Disclaimer: Yup still don't own the Hobbit, which means it is still J.R.R Tolkien's.

Chapter 7

Caroline P.O.V

Balin's story, while surprisingly insightful, was still very unsettling. The way he talked about the battle, and how I could practically see everything he described in my head, made me rethink everything I thought about the dwarves until now. They had lost their home, just like Sophie and I had, but while our predicament was supposedly easily fixable they had to reclaim an entire mountain. Complete with a dragon guarding it and the treasure inside.

Then when Thorin answered my question about Azog he gave me this weird stare. I'd have to ask Sophie what she thought about it, figuring stuff out like that was her specialty.

Looking around the camp I saw that everybody was settling down again after the midnight story time, some were already snoring. Sophie had already slumped down and was curled up in the fetal position. She looked so calm, but from the way her eyes were flickering around behind her eyelids I could tell she was burning the midnight oil like crazy. Probably going over every detail of Balin's story.

Sighing I leaned my head back and rested it against the hard rock. Everything was quiet again, and hopefully there wouldn't be any more orc cries tonight. I propped both legs up so I could rest both arms on my knees and looked up at the sky. The stars were so much brighter out here, no pollution to block their light. Even back at Camp Schuster they were duller than the ones here in Middle Earth.

I groaned at the through of actually being in another world, and rubbed my eyes. All around me the dwarves were all fast asleep. Even Sophie was nodding off despite the fact I knew she was thinking hard about something.

"You should sleep."

I snapped my head over to look at Thorin. He was leaning against the rock face, arms folded with a stern look on his face. When I didn't answer he continued.

"We start early again in the morning, and you'll need your rest if you are to ride properly."

I pursed my lips together to form a thin line at his words and gave him a long stare, "You don't need to worry about me Thorin Oakenshield, in a few more days Sophie and I will be in Rivendell finding a way home and you'll never have to see us again."

He simply gave me a deadpan stare, a corner of his mouth twitching up slightly, "I merely do not wish you to slow our progress, Caroline." The way he stressed my name sent shivers up my back, not the good kind either. It made me feel cold on the inside almost empty, and like I should apologize.

I cleared my throat and looked back to the fire then shifted around on my spot on the ground trying to get comfortable. Finally I just laid down next to Sophie with my back turned to Thorin and my right arm folded under my head.

But there was no way I was going to let him get the last word in, "Well I'd hate to do that." I said smirking into my arm. He didn't respond so I figured he was just going to drop the subject. My smirk dropped from my face as I closed my eyes, I'd diffidently have no trouble going to sleep tonight.

The shuffling of feet and sharp morning light of the sun rudely woke me up after what felt like only a few minutes of sleep. I moaned and rolled over onto my back. Beside me Sophie was also starting to stir, she was a much lighter sleeper than I was so the fact that she was just barley waking up along with myself meant she was dog tired. My eyes flashed open and let out a tired breath.

I groaned again then hefted myself up into a sitting position. All around us the dwarves were either walking around doing morning chores or just barley getting up from their bed rolls. I ran a hand through my hair and flicked my long ponytail; I'd forgotten to take it out last night so it probably looked like the worlds best unintentional messy ponytail. Chuckling at that I leaned forward and pushed on the ground to help me get up and on my feet nearly stumbling from the soreness that was still there from yesterdays ride.

I stretched my arms above my head and heard a popping sound come from my shoulder.

"Wow Care, that was loud." Sophie commented from her spot on the ground. I looked down to see she was sitting with both legs sprawled out in front of her and her head resting on the rock behind her.

I sighed, "Well I slept on it all last night I'm surprised it didn't just fall off from loss of circulation."

Sophie chuckled the held her hands out in front of her, "Want to help me up?"

I rolled my eyes then took both of her hands in my own. Leaning back slightly I pulled on her hands to help her roll up to a standing position. She then placed both hands on her hips and turned from side to side at her waist.

The dwarves must have finally noticed we were up and awake because we were then showered with several 'good mornings'

Sophie smiled and nodded letting them know she had heard them. She looked over to me and flourished her hand out in front of her as if signaling me to do the same.

I rolled my eyes, "Ya good morning." I muttered then looked back to Sophie, "Happy?"

