The poor hobbit-lass had been through so much. Thorin watched her doze beside the fire, bundled in one of Beorn's huge woolen blankets. There were times when he was forced to admit that his Company would be incomplete at thirteen (not to mention cursed with ill luck). She was their lucky number in more ways than one, and it was slightly maddening to acknowledge, time after time, that Bilbo was simply too useful to leave behind. Oh, what he wouldn't give to be able to simply let her stay here with Fili and Kili, just protect all the ones he thought he couldn't afford to lose. He wouldn't delve too deeply into that train of thought. Thorin ran a hand through his wild, dark hair and sighed heavily.

"Such sighs make me wonder," said Balin with a faint smile, sitting down beside his king. "Something bothering you, lad?" Thorin looked at his white-haired friend, and shook his head slightly. What could he say? The others were settling in to sleep. Gandalf and the Great Bear were both conspicuously absent this night, and the dwarf-king couldn't help but wonder where they went. But Balin wasn't so easily put off.

"You might be able to hide behind that mask, Thorin," the older dwarf said wisely, "but that doesn't mean that it's the truth. Something troubles you, and I would bet many a gold piece that it has to do with our little burglar." Balin nodded toward the halfling, and Thorin grunted.

"You might be right." He didn't feel like admitting anything outright. "There are so many depending on our success. Our people need a home, Balin, and asking outsiders to sacrifice themselves for that cause..." He shook his head. "You saw that little home of hers. We took her away from all that- and for what? So I could send her into the maw of a fire-breathing beast. What sort of a king does that make me, Balin?" He had started that train of thought, intending not to bring Bilbo into it at all. Yet once again, the hobbit had wormed her way into his mind.

"I don't believe that's a question I can answer." Balin was still smiling. Sometimes Thorin found himself envying the dwarf his ability to just... stay so calm. It was like he was completely unbothered.

"She shouldn't be on this Quest at all!" Thorin stood up and scowled. "I don't know why the Wizard chose her."

"Yes you do," answered Balin calmly, his smile not even flickering.

"Well, I wish I didn't." Thorin checked on the others to make sure none of them were listening in. If they were, they had the presence of mind not to look it. "She's not suited for this. She can't fight, she doesn't know the first thing about navigation or survival- look, first time she breaks a bone, I expect she'll be begging to go back home, just like I-"

"Thorin Oakenshield, you great clothead under the mountain, do you really think I would go back after all this?" Bilbo's tone was sharp enought to draw blood, and the two males looked around at her, one startled, the other smiling quietly. the hobbit was standing up, looking at them over the folds of the enormous blanket with a surprisingly fierce expression on her usually soft face.

"Well, I-" She didn't give him a chance to defend himself.

"If you think, even for one second, that I'm going to turn around and abandon you lot after all we've been through, you have another think coming. Bebother and confusticate you dwarves! You think that just because someone's smaller than you-"

"That's not what I-" Thorin could feel the eyes of ever dwarf drilling into his back, and he lifted his hands defensively. She didn't let him finish that one either.

"Oh, so it's because I'm female is it?" There was a dangerous tone to that question, and the dwarf king had a feeling that there was no right answer to it. He kept his mouth shut and shook his head. "Well, let's fix that, shall we?" Bilbo drew her sword, and for one terrifying moment, Thorin had the double impression of Bilbo castrating him, or impaling herself. Neither of those options made the least bit of sense, so when she lifted the blade to her neck, he was just as stunned as if killing herself hadn't occurred to him at all.

"What are you-"

With her free hand, she gathered the thick mass of curls that hung down around her shoulders. It took only a quick slice. The elven blade was sharp enough to cleave bone, so cutting hair was child's play. Stunned silence descended over the Company, and somehow that silence was very different from the silence that had been present before that moment.

"I'm not just a hobbit. I'm not even just a burglar. Thorin, I'm a part of your Company, and I'll do whatever I have to in order to prove that to you." She threw her hair dramatically down on the rough wooden floor as she pointed fiercely at him with her sword. "And if I ever hear you even thinking about sending me back, I'll just leave you in the next mess you get into, and heaven help you when I come back from the Lonely Mountain with a dragon's head."

In that moment, Thorin didn't doubt for a moment that she would do precisely that, if that was what it took. The moment, of course, was interrupted by Fili's devastated voice.

"Bilbo! Your hair!" There was a tone of such horror in his words that Bilbo was quite startled out of her righteous anger. She turned to look at the blond, frowning.

"What about it?" The hobbit-lass couldn't seem to fathom why each of them looked, to varying degrees, like she'd just thrown away a bag of gold.

"You... you... why did you do that?" Fili was approaching slowly, looking as though he might start crying at any moment. He looked at the sad pile of curls on the floor as though they were a beloved, fallen comrade.

"Well, if being a female really affects your opinions of me so much," she started, wrinkling her nose in that stubborn way she had, but Fili interrupted her, his gaze flicking up to her face.

"What under the earth would make you think that your hair had anything to do with that?" Fili sounded almost insulted, and Thorin had to work hard to swallow a chuckle. It was most amusing to watch the hobbit's expression as she opened her mouth to snap out an angry retort, pause, scan the Company, and come to the conclusion that every one of the dwarves around her were male, and all had long, braided hair. Her mouth formed a little O of surprise, and Thorin pursed his lips to hide a smile.

"If it was in your way, we could have braided it for you," said Kili, joining his brother and squating to gather up the fallen curls genlty.

"It'll take years to grow back," said Fili mournfully, kneeling beside his brother to help him.

"It's not like I cut off my hand," she grumbled, obviously trying to save face. "It's just hair."

"It's so soft," said Fili suddenly, and got elbowed for his comment.

"Would have looked pretty in braids," mumbled Kili.

"It's just hair," snapped Bilbo, wading back into her blanket. Thorin could see her running a hand through her shortened locks, though, and wondered if she regretted it.