Bilbo:

As I peered my head over the rock, the Pale Orc had paused from his sprint to sniff the air in hopes of picking up a scent from us. He looked towards my general direction, and I popped back behind the rock. Over to the right of me, I heard a low growl that was definitely not from a warg. Looking in the direction, I saw a huge four legged beast, that looked somewhat like a bear. But it was much much bigger, and seemed far more ferocious. I ran as quietly as I could, which was very quiet, back down to the small landing where the company was waiting for what I had scouted.

"How close is the pack?" Dwalin barked.

"Too close, a couple of leagues, no more. But that's not the worst of it." I gasped for breath between my words. Even after all the traveling I was still not in very good shape.

"Have the wargs picked up our scent?"

"No not yet, but they will. There's another problem." I replied still gasping.

"Did they see you? They saw you!" Gandalf said.

"No that's not it." I was beginning to catch my breath and continue my sentence, but Gandalf interrupted me.

"See, what did I tell you? Quiet as a mouse!" He exclaimed, smiling at all the dwarves. They nodded in agreement. "Excellent burglar material."

"Will you just listen!" I shouted. "I'm trying to tell you that there is something else out there!" All the dwarves continued to look at each other but the smiles faded from their lips.

"What form did it take? Like a bear?" Gandalf raised his brow.

"Ye-yes?" I looked at him with a surprised look, but his brow was still raised as if he was waiting for me to answer. "But bigger, much bigger."

"You knew about this beast?" Bofur jumped in out of no where. Gandalf shuffled uncomfortably. "I saw we double back." A few murmurs of agreements echoed.

"And be run down by a pack of orcs." Thorin argued.

"There is a house." Gandalf finally put in. "Where we might find refuge."

"Whose house? A friend or foe?" Thorin asked.

"Neither. He will either help us or kill us." Gandalf replied. Everyone looked at each other.

"What choice do we have?" Thorin questioned. Gandalf's face became almost stone like.

"None." Gandalf asnwered.

Nylelyth:

I was completely out of breath. The orc pack had finally caught up to us, and were chasing us through the forest. As we weaved in and out through the trees, all of us heard a roar that reverberated throughout the entire forest. The lot of us paused, and with wide eyes glanced around at each other.

"This way!" Gandalf shouted. "Come on!" We followed his orders and kept running. Bombur stood, frozen in fear as the beast roared again.

"Bombur! Come on!" I yelled as I pushed him in front of me. The forest broke in to a vast plain, and in the center was the house. A huge fence surrounded it, protecting it from the outside world. As we sprinted towards it, to everyone's surprise, Bombur dashed ahead of all of us, and was about 20 feet ahead of Kili and Fili, who were the fastest in the group. I couldn't help but chuckle at this, but then the beast let out another roar. My smile faded, and the beast came hurdling through the trees, charging right at us. We shot into the gate that led to the front door. The door was 30 feet ahead, but the bear was growing closer and closer. The closer is got, the more I realized that it was huge, a lot bigger than I had expected. Bombur was pounding down the path to the door, and when he reached it, was unable to stop, diving face first into the door. Kili and Fili came up next and pounded the door, trying to open it.

"Open the door!" Dwalin screamed, pushing Bofur and Bifur in front of him. The bear was even closer now, practically nipping at Dwalin's heels. The company was crowded against the door, banging and pounding, unable to open it. Finally, I jumped up to release the latch that had held it shut, and it swung open. I shoved everyone in, and I barely got in myself before the bear got to me. The door had slammed shut right on the bears nose, and as it snarled and snapped, everyone piled behind the door to shut it. Bilbo stood back and pulled his sword out, but his eyes were full of fear. After a final heave, we got the door shut and latched. I slid to the ground in exhaustion and tried to catch my breath.

"What was that?" Nori squealed.

"That is our host." Gandalf replied, wandering about the house. "His name is Beorn. He is a skin changer. Sometimes, he's a huge black bear. Sometimes he's a great strong man. The bear is unpredictable, but the man can be reasoned with. However, he is not ever fond of dwarves. We will rest here tonight. It will be safe." Everything in the house seemed to be at least three times bigger than if a regular human lived there, which meant that Beorn must be huge. I found a corner of the room to lay out my bed, and Bilbo laid his next to mine. I gave him a soft smile and went to find Gandalf. At one of the chairs in the kitchen, Gandalf sat and was smoking his pipe.

"Gandalf, I must speak with you." I insisted.

"Ah, hello my dear. How is your back?" He replied.

"It's fine, but there's something else. Back after Goblin Town, when Azog was attacking Thorin...and I used... I don't even know what it was. But it had knocked him over, and everyone else. It was like a storm, but I created it... How can that be?" I asked, with a tone of worry in my voice.