"It could use some work." She said shrugging.

Just as I was taking in a breath to answer her I felt a hand on my shoulder. Startled I turned to see it was just Gandalf.

"I trust you two had a good rest?" He asked taking his hand from my shoulder to hold his knarred wooden staff with both hands.

"I've had better," I answered, "But I've also had worse."

Gandalf smiled that welcoming grandpa smile of his and nodded, "Good you'll need it." He paused and gave us a long calculating stare, "It looks as if it may rain today so I suggest you add these to your attire."

He held out a bundle of dark brown fabric to me that was draped around his arm. I took them from him and before I could say thank you he strolled away to tend to his horse.

I turned back to Sophie and handed her half of the pile, she took it and unfolded the brown cloth. It was a long coat, or cloak I guess people in Middle Earth would call it, complete with a hood and what looked like a swirling silver clasp. Sophie held it up to inspect it then unclasped the swirling silver hook, and in one smooth motion swung it over her shoulders and hooked it back together again. As she swung it a small black bundle fell out of it. I bent down to pick it up and saw the bundle was a pair of leather gloves.

"Where do you think Gandalf got this stuff Soph?" I asked looking at the gloves, and then stood up to hand them to Sophie.

She shrugged and pulled the gloves onto her hands, "Does Gandalf being a wizard mean nothing to you Caroline?" she asked.

I stood there looking at her with an eyebrow raised. Sophie sighed and rolled her eyes at me, then wiggled her now gloved fingers at me, "Magic Care. Magic!"

I laughed and swatted her hands away from my face, "Just because he pulled this stuff out of nowhere doesn't mean he used magic to get it." I said back while letting my own cloak fall open along with another pair of black leather gloves.

She huffed and bent to pick my gloves up as I whipped the dark material around to lie comfortably across my shoulders. The cloak fell across my back and ended at my ankles, it was pretty thick but surprisingly not heavy at all. Its hood was fairly deep so if it did rain I could just pull it over my head and be completely hidden in its depth. And the silver clasp looked sturdy enough that it wouldn't pop out of place or anything and suddenly leave me without a defense against the elements.

"Well I think he did." She pouted as I took the gloves from her.

They too looked remarkably sturdy, and had matching swirling designs to the cloaks clasp stitched onto the cuff. I stuck my hands into them and mad a fist to test their flexibility. It was like I wasn't even wearing gloves, they bent and creased with my hands movements and didn't bunch in any one area leaving me wondering how a place with zero technology had managed to make the perfect gloves. I shrugged and decided to leave it a mystery Sophie and I would be back home in no time and it wouldn't really matter when we were back to looking after twelve year old kids.

"Anyway," Sophie said bending down to retrieve her saddle from the ground, "We should get going."

I nodded and picked up my own saddle. It was heavier than I remembered it being yesterday. My arms must just be sore or something because picking this thing up was no problem last night.

Sophie started walking towards her brown horse and it immediately picked its head up from the ground and whinnied at her. She laughed and made some clicking sounds at the creature. The thing must have bonded with her or something because before I knew it the horse was making it's was to her to meet my brunet friend in the middle. Sophie kept clicking at it and it nuzzled her with its large nose until it sidestepped so she could place the saddle on its back.

I watched her then a whickering sound ahead of me drew my attention. It was my devil horse. The white mare looked at me then threw her head in the air and snorted. Carefully I walked over to the beast and tried not to glare at it. I'd learned yesterday that this horse was extremely moody. One second she was just fine and the other she was trying to leave the line of ponies and go off on her own. And she didn't respond well to me snarking off at her. So today I was determined to begin getting on her good side.

She turned her head away from me and took a step so her backside was facing me, then flicked her tail up in my direction. I let out a huff of air and continued walking forward the white horse. From my right I heard some snickering from the dwarves but didn't take my eyes off the horse to give them a glare. The horse would probably sense it and never let my ride her, let alone saddle her. I clenched my jaw and did my best to ignore everybody around me.

Finally I reached my horse and made a side route so I was nowhere near those powerful legs of hers. She craned her neck around to watch me, a tuff of grass stuck out of the corners of her mouth from her morning grazing. Her eyes seemed to just be black orbs of nothingness, but I knew behind them was a sneaky conniving mind looking for every opportunity to humiliate me. Taking in a deep breath I started to make the clicking noises Sophie had made at her horse.

