Hello - Ok my first hobbit fanfic! Or fanfic of any kind in a seriously long time, so I hope you enjoy it :)
Kuni crouched down to examine the ground in front of her - footprints and lots of them. Small footprints to, far too small to be man, orc or elf, littered the path in front of her.
"What have you discovered?" She hadn't heard Trayed approach but that was nothing unusual. Damned dainty elf. Samso plodded along after him, breathing heavily. Kuni rolled her eyes at her beloved friends, even though they were as close as brothers there would always be competition between elves and dwarves. Samso and Trayed were living proof of that. Samso would never show Trayed a weakness besides his lack of speech but that couldn't be helped. He had no tongue.
"Footprints." She could practically sense Trayed's eyebrows rise even though she wasn't looking at his lovely face.
"And...?" Trayed was over her shoulder now, he had probably absorbed all the information and more in that few seconds than she had with her minutes studying.
"Lots of dwarfs and a man." She turned away from the footprints and continued up the path. Samso walked beside her, silent as always.
"Lots of dwarfs, a man and a hobbit" Trayed corrected instantly. Kuni continued without looking back to him though Samso flinched beside her. His body betraying his feelings.
"Don't be so ridiculous. A hobbit wouldn't come this far from Hobbiton, must just be a dainty dwarf." She sighed, her kin did not travel from their home – it was simply unheard of.
"You're wrong." Trayed laughed patting her on the head as he moved gracefully past her and began climbing the nearest tree.
"I'm not wrong – maybe it's been so long since you've seen a female dwarf footprint that you've begun to believe they do not exist." She huffed. Damned dainty elf was now leaping from branch to branch beside them as they toddled along. Show off.
"Let's make a bet and make this interesting."
"I'm not following some mad group of outsiders just so you can be proved wrong Trayed."
"Please?"
"No"
"Samso?" Trayed gave the dwarf his best persuasive look. Samso snorted, patted Kuni's shoulder and continued walking. Kuni flashed Trayed her best winning smile, his face filling with fake disappointment.
"I'll run ahead." Trayed made a death defying leap across the branches, "You two are far too slow anyway"
Samso snorted again, though this time in laughter and he nodded at Trayed.
"If it will entertain you." Kuni's eyes now sparkled with love and affection for the elf, "Then by all means get out of our hair."
Samson patted her shoulder again and she intertwined her small fingers in his large podgy ones, he sped up the pace slightly and nodded at Trayed to leave.
Trayed vanished from sight practically instantly.
"Damn dainty elf" Kuni sighed and she was rewarded by yet another snort from Samso.
They continued down the path for a while, Kuni enjoyed the silence, Samso was a like a safety blanket. Her protective silent shadow.
After many minutes of simply enjoying the forest, Samso let out an almighty grunt and pulled at her fingers to make her move at jogging speed.
He tugged her fingers encouraging her to go even faster.
"He'll be ok Samso." The dwarf kept at the same pace practically dragging Kuni behind him.
"He will, don't worry so much." This time Samso pointed at the ground. The footprints continued from the dwarf pack ahead.
"It's just some rabble" She answered breathlessly, she was not built for running, she doubted any hobbits were. Samso continued running silently.
"You want to see your kin?" Samso shook his head furiously and pointed at the trees.
Realisation dawned on Kuni.
"You don't want Trayed to be seen by your kin..." She swore under her breath. That elf. Samso was right of course, Trayed had no bad feelings towards dwarves and loved Samso as if his brother. Other dwarves would almost definitely not return those feelings. In fact they may not even question why an elf was trying to catch them up. Stab first and ask questions later?
She now picked up the pace and they continued, full pelt down the path, praying to the gods that Trayed was distracted by something along the way.
Bilbo Baggins was scavenging for foods. Herbs to be precise. Bofur had been kind in his asking, Thorin and Dwalin had been in a thunderous mood all day and Bilbo needed a well deserved break from such nonsense. He was so caught up in his thoughts in fact that he didn't notice the elf until he was standing facing his thin stomach.
"I told her! She will just never listen." The elf laughed, his beautiful long chocolate hair was plaited into such a long thin braid that it swayed in the breeze and his deep turquoise eyes focussed directly on Bilbo. Trayed was young for an elf – young, thin with extremely long hair than Kuni would not let him cut. Her greatest joy was spending hours brushing and braiding his hair, he didn't mind in the slightest. He loved her being happy almost as much as he loved being spoiled by her.
"Ermm good evening?" Bilbo took a step back from the elf, it was apparent to him that Trayed was not going to harm him instantly but he was still wary.
"Good evening!" Trayed patted him on the head ignoring Bilbo's out stretched hand, "You have to come with me."
"What?" but the word was barely out of his mouth before he was swept off his feet. For one so slender the elf was strong, Bilbo yelped as the elf climbed the nearest tree and began running along the branches.
