Chapter 2: The Meeting

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(Bilbo's Hobbit Hole)

*Ding ding*

"No, no, no. There's nobody home! Go away and bother somebody else! There is far too many dwarves in my dining room as it is! If this is some clotpole's idea of a joke, Ha Ha! I can honestly say it's in very poor taste." Bilbo said loudly as he walked briskly toward his door dropping Fili's weapons off to the side as he walked.

When Bilbo opened the door a bunch of dwarves fell onto the ground in a pile as if they were all leaning on the door, as well as two very tall men behind them in a black and grey cloak. Bilbo looked at the man in the black cloak confused, but then he saw Gandalf tilt his head down and look at Bilbo guiltily.

"Galdalf." Bilbo said with a sigh as if everything was explained.

"And who is that now?" Bilbo asked gesturing to me standing behind Gandalf.

"Ah yes, I suppose introductions are in order. This is Rozahr." Gandalf said as he gestured to me.

(Bilbo POV)

I had just been introduced to the friend of Gandalf and he seemed younger than Gandalf himself, but something about him screamed of ancientness. He was wearing a black cloak with a silver interior lining and blue symbols along the edges of the exterior along the center of the cloak, only being able to see all the symbols if the cloak was closed. He had an amulet around his neck with a dark blue gem inside that had similar peculiar symbols on it.

As i was looking at him, the name Gandalf said seemed to have finally hit me. He was said to be a very strong wizard, possibly even the strongest, but not many saw him stay in one place too long so he was given the name of simply 'The Wanderer' it was actually similar to the name we had known Gandalf by, 'The Wandering Wizard'.

He walked in and offered me his hand.

"Pleasure to finally meet you Bilbo Baggins" he said politely.

I noticed that as soon as he spoke, that feeling of ancientness faded and was replaced by a feeling of meeting a long lost friend, as the aura he gave of seemed to change.

(MC POV)

I was introduced by Gandalf and since I was actually meeting a fictional character that I had actually never met before, I was happy, but had to not show it. I decided to release a part of my aura to keep up my mysterious vibe I had going for me. I did it simply because it was fun.

I reached my hand out to Bilbo and suppressed my aura at the same time.

I then made my way into the dwelling and had never been more upset at being tall than ever before, I had to keep my head ducked down pretty much the entire time.

'Urgh, blasted Hobbits and their tiny homes' I thought to myself as I went to see if I could find a place to sit.

I had finally found a relatively large chair and was sitting as I watched the dwarves piling food on the table and scarfing their faces and all the while Bilbo was unsuccessfully trying to get them to put the food back.

I chuckled to myself and then wrote a rune on the floor while chanting.

'Crystallum Mordo'

It was an Earth magic spell that summons edible crystals as I wanted something to tide myself over as the roudy batch of dwarves set up the food.

~Crack~

The sound of Earth being moved attracted Bilbo's attention and he stopped his running about and stared at me grabbing a couple decent sized peices of greenish white crystal off a larger clump of crystal.

I could tell he was about to say something about the mess I was making from the new hole in the floor when, the clump of crystal started to go back inside the earth and the floor looked good as new.

~Crunch~

I took a bite out if the crystal and smiled at him. He paused at that, then shook his head quickly and went back to trying to stop the dwarves from taking all his food.

I had joined the group a little later for the food and had gotten myself a small plate and filled it with some nice meat and some fruit and bread. Before I had sat down though, I had Dori come up to myself and Gandalf.

"Excuse me, could I temp either of you with a cup of chamomile?" He asked.

"Oh none for me Dori, I think I'll have a nice red wine thank you." Gandalf said.

"I'll take you up on that offer Dori, thank you." I said as I had saw Dori frown slightly when Gandalf declined his offer, he did go to the trouble of making the tea after all.

We had all finished eating, well all except Bombur, and the dwarves sang a wonderful little song about Bilbo as they all tossed around the dishware, impressively not even chipping a single one only to have a good laugh about it. This was all interrupted by a loud pounding on the door.

The room became silent and Gandalf paused.

"He is here." He said seriously.

