Chapter Text
“Bilbo,” Thorin coughed as soon as he registered the hobbit leaning over him.
“No,” Bilbo breathed as he dropped his sword and fell to his knees at Thorin’s side. He tried to look into his eyes while frantically shifting his armor to expose his wounds. “Don’t move. Don’t move. Lie still,” he pleaded.
Thorin wheezed as he lay on the frozen ice. He already knew what the hobbit was going to find.
“Oh,” Bilbo gasped as he turned his head away from the ghastly sight of the hole in Thorin’s abdomen.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Thorin managed as he tilted his head to look at Bilbo even if the hobbit didn’t look back at him.
Bilbo tried to hush him as he shifted to get a better look at his wounds.
Thorin gasped as Bilbo dug his fingers into the hole in his stomach. “I wish to part from you in friendship.”
Bilbo stopped fiddling with Thorin’s insides to meet his weak gaze. “No,” he told the dwarf. “You’re not going anywhere, Thorin. You’re going to live.”
Thorin’s chest heaved as he did his best to keep breathing long enough to make amends with the one person he’d sworn he would never hurt. He could not pass into the mines of Durin without making sure Bilbo knew that he had not meant what he’d said and done at the gate.
Ignoring the dwarf, Bilbo settled on his knees at Thorin’s side. He sucked in a deep breath before he extended his hand over the wound in Thorin’s side. He knew that the dwarf had other injuries. He could feel them, but they weren’t what was causing Thorin to die, so Bilbo ignored them, too.
Digging deep inside himself, Bilbo touched upon the spark that all hobbits contained. It was a magic that none of the other races in all of Middle Earth knew about. Not even Gandalf. For there was a reason that the Shire was green and grew such bountiful harvests. There was a reason that most hobbits lived to be older than men.
Calling upon the spark of life he kept tucked away in his chest, Bilbo closed his eyes. He kept his right hand extended over Thorin’s wound, barely touching his ruined flesh while he curled his left hand against his chest, right over the spark he held there.
Thorin was slipping away. His dwarf was dying.
Bilbo sucked in another deep breath. He could hear Thorin talking but he could not understand the words as he kept his focus solely on his magic and Thorin’s wounds. Then, he did something that hobbits were taught not to do.
He pulled his spark from his chest and pushed it into Thorin.
Bilbo brought forth the magic that was so intrinsically tied to him that it gave him life and gave it away freely. He channeled his power into his hand over Thorin’s side and willed his magic to heal the dwarf he’d come to love.
He knew, as he worked, that he had but moments until Thorin’s life slipped away. His dwarf was far too close to death for Bilbo’s comfort. So he poured everything into Thorin to halt death in its tracks. Bilbo did the second thing that all hobbits were told from a young age that they should never do. He gave his little spark of life wholly.
As he concentrated, he heard the way Thorin’s breathing got a little bit easier. His gasps didn’t sound as though they might each be his last. The darkness that had begun to creep into his soul dissipated as Bilbo forced his light into him.
Bilbo was so focused on Thorin that he didn’t notice the stiffness in his legs and feet that went beyond normal for someone kneeling on the frozen ground. He did not notice the way he could no longer move his fingers or arms.
It wasn’t until he heard Dwalin calling his name in the distance and he couldn’t lift his head that he realized something was wrong.
He was healing Thorin. He was using his magic on his dwarf and Thorin was going to live.
But, as Bilbo breathed out slowly and refocused his efforts on making sure the wounds inside of Thorin did not escape his notice, Thorin’s life would come at a cost. One that Bilbo would gladly pay.
XXX
Dwalin dropped to his knees at Thorin’s other side. “Bilbo,” he breathed as he shakily reached out to his king. “Is he?”
The words caught in his throat as Thorin’s chest rose and fell. Dwalin heaved a sigh of relief as he finally let his hand rest on Thorin’s shoulder. “He lives. We must get him to the healers.”
Bilbo did not respond.
Frowning, Dwalin looked up from Thorin’s ashen face to check on their hobbit. With his little head bowed the way it was, Dwalin had thought he’d been too late. “Bilbo?”
Their hobbit, their joyful, lively, colorful hobbit, sat stone still. Carefully, he reached out to rest his hand on top of Bilbo’s hand on Thorin’s side. He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on with their burglar, but he wasn’t about to let something happen to another one of his friends.
With a gasp, Dwalin yanked his hand back. Bilbo wasn’t just sitting abnormally still.
“No,” Dwalin breathed. “It cannot be.”
“Dwalin!” Balin called as he stumbled down the stairs. “Did you find them? I had Dori and Bifur carry the princes down to the tents. I expect they’ll live.”
“Aye,” Dwalin managed to choke out as he gently rested his hand on Bilbo’s once more. “Thorin’s alive.”
Balin stopped at his brother’s side. He was silent for a moment before his mouth dropped open in shock and he had to rest his hand on his brother’s shoulder lest he fall. “Bilbo!”
“Aye,” Dwalin whispered as he bowed his head and closed his eyes. “He’s turned to stone.”
“How,” Balin breathed as he looked from their hobbit to their king. “Thorin?”
“Look at his clothes,” Dwalin rasped as he moved his hand off Bilbo’s. “Look at how his armor is rent below Bilbo’s hand. The wound that would have caused would have ended his life.”
“But he breathes,” Balin said helplessly as he watched Thorin’s chest rise and fall. “He lives.”
“But our hobbit does not,” Dwalin said gravely as he slowly reached out to rest his hand on Bilbo’s tilted head. Every bit of him, from his fingers to his hair, was turned to stone. Only his clothes remained unchanged. “Balin, look at how he’s sitting. Bilbo did something.”
Balin made a noise in the back of his throat as he bowed his head. “It had to have been some kind of magic. His life for Thorin’s.”
Carefully, Dwalin leaned forward until he could brush his forehead against the top of Bilbo’s head. “Thank you, Bilbo,” he whispered.
Then, as carefully as he could be, he pulled Thorin out from under Bilbo’s outstretched hand.
“We cannot just leave him here,” Balin said quietly as he watched Dwalin heft Thorin into his arms. “This place is desolate. He deserves more.”
“Aye,” Dwalin grunted as he shifted Thorin’s weight. “We’ll tend to the living.”
Balin squeezed his eyes shut as a few tears managed to escape them. “Then we’ll come back for the dead.”
With no other choice, he turned away from their hobbit and followed Dwalin and Thorin as they made their way down from Ravenhill. They had to get Thorin to the healers. They had to make certain that Bilbo’s sacrifice would not be in vain.
XXX
Thorin gasped as he struggled to sit up. His dreams were strange. He felt as though his chest and stomach were burning. But the fire wasn’t outside of it. It came from within. And always. Bilbo was always there. The burning was so painful and Thorin wanted it to stop but all he could do was lie there and listen to Bilbo tell him he was going to live.
Panting, Thorin blinked up at the ceiling of the tent he was in. At first, he had trouble focusing his eyes. Everything seemed too blurry, but after a time, his vision cleared and he turned his head to see what else was in the tent with him.
On a bed not far from him, laid a head of golden curls and braids that was familiar. “Fili,” Thorin breathed.
He turned his head the other way to catch sight of another mop of hair he knew well. “Kili,” Thorin sighed.
