Important Notice: Though I don't know too much about this, I've been informed that dragons weren't too common in Middle-Earth. Well...if that's true, than this is AU, because I've made one up. Sorry, but it was the only story plot that Nori really wanted me to put him in. And this does feature an OC. And she is female. I don't normally go for OC stories, myself, but if you're like me, it might comfort you to know that this won't really be a romance.

I've got several things one the go; a Kili/OC fic, for one. And I have several stories planned that won't feature the Heirs Of Durin, because I've decided I need to break the habit of writing about them, and get back to the other dwarves. This will be about three chapters long, all-in-all, and is set pre-Hobbit.

Enjoy.

It would be hard to dispute the fact that Nori was a thief, though he never thought of himself as one. After they'd all lost their home, it had been every dwarf for himself, and Nori had managed better than most.

Dori complained about Nori's choice of profession often enough, but their family had never starved, had they? Nori had helped to bring back food for all of them, until the two youngest siblings, Ori and Oddny, had grown enough to be able to lend a hand, and then he'd quietly slipped away to seek his fortune.

Well, to seek other people's fortunes.

It was better when you only had yourself to fend for, and only had to watch your own back. Although, right now, Nori wasn't too worried.

He had been wandering through a scrubby patch of forest, goodness knows where (Nori hoped that goodness did know where, because he certainly didn't), when all of a sudden he'd seen a flickering of flames between the trees.

Getting hungry, and now decidedly lost, Nori ambled closer and to take a look and see if there was any food (or valuables) lying around unattended.

A small fire crackled of a small clearing, hemmed in by a circle of stones, and over it, impaled on a skewer that rested on two forked sticks, was what Nori guessed had once been a rabbit. So, someone was definitely spending the night here, but the clearing was empty.

They'd probably gone off to answer the call of nature, leaving their supper behind to cook. Highly irresponsible behavior, in Nori's opinion. Practically asking for someone to steal it.

He approached the fire and gently lifted the skewer off the forked sticks. The rabbit, by now, looked rather on the overcooked side, and Nori wondered how long it had been left unattended for.

"Disgraceful..." he remarked, perhaps a little unwisely "All burnt and black..."

He didn't say anything else, because he heard a sound, coming from somewhere behind him. It was a quiet, subtle sound, and if the wind had been whistling between the trees a little more loudly, Nori probably wouldn't have noticed it at all.

But he did hear it, and since it was a sound that is almost impossible to forget, instantly froze.
It was the gentle, metallic sound of a sword being pulled from its sheath.

Nori stayed very, very still, but his mind was racing. He was standing directly in front of the fire, which meant that unless he jumped really high...

No, a straight forward dash wasn't an option. Now that he was listening very hard, Nori could hear stealthy crunch of footsteps getting closer.

Then came a soft grunt of exertion, and the hiss of metal slicing through the air.

Nori turned around very quickly, dropping the skewer and reaching down to pull out two of his largest knives. He got them up and out just in time, and was rewarded by a clash of steel as his attacker's sword was deflected.

The impact made both of them stagger back, and they stood a few wary feet away from each other, catching their breath.

Nori took this opportunity to get a good look at who had attacked him, and was...quite surprised.

Another dwarf, which he hadn't been expecting at all, and not one that Nori had seen before, either. This dwarf's face was long and sharp, and fair hair hung in several braids past their surprisingly narrow shoulders. After noting this, Nori quickly looked up and then down and..

...yes, a female dwarf, definitely.

She was wearing a dark brown tunic, over a longer blue one, and leggings that looked as if they'd recently become acquainted with both a mud puddle and a thorn bush. Someone with less of a survival instinct than Nori might have spent time noticing that this particular dwarf was on the good looking side, in a sharp, pointed sort of way.

But Nori was much more interested in the large sword that the dwarf was holding.

It wasn't a dwarvish sword, certainly, as it was clearly much too big for any sensible dwarf to use. From what Nori could see, if it was placed with its tip to the ground, the hilt would be about level with his shoulder.

It was a cumbersome, inelegant looking weapon, and it was clearly only by bracing her feet and gritting her teeth that its owner could lift it all. But she was holding it now, the decidedly sharp blade quivering a foot from Nori's face.

"What was that about?" Nori asked, holding his knives ready in case they were needed later on, and trying to sound innocent and offended.

"You tried to steal my supper," said the stranger, and as she lifted her face to stare at him accusingly, Nori noticed that her eyes were very dark.

"I don't know why it means so much to you," Nori said, not terribly diplomatically "It's practically burnt to a crisp."

The dwarf looked from him to the rabbit, and the corners of her mouth twisted up into a smile. She reversed her grip on her weapon, and plunged it point first into the ground.

"Fair enough," she said, leaning on the sword in a casual fashion "I'm no cook. Can you do better?"

Nori paused in the act of warily sheathing his knives.

"What?"

The dwarf lifted a few small bundles of fur from where they'd been slung over one shoulder, and held them up for Nori to see.

"I've caught two more," she said "If you can cook them for me properly, you can have one for yourself, and you can share my fire."

Though Nori would have been more than happy to make off with all three rabbits and keep them for himself, he had to admit that it was a good arrangement. He wasn't bad at setting traps and snares, but he wasn't confident in his ability to catch anything tonight.

And on a dark, cold evening, a fire was a good thing to have, and if there happened to be any goblins or creatures of that sort wandering around, Nori had to admit that company would be welcome.

Besides, his friend Bombur had taught him how best to cook rabbits, a few years before.

"Alright," he said, nodding "I'll do it."

"Good," said the dwarf, her smile now looking rather relieved "They call me Ranka, by the way."

