44It was going on 4:00p.m. at Bag-End. Bilbo was just putting his full kettle on the fire, when he was interrupted by the ring of his door bell. Bilbo set down his kettle and ran out to the door, as whomever was ringing the bell was getting impatient.
"Yes, yes! I hear you! I'm coming!" Bilbo said, rushing to the door. When he opened it he found two dwarf warriors on the other side. "Balin! Dwalin! How lovely to see you. Come in, come in. Let me get my kettle on the fire." Bilbo said, welcoming his guests in.
"Is your pantry full, laddie?" Balin asked.
"Yes." Bilbo replied, now putting his kettle on. "I'm not sure if it will ever be as full as it once was though."
"Well, I hope it is at lease close. I do believe all the others will be coming too." Dwalin said flatly, now going for the cookie jar.
Bilbo froze in his steps and turned to face them, "All of them…all…thirteen of you…?" Some of them had stopped to visit before. He had seen most of them again, but he had not seen all thirteen at once except on the day…well the day he left the Lonely Mountain behind, eight years ago.
"Aye." Balin replied, "I-I hope its not to sudden…we probably should have sent you a notice…I'm sor-" but he was cut short by the massive grin on Bilbo's face and the holler he yelled. He yelled so loud, even stone cold Dwalin jumped…slightly.
"All thirteen! I haven't seen all you in so long! Oh what a joy!" Bilbo was practically jumping for joy at this point, "Thorins coming too, right? Oh I do hope Fili and Kili make it out here. Oh and I would love to hear how Bifur and Bofur are doing. Did they ever start that toy shop? I know how much they wanted to. And Bombur. He is probably the same as the last time I saw him." Bilbo was going on and on about everything and anything he was excited for. He set the kettle over the fire, got out the dishes, and ran to the pantry and back a couple times, all while rambling. Balin could hardly contain his laughter and Dwalin had a huge grin across his face. "Oh and I last saw Ori and Dori when they were traveling to the Iron Mountains…well for what I can't quite remember. I do hope Nori hasn't been getting into to much trouble these days. You know, with his 'talent'. Oh and I found the coin pouch Gloin thought he had lost when he was last here. I'm sure he'll be happy to get that back. And I think I found a much better horn for dear Oin down at the market place the other day. I do hope he will like it."
Balin, Dwalin, and Bilbo all sat in the kitchen and talked for an hour, waiting for the rest of the company to arrive for dinner. Then Dwalin got up and moved to the living room to smoke a little whilst Balin and Bilbo still talked about the old days. As he was standing by the fire, the front door opened, and in stumbled the smallest Hobbit he had ever seen. When the small Hobbit boy saw Dwalin, he froze in his steps and starred at the massive Dwarf.
"Aye, Master Hobbit, who is this little laddie?" Dwalin asked.
Bilbo quickly jumped up and ran over to the Hobbit boy, "This is my nephew, Frodo Baggins." Frodo didn't say anything, just starred. "Frodo, this is Dwalin and Balin. They were part of the Company." Now Frodo's interest peaked, two of the actual Dwarves that had gone on all the adventures Uncle Bilbo.
Balin got up from his chair and walked over to Frodo, "Balin, at your service." He said with a bow. He assumed the boy probably already knew that he was at his service, but Balin wanted to see what his response would be.
Well Frodo stood up straight and bowed, saying, "Frodo Baggins, at yours." When he straightened again he smiled ever so slightly.
"Ah. Ya have thought the lad well." Dwalin said, smiling down at Frodo.
"I do my best." Bilbo replied, bending down to Frodo's level now. "Frodo, we are going to have a party tonight. All of your Uncle's old friends from the Company are coming."
"Including King Thorin?" Frodo asked, very intrigued at the thought of getting to meet all of the Company.
"Yes, I do believe Thorin will be here. That is why I want you to go wash up and put you nice red shirt on. Okay?" Frodo nodded and response and was off.
"Wonderful boy ya got there. Hes your nephew, is he?" Balin asked as they all sat in the living room.
"Yes. My nephew. Good lad. Stays out of most trouble. Well unless he is with his two friends Meridoc and Periggan. They get into all sorts of mischief then." Bilbo said laughing.
"Is he here to visit, then?" Dwalin asked. Bilbo's laughter died down quickly and he starred into the fire.
"No…he lives with me. His parents…my sister and her husband died about two years ago now. Frodo was only five when it happened." Bilbo looked up from the fire, "So I took it upon myself to raise the boy. So I brought him from Buckland and he had been living with me."
Then their conversation shifted and they were talking about the old days again. But what they didn't notice, was the small little Hobbit, sitting around the corner, listening to their conversations. He was being very quiet, and even the great ears of a Hobbit would have a hard time noticing he was there.
He was assessing their guests. 'So…this is the great Balin, eh?' Frodo thought to himself. 'The adviser of Thorin Oakensheild. How on Middle Earth did he get to the Lonely Mountain? He looks to old for an adventure!' Frodo thought, whilst peering around the corner at the old, white dwarf. 'Then again, I'm pretty sure Dwarves age different…maybe he isn't that old…just old looking.'
Then Frodo peeked around the corner again and looked at the other Dwarf, sitting across from Bilbo. 'I think Mister Dwalin was the guardian of King Thorin…' Then Frodo looked over to all the weapons that were under his hood, up against the wall. 'Hm. I can see why. He looks pretty scary…and probably fights pretty hard too…I wonder if Mister Dwalin could teach me how to fight…'
Frodo looked over at the weapons again. Maybe it was the way they glimmered in the light of the candle, but they looked so… fun. 'I just want a closer look.' Frodo thought. Frodo slowly started to scoot over to where the giant axe was sitting. They looked like something a total warrior would carry. Frodo quickly crossed the path of the door way to the living room, and ran over to the weapons. He was sure that if they had know he was there, they would have put them in another room.
They way the axe head glimmered in the candle light. Oh how it sparkled. 'Musta just had it polished.' Frodo thought. He held and hand up to the handle and touched it slightly. 'Oh. That's really nice leather.' Then Frodo looked at the head of the axe. There was engravings on it, and Frodo got closer to it to see them. They were lovely.
Just then his focus was broke by his Uncle yelling for him, "Frodo, are you nearly finished?" Bilbo called. This shocked the boy so much, that he tried to quickly back away. But when he did, his large foot caught the bottom of the axe handle and it tipped over and hit the ground with a very loud thud.
Bilbo, Dwalin, and Balin all ran out into the entry way to see what it was that had caused such a loud noise. Although, I wouldn't doubt that they all knew what they were going to see. An all to curious boy, getting into mischief. And that is exactly what they saw. But I don't think they expected to see the axe head sticking out of the floor.
….
Oh my gosh! I know I have a lot of storied going on right now, and I promise I'll finish all of them. But when I got this idea, I just had to write it down. There will be more chapters to this, and Frodo will get to meet all of the Dwarves. This story was lots of fun to write, so I look forward to writing more soon. Tell me what you thought please. Thanks. BYIE!
P.S. If you have read my story called I was in the Goblin Tunnels, I suggest you go and read it again. Not all of it loaded the first time so I took it down and reloaded it again. I should be working now. K thanks.