Disclaimer: I do not own The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, or any associated characters or concepts. Consider it disclaimed. Quotes in this chapter come directly from the Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien.

If you last read this fic before Thanksgiving 2018, you should start back at the beginning, because several chapters have been updated and heavily edited.

On the way to the Undying Lands, Billa Baggins is eaten by a time-traveling sea monster. She wakes up in her 33-year-old body and realizes she has a chance to change everything. Unfortunately, Thorin has a tendency to run around shirtless and Dis thinks she has improper designs on Fili and Kili, but if she can convince the Shire that Dwalin is a dance teacher, things might be okay.

Chapter 53

Reader, you'll be shocked to hear this, but I promise it's true. Are you ready? Here it is:

Thorin has a tendency to brood.

I know! It's very hard to believe! But after his conversation with Billa, brooding was all he could think to do. He sat and thought, and sat and thought, and sat and thought.

He sat in the drawing room, lost in his own thoughts, for so long that everybody else pretty much forgot he was there.

Billa had gone to talk to Balin, Nori was down at the Smials with Dori, Dwalin, and Frerin, and Lithir -

Oh wait. Where was Lithir?

Lithir was in the library with Ori, and both of them thought Bag End was empty.

If Balin was around, perhaps they'd have been a little more circumspect. But they thought they were alone, and so felt quite comfortable taking their elvish homework from the library into the kitchen to find a snack.

"It's hiril, Lithir, not hiral."

"Hiril Perian," Thorin heard Lithir's sweet voice say.

"Yes, exactly," Ori said proudly. "You're doing very good!"

"I feel so slow," Lithir said, sounding sad. "I'm an elf, but you speak Sindarin so much better than I do!"

"Don't be sad," Ori said. "Once you know two languages, it's very easy to add a third. That's why it's easier for me. And I'm sure that once our tutor gets here, you'll catch up quickly!" he encouraged.

Thorin noted the phrase, 'our tutor,' and wrestled with the idea of having one of the dwarves under his protection in such close, unsupervised contact with a member of a species he'd been raised to despise.

"Balin said the same thing," Lithir said, and Thorin froze, shocked. Balin knew of this? Balin... approved of this?

"Um, Ori..." Lithir said, sounding shy, and Thorin's ears sharpened in curiosity and suspicion.

"Aye, Lithir?" Ori said casually.

"If... When you... I've put some things together and I was hoping you'd tell me if I was right," Lithir said nervously.

"If you've a nail, I've a hammer!" Ori said cheerfully. Thorin waited to hear Lithir's confusion, but it didn't come.

"Thanks Ori," she said, sounding quite relieved.

Thorin narrowed his eyes, curious. Had she - understood that? When even Billa hadn't? Hmmm.

Lithir said, "Well, it would have been quite easy for Lady Billa to send me to Rivendell. I would have been sad to say goodbye to you, and Bifur, and Lori and Gimli, of course, but no one would have thought it wrong for her to do so. Instead, she's opened up a steady correspondence with Rivendell, and is soon going to be hosting one of their representatives. Even more oddly, I won't be the only one benefiting from their tutelage - you will too. And I bet Balin will want to keep his nose in, also, and give an alternate perspective."

"That's all true," Ori said slowly. "So what's on your mind?"

"Well, aside from that unprecedented arrangement, I've noticed something. In our letters, we've asked questions about ancient alliances between elves and dwarves, we've asked about the ancient lore of hobbits in the Wandering days, and we've asked about Mirkwood, and we've asked about dragons," she said.

Thorin's mind felt like an old gear, cranking slowly and tightly towards a conclusion that it was just a little too rusty to attain. What was Billa up to?

"Yeeeees?" Ori prompted her.

"So, I'm wondering... Well, it's just... I read about Erebor and the King Under the Mountain, and Smaug. And, I've looked at the maps. Rivendell and Mirkwood would be ideal places to rest and re-stock on our journey, if it weren't for the current hostility between elves and dwarves. So, my question is... Are you... Does Billa want to help you reclaim Erebor?" she finally asked.

Thorin's eyes flew wide open, and he clamped a hand over his mouth to stifle his gasp.

Erebor? he thought wildly.

And then Ori was talking again, and Thorin strained his ears to listen.