"Nori," said Nori, catching the rabbits that his new acquaintance tossed him "At you service."

Preparing supper took less time than Nori had expected, since Ranka offered to help him skin the rabbits, which lead to an impromptu race to see who could skin faster. When they'd finished (both bleeding a little from various small cuts, since it's unwise to try and rush when you're using a very sharp knife), Nori searched around until he found a few edible herbs to use as seasoning.

After they'd cooked for more or less the right amount of time, Nori passed Ranka her portion of rabbit, with a certain air of smugness, and they sat by the fire, eating.

"This is good," mumbled Ranka, her mouth full "You can cook."

"Better than you, by the look of it," Nori said, with his customary politeness "Do you usually eat burnt food?"

"I don't usually cook in the first place. I don't make camp in the wilderness very often, see, and there's plenty of places to get food in villages. What about you?"

Nori felt an unpleasant chill run up and down his spine, which was what usually happened when anyone began to ask him slightly more personal questions. Even harmless questions tended to make him feel uncomfortable, because they might very well become less innocent ones like: 'Where were you two days ago at precisely half an hour past noon?' or 'Where have you hidden the money, you little dwarvish bastard?'.

"Oh, like you said," he replied, suddenly very interested in his food "There's lots of places to get food..."

"Or to steal it. Though you don't just steal suppers, do you?"

Nori looked up, very slowly, and stared at Ranka, in surprise.

"Come again?" he managed.

Ranka spat a small rabbit bone into the fire, and then leaned back, grinning.

"Oh, so I was right," she said, and Nori was annoyed by the conversational way in which she spoke "I had ten gold coins in a bag tied to my belt. I want them back, please."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Nori, resorting to blatant lying.

"Don't be an idiot. I want my money," Ranka said, before touching her hip with one hand "And my dagger, too. I didn't notice that one."

Nori sighed, but Ranka's absurdly large sword was lying on the ground beside her and though she clearly wasn't very skilled with it, he didn't really like the idea of getting into a scrap.

He pulled a small bag made of green cloth from where it had been tucked away upon his person, and tossed it to Ranka, and then repeated the process with a dagger in a shoddily made sheath.

"I was just borrowing them, really," he said, feeling the need to give some kind of explanation.

"Stealing is stealing," said Ranka, checking to see if all her coins were there.

Nori nodded, swallowing a final bite of meat and then wiping his greasy fingers on his leggings.

"That reminds me," he said, staring into the heart of the fire as he spoke "That knife that I lent you to skin the rabbits...if it's not too much trouble, do you think you could give it back?"

Nori didn't look at Ranka, but he heard a sharp intake of breath, and then a muttered curse. His knife landed with a thud in the grass beside him, and he smiled.

"And I thought I was doing so well," said Ranka, after a moment, and when Nori finally looked up at her, he saw that she was shaking her head ruefully - setting her braids swinging around her shoulders.

"You did a good job of it," Nori offered, charitably, feeling oddly sorry for her "I never would've noticed, if I hadn't been expecting you to try it."

"I take it you guessed, then?"

"Yes," Nori said, frowning as he tried to think of a better way to sum up his thoughts "You always seem like you're looking over your shoulder, even when you're not."

Ranka nodded, as if this made sense to her, and leaned forward to stir the dying fire back up again with a stick.

"I've been at it since...since Erebor," she said, simply.

"Me too."

The slight tension that had remained in the air all through their meal faded, and they both relaxed a little.

"So, now we've got that sorted out, can you explain your sword?" asked Nori.

Ranka glanced down at her sword, and her face went a bit red. She reached out and touched the flat of the blade with the tips of her fingers, as if to reassure herself that it was still there.

"It's my sword," she said, shrugging slightly "What else is there to say?"

"What else is there to say...?" echoed Nori, in disbelief "It's almost as tall as you are. How do you even manage to carry it around?"

Ranka half twisted away from him, so that he could see a very long sheath slung across her back.

"It's heavy," she said, when she was facing Nori again "But I'm getting used to it."

"Why do you even need it?" asked Nori, who had always considered that a good set of knives were the only tools that a thief required. He did sometimes use a mace, but he generally left that back at home with his family, as it was a bother to try and sneak around with.

Perhaps it was just the firelight, but Ranka's face seemed to change. The lines of laughter around her eyes and mouth faded and her amiable expression was replaced by a strange, intense one..

Her dark eyes fixed on a point that didn't quite exist, and the overall effect made Nori feel quite uncomfortable. He wondered for the first time if Ranka was quite sane.

"I've got a job that I have to do," she said, and every word was measured and cold "And I need a sword. A proper sword."

Nori opened his mouth to point out that with a sword that heavy, no matter how 'proper' it happened to be, the only thing Ranka would be likely to stab was her own foot, and then, with a great effort, stopped himself. He was beginning to seriously consider the possibility that perhaps Ranka was a bit mad, and in that case arguing with her would not be the wisest option.

"Right," he said, instead "That...makes sense. What's the job?"

Ranka's face split into a grin, which would have been comforting, if it hadn't been for her previous odd behavior, and she picked up her sword (letting out a little gasp of effort as she did so) and laid it across her lap.

"In a few weeks, I'm going to be rich, Nori," she said, her tone once more light "I'll have mountains of gold - enough to last me until I die."

"Mmm," mumbled Nori, trying to sound disinterested and non-committal, but he knew he would have to ask "And where are you planning to get these, ah, riches?"

And as soon as he asked, he knew what the answer was going to be. The way that Ranka had spoken of her plans...well, there was only one possibility, really. Nori felt an awful sense of dread.

She couldn't...

"From a dragon."

Ah. Right. Of course she could.