Chapter 10:

Thali's POV

It seemed like a normal night, everyone laughing and talking away, when I saw it. It was beautiful. Light brown; with streaks of blue in its feathers, it stared at me as if I was an alien or something, but didn't fly away. It was a Thrush. Cute as a button it was. I wanted to keep it. I stared at the bird; my face forming a slight frown as I ever so slowly got off my log of a seat and crouched down. I slowly moved towards it, my movements reminding me of what it would look like if a frog could walk instead of jump. Kili stopped talking and stared down at me 'Thali? Are you alri-' I cut him off with a 'Shush!' and continued slowly making my way over to the bird.

When I finally reached it, nearly everyone was staring at me. The thrush looked up at me, and cocked its head. I slowly put my arm out. Everybody seemed to hold their breath. It took one step toward me, and then raised its wings and flew upward. Everyone let out a low groan and I said, 'Oh no! Oh – Oh okay then.' The Thrush turned, changed direction and landed neatly on my shoulder. I turned to the rest of the company, grinning wildly, while they all cheered and Balin, noticing that Thorin missed all that, cried out, 'Thorin! Come and look at this!'

It was later that night, and I was patting my bird – which I had decided to call Kevin – when Adra came over to me. She seemed to glide, and had the happiest expression on her face I had seen in a while. She sat down and couldn't stop grinning, which made me think that she spent the day with a coat hanger in her mouth. She was staring at something. I followed her gaze. Or, she's staring at someone. Now, why would she be staring at Mr. Majestic like he just turned into the new Channing Tatum or something?

Kili had noticed her staring too, and decided to stir up her thoughts, 'Having fun tonight, Adra.' She barely acknowledged him, and, still staring at Thorin, she replied with an 'Uh- huh.' Kili smirked and Fili raised an eyebrow, clearly amused. Everything was silent for a while before I realised that Adra hadn't met Kevin yet. 'Like my bird?' I asked Adra, and I put out the arm that Kevin was on so that she could get a good look at him. She paid no notice. Instead, she got up, stretched, and bade us all a goodnight. I frowned. Ok… That's not like Adra at all. Maybe Thorin had an annoying braid in his hair that she wanted to fix or something. I thought, and looked over at Thorin. Nope. No miss-matched braids anywhere. I sighed. Oh well, maybe she's just tired.

The next day was the most fun I've had on this adventure. It was the best of days, not too hot or not too cold, and the sun was shining, although not too brightly. Everyone was laughing and having a ball. Kevin was flying in between everyone, doing tricks and things to entertain everybody, before flying to my shoulder to have a quick break and start up again. Over and under, side to side he flew, skimming over Bofur's hat and flying in between Bombur's rope beard. Even Thorin, who usually keeps to his grumpy, majestic self, was feeling happier today.

I was riding behind Fili and Bifur, laughing along with everyone else, when Kili came up beside me. He glanced at me sideways, and said, in a voice dripping with sweetness, 'Oh Thali, my dear! You look dazzling today!' I rolled my eyes and said in a flat voice, trying hard to keep my amusement under control, 'Why, Thank you Kili. You do look dashing today as well.' Kili smirked a little and I saw Fee's shoulder tense in front of me the slightest. Is he okay? I wonder what's wrong… I thought to myself, but my thoughts were interrupted by Kili, who continued, 'Oh, but not as gorgeous as you, Thali, your smile lightens up the whooooole day!' Kili smiled a dazzling smile at me, and I rolled my eyes again. Fili had stopped talking to Bifur and was breathing really steadily, as if trying to control himself. Okay, something was definitely up. 'What do you want, Kee?' I asked Kili, who had a mock shocked expression on his face. 'Me!? Oh I don't want anything at all, just to compliment you on your amazing beauty!' Fili snorted in front of us, and I laughed. Kili stopped 'Ok – I can't keep the act up any longer.' He paused and winked at me. I was the one to snort this time, and he continued, 'Thali… I dare you to steal Bofur's hat.' I was shocked, for no one, and I mean it, no one steals Bofur's hat and gets away with it. But as soon as Kili had requested it, a plan started forming in my mind and a small smile formed on my face. 'Challenge accepted, Kili Durin.'

I rode ahead, only to stop beside Fee, and I opened my mouth to ask if he was ok. But no words came out. He looked at me expectantly, but I closed my mouth and waved my hand, telling him to not worry about it. I'll ask him later. Firstly, I have business to do.

When my horse, Jester, was level with Bofur's, I held out my arm and whistled once. Kevin came flying onto my arm, clearly having the time of his life. I glanced at the ground, and Kevin got the message. I kinda have this telepathy thing with the bird. It's pretty cool.

Anyway, Kevin spread out his wings, and fell backwards, on purpose. Bofur, who had taken a shine to the bird, bent down to scoop him up before he could hit the ground. When Bofur's head was ducked, I quickly snatched his hat and fell back beside Kili. Once Bofur had picked up Kevin, he whistled gratefully and went back to his flying routine.

I waved the hat in Kili's face, who looked at me in shock. Then we both counted down on our fingers. Three, two, one…

'WHERE'S MY HAT?!'

Kili, who had the hat, quickly put it on my head and caught up to Fili. I scowled at him when he exclaimed 'Thali has it!'

