This story has been rolling around in my head since I saw The Hobbit. Well, not so much this story as Denali's story. If you guys like this I may end up writing out the complete story or just some more one shots. Please Review, I really appreciate it. Sorry if the dialect is too modern for this story. Middle Earth's speech and concepts confuse me when I'm trying to write them. I tried my best though. I hope you enjoyed! Thanks.
Stern steel blue eyes stared at the two brown doe eyes staring back at them, blinking occasionally.
"No. I refuse."
A collective group of groans made the blue eyes roll in their sockets in disgust.
"I absolutely refuse."
"What is wrong? Can the precious princess not ride a pony?"
There was a moment of silence before a great guffaw of laughter rang out, as only 12 dwarves could make.
"The little princess doesn't know how to ride a pony!"
"And she acts all strong and mighty!"
Denali crossed her arms and glared at the dwarves around her.
"I am hunter. It has never been necessary to travel by such things. They make far too much noise for trackers, such as myself." Denali said, shooting glares at the abnormally loud dwarves.
A few of them got her meaning and stopped laughing but the others continued to chuckle.
She looked away, her pride slightly broken at their chuckling.
"Get on the pony or be left behind." Thorin snapped, the only one that hadn't laughed at her.
Her eyes met his and they narrowed, "I could walk and still keep up with you and your ponies."
"Then do so." Thorin said, mounting his pony and beginning to move.
A few of the other dwarves-Balin, Dwalin, Oin, Gloin and Dori-mounted their ponies with no question.
A few looked at her with a pitying glance and then mounting their ponies and following after Thorin.
Denali glanced at the pony and at the retreating dwarves' backs and sighed. Guess she'd have no choice but to ride a pony now.
They dwarves all left until it was just Bilbo, Fili, Kili and Denali standing there wondering if they would need the pony for Denali to ride or for food storage.
Denali turned to follow after them, walking, when she was suddenly lifted up and placed on the back of a different pony.
"What is going on here?" Denali demanded of Fili, who had placed her on the pony and was tying the other pony to his own.
"Up you go Mister Boggins." Kili was saying, lifting the hobbit on his own pony.
"Baggins." he weakly corrected, looking just as bewildered as Denali felt.
Fili mounted his pony laughing at Kili trying to calm the hobbit by tying his ponies lead to Kili's own.
"There you go! Now our burglar will not go wander off!" Kili claimed and Denali narrowed her eyes when she realized what was going on.
They expected her to ride on the back of a pony being led by a dwarf!
Kili smiled at her before hauling himself onto the front of the pony.
"Do not fret, Princess. At our next stop I'll show you how to ride your own pony." he said, his tone serious but it couldn't contain the amusement he felt at her predicament.
Denali glared at the back of his head, knowing she had no argument and that they were already behind the group.
"We are not that bad." Kili said after a while as they went to catch up to the others.
Denali said nothing and glanced at the hobbit riding next to them.
"Do all elves hate dwarves?" Bilbo asked, looking slightly perplexed.
"No." Denali answered before one of the brothers could, "Only Elves with good reason."
"Distrust amongst them is common though." Fili added, smiling when they'd caught up to the tail end of the Company.
"Why do you hate Dwarves, Denali?" Bilbo asked; afterwards looking a bit surprised he'd asked.
"Dwarves were involved with the death of my mother and of my brother. I curse their existence for that." She said, her eyes growing colder by the minute.
"That is a foolish reason. As long as the dwarves did not stay them themselves." Kili said, a frown on his face.
"Not as foolish as your uncle hating elves for knowing a lost cause when they saw it and saving their kin." Denali snapped and she noticed a few of the other dwarves had noticed their feud.
"Now, now. There is no need to argue. The past is the past and all we can do now is try our best to mend old feuds." Fili said, a bit of a smug look coming through in his expression.
"And who did you steal those pretty words from, brother?" Kili asked with a chuckle, feud forgotten at the moment.
Denali let the argument go, preferring them to joke and laugh about themselves than of her own misfortune.
"Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt…but, do either of you have some grog on you? Dwalin has been asking for some." Ori said, looking very nervous at interrupting their beard comparisons.
The boys stopped arguing for a moment before shrugging and going back to their arguing.
Denali rolled her eyes and carefully flipped sideways on the pony so as to get into the pouches easier.
"Here you are, Ori." She said when she pulled out a pouch of grog.
She tossed it to him carefully and gave him a small smile when he grinned at her before going back to the top of the pony line to give Dwalin his grog.
"Well, seems as though there's one dwarf Denali doesn't hate." Fili said with a teasing wink-which she scowled at.
"I am simply being polite. Something you two could bear to learn." She said, a smug smile on her face when she saw Mister Baggins nodding his head out of the corner of her eye.
Kili laughed heartily making the whole saddle rock, "We are heirs from the line of Durin! We can be polite if we so wish."
"I'll believe that when I see it." Denali stated, settling back behind Kili.
Fili turned and smiled at her, "One day you will."
"But today is not that day!" Kili said with a laugh and urged the pony into a gallop from a slow lope.
"Kili! What are you doing?!" Denali yelled, swiftly grabbing hold of his shoulders to stay on.
"Aw, does the Elvin Princess not like going fast?" Kili asked with a laugh when they'd passed Thorin and Gandalf.
"This is why I hate Dwarves!" Denali yelled, followed by a laugh from Kili-both of which echoed back to Thorin and Gandalf, the former of which looked un-amused.
Gandalf laughed, "Lighten up, Thorin. Let them have fun while they can. The road ahead is dark indeed."
Thorin scowled he could not allow his nephew to be so close to an elf.
An elf that could betray them in the end.
Every fiber of his being screamed at him to put a stop to it.
But the yelling in Elvish and the joyous laughs that followed made him nod to the wizard.
"As long as it lasts." he agreed, moving onward to their quest to reclaim their home.
