"Balin?" The woman beside him asked she looked to him and pulled out her pipe, leaning back onto her mounts rump.
"Yes my dear?"
"Do you think he will know its me? After all that has happened I am hardly recognizable, even to you."
Balin smiled sympathetically, even though he knew she didn't want him to show it. He cleared his throat and she rolled her eyes and looked at him expectantly.
"It doesn't matter if he recognizes you or not my child. We are all leaves on the same tree. And he will know quite soon I believe." She scoffed and shook her head in amusement, ignoring the pointed look he gave her, taking a deep drag and exhaling slowly, nodding when a large smoke ring appeared, before replying," Yes."
Balin looked at her amusedly.
"And I'm the dying branch that holds but one leaf." Balin laughed at the girl beside him. They rode in silence until they came to a fork in the road. She bade him farewell as he told her to wait here until he came with the others.
"Does Gandalf know? What about the others?" She questioned as she stopped and he turned to the left path, the one that would lead him to the Shire.
"Yes and no. I thought you would like to surprise them."She chuckled and called out. "Well with the hair color and length I do believe he will be."
She waved goodbye as he turned and raised his sword in a short farewell and left the same way.
Spear growled lightly and brought her out of her thoughts. She swung down from the lion and stroked his mane, smiling as he purred in content. She placed a kiss on the tip of his nose and gently tugged on his ear, starting to the large concealed cave that lie behind the large waterfall. This place she had discovered about ten years ago, it just between the Shire and Bree. She grabbed her pack and ducked behind it.
She sighed and shook her head as Spear jumped through the waterfall, soaking her and himself in the process.
"What am I going to do with you?" He growled lightly and knocked her pack, digging in his nose for the rabbits she caught earlier. She sat and started a small fire, skinning the first and throwing it to Spear, who caught it in the air and started chewing in it voraciously (AN: I love that word), the other she placed over the fire.
She pulled out her bow and laid it on her lap, drawing her carving knife out of her boot and setting down her pipe, focusing on carving a bears profile into the smooth wood, copying the design from the sides of her pipe.
She started humming with the wind, changing when it would whistle and howl. She placed her weapons down and giving Spear a pat on his nose, bade him a good nights sleep. She walked through the side of the waterfall, walking to the sheer cliff and grabbing the first hold she could find, working her way up to the top in a few short minutes. She walked her way across the rocks at the top, choosing the tallest to climb and sit upon.
Looking out over the valley she sighed and leaned back against the cool rock, gazing at the stars and remembering the names for which her eldest brother had told her. She closed her eyes and dreamed of the day she would go home to her kingdom again.