Prelude to Stinky Trolls it is!
Sorry it's another long one, I have a lot of trouble shortening these because this is how they work out in my head.
Disclaimers galore in this chapter, I own nothing, except Sam and all her sarcasm.
By the way, the line breaks I'm gonna start using in this chapter are gonna switch from being lyrics from "Blunt the Knives" to lyrics from "The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late," which is in an outtake of the first Hobbit movie, look it up on Youtube by punching "Bofur's Song" into the search bar. I also recommend the deleted Rivendell scenes because they might be making an appearance.
o.0 :)
/And When You've Finished, if They are Whole/
His hand was limp and cold in hers. The color of life gone from his cheeks.
The other two were the same, dead. DEAD.
She heard a horrible keening, despondent sound, then realized it was coming from her, from the depths of her soul, from the heart wrenching feeling of loss, from knowing that she could have DONE SOMETHING to prevent this.
This was so wrong in so many ways, her heart ached so with a bone deep sorrow she thought she would die right there on the battlefield-
/Send Them Down The Hall to Roll!/
Sam woke up, much the same way she had for the past five weeks on the road, scared and close to an utter emotional meltdown from the turmoil left over by the dreams she was starting to remember more and more of, though they were still largely nonsensical in her mind.
The Company had learned that whoever was on last watch at dawn would usually have a companion about halfway through the watch, and most had given up trying to get her to talk about the nightmares that haunted her, primarily because she still claimed she was only remembering feelings, nothing else, but this did nothing to stop them from worrying about her.
Sam was hoping Thorin would just give her last watch so someone who could actually sleep wouldn't need to be up that early, and because she hated first watch, which was after everyone went to sleep, but that was the only one that he would trust Bilbo and Sam with, it was also the only watch with two people, damn grumpy dwarf and his untrusting nature. Couldn't he give them some props? Please? It's not like they had managed to get themselves, or anyone else, killed (Thorin would undoubtedly add a yet here, but the rest of the world does not share in his cynicism), so was a little faith a too much to ask? Apparently, the answer to that question was a yes.
So Sam got up with her blanket and went to sit beside Gloin, who had warmed up to her in the past few weeks, not only because she was proving to be a good fighter that they would be able to count on in a fight (though she was still untested in battle), but also because of the stories she had begun telling every night, after a lesson in the art of braiding from Dori, of course (Bofur had also taken to teaching her how to use the carving tools in her pack and she had managed to make a very deformed dog that had made Bofur laugh, although, according to him, it was better than his first attempt at carving).
This had sparked an appreciation in Gloin for her view of the world, expressed through her commentaries about the stories when she was asked questions about them, since no one, not even Gandalf, had heard them before. He was also charmed by her love of all things musical, especially songs that were terribly poignant, because she often sang the songs that went with the stories (blame Disney and their absurdly catchy and memorable tunes), most of which taught a lesson or two, needless to say Kili, Fili, Ori, and Bofur were quite happy to actually hear and know the origin of all the little songs she sang to herself.
It had all started when she mentioned The Legend of Zorro and Robin Hood that night she had given Nori and Dwalin their new nicknames (a sign of affection from Sam, who only ever dared call someone by something other than their given name when she felt close to them or safe) when she had been asked about the origin of the words. She had made the mistake of making a comparison between the characters Robin Hood and Zorro offhand, thus they had demanded she tell them the stories she was talking about, and it had all been down hill from there.
She told, on average now, about two stories a night, ranging anywhere from the many Disney stories she knew by heart (Mulan, Lion King, and Aladdin to name a few) to myths (like Coyote and the Raven from Native American Myths, and Heracles from the Greeks) to musicals (Sweeney Todd and Les Miserables, the company was extremely moved by the "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" song and the lines right before it) to classics (like Dorian Gray and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), to plays like Shakespeare, she had even included the tale of the Dovahkiin from the Elder Scrolls series of games, though, to avoid explaining video games, she made it out as a book that never specified the main characters gender, race, or preferred fighting style, and had multiple endings for the reader to choose from, and that also had a list of the races, their descriptions, and fighting classes because the author wanted the reader to use their imagination and decide the fate of that world, she had even managed to remember the lyrics to The Song of the Dovahkiin, she had been impressed with herself for pulling that off; Thorin had been especially fond of that tale because, being a somewhat vindictive dwarf, he liked the idea of killing dragons and taking their souls (beware Smaug, Thorin is coming to take your soul, Mwahahahahaha [Blue Beetle laugh anyone?]).
She did edit some of the other stories so the dwarves wouldn't be able to tell she was from a different world, but that was mostly tech stuff.
Sam and the dwarves were surprised by how well she told the stories (considering how she had rightfully earned the moniker of the joke slayer from her brother) though this was because she allowed herself to be drawn into her memories of the stories, imitating the voices of the characters as she remembered them, acting out some of the things they did, and adjusting the way she spoke with what was happening in the story, making her very entertaining and engaging.
She had actually started walking around like a gorilla when she was telling Tarzan, taking them off on a tangent about what they were and how their social dynamics were similar enough to humans/dwarves/elves/hobbits for a human child to survive with them, before she actually got back to the story.
