So I was totally NOT trying to make Lily a Mary Sue, but in all my excitement it happened. I promise that I did not want her to be the ultimate hero cause she is not like that at all. She is still a lonely misunderstood girl lol I am going to try to get back on track with her! And thank you everyone! It made me super happy to see so many people viewing my story! So happy that I wrote another chapter in 2 hours! Hope you like it!
The next few hours consisted of the dwarves looking for the troll cave. It wasn't hard to find it...considering the fairly large footprints and broken trees along their path to the cave. Along the way she stayed close to Gandalf. Though she had made a good first impression on the dwarves she knew that that was all she had. It took a large portion of her energy to do all that she had done back there. Lily had just barely touched her powers and unlike the faeries that lived hundreds of years to perfect their powers, it had only been two years for her...and she was barely able to stand after just a light trick and not burning in the fire, the latter of course not taking much energy at all considering it was a natural ability. She didn't know what she was going to do once any actual fighting occurred.
Being taught to wield a sword or throw a punch was something she hadn't thought about when she stayed with Radagast. Gandalf must have picked up on her anxiety, for he placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze. That effectively stirred her from her thoughts and she looked up to his smiling face. Briefly giving him a weak smile back she sighed and looked around to the dwarves heading into the cave. The stench was unbearable. How they could even step in there was beyong her.
"Stay here Lily, there is nothing inside this hole that could aid you," Gandalf headed towards the cave to join some of the dwarves that had already went inside.
She felt uneasy for some reason...like something was watching her as she stood there by herself. Wanting to put as much distance as she could from the others at the moment she sat on a small boulder and turned her back to watch the forest around her. Soon, unfortunately, she heard footsteps making their way to her location. Sighing she turned to see Bilbo standing there with a skin of water held out to her. She blinked in surprise and took it.
"Thank you Bilbo...you have been so kind to me." She took a sip of the water and tried to hand it back. He put his hand up to stop her.
"You ought to take more than that after saving this lot. What you did must have taken more than a few sips of water of out you." He smiled and waited for her to take a larger drink. She obliged him with a small laugh and a large gulp of water that spilled from the sides and down her cheeks.
Bilbo laughed loudly at this, "Alright, alright! Let's not completely bleed me dry." Lily wiped her mouth and handed it back to him.
"Thank you again..." She looked behind him to see some of the dwarves looking over to them. She scooted to the side of the boulder hiding as much as she could behind Bilbo's small body.
"Why are you hiding?" Bilbo asked as he glanced over his shoulder to the company. "You know they wont hurt you or anything. After what you did I'm sure they respect you far better than they do me."
"I know, it's just...I'm a little nervous is all. This is my first big adventure. I don't have much skill beyond what was naturally given to me, and as you can tell, it takes a lot of effort to do that." Bilbo thought how sad she looked when she said that. She seemed so confident when she first jumped out of the bushes and took the trolls out...but now looking at her he could see she was just a girl (with extraordinary powers that she claimed was exhausting to do).
He put a hand on her shoulder which startled her from the view of her boots. He smiled. She smiled. And that's how she knew they would be just as good of friends as her and Gandalf were. With her new friend Bilbo at her side, she walked over to the edge of the cave and looked in.
"Yea...even confidence wouldn't get me to go into that place." Bilbo laughed at her antics and wandered over to sit down and adjust some things in his pack. She looked over to the dwarves standing around and picked one that didn't seem too intimidating. He was a younger looking dwarf. Kind of reminded her of friar Tuck from Robin Hood. He held a book tight in his hands. When he spotted her coming his way, he blushed and seemed to shy up completely.
"Hello there...my name is Lily," She made sure to be a cautious as possible, " What's your name?" She put on the sweetest smile she could muster and waited. The dwarf seemed to perk up.
"My name is Ori. Can you teach me how to walk through fire Miss Lily?" Oh my goodness he is so cute! She thought with a huge grin.
"I wish I could teach you Ori...but it's something I was born with." His shoulders slumped slightly.
"Hm. Well that's alright! Would you like to see my drawings Miss Lily?" He opened his book and without her consent he started to go through the pages. They were quite good. A few of them she had to laugh at how real the humor in the pictures came to life. The last one however made her heart leap. It was of her in the fire. It was a good picture...it really was, but she only could smile sadly as she looked at it. She looked intense and tired at the same time. Both something she hated being.
"These are very good Ori...I wish I had talent like you." She watched the joy in his smile and the blush on his cheeks appear.
"No one's ever said that to me Mi-" He was interrupted by the dynamic duo.
"Oi, Ori! What's this? You showin' the lovely lady some of your drawings eh?" Fili stood in front of them with Kili flanking his left.
"Yes, he was showing me them until we were interrupted.." She said quietly. Fili blinked and put his hands up in surrender.
"I meant no harm Miss Lily. We've just been watching you two for the last ten minutes...and when.."
