Chapter 11b

Elrond's response to the Food Fight

Notes:

I wrote this for someone who complained that Elrond did nothing in response to the dwarves' food fight in chapter 11. I originally left the scene open so that the reader could imagine their own reaction for Elrond (& because nothing had come to me at the time). Here is that scene with a response from Elrond. Only the last three paragraphs are new. I consider it only semi-cannon for the story. Use it if you want. If you don't like it, disregard it.

A conversation regarding this spawned a story An unexpected end to an unexpected journey by Borys68 WARNING! It is very dark, but based off a good point in lore!

oOoOoOo

They were not the last to arrive. Looking around Thorin noticed that the two young women of his party were not present. He hoped that it was not a trick of the elves but just because of the seemingly universal need for females to take an eternity to dress.

The dining table was U shaped with a stone pedestal in between the two prongs. A small group of musicians were playing in the open area opposite the head table which formed the bottom of the U. Thorin was led to a seat at the head table while the other dwarves were led to one of the side tables. He had been given the place to the left of the large chair reserved for the lord, which was still empty. As was the chair on his other side.

Thorin caught sight of Gandalf entering with Lord Elrond on the other side of the room. The Elf Lord had replaced his armor with gold colored tunic, trousers, and robe. They both nodded to Thorin in greeting as they took their seats.

"I see we are still waiting on the ladies," Elrond sighed.

"They are ladies. No doubt Bilba has lingered over comforts she is unused to doing without and Arwen is being an accommodating hostess. I'm sure they will be along soon," Gandalf said.

Sure enough several minutes later a group of females entered the hall. One of the serving elves stopped them for a moment. After a few words were exchanged he led Ori over to where her brothers were sitting. They immediately pulled her down onto the bench between them. She was looked over for any injury and then questioned.

Thorin watched to make sure the brothers were satisfied with their sister's condition. He wanted to be prepared if there were any wrongs to be avenged. His attention was drawn away when the other males at the high table stood. Seeing the group of females were moving to fill the empty seats at the table, Thorin stood as well. The two seats to his left were still empty so it seemed he would be sitting by some of them. He hoped one was the hobbit. Looking for her he thought he caught a glimpse of brown curls between the elves heading in his direction.

Thorin was speechless when he finally got a clear view of the hobbit. She was wearing a blue dress with a white corset. There were blue ribbons embroidered with white flowers along the collar and on the top and bottom of the corset. More white flowers were embroidered near the bottom of the skirt, which had a large plain white band. It was pretty and for some reason brought to mind the dream he had had of her being in Ered Luin. This made him wish very much to see her in clothes crafted by his people.

It was not her dress that had amazed him though. It was her hair! It had been washed and combed into many shining ringlets. The curls on the top front of her head had been shaped into waves, while the sides had been pinned the back under more ringlets, and when she turned her head he saw ribbons that matched her dress had been woven in here and there. It was a very elvish style for her gleaming curls, though that did not detract from her beauty. He was sure his sister's maid could come up with something more elaborate, similar to how dwarf ladies wore their hair, that would show them off.

Bilba smiled at him and took the seat to his left. She thought Thorin cleaned up well, even if he had re-donned his armor and the blue velvet tunic Dori had made. They did look slightly cleaner though. What was that? Bilba took a deep breath in through her nose. Had he used the rose-sandalwood mixture? It smelled that way. She surprised herself by wanting to pull his locks to her face and smell them to find out!

Realizing he might be staring the King-in-Exile cleared his throat and looked the other way. His heart was racing, his breathing was irregular, and he had to fight down a blush. Thorin didn't know what was wrong with himself! However, he could not resist looking back.

Thorin had never wanted to touch anyone's hair this badly before. The hobbit had been beautiful even when she had been covered in troll snot. Now? Now. She. Was. Stunning!

The table where the rest of the dwarves were sitting had quite a bit of elbowing and smirking as more than one dwarf enjoyed watching their King's reaction to Bilba.

