The gesture had surprised Mel and caught her off guard. Elves in general were not used to expressing affection quite so physically and as a result it was rather awkward for her, though she attempted to return the gesture in order to be polite.

Tauriel was not far behind him, stopping to watch the Orc retreating on a Warg. "Are you alright?" she asked him in concern. "What do we do now? Do you plan to follow them?"

"I-I did not come to steal from you, oh Smaug the unaccesibly wealthy!" Bilbo quickly tried to excuse himself, hoping he could appease the dragon with flattery and avoid becoming the Fyredrake's next meal. "I merely wanted to...gaze upon your magnificence, to see if you were as great as the old tales say." the hobbit whimpered fearfully as the dragon growled loudly and stepped around the pillar so that the hobbit was aware of exactly how vast and large Smaug truly was. "I did not believe them!" 
"Well, do you now?" the dragon asked as he stood tall and proud before the hobbit.