Chapter Six

Chuckles rippled through the tent as Dori hurriedly walked out of the tent, presumably to get Bilba a cup of tea. Thorin raised from his knee and with a respectful nod and with a promise that their departure would be soon, he swept out of the room. Bilba supposed that it was probably quite common for a dwarf king to have a flare for the dramatics. An older dwarf, with hair which curled into mountain like peaks, gave her a gracious nod of his own, eyes sparkling with curiosity. He clearly regretted not being able to stop for conversation as he followed his leader (although, it should be noted, that his exit was performed with much less fanfare).

"That was Balin," Ori informed her, seemingly reading her mind, "he's been wanting to talk to you ever since he learned you had awakened, but I suppose he's busy with Master Thorin at the moment."

Bilba nodded, distractedly, not really worried about whether the old advisor wanted to see her; if he was good enough for Ori to look up to, she'd be honoured to meet him. What she was concerned about was what Thorin had called her.

"What was it that Master Thorin called me?" she asked, still slightly shell shocked from the unexpected turn of events.

"He called you by your new honorary title, I mean after everything you did you certainly deserve one!" exclaimed Kili, excitedly.

"What does it mean?" Bilba asked.

She had never had an honorary title before, it sounded like a lot of fuss even if it did spark her rather Took-like curiosity.

She noticed that Ori was giving Kili a rather pointed look after her question and was not so discreetly nudging him in the ribs with his wool clad elbow. Kill obviously had decided to ignore Ori's supposed warning to him, which made Bilba wonder what exactly the issue was.

"It mea-," Kili's explanation was cut of abruptly has hand slammed, securely over his mouth.

"You were not about to translate our people's secret language were you dear brother?" a young dwarf, that had seemingly come out of nowhere, asked, with exasperation.

Bilba instantly recognised the youth as the one that had faced Bolg. His right arm was wrapped tightly in bandages and was bound in a sling. Despite this, his ease of movement quickly quelled her fears for his wellbeing and stopped her from instantly bombarding (and probably smothering) him with questions. His left hand was still covering a glaring Kili's mouth. He, however, quickly dropped said hand from said mouth with a look of disgust and wiped it on his trousers. Bilba could swiftly deduce, especially considering the smug look on Kili's face, that he was the victim of being licked. If the boy had not announced himself as Kili's brother, she would have been able to easily guess at their relationship. She felt herself fill with a sudden swell of warmth at the scene.

Kili crossed his arms, "She deserves to know," he said, adamantly, although it was slightly ruined by the childish pout he wore.

"That's not for you to decide though, Kili," his brother responded, firmly.

Deciding that it wasn't really a necessity to know the name the dwarrow had given her, despite her burning curiosity, she thought it best to intercede before an argument broke out, Bilba asked: "You must be Fili, it is wonderful to finally put a face to a name so cherished."

The brothers fell silent, and despite his confused expression, Fili puffed his chest out at the praise. Despite being like night and day appearance wise, with Kili's raven locks and slightly wild look and Fili's more put together form and fairness, their mannerisms and expressions were almost frighteningly similar.

With a low, sweeping bow Fili said, "And you must be the hobbit that Kili will not shut his trap about," he said, mischief dancing in his eyes as he ignored the disgruntled look on Kili's face, "and a hobbit I owe a great debt to," he continued, much more seriously.

Bilba chuckled, not feeling at all put out that Kili had talked of her, especially as she knew a great deal about Fili from Kili's quiet ramblings on the road. Now, what was that about a debt?

"Well, I certainly could not have left you to get hurt, and I can hardly remember what happened after the battle. So, seeing as I am sitting here, feeling thoroughly looked after, I feel as if any debts dwarrow believe they owe me have been repaid," Bilba stated, with finality.

Fili's eyebrows raised at the stubborn set of her jaw, as he glanced at the two younger dwarrow in her company. They simply shrugged at him, slightly helplessly.

"Well, if you cannot accept my debt for the help you gave at the battle, then you must accept it for taking care of Kili, and the countless other children you have protected," Fili responded, chin raised in an act of stubbornness enough to rival Bilba's. He looked troubled by her response however, a frown line forming on his brow.

Before Bilba could politely decline yet another well meaning (but totally unnecessary) proposal of being owed anything, Ori piped up: "Bilba, I know hobbit culture is rather different to dwarven but to not acknowledge a reasonable debt, like Fili's, would be to question his honour. I know you understand how much honour means to us from talking to us when we were imprisoned. So, please accept something from him, it could be of your choosing so can be small if you really wanted," he explained, realising she was going to put her foot in her mouth, even if it was accidently.

Understanding washed over Bilba, even though she secretly thought it was rather silly of the dwarrow to insist that they owe her something for just being a reasonably decent person. It also now made sense why everyone else in the healing tent had frozen when she had turned down the king. Bilba wanted to kick herself for already offending someone, even if the mistake was made from ignorance rather than malice. At least Thorin appeared to not be upset with her.

"I certainly did not mean to offend!" Bilba spluttered, slightly, "it is not that I do not appreciate your gratefulness, but I do not want to feel like you have to give me something for doing the right thing. I also would not evem know where to start on asking you for anything!"

Fili was smiling fondly at her, brow smooth once more;

"I do not believe that I have to give you anything Lady Bilba," ignoring her mutterings of not needing to be called a lady, "but I certainly want to," he told her, confidently.

The two younger boys nodded vigorously at his words, completely in agreement. Bilba herself, although still having feelings of confliction, smiled back at Fili for his sweet words.

Kili's excited gasp broke their calm lull in conversation,

"I know what he could do to pay it off Miss Bilba" he exclaimed, bouncing slightly up and down from where he was kneeling beside her.

Thrilled with his enthusiasm and reminded of his more hopeful personality at the beginning of his capture, Bilba asked, "And what is that, dear one?"

"Fili could teach you how to fight! That way, if you do get in another fight you could be safer," he replied, smiling triumphantly at his answer.

Bilba had honestly thought he would respond with something that a child would normally yearn for, even if he was more on the older side of child, so she was quite stumped at the sensibleness of his idea.

Ori nodded thoughtfully, his excitement slightly more subdued than the constant wriggling of Kili, but no less noticeable if the large smile he sported was anything to go by.

"That's actually a really great idea Kili! Miss Bilba certainly needs to learn to protect herself properly," he then turned to Bilba, "and I promise it would not be too much Miss Bilba," he told her, earnestly. That earned him a smile and a pat on the arm from Fili, showing his agreement.

"Well, Miss Baggins, I do not believe we can argue with such infallible wisdom, so what say you?" Fili asked her with amusement. The two youngsters leaned in, eagerly awaiting her response.

Bilba could not deny that learning to fight would be invaluable. She shuddered slightly at the realisation that six months ago her response would have been vastly different, as despite her adventurous spirit she never thought it to be necessary to arm herself.

"Well I suppose you are right Master Fili," she replied, reaching out to shake his hand, which he took firmly.

They both laughed, when Kili jumped up in flurry of scatty limbs. They laughed even harder at the sight of Dori scolding a suddenly sheepish looking Kili, a mug of what Bilba presumed to be her tea held high above where Kili's hand would have knocked it to the floor.

And at that moment, despite the pain she felt in her ribs from her laughs, Bilba felt wonderfully safe.