Chapter 11: Dwarfs

[General POV]

"There's a lot of noise, they seem to be having a party, don't you think so, Gandalf?" said Aldril as he stood in front of the door of Bilbo's house.

Aldril let out a small laugh, as he imagined how angry Bilbo must be. It would certainly be a lot of fun to see an angry hobbit, and more so one as calm as Bilbo.

"Perhaps it would be, dwarves love to have parties," Gandalf replied, then rang the doorbell (which is a bell).

Standing near the door, Aldril saw how the mark left by Gandalf during the day was glowing ever so faintly. But his attention was drawn as he heard an angry shout coming from inside the house.

"I get no more visitors! Go away and bother someone else! There are already too many dwarves in my dining room at this hour! And if some git made this joke Ha! Let me tell you, it's in very bad taste!"

The door opened quickly and Bilbo was taken aback for a moment as he looked at the two people outside.

Bilbo felt that he had hit a dwarven honeycomb and that only more dwarves would come; he had not expected that those arriving would be the two people who had visited him in the morning.

Bilbo already had an idea of what was going on, due to the fact that the dwarves kept talking about a meeting that a wizard named Gandalf had arranged, and seeing these two people, his suspicions increased. "Is the old man in the gray robes the one the dwarves are referring to?"

His thoughts were interrupted by a deep but kindly-sounding voice. "Good evening, Mr. Baggins. My name is Aldril, pleased to meet you and sorry to have startled you this morning."

The one who spoke was the person who had those very strange eyes that caused him a lot of fear. But seeing the kind way he introduced himself and the way he apologized, Bilbo realized that he was not so scary and in contrast to the dirty and rude dwarves, this person was more polite and clean.

With the good impression Aldril left, Bilbo lowered his fear a little and with a smile said, "Oh, don't worry, come in, be my guest." Nodding towards Bilbo, Aldril entered along with Gandalf.

Entering Bilbo's house, Aldril could see the group of dwarves. These were about the same size as the hobbits, perhaps a little taller, but what distinguished them was their stocky physique, hair pulled back in braids and their characteristic long beards.

Aldril noticed that the group of dwarves were carrying large quantities of food that they had probably taken from Bilbo's storeroom. The food was brought to a long table.

Noticing movement at the door, one of the dwarves spotted Gandalf and greeted him cheerfully. "Oh, Gandalf! Finally you are here!" Hearing one of their companions call Gandalf's name, the others peeked in the doorway and greeted joyfully as well.

"Gandalf! You took so long!"

"Hello, Gandalf."

"Good evening, Gandalf."

One by one, they greeted Gandalf. Aldril raised an eyebrow at Gandalf's repeated name. They sounded like a broken record, playing only Gandalf's name.

Shaking his head in exasperation, Aldril looked at little Bilbo who had an angry look on his face, as he saw that his carpet was full of mud. Aldril could understand the despair Bilbo felt.

The clean and quiet house of Bag End was now a mess.

Seeing Bilbo's mood, Aldril patted him on the shoulder in sympathy.

Having greeted Gandalf, the Dwarves saw Aldril and spoke in unison.

"Who is he?"

"Who is he?"

"Who are you?"

earing how several dwarves started asking questions in unison, Aldril imagined a group of bearded kindergarteners asking who he was. The image he imagined almost made him laugh.

Watching as Aldril held in his laughter, Gandalf shook his head in exasperation. He was getting an idea of what Aldril might be imagining.

"This is the adventurer I met on the way." As soon as Gandalf finished speaking, there was a knock at the door. Hearing it, all the dwarves fell silent.

Gandalf, who was standing near the door, turned and opened it. On the other side of the door stood a dwarf taller than the others, with a well-groomed beard, a coat of mail, a cloak and a luxurious fur coat.

"Gandalf, you said the house where we would meet would be easy to find, I got lost twice. If it weren't for the mark on the door, I wouldn't have found it."

The tall dwarf stepped gracefully into Bag End's house. As he entered, he removed his cloak and watched as the other dwarves bowed their heads in respect.

Ignoring the dwarf who entered, Bilbo focused his attention as he listened to what the dwarf said. "Mark? There is no mark on that door! I painted it a week ago!"

Closing the door, Gandalf replied, "Yes there is a mark, I drew it in the morning."

When Gandalf spoke, Bilbo was stunned for a few seconds. No wonder all these dwarves came to his house. This whole mess was Gandalf's fault.

