Chapter Text
“Sold!”
Bilbo felt his stomach lurch, and bile well up in his throat. He couldn't believe what he had just done, he had just bought another living being. Trembling and feeling sick the hobbit paid the man and took the chain, the was connected to the shackles that held his new slave.
Bilbo didn't allow himself to look at the dwarf too carefully, he feared that if he looked into the eyes of the poor creature than he would fall apart. It was only his mother’s words echoing through his head that had allowed him to get so far already. So very carefully Bilbo led the dwarf away from the crowds and away from the other hobbits, the looks of glee on the faces of the hobbits around him made Bilbo feel ill.
Slavery had long been a common practice in the Shire, hobbit’s tended to be well off with their resource rich land and over time it had changed the kind and gentle people into something twisted and foul. Not all hobbits had fallen into the dark trap of course, Bilbo’s own mother had worked hard to smuggle out those who she and Bungo ‘bought’ and after their death some months ago Bilbo had finally taken up the family business. So that was why just a few short months after their deaths, Belladonna and Bungo Baggins’ son of barely thirty and three years was buying a slave.
Bilbo waited, his heart pounding in his chest for the rest of the auction to end. He knew how it worked having went with his mother and Took cousins several times as a tween. As he watched the other slaves be pulled across the stage and auctioned off as if they were not truly sentient beings, Bilbo felt his skin crawl. It was like this every he attended one of these twice yearly gatherings, one in the spring and the last during fall.
Eventually the auction ended and Bilbo was pleased to note that all six of the slaves had been bought by those with the Took name or someone of close relation. That meant six more freed slaves. Slaves. Bilbo placed a hand on his rolling stomach as he thought the word, the idea that he owned another being was disgusting.
The young hobbit walked up to the auction block where he traded quick glances with his cousin and the man who ran the whole thing explained the no returns policy and so forth, but Bilbo paid little attention, instead focusing on the dwarf he had bought. He, Bilbo thought the dwarf was male but that’s what his mother had thought years ago when she had freed a dwarf that turned out to be dwarrowdam, was thin and form the way he favored one leg Bilbo knew getting home was going to be a long journey.
Bilbo cared little as the man pressed the keys to the dwarf’s shackles into his hand and took the money greedily, instead Bilbo only cared for the dwarf that he was to protect. Belladonna Baggins had made sure to impress upon her son that that’s what they were to do, protect and heal.
“Can you walk?” Bilbo asked softly watching as the man walked away much richer and the other Tooks began speaking to their own slaves.
The dwarf nodded and stared at the ground and Bilbo nodded even though it couldn't be seen. “Well let’s go then, I wont be tugging you along so please let me know if I’m walking to fast or slow for you.” Still no reply. Bilbo placed a gentle hand on the dwarf’s elbow and began leading him away from the auction block. The hobbit wanted to get somewhere so he could remove the shackles so he began heading toward a soft patch of grass.
The dwarf stumbled and Bilbo moved quickly to help steady him. “Here lets rest in grass for a moment.” Bilbo helped to guide the dwarf into the soft grass. The auction stage was in the Northfarthing as it had fewer hobbits living in the area Bilbo knew it would be a long trek back to the Hobbiton and to Bag End so he was truly in no rush.
The hobbit and dwarf sat in silence as the sounds of the auction house began to fade and the loud crunch of hobbit feet faded away. Each Took had their own way, and Bilbo’s was very similar to his mothers, though she tended to fill the silence with songs or humming. Bilbo was a very patient hobbit and preferred to wait, there was nothing wrong with silence. The dwarf had calmed his heavy breathing and Bilbo fiddled with the keys that one of the men had pressed into his hand, for the past few minutes Bilbo had been determining which keys went to which lock.
Bilbo’s dwarf was chained at the wrists, ankles and the throat all connected to a lead, as all of the slaves were. There had only been six today, two down on their luck hobbits, four men and one lone dwarf. Belladonna had normally purchased more than one of the poor souls at once, so she could help more people but Bilbo felt he wasn’t ready. It was the Shire’s worst kept secret that the Took clan despised slavery and many times would buy slaves just to free them. It was only fair after all.
“Can I see your wrists?” Bilbo asked softly, the dwarf without hesitation offered the hobbit his shackled wrists and Bilbo made quick work of the lock and tossed them to the side, easily un-threading them from the lead. He ignored the look the dwarf gave him and switched keys. “Throat or ankles next?”
More alert this time the dwarf carefully and from the look of it, rather painfully swung bare footed feet toward the hobbit. Bilbo frowned at the state of the dwarf’s feet and spoke absentmindedly as he worked at the lock, this one appeared to be stuck. “We will have to see you properly outfitted with boots. Hobbits tend to forget that not everyone has feet like ours.” He wiggled his own bare toes as he spoke.
The click of the lock made him grin. “Goodness that one was tough. Last one now, but I’ll let you do it if you're able, I doubt you want a stranger so close to your neck.” The look the dwarf offered Bilbo made the hobbit’s stomach tighten with shame. Bilbo pressed the final key into the dwarf’s hands and he wanted to cry, the dwarf’s fingers were curled inwards and they bore the look being broken once too often. “And a doctor we will need a doctor.” Bilbo whispered as he watched as the key undo the harsh metal that wrapped around the dwarf’s neck.
Bilbo pretended not to notice the tears that fell from the dwarf’s eyes when he was finally free of the shackles that had once bound him so horribly. Instead he began to speak, rambling almost. “You’re free you know? I would never buy someone to enslave them, my mother would have my hide. You see she did this before me, her whole family does it in fact. The Tooks are rather looked down upon on for it, but there is little anyone can do, so we continue to buy as many as we can heal them and as soon as they desire send them off. You won't be the first dwarf to grace the halls of Bag End, and sadly enough I doubt you’ll be the last.” Bilbo’s eyes suddenly widened and he gasped. “Oh dear me! I haven’t even introduced myself, Bilbo Baggins of Bag End at your service Master Dwarf.”
For a moment neither said anything, Bilbo looked nervously at the dwarf and the dwarf looked rather confused at the hobbit and finally a soft laugh broke the silence. “You are something else.” The dwarf rasped, “I have never seen someone like you.” Bilbo flushed making the dwarf laugh a bit more. “My name is Frerin son of Thrain, and I am eternally at your service.”