Curse of the East (Fili/The Hobbit Fanfiction)

Chapter 61 - There and Back Again... Again

The next morning, I awoke to find a pair of deep brown eyes focused intently on me, amusement shining in the low light. Kili grinned as he stared up at me from his place on the floor, and I rolled my eyes.

"Shut up." I said simply, smiling when Fili's grip on me tightened as he began to wake slowly.

"Don't know why I'm surprised," Kili teased. "Downright inseparable you two. It's almost like you were getting married or something." He laughed, and I found myself laughing with him as I sat up, my gaze moving to the window; to the sun that was just beginning to rise.

"We should get moving." I said quickly, swinging my legs over the side of the bed as I threw the blanket off of me. Kili and I laughed again as Fili mumbled unintelligibly at the sudden chill I had exposed him to. After about ten seconds of fumbling for a blanket that was simply no longer there he finally sat up. "Get dressed." I told him. "You too." I said, directing my words at Kili this time. "We ought to hurry if we want to be on the road at a decent time." Kili shook his head.

"We could always stay a few days Saria." He argued. "Are we really in that much of a hurry to get back again?"

"Yes." Fili and I said in unison, causing all three of us to roar with laughter.

"Truth be told, I want to be there to make sure Dis can't go too over the top. Tauriel promised to try and prevent that, but I don't know how much affect she'll have on your mother. It needs to be us."

"Alright, alright." Kili groaned resignedly as he rose slowly off of the floor, rolling up his bedroll and moving it under his arm as he watched Fili do the same.

While they went out into the living room to check on the others and get breakfast started, I took a small bag out of my closet, and packed inside of it the few things I wanted to take back to the mountain with me. The nightdress father had brought back for me so many years ago, carvings my mother had done before I was born, little things I could not fathom leaving behind again. When that was finished, I took the huge quilt off of my bed, folded it up and draped it over my arm. It would come with me, and it would serve as a reminder of a part of my life I was saying goodbye to; but one I was never going to forget.

Finally, I closed my bag, slung it over my shoulder and walked slowly out of the room that had been mine for so many years for what may well be the last time. I pulled the door shut behind me after staring for along time at the once familiar walls and floorboards. I had once known every square inch of that room; but now it was time for me to learn the secrets of a new home. I did not look behind me as I went in search of the others.

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Our journey home was just as merry as the one to the Shire had been. Bilbo's awe at every little thing quickly became my favorite part of the long days. Rivendell was easily his favorite part, and his sadness at having to leave was so intense that for a time I wondered if he would ever consent to leave at all. He did of course, and our journey continued; but just after we exited the misty mountains, strange things began to happen where Bilbo was concerned.

He would just... disappear sometimes. Once, even in the middle of a conversation with me he simply vanished, and he did not return for nearly twenty minutes. And in such a way that nearly gave me a heart attack. He simply appeared in front of me as I was checking the forest again. That wasn't the last time he vanished either, and every time it happened I couldn't help but compare it to all of the times I had used my necklace; this of course was ridiculous. A person would not simply find a magic necklace lying around.