I do not own any of the characters or the Hobbit (just the AU storyline and my OC) those are the work of the esteemed and brilliant John Ronald Reull Tolkien, and without his genius, this and many other fan fics would not be in existence.

Please review! I love getting them-they keep me encouraged! J

They beat through the snow all day, until they finally came toward the top of the mountain. The high winds up there had blown the snow in drifts, leaving many bare patches of loose rock. Cirashala had held her cloak close to her, having put Kili's tunic on over hers during their midday break. Thankfully one of the dwarves had given Bilbo a cloak, allowing her to have hers back.

They reached the top of one of the tall mountain peaks, and passed over it, stopping in the shadow of a large rocky outcropping for the night to protect them from the high winds. Cirashala had noticed that Balin had been walking more and more slowly all afternoon, and though her aching body couldn't complain, she did hope that the older dwarf hadn't fallen ill.

She had kept a fair eye on the two princes, but still could hardly keep track of the two all day, with call of nature breaks and all that. Whatever Fili had planned for mister Balin's amusement had not been told to her since she had adamantly refused any part in it.

She was also somewhat irked that she hadn't been able to speak to Kili about his calling her "milady" the night before. She knew quite well that all or nearly all of the company outranked her in titles, with Thorin, Fili, and Kili more so than the others, given them to be of royal status. She really didn't need anyone getting angry with her anymore, not if she was to earn their trust.

I highly doubt that will ever happen, she thought to herself. Even if I have friends amongst the dwarves, there will surely be some who won't trust me no matter what, and I cannot give them any more reason not to than they already have.

She had been relieved to learn that Kili and Fili had not abandoned her after her untimely speech to Balin that morning. She still didn't understand why she had done such a foolish thing, though it might have been borne out of fear that Gloin had known she wasn't asleep the entire time and had meant her to hear every word.

She didn't really believe the dwarf to be cruel at heart, just simply prejudiced and quick to anger. And, from what little she had heard, it would seem that he was at least partially justified in his anger toward humans. However, his anger toward her she didn't believe to be justified at all, and strived to be particularly nice to the dwarf and show him that not all humans were full of scorn for their race. And from what little she knew of how humans had treated the refugees from Erebor, she was twice as determined to help the dwarves reclaim their homeland.

She would not stand for injustice at all, and goodness knows the dwarves of Middle-earth had experienced that far too often.

XXX

They had set up camp fairly quickly, and Balin quickly discovered the reason for his afternoon weariness- the bottom of his pack had been filled with several small stones, making it far heavier after the midday break than it had been that morning. The stones had been effectively concealed by his own things atop them.

The company had turned their heads at his indignant shout, and the laughter got louder as the pile of stones increased in size beside the rather unamused dwarf. Fili and Kili feigned innocence, but Cirashala could see their mouths twitching, and gave them a look. The second her eyes met theirs, the two heirs burst out laughing, all traces of innocence gone as the victim of their prank glared in their direction.

They were doubled over, holding their stomachs as tears fell down their cheeks, and so did not notice as Dwalin crept up behind them. Before the two princes knew what was happening, Dwalin had grabbed the outside of their heads and smacked the two of them together with a loud thud.

The burly dwarf smirked as a simultaneous "Ow!" resounded through the camp. Several chuckles were heard as blond and dark heads were massaged where they had made impact against one another, their owners glaring at the large dwarf behind them.

"Serves you right," Thorin chided them. "You two are to respect you elders, you know that." Balin smirked at the two chastised dwarfs as their shoulders slumped a bit in defeat.

"We wouldn't have done it if mister Balin hadn't told Cirashala to tickle us this morning," Kili grumbled under his breath. Thorin raised his eyebrow and cast a glance over at his old friend, who just shrugged in return.

"The lads had all but pinned her down in their sleep," Balin said simply, "And the lass needed to go outside." He paused, noting in the corner of his eye that Cirashala had raised her eyes from her bowl of stew, staring in Thorin's direction as her shoulders visibly tensed.

"Don't worry Thorin, she refused to do it," the kind dwarf added quickly before Thorin could act. The dwarf king looked at her for a moment, his expression unreadable, before sighing and returning to his bowl of stew.

