Chapter One

Bilbo Baggins stared at the Lonely Mountain once more, how could he come back here, how could he return to this place? He clutched his infant son tightly against his chest, the baby was asleep at the moment, but Bilbo had no desire to return to this forbidden place. He had been cast out, but where else was he to go, where else would Thorn be raised? Not in the Shire, for he knew his people would reject his son, his half-dwarven son. Thorn was such a beautiful baby, with his bright blue eyes and thick curly golden hair, Bilbo loved his son more than anything else in the world. That was why when it was clear that his son aged like Thorin's people instead of Bilbo's, Bilbo had decided that it was time to return to Erebor. Three years had passed since the Battle of Five Armies and he had no desire to overstay his welcome at Rivendell. It was one thing to ask to stay their for a time, quite another for him to ask them to raise a half dwarven child, who wouldn't be grown for another eighty years.

The guard stationed outside of Erebor stared at him, at the figure cloaked in a robe his head covered. "Who goes there?"

"I am Belfris, daughter of Bolfris, son of Bilfris and this is my son Baldur. I come to seek work in the mines."

"Where is your son's Father?"

"Alas my son has no Father, I wish to raise him aroud the people of Erebor, so that he might grow up knowing the ways of his people."

"An admirable desire and an understandable one considering everything that has happened to us in the past. You may go." The dwarf said and Bilbo entered Erebor, he stared at the city, which despite it only having two years was nearly unrecognizable. He followed a clear path and found an Inn that was prepared to stable his horses. More than that, he was surprised by how many different dwarves there were and how their skin color and attire varied. The place he decided to stay at had dwarves like his traveling companions gathered around it. He kept his cloak up and his face hidden, he had decided that it would be best to pass as a female dwarf as he believed that his higher voice would help him to pass as that much easier than if he tried to pass as a male dwarf. It couldn't be discovered who he truly was, his hobbit features were simply too remarkable amidst this strange and foreign people. He had traveled with them as they had reclaimed their kingdom and had fallen in love with their King but how well had he known the dwarves truly.

"Can I see your baby?" A little boy asked and Bilbo smiled softly, before he nodded, the boy peered at the child and smiled. "He's a son of Durin he has the hair, if not the eyes."

"His eyes are blue as well, his name is Balfur, and if he can be half the dwarf his father was, I will be content." Bilbo said and the child stared down at the baby.

"He's so cute, I have a little brother and he's not that cute."

"Talmir!" Someone chided and the boy grinned.

"Its true Mama, Talmor isn't very cute."

"Am so, Mama loves me." Talmor said and Bilbo smiled at the child, who while not as fair as his brother was still adorable in his own way. Then again Bilbo had always loved children.

"How goes the reconstruction, I am a scribe by trade and I thought that I might seek opportunities in Erebor that I would not find elsewhere."

"Then you will need to go to the Great Library soon, you will have to see a clerk and prove your ability to both read and write runes. After that you will most likely be set to translating old scrolls or filing them, they are coming up with a new system of filing because they also need to find out which scrolls are still usable and..." The dwarf trailed off as Thorn started crying. "The lad has a good set of lungs on him."

"Just like his Father before him." Bilbo said and laughed. "We never could really see eye to eye, but I miss him now he's gone, he died at the Battle of Five Armies."

"We mourn with you our sister, may he feast with the All Father until the day he awakens at the ending of the world."

"I wish his Father was still here though, but he was a warrior and there was always a chance that he would not survive the battle." Bilbo said.

"The babe must have been born shortly after the battle, to be so small still."

"Indeed he was, Balfur is the only thing that has kept me grounded these long months."
Bilbo said and smiled at the dwarf who had spoken to him. "He is the light of my life and I would do anything to protect him."

"To little Balfur, though his father has gone to the halls his line has not ended!" The dwarf said and everyone raised a pint and Bilbo smiled, he loved dwarves, they were his people more than hobbits had ever been.

"HIS LINE HAS NOT ENDED!" The dwarfs said together and drank deeply.

"Do you know the old epics then?"

"Aye I've studied some of them, though I have specialized in elvan runes and speak and write fluently in Elfish, Westron and the language of the people."

"Why you would want to speak like those pointy ear bastards, or like that hobbit that betrayed King Thorin is beyond me! Be a proper dwarf and stick to your own language and your own kind." Someone else spoke up.

"I've always been fascinated by languages and cultures beside my own, you do not have the right to tell me what I should and shouldn't do."

"True, every dwarf has a right to determine his own fate, but why you would want to speak Elfish is beyond me."

