I do not own The Hobbit—shocker. Nerys however, is mine. This fic follows the movie canon and is a prequel to Treasures Lost and Found. There's some violence and slightly sexual scenes, but nothing worth rating the fic any higher. Anyways, enjoy!

Since Day One
—To Esgaroth, Part 1

The summer after the discovery of the dragon sickness plaguing King Thror, Nerys found herself in an unexpected situation.

Every year towards the end of the summer, just as the leaves were beginning to turn, the dwarves of Erebor put together a trading convoy bound for Esgaroth, the city on the shore of The Long Lake, some distance south of the mountain. The lakeside city was a hub for goods from the elves of the Greenwood and the villages of men around the lake, and there was a high demand for the weapons and gems forged by the dwarves. Balin and Dwalin had accompanied Thorin and his father for the past three years; they weren't really considered old enough to travel, but Esgaroth was not too far and the convoy was quite large.

That year however, Balin was preoccupied with the courtly duties he had been learning and was unable to make the trip. Dwalin had asked Nerys if she wanted to come and she'd instantly agreed, despite having to dress like a man and conceal her identity as a female dwarf from the world. There was some bickering with Balin over the idea, but Nerys and Dwalin eventually won; they had run the idea past Fundin as well, but their father had agreed without much thought, only putting forth the stipulation that Dwalin keep an eye on her.

So, dressed in a specially-made tunic and breeches, Nerys pulled her hood low over her face and fell in step between Dwalin and Thorin, her swords on her hips and a smile on her face, though no one could see it. The swords had been a birthday gift from her brothers, given with the knowledge that they thought her capable of handling herself in a real fight, should the need arise.

"There should not be any reason to use our weapons on this trip," Dwalin said once they'd been walking for a while. "But it is possible orcs will come down from the north, or all manner of nasty creatures from the Greenwood."

Nerys frowned at her brother, turning her head so he could see the expression despite the hood. "There is no point in trying to scare me, Dwalin. I am already part of this convoy and I am not turning back now."

Thorin chuckled from her other side as Dwalin replied, "I was not trying to scare you, little one, just prepare you for what might happen."

"Oh, of course! How silly of me to assume you would try to scare me." She stuck her tongue out and then smiled at her brother.

"You two were not planning on doing this the entire way to Esgaroth, were you?" Thorin inquired.

Nerys turned and punched Thorin playfully in the shoulder and the trio dissolved into a few moments of laughter, Thorin and Nerys sharing a more private grin when the laughter had faded.

An animalistic shriek tore through the air then, bringing the convoy to silence and, slowly, to a halt. More cries filled the air, followed by roars and screams in a guttural language that could only belong to one race on Middle Earth; Nerys glared at Dwalin as if was his fault they were about to be attacked. Dwalin pulled his axes over his shoulders, Thorin drew his massive sword, and Nerys cautiously brought her blades into her hands, looking to either of her companions for an explanation.

"Orcs," Dwalin spat, making the word like a curse.

The first beast appeared then, lunging from the trees on the side of the road. Dwalin ran to initiate conflict, several other armed members of the convoy doing the same. Thorin yelled for the convoy to start moving again and then ran to join in the building fray. Nerys swallowed the sudden lump of fear, shook her hood back so she could see, and tightened her grip on her swords. She didn't run into the battling mass of dwarves and orcs, but she was ready when a new assailant appeared to her left.

She heard him before she saw him, his snarling and snapping cutting through the slight fog of fear that had begun to clog her mind. Nerys spun away from his first attack, raising one sword to block the roughly fashioned blade. The orc said something in its language that could only be an insult and advanced again, bringing its weapon down towards Nerys's head. She caught the attack with one blade and knocked it aside, taking advantage of the opening she'd created to lunge forward with her other sword and drive the point into the orc's unarmoured side.

The beast howled, but didn't stop or retreat. It slammed one meaty fist into Nerys's arm and she bit off a scream and managed to keep her grip on her sword though her entire arm was buzzing with the impact. She swung her other sword at the orc's knee, the blade digging in until it hit bone. Nerys ducked under the orc's arm and spun away, using the moment to yank her blade free. Now behind and to the side, she was able to drive her sword up into the orc's heart from behind, thick black blood pumping franticly out and down her blade.

As she pulled her sword free from the corpse, she heard more snarling behind her. Driven by the confidence of her first kill, the dwarf woman tuned to meet the new attacker.

She didn't turn quite fast enough.

The blade bit into her side beneath her cloak, the pain sudden and shocking. The orc pulled its weapon free and made to attack again, but Nerys somehow managed to pull herself enough together to step away and raise her bloodied weapons again. She focused on her target and found that the pain of her wound sort of faded.

"Dwarf girl shouldn't fight," the orc snarled. "Should stay at home."

Nerys didn't bother wasting energy on a response. She threw herself forward, putting all she could into the attacks and trying to ignore the vibrations that ran through her arms and straight to her wound with every hit of metal on metal. She took another hit on her shoulder, but managed to bring the second orc down as well when her sword pierced its gut and she closed the distance between them, driving her blade in almost to the hilt.

When she turned to find another opponent, she saw several bodies scattering the ground. There were still a few fights going on, but her assistance no longer seemed like it was needed. So, remembering her brother's words, she knelt and wiped the fresh blood from her swords before returning them to their sheaths at her hips. She stumbled as she pushed herself back to her feet, but the world began to clear as she forced herself to breathe even and slow and the pain became more prominent as she waited for Dwalin and Thorin.