A collective silence descended on the group as they finished their meal. Several dwarves pulled out their pipes after, and Ori pulled out his journal. He began to write, and Cirashala hesitantly got up and went over to him.

"Might I see?" she asked, and the dwarf beamed. He motioned her to sit down next to him, and began to enthusiastically show her the drawings he had done.

"This is Thorin's Halls in Ered Luin," he began, showing her a drawing of a large room with a great fireplace at one end. There were long tables on either side, and she could see Thorin sitting at the head of one, Gandalf to his right, and several of the dwarves of the company sitting around the room, smoking pipes or drinking what she believed to be ale. Not all of them were there, but she easily recognized Gloin, Oin, Bofur, Bombur, Bifur, Dori, Nori, and Balin.

"Wait, where are the rest of you?" she asked, and Ori grinned.

"Well, I am not shown because I am the one drawing," he said. "And I have never been good with self portraits. Word had been sent to Dwalin, who lived in the northernmost part of Ered Luin, though we had not seen him for some time, as he often gained work protecting caravans from bandits. And Fili and Kili aren't there, because Thorin hadn't decided they could come yet."

"Then who is this?" she asked, pointing to what appeared to be a young dwarf in the corner, who looked very much like he was sulking. He had a good beard already, and she thought she could recognize a little bit of Gloin in him.

"That is Gloin's son, Gimli," Ori asked, and her eyes went wide. That was Gimli? He looked far younger than he had in the fellowship, though she wasn't surprised, given that this was supposedly 80 years before the events of the War of the Ring, but still-he looked so young!

"He doesn't look too happy," she replied, and she remembered the earlier conversation a few days ago where her age had been discussed, and they had mentioned that Gimli had been told he was too young to go. Gloin rolled his eyes, and Ori chuckled.

"Oh, he wasn't happy at all," the scribe said, a twinkle in his eye.

"He was downright furious," Oin said, having been sitting on his bedroll next to Ori. Dori on the other side chuckled a bit.

"My nephew was so angry he threatened to stuff himself in a bag and get someone to tie him to our pack pony," the healer continued, shaking his head. "We very seriously regretted bringing him to our meeting, but my sister in law was off visiting one of her friends several leagues away, and as we were going to be gone all evening we had to bring him with us. The lad cannot cook worth anything at all without burning the outside to a crisp and leaving the inside raw, and we didn't want him to be ill when we left."

"Where is he now?" she asked, and Gloin glanced at her out of the corner of his eye suspiciously.

"He is staying with our mother," Fili answered, not caring about the glare Gloin shot his way. "So he won't starve to death while we are gone, and he is also to protect her in our absence."

"The lad would've been just fine," Gloin said gruffly, and Thorin raised an eyebrow.

"Says the person who was forced to bed for a week after eating one of his 'meals' and swore the lad would never enter a kitchen again on pain of death?" Dwalin asked, smirking, and Gloin shot him a look. Cirashala looked at the picture again.

"He has a good beard," she said to Gloin, and the dwarf looked at her in surprise. She could almost see his chest puff up with pride, though he obviously tried to hide it.

"And he looks a lot like you," she continued, seeing the slightly positive change in his demeanor towards her. The suspicious look in Gloin's eyes lessened, and he shrugged a shoulder nonchalantly.

"Yes he does, I suppose," Gloin said, not meeting her eyes as he coughed awkwardly. Bofur smiled at her from across the fire, and Oin sat up just a little taller. Balin shot her an encouraging wink, and Bilbo smiled, relieved at seeing the dwarves open up a bit after their coldness toward her earlier that day.

"Show the lass your locket," Oin suggested, his tone more commanding than suggestion. Gloin hesitated, but at the looks from most of the company, he pulled out a large square locket, and opened it to reveal a handsome woman, albeit with very thick sideburns and a large nose, and a young child, Gimli though obviously drawn some time ago.

Cirashala had to strain a bit to see it, because Gloin did not move any closer to her, and he was on the other side of Oin. She squinted, before nodding.

"Is that your wife?" she asked hesitantly, and Gloin scowled.

"Who else would it be?" he asked rudely, and she swallowed, flushing slightly.

