30 - Balin (05)

There were few things that could make you as merry as a good song and some beer. Balin took a hearty swig from his stein of beer and wiped off the foam from his white beard. He looked around the tavern and only saw two hobbits that stood out. Unlike the other hobbits that were looking at the group with wonder, these two had a devilish smirk with a worrying glint in their eyes. Balin made eye contact with Thorin and received a curt serious nod. Balin relaxed noticeably; Thorin was ever yet proving that he would be an even greater leader than his father once they had gotten the mountain back. The two hobbits strolled over with their hands in their pockets. The one in front was of an average size for a hobbit, however, definitely the leanest hobbit he had ever seen. His companion was smaller and had the familiar roundness of a hobbit. He continuously scanned the tavern while following his friend. “Greetings dwarves! We heard there might be a group around these parts that are going on an adventure,” the lean one said with outmost arrogance, “Do you fellows happen to know anything about that?”. The small started to giggle but quickly restrained himself after a swift heel kick, from his overconfident friend, that landed on his shin. Balin felt a sudden need to cuff the two hobbits but he controlled himself and left that for Thorin.

29 - Fili (05)

As the mood were slowly dropping, the younger dwarves decided to bring out their fiddles. "Let's play a song about our adventure to come." said Fili. It didn't take long before the instruments were out and with a deep tone the dwarves begun to sing.

Far from the mountains cold

Where rivers flow amongst fields of gold

With hills and dales across the plains

And a dreaded lack of gold.

There are no mountains to be found

No gems nor gold

No mines nor stones

No ancient halls with ale and song.

Far over the mountains cold

Where dragons sleep on hoards of gold

We travel to the dwarven home

To reclaim the golden hoard.

While the dragon still slumbers in the deep

While dwarven kin moves to its feet

To slay the dragon as it sleeps

To reclaim the halls in the deep.

28 - Gandalf (05)

"I am here now." Gandalf appeared in the door, which was all together too small for him, so he stood hunched in the door post. The dwarves looked somewhat humbled since last and had brought in some pints of beer. Dwalin looked up at Gandalf and asked: "And where have you been as we have procured the supplies?" Gandalf snapped at him: "Doing things that needed doing young dwarf, and I'll have no more questions at that." Gandalf noticed Thorin at the end of the table looking stern and decisive. Someone among the younger dwarves raised a hand, as if in a school class. It was Nori. When Gandalf's eyes fell upon him he shrinked in his chair. "Yes?" asked the wizard. "Well, we were wondering whether it would be you that would slay the dragon?" Gandalf sat down on a stool much too small for him and sighed. "Tell you what Nori, that is for me to know and you to find out." With those words he ended the conversation on dragonslaying.

27 - Dori (05)

"Who says that elves are such an unpleasant species?", asked Dori to Bombur trying to make him more reasonable - you never knew what would have happened during their venture and it was important to be focused on the treasure more than on ancient prejudices. "You barely put your nose outside your door and you presume you know everything about the world! Don't be a fool and go back to your ale and meal". Bombur looked surprised and his reaction was understandable: as said previously, Dori used to be the kind one. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be such a bigot. I'm just keeping to what I've heard about them", he said to Dori. Dori took a sip of his beer feeling guilty for having been so bitter, but he still was convinced that it wasn't so important to worry about elves. Beer was definitely the only thing that was able to awake the real dwarf in him. "I wonder where Gandalf and the burglar are", he then added.

26 - Bombur (06)

Bombur looked up from the largest stein of beer he had ever been presented with.
  "Don't go worrying about such things, Fili. I'm sure Thorin has thought of something already. We didn't come all the way over here to recruit a hobbit for nothing, am I right?"
A few others nodded their heads in agreement. What was important now was how to get there.
The first part of their journey would likely be the easiest one. the lands on this side of the Misty Mountains had not been afflicted of the hardships that plagued other parts of the world. However, and Bombur did not quite like it, these lands also housed a lot of elves.
  "Will we be able to cross the mountains without passing through Rivendell? I don't reckon those stinky elves would take kindly to a throng of dwarves intruding on their property. And for that matter, I don't suppose any of us are very fond of elves either!"
  "Hear, hear. I concur wholeheartedly", Dwalin shouted.
Upon hearing these words, Thorin exchanged a look with Balin, but decided to say nothing for the time being.

25 - Fili (04)

In the meantime Fili and Kili had completed their task to tie up the ponies, and were entering the tavern, looking around seeing a few hobbits sitting at a table close to the dwarves.
The innkeeper walked up to the newly arrived dwarves "What will you have?". "Two pints of ale" responded Kili as they sat down at the table.
Fili looked towards the dwarf and said "The ponies are in the stable at the back.". The dwarves nodded in response.
"We were discussing how to get the gold out, Kili says that we are going to steal the treasure from the dragon. But there must be too much gold for us to carry off. So I was wondering are we going to kill the dragon and how do we kill it?" The innkeeper arrived with the two pints "Here you go.", "Thank you." responded Fili and Kili.

24 - Gandalf (04)

The wizard had been observing the dwarves from under an oak tree up on the hill. This mission had been a long time coming, and gathering the dwarves had been a difficult task in itself. From here on out this journey would be a lot more hazardous than it should have been. The world had grown darker than he remembered it, and the bright lights of civilizations long lost now only faintly glimmered throughout the northern world. So much had been lost since the last great war, and roads which once were hospitable and safe had become forgotten and fallen into darkness.

Of this the dwarves knew little, and their minds were focused on promises of wealth and power handed down to them from their ancestors. They would never lose hope, but their minds were clouded of stories of old. That was why they needed Bilbo. Gandalf had wandered through the vast lands of Middle Earth for longer than most other beings he could name, and the only untouched region that remained was the Shire with its hobbits. They were a peculiar sort these hobbits. Most of the new races had never even heard of this part of the world, and among the elder races those who had not forgotten had stopped to care. They were deemed to be a trivial and useless race. Maybe it was so. Maybe these dwarves were right in their doubts of a new member from this untroubled and distant part of the world. Perhaps there was rhyme and reason to why the Shire had fallen into memory. However Gandalf still believed in these curly-feeted halflings and their abilities. They had something that the rest of the world had lost, and that was what still made them stronger than most kings he had ever met.

The dwarves had purchased some ponies at a local stablekeep and headed of towards the tavern. Gandalf figured that some beer might help him damp the worry he felt. From now on out he had to remain hopefull for the future. He got up and headed down towards the tavern through neatly cropped gardens and small hedges.