He felt something inside of him unclench at the sight of his nephews. They would not have laid them next to him in the tent if they had already returned to the stones. He did not need anyone to tell him that they lived.
Thorin felt his eyes droop as his exhaustion caught up with him. He hadn’t been awake for long but fleeting memories of his fight with Azog reminded him that his body was healing from something terrible. He was lucky he woke up at all.
Slowly, he drifted back to sleep. He felt the call of his dreams but something snagged his awareness just before he slipped away.
“Bilbo,” he mumbled into the silent tent. “Bilbo.”
XXX
Thorin winced as he shifted his torso so he could sit up better against his pillows.
“Careful, laddie,” Oin grunted as he moved to help his king. “Take it easy. You’re going to be sore for a while.”
Thorin did not need a healer to tell him that. He remembered quite vividly how Azog’s blade had pierced into his flesh. “I’ll be more than sore,” Thorin muttered back as he rested against his pillows. He ghosted his hand along the meticulously wrapped bandages around his middle. “Oin, how do I live?”
Oin grunted as he turned away from Thorin. He had not the heart to tell his king the truth. Instead, he turned to his other patients.
Thorin grumbled a bit as he was left to his own devices. He watched as Oin tended to Fili and then Kili. Thorin had yet to speak to his nephews but he, and the others, were hopeful that they’d wake.
He perked up a bit when the flap of the tent was lifted but sighed when he caught sight of Dwalin and Balin instead of the one he wanted to see.
“Thorin,” Balin said tiredly. He smiled though it did not reach his eyes. “How are you feeling?”
“Sleepy and irritable,” Thorin snarked as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Oin has yet to explain how I’m alive, considering I know exactly where Azog’s blade slid into me, and I can move without being in excruciating pain. Did the elves do something? Do we owe Thranduil some kind of debt now?”
“It wasn’t Thranduil,” Dwalin said as he sat on the edge of Thorin’s bed next to his feet. “That pompous elf returned to his damned trees.”
“Gandalf then,” Thorin said with a sigh. “I would speak to him.”
“Nor Gandalf,” Balin said softly as he looked down and away from his king.
“Well,” Thorin said after a moment of silence. “Will someone tell me what happened? I don’t know of anyone else who could have done this. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful. I doubt I’d be alive without their help. But my last memories were of Bilbo and then it gets hazy.”
Dwalin winced as Balin ducked his head further.
Thorin narrowed his gaze on Dwalin before he glared at Balin. “Where is the hobbit?”
“Thorin,” Balin weakly tried. He stopped to swallow and lick his lips before he shook his head in defeat.
“The hobbit,” Dwalin started gruffly until his throat caught and he had to stop to clear it. “The hobbit gave his life for yours.”
“No,” Thorin said before his mind actually processed what Dwalin had said. “That’s not possible. He was fine. He wasn’t hurt when I saw him.”
“Thorin,” Balin tried again. “Bilbo, he-“
“No!” Thorin shouted as he uncrossed his arms to dig his fingers into his hair. “He was supposed to live!”
“He did something,” Dwalin said before Thorin could continue to shout. “He did something on Ravenhill. I found you after it was done. He-“
“He’s a hobbit,” Thorin said desperately as he dropped his hands into his lap and looked at Dwalin before turning his pleading gaze on Balin. “Hobbits don’t have that kind of magic. Please! If he doesn’t want to see me then just say so!”
“He turned to stone,” Dwalin said without mercy. He had to be blunt or he knew he’d never get the words to come out. “He gave you his life.”
“No,” Thorin said again in a much weaker tone. “It cannot be. Please, he was supposed to live.”
“I’m so sorry,” Balin managed as he wiped away his tears. “Dwalin’s right. He’s gone.”
“No,” Thorin said once more. “Please.”
Dwalin shook his head before he got up from Thorin’s bed. He stepped to his king’s side before he slid his arm under Thorin’s arm to wrap it around his waist. “Let’s go.”
“Dwalin,” Balin warned as he stepped forward with his hands outstretched. “What are you doing?”
“We’re going to see him,” Dwalin grunted as he got Thorin to his feet. “Thorin is healed enough for this.”
Oin, from where he was still tending to Kili, only looked up for a moment before he dropped his gaze once more.
Dwalin heaved Thorin up. He stopped long enough to allow Balin to help Thorin get his boots on, then he carried most of Thorin’s weight as he dragged his king out of his tent and into the warm afternoon sunshine.
Thorin blinked hard as the light blinded him. He trusted Dwalin to guide them as they made their way through the makeshift camp that the men and dwarves had built together between Dale and the mountain.
People from both races called out to Dwalin and Thorin but they didn’t stop. At most, Thorin managed to nod his head as they kept moving.
Getting back to the top of Ravenhill was almost impossible. Thorin knew that if Dwalin hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t have made it.
His wounds, though healed beyond what they should have been, hurt. He could barely lift his foot to take the next step. Dwalin was more dragging him than supporting him as he walked.
Still, they pressed on.
They pressed on until Dwalin came to a sudden stop. He sucked in a shuddering breath before he shifted his grip on Thorin. “He’s just through here.”
Thorin looked toward the stairs Dwalin gestured at with his free hand. He remembered looking over the falls as he tried to fight his way through the pain of his wounds. He couldn’t. He fell. Bilbo would be-
“Dwalin,” Thorin said gruffly as he tried to get his legs to hold his weight. “If you need to st-“
“I will get you there,” Dwalin said firmly before he took another breath. “Just give me a moment.”
Thorin nodded quietly. He stayed leaning on his friend until the other dwarf had the strength to keep going.
He almost asked for more time when Dwalin took the first step to the top of the stairs.
Then his eyes fell on the lonely finger kneeling at the edge of the frozen river.
For a moment, for only a moment, he thought that maybe they’d played a cruel joke on him. Bilbo looked as though he was enjoying the view from the top of the cliff. His clothing shifted slightly in the breeze.
It was only as they got closer that Thorin could not ignore the unnatural stillness. Though his clothing moved, his hair did not. The golden color of his hair was washed out and faded into grey.
As Dwalin continued to move them closer, Thorin felt the dawning horror that he didn’t want to be there. He didn’t want to see.
But he had to.
Dwalin grunted as he rounded Bilbo’s side and let Thorin slide down onto the ground. While his king sat stunned, Dwalin bent down and touched his forehead to Bilbo’s bent head before he moved several steps away.
Thorin sat on his knees as he stared in shock at his hobbit. Shakily, he reached out and ran his fingers along the top of Bilbo’s outstretched hand. The tips of his stone fingers were stained a darker color than the rest of him.
Thorin sucked in a watery breath as he flipped his hand so his palm was up. He slid his hand under Bilbo’s outstretched hand and felt the first tears fall as he ran his fingers along the places his blood had stained his hobbit.
“Bilbo,” Thorin managed before more tears fell. “I’m so sorry.”
Without a thought, Thorin tipped himself forward and buried his face in Bilbo’s lap. He kept his hand wrapped around Bilbo’s as he sobbed.
Thorin had been ready to die. He’d woken from the gold sickness and knew that he’d never be able to make amends. Not with his company and not with Bilbo. He’d been fully prepared to give his life in order to rid the earth of Azog’s evil.
