a lively group if nothing else, but to be a company implies a lot of things. A lot of very interesting things.

“Gandalf, I thought you said this place would be easy to find, I lost my way twice. I would not have found it at all if not for the mark on the door.” The silence of the rest of the group allows his low baritone to wash over them.

She steps back to allow him entrance into her home and glances over at her door to find that he's right, there is a mark on her door. That must have been the scratching from earlier. She has to stomp down the vindictive pleasure that comes from the paint job her uncle did already being ruined. While fully ignoring the anxiety that arises at the trouble that is coming her way.

When he is settled with food in front of him and the quest laid out before them, only then does Belladonna realize they mean for her to come with them.

“I can’t.” She says, feeling the numbness wash back over her.

“Why ever not, my dear girl.” Gandalf turns towards her.

“I’m not allowed to.” She mumbles, fighting to keep the tears from her eyes. “My aunts would disown me if I even thought about it.”

“That’s what our mother said, but look at us!” Kili pipes up, drawing Bella’s attention. “We’re here and she still loves us.”

“Right! That’s just the type of things relatives say when they worry.” Fili adds, from beside his brother.

She stares at them for a long moment with a sad smile. How she wishes it were the same.

“They’ve already taken so much of what I had, they'd have no issue taking everything else from me.” She sneers.

“Tell me, Belladonna, what say do these meddling relatives have over your life? If I’m not mistaken, you’ve already reached your majority. Their guardianship over you should no longer be valid.” Gandalf says.

Her eyes widen and she gasps. Raising her eyes to look at the wizard, a smile slowly spreads on her face. A mischievous smile, partially hidden behind his pipe, sits on his face.

She's an adult now.

She reached her majority a whole three months ago. While they are still her family and can offer her guidance, they no longer have the final say over her decisions.

Her smile stretches so wide that it hurts. She can practically feel the tall man beating off the numbness inside her with his stick. She is drawn out of her revelation by Thorin’s voice.

“Tell me, halfling. Sword or axe?” He asks. The look he sends her, makes Bella think that he expects her to say something stupid.

“Sword.” She raises a brow at him. “Although, I am far better with a throwing knife and I prefer the term hobbit.”

She heavily resists the urge to cross her arms. He hums and barks out something in Khuzdul. Her brain just manages to translate the singular word to ‘throw’ when Fili pulls a blade from under his shirt and throws it at her.

The blade is aimed to fly past the side of her head, presumably with the assumption that she wouldn't react in time. Her hand darts out and she grabs the small knife by the handle. She takes a moment to admire the dwarvish patterning before slipping it up her sleeve.

She looks back up to the group to find them staring at her.

“What?” She asks. Wasn’t that what they wanted from her? What was the point of throwing the knife if they didn’t expect her to do something with it?

“Can I have that back?” Fili asks, looking as if he wants to bury his head under the floorboards.

“Shouldn’t have thrown it at me if you wanted it back.” She quips, smirking.

Thorin continues to stare at her. She wonders if he's trying to communicate something purely with his eyes or if he just hopes situations will work out for him if he glowers hard enough at them.

“Balin, give her the contract.” The white-haired dwarf hands over a roll of parchment.

Taking the document, Bella gives it a thorough read-through. She raises a brow at the company while reading through the section about incineration. As she continues reading, Bella feels an arm sling over her shoulder. Glancing up, she finds Kili hanging off of her.

“Well, Master Boggins? Shall you join us?” He sends her a grin.

She glanced over at the company before responding. As heads drop into hands, she figures that misgendering is a common issue for the young dwarf.

“Would someone else like to address this while I keep reading?” She shrugs his arm off her shoulder and makes her way to her sitting room. Dwalin gets out of his seat and pulls the boy in the opposite direction. In her armchair, Bella soon finds herself joined by Gandalf.

“How do you find the contract?” He asks her.

“It looks fine.” She puts the contract down in her lap.

“Then why do you hesitate to sign?” He asks, leaning towards her.

“I know that I am technically an adult now, but how do I break free of them, Gandalf? I don’t even have a pair of breaches.” She drops her head into her hands. “Aunt Mirabell saw them as unladylike.”

“I never known something as little as being unprepared to hold you back from anything, Belladonna Baggins.” His eyes sparkled.

“Gandalf, they took hold of me in my grief and sunk their claws in, turning me into a proper hobbit.” She shakes her head, leaning back. “It’s disgusting.”

“I think you and I both know the best way to dislodge a beast's claws.” He sent her a sly smile.

“Honey” she chuckles.

“A dagger” His voice rumbles with such conviction as if everything in the world can be solved by such simple words.

“And a bit of magic.” She curls her fingers in the air as if grasping her magic.

“Why don’t we rejoin the company and you can sign that contract.” He stands and turns to the archway.

“Gandalf?”

“Yes, my dear girl” He turns back to her.

“Thank you for coming back for me.” She grabs the contract and follows him.

Chapter Text

After most of the dwarves had settled in for the night, Bella finds Thorin by the hearth.

“You said we will be passing through Bree?” She asks, although it’s not really a question. It’s more looking for confirmation of fact.

He hums in affirmation.

“Will I be able to pick up supplies while there or will we need to move on too quickly?” She asks, leaning against the hearth facing him.

“What supplies you don’t have, we will be able to provide.” He tries to assure her.

“I think you are underestimating the lengths my aunts will go to to make sure I don’t act in an improper way.” She smirks ruefully. “Everything from my sword, to my breaches, to my traveling cloak has been stolen and destroyed.”

“You expect to travel with nothing but the clothes on you back?” He asked, incredulous.

“I’ll pack what I can into a day bag but I’ll not travel in skirts longer than I must.” She informs him. “Aside from the cloak and breaches, everything else can be found at a later date or borrowed. I highly doubt a member of your company wants me wearing their clothes, almost as much I doubt any of them fitting me.”

“A sword?” He asks.

“I can make do with smaller knives until I find one of my own.” She slips Fili’s blade out of her sleeve, staring at the metal in the light of the fire. “Are there any odds and ends your company needs to stock up on that I may have?”

“Like what?” He raises a brow at her.

“Soap.” She deadpans.

He turns back to the fire, but she can see the small smile he is trying to hold back. His face grows grim again and it reminds her of the song he sang earlier, standing in the same position as now.

“Do you not want your belongings back from those who have wronged you?” He asks. “You did not deserve to suffer at their hands while drowning in grief.”

“Were you spying on Gandalf and me?” He pointedly stares harder at the fire. She is going to take that as a yes. “While I would very much like my belongings back they are very likely gone by now. They would not risk leaving the temptation near me.”

“But…” he tries to interrupt but she continues.

“Even if they still had my belongings, it would not be worth it to retrieve them.” She confides in him, holding her arms against each other.

“How so?”

“It is much easier to escape an unstoppable force if it does not know you are trying to escape.” She leans toward him slightly, feeling a glint of mischief she has been missing for a good long while. “We should leave early tomorrow. We are the least likely to meet resistance early in the morning.”

“I thought the shire to be a peaceful place, would we be met with violence.” His eyes widen, incredulous.

“All I’m saying is, it is much harder to be dragged off when seated atop a pony.” She informs him. She turns and heads off to her room. “Goodnight”

Thorin stares after her as she retreats, honey gold ringlets disappearing around the bend in the halls.

The next morning the company is woken earlier than expected to a table laden with breakfast. Bella greets them in the closest she can get to travel clothes, her gardening clothes.

“Eat up, gentlemen. Who knows when our next full meal will be.” She informs them.

They dig in, officially emptying out the last of her food reserves.

“Miss Baggins, we brought the ponies down last night. They are tethered outside your gates.” The dwarf with the hat, she is fairly sure his name is Bofur, tells her.

“Excellent, that will make this escape so much more convenient.” She nods.

“Escape? Miss Baggins, what are we escaping from?” The other young dwarf, Ori, asks.

“Ah, I think I can answer that. You see, Master Ori, before we can have Miss Baggins stealing from a dragon for us, we need to steal her away first.” Gandalf informs, cryptically.

“If she is our burglar, why would she need help leaving?” Fíli asks.

“While I may have particular skills that are good for stealing from dragons, unfortunately, they do not work on my aunts.” With that, she turns with her skirts in a flourish to retrieve her day pack.

After ushering the dwarves out of her smial, Bella locks the door and slips the key into her apron pocket. Turning back to the dwarves she ushered them out of the gate before closing it between them.

At the grumbled questions from the dwarves, Bella sent a small smile and a wink before ducking down to her work. She latched the top and bottom latches before wedging a few stones into the bottom of the gate to keep it closed.

Standing up and brushing off her hands, Bella puts one hand on the gate and leaps over the fence, her skirts flying behind her in a most unrespectable way.

“What’s that for, Lass?” Dwalin questions behind her.

“Just a little extra something to frustrate my aunties.” She turns to find her pony, only to find that Dwalin is still standing behind her, looking at her like she’s crazy.

“Couldn’t they just hop the fence like you did?” He asks, slowly as if speaking to a toddler.

“A respectable Baggins lady? Perish the thoughts.” She glances back at the gate with a mischievous smirk. “They are more likely to spend a few hours convincing my gardener, Hamfast, to climb over for them and get it unstuck. And then once they find the door locked, it will be another few hours before they realize, I’m not inside and the key isn’t hidden in the plants.”

She walks off to the pony that Fill is bringing towards her. She has a foot in his hands and is about to hoist herself up onto the beast when Kili interrupts.

“Well, where is the key?” He asks, and she pauses for a moment before continuing up into the Pony’s Saddle.

“In my pocket, of course.” She takes up the reins and guides the pony away, “We should get going before the market opens.”

With that, the rest of the dwarves saddle up and follow her out of Hobbiton. In the early morning stillness, the dwarves don’t notice as hobbits start peeking through their front windows at them. But Bella sees and urges her pony to go all the faster. Nothing good can come of being discovered.

They are almost beyond the edges of Hobbiton when a shriek turns Bella’s blood cold.

“Belladonna Baggins, you get off that pony right now!” Lobelia Bracegirdle demands.

Bella steels herself before stopping her pony and turning to the younger girl.

“Good Morning, Lobelia.” She calls back.

“Don’t you, good morning me, you disgrace of a Baggins.” The other girl scolds her.

“Of which you are not one,” Bella states with false gravitas, she needs this conversation over before that idiot girl can cause some real damage. Although the offended noise Lobelia makes is certainly worth being caught over.

“How dare you try to undo all the hard work your aunties did by galloping off with a bunch of stone munchers.” The dwarves grumble around her at the slur and she decides to finish this.

“And what are you going to do about it?” She challenges.

“I’ll tell your aunties.” Lobelia threatens.

“Go ahead.” Bella challenges again, hoping the girl will fall for it and leave.

“I’ll tell the Thain!” She threatens again and Bella is forced to make a choice. Challenge her again or blow her off.

“Have fun.” Blow her off it is.

Bella turns her Pony around back towards the road and kicks the beast into a trot.

The Dwarrow seem to get the message and kick their ponies into a trot as well. Gandalf follows soon after and kicks his horse into the lead, guiding them out of the town boundaries.

After a few miles they slow down back to a walk and Fili and Kili pull their ponies up beside hers.

“Mister Boggins?” Kills asks.

“Yes, Kili?” She doesn’t even bother to correct him.

“What is a Thain?” He asks.

“It is a position, the Thain is our military leader, although we don’t often need one. He is also responsible for dealing with outsiders.” She explains.

“So, Like a King,” Fili adds.

“No, not like a King.” She responds.

“How is the position passed, is it like a mayor that is elected?” Fili asks.

“No, there is a Mayor in Buckland. The Thainship is a hereditary position.” She continues to explain.
“Like a King,” Kili states as if he has cracked the code to the secrets of the universe.

“No, not like a King.” She attempts to shut them down.

“Why would he care if you left?” Fili asks.

“Well, he’s my grandfather. He and my aunties took guardianship of me when my parents died, though he allowed my aunties to do most of the job because he lives so far away.” She tells them, already not liking where this conversation is going.

“Uncle, I thought we were supposed to steal princesses from dragons, not steal princesses to take to dragons,” Kili calls ahead to Thorin.

“What the hell are you on about?” The older dwarf calls back to the brunet who is apparently his nephew.

“There are four royals on this quest, instead of three,” Fili calls ahead.

“I am not a princess,” Bella yells at the two younglings. “And what do you mean four royals? Who is Royalty?”

The two boys share a look over her head before leaning into her.

“We are.” They say in unison.

“And so it uncle.” Says one.

“Now you are too.” Says the other.

She drops her head into her palms and proceeds to massage her temples.

“Is it too late to turn back?” She asks, not really meaning it.

“Yes!” Shouts Bofur from behind her and she just groans into her pony’s neck as the majority of the company laughs at her misery.

--------

When they make camp that night, Bella finds herself incredibly stiff from a full day on ponyback and thus falls when she tries to get dismounted.

Bofur approaches the pile of sore hobbit on the floor and reaches out a hand.

“You’re going to want to take a lap or two around the clearing before settling down for the night. It’ll help release those muscles.” He tells her as he pulls her up and stabilizes her as she almost falls over again.

