Disclaimer: I don't own the hobbit. I only own my OC Merys.

Some 80 years or so later, somewhere close to the town of Bree

After hearing word of a strange company passing through Bree in the local inn she couldn't help but want to find out more. Her curiosity wasn't always a good thing. To be honest it had led her into more situations that ended badly rather than good. The urge to know more about the company that was currently passing through her area was just too much for her to endure. So she packed her stuff and clambered up the tree just as they passed under the thick foliage that prevented them from seeing her as long as she didn't make too much noise.

And a strange company it was indeed she thought as she started counting the heads of the numerous dwarfs, but stopping when she saw the head of someone that obviously wasn't a dwarf for their stature was to small and no facial hair could be spotted. And soon she noticed the tell-tale signs of a hobbit. His large feet hanging of the sides of his pony as he sniveled his nose once before he sneezed making his curly hair bounce. Leaping from branch to branch as quietly as possible she started following them, picking up bits and pieces of conversation here and there. Scanning each face to try and remember the names they dropped from time to time to the person it belonged to for there was only one in the company she could identify. Sitting on his horse and smoking his pipe he was talking with the grumpy faced dwarf riding at the front. The grey pilgrim, Gandalf himself.

She'd heard many stories about the wise wizard. The children in the towns she passed would speak of a man that produced the most amazing fireworks and she'd always longed to see them. Of course she'd never met him before, but it was without a doubt the grey wizard. As she continued leaping through the trees she could just make out snippets of their conversation. Dragons, mountains and the words home reached my ears.

Home. It was a word that never really held any meaning to her, but she still felt her feet falter and she scrambled before finding purchase again. Her heart raced as she hurriedly looked down to see if somebody had noticed only to find the eyes of Grumpy staring in her direction. He squinted before spurring his pony into a trot again. His startlingly blue eyes left her frozen and when she found the curly haired hobbit's face turn astonished as he looked her directly in the eye all she could do was lift a finger in front of her mouth in a plea for him to keep silent. He gave a slight nod before he too moved on. Stupid. How could she have been so stupid to give away her position like that. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She shook her head and slammed her hand into her face.

After berating herself some more she urged herself to start moving again. This time hopefully without nearly falling to her ass. However she soon found herself without any trees to climb in and was left with nothing but to continue on the ground. Luckily the sun was already beginning to set and not long after Grumpy gave the order to set up camp for the night. Thankful for the rest she lowered herself on the platform above the company but still close to the fire. Thank Valar there was hardly any wind tonight and what wind was there only aided in moving the heat of the fire in her direction. To be honest the thought of not having been completely found out yet made her swell with pride. And so she bundled up one of her scarfs before grabbing a small loaf of bread she'd gotten in Bree and an even smaller piece of cheese she kept for when she wanted to treat myself and turned around lying on the hard stone and shoved her scarf under her head. The Bread was still fresh and the cheese made her salivate even before she could pop a piece of it in her mouth. The water from her waterskin was cold, but she didn't mind too much. She sighed once blissfully unaware of the inquisitive gaze of the small creature on the ground.

Bilbo handed Myrtle an apple while wondering to himself whether or not he should mention to the rest of the company that they were being followed. But before he could make a decision there was a blood curdling scream that appeared to be not very far from where they were.

"What was that?" he asked concern filling his voice.

"Orcs." she heard the youngest dwarf, Kili, say in what appeared to be mock fright. She scoffed there was nothing funny about orc raids.

"Orcs?" Bilbo inquired

"Throat-cutters. There'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them." the other young one said in a matter of fact tone.

"They strike in the wee small hours, when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet; no screams just lots of blood." the dark haired one finished. Their chuckles were soon cut off however when I could hear the booming voice of Grumpy, "You think that's funny? You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?"

"We didn't mean anything by it." Kili said, embarrassment apparent on his face.

"No, you didn't. You know nothing of the world." he growled and Merys couldn't help, but feel sorry for Kili even if he was being an ass.

"Don't mind him, laddie. Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria. But our enemy had got there first." The dwarf with the white beard stated.

He then proceeded to tell the story of how Grumpy(Thorin) got his name slaying the white Orc. Azog the Defiler. Merys had of course heard of the orcs, but had never seen one up close before so she had a hard time imagining what one would look like let alone one like Azog. She couldn't help but shiver at the tale. She slept very little that night, the warmth of the fire bot strong enough to still her shivers.

Merys woke with sore limbs where the cold of last night had seeped into her bones. However she was looking forward to the journey ahead as she recognized the tops of trees not far ahead. Her joy however was short lived as showers of frigid water soon fell down from the heavens. It didn't take long for Merys to be soaked to the bone, her clothing heavy with the freezing downpour. She couldn't help but slip every once and again, her bare feet finding it difficult to find purchase on the slick bark of the pines. Grumpy as she had decided to continue calling him was starting to notice her murmured curses however and she continually felt his scrutinizing gaze at the trees surrounding her. He wasn't the only one who'd noticed though she figured for the young ones, Fili and Kili where whispering quite rapidly casting wary glances above them.

"Are there any?" she heard a soaked Bilbo ask the great wizard.

"What?"

"Other wizards." Bilbo clarified.

Gandalf then proceeded to tell them of the other four, but Merys was a bit too busy worrying about what branch to grab next to care for the information he provided. She was so engrossed in her work to that she didn't even notice when Kili murmured something to another dwarf.

Merys was just about to leap to another branch when a stone the size of half her fist hit her in the shoulder and she couldn't help but let out a animal like wail as she started falling. The fall wasn't exactly short, but it seemed to her that gravity was extra spiteful today (probably the excessive amount of water in her clothing) and she soon found herself smacking into one of the wet, thorny bushes at the base of the tree. The branches cracked underneath her weight and she practically disappeared into it. There was the sound of blades being removed from their sheaths and then only her laboured breaths as her heart thumped rapidly inside her chest.

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edit: forgot the disclaimer