Hey guys! I know it's been a while since I have posted here, and it might be a surprise that I have begun a new story without completing the last, but I hit some bad writer's block. I am trying to get back into that, but here is my new story, and I'm really excited about it!

Oh, and I am not fully researched on Middle Earth, and I would love the help if you guys see something wrong! Help me out and let me know what you think in the reviews!

Disclaimer: everything you recognize is obviously not mine, I just have rights to me & mine

Gweawryn (gway-rin) / Gwea (gway)

Chap 1

A golden eagle soared gracefully across the sky, a beautiful speck against the dark grey that were the clouds. Yes, today it would storm, and, by the looks of it, there would not be long to wait.

The eagle-though one would not be able to tell from her outwardly appearance- was very excited at the prospect of this next storm. It would be the first she had flown in since- well, since the incident. This thought brought the eagle's spirits down, but a steely glint appeared in her eyes, and the dark memories were pushed into the deepest, darkest, most remote corner of her mind. Now was not the time. This was a storm. And she was made for them.

Besides. She had a few hours to spend before the meeting. The eagle and her emotions soared, and she flew off, deeper into the clouds, with a delighted screech. She was finally feeling something, and it felt good.

Kili was in no way happy. He and Fili had been in Hobbiton for the better part of two hours, and they had found no trace of the "obvious" meeting place Gandalf had arranged. They had been searching everywhere, even resorting to peeking into windows- though after the incident with the shower and resulting slap, they had wisely thought perhaps knocking would do the trick. Kili could still feel the imprint of the young hobbit- hobbitess? She-hobbit? No, probably just hobbit - on his check.

The storm wasn't really helping matters, either. He was soaked down to the bone, and freezing to boot.

Kili scowled, wrapping his cloak tighter about him, wincing slightly at the squelching noise. Amad would not be pleased he had ruined the finely-made material before the quest had even begun- though really, what did she expect? That he would return with every piece of clothing clean and-

"Kili!"

The shout from up ahead had interrupted Kili's thoughts, and caused him a greater scowl as his older brother waved him closer. As he approached, Kili realized Fili was ushering him towards a green door, smaller than himself- which was difficult, mind you, with his dwarven size- with a glowing rune placed upon it.

Kili grinned. It seemed they had finally found the place.

Gwea soared above the inhabitants of the Shire. She had always loved this place. The hobbits took great care with their land, and were only too happy when their beautiful gardens enjoyed the water she had followed there. She hadn't visited the lovely place for a very long time, however, and it, to her frustration, had changed just enough that she had no idea where she was supposed to be, or how to get there.

It seemed she would have to do this the old fashioned way. And she had been having such a good time. Wizards always did know just how to ruin a perfectly good day.

Gwea stretched her wings and slowly glided to the ground between two hobbit hills, enjoying her last few minutes of the wind and rain and the storm in her feathers.

As the ground became imminent, Gwea closed her eyes and shifted, her form changing from that of a golden and white speckled eagle, to that of a smallish- maybe a foot over the tallest hobbit, ha-foot under the average dwarf- woman with hair matching the color of the bird's feathers. There were only two things that made it glaringly obvious that the bird and woman were in fact the same being.

First were the woman's eyes, the same shade of icy light blue that the bird's had been, sitting on a dark -tan freckled face.

The next was a long scar, running over the woman's forehead, just above her left eyebrow, down a bit of her nose, and curving slightly as it made its way over her cheek, ending a few inches shy of her right eye and ear. The eagle had had the same scar, disrupting the fluff and small feathers that flowed over the animal's face.

Gwea ducked into a nearby thicket of trees, naked as the day she was born, pulling some clothing out of a pack, magiked to allow both of her forms to wear it comfortably.

In a few minutes, she was making her way around the small community, wearing a simple brown tunic and tight-fitting black trousers, a water-resistant cloak about her shoulders. Just because her animal form enjoyed the rain didn't mean she was inclined to be soaking.

Once on the ground, it didn't take long for Gwea to find the meeting place, she merely had to follow the scent of the wizard she knew to have traveled through here. Soon she was standing before a circular green door with the wizard's mark upon it. She sighed shortly. She would much rather be anywhere but here, but the wizard had called in an old favor, and here she was.

