Reverie - 𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓷 𝓞𝓪𝓴𝓮𝓷𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓮𝓵𝓭 𝔁 𝓞𝓒

Chapter 9 - Visage

"We'll settle here for the night," Thorin shouted back. Blair hopped off her pony and gave it a few pats before leading it to where everyone was tying up theirs. As she tied up her pony, she saw Gandalf stomping up towards Thorin, who was standing by the ruins of what looked like an old house. As excited as Blair was about meeting a wizard, she hadn't talked to Gandalf as much as she wanted to so far. She'd been distracted by all the new sights and sounds . . . and frustrations. She decided tonight she would try and have a conversation with him.

"Save me from the stubbornness of dwarves!" Gandalf muttered angrily, stomping away from Thorin.  He walked right past Blair, starting away from the group.

"Uh, Gandalf, where are you going?" Blair asked, hesitantly.

"To confer with the one person around here who has any sense," he replied gruffly.

"And who's that?" Bilbo innocently asked.

"Myself, Mr. Baggins!" Gandalf yelled. Bilbo winced and looked after him, concerned.
Blair walked up beside him and Balin. She put a hand on Bilbo's shoulder and looked at him encouragingly. He gave a half smile, before turning to Balin, "Is he coming back?"

"He's a wizard! He does as he chooses," Bofur replied as he walked past them towards where Gloin had started to make a fire. Balin smiled at both Blair and Bilbo before following Bofur.

"Blair, what were you and Thorin arguing about this morning?" Bilbo suddenly asked, acting like he was too distracted with his pony to look her in the eyes. If he had seen her expression, he'd take back his expression.

"It wasn't an argument," she began, annoyed. If he'd seen, who else did? She didn't want any of the dwarves to dislike her because of a misunderstanding. "It was more of a 'setting boundaries', if you will."

Bilbo looked at her, unconvinced. "Setting boundaries," he repeated. "Do explain." Blair sighed and turned around, looking at the camp come to life. She spotted Dwalin laying weapons out on a grassy patch. Intrigued, she walked over, ignoring Bilbo's question.

Laid out on the grass were different types of swords, axes, a bow and arrow, and some sort of small slingshot.

"What do you want?" Dwalin asked, not bothering to look up as he sat and polished a sword.

"Nothing, just curious is all," Blair replied. She took a seat next to him, to Dwalin's surprise. She watched as the sword in his hands glinted in the sun, mirroring the grass below it.

"I bet ya don't see weapons like this in the Shire," he chuckled, holding the weapon up. She laughed.

"We have no need for weapons like that there," she said. He turned the hilt in his hands, thinking for a moment before setting it down. He picked up one of the axes and held it out to Blair. She looked up from the blade of grass she was picking and immediately shook her head.

"Oh, I don't want to mess anything up. I've never held something like that in my life," she quickly said, waving her hands.

"There's nothing to mess up! Here, I'll show you how to clean it," he said. He put the axe in her hands. "Besides, if there's ever a time to learn how to handle a weapon, it'd be now."
Blair looked at him, concerned. That did not convince her.

After watching Dwalin's every move and step he took to clean the axe he picked up, Blair started on the one in her hands. It had a wooden hilt with different inscriptions etched into it. She squinted at the hieroglyphics trying to remember if she'd seen them in any of the books she'd read. Nothing came to her mind.
After about half an hour, Blair had done it! A fully polished axe which perfectly reflected the now setting sun. Dwalin had finished with all the weapons once she'd done hers, but he didn't mind. She handed the axe back to him.

"Not bad!" Dwalin complimented, tossing the axe from hand to hand. Blair beamed proudly.

"Next time I'll teach you how to use it," he said.
"Oh, that won't be necessary," Blair tried to say but he had already started walking towards the rest of the company, who were sat around a fire. Bombur was making some sort of stew and had started handing bowls out. Blair followed behind Dwalin, looking around for Bilbo. They had stuck to sitting by each other for their meals, the dwarves usually having their own conversations and singing their own songs. Blair enjoyed watching it, usually, but couldn't help but wish to be apart of it.
She walked up to Bombur to grab a bowl of whatever mysterious stew he'd cooked up today.

"Good work today, Bombur!" Bofur said as he finished up his bowl. Bombur handed Blair her bowl. She looked around for Bilbo one more time before deciding to sit in an open space next to Bofur.

"Have you seen Bilbo?" she asked him.

"He's off giving the lads their dinner," he replied. Blair nodded, taking a bite of hers. It didn't taste too terrible, though she didn't want to know what animal's meat she was consuming.

Blair looked off to the direction of where the ponies, Fili, Kili, and Bilbo were supposed to be.

She heard someone clear their throat from behind her. She turned her head back and tried not to look surprised when she saw that Bofur had gotten up and someone else taken his place.

"Look, Blair, I just wanted to apologize for earlier," Thorin began. He was speaking rather quietly, as the other dwarves laughed and talked around them. Blair didn't look at him, watching the fire in the middle of the circle instead. "I should've thought about how it'd mark you feel."

Blair set her bowl to the side and pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her head on her knees. She appreciated the apology, but something inside her wanted to stay mad.

"Thank you for your apology," she replied, rather coldly. "Very noble of you," she muttered. Silence followed and almost immediately, she felt guilty. She turned to see his blank expression, watching something in the distance.

"I'm sorry, too. I should've realized you were just trying to help," she finally said. He met her eyes, seeing the sincerity in her apology through them. He looked down.

"You don't need to apologize," he muttered. She turned back towards the fire.

Without warning, Fili and Kili ran up to the camp circle, out of breath. Blair looked around them to find Bilbo, but he was no where in sight. She jumped up.

"Where's Bilbo?" she asked, her voice coming out louder than she meant to. The guilty looks on both their faces made her heart drop.