"There you go girl, nice and easy." I muttered between clicks. Slowly I brought the blanket the saddle rested on up and over her back. Her shoulders twitched a bit but she didn't do anything, so I took it as a sign to continue.

"That's a good girl, just a few more things." I cooed trying to sound as calm and sweet as I could, almost imitating Sophie. The horse whickered and threw her head back. Her sudden movement startled me and I jumped back a little.

"You're doing good Care!" I heard Sophie yell encouragingly.

"Shut up." I muttered back to her in a singsong voice. My horse twitched her ears back at the sound of my higher melodic voice, and stopped twitching the skin around her shoulders.

"You like that?" I asked the horse in disbelief.

The white mare neighed and turned her head to look at me as if waiting for me to do it again. I stared at the horse and reached out a hand to rub her forehead and began to quietly sing the chorus of 'Ho Hey'. It always came on the radio whenever I was driving so I new the lyrics fairly well but I was a bit off with the tune. She didn't seem to really mind the occasional wrong note though and slowly lowered her head. Her eyes were starting to droop as will. I smiled and started to raise the saddle up to place it on her back while still loosely muttering the song, humming the parts I wasn't sure about.

I reached under her belly and grabbed the largest strap and began synching the saddle to her back. Trying to buckle all the straps back together was much harder than angrily ripping them off, but Sophie kept making her movements large and obvious so I could follow along with how to secure the saddle properly. She kept turning her head to see if I was doing it right and kept smiling to encourage me. In no time I had my saddle and reins completely done and ready for another days ride.

"Way to go Care!" Sophie said giving me a pat on the back, "Soon you'll be a total horse expert!"

I rolled my eyes, " Ha ha Soph, that hilarious we both know that I'll never be that good." I replied.

"Well it's the thought that counts." She shrugged. "And in any case you finished right along with the rest of us so we can now start off on 'our adventure' again." She said using finger quotes.

I grinned a bit and put my arm over her shoulders, "Ya and we didn't even get yelled at by the grump this time around." I said jabbing my thumb in Thorin's direction. He was too busy making sure the camp was getting packed up quickly to notice, so I figured it was safe to make fun of him.

Sophie giggled, "You be careful Caroline, don't think I didn't hear what Gandalf whispered to you back at Bag End about Thorin." She said in a hushed tone.

I patted her shoulder then took my arm from around her and folded them across my chest, "Don't worry Soph I'm being careful."

"Careful about what?" A voice said from behind us. Sophie and I spun around to see the silly hat dwarf standing with two apples identical to the ones we ate last night.

"Oh nothing." I said back shrugging.

The dwarf nodded and smiled then held the fruit out to us, "We wont have time to have a proper breakfast this morning. Thorin wants to leave as soon as possible so you two better take these."

"Thank you Bofur," Sophie smiled taking both apples and holding one out for me to take, "Caroline and I appreciate it, don't we Caroline." She said stressing my name through her smile.

"Oh," I paused, "Thanks, Bofur." Thankfully Sophie had said his name otherwise I would have just stood there saying thank you while he stood there awkwardly waiting for me to remember his name. He kept smiling then walked off with what seemed to be a slight hop in his step, back to his brown and white spotted pony.

"That was nice of him." I said looking down at the apple. It seemed ever redder and far shinier in the sunlight than the dull glow of the fire from last night. Hopefully it would taste just as good.

"It really was." Sophie agreed still smiling.

Behind us my white mare threw her head back, her straw colored mane flying wildly. She neighed loudly and stomped her front hooves on the ground.

"Looks like somebody's ready to go." Sophie commented.

"Or just playing coy and is devising a diabolical plan or something even eviler." I whispered, making sure I talked low enough that the horse couldn't hear.

"Caroline that's ridiculous, she's such a sweet looking horse she'd never do that."

"I beg to differ," I grumbled, "I had to sing Ho Hey just to make her let me put the saddle on her back."

Sophie laughed, "Knowing your singing I'm surprised she didn't just bolt then and there!"