She gives him a grim smile and starts slowly walking. After having completed a full circle of the grounds Fili and Kili sidle up to either side of her.

"Uncle told us to take you to go collect firewood." Kili says, grabbing her arm.

"It's also an opportunity to continue stretching your legs if you'd like to think of it that way," Fili adds, grabbing her other arm.

"It seems I have no choice in the matter." She sighs as they drag her off into the tree line.

They wander over to a couple of fallen trees and start picking up branches. They each start stacking sticks under one arm as they grab them with the other one. She moves to join them but when her hand connects with the ground, she senses something far more interesting nearby.

Wandering over, she finds that her senses are correct, there is a small collection of fruit trees.

She has just climbed into an apple tree when she hears a yell from behind her.

"Miss Baggins!" One of the boys calls, probably Fili as he said her name correctly. "Where did you go?"

"Over here!" she yells back.

She can hear them running towards her and settles in on a branch, pulling an apple down to start munching on.

They enter the clearing and desperately look around. When they don't seem to spot her, they move to move on. Bella pulls down another apple and throws it right at Kili's head. Upon impact, both of the Dwarrow have their weapons drawn and are scanning the area for signs of attack.

She can't help the laughter that escapes her at their wary forms.

"I'm up here." She informs them.

Slowly they lower their weapons and make their way over to the tree she is perched in. She tucks in her skirts so that neither boy gets a peek up at her bloomers.

"What are you doing up there Mister Boggins?" Kili asks her, reaching up a hand to rub the back of his head where small chunks of apple still sat in his hair.

"Do you not want some fruit to go with Dinner?" She asks, holding up another apple and tossing it down to Fili.

"That seems like a good idea." Fili raises his brows at her with a small smile.

"We still have the firewood." Kili reminds them, and both of them turn to him, surprised that he is the one reminding them of duty.

"Why don't we take back the wood and then we'll grab a couple of other members of the company to help us grab some fruit," Bella suggests, still from her perch up in the tree.

"Are you going to be able to find this spot again?" Fili asks.

"Of course." She says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Turn around, I'm climbing down"

They both take a few steps away as she starts climbing down.

"What do you mean, of course? Do you have some skill in navigating woods that we don't know about?" Kili says as if trying to solve the most difficult puzzle in the world.

"I'm a hobbit." She says right behind them and they both jump, having not heard her move at all.

"Is that supposed to provide some form of explanation?" Kili asks, genuinely confused.

She takes pity on both of them and decides to show them rather than trying to explain.

"Watch," she tells them and places a hand on the tree beside her.

Her hand faintly starts to glow green against the bark and a branch from the tree bends and lowers down. The very end of the branch curves to her hand and an apple is deposited right into her hand. She looks back up at the boys and finds them both gapping at her.

She hands the apple to Kili and takes her hand off the tree. The branch stays where she left it.

"There's also a patch of mushrooms over there, a small herb garden thirty feet that way, and a patch of tubers next to it," she tells them pointing in the vague directions of the plants. "Now that I think about it, someone has likely been cultivating this little area. I wonder who? Likely some cousin of mine."

She picks up half of the sticks that Kili dropped on the ground at some point and starts heading back to camp.

"There's also a fox den nearby so we should stay together," she calls over her shoulder and hears the boys scrambling after her.

None of them say a word as they make their way back to the camp. Upon entering the camp, they set down the wood with Gloin so he can set up the fire, and then Bella turns back to the boys. They are still standing stunned.

She exchanges a glance with Gandalf before she pokes them in the side. That seems to wake the boy back up and he blurts out:

"Mister Boggins is a tiny wizard." Kili seems to realize what he's said after it's already left his mouth. "Please don't turn me into a toad." He says to Bella.

She can't help it, she bursts out laughing. They have the rest of the company's attention now and it's all she can do to get control of herself.

"I wouldn't turn you into a toad even if I could." She chuckles.

"Gandalf, care to explain." Thorin raised an eyebrow at this whole situation.

"Belladonna is a hobbit just like any other," Gandalf assures them.

"Well, that's not exactly true Gandalf, my gifts have grown much stronger than my peers in recent years." She tells him.

"Stronger than your mother's?" He asks, stroking his beard. She nods and he considers this. "This is very great news indeed."

"Do you intend on informing the rest of us on what exactly is going on?" Dwalin asks, from his position now standing in front of the other dwarves.

"Ah, yes." Gandalf turns back toward the Dwarrow. "Hobbits are all gifted with the abilities to coax and find all manner of plants and animals. Belladonna's mother was exceptionally powerfully gifted and could even speak with animals."

"So, she could reason with the dragon?" Balin asks, with wide eyes.

"Likely yes, but more importantly I have found fresh food to add to our dinner for tonight and need some extra hands to gather it." She claps her hands together, effectively ending the discussion.

With that, she gathers a group of the Dwarrow and drags them back to the clearing she found with several empty burlap sacks. They end up filling them with a mix of herbs, potatoes, and apples.

That night they feast on the haul that Bella had found but all of the Dwarrow are left silently wondering what exactly their burglar is capable of.

Chapter Text

The next morning they have even more questions as they wake to find a fox being used as a pillow under her head with a handful of kits in her arms. Silently, or as silently as Dwarrow can argue, they decide not to question it. It will be a long journey, better not to push for too much information right at the start.

It becomes a regular pattern, Waking up to find Belladonna with some animal or another having come to keep her warm in the night. Soon they make it to Bree and riding through the town of men, find themselves all on high alert.

Bree is a trading post, so the men who live there are used to seeing groups of travelers passing through. What is not common is to see a group of Dwarves traveling with a hobbit, Gandalf having disappeared at some point.

As they pull up to the prancing Pony, Belladonna follows Balin and Gloin inside and up to the bar of the tavern.

"We need lodging for fourteen." Balin informs the man.

"That'll be twenty-eight gold." The man behind the counter tells them.

Balin and Gloin start glumbing some form of argument, likely about price in Khuzdul, she doesn't bother listening but her mind does auto-translate that they are arguing about payment. She step up to the bar and put on her sweetest smile.

"How can I help you, little lady?" The man asks her, doing his best to slump so as to not be towering over her by such a huge margin.

"I'm wondering why these kind dwarves I hired to escort me to Rivindel are being charged so much for a mere four rooms." She pitched her voice up to make it even sweeter, to sound more innocent.

Gloin and Balin are now both staring at her as the barman stutters out a response.

“Well, Dwarves” the Bar man starts to explain.

“Dwarrow.” She interrupts.

“Yes ma’am, dwarrow are known to not be good for their money.” He fumbles.

“Seeing as they are my guards, are you insinuating that I will not pay you?” Belladonna tilts her head, her golden curls spilling over her shoulder.

“No! No ma’am, I just mean…” he tries to defend himself.

“You mean that you were being prejudiced against honest customers.” She asserts, leaving no room for argument.

“Uhm.” He doesn’t seem to know how to respond to that but he flushes and gapes a bit like a fish.

"Here's what we're going to do." Her voice drops down to its normal cadence, but compared to the high lilt of her speech before, it's quite menacing. "You're going to give us the four rooms and they will be rooms that include baths. I will give you twenty silver."

"You're trying to rob me!" He exclaims.

"I am talking." She interrupts him, harsh and without kindness. "You're going to do all this because you wouldn't want the whole of the shire to hear that your establishment is prejudiced against the little folk."

"They would never, hobbits are more reasonable than that." He spits back at her, leaning over bar.

She steps up onto foot rest of one of the chair so as to get more in the barman's face.

"If I were any Bolger or Stoor, you might be right. But for the Baggins of Bag End to say as such means it is practically law. Even more so because of my uncle in the Thain." She gives the man a small smile.

The man pales and Bella knows that she won. She meets his stare without flinching for all that he is twice her size.

"Do we have a deal?" She asks, letting a small victorious smile spread her lips.

"How many nights?" He grits out instead of answering. Bella gives a small smile and steps back down to the ground.

"Just the one" Balin takes over the negotiations again.

"And how will you be paying?" The man asks through his teeth.

Gloin moves to step forward when she places a hand on his arm.

"Charge it to the Baggins Estate." She tells him and both of the dwarves whip their heads towards her. "Place it under the name Belladonna Baggins. Now if you don't mind, I'd like the keys to our rooms so I can take a rest before dinner."

She is back to being all smiles and demure kindness as she takes the keys from the man. She turns from the bar and makes her way toward the stairs leading up to the little folk rooms.

She has just made it to the stairs when Gloin stops her.

"You shouldna paid for our rooms lass, we're supposed to be the ones outfitting you." Gloin informs her.

"There is no world in which I would have stood aside as that man over-charged you for no good reason." Bella informs them, handing over the other three keys to Balin.

"We are used to it, lass." Balin tells her.

"Just because you are used to it, doesn't mean that you should be." She gives him a kind smile. "I'm going to put down my belongings in one of the rooms and then I would appreciate it if someone could come with me to the markets before they close."

With that, she is off, places down her meager belongings in the room at the end of the hallway, and is back down in the main tavern. As she descends the steps, she sees Balin whispering something to Thorin and sighs. This is going to turn into a fight and she doesn't have the energy to truly fight it.

She walks up to the group and can see the uncomfortable looks on the faces of pretty much all the dwarves.

"We do not require your charity, Miss Baggins." Thorin informs her.

"It's not charity, it's about bragging to my aunts that I've escaped. Well, that, and messing with the barman." She smirks. "I mean seriously, 28 gold for four rooms, that's ridiculous."

"We will pay you back for the expense." Balin assured her.

"I'm just going to spend it on outfitting myself properly, so you might as well just give it to whichever of you will be going with me." She gives that sweet innocent look to Thorin that she had been weaponizing against the Bar man.

Balin, having very clearly spotted this and seeing how his king was about to cave, interrupted by handing the small bag of coins over to his brother.

"Make sure the lass has everything she'll need." Balin says to his brother. Dwalin nods in the affirmative before something occurs to him and he glances over at Nori.

"I should probably go as well," Nori interjects.

Bella doesn't know why the thief would see the need to join them but at the nods of approval from the dwarves all around her, she assumes it's some cultural difference or other.

She shrugs and leads the way out of the inn with the two dwarves trailing behind her.

It's only once they are looking at new clothes for Bella that she realizes why Nori came with her. The dwarf seems to have both a comprehensive understanding of Fabric and cuts, but also of what materials she'll need for her monthlies. A topic that Dwalin blatantly walked away from.

While the warrior is not by their sides, Bella raises her eyebrows at Nori. The Dwarf glances down at her and gives a subtle nod. Bella gives no reaction and just continues sorting through the fabric samples she is looking through. Nori is female. That is certainly helpful information to have this early on the quest. However, it does beg the question if any other members of the company are female as well.

She will have to ask what the terms are for female Dwarrow.

Dwalin rejoins them as they leave the clothing shop and takes them to a blacksmith.

They leave with Dwalin frustrated when they can't find a sword the right length or weight for her but she does leave with an extensive collection of daggers and throwing knives. They end up back at the tailor's shop to buy a roll of dark leather, though neither of the dwarves will tell her why they are buying it, and a spool of sturdy thread.

Once back at the inn, Dwalin takes the roll of leather, her knives, and the thread over to Fili. She glances over at Nori as they make their way over to the others at a much slower pace.

She seems to get what Bella wants and leans down till her beard is just barely brushing Bella’s ear and she has to suppress a shiver.

“We’re called Dams.”

“Are there any others?” She mutters back.

“Where’s the fun in telling you?” Nori smirks as she pulls away.

The Dam turns away and starts making her way toward the other Dwarrow.

Bella follows her and joins her on the bench across from where has pulled out a set of tools and is doing something with the supplies that Dwalin handed him. He has some of her knives splayed out on the table and is cutting the leather along a traced line.

“I assume you can tell me why we bought the leather.” Bella props her head up in her hand, watching the young dwarf work.

“I have a unique ability to craft discreet sheaths, especially small ones.” Fili smiles down at his work but doesn’t look up from his tools.

“You’ll never be able to find all the blades hidden on him, even I miss some when he gets a new one.” Kili adds, handing his brother another weird-looking tool and a small hammer.

“I’ll need to measure you and get a look at your new clothes once I’ve made the initial sheaths, but I’ll put a couple of the bigger ones on belt loops for now.” He grabs one of the knives and holds it up to the cut piece of leather.

Bella glances to the side and catches the smug looks that both Nori and Dwalin send her. She turns away from them to watch the blond Dwarf work.

Later after they’ve eaten Bella makes her way back to her room at the end of the hall to find Dori, Nori, and Ori joining her there. By her bag in the corner, lay her new belongings. She is tempted to look through them again but leaves it for the morning. She knows there were multiple things that Nori and Dwalin had picked up without consulting her, but it would just have to wait. The bed was calling her name.

Chapter Text

As the dwarves get ready to leave the next morning, saddling up their ponies and strapping down their new supplies, they realize they’re still missing a few company members. Dori and Ori are down already but Nori and Bella are missing.

