Chapter One
Ris stared at the raven and the bird stared back at her. "You are from the line of Durin, one of the dwarves of Durin is your sire."
"You know my Daddy?" Ris asked staring at the crow in her purple flower dress, her bushy black hair in pigtails. "Papa won't tell me anything about him, but he was my Daddy and he did a bad thing."
"How old are you child?" The crow demanded and Ris grinned, showing a gaped tooth smile.
"I'm fourteen, but Daddy says that I'm seven in human years." Ris said.
"Are you not supposed to be?" The crow asked and Ris shook her head.
"Papa says I'm his special little princess and to ignore anyone that is mean to me, but a lot of people are mean to me and I'd like to know Daddy, do you know where my Daddy is?"
"Indeed I do, I can get a pretty big bird to carry you to him." The raven said. "But your Papa would be angry."
"I don't belong here, I want my Daddy and maybe if I go to him, Papa will come after me and I can have two parents like a normal girl." Ris said.
"You are a perfectly normal girl." The crow said. "You are just a bit different, we all are and sometimes other people do not appreciate difference so they are mean."
"Okay, where will the big bird come and when?"
"Tomorrow morning you must get to a clearing in the forest a little ways from here, can you do that child?" The crow asked and Ris looked him up and down before nodding. "Good I'll see you tomorrow." The crow said and flew away.
All day and night Ris waited excitedly unable to sleep. She packed up her favorite doll, her beading box, her hair brush, hair ribbon and several of her dresses into a backpack her Papa had gotten for her, as well as several loaves of bread. Ultimately she went out before the sun was up unable to sleep and longing to see her Daddy. To know who she was finally and to be able to play with him and have her teach her things those were more interesting than flowers and cooking. She didn't know what Durin was, but maybe it was her Daddy's name and maybe he'd want to see her as much as she wanted to see him. If not the eagle could just take her back to the boring shire and Papa would scold her for going. Papa never got really angry though and even when he did, she knew Papa would never hurt her. She paused outside the clearing, what if Daddy hurt her? What if her Daddy hated her? She squared her shoulders and strode into the clearing, to her surprise an eagle was waiting for her. It stared at her and she stared back, arching one eyebrow and placing her hands on her hips.
"You gonna give me a ride to my Daddy or not?" She asked and the bird nodded. She climbed up on the back of the bird and the bird took off flying high above the shire. The little girl laughed and held out her arms, feeling the wind rush past her. After a time flying grew boring, but they were already passing over other lands and Ris knew she couldn't turn back. She started to miss her Papa and realized how worried he'd be despite the note she left him on the dining table.
She stared out into the cloudless sky, before taking some of her bread out and eating it. On they flew until Ris grew tired and leaned forward against the back of the bird, resting her head on its neck. She slept that way the first night and for four nights after, whoever her Daddy was, he was a really long way away. The birds that carried her changed after the second night and the ride became less fun, more boring, it was a very happy little girl who touched down in front of two giant men wielding axes. She stared up at them with awe because her face was like theirs. She walked through the gates without anyone noticing and into a market full of people that looked like her. They were wearing every color of the rainbow, were everything from fat to thin and all spoke some strange language. A boy about her age came up to her and smiled, before saying something completely incomprehensible.
"I only speak Westron, do you know my Daddy?" The little girl asked innocently. "The crow said that he was a Durin, but I don't know what a Durin is." Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at her.
"Who are you Mi Lady?" Someone in a red uniform carrying two axes said."
"I'm Rose Ris Baggins of the Shire, but I like to be called Ris." Ris said and smiled. "At your service." She said and curtsied deeply.
"It is I that am at your service Mi Lady, you look exactly like your Daddy. If you wish I can take you to him now."
"Can I brush my hair first, it got really tangled on the ride over, I flew on the back of this really big bird, and it was so amazing!" She said and several of the people smiled, a few even laughed.
"You don't have much of your Papa about you, do you?"
"Papa says I'm his special little Princess and its alright if I hate cooking, gardening and gathering flowers but its something I must learn. I wanted to see my Daddy, so that's why I came when the nice crow did."
"I see." The guard said. "Well then Mi Lady, will you come with me and I can get a dwarrowdam to help you clean up."
"Not a baby!" Ris said and crossed her arms. "I can clean myself."
"I'm sure you can, but your hair is badly knotted and you can't take care of that yourself." The man said and Ris nodded, following him to an elevator and taking a boring ride in it up several floors. She complained and the guard laughed. "Just like a Durin to not want to sit still, we are almost there Mi Lady."
"My name is Ris, not Mi Lady." Ris said.
"Very well Lady Ris." The dwarf said and Ris cocked her head to the side curiously.