"You are an ignorant fool, your father was the son of a boar dam and your mother was plowed by a stag."
Bilbo said and several people in the room snorted.

"Did you give me insult?"

"No I was simply complementing you on your beard." Bilbo lied easily and the dwarf stroked his beard.

"It is mighty fine, perhaps you could speak some more."

"If you so desire. You are easily placated by complements and have the emotional range and mental capacity of a teaspoon." Bilbo said and again several of the dwarves hid their laughter behind their mugs of ale.

"What did you say?" The dwarf demanded. "Do you want a taste of my steel?"

"No good sir, I've got steel of my own, as well as a low tolerance for fools." Bilbo replied. "At any rate would you really attack a mother and her child, what kind of dwarrow are you?"

"She's got you there Jimar, set it aside and I'll buy you a pint, you are pretty funny what did you say your name was?"

"You may call me Billis, my husband had several enemies and I do not wish to share more than my chosen name with you."

"I see and have you presented yourself before King Thorin?" The dwarf demanded and Bilbo turned pale before bursting into tears, he'd had no idea that Thorin had survived, that Thorin was King of Erebor, he thought Thorin had long since died.

"Lass what's wrong?" One of the dwarves demanded and Bilbo's cries made Thorn cry all the harder, they cried for a time, before the men looked truly uncomfortable.

"I'm alright, just a bit shaken, Thorin lives? And what of the Princes I had thought they were all lost in the battle."

"Prince Fili is a bit scrambled, do to the knock on his noggin and Prince Kili walks with a limp, but both are hale and doing as well can be expected after surviving a battle."

"Glad news indeed, would I have to show my face, to present myself before the King? I am uncertain of how things are governed here."

"It is never required for a Mother and widow of a warrior to show herself, if she does not wish her identity to be known. You would of course be given rooms in the Halls reserved for those that have lost their husbands in battle. Though some dwarven kingdoms require you to show your face, Erebor is not one of them." The man said and Bilbo nodded.

"Alright then, could someone direct me to the throne room, after I've had something to eat."

"Of course lass, we'll be glad to." Someone said and smiled at Bilbo who nodded his thanks. "Was your husband your One?"

"Aye there will never be another dwarf for me, for once I knew him and loved him, I knew that I can never love another dwarf the way I loved him." Bilbo replied and someone sniffed into their beer, several other people started crying and Bilbo rested his hand on the arm of a strong dwarrow that wept openly. "Do not cry for me, for the few months of knowing him, being besides him and living our lives as one, were worth more to me than all hundred and eighty seven of my years before I knew him." He smiled softly and the crying grew even harder. "I wish that we could have been together longer, that we could have lived a lifetime together, but alas it was not meant to be. When I am old and Balfur has grown into a strong young dwarrow, I shall see him again in the Halls. Some are lucky in love, I was not, but that doesn't mean that it was any less true or passionate than those that are lucky enough to spend decades with their One. I had my time with him and it was the best time in my life."

Bilbo smiled at the food was set before him, he blew on the stew and ate slowly, and careful not to spill any, and he then wiped his face and used his cloak to cover his son, while he fed him. The baby suckled nosily at his breast and Bilbo smiled softly. "That's a lad, your hungry aren't you sweetheart? I must have fed him last in Lake town, sorry for the noise, I haven't had much chance to stop along the way and he nodded off a few minutes after I left Dale."

"Its natural to fret over your baby, its alright babies cry as do small children."

"I don't though Mama." Talmir said and smiled, the lad looked to be about eight summers, from what Bilbo could guess of the age of children, though men folk aged quickest and if he had been born a man Talmir wouldn't be any older than six. Bilbo knew that the boy was most likely closer to turning twenty, considering how dwarves aged.

"Is that so Talmir, it must have been another little boy that cried yesterday, when his friend bested him at sword practice." A dwarven man with a giant broadsword said, laughter dancing in his eyes.

"But Papa, I did what you showed me and Jalar cheated!"

"That's a serious accusation to make, what did Jalar do?"

"He threw sand in my face." Talmir said and everyone laughed.

"Boyo, if your ever going to learn to be a warrior, you need to learn how to dodge a bit of sand. Either that or throw it right back at him." He said.

"Aye! Aye!" Several men said and pounded on the tables, Bilbo laughed, he had missed dwarves. Thorn didn't seem impressed by all the noise and gave up his meal to wail instead.

"Hush now, its alright, they aren't going to hurt you my Obsidian Opal. Forgive me, I've pretty much kept to myself before I decided to move here."

