HERE IS MY HOBBIT OC'S OFFICIAL INSERTION INTO THE PETER JACKSON MOVIES. BE WARNED: I ONLY HAVE THE EXTENDED EDITION, SO ANYONE WHO HASN'T SEEN IT MIGHT BE SLIGHTLY CONFUSED, BUT IT SHOULDN'T MATTER TOO MUCH. RIGHT?

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT AILI (THE OC), SEE MY PROFILE! OH, AND CAN ANYONE TELL ME IF DWARVISH LADIES ACTUALLY HAVE BEARDS, OR IF THAT WAS JUST ARAGORN BEING FUNNY? CUS THAT HAS ME ALL KINDS OF CONFUSED.

GOD BLESS AND GOOD DAY!

~LF221

"-and that's why we are roving around." Uncle Thorin said in that serious, grave voice he always used when telling stories, though his eyes shone fiercely with that longing flame that ignited whenever he spoke of our ancestral home. It was slightly creepy. "The dragon is still roaming inside Erebor to this day!" I flinched, as if burned by the very flames that had ransacked Erebor. No matter how many times I had heard the story by this time, I still found the whole thing a bit beyond my grasp.

A dragon, attacking Erebor? We were supposed to live there with Uncle, as he ruled, according to Uncle's story. But now...a dragon lived there? Man...even the dragon's name sounded ominous in my young ears.

Smaug. Like an actual smog, it seems to be everywhere. Everywhere I went (which, all things considered, wasn't far at that point), I heard of Smaug, the Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities. And I was only five years old.

=#=#=#=#=

"It's out of the question, Thorin!"

"Please, Dis...see reason!" My uncle was yelling in reply, from inside the closed door of our living room. I smirked. My mother could be unreasonable at the best of times.

"I do see reason! It's folly to even try!" Mother yelled back, and I could see her, even now (several years down the road), getting up in Uncle Thorin's face. Even though I was hardly ten years old at this point, I had known perfectly well what my mother was 'discussing' with my uncle. A quest to take back our mountain home, Erebor. He had wanted her to come with him, with a hand picked company, of course. I had then heard a thump that meant my mother was literally putting her foot down. "What of my children, brother?" She had asked (or rather, demanded), in an only slightly softer tone. "What would I do with them while I am off, getting burnt alive by some dragon, following your dream! Your ambition!" My mother's tone had made it perfectly clear that she wanted no part in this. A sigh came from Uncle Thorin. I could easily picture his hand mentally, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Dis...They are perfectly capable of staying here. There are people who could, and will, watch over them." Beside me my brothers, Fili and Kili, and I had snickered. Nobody in this particular part of town (it had been the only part of town close enough for anyone to easily watch us at home) had ever seemed to like being our babysitters, even when we'd settled down in the Blue Mountains. It had been quite amusing to us that Uncle Thorin had thought anyone would watch over us. Honestly. It also reminded us just how much he wasn't around.

"Huh. Shows ya what you know. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a dinner to prepare." She had said. All three of us had glanced at each other and scurried off.

Our mother didn't (still doesn't) like eavesdroppers.

=#=#=#=#=

We had finally done it. We (meaning Kili and I) had finally mastered the bow! It had taken a lot of accidents and some minor injuries (Mother blamed Uncle Thorin for all of them, which hadn't been exactly fair, but she was..heated then) but we had finally done it! Uncle Thorin had left us to our practice a but few minutes ago.

Mother had came hurdling out of the house, straight toward us with a hard look in her eyes. Quickly, me and Kili hid our bows and arrows behind our backs. Suddenly, Uncle Thorin was there, too. Mother whipped around to face Uncle with quite possibly the harshest look in her eyes I have yet seen on her.

"THIS is what you've been SHOWING my boys - even worse, Aili, my daughter - behind my back?!" She screeched, wrenching the bow from my hands. I had no idea how she knew I had it behind my back, though. "Fighting skills?! So what?! You can take them on that foolhardy quest of yours?!" Uncle Thorin, too, had a harsh look about him. I hid behind Kili, the harsh words making me flinch.

"I was merely coaching them to defend themselves, Dis! By my beard! What if you are attacked?! You never learned how to fight, so I took the responsibility on myself to teach them!" Mother would have killed Uncle Thorin, if glares were daggers. I had been sure the glares exchanged were daggers.