I let out a laugh, "You and me both."

Sophie walked forward and started to stroke the white mare down her neck, she seemed to like it and shifted her weight on her hooves so she was pressed closer to Sophie's hand.

"Have you thought of a name for her?" She asked, "I named mine Alfie."

I raised an eyebrow at her and pursed my lips together, "Alfie?" I questioned.

"Yes Alfie, I think its cute and he's so calm it just fits." She explained.

I raised my hands in defeat, "Whatever works for you Soph. And, well, I was thinking about Amitiel but you've named your horse something that starts with an 'A' so that doesn't really work anymore." I said starting to mutter.

Sophie's eyes went wide and she grinned, "No its perfect! Alfie and Amitiel. I like it you're keeping the name."

I smiled; my lips still pressed together, "Alright then, Amitiel it is."

It was then I noticed the dwarves were beginning to mount their ponies. I looked around and saw that they had successfully cleaned up every inch of the camp; they had shifted the dirt around so all the footsteps we left behind were obscured and moved the stones they had used for a fire ring completely away from the camp. It looked exactly like it had before we stopped there for the night not a single sign that someone, or seventeen someone's', had spent the whole night there in the little natural rock barrier.

I whistled, a subtle complement at their job well done. Sophie must have been equally impressed because she was now nodding and smiling while her eyes were closed. These dwarves may be loud and obnoxious but they sure knew how to clean up after themselves.

I felt a hand brush along my shoulder and Sophie walked past me toward her brown horse.

"Come on, I think their about to leave." She said.

I nodded and turned back to my horse, or Amitiel, as she would now be known as, "Are you going to let me get on or are you going to try to humiliate me again?" I asked putting my hands on my hips.

She seemed to pause to gather her thoughts before whickering and then craned her head to push my side a bit. Amitiel then raised her head and neighed loudly to the sky.

"I'm going to take that as a yes?" I said giving the horse a skeptical look. I shook my head and clasped a hand around the horn and back end of the saddle. Taking a deep breath and lifting my left leg up to the stirrup I prepared myself to try and mount in one fluid move. I let the breath out and hefted myself up to the saddle. It was smoother this time, much better than yesterday, but I still paused stretch my leg over Amitiel's broad back to the other side of the saddle. As soon as I sat down pain shot through my legs all the way down to my toes. I bit back a gasp and leaned over trying to hide that fact that I had not completely recovered from yesterdays riding. I screamed in my head and took a deep breath, then straightened my back and tugged on my reins to guide Amitiel over to Sophie and Alfie. Every step the horse took jostled my legs shooting pain down through my thigh. I forced my breathing to be long and even as I tried to ignore the pain.

Sophie leaned over on her saddle, seemingly unaffected by yesterdays ride. She rode everyday back at Camp Schuster so of course she would have no problem continuing that habit here in Middle Earth.

"Are you ok?" She asked, "You're really pale."

"I'm fine." I grumbled through my clenched teeth. My hands tightened around the reigns and I locked my shoulders back to try and stay as straight as possible.

Sophie gave me a skeptical look then leaned back to sit rightly in her saddle. She sighed and looked up at the colorless sky, "Well at least you can hide in your hood."

"What do you mean by that."

"Gandalf was right, it looks like it's going to rain." She said pointing up at the sky while lifting the hood oh her cloak up to sit on her brown hair.

"Perfect." I grumbled happily as I shoved my own hood over my blonde head.

Large cold beads of rain continuously pelted my body as we rode slowly through a large and dense forest. It had started off as a small sprinkle when we first started off from the campsite then suddenly became a torrent of water. In no time everybody was soaked, miserable, and cold with no hope of stopping anytime soon. It was technically just late afternoon and there was no way Mr. High and Mighty Future King of some mountain would let us stop before night came. The thought made me hate him even more.

"Mr. Gandalf!" One of the dwarves behind me shouted over the pouring rain, "Can't you do something about this deluge?"

That was something I would love to know. Gandalf claimed to be a wizard and shouldn't beings that say they can use the mystical forces around them be able to stop a little thing like the weather?

I heard Gandalf sigh loudly, "It is raining master dwarf, and it shall continue to rain until the rain is done." He said exasperated.