"She is very pretty," she said, choosing to wisely ignore Gloin's question, and this time the dwarf puffed his chest with absolutely no hesitation, grinning widely.

"She is the most beautiful creature that Mahal ever created," he said reverently, his expression changing entirely as he gazed off into the distance with a dreamy gaze. "I remember the time we first met…."

XXX

Balin watched in silence as Cirashala listened patiently, nodding every so often, as the red haired dwarf regaled her of his wild courtship with the love of his life, Brimli. She never interrupted, and kept her attention on the speaker, though her eyes began to fill with tears and she had to swallow heavily and blink to keep them from falling. Still, she remarkably kept her composure, and as she stifled a third yawn and her eyes began to be visibly heavy, Balin stood up.

"Cousin," Balin said, moving to stand near the speaker. He paused, glaring up at Balin for interrupting, but the elder dwarf was not perturbed, being used to Gloin's temperaments.

"The hour is late, and though your tale is a fine one indeed," here he received a scoff from Gloin, "We all need to rest. I am sure you can continue your story with Miss Cirashala in the morning after we continue on." Gloin opened his mouth and shut it, flushing as he realized just who he had been talking to for the better part of an hour, and laid down under his blanket not saying another word. Cirashala glanced at Ori, but the scribe had fallen asleep with his journal open on his chest, snoring lightly.

Compliment the beards and family, she thought to herself with a slight feeling of triumph as she headed sleepily toward her bedroll. I had a feeling it would work.

XXX

"Now you have done it," Fili whispered as Cirashala stumbled to her usual position between the two brothers. She laid down, looking at Fili with confusion.

"Aye, Kili said, laying on her other side on his back, looking at the starry night sky. "You brought up his wife. Gloin will never shut up about her once he gets going."

"Seems to think that she must have been so finely crafted by Mahal himself that the maker must have spent years perfecting every detail," Fili chuckled, turning to also look at the night sky with his arms folded behind his head. "It's his One, that's for sure." The last part was said with a large yawn, and within seconds Fili was snoring lightly, face turned away from the other two.

Kili glanced to the side, noticing Cirashala's slightly sharp intake of breath at Fili's comment, and saw her eyes begin to fill with tears. His eyes widened as he saw the raw pain within hers, and realized that their conversation likely brought her present grief at losing her family to the forefront. She glanced at him, before quickly reaching up to wipe them away, only to have her hand catch the blanket in her haste.

Not even thinking about what he was doing, he reached over and wiped her tears with his thumb. The two froze in shock, their eyes wide as they looked at his hand still on her cheek, before he pulled it away quickly and turned over in a panic. His breath came in quick pants as his heart raced, and he could feel his cheeks burning, along with a strange unfamiliar tug in his chest. He could hear her breathing steady after a few minutes, and swallowed nervously as he picked at the frayed edges of his blanket, only one frantic thought racing through his mind.

What in Durin's name have I done?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A response to guest reviewer Ari-Thank you! :D I longed to fill in the gaps that Tolkien and PJ both left out- it must have taken them a week if not more to cross the mountains, and there is so much time between major "events" (read-action) that could be used to develop character until one feels that they truly know the dwarves, hobbit, and in this case Cirashala. I am so glad you are enjoying it! If you wish for any spoilers or my ideas for the story, I am happy to oblige via pm (since some readers may not wish to see them in an author's note or review). I have read a lot of mary sues here on FF, and I read a lot of stories where the writers follow the plotlines so closely that nothing changes due to their presence, and yet I feel that a character's presence that wasn't originally there is bound to alter the timeline, which allows me both more creative freedom and also allows for the readers to experience a "what if" scenario while being realistic. (It also allows my poor OC to stress herself completely out lol ;) I wanted to challenge myself to write a GOOD sue, something that is very difficult but still possible (A Little Princess is an example of a good sue), to see if I could further develop my writing ability, and see if I could do it. It is easy to write a sue- it is extremely hard to write a GOOD one. As far as updates, I try to update every day, but with a 1 year old and 4 year old (who are very much fine as is my husband in real life!), sometimes it isn't always possible, as it is not written ahead at all. So I try, but there might be gaps here and there.

Thanks to all who review, favorite, and follow- You guys make days like today where I am sick and feel miserable so much better! :D