They made camp at the top of the Carrock, which was the best option with them still recovering from wounds and exhaustion. Before they explained anything, Cat and Caleb were seen to, along with the rest of the company. Poultices were slathered over cuts, anything too bad wrapped up with bandages. Dwalin got a few tuts over his swollen eye, and Caleb had his nose cleaned. Cat could tell it was only a sharp cut over his nose, and laughed when he wrinkled it as Kili put himself in charge of making sure it wouldn't get infected, sent away by Thorin after his hovering became too much.

Soon enough the time for explanations came, and Cat was dreading it. Sure, she had made the suggestion of coming clean, but she wasn't sure how to explain, or even start. Just coming out with 'we're not from here and the gods of this place have given us powers' wouldn't exactly clear anything up. At worst, they'd think they were insane - at best, think they were joking. In this instance, neither were correct, and so they would have to tackle this delicately.

Delicacy wasn't necessarily Cat's forte. In fact, she was surprised she hadn't accidentally started a fight in Rivendell, but somehow she'd managed to find tact, managed to make...not friends, necessarily, but allies. Her friends were those in the Company, those now looking at her and Caleb almost expectantly, food disregarded in exchange for them exposing their secret. Not all of it, of course not, but...but a good deal of it. The part even Cat and Caleb weren't one hundred percent sure about, though it was the only part that made sense.

"Well?" Dwalin raised an eyebrow and Cat ran a shaky hand through her hair, and Caleb let out a slightly bitter laugh.

"Fuck, how to even begin…" He mumbled, eyes going to his feet. "I suppose we could start with meeting Gandalf - a fortunate meeting. The oddest of sorts - almost like it was planned. Like it was...fate."

"And the likelihood is, it was." Cat took up the explanation, trying her best to ignore the looks directed at them. "You see, we met Gandalf on the side of the road in the Shire, only...we hadn't entered the Shire. At least, not that we knew of, until that moment. Just...there, in the grass, at the roadside." Her eyes flickered to Gandalf, who merely nodded. She sucked in a breath and steeled herself. "In fact, we had never been to Arda. We simply...were there."

"...What do you mean?" Bofur's question was a whisper, and Cat couldn't look at him, nor the rest of the company.

"She means that we are not of this world." Caleb sounded far too calm, even at the murmurs that broke out among the group. "It means...we were sent here, to help. By...well, by the Valar, according to Lady Galadriel, and Gandalf."

"I suspected." Gandalf agreed. "I was not sure, until I too spoke with The White Council. They agree - the Valar have sent us champions of a sort, much like how they sent I and the other Istari to the shores of Arda to help fight against a threat more powerful than imagined."

"That doesn't sound ominous at all." Bilbo muttered under his breath, and it took a lot of restraint for Cat not to laugh. "But this is just a quest to reclaim Erebor? How is that a 'threat more powerful than imagined'?"

"Dark forces are at work, when a villain supposed dead now dogs our steps." Cat said, managing to raise her eyes to look at Thorin, whose eyes widened. "Azog lives. If he died when you tried to reclaim Moria...then something is afoot. Dark forces stir in Dol Guldur, but that isn't our quest. You are to fight a dragon that currently resides in one of the most strategic points on the map. Gondor to the south, but nothing in the north but a forest of elves and a small town of fishermen. That's why the Valar sent us, I think, but...but you are reclaiming your home, you are honourable and just and loyal to a fault, and that is why we stayed."

"We were sent for a reason that happens to coincide with our personal choice." Caleb agreed. "You are more than convenience - you are our friends. Even if we were suddenly told our purpose lay in Dol Guldur, we would not go there. Our purpose may lay there, but our hearts? Our loyalty? You have them, you have us - now and for as long as you allow us to stay at your side."

"That's how you know so much." Kili's eyes had not strayed from Caleb's form. "Because you...the Valar…"

"I think I have Vaire." Caleb said. "The weaver, the one who decides fate. I see...threads, sometimes, and I can choose to pull one and change what could happen. Not...not always. Sometimes I see none at all, sometimes certain things have to pass, or I'm too slow and they blow away. But I did see them - on the mountains when we had to jump, when I killed the goblin king, setting goblin town ablaze, the...the fight with Azog." At this, Caleb winced like he'd been hit, and he looked at Thorin, on the verge of tears. "I didn't react quick enough and for a second I thought -" His breath caught in his throat, hitched and he scrubbed at his eyes furiously. "I am so, so sorry."

"You hesitated." Thorin decided, and Caleb did let out a sob. "I...why?"

