The door was pulled open by a bewildered looking little creature and although he wasn't much shorter then the dwarves, he was a lot thinner, even thinner then Nithyi.

"Mr. Baggins?" Fili asked and the little creature nodded slightly.

Baggins…? Oh right, so that was a hobbit. Kili had explained Nithyi earlier today that they would be meeting a hobbit called Bilbo Baggins.

"Fili and Kili, at your service." The brothers said together before bowing to the hobbit.

"And Nithyi." She woman added, a lot quieter then the two other dwarves, before copying their gesture.

This Bilbo stuttered as Kili walked through the door, leaving the little hobbit where he was.

"It seems they have started to arrive." Kili said, noticing the sound of familiar voices coming from further into the house. Having said that the two dwarves dumped 'all' they weapons on the little hobbit, which made it look like he would fall over from the weight. As the dwarven brothers walked further into the house Bilbo dropped their weapons and started following the two, before turning back to Nithyi for a second. "You might as well also come in." he said, before walking back towards the room with the dwarves.

Nithyi left her sword and dagger on the pile of other dwarf weapons, making her wonder how many dwarves would already be there, before following.

By the time she reached the room the two dwarves she had traveled with were being greeted by two other dwarves, they had obviously known each other for a long time. Nithyi stayed back a little, she didn't want to get between old friends; but she was soon noticed anyway.

"Who's that lass?" The tall, partially bald dwarf asked Fili and Kili.

"That's Nithyi, we ran into her on our way here." Kili explained.

"But why is she here?" The tall dwarf asked again.

"Because she has some healing skills." Fili said, speaking up now.

"And that's enough?"

"Maybe not, but that's still something we're lacking." The blond defended.

"That's true." The other dwarf said, he had a long gray beard making him look older than anyone else in the room. "But it's not really us you have to convince." He added and at this the younger two sighed, for they knew who they had to convince.

"Well, we can't force a lady to stand all the time, so sit down lass." The old dwarf said as the other dwarves made their way either towards the table or towards what looked like the storeroom. Nithyi nodded at the dwarf and sat down, Fili and Kili had left to plunder the stores of the poor little hobbit so the brown haired woman sat with the other two dwarves.

"I think we should introduce ourselves." The old dwarf said, "I'm Balin and this is my brother Dwalin." He said, pointing at the tall dwarf beside him as he spoke of his brother.

Nithyi nodded politely as the dwarf introduced himself and his brother. She wasn't very comfortable among so many dwarves, she had learned to get along with the two brothers, so she was rather relieved when Fili and Kili came back, carrying as much food as they could. They put what they had found on the table and sat down beside Nithyi, successfully locking her in. As the woman turned her attention back towards the table, where she wouldn't meet anyone's eyes, she noticed how hungry she actually was. She looked up as she saw a plate and a tankard with ale being put in front of her, to find the four dwarves already starting on whatever had been put on the table. "Eat something." Fili said, before stuffing his face again.

"Yeah, you're already skinny as it is." Kili joked at this.

Nithyi looked away for a moment, embarrassed by the sudden attention, but soon turned her attention back towards the table to eat.

The little hobbit had a lot of tasty food in his little home and to Nithyi food was at the moment more important then her shyness.

It didn't take long before there was another knock on the door. "There's someone at the door, Mr. Boggins." Kili said, his mouth still full of food and Balin shot the young dwarf a look that told him to show at least some manners.

The hobbit had by now made his way over to the door again and pulled it open to reveal even more dwarves, how the hobbit wished the wizard would show up. Nithyi heard the mumbling in the hallway and remembered Kili's words 'have started to arrive' and she tried to look into the hallway, wondering how many more people were about to join them tonight.

This time five more dwarves stepped into the room and Nithyi sunk back in her seat, hoping to stay unnoticed for a while. But as the other four dwarves jumped up to great their friends; the woman, who was trying to stay quiet, stood out even more.

This time it was Fili who answered the new dwarves' unvoiced question, "That's Nithyi, we ran into her on our way here." He explained.

"Lass, that are Dori, Nori and their younger brother Ori." Balin said pointing first at a dwarf with white hair and a white, short beard; next to a dwarf with a hairdo that made his head look like a star and next to a younger dwarf who stayed close to the first two. The older two nodded before getting more food from the hobbit's storeroom and the younger, Ori, murmured a polite 'nice to meet you, miss' before disappearing after his brother.

"And these two gentlemen," The old dwarf continued looking at the other two newcomer, "Are Oin and Gloin." He said, first nudging over at the older looking dwarf who had his mustache braided into his beard and next at the red haired dwarf beside him.

As soon as the three brothers were back the five new dwarves sat down and started eating and talking. Nithyi wasn't used to this much company or to even having people around, so the woman tried to shrink back into her seat. She sipped her ale a few times, trying to find a way to get out of her current situation, but the other dwarves had her locked in; the only way out would be over the table. She sighed, that would attract even more attention to her, so the woman decided to stay quiet and hope for it all to pass soon.

There was another knock at the door and Nithyi couldn't help but agree with Mr. Baggins as he groaned in dismay, the hobbit didn't want even more dwarves in his house and the woman didn't want even more people around.

