There indeed lay Thorin Oakenshield, wounded with many wounds, and his rent armour and notched axe were cast upon the floor. He looked up as Bilbo came beside him.

"Farewell, good thief," he said. "I go now to the halls of waiting to sit beside my fathers, until the world is renewed. Since I leave now all gold and silver, and go where it is of little worth, I wish to part in friendship from you, and I would take back my words and deeds at the Gate."

Bilbo knelt on one knee filled with sorrow. "Farewell, King under the Mountain!" he said. "This is a bitter adventure, if it must end so; and not a mountain of gold can amend it. Yet I am glad that I have shared in your perils—that has been more than any Baggins deserves."

"No!" said Thorin. "There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. But sad or merry, I must leave now. Farewell!"

Then Bilbo turned away, and he went by himself, and sat alone wrapped in a blanket, and, whether you believe it or not, he wept until his eyes were red and his voice was hoarse. He was a kindly soul. Indeed it was long before he had the heart to make a joke again. "A mercy it is," he said at last to himself, "that I woke up when I did. I wish Thorin were living, but I am glad that we parted in kindness. You are a fool, Bilbo Baggins, and you made a great mess of that business with the stone; and there was a battle, in spite of all your efforts to buy peace and quiet, but I suppose you can hardly be blamed for that."

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Chapter XVIII "The Return Journey."

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"An interview?" A woman, Valerie, questioned sitting across another woman in a little family owned café that was run by Valerie, her two nephews and her niece.

"Yes, my boss would like to meet with you and your family." The woman, Hannah, said with a smile.

"What kind of interview?" One of Valerie's nephews, Brian, questioned.

"Well, you see I work in productions, and my boss is having trouble recruiting extras that meet a certain criteria." Hannah stated, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. "So, it's not really an interview...more like they want to see if you'll be right for the part in the production as an extra. We think you four will be perfect for the parts."

"But we know close to nothing about acting..." Valerie's niece, Alice, stated looking nervously at Hannah.

"You don't have to know how to act just to be an extra." Hannah smiled, trying to calm Alice's nerves. "Please say that you will?"

"What do you think Aunty?" Valerie's older nephew, Warner, questioned as he looked toward his aunt for an answer.

Valerie looked to be contemplating and weighing the options before she sighed sadly.

"I'm sorry Hannah, but I think we'll have to decline your offer." Valerie said apologetically. "I don't think we'll be right for the part."

"Oh no...no, no, no please?" Hannah begged. "Just meet with my boss and hear them out. If you still don't like what you hear then you can decline right on the spot."

"Why don't we take her offer Aunt Val?" Brian questioned looking to his aunt. "It's only to meet with her boss."

"If we don't like it we can always say no." Warner said, agreeing with his brother.

"I couldn't hurt to try..." Alice whispered causing Hannah to smile happily before looking expectantly back to Valerie.

Valerie looked torn between the decisions before sighing, completely giving in to her family and Hannah.

"When and where..." Valerie questioned.

"Around 8am...Weta Workshops." Hannah said, clapping her hand enthusiastically.

"We'll see you then." Warner said with a smile.

"Come, I'll walk you out." Valerie said as her and Hannah got up from where they were sitting and Valerie walked the woman out of the little shop.

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"I really can't believe it." Warner mumbled in disbelief the moment the four walked into a small white room.

"Philippa Boyens..." Alice mumbled in disbelief. "And Peter Jackson?"

"It's truly an honor to meet you two!" Brian stated quite loudly as soon as he snapped out of his shock.

"Thank you for coming in on such short notice." Ms. Boyens said with a smile. "When Hannah sent me a picture of you four I knew you would be absolutely perfect for our project."

"As extras." Valerie stated with a nod. "I'm sorry, but we're not quite sure about taking up the part or not...I mean we don't have any acting background. Well, at least I'm not quite sure about doing it. I wouldn't want to take up an extra and end up ruining whatever project you guys are working on due to our inexperience in this area."

"Actually...not extras." Mr. Jackson said suddenly, leaning forward on the table that separated the family of four from the directors. "After I had seen the photo Phil sent me I needed to see you four in person and I suddenly had an idea."

"And when Peter ran it through with me..." Ms. Boyens continued. "I had to agree. You four, even with no acting background, would be more perfect for something more. Not to mention with seeing you four in person and how you interact with each other, possibly only solidified our idea about the parts you four should play."

"And whatever inexperience you guys don't have, we can give you some coaching and I have faith that you four will do fine." Mr. Jackson said. "We'll just have you read through this packet and we can see where you four stand."

"Well, I mean..." Valerie looked more hesitant then usual as she looked toward her nephews and niece, before letting out a nervous sigh. "out of curiosity, which part would we be auditioning for in your project?"

"Well," Mr. Jackson said as he reached for a glass mug that was sitting beside him. "now whatever we speak about stays in this room. I hope you four understand that."

The family of four nodded, promising that they would not speak a word of this out of this room and Ms. Boyens continued on.

"We've had trouble trying to fill these parts and it wasn't the actors fault, ior their auditions, it's just that they didn't seem right for the part...they just didn't seem to fit that specific character." Ms. Boyens stated. "But, when we saw you four, it suddenly clicked that you and your family would be perfect...that the very moment you walked into this room we knew we had those characters standing in this very room."

"Now, there's not much information to go on on some of the characters, but one specific character played an important part in this project." Mr. Jackson said. "Now, this author had written some canon backgrounds, some unfinished stories if you will, about the other three and that is what we are going off from. With your family Valerie we think they would be perfect for those parts, but for you, we think you would be perfect for one of the main roles."

"Might I ask..." Alice questioned suddenly. "What exactly is this movie project?"

"It has to do with an adventure that started it all." Mr. Jackson said, smiling fondly. "I'm sure you've read The Hobbit written by Tolkien."

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"Congratulations you four." Ms. Boyens said with a smile as she reached out to shake hands with Valerie, Brian, Warner, and Alice, with Peter Jackson doing the same soon after. "We have your contact information and we will get back to you about the upcoming schedules and when you will be needed."

"Thank you for having us today." Brian said happily. "We're looking forward to working with such wonderful directors."

"We shall see you then." Mr. Jackson said. "And don't worry, after today's read through, I'm positive you four will be just fine."

Valerie held the door open for her family to exit while she waved a final goodbye to Mr. Jackson and Ms. Boyens before leaving out the door, closing it behind her.

The family of four made their way out of the building, Valeries niece and nephews talking happily amongst themselves, excited and still in utter shock at what had just happened.

"This is incredible!" Alice said, jumping up and down cheerfully. "I can't believe that really happened!"

"We've got the part!" Brian said happily, slinging his arm around his cousin. "And we don't even have any acting to go by, we are awesome! I'm so excited to be a part of this movie!"

"We promised to keep this a secret until it's officially announced." Warner said with a smile. "You two need to be quiet for the time being, which means you can't tell anyone Brian."

"I know that!" Brian grumbled, glaring at his older brother. "I'm not stupid."

"With how loud you're being, I have to wonder." Warner teased as he placed both his hands behind his head as the family kept walking, heading toward their car.

"I'm curious to see how this will turn out." Brian said in wonder. "The Lord of the Rings trilogy movies were such big hits! I think this will be a success as well!

"I'm so excited!" Alice said with a smile.

"I'm excited as well..." Warner commented before smiling fondly, looking up to the sky. "but, I don't think it's anything to be too excited about, it's only a story after all."

"It may only be a story, but I remember what an old friend once said to me." Valerie said smiling fondly as well. "All good stories...deserve embellishment."