"I saw every future, every fucking path and...and…" Caleb covered his mouth with both his hands and sucked it a shaky breath. "I saw everything dead...not just the orcs and the wargs, but you and the company and Cat. I saw everyone die and what if I miscalculated? What if I reached for the best ending but snagged the wrong one and everything unravelled -"

"Calm down." Balin's voice was like a wave of fresh air, shaking Cat out of the horror of seeing her brother break. Changing fate sounded amazing, indeed, but would she be able to make the choices her brother had, seen what he had seen, and have the guts to tug on a thread in the hopes the outcome would be better? She wasn't so sure. "We're all still alive, lad. A little worse for wear, aye, but alive."

"And you?" Nori took attention away from Caleb, allowing Cat's brother to scrub away tears, eyes sharp as diamond. "Who sent you?"

"I'm not sure, but he's always itching for a fight." Cat admitted. "Sometimes he's there, egging me on. I think he sort of...gives me the ability to fight particularly well. Like in goblin town, when I killed the goblin that had you pinned, Thorin. Or with Azog - he couldn't touch me, and I am not as quick as I was then."

"I think...possibly Tulkas?" Caleb's voice still sounded raw. "He is the champion, after all. It would...would make sense."

"Wouldn't explain the sweet talking." Fili countered.

"I told you - I'm just very charismatic." Cat said, rolling her eyes.

"Whatever you say."

"So...you don't care?" Caleb cut off the ensuing argument with his tentative question. "About...all of this?"

"Of course we care." Kili answered instead of his uncle. "We just don't see why it should have to change anything. Remember what we talked about at the start of this journey, about us being the weirdest travelling group ever? Well, the jokes on you two, because you are obviously the weirdest members now."

"You are still part of the Company." Thorin said, voice firm. "This changes nothing - we will not spurn you for sharing this. In fact, we commend you for sharing it. It's…"

"Not easily believable?" Cat suggested, and the entire company nodded slowly. "Understandable. It was...hard to believe from our perspective, too."

"It explains your stories about gods, though. They're not ours." Ori pointed out. "Maybe they had something to do with it, too?"

"Yeah." Cat murmured, not willing to admit that they were just stories. Not when the dwarves sitting in front of her, the hobbit and the wizard, were just the same. Who knew, maybe the gods marked down as fictional were just as real? "Maybe they did."

XoooX

"They're right on our tail." Bilbo managed to get out, joining the company where they were gathered. "I don't understand how they caught up so fast! And we have a bigger problem, the -"

"They saw you?" Thorin's voice was worried and alarmed at the same time, and Bilbo shot him a look of almost fond exasperation.

"No. There's something else out there - something big, like, like -"

"A bear?" Gandalf suggested and Bilbo's brows furrowed in confusion.

"Well, yes."

"That will be an old friend of mine." Gandalf said, ignoring the mouthing of the word 'friend' from an incredulous Dwalin, and Cat had to fight to muffle her snort. "He will provide us shelter, if we reach his home before the orcs do."

"The issue regarding Beorn is that he's a shapeshifter." Caleb pointed out to Gandalf, voice loud above the quiet mutterings of the company as he surveyed the landscape. "And has less control when he's, you know, a bear."

"Well, we have a lioness in our company." Nori paused. "Or, well, a Cat."

"Ok, I feel like that was a complement, so thanks." Cat said. "But also, we have a lion already - that's Fili. If anything, I'm a Valkyrie - champion of the gods."

"You've been waiting to use that line since you mentioned the aesthetic." Caleb said, voice bland, while Fili preened a little at Cat's comment of him looking like the king of the jungle. "Either way, it doesn't matter - we don't want Beorn dead. We also don't want Azog to catch up with us and I doubt I'll have any influence over how this goes - not much I can do while we're running for our lives."

"We could have Cat beat Azog in a fight to the death." Kili said, voice teasing.

"Or we could have Cat not fight anyone and actually sleep in a house." Cat retorted. "I like that option. Just because I have a champion god in my head doesn't mean I won't die, Kee. But thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Y'welcome."

"Our best bet is making a run for it." Caleb continued as though not interrupted. "I doubt they'll venture inside Beorn's territory - then they'll have to deal with the bear. And as far as I can tell, the one thing he hates is orcs."

"Doesn't everyone hate orcs?" Nori asked.

"Well, except from other orcs." Gloin pointed out, and Nori conceded his point. Balin, almost uncharacteristically, rolled his eyes at that.

"On my count?" Caleb asked Thorin, who hesitated slightly, before nodding once. It seemed that Caleb had become one of the very few people Thorin would defer to if need be, and Cat was relieved. If there was anyone she trusted more than her brother to make the right call, she hadn't yet met them, and doubted she ever would. Caleb paused, mouthed the countdown to himself, raising his hand slightly, before whipping it down sharply.

And they were off, racing across open plains with a speed that Cat was amazed they could reach, Gandalf somehow at the head of the group.

The