Bilbo is not an adventurer, not the type accustomed to journeys longer than a mid-afternoon stroll to visit the Brandybucks or Tooks on the westerly end of the Shire, but here he is, astride a rather large horse and in the company of strangers. It's altogether unsettling and quite intimidating, journeying with dwarves (and one rather perculiar wizard), because dwarves, with their loud, bellowing voices and their wandering feet, are so very different than hobbits, and Bilbo can scarcely understand them on any count. But then, one dwarf (Kili, perhaps?) begins to sing, in a surprisingly sweet voice that reminds him of when Elder Took would sing ballads at hazy twilight celebrations; he sings a song about the winding, reaching road, and one by one the other dwarves join in, until they all sing the same steady chorus again, and Bilbo tentatively opens his mouth to sing along.