“What could that Dam possibly be doing with the hobbit?” Dwalin mutters to Thorin, the other dwarf simply pats him on the shoulder and starts saddling the Hobbit’s pony.

As Thorin finishes with the Tack for Myrtl, the last two members of their company exit the inn. Nori in his usual fair but out from behind him comes a strange hobbit. A male hobbit…

“Nori, you can’t switch out our burglar just because you found one you like better.” Balin jokes, having taken a moment and realized who the hobbit must be.

“Well, suffer. This is Bilbo Baggins. Our new burglar.” Nori pulls the hobbit around himself and shoves him forward, showing him off to the company.

Bella, or rather Bilbo, stood before them in sturdy pants cutting off at his mid calf, just high enough to show off his illustrious foot hair. He wore a flowy off-white shirt that tapered in at his elbows and hugged his forearms. His fall green vest hugged a highly masculine figure, well masculine for a hobbit. The look is completed with a russet red coat and short curls.

“Nori! I thought I told you to outfit our hobbit.” Thorin snapped, looking for the redhead. “Not find a new one.”

“Well, at least we know it works,” Bella says to Nori.

The other Dwarves throw each other sidelong glances as Nori begins to cackle. The Dam throws an arm around Bella’s shoulder and pulls her in close.

“No wonder it works if males are all as dense as this lot.” Nori pushes off of Bilbo and makes her way over to her pony. “If you lot are done staring, I’d like to get on the road.”

Bella makes her way to her pony and raises a brow at where Thorin is still adjusting her tack.

“You can either help me up or get out of my way.” Thorin steps back and Bella takes a moment to stare at the idiot. “Do you really not see it?”

Thorin doesn’t respond and turns back to his pony.

Bella decides to take it as a compliment.

As they set out, Bella somehow ends up between Fili and Kili’s ponies. She is thinking about questioning them when Fili hands something over to her. Taking it, she finds that it’s a sheath.

”It’s for the blade you nabbed from me.” Fili explains as Kiki snickers.

”Shouldn’t have thrown it if you wanted to keep it.” She reminds him.

”That seems to defeat the purpose of a throwing knife.” Kili beams.

”And anyway, who knows how many blades Nori saddled you with. Might as well make sure you have somewhere to store that one as long as you plan to keep it.” Fili smirks.

“We could always devise a competition to seee if Fili can win it back.” Kili suggests with all the enthusiasm of an overexcited puppy.

“That seems a good way to lose more of your blades to my new collection.” Bella swirls Fili’s blade around her fingers. “Be warned, Hobbits are known for their impressive aim and I am a conker champion.”

“What in the world is Conkers?” Kili guides his pony even closer to Bella’s so he can lean far into her personal space.

Bella leans away and find Fili close on her other side. Even in her new male attire, the closeness of the princlings is a bit much. She may be too much of a wild thing for her Aunts’ tastes but she is still her father’s daughter.

“If you get me a rock I’ll show you.” she deflects. With a quick discussion on what size and shape she is looking for, Kili is back on his pony with a handful of projectiles.

By this point they have the entire company’s attention and Bella finds that she is as nervous as she is excited. She has the opportunity to show off but she is also planning to show off. Both sides are too much to process at the moment so she decides to just move forward.

”Fili, take this rock and throw it as hard as you can right at your uncle.” Bella whispers placing a rock in the blond’s hand.

”You must be crazy!” The boy rears back. “He’ll kill me.”

”I didn’t take you for a coward.” Bella taunts.

”Did you take me for someone who wants to live?” Fili objects.

The dwarrow are all glancing at them sideways, likely trying to figure out what Fili is objecting to so hard.

“I’ll do it!” Kili tries to swipe the rock from his brother who quickly snatches it away.

Bella raises a brow at the prince and he sighs, giving in.

Fili lightly tosses the rock in the air a few times before reeling back and throwing it will all his might right at the back of his uncle’s head.

Except his uncle is turning around.

Thorin, having heard the commotion turned to see what they were arguing about, in time to see the rock leave his nephew's hand and hurtle straight at his face.

But then it didn’t hit him.

Something else hurtled through the air and hit the rock off its course within feet of Thorin’s face.

The whole company turns to their burglar, gaping as she throws another rock up and down in the air.

“Dwalin! You see that?” Nori calls out. “That’s why he’s mine and not yours.”

The majority of the company laughs at that as Dwalin grumbles and they continue on their journey. Now with a new found respect for the skills of their burglar.

Chapter Text

They are at camp a few nights later when Fili, Dori, and Nori strip Bella down to skivvies and start measuring her. Behind Fili, Bella spots the pile of her blades in new sheaths. Her single blade stolen from Fili is taken off her and thrown into the pile.

While Dori and Fili are measuring her in every possible direction and arguing in Khuzdul about the fit of the leather and how it will sit under her clothes, Nori just stands between her and the rest of the company and watches.

She realizes at some point that the Dam is likely standing there just to provide another female presence as she is twisted and maneuvered around.

She would find it comforting if she weren’t so busy having random pieces of leather held up to her. Eventually they have her put on her trousers and her bottom most shirt before repeating the whole process.

At that point, Nori sits down nearby and starts sharpening one of Bella’s daggers. It’s a that point that he realizes, Nori had been making sure the rest of the company wasn’t looking at her.

The two measuring her couldn’t be helped, but the rest didn’t need to see her undressed more than they already would on this journey. In all honestly, though her Baggins pride shuttered at it, she had already partially accepted that in the months that they will be on the road together, they are all going to see each other in some states of undress.

In fact, Bella had already seen about half of them shirtless and one particular moment when she had seen Bifur’s bum.

All the same, she appreciated the sentiment.

When she is finally released from the seamstress and the leather worker’s tender care, she sits next to Nori to watch the Dam sharpen her blades.

“Do you have any guesses yet?” Nori asks, turning over the blade to start on the other edge.

“Dori?” She guesses.

“No, but I can see why that would be your first instinct.” Nori hands Bella the blade and she tests the edge, finding it startlingly sharp. “Take another guess.”

“Can you at least tell me how many?” Bella asks, placing the blade back in its sheath.

“2.” Nori says.

“Really?” Bella’s brows shoot up to her hair line. She looks around the clearing, eyes passing over the gathered group. None strike her as particularly feminine. Though to be fair, dressed as she is, neither does she.

Nori nods and moves on to the next dagger.

“Ori?” She guesses, assuming they would travel in family groupings.

Nori nods and she finds that she has no clue who the other could be. Looking around the group, she almost wants to guess Dori again but knows it would be useless.

“I give up. Will you tell me?” She leans back on her hands and starts paying more attention to what she feels there than what Nori says.

“Fine, but know that you lose this game. It’s actually Oin if you believe it or not.” Nori mutters to Bella, trusting her to be able to hear it.

When she gets no response, Nori looks up and finds the rest of the company looking behind her. They all stare slack jawed and Nori dreads what she will see when she turns.

Looking at Bella, she finds the other female staring back too…at a bear.

Bella stands between all of them and the bear standing with its two cubs. The dwarrow as a group are conflicted. Normally a bear wouldn’t have gotten this close, especially with her cubs.

But they’ve seen so many strange animals cuddle up to their burglar that they don’t know whether to raise their weapons to scare off the beast or if she will decide that Bella is one of her cubs and attack them for the slight.

While trying to make up their minds, the bear decides for them. She lumbers up to Bella’s side and curls up around her like so many animals before.

“I guess that means it’s time for bed.” Bella chuckles. The dwarrow nervously chuckle along and decide to keep extra people on watch that night.

Just in case.

————

A few days later, Bella is once again stripping down for Fili and Dori, but this time they are helping her slip on leather straps that crisscross all over her body. They’ve done something to the leather to make it supple against her skin and she is grateful for it.

By the end of it she feels like a porcupine but looks like a regular hobbit gentleman if a bit too pretty.

She spends much of her time in camp that night being prompted to practice pulling her blades as smoothly as possible. She does get quite smooth with it but it’s still annoying to have them all pestering her. At some point she goes to sit next to Thorin just to get the rest to leave her alone.

The solemn dwarf just glances at her and then continues to smoke his pipe. She ends up dozing off next to him when she is startled awake by an orca cry in the night.

She is mostly speaking to herself when she asks aloud if that was an orc. The teasing from the boys and subsequent storming off of her pillow is bad enough before she hears his tragic backstory.

She ends up joining him at the edge of the cliff.

“They’re miles off and not going to bother climbing these cliffs to get to a group as small as ours.” She reminds him.

“That doesn’t make them any less dangerous.” He snaps.

“Which is why we have a watch.” She places a hand on his arm and his gaze snaps to it. “Come on, as comfortable of a pillow as you are, I think we should all get to our bedrolls.”

She gives a jerky nod and she heads back to settle back in her bedroll which had somehow ended up in the spot she she had been dozing against Thorin’s shoulder.

Odd.

————

For a hobbit that is so entrenched in nature, Bella normally loves the rain.

Normally.

But the never ending downpour that they have been subjected to for last week had more than gotten on her nerves.

Her blasted trousers are sticking to her legs. The leather of the sheathes, which once felt so soft, now just chaffee her skin.

She is all around a miserable hobbit.

Even the oil slicked cloak, that Dwalin had bought her when she wasn’t looking, only helped for the first two days.

She was wet. She is tired and she is wet. Those things in combination do not lead to a happy hobbit. She had tried to move the branches in the trees to form a sort of roof above their heads at night, but it only worked so well.

They still woke drenched and shivering. Well…She was shivering. The dwarrow radiated heat and seemed to have no issue on that front. But all of their clothes are so wet that even when she tried to sidle up next to them to steal some warmth, it didn’t really help.

There had been a very kind beaver that had tried to build a dam on top of her but it had only helped so much.

So when Dori asked Gandalf if he could stop the rain, Bella was about ready to strangle the wizards when he refused. She never thought she would be mad that her magic couldn’t do more. But here she is, wishing she could stop the rain.

When the rain finally does stop and Thorin calls the company to a halt near a dilapidated house, she is ecstatic. It takes her longer than she would be willing to admit to notice that Gandalf has stormed off in her urgency to hang up her wet clothes in an effort to have them dry at all.

The Dwarrow around her seem to have the same idea as their camp is soon surrounded by makeshift drying racks covered in clothes. She slip behind some of the billowing clothing to change into her only dry outfit, her gardening dress.

She even hangs up the belts that her blades sit on, hoping that the leather will dry into its supple texture once more. She ends up taking a single blade and slipping it up her bodice in case she finds some plants to add to their dinner.

She makes her way back to the newly built fire and finds herself blushing but not very surprised at the half dressed state of the Dwarrow.

Most of them have even shed their trousers in favor of their slightly dryer Long Johns. All in the group aside from the dams are even shirtless. While Bella does have the very strong urge to ogle their hairy musculature, she is also cold and hungry and would like for those things to change.

She spends until sundown helping Bombur with the stew by the fire and resolutely ignoring the bare skin on show all around her. Eventually she is shooed away from the pot with a bowl in hand and finds herself sitting next to Nori on a damp log.

”Honestly didn’t know you still had that with you.” Nori mumbles into her stew.

”My dress?” Bella raises a brow at the Dam with her now droopy and sopping wet hair.

“It’s safer to dress as a man on the road.” she says in loo of an explanation.

”It’s more comfortable to be dry.” Bella half smiles sardonically.

Nori grunts in ascent and shovels another spoon of stew into her mouth. Bella leans into Nori, stealing some of the Dam’s body heat.

Nori sends a look at the hobbit pressed against her side and while Bella expects to be pushed away, the Dam wraps an arm around her back and rubs some warmth into her side. They share a smile when their attention is drawn by a scuffle on their other side of the camp fire.

On their other side of the fire, Thorin and Dwalin are in some form of scuffle. Dwalin appears to be trying to put Thorin in a headlock for who knows what reason. Bella is less preoccupied with what they are doing and more with what they are putting on display.

Both Dwarrow are shirtless and their muscles bulge in an effort to throw each other around. They have the full attention of all in the clearing.

“Quite a view isn’t it.” Nori whispers in her ear, still with an arm wrapped around her back.

”oh, hush.” Bella scolds, not taking her eyes off the view.

“Which strikes your fancy more? Tall, dark, and broody or tall, dark, and gruff.” Nori chuckles. “I know it’s a tough choice.”

”Which do you prefer?” Bella asks, raising her brows as the Dwarrow shift to something closer to wrestling than their previous tussle.

“Gruff.” Nori answers, nonchalant as anything. “So I hope you pick the other, though I’m not opposed to sharing.”

The smile Nori sends her is rakish.

”I am.” Bella assures, scrunching up her face.

Nori opens her mouth to make fun of the hobbit when a loud crash draws the company's attention. There standing at the edge of the clearing is a troll.

A troll holding Kili upside down by his feet. The troll starts making some threats but all Nori can think about is the little hobbit at her side.

Quick as anything, she shifts her hold on the hobbit and shoves her down to the ground behind the log they’d been sitting on. She is only hopping the Trolls are as stupid as they should be and haven’t seen her yet.

