Chapter 2

Watching Bero as closely as Bero was watching her, Lossendes slowly raised herself to her feet and quietly stepped closer to the dragon. He continued to watch her with an unbroken gaze, but didn't move as she lifted a hand and moved forward again. Lossendes knew that she could lose her hand. Gods, she could lose her entire arm, but for some reason she trusted that she wouldn't. Moving still cautiously and maintaining eye contact, she crossed the last bit of space between her and the dragon's deep red scales. As her palm ran up the oddly smooth surface, she nearly grinned in delight. A dragon. She was touching a dragon. Better yet, she was touching a dragon and not being ripped apart!

She moved her eyes away from Bero's as she softly explored the scales surrounding the dragon's head. After a few minutes of, well, petting Bero, Lossendes felt a deep rumbling coming from under her fingertips. It took her a moment to place it as a purr, and when she questioningly looked at Bero she saw that he had closed his eyes and was now leaning into her touch, still generating that deep rumble.

She pressed her lips together to keep from laughing aloud. Instead, she ceased the movement of her hand and waited for Bero to look at her again. When she met his gaze, she asked, "How long have you been here? How old are you?"

There was still some distrust in Bero's eyes, but for the most part, he looked more relaxed.

"I was born here. I don't really know when. Papa said that it wasn't important until I was old enough to breathe fire and…"

Lossendes visibly relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief as she thought, Thank the Gods, he can't breathe fire yet. Maybe there's a chance of this working.

"…Papa also said that's when I'd be useful to him. So I'm not old enough to be useful…."

"That isn't true. You're fine. I don't breathe fire and I consider myself quite useful."

Yes, the comfort probably didn't mean much, if anything at all, but what else was she supposed to say? It was obvious to Lossendes that Smaug had only kept the hatchling, and she was now debating on whether or not the young dragon was even his, for the sole purpose of keeping a tighter level of control over Erebor. Once Bero could breathe fire, there would have been two dragons under the mountain. That meant one could leave and fetch more hordes of treasure and cause general havoc on Middle Earth, and the other could protect it. It really was a decent strategy. But now, it left Bero on his own. Whether he belonged to Smaug or not didn't matter anymore.

Bero raised his head to be eye level with Lossendes then, "Will you really take me with you? North? I think that's where home is, but I'm not sure."

Lossendes nodded in the affirmative, "We'll both go. I don't really have a home to go back to either."

She smiled sadly when Bero blinked at her curiously. Rivendell was her home, well, she had been born there she knew, but she'd been sent away to live in Mirkwood by her father years ago. She'd grown up in Mirkwood with Legolas and Tauriel. She later found out she'd been sent there as a pawn to keep the peace between Thranduil, Legolas' father, and Elrond of Rivendell. No one even knew it had been a problem, but apparently it had been. Hence her life in Mirkwood. Then, she and Tauriel had left to help the Dwarves after a nasty run-in with orcs and Legolas had followed the two soon after. The last thing that Lossendes knew was she and Tauriel had been banished from Mirkwood by Thranduil. They couldn't go back. Regardless, she almost didn't want to. Taking orders had always been something she didn't favor doing, and for an Elf, that had been a partial disgrace on her. She had been put under the command of Legolas simply because she would only listen to either him or Tauriel. It was simple, really. They had her loyalty and trust. Others did not. Blind loyalty was not something she wanted to be a part of.

Lossendes wondered if Tauriel would come north as well until she remembered that Tauriel, knowing Kili was wounded but had survived, would never leave him behind, and Kili would not leave his brother, who would not want to leave their kin. Legolas would go back to Mirkwood with his father. That was also simple to understand. Shaking her head again, she smiled shakily at Bero, "Yes, we'll go together. Tomorrow night, okay? You'll have to sneak out of the mountain though. Do you know a better way than the front gates?"

"Yes. There are smaller passages out of the west side of the mountain that Papa couldn't fit through. But I'm small enough!"

Bero stated this proudly as he compacted himself into as small of a space as he could in example.

"Alright. The west side of Erebor. I'll be there come nightfall tomorrow. Until then, stay out of sight of anyone, even if you think it's me. I know my reaction to you was odd, but someone else would probably try and hurt you. If you like, go deeper into the mountain and hide until it's time to go. Is there anything you need to know?"

Bero immediately replied with, "Why are you helping me?"

Lossendes blinked for a moment before biting her bottom lip in consternation, "Well, you seem different. You're not consumed by the bloodlust that I assumed all dragons had. I want to learn more about you and dragons as a whole, but I also understand what it's like to be alone. I've no home to return to after the battle that has just taken place and while I know my friend Tauriel would happily stay here in the mountain, I do not think I could bare to live underground. It seems it's time for me to go elsewhere once more. You need to get out and to safety, and I would not mind the company. This idea seems to suit everyone."

The hatchling stared at her for a long moment with its piercing eyes before swinging his tail around and latching on to Lossendes' wrist, "What do I call you? The name you gave me is difficult to say. Is there something else?"

"Indy. You may call me Indy. My two friends used to call me that because they couldn't say my name at a young age either."

The dragon purred loudly, and if he could, Lossendes was sure he'd be smiling as he said, "Okay, Indy! I'm going to hide now."

Without another word, the hatchling released Lossendes' wrist and practically scampered off. Staring after Bero in surprise, Lossendes leaned heavily against the nearest wall wondering what exactly it was she was about to do.