"Oh, aye!" Mum barked sarcastically. "And you want to take my children to that blasted mountain, by Mahal, and get them slaughtered facing a dragon's rage and fire!" My mother seethed back. Kili suddenly ran in between the bickering adults. "And the only thing worse is that you want to sacrifice my only daughter, as well! Honestly, you've got some nerve, brother-mine!" She seethed. I had blinked. Her rage...had at me learning to fight? Not the fact that we, as a trio of siblings, were teaching ourselves? I had felt embarrassed and guilty all of a sudden as mother continued trying to kill Uncle Thorin with her glares.

"Wait!" Kili cried holding out a hand to keep them apart. Then, when he saw he had the adults' full attention, he stood normally again. "We asked Uncle Thorin to show us how to use the bow when we saw him this morning, practicing. He wouldn't show us his sword tricks," At this, my mother clenched her hands into fists, "but he did promise to show us his bow and arrow. We've been at it all day, mum!" I blinked then. Kili had guts for a fourteen year old Dwarf lad. Most adults wouldn't have even thought about going near either our mother, or our uncle when they are mad. Durin forbid when they were mad at each other. And besides, it took even more guts to hid something from her.

It's true, we had seen Thorin practicing this morning. But...after many minutes of watching our Uncle shoot bulls-eye after bulls-eye, we had 'borrowed' a bow and quiver each, and scurried out to the targets Uncle Thorin had been using. We then stood square in the same stance, and fired at the same time. After many misfires, and aggravating hour after aggravating hour, we had finally made those DARN arrows hit the ring around the bulls-eye. We had kept practicing, whilst Fili had 'borrowed' a sword and practice dummy. He had procured a few minor gashes and cuts in a matter of an hour or two, but nothing that bled too profusely. Uncle Thorin had caught us around lunchtime, much to our horror. We just stood there, shuffling and trying desperately to come up with a reasonable explaination for our use of bows and arrows without permission or supervision (which was very unwise, but we had known our mother wouldn't, and we had assumed Uncle was too busy after his training that morning). Until he merely chuckled, and gave us tips and tricks that he himself had learned from Balin, apparently. He had spent hours teaching us before heading inside, chuckling. My mother, however, hadn't been so amused when Thorin had told her what we were doing out here all day. And that's when she had assumed the worst, and had come barreling out here.

Not that we'd have EVER told her that.

By this point, our mother looked softer, not as angry. Thorin, to the contrary, had been trying to mask his surprise and confusion at Kili's half-truth. She let the bow fall into my waiting hands. I silently apologized for my own half-truth as our mother knelt down so she was at eye level with us (she always was considered tall for a dwarf; a trait she apparently passed onto Kili (much to our chagrin)).

"Is this true, children?" I wasn't lying, I had told myself. I'm just not telling every detail of the story. It's not strictly speaking lying. Fili strode over then, thankfully without his 'borrowed' sword. And somehow he had covered most of his nicks and cuts. He smirked.

"Yes, mum. But unfortunately, I got in the way because I came out here after they had started firing, and had to duck. But I as I ducked I tripped into a quiver." He said, playful smirk most likely what had convinced our mother. She whirled, and with one final glare at Uncle Thorin, left to do whatever she does all day.

=#=#=#=#=

"And yer sure you've got everything?" Mother fussed about, clearly worried. I sighed and shifted my pack on my shoulders.

"Yes, mum. And besides, I am now sixty-two years old. If I do forget anything, I can deal with it. And Uncle is going to take care of us. We'll be fine." Here, mum scoffed. She slipped yet another packet of crackle (a traditional bread-like Dwarvish traveling food)into my backpack. Then, she lightly shoved me toward the door, where Fili and Kili stood impatiently. They walked on either side of me, and we gazed at each other as we marched toward the waiting Company.

"Finally got away, did ya?" Kili teased. I laughed.

"You know mum means well. She's just...worried because she's letting us go on our first quest." I said, not wanting to embarrass either myself or my mother. Fili threw his arm around my shoulder.

"Aye. The first of many, I hope!" He cheered.

"Wait!" My mother called. We turned, albeit slightly hesitantly. Our uncle was (un)patiently waiting, and yet our mother raced up, clutching three little packages in her hands. "I am giving you these." She said, and gave us each one package.