I had to admit the old man had a point. At least he sounded wise like wizards should be.

"If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another wizard." He finished.

"I bet Dumbledore could change the weather, or even that medieval guy from that British show." I muttered while smirking into my hood. Sophie must have heard me because I could practically feel her glaring at me from my side.

"Are there any?" Bilbo asked.

"What?" Gandalf said startled by the hobbits sudden question.

"Other wizards." He clarified.

Gandalf tilted his head back a bit in understanding, then hummed, "There are five of us. The greatest in our order is Saruman, The White." He said, "Then there are the two blues; you know, I've quite forgotten their names." Gandalf paused as if trying to search his mind for the names of these other two wizards.

"And the fifth?" Bilbo prompted.

But Gandalf didn't seem to hear him as he was still trying to think of the names of the 'two blues'.

"Gandalf," Sophie called, "You said there were five, who's the fifth?" she asked.

Her voice seemed to bring him out of his thoughts and he replied without missing a beat," Why that would be Radagast, The Brown."

Radagast? Everybody here had the strangest names it made me wonder if when they were born their parents put letters in a hat, drew couple out and tried to make a name up based on those letters.

"And is he a great wizard?" Bilbo asked, "Or is he more, like you."

I snickered a bit and had to hold a hand against my mouth to stop myself form laughing. Bilbo was begging to get a bit more confident on this trip. And for the better, that was the sassiest thing I had heard so far on this entire journey.

I saw Gandalf look over his shoulder to glance at the Hobbit. He seemed to be quite offended by that. Whether it was because Radagast was worse and Gandalf didn't want to be compared to him, or the fact that Bilbo had called him out on his lack of wizerdness.

"I think he's a very great wizard," Gandalf shot back, "He's a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others. He keeps a watchful eye over the vast forest lands to the East, and a good thing too, for always Evil will look for a foot hold in this world."

Not for the first time Gandalf's words struck something inside me. He had said world not land like I had expected him to. It made me think that maybe he wasn't just talking about this world. But all he knew about our world was what Sophie or I had said, he couldn't possibly know anything about the evils we had back home. Sure it wasn't anything like orcs or dragons but they didn't even have half of the problem causing things that we did. Maybe Gandalf knew more than he was letting on?

We continued riding for a few more hours and by then the rain had let up and the sun was now shining. Sophie and I had removed our hoods and tried to no avail to tame the rogue hairs that had escaped our ponytails. The majority of the dwarves got a kick out of us trying to get out hair to cooperate and Fili and Kili said we looked like 'fussy old dwarfish maids'. Sophie laughed and I grabbed a low hanging branch to swat the two brothers with the recoil of holding it back, effectively showering them with tiny droplets of water as well. After that Thorin looked back and gave us all a glare.

"Don't mind him." Kili said urging his pony forward to walk in between Sophie and me. We were beginning to head towards an open field so there was plenty of room for two horses and a pony to walk beside each other.

"He's just got a lot to worry about is all." Fili continued, moving to flank Sophie on her right.

"We understand." Sophie replied, "I hear trying to reclaim a homeland is a pretty big deal."

"Especially when there's a dragon involved." I muttered, still skeptic that the company even stood a chance against such a revered creature in both their world and ours.

The two brothers must have heard me because their smiles got smaller and they found their reigns suddenly very interesting. Sophie scrunched her brow and frowned at me. I mouthed 'what?' at her and shrugged. She widened her eyes at me and nodded at Fili and Kili who looked like somebody who had just found out their dog had died.

"Its not hopeless." Kili said sternly then lifted his head up to look directly at me, "Smaug may guard Erebor and its treasure, but we will reclaim our home, we will see its golden halls, and the wealth inside its walls will flow with bounty and our people will grow prosperous once again." He tightened his grip on his reigns and looked down for a moment before returning his gaze forward at the open meadow.

I narrowed my eyes looking at the dark haired dwarf, "Kili, have you never actually seen this mountain?" I questioned.

His jaw clenched.