He had never wanted this.
Thorin was unaware of how long he lay there. When he came back to himself, he found that he’d wrapped his other arm around Bilbo’s waist as if to hold his hobbit to him. “I would give it back,” he whispered into Bilbo’s tattered and stained clothes. “I would give your life back to you just to see you smile. You were supposed to live.”
Carefully, Thorin sat back up. He leaned his weight on one hand as he dipped his head enough to look at Bilbo’s face. It was heart-wrenching to see the peaceful look that his hobbit wore. Tremors ran through his hand as he finally let go of Bilbo’s outstretched hand to cup his face. “I never wanted this. It wasn’t supposed to be you.”
Gently, he rested his forehead against Bilbo’s head as he’d seen Dwalin do. Then he lifted his head and pressed a kiss to the stone curls that covered the top of Bilbo’s head.
Thorin cleared his throat as he sat back on his heels. He wiped at his face before he turned to look at Dwalin, who was staring off into the distance as if he hadn’t just listened to his king cry for several hours. “Why hasn’t he been moved?”
Dwalin glanced back at Thorin before he sighed. “Balin and I brought several other dwarves up here the day after we got you to the tents. We didn’t want to wait so long but,” he trailed off with a shrug.
Thorin knew. He understood what Dwalin was hesitating to say. “That doesn’t answer my question. He should be down there with the rest of us. He should have a place of honor in our halls. He should not be left out here to nature’s whims.”
Dwalin shrugged again as he took a few steps closer to Thorin and Bilbo. “The cliff isn’t stable enough.”
“What?”
“He turned to stone, Thorin,” Dwalin said. “He fused with the stone beneath him. We can’t simply lift him. So we brought other dwarves up here that know about how to cut stone like this. But the cliff isn’t stable. If we cut out this section the way we’d need to in order to move Bilbo, we could cause a landslide.”
Thorin bit his tongue as he turned to look over his shoulder at the land below the cliff. The land filled with tents and people and dwarves. The land filled with life and those trying to heal. They couldn’t risk it. “Then we should have something built.”
“We discussed that, too,” Dwalin muttered as he ran a hand along the top of his head. “But Ori kept pointing out that Bilbo loved being outside. He wouldn’t like being shut away in a little stone tomb.”
Thorin dropped his chin at that. They were right. Bilbo would not like to be shut away. “How long was I asleep? How long has he been like this?”
“A little over a week.”
“A week,” Thorin breathed as he reached out to touch Bilbo’s hand again. “We’ll think of something. I won’t just leave him here. I won’t allow him to be forgotten and crumble into dust.”
Dwalin trudged the last few steps that separated them and rested his hand on Thorin’s shoulder. “He won’t be forgotten. None of us will ever forget.”
“Dwalin,” Thorin said after sitting in silence for some time. “I know that we must go back down. The light is starting to fade from the sky. But tomorrow?”
Dwalin dipped his head as he shifted his weight and prepared himself to get Thorin back to his feet so they could start their long journey down Ravenhill. “Aye, Thorin,” Dwalin murmured as he got his king up. “We’ll come back tomorrow.”
XXX
“There’s nothing I can do,” Gandalf told him as he opened his eyes and looked back at Thorin. “There’s nothing for me to heal.”
Thorin let his eyes fall closed to hide his sorrow as he slumped down on the stairs just behind where Bilbo was kneeling. Gandalf had been his last hope. “So he is truly gone.”
Gandalf made a noise in the back of his throat as he studied Bilbo for another moment. “I don’t understand how he did this. I’ve been around hobbits for many years. I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
Thorin made a noise that made Gandalf look up at him. “Never?”
Gandalf forced a smile as he stood up and moved to stand before Thorin. “Hobbits are good at keeping secrets. I chose Bilbo to be a part of your company for a number of reasons. I didn’t know that he could do something like this.”
“None of us did,” Thorin said at last. He dipped his head in farewell as Gandalf rested his hand on Thorin’s shoulder. Then the wizard left.
Thorin struggled to his feet. He waved off Dwalin before he stumbled his way to Bilbo’s side.
As he had every day since he’d woken to find out the terrible truth, he sat beside his hobbit and let his tears fall. While he was down with the others, he remained stoic and kept his emotions in check. But here next to his love, he let the pain he held in his heart bleed out.
XXX
Thorin staggered. Dwalin reached out to steady him but Thorin waved off his friend as he found his balance with the cane he’d taken to using during their trips to Ravenhill rather than leaning all of his weight on Dwalin. “I’ve got it.”
“Aye,” Dwalin agreed before he backed off. “I’m just not keen on having rumors spread that I pushed you down into the dirt while you were healing still.”
Thorin shot his friend a wry look as he managed to keep going. “No one would say anything.”
“Your people love you, Thorin,” Dwalin said with a roll of his eyes. “If anyone saw me let you fall, the rumors would spread and twist until I had a horde of dwarves after me with their pickaxes.”
Thorin grunted at that but found that he didn’t have much that he could say to dispute the claim. The more they managed to restore the mountain, the more the dwarves that returned there praised him.
Their trip to the top of Ravenhill took longer than it usually did. Thorin refused any help from Dwalin. He wanted to prove not only to himself but to the world that he could do it without help.
He had to do it.
As soon as he could collapse at Bilbo’s side, Thorin let out a shuddering breath. His entire body ached but he refused to complain. Instead, he gently reached out and rested his hand on Bilbo’s before he turned to look out over the cliff. “More and more dwarves are returning to the mountain,” Thorin said softly to his hobbit. “You were right, beloved. They aren’t returning for the riches but for their homes.”
For a while, Thorin sat at Bilbo’s side and spoke about his day and the things he was hoping they’d get done to make the mountain more livable. “I wish that you could see it,” Thorin told him as he rested his head against Bilbo’s. “But I have learned over the last few weeks that wishing does not make anything happen. If it did, you would not be here like this.”
A gust of wind whipped over the top of the falls. It shifted Bilbo’s tattered clothes. After several weeks of being permanently outside, they were beginning to fray.
Thorin frowned before he did his best to fix Bilbo’s coat.
He did not notice the acorn that fell from the hobbit’s pocket.
XXX
Though he still took a long time to make the journey, and though Dwalin refused to let him go alone, Thorin was getting stronger. Every day he made his way to the top of Ravenhill with Dwalin at his side. His stoic friend always greeted their hobbit before he gave Thorin space to just be there.
Grateful for Dwalin and his understanding, Thorin huffed as he started his way down the stairs to where Bilbo rested. He stopped partway down as his eyes caught sight of something his brain couldn’t fully comprehend. “Dwalin, what is that?”
Dwalin lifted his head from where he’d been watching Thorin’s feet to look at where Thorin was looking. It took him a moment of confused silence before his eyes caught sight of the little bit of green next to Bilbo’s knee. “Dunno.”
Thorin approached Bilbo in stunned silence before he knelt to touch the tiny leaves. Ravenhill was barren. It hadn’t had anything growing on it since before he was born. “What is this?”
Dwalin squinted as he bent down to look at the plant. “Might be a tree?”
