Disclaimer: Recognizable characters are Tolkein's. I supposedly own this story and Eda. But considering it's somehow taken on a life of it's own, I don't know if that is still true.
Eda lumbered after the hobbit. Sleep still tugged at her eyes. 'How did they ever wake from such comfortable beds?' she only barely contained the thought from spilling out in a vocal sentence. Her path to the living room garnered attention, and the remaining dwarves followed, faces written with curiosity and confusion.
Thorin stood in the light of the hearth. She bowed efficiently and tried to swallow a small yawn.
"I see you have lost your previous height," Thorin noted. Indeed, she was back to her view of the world closer to the ground—perhaps even a few centimeters lower than her last encounter with the king since she had left her boots and several books at the foot of her bed. Rather than answer, she shrugged. Words were slow in coming and she didn't feel much like sparing them on him anyway.
"The rest of your appearance." It came out like a command as opposed to a request for explanation. 'Fair enough,' she thought, 'I'd like to get this off anyway,' She looked around.
"A cloth or something to—"a dwarf with a distinct triple mohawk thrust some sort of linen in front of her. She picked it up gingerly, inspecting the delicate details and numerous holes. Doilies. 'S'ppose so.' She faintly registered the hobbit's voice exclaiming that doilies were not for cleaning, but she nevertheless folded it and wiped it across her face. Her tan skin appeared, looking much darker as it stood next to the white paste. A disgruntled huff and subtle footsteps—along with a few deep chuckles—told her the hobbit had abandoned them all for his bed. The same dwarf offered another similar piece of cloth when it looked like the first was used up. The black coal she'd used to thicken her eyebrows stained the cream colour, but she continued the same, and Thorin continued with his questioning.
"You were recognized by Dwaln." She closed her eyes to conceal their roll.
"If you were a true professional, you wouldn't have had someone else in the room when you gave me the assignment." Her words came out succinctly.
"Your method of completion was sloppy. Anyone could have seen or mistakenly intercepted," he continued. Her mouth tipped downwards, and her eyes narrowed.
"Calculated risk."
"Your report was amateur and over-detailed on trivial matters," he shot another at her. She smirked. In the end, she had drawn a map of the wizard's path to the Shire. It included crudely drawn illustrations of the wizard eating and sleeping—along with times at which he did so—as well as a full page of elaborate—if ugly—recreations of his numerous fireworks.
Her smirk coloured her words with a tone of self-satisfaction. "Revenge." A pause. "I didn't technically break any rules. You never specified how to write the report."
"Excuse me." At this point Gandalf stepped in and forward. Eda though she glimpsed a smile tucked in his eyes. "Thorin, who is the young lady?" This seemed to satisfy Thorin further.
"Meet our burglar."
"You can be seriously considering a human woman as a burglar," Gloin blurted.
"Aye, the hobbit was bad enough, but a lassie would cause even more trouble," Bofur hastened to add. A swell of noise as every dwarf jostled the air to share his opinion—either with Thorin directly or each other. For his part, Gandalf looked perplexed but reserved, though possibly teetering on anger should Thorin proceed unwisely. The group quieted when the wizard asked for an explanation.
"Yes, that would be great," the woman added sharply.
"I sent for this woman while we waited for you to return and give news of our burglar. Days had passed and we had no news of whether you'd fared well in your search. I enlisted the woman—"
"I have a name—"
"for a task." He took a moment and tried to consider how best to phrase his next sentence. "I had her track you from your departure to your arrival at the Shire. I did not know if she would succeed in avoiding discovery, but I wanted a test of her skills. Tonight, at dinner, she succeeded in conveying her report to me without discovery—though I would hesitate to call her efforts successful or admirable." She shrugged as if unburdened with a care in the world for his opinion. She refused a fifth doiley from Nori and turned to them. Both of Thorin's nephews gave a jolt of recognition.
"You said you were going north!" Kili sounded almost injured by the realization she had lied to him. The younger dwarf's eyes met those of his uncle and he explained, "I met Miss Eda in the stables." His mind clicked it together. "I suppose she was waiting for her time to leave after Mister Gandalf." At his name, the company looked to the wizard, who appeared amused, curious and cautious.
"And you think she is qualified enough to join your company?"
"Had I another choice, I would have taken it." The woman breathed out low, almost growling, at the insult.
"Not that I am not flattered," she interrupted tartly. "But you have yet to even ask if I want to join."
"Do you want to jo-?" It was Kili who asked.
"No." Her eyes narrowed. "I finished my bargain, and I am quite done with the dwarves of the Blue Mountains for now."
"But how will we buy your game?" Again Kili spoke out of turn only to receive a resounding slap to the back of his head from Fili.
