Briar

2.2 - Put your Mind to It

2.2 - Put your Mind to It

If Briar was honest, which she liked to be, Bilbo made some of the best tea she'd ever had. He put just the right amount of anything in it that when you were finished you couldn't wait for another cup. Usually, whenever he made her tea, it was made one of two ways. The first, was normally, just a normal cup of tea if she was hanging out. The second was just as he usually made it, but with honey, to soothe her throat if it was bothering her.

So, once her tea was made, she sat quietly in a corner of the dining room where all the Dwarves were gathering. The Company, she reminded herself. Bilbo brought out some food for Thorin as well since he had missed dinner - and clean-up too, which was apparently a spectacle that Bilbo did not enjoy one bit - and while the Dwarf ate and Briar sipped her tea, the Company discussed matters about their kin.

"What news from the meeting in Ered Luin? Did they all come?" an older Dwarf named Balin asked. Briar was good with names and faces, so once introduced to all the Dwarves, she could identify them easily.

"Aye," Thorin answered, "envoys from all seven kingdoms."

"All of them!" one of them said, though Briar could not see who, as they all cheered quietly.

"And what did the Dwarves of the Iron Hills say?" the one named Dwalin asked, who had no hair on the top of his head, but dark tattoos in the place of hair. "Is Dain with us?"

Thorin took a deep breath, shifted, thought over his words carefully. "They will not come."

There were groans and sounds of disappointment all around. They had held hope that this Dain would come help them, but seeing as he obviously was not, they were left to disappointment.

"They say this quest is ours and ours alone," Thorin continued.

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

"Bilbo, my dear fellow, let us have a little more light," Gandalf asked, pulling something that looked to Briar like a piece of parchment out of his cloak. "Far to the east, over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single, solitary peak."

Dwalin and Thorin moved dishes out of the way so Gandalf could lie the parchment out on the table. Thorin was watching it closely, an unreadable look in his eyes, but there was a hint of recognition. On the table, Gandalf spread out the parchment, and it revealed a map.

Peeking around Thorin, with a candle in his hand, Bilbo read off the map, "'The Lonely Mountain'."

"Aye, Oin has read the portents and the portents say it is time," said a Dwarf named Gloin.

"Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain, as it was foretold, 'When the birds of yore return to Erebor the reign of the beast will end."," said Oin.

"Uh, what beast?" Bilbo asked, standing in the hallway coming from the pantry. Briar hadn't noticed that he'd even gone.

"That would be a reference to Smaug the Terrible, chiefest and greatest calamity of our age," Bofur told Bilbo. "Airborne fire-breather. Teeth like razors. Claws like meat hooks. Extremely fond of precious metals..."

"Yes, I know what a dragon is," Bilbo replied, stopping him from proceeding further. Smaug didn't seem like the kind of creature the Briar wanted to meet, whether he was dead or alive.

"I'm not afraid, I'm up for it," said Ori, standing up abruptly. "I'll give him a taste of Dwarvish iron right up his jacksie!"

Briar's eyes widened at these words.

"Good lad, Ori!" someone called, but the Dwarf sat beside Ori was having none of it as he glanced at Briar and saw her wide-eyed expression.

"Sit down," Dori commanded, pulling the Dwarf down.