An addition

When Clara woke again, it was by someone softly pushing her. At first, she thought it was just something she imagined in her dreams, but when the pushing became more violent and voices started to seep into her dreams, she realised that she was about to wake up.

"Maybe she is dead?", said one voice shyly.

"Oh, you idiot. Can't you see that she is breathing?" The next voice was grumpier than the first.

"Dori, Ori, hush. She's awaking." The third voice was powerful and demanding and she guessed that this must be some kind of leader.

She slowly opened her eyes, only to quickly blink a few times, due to the sharp sunlight. It took a few seconds for her eyes to focus and when they did, she found herself surrounded by a group of men. They were standing in a circle around her, looking at her with concern in their faces.

"Are you all right, miss?" The man that looked like one of the oldest in the group, with white beard and hair, looked at her with a small smile on his lips.

"I think so", she mumbled, slowly sitting up. The men quickly took a step backwards to give her some space and she noticed that they were all wearing different kinds of weapons. Axes, bows, swords and knives could be seen in every direction, something that confused her.

"Are you sure? You have had quite a nasty blow to the head." The same voice that had spoken first earlier, was heard and she turned her head to look at the man. He seemed to be the youngest in the company, even though he had just as much of a beard like everyone else. Cause that was the thing with them all. All of them had different types of complicated beards. All except one, that also looked quite young.

"Now that you mention it – I do actually have a bit of a headache." She rose her hand to her head, stroking a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.

"I am so sorry for bothering you miss, but do you remember anything? Were you attacked?" The old man frowned, concerned, and waved to the others to dismiss, which they did. Only the man with barely any beard that she had noticed before and one that looked like his father, stayed behind.

"I cannot say I do", she shook her head slowly. "I'm sorry." This was true. She remembered a sharp pain in her forehead and then nothing more. Not until she had woken up here, surrounded by men with weird beards.

"There is nothing to apologize for." The third man, that was wearing a beautiful cloak, frowned and stretched his hand out to help her up on her feet. "My name is Thorin. Thorin Oakenshield. This is my nephew, Kili and my dear friend Balin." He nodded towards the two other men, that bowed and mumbled a quick "At your service", in unison.

"I'm Clara. Clara Walsh." She bit her lip and quickly brushed some pine needles and dirt of herself. She was wearing her running clothes, which meant that she probably had been out running. But how she had ended up passing out in a forest she had never seen before, she did not know. "If you don't mind me asking", Clara begun, taking a short break to gather her thoughts. "Where am I and what are you?" She guessed that they could not be human, due to their odd clothes and the fact that all of them were only a few inches longer than herself. She was usually quite short and they were almost just as short as her.

"This is Middle Earth, near the Shire. We are dwarves, miss. And I see that you are an unusually short human." The man without any random beard and that had been named Kili, smiled knowingly.

"Kili, there is no need to act like that", Thorin growled, causing his nephew to blush.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not offended, if that is what you think." Clara smiled towards Kili, that seemed to cheer up, while Thorin only murmured something to himself and moved over to the other dwarves, that was standing over by a group of ponies.

"So, where are you from? If it is anywhere near here, we can take you there before we set of on our own journey." Balin stroke his beard and looked at her with kind eyes.

"I... um... I don't remember." Clara frowned, trying to find any clue in her mind, something that she did not succeeded with. She sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Well, this will not do. I believe you will have to join us to the Shire and we will see if we find something out there." Balin smiled and waved towards her. "Come with me and we will get you sorted. I do believe that we will have to find you some knew clothes as soon as we reach Bywater." He started walking towards the other dwarves, followed by Clara and Kili.

"There is no need for that. Please, do not go through any trouble for me." She felt a bit embarrassed, due to both her clothes, that looked odd in the eyes of the dwarves, and the fact that they were so nice to someone they did not know. Someone that only remembered her name and nothing more. It both surprised her and made her glad she had met just these people and not someone else that would just have left her out in the forest to starve to death all alone.

"You can ride with me." Kili smiled towards her, apparently trying to make up for his earlier mistake, and she smiled back.

"Thank you."

The dwarves spoke quietly to one another, as Balin sent the message about Clara joining them, and then everyone quickly got on the back of their ponies, Clara last behind Kili.

Thorin rode in the front, followed by Balin and then the rest of the dwarves, that Clara did not yet know the name of. All on all, they were thirteen and she guessed that it was going to be hell to learn their names and remember who that was who. All their beards did not really help. It only made it more complicated.

"Clara, this is my brother, Fili." Kili interrupted her thoughts and she looked up, finding that another dwarf was riding next to them. He had red-blonde hair and beard and a few braids here and there. She could see a slight resemblance to Kili and would probably have understood that he was his brother without him mentioning it.

"Hello." She smiled towards Fili, who nodded back towards her.

"Miss." He nodded again, before turning towards his brother. They were soon caught in a conversation of their own, leaving Clara outside it.

She softly loosed her grip around Kili's waist, since she did not want to make him feel uncomfortable, and turned to look around her. The forest was slowly starting to end and a green landscape dotted with trees and rolling hills opened up before them.

Above, the sun shone from a blue sky and she saw small cottages and villages dotted here and there bellow them. It was beautiful.

Author's note: So, the second part. A bit longer than the first :) The third part is almost ready too, but I will probably publish it sometime tomorrow or on Saturday. I'm currently on my spring-break, which is why I can publish new parts so frequently, but when I'm back in school on Monday, I will probably be more busy. So then I can't promise to update as often.
Oh, and to the guest reviewer Clara: Oh gosh, I didn't even think about that. I'm sorry. It was the first name that popped up in my head and that I thought suited for the character. I actually didn't even think of Doctor Who. Then it was more of a friend of mine than anything else. I'm sorry! If you prefer if I change her name, then I will :)

And to everyone else: Thank you for following and showing your support to the story! It means so, so, so much! Thank you so much! Please tell me what you think, either through a review or a PM :)