Bilbo was busy adjusting his backpack when he walked straight into Wren, who was going through her own things, causing her to drop everything on the ground.

"Lady—I mean Miss Wren!" Bilbo exclaimed as he hurriedly bent down to help Wren collect her things. The Company had gathered on the outskirts of Rivendell. It was still slightly dark out, the sun having yet to make a full appearance. It was time for the Company to head out, before anyone, like Elrond, could stop their quest. Gandalf was to join them later.

Bilbo had been a bundle of nerves all evening. He quite liked Rivendell. But as he helped Wren, he noticed her hands were shaking and she seemed distracted. Perhaps he wasn't alone in this journey.

Bilbo picked up a journal that was covered in oddly thin and see-through material. Wren noticed the hobbit staring quizzically at the zip-lock bag she kept her prized journal..pieces of Rae written on the pages. Wren forcefully snatched them out of Bilbo's hands.

"Sorry," Wren said, shamefaced. "It's just…important to me." Wren carefully placed the book back into her knapsack and finished closing it up, tying the blanket on the top of the bag.

"So it's true…you are not from Middle Earth," Bilbo affirmed mostly to himself. Wren gave him a thin tight smile but wouldn't look him in the eye. How is it I feel like the odd man out with a group of Drawves and a Hobbit? Wren thought.

"It must be lonely," Bilbo said quietly as they both stood up and straightened out their bags.
Wren shrugged. She was used to being Company was off to the side, all the Dwarves were talking in excited, hushed voices. Ribbing each other and sharing their own private laughs. Wren noticed Bilbo looking at the group of Dwarves as well, with the same expression she wore. An outsider unsure how to fit in. It reminded Wren of first day of classes. Although she had some bonding time with some of the Dwarves earlier, that was within the comfort of Rivendell. Now the real quest begins. The real danger. And it is important to feel a part of the group and to have one another's back. It was the only way to survive in this world, hell in any world really. But here Wren and Bilbo stood, on the edge of familiarity. Both decidedly out of their comfort zones. Wren at least had a purpose driving her towards the danger, and in that she felt comfortable being off the side, on her own within the group. But Bilbo had joined for different reasons. Wren felt bad that the hobbit was even more outside of the group than she felt.

"But…at least I'm not in this on my own," Wren finally said and turned to Bilbo and smiled. Bilbo smiled back, surprised and in understanding of Wren's meaning. The two 'new kids' can look out for each other.

"Be on your guard; we're about to step over the edge of the wild," Thorin yelled from the front of the pack. "Balin, you know these paths; lead on."

"Aye," the small white-haired Dwarf said.

Wren and Bilbo both sighed and walked together to join the others, as they climbed up a passage way on a rocky mountain that led out of Rivendell. Bilbo stopped and looked back at Rivendell to admire the beautiful serenity of the place one last time. The sun peaked above, basking them in an amber glow. Bilbo stood longingly, half wanting to run back down to those marbled grounds.

"It's beautiful," Wren said breaking Bilbo out of his spell.

"I wonder if I'll ever see this place again" Bilbo said, mostly to himself.

"You will," Wren replied unconsciously. Bilbo looked at her, taken a back by the sureness of her voice…as if she knew something he did not. And then he remembered Wren's warnings earlier, how she seemed to know things that had yet to happen. But before he could think to ask Wren about what she seemed to already know, Bilbo got distracted, his mind wandering about the troll cave.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Bilbo exclaimed and dug into his pockets and pulled out a cloth wrapping some item. "These are for you, Miss Wren. I saw you were admiring them back at the Troll cave, and well…Since you were the only one not to get anything there…I thought…." Bilbo stammered, embarrassed now.

Wren unfolded the cloth. It was the beaded buckskin cuffs she thought she saw in the cave. Wren couldn't believe it, what were these doing there? Seeing the pattern in the light, she noticed in the middle was a bear's paw. Wren turned away, her eyes brimming with tears, and she hastily put the cuffs overtop each of her forearms.

"Thank you," Wren said quietly and sincerely.

"Hurry up you two," Thorin barked from the head of the group. ""Master Baggins, Miss Wren—I suggest you keep up." Thorin glared at Wren and Bilbo before turning his back to them and started walking in an even more determined pace.

"Well, you head him," Wren said, playfully nudging Bilbo on the shoulder, "we mustn't fall behind!"

Together the two shared their own private laugh.

"What do you keep looking at?" Dwalin's gruff voice whispered to Thorin. Dwalin noticed his King seemed paranoid, as Thorin kept checking behind his shoulder to the back of the Company.

"Hmmm." Thorin grumbled back in a non-committal way. Dwalin followed Thorin's line of sight to see what was the concern and saw the Hobbit and strange woman conversing and occasionally laughing with one another. Once in a while Bofur or Ori would join in. It seemed the two strange-lings had become accepted among some of the other Dwarves. Dwalin thought the Hobbit looked tense and scared, while the woman called Wren seemed almost too calm. Dwalin shook his head in disgust. He was sure she was some sort of witch.

"There is no need to worry about those two," Dwalin said, finally. "They probably won't last this whole quest—although, we do need the burglar…but that woman…"

"What happens to the Hobbit and Wren I could not care less—but they both signed the contract so they are part of the Company and as such I will continue to insure the welfare of this mission," Thorin said, definitively. "And Wren may prove to have information we need…" Dwalin raised his eyebrows at Thorin's use of the woman's name.

"Do you think her still a spy?" Dwalin asked. "The woman knew things…Could she be…a witch of some sort?"

"I don't trust the Hobbit or her, if that is what you are really asking," Thorin said in a voice that effectively ended the conversation.

Dwalin nodded and the two continued the walk in silence. Thorin briefly looked behind his shoulder again, to make sure Wren and Bilbo were still keeping up with the Company. His eyes flashed towards Wren and they caught her eyes, staring right back at him, looking almost sad—and so he quickly turned his attention back to the front of the trail.

The wind had picked up, pushing the rain against the faces of the Company like little needle pricks. It was almost impossible to hear beyond a foot radius. But Wren felt sure in her gut that Thorin and Dwalin were talking about her—and not in a flattering way. Especially Dwalin, the tattooed Dwarf was not likely to be friendly towards her like Bofur or Ori. And at most, Thorin barely tolerated her. Not that I care, Wren reminded herself. I'm not here to make friends. I just want to get back home. But then her eyes caught Thorin looking at her again, his eyes narrowed in that way that seemed to question Wren…like she was an eyesore. An outsider. Unwanted.

And then it hit Wren. For the first time since she lost Rae, she felt a longing for something other than her twin sister. Wren felt a longing to belong….to…

But before Wren could dive deeper a loud boom shook the group.