Thorin gave Heather a pony to ride, and instructed all of the dwarves to make sure she was in the middle of their company at all times. He made it apparent that he didn't want her near the front (probably to stay away from him) and that he didn't want to leave her behind. He was trying to be respectful, but there was really no need to make it seem that she was the most fragile woman alive. Maybe he was overreacting about keeping her safe; then again, maybe she didn't know what was out there. Either way, Heather was confident in her brain to outsmart whatever may try to attack her. She wasn't even much for muscle mass, in fact, she barely had any.

Gandalf was close to her as they began their journey, which was awkward, to say the least, because she was still wearing a dress Mr. Baggins had given her (as you can imagine, it was a little small for her). Ever tried riding a horse... pony in a small dress? Not the easiest thing to do, especially with 13 men all around you, watching her. Heather felt embarrassed, but was able to hide her emotions as the convoy began to lazily walk through The Shire.

Just as they left the cozy little village, and as they soon became surrounded by trees, Gandalf looked at her, and asked, "So, how do you know of Mr. Baggins?"

That was quick, she thought as a few dwarf heads turned around and some in the back leaned in to hear her. "Well," a quick clear of the throat, "He is my uncle."

"Your uncle?" a few of them chirped. "You're too tall," "Impossible!" "How did that happen?" All of murmur of Heather's relationship with the hobbit caused Thorin to glance a look back to her too, obviously showing his curiosity. Gandalf was giving her a suspicious eye, but she choose to ignore it.

"Well, you see," she bit her bottom lip and shrugged her shoulders, "My father was Mr. Baggins' brother, and my mother was a human." You wouldn't believe the looks she got from the dwarves! Some of amazment, others of confusion, and a few of disgust. However, Gandalf's narrow eyes never changed, only peered deeper into her. She returned his look, as if having a telepathic conversation with him; she knew that he didn't believe her, and he knew it too.

Thankfully, her puppy-dog eyes kept Gandalf silent and didn't point out that Mr. Baggins was an only child. And, luckily, none of the dwarves noticed this brief exchange of looks.

"A half halfing!" They began laughing at their obvious pun. Heather chuckled and so did Gandalf, Thorin was silent at the head.

Hours passed of the company continuously riding ponies on the dirt road. A hard rain had come and gone, leaving them all drenched. Heather, being from the desert, actually enjoyed the rain, having a huge grin on her face. Every dwarf was sopping wet and resembled a wet dog; except Kili, of course, being the only dwarf without a fully grown beard. Gandalf wasn't pleased with the weather either, but he didn't openly complain about it. Heather soon noticed that she was the only one with a smile on her face, which wasn't the case when they left Bag-End.

The rain had stopped about an hour after sunset, but Thorin was eager to get wherever they were going. They had reached a burned down house next to a small mountain. Thorin jumped off of his horse and began barking orders to the dwarves; look after the ponies, start a fire, begin making supper. Heather, however, wasn't ordered to do anything. Before she could ask the advice from the only other human, Gandalf lead Thorin away from the group and into the burned down house.

Since everyone seemed quite busy amongst themselves, Heather was able to grab her backpack and quietly walk into the forest. She had decided to change her clothes from her small hobbit dress to her originally hiking outfit. Quickly striping to her underwear, which was damp, she readily redress herself. Heather was now in her flannel shirt and ripped jeans. I wonder if me wearing pants will confuse them? All the while she was living with Mr. Baggins, she noticed that the women have resumed their "nature duties," as in cooking, cleaning, and attending for the children. Heather always thought that the "womanly duties" was hilarious, because, in her world, women can do anything men can do. So, she was a little eager to see how the dwarves will react to such a taboo as a woman wearing man clothes.

She collected her drenched clothes and noticed that the dwarves barely even seemed to see her absence. Instead of reemerging into the group, Heather fished through her pack, and retrieved her iPod. Finding a quiet spot, a safe distance away from the hurried dwarves, Heather relaxed under a tree and began listening to a few songs. She kept her eyes shut and imagined herself back home, oddly, doing her psychology homework. Heather strangely missed her college classes, especially her "mind-reading" class; that was what her anthropology professor called it when she entered it.

About an hour later, she heard many of footsteps around her. Afraid that someone would see her iPod, she shut it off and shoved it into her pocket. She stood up and ran to her bag of modern things and was immediately greeted by Thorin. He didn't seem too happy.

