"My lady, you have a visitor." Called Westerfall's royal advisor as he stormed into the stables, his beady mouse like eyes looking around for any sights of the mischievous princess.
"A visitor you say? How exciting." came the lilting reply, shortly followed by the young woman, who had climbed down from the stable's upper level. Her long golden brown hair had pieces of hay sticking out of her long plaits, and her cotton riding trousers were stained with mud. "Tell them to come in, I'll be right there."
The advisor went to object, his nose wrinkling at the young woman's appearance, but closed his mouth receiving an annoyed look from his mistress. "Very well miss."
The brunette turned her back to the door, tending to her horse Thadius, who was watching her with his big, dark eyes. A loud clattering of the stable door announced the arrival of her visitor, but she stayed facing her pet, waiting for the new comer to introduce themselves.
"Well, Princess Delphina of Westerfall, I have not laid eyes on you in years."
Delphina instantly recognised the voice of the old wizard. A squeak of excitement left her throat as she dropped the horse brush and ran towards Gandalf, wrapping her arms around his waist in a tight hug. "And yet you have not changed a bit Gandalf."
The old wizard chuckled and separated himself from the girl, looking her up and down, "You, my dear have. You are now a fine young lady."
"You flatter me old friend. But I do not think I am wrong in thinking you are here for another reason? Not just to see how much I have changed in the past fifteen years?"
Gandalf smiled down kindly on her, she had always been far wiser than people thought, her angelic face and child like height were a clever disguise, and served to fool even the wisest of beings.
"Indeed my dear, I haven't. I come with a proposition for you. Let us talk somewhere a little more suitable."
Delphina nodded and kissed her beloved horse's long nose, and departed the stable with Gandalf locking the door securely behind her.
The raucous laughter from the band of rowdy dwarves silenced when three sharp, heavy knocks sounded at the door. "He is here" said Gandalf quietly, his eyes on the round, green front door. Bilbo Baggins, who had had about enough of dwarves rolled his eyes and wearily made his way to the door, with Gandalf behind him. Stood on the doorstep of Bag-End was a very intimidating looking dwarf. His long dark hair was peppered with streaks of silver and his eyes were a murky blue.
"Gandalf" murmured the stranger, his voice a deep and booming baritone, as he entered the hallway of the hobbit hole, unfastening his over cloak as he did so, handing it to the young dwarf Kili who had appeared at his side. "I thought you said this place would be easy to find? I very nearly got lost twice. I'd never have found it at all if it wasn't for the mark on the door."
Bilbo spluttered in anger "What mark? There is no mark on my front door! I only had it painted last week!"
Gandalf coughed uncomfortably and lowered his voice to try and soothe the furious hobbit, "There is a mark Bilbo, for I put it there myself." he took a short breath before directing Bilbo's attention to the dark haired dwarf, "Bilbo Baggins, let me introduce the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield."
"So" drawled Thorin, as he stared down the half-ling, his eyes steely, "This is the hobbit … have you done much fighting? Which do you favour? Axe or sword?" he continued as he circled around the smaller male, making Bilbo twitch uncomfortably.
No one had noticed that Bag-End's front door was still open, or that a cloaked figure had joined them, until they spoke, commanding everyone in the room's attention with a soft feminine tone, "Thorin ... still intimidating I see."
The cloaked woman walked further into the hall and closed the door behind her, before pulling her hood away from her face. Princess Delphina had taken time to clean up her appearance before she joined the dwarves on their quest. Her long, golden hair flowed down her back like a silky waterfall, and she dressed in simple brown leather and shiny metal armour below her cloak.
Thorin turned to look at the young woman for a second before dropping into a sweeping bow, a succession of whispers and gasps filled the room as the party of dwarves watched their king's action.
"This, my dear fellows" said Gandalf to the confused fourteen, "Is Princess Delphina of Westerfall, formerly 'The city of Dale."
Hello Everyone! I hope you like this story, it is of course only the first chapter, so please dont read it and run away scared! please review etc! if you're also a kili fan, check out my kili story - far over the misty mountains!
happy reading!
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