Thorin ignored the woman's words and spoke to Balin, though his eyes remained focused on her expression. "Give her a contract." The older dwarf blinked. Surely he couldn't be serious? Yet he had been told to bring at least one copy of the contract. Such the copy that he pulled from his coat and handed to Thorin, who practically threw it at the woman.
"Read it first," he ordered brusquely. She shifted anxiously then marched off, growls mingling in her long exhale.
"Thorin," Balin broke the silence first. "A woman? Surely we are not so desperate—"
"She is a hunter with familiarity to the woods and stealth." He hated the words coming out. It sounded too much like he wanted such a solution when such a solution seemed like the most pathetic of desperation. "She is a thief and smuggler as well, making her as qualified as the hobbit for such a task as the one we have in mind." He met the old man's quizzical gaze then those of his company. "I would not wish for this burglar—not once were I to live a hundred lifetimes. Yet Mister Baggins has refused our offer, and, as we have no dwarf kin capable of such a task, we must pull from what little may be found." He glanced at the woman as she stood in the hall light, staring at the parchment. "Even if it is the littlest of all."
Her eyes felt exhausted already, and she had only been staring at the contract for twenty seconds. A hand raked over her face, and a groan ground out. Why she continued to hold the paper—rather than simply shoving it back at Thorin's face with a resounding 'no'—she couldn't hazard a guess. She could, however, curse her curiosity. As it was, her curiosity was giving her a headache.
Heavy footsteps of dwarf boots sounded beside her.
"Having trouble?" She glanced out the corner of her eye.
"Why would you say that?"
"You look like Kili did when Balin tried to teach him chess," the blond prince answered lightly. Without a word, she shuffled further down the hallway and ducked into a doorway. He followed, his expression one of concerned confusion, as if worrying she was suddenly deranged.
"I-I." She took a deep inhale. "Promise first that you won't tell anyone." She waited silently.
"Should I sign a contract of secrecy?" He questioned innocently, his eyes searching briefly for a second piece of paper. She rolled her eyes and fought ot keep her hands from clawing her own face off.
"No. Just…promise. Consider it a verbal contract—"
"Who's the witness—"
"Oh, Valar have mercy! No witness, just promise, damnit!" He startled at the words but nodded his head.
"I promise."
Her breath came out in a tremor but she thrust the contract into his chest. "I-I can't read."
At the words, her entire upper body had slumped forward, her eyes scrunched shut and her mouth pursed. She hated admitting it to anyone, much less a stranger, but her curiosity to know what the contract said had lead her to this point. Her hands pressing the crisp parchment into a young dwarf prince's chest. And the chest was…heaving? Distinct chuckles reached her ears, and her head snapped up, eyes wide.
"What are you laughing for?" She demanded in a hiss. Her hands pulled away, itching to damage him in some way. He held up a hand of his own, waving it like a peace flag.
"Nothing, nothing." He straightened the paper out before him. "I've just never seen such a dramatic declaration over something so minor." Her eyes narrowed.
"Alright, alright, just read it already, your highness," she ground out. His chuckles subsided.
"Would you like me to read it to you as a bedtime story?" This time her mind wasn't fast enough to restrain her hand, and it flew forward to smack him on the arm. Fili simply sniggered more. 'Damn their thick coats,' she cursed inwardly.
"Just read the important parts before I choke you with it—"
"That would certainly make signing it very difficu—"
"Now!"
With a flourish, he straightened the paper. Eda leaned in, waiting, for what felt like minutes before he locked eyes with her.
"What do you consider to be important?" 'Oh, of all the ruddy dwarves to help,' she thought, running a hand over her face.
"How much is the prize?" He didn't even bother to scan the paper.
"Not exceeding one fourteenth of the treasure in Erebor." Seeing her lack of recognition, he felt the need to add, "that's a lot of gold."
"Erebor is where?"
"Far away."
"Great. That was helpful. So very helpful. Immense—"
"Past Mirkwood."
"Right. Why do you need a thief?"
"A nasty furnace with wings currently resides there." The prince seemed proud of his paraphrasing and folded the contract up before holding it out to her. Hazel eyes flitted incredulously between his smiling face and the outstretched paper.
"I'm not done yet!"
"I am, though." He feigned a long, stretching yawn. "Reading contracts for someone is very tiring business." He pushed the paper into her hands with a wink. "Best you just sign it so we can all get some sleep."
"I still don't know anything!" Her indignation rose heatedly through her voice.
"What else do you need to know? Vast wealth awaits you, and you will have the pleasure of traveling with twelve of the most dashing dwarves in all of Middle Earth." Another wink, and he left her standing in the doorway.