The fact that Gandalf didn't recognize a lot of the places and creatures she talked about surprised the dwarves, but they were also constantly surprised by Sam's analysis of the characters, plots, and symbolism of the stories, some of them utterly confused by the complex conversations while Ori, Nori (Dori had looked so proud of his younger brothers in those moments), Kili (he was just full of surprises, everyone thought he was absent minded, but, where Fili did see the importance of the actions taken in the stories he did not, however, see the complexities of the motives and symbolism in the stories the way his brother did, because Kili was more emotionally minded than his brother, the only ones not surprised by this discovery were Fili and Kili themselves), Balin, Bilbo, Sam, and Gandalf shined.
They had no idea why she thought that way, or was so ready to analyze behavior and motives and other such things (AP English Lit and Composition were the guilty parties, as was AP Psych, again), but it just brought credibility to the reasoning behind her inclusion in the quest that Gandalf had given originally, about her providing a different perspective and insight.
Sam was surprised, however, that none of the dwarves had thought to ask about the religious references in some of the stories, but she figured someone would pose those questions soon.
/There's an Inn, there's an Inn, there's a Merry Old Inn/
Oin, of all people, proved her right, but not in the way Sam had expected.
"Lass, forgive me, but I've noticed that when you lay down to sleep after your watch that you tend to clasp your hands together, and seem to be mumbling, before you actually go to sleep. I confess I am a bit curious about what you are doing, if you don't mind my asking?"
Sam looked at Oin for a minute, slightly surprised by the question, before replying with a slight blush," I don't mind your asking at all, Oin. I'm just praying when I do that, that's all."
Those who were listening to the conversation simply nodded their heads, though they were not familiar with the action of putting one's hands together for praying.
"And who are you praying to? And for what?" Thorin, the ever suspicious dwarf, just had to assume she was keeping something from them by being vague.
"God, and I'm just praying that the Company stays safe and achieves our goal without any major mishaps." The Company nodded their heads and smiled, appreciating the fact that she prayed for their safety and success for what it was, a way of expressing her honest affection for the dwarves.
She had never grown this close to anyone in so short a time, but she found herself grateful for these dwarves and Bilbo, because it was also the first time in her life that anyone had accepted for who she was without asking anything of her.
"God? There are many gods, woman, which were you praying to?" Thorin was annoyed that she continued to be vague.
"I only worship one God and He doesn't have a name besides God." That drew the entire Company's attention.
Middle Earth was a polytheistic world that, to Sam's knowledge, had no truly monotheistic cultures, though all races preyed to their creators specifically, all of them acknowledged the existence of the other gods, Gandalf was even a minion of those gods as one of the Maiar.
"What do you mean you only worship one god and that he has no name? There are many gods and they all have names, like Yavanna, Mahal, and many others." Bilbo, surprisingly, asked this question, generally confused by Sam's admission.
"Is that the god that is referred to in some of your stories, like in Les Miserables?" Kili had made the connection, and his French pronunciation wasn't bad.
"Exactly, Kili." she smiled at him, and he sent a cheeky grin back her way," Where I'm from there are a couple of different religions, some are monotheistic, others are polytheistic, like yours, but my religion only has one God."
"How can your religion only have one god when there is proof of the existence of the Valar everywhere? Gandalf himself is proof, because he protects Middle Earth at their bidding." Balin said this, confused by how a religion with one god could exist in Middle Earth when the signs of the many gods were everywhere.
She, and Gandalf, had been expecting that statement, but only one of them had prepared a response.
"Leave her be, all of you. The young lady's religion is none of your concern, you need only to know that it has helped shape her into the young woman before you, this woman who is willing to risk her very life for a quest and a home not her own, for no other reason than she knows that it is the right thing to do, because her kind heart understands why you wish to reclaim Erebor and wishes to assuage the pain it's loss has caused you." Now everyone, even Thorin, looked chagrined, though Bilbo also looked pensive, considering why he was helping these dwarves.
Bilbo, originally, had not been as benevolent in his intentions when he ran out of his door that morning. He had been bored, tired of the quiet life he led in the Shire. The Company's appearance that night at Bad End had fanned the flames of the desire for adventure that Bilbo had thought had died with his mother, and he had chased his one chance to live that dream.
After getting to know the dwarves, however, he now felt the same way, he was not just chasing adventure, he wanted to help them regain their home, because his friends, who had, for the most part, welcomed he and Sam into the fold (mostly due to Sam's charm and her constant insistence in his inclusion in everything, without which he would most likely have felt alienated by the dwarves) deserved to have a place they belonged, like he belonged in the Shire, though something told him he might never truly belong there again.
So, despite his increasing number of reservations about this quest, he promised himself he would stay, and if not for their sake, then for Sam's, as she was the only other non-dwarf, excluding Gandalf because wizards got their own category entirely, and he did not want her to feel like he had abandoned her.
When Bilbo came back to himself from his musings, Sam was still blushing fiercely from Gandalf's statement, not having expected such high praise and noble attributions to her character from the old wizard.
Gandalf continued," You would all do well to remember that the other people of the world do not see things the way you do, and should appreciate that fact that they don't, because if Samantha and Bilbo felt the same way about other races as all of you did, they would not be here. In the interest of learning about other people," he glared at the lot of them," Samantha, I'm sure there are some stories, meaning no disrespect, for I know not else to call them, that describe the history or some other details about your religion?" She nodded. "Good, would you mind telling us those stories so that our companions may be educated?"
Sam nodded again and readjusted herself to a more comfortable sitting position on the rock she was sitting on, and began the tale of Moses and the Israelites (the kids version with all the songs, because, though she had full faith in her religion, she had never been able to force herself to read the Good Book) and after that, David, King of Dreams (also the kid version), and so the night went.
/Beneath an Old Grey Hill/
For the next few days Sam found herself singing on her horse, only to be find her alto voice being joined by the bass voice of Fili (who was a little tone deaf), Kili, with a rich, low tenor, and Bofur, with his wonderful high tenor. Sometimes Bilbo, Balin, Dwalin, Nori, Ori, or Gloin joined in too, making for a funky harmony at times since they did not know all of the songs she sang very well, but most of the time it was just the four of them, Kili, however, tended to sing more than his brother, riding beside Sam's horse so they could hear each other better.
The two would often end up talking about random things when they weren't singing, Kili telling her some of the stories he had grown up with in Ered Luin, along with stories of Ori, Fili, Gimli (she tried not to think about what she knew would happen, afraid she would say something she shouldn't), and his own adventures, leaving all sorts of mischief and mayhem in their wake.
The story about how he and his brother had weaved flowers into Thorin's hair while he slept, only to not have him not notice when he woke and walk to the forge he worked at with people staring at him, not knowing why until Dwalin saw him and informed of his "lovely locks," nearly had Sam falling off her horse, she was laughing so hard, but she was completely unsurprised by the trouble they had gotten into as little ones.
In return, she told him some of the stories of her, and her parents', childhoods. Kili seemed to find the story of her twin getting stuck in a tree only to be whacked with a broom by their grandmother hilarious, but he was utterly incredulous and could not understand why her father had whacked her uncle in the head with a shovel on two separate occasions, once as a child and once as an adult, or why he had decided it would be a brilliant idea to stash snakes in their shed, Dis would have killed them had they dared do anything like that, and brothers were supposed to get along not fight, but, Sam had assured him (as her father had assured her) that her uncle had utterly deserved it both times.
Kili was also entirely too entertained by the fact that her mother had had a pet steer, named Blackie, who acted exactly like a dog, that her mother, aunts, and uncle had later been tricked into eating by her grandfather, as well as by the story about how her mother and her oldest aunt, as children, used to chuck firewood at their mother from atop a wood pile.
They talked the days away, learning more about one another, Kili only becoming more charming, sweet, and funny in Sam's eyes, while she did the same in his. Of all the dwarves, Kili was the most attractive, in Sam's opinion of course, but not because he was handsome and had a strong build (the guy in the movies just did not do him justice), but because he was real, he was a living, breathing person, and he was still kind, and sweet, and thoughtful, and funny, and an honest to goodness good man.
But being a real person meant that he wasn't just all of those things, because no real person was that one dimensional, there was a sadness, and shame, there in his eyes, a look of disappointment, but also hints of defiance and determination.
Sam didn't know what exactly had put it all there, but she could wager a guess.
Kili wasn't like all of the other dwarves, that much was obvious even to the most oblivious of people; his favored weapon, and the one he was most skilled in, was the bow, he didn't have a full beard, he lacked his brother's and his uncle's regal, commanding presence, their more logical minds, in other words, he was nothing like what most people thought, and expected, an heir to the throne to be. He was too soft hearted, too kind, too much of everything he shouldn't be, and not enough of anything he should be.
Sam knew Fili wouldn't change his nadadith, his little brother, for the world, and she was sure that Thorin, and Dis (though she had never met the woman), wouldn't either, because they knew that a person like him was precious and rare gift in this world, that an open heart with a kind, and keen, mind, who could see the light in the darkest night, was a candle to others who would otherwise be lost in the same darkness, though none seemed to notice the darkness that darkened Kili's own light.
Sam couldn't help but think that the disappointment she saw in his eyes, was directed toward himself.
He knew he didn't live up to expectations, just like he knew, though he acted like he didn't, that Thorin's eyes held their own disappointment in him in those moments (despite his intense love of his nephews, for all their faults and foibles) when he was truly being himself, when he was goofing around with his brother and laughing and just not acting like the prince he was.
He knew he would never live up to expectations, because he knew that he could just not be the dwarf the world wanted him to be, not without betraying his own heart and mind entirely, and from that fact came more disappointment, disappointment, and utter shame, in himself for not being able, being willing, to sacrifice so much for the sake of his family and his people, to make them happy, disappointment in his own amazing (in his eyes) capability to be selfish.
That was where the sadness in his eyes came from; he was sad that he could never live up to expectations, never be who everyone, who his uncle, his family, wanted him to be. Sad that, no matter what he did, it would never be enough to make up for all that he wasn't, and, he knew, on some level, that they all accepted that Kili would never be the ideal prince, because they loved him, but that was what hurt the most, the utter lack of faith.
No one thought he could ever hope to be that prince, that strong leader, that person his people could look up to and follow anywhere, without giving up everything he was.
He was determined, she was sure, to prove them all wrong, to defy who they thought he couldn't be. To prove you didn't need to be like Thorin and Fili (though Mahal knew he loved the two) to be a good leader. To prove that being a leader didn't mean you needed to be aloof or detached or too serious, to prove that all you needed to be a good leader was have a good, and willing heart, with a little support, he could do it, he just didn't expect that support to come from those you would think would provide it.
Sam admired Kili for all he was, for the way he stayed true to himself, no matter how much it hurt at times, and all he could be.
She knew how he felt, she had ever been held to higher expectations, higher standards, than her twin brother, because she was a girl, because she was more responsible, because her mother expected so much more from her daughter, from the the daughter of a proud, forceful, intelligent woman who always managed to charm everyone, and those she couldn't, she cowed with the force of her wrath, her sharp tongue, and her ability to put others in their place, whether through show of authority, or guile.
Sam had always failed to be who her parents wanted her to be, because her father, as much as she loved the man, would not protect her from her mother when she was on a rampage, why she had never known (and now never would), when she cut into Sam with cruel words, that still hurt her to this day and had shaped the way she interacted with people for years because she was afraid they would be just like her, the occasional slap to the face, sometimes literally and sometimes verbally, had only made her fear of trusting people, of letting them see her without any of her masks to keep her gently heart safe (some of which she was wearing even now, in the company of people who had never done her harm, she still feared she would be hurt, but Kili, as well as the rest of the Company, in their own ways, was helping her overcome that fear, with all that Kili was and he wasn't, because he honestly wanted to get to know Sam, the real Sam, the woman behind all the masks, and all of his questions and honest interest were helping him peel back all those layers, whether he knew it or not) increased equal to her mother's ferocity.
Sam's mother had always found fault with her more introverted nature, something her brother did not have, as he was as social as their mother, had found fault with her interests, in reading, in games, in activities that were more solitary than social, and had made her displeasure known, often and loudly.
She had been punished before for not wearing enough makeup as her mother thought she ought to for school, for her hair not being done in curls, for her clothes not matching that way her mother thought they should, for being chubbier than her mother had been at her age.
There was an endless list of faults she had that she was constantly reminded of, though none of them were ever academic in nature, always in regard to her appearance, her personality, and her social skills, thus why she had learned to imitate her brother's behavior, so she had made masks to help her deal with the sadness and the stress, to help appease her mother, and try to live up to all of her expectations.
But Sam had always taken all of her feelings for her mother with a grain of salt, her mother loved her, she knew that because she was not a cruel tyrant all of the time, and Sam knew she was just trying to do what she thought was best for her, but in doing so, in not paying attention to her daughter enough to realize what she was doing to her, she had put Sam in an emotional and mental cage, and she had always felt trapped like a rat in a trap.
When she had gone to college, it was like someone had allowed her to spread her wings and fly without chains for the first time. She had been so happy to finally be in charge of her own life, to not be micromanaged, to not be told how to act, or dress, or eat, to be free to be herself and no one would find fault with that because, really, as flawed as her mother thought she was, there was nothing actually wrong with her.
She had a healthy respect for the law, she had faith in the kindness of people and the good of the world, despite all of the awful things in it, she had faith in God born of her own choices and beliefs (not her mother's scare tactics about going to hell, which had made her brother bawl once), she was kind and thoughtful, and had a good dose of empathy, she was a hard worker, and intelligent, and she had been well on her way to getting into grad school before she got dumped in Middle Earth, she even had a stubborn streak a mile wide and a temper, though only her mother and brother ever seemed to light her fuse.
The only things she really lacked were self confidence, a good understanding of herself, and the ability to let go and trust, things she was starting to gain with the Company at her side.
Though, at times, she can't help but think, that if her mother had just left her be, then she could have been a lot of the things her mother had expected her to be, though tempered by her father's more laid back personality, because she finds, the more time she spends with this bunch of crazy dwarves, the more time she spends feeling safe and accepted, the more her masks fall away, the more she begins to see that they weren't quite the masks she thought they were, that they were actual parts of herself that she had done up in gawdy makeup to hide the cracks her mother had put in them, to make them more pleasing to the only one who saw only cracks.
Sam and Kili had a lot in common, they seemed to know it instinctually, even if their hearts and minds hadn't noticed yet, thus, they became good friends in that first month or so of their journey, through shared conversations, shared songs, and shared stories.
Their growing friendship was only strengthened when they discovered that she had as much natural skill with a bow (who knew all those hours she had spent playing her rogue character in Skyrim would pay off?) as Kili himself did, another commonality between the two. (Sam had noticed how she seemed to get along rather well with the biggest oddballs of the group, namely Ori, Nori, Kili, and all of the Broadbeams)
That feeling Sam and Kili had shared that night at Bad End had been entirely correct.
/And there They Brew a Beer so Brown/
That night Balin told the tale of how Thorin became known as Oakenshield was epic beyond belief, but the orc calls that night were terrifying, they seemed, despite Kili and Fili's jokes, to Sam to be more that just a threatening presence they would be forced to confront, they felt more like harbingers of a doom she did not want to face, that she didn't want to face because of what they would cost her, what they would take from her.
They elicited the same feelings her nightmares did, and, that night, the terror she had known in her slumber increased ten fold.
/That the Man in the Moon Himself Came Down/
She saw him get run through with a sword as he tried to protect his nadadith and his uncle, his blonde hair turning red, and congealed, with the warm blood that sprayed from the wound.
In the next moment, she saw the other brother become a pincushion of arrows, the weapon he loved so much betraying him in the hands of another, more wicked, soul.
But their uncle, the look in his eyes, the look of his world being destroyed right in front of him, as he watched the boys he had held in his arms as babes fell, dead, to the ground-
/One Night to Drink His Fill/
Ori shook Sam, trying to free her from the incredible terror and sadness her dreams had etched on her face.
When his shaking didn't work, Bifur took her from Ori, held her to his chest, and, while stroking her hair and keeping her from thrashing, he sang a Khuzdul lullaby, one he had sang to Bofur and Bombur long ago.
Despite the harshness of the language (much like German sounds to non-native speakers), it was soothing, and the older, slightly damaged, dwarf slowly eased her out of her nightmare, and brought her back to the waking world where she clung to him as she tried to regain control of her breathing, grateful for his presence, and his song, to ground her.
When Sam was once again calm, she tilted her head up and gave Bifur a watery smile, and stood up. She found that Bifur, Ori, and the now relieved looking Balin, were the only ones awake in the camp, though Thorin was no where in sight.
They had all been awakened early by the anxiety caused by the presence of the orc calls the night before.
They looked at her, hoping for an explanation of what had caused her more dramatic reaction to her nightmares, but she shook her head, no reason forthcoming from her lips.
Sighing, Bifur woke Bombur to start making breakfast, murmuring to the younger of his cousins in Khuzdul, telling him to make their lass some soothing tea to ease the lingering anxiety from her nightmare.
Bombur was distressed by the description of how she had looked when Bifur had woken, though his worry was slightly abated when Bifur described what he had done to wake her, that particular lullaby always having been comforting when sung by Bifur's gravely bass.
Bombur, at this point, was terribly fond of Sam. She was always helpful, even when she was tired from lack of sleep and sore from training and riding all day, she always helped him with the meals. She had told him, once, that it was because she found food, and preparing it, comforting, because it reminded her of her family.
She was very close to her extended family, on her mother's side. They were all very kind, stubborn, intelligent, and just the right kind of crazy. The description she had given of her family when thy were together sounded very much like a dwarven family gathering (and a hobbitish one, according to Bilbo), sans the burping and plate tossing, with large amounts of food, plenty of laughter, multiple conversations going on at the same time, loudness, and an incredible amount of sarcasm, and love, plenty of love.
She had mentioned that her family loved food, something Bombur entirely understood, and that most of them felt that food was one of those things that brought people together, because no matter how different people are, sitting down together for a good meal can bring those who otherwise wouldn't associate with each other to the same place, because everyone can appreciate good food and it can be common ground that helps relationships and friendships form.
As a result of her appreciation for food and what it did for people, like making a bunch of tired and possibly grumpy dwarves happy so they can enjoy an evening together, Sam always helped him cook, whether it was chopping vegetables, learning to hunt, skin, or gut an animal (the first time Kili and Fili had brought back a few rabbits to eat for dinner they had shown her how to deal with them, she was a surprisingly quick study and rather good with a knife, which was why Bofur and Bifur had thought she would like to learn to carve), or just stirring the pot, she was always willing to help, as was Bilbo.
The three of them had had many a wonderful conversation about food; different kinds of food, different spices, manners of cooking, regional variations, and sharing cooking tips. Sam had far less tips to share, but she was young, so instead of sharing, she listened so she would know how to cook the stuff they described when the time came.
So Bombur made his friend a mug of tea, which she took gratefully, as the rest of the Company began to wake, most of them sensing something amiss with Sam, thus they watched her.
Dwalin, Nori, Bofur, Gloin, Fili, and Kili even going so far as to walk over to ask her if she was alright, while the rest simply asked those who were already awake about what had happened, relived to find she was alright, though distressed by her apparently worsening nightmares.
/The Ostler has a Tipsy Cat/
That day Sam rode beside Bifur because she was on a mission, she wanted to figure out how to communicate with him without learning Khuzdul or Iglishmek, she no longer wanted to be kept from understanding the kind dwarf after he had been the one to gently wake her from a terrible nightmare, when no one else, or herself, had been able to. If he was willing to go the extra mile for her, she would for him too.
When she told Bifur what she wanted to do he had been ecstatic at the idea, glad that Sam wanted to be able to understand him, and that she was willing to put in the effort to make their own little language to do it, thus, Bofur was called over to act as a translator in the interim of determining a way for them to talk, Bilbo was also called over so he could learn to communicate with Bifur too, and they got to work.
The first thing they did was try and determine what gestures all of them already knew and make sure that their meanings were the same, thus they already had gestures for things like 'come here' or 'be quiet,' but they needed to come up with more complex gestures, or sounds, that all three of them could replicate and remember the meanings of.
Bofur, Bifur, and Bilbo had been rather bemused when Sam told them that they had something called sign language where she was from, a language of gestures primarily used by the deaf, but that she only knew two signs, how to say 'I love you' (pretty much the hang loose sign) and 'peace,' both of which were added to their growing repotoire of signs.
At the end of he day they had a rudimentary language that used a combination of hand gestures and animal sounds, like howling and bird calls (Fili and Kili had offered to teach Bilbo and Sam how to replicate them, like owls and thrushes), as well as some sound effects, such as nose whistling, nasally sounds in general, or grunts.
They practiced for the next few days (all of them thankful to discover that Sam's nightmares had returned to their previous level of terror, rather than repeat the experience from the morning after the orc calls), eventually getting it down well enough where they were holding basic conversations with one another, Bifur glad to finally be able to talk to someone who wasn't a dwarf and didn't think he was crazy, while Sam and Bilbo were glad to be able to talk to him without help, because he was really a very smart dwarf with a lot of opinions and things to say, some of which got lost in translation or lost their oomph when passed through a third party.
The rest of the Company even wanted to learn their little language so, before long, all of them, even Thorin, were using it.
Thorin had even commended them for creating the language, as it would be useful if they ever needed to communicate surreptitiously, like if they were captured by enemies.
Needless to say, they were all surprised by that development.
/That Plays a Five-Stringed Fiddle/
The day came when they arrived at the abandoned, skeleton of a farmhouse and Sam knew they would have to face the trolls.
They had rode up to the dilapidated structure and stopped at Thorin's command, though Balin and Bifur did not feel it was the best place to stop, even if it was nearly dark, especially when Gandalf mentioned how a family had once lived there.
Gandalf and Thorin proceeded to argue about stopping there, about Thorin's pathological hatred of elves in general, even those who had not done him wrong, and about the stubbornness of dwarves (Sam agreed with Gandalf, they were a stubborn lot, for all of their positive qualities).
While the others set up camp and unloaded their supplies from their ponies and horses, Sam wandered around the farmhouse, looking for signs of the trolls she knew were nearby. She found evidence, but it had not been what she was expecting.
Ori, who had tagged along with her, gasped at what Sam had found around the back of the structure.
There was a fully articulated, if partially covered up, human skeleton lying face down on the ground, with it's arms extended in front of it, head turned to the side, as if the individual had died after tripping and doing a faceplant. While Ori went to tell the others what they had found, Sam started to gently uncover the skeleton, which had been bleached white by the sun in many places and was easily differentiated from the surrounding dirt, to try and get a look at it and figure out how this person had died.
She observed how most of the cervical vertebrae, and all of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, of the individual had been, literally, crushed to pieces, surprising considering how strong and thick the bones of the spine were, as well as how most of the ribs had been snapped in multiple places, the sternum broken in half, the clavicles broken in three places, including the epiphyses, and the shoulder girdles and heads of the humeri had snapped.
As the others, who weren't cooking (she felt guilty for not helping Bombur, but this was more pressing), headed over, including Gandalf, who had yet to storm off, Sam turned around the skull and the mandible, the pelvic girdle, and disarticulated one femur, so she could look at them all more closely.
The arrival of most of the Company (excluding the princes, Bofur, Bombur and Bilbo, who was about to be sent to deliver food) also marked the point at which Sam drew a tentative conclusion from the remains.
"Oh, my!"
"What happened here?!"
"Who died?"
Dori smacked Nori upside the head for the insensitive comment before Sam spoke.
"Well, it looks like a young woman, probably no older that about 26 or so, died by way of being crushed by something incredibly heavy."
They all stared at her with incredulous and baffled expressions, none of them having a clue how she had gotten all of that from a bunch of bones.
"Wha-? How in tha worl' do you know tha'? Sam had never heard Dwalin splutter before, and found it rather funny, in spite of the situation.
Thorin glared at Sam hard, as he was often want to do, and said," Indeed, how do you know all of that Miss Clen?" He had always thought the girl odd, but this was an entirely new level of strange, even for her, guessing things about the dead from their bones.
"The bones told me." Gloin, Nori, Dwalin, Balin, and Oin rolled their eyes at her, predictably, smart ass answer to Thorin's, equally as predictable, suspicious question. When was he going to give her a chance?
"How did the bones tell ya all of that lass?" Balin was as confused as the rest of them, though Oin seemed more contemplative than confused by her statement, his ear horn angled toward their lass.
Ori started to sketch and write as Sam explained.
"Well, first off, she obviously died by way of being crushed, as indicated by the multiple broken bones of her torso, back, and shoulders." She looked at them to make sure they understood the origin of that, rather obvious, conclusion, glad to find them all nodding in agreement to her assessment.
"But how do you know it's a woman?" The ever curious Ori just couldn't keep the question from slipping out, though he knew she would tell them.
"That, my dear Ori," said dwarf blushed at the endearment," is a bit more complicated to determine, but, luckily, what ever killed this poor woman did not obliterate all evidence of who she was."
Sam used a stick to point to different parts of the skull. "The supra-orbital ridge of thi-"
"Super what?" Gloin muttered to himself.
Sam changed tactics. "Supra-," she tapped above the eye socket," means above. Orbital," her stick circled the eye socket itself," refers to the eye socket or orbit." They all nodded, Oin listening carefully," So the supra-orbital ridge," she said it slowly so they knew what she was saying," is the brow ridge, y'know, what your eyebrows sit on on your skull?"
Some of them touched their eyebrows, realization dawning on their hairy faces, said eyebrows rising to blend into their hair. "Brow ridges, in men, tend to be heavier, or more robust, than in women. So, as you see here," she tapped lightly on the bony ridge in question," the brow ridges of this skull are not very pronounced. The forehead of this skull is also more markedly sloped than straight," her stick ran up the forehead," which is also indicative of a woman, more than a man, because their foreheads tend to be taller." They all nodded, following her reasoning, which made more sense as they considered how male and female humans differed in the face.
Sam pointed to the mandible. "The chin is also more pointed than square, as male jaws are want to look, another trait that is indicative of a woman." That made perfect sense to the dwarves, thankfully.
Sam proceeded to turn the skull over so they could see the occipital bone. She pointed to the ridge on the back of the skull (most people can feel this is they touch the back of their skulls, and, on guys with shaved heads, you can see it as a ledge in the skin, no, that isn't just fat or skin)," This ridge here, is a site of muscle attachment for the muscles in the neck. Now, the amount of use of a muscle and it's size can leave marks on bone because of the force they exert of the bone when it is used as a place to push or pull." The dwarves nodded, now very curious about all the things Sam knew about the skeleton. "So, it should be no surprise that, given men tend to have bigger and more robust muscles, that this ridge would be more obvious in men, right?" Again, they nodded. "And this ridge is not terribly obvious, is it?" Another nod. "So, it would not be unreasonable, especially when taking into consideration the other features of this skull and jaw, to believe that this is more likely to be the head of a woman, rather than a man, agreed?" The dwarves were starting to remind her of bobble heads, they were nodding so much.
"Agreed. Now, if you will look at the head and neck of the femur, or thigh bone," she pushed the one she had disarticulated earlier into a more visible position, "you will notice that the angle between the head and what would be the inner thigh is a little small, bringing the neck of the femur into a more perpendicular plane in relation to the body."
They continued to imitate bobble heads as she moved the pelvis slightly so they could see what she was talking about. "Now, we all know that women have wider hips than men, yes?," a line of bobble head dwarves would probably sell well back home, "So it would stand to reason that, for a woman's knees to be directly below her hips, like in a man, the neck of the femur would need a narrower angle, right?" especially if their beards flopped when their heads bobbed, a very entertaining spectacle in real life," Alright, now, since we can see that the angle of this femural neck is small, it would not be remiss to come to the conclusion that this femur most likely belongs to a woman." Sam could totally see it, 'get your Thorin Oakenshield bobble heads, on sale now!', "But," maybe with a karate chopping action,"while all of these indicators are very telling, the best indicator of sex in humans is the pelvis, or the hips." a karate chopping, axe wielding, bobble head Dwalin, hmm...that had potential.
"These hips are bowl shaped, all the better for carrying babies," maybe the Ori one could smack people with his book with the karate action," the gap between the hips is oval shaped, where it is usually heart shaped in males, for the purpose of giving birth," maybe Dori could stab people with knitting needles, after all, he did teach Ori to knit," the angle at the front of the pelvis, in the pubic area, minds out of the gutter please people, thank you," or would a stab happy Nori be better? decisions, decisions," is wider than in men, again, to facilitate birth," a Gloin bobble with his one axe would look too much like the Gimli one that already exists...," and the sacrum, the bone at the back of the pelvis, is more backward, also to facilitate birth." the Thorin bobble should maybe do a Gibb's head slap action instead, especially if sold in a set with Fili and Kili, "So, based on these features, it is most likely that this is a woman's pelvis."
A Bofur bobble smacking people's thumbs with it's mattock would be awesome," As for how I guesstimated the age, you can see how the end of the clavicle broke off, which means they were not completely fused," a Bombur one doing the same thing would also be cool," and since the clavicle is one of the last bones in the body to finish fusing," bobbly, bobbly, bobbly, oh what to do with a bunch of bobble heads," around 30 years of age, this woman was probably in the range of 26, but probably not exactly."
"Her name was Freya, and she was 27 winters old...She used to live in this very house."
Gandalf's statement brought Sam out of her mental bobble head tangent (What the HELL was wrong with her? Bobble heads? Really?), as did the way he was looking at Sam with an unreadable expression.
Sam smiled a little, though sadly, glad that her classes, and interest, in forensic anthropology had payed off in the end, allowing her to identify this young woman, so she wouldn't be buried in an unmarked grave.
All of the dwarves (not bobble heads, thank you) stared at Gandalf, then at Sam, completely shocked by the accuracy of her assessment.
Oin spoke," Considering the soundness of her reasoning, her accuracy is not unsurprising, though how she got so close to the actual age is beyond me." Oin now had a new found, healthy respect for this young woman, maybe he should start teaching her how to take care of wounds, after all, she already knew a lot about the body and how it worked.
Ori, once he had shaken off the the shock, looked at his friend in awe," How did you learn all that?"
"Before I met all of you, I was...studying under a master to learn how to identify skeletal remains." She didn't know if they had schools like back home here in Middle Earth, so she went with a general description of a professor.
"Why would you want to learn that?" Thorin, for once, was not looking at her like she was a bug buzzing around his head, but with a new found appreciation of her intelligence, he was beginning to understand why Gandalf had wanted her to come with them.
"I wanted to learn it so I could help identify remains, so I could help families find closure if they didn't know the fate of a loved one, or to help get justice for someone who could no longer seek it for themselves, like murder victims." Her words were sincere, and the Company was once again surprised by Sam, few of them ever having known a human, or anyone, really, who would think to do something so morbid for such a reason, even if it was also because she obviously found it interesting.
Not knowing what to say, many of the gathered Company ambled off to think of all they had just learned, both about the fate of the previous occupants of the farmhouse, and about the young woman who was quickly wiggling her way into their hearts, leaving Sam, Bifur, and Gloin to bury Freya and mark her grave.
/And Up and Down He Saws his Bow/
The three started making a small cairn over Freya's skeleton, after they had put a layer of of dirt over it, with rocks that had once made up the chimney of her home.
They worked in silence, for a time, before Bifur posed her a question in their newly made language.
'Is it not sad, to work with the dead? How does your heart handle it?'
"Well, Bifur, it is sad, and decidedly morbid, to work with the dead, but I take comfort from knowing that the dead I work with are in a better place." Both dwarves looked at her askance, they had, evidently, not understood her meaning. "What I mean is...is the dead are at peace, they are somewhere where there is no more pain, or loss, or hunger, or hate, or struggle to survive, they are somewhere where all the burdens one carries are lifted, where their souls are free. They are with all the ones they loved and lost, and all the souls they never had the chance to meet. I'm sure they miss the ones they left behind, but they know they will see them again, because, in the end, we all die, and when we do, we go home into the arms of our loved ones and we stay with them, and that doesn't sound all that bad to me, so working with the dead doesn't bother me because I know they aren't suffering anymore because of whatever killed them, that horrible experience is over, and they will never have to experience something like it ever again."
Mahal, how many times could this girl surprise them in one day? Gloin couldn't believe that one so young and inexperienced thought like that. She talked about life and death like some wizened old woman who had seen the world change, and knew what really mattered in it.
"Why does it seem like you have an old soul, despite your youth?" Gloin shook his head slightly as he posed this question, putting the last rock on top of the cairn, while Bifur put an improvised wooden cross (not knowing what it meant, from Sam's point of view) as the head stone.
They all bowed their heads in silent respect for the woman they had just interred, Sam placing a hand on the cross and whispering a prayer, hoping that everything she had just described was true for Freya.
Sam finally responded to Gloin's question as they walked back around the building to camp.
"I honestly think I do have an old soul, Gloin, I have no idea why, but I do. I've never been interested in half the things other people my age are, and I'm never as concerned with the same things as them, because I don't think they are all that important, in the end, because, honestly, who cares if you are the prettiest girl or strongest guy right now? That's not something that will last. I would much rather always be the average girl who is liked for her kindness or her intelligence, or her wit," she gave them both a grin, trying to lighten the somber mood that had settled over them, and they smiled back at her, if a little sadly, because she was really too young to act so old," because those things will stand the test of time the way beauty and strength don't, so when my hair is gray, and my skin is wrinkly, all the things that made me special, or made me matter, all the things that have helped me make good friends, like the Company," now Gloin and Bifur really did grin," will still be there, and I won't lose all the people in my life, the family and friends I made for my own, because the things that drew them to me, and kept them with me through the passage of time, will still be a part of me, because I'm made of something with substance, something that is not fleeting, or ravaged by time. I'm sure I sound really old now, but that is how I see things, I'd rather touch lives with my own than be remembered for some fleeting trait or heroic deed, because that's the only way to really make a difference in this world."
Sam was entirely surprised when Gloin gave her a bear hug about ten yards from their camp, with Bifur giving her a great clap on the shoulder, telling her, 'You might have an old soul, but it is a beautiful one, and we are glad you have sought to touch our lives, and, I'm sure, we all hope to touch yours the same way you have, and will continue to, touch ours.'
Sam blushed fiercely at Bifur's words as she returned Gloin's hug.
They all returned to camp just in time for Kili to tell the group at large about the trolls.
/Now Squeaking High, Now Purring Low/
Alright, I know that was angsty, a little graphic, and there were hints of a budding romance. There will be romance at some point, but not really until I get to the next arc of the story, which will be an entirely separate story on FFN.
And I know the bobble head thing was wack, but I blame it on a sugar high, and that is all I am copping to.
Stinky Trolls next time, I promise.