Thorin blinked hard before he felt his eyes widen. He looked at the little sapling before he looked at Bilbo. “He had an acorn,” Thorin said after a moment of stunned silence. “He said he picked it up at Beorn’s to plant above his house. He wanted to see if the tree would grow just as large there.”
“He carried an acorn through the forest?”
Thorin shuddered as he looked up at Dwalin. “He showed it to me in the mountain. It was one of the only moments of clarity I had while under the madness.”
Dwalin made a noise of understanding as he looked back at Thorin. “Do you think this is that acorn?”
“I don’t know what else it would be,” Thorin said as he carefully reached out with shaking fingers to touch one of the tiny, fragile leaves. “Nothing grows here.”
Dwalin grunted before he stepped forward to greet Bilbo as he always did. Then he rested his hand on Thorin’s shoulder and stepped back. “Our hobbit,” he said as he squeezed Thorin’s shoulder. “He’s always finding new ways to surprise us.”
Thorin managed a watery laugh as he nodded. He was careful not to disrupt the little tree as he took his spot by Bilbo’s side and rested his tired body. “You never cease to amaze me,” Thorin told his love as he tipped his head back to enjoy the warmth of the sun.
XXX
Thorin sat next to Bilbo’s kneeling form and gently placed a flower in the hobbit’s lap. He smiled softly before he turned to look over the sapling growing next to Bilbo’s knee. The little tree was already higher than the hobbit.
Thorin had been worried at first that the little thing wouldn’t make it. But each day when he visited he found that the roots had dug a little deeper and its branches had stretched a little higher. In less than a week, it had truly started to look like a tree.
For the first time since he’d come up there, Thorin was alone. Dwalin had seen him getting ready and simply tapped their heads together and told Thorin not to take too long.
“When I told you to plant your trees,” Thorin said dryly as he looked the little sapling over once more, “I didn’t mean you should let them grow on top of you.”
He fussed at the way the trunk of the little thing pushed up against Bilbo’s leg. He knew it was only going to get bigger, as all trees did, so he worried that it would disrupt his hobbit. As much as he didn’t quite like it, Thorin knew that he couldn’t move it.
It was Bilbo’s tree. It belonged with Bilbo.
“You’ll just have to keep an eye on him for us,” Thorin told the tree as he ran his fingers along its young bark. “When the storms start rolling in this spring, you’ll be his shelter.”
When his visit was at its end, Thorin got to his knees in front of Bilbo’s still form. He pressed a kiss against his bowed head and just rested there for a moment. “I would give anything to have you live,” he told the statue not for the first time. “Anything.”
XXX
“Uncle,” Kili said as he blinked hard at what was before him. “You didn’t tell us that Bilbo had a whole tree!”
“What?” Thorin asked as he crested to the top of the stairs with Fili at his side. “Yes, I did.”
“No,” Kili said. He dragged out the word as he turned to look back at his uncle and his brother. “You said there was a sapling. That’s not a sapling.”
Thorin lifted his gaze from Kili and froze at the top of the stairs with Fili. “Oh.”
Fili skeptically looked at the tree before he looked back at Kili. “Do you think that’s normal?”
“What?” Kili asked as he turned back to the hobbit and the tree. “Which part?”
“The tree,” Fili said with a roll of his eyes. They were beyond talking about the fact that Bilbo giving his life and turning to stone was not normal. “Uncle said it wasn’t here before. Do they usually grow that fast?”
Kili shrugged at that before he looked at Thorin. “Uncle?”
Thorin tore his gaze away from the tree to look at his nephew. “What?”
“Is it much bigger than yesterday?”
Thorin looked at the tree again before he slowly nodded. “It was barely as tall as I am when I was here yesterday.”
Kili whistled as he descended the last of the steps and crossed the ground between him and Bilbo. He took a moment to greet their hobbit with a soft tap of their heads before he looked up at the branches. "I think this is definitely taller than you now.”
Fili rolled his eyes again as Thorin helped him sit next to Bilbo. “So Bilbo used some sort of secret magic and turned himself to stone to save Uncle and now he’s got a magic tree?”
“We don’t know that it’s magic,” Thorin said as he joined Fili after greeting Bilbo. “But I’m sure he would have loved the idea of it.”
“So,” Kili said after a moment of silence. “What do you usually do while you’re up here?”
Thorin sighed as he looked out over the edge of the falls. They were beginning to thaw. Spring was swiftly approaching. “I talk to him. I tell him about the things happening in Erebor and what projects I want to work on next.”
Kili scrunched up his nose but didn’t say anything as he managed to find a comfortable spot resting against Bilbo’s tree.
Fili, on the other hand, cleared his throat and started to tell Bilbo about how he’d survived the drop and what his healing entailed.
Thorin smiled as his nephews got into a bit of squabble and both tried to convince Bilbo that they were right.
He would have much rather heard their hobbit tsk at them before scolding them but he knew this was all he was going to get.
XXX
“Mister Thorin,” Ori said shyly as he squeezed some sort of knitted fabric against his chest. “Do you mind if I walk with you today?”
Thorin frowned slightly as he looked back at the younger dwarf. “I would enjoy your company,” he said at last.
Despite telling the lad more than once, Thorin could not get Ori to drop any sort of respectful title when he addressed him. They’d been through hell and back. Ori had more than earned the right to be familiar with him.
“What is it that you got there?” Thorin asked as they stopped along the side of the path to take a breather. The trip had grown longer now that they’d moved back into the mountain. His side ached, though he was glad that Ori didn’t mention his need for breaks. “Did you make something?”
Ori flushed as he looked down at the little cape he was carrying. “I heard that Bilbo’s clothing wasn’t doing well. The last storm seemed to have torn some of it. And,” he said before he cut himself out to bite his lip.
“And what?” Thorin asked gently.
“Well,” Ori said before he looked down and away. “I know that we can’t put new clothing on him so I made something that he can wear that would be easy to cover him.”
Thorin blinked hard to hold back the burning sensation that he knew meant he was about to cry. “Ori,” he rasped. “That was very thoughtful of you.”
Ori flushed as he fiddled with the cloak. “I’ve been up to see him before. We all have. I don’t like it that we can’t do more for him. It’s not right. But I could do this, so I did.”
Thorin reached out and rested his hand on Ori’s shoulder. The younger dwarf flushed harder as he squeezed the cape to his chest. “I thank you for your thoughtfulness, but mostly, I feel I should thank you for being such a wonderful friend. More people need friends like you. I consider myself and Bilbo to be very lucky.”
Ori’s eyes widened as he looked up at his king. “Truly?”
“Truly,” Thorin somberly said. “Now, let’s go see how it looks.”
Ori nodded before he walked silently at Thorin’s side until they reached Bilbo’s resting place. He ran his fingers along the tree before he shook out his cape and wrapped it around Bilbo’s shoulders. There were ties that he’d added to the front of it so it could be secured to their hobbit.
Thorin waited until he was done before he gently reached out to run his fingers along the soft material. “What did you make this out of?”
Grinning, Ori proudly settled his hands on his hips to survey his work. “I got some wool from Bard. He put in an order for me. I wasn’t expecting this dark green color but I think Bilbo would have loved it.”
“Aye,” Thorin managed. “He would have.”
“I also,” Ori started before he stopped to bite at his lip again. “I also wove in some thin strands of iron.”