Quickly, Bilbo moved to Gandalf's side and shot him an angry look. Looking at Bilbo's angry face, Aldril patted him and spoke in a low voice. "I told him not to vandalize your door, but I think you made him angry by not letting him come forward."

In surprise, Bilbo looked even more angrily at Gandalf and asked. "Is that true?"

Looking at Bilbo's angry face, Gandalf ignored him and said. "Bilbo Baggins, Aldril," then he waved his hand and pointed chivalrously at the dwarf. "Let me introduce you to the leader of the company, Thorin Oaken Shield."

After Gandalf finished introducing him, Thorin Oaken Shield immediately walked over and looked at Bilbo, who had been recommended by Gandalf. "So, this is the hobbit?"

Surrounding him, Thorin began to ask. "Mr. Baggins, do you have any combat experience?"

"Excuse me?" Bilbo asked puzzled.

"Axe or sword, which weapon do you prefer?" Thorin continued to speak, though it was in a calm tone, Aldril could tell that Thorin spoke in derision.

The dwarf prince of Durin, who can now also be called the king under the mountain, can easily distinguish someone who has no combat experience at all, hence his mockery towards Bilbo.

"Well I have a lot of chess experience, but I don't understand why you are asking me this?" he asked sincerely, although he had some guesses, Bilbo still couldn't fully understand.

"What I figured." Mockingly, Thorin turned to look at the other dwarves and said. "He looks more like a shopkeeper than a looter." Crossing his arms, Thorin laughed and the other dwarves joined in his laughter as well.

After the laughter died down, Thorin focused his attention on Aldrin and began to look him over from head to toe, noting his attire, longsword and bow. Thorin said, "This one does look like a warrior, but Gandalf, I remember you saying that my team only needed one raider, didn't you?" Thorin looked at Gandalf with a calm expression, but in his tone a slight annoyance could be heard.

"Yes, I said so, but my intuition told me that, if I didn't bring him, I might regret it later, and you better than anyone know better than to underestimate a wizard's intuition," Gandalf spoke as he took a puff on his pipe.

Remaining silent for a few seconds, Thorin asked, "So, Mr. Aldril, what can you do?" As Thorin spoke, all the other dwarves focused their attention on Aldril.

In a relaxed manner, Aldril replied, "I am easily one of the best archers in Middle-earth. I doubt that even the elves compare to me. As well as being an excellent tracker, as well as very efficient at killing monsters such as trolls, orcs and such."

Upon hearing Aldril's self-proclaimed abilities, some of the dwarves nodded approvingly, while others looked skeptical. Thorin frowned slightly.

"Don't you think it sounds very arrogant to say that you are one of the best archers, Mr. Aldril? Besides, we already have an archer with us," Thorin said as he looked at Kili.

"I don't doubt he's good, but he can't compare to me," Aldril spoke calmly. And it was true, the original Aldril was easily one of the best archers. Hence his bow skill was level 2. If at that level he could outperform an elf, he couldn't imagine how good he would be at having the skill at 3.

Listening to Aldril's words, the dwarves looked annoyed, except for one who had a long white beard. This dwarf was giving Aldril a calm look.

Hearing how confident Aldril sounded, Thorin was a bit annoyed, but he didn't show it. "Is that so? Then, Mister Aldril can give us a demonstration."

With a smile, Aldril spoke. "Of course I can demonstrate, how about this? I show you how good I am, and if I live up to your expectations, you'll take me on your team."

Hearing Aldril's proposal, Thorin looked at the group of dwarves, seeing how excited they were at the bet. Thorin said, "Kili, come." Hearing his name, Kili quickly approached Thorin.

"Kili is the best archer we have. Compete with him, and if you manage to beat him, I will gladly welcome you to the team."

At Thorin's words, Aldril smiled and looked at Gandalf, who was also giving him a knowing smile, as they had both planned this.

Gandalf told him that dwarves were stubborn and distrustful of others. Therefore, the easiest way to approach a dwarf was to show how strong you are, beat them in a competition or win them a bet, as dwarves love to compete and gamble.

This was demonstrated both in the Hobbit movie and in the competitive relationship Gimli had with Legolas.

With that said, Aldril and the others left Bag End, going to the nearby forest, where Aldril and Kili would compete. Even the angry Bilbo set off with the others, as Gandalf pulled him to follow them.

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