That night, as the moon shone brightly in the sky, Beorn remained in his bear form as he patrolled the forest edge near his home. He could smell danger, even though he couldn't see it. It wasn't far off but they seemed to be keeping their distance. He wasn't going to take any chances, however, and so he kept his eyes peeled for any signs of trouble.

Back in the house, the girls were all laying down, wrapped in their blankets, on the floor nearby two pillars which were close together. They were also behind a smaller table which was the one Beate hid under when Beorn charged at the door which also had a rather large chessboard which was set out and some mice squeaked and walked through it.

Frieda felt like only one of the girls who couldn't sleep. She stared up at the ceiling and tiredly looked at the moon shining through some windows and some holes in the roof. Everyone's snoring was driving her nuts. She decided to find out if she was the only one awake and turned to her sister who had her back turned towards her.

"Kamilla!" she hissed.

"What?" Kamilla replied groggily.

"You awake?" Frieda asked.

"If I wasn't I wouldn't have responded to your question." Kamilla said turning to face her sister "So yes I am awake. What's wrong?"

"I can't sleep." Frieda said "Everyone's snoring rather loudly."

"I know the feeling." Kamilla said "I can't sleep myself."

"Seems we share the same hatred of people snoring." Frieda chuckled.

"No it's not that." Kamilla said "But that is annoying."

"Oh my, what have you been thinking of?" Frieda asked suddenly interested.

"No it's silly." Kamilla said "Go back to sleep."

Frieda then propped herself so that she sat up and leaned against the wooden pillar and glared at her sister who was still looking up at her.

"Kamilla, I'm not going to bed until you tell me what's bothering you." Frieda barked.

Kamilla sighed in defeat and then propped herself up to that she was also sitting up. She couldn't keep anything from Frieda. But that tends to happen when you have a big sister. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked up at the roof.

"Well, I've been thinking lately about something." she said softly "If and when we take back Erebor, I want to do something auntie hasn't. Something bold."

"What?" Frieda asked.

"I want to get married." Kamilla replied as she turned to her sister.

"Really?" Frieda inquired a bit surprised.

"I knew you'd find it silly." Kamilla replied "But it's something I want to do. I see all of our friends back home with their children and well, my birthday passed before we joined auntie's quest. I've been spending a lot of time thinking and…"

"You've been wondering if you're ready for marriage." Frieda inquired.

Kamilla nodded. "It's so strange though. I do admit I envy Gerlinde in a way. How come she has a daughter and a family, yet I don't?" she rubbed her forehead with irritation and sighed "Why does life have to be so vexing?"

"I honestly don't know." Frieda chuckled before placing her hand on her sister's shoulder "But what I do know is that you shouldn't give up hope. Trust me. Someday the perfect man for you will come along."

Kamilla looked to her sister and smiled. Even over something as simple as this, Frieda was always there for her.

"As long as it's not an elf, right?" Brianna of all people piped up.

Frieda and Kamilla were shocked that Brianna was awake.

"We didn't wake you did we?" Frieda inquired.

"Maybe a little but I was awake anyway." Brianna said as she yawned "Sorry I interrupted you."

"Ah no harm no foul." Kamilla replied softly.

"Better get some shut-eye." Frieda yawned "Nighty night."

"Night." Kamilla and Brianna responded.

But Brianna didn't immediately go to sleep. After making sure Kamilla and Frieda had turned away from her and went back to sleep, she reached into her dress pocket and pulled out the ring she'd found in the goblin tunnels. She held it close to her face to get a good look at it as she hadn't been able to since she found it in those tunnels.

The ring still shone in the moonlight and amazingly was stain and dirt free despite being in her pocket for about a week. Brianna didn't want anyone else to know about this ring. It was hers. Her little secret. This ring was…wait a minute.

Brianna suddenly got an uneasy feeling as she twirled the ring with her fingers. She got the feeling that somehow she was being watched. And it felt as if the ring was talking. Talking to her. She felt compelled to put it on again.

