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There was a collective sigh of relief as Thorin declared that the company would rest for the remainder of the day.
It had been two days since the eagles had dropped them off at the Carrock and they had been traveling almost the entire time since.
They had been carried a great distance, but Thorin was wary of the remainder of the Orc group catching up.
Belle groaned and sat down, grateful as she rubbed her feat. As good as hobbits were at walking and running they had kept up a furious pace, never slowing and taking minimal breaks. But that was over, at least for the rest of the night.
However certainty they couldn’t be given one moment of peace before something else happened, could they?
“You damnable dwarf! If this is your thought of a joke I assure you that it is in the worst of tastes!”
Everyone looked up as Thorin was patting himself down almost frantically, his face contorted in rage.
“Do you honestly believe this is something I would jest about Wizard?!” He boomed, “The chain must have broken when I faced that cursed Orc!”
Gandalf glowered at him, knuckles white as he gripped his staff, “Yes, because we all knew that that altercation was completely unavoidable you proud, stubborn oaf.”
Thorin froze as he slowly looked up to the wizard, expression growing practically murderous.
He growled low in his chest and was about to say something (That they all would assuredly regret) when Balin spoke up.
“And what would we talking about, my King?”
Thorin’s gaze snapped to his company, almost all of them giving the two worried glances. He felt guilt grip his chest. He had failed him. There was only the one even remotely safe way into their mountain, their home and he had lost it.
“During the battle. When I was thrown to the ground. I… I have lost the Key.”
Shocked silence greeted him and he hung his head in shame.
“Oh!” Eyes turned to their burglar as she stumbled to her feet, face flushed as she stammered, “Oh goodness I’d almost forgotten! I-I’m so terribly sorry!”
Bella opened her ruined vest and unbuttoned the top of her used-to-be-white blouse, reached into her bosom, and to everyone’s surprise pulled out the object of conversation; The Key to the Lonely Mountain.
She held it up with a smile of triumph, “I saw it on the ground and snatched it up just before the eagle got to me.” She looked up, and her smile slipped slightly, “What is it? Have I got something on my face?”
She hadn’t known that dwarves (Or maybes it was just her set?) were able to be still and silent for so long.
Fili, Kili, Ori and surprisingly Dwalin were all so red they looked as though they would burst into flames.
The rest of the company was also sporting various shades of red and wide eyes as they openly gawped at her.
Bifur was surprisingly the first to react and made a few wild gestures with his hands, punctuated by a few confused grunts of their native tongue.
Bofur slowly nodded his head, “Aye, how on earth did you keep that… in there?” He muttered, motioning to her chest.
Belle let out a small laugh, “Oh, well being raised as a lass in the Shire I grew up in dresses. I hadn’t any pocket half the time and had to keep my things somewhere.”
Silences still reigned and Belle too found a blush creeping up her chest and face. Why did they all continue to stare so?
Kili, finally snapping out of his daze, gave a strained laugh, “Anything else in there? One of your doilies perhaps?” “An extra pair of undergarments maybe?” Fili threw in with a lewd grin and elbowed his brother’s side.
The rest of the company roared with laughter, as Belle sputtered and stomped her foot, “No! No! Oh for goodness sake stop laughing at me! Of course I don’t have anything so bulky!”
She huffed and quickly handed the key back to Thorin, who gave his thanks, and turned on her heel to sit back down near the small fire as the company continued to make jokes.
Eventually the commotion died down and things went back to normal in the camp site. Kili and Fili left to find dinner and came back with some beautiful rabbits while Nori and Dori were out getting more firewood. Bombour went to work cooking up their dinner as everyone settled themselves and mad inventory of what all they had left.
Ori sat down next to her and gave her a tentative smile that she returned as they simply sat in front of the firelight.
“Oi, Belle.”
The two looked up to Bofur, who was whittling with a mischievous smile, “When you said ‘I don’t have anything so bulky’ it sounded sort of like you still had other things held up in your little breast pocket.” he chuckled and waved his knife at her, “Ya ain’t holdin out on us, are ya lassie?”
Belle huffed a laugh, “Nothing much no. Just a few hair ties, some bandages, a flint stone and some leftover Lembas from Rivendell.”
Ori made a startled noise and Bofur missed the block of wood, nearly slicing his thumb off as he leveled her with a stare. “Surely you jest.”
Belle shrugged,”Ori, would you mind holding out your hands?” The scribe did so without question and found his hands filled with the items she claimed she had.
Ori felt his face heat up even more as he realized that all of the items were warmed from sitting so close to the hobbit’s breasts.
Oin, popped up from behind Bofur and nodded, “A fine group of items to keep close to yer heart. Would ye mind too terribly if I nicked the bandages? Our King has a few wounds I’d like to tend to and I lost me box in that blasted cave.”
Belle gave a smile and nodded, “Of course, go right on ahead.”
Oin nodded his thanks and plucked the item from Ori’s hands and went to his work.
Bofur shook his head chuckled and continued to whittle while Ori was still red-faced and still at a loss for what to do.
The hobbit sensed his discomfort and pulled out one of the leather hair straps, tied her hair up and took the rest of the items back and hid them away.
(Ori found himself having a hard time not staring at her chest, but thankfully the burglar failed to notice).
“Thank you Ori," she laughed, scratching her neck with a sheepish smile, "That was kind of you, and I'm sure it was a bit awkward. It's just; it’d be very uncomfortable if I had gotten dirt in my chest.” She gave the young dwarf a fond smile and a peck on the cheek before she stood up and left to go help Bombour with dinner.
Ori’s fingers fluttered to where her lips had been for a moment with a slightly goofy smile on his face before he gave a less than impressive glower at the toymaker, who was grinning like a madman.
“N-not one word Master Bofur.” He huffed, face red.
Bofur held up his hands, grin still in place, “I haven’t said nothin lad~”
As the young dwarf nodded and went to get his journal he failed to notice two small bags of coin fly into the older dwarf’s palms.
“Not a single word.”