She slowly raised her fist to the door, and knocked twice.

Gwea could hear some mutterings on the other side, and it occurred to her that there must be many people. She frowned, but, in any case, the door had opened.

"No. No thank you, no mo-" A small creature- a hobbit- had opened the door, speaking before she could even see his face, and before he could see hers, but when he did indeed lay his eyes on her, he cut himself off. "You are not a dwarf," he said, looking slightly miffed.

"No," Gwea said, "indeed I am not. May I come in? Or is this the wrong place?"

"Ah, Gwea, my dear girl, come in, come in! I assure you, this is indeed the right place." Gandalf had appeared from a room farther down the hall, smiling gently at her.

The hobbit looked around at the wizard, before looking back at her, and opening the door to allow her into the house with a slight sigh. Gwea stepped in, glad to be past the awkward reception.

CRASH!

Suddenly, a loud noise reverberated around the hole, causing them all to jump in surprise, and the hobbit to give a small squeak and rush into the room Gandalf had recently vacated.

"Are there others here, Gandalf?" she asked, her tone quietly dangerous. She had not been informed that there would be others on this- well, whatever this was- than herself and the wizard.

Gandalf grimaced slightly under her rough gaze and Gwea was quite proud- she had not used such a look on someone since-. She shut down her thoughts.

"Ah- yes. Everyone is here but you, my dear. Shall we go and introduce you?" Gwea threw one last glare at the wizard, before moving past him into the room the hobbit had disappeared into.

The room was small, much like the rest of the home, but quite cozy. It appeared to be a dining room, with a long table and many people gathered, all looking intently at a map. This is, until a dark haired someone raised their head and Gwea gave a strangled sort of gasp.

No. No- it wasn't possible. He was-he was dead. This was not him, no no no no no. Gwea looked, horrified, at the male, walking backwards. She knew she was acting crazy, probably not the best first impression, but- she took a deep breath. No- it was not him. She took another breath. She could see that now. He really didn't even look like him- but for a moment she swore she saw his face, his eyes. Gwea shook her head. Breath.

She put her hands up to her face, taking one last breath before standing tall and facing her apparent companions. All of them were staring at her with various degrees of mistrust and alarm. One in particular, the leader, clearly, was staring at her with a large degree of suspicion and distrust.

Gandalf, with a worried look in her direction, stepped up so that he stood next to Gwea at the edge of the room. "May I introduce the last member of this company, Gweawryn of the skin-changers. Gwea, Thorin Oakensheild, son of Thrain, son of Thror, and his company."

Kili sat looking at the skin-changer as she recovered from her… episode. Her face as she had looked at him kept running through his mind. She had looked so pale, so horrified. Her whispered words of "no no no no, dead," had not much helped his confusion or the situation in general.

Now it was clear she was trying to move past it, but Kili locked it into the back of his mind, for perusing later.

Gandalf was reaching the end of his round of introductions when Kili zoned back in. It had probably been for the best that he had not reacted to his name, in any case, as he did not want to upset the woman further.

"Can you believe it?" Whispered Fili, who had bent over to talk to him. "A skin-changer! I thought they were legends, gone after-"

"After the Pale Orc came raiding our homes? After most of my kind was killed off, or taken in to be watched fight for sport?" Said the apparent skin-changer, her eyes filling with such pain and anger Kili had to look away. "Is that what yo-" Kili looked up in alarm. Thorin had the small woman by the throat, lifting her off the ground and cutting off her airway.

"DON'T talk to my nephew in such a way, cursed scum!" Thorin ranted, ignoring the alarmed calls of the other dwarves. "It is no he who is filled with dark magic-"

Thorin cut off as he felt a shifting in the muscles under his hand, and looked into the woman's eyes, which were strangely blank, before he was forced to release her as the woman became a golden hawk, her eyes and scar remaining where they were.

Thorin scowled at the hawk, ignoring the slight guilt attempting to worm its way inside his heart. He gave one last murderous glare, and stormed off, slamming the door shut in his wake.