Chapter Text
When Bilbo finally came to again, he was laying in a hospital bed; Instantly squeezing his eyes shut again to escape the fluorescent lighting overhead. The headache was still the bane of his existence and the constant hum and beeping of the machinery he was hooked up to didn’t exactly help with it either.
Bilbo tried opening his eyes again when the pain started to subside. Finding his godfather hunched over a book in a chair to his right. He tried to speak up to gain his attention but nothing wanted to leave his throat, trying to clear it however did the trick just well enough.
“Ah Bilbo, good to see you awake, how are you feeling?” The worry was clear on Professor Greyhaime’s face.
“As good as the situation allowed i would say, I have a raging headache and my throat is dry as the sahara…” He rasped his response, instantly being helped into a more upright position and handed a water bottle with a straw. Emptying it nearly in one go before daring to speak again, his voice still hoarse and quiet: “I had such a strange dream… It felt so real, it scared me”
The Professor just nodded when Bilbo met his eyes.
“That sometimes happens when we go under. And I do not doubt that the place you ended up in after the fall was playing it’s part in the dream too” There it was again, this all to knowing smile, sometimes Bilbo joked to himself that Professor Greyhaime was gifted with supernatural powers by the way he often knew what has happened before anyone would have told him: “You know… there is a folktale here in northern Scotland, it speaks about how souls can be connected beyond the borders of time and space. In some stories its a pair of lovers, in others there’s a valuable lesson to be learned. I wonder which one will proof true for you”
“And you expect me to believe that?” Bilbo scoffed weakly.
“Whether you believe it or not is up to you, but I would see to get you back on site as soon as medically possible… I’m sure Dr. Farín will stop by any moment to check up on you again”
And if summoned Dr. Farín, Óin as Bilbo noted, busted in. ||Ah… here we go again, apparently it works both ways|| Bilbo thought as he had to undergo another round of being prodded at by the older gentlemen.
“So tell us the truth doctor how long will he be stuck here…” Professor Greyhaime tried to keep his tone light.
“Until tomorrow, I’d say. There’s nae sign of a concussion, but I’m keeping him in for twenty-four hours’ observation all the same.” Óin gave a firm nod to himself, jotting a quick note on the chart. “After that, a week of proper bed rest—or at the very least, nae physical strain—and he’ll be good to go.”
“That’s good to hear I had been slightly worried we had lost our specialist for a moment. Last question, what about food, we have a bit to discuss and that does best over cake and tea.”
Óin stopped writing and stared at him over the rim of his glasses for a long, unblinking moment: “Tea’s fine. Nae cake. A bowl of soup or a bit of stew from the canteen if you must, and only if it’s brought straight here. He’s not leaving that bed today. Aside from toilet breaks, mind… and for those, you’ll call for a nurse, not haul him up yourselves.” He waited until both men gave a begrudging nod of agreement before turning back to his chart with a grunt.
“Very well let me organise some food and then we discuss how we will continue on.”
· ─ ·✶· ─ ·
Professor Greyhaime came back about half an hour later with two bowls of chicken soup and some tea for the both of them, once again helping Bilbo to properly sit up so they could eat. And for a while they did so in silence.
“Archie… I really think you are putting to much importance on a dream I had while unconscious.” Bilbo mumbled, his eyes fixated on the half eaten chicken soup.
“Quite the contrary, I think we do not give it enough importance.” He fixed his student with a stern look: “If you do not want to speak about those dreams here, that is fine, but then I’ll demand a meeting once you are back at the accommodation.” He sighed and his voice and face softens: “Bilbo I know that you have to know about your mothers… abilities… I suspect you might have those too”
“What you mean to say is that I am as crazy as she was…” Bilbo sneered.