Elrond introduced the Dwarf King to his daughter, Arwen, a dark haired elf maid that took the seat on the other side of the hobbit. Thorin took little notice of her, most of his attention still claimed by the beauty at his side, though he tried not to stare.

"I am sorry we are late, Ada," the elf maid said.

"I am afraid our tardiness is my fault, Lord Elrond," Bilba admitted. "Your daughter, her maids, and Ori were all helping me untangle my hair. It was quite a bird's nest!"

"She was talking about cutting off!" Arwen said sounding appalled.

Those in earshot, including Thorin, gasped in horror.

"I could not let such a tragedy occur, and thought you would forgive our tardiness for such a good cause," she continued.

"Rest assured you are all forgiven. Truly it would be a tragedy if you were to cut your hair, Bilba."

'Well, it seems the elves have some sense,' Thorin thought.

"My hair has never looked so fine before. I am truly grateful for their efforts."

"You look very nice," Thorin told her.

"Thank you," Bilba blushed and smiled shyly up at him through her eyelashes. Her hands reached up to play with one of the curls on her right side. Thorin's hands itched to join them.

Neither saw Gandalf and Elrond look at each other and roll their eyes. Both thought he could have picked a better word than 'nice'!

Elrond leaned over and whispered in the wizard's ear, "You have your work cut out for you."

The Grey Wizard nodded.

Arwen had also noticed the dwarf's response to her new friend's appearance and her response to him. Looking at her father and Mithrandir she passed a quick and pointed glance over the dwarf and hobbit then raised her eyebrows at the two tall males in silent question. The wizard smiled and her father reluctantly nodded.

And so, two elves joined Gandalf in his effort to bring Thorin and Bilba together.

During dinner, Thorin and Gandalf both let Lord Elrond examine the swords they found in the troll hoard.

"This is Orcrist, the Goblin Cleaver. A famous blade, forged by the High Elves of the West, my kin. May it serve you well," Elrond said handing it back to the Dwarf King.

Thorin nodded in thanks. He was genuinely surprised the Elf Lord returned such a famous elven blade to him. He had expected him to claim it back for his people.

"And this is Glamdring, the Foe-hammer, sword of the King of Gondolin. These swords were made for the goblin wars of the First Age," Elrond informed them.

Bilba also told her story to Elrond and Arwen. Both were horrified. Thorin was too, especially as he was hearing it from her own mouth this time, but he was also impressed that nowhere in her tale did she mention the dwarves' objective on their quest.

As the meal proceeded the dwarves grew more restless when no meat appeared, though Bilba saw that they were having fun at Kili's expense somehow. She was confused when she saw Oin stuff his napkin down his hearing trumpet. She was appalled when the food fight broke out, as were the elves. The musicians even stopped playing.

"I'm glad I asked Gandalf what dwarves like to eat if this is how you behave when you don't get any meat!" Bilba leaned over and scolded. "Your lot made enough of a mess in my home as it was!" She breathed in and out harshly through her nose. 'Oh, yes he had definitely used the rose-sandalwood soap.'

Thorin snorted but did nothing to try to curb their behavior. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying himself! It really was unfair that he was so attractive yet so inconsiderate!

That was when Bofur jumped over the table and up onto the stone pedestal in the center of the room and proceeded to sing. It was a merry song and Bilba quite liked it. She just wasn't sure this was the best way to go about sharing their culture.

A small clap of thunder filled the hall, as if its origin was somehow in the very room, startling the dwarves into stillness.

Lord Elrond stood. "I am sorry if our fare is not to your tastes. If you choose not to eat it, I would be appreciative if you would just leave it on the table and not throw it about. Vegetables do not grow overnight."

Unsure what to do, since this elf could apparently make thunder, the dwarves turned their attention to their leader. Warily Thorin nodded and gestured for them to sit down. Turning their gazes back to the elf lord, the dwarves sank back down into their seats. They whispered amongst themselves for the rest of the meal but otherwise remained quiet.

End Notes:

Since we do not know the extent of the power of Vilya's, Elrond's Ring, but Elrond does seem to have some control over elements I let him use it to displace a tiny bit of air to startle the dwarves.