Ali: You and me both, I ended up loving him. Most likely they'll get along swimmingly.

Guest: I'm so glad you like my story, and my fast updates. I'm really enjoying writing it. I'm also really glad you like Pearl, she's different from any other character I have ever written so I wasn't sure how I was doing.

I got really into last chapter and I really wanted to write this part so I went ahead and wrote it. I hope you enjoy.

"What do we do" Thorin asked closing the door so no unwanted eyes would see.

"We have to dry her off," Bilbo said before searching for another towel.
Thorin knelt beside Pearl and took the towel from her, grateful when she wrapped her arms around her chest to cover her breasts, and began drying off her tail. He purposefully allowed his hands to slip past the towel to stroke the scales, feeling how slick and slippery they were against his skin; though he stopped when he felt her shiver against his touch. A small scar ran along the side of her tail, and he remembered her telling him she did not like the way swords stung. He heard Bilbo pilfering through the room in search of something else to dry her with, though she had already dried herself enough that it was not needed.
Thorin's breath left him when he watched her tail turn to the color of her skin, looking as though it were melting off of her as two legs formed. He stared in wonder at the small feet her fin shrank into, and then at her legs; seeing the same scar on one of her calves that her dress had covered. He followed her legs with his eyes until he reached her hips, seeing the deep pink of the skin between them, his face growing warm when she brought her knees to her chest to mask his view. He looked into her eyes to see her staring at him uncertain.
She knew he should not see her as she was, she did not know why but she knew he shouldn't. She saw the pink of his cheeks and realized he was embarrassed, not knowing what to do. No one had ever touched her tail, it had almost tickled sending a spasm of tingling through her.
"Oh good, your tail is gone," Bilbo said holding a blanket he had finally taken from the bed. "Oh," he said startled once he realized she was completely bare with Thorin hardly a few inches from her, seeing Thorin's uncomfortableness with what he had seen.
Thorin plucked the sheet impatiently out of the hobbit's hand before wrapping it around Pearl's shoulders, happy to have her covered with something. "Where is her dress?" he asked looking about the room.

"Here," Bilbo said spotting it draped over a chair. "It's wet, they must have washed it," Bilbo said and they both realized that she could not wear it.

Thorin sighed as he wrapped an arm around her back and the other underneath her knees and lifted her, feeling her small hand clench his shirt in her fist. She was small in his large arms, lighter than he thought she'd be; she was delicate, her small bones fragile in his strong hands. "Bring her dress," Thorin ordered before walking through the door Bilbo opened.

"What's going on, is she hurt?" Dwalin asked when he saw Thorin walk onto the balcony the rest of the dwarves were on with Pearl in his arms.
"She's well," he said setting her down a little ways from the others. He grabbed the sheet before it could slip from her shoulders, waiting until she grabbed and wrapped it tighter around herself before he stood and moved away from her. "We have many things to discuss," Thorin said sitting next to Balin.

…

Thorin woke the others early the next morning, the sun barely peeking over the horizon.
"Pearl," he said gently touching her shoulder, her skin warm beneath his hand. When Bilbo had told her her dress was dry she had already fallen asleep and so he'd left her. Now the covers had slipped down her shoulder and her back was uncovered as she laid on her belly. He shook her shoulder gently and saw her eyes flutter as she woke.

"Are we leaving?" she asked as she pulled the blanket around her.
"Yes, come," he said before helping her stand.

"Thorin?" Bilbo asked quietly. "Shouldn't she put her dress on?" Bilbo shrunk back from Thorin's hard glare as the dwarf led Pearl past him.

Pearl held the blanket around her with one hand while she ate the biscuit Thorin gave her with the other. "What is that?" she asked seeing Thorin unroll a large paper with drawings on it.

"A map," he said before bringing it closer. "This is where we are," he said pointing to Rivendell, "and this is the river that runs through it. You will take this river to the river Mitheithel and it will lead you to the Mountains," he said tracing the path he wanted her to take with his finger. "It ends here so you will have to walk through the small gap until you reach Rimlath which will take you to Anduin. There will be trolls so you must walk quickly," he warned and waited for her to nod. "From Anduin you will swim south a ways but we should come across you here," he said pointing to where he thought they would descend from the Mountains. He made her repeat what he had said before he rolled the map back up and stood staring down at her. "You will be careful," he said and she nodded. He did not wish to leave her on her own but he did not think she would fair well on the Mountains and so reluctantly he had discussed a different way for her to travel with Balin the night before and they deemed this the best route.

"You will too and everyone else," she said knowing he would care for the others for it was his duty as their leader. "And you will look after Bilbo too?" she asked knowing Thorin was still not entirely fond of Bilbo.
"I will look after the halfling," he grumbled in agreement.

"Would you wait for me if you had the choice?" she asked, very aware he did not want her near the dangers the quest entailed, having heard him talk with Gandalf.

Thorin's gaze was heavy as he stared down at her. "If I thought you would not follow then no," he told her honestly making her smile slightly. "I suppose you should go," he said quietly, wondering if she would run into any trouble that might cause her harm.

"Will I have to jump?" she asked seeing they were rather high up from the water.

Thorin motioned for her to follow and the others in the Company did as well wondering where they going. Pearl looked down the rocky ledge, seeing if she stepped right she could use the ridges as steps; and so she began her descent, hardly slipping for she calculated her every step before she made it.

"Where is she going?" Kili asked as he watched her climb down toward the river.

"Uncle?" Fili questioned feeling the same as his brother.

"Is she not coming with us?" Ori asked, and many of the others dwarves asked questions similar as they did not understand why Pearl, who they considered a friend, was climbing down the edge wrapped in a blanket instead of going with them.
Bilbo stared over the edge as he watched Pearl's descent, having guessed Thorin's plan since the dwarf now knew what she was. Pearl made it to the bottom and she looked up at the others still standing on the edge before turning back to the water.

She was nearly buzzing with the need to be in the water, feeling the river flowing in her veins. She dropped the blanket without a second thought before diving in, feeling the surging of the water begin to wrap around her legs as her tail grew.
"What is she doing?" Gloin asked as he stared down at her. Not a single one of them had missed the flash of her skin before she dove, Thorin remembering the feel and warmth of that skin clearly when he held her in his arms.

The river flowed around her as she brought her head to the surface to look up at the Company, returning Bilbo's wave.
"Be careful, lassie," Balin called having heard the wonder in Thorin's voice the night before when he told him what he'd seen.

Pearl gave them one last long look, staring at each of their faces and realizing she had grown to care for each of them in some way, some more than others and some differently than others. Just as they had all caught the flash of sun kissed skin not a single one of them missed the flash of blue scales as she dove beneath the water once more; and then she was gone.