"That's a bit difficult to answer, Lithir," Ori said cautiously. "I can't speak as to what Billa is or isn't planning to do, but I can reassure that you are welcome here, and she cares for you. I do, and Gimli and Lori and Bifur do, and even Dori and Nori and Balin are warming up to you! You're a valued part of our little family here, and I hope you know that," he reassured her.

"Oh, I know that Ori," Lithir said, nevertheless sounding happy to have been reassured.

"As for the other implications of our dual tutelage and pen pals," Ori continued, "I know the future is not set in stone. A good relationship of trade has been set up between the Shire and the Blue Mountains, and I believe that relationship will continue for decades and centuries, and many good things will come of it. However, we do have relatives in the Iron Hills that we have not seen for centuries, because of the huge distance between us. I do not know what the future will bring. There may come a time when we need to seek their aid, or the mines of Ered Luin run out and we need to make another try for Khazad-dum or Erebor," he explained.

"As it stands," he continued, "we are cut off, isolated, and Billa is our only ally in easy reach. Billa is trying to create relationships and friendships so that no matter where we go, we have allies and friends to welcome us."

Lithir seemed to be pondering this.

Thorin was pondering this as well. That... makes sense. After all, the most direct route from Ered Luin to Erebor would take us right past Rivendell, and directly through Mirkwood, he thought. Thorin had occasionally fantasized about reclaiming Erebor, and he'd memorized all the possible routes they could take. On the shortest route, the only real danger had been, well, elves. And if Billa worked her magic and turned those elves into allies, then the shortest route would quickly become the easiest route, and the one with the most plentiful options for rest and restocking supplies.

Thorin tuned in as Ori continued talking. "I even suspect," he was saying, "that if such a quest was to occur, Lady Billa would want to bring a contingent of Hobbits to help the land recover from Smaug's desolation. The mountain of Erebor used to be covered in tall, soaring pines and the mountain was surrounded by a lush forest and good farming land. However, all the reports of Erebor in the last few centuries have confirmed that the land is now barren and destroyed. Billa thinks Hobbits could help to nourish the land and make it fruitful again."

Thorin had heard too much. He had too much to think about, and could stomach no more revelations. He decided the best way to get them to stop talking (without showing that he had been eavesdropping) was to pretend as though he was waking from a nap.

He thought back to all the times he'd practiced fake-sleeping with Frerin until each of them could mimic their natural sleeping patterns with ease. Then he arranged himself carefully on the floor, with his head thrown back on the drawing room chair, and gave his best snore.

Immediately, Ori and Lithir went silent. Thorin squished a smirk, and gave a few more natural snores, before he added an aborted snore and a little snort, as if he was waking up.

Then, he yawned, stretched, and stood up, and loudly wandered into the kitchen.

Ori and Lithir were sitting at the table, their heads bent over their homework.

"Sir!" Ori said, jumping to his feet. Thorin waved him back down.

"Hello Ori, Lithir," he said. Then he wandered out onto the back porch, where Billa and Dwalin were switching between sparring and dancing (because Dwalin had come up with some new dances over the winter, and was very excited to share them).

As they whirled and struck and parried, Thorin imagined what it would be like if all of Billa's scheming worked out.

What would it be like if elves chose to assist them on their journey, instead of hindering them?

What if the only thing to worry about on the Quest for Erebor was the dragon waiting at the end of it?

What if the elves could help them find a way to defeat the dragon?

An even more interesting thought struck him, and he glanced back towards the kitchen of Bag End, where he could see Ori and Lithir still bending over their homework.

What if an elf accompanied them on their quest, in addition to their young elf-trained dwarf scholar?

All the possibilities were swirling around in his head.

He remembered the indifference of Thranduil, and the way it had condemned hundreds of thousands of his people to death.

But for the first time, he also remembered that Thranduil had actually shown up. Thranduil had brought an army to their assistance, and then turned away at the last minute.

Why? Why bother to show up at all, if you were only going to turn back and leave us to burn?

Thorin had never, ever considered this question before. Suddenly, he decided he would hold his peace and show courtesy to whatever Rivendell representative showed up, and ask Billa to push to open a channel to Mirkwood, as soon as possible.

He had a burning question to ask the Elvenking, and he had a feeling the answer would change everything.