"Kili and I were only just small when the dragon came, we have no memories of Erebor." Fili answered sounding grim, then his smile returned, "But Thorin's told us tales of the Lonely Mountain. We grew up on his words of the mountain, and we trained hard so that one day we could stand beside our uncle's side when he takes the throne from that worm, and make strong the line of Durin once again." His voice was full of determination and conviction, like nothing could stand in his way of doing everything in his power to get Erebor back, not even a dragon.

I was stunned by what they had both said. They were willing to put everything on the line to get something back they hadn't even seen. They had such blind faith in their uncle it almost made me want to bypass the elves and continue on with them just to see how their quest ended. I quickly shot that thought to the back mind. I had a life back home, family that was probably worried out of their minds by now, and a future to look forward to. I couldn't just drop all of that to go traveling across some medieval country.

I saw Sophie grin and drop her reigns so she could reach over and place a hand on each of the brothers shoulders, "I think what you guys are doing is amazing, and the reasons you are doing it for are incredible. I can't think of a single person back home that would go to such lengths to do something like that, and not only for themselves but for their entire culture."

The brother's smiles returned to their shining glory as they beamed at Sophie and her infectious grin.

"Your words of encouragement are greatly appreciated Sophie." Fili said, "I'll remember them when we've parted."

Sophie blushed, "Oh, um, no problem, Fili."

"Wait parted?" I asked, we'd barley been traveling two days and we were already going to be leaving the company? I wasn't sad at the thought but I diffidently wasn't over ecstatic about leaving the security of the group just yet.

"Aye, Thorin's already led the company closer to the elves that he ever intended to be, so tonight and the morning will be all the rest we see of each other." Fili explained.

"Oh." I sighed.

Beside me Kili laughed, "Don't tell me the stone faced Caroline we know, who's been grumbling and disdainful this whole time will be saddened to leave the company?"

I snickered, "Well I never meant to, but you've sort of grown on me."

The brothers looked at each other and grinned.

"But only a little." I added, "Not enough to make me rethink leaving."

They continued to smile and look between themselves. I smiled and decided to leave the conversation at that. Ahead of us the clearing became even wider then led up a path overgrown with weeds and wild grass to what looked like an abandoned house. It was barley standing on four poles and its roof was nothing more than a few rotting planks of wood and the occasional shady looking shingle. There was a slumping pile of rocks at the back of the house that I assume at one point in time had been a chimney. Whoever lived here was long gone, but it made a perfect place for two humans, a couple of dwarves, a hobbit, and a wizard to stay for a few hours.

"We'll camp here for the night!" Thorin shouted from the front of the group, he then looked back and eyed Sophie, Fili, Kili, and I, "Fili Kili, look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them."

Fili and Kili sighed then dismounted from their ponies. Sophie and I followed suit and my dismount was much smoother that it had been yesterday. Even my legs weren't as sore and I'm pretty sure walking would be no problem for the rest of the day.

"We can take your horses for you." Kili offered, gathering up his reigns.

"I think I can handle it." I said patting Amitiel on her still damp neck. She neighed and shook her mane, causing me to get a mouth full of golden horsehair. The white mare's eyes seemed to sparkle with a smile as she made a sound I swear was the horse equivalent of a laugh.

"No really," Fili insisted, "We're going to be stuck taking care of everybody else's there's no sense in making you two be the only ones to tend to your own."

"Plus it will keep us occupied and away from being completely bored." Kili finished.

I shrugged and handed the dark haired dwarf the reigns to my horse and gave her one last pat before Kili started to walk towards the shallow trees.

"That was nice of them." Sophie commented once they were out of hearing range.

"Ya it was," I agreed as I folded my arms. "Should we go up and see if they'll let us do anything, or make us just sit there again watching?"

Sophie smiled and closed her eyes, then lifted her nose to the sky, "I think we shall." She held out her arm to me and I looped mine through it. I chuckled and we started up the small hill towards the abandoned house.

First chapter of the New Year! How exciting! Well this one was really just character development and interaction, which it actually really important in any story so yay for that. Also shout out to everybody whose chosen to follow and or favorite this story, you guys are the best and I wish each and every one of you the very finest of years yet! Oh! A big hello and thank you to that person who reviewed as a Guest, you my dear person are awesome and totally made my day. As always I hope you liked this chapter if not that's cool you're entitled to your own opinion and that's awesome! So until next time lovely people! Farwell!