"I did happen to notice that." He smirked. "My dear, you were trained by Lady Galadriel. It is no surprise that you have powerful magic, even if you can't remember it."

"But, I chanted a spell or some sort. I don't even remember what I said or what it meant. How can I say something that I don't know?" The evening sun was starting to set, and tones of orange and yellow streamed through the windows of the house.

"Magic has a funny way of sticking with you." He informed me. "Most magical beings are born with their powers, like you and myself. Others learn a few spells here or there. We have been lucky to be born with the powers, for it takes a great many years to learn the spells that we have engraved into our minds. Even though you have forgotten what to say, your mind has not." I stared at the rays of the sun that were on the wall in front of me.

"Well, how come I don't have a staff, like you do?" I leaned back in my chair, kind of jealous that I didn't get a walking stick.

"The staffs are purely for show. Although they center the powers, they have no powers by themselves." He went on. After I had all my questions answered, it was night time. The sun had been long gone, and most everyone was sleeping. I snuck over to the door and slowly creaked it open. The warm breeze of a summer night glided over my face, and I stepped outside. There were all kinds of animals here, there were goats and chickens inside, the cows and the horses stayed outside in the stables. I went to the stables and began to stroke one of the ponies. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small moving light. It flickered, and swayed up and down, and all around through the air. Fireflies, the garden was full of them. They speckled throughout the area, dancing in the dim moonlight. A smile spread across my lips as I watched the little bugs go about their business, completely ignoring me. They would buzz around the flowers, shoot up in to the air, and then back down. As I kept watching, they began to get closer to me. One landed on my shoulder, it was abnormally large for a lightening bug. I began to feel like everything in this place was abnormally large. I reached out my hand to provide a sturdy landing pad for the bugs. A couple of them landed on me, but as soon as they landed, they flew up in to the sky again.

"I heard that they are attracted to the brightest of lights." A strong, husky voice chimed behind me. "Which goes to show how radiant you are." I spun around to meet Kili's gaze. His dark brown eyes that always seemed to pierce my soul, and melt my heart at the same time. I picked at my fingernails as he stepped closer to me. He picked one of the flowers from the bushes, and placed it in my hand.

"Thank you." I smiled as I looked down at it. The outer petals of the flower were a lavender, but the closer you got to the middle the color changed from lavender to white. One of the smaller lightening bugs came and landed on the flower. We both laughed.

"What are you doing out here by yourself?" No matter how hard he tried, I could always here the worry behind his voice.

"I just thought I'd get some fresh air." I replied as I twirled the flower between my fingers, forcing the little bug to leave. "What are YOU doing out here?"

"I just came to check on you. I noticed you were gone and thought I should investigate. Can't have important members of the company running off." He teased. His voice had a sternness to it, like a soldier talking to his captain, but I knew he was joking. His stern face faded into his normal smile.

Kili:

The sound of thrashing around in the hay had woken me up. I bolted up from my bedroll, scanning the surrounding area. My hand was on my dagger, ready to attack. The muffled sounds of a struggle became stronger. I wasn't the only one that heard it, Fili had sat up also, and with a furrowed brow, he signaled me to stand up and investigate. At the same time, we got up, as quietly as we could. There was movement, coming from the corner of the room next to Bilbo. I tip toed over there with Fili. Nylelyth, in her bed, was violently thrashing, and flailing. It looked like she was trying to fight something off. I dropped my dagger and ran to her side, Fili did the same. Bilbo had woken up to the sound of her thrashing even harder and to us rushing over to her. As Fili held her arms down, she convulsed under his hands, I grabbed her face and shook her gently. The hot tears that came from her eyes rolled over my hands.

"Nylelyth," I whispered. "Wake up! Please. Wake up." Her tears stopped, and she was mumbling something. I leaned in closer to hear what she was saying. All of the sudden, Fili jumped back, shaking his hands as if he had touched something hot. As I held on to her face, the skin beneath my hands began to get warm to hot, until I couldn't hold on any longer. I pulled off my hands, and her skin began to glow red, as if she was going to catch on fire. She keep mumbling, and slowly kept getting louder and louder until the rest of the group had woken up. She thrashed all over again, and I tried my best to keep her down so she wouldn't hurt herself or anyone else.

"Nylelyth!" I heard behind me. Gandalf came running up. "How long has she been like this?" He rolled up his sleeves and felt her forehead, but his hand jumped back in pain as his hand sizzled against her skin.

"I don't know. Fili and I came over here and she was moving all around like she was having a bad dream and then it got worse." I replied, still trying to hold on to her while she wiggled around. Gandalf placed part of his sleeve over her forehead and laid his hand on it, he was whispering words, and her eyes shot open. She gasped for air like she had been running for miles. I looked at my hands, they were blistered and burned, Fili's were the same.

"Wha-what happened?" She leaned up as she coughed.