But the little hobbit did open the door, letting three more dwarves and the long awaited wizard into his house. After some murmuring in the hallway again more dwarves walked into the dinning room, for whatever the purpose of this room had been in the first place now it had become a dining room. The dwarves exchanged happy greeting and once again Nithyi was introduced to the newcomers, which made her more and more uncomfortable. The newcomers were also introduced to the woman again and she did pay attention to that. First was a cheerful looking dwarf with a fur-rimed hat named Bofur, next was his brother Bombur. Bombur was a rather fat dwarf but he also looked cheerful. Next though was their cousin, a dark haired dwarf named Bifur, but what distinguished him the most was the remains of an ax stuck in his head. Nithyi winced involuntarily at this and Bofur seemed to have noticed. "Why, doesn't that make his look pretty." He joked at the woman and Nithyi hoped that Bofur would quickly find something else to do, but the dwarf continued, "But we think it damaged his brain somewhat, for now he can't speak Westron anymore. I had to learn Khuzdul so I could even talk to him." The dwarf's voice had lost some of its earlier cheerfulness as he said that, obviously hurt by his cousin's misfortune.

Nithyi swallowed quietly and worked up the courage to speak openly with so many people around. She greeted Bifur in the ancient dwarven language, she had never been more thankful her mother had thought her some of that when she was little. The fact that she spoke Khuzdul seemed to be a pleasant surprise for the dwarves that were listening. Bifur returned her greeting before turning his attention back to eating and Bofur smiled at the woman, "And it made him a little feisty." He added, voice cheerful again as he also made his way over to the hobbit's storeroom, to loot it even more with his brother and cousin.

Nithyi looked around again, now quite happy the dwarves were all talking to each other and ignoring her. She found the little hobbit talking frantically with a man in long grey robes.

"…when do you think he's gonna arrive?" Fili asked just as Nithyi started paying some attention to what was going on around her.

"As soon as he can, Lad." Balin told the young dwarf, "He's at an important meeting right now."

Part of Nithyi wanted to ask if there were many more people coming, but that way she would involve herself in the discussion and she didn't feel up for that.

And then there was another knock on the door, "There you'll have him." Dwalin said as his brother told Mr. Baggins to open the door.

It didn't take long of another dwarf to step into the room; he had dark hair, a well trimmed beard and very piercing eyes. Nithyi gasped a little in her quiet corner, there was no mistaking, that was the heir to the throne of Erebor. The brown haired woman quickly hid her shock as she turned back to her food, that had suddenly become very interesting.

As Thorin took his seat at the head of the table everyone became quiet, turning their attention to their leader. The dark haired dwarf looked at those gathered, letting his gaze glide over those present. "I though there were 13 of us?" He stated, expecting someone to explain the new addition to their meeting.

"Uncle, that's Nithyi, we ran into her on our way here." Kili said, hoping that would explain the woman's presence.

This though, still didn't explain why she was still here.

"She has some skill in healing." Fili said, "That's why I thought it would be good to keep her around." The blond dwarf explained.

"Aye, someone who knows how to patch us up would be nice." Bofur said, hoping to break the tense silence in the room. This comment though worried Nithyi, what were they planning that they would pick up a random stranger to be their healer.

"I have to agree with Bofur here." The cloaked man said, suddenly joining the conversation, "and that shouldn't be a problem, seeing that she is also a dwarf." The old man said gently.

Thorin looked at the old man, looking like he was considering his options.

"Have you told her about our quest?" Thorin asked his nephews and the boys shook their heads. "Then why do you think she'd come along?" he asked, wanting to hear Fili's reasoning.

"She was living on her own and …and we simply still need a healer." He said, looking down at his plate. He had gotten her all the way here, but he had forgotten to think of whether the brown haired woman would want to join them or not.

Thorin sighed, looking at the woman who still seemed to want to melt into the wood behind her. "You will not tell anyone about what you will hear tonight, understand?" Thorin told her darkly and Nithyi nodded quickly. At this Thorin started explaining the expedition to all those present and to keep a long story short; they were going to take Erebor back from the dragon Smaug. Nithyi's eyes widened at this, partly in terror as she was starting to understand what she was about to be dragged into and partly in happy surprise at getting the mountain, the home of their ancestors, back from the dragon.

The dwarves handed at the hobbit a contract and after Bofur explained the young hobbit some of the words he read, he passed out. The dwarves groaned as the wizard, now identified as Gandalf, picked the little creature up and put him in a chair.

The dwarves couldn't believe Gandalf had picked someone like that for them; a burglar shouldn't pass out at the mere thought of danger. After casting one more glance in the direction of the unconscious hobbit Thorin shook his head and turned back to Nithyi. "And you?" he asked, not needing to say more, for everyone knew what the question was about.

"Yes." Nithyi said softly, but determined.

"Why?" Thorin shot back quickly.

"Because Erebor was my mother's home." She revealed quietly, not daring to look at Thorin. At this the dwarf seemed to nod and turn his attention back to Balin as they discussed things that were probably important for their journey.

As soon as Thorin had taking his attention off of Nithyi Fili and Kili turned back toward her, shooting her congratulating smiles.

"You never said your mother was from Erebor" Kili said a little surprised by the revelation.

"You never asked." Nithyi mumbled, looking back at her plate in a futile attempt to avoid the attention of the two brothers.

"Anyway, let's get to the sitting room, before the others take all the seats." Kili said cheerfully, dragging Nithyi along with them.