The already tense knot in Maya's stomach tightened until she heard a voice.
"Maya, up here!" Kili whispered
Maya looked up to discover Kili's legs dangling from the overhanging branch above her. He presented his hand to her which she took to haul herself up on to the branch with him. She leaned against his broad chest, swinging her legs over his.
"You got me worried for a moment" she breathed
"I'm sorry, I didn't want to wake you" he apologised quietly
He rested his chin on her head and wrapped his arms around her shivering body. Maya curled up in his arms before, once again, darkness overcame her tired body.
Emily woke up in Thorin's arms. She felt warm and comfortable, reluctant to move or get up. As Thorin moved, she managed to free herself of his grasp without waking him and began walking over towards the smouldering fire. She couldn't help but think that Saffie and Fili could have got some spare firewood for the morning.
Emily wandered in to the forest for firewood which Saffie and Fili, HADN'T got. She noticed that it was strangely, slightly bigger and heavier than usual and the trees seemed to tower over her, making her feel quite small and timid. She wondered if it was just because she was still tired.
Without warning she heard a startled yelp and a cry of pain from the direction of camp.
Emily left the pile of firewood and bolted back to camp. When she arrived, she stopped to take in the scene before her.
Fili and Saffie were chortling as Maya slapped Kili round the face again and again, yelling rude words him. Without second thoughts, Emily approached Maya and seizing her with a strong grip, pulled her away from the young, startled dwarf. Saffie and Fili were still tittering away from their spot.
"Shut it you two" Emily spat
The laughing abruptly concluded.
"What was all that about?" Emily asked Maya softly
"He told me I've shrunk overnight!" Maya exclaimed, pointing a blaming at Kili.
As Maya began to continue her story Emily thought back to when she had gone to get the firewood. She remembered it feeling that slight bit bigger and heavier. She remembered how the trees seemed taller and towered over her.
"Are you even listening to me Emily?!" Maya interrupted her thoughts.
"Maya, Kili said you have shrunk, because you have!" Emily exclaimed
"What?!" Maya shouted, the anger inside her growing
"I have too, and Saffie"
Saffie immediately go up and measured herself against Fili. Whereas she had been slightly taller than him, she was now about an inch smaller than him.
"It seems as we spend time in middle earth, we start to develop features of, in our case, dwarves!" Emily concluded.
The scene had managed to wake up the rest of the company. Thorin wandered over to Emily.
"What's happened?" he questioned
"We are turning in to dwarves!" Emily replied as calmly as she could, gesturing to Saffie and Maya.
Maya was wiping the blood of Kili's face, apologising for what she had done.
"It seems you are, I'm taller than you!" Thorin chuckled
"You will have beards before long ladies" Kili joked receiving yet another, more playful slap, from Maya.
"Well at least its dwarves and not orcs or something" Emily sighed, she had much preferred being the taller one.
"Well as we have three new dwarves in our company, we better get them trained for the remainder of the quest" Fili stated
"Yes, we should" Thorin agreed.
And with that, Emily, Saffie and Maya began to train. Emily and Saffie trained with swords, becoming stronger by the day. Maya decided that she was more of an archer than a warrior and trained with Kili at every spare moment they had. She wanted to be just as good as him. She wanted her shots to be perfectly on target and accurate because in battle, she knew, missing would cost, her life.
After many months of vigorous training. After giving up, starting again, practising from dawn to dusk. Anyone or anything that didn't know Emily, Saffie or Maya in battle, would be sure that they had spent they're life training.
But then again, everyone says that dwarves pick new talents up easily!
