She scouted the land ahead of the Company for any sign of threat before they would reach the mountains; if they were being hunted, and she wholly believed they were, then she knew the hunter would soon be on his way and she greatly wished to be near Beorn when they came across him.

"Dolraw," Thorin would call, his deep voice booming to where she was, calling her back to his side. They would rest for a few moments, nothing longer than to sit and catch their breath before they stood and continued on. And by nightfall they reached the beginning of the mountains, the leg of their journey she greatly wished not to be apart of – she knew what lived in these mountains, and if it would not frighten them and turn them against her she would have shifted skins and told them they should find a better place to cross; but after pacing the front for several moments Thorin lost his patience and marched ahead of her, leaving her to follow reluctantly behind the others.

"Thank you," Bilbo told her softly, when she raised a paw and batted him toward the mountainside rather than over it; his large feet and aching legs making the crossing very difficult on the poor hobbit, and he would have fallen several times had it not been for her close eye on him.

It didn't take much to make the already unhappy lion entirely miserable, and looking back at his company Thorin could plainly see it on her wet face as the rain continued to pour. She didn't mind the rain, in fact she greatly enjoyed it after having gone so many months without ever seeing the sky – but she did not like the rain as they slowly pulled themselves up this great mountain, and already Bilbo had tripped sending almost half of them off the ledge as they made to grab him.

"Watch out," Dwalin roared, finding the shape of a giant stone hurling toward the cliffs above them. He grabbed the lion and pulled her in front of him before pulling the hobbit down, protecting them both from the hail of rocks that bore down on them.

"This is no thunderstorm," Balin said finding the distinct shape of something large in the clouds after a flash of lightening. "It's a thunderbattle!"

All the more reason to move, as she thought, rather than stand in the open as a stone giant tossed another boulder over their heads. Feeling the stone beneath their feet tremor she moved beside Bilbo, and she looked at the cliff they stood on realizing it was no mountain – her claws made very little traction on the stone, catching in little crevices before they painfully slipped nearly tearing them out. Bofur, looking back and seeing her slipping, nudged her behind him and pressed her against the side of the mountain, and she in turn kept a hold of him to keep them both from falling as the very stone beneath their feet began to shift and quake as the mountain they stood on got to its own feet separating the company. As the stone giant they were on began moving, Dolraw was left with little else to do than shift skins and cling to the wall behind Bofur, curling herself as much as possible to keep from being seen. Even then Bofur reached to grab her, feeling skin instead of wet fur yet he did not turn in fear of losing his balance as the giant reeled, his head struck and his body crumbling, and they began to descend toward the side of the mountain; closer and closer they came until they saw nothing else but black rock.


They retraced their steps from the day before, coming across warg tracks as they circled south – realizing the best path for them to take was north, though neither of them bore any plans of returning to the dark wood they crept along outside its borders for a great while.

"We should make for the river once more," she said when the sun began its descent in the sky.

But Beorn became a man and shook his head. "If they are smart that would be the first place they would look," he said, knowing if they continued to take rest there they would eventually be recaptured.

She was already a step ahead of him, their freedom finally becoming a reality in her mind. "With the forest at our back and the river at our front, somewhere in between would be a good place to settle," she explained, having spent most of the day contemplating whether they should remain in this large stretch of land or risk the dark trees to gain distance.

"And if the orcs discover us?" he asked, wishing for a place a hundred leagues away and even then somewhere farther.

Her face was thoughtful as she looked up at him. "Then we fight," she answered simply, seeing the doubt in his eye. "So long have you spent in a cage you have forgotten how great you are," she told him softly.

Raising a hand to her cheek he wondered if he ever would have found the strength to escape without her, or even the will to survive. "Alright little lion," he agreed fondly, believing he might agree to anything so long as she looked up at him so sweetly.

With a smile she stepped away from him. "I'll race you," she said, a gleam in her eye at the thought; seeing in the slight curling of his mouth he was fond of the idea as well. "Last one to reach the river has to find supper?" she asked, waiting for his nod before they shifted skins and set off, bounding together gleefully; and so long had it been since they had freely been able to run, without anyone chasing them, without a cage or a shackle hindering them. They had nothing but freedom and long stretch of land, and a partner to race against.


If she had hit her head and been left unconscious the dwarves would have received a great shock at the bare woman lying beside them as they all shook themselves amazed at being alive; instead when Bofur turned to her he saw her wet fur plastered on her lean body as she shook the water from her coat – leaving him to believe he must have felt Bilbo.

At that thought Bofur looked around panicked. "Where's Bilbo? Where's the hobbit?"

She was on her feet in an instant looking around the mountain side for him. "There," someone cried and she saw his little hands holding onto the side for dear life.

Bilbo, though he did not feel it, was a very fortunate lad for the moment the lion caught sight of his hands – seeing his fingers slipping on the wet rock – she lunged for him and he cried out at the feeling of her sharp claws digging into his skin as she kept him from falling, rooting her other three paws with their claws in every crack and crevice she could to hold him.

With the dwarves unable to reach his other hand, for Dolraw was longer than them all, Thorin held onto the cliff and swung himself down to help their hobbit up. The moment Thorin lost his grip Dolraw slipped through the others, bending around them or between their legs, before aiding Dwalin in pulling the king back onto the mountain; leaving Thorin to growl at the feel of her claws piercing through his clothing and into his skin.

Dwalin ruffled the fur on her head as he sat breathing deeply, his arms aching from having to pull up all of Thorin's weight. "I thought we lost our burglar," he said, proving many of the dwarves had unknowingly grown fond of the hobbit.

However Thorin was not of the same mind, seeing even more in him a burden; one that had almost cost him his life, and the quest would not get any easier. "He's been lost ever since he left home," Thorin said harshly, his voice cruel and unforgiving. "He should never have come, he has no place amongst us."

Dolraw turned to look at Bilbo, seeing the deep hurt on his face; and she saw then Beorn was right in his view of dwarves – they were blind to the lives of those they deemed less worthy than their own. "Come on lass," Balin said patting her head, releasing his own sigh on Thorin's treatment of Bilbo.

The hobbit slumped against the wall of the cave away from the others, cold and wet and miserable; and he shouldn't have come, he was fool to ever think he could reach the end of it. He blinked startled at the feel of a warm rough tongue on his hair. "Dolraw," he said trying not to laugh, in too pitiful of a mood to laugh, only she placed her paws on his leg and set to grooming him. She finished by running her head against his cheek and he smiled before hugging her, blinking as a swelling set behind his eyes. She curled herself around his head, letting him use her side as a pillow, and she cast Thorin a daring look as he watched the two.

She was asleep when he made to leave, and Bilbo almost woke her hoping she might join him back to Rivendell; but he remembered Gandalf's telling him she would go so far as to return to her home, and he left her as she dreamt of Beorn.

It was not until after Bofur hugged him that he looked back to the lion, seeing on the next lightening strike a woman with a mane of golden hair staring wide eyed at the floor of the cave; he watched closely as a flash of lightening illuminated her again, his heart racing to discover he had in fact seen a woman, only he was met with the sight of Dolraw as a lion with her hackles raised as she crept back toward the wall. "Wake up," Thorin roared, having also taken note of the cracking floor. But they were too late for the floor of the cave fell through sending them all down a long cavern, limbs and bodies colliding with each other and the stone before landing in a painful heap at the bottom.

Thorin raised himself on his arms, finding that he was staring down at a long slender, unclothed back. Though the moment he blinked skin was fur once more leaving him to wonder if he had seen anything at all. And then the goblins came.