The trolls round up the company, strip them, and shove them in sacks. Nori chances a glance back at her log from her position over a troll’s shoulder and finds the hobbit gone. Looking around, Bella doesn’t appear to be in any of the sacks being dragged through the Forrest.

All she can hope is that her little friend has a plan or at least will come up with one soon

Chapter Text

Thorin can say that he should have seen this coming. Everything has simply been going too smoothly. First the burglar, who is not a dwarf, for some reason agreed to come on this quest. Then they she prevented a child of men from overcharging them.

They’ve faced no enemies on the road and any they have heard have been steadfastly avoided. Their camps at night have actually been relaxing an enjoyable. He even finds himself enjoying the company of the Hobbit, much to his own chargrin.

The rain hadn’t been ideal but weather is going to happen on the road. It’s just part of the bargain of traveling. They had finally gotten a break from the rain and right as they are all beginning to relax and he is enjoying a bit of a spar with his shield brother…

BAM

Trolls.

He shouldn’t be surprised. Of course the first moment that the wizard is no longer with them, something like this happens.

Now he is laying in a pile of half his company all naked except for the burlap sacks they’re trapped in; while the other half is trussed up fully naked on a rotating spit, roasting above a fire.

Overall not their finest moment.

He had hoped at first that Fili had remained uncaptured but he had been face down in the dirt of the clearing they were brought to.

They are on a quest to slay a dragon and retake his homeland and they’re all about to be eaten by trolls.

Not his finest hour.

Merely an hour ago he and Dwalin had been eating and relaxing by the fire when they had spotted the thief with her arm around the burglar. Thorin hadn’t been staring as Dwalin said he was.

He was just observing. Checking on the situation, making sure both of the Dam’s were alright.

Dwalin hadn’t been convicted and had tried to put him in a headlock. That had obviously devolved to the point that they hadn’t even noticed the trolls sneaking up on them.

Thinking about it now.

Where is the burglar?

He didn’t see her in the pile of burlap and she certainly wasn’t naked on the spit.

Not that that would have been any more noticeable than the other with their tonkers out, or in Nori and Ori’s cases, their tits.

Looking at Nori, the thief kept glancing around into the surrounding forest. That is until her eyes locked onto something above him and with every rotation of the spit, her eyes would lock once again with the same spot as she mouthed something.

Thorin tilted his head up and spotted the hobbit on a tree branch almost directly above him. From his position, and the way she was crouched on the branch, he could see straight up her skirt and had to fight the blush rising to his cheeks.

Sons of Durin did not blush from the sight of a Hobbit maid’s bloomers.

He shook his head to clear it and glanced back at her. She had both hands wrapped around the tree and they were glowing a most beautiful green. It lit up her features in the most stunning way.

He had to admit that in his admiration of the glow in her hair, he forgot what such a thing meant until he felt the roots of a tree wrapping around him and dragging him backwards.

Looking around, he found that all of the company still in sacks were similarly being relocated.

Of course, because there is no good in this world, the trolls noticed and started trying to pry them from the roots.

He watched as the hobbit angered and then something bloomed on her face. An expression he doesn’t recognize but a look in her eyes that he does. It’s the same look his sister's sons get when they are about to get into some mischief or other.

For the first time in his life, that look doesn’t inspire dread. It is some mix of awe and a feeling he doesn’t recognize.

The hobbit drops down from her branch and onto the boulder above his head.

”Those do not belong to you.” She says in a voice more fit for an ancient elf or the Valar than for a hobbit maid.

”And what are you?” One of the trolls asks, Thorin doesn’t care to remember which is which.

”I am of the forest, and those are mine.” Her eyes are so wide as she stares at the trolls. If nothing else, she does have their full attention.

”We found them fair and square, that makes them ours.” One of the Trolls shakes its spoon at her. Thorin is more impressed that they’re actually arguing with her, instead of attacking, than he is by the plethora of plant matter that raises up around her. Her skirts swirl around her as if in a twisting wind.

“You are of the mountain, I recommend you return to her.” The hobbit entones. The roots once again wrap around Thorin and he is snatched off into the undergrowth of the forest.

He can no longer see what’s happened but he can still hear the exchange of some form of conversation. Though the trolls are getting louder and louder while their resident hobbit does not.

Thorin spots some of the other Dwarrow around him and struggles alongside them to get free of both the roots and the bags.

They are still struggling when there is a massive boom and the nearby boulder, that the hobbit had been standing on, splits in half.

Soon Gandalf of all people is standing above them and cutting them free of their sacks.

As soon as he is free of his bag, Thorin storms back to the clearing. There he discovers the rest of his Dwarrow slipping their clothes back on.

The spit where they had been roasting is shattered by the cliff face and the fire pit is now overrun by foliage. Where had once stood the trolls, now stood three troll statues. They were frozen in a position as if they were straining against the binds of the plant matter that is still wrapped around their bodies.

Thorin gives the hobbit a long look, one he is forced to cut off when she turns to him and speaks upon spotting him. Remembering his unfortunate state of dress, Thorin storms over to where Dwalin is holding up his breaches.

He takes them and gives the dwarf a good punch in the arms for the smirk he’s giving him. Dwalin merely laughs it off and meanders off to check on his brother.

Thorin is going to kill him one day for this type of stupid shit.

Thorin makes sure each member of the company is checked on and gives a personal check over Fili and Kili before cuffing them upside the head. He’ll find out how they were stupid enough to find trolls later, for now Gandalf is making him come see the troll’s horrible smelling hoard.

———

Bella felt jittery with the amount of energy from the earth that’s running through her. When the Dwarrow had been in danger, she had dug a little too deep into her connection with the ground and found that some of it had come back along the connection to her.

It felt as if every blade of grass or ant on the ground was crying out for her attention. For her love. She is almost grateful when Gandalf interrupts her conversation with a coney to present her with a sword.

She grins at him and informs him that it's an almost perfect replacement except for its lack of sentiment to her parents.

She is so caught up in every sensation of the world around her and the conversations of the plants and animals that she missed the appearance of another wizard. What she does not miss is his giant rabbits.

They have surprisingly deeps voices as they tell her about the horrors of their forest. They ask if she can help with the forest and she tells them she’ll try once she’s done with this quest. It is only by their warning that she notices the wargs that are suddenly in their midst.

Suddenly they are running. To where, she doesn’t know but behind her she suddenly becomes all too aware of the conversation of the orcs and wargs behind her.

Suffice to say, she is not fond of their conversation.

She is suddenly being held against a large rock, taking the moment to catch her breath, she notices Dwalin holding her in place. The large dwarf is looking straight up and Bella follows his gaze.

Above them, the orc on his warg mumbles about dwarf scum and the warg complains about the sun.

She spots Kili about to shoot the warg and reaches out to tilt his bow up. The shot fires straight through the head of the orc and she whips out a glowing hand toward the warg.

”Why bear the weight of an orc when they make you chase through sun lit fields.” She hisses, stepping between the Dwarrow and the warg. “I know a lighter burden you could carry.”

The warg hops down from its ledge, shaking off the now dead orc on its back and nuzzles into her face. She looks back at the dwarrow and finds them stunned with their weapons drawn.

The warg growls at them and she pushes its nose down. She raises her brows at the Dwarrow.

“What are you planning?” Thorin questions lowly, looking at her up through his brows.

“I can’t do much with how fast we’re moving, but I can provide a guard.” She runs a glowing hand over the shoulders of the warg and a harness weaves itself from the grass in the ground. She uses a grip between its shoulders to pull herself onto its back.

”Is this really wise?” Thorin growls.

”We do not have time. We must keep moving.” Gandalf urges, throwing a glance back at her before continuing to lead the company through the fields.

She settles behind the wargs shoulders and ignores the uncomfortable way that the fur rubs against her bare legs. What she wouldn’t give for her trousers now.

The company runs after Gandalf and Bella guides the warg to lope between the pack and the Dwarrow.

The warg asks her if the pack will be mad at her for helping them. Bella assures him that the rest of the pack would also be much happier without the orcs ordering them about.

It’s when they make it to a clearing and Gandalf seems to disappear that the Dwarrow are truly glad for Bella’s weird warg. The thing paces around them snapping at the other wargs when they get too close.

When Gandalf yells for them, Bella dismounts the creature and runs to the cave entrance. She is the last to make it there aside from Kili but refuses to jump into the hole until she has yelled back for the harness wearing warg to run with the pack.

She then jumps in after her Dwarrow followed by Kili. Thorin is the only one left top side to spot the rest of the wargs starting to turn on their orcs and leaving them for dead. All except one orc that managers to escape still on warg back.

Having seen that bizarre string of events, Thorin jumps into the whole in the ground and joins his company as together they head the war horns of the elves.

Chapter Text

Bella is still a bit high on her own magic when she passes through an invisible barrier in the cave. Upon questioning Gandalf, he jokes that he should have known she would be able to feel that.

Bella is just grateful for the calm that washes over her. The magic of this land calms the roiling storm of her magic and lets her think a little clearer.

With that presence of mind, she realizes where they must be, and how unhappy the company is about to be about it.

This is about to be a mess.

———

It’s a mess. She expected the Dwarrow to be the only childish ones. What she didn’t count on was the elves also acting like fauntlings. I mean really, who rides their horses around guests.

They may be armed guests but they are guests all the same.

She is distinctly unimpressed when Elrond starts speaking such kind words in sindarin in such a sinister tone. It comes down to her to settle her dwarrow’s deservedly ruffled feathers. Though the translation does get her a number of suspicious looks from her Dwarrow.

She’ll have none of that and is quick to give them a glare so they know it.

It is only later at dinner that she truly regrets her open translation, when Elrond opens his big fat mouth.

”It has been many a year since I heard of a hobbit powerful enough to unlock the polyglot skills of your line.” He oh so casually mentions, as if that isn’t a massive secret of her species that he just said aloud in a room full of most of the free races.

“Mr. Boggins?” She hears Kili call from across the room and Bella just knows she is about to regret so many of her life decisions.

“Yes Kili?” She grind out, resisting the urge to rub her temples.

”What’s a plogy-ot?” He asks. At this point, Bella isn’t sure if he messes things up like this on purpose or if someone dropped him as a babe. If its the first he’s a genius, if the second…well…not that.

”A Polyglot, Kili. Polyglot.” She sighs. “It’s a part of my magic gifted by the Lady Yavanna to a very select few hobbits, that allows us to understand all the languages of Arda.”

”What do you mean?” He pesters.

”It means that I can speak every language. All of them.” She gives into the urge and cradles her temples between her fingertips.

”What? Like elvish?” Fili asks.

Bella wonders if the brains are a family trait.

“Yes, elvish and, both sindarin and quenya. As well as the language of plants and animals and black speech and any other language you can think of.” She rushes the words, already fed up with the conversation.

“And Khuzdul.” Thorin adds gravely.

Ah.

So the brains don’t run in the family. They boys must have both been dropped.

She stares at him for a long time. He doesn’t look angry, just…blank.

That almost makes it worse. The just blank look on his face.

He pushes away from the table and simply leaves the hall. Bella takes a deep breath and resolves to eat the rest of her dinner even if it is all salad. She does like salad but salad alone is poor showing.

———

She finds Thorin later on a staircase overlooking the garden. He doesn’t look up as she sits beside him, just continues to watch the moon.

“We would not have begrudged you had you told us from the beginning.” He confides.

She turns to look at him, at the total calm of his features. There is something about it that tells her she can tell him the truth.

“Through the history of my people, we have been used and abused by the peoples bigger than us. We have many cautious tales told to our fauntlings of big people who promise friendship and turn on us to take more than we offer of our magic.” She smiles as she tries to prevent the tears that are building in her eyes from falling.

”Do you believe that we would do the same?” Thorin finally looks at her, his brows scrunched together.

”No, but we have tales of Dwarrow doing the same to us.” She mutters.

His eyes widen and his mouth drops open slightly.

”I’m sorry if you’ve been afraid with us.” He whispers, his eyes drop to his hands in his lap.

“No, Thorin!” She grabs his hands and grips them. “I have never feared for my safety with the company. Leaving the Shire with you is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”

“You weren’t even afraid as we were held by trolls and chased by wargs?” Thorin gave the smallest of smiles.

“I wasn’t the one being held down.” She laughed.

As her laughter petered out, Bella realized that she was still holding Thorin’s hands. She watched as his gaze fell to their hands as well. He glanced back up at her and his eyes were more open than she had ever seen them. The dazzling blue sparkled in the moonlight.

His eyes flickered down when she heard talking down on the paths of the garden. She abruptly stands and drags him over to listen. Standing just behind her, they stare at Elrond and Gandalf speaking in Sindarin.

”What are they saying?” He whispers in her ear.

She translates the conversation for him. Their discussion of his quest and Elrond’s doubts. She tells him all that they say even pertaining to his own family and the madness that runs through them.

She has such an urge to comfort him as she tells him but knows he would appreciate much more the accurate portrayal of their words. After Elrond and Gandalf are done from even the range of her sensitive hearing, they stand in silence.

“Would you keep what you have heard to yourself?” He murmurs far too close to her ear.

”I will, but know that their words should hold no sway over you.” She looks over her shoulder at him.

He stares down at her.