"There are you. Where have you been?" his voice was deep and frightening. So much for not pissing him off, she thought.

"I was," she cleared her throat, "looking for firewood."

"You were gone for all this time, yet have found none?"

"All of the wood I did find was wet from the rain."

He studied her, as if looking for something that gave it away that she was lying. Although, being as gifted as she was in deception, he found nothing. Sighing a quiet sigh of relief, he turned sideways and shouted to the rest of the company.

"I found her! Do not worry." He then faced her again, and actually looked at her for the first time in her new clothing. "What are you wearing?" Thorin asked, stepping closer to examine her.

"Oh! You mean this?" She grabbed her shirt, as if to examine it herself. Really, she was trying to remember which of her parent was relatated to Bilbo; unfortunately she couldn't think of which one it was. "My father gave me these for the small journey to my uncle's."

"Your hobbit father gave you his clothes for the travel to Mr. Baggins'?" Thorin narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. Oh shit, Heather thought. She was usually good with keeping up lies, but she hadn't thought about her "family" all day. "How is that those clothes fit you perfectly?" By now, Thorin was standing right in front of her, locking eyes with her.

She immediately thought of some good reasons, but she knew that none of them would satisfy him. Instead, she bit her lip and looked away.

"Are you done lying?" Once Heather didn't replied, he continued, "You may be able to fool my Company, but not I, nor the wizard," Wizard? Who is the wizard? "So, tell me; who are you?"

Heather swallowed hard and looked back him. Being as stubborn as she is, Heather wasn't about to tell him anything. However, she saw "an opportunity to control;" as her anthropology teacher offen called bargaining with an advantage. Thorin wanted something, and she had it. Let's see how well I really understand Professor Haskins' course.

"That depends, will you tell me where we are going?"

"I will not."

"That sucks, because I'm not telling you-"

Suddenly, Thorin lunged forward and pinned her to a nearby tree. Yet again, he held his sword to her throat; only this time, he was sure to press it against her skin. He glared at her as Heather began to quiver. "Gandalf might trust you but I don't."

Heather was too afraid to speak, so she didn't. After a moment, Thorin realized what he was doing, and released her. He backed away and quickly put his sword back into its sheath. They both seemed to refused to look at the other. But that didn't stop Thorin from speaking.

"I am truly sorry. In those clothes and speaking as a man, I lost-"

"You have deep, unresolved issues." Heather coughed up a quick diagnosis; her psychology course kicking in. "With someone, a man; of either high respect or regard to you." She stared at him, as he gave another surprised look to her. "I'm guessing that the person is dead and you can't make amends."

"H-how did you-?"

"I know things," smiling; more to herself, for being correct, than to comfort Thorin. "You made it obvious, after the two times you've held you sword at my neck. And both times involved bargaining, and you were at my mercy with the two times of haggling." They both began to straighten up and build up the courage to face the other. "You don't like haggling because, whoever you have these issues with, was either neglecting you, or did something to scar you from bargaining. Am I right?"

Thorin was silent and was studying the ground. Feeling extremely satisfied, and a little heartbroken, Heather walked over to Thorin and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You don't need to tell me who he is, but I suggest you do something to get over this." She thought for a moment, and then, reluctantly, came to a painful conclusion."Punch me."

"What?"

"Punch me, right on the face." She patted her cheek and turned her head. "You have no problem holding a blade to my neck, so just punch me and get passed this regret, so we can continue the journey on a more pleasant note."

"I will never harm you."

"Could've fooled me. Just punch me, c'mon! I've taken a few hits before."

"I will never harm you-"

"Jesus! Just hit me, square in the face! You'll feel a hell of alot better. Pretend I'm the one who gave you your issue."

"This is pointless-"

Heather could only watch as Thorin walked back through the trees and into their small camp.

Well, so much for confrontation, she thought. Maybe she wasn't as good at "controling minds" as she thought. I swear, by the end of this journey, I will find out what's wrong with him.

(((Okay, since my original work has left some people extremely offended and stopped following this story, it might be a bit choppy in places and won't flow as good as I would hope. But at least people will stop thinking that I condone abuse towards women. If you want to know what originally happened, just read some of the reviews.

I apologize that the rest of this is going to be choppy, weird, and that it probably won't make sense now, but I'll see if I can come up with something else.)))