"I could say the same to you." I replied. "What do you remember?"

"I was having a dream, and then I woke up and you were all surrounding me."

"You were having a night terror." Gandalf told us. She glanced at Fili and I's hands.

"What happened to your hands?" She bolted upright and grabbed mine. "Did I do that to you?"

The group had scattered back to their beds and there were pounding footsteps at the door.

"He is here." Gandalf whispered to us as he rose to greet whoever was at the door. The rest of us froze in our positions while a giant man sauntered through the door. I couldn't see his features all that well in the dark, but he was huge. Standing well over six feet tall, he towered over everyone, even Gandalf.

"Hello, Beorn." Gandalf nodded his head to greet him. Beorn returned the gesture and glanced over at the dwarves who were all staring at him with wide eyes.

"Gandalf," his deep voice growled. "I didn't know you were bringing company."

"Ah, yes. I apologize for the intrusion." Gandalf said wearily.

"We will wait until the morning to discuss this." He growled again. He stomped through the house and upstairs to what was most likely his bedroom. I looked back at Nylelyth, after a pat on the shoulder, Fili left us and went back to his bed.

"Did I do that to your hands?" She whispered to me, a glint of fear in her eyes.

"Yes, but are you okay?" I tried to distract her from it. She was so caring about everyone, that I knew if she had realized what she had done, it would rip her apart inside.

"Yeah, I'm okay." She replied, the fear had left her eyes and despair replaced it.

Nylelyth:

I attached my bag to the saddle, and took a deep breath. The horse shook his head, and I contemplated whether or not I should actually leave. The sun was about to rise. I couldn't bear to think that I could hurt anyone in the company so badly. Fili and Kili both had blistering burns on their hands, and it was all my fault.

"Where do you think you're off to?" I heard from behind me. In the doorway of the stables, Kili leaned against the door frame.

"No where." I patted the pony, and made sure my bags were attached correctly.

"Oh, so you just decided to pack up a pony, and you're not going any where?" He sassed back to me. His feet were soft against the ground as he stepped behind me. I was checking the straps again, waiting for him to leave. There was a warm presence behind me. "Are you leaving?" I looked down at my feet.

"I have to Kili," I replied, still looking at my feet. "I can't stay here. I don't belong. Even if I signed a contract."

"You can't leave. Not now." Desperation flowed through his voice.

"Kili, I'm no good here. All I do is hurt people." My chin quivered as I tried to hold back the tears that were coming.

"Nylelyth.." He rested a hand on my shoulder. I felt the bandage that was wrapped around it. "If this is about the burns, it doesn't matter. You have done so much for the company, and for me. I won't let you leave." I spun around to meet his gaze, the tears that had been pooling in my eyes dripped out.

"I can't stay.." I whispered through the tears. As I looked at him, his eyes flicked between my eyes and my lips. He leaned in closer, filling the empty space between us. I felt his hot breath on me, as he kept leaning in. His lips grazed over mine, ever so slightly. As if he was testing my boundary line. I was so intoxicated by the moment, my mind had not consciously registered what was happening. His hands brushed over my hips, and I stepped closer to him. For the first time, our lips met. I pulled away, trying not to show how vulnerable his lips had made me. The faint taste of honey had lingered as I pulled away. His hand slowly raised up to the side of my face, and he smiled. I could feel the soft whisper of his breath, the warmth seeped into my skin. His lips summoned mine once more, all my self control oozed into his skin. The room around us seemed to spin, I clutched to his body, and he pulled me closer to him. Fueled by the fusion of our lips, the passion between us made me blind to the room around me. Everything I had ever feared had left my body, I had forgotten everything that made me want to leave. His beating heart against mine felt natural, like we were made for this. We were made to be one, to move in unison, to be joined together with complete and utter surety. His lips pressed against mine.

"Am I interrupting something?" A voice called from the door. I broke away from Kili, and jumped back. Fili was at the door. Arms crossed, and a furrowed brow.

"Fili..." I paused, pure shock had engulfed my face.

"You know, Thorin won't be too happy to find that a member of his company has been found canoodling around with his nephew." He added. I opened my mouth to argue but nothing came out except for stutters. Kili remained silent, looking at his feet. "Lucky for you two, he won't find out." Both Kili and I let out huge sighs of relief. Fili walked over to both of us, and put his hands on our shoulders, and a huge smile from shined from his face. He brought us both into a huge hug and I couldn't contain my joy.

"Are you still going to leave, Nylelyth?" Kili blurted out. Fili stepped back, concern clouded his face.

"Leaving? Why would you leave?" I looked down at my feet, and my face turned bright red.

"Well.." I started but Kili interrupted me.

"It matters not, what matters is that you are staying with us." He winked at me.

"Alright." Fili said. "Let's go get some breakfast." I nodded and followed the brothers back into Beorn's house.