"Why am I a Lady, I know I am a girl, but no one ever called me Lady before." Ris said and the guard smiled.
"You are a very outspoken child, your Daddy will explain, after he gets over the wonderful surprise of seeing you. Still fourteen year old girls shouldn't go off on adventures all by themselves."
"Why?" Ris asked.
"Because its dangerous out in the wild and you could have been hurt." The dwarf said, before they left the elevator, Ris touched the stone with her bare feet and grinned, as she felt its welcome, this was home, all it needed was Papa and everything would be good again. She missed Papa and knew that he must be worried for her, but she was glad she met the man with the axes. The man knocked on a door and waited.
"Who is it?" Someone asked from within.
"One of the guards and a special little visitor, she wants to meet her Daddy and I think she's from the line of Durin." The dwarf said and the door opened quickly, a woman stood outside of it holding a knife and stared at Ris, who stared back right at her.
"Who are you?" Ris asked. "I'm Ris, that's a cool knife."
"Does nothing scare you child?" The dwarrowdam asked.
"Papa saying I have to garden, I hate gardening, I like your dress its really pretty. I have flower dresses mostly, Papa wants me to like flowers but I don't. Why do you dress funny and talk funny?"
"We're dwarves and you seem to be half dwarven."
"Oh okay, the nice man said you could help me with my hair, it got all knotted on the flight here. I flew on the back of this really big bird." Ris said and the dwarrowdam smiled.
"That's lovely, I'm Gera and my son is away at school, but he's much older than you."
"Oh okay." The child said. "Is he nice, cause the others weren't they called me slow and stuck in time. They grew a lot bigger than me faster than me and it wasn't fair." Ris said and her eyes filled with tears, Gera held the child in her arms and stroked her hair.
"People aren't very nice sometimes are they, but I'm sure your Papa loves you very much and you are my cousin by marriage."
"Your my kin?" Ris asked and Gera held her back a little bit.
"You look every inch a Durin, there's no doubting that we're related." Gera said and Ris grinned. "Come inside and I'll make you some breakfast and we can see to making you all pretty for your Daddy."
"Okay." Ris said and went inside with Gera. Gera set the kettle on to boil and made a quick breakfast for the little girl who ate hungrily. "I packed bread, but I didn't know how long the eagle would fly with me, it ran out last afternoon, thank you for the food."
"Of course child, I'd never let a little one go hungry." Gera said and smiled at Ris, before going over to another room and running a bath. "You know how to wash by yourself?"
"I can wash myself, but my hair is really tangled and it hurts really bad when you pull it."
"I know what you mean, did your Papa pull it?"
"Only when he was brushing it, but when I was old enough he gave the brush to me and I did it." Ris said and stepped into the bathroom. "Wow that's really big, I can't swim."
"Neither can your Papa, I filled it only a quarter full, so you should be alright Ris." Gera said and Ris nodded.
"Thank you kindly mam, for the food and the bath."
"Of course, you are my kin, what is mine is yours." Gera said and Ris smiled, before hugging Gera. Gera smiled and patted her head, before leaving the room. Ris pulled off her dress and under things and got into the water, scrubbing her skin until it was clean and smelled like roses. She also washed her hair and put conditioner in it, because without the conditioner it would feel bad to brush it. She then tried to comb it with her fingers, but her fingers caught in it and it hurt horribly. She quickly gave up trying to tame it, before taking a towel and drying herself off. She then put on a clean dress and opened the door. The nice lady was standing by a chair with several brushes and combs. "This will take a while, but I'll try to make it as painless as possible." Ris bit her lip before nodding. She sat down and felt only a faint tingling sensation; she stopped grabbing the chair arms and let herself enjoy having her hair brushed, for the first time in her life. "I can teach you how to brush and braid it, so it won't hurt so much."
"Really?" Ris asked.
"Yes of course." Gera replied and continued to brush her hair, it felt nice and soothing and Ris hadn't been able to sleep very well on the back of the eagle, soon the little girl was nodding, her head snapping back up when it fell and Gera smiled as she cared for the sleepy child. She gently moved the little girl's head back against the chair, when she fell asleep again and continued to brush the sleeping child's hair. When she was done and it was braided, her resemblance to Thorin was uncanny. Gera stared down at the sleeping child, before carefully picking her up from the chair. The little girl sighed and burrowed into Gera, warming the dwarrowdam's heart. How could anyone not love this child, how could anyone not see how precious she was. Gera walked with her tiny treasure to the spare bedroom and settled the child into the bed, turning on a lamp in the corner, just in case the dark frightened her like it had Gera's son Gimli when he was small. She covered the child with blankets and left the room.