It had been a long time since Emily of the Dúnedain had traveled to the Shire, yet here she was as she approached the Prancing Pony at Gandalf's request. Originally he'd arranged to meet the heir to the Lonely Mountain named Thorin there, but something else came up and Emily agreed to go in his place. She expected Thorin to be an older Dwarf with a gray beard, though she discovered he didn't have much in the way of gray on him when she stepped inside and he was seated by himself at a table. She noticed several sketchy people watching him and hurried over to join him.

"There you are, Thorin! It is so good to see you!" She greeted loudly and claimed the seat across from him before she waved the Hobbit waitress over. "I'll have the same as him, please."

"Of course." The waitress beamed and ran off.

"I assume our mutual friend couldn't make it?" Thorin asked quietly, his blue eyes intent on her face.

"I'm afraid not. You know wizards, always running late."

Thorin grunted in acknowledgement. "I don't believe we've met before, Dúnedain."

She shook her head. "No. My name is Emily."

"And why would Gandalf entrust you with meeting me?"

"Because I was partially raised by him." She smiled at Thorin's expression that indicated he didn't see a resemblance. "He found me when I was small in the ruins of a village and took me North to the home of the Rangers. Of course with how often we got sidetracked, that took much longer than normal. I didn't mind since that meant l got to meet Elves and Hobbits and even other wizards on rare occasion."

"I seem to remember him mentioning a fosterling once, so he must have been talking about you."

Emily chuckled. "Yes, seeing as I'm the only foundling brought to the Rangers by a wizard. Gandalf presumed I had some Númeanórean blood or I wouldn't have been able to survive off of the land for as long as I did."

"A safe assumption." Thorin agreed as her food finally arrived. "Do you remember how long you were by yourself?"

"No, my concept of time wasn't fully formed yet. I just knew my village was destroyed because of orcs and I was by myself for what felt like an eternity. Gandalf thinks it was about a week, since I was showing signs of malnutrition when he found me. I ate whatever I could find and knew what plants to avoid, but I also had to hide from predators of all kinds and that meant scaling the tallest tree I could find before sunset and staying up there all night."

Thorin regarded her with respect. "Your parents taught you that?"

She nodded. "Our village was in the middle of nowhere, a month journey at least to bigger cities we traveled to sometimes for supplies and they wanted to make sure I knew all of that as soon as I learned to walk. Most of it seems more like impressions left deep inside me now because I don't remember what they looked like."

"I am certain you look a lot like them, just as I take after my parents. Although my mother would have joked I look nothing like her, since she was one of the few female Dwarves without a beard."

Emily sipped her mead and glanced at his neatly kept beard, a matter of pride for all Dwarves. "Must have been hard for her due to the fact that it's common for your women to have facial hair."

Thorin's lips twitched. "Yes and no. The other women had no idea why my father would marry her, but actually he liked her smooth face."

"True love cares little for outward appearance or appreciates what is different."

"True." Thorin agreed. "We Dwarves have a saying that roughly translates: Everything can be polished to perfection with care. The belief behind that being basically what you said, since a gem is just a rock until you smooth it and love requires the upmost care."

Emily smiled as she rummaged through her satchel till she found a heavy metal key. "A very romantic ideal. Gandalf said to give this to you, since your father gave it to him for safe keeping."

Thorin stared at it after she slid the Dwarven heirloom across the table. "So the old legends were true, there is another way in."

"Looks that way. He thought there might be some clues in the map you have in your possession."

"If there are, not even my old friend Balin can find them and he is quite knowledgeable about maps."

Emily nodded, aware most Dwarves prided themselves on the art of map making. "Sometimes there are hidden runes not written in regular ink."

Thorin studied her a moment as if he were debating the truth of her words, then unrolled the map in front of her. "Maybe you can see what we have missed."

"There's Ithildin here, more commonly known as moon runes. Though the letters are faint and hard to make out, which means the moon it was written on is not yet upon us." She tapped a spot on the map where she saw a marking.

"I have never noticed that before. Who taught you to look for such things?"

"Lord Elrond of Rivendell. He has quite a few ancient maps and some of the more rare ones have Ithildin on them. He told me the ink was made from mithril, which will only reflect the light of the moon and the stars during the time it was written."

Thorin looked skeptical. "And how would he know that?"

Emily withheld a sigh. The fued between the races was a long, complicated subject Elrond had told her not to touch on much for her own sake. "He said his kin created it and shared it with the Dwarves during the age they traded."

"He sounds like a much less austere elf than Thranduil."

"Oh I can assure you that the only thing those two have in common is being of the same race." Emily had some less than fond memories from some of the times she had come in contact with the Elven king of Mirkwood.

Thorin glanced up at her in mild amusement. "I got the impression you liked all Elves."

Emily cleared her throat. "Elves like Lord Elrond and Lady Galadriel I have the highest regard for. King Thranduil tends to be a little less... pleasant at times."

"I wouldn't be quite so polite in describing him, but he broke the treaty made with my grandfather and left us to run from the dragon. He even turned us away when we came to ask for help, homeless and hopeless."

"From what I understand, he has hardly gotten involved since the age where Elves purged the lands of hordes of dragons. His realm seems to be the only thing he cares for besides his son."

Thorin raised both eye brows. "Someone willingly married him?"

Emily thought of how she had seen an almost completely different side of the king when he'd been interacting with his only child and how at one time he must have been like that all the time. "Yes and I've heard she kept toe to toe with him. She was killed in battle protecting their son and no one is the same when their spouse is taken from them regardless of circumstance."

"Both my grandfather and father could attest to that." Thorin rose. "You have a place to stay, Emily?"

"Always, under the stars."

"I think I will join you. I have had enough of this bustling place."

She smiled a bit as she stood too and added a couple coins to the amount he set on the table. "What brought you here in the first place, if I may ask?"

He sighed just audibly. "I heard rumors my father was seen here not too long ago and it turned out to be only words. Gandalf did warn me in his last letter my search might be in vain, for even he in all his wanderings hasn't seen my father for a very long time."

She placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder as they walked out into the night together. "I am sorry you weren't able to see him."

"Thank you. My grandfather used to say that good things often happen after disappointments." He looked up at her as they stopped in a clearing. "And meeting you has certainly proven to be a good thing. I'd like for you to be one of the Company and come to the Lonely Mountain with us if you can, Emily."

She held his gaze for a while like an equal, then shrugged with a smile. "I don't see any reason why not, I don't have any other plans at present."

He nodded and helped her collect kindling for their fire, which started quickly because they used dry wood. "I am glad, it will be nice to have someone along who has keen eyes."

"Such are the talents of Rangers, though my eyes are not nearly as keen as an Elf."

"I don't have any desire to get to know them, unlike you."

She felt herself blush a bit under her hair as she unrolled her sleeping blanket. It had been a while since anyone of the opposite gender had shown interest in her. "You flatter me."

He unrolled his close enough to hers in case of emergency while still being a polite distance away. "If I was flattering you Emily, I would be offering you turqoise the same shade as your eyes, gilded with rose gold to match your hair. Since I have nothing of the kind, I was simply being honest."

"Then I thank you for the sincere compliment, Thorin." She managed to reply and didn't argue when he took the first watch since she had been up before dawn and slept till it was time to trade off in the middle of the night. She kept watch as he slept and looked occasionally up at Eärendil's star as it made it's voyage across the heavens, her mind on other things.