"No," said Thorin, frowning and lowering his sword. "This cannot be, you—"

"She materialized out of the wall, uncle," said the brunette dwarf, and Thorin waved his hand.

"Silence, Kili, I need not your ridiculous tales here," he said, and the one called Kili frowned, his long dark hair falling into his eyes. Essence lifted her gaze up from the young dwarf and back up to the older one. His mouth was drawn into a permanent frown as he looked at her, and she again lifted her chin. "Now, tell me what you are doing here?"

"As I have already said," Essence murmured, all the dwarves now very much upright and attack ready, "This is my cave, and you have disturbed me." Thorin's eyebrows knitted, his hand slowly drooping. "I am a simple traveler who happened upon this cave hours ago, and I mean you no harm." Essence brushed a strand of black hair out from behind her ear and looked at the dwarves. They were a curious pack. A very large dwarf sat to the right, at the back of the cave, and next to him one with a pointed mustache and hat, another with small eyes and a confused expression laden on his face.

"Who are you?" asked dwarf, his features hard. "A spy? Who sent you!" The dwarves held their swords at full height again, and Essence wanted to scream in frustration. She had never had business with dwarves before, but obviously their reputation of stubbornness preceded them.

"I am simply a traveler," she said more sternly, grabbing her coat from the ground and sending a glare towards the two younger dwarves who were staring up at her.

"A traveler," said Thorin, narrowing his eyes at her. "Why would a traveler, above all a woman, be traveling through the Misty Mountains?" She bit her lip as she realized where she was. She tried to come up with a believable story so she wouldn't have to reveal her identity. Because of her gifts, she was always sought after and many people would pay a good lot of money to have her at their disposal. Although her relationship with the Lord Mandos kept her from death, she had been held captive and forced to heal persons she herself would not have chosen to. Her brief time with an Orc pack had taught her to always keep her identity a secret unless she trusted her company completely. This, clearly, was not such a situation.

"Why would travelers like yourselves be journeying through these parts?" Thorin frowned at her, his sword, though feet away, pointed closely at her head.

"Our business is our own," he snapped, then added, "Elf." The other dwarves looked up at her, their eyes full of distaste and resentment. The corners of her mouth tilted into a frown as she recalled the dire history the Elves and Dwarves shared with each other.

"My business is as well my own," she replied haughtily, and Thorin frowned at her. "It would also do you well to know I am not of the Elves." Her hair covered her pointed ears, so they could only assume she was of Men, instead of what she really was. Thorin's frown deepened at her, and she swallowed thickly. "I am no one that concerns you." Thorin huffed slightly, pondering the thought of the girl. Essence tightened her full lips.

What could she be if not an Elf? Thorin thought to himself over her heritage. If she was indeed a traveler, which she so claimed to be, why was she here? And her eyes… as Thorin looked upon them; they seemed to glow in the dim light of the cavern. Golden as the sun, something he had never seen before. She could be a fairie, though that seemed highly unlikely. He had never seen one nor heard of one in his existence, so they could not be real.

"Very well then," Thorin said, and he dropped his sword reluctantly. His companions sighed happily, nestling back into the ground, happy to be off to sleep once more. But Thorin stayed standing. "We shall leave our lady traveler in peace, and find another cave." The dwarves were silent for a moment, and then a commotion started. Yells were sounding off the walls of the cave wildly and strings of curse words flew out of many of the dwarves' mouths.

"Silence!" Thorin yelled, causing an echo through the cavern. All activity and yelling ceased, leaving an angry Thorin and a hovering Essence in the middle of the cavern. "As I said before, we will—"

"Stay," Essence finished for him, and Thorin looked at her. His low-set eyebrows raised. They needed the rest, she could see from looking around at the party. They were scratched and dirty and wet, no doubt suffering from some sort of illness and injury. She stared into the gruff faces around her and knew that she could not send them back into the rain with a good conscience. Their wet, dirty and scraped faces could use a night's rest, even if it was in a rocky, cold cave.

"Excuse me?" Thorin asked, staring at the girl. Under her long skirt, she raised herself up so she was standing on her toes, making her even taller than the Dwarven leader as she stepped towards him.

"You're going to stay," she said, her voice just soft enough to be heard over the crashes from outside. Thorin narrowed his eyes at her, but they still remained soft.

"I am not going to take orders from the likes of you!" His voice seemed much louder than it was with the air of threat floating around it.

"You and your company will stay here for the night," she repeated, charm seeping into her voice. Whilst talking to particularly crazed convalescents, and calming them was immediately necessary, she used magic in her voice as a replacement for trying to talk them out of it. Although she wasn't desperately in need of doing this to the stubborn dwarf, it would make matters go much quicker and easier, although it did leave her with guilt plaguing her mind.

Thorin's eyes glassed for only a moment before returning to their normal state once more. He turned to a white haired dwarf with a curled beard, then back to her.

"Very well," he said slowly in a deep and resigned voice, and another collective sigh went through the dwarves. His eyes looked her up and down. "May I be acquainted with your name, gracious host?" She was hardly a host, but didn't argue with him.

Essence considered his request. Was it wise to reveal her name to such dwarves? Not that they had never heard it before, she was sure of that. A girl gifted by the Valor did not go unnoticed around anyone, much less dwarves. "My name is Naessa," she said, smiling at them. Some secrets were better kept.

"Well, Naessa, thank you for your hospitality," said the white bearded dwarf. "My name is Balin, at your service." He made a curt bow to her, and she lifted her chin up, a forced smile gracing her face.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Balin," she said. "Now, all of you should get some sort of sleep—you seem to be in need of rest." A nod and many groans wafted through the crowd of dwarves, at least, from those who hadn't already fallen asleep. The dwarf Balin smiled at her pleasantly, then walked off to sleep somewhere. She glanced at Thorin, who was still eying her suspiciously.

"Bofur," called Thorin to a dwarf with a pointed hat Essence had seen earlier. "You're on watch tonight." He nodded, walking to the front of the cave and plopping down. Thorin directed his gaze back at Essence, who shuddered. "You have such beautiful eyes," said Thorin spitefully, in a way that Essence knew it wasn't a compliment. "It'd be interesting to know where those came from." He turned on his heel and headed to the back of the cave to occupy the spot next to Balin. Essence let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, and turned around to look into the startled eyes of the two younger dwarves. She quickly averted her gaze and quickly made her way across the cave to retrieve her clothing.

Her coat already draped on her, she grabbed her dress and a pair of trousers, a top, and her stockings and boots, and set them on the hard stone beneath her. Essence laid herself on top of her belongings and draped her coat over her, the distinct smell of wet rock filling her nose. Both she and Thorin, who she realized was the head of this company, had made sure she was as far from the other dwarves as possible in the small cave.

Essences shut her eyes tightly and pulled her blanket over her head to stifle the noise of the dwarves as they settled down for sleep, but nothing could stop the hair prickling on the back of her neck. Eyes bore into her from behind, and Essence refused to look up at the two young dwarves whom she knew the stares belonged to.

Paranoia circled her body and ate away at the corners of her mind as she slipped into a fitful but heavy slumber.