Thorin blinked at that before he lifted his head. “Not only did you make him something, but you made him armor?”
Ori flushed again. “I made it to protect him.”
“Ori,” Thorin said seriously as he looked back at their hobbit. “It’s perfect.”
XXX
Thorin froze at the top of the small set of stairs that led the way down to where Bilbo knelt. He hadn’t expected to make his daily journey only to find that he wasn’t alone.
Bofur greeted him with a crooked smile. “Hello, Thorin,” he said as he pushed his hat back on his head. “Up here to see Bilbo?”
Bifur muttered something to his cousin under his breath.
“Well yeah,” Bofur replied. “I know he wouldn’t come up here for the view. I was just trying to make small talk.”
Bifur rolled his eyes before he turned away from his cousin. Gently, he rested his hand on Bilbo’s head and then stepped away.
Thorin slowly made his way down the last of the stairs. “I didn’t know that you also visited Bilbo.”
“We don’t talk about it,” Bofur said with a grin and a shrug. “But Bombur knows how much our hobbit likes to eat so he always brings some food and water up here.”
Thorin nodded at that as he turned to look at Bombur. “I had wondered who kept leaving apples in the roots of the tree.”
Bombur smiled softly before he hefted himself to his feet. “I know that he can’t eat them,” he said quietly as he reached out to touch Bilbo’s stone curls, “but trees have to eat and drink, too. If I cannot care for my friend, then I would like to care for his tree.”
Thorin blinked at that before he nodded firmly once and turned to look away. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the members of his company to see him be emotional. He just knew that once he started crying, he wouldn’t be able to stop for a while. “I thank you for your care.”
“He was our friend, too,” Bofur reminded their king gently. “We’d do anything for him.”
“Aye,” Thorin managed as he squeezed his eyes shut to hold back the tears he felt building in them. “And he for you.”
Bofur didn’t say anything else as he rested his hand on Thorin’s shoulder before they made their leave.
Thorin turned back to Bilbo after a while. He smiled before he sat next to his hobbit and leaned his head against him. “You and I are both lucky to count these dwarves as our friends,” he told him. “So very lucky.”
Silently, Thorin reached out to brush his fingers along the tree root that was steadily growing across Bilbo’s lap.
XXX
Thorin rolled his eyes as Dori fussed over the cape that Ori had made Bilbo. “It sits just fine,” he told the older dwarf. “I think it looks quite handsome on him.”
“It does,” Dori agreed as he sat back to study his work. “I just wish the tree wasn’t pushed up against his shoulder so much.”
“Nori,” Thorin said as he turned to the other dwarf that had accompanied him. “Did you find out anything?”
Nori shook his head as he studied Bilbo’s tree. “I’ve had dwarves looking at trees as they travel here and they all say the same thing, they don’t usually grow on top of other things. I’ve had a few report that they grow on rocks but nothing like this.”
Thorin frowned as he looked back at Bilbo’s tree. Every day it seemed to not only grow taller but also grow on or around Bilbo more. He didn’t understand why it couldn't't just grow the other way. “Thank you for checking.”
“Still don’t want me to ask the elves?”
Thorin sighed at that. “Thranduil doesn’t like Bilbo. I doubt he’d help or let any of the other elves help if they knew it was for him.”
Dori tutted before he went back to fussing with Bilbo’s clothes. “I’d gladly toss that elf on his pointy-eared head the next time he says something about Bilbo, if you want me to.”
Nori blinked for a moment in shock before he turned a scandalized look at Thorin.
Thorin chuckled at the idea but shook his head. “No, we can’t do that. Balin would have my braids. But I’m sure Bilbo appreciates the sentiment.”
Dori grinned.
Nori shook his head as he muttered about all the lectures he’d been subjected to over the years about decorum and how his brother was a hypocrite.
XXX
Thorin rested his hand on the trunk of the tree as he stared down in despair. It had grown so large over the last few days that it started to grow around Bilbo. The trunk was slowly swallowing him. His shoulder, knee, and side were already quickly disappearing.
And there wasn’t anything Thorin could do about it.
“No,” he whispered before he looked up at the tree. “Please, this is all I have left of him. Don’t take this, too.”
The leaves on the branches high in the air rustled in the wind.
Thorin swore he heard it sigh before it seemingly stretched itself taller.
Thorin dropped his head to rest against the tree as he blinked back his tears. He hadn’t sobbed at Bilbo’s side in over a week.
“Please,” he whispered against its bark. “Please.”
XXX
“There are no portents that relate to this,” Oin gruffed as he stared down at their hobbit. “I can’t find anything in the stones that tell of his fate.”
Gloin rested his hand on Oin’s shoulder before he turned to look at Thorin. “We’ve come to say goodbye.”
Thorin made a sound deep in his chest. “Goodbye?”
“He is of the earth,” Gloin said. “The earth seems to be claiming him back.”
Thorin looked away from the other dwarf to the tree that was enveloping Bilbo. Not for the first time, Thorin considered bringing an ax to Ravenhill to prevent his hobbit from disappearing. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Oin leaned down to press his forehead to the top of Bilbo’s head. “The rest of the company will come to pay their respects.”
“They’re going to have to be quick about it,” Gloin muttered. “He doesn’t have much time.”
Thorin shook his head as they left him with Bilbo on the top of Ravenhill. He knelt before his hobbit and looked at the way the tree was swallowing him. “Please,” he told it. “Not yet.”
XXX
Thorin froze on the stairs before he let out a distressed noise and dropped his cane. He paid it little attention as he stumbled past where it fell. Bilbo’s tree was massive. It was huge and Thorin could not see his hobbit from behind any longer.
“Please, no,” he begged as he limped his way around to the front of the tree. “Mahal, don’t do this to me.”
There, barely visible from the front of it, came Bilbo’s stained fingers. If Thorin hadn’t known what they were, he would have never been able to guess.
They were all that was left of his hobbit. The rest of him had been swallowed by the oak tree.
Thorin shakily touched the tips of his fingers to Bilbo’s before he snatched his hand away and swore.
He turned back to the tree as if he were about to smack its trunk before he let his hand fall to his side. As gently as he always touched Bilbo, Thorin reached out and rested his palm on the rough bark of the tree. He looked up to blink back his tears. The branches of the massive oak swayed in the wind.
“There are days when I think of throwing myself from this ledge so I might join you in death.” He squeezed his eyes shut as he sucked in a ragged breath. “But Mahal is greedy and would never allow me to leave his mines to find you. If this is the only way I can be with you then I will find a way to keep living.”
He tipped his head forward until he rested his brow against the bark next to his hand. He pressed in harder as if he was trying to will himself into the tree with Bilbo. “I will keep living,” he whispered to it. “If only because you gave me this life and I would not allow a single moment of it to be wasted.”
With a shuddering breath, he lifted his head and stepped back. “I love you.”
XXX
His first breath was not gasping or heaving. It was tiny and small. Almost like a sigh. His lungs barely knew what to do with the air before he pushed it back out as gently as he’d breathed it in.
Cradled as he was, he felt safe and warm. So he breathed again and let his mind drift. He wasn’t ready yet. For what, he wasn’t sure. But he wasn’t ready so instead, he slept.