Before I knew it, Bofur was beside me and he looked at me expectantly. I decided to play it cool. I felt the top of my head, and opened my mouth in mock surprise and cried, 'Oh! Your hat! Now how did that get there?' I grinned sheepishly and gave it back to him. He looked stern for a moment, then chuckled and rode ahead, letting me know that we're still friends and I'm not gonna die. I sighed in relief and rode up to Kili and smiled a winning smile. Kili was too shocked for words.

Then it rained. Again.

'Here, Mr. Gandalf! Can't you do something about this deluge?' Dori called out to Gandalf over the pounding rain. 'It is raining, master dwarf, and it will continue to rain until the rain is done! If you wish to change the weather of the world you should find yourself another wizard!' Gandalf replied, and Dori slumped back in his saddle, looking disappointed. 'Are there any?' Bilbo asked Gandalf, who jerked his head back, a little and asked, 'What?' Bilbo realised that he needed to correct himself, and he did, 'Other wizards?'

'There are 5 of us. The greatest of our order is Saruman, the white. Then there are the two blueses… you know I've quite forgotten their names…' Gandalf trailed off, trying to find the names of the blue wizards. 'And who is the fifth?' Asked Adra, who was listening on the conversation

'Well, my dear that would be Radagast, the Brown.'

'Is he a great wizard or is he… more like you?' Bilbo asked, and I frowned a little. Boy, he does have some guts, that hobbit, insulting a wizard. But Gandalf didn't take any notice, and answered Bilbo's question anyway. I didn't get to hear the answer, however, because Fili rode up beside me, with Kevin on his shoulder. My horse, Jester, is courting his horse, Sheena, apparently, and she doesn't seem to mind one bit. So instantly, as soon as they became level, they were riding a few inches between each other. I sighed, and Fee chuckled. Kevin, seeing his chance, flew off Fili's shoulder and landed on Jester's head, chirping merrily and not minding the rain one bit. Jester, clearly annoyed, tried to shake Kevin off without much avail. He gave up.

I laughed, and turned to Fili. He smiled, a little sadly and looked straight ahead. 'Hey, you okay? You seemed angry earlier.' I asked him. He glanced at me and sighed, fiddling with the reins he was holding.

'Yeah, I'm fine. I was just a little tired.' He replied. In my mind, I scoffed. I let it slide though.

The next few hours were mostly silent, only two or three people having small conversations, until Thorin stopped us at what appeared to be an old farmhouse. There were a few garden patches, full of weeds and dying away, and there was a rotting house a few metres away from all of them, only the frame of it remaining. I looked over at Adra, who had a face that clearly stated that if they were to stay here tonight, she'd better get the cleanest spot with the least rats and mould.

'Let's stop here for tonight. Gloin, Oin, get a fire going.' Thorin said, as he walked over to the old house thingy, 'Fili, Kili, look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them.' He added before he was out of ear shot.

I started unpacking my things, and because I didn't have very many belongings, decided to help Adra unpack her stuff. And boy, it took forever. She had everything, I swear, and if she packed one more thing, Rena and hers pony would have keeled over backwards.

Once I had finished, I flopped on my back, just in time to see Gandalf walking away 'Gandalf, where are you going?' I inquired, and he barely missed a stride as he answered 'To seek out the company of the only person who has sense.' Bilbo looked up, curious as to whom this person is 'And who is that?' He asked. 'MYSELF! Master Baggins! I've had enough of dwarves for one day!' Gandalf snapped, and he walked away. I snorted a little. Uh, excuse me, Gandalf? I have sense here! Why don't you talk to ME!? Oh yeah, that's right, you're a wizard and you're supposed to be mysterious. Wow Gandalf, just wow. I thought to myself.

Before my thoughts could get any further, however, two faces appeared in my vision. I sighed. 'You're blocking my view of the sky, you two.' I told them, and they both grinned. 'Well, we were thinking,' Started Fili, 'And we decided that horses are too much to handle if only two people were watching them,' Kili continued, with a glint in his eye.

'So you want me to help you watch them.' I finished. That wasn't a question.

They both nodded excitedly, and I sighed. Seriously, what is it with me and sighing all the time? I think I'm losing lots of oxygen because of it.

I got up, but didn't get the chance to walk to the ponies because they both grabbed one of my arms and literally lifted me off the ground so that my feet were dangling every which way and they took me to the ponies. Sometimes I hate being the short one. To top it off, Kevin decided to come along too, so he flew onto my head.

We were all just talking about random stuff, when we forgot about the ponies. 'Whoops! I'm just gonna go check on them.' Kili remarked, and jumped up and started walking toward the ponies.

'Hmm… sooo.' I said, because there was clearly an awkward silence. Fee just looked around every which way and that, except at me. Then he got out a block of wood and a small knife, and started whittling away at the wood. I just sat there for a moment watching him, before he looked up and said 'Why are you looking at me?' I realised what I was doing and spluttered out an 'Oh sorry.' And decided to watch Kevin fly silently above our heads. He really was a beautiful bird.

After about ten minutes, Kevin got tired and flew onto my shoulder instead. Whenever he does this, I resist the urge to yell like a pirate or find an eye patch because I really feel like a pirate. With Fili still working on the wood, I decided to break the silence, 'Sooo how's life?' I asked him. He looked up, raised an eyebrow and was about to answer when Kili came crashing into the vicinity, yelling something about two ponies being missing.

Oh shit.