TWOR - LotR - 1.2 - Party Business

[General March Side Quest: A Hobbit´s Snack]

And look, I Bilbo´ed! Again not sure how well I can write him; I really like the way in which Martin Freeman portrayed him, and I´ve somehow tried to mirror it.

Critique is always welcomed, especially for the story. I´m not a writer, so yeah. Enjoy!

Also: Want to use the background I´ve made for this? Go grab it here, it´s free!

So. A party.

Eána and Anárion had been staring for a while at the spot in which they had last seen the wizard, before moving on. They had been walking silently for at least one hour, and slowly everything that had happened so far, and each word Gandalf had been saying, filtered down for good. Either this was a dream worth of the Literature Nobel Prize, or they were really stuck in a book.

´You should accept, you know´, Anárion began.

“Accept what?”

´The party invitation. We still don´t know how we ended up here, which subsequently means we have no idea how to get home. It might be best if you get acquainted with a few people, even helpful for us if we make friends here. Besides, what speaks against having fun while doing so? And it might be an opportunity to restock our food supplies - ´

“I am NOT going to steal from these people!”, she exclaimed!

´I was going to say that every party has leftovers. We might be able to get some for cheaper than on the market.´

That was not even such a bad idea, she mused. “I think we should look for somewhere we can spend the night, not too far from the village”, she said. “Maybe in the nearby woods? I don´t mind sleeping outside. “

Anárion nodded – literally – and she heard him say ´Hmmmh´ in her head, so they walked on and left for the woods by noon. They looked for a while, and found a hollow tree, large enough for Eána to sleep, even if it wasn´t very comfortable, and store her items in. Then she again went berry hunting. She found a few more blackberries, raspberries, and a few edible roots, and after a while she came across what looked like an abandoned orchard. There were no houses nearby, and no fence or wall, and she wondered what happened to whoever had lived here. There was no indication of someone taking care of the trees or fruit they were carrying, and a further inspection of the fruit showed that it was healthy; only a few pieces had been used by birds, insects and other animals to feast upon. So she picked a few leaves and used magic to fuse them into another bag – after checking if no one was looking; she was not too keen on using spells as she could not be sure how people would react, but this little spell was inoffensive – and picked apples and pears to add them to their food stock.  She also came across a few mushrooms, but decided against picking those – she despised mushrooms.

´Ah, fresh fruit! These should last us a few days, if not an entire week! Maybe you should pick a few more, as a gift for whoever will be hosting that party tonight.´

“…you know, sometimes you´re pretty intelligent, for a horse.”

Anárion gave her a shocked look, and she chuckled. “Don´t mind me, you know I´m joking.”

´I will never understand your sense of humour. What I do approve of is your sense of fashion though. How lucky you have these costumes with you. That way you have something nice to wear this evening.´

“I am not sure if I´m ready to accept fashion advice from a horse just yet, but you´re right. Speaking of which – how are you feeling? I could use the time left to brush you and tend to your hooves.”

´That would be most welcomed. You could use this stone over there as a hoof pick; I believe it will just be dull enough not to hurt me.´

And thus Eána first sat down and ate some of the fruit and drank some water, and then proceeded to groom Anárion until he felt good again and looked presentable. She also picked up a few twigs and formed a basket, in the same fashion she had crafted that leaf bag, went back to the abandoned orchard and picked a few more apples. She considered for a moment picking some of the mushrooms to bring as a gift, but neither did she feel like using her magic again to find out whether or not they were even edible, nor did she deem it polite to bring things as a gift she did not like herself. Then she went looking for water and found a little spring; she suspected it was one of the water sources providing the village´s well. She stripped down to her underwear and washed; the ice cold water reviving her spirits and giving her rosy cheeks. Anárion observed her with peculiar interest; he explained jokingly he had never understood how humans were able to shed and put on a different coat just like this, and Eána couldn´t help but laugh. She then put on her yellow dress, adjusted the green back apron and shawl, put her hair in a bun and crafted a braid crown around it.

“Can I go like this?”

´You look stunning´ he said.

“Oh you”, she replied, and stored her usual clothes in the hollow tree. The sun had already began to set, painting the sky pink and golden, and so they both went down to the village.

Gandalf had been right, it was indeed a merry gathering. They had not only decorated the area south of town which they called “party field”, with the large tree in its centre, but had also hung little lanterns and light garlands in front of their houses and on trees and bushes. There was already music and singing to be heard, and both Eána and Anárion decided it would be best if she let him waiting by the well again. She was drawing enough attention enough by being one of the Big People in a village full of Little People. Then again she spotted Gandalf pretty soon, and he proceeded to introduce her as an “old acquaintance”, which seemed to explain everything for the Hobbits. She decided to stick to this little white lie for now, as it didn´t spawn questions she was unable to answer anyways.