"We're wasting time! Fili! Kili! Aili!" Thorin called from across the way. We glanced nervously at our uncle, before turning back to our mother.

"We'll open them tonight, mum." I assured her. I shoved my brothers toward Thorin, and took one step before my mother's hand clasped onto my arm.

"Now, Aili...you need to keep an eye on your brothers, ya hear? They'll get into all kinds of trouble if you don't..." She said slowly, stern expression (coupled with her slightly nervous voice) making me slightly nervous.

"Don't you worry, mum. I'll have their backs...I promise. We'll all come laughing and singing back into this home of ours soon enough." I replied with a wink, and ran across and caught up to Thorin, and his Company. Without looking back, Uncle Thorin ordered someone to give me a pony. I tried to ask for them to wait for a mere moment while I got onto a pony by myself, but before I could get the words out, my good friend, Bofur, and my uncle's best friend, Balin, grabbed my pack's shoulder straps and hoisted me up before another dwarf (Gloin?) led my pony, Thyme, up and released the reins. I was plopped unceremoniously onto Thyme, and we continued.

=#=#=#=#=

"So...why are we staying here, in this seedy hotel in the middle of nowhere?" I asked Fili, as we waited for Thorin's friend to tell us where to go. Thorin said he had to get to a meeting of the seven dwarf lords a few days ago before leaving us here to wait for a wizard named Gandalf. Uncle never said why he called the meeting, but I knew; he wanted the armies of the Dwarves with him when we get to the mountain and face the wrath of Smaug. After all...that's why he had gathered this Company. To return to Erebor, and get rid of the dragon, once and for all.

"We're waiting for that friend of Thorin's." Fili replied, snapping me back to reality as he watched the nightlife around us, puffing at his pipe. We all were currently waiting in the dining area of some inn called the Prancing Pony, eating dinner and chatting. Then Bofur came and sat down.

"I think we went too far with the pony incident earlier. I want to apologize." He asked, smiling nervously all the time. It was infectious. I was smiling as I leaned back in my chair.

"It's all good. I mean, no harm done, right? And besides, Thorin wasn't worried, so...neither am I." Bofur's relief was practically palpable. I never could stand to see his face pulled down in a frown.

"Thanks, lass. It's nice to not havta worry about vengeful maidens. Or raging uncles." He said, and walked off to sit closer to the fire with an affectionate pat on my hand and a twinkling wink. I smirked. He was a nice man, I must admit.

=#=#=#=#=

"And you are sure this is the right house?" I asked for probably the millionth time. We had been on a loop around these houses, looking for one with a mark similar to an 'F'.

And we had yet to find it. We were told to look for one 'Mr. Baggins of BagEnd' before we left. We all started searching immediately. So far, though, me and my brothers were among the first to get this close to the house. It was relatively unfair to team up with Balin, though. His knowledge of Geography and the various cultures of Middle-Earth were nearly unparallelled among us Dwarves.

The others were still having problems finding a way into the Shire, as this quaint place was called. Currently, we were walking up the small set of stairs before the door to the house.

"Of course, sis. Trust me." Kili said, and reached up, and rang the bell. I gulped, hoping we had the right house...

Then the door opened, to reveal a short (a few inches shorter than me) man in an open bathrobe, looking flustered. So...that's a Hobbit, huh?

They're shorter than I expected.

HOPED Y'ALL LIKED THIS RELATIVELY SHORT PROLOGUE! I AM SORRY ABOUT THE PREVIOUS LENGTH OF THIS FIRST CHAPTER.

I WAS JUST STARTING OUT ON A JOURNEY I HAVE BEEN MEANIG TO TAKE FOR A WHILE, AND SUDDENLY I HAD A THIRTY-PAGE CHAPTER, SITTING READY TO POST!

IT WAS SUCH AN ACCOMPLISHMENT TO ME THAT I SIMPLY COULDN'T (AND TO SOME DEGREE, STILL CAN'T) FOCUS ON MY OTHER STORIES.

BUT...I HAVE NOT ABANDONED THOSE OTHER STORIES, SO JUST HANG TIGHT IF YOU ARE ONE OF THIS LOVELY PEOPLE THAT READ MY STUFF! ;)

TOODLES!