Title: Shoemaker's Children - Balin
Fandom: The Hobbit
Challenge: Shelter
Bingo prompt: Toes
Rating: G
Length: 250
Content notes: Goes with the other Shoemaker's Children pieces, but stands alone. Takes place a day or two after the earlier pieces, after the recounting of Azanulbizar, but before the Trolls or Rivendell.
Author notes: Thanks go to Zana, Morgynleri & Runa for encouragement & sanity-checking.
Summary: Balin contemplates the Company.




Balin looked over the industrious Company (and now it was a Company, not just a collection of assorted Dwarves and other persons), observing the relationships they had settled into this evening. More mixing of the families and clans, which was a very good thing. For shelter they had a nicely deep space under a shelf of rock, sufficient for everyone — even the wizard — to be comfortably out of the rain. Oin and Gloin had gotten a fire going in the stone ring others had used before them, and already there were several pair of socks drying, chilled toes warming; Bilbo's among them. He and Ori were comparing something on their respective pages. Not so much mending today as making: Thorin weaving a bit of silver wire into a fine chain, Dwalin winding a length of steel wire into rings for repairing chainmail, Bifur carving, Bofur with the far-away look and silently moving lips that meant he was likely thinking up a new (almost certainly silly) song. The princes were looking after the ponies. With the rain, there would be no weapons-work this evening, but they didn't need it for finding harmony with each other — they had that now.

No need to detail everyone, since all were well and not unhappy. No need, for once, to worry. There would be more than enough time for that as they got further along. For now, he would take the comfort of fire, food, and company under good stone, and leave tomorrow’s challenges to tomorrow.