Leonera Dragonstone thank you for the follow.
I wake to the shuffling of feet. It must be Bilbo because the company left before dawn. Since I'm no longer tired, I climb into the dress I brought and slowly walk into the hallway. I see Bilbo standing at a table with a large sheet of paper in his hands.
"Good morning, Bilbo." I say. This gets his attention and he turns his head to me.
"One of the dwarves left this for you." He hands me a letter.
"Thanks." I say before I open the folded sheet of paper.
Hey! It's Kili.
If you ever get the chance to come with us, I would take it. An adventure would be fun; especially if there was a woman coming. Thorin doesn't like some of the things Gandalf is currently coming up with, so be careful.
-Kili
"What'd it say?" Bilbo asks when he sees that I'm finished reading.
"It was from Kili. He was telling me to be careful if I'm going to go on an adventure with them." I reply. "Are you going on an adventure with them?"
He just looks at me then smiles. Before anybody could say 'yes', we were out the door and racing down the hill towards the forest.
"Wait!" Bilbo shouts when the dwarves are in sight. They all turn around to see two hobbits bounding through the forest and tripping on roots.
"Hey! You came!" Kili calls when I'm close enough to hear.
"Yeah. Did you miss me?" I say panting.
"Sort of. Fili and I had a bet to see if Bilbo would come." He says.
"What about me?" I ask; slightly offended that they wouldn't bet on my coming.
"We knew you would come whether Bilbo did or not." He smiles. His smile is actually quite beautiful.
"Give them ponies!" I hear Thorin shout from the front. "The woman can share with someone."
Kili looks down at me wondering whether I'll shout out about not getting my own pony. When he sees that I have no intention of protesting, he just shrugs and holds out his hand. "Here. You can ride with me."
I grab his hand and climb onto the pony that seems endlessly tall from a hobbits view. Then Thorin rides next to us and scowls. "I meant her to ride with Bilbo."
"She's on a horse now. You should be happy she's at least on a horse." Fili says, defending his brother. Thorin just grunts and rides back to the front.
"Sorry about that." Kili says solemnly. "We're his nephews so we get a slightly better treatment."
"How?" I ask curiously.
"Well, he usually barks orders at the other dwarves. He speaks to use like we're actual dwarves and not servants." Fili replies.
"Ahh." I nod in understanding. "Where are we headed?"
"To the Misty Mountains. We have to cross them to get to the Lonely Mountain." Kili answers
"Will crossing these mountains be easy?" I ask afraid of what the answer might be.
"Not necessarily. The mountains might take days to cross, maybe even weeks. Nobody knows." Fili says mysteriously.
"Fili! You'll scare her!" Kili scolds.
"No. I'm not easily scared." I say triumphantly. "I'm really only scared when a dwarf comes up with axe at hand ready to swing."
"Well, you just need to learn how to use an axe." Kili says.
"I don't think I'll be able to wield an axe. Maybe a sword, or bow, or daggers." I say.
"Kili can teach you how to shoot and I can teach you how to fight with a sword!" Fili claims triumphantly.
"I guess that could work." I reply.
"Are you planning on teaching the woman?" Says a dwarf who I don't recognize but has sneaked up next to us.
"This 'woman' has a name." I say proudly.
"Yes, Isabel." He looks to Fili and Kili. "You're going to teach Thi-Isabel how to fight?!"
"Yes, Bofur." Says Kili. So the dwarfs name is Bofur. "If she's going to stay, she should learn how to fight."
"Okay. I'll carve some wooden swords for you to practice with once we set up camp." Bofur says before Thorin sends out a loud roar. I smirk.
This seems to take Fili by surprise. "We should dunk Thorin in a pool of cold water. He really needs to chill." He whispers.
Sometime later, camp is set up. Bofur has made some wooden swords from fallen wood on the path. He is currently trying to teach me how to hold a sword, which isn't very hard to learn, but extremely hard to do.
"No. Hold it like this. No! Not that!" He keeps saying. He seems very agitated because Fili and Kili are always staring and laughing at us.
"Come on, Bofur. Is it really that hard to teach a woman how to hold a sword?" Kili would say. This would earn a growl from Bofur.
"Bofur, do you even know how to use a sword?" Fili asked.
"Yea-no." He admitted.
"Come her, Isabel." Fili said. I did so. "Now, hold your sword like-yes! See, that's how it's done! Now take a swing." He grabs another wooden sword and I take a swing at him. He easily blocks it.
"Why do dwarves have to be so good?" I mumble to myself.
"I don't know. Dwarves have had many years of practice and you are just starting. Why don't they teach hobbits these things?" Fili replies.
"Because hobbits don't go on adventures and we have no reason to protect ourselves." I growl through clenched teeth.
"So? What if you're the oddball case? Like you or Bilbo?" Fili continues.
"What?!" I scream. "How am I the oddball case?"
"Because you're a hobbit on an adventure." Kili answers this time.
"So?" I ask. Kili freezes as if something scary is behind me.
"Women don't belong on adventures, especially hobbit women." Says Thorin. So that's why Kili freezes. Well, it's definitely something scary.
I turn around. "Well, excuse me Mr. I'm-in-charge-so-everybody-should-do-what-I-say-an d-ditch-the-hobbits!"
"I'm sorry, who asked you to join us?" Thorin says angrily. Man, that dwarf really has a temper.
"I did." Kili says behind me.
Thorin seems taken aback. "Why?"
"Because I thought it would be nice to have a woman in the camp. It would be fun to talk to her." Kili says earnestly.
"Talking to her wouldn't do anything but distract everyone! She's of no use!" Thorin shouts. Everyone in the camp is now looking at us. I search for Gandalf to see if he could help, but he's nowhere to be found.
"Where's Gandalf?" I whisper to myself. I think I'm saying that in my head but one person heard me.
"Gandalf is not here right now." Thorin says. His eyes still burning holes into my body.
"Did I say that out loud?" I say in the most normal voice.
"Yes you did." Kili says, next to me. "And Thorin, you said as long as I took care of her, then she could stay."
"That I did." He turns his head away.
"Then everything should be okay as long as I take care of her."
"Yes." Thorin says and he walks away.
"Now, then, where were we?" Kili says clapping his hands together.
"We were about to spar. Then Thorin came up and scared you." I reply.
"I wasn't scared of my uncle!" Fili claims.
"Oh yeah? Then why did you freeze like a dragon was behind me."
He leans in close and whispers, "Because Thorin is worse than ten Smaugs."
"I guess you're right." I nod in agreement.
"Now, back to sparing." He says and holds out his sword in a defensive position. I responded with a mighty 'hiya!'