XXX
Thorin no longer had to climb to the top of Ravenhill to see the tree that grew at Bilbo’s side. Massive as it was, some of its roots really spread out. Several dropped over the side of the cliff as if it was bracing itself there. More of them grew down into the river, though Thorin figured that was practical considering trees needed water to survive. The little buckets of water that Bombur carried up to it wouldn’t be enough any longer.
The roots were huge, too. He had to step carefully around them whenever he visited Bilbo so that he didn’t trip. He could sit and rest on one of the roots without fear of doing damage to it or falling off the other side.
While the tree was huge and clearly healthy, there wasn’t any indication that a hobbit once knelt where it grew.
Somberly, Thorin rested against the tree. He closed his eyes and pictured the serene look on Bilbo’s stone face. He’d given his life to Thorin. In those last few moments, Thorin had to believe that Bilbo had known that he was dying and that he wasn’t afraid or regretful.
Sitting against Bilbo’s tree, Thorin told himself that Bilbo loved him, too.
XXX
Voices. There were so many voices. He couldn’t always understand what they were saying, but he could hear the emotion in them. Joy, love, sorrow. Even as he slept, his dreams were full of warmth and safety. Of large hands and a deep voice.
Safe. He was safe. So he slept.
XXX
“Uncle,” Fili said as he swept into Thorin’s office. “I would like to take on a bit more responsibility.”
Thorin blinked hard as he stared at his nephew. Slowly, he lifted his brows.
“Don’t give me that look.” Fili all but pouted as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m your heir. I should know how to do some of these things.”
Thorin sighed as he leaned back in his chair. “Did Balin send you in here?”
Fili hesitated for a moment before he dipped his head in a single nod. “You missed the time you usually leave to visit Bilbo. He didn’t so much as say I should help. I just figured I could do this for you.”
Thorin stood before he crossed the room to rest his head against Fili’s. “Thank you,” he murmured before he stood up. “You’re not wrong. There are things that I should begin to teach you now. Paperwork is going to be the worst of it.”
Fili grimaced but managed to smile as he met Thorin’s gaze. “I’ll do whatever you need me to.”
“I was going through missives. If you want to help me, sort out the ones that come from the dwarves that live here from the ones coming from outside the mountain. Then put them in order from what you believe to be the most important to the least. We’ll discuss your choices once I get back and have time to look them over.”
“You know,” Fili said as he looked over the stack of papers. “If it wasn’t so windy on Ravenhill, you could just do your paperwork there.”
“I tried that,” Thorin said wryly as he allowed Fili to take his seat. “But after losing some of them, Balin told me to knock it off.”
Fili laughed as his uncle left. He was sure that Bilbo would have loved to have seen that.
XXX
Thorin sighed as he stopped in front of Bilbo’s tree. He’d barely found time to visit his hobbit. More and more dwarves returned to the mountain. And each one that returned seemed to make Thorin’s life busier. He knew that without the other members of his company, he wouldn’t have had time to eat let alone visit Bilbo.
There were days that he thought about staying in his office to read through one more report. Of doing one more inspection of the mines or of the housing districts.
But he couldn’t.
Bilbo had given everything for his people. The least he could do was visit him.
Every time Thorin began to feel overwhelmed and realized that he wasn’t going to have time for his daily trek, one of the members of his company would show up at his elbow and take over what duties they could.
It wasn’t so much that he’d carefully chosen them to be in his company all those many months ago as it was that they were the only dwarves willing to accompany him, but Thorin was thankful for each and every one of them.
Silently, he pressed his hand to the giant oak and stood there for a moment. “Bilbo,” he whispered. “From the moment I met you, you’ve taught me so many things. I wouldn’t be the dwarf I am today if I hadn’t known you. I doubt that I would have the friends that I do if you hadn’t decided to chase after us with that damned contract flapping behind you in the wind.”
He stopped to smile before he lifted his hand only so that he could step forward and rest his forehead against the bark of the tree as he always did when he visited. “I love you. I fell in love with you over the course of our journey. For one so small, you held so much courage.”
Swallowing hard, Thorin pressed his forehead a little harder against the tree. “But I think I fell in love with you for your kindness. You were snarky and definitely out of your element several times, but you never once allowed any of your hardships to make you lose that kindness. I strive to be a better dwarf every day by being as kind as you were.”
Without lifting his head, Thorin brushed away a few tears that managed to fall down his cheeks. “I will never forget you, my love. I gave you my heart somewhere along the way. You’ve taken it with you, though I would never ask for it back. Even when I am old and grey, I will crawl my way up this desolate hill to spend my time at your side.
“And if I should be so lucky, I will turn to stone nestled here amongst the roots of your great tree just so we might rest together.”
Thorin was unaware of how long he stayed at Bilbo’s tree. The sun had long set before he lifted his head and made his way back down to the mountain.
XXX
Bilbo slowly blinked open his eyes to find that he was in darkness. For a moment, he wasn’t sure that he was awake. Then he blindly reached out his hand in the darkness and felt the rough touch of wood.
He moved his mouth but was unable to make any sounds as he slowly felt around. He was in some sort of circular, wooden, thing. Below him, he felt rough, cold stone.
His body ached as he moved to sit against the rough wood of his safe haven. For only a fleeting second, he worried that he was in danger. But he felt safe and loved and warm despite being confused.
He wasn’t in his smial. Something told him he hadn’t been there for a long time.
But he couldn’t remember what had happened.
Exhausted, he tipped his head back and let his eyes fall closed.
Sleep.
He needed to sleep.
He could figure out the rest of it later.
XXX
Thorin stared down at the tree roots in concern. He ran his hand along the rough beard that covered his chin. He still wouldn’t let it grow, but his stubble gave him comfort.
Were trees supposed to split open?
The crack wasn’t very large. Still, it gave him pause. He could not see into the tree even when he got down to look into the small opening, but there was no mistaking what he was looking at.
Part of him wanted to race down the mountain and send a missive to the elves. He could have Nori send out more dwarves to investigate trees.
He just couldn’t do more than sit there stunned.
He’d thought that when the tree had swallowed Bilbo, he would never see him again.
But this?
This crack appearing in the tree could give him the opportunity to see him again.
Thorin had just come to grips with the fact that Bilbo was gone. All he had was the tree.
But the tree might give him back.
With bated breath, Thorin leaned against the giant oak. “Please,” he whispered to its leaves so high above him. “I love him.”
XXX
Bilbo stirred. His ears twitched as he caught the sound of a deep voice rumbling through the wood surrounding him.
“Love him,” it said.
That voice. He knew that voice.
But he was so tired. He couldn’t keep his eyes open. He couldn’t move to figure out where it was coming from.
So he barely shifted on his little stone bed. He gripped his lovely cape closer around himself and slept.
XXX
Bilbo blinked awake and squinted. There was a tiny amount of light coming into his resting place. He closed his eyes against the brightness and moaned as he pressed back away from the light.
A gentle breeze drifted in through the same crack.
After a while, he managed to open his eyes and allow them to adjust. Once the light was no longer blinding, he stared down at the opening. Then he looked around him.
He was in some sort of hollow.
“A tree,” Bilbo barely managed to rasp. He wasn’t sure how he knew. It felt more like something else had given him the thought than he figured it out himself.
He was too tired to figure out why he was in a tree. He couldn’t remember much. Going down the lane to the market. Working in his garden. Going on walking holidays.
Maybe he’d decided to climb a tree and had somehow fallen inside of it.
But that didn’t make sense. There wasn’t light coming from above him.
Settled as he was, curled inside the tree in his warm cape, Bilbo let his eyes drift back closed. He couldn’t think. He was just too tired.
XXX
“I apologize for my tardiness, my love,” the voice murmured.
Bilbo blinked his eyes open as he tiredly looked around the tree. There wasn’t anyone else there, though the small amount of light coming through the small crack in the bottom of the trunk told him the day was almost over.
“The dwarves that petitioned me got into an argument that took much longer than I thought it would to get sorted out. Dwalin almost had to knock some sense into them to get them to listen.”
Dwarves?
Bilbo shook his head ever so slightly as he huffed a soft breath. He didn’t know any dwarves. Definitely none named Dwalin.
“Balin helped me sort it out. I think they’ll like the solution that we came to. I’ll give them the verdict when we meet tomorrow.”
There was a quiet sigh. Bilbo moved his hand to his chest and blinked down at it as he felt as though his heart was growing warmer. He frowned before he tilted his head and listened to the voice.
“Fili is doing a wonderful job of learning from me. He’s taken to his responsibilities better than I’d ever hoped. And Kili is helping. They’re still troublemakers. I’m sure you’d have some choice words for the incidents they happen to get into, but they’re doing well. Their mother is about to make the journey here.”
Bilbo sighed again as he leaned his head back and let his eyes droop shut as he listened to the voice tell him about people he was sure he’d never met.
He only opened his eyes again when the one speaking to him left.
“Rest well, my love,” he said. And then he was gone.
XXX
The crack was definitely getting bigger.
Thorin bit his lip as he looked at it. He still couldn’t see inside of it, and something told him to not try and stick anything in it. He didn’t want to risk damaging Bilbo, since he couldn’t be sure where he was.
But it was growing and so was Thorin’s hope and dread. He did not want to lose the tree.
But he’d give anything to have Bilbo visible again.
All he could do was wait.
XXX
Bilbo yawned as he stretched. He had the strangest dream that a wizard had been bothering him into going on an adventure. But those were nasty. He was a Baggins. He wouldn’t be caught dead on an adventure.
Baggins or not, he was still in a tree.
Carefully, he tested his arms and legs. He moved his hands and feet and wiggled his fingers and toes. Besides being utterly exhausted, he wasn’t injured. Though he felt as though he hadn’t moved in some time. He felt stiff.
Muffling a groan, he managed to get to his feet and keep his balance by leaning on the tree. After a few minutes of standing just to prove to himself that he could, he dropped back down onto the stones beneath him.
Nothing made sense.
He couldn’t figure out why he was in a tree.
And he couldn’t understand why the voice kept coming back to speak with him.
He told him things that he couldn’t follow about people he didn’t know.
All he knew was that he felt warm whenever the voice was near.
He might not understand, but Bilbo didn’t want him to stop.
XXX
“Thorin,” a new voice said.
Bilbo perked up. He sat up so quickly that he lost his breath for a moment. He threw his hands out to steady himself against the inside of the tree even though he wasn’t trying to move from his seated position.
“You have to come quickly! There was a collapse in one of the mines!”
“What? What happened? Explain it while we run.”
Bilbo dropped one of his hands to his face. He covered himself as he winced against the pain in his head. Slowly, then all at once, he remembered.
“Thorin,” he whispered before he licked his lips.
Then he wasn’t in the tree. He was kneeling over Thorin’s body as his beloved dwarf struggled to keep breathing. He kneeled over Thorin in what he knew would be Thorin’s last moments if Bilbo didn’t do something.
He gently pressed his hand against his chest and heaved a shuddering breath.
He hadn’t expected to wake.
But he had. He’d woken.
Now he just had to somehow let Thorin know he was there.
XXX
Exhausted and covered in debris, Thorin slumped into a chair in his rooms. There wasn’t anything else he could do to help in the mines. They’d saved everyone they could find. Now the dwarves who had training for that sort of thing, would do their best to find the bodies of the rest of the missing.
It wasn’t until he turned his head to look at the picture of Bilbo that Ori had given him that he realized he hadn’t been to visit his beloved for several days. All of his time had been spent helping his people.
Sighing, Thorin tipped his head back and looked up at his dark ceiling. He’d make time to go in the morning. He’d explain to his love what had happened. He knew that Bilbo would be proud of him.
He would understand why Thorin hadn’t visited.
He would understand.
XXX
Bilbo watched the light fade from the small opening in the base of the tree. It wasn’t large enough for him to get out of, but he could lie on his side and look out at the sky beyond the roots of the tree.
He kept waiting for Thorin to return.
But he didn’t.
For several days, Bilbo was utterly alone in the tree.
He slept a lot, which made him wonder if he’d missed Thorin’s visits, though something told him he hadn’t. He hadn’t felt the warmth in his chest since Thorin had been called away. His dwarf hadn’t returned.
Bilbo sighed as he leaned against the inside of his tree and watched the light. He was tired. And for the first time since he’d woken, he was hungry.
Tiredly, he looked down at his hands. He rubbed the tips of his fingers together and noted that the blood that had stained them before, Thorin’s blood, was gone. He wondered if the tree had somehow taken it from him, cleaned him while it also gave him life.
There was not a doubt in his mind that he was connected to the very thing that kept him imprisoned. He gave his life to Thorin. He took the spark from his chest and pressed it into his love. He knew, that every time Thorin visited and touched the tree, the warmth he felt in his chest was because he could feel his spark flowing through Thorin’s veins.
The tree might very well be the only thing keeping him alive.
Bilbo desperately hoped that he’d be able to leave it one day. He would live inside of it if he must, though he couldn’t help but despair at the thought. It would be a very boring life after the one he’d led.
Sighing, he tipped his head back. He knew he should sleep. He felt his exhaustion heavy in his eyelids, but something kept him awake.
He was waiting.
Though he wasn’t sure what else he could do while trapped in the tree.
But he knew he was waiting.
He just didn’t know what he was waiting for.
Not until he heard trudging footsteps that halted at the base of the tree. Then there was the sound of something else hitting the stones before the warmth began to pool in his chest.
Thorin was there. Thorin was touching the tree.
Bilbo pressed his hand against his chest while he reached out with his other fingers to press against the inside of the tree where he thought Thorin was touching it. He sighed again as the heat inside of him intensified.
“There was a mine collapse,” Thorin said after a while. “We did our best but I fear it wasn’t enough. We won’t know how many were lost for several days.”
Bilbo felt a lone tear run down his cheek as he closed his eyes.
“I wish that I was able to hold you,” Thorin whispered. “Even as you are now, I wish to put my arms around you and rest my head against yours. Losing you,” his voice cut off as it became overwhelmed with emotion.
Bilbo whimpered quietly as he pressed against the inside of the tree. He didn’t have the strength to call out. He knew he couldn’t risk reaching out the slim crack to let Thorin know he was there. Despite how he wanted to be in Thorin’s arms, he knew that he couldn’t yet leave the tree.
“I feel as though if I lose you, I will lose myself,” Thorin continued after a moment of silence. “So I cannot think of it. My heart cannot take the pain of you being gone. So you aren’t. You aren’t. You are here. You are here because this is your tree. You carried this acorn and it grew. It grew and it is yours so you are here.”
Bilbo squeezed his eyes shut as more tears made their way down his cheeks. Thorin sounded wrecked. Bilbo desperately wanted to hold him.
“Please,” he breathed out to the tree. “Please.”
The tree was not moved by his pleas.
XXX
Thorin sat on one of the great roots of Bilbo’s tree as he faced the opening. The trunk of it had to have been large enough that even serval dwarves together could not have reached around it.
Somewhere inside of it was his beloved.
The crack, which he came to understand was referred to as a hollow, grew a little more each day. He still could not see into the darkness of the tree, but he swore he could hear movement.
There was a bet amongst the company as to which animal they would find living in Bilbo’s tree, but Thorin wasn’t so sure.
There was a hope in his heart that he didn’t dare to speak about. It was too fragile to live if he spoke it into being.
He tried to tell himself that it wasn’t possible, but there was so much about his life, especially since the battle for the mountain, that shouldn’t have been possible but was.
“Bilbo, my love,” he murmured to the tree and what’s more, to the hobbit he knew was inside of it. “I don’t know if you can hear me like this.”
He stopped to take a shuddering breath before he pressed his hands down against the root he was sitting on. “But know that I love you with all of my heart. Even as the years pass, my love for you will not fade. My heart, my soul is yours. I pledge to you, for as long as this tree stands and I have breath in my lungs, I will spend time with you every day that I can.”
Thorin let his eyes fall shut as he listened for any sort of response. All he caught, was the sound of the wind as it moved through the branches high above his head.
Still, he hoped.
XXX
Bilbo sat in the tree and stared at the opening. It was larger than it had been when he fell asleep. It was big enough that he knew he would be able to crawl out of it.
He just couldn’t bring himself to do it.
It wasn’t that he was afraid. It was just.
He was waiting.
The sound of heavy footsteps had him perking up. He smiled as he held his breath.
“Burglar,” Thorin’s deep voice rumbled from outside the tree. “I have need of your comfort today.”
Bilbo closed his eyes as he tipped his head back against the inside of his tree. He didn’t bother to fight his smile as he opened them to look up into the hollow that had kept him safe. “Thank you,” he whispered.
Then he got to his knees and crawled to the opening. He made certain to keep his cloak, one that he knew was knitted to be strong and could have only been made by one dwarf, around his shoulders. His clothing had not done well as he recovered. Bilbo was not about to greet his beloved in rags that covered less skin than they should.
He neared the opening and peeked out at the world and felt his breath catch in his throat. Thorin stood a ways away from the tree. He was looking off over the cliff as he hugged himself. He looked vulnerable and tired.
Comfort, he had said. Bilbo could give him comfort.
“Thorin,” he weakly called.
He smiled a bit as he saw the way his dwarf froze.
“Bilbo,” Thorin breathed without turning around. “Is this some kind of cruel trick of the wind? I don’t think I could survive if it were.”
“Turn around,” Bilbo said roughly. He cleared his throat and wished for a drink of water. He smiled as Thorin’s form grew more rigid. “Turn around and help me out of this beautiful tree.”
Thorin spun on his heels. His eyes frantically searched the area until they landed on the opening of the hollow.
Bilbo only needed a second of seeing the grief on Thorin’s face to realize that his dwarf could not yet see him. So he extended his right hand out into the sunlight.
Thorin sucked in a hard gasp before he staggered forward.
He dropped to his knees before he scrambled up the roots of the tree to take Bilbo’s delicate hand in his. For a moment, he didn’t dare to breathe.
Then Bilbo’s hand moved in his and Thorin knew that if it was a dream then he didn’t want to wake. “Bilbo?”
“Thorin,” Bilbo managed again. “Help me out.”
Thorin did as Bilbo commanded. He guided his hobbit out of the tree and into his arms. He was as gentle as he could be as he wrapped his arms around his beloved.
It wasn’t until Bilbo’s hands clung to the back of his jacket that he allowed himself to believe it was real. “Burglar,” he managed before he couldn’t make any other sounds. His throat was too tight with the tears he was trying to hold back.
Bilbo rested his head against Thorin’s chest and felt the call of his spark. He smiled as he brought one of his hands around to rest on Thorin’s heart. It wasn’t that he’d given it all to Thorin. No, he could feel it now. He’d divided himself. He’d bound them. His heart and Thorin’s were tied together.
It wasn’t one life or the other. It was both of them, together.
“I am sorry,” Bilbo mumbled into Thorin’s chest. “I didn’t know that would happen. I didn’t mean to make you wait so long.”
“For you,” Thorin breathed. He pulled back to look at Bilbo before he stepped back to drop to his knees. He took Bilbo’s hands into his and pressed kisses to his fingers and palms. “For you,” he said again. “I would wait an eternity.”
Bilbo smiled down at his dwarf before he leaned down to rest his forehead against Thorin’s. “It was like a dream. I remember some of what you told me, though I don’t think I was truly awake for most of it.”
“And now?” Thorin asked as he closed his eyes and relished in Bilbo’s touch. “What happens now?”
Bilbo smiled before he lifted his head to look at his dwarf. He pulled one of his hands from Thorin’s grasp so that he could tilt his dwarf’s head back and look at him. “Now, we return to the mountain. We’ll find something to eat and drink and we’ll let everyone know I’ve recovered.”
“And then?”
“Then,” Bilbo said as he leaned down to rub his nose against Thorin’s. He enjoyed the way Thorin’s breath caught in his chest at the action. “We’ll get to live, Thorin. Together. We’ll get to spend each day in each other’s care. I’ll spend every day loving you.”
“As will I,” Thorin barely managed to say as he blinked up at Bilbo. “I love you so.”
Bilbo smiled once more before he cupped Thorin’s face and pressed a kiss to his lips. “Your love was all that I knew when I first woke up. Though there wasn’t much that I could remember, I knew your love.”
“Bilbo,” Thorin breathed as he shakily lifted his hands to touch his hobbit’s face. He snagged one of his curls and laughed as he was able to move it. “My love.”
Bilbo kissed him again. “Come on, love,” he whispered as he allowed Thorin to pull him into his arms. “You’ve told me so much about it. I want to see the mountain and the rest of the company.”
Thorin rumbled an agreement without letting Bilbo go. He pressed more kisses to his hobbit’s face before managing to find his lips once more.
Bilbo laughed as he pulled away. “And,” he said as Thorin’s grip on him tightened. “We’ll be together.”
“Together,” Thorin agreed as he pulled back far enough to just look at his smiling hobbit. “I like the sound of that.”
“Good,” Bilbo told him before he shivered and pulled his cloak tighter around himself. “Because I don’t expect that I’ll like having you out of my sight for some time.”
Thorin chuckled at that as he managed to get back to his feet. He pulled Bilbo to his side as he looked up at the massive tree. “Thank you,” he said before he ducked his head and pressed another kiss to Bilbo’s curls.
Then he turned away from the massive oak and led his hobbit down a familiar path.