Recap-

I watched Bilbo as he read the 'contract' and... he wasn't doing so well.

"Incineration...?"

"Oh, aye he'll melt the flesh off your bones in the blink of an eye." Bofur explained.

"Huh."

"You alright, laddie?" Balin asked.

"Yeah, I-I feel a bit faint."

"Think furnace with, wings." Bofur said, getting up.

"-Flash of light, steering pain, than poof! Your nothin' more than a pile of ash."

I sent him a sharp look.. "What are you trying to do, make him faint!?"

"Hmph. Nope." And, he fainted.

"Oh, very helpful Bofur." Gandalf said sarcastically.

"I must agree on that." I muttered.

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*Apostrophe ' in italic's as always, are thoughts. 'Joy to the world all the boys and girls now Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea Joy to you and me.~'
Joy To The World by Three Dog Night

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I followed behind Gandalf, to find Bilbo sitting on his chair – the same chair that I had been occupying earlier that night.

He was now holding a mug of what looked like to be tea, what kind, I don't know.

"I-I'll be alright I just need to sit quietly for a moment." He spoke, shaken up.

I took a seat on the floor, next to the only other chair in his living room. - Who knows, Gandalf may want it.

"You've been sitting quietly for far too long! Tell me, when did doilies and your mother's dishes become so important to you?" Gandalf inquired. "I remember a young Hobbit who was always running off in search of Elves in the woods stay out late, come home after dark trailing mud and twigs, fireflies a young Hobbit who would've liked nothing better than to find out what was beyond the borders of The Shire! The world isn't in your books, it's out their."

"I can't just go running off into the blue I am a Baggin's of Bag End." Bilbo spoke.

"You are also a Took." Gandalf pointed out.

Bilbo sighed.

'He's not winning this one...' I thought.

"Did you know that your great, great, great, great, grandfather Bullroarer Took could ride a real horse? Yes well he could! In the battle of Green Fields. He charged the Goblin Ranks, he swung his club so hard it knocked the Goblin King's head clean off and it sailed a hundred yards, through the air and went down a rabbit hole. Thus the battle was won." Gandalf sat down. "And the game of golf invented at the same time."

"I do believe you made that up." Bilbo spoke, awed at his grandfather's history.

"Well all good stories deserve some embellishment." He said.

"All of them?" I asked.

"Yes, I believe so."

"So, did you embellish mine, Gandalf?" I asked.

"Time will tell, Nostariel. Time will tell..." He replied.

He looked at Bilbo, "You'll have a tale to tell or two to tell of your own when you return."

Bilbo smiled. Though, it was not a happy one.

"Can you promise that I will come back?" He asked Gandalf, seriously.

"No, and if you do, you will not be the same." Gandalf paused, then added. "None of us will."

"That's what I thought. I'm sorry Gandalf. But I can't sign this. You've got the wrong Hobbit."

We both sighed as he walked off.

"Do you suppose that I could take Bilbo's place?" I asked.

"I don't know, Nostariel...I don't know. Smaug know's the scent of Elf, so you wouldn't be able to surprise him, my dear."

I rolled my eyes.

'Again with the Elf thing.'

"Why are you so sure I'm an Elf?"
"Alicia, I am 2,019 years old. An Istari. I do believe I know an Elf when I see one, dear. Elves are nimble on their feet, have excellent hearing, eyesight, and balance. They also rarely need to sleep. They do it with their eyes open. They are also prone to greed, angry, and jealous people. For it weakens them. They're immortal, but can be injured in battle. That describes you perfectly, does it not?"

I groaned.

"Yes, I suppose it does... I give in. I suppose you're right, I'm sorry I doubted you."

'I can't believe I'm some sort of fairy tale being.'

"You had the right to, my dear. If I'm alright to assume so...you lived in a world without magic. Am I correct?"

A sigh escaped my lips. "Yes, you are correct, Gandalf. For many years, people on my planet feared the slightest idea of magic. They would drown or burn those who they thought had it, even."

Gandalf's eyes widened in horror.

"Oh, Alicia I am so sorry. I didn't realize that we sent you to such a horrid world." Gandalf said sympathetically.

"Horrid? In some cases, yes. But for the most part it was not all that bad. I had great friends throughout the years. And a great mother." I replied.

"Oh? Do you care to tell me more about her?"

My shoulders slumped. "It was such a long time ago, Gandalf... When I was very young, a child and foolish my mother lived..." I looked at him. "It was not long after I had that 'Vivid Dream' she died, you know?"

He looked on.

"My mother, Helena was a kind yet stern woman when need be. She was sorta plump, with dark hair. Yet also a widow, and was unable to conceive. Thus, she had no children of her own but greatly desired to have one." I spoke.

"Hmm...Continue." Gandalf said.

I rolled my eyes. "She told me the tale of finding me one fall morning as she was on her way towards the markets in town. Apparently I was bundled up in foreign cloth, with my bracelet and necklace. I was laying near a neighbors weathered corn field." I paused. "She then took me in, and raised me as her own, until she passed away from a cold that had taken over the village...I was the human equivalent of 28."

"Tell me about your...'Vivid Dream' as you called it?" Gandalf requested.

"Must I?"

"It may be some information I need in the future." Gandalf informed me.

"Alright, but know this..It is something that happened only once, and it is very special to me."

He nodded. "As you said in the past, 'Noted'."

I smiled.

"I was around the human age of 16, or 17 when this happened.

I was walking in the woods one day, and they quite literally changed around me. I wasn't in my home-town woods anymore... I was somewhere else.

I remember those trees being bigger, but some were also small. Moss grew on most of them, but most importantly, they seemed to reach up into the sky. As if it was a never-ending forest.

I was amazed at the time, and thinking back on it I still am.

When that 'Vivid Dream' happened, I felt like I was home.

I remember not wanting to leave, and knowing it was late where ever I was.

How I knew that? I wasn't sure.

However, this bit surprised, amazed, and awed me the most.

A person startled me by jumping down from a tree in front of me, he was around my age. Though possibly a bit younger. – I remember him having pointed ears, and how we stood their looking at each other, our reactions shocked vs. curious.

To this day, Gandalf I've never seen anyone with pointed ears! But... before the boy and I could get over our reactions, we faded from each-other's eyesight. Like how the shadow disappears behind a cloud on a sunny day..."

I looked over to Gandalf, "What scared me the most....Was when I woke up. The pain I felt, the emotions. My chest hurt, Gandalf...I was gripping at it." I spoke quietly.

He looked at me seriously.

"It seems you were dreaming of Middle Earth, and one of it's inhabitants..."

"But why?"

"That, I do not yet know..."

"Is this a case of 'time will tell' then?"

Gandalf smiled, "Indeed, I'm afraid so."

"Now lets go join the others, shall we?"

"Mmm, lets." I mumbled.

So, we walked throughout the halls of Bilbo's home in search of the Dwarves, to find them in Bilbo's living room next to his roaring fire.

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The end of the chap may be a lil' iffy, I apologize... I'm running low on battery!
But, enjoy!
Ttfn peoples 💗