I didn't like sleeping in books. It was always like a gray haze of nothingness. A nothingness that I had to wait through. The whole night, sitting in a gray haze. And to make it worse, I was freezing. The dew must have settled on me, or the night chill. At any rate, I was confident I was going to catch a cold. But sometime, during the sleep, the cold seemed to lessen. Most likely Miley with an extra blanket or something. And then I felt movement. Something was moving me. First rapidly, then in a gentle, almost soothing bob. But I still couldn't wake up. The gray haze persisted to fill my senses.

Then, slowly, I began to drift into consciousness. I was leaning against someone as a pony moved beneath me. I opened my eyes to see the face of a blonde haired dwarf, his eyes fixed on the rode in front of him.

"What the hell!" I exclaimed loudly, scaring most of the ponies and jumping away from him myself, sending myself so wisely out of the saddle and toppling down a large, rocky incline that the company was riding along the top of. I tumbled painfully down the cliff before landing in a heap at the bottom.

When I at last untangled myself from the brambles at the bottom, I looked up to be, once again, the center of the company's stares. I stared back stubbornly. Rina floated down, holding back a chuckle.

"Well, it would seem she is finally awake." Gandalf smiled down at me, clearly amused.

"Do you really think this woman will aid our quest?" Thorin questioned, clearly not amused.

"She has many talents." Miley defended me, though the look in her gaze clearly said 'M, you better start shaping up or we'll never pull this off'.

"I don't think sleeping and falling count as talents." Fili smirked.

"Neither does being a jackass." I snapped back. Several of the dwarves chuckled.

"At least she doesn't look like she got trampled by an Oliphant." Kili commented, quick to defend his brother. I gritted my teeth, suddenly aware of what a state I must be in at the moment. Covered in dirt and cuts, my hair a mess, and my clothes torn and stained. I looked up at Kili.

"Well, at least I'm not a vain jerk that won't even share a pony if he's not trying to get into someone's trou-"

"M!" Miley shouted. I shut my mouth immediately and glanced at the red head. She was trembling furiously.

"Sorry." I grumbled, before turning and walking away.

"Where do you think you're going?" Thorin's voice rang after her. Obviously worried about the integrity of his oh so secret quest.

"I'm not climbing back up that!" I shouted over my shoulder. Falling down a cliff was one thing, climbing up it was completely different. "I'll just meet you at the bottom." And I stomped off, once again, travelling on foot. Rina floated quietly behind me.

"You don't get along with people very well, do you?" she observed after a moment.

"I get along with people fine!" I snapped.

"Suuuuuuure you do." She nodded.

"Look." I sighed, stopping a moment to look at her. "I'm not the best with people. I'll admit. But I've survived well enough so far. I'll make it through this journey even if it kills me." I turned and started walking again, adding under my breath. "Sooner rather than later I hope."

"Sure, you can survive it." Rina rolled her eyes, floating on her back easily. "But maybe if you try to get along with people, you might even enjoy it!" I glanced at her for a moment.

"Enjoy a medieval rode trip with a bunch of dirty men?" A loud snort came out my nose. "Highly unlikely."

"You know, they aren't as dirty as you believe." Rina sighed. I didn't reply. "I was watching them, you know. While you were asleep. They seemed genuinely worried when you didn't wake up."

"You're a terrible liar." I said.

"I'm not lying." She shot back. "They really were concerned! They discussed several plans, but not once did they even consider leaving you behind."

"That's dumb. I would have ditched them in a heart beat."

"Oh… now I get it." Rina stopped, floating to the ground. I turned to look at her in confusion.

"Get what? There's nothing to get." I huffed.

"No… you… you can't accept that people can be kind." Rina looked at me with eyes filled with pity. I hated it. "You can't accept that people aren't like you."

"Like me?" I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean like me?"

"A liar, rude, untrusting, untrustworthy, and self obsessed." She rattled off quickly. I stared at her. Slowly, opening my mouth to cuss her off. But after a moment of silence, I shut it again and turned away, quickening my pace in a desperate attempt to get rid of the horribly perceptive ghost.

"So I'm right?" she asked, floating behind me.

"Oh for the love of everything! Will you just leave me alone?" The words rang out of my mouth and I sprinted forward. I ran and ran and ran. My just heaved and my tears flowed. My feet grew more and more bloodied as I hurtled across the silt-covered ground. But I didn't stop running.

She was wrong. Wrong. She had to be! People were like that! It wasn't just her. It couldn't be! Everyone lies! Everyone thinks only about themselves! Everyone trusts no one. That was just a fact of life. It was the truth. If I had learned anything over my 21 years of life, it was that this was the only truth. The only truth that always applied. Always.

Who was some ghost to tell me otherwise? She knew nothing! She had lied, just like everyone else! So I did the only thing I knew to do.

I ran.

"My feet are killing me." Kili groaned from his saddle behind me. I leaned away from Gandalf slightly to look back at the dwarf.

"You're feet are killing you?" I laughed. "But you're riding a pony."

"I know, but my feet are still killing me!" the brunette frowned. I laughed happily. The dwarf reminded me very much of my little brother. I hadn't seen Hamish in so long. And Kili was truly a joy to be around. A dear friend. But I could never see him being anything more than that. I don't know why M seemed to think so. She was definitely acting very odd since coming here. She had always been a little strange, but in a good sort of way. The kind of way that always keeps you pleasantly on your toes. But since coming to Middle Earth, the girl had taking a frightful turn for the worst.

I wanted desperately to help her somehow, but I had no idea how. If only she would just loosen up a little.

Thorin called out a halt from the front. I looked around to see that we had reached the bottom of the incline. Which meant M was most likely there. I sighed slightly and dismounted walking down to the front. But the sight I saw had me running the rest o the way down.

M was curled up against the cliff, her feet bloody and raw.

"Oh no." I breathed, stopping in front of her. She stirred slightly and looked up at me. Her eyes were puffy and red, dried tears gracing her cheeks. Slowly, she smiled a thin, weary smile.

"Took you all long enough."

So is anyone reading this still? just wondering. I don't want to be wasting my time.