Thank you for joining me! Please let me know what you think! :) I have always loved the LOTR and the Hobbit!

Please keep in mind that all characters do belong to the great and awesome Tolkien I just own my own and my AU

Enjoy!

She pulled her hood tighter as the brisk air brushed across her skin. The roads outside of the town was bare, yet the lights of the business proved otherwise. She looked up at the sky, once a beautiful clear blue, now reflected the impending rainstorm. She really hated rain. She walked down the dirt road, giving a kick to any rocks that crossed her path. Her grip on her satchel tightened. With every step jingling could be heard from her bag. She had saved and sold practically everything she had for this day and she wasn't going to let anyone steal her precious gold.

The town looked as bad as it smelt. The majority of the town was the race of men. The town was nowhere close to being as prosperous as any of its rival towns. Dead carcasses of animals scattered the streets where crazed dogs torn away at the flesh. The people living here were no better. Most huddled in groups, exchanging and bartering the few items they had.

She pulled her bag to the front of her and wrapped her hands around it. This caused her to have to shift the sling of her bow on her shoulders. As she continued up the road, men stopped their conversation to stare.

"You don't belong here hobbit!"

"Go back to your mountain!"

She bit her lip to stop herself from speaking. She was excellent with a sword but the odds of her winning a fight was slim. She couldn't risk her purpose here for a bunch of men. The town was packed with people bustling between booths. Her size caused her to easily be shoved and sneered at.

"15 coins and no lower!" A man yelled at an older woman. "This is the best sword in the entire town. It was crafted by the elves." The woman lifted the blade to the light. Her wrinkled hand brushed across the metal.

"Fine," she scoffed and tossed him the coins. The man looked smug at the sell he made. He ruffled through his coins until she made her way over to his booth.

"What can I do for a little one like you?" He placed his hands on his knees to get down to her level. She reached out to pick up a blade but was stopped by the man. "You need something more your size," he pushed a dagger towards her. She wished he could see her face under her hood for she was sure he would go white.

"I am here to sell," she tried to make her voice low, less feminine.

"I am not sure I am in the market for weapons crafted for a wee lass like you," the man laughed.

She could feel her fist tight up into a ball. It took every ounce of strength to reach into her bag and pull out the weapons without hurting him. She pulled out a stack of swords crafted by both elves and dwarves. The man stopped laughing when he saw them.

"Where did you get these?" He looked around before picking up the blades and holding them to the light.

"They are real. Not like the one you sold to the woman. The race of men fails at producing anything of worth."

The man narrowed his eyes at her. He brushed a slender finger across the pile of blades. "I will give you 50 coins. Nothing more."

Her mouth fell open at the offer. 50 coins? One of these swords alone was worth more than that. Yet she was desperate for the money.

"150 gold coins," she countered.

The man seemed to mull over whether or not he would be losing money. He tapped his chin and gave her a toothy smile. "You got yourself a deal dwarf." He looked at her and pointed towards her bow. "What about that bow, looks of good quality. Would you consider selling it?"

"Never."

She took the coins and slipped them into her money bag. If she played her cards right she would leave with her prize. She pushed forward through the town until she reached a large building right outside of the town. The light of the booths did not seem to touch it. Outside of the building was an old cracked sign reading, "inn". The windows of the building was hidden behind wood and rocks. She was certain the building was tilting as if it was on the verge of falling. She stared at the black door with hesitation. Men pushed pasted her, making remarks about how she was in their way.

She sucked in a breath and followed up the stairs to the building. She loathed this place, yet it was important for her to be here today. She waited at the door until a slot opened. Two dark set eyes looked around before narrowing down on her. She lifted her left forearm, flicked down her sleeve to reveal the burn on her arm. The burn was her key inside and cost her over 100 coins to get. She watched the eyes scan her arm. The slot slid closed and the door creaked open.

