An: I can't let go of The Hobbit just yet. This chapter is a bit short, but the other ones will be longer. Sorry for this, but I am super tired and yet wanted to publish this first chapter tonight.

Set before the book/movie. This takes place a year or two before the guest, but no specific ages. :p

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit

I dodge the branch that seems to attack at me purely out of nowhere - it nearly hits me in the face, but only scratches my head, thanks to my reflexes. This is one reason more why I hate riding through snowy forests.

The freezing, but -thank Mahal- soft wind makes my hair fly everywhere, including my face. I brush it back, shaking my head. I'll kill Fili when I get back home. This was his time to go to Eban. Not mine. I went there just last week! But I guess he couldn't help catching the cold. That is what mom said, at least. I'm sure that Fili was outside the whole day yesterday just to get sick. He hates the trips to Eban.

In my honest opinion, this four-hour ride is bearable when you think of how much it helps us. This winter came hard and sooner than normally, and cost us our food. We weren't prepared for the winter this early. And now it's too late. For our luck uncle made a deal with a rich family in Eban. They give us food and water, we go help them with different kinds of stuff when the spring comes. It helps both of us.

It still doesn't change the fact that it was Fili's turn to go and not mine. Now it's me who is out here and gets to freeze for another six to seven hours.

"Good girl", I mutter and pet my pony, for no reason to be honest. I just feel like it needs love, because it seems like I don't deserve it. Fili has gotten all the attention a few weeks now. He's learned a few tricks while battling and he's showing them off to everybody. Sometimes it seems as if I'm invisible to them, for now, at least.

I sigh. Okay. Maybe Fili deserves some attention as well, since I am the younger and usually get all the attention. But I still feel bad.

The cold air makes my hair go up, even though I have layers and layers of clothing on. It's funny how cold works. There is no escape from it outside. It makes you feel like your bones are fully frozen. I wonder if animals, like my dear Shine -my pony-, feel cold like we do?

Slowly the minutes pass by. I have nothing else to do than think. I notice that the snow gets slowly thicker and thicker and Shine walks slower and slower. It has been snowing heavily the last few days, and now I can finally see how it has affected the nature. I think that if I jumped down now, I'd drown to the snow.

Most of the way to Eban goes in silence. And that's the way I like it, because first of all, sometimes it's nice to just sit in silence with just your own thoughts. Me and Fili are 'attached from the hip', as many dwarves put it, and even though Fili's company is never an un-wanted thing (even after a fight with him), it's always nice to have some time alone.

And second, I don't fancy the thought of slowly riding through a forest with all kinds of sounds following us. When it's silent, I know nothing is trying to attack us and eat us. So yes, I like riding in silence.

But as I said, most of the way to Eban goes in silence.

We're about an hour away from my destination, when a sound of a branch breaking echoes to my ears. It's weird, since the ground is covered with snow - it is almost impossible to break a branch by stepping on it when there is that much snow beneath your feet. So I just shrug it off, thinking it was just an old tree falling apart on its own somewhere near. Nothing to worry about.

I finally realize that maybe it wasn't just an old tree falling apart on itself when a large, black animal jumps in front of us. I can barely react before I am already in the snow, thrown by Shine. I manage to catch a glimpse of Shine landing back on its forelegs - I assume it really did throw me off of its back - before a wave of pain hits me and I realize that something is wrong with my leg.

Panic hits me. I know that the animal, or whatever it is, isn't eating me, because it's far away - I can hear it growling somewhere - so what is wrong with my leg then? I can't move it. I can't move it and it hurts and oh Mahal, the pain, go away, and what if that thing attacks me and I don't want to die like this-

"Calm down."

It's an order. Calm down, Kili. Take a deep breath. Find out what's wrong. Escape. But first things first. Where is the thing?

I look at the now empty space where Shine and the animal had been just a second ago. Where have they gone? Pain makes it hard to remember and think. I can't remember, no matter how hard I try.

"It doesn't matter now", I tell myself. "The animal is gone. You can find Shine later. But first you'll have to help yourself."

When I concentrate hard, I can feel my leg underneath the snow, partly bent under me in a way it should not bend. It's funny, how soft the snow is, but how hard it becomes when you fall on it. Or get thrown on it.

I know I have to pull my leg in front of me. I just don't know if I can. It will hurt, that's one thing I know, more than it already hurts.

"Count to three", I mutter, closing my eyes. "Count to three and pull it out of the snow."

I don't want to. I know I can't, and I don't want to. But I have to.

One. I take a deep breath and lean softly backwards. You can do this, and even if you can't, you will do it.

Two. As I slowly press my shaking hands on my leg and take a good grip, I realize that whatever is wrong with my foot, I will have to limp to Eban. It's closer than home and spending a night here would be my doom. But at the same time, if I did not return home in eight hours, I'm sure uncle Thorin would come to look for me.

One last deep breath, and I yank my leg free from the snow pinning it down. It takes no more than a second to the agonizing pain flare up and down inside my leg and for me to fall down on the snow, screaming. I didn't know this kind of pain could be real.

Review! And if you have any ideas on how to continue, feel free to share them with me. I'm always open to new ideas - maybe a new ideas would make the fic even better! :'D