”They speak in truth.” His face crumples ever so slightly.

”They speak of history seen from an outside view. They don’t know the personal struggles and they certainly don’t know your mind.” She turns fully to him, all too aware of how close they stand to each other.

”What if they are right?” He murmurs, eyes lidded.

”I promise to you, if you fall, I will drag you back kicking and screaming.” She swears, serious as anything.

He bursts out in a deep laugh that echoes through her and steps back.

”I will hold you to that when we enter the mountain.” He starts to walk away before pausing and looking over his shoulder, waiting for her. She takes a breath and follows him back to the company of their dwarrow.

———

At one of the dinners, Thorin and Balin ask Bella to come with them to read the map. Balin just gives her a knowing look while Thorin stares at her with those intense eyes.

She goes with them.

The amount of posturing in the hour she spent with them is going to be the cause of her headaches for the next week. That and the sheer amount of languages that were being spoken. It seemed that everyone in the meeting had a different language they would use to hide information (or insults) from the group.

As if they could hide from her.

She half expected an Orc to pop out of the brush and start spewing black speech.

She had even felt bad for Thorin when he pleaded with her to read the map instead of Elrond. She had eventually given in but had found that she needed the elf to show her how to find the moon runes anyway, thus showing him the map and the inscription.

So, she tried her best but to little result.

Anyway, they have the meaning of the text and can be on their way. But their departure comes with a warning. Because when could Gandalf just say what he meant.

They were clearly instructed not to leave until after the white council started their meeting. So what did Thorin attempt as soon as they returned to the company’s quarters? He tried to leave immediately.

She had ended up glaring at him, allowing the company to eat some dinner and take a nap before they set out. He had reluctantly complied and refused to admit he was pouting into his dinner.

Dwalin had sat by him with a shit eating grin the whole time. He had laughed harder when Thorin shoved him over.

Bella had rolled her eyes and continued her conversation with Bifur about which flowers tasted best in Rivendell. She didn’t want to admit that she was enjoying being able to talk with the addled dwarf out in the open.

As much as it all scared her, the interactions she had with her Dwarrow since they discovered her…talent had been pleasant.

She had been worried some of them would be hurt by her hiding her understanding of their language. Even when it had come out at the table, some of them had seemed genuinely hurt.

But after she had woken up the morning after her conversation with Thorin, they had all been startlingly pleasant. Gloin had even switched to speaking to her in Khuzdul when an elf had come too close. They had only been talking about their families but he had seemed to find it funny to make sure the elf couldn’t listen in.

Amongst all of the Dwarrow, Bifur was obviously the most excited about her being able to understand him. In the last few days, she learned more about Dwarrow culture than she likely should have. Most of what Bifur told her was the type of thing that her Dwarrow would only speak about in Khuzdul in front of her.

It does make her wonder if Bifur felt like because she could understand their secret language, all the rest of their secrets became fair game. Dori seemed like he was about to blow a gasket the first time he overheard them. They had watched the silver haired dwarf try to tattle on them to Balin, but the advisor had seemed more amused than anything else.

Bella was a little unsure how to approach their new attitude but anytime she felt unsure, she would look over at where Dwalin and Thorin would inevitably be watching the situation and would give her a little nod. The unending smirks from Dwalin and Nori helped too.

That was another thing that seemed to have come from her discussion with Thorin. Nori and Dwalin seemed to be whispering about something in the corner of the room whenever she spoke to Thorin. Thorin would send them an annoyed look and they would whisper with even more fervor. She had only tried to talk to them when they were like this once.

Nori had thrown an arm around her shoulder while Dwalin had crossed him arms and towered over her. She had felt completely boxed in and while they obviously knew she understood them, it's like they were talking in riddles.

They would exchange phrases like “do you think?” And “one way to find out.” And other such nonsense. As they shifted to box her in further she had felt a hand wrap around her bicep and pull her out from between them. She had found herself pressed to Thorin’s side as he glared at the two smug Dwarrow.

In general, it’s been a weird few days.

She eventually lays down to take her nap and is woken by Bofur shaking her awake. They all pack up and start their trek out of Rivendell. As they are going over the final ledge taking them out of the valley, Bella turns back to get a last look at the beautiful architecture that is the valley of Rivendell.

“We need to keep moving.” Thorin tells her, guiding her shoulder back toward the path.

She follows behind and sends him a smile as the moon rises over their path.

Chapter Text

Bella would love to not be here right now. She had told Thorin that they shouldn’t go into the mountains until the morning. The animals had been hiding, ready for a storm. He had somehow managed to convince her that they should continue forward.

By convinced she really means he steam rolled her.

Well now here they are, wet and about to be blown off a cliff. She would tell him I told you so but she honestly couldn’t hear anything over the wind and the rain pelting the side of her head.

She doesn’t know how she had ended up between Dwalin and Nori but when a swift wind blows through and she almost falls off the edge she is grateful for their hands holding her against the wall. She doesn’t hear what Balin and Bofur yell but she does notice when the mountains around her begin to move.

She is going to kill that dwarf if this mountain doesn’t kill her first. She sees a figure take shape from the mountain side.

Is that…a giant person made of rocks.

A rock person.

A person…made of ROCKS!

A small part of her mind does wonder if Dwarrow would worship such a creature. Being made of rocks and all. Would precious metals form in its feet from the pressure of its stomping?

She is getting distracted.

You know, from the whole not dying thing.

She only realizes that they are on the knees of another giant rock person when she sees half the company swing by, still clinging to the rock face. Then she finds herself once again grateful for Dwalin and Nori’s hands clutching onto her as their rock also starts to move.

She would be dizzy from the swinging back and forth if she weren’t so wired from the pure fear of the situation. She tries closing her eyes to calm her racing pulse and let her get a better handle on the situation.

She doesn’t see the approaching ledge or hear the command to jump. All she feels is the tug in her clothes from the Dwarf on either side of her.

Then it's only open space below her and she opens her eyes in time to see the ledge hurting right towards her.

Her pelvis slams right into the edge and she starts slipping back off the cliff.

Faster than she can think, Bella’s hands are glowing and a small weed in a far crevice of the cliff face is the size of a thick vine. The vine hurtles toward her as Bella slips off the edge.

Her hands barely catch on the edge and she desperately grips on the slippery rocks.

The vine has curled around her wrist when Bofur and Ori drop to the edge above her. They try to grab her wrists. She slips and the vine barley tightens in time to hold her a few feet below the ledge. She can feel a slight ache in her shoulder but doesn’t have the time to think about it.

Bella desperately pumps her magic into the vine above her, begging it to stay firm in its hold of her. Simultaneously she mentally reaches out below her, hunting for anything to support her feet. She comes up empty.

Even through the pouring rain, howling wind, and the panic of her friends, Bella can hear all too clearly the creaking of the vine as the internal strands start to break.

She tries to reach up with the other hand to get a grip on the vine, but her movement makes it creak louder. She continues pumping magic into it, reforming the broken bonds.

Just as she fears that it will wither completely from her weight, an arm reaches down and grabs the vine just above her hand.

She is pulled up faster than she can process and lurched away from the ledge. She finds herself tucked under Nori’s chin with the dam’s arms wrapped around her.

Looking back over her shoulder she sees Thorin with the vine still in his hand and Dwalin releasing his braced hold of the King. To the other side, she spots Gloin, Bifur, and Dori holding the vine near the wall. The poor thing is barely connected to the ground. No wonder she was struggling, it barely had anything to grow from to begin with. Now it had basically nothing.

As she breathes heavily, Bella realizes that she couldn’t have been over that ledge for more than a minute. Yet all these Dwarrow had jumped into action to support her. She buries herself farther into Nori’s hold. Ori gloops onto her from the other side and she can see Fili and Kili approaching to do the same when they are called off to find shelter.

They reluctantly move off to do as they’re told.

The boys quickly find a cave and she is shuffled inside. Thorin stomps over with Dwalin right behind him when Oin cuts between them.

”Well laddie, I know somethin’s hurt from the fall. Out with it.” Oin asks quietly, well quietly for Oin which is more like mellow shouting.

It is only with the question that Bella realizes her left shoulder aches something fierce. As her heart rate drops the ache grows into blinding pain.

She whimpers in lieu of a response. All four dwarrow are on her. Trying to move her clothes and running their hands along her. She can see the rest of the company creeping closer.

It’s only when Oin moves her cloak off her shoulders that she cries out fully. He must spot her shoulder because the older dwarf shoves the rest of them away from her.

“Give the lad some space will you?” Oin shouts, even by his own standards. Thorin looks like he wants to protest but Dwalin pulls him a few feet away.

They are still hovering, just…slightly further away.

Nori stays behind her and helps the hard of hearing dwarf to partially undress her. Once they carefully pull off her bag and the top few layers of clothing, Oin hisses at whatever he sees. He looks over her shoulder and must be exchanging a look with Nori because is suddenly being lowered to the ground and settled in Nori’s lap.

Nori throws Bella’s bag to Dwalin.

”Find her something dry.” Nori says as she grips Bella around her other shoulder and her ribs.

Bella tries to question her when Oin shoves a leather belt in her mouth. She isn’t sure whose and she’s not sure she wants to know.

”Your shoulders popped out. I’m going to need to put it back.” Oin tells her, kneeling in front of her. “I won’t lie, it will hurt while it’s happening but it’ll feel better after.”

Bella stares at Oin with wide eyes before they slide over his shoulder to where Dwalin and Thorin stand. Thorin clenches his jaw and gives her a short nod. She looks back to Oin and he must see something in her eyes because he moves to grab her wrist.

Before he starts moving anything, she glances over at her shoulder and sees the utterly wrong shape. Her shoulder is lumpy with knobs poking out in all sorts of odd directions. Where once there was smooth skin, now there is a mess of horrible looking protrusions.

She looks away as Nori’s grip tightens around her, the dam slipping the arm over her shoulder down to lock her free arm against her ribs.

Oin shifts her arm and twists it. Bella bites down on the belt and tries to prevent herself from screaming. He twists her arm further and Bella lets out a high breathy noise.

Out of the corner of her eye, she vaguely registers the stirring of the company. Some turn away while others move toward her as if to prevent her suffering.

Her shoulder finally slips back into its rightful place and she drops her head back against Nori’s shoulder. Nori releases her hold of Bella and smooths back Bella’s still soaking wet hair.

Oin raises a brow at Nori, but the Dam just sneers at him. Not that Bella saw either of them, she was busy pulling the belt out of her mouth with her other arm.

”We’ll need to keep that arm bound for the next week to let your shoulder heal.” Oin tells her, taking the belt from her.

“Let her change into something dry first.” Nori protests, one handed lay signing her words as she speaks.

”Does the lad have any dry clothes?” Oin asks, incredulous.

Bella, having finally felt like she’s caught her breath, smiles breathily at the healer.

”I wrapped a set of clothes in an oil slick in Rivendell. I have no intention of facing trolls unarmed and in a skirt…again.” She grimaces, because though she may have dry clothes, she only has one set of holsters. Those are most definitely soaked and she is not taking the chance of being caught without them.

She learned that lesson.

Dwalin hands over a wrapped parcel, evidently having already gone through her bag. As he shuffles off, Ori joins the other two Dams in undressing Bella. Their bodies adiquelty block the view of the others but she still sees some of them turn away.

They end up having to remove her holsters anyway to get her underclothes changed and then pull the wet leather back on over her now dry clothes. Ori offers to leave them off but she refuses. The feeling is incredibly uncomfortable but at least now she is only vaguely wet instead of soaked to the bone.

She lets the Dwarrow know that she is decent and they start shuffling around to make a dry sad version of their nightly camp.

Nori is drying her hair behind her with the inside of the cloth that had been holding her clothes. She doesn’t see the looks sent at the Dam because she is focusing on Oin strapping her arm to her chest with the belt that had been between her teeth.

What she does notice is Dwalin and Thorin staring at their little huddle with intense eyes. Eventually Dori shuffles over to them and plucks Bella up from their huddle.

He carries her over to where Gloin is settling in and places her down next to him before sitting on her other side. She starts to doze off from the body warmth of the Dwarrow on either side of her, finally fully coming down the whirlwind of adrenaline that has been her day.

As she dozes, she doesn’t see the silent conversations happening in iglishmek. By their reasoning, she can’t understand a silent language if she’s not looking at it.

Some argue that she should sleep by them. Others point out that that is a terrible ideas based off the actions that have been witnessed by the rest.

Either way, Bella is sleeping peacefully.

Until the floor drops out from underneath them and they plummet into more danger.

Chapter Text

Disoriented and on the ground, Bella finds herself cradled by Gloin, of all people..

She is quickly set down as a horrible cacophony of noise approaches them. She tries to get up and remembers that her left arm is bound to her chest.

Looking around she finds them in a weird sort of cage. The tunnel walls around them look more like there were clawed open instead of carved. She manages to get to her feet as a wave of grotesque goblins overtake their group. As they are shuffled forward, shew finds herself pulled into a strong side.

Bella looks up and finds Dwalin holding her as he shoves Goblin off of the both of them.

