Elven Beauty or Shire Roses

Chapter II

"Ah, Rosa, I hadn't realized you were still living here," said Gandalf.

"Well, I haven't married yet, so I decided to stay with Bilbo until then," I said meekly. By this point, the twelve dwarves had raided the pantry. Cheese, meat, wine, vegetables, fruits; every food under the sun. And they had all been wrenched from the pantry shelves. Bilbo was absolutely losing his mind.

"Those are my... Excuse me, not my wine! Put that back. Put that back! Not the jam, please. Excuse me," he exclaimed. As he was busy with that, I saw one of the dwarves, Bombur, was carrying large portions of cheese. 

"Um, well then. That's tad excessive, isn't it? Have you got a cheese knife?" I asked the dwarf.

"A cheese knife? He eats it by the block," said Bofur. Then another dwarf began to carry through some chairs.

"No no, that's Grandpa Mungo's chair, no... uh, so is that. Take it back, please. Take it back, this is antique, not for sitting on. Thank you. That is a book, not a coaster. Uh... put the map down." Poor Bilbo was losing his mind with these dwarves while I, for the most part, just stood back, watching this all commence. Gandalf and other dwarves were setting up the dining table with food and drink. 

"Excuse me, Master Gandalf," said Dori to Gandalf.

"Yes?" replied the wizard.

"May I temp you with a cup of chamomile?" he asked, holding a tray with tea cups and a hot pot of chamomile tea. 

"Ooh, no thank you, Dori. A little red wine, for me I think." Gandalf then began to walk through the hallway and count the dwarves on his fingers, naming each as he counted them. 

"Is this a little much for you?" Balin asked after walking to stand next to me. 

"A little. I am not used to having so many people, much less dwarves, that I do not know, in our house," I replied. Balin hummed in response. 

"No, no. Not my prize winners, thank you," said Bilbo as he ran after a dwarf carrying a small basket of tomatoes. The Bifur came into the room and said something in dwarvish to Gandalf.

"Yes, you are quite right, Bifur. We appear to be one dwarf short," said Gandalf.

"There's yet another dwarf on his way?" I ask, astonished. 

"He is late, is all. He traveled north to a meeting of our kin, he will come," said Dwalin. 

"Is this some sort of dwarf circus?" I muttered to myself.

"Master Gandalf?" said Dori as he walked back to Gandalf, holding to tiny glasses of wine.

"Hmm?"

"A little glass of red wine as requested, it's got a fruity bouquet," said Dori as he handed one of the two glasses to the wizard. 

"Oh, cheers," said Gandalf as he took the glass and drank it in one go.

While Gandalf and all of the dwarves stuffed their faces with our food, Bilbo and I went to the pantry and saw that all of the food, every last crumb, was gone.

"There's no more," I mumbled. 

"Who wants an ale? There you go," we heard Fili say. I began to make my way to the dining room where everyone else was at.

"Let me have another drink," said Ori. 

"Here you go," said Balin. 

"Hey, on the count of three! One! Two! Come!" said Bofur. Then they all drank from their tankards and started belching and laughing.