“Oh, not at all” He looked shocked “I never thought Belladonna crazy, in fact some of our discoveries would have never happened without her. Now if you please…”
He hesitated before he spoke, nothing more than a faint whisper: “The first dream dark and muffled. I think i was in that cave, someone was bleeding out though I could not identify his face; He bleed out in my arms. The second seemed like a glance at what had happened before, it was a coronation ritual, I saw the Arkenstone, The King. Judging by the Portraits in the Library in Ered Luin Thorin I. He got shot to prevent him being crowned King. The third a discussion even before that…” He hesitated for a moment: “And now this one” He looked up, his eyes filled with uncertainty: “You don’t think mother was crazy? All my aunts uncles… even my grandparents called her that, told me that’s why she’s gone. That only someone completely nuts would leave a child behind to go ‘adventuring’…”
Professor Greyhaime often blamed himself for the hand life had dealt Bilbo, his mother vanished from an excavation site and it was to this date unknown what her fate had been. His father had died due to cancer a year later, leaving the lad behind at the age of 15, to be raised by whoever was willing to take him in. In the end he was mostly just passed around without a proper home until they where legally allowed to set him out onto the street.
“Oh well she was certainly unique… that’s out of the question, and some things of her live may forever remain unknown to us. She had spoken to me about those dreams and I was willing to believe her after she had led us to places and artifacts purely out of the gut feeling of ‘knowing where they are because she had seen them or been there’” he chuckled “More than once did she vanish for a few hours or even a day or two. never longer than that and always leaving a note for me not to worry…. until one day she didn’t” His expression turned Grimm “I blame myself, you know… I was so used to her vanishing that I never questioned it until it was to late”
Bilbo decided to ignore the feelings that statement had woken in him, too much to unpack for the moment. So after staring into the void for a moment he continued: “While I was out, the dream felt so much more lucid, it felt more like I was awake, in a simulation, Virtual Reality or something of the sort…” He paused trying to come up with a reasonable summary of what had happened: “I woke up in the cave to someone by the name of Hrávandil — Who looked a lot like Barny — fussing over me, he let me through a winding tunnel up into the Church. Across the marketplace and into the castle, left me with the healer, who, in hindsight, looked a lot like Dr. Farín. The head of kitchen looked a lot like Bombur, but i shoved that onto the unconscious mind playing tricks, like I did with Olórin who…” He stopped as he noticed the absolutely baffled expression on Greyhaimes face.
“So you really do have Belladonnas abilities. I’d advice you to write down what you see, who knows when it will prove useful” His phone beeped and his attention shifted: “Seems like I am needed elsewhere, I’ll try to check up on you this evening and Barny will pick you up tomorrow since we will be on site already at that time.”
Bilbo just nodded, confused by the sudden hurry that a simple text had caused. ||Who knows what has happened or who demands his attention.||
After some quick goodbyes and finishing his abandoned soup he carefully shuffled down the bed to lay back down, closing his eyes with a deep sigh, resting his forearm over his eyes to further shield away from the unforgiving light. ||I feel like the Professor knows more than he’s willing to admit, seems like I have no choice than to play along for now||
· ─ ·✶· ─ ·
In the end Professor Greyhaime didn’t check up on him that evening, nor did he the next morning before his husband had come to pick him up and bring him back to the house. Where Bilbo just beelined for his room and went straight to bed again, spending the day with writing down his dreams, reading the book he had brought with him for comparison with his dreams, or just straight up napping. Kitchen staff had luckily been so kind to just leave a tray when they found him asleep at mealtimes.
This repeated for a day or two until Bilbo finally felt steady enough to venture further than his room. For now he did not dare to head out to the greenhouse even though he missed his green oasis. The library however was just within reach and Bilbo still had a few questions to be answered. He strolled through the rows of local written history and even pulled some of the Durin lineage tomes out from the shelves and settled in a comfortable armchair for a day of research only getting up for mealtimes.
He started to write annotations to the few things he remembered from his dream, being able to place it within the timeline of historic information. Bilbo also decided to fill a notebook small enough to fit into his pants pocket with information on what, canonically, was supposed to happen, hoping that it might survive another time shift and grant him some advantage.
According to history Thorin was soon to lead a diplomatic convoy south towards London to negotiate with the British empire, more specific with Captain Azog. Something his father Thrain had set out to do but hadn’t returned from. While they were on their way, Castle Erebor fell to General Smaug and his troupes. Leaving what was left of Clan Durin scattered and fending for themselves, something the clan has never fully recovered from. Which was why the current Clan head was so interested in Castle Erebor, getting back something that was taken from them. Bilbo continued his research until he was finally allowed back on site.