"As is your right, it is understandable why you would do so. The little one will become accustomed to other people in time, here let me take him and you can finish eating." A dwarrowdam offered and Bilbo hesitated a moment, before he handed over his son. "He's so very handsome, he won't find any trouble trying to court a dwarrowdam."

"I don't believe he'll have to worry about courting anyone, for several decades at least." Bilbo said with a laugh. "Dwarrow, or dwarrowdam, as long as my son is happy, that is all that matters to me."

"Even at the cost of loosing your line?"

"To me who my son loves is more important than even my line, or the line of his father. I will do anything to ensure that he determines his own fate, as I have done."

"Then what shall you educate him in? If he is to determine his own fate?"

"He's only three, once he is old enough to learn, I will hire tutors for him in the subjects I can't teach him myself." Bilbo said and smiled at the baby.

"Amad! Amad! Pick me up!" His son said little fingers reaching out to Bilbo. Bilbo took the boy back as everyone stared at the child in surprise.

"Pick me up would have worked as well Balfur."

"Amad I not Bal...Bal..."

"I know sweetheart, but its a game we're playing, I'm Billis and you are Balfur, that is your name."

"Why I miss Grandfather, I love Grandfather, I want Grandfather."

"Sweetling, these are your people, I know you love Grandfather, I love Grandfather too. Though there are many other people that I also love, just as I loved your Daddy."

"Who is the boy's Grandfather, that he regards so highly?"

"I traveled for a time after his birth, however I wasn't prepared for him to be born. Lord Elrond of Rivendell was kind enough to allow both me and my son to stay there for a time and when Balfur was old enough to travel, I decided it was time that we returned to Erebor. That way my son can grow up, in our ancestral homeland."

"As is only proper, but why did you stay so long with Lord Elrond?"

"Because I wished to have my son be strong enough to make the journey, before we set off. As it was, it was far from easy."

"Indeed traveling from Rivendell to Erebor alone with a babe could not have been easy, were you in any danger?" The dwarrowdam who had held Thorn asked.

"Luckily some elves wanted to go to Mirkwood around the time I set off for Erebor and so I had traveling companions, elves are very good at navigating the land and we didn't run into any trouble. I then hired a bargeman to take me and Balfur to Lake town and from there I rode this morning to Erebor. There aren't any exciting stories to tell, because nothing truly exciting happened, except for when Balfur stuck his fingers up Elladan's nose." He added and the whole tavern stared at him.

"You traveled with Lord Elrond's sons."

"Aye they are good lads, though a bit too fond of pranks for my liking. I was not overly upset at Balfur, considering that they dyed one of my traveling cloaks a most odd shade of brown. They replaced it and were punished for it and so I thought a bit of payback couldn't hurt anything." Bilbo said and Balfur chortled before blowing a spit bubble. "He's a little troublemaker aren't you my lad?" Bilbo asked and gently tickled Balfur who screeched with laughter thrashing in Bilbo's arms. "Are you a lad at all, or are you a little fish, are you my little fish boy?"

"No! I dwarf!"

"I think your a little fish boy, I'm going to eat you up, yum yum." Bilbo said and nibbled on his child's toes, Thorn screeched in delight again and everyone laughed.

"No fish Amad, I dwarf."

"Oh alright little one, I suppose you've had enough for now." Bilbo said and swung Thorn up to his shoulders.

"Weeeee up high, like up high. Look Grandfather!" He said and then burst into tears.

"Its alright lad, I know you miss him, but you'll make new friends here and there are actually children your age here, there weren't in Rivendell." Bilbo said but his son continued to cry, when he started hitting, Bilbo swung him off his shoulders. "You don't hit Balfur, not me, not anyone. I don't hit you do I?"

"No Mama, I sorry, kiss better?"Thorin asked and kissed Bilbo's mouth, the mask Bilbo wore hid his face under his hood.

"You little charmer. Yes I suppose I can forgive you." Bilbo said and held him as his son cried. "Could I trouble you for some bread?."

"Of course." Someone said and he was given a loaf of bread.

"Thank you." He said and tore a small piece off the loaf, before handing it to Thorn who ate hungrily. "Slowly my Obsidian Opal, its not going anywhere you need to chew slowly and with your mouth closed." He smiled as his son obeyed him, Bilbo ate a bite of the soup, and he smiled as Thorn eyed what he was eating with interest. "Its hot and spicy, do you want a bite of it Balfur?"

"Yes Amad."

"You might not like it and we have yummy bread." Bilbo warned.

"Wanna try it."

"Alright." Bilbo said and blew on a spoonful of the soup before letting his son eat it.

"Hot, Amad the dragon is in my mouth." Thorn said and everyone laughed.