"When you looked a bit sad...we thought maybe Ori had said something to upset you." Kili had seemed to read his mind. It was weird as hell. Fili seemed older...but they were like twins.
"Oh. It's okay, really. I was just...well it was just the last picture," She looked at Ori quickly and touched his arm, "It was a wonderful drawing, Ori. It is very beautiful. It's just...I looked exactly how I felt. Exhausted." She laughed lightly and scratched the back of her head nervously.
Kili watched her with skepticism. She was sad about the drawing? It looked as though she was hurt by something Ori had said, which wouldn't be the first time. Sometimes Ori didn't think before he spoke.
"Well don't let that upset you. A frown doesn't sit well on a pretty face." Leave it to Fili to say something so absurd like that. Lily blushed and looked away from them with a small huff.
"I'll take that as a compliment I suppose." She looked back at the two with a small smile. Fili smirked at put his arms around Kili's shoulders.
"If you need anything Lady Lily, don't be afraid to ask us. We're more than will to help you out."
"Fili, Kili! Leave the poor lass alone before you suffocate her. " Dwalin had just come out of the cave when he saw the blushing and uncomfortable looking Lily with the two brothers standing in front of her and assumed they were being overly nice to her.
The two younger dwarves straightened up and looked to the elder dwarf as though he was going to tear their heads off. "Sorry Mister Dwalin...We were just trying to be nice to the lass." Fili was trying to justify why they were bothering her to Dwalin while Kili stayed by her and Ori, although Ori seemed to find the scene before him much more interesting than herself and Kili.
She had been looking over at the small dispute when Kili spoke to her, "We really didn't mean nothin' by it. You looked so sad.." He leaned against the tree next to where they had been standing. She watched as he stood there with his arms crossed and his eyes full of concern as he watched his brother argue with Dwalin over whether or not they had really been concerned with Lily or were just trying to be a little too friendly. When he noticed she was watching him he blushed and shifted uncomfortably. She smiled sheepishly and looked over to Dwalin and Fili.
"Master Dwalin, it's alright. They were just concerned that I was upset about something childish. Please be gentle with them." She giggled and walked over to the Dwalin. "Besides, we both know I can take care of myself." He nodded with a smirk and she put a hand on Fili's arm to lead him away.
"That was too nice of you Lady Lily. You could have left me there to suffer the wraith of Mister Dwalin." He said with a playful smile on his lips. He placed his hand on the one that was pulling on his sleeve. She stopped suddenly and looked at him confused. He quickly snatched her hand up and kissed the back of her hand, his eyes were locked with hers until then glanced behind her. She raised an eyebrow and looked to where his eyes had gone to. A sigh escaped her lips when she saw the retreating back of Kili.
She was about to say something when Thorin walked out of the cave informing everyone that they would be heading out. The company was packing up and getting ready to leave when Gandalf heard something coming and called for the rest to head in a direction. Soon they ran into Radagast. Man was she happy to see him. They only took a few minutes to share a hug before Radagast needed to speak to Gandlaf about something important. She liked taking these breaks, it meant she didn't have to do much work...yet. Of course things seemed too good to be true when they heard a howling.
"Was that a wolf?" Bilbo had said with a frightened look on his face.
"Wolf? No, that was not a wolf." Bofur had said. And just like that, chaos had ensued. A warg had come from one side trying to ambush the company and when it had been killed another had tried to sneak up on Thorin.
"Warg scouts! Which means an orc pack is not far behind!" As soon as those words left his lips, Lily had almost collapsed. Orcs!? Trolls were dumb enough to fool, but orcs? She was not prepared for that.
"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" Gandalf had all, but demanded an answer from Thorin.
"No one." Thorin replied.
Gandalf seemed not to believe him, "Who did you tell!"
"No one, I swear!" Thorin looked confused, "What in Durin's name is going on?"
Gandalf looked into the distance, " You are being hunted."
The thought terrified her and made the others uneasy. What made it even worse was when Ori exclaimed the ponies had run off. This was definitely not good! She turned to Radagast looking for some sort of comfort when he caught her eyes. For a unmoving moment they both stared at eachother before he took her into her arms and whispered into her ear, "You are the light in the eyes of those who love you. Always remember that my sweet Lily. Be safe." With that he stepped away from her.
"I'll draw them off." He said to Gandalf.
"These are Gundabad Wargs, they will outrun you!" He tried to reason with Radagast.
"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits," He smirked, " I'd like to see them try."
"No! Please Radagast, don't! You could be killed!" She pleaded with him with tears running down her cheeks."
Radagast pulled her into another hug before grasping her shoulders, "Listen to me Lillith, you need to be strong. I know your not ready for something as harsh as this...but you must face your fears in order to move on."
She could only nod numbly as he took off on his sled. Gandalf was almost istantly at her side leading her away. She didn't know when she would see Radagast again. He had been like a father to her these past two years. What would she do without knowing he was safe.
