Prologue

The little dwarf ventured deeper into the woods beside the mountain, through the looming branches of the white willows, and into the mangled mess of the brush. He was never one to back down from a challenge, even if the thorns of the weeds had scraped his face and arms more than once. His mother had told him of the spirit who used to visit the dwarves in the blue mountains very often, a skin changer, she was the very first love of the dwarves, not even that of the brightest jewels of the mines could surpass her beauty and grace. Laying in bed on most nights awaiting his stories, his mother would tell him the spirit sometimes still visited, on the outskirts of the mountain walls beyond the rocky exterior into the forest. By the age of fourteen the young dwarf had become infatuated with the legend of the spirit and set off for the mountain gates while his mother conversed at the market with his younger brother by her side. Both of their backs were turned as he slipped passed the guards and off into the sunlight. This was a trick his younger brother would pull not him, but surely his mother would be searching for him in a few minutes, he was lucky he had gotten a head start.

Now he closed in upon a crystal blue pond enclosed by weeping willow trees with vines entwining their trunks and branches. Beyond the chirping of the birds and the rustling of the wind among the leaves he heard it, the song in all the legends and stories his mother and family had passed on to him, and there with her back to the young one sat the spirit. The spirit was possessed a young body, but her soul was from the ancient world the dwarf had yet to learn about. The only thing he really knew about the spirit was that she was a child of the god Eru, his only child, she was special and it showed.

Her hair was a white color, the purest white he had ever seen in his mere fourteen years spent toddling around, and it shined like the stars on the clearest night. She sat upon a rather large rock near the waters edge and let her feet dangle in the water as the fish swam around them nipping and brushing past. He would've thought she resembled that of an elf if it were not for her freckled, scarred skin, just a slight shade darker than his. She looked oddly human, and then for a moment he had though he might have just as well stumbled upon a traveling lady-merchant. As he drew back into the bush she called out. She knew the young dwarf had been hiding, spying on her. "Do I not live up to your expectations young Fili son of Vili." she said with humor in her voice.

He stopped dead in his tracks, in the distance he could hear his brother faintly crying out for him. The spirit must've heard it too because she spoke again. "Your mother has sent out half the mountain in search of you, you ought to be getting on back now." Quietly she slid from the rock and landed calve deep in the water, she turned to face the child. He stood in awe of her beauty full on, her face was freckled yes, but her eyes held every hue of the rising and setting sun and her hair blew wild and curly in the wind, it looked longer now that she was standing.

"Is it really you?" He asked stepping out of the brush. Years of curiosity and wonder rushed over him as he stared at the girl in front of him.

The spirit strode over to him, her hair flying gently in the wind. Up close her beauty was overbearing and almost scared him. "Now how am I to answer that when I know not who you might be looking for." She said with a small smirk kneeling down to his level.

"Taerin." He said in almost a whisper, that was the name so many had given her when they told her stories, passed down the tales of ancient times. The first true love of his kin stood before him, meeting his gaze curiously yet warmly as if she had known him for many years. It was said that she possessed the gift of foresight and healing, maybe she had seen into his life before, maybe she did know him very well.

She smiled again. "Fili." She said in a whisper back. Her voice was enough to make his knees weak and his palms sweat. She looked at him with such a pain in her eyes and let her thumb glide across his cheek in a loving way. She was about to speak again, tell him something that seemed important from the way she looked down at him but nearby a twig snapped and he knew she couldn't stay any longer. "Will we meet again?." He asked quietly but within the blink of an eye she was gone and he stood there shocked and confused and jumped when his brothers hand clamped down on his shoulder. "Found him mom!" He yelled. The little brunette smirked as the thundering of Dis could be hear through the woods. "You look like you've seen a ghost." The youngest teased.

Fili never answered or replied, he just turned back around to face the pond where the spirit had sat in front of him only moment ago, now the pond looked disturbingly dark and the wind had started to pick up. Behind a cluster of trees he spotted something, hoping it was the spirit he ran forward a little to get a better view, only to realize it was a wolf, a wolf with pure white fur as bright as day, and it sat and watched him with careful eyes. He took a few steps back only to bump into a fury far greater than any wolves, that of his mother. As her arms fastened around his shoulders he dared one last glance back at the lone wolf, but it was already gone leaving nothing in it's tracks. He swore never to forget this memory, so he put it in the back of his head and locked it there for all eternity, destined to find the young spirit once more. Little did he know they were only years away from crossing paths once more.

"Your Uncle will hear about this." Dis said as they marched back to the confinements of the mountain walls, Fili slumped under his mothers firm grip as his brother skipped beside them wielding a stick pretending to be engaged in a ferocious battle with a mountain warg. Even if he explained everything to his uncle it wouldn't matter, Thorin wasn't much for stories and legends.

A/N: So I decided to start a Hobbit fic, I have low expectations for this story since I've previously posted a Hobbit story and got zero feedback. Anyways I'm hoping this one will do a little better. Let me know what you want to see, leave me questions, comments, suggestions, anything, please! Next chapter will jump right into the storyline of the Hobbit, hope you like it so far (: