Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the characters of Lili and Leo.
Also as far as I'm aware Hopping is a purely fictional place dredged up from my imagination.
Lastly Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favourite and followed the story, means a lot to know people are enjoying my little wander in Middle Earth.
Your thoughts are always welcome, so let me know what you think!
Chapter 2.
Watching as the men ushered the bewildered human woman to a place beside the fire. Thorin pursed his lips, beneath his beard. He wasn't entirely sure what to make of the whole situation or her for that matter.
He'd accepted her polite, if slightly unsure thanks for his help, but what did they do with her now?
The honourable Dwarf in him, refused to leave a defenceless woman to travel on her own, however, there was a small part of him that whispered there was no place in his company for a woman.
A cursory glance towards Gandalf had Thorin stifling a wince, as he caught the twinkle in the old wizard's eye.
Durin, help him.
"Can I tempt you with a nice, hot cup of chamomile tea, Miss Lili?" Dori enquired politely.
"I…Uh, Yes," Lili stumbled, caught out by the unexpected politeness of the question. "Thank you…Dori?" she added, hesitating slightly as she tested his name. With so many new faces and names, she didn't feel entirely confident with, who was who.
In response the grey haired, cheery Dwarf offered her a bright smile, as he went in search of a clean cup.
Sitting beside the fire, Lili forced her heart to slow its rampant beat against her ribs, as she regarded the group.
She was dreaming, she decided. Stop panicking, any moment now and you'll wake up.
"How did you come to be on the road, lass?" Another of the Dwarves questioned, an older figure with a shock of white hair and a long beard, fashioned with a split down the middle. Balin? Her mind hesitated again.
Lili shook her head slowly, as she tried to remember anything from beyond waking in the cave. "I was hoping you'd be able to tell me," she admitted quietly. "I remember walking into my village…it was late…I think I was on my way home." She trailed off weakly, panic rippling through her. Where was she?
"Home would be, where?" Kili asked dropping down to sit beside her.
Accepting the steaming mug from Dori with a small smile, Lili stilled for a moment, "it's a small village, called Hopping."
"Where's that? Never heard of it." Fili interrupted, with a frown.
"Must be somewhere west of Bree, I reckon," Bofur commented from his side of the fire, just as he reached for his brother, who was about to eat his forth bowl of stew, "Stop it, Bombur. You've had enough."
"There is no place, west of Bree, by that name." Thorin spoke suspiciously as he moved around the fire.
"Indeed," Gandalf agreed, taking several thoughtfully puffs of his pipe. "In fact there is no village by that name, in all our known lands."
Lili's gaze flicked from each of the men as they spoke, her mind stumbling in confusion. "Hopping is in the south west…"
"The south west?" Thorin challenged softly, his deep blue eyes narrowing.
"Yes, the south west… of England!" She snapped, suddenly feeling defensive under his scrutiny. Disliking the way he made her feel as if she was lying.
Rising to his feet, Gandalf murmured to himself for several long moments, before he turned to address the others. The Dwarves falling silent around him, "I do believe we've solved one mystery, concerning our new friend." He smiled, as the gathered group looked at him in confusion.
"Really? Because I'm feeling utterly confused by the whole thing," Lili muttered.
"Perfectly natural, I'd imagine," Gandalf smiled kindly. "I do believe the reason why Nori and Dori failed to find any tracks in the area, not even yours, Lili, is simply because you didn't travel here on a horse or on foot."
"But where am I?" she questioned her voice rising sharply, with her building stress. "I don't recognise any of the places you've mentioned. Hobbiton, Bree."
"Of course you don't," he nodded, reaching to pat her free hand. "You've never been here before, in Middle Earth."
"What?" Lili's heart fluttered in disbelief, before she shook her head. " Wait. Don't you mean, Earth?"
"No, I said exactly what I meant to say," Gandalf replied shortly fixing her a stern glare.
Thorin's gaze flittered from her to Gandalf, his mouth drawn in a grim line, "what are you saying, wizard?"
With an exasperated sigh, the aging wizard turned his full attention to the Dwarf Lord. "What I'm saying Master Dwarf is, Lili has come to Middle Earth from a different world and I dare say a different time."
"That's not possible," Thorin muttered, his eyes widening.
At the wizards words, not a single one of Dwarves or Bilbo uttered a sound, they sat transfixed, gazes darting from their leader, to Gandalf and then to Lili.
"Who are we to say what is and isn't possible," Gandalf challenged, "I don't doubt we will see a good many impossible things become possible before our time is over."
"Why me? What reason could there be for me to be here?" Lili whispered, the colour draining from her face.
His expression softening, Gandalf offered her a small smile, "The answer to that question I don't know, but perhaps we'll find out on our travels. I do not think we found you on the road by coincidence."
Immediately Thorin straightened, his sharp gaze glaring at the elderly man.
Placing her mug of untouched tea on the ground by her feet, Lili stood and shook her head, her raven hair twirling around her elbows as she paced the small area. "This isn't real, I'm having some sort of mental breakdown. Or I'm dreaming, any moment now and I'll wake up," she murmured, running her hands through her hair.
A clap of thunder outside caused her to jump and her gaze fell on the darkening world, beyond the cave entrance.
Nervous neighs and snorts reached her ears as another rumble of thunder sounded.
Thorin moved in the corner of her vision, "Fili, Kili go and check the ponies make sure they're all secure, before the storm hits."
Watching as the two younger Dwarves headed outside, without a word. Lili felt her heart twist in confusion.
Tears unexpectedly welled in her eyes and she felt her vision tilt dangerously for the briefest moment.
Was this what it was like to go mad?
Had she gotten lost in her own mind? Had the relentless pressure of over working and the lack of news concerning Leo, finally become too much?
Is that why she was sat in a damp cave, surrounded by bearded men no taller than herself, drinking chamomile tea?
One of the group, Bilbo if she remembered correctly, wasn't even 4ft tall and he looked almost child like in comparison to the others, he even had large, hairy feet. Squeezing her eyes shut, Lili shook her head.
You've got a hell of an imagination, Lillian, she mused to herself.
Opening her eyes again, she felt a tear slip off the end of her lower lashes and took a shaky breath, "please tell me this a dream."
The elderly figure of Gandalf appeared before her, his features kind and full of patience. "My dear girl, I can assure you this is real and you most certainly are not dreaming. I imagine this has all been highly overwhelming, but I do think you were bought here for a reason and we were meant to meet you as we have."
He smiled gently, giving her shoulder a soft, reassuring squeeze. "Come, you should drink your tea before it gets cold," he added softly with a swift wink.
"Gandalf a word, if I may," Thorin hissed a low murmur.
As he moved towards the cave entrance, the Dwarven Prince fixed Gandalf a stern glare. "She can not come with us, Gandalf. It's too dangerous!" he muttered, his attention drawn to the young girl as she settled beside Balin, mug of tea in hand.
"So you would have us leave her here, defenceless?" Came the swift retort, "I do not think she arrived here by coincidence." Gandalf added with a stern scowl.
Hesitating for a moment at the sting in his pride, Thorin regarded his friend thoughtfully. No matter what he felt about the situation, the Wizard was seldom wrong about things. "Very well," he relented, "but I offer you the same words I did back at the Halfling's home. I can not guarantee her safety, nor will I be responsible for her fate."
After another moment, Gandalf nodded, "Agreed."
With a nod, Thorin looked over the fire towards, Balin. "Balin, we'll need another contract."
Sipping her tea, Lili held the contract in her free hand and glanced curiously towards Balin, who'd given her the paper, after he'd made some hasty changes with a quill from Bilbo's pack.
"Alright it all seems to be fair, but I have one question." She told him, as the others began to settle down around them.
"Go on," Balin smiled, this woman fascinated him, one moment she was on the edge of panic and the next seemingly calm. Just as she'd gone from being on the verge of tears to a calm curiosity as Thorin explained the particulars of their quest.
"What's this about incineration? I thought we were on a journey to reclaim your home." Lili's green eyes gleamed in the dim light of the lantern and the fire, as she looked at him. She had assumed they'd lost their home in war, but something about the way they were all looking at her, made her question her original assumption.
"Aye, Lass we are…"
"Incineration on account of Smaug the terrible," Bofur grinned, cheerfully at her. "The dragon who took Erebor from us and now guards the wealth of our entire kingdom," Balin added softly, his words tentative as he gauged her reaction.
"A dragon?" Lili queried taking another sip of her tea.
"Oh Aye, he'll melt the flesh from your bones in the blink of an eye." Bofur continued merrily.
With a soft noise of acceptance in her throat, Lili nodded. "Ah well, that makes sense, seeing as dragons breathe fire and all." With a small smile, she held out a hand. "Does anyone have a pen?"
Bofur blinked at her in surprise, clearly not having expected her reaction to have been one of acceptance.
From his seat across the fire, Fili chuckled into his tankard and beside him his brother grinned, "You took that better than Bilbo." Kili commented.
Giving the contract one final read, Lili shrugged gently to herself.
Dreaming about dragons now? I've got to remember to write this down when I wake up.
Scribbling her signature on the bottom of the contract, she handed it and the quill back to Balin, before looking curiously at Kili, "what happened to Bilbo?"