"I'm terribly sorry about this" Trayed seemed to notice the hobbit wasn't particular inclined to what he was doing though he couldn't fathom why, "I will return you to your company immediately, I just need to win a bet first."
"Win a bet!" Bilbo gasped as the elf leaped from one branch to the other, "What on earth do you think I am?"
"I am sorry," The elf repeated as if this resolved him from all sin. Bilbo was too stunned to give him a reaction, plus there was a good chance that if he resisted he would simply fall from the trees.
Trayed leapt on the final branch and onto the path.
"Found him! It was a him. So you were wrong on two accounts – first he is a hobbit and second he is a he!" Bilbo found himself put ungracefully on the ground in front of two more individuals. A hobbit and a dwarf.
The dwarf was large for a dwarf, his dark hair speckled with lines of silver, his deep brown eyes peering at Bilbo and his simple attire was dressed for one who lived in the forest. All greens and practical designs.
The hobbit was a female, a young one at that, maybe around the same age as him though he couldn't be sure. She stared at Bilbo with big grey stormy eyes; her long curly blonde hair strayed around her face and tumbled down her back. Her jaw had fallen open slightly in apparent shock and a pink blush covered her cheeks. The next thing he noticed is that she was dressed for battle – tight trousers and dark coat fitted perfectly to her small frame. A small hobbit-sized crossbow and short sword draped at either hip.
"He said 'Good Evening' Kuni" Trayed continued barely taking a breath, "He's so polite. How come you're not more polite?"
The hobbit eye's pondered for seconds more on Bilbo before rounding onto the elf.
"How come you're not better with a bow? Or better at being emotionless and calm?" She prodded him in his chest, "Did you ask him before you brought him here? Did you see any dwarves?"
Trayed started at her questions.
"Oh well... no." He put his hand behind his neck awkwardly, face turning away from the intense hobbits. Samso snorted loudly, His face not betraying much but Bilbo thought the dwarf may have found the elf humorous.
"Trayed..." Kuni sighed exasperated, "Dwarfs in these parts aren't fond of elves at the best of times and I assume they're definitely not fond of elves who steal their hobbits!"
Bilbo offered her a weak smile when she turned her worried gaze to him.
"I'm sure it will be fine," He answered her silent question, "I'll explain what happened; they're friendly enough most of the time."
Kuni raised a delicate eyebrow at him and smirked.
"Most of the time?" Bilbo nodded at her, "How reassuring."
This time Bilbo laughed, it was a short laugh but with mirth. He could see Thorin's face whenever he so much as thought about elves pictured in his mind. Then thought about his foul temper all day and shivered slightly.
"You're a hobbit." Bilbo pointed out before his brain could shush the question.
"Apparently, you are as well I suppose." She suddenly brought her face close to his ear and whispered loudly "though if you could pretend you were a female dwarf I'd really appreciate it."
Bilbo didn't hesitate to share bits of his story with the group, explaining that the man was in fact a wizard and they were journeying to Erebor. He knew as soon as the words slipped out of his mouth that it probably wasn't wise to share so much with people who had manhandled him and taken him away from his party but he couldn't help himself. He wanted to know everything about this group and the female hobbit he now knew as Kuni.
"Why Erebor?" Kuni asked after Bilbo had rattled on for several minutes, "To slay a dragon?"
Bilbo shrugged and took another sweet biscuit offered to him by Trayed.
"I don't believe that there is a solid plan at the moment." He answered as truthfully as he could, enjoying the biscuit as it melted on his tongue, "These are just fantastic"
Trayed patted him, a habit that Bilbo had picked up was quite common with him, he guessed it was because of how short his two travelling companions were.
"Where are you headed?" Bilbo asked of the elf whilst Kuni was rummaging through the pack on Samso's back.
"Nowhere in particular" Trayed mused, playing with his braid in a childish fashion, "We just go where the wind takes us."
Samso made a noise that sounded almost like a laugh and he leant forward to shove the elf almost toppling off his seat.
Kuni tutted and smacked his shoulder lightly before putting her hands back into his pack.
"Ah finally." She pulled out a small pouch and handed it to Bilbo.
"What's this?" he loosened the drawstring to find several smaller pouches inside.
"Herbs." Kuni smiled at him as he brought the pouches to his nose, "We have plenty spare, you're more than welcome to them."
"Thank you" A large grin appeared on Bilbo's face, "These will be simply delci-"
A shouting in the woods behind interrupted him, then he was knocked to the floor. Trayed pulled both hobbits and the dwarf into the deep forest behind them, he pressed them against a tree and then crouched beside it, daggers drawn. Samso undid his cloak and covered what he could of all them with it.
The shouting was louder now and Bilbo recognised the voices. Fili and Kili.
"It's ok" he dislodged Samso's cloak from over him, "It's my friends"