It was almost funny how fast they adjusted to her presence. Eána had thought they would be more suspicious, more shy – as she had always thought them to be for whatever reason – but soon enough they didn´t seem at all to mind her being there. The fauntlings still sneaked up on her to observe her from behind a bench or a tree, and at one point she even managed to amuse them by playing peek-a-boo with them.  She later chatted with a Hobbit lady presenting herself as Lobelia, who urged her to try her pastries, danced with some of the younger folks, and listened to one of the elders – a man with an impressive amount of snow white curls on both head and feet – tell stories from his childhood and youth, while Gandalf was already talking to a few folks about taking some of the leftovers, obviously for himself, but while he was speaking he looked at her and winked. She smiled thankfully, but couldn´t help wondering what the old wizard was up to.

The sun had set for good when she sat down on a bench near one of the houses, a mug of spiced cocoa in her hand (“a delicacy!”, Gandalf had told her, “it would be blasphemy not to try it”), the basket of apples still next to her. Maybe she should just put it on the buffet so everyone could enjoy.  She watched the dancing folk and stretched her legs, not paying attention to the Hobbit who nearly tripped over them.

“Oh- oh my, good Sir, I´m sorry! Are you hurt?”

The man looked at her, his expression angered at first but quickly turning to surprised when he looked at her. Seems he had not heard of the tall woman in town by now.

“I´m fine, I really am”, he went on. “You…you are not from around here, are you?”

She laughed. “Obviously not. I am…I´m with Gandalf. I mean- “

She sighed. “To be honest I have no idea how I got here. I must have had an accident of some sort, because I don´t recall much besides my name, the name of my horse, and where I´ve been before. I don´t know what I´m doing here or why I am in this area…I´ve met Gandalf, and he kind of took me under his wing until I can sort everything out again. He thought joining your celebration would maybe help me get into a better mood. Goodness, I have no idea why I am telling you this, I´m sorry, I don´t want to bother you…”

This, and she didn´t really like lying to people who were that friendly to her.

“Oh no, it´s quite alright”, he continued, “I like a good story now and then.”

 He took a bow. “Bilbo Baggins, of Bag End. Pleased to meet you.”

*So it really is Bilbo*, she mused. This was most surreal. She clearly was enjoying all of this, but she wondered if she would ever get used to meeting people she had deemed fictional, and who she had grew fond of reading their adventures over and over again.

“Eána.” She bowed as well. “I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Master Baggins. And if I may say so, I´ve rarely felt as welcomed as here in your beautiful little town.”

Bilbo put his hands in his pockets, wiggled up and down on his feet and looked sheepishly proud.

“Well, yes, we are quite known for our famous parties and pastries and cocoa, for that matter”, he added, pointing at the mug. “Speaking of which – do you have a place to stay?”

“Oh, I have a small camp set up in the woods for tonight”. She was definitely not going to tell him that she was planning to sleep squeezed up in a tree trunk with her luggage as makeshift pillows.

“You could always ask Pansy”, he said, pointing at a slightly rotund Hobbit lady in a blue dress. "I´m sure she and her husband would be glad to let you stay at their house if you´re ready to help them with their sheep as payment, that is.”

“Thank you, I´m already set up for the night, and I don´t want to indulge in your people´s hospitality too much.”

“Oh, but I insist! I´ll ask her before I get home. To be frank – I´d love to hear more of your stories, so my request was primarily made out of pure self-interest.” He smiled and reminded her of a hedgehog, and she laughed.

“In that case I´d be glad to stay a bit longer.”

“Good good” he went on, and proceeded to stuff his pipe he had taken out of God knows where. “If you could stop by for Elevensies? Pansy wanted to bring some of her raspberry cake over, so we could discuss everything.”

Eána nodded. “Thank you so much, Master Baggins.”

“As long as you don´t bring that wizard with you, you´ll be welcome to pay a visit whenever you wish to.”

She laughed again. “I think that could be arranged.”

• Pose reference for Eána (and the bench) by SenshiStock 
• Pattern on Bilbo´s waistcoat by ~Snufver
  
• This picture of Martin Freeman with Peter Jackson was my pose reference for Bilbo
• Paper texture by mourningstocks (deactivated account)
• Free wood pattern by invent on brusheezy