The small Hobbit in questioned shuffled his bare, hairy feet in embarrassment before he cleared his throat, collecting himself. "I was getting over the shock of thirteen dwarves turning up at my front door, completely pillaging my larder and…"
The large, tattooed dwarf sat in the far corner, released a deep rumbling laugh, "Ah the wee, fellow fainted."
"I was getting over the shock," Bilbo reiterated quietly.
"White as corpse he was," Gloin chuckled.
Lili immediately felt sorry for him, wishing she hadn't asked. He obviously was as out of his depth with the situation as she was and he was having to deal with being the butt of the Dwarves teasing.
"Come now," Gandalf sighed, "We all had better get some rest, and we've a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
From his position near the cave entrance, Thorin flicked his gaze over the assembled group. "I'll take first watch, the rest of you get some sleep," his gaze lingered on Lili for a moment, before he turned his attention back the darkness outside their temporary home.
Shifted uneasily under his brooding gaze, Lili had the distinct impression the early night was for her benefit more than the others. She suddenly felt like a child being put to bed by her father.
She hadn't expected to sleep, but Lili awoke several hours later in the chilly, pre dawn grey, shivering and curled on the hard cave floor, tucked under her jacket.
Around her she could hear the chorus of snores from the gathered men 'Dwarves' her mind corrected timidly, as she realised what she hoped had been a dream was in fact reality.
Beside her, she could feel the tempting warmth emanating from the slumbering Kili. At least she assumed it was him, as he'd been there when she'd originally settled down to sleep. Shifting slightly against the dull ache in her right hip, where she'd slept in the same position all night, she contemplated snuggling up against him, but something in her mind whispered how inappropriate that would be.
Instead she wriggled further under her coat and sighed softly, maybe this whole thing was an 'episode' bought on by exhaustion and stress?
Wriggling again, Lili stilled as a quiet voice drifted across the small cave, "Its alright Lass, go back to sleep there's a few more hours before dawn yet."
Rising carefully on her elbows, as not to wake the sleeping occupants on either side of her, Lili could just make out the figure of Balin, wrapped in a heavy cloak and sat near the cave entrance, in the same spot she'd last seen Thorin the night before.
Returning to her original position, she nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand reached out and tugged her backwards until her back was pressed against the solid warmth of one of her fellow sleepers. She lay tense, her heart threatening to jump out of her chest with each beat, until a whispered voice sounded against her shoulder blade.
"We can share body heat, I could feel you shivering, while you slept."
Fili, her muscled uncoiled slightly as she recognised his voice and she let herself begin to relax. "I didn't mean to keep you awake," she whispered an apology.
"You didn't, I've just finished my watch."
With a yawn, Lili tucked her hand under her cheek as a makeshift pillow as a wall of warmth at her front shifted marginally closer and whispered sleepily, "Get some sleep."
Closing her eyes, Lili willed herself not to think about how awkward it was to be curled up against one… Kili's back inched closer to her front… Make that, two strange men, in an attempt to conserve body heat, while they slept in a damp, cold cave with thirteen other people.
The chilly sensation of girl easing away from his side, made Fili realise she'd pulled away from him, obviously uncomfortable with the idea of sleeping so close together. With a sleepy huffed and his voice barely above a whisper, he explained, "You'll be more comfortable, it's why we all sleep so close together."
It was a normal thing for males to share body heat by sleeping close together, he'd done it many times on hunting trips previously. A survival tactic taught by older warriors that could save lives in harsh weather.
Without another word, he dropped his arm over her waist as if to hold her against him and drifted off to sleep, hoping for her sake she did the same.
Kili eased himself closer to the human girl, curled between him and his brother, her slight body offering a tempting warmth against the dawn's damp chill. Feeling her shift against his back, he frowned with closed eyes. Even with her fidgeting he was still more than content to stay where he was, rather than end up with the likes of Bombur or Durin forbid, Oin as a bed mate.
From his resting place, Thorin let his gaze sweep over the sleeping members of his company, before it fell on the young trio on the opposite side of the smouldering fire.
Beside him, Bofur stirred in his sleep with a grunt, before his snores returned to their usual rhythm.
It hadn't surprised him when they'd all retired the previous night that both his nephews had positioned themselves on either side of the strange human girl. After all he'd taught them what it was to be honourable and respectful of females, particularly those who couldn't fend for themselves.
However, watching the way Fili draped an arm over her waist and tugged her back against his side and the way Kili shifted back until she was nestled tightly between them, Thorin couldn't help but wonder if she would end up driving a wedge between the brothers. He frowned darkly and shook his head at the thought, he'd have to make sure that didn't happen.
