Just as many of the summer days that had come before, the morning was bright and clear. A light mist hung in the valley where a large wooden home sat. From a distance this abode seemed like any other. There were quite a few smaller buildings surrounding the main hall, and these were designated for the many animal friends of the occupants of the great hall. The difference between this home and that of others only became apparent when one drew near to the dwelling. The buildings were immensely large, as if built for someone of immense stature, and this was indeed the reason, for this was the hall of Beorn.

Beorn was no ordinary man, for he was a skin-changer. At times he is a large bear, prowling about his lands in defense of both his home and those who reside within its walls. At other times he is an impressively large man, with large arms and a great beard. It is in the halls of this most unique man that this tale begins, where an ordinary day became most extraordinary.

Besides the array of animals residing in the halls of Beorn lived three women. They had lived with Beorn for many years, helping him attend to the animals and protecting the mountainous woods that surrounded their home. Though the backgrounds of these four were varied and unique, they lived in harmony, and were quite happy.

The first of the women to come unto Beorn's halls was Albany. The daughter of a widowed peasant woman, she set off on her own after her mother's death. Living off the land, she eventually wandered her way into the woods Beorn protected. Fortunately, he had been in his more reasonable form that day, that of a man. Running low on supplies and with no real place in Middle Earth to call home, Beorn offered temporary housing for the young woman. As time went on, they grew on one another, and that temporary time frame became permanent. They began to learn more and more about one another, and though Beorn may have seemed odd in the beginning, always warning Albany not to exit the hall after dark, all was good in the halls of the Bear. This was especially true after Albany discovered what Beorn truly was, for then she was free to tell him of her own nature. Albany was no ordinary woman, for she had a special ability. Not only had she lived much longer than she had anticipated given that she was of human decent, but she had abilities that she had not seen in any other life form, or at least until she had met Beorn. For just as Beorn did, Albany could shift her form into that of another. Though she was not just limited to a single animal form as her companion was, they found comfort in the fact that they were no longer as alone as they once believed themselves to be, and this only served to bring them closer.

The next to join the family of the bear were two sisters from the far north, Isolde and Ignis. They had fled the lands after dragons had all but taken and terrorized the lands. Like Albany had years before, they wandered the lands until they found the Carrock Beorn so often patrolled. That morning it had been Albany that had found them. They were young, hungry, and cold. Pitying the pair, Albany had brought them home in hopes of Beorn's approval. Things were tense at first, but once trust was established, happiness returned to the home. Though Ignis and Isolde did not harbor any hidden abilities like Beorn and Albany, they were not quite of the race of man, and therefore lived longer than that of their human counterpart, and they fit in to the group quite well. All quite capable in battle, they defended their home with their lives. Albany, Isolde, and Ignis would patrol the woods when Beorn was in his human form, and Beorn would prowl when the girls came back home. It had been Beorn that was patrolling the woods on this most extraordinary day, when thirteen dwarves, a hobbit, and a wizard would stumble across their quiet lives and forever alter their futures.

"Isolde!"

Looking up from her work fixing one of the beehives, Isolde shaded her eyes from the bright sun. Upon seeing Albany gesturing for her from the door of the Hall, she made her way for the home. It was not often that one was interrupted from their work, so Isolde could gather it was something of importance. Walking into the hall, she could see Ignis, Albany, and Beorn already gathered around the long table placed in the middle of the long room. Taking a seat beside her sister, she turned to Beorn, who almost always had the answers to whatever question or problem the small family was faced with. As soon as he saw that all three women were attentive and listening, he began in his great, rumbling voice.

"While patrolling about the Carrock early this morn, it has come to my attention that there is more activity about our woods than we thought. Goblins are wandering farther into our territory than they usually do, and I even saw the tracks of the fowl wolves the goblins have been known to coerce with about a mile from the Carrock itself." At this point he looked about the group to gauge their reaction, but non seemed too surprised, as the problem had been growing over the years. "We will need to be more wary when we are out in the woods. I would suggest not wandering too near to the mountains edge, but do as you see fit."

"Why would the goblins come out so far?" Ignis asked. "They know that we protect these woods, and they have seen what can happen when they come too close to our home."

"I am not quite sure," Beorn replied. "But I do not care for whatever they are planning. Our concern is to keep our home and the lands beyond ours safe from the scum that lives within the dark tunnels of that wretched mountain ridge."

With that Beorn called for the animals to bring an early lunch out, and the animals and their human companions ate and conversed in happiness, deciding that the goblin issue would be dealt with while out on patrol and not within the cheery halls of the Bear.

Once the meal was finished, they all went about to complete the chores they had been doing before the meeting had been called. Beorn went out to chop wood for dinner that night, Isolde went back to repairing the beehives, and Ignis and Albany went about tending to the vegetable garden located off the porch of the hall. The girls did not plan on heading out on patrol until later that evening, as goblins and most things of evil prefer to move under the veil of darkness, so not one of them noticed a group come down from the mountains and through the woods towards their home. These were not goblins, or any other nasty, evil thing that had crawled out of the craggy tunnels, but a group that was quite the mixture. Though mostly comprised of dwarves, something the inhabitants the halls of Beorn had not seen for many a years, there was also a wizard and a hobbit, of which none had met. Though a group of dwarves is certainly much better than a herd of goblins, one can argue that they can bring about just as much trouble, especially this group. For this was the company of Thorin Oakenshield, and they were on quite the perilous quest to take back their homeland. It was in groups of two that the dwarves made their way to the Hall of Beorn, and it was Gandalf the Grey, a most respectable and capable wizard, and Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit of utmost respect, that arrived first.

The horses were the first to see them, and they ran off to alert Beorn of the intruders. When the pair finally arrived before Beorn, they asked for assistance, for they were in quite the predicament. They had lost all of their supplies in their mad dash out of the fowl place known as Goblin Town. They offered to tell Beorn of the story of their journey, and Beorn agreed. In the way only Beorn could, he told the horses to notify each of the girls of the arrival of what could be trouble, and to get inside to their rooms and prepare themselves. He was quite protective of his little family, as the girls had become somewhat like daughters to him, and he did not want people of potential threat to know that they resided there with him.

After situating themselves upon the porch of the hall, the garden of which had been quickly vacated by Albany and Ignis, Gandalf began to weave the great tale of the perils of the Company of Thorin Oakenshield. Throughout the telling of the tale, the dwarves continued to arrive two by two, until all fifteen members of the company were accounted for. After much deliberation, Beorn determined that they were safe enough to let stay, or at least he followed up on their tale later the next day. He sent some of his animals to prepare a feast for the dwarves, and some other animals to fetch the girls from their rooms. Beorn was not quite sure what a company of dwarves arriving upon his door meant, but he was sure he was going to find out. And he was not quite sure he was going to like the answer.