Chapter 1: Crossing the river

"Mr Gandalf" called the short bonnie hobbit lass, but the wizard didn't hear and carried on trudging through the river. She swallowed hard "Mr Gandalf," her voice called louder and some of the dwarves stopped and turned in the middle of chilly water that reached up to chests. She blushed as did her brother Bilbo, they were far too short to walk through the chilled liquid.

"Oh for goodness sake" she muttered to herself and picked up a smooth round pebble, taking a little skip in her step and throwing the small stone with all her might, managing to knock off the wizard's hat. It tipped off and the old man snatched it up before it was able to run away down steam. He turned and scowled at the smirking dwarves, some whom which, were biting their lips to stop laughing.

"Old man!" a soft voice called to him and he looked up and there she stood the company's tiny lady of luck, their Clover. She stood at the river bank up to her ankles in the water, her pretty face turning red from the embarrassment and their burglar rubbing the of his neck out of awkwardness.

"what is it miss Baggins?" Gandalf asked and she rolled her eyes, "I.. umm..." she began to shutter, "iamalotshorterthenyou" she spoke quickly through her nerves while fiddling with the bottom of her shirt and with that quote some of the dwarves barked out of laughter, causing her face to flare up giving off a charming glow.

"I have to admit" chuckled Balin, "I had forgot how short hobbits are" and Clover huffed a warning to the elderly dwarf only to cause more chuckles and laughter. Thorin had a small smile lifting his lips, and he started to walk back towards the little hobbit lass and her face heated up as the king came closer, his wet clothing clinging to his muscular form, she hadn't realised that he had stopped right in front of her, until he let out a cough grabbing her attention and her eyes darted up and her cheeks once more turned red.

Thorin handed her his belongings, his small smile had turned into a smirk as Clover held them close to her chest and without a warning he bent down and pick her up over his shoulder. Clover let out a cry "Thorin!" and wriggled in his grip clinging onto him for dear life. "if his journey doesn't kill, you I will!" she shrieked and he laughed as he carried her across the water, she trying to hide her blush from him and failing miserably. "I would definitely like to see you try that" Thorin replied to her comment with a husky voice. His hand gripping her waist giving her a friendly squeeze, causing her to giggle and try and escape again, "Oakenshield, that was a promise" she laughed through her threat.
Thorin chuckled and shook his head, this hobbit, this delightful creature has indeed gotten underneath his skin.
His tiny,
lucky Clover.