A creak in the wood almost caused her to gasp in fright but she managed to control herself and quickly stashed the ring back into her dress pocket. She ducked and then decided it would be best to go to sleep. Or at least try to.

The creak it turns out came from Dorothea rolling around as she woke up. She was awakened by the most mundane sound she could imagine. Her stomach was growling. She looked around then at her stomach and rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on." Dorothea moaned while rubbing the side of her head.

She then propped herself up and yawned. She then moved the blanket off and got up and shook the hay off her gown as best she could. She then picked up her shawl and wrapped it around herself and she carefully moved around the other girls who were fast asleep. Once she was past the girls she looked around for a kitchen. The moon luckily was bright enough that when it shone through the windows and holes in the roof she could see what was around her.

She looked all around but couldn't find the kitchen. But then she looked closely to the dining tables right and sure enough there was the kitchen. It amazed her how the owner of this house had managed to cram his kitchen right next to the dining table.

Dorothea was surprised to hear a groan come from her right and she turned to see her sister Nadja squinting tiredly at her.

"Sis?" she moaned "What are you doing up?"

"I was hungry and was looking for the kitchen." Dorothea replied.

"Isn't it over there?" Nadja said motioning to where Dorothea had been looking.

Dorothea rolled her eyes. "Yes thank you, Nadja." she said sarcastically "I couldn't have found without you."

"No need to be so sarcastic." Nadja moaned "You take yourself too seriously all the time anyway. You're almost as bad as Traude."

"I do not." Dorothea hissed "I only act 'serious' because mom and dad left me in charge of you and Ottilie. Don't be so naive."

A bears growl suddenly came from outside. Though it was faint, Dorothea could hear it and she gasped in fright and Nadja's eyes suddenly opened all the way and she looked to her sister who scrambled to the pillar whilst making sure not to step on anyone. She then crouched down right next to Nadja who slid over to Dorothea's feet.

"That bear's back!" Nadja hissed "We're dead meat."

"Quiet!" Dorothea whispered "Keep your head down."

Nadja lay down and shut up like a clam. The door suddenly creaked open and Dorothea peeked from behind the pillar carefully to make sure she wasn't seen.

A tall figure then entered through the door as moonlight poured into the house. Fortunately, the girls stayed in shadow but Dorothea wasn't taking any chances. She continued to look at the person, whom she assumed was Beorn. But suddenly she began looking for different reasons.

The moonlight illuminated Beorn's figure. He was indeed a very tall man almost as tall as his doorway. From what she could she could see from his silhouette, he seemed to have a short cut beard. His hands also looked massive, big enough to wrap around his own head even. But she was also able to catch a glimpse of his eyes. They seemed to be blue. A soft, gentle shade of blue.

For reasons she couldn't understand, she couldn't tear her eyes away. There was something about Beorn that seemed…interesting.

Beorn was in the meantime busy seemingly looking for something and he seemed to have found it because she soon headed for the door carrying a knapsack. And with that he walked out and shut the door behind him and the room became dark again. Dorothea then sighed a massive sigh of relief and Nadja turned around to see the closed door and looked up at her sister who then looked at her.

"Boy that was a close one." Nadja said "He almost spotted us."

"I think he was distracted with other things." Dorothea said.

"Yeah right." Nadja said "So what did he look like? Did you get a good look at 'em?"

Dorothea bit her lip. She couldn't tell her sister that she was staring at him the way she had been. She'd never hear the end of it. Especially after Nadja told her she took everything so seriously.

"No not really." she said (and her defense she really didn't get a good look at him).

Nadja yawned and rubbed her eyes. "That's a relief."

Dorothea chuckled softly. "You should probably get to bed. And so should I."

"Well, good night, sis." Nadja said as she got comfortable "Sweet dreams."

"You too." Dorothea yawned as she stretched her arms and lay herself back down on the hay covered floor.

Dorothea soon fell fast asleep and didn't even notice that she was smiling as she fell asleep. Whoever this Beorn was, he had ignited her interest and she needed to know more about him. Even if she had to talk to him directly herself.