· ─ ·✶· ─ ·
He was met with cheers as he entered the dinning room for breakfast dressed in clothing fit to spend the day outside instead of his sweatpants look from the last days. And once on site he noticed some metal beams and walkways being laid out through the church, without doubt result of his fall. Aside from the benefit of secure ground under once feet it also meant there was now a structure sturdy enough to hold gear for (a planned) decent down.
And that was what they did today. Bofur staying above ground supervising gear and tech while Nori rappled down with some light and other equipment to make sure Bilbo would have a proper working space down there. Once everything was moved into the cave Bofur followed to help set up and to take a look at the integrity of the cave and whether or not he needed to enforce the ceiling, the last they could use was for the ceiling to collapse fully and burry them all down there.
After all that had happened Bilbo was finally allowed to join them, thanking them profusely for all the extra work they’d put in for his sake, and set to work. Taking photographs and making sketches of what he found in the cave. It was also, now that he was down here with time on his hands, that he noticed the slight traces of bioluminescent moss covering the ritual side and cave walls. He marvelled at leftover bits of offerings, ritual objects and what not, even the human skeleton and the deep black patches on the platform in the middle didn’t frighten him it only made him sad that someone had died down here. He documented it too, making a mental note to further investigate its story later after lunch. and as if on cue Professor Greyhaime’s voice sounded from above calling them in for it.
Back in the cave Bilbo exchanged his equipment from photographing to handling human remains. Definitely not his favourite task but one needing to be done anyway. He could rule out that this was a human sacrifice, having catalogued all the objects found around the skeleton. They pointed more towards a person of religious importance, so maybe a priest? Just as that thought crossed his mind did he pick up a necklace piece he had seen before.
||Hrávandil you poor soul, all alone down here? what a sorry end, I wonder what brought this upon you… Did you die as well when they attacked the Castle?||
“So… find anything interesting on this poor sod?” Nori’s voice startled Bilbo, causing him to nearly drop what he was holding.
“Yes… there are few items that point to a person of religious importance”
“What, like a sacrifice?” Nori raised an eyebrow, barley masking the disgust in his voice.
“No, more like a priest of some sort,” Bilbo murmured, carefully setting the artifact onto his tray. “No specific deity, but definitely not Christian. The clothing remnants look far too old for someone who lived when the castle fell. I suspect he was hiding from the church when the crusaders swept through… and never made it back out.” Bilbo let out a quiet sigh, a touch of sadness in his eyes as he gave what was left of Hrávandil a final once-over. “What time is it, anyway? I seem to have forgotten my watch this morning.”
“Late,” Nori snorted, checking his own wrist. “Came to fetch ye. The chopper’s here in 15, so let’s get this wrapped up.”
Bilbo got up with a nod, patting the dirt of his pants, gathering his things and followed Nori back to their little office to set down his stuff before heading back to the surface. Instantly heading towards his Professor.
“You look like you found something good my boy.” Greyhaime grinned seeing Bilbo basically radiate with joy.
“Indeed I did, would you have a moment for me once we are back?”
“For you always”
· ─ ·✶· ─ ·
“I take you found something you have seen in your dream?”
“Indeed I did” Bilbo pulled up the photographs on his tablet. “This piece of a necklace to be precise, it belonged to Hrávandil, I do not know much about him but he was some sort of Priest or maybe a hermit. He does, as far as i know, not appear in any records i have read. He was the one who found me after my fall; And he was there when the Coronation happened, he oversaw the procedure.”
The Professor took the tablet to take a closer look at the photographs, furrowing his brows: “But this… this isn’t from the time period you said you ended up in.”
“Yes, he looked odd and out of place and the only thing i had gotten out of him when I tried to ask my questions was and i quote ‘if asked I was never here, there is no cave under the mountain and there is much to be done to calm the spirits woken and upset.’ Not exactly helpful if you ask me.” He sighed: “He seemed kind and the healer Óin knew him well enough to not question him when Hrávandil brought me there. But that’s about all i can say about this person.”
“And otherwise? Did you feel anything out of the ordinary?”
Bilbo furrowed his brows: “What do you mean?”
“Belladonna always described it as a pull, a feeling calling her in towards points where the veil of time and space was thin” He pondered: “I suspect that in our case it’s pretty clear that the ritual site acts as such a portal, but how do we activate it…”