She lingered outside for a few moments before entering inside the dark hall. She did not spare any glances around her as she made her way through the halls. She straightened out her shoulders trying to appear taller and lengthened her stride. The last door had paint covering it reading, 'Bidding Room'.

She gave her bag one last squeeze before entering inside the room.

The moment the door opened, chaos erupted, hundreds of voices, screaming, shouting, pounding fists, and thumping feet, the booming voice of the conductor echoed over the loud voices on the speaker. The large room was packed with men and women. They pushed and shoved against each other, their fists and hands raised into the air.

Against the far edge of the room was a stage, and on the stage stood women and children of dwarf and human race. The conductor clasped the arm of one particularly young dwarf girl, and roughly yanked her forward. The girl looked to be in her mid-fifties; her light green eyes dimmed with experience and life, her body thin and straight, and her black hair lacked luster.

The conductor turned back to the crowd, and his voice flitted over the intercom at increasing speeds. Hands were thrown in the air, mostly men, and prices were shouted back. The sale took no longer than a minute, the young dwarf girl's price came to no more than 15 gold coins. The winner- an overweight middle-aged man. The young dwarf was shoved back in line, and a man was dragged forward. While everyone's attention was averted to the new sale, she kept watching the girl. The girl's eyes failed to mask the fear of returning home with her master.

Disgusting. She felt her stomach turn at the thought of this place. A slave trade full of the worst scum in of Middle Earth. She wished she could buy them all, let them be free, but she knew she had enough to only get him.

She stayed to the back of the crowd as she made her way over to an abandoned counter. She leaned against the counter and pulled out her pipe. She ignored the new wave of shouting, far louder than the previous two, as a small human child was pulled forward.

She lit her pipe, took a deep drag, and held the smoke in her lungs for a while.

"Smoking seems rather ineffective for committing suicide," a man in his early twenties wiped at an ale mug. His hair was creased back into a clasp. His beard lacked proper grooming and bobbed as his mouth moved. He was thin and his eyes lacked life. "Can I get you a drink, sir?"

Sir. She almost made a nasty remark but held her tongue. She felt a tinge of relief that he thought she was a male. Her cloak covered her light blonde hair and was baggy enough to eliminate any extra curves.

She decided to ignore him and drew in another drag from her pipe. She listened off-handedly to the next five sales until all the slaves on the stage had been sold. The crowd quickly hushed to soft whispers and flippant comments. But she stood there, letting the pipe come to the end, and watched them all. They all wore dark clothing, most of them had holes and tears down their shirts. She was surprised they could afford shoes.

She wasn't even done filling up her pipe again that a large, metal cage was moved on-stage. The opening in the shiny sheets of metal was a slot near the top of the cage with three vertical bars- air holes no doubt. The conductor stepped onto the stage, clapped his hands together and gestured to the cage.

He opened his sales pitch with a story about the day Smaug invaded the Misty Mountains and the battle with the orcs. At first she was confused as to the reason the conductor would open his pitch with a history lesson until it dawned on her.

The man was selling him.

It was the sale of a lifetime.

While the conductor continued to prattle off his story, he told the crowd about the orcs attacking the dwarves and how defenseless they were.

"That is why the dwarf in this cage is so important," he returned his eyes back to the unopened cage. "He played a key role in the battle. He is worth a great bounty to the orcs of whose blood he drew."

She watched as the conductor finished speaking, watched as a worker walked on-stag and opened the cage, watched as the conductor yanked out a chained up male dwarf with a bag over his head, watched as the bag was wrenched off the dwarf's head to reveal the most beautiful dwarf to her.

She couldn't describe the beauty the dwarf on the stage held. His features lacked the typical look of a dwarf- a beard. His black hair hung is a messy disarray around his face, his pale skin marred, his bones clearly outlined and his jaw trembled. But it was his eyes that really stood out- light brown that were wide with anger. Draped around his shoulders was a fur coat. She knew at that moment, it was Kili.

"I present to you one of the heirs to the line of Durin," the conductor raised Kili's shackled hand.