Conflicting Loyalties (Part 1)
Based on a dream I had a while ago + some prompting from my friend Anna. Tell me if you think it should be a love story, and who with.
It has an OFC in it and is set during An Unexpected Journey, with a little bit of book.
Warnings: abandonment, stereotypes (bias, fantasy racism?? I suppose that is what it is), mild gore and battle scenes. More will be added as the story progresses.
ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE. If you see mistakes please let me know, but if you are rude I will ignore.
W/C: 911
Had someone told Mero Took just a few weeks ago that her cousin Bilbo Baggins would get himself wrapped up in heinous affairs such as dragons and dwarves, she would have surely told them that they were crazy. They couldn’t be talking about her Bilbo, of Bag End. Sweet, sweet Bilbo who tended his garden and always made sure she had extra helpings for every meal. The little Hobbit didn’t have the capacity to become tangled in such things.
Certainly, anyone that could suggest the respectable master of Bag End would go on an adventure, of all things, was mad. That’s how she would have described them before it happened, and even now that it was over she would call everyone involved mad - even herself. Dragons, what was she thinking?
Mero should have known something odd was going to happen when she walked home that afternoon over a year ago and saw a big person with a grey beard standing outside the front garden. Bilbo was there too, looking mighty uncomfortable. The hobbit who had taken her in was positively flustered by the time she interrupted whatever it was they were talking about.
“Good morning, Bilbo,” she said brightly, a basket resting in the elbow of her arm. “Some fresh cakes, from Rosa.”
“Oh, good morning, Meroderada,” Bilbo said, turning his attention away from the big person. The big person regarded Mero with a quiet curiosity like he was waiting for her to explain her entire life story. For a moment she had the urge to do so.
Setting the basket down on the steps next to her elder cousin, Mero smiled politely at the big person. “I am Mero Took, a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
“A Took, really?” the man said, staring at her beneath his bushy eyebrows. He seemed shocked for a moment, before playing it off with a smile. “It is a pleasure to meet me, yes, but it is not the first time you have.”
“Oh?” Mero said, turning to Bilbo for confirmation.
“This is Gandalf,” Bilbo said as an explanation, before a barrage of memories flooded back to her.
“Mister Gandalf with his fireworks and his stories of adventure? Why you’ve been gone for quite some time, sir,” Mero said, suddenly very excited to be in Gandalf’s presence. “I used to give my father a heart attack when he saw me pretending to fight wolves in our garden. Cut the head off of all the roses, I did. A shame really, but then Aunt Belladonna sewed them into a hat for me so it was all okay again.
“But there is no party now, Mister Gandalf, yet I seem to remember you only showed up when there was one,” she continued, much to the displeasure of Bilbo, whom just wanted the wizard to leave his property. “So, if it is not too rude to ask, and I imagine you shan’t mind - though Bilbo might - what is it that you are doing here?”
Gandalf smiled like he knew something she didn’t, which wasn’t necessarily untrue. “I was having a conversation with your cousin here - which reminds me.”
Gandalf turned back to Bilbo, his hands on his staff. “Well, that’s decided,” he said, pointing at Bilbo. Mero’s eyes widened in shock ad the wizard’s voice got slightly louder and more authoritative.
“It’ll be very good for you,” he said. “And most amusing for me. I shall inform the others.”
This greatly agitated Bilbo. “Inform the ot- what, no, no, no, wait -“ grabbing Mero’s arm, Bilbo pulled her up the steps to the front door with him. As quickly as she could, Mero grabbed the basket and gave her cousin a confused look. “We do not any adventures here, thank you. Not today - not - I suggest you try over the hill or across the water.”
He then gestured for Gandalf to leave, surprising Mero, and causing the wizard to frown.
“Good morning,” he said, walking inside the house with a huff. Mero expected she should follow him, so with a wave to Gandalf, she reopened the door.
“Do come to tea, dear Gandalf,” she said before entering. “Tomorrow perhaps, at four, if you are free. Or any time you like, really, I’m sure Bilbo won’t mind. He does love visitors, after all.”
Mero closed the door behind her, leaving Gandalf to smile after the young Took. Mero set her basket down on the side table to take her coat off, but she was barely halfway through before Bilbo came hurtling back towards the door.
“Lock it, lock it, quickly,” he said to himself, bolting the door closed. After doing so, he walked quickly back towards one of his pantries, the basket on his arm. “A cake, Mero?”
“Yes, if you don’t mind,” she said, preparing to follow him when she heard a strange scraping noise coming from the door. Bending down, it sounded like a stick scratching into the surface of the door. Frowning, Mero made her way to the window, only to be scared backwards when Gandalf appeared staring at her. The old wizard winked before walking away, whistling a tune as he went.
Mero decided she best leave whatever it was Bilbo and Gandalf had talked about to them. It would only end in herself getting confused, she was sure, and Bilbo knew how to handle himself. No trouble would come to the hobbit as long as he lived, that much she was sure of.