"He's so bright for only being three years old."

"Thank you, he started speaking at a year, but I always wanted him to have a wide vocabulary, I want him to be able to speak with whoever he wants and be able to say whatever he desires. To me a sharp and clever tongue is just as good a weapon as any sword or dagger."

"Indeed, did your husband train you in the warrior's arts?"

"Alas he didn't have time to train me fully, before he had to fight in the Battle of Five Armies and after that I had to pick it up where I could. My fighting style is more elvan than dwarven, my Father was a scribe and didn't see the point in teaching me how to fight, and he thought that a worthy dwarrow would fight for me. After my husband died however I had to learn. I know how to fight with a sword and daggers and how to use a bow. Though I was taught mainly by elves, after I had healed from Balfur's birth, I started training with him strapped to my back. When I'm not riding I strap him on my back still ,like I will after we finish eating." Bilbo said and smiled at his son. "Would you like another bite of soup?"

"No bread please."

"Alright sweetheart, just eat slow." He said and smiled at his son, as the child ate the bread slowly, He went back to eating his soup. It reminded him of what Bombur used to make, hearty and filling, as well as spicy enough to make his eyes water. Bilbo had missed eating spicy food, the elves ate a bland diet and although Bilbo had been allowed access to the kitchen, he had cooked according to the preferences of his hosts. He'd love to experiment with dwarven spices now he had an opportunity to do so. He wondered at how dwarven recipes differed, after all he'd only ever tried traveling food and even that had been good, Bombur had been able to stretch things wonderfully, which had been something Bilbo himself struggled with when he'd volunteered to cook for his traveling companions on the way back to Erebor. He finished the soup taking a bit of the bread and sopping what was left in the bowl, before requesting another one. After he had finished another two bowls and Thorn had finished off the bread, he paid and smiled when he was lead by Talmir to the audience hall. The line to get into the hall was long and he waited with Thorn strapped to his back.

"Down Amad."

"No sweetling, we have to wait in line, but how about a song? You like the one about the seven Fathers don't you?" He asked and Thorn clapped his hands.

"Yes Amad sing me it."

"Father Mahal had seven sons, seven sons had Father Mahal, I am one of them and so are you, so lets all sing along. Right arm. Father Mahal had seven sons, seven sons had Father Mahal, I am one of them and so are you, so lets all sing along. Left Arm. Father Mahal had seven sons, seven sons had Father Mahal, I am one of them and so are you, so lets all sing along. Right Leg. Father Mahal had seven sons, seven sons had Father Mahal, I am one of them and so are you, so lets all sing along. Left Leg. Father Mahal had seven sons, seven sons had Father Mahal, I am one of them and so are you, so lets all sing along." He smiled at the children who also started singing the song and copying his movements, as his son laughed happily on his back, little legs kicking him accidentally occasionally.

"Fire song Amad!"

"Oh, misty eye of the mountain below

Keep careful watch of my brothers' souls
And should the sky be filled with fire and smoke
Keep watching over Durin's son

If this is to end in fire
Then we should all burn together
Watch the flames climb high into the night
Calling out for the rope, sent by and we will
Watch the flames burn on and on the mountain side hey

And if we should die tonight
Then we should all die together
Raise a glass of wine for the last time
Calling out for the rope
Prepare as we will
Watch the flames burn on and on the mountain side
Desolation comes upon the sky

Now I see fire, inside the mountain
I see fire, burning the trees
And I see fire, hollowing souls
And I see fire, blood in the breeze
And I hope that you'll remember me

Oh, should my people fall
Then surely I'll do the same
Confined in mountain halls
We got too close to the flame
Calling out father hold fast and we will
Watch the flames burn on and on the mountain side
Desolation comes upon the sky

Now I see fire, inside the mountain
I see fire, burning the trees
And I see fire, hollowing souls
And I see fire, blood in the breeze
And I hope that you'll remember me

And if the night is burning
I will cover my eyes
For if the dark returns then
My brothers will die
And as the sky's falling down
It crashed into this lonely town
And with that shadow upon the ground
I hear my people screaming out

Now I see fire, inside the mountain
I see fire, burning the trees
And I see fire, hollowing souls
And I see fire, blood in the breeze

I see fire, oh you know I saw a city burning (fire)
And I see fire, feel the heat upon my skin (fire)
And I see fire (fire)
And I see fire (burn on and on and mountains side)."

Bilbo sang and smiled at the sound of his son's snores, he had written the son when his son was a baby, he would sang the one he had written and the one that Thorin had sung the first day they met interchangeably. He smiled softly and realized everyone was staring at him.