Thorin had shown up and met Bilbo obviously less than pleased with him. He then began to talk about the meeting he had with the Dwarves of the seven kingdoms in Ered Luin.

"What news of the dwarves of the Iron Hills, is Dain with us?" Dwalin asked.

"They will not come. They say this quest is ours and ours alone." Thorin replied.

"Quest? You're going on a quest?" Bilbo asked intrigued.

Gandalf then took out a piece of parchment that depicted Erebor.

This brought on discussions from the other dwarves about the prophecy.

"When the birds of yore, return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end." Oin recited.

This caused Bilbo to walk back in and question about the beast and Bofur spoke up and began explaining about Smaug.

Ori spoke up bragging how he'd beat Smaug himself but this was stopped by Balin speaking up.

"The task would be difficult enough with an army behind us, but we number just 13. And not 13 of the best, nor brightest." Bal in said.

This caused some dissent amongst the dwarves and they complained of being insulted until Fili slammed his fist on the table and spoke up.

"We may be few in number, but we're fighters, all of us, to the last dwarf." He said.

"And let's not forget, we have two wizards in our company, Gandalf and Rozahr will have killed hundreds of dragons in their time." Kill added.

Gandalf started to fumble after that and was asked by Dori how many dragons he'd killed. I could see he was struggling so I spoke up.

"Let me explain, there are not many dragons that exist in this world, now I can't speak for Gandalf, but while I haven't killed any dragons, mostly due to their scarcity, I have killed a fair few Wyverns. A fully grown Wyvern can get very close to the size of a young dragon. They do lack the breath attack that different dragons have, but their strength is nothing to scoff at." I explained.

I wasn't even lying, during the war in the Far East, the enemy had many Wyverns that were part of the army and was actually the reason I was called to help the Blue Wizards fight and why I couldn't be there to help the dwarves.

This seemed to placate the dwarves but they then began to argue about the differences in strength between the two beasts many arguing over each other. They were all stopped by Thorin shouting.

The dwarves stopped and looked at him.

"If we have read these signs, do you not think others will have read them to? Rumors have begun to spread. The dragon Smaug has not been seen for 60 years. Eyes look East to the mountain, assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lay unprotected. Do we sit back and let others take what is rightfully ours, or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor?" Thorin stated and finished with a Dwarvish war cry as motivation which caused the dwarves to cheer.

"You forget the front gate is sealed, there is no way into the mountain." Balin said stopping the cheers suddenly.

"That my dear Balin, is not entirely true." Gandalf said as he pulled out a key that looked to be of dwarvish make.

"How came you by this?" Thorin asked as he recognized the dwarvish design.

"It was given to me by your father King Thrain for safe keeping. It is yours now, same as this." Gandalf said as he handed the key to Thorin.

Gandalf pointed to the map and spoke that the runes on it were telling of a hidden passage.

Fili spoke up followed by Kili.

"If there is a key, then there must be a door."

"There's another way in."

"If we can find it, but dwarf doors are invisible when closed. The answer lies hidden somewhere in this map, but I do not have the skill to find it, but there are others in middle earth who can." Gandalf interjected.

The dwarves looked to me after he said that as they knew I was the stronger of the two of us wizards.

"Naturally, I lack the skill as well, otherwise it'd be entirely too easy and we could simply head to the lonely mountain immediately." I explained.

While the other dwarves simply nodded, Thorin gave me a look as he sensed that there was some sort of hidden meaning in my words.

'Why would we not head straight to Erebor? Where else would we go?' Thorin thought to himself.

"The task I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth, and no small amount of courage. But if we are careful and clever I believe it can be done." Gandalf said looking at Bilbo when he said courage.

'Wow real subtle Gandalf' I thought to myself.

"That's why we need a burglar." Ori said.

The dwarves hummed in agreement.

"And a good one too. I'd wager you'd need an expert." Bilbo spoke up

"And are you?" Balin asked pointedly.

"Am I what? Bilbo questioned.

"He said he's an expert Hey!" Oin said cheerfully.

"Oh no no no, I'm not a burglar I haven't stolen a thing in my life." Bilbo defended.

"I'm afraid I'd have to agree with Mr. Baggins, hardly burglar material." Balin said vaguely insulting.

"Aye, the wild is no place for gentle folk who can neither fight nor fend for themselves." Dwalin said before the dwarves once again got into a shouting match only to be interrupted by Gandalf.

"Enough, if I say Bilbo Baggins is a burglar, then a burglar he is!!" Gandalf said as his voice gained a booming echo to it as he stood up and his shadow started to increase in size and he gave off the vibe of being a giant beast.

His voice returned to normal as did his shadow as he continued.

"Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet and can pass unseen by most if they wish. And while the dragon is accustomed to the smell of dwarf, the smell of a Hobbit is all but unknown to him which gives us a distinct advantage."

"I will also be there as an added layer of protection for Mr. Baggins here. I will distract the dragon for you, affording you plenty of time to look for what you must." I said as I looked at Bilbo and nodded

Bilbo seemed surprised at my words and was wondering about why I would help him.

"You asked me to choose the 14th member of this company and I have chosen Mr. Baggins. There is a lot more to him than appearances suggest. And he has a great deal more to offer than any of you know, including himself." Gandalf said as he looked at Bilbo at the end causing Bilbo to be surprised at his faith in him.

"You must trust me on this." Gandalf said to Thorin seriously.

"Very well we will do it your way. Give him the contract!" Thorin said ignoring Bilbo's protests.

Bilbo began to go over the contract and ended up fainting after he read the part about being incinerated and it didn't help that Bofur made things worse by describing the way that Smaug could kill him.

While all this was happening Thorin pulled me and Gandalf aside.

"I cannot guarantee his safety." Thorin said.

"Understood." Gandalf replied seriously.

"That's what I am here for, I will do my best to keep him safe." I interjected.

Thorin nodded then continued.

"Nor will I be responsible for his fate." He said pointedly as he was ensuring that if Bilbo dies it will be Gandalf's fault for involving him.

"Agreed." Gandalf replied accepting the possibility that he may have another death that he must shoulder.

After Bilbo woke up Gandalf and he had a conversation about how adventurous Bilbo was as a young Hobbit and to convince him to join them. I walked in near the end after telling the dwarves about my fights with the wyverns and showing them some simple spells.

"Can you promise that I will come back....Either of you?" Bilbo asked, pausing and continuing when he saw me.

"No, and if you do, you will not be the same." Gandalf replied solemnly.

Bilbo then looked at me.

"Young Bilbo, if I can call you that, I may not know you very well, or your capabilities. But I trust in Gandalf's judgment of character, I have faith you will be a valued member of this company. I promise on pain of death that I will do whatever in my power to ensure your safe return, but even I cannot give you a total guarantee that you will survive." I explained my thoughts to him and Bilbo nodded but still seemed unconvinced although I did notice a certain glint in his eyes after hearing my promise. It was as if my promise allowed for some relief.

Nevertheless Bilbo sighed and looked at Gandalf.

"That's what I thought. I'm sorry Gandalf, I can't sign this. As for you Rozahr, you put your faith in the wrong Hobbit."

"That is certainly unfortunate Bilbo, but I still wish you the best in your future, who knows, maybe somewhere down the line you will finally get to experience an adventure, if not you, then maybe a descendant." I said as I walked back in the other room to speak with the dwarves.

I talked with the dwarves into the night until I then walked over to a spot where I could rest. As I was to close my eyes, the dwarves began to hum and sing led by Thorin.

~"Far over, the misty mountains cold, to dungeons deep, and caverns old. We must away, ere break of day. To find our long forgotten gold. The pines were roaring on the height, the winds were moaning in the night. The fire was red, it flaming spread. The trees like torches, blazed with light."~

The song was one that described the fall of Erebor and it hurt to hear it as I knew I could've stopped it if I was able to be there.

After a night of sleep we woke up and began to make ready to leave, the dwarves made to clean up but I stopped them.

"Don't worry I can handle this, observe."

I drew a rune in the air and spoke the incantation.

'Angustiae Lautus'

A small whirlwind was generated and I used it to gather all the dust, dirt, and debris from the night before and send it into the nearest waste basket. After that and some last minute organizing of Bilbo's home we were off.