The whole company is shoved through the halls if one could call them that. They are eventually shoved onto a platform in the center of thousands of gathered goblins with a giant singing one presiding over them.

The Dwarrow subtlety shuffle to place the younger dwarrow and Bella in the middle of their group. Bella finds herself still held into Dwalin’s rib cage with Ori on her other side.

The giant goblin makes his taunts and threats. As Bofur and Oin distract him, Bella watches the movements inside the group.

Nori and Fili reach deep in their clothes to pull out blades and distribute them around the group. She realizes that while her little sword and her belt knives had been taken, the ones under her clothes remained. She followed their lead and pulls out her blades, taking advantage of the…height advantage of the dwarrow to hide her movements.

All the dwarrow have some some small blade when the giant goblin gets fed up with Bofur. He yells for their leader and Bella sees Thorin try to push his way to the front.

Dwalin releases her to grab the King. Bella takes advantage of the commotion to slip to the front of the group. She plants her feet out in front of her Dwarrow as they continue to scuffle.

Peeking behind her shoulder, Thorin seems to be the only one who has spotted where she is. She sees his shock and little else as she turns back to the threat at hand.

“Hello there.” She stares down the giant goblin. Now that she is out in front, it’s even more grotesque to look at.

Although her manners may be much diminished from this journey, she would still never let what she thinks of someone display on her face. Especially when it could very well get her killed.

“And what are you?” The goblin king asks, sitting back on his big throne.

“Don’t you know a hobbit when you see one?” She snarks. She can feel hands trying to pull her back into the group and shrugs them off before they can get a grip.

“A hobbit wouldn’t dare enter these halls.” He declares, hitting his fist against the bone throne.

“Ah, but you brought me and my companions here. I was just passing through.” Bella palms the dagger up her sleeve. “You must have missed my good ancestor, Bullroarer Took.”

The goblin all around them his and jeer at her statement. Bella stares even harder at the creature before her.

Meanwhile the dwarrow behind her are panicking. They don’t understand the significance of her words but it’s making her a target.

Dori and Balin keep trying to snatch her back into the group and it just isn’t working. Thorin is past ready to break out of their group and throw his body between her and the Goblin when Nori slaps a hand over his mouth.

”Look at her hands.” The dam murmurs just loud enough for him to hear.

He does and is mildly startled to see a dagger in one of her palms and a faint green glow in the other. She has certainly proved many times over the course of the journey that she is capable of handling herself but every time she’s in danger, Thorin has the urge to throw himself in front of it before being forced to realize that she’s fine on her own.

Though he can see that she has a plan, it doesn’t make him feel better.

“The Bullroarer’s line has been wiped out!” The giant goblin yells, throwing leaning forward in his chair only to realize that he can’t get up.

”Then what am I?” Bella smirks, tossing a glance over her shoulder at them. Thorin tries to convey his panic through his face but it likely doesn’t work. Dwalin and Dis have always kept him well informed on how shit his facial expressions are.

“What is this?” The great goblin ignores her, more focused on the plants that have fused his skin to his throne.

“A tribute to make my Great Uncle proud.” She spreads her arms out to either side of her in a grand showmanship of her skill. She then pulls back an arm and faster than a blink the knife in her hand is in the eye of the Goblin king.

The goblins all around them are stunned for a moment before they turn to the group of them.

“Tooks 2, goblin kings 0.” Bella holds up her fingers as she proclaims it then ducks down to cover her eyes as a blinding light fills the Cavern.

Suddenly Gandalf is there and yelling at them to run. All Thorin can think of is getting to his little hobbit.

She is there, with the pile of weapons, grinning at him like a loon. He grabs his sword and her shoulder and starts running through the path the wizard is already clearing.

They run and fight and fight and run and Thorin is about ready to collapse when they finally make it outside. They run a length down the mountain before finally stopping to breath.

Somewhere is the running he had lost hold of the hobbit. Looking around, he didn’t spot her anywhere. He whipped around trying to spot her amongst his Dwarrow and is about to start calling out when Gandalf shouts for her and a little arm pops out from the leaves.

“I’m here, just tired.” She puffs, dropping her hand.

He stomps right up to her and must have a death glare on his face because everyone quickly moves out of his way.

”Are you insane?” She shouts down at her. She barely acknowledges him. “You could have gotten yourself killed!”

”I knew Gandalf was coming.” She turns her head to face the setting sun.

“How could you possibly know that?” He is screaming now. He wonders if this is what a mental breakdown feels like.

“The same way that I know” She sits up and pushes herself to her feet. “That a pack of orcs is right behind us.”

They hear a howl and the group is running again. With Bella’s warning, they reach the edge of a cliff before the orcs can get too close.

Thorin notices Bella starting to climb the last tree and is going to go give her a boost when Dwalin grabs her under the arms and throws her up into Nori’s grip. Thorin would be miffed with them if he weren’t just glad she’s off the ground.

They all pile into the tree on the very edge of the cliff and Thorin feels like its a bad choice but the orcs and wargs are already there.

Bella sits comfortably in the tree in Nori’s lap when the wargs come. She is looking through them when she spots one with a harness made of vines. A warg that feels familiar.

As the wargs continue to jump at their tree, Bella sends out feelers with her magic and feels the connection as the harnessed warg looks up at her.

“You know there is better in the world than these orcs.” She whispers into her glowing palm, sending the message along to him. “Tell your friends of the better life they could have, free of the binds of orcs.”

She sits back against Nori and tries to ignore the curious look the Dam sends her. She watches as the Warg throws the Orc from its back and picks it up in it’s maw. She is vaguely horrified when the warg throws the orc over the edge of the cliff but she also doesn’t want to die so she accepts it.

She’s so focused on the wargs that she doesn’t notice the tree starting to tilt and crack.

A pure white warg steps into the crowd with a pale orc on its back.

Bella looks over at Thorin and sees the blank stare headed straight for the Pale Orc. Bella can only think one thing…oh fuck.

Chapter Text

Thorin jumps down from the tree, dropping to the ground in a roll that is far to majestic for their current surroundings.

Her attention is drawn away from the king’s stupidity as the tree beneath them hevaes and pitches to the side. She sends magic through the trunk and returns her attention to the dwarrow that she may be just a little bit fond of.

She almost thinks he’s going to be okay facing off against them alone…until his sword is knocked from his hand and he ends up as a warg’s chew toy.

Not her warg, Petunia is still tearing orcs from the backs of wargs and throwing them off the cliff edge. She is almost worried when one of the other wargs starts fighting back but simply sends a pulse of magic toward the creature and turns back to Thorin.

He’s been thrown from the wargs mouth onto the ground and she expects him to pop up and keep fighting. Thorin always keeps going. With his dry humor and his stubborn anger, nothing so slight as a mawling by a warg could keep him down. But as the moment’s pass, he doesn’t get up.

Bella sees red.

Bella would like to be doing anything other than running down a tree after this idiotic Dwarrow but here she is, running…down a tree.

She would say that is surprised that he’s an idiot but then she would be a liar. Or worse, like Lobelia.

She makes it to the roots of the tree as it stabalizes. She tries to keep her magic pumping toward the roots as she pulls her sword and a dagger out.

She is slashing and stabbing anything that gets near her as she rushes to get over Thorin’s prone body.

She heaves for breath and keeps her blades high as another orc runs at her. The orc screams its battle cry and is wrenched into the air by Petunia, her warg. Its scream echoes into the distance as it too fall over the edge of the cliff.

Petunia stations himself beside Bella, snarling at the white warg bearing the white orc. In the back of her mind, Bella is supremely grateful to be wearing pants this time.

Petunia nudges her side and Bella clambers onto the warg’s back. Petunia surges forward and Bella ducks as Azog swipes at her with his flail. She jabs out her dagger and barely knicks his ribs.

She and Azog continue to exchange blows as the wargs bite and scratch at each other. She hears screams all around her. Her dwarrow are running to join the battle. Azog swings at her another time and she drives one of her thin daggers down between the chains of the flail, embedding it into the neck of the white warg.

After a few moments, the white warg collapses beneath azog. The orc growls and tries to pull his weapon free. He slashes out at her with his sword arm but she pulls on Petunia’s fur, encouraging the warg to back up.

She pulls out a knife, Fili’s knife, and hurls it right at Azog’s heart. The huge bastard flails and it goes right into his good shoulder. Bella aims to throw the neck one into his throat when something massive wrenches her into the air.

Then she’s falling and she can’t help but marvel at the sight of the world in what she assumes will be her last sight of it. Then she hits the back of a giant eagle and understands.

They’ve been saved. Gandalf must have done something.

She turns back to the cliff and her heart breaks as she sees Petunia staring back at her. The warg lets out a mournful howl and Bella turns away, blinking away tears.

Looking down to the eagle instead, Bella offers her thanks.

“You speak the language of eagles.” The great beast rumbles.

“I’m a hobbit.” She simply replies.

The great eagle seems as puzzled by the statement as her Dwarrow often are.

“You can sleep child, I’ll not let you fall.” The eagle assures her.

Finally slipping her arm back into the belt around her torso, Bella sighs in relief and relaxes against the Eagle’s back. The soreness in her shoulder returns to the forefront of her mind and Bella has to resist the urge to groan.

Oin is going to yell at her.

----

When they land, Oin is too busy fussing over Thorin with Gandalf to scold her. She would relish the freedom from the deaf dam but she is doing her best not to also hover over Thorin’s prone form.

Gandalf does something and suddenly Thorin is being pulled to his feet. That seems risky with such new wounds but she puts it aside in favor of focusing on the very angry Thorin baring down on her.

“What do you think you were doing? First with the goblins and then with Azog.” He snarls. “It’s like you’re trying to get yourself killed.”

“We’re safe aren’t we?” she snarks back. She tries to remember that he’s probably still high on adrenaline but the way he’c challenging her reminds her too much of her family and Bella is ready to jump down his throat if he’s planning to do that same to her.

“It’s not about how it ended up. It’s about you constantly going out of your way to give me a heart attack!” He roars.

“I saved your ass. This is a hell of a way to say thank you.” She crosses her arms, putting some space between them as he encroaches further and further into her.

“You want me to thank you for scaring the shit out of me?” He’s shaking and his jaw is so tight, she worries that he’ll break a tooth.

“No, I want you to stop yelling at me for keeping you alive!” She finally yells back. “I want you to stop putting yourself in danger. You think I want to keep pulling this shit? I would love to not be between you and trolls and wargs and goblins and fucking orcs, but you just seem determined to die!”

She heaves and is ready to continue scolding him when she sees his eyes flick down. She can’t help looking down at his lips too. They’re split and it’s all she can do to hold herself back.

“If you…” She’s cut off by his lips slamming against her.

She freezes and feels him start to pull away. She chases him and presses her lips back against his. Sure she has kissed a few boys, and even one lass, behind farmer Maggot’s barn but none of those fumbling exchanges compare to Thorin as he opens his mouth, deepening the kiss.

His arms tighten around her, pulling her closer but making her gasp as her shoulder twinges. He drops her and is checking her for injuries as she blushes scarlett. She eventually gathers herself and swats him away.

“It’s just my shoulder. It wasn’t happy taking on the Goblin king or Azog.” She rubs the joint.

Thorin nods and pulls her close, tucking her under his chin. She is dragged out of his arms by Oin.

“Happy for you lad, or whatever. Now let me see that shoulder.” Oin shouts, running his finger along her shoulder.

It’s then that she spots the other dwarrow watching them with smug smirks. She turns away when she starts seeing bags of coin exchange hands. She isn’t sure how any of them have held on to their ruck sack this long let alone their coin.

Nori puts a finger under her chin, drawing her attention up to the dam. She raises her brows and Bella nods back at her. The Dam gives her a half smile before stepping back to lean against Dwalin’s broad chest.

Bella’s heart twinges looking at the two of them. She decides to think on that later and turns back to Thorin. Oin gives her the all clear and she starts walking back to the Dwarrow, blushing bright again when she spots something over his shoulder.

“Is that?” Bella walks past Thorin.

“Erabor.” the reverence in his voice does something to her. She decides that all of these…things…can be thought of at a later date.

Hopefully when they’re not on a quest to slay a dragon. But as she turn back to Thorin and sees the way his eyes shine as he looks at the mountain. She sees the brightest smile under the sun on his face and she doesn’t think she’ll make it to the mountain without confronting this.

----

Thorin suggests that they make camp that night on top of the Carrack and despite whatever feelings she is dealing with right now, she will not be having this.

“Thorin, we will not be sleeping up here.” She picks up her bag and makes toward the stairs on the edge that Bombur found half an hour ago.

“Bella, no one has slept. If we take the stairs now, we’re too likely to lose someone to the fall.” Thorin pleads, following after her.

“We’ve handled worse falls.” She huffs and glances at the sky. “Besides, I’ll not be up here when that storm rolls in.”

“What storm?” Thorin demands.

“Need I remind you about a very similar conversation that we had before going into the mountains.” She raises her brows and spots the rest of the dwarrow grabbing up their bags.

“There won’t be any stone giants here.” He counters.

“So you want to be hit by storm winds a hundred feet in the air with no protection?” She scrunches her face and looks him up and down.

“We’ll travel best after resting.” He steps close to her. Thorin towers over her and starts to lean in, staring at her lips.

She places two fingers over his lips.

“This’ll not be a discussion you’ll win by distracting me.” She starts descending the frankly massive stairs. “We need shelter.”

She hears him sigh behind her as she struggles to scramble down the steps with one arm incapacitated. As she eases her way down another step, she hears clomping boots hop down beside her. She is swept up in a muscular pair of arms and finds herself perched on Dwalin’s bicep.

Nori steals her bag from her and smirks at the blush that overtakes Bella’s face. She can’t help it. There’s something about the feat of strength that flushes her beyond reason. She is tempted to cover her face with her hands but won’t give Nori the satisfaction.

Where she had been scrambling down the massive steps, and the other dwarrow are carefully lowering themselves, Dwalin is just dropping from one step to the next. It’s a jarring feeling being basically on his shoulder. But being the tallest Dwarrow, Dwalin doens’t seem to be fazed by the massive stones.

Even Nori is nimbly placing a hand down before leaping off each step. Well, step is a strong word at their height, they’re more like tiered platforms spiraling down the massive structure.

She glances back at the other Dwarrow and spots Thorin being forced to sit on each step before lowering himself down slowly. He shoots a glare at Dwalin and looks as if he’s about to attempt the same dissent, but Oin slaps him up the side of the head.

While Fili is helping his uncle down the steps, Kili has started trying to hop off the steps like Nori. The poor lad has ended up in a heap more than once with the Dam simply laughing at him as she continues to descend.

They reach the bottom and find a cave carved a couple feet up in the rock. Bella needs a boost up into it, but finds that it’ll be deep enough to house their group.

It’ll be a little cramped but they’ll just have to live with it. Most of them are family anyway, she’s sure they won’t mind. Probably.

----

Four hours later the whole group is grateful for the hobbit’s badgering as a storm rages outside their shelter. It seems that the same storm they had seen in the mountain, followed them out of it. It would hopefully bypass them soon enough but for now they sat in their small shelter.

Bella had curved the branches of the near by trees to act as a sort of roof extending out over the edge of their cave. A few of the dwarrow had rolled over some boulders to create a shelter around the roof. In the center they had lit a fire, far enough outside the cave that it wouldn’t smoke it up, but close enough to keep them warm.

They munched on what little of their supplies they had left and waited for the wild potatoes to cook. It was times like this when they were all incredibly grateful for Bella’s gifts. Here they are, dry with shelter and food. Food she had found half a mile away.

Out of the rain, Fili and Kili come running with their shirts full of fish. Bella had told them where the river was but asked that they not disturb the herd of deer nearby. They had complied though begrudgingly.

Much later they settle in for the night, bellies full and dry, as the storm rages outside. And if a certain Hobbit sleeps between two of the tallest Dwarrow in the group, no one could blame her. After all, it was a cold night and they would produce plenty of body heat.

Chapter Text

In the relatively dryer morning, Gandalf informs them that they can recuperate at an Ally’s home near by. Bella is generally weary of this so called friend but she would rather have a warm place to sleep tonight than otherwise.

They begin their trudge through the forest. During their walk, Bella listens to the grumbling of the Dwarrow and decides that she is wholly uninterested in that. She also decides that she’ll deal with Thorin’s staring at a later date.

That’s…definitely a later Bella problem.

She focuses on the forest around her. The plants and the animals flourish here. More than in any place since the Shire. The buzz of life from the flora is refreshing in her soul after the disgusting ilk that pervaded them in the mountains.

With Stone Giants, Goblins, and then orcs, Bella is glad of the flourishing nature.

She is pulled from her reverie by a hand guiding her shoulder.

“My dear, why don’t you reach out and see if there’s anything on our tail.” Gandalf murmurs down to her.

“There’s nothing for a league.” She informs him, not bothering to lower her voice at all. “Unless you’re looking for a fox den.”

“Can you look any further?” He asks, raising a brow at her.

Bella huffs and closes her eyes, ignoring the curious glances of the Dwarrow around her.

She reaches out further, allowing her consciousness to move deeper into the ground.

She passes by plants and insects. She skips along rivers and dances through fields. She greets the beasts and looks back to the way they came.

It’s there that she spots them, but also something else.

“They’re a little under three leagues behind us.” She glances at Gandalf out of the corner of her eye. The Dwarrow are gathered around them now, waiting for the verdict with an air of confusion. Most of all she can practically feel Thorin’s eyes drilling into the side of her head.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Gandalf asks, eyeing her in that way he does.

“There’s something else out there. But I feel you already know that.” He doesn’t answer her. “A creature like a bear but not. Huge and intelligent.”

“Ah, yes.” Gandalf turns away from her and continues their walk. “Let us move on. We should not waste day light.”

“Gandalf.” The warning in her tone makes the Dwarrow shift in their places, still gathered around her. “Who is the bear?”

Gandalf pauses and half turns back to her. His eyes dart around the forest, glancing at anything but her unblinking stare.

“He is our host.” He finally admits. “He’s a skin changer named Beorn.”

The Dwarrow start to kick up a fuss but Bella cuts them off.

“Now then, that wasn’t so hard was it?” Bella joins Gandalf at the front of the procession and pats him gently on the arm. She procedeeds ahead, now leading the group on their way to meet this bear.

They step out of the tree line into an open field. In the distance, there’s a house, well more of a cottage. As they march closer to it, Bella relizes that its getting bigger much too quickly.

It’s when she’s realizing how massive the structure is that there is a roar from behind them.

A massive bear bursts out out of the tree line behind them. The Dwarrow around her burst into a run, booking it for the cottage. She is jerked along with them by Thorin grabbing her arm.

The Dwarrow ahead of her starts bouncing off the door to the cottage and Thorin releases her to go help them.

Bella pivots on her back foot and turns to face the quickly approaching bear. She holds her ground and ignores the cries of the Dwarrow behind her. She can hear lighter footsteps quickly approaching her from behind and assumes it’s Nori.

“What exactly are you?” She shouts as the bear closes in.

The bear skids to a halt before her and sniffles at her face, rubbing his nose on her cheeks.

“Do you not know a bear when you see one?” He asks, in the language of beasts.

“I see a bear, but you don’t feel like a bear.” She reaches up to scratch behind his ears. She can feel Nori pressed against her back, winding an arm around her abdomen.

“You have Dwarves with you. I don’t like Dwarves.” The bear grumbles.

“These Dwarrow have been very good to me and you will be nice.” Bella scolds him, as she rubs his nose. “May we intrude on your hospitality?”

“I suppose.” The bear turns it’s head from her and ambles off around the side of the massive cottage.

Bella turns on her heel and pauses to look up at Nori as the Dam stares down at her. Nori has a deep fear in her eyes and Bella decides that its another later Bella problem. For now she is hungry.

She ducks under Nori’s arm and heads toward the rest of the group. The Dwarrow stand stock still scattered between her and the now cracked open door with their weapons held aloft.

“We’ve been given permission to stay.” Bella sends them a glowing smile as she weaves between them. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starved. Hurry up now!”

The Dwarrow grumble as they follow after her, making their way inside the towering wood doors.

----

Dwalin is conflicted as he watches the little Hobbit lass. He’d originally been content to watch his majesty stumble over himself in trying to gain her affections. But as they’d spent more time together on the journey, he’d found his eye drawn to her more and more.

Then Nori had gone and gotten the idea into his head that maybe they could have her too. It would require taking in Thorin too, with how possessive the stinking lump has been over her. Dwalin honestly finds the reaction funny except for the fact that it’s getting in the way.

But then again, it wouldn’t be the first time he had tumbled with his majesty. In their long lives they had sought companionship both in times of desperation and relative peace.

Hell, it wouldn’t even be the first time they had shared a lass. They had shared Nori before and few other brawny soldiers who liked it rough on the battle field. But, the concept of the three of them going after such a little thing at once, had scared him a bit.

Then Nori had gotten it into her head to show him how fierce the little thing could be. He had started to see it. Even started to believe it. Then they had been in the goblin tunnels and it was all he could manage to keep her tucked close to him.

The little thing had killed the goblin king, then yelled at his king, then fought off the deflier with the help of a blasted warg. Though it all, Dwalin finally came to the conclusion that Nori had been guiding him to.

Both the Hobbit Princess and Dwarf King were reckless idiots and if Nori and Him didn’t stay on top of the both of them, they were gonna get themselves fucking killed.

If that meant that he got to stay close to them as part of the deal, who was he to complain.

Now watching the enigma of a fucking Hobbit get carried around by the Bear-turned-man, he’s about ready to have an ayurism. He is forced to choose between holding his King back and attacking the blasted creature himself.

He’d originally been entertained by how enamored the bear was. They’d told the story of her heroic win over the goblin king and the bear had praised her as he should. But then they’d cooked together and gardened together and talked to the animals together and now he was carrying her around on his fucking should and Dwalin was about ready to join Thorin in taking the great bloody beast down.

He had made a plan with Nori to steal Bella from the garden. He and Thorin had put aside their little possessive games to join up with the Dam and go get the Hobbit. Maybe this would be the straw to break the Oliphants back to get through his thick fucking head that they aren’t trying to steal Bella. They’re trying to share her.

They sneak out into the tall plants toward the biggest person in residence and the smallest. Well, sneak is a relative term. Nori is walking quietly in front of them and they’re doing their best to copy the dam’s movements, but by the exasperated looks she’s sending back, they’re only being moderately successful.

They are within hearing range when Nori holds out a hand to stop their progress. They listen into the Shapeshifter’s conversation with their hobbit.

“What if it’s not as strong anymore?” Bellla asks. The Dwarrow exchange a look.

“What do you mean, little Bunny?” Beorn sounds concerned, and if someone that big is worried, it makes Dwalin worried.

“My magic has been so erratic. Every challenge we face it feels as though its rocketing back and forth. Some days its the strongest thing in the world and others I feel as if I’m barely hanging on.” She sounds devastated and it hurts something deep in Dwalin’s heart.

“Little Bunny, you belong in green meadows.” The great bear chuckles.

“What?” She asks. Dwalin reaches out for Thorin’s should to ground himself.

“You expect your green magic to flourish in poisoned land or barren rock. It is just that, green.” Beorn explains.

“But I’ve never put my all into it before and found it lacking. It frightens me.” Bella sounds like she’s on the verge of tears and it takes everything in Dwalin to not rocket out of the greenery to comfort her. Nori continues to hold her arm out, blocking them.

“Your magic is strongest when there are strong roots for it to draw on. But it is not powerless without them. Merely different.” Beorn stands up and the Dwarrow duck down further.

“What do you mean?” Bella stands to follow him, but Beorn motions for her to sit back down.

“If you continue with these Dwarves, you’ll face more lands with shallow roots. The Mirkwood is drenched with poison and the desolation has no roots to speak of. They will draw on you.” Beorn starts to walk back to the cabin. He glances down at them and gives them a look.

“How will I overcome them?” Bella calls after them.

“Grow your own roots.” Beorn says simply before disappearing back into his home.

The dwarrow look back after the tall man and ponder on what that conversation meant.

“You can come out, I know you’re there.” Bella calls over to them. “I could use the company.”

Chapter Text

Nori saunters out of the grass. If they’re going to get anywhere with the hobbit, they’ll need to bold. And seeing as the males are following all over themselves, she’ll have to lead.

Beorn’s pounding steps continue to retreat as she slides down to sit pressed against Bella on the grass. Nori glances over her shoulder as Dwalin and Thorin finally fight their way out of the grass.

They straighten their tunics and move to sit on either side of Bella and Nori, their bodies tilted, creating an arc with their bodies.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Nori leans closer to Bella as the hobbit stares off at the garden.

“How do I plant roots in situations where I barely have time to act?” Bella ponders almost to herself.

“I dinnae think the bear was talkin about plants.” Dwalin crosses his arms, shifting so his knee is touching Nori’s foot.

Bella raises a quizzical brow and Nori resists the urge to snicker at Dwalin’s blush.

“Connection to people.” Thorin rumbles. Awkwardly shuffling closer to Bella’s other side.

Bella’s face goes blank. Nori starts to worry as Bella stares off into the distance. She glances over at Dwalin and see’s the quiet panic in his eyes. Thorin glances over at them both with a furrowed brow.

Bella finally opens her mouth before closing it again. She takes a deep breath.

”I don’t know how to do that?” Bella admits, glancing down at her hands in her lap.

“You let us help you.” Nori wraps her arm around the hobbit, pulling her further into her side. Dwalin shifts even closer so he can lay a hand on her knee.

Thorin growls from the other side and Dwalin rolls his eyes. Thorin stands up on his knees, glaring down at Dwalin. Dwalin shifts closer to Nori, though she can bet he’s itching to punch their king.

“Together.” Nori interrupts, observing a light going off behind Thorin’s eyes. The dunderhead finally got it. He settles in a daze, sitting next to Bella again.

“Lass, the three of us are interested in you.” Dwalin admits. Nori takes a moment to process that Dwalin, of all Dwarrow, was the one to pipe up and say it.

“And what?” Bella quirks a brow. “You’d like me to choose between you? How does that help me form connections?”

”Belladonna.” Thorin reaches out to grab her hand. “I believe he means that we’d like to pursue you as a collective. If you’d be interested.”

Bella stares at them for another long moment. She glances over her shoulder at Nori, a confused expression in her eyes.

“There’s no pressure. Thorin would be happy to pursue you alone. Dwalin and I would be interested as a pair. But if you say the word, we’ll all back off.” Nori squeezes Bella’s shoulders.

”You all want to court me?” Bella confirms. “Together as…as a unit.”

“If you’re interested.” Dwalin nods.

”I wasn’t aware that was something one could do.” Bella leans back harder on Nori. She takes the hobbit’s weight with grace, shuffling to cradle her in her arms.

“It’s not common among Dwarrow but it’s also not uncommon.” Thorin explains. “Do hobbits not have multiples?”

Nori can’t help but feel like Thorin is going to swipe Bella up if she’s uncomfortable with multiples. It would be Bella’s choice, of course, but Thorin can be a sneaky little shit when he wants to be. She knows that he isn’t opposed to a quad. But she also knows he’s far more interested in Bella than in them.

“No, I’ve never even heard of a couple with more than two people. It’s not even the type of thing one whispers about in private, at least no one has with me.” Bella says.

”Why don’t we take it slow?” Nori suggests. “How do hobbits court?”

“Well, we give flowers, take walks, and share meals. Later, we exchange handmade gifts for the home, and the courtship ends once the couple has their families approval.” Bella explains.

Thorin jumps to his feet, drawing their eyes. He leans down holding a hand out toward Bella and Nori.

”What are you doing?” Dwalin raises a brow. Thorin ignores him.

”Would you take a walk through the gardens with me?” Thorin asks Bella.

Nori exchanges a glance with Dwalin before gesturing with her chin toward Thorin. Dwalin hops up beside his Shieldbrother and holds out a hand toward them as well. Bella glances over her shoulder at Nori again. Nori simply raises her brows at the Hobbit and reaches out to take Dwalin’s hand.

Bella takes Thorin’s hand as well, and they’re both pulled up off the ground.

Their afternoon devolves into wide smiles, wild jokes, and meandering steps as they wander through Beorn’s gardens.

They’re called into dinner and Dwalin and Thorin make a point of placing the four of them at the end of the table furthest from Beorn.

The skin changer simply watches them with a fond smile, that Nori would rather ignore, and leaves them be. They share more laughter and plenty of food.

As the evening draws to an end, Nori watches the tension in Bella’s shoulders start to settle. Her brow relaxes and she’s more willing to lean into their side.

Nori has no preconceived notion that building this relationship will be easy, but it feels like they’re on their way to beginning.

Chapter Text

Leaving Beorns is a bittersweet moment for Bella. She’d been enjoying the abundant gardens as well as the company she’d kept during her days.

She is strongly reminded that her… pursuers will be coming with her when Dwalin shuffles her toward Beorn’s horse. He stares down at her for a long moment, and she wonders if he’s going to make a more forward move.

He picks her up by waist and lifts her onto the horse’s back, then retreats. She’s almost disappointed.

Make no mistake, Bella is completely overwhelmed by the three Dwarrow who’ve made it their life mission to woo her. She’d barely been able to lift a finger for the last few days without one of them sweeping in to take the burden from her, no matter how light.

They’ve all been so terribly polite, respecting her boundaries and soothing her concerns. It’s such a new concept.

But there’s a small part of her, well…a very large part, that’s itching to jump them.

After Thorin kissed the life out of her on the Carrock, she finds herself watching him more. With their joint confession, every fleeting touch sends her heart into a flutter. Every feat of strength and show of skill makes her flush to the tips of her ears.

Now, on their march away from the safety of Beorn’s homes, she’s snapped out of her musing by Ori siddling up next to her. He has his little journal out and that look in his eyes that he gets when he finds a new juicy piece of information.

He asks her about Hobbit courting customs and suddenly, Bella is very aware of Dori and Nori riding ahead of her. Though it looks like Dori is quietly scolding Nori for something. Peaking over her shoulder, Thorin and Dwalin are riding behind her.

Their eyes meet hers, and she squeaks, turning to face front. Nori peeks back at her with a smirk, leaving Bella to resist the urge to pout.

She huffs and turns her attention back to Ori. If she talks louder than strictly necessary, that’s neither here nor there.

-------

They set up camp that night, and there’s something beautiful about being on the road again.

She sits in quiet conversation with Balin, with Dwalin sitting on the other side of her. Nori and Thorin come to join them with dinner for the four of them. Balin gets up to talk to Dori, leaving the four of them with what little privacy they can get on the road.

“Thank you.” Bella takes her bowl from Thorin. He gifts her with a small smile that makes her stomach flip.

These Dwarrow have no right to affect her the way they do.

Stirring her stew, Bella glances up at her Dwarrow from under her lashes. Nori leaned back on Dwalin’s shoulder with her bowl cradled against her chest. Thorin scolds Kili for throwing food at his brother.

It’s domestic in a way she hasn’t experienced since her parents died. Surrounded by them but content to simply live in each other’s presences.

Leaning back on Thorin’s shoulder, she kicks her feet up to cross over Nori’s knees. Thorin shifts her to rest more on the front of his shoulder and wraps his arm around her waist. Nori grins at her and wiggles her legs, causing Bella’s legs to bounce.

Bella feels a hand lay down on her foot hair. Blushing hard as she jerks her legs up to her core, she tips back, falling into Thorin’s lap.

Looking over, she spots Dwalin’s outstretched hand, hovering in the air, sitting stunned. Nori is sitting up watching her. Thorin has his other arm supporting her back.

“I’m sorry, Lass. I thought…” Dwalin trails off, hurt in his eyes.

Launching out of Thorin’s arms, she sits on her knees in front of them.

”No. No. Dwalin it’s…it’s just…” Bella trails off, desperately trying to figure out how to explain what just happened.

”If you don’t want me to touch you, lass, just tell me now. I’ll not do anything you don’t like.” Dwalin states, face going blank.

”Dwalin, no. How do I explain?” She racks her brain. “To Hobbits…to Hobbits, foot hair is like…”

”It’s like our beards.” Nori interrupts, an understanding glow in her eyes. “You wouldn’t run your fingers through my beard in the first week of courting, and certainly not in public.”

Dwalin’s face shifts from his stoic blankness to understanding. Thorin rubs her back.

”We could always ditch those two and run off together.” Nori leans forward, whispering conspiratorially.

Dwalin shoves Nori’s shoulder while Thorin chuckles in his deep baritone behind her.

“You can always let us know if you’re uncomfortable.” Thorin murmurs so close to her ear that she can feel the pointed tip of her ear twitch.

Jolting away slightly, she covers her ear, turning to see Thorin over her shoulder.

He gives her the barest smile and her face heats.

“Cultural difference?” Thorin smiles wider.

”Biological difference.” She turns her head away, covering both ears with her hands. “They’re very sensitive.”

She doesn’t spot Dwalin and Thorin exchanging a glance or the soft look Nori sends her.

Chapter Text

Bella stands at the edge of the forest as the company pulls their bags from the ponies. She hears Gandalf and Thorin arguing over something but all she can do is stare off into the darkness. The forest is silent, but it feels infinitely loud in her mind.

An arm settles over her shoulders, startling her. She glances up as Dwalin pulls her into his side.

“It’ll be all right, lass.” His reassurances do little to ease her mind.

Remembering the warning of the brown wizard’s giant rabbits, she shudders.

“Is there no way around?” She asks.

“No time, we’ll have to go through.” Dwalin runs his hand up and down her arm.

“The forest is sick.” She shudders and turns away from it.

She moves over to a sunny patch of flowers and sits among them. If she’s going in there, she’ll take every possible moment to soak up the sun.

She lets the flowers flow into her and pushes her magic into them in return. She can almost forget about the wall of wrongness. Almost.

“It’s time.” Nori breaks her focus. Bella nods, getting up and taking her bag from Nori.

As they step into the forest, Bella’s magic flares, attempting to heal the sickness around her. She watches how slowly the healing spreads through the underbrush. Tamping down on her magic, Bella concedes that healing this forest would be a work of years, not a single day. Regretfully, she pulls the radius of her magic in as close to her skin as she can.

She feels empty. No plants whisper in her ear. No animals scurry in her periphery. Arda is silent beneath her feet.

She resists the urge to reach out. To find their voice again. To feel…anything. Anything at all.

Coming back to attention, she realizes that she’s been walking through the forest arm in arm with Dwalin.

“You back with us, lass?” He asks, patting her hand where it rests in the crook of his arm.

“You know, my disguise is useless if you keep calling me lass anyway.” She snarks, trying to ignore the nothingness from her magic.

“I doubt anyone who speaks Khuzdul would care.” Dwalin rumbles.

“We’re speaking Khuzdul?” Bella blinks out at the darkness. There’s something out there.

She doesn’t see the worried look that Dwalin and Nori exchange.

Staring out into the darkness, Bella feels like she was doing something. But she needs to know what’s out there.

What is it, and why is it watching them?

The pressure of the woods presses in on her mind, leaving naught but her breath in her breast.

The other dwarves come into her sight, and she remembers, she was talking to Dwalin. Looking to her side, she finds Nori arm in arm with her instead.

She wants to question it, to find out where the taller dwarf went, but an itch in the back of her mind drags her attention back to the forest.

---------

Nori guides Bella along the path. She and Dwalin had been taking turns over the last couple of days after it became evident that Bella wasn’t really with them.

She walks fine, not really needing to be guided. But when they’d allowed her to walk on her own, she had slowly veered off into the tree line. They’d had to tie a rope to Nori before sending the Dam into the forest to retrieve the hobbit.

She wasn’t allowed to walk on her own after that.

They’d also tied Bella to one of them while they slept. She hadn’t wandered off in the middle of the night…yet. But that wasn’t an eventuality they wanted to discover the hard way.

Even with her lack of mental presence, she still ate if one of them fed her. It had been a long week of sharing worried looks with the others.

It wasn’t just the three of them that worried after their Hobbit, the whole company was growing increasingly worried. It was wearing on all of them, Bella’s state, plus being in this acursed forest themselves.

It was after a week and a half of dwindling rations that Bella stopped walking.

Nori woke in the morning and went to untie Bella from Dwalin’s belt. They’d debated leaving her tied night and day, but the ropes quickly left marks on her wrists, and Oin vetoed the idea.

Just like always, Bella was staring out into the endless black of the tree line. They weren’t sure that she slept, but she was still walking, so she must be resting in some way. They’d originally tried to make her lie down to sleep, but she would sit up and go back to staring as soon as they were asleep, so they’d given up on that.

Then, just like every other day, Nori spoon-fed Bella’s portion of breakfast to her. The rest of the company packed up their meager camp, and Nori hooked her arm through Bella’s.

Normally, Bella would rise as she was guided up and start walking when guided. This day, Bella stayed where she was, kneeling on the ground. Nori tugged harder, and Bella’s arm jerked, but the Hobbit didn’t rise.

“Thorin. Oin!” Nori called the others. In moments, they’re at her side.

“What happened!” Oin demands, in his always slightly too loud brogue.

“Bilbo isn’t getting up.” Nori demonstrates, pulling hard enough on Bella’s arm to physically pull her off the ground.

Oin studies the Hobbit carefully but ultimately sighs.

“My best guess is she needs to get out of this Mahal forsaken forest.” Oin admits.

“Do we turn back?” Nori turns to Thorin.

“No.” Thorin runs a hand over his face. “That river we crossed yesterday was the halfway point. We’re closer to the other side now.”

Nori scowls.

“Either way, we need to keep moving.” Thorin continues. “She’ll have to be carried.”

It's ultimately decided that they will switch off carrying her, rotating the duty between the company.

Nori often walks near whoever is carrying Bella, even when she herself cannot. At the front of the Company, Dwalin helps keep Thorin on the right path with Balin assisting.

Nori can foresee their lives like this. Splitting their energy between the four of them, ensuring none are ever alone. It's a tempting dream that feels devastating under the current circumstances, with Bella gently cradled in Dori’s arms and the company slowly running out of food.

Nori is sleeping that night with Bella tied to her when she’s shoved awake. She jerks to attention with a blade already in hand. By her side, Bella has her hand pressed to Nori’s side with her little sword in the other hand.

Her face is pointed at the canopy of branches above them.

“They’re coming.” Bella’s voice is rough with disuse.

It’s the first thing she’s said in two weeks. Nori follows her gaze straight up, but she can’t see anything. She grabs the Hobbit’s hard and almost cries when Bella meets her gaze.

“They’re here.” Bella rasps, staring into the depths of Nori’s soul. Bella drops her hand and attempts to stand, but her knees buckle beneath her.

Nori catches her before she can hit the ground and lowers her to the ground.

“What’s here?” Nori tries not to shake the poor dear.

Nori spots something larger than a pony moving behind Bella, but she can’t make out what horrific creature it is.

“Spiders.” Bella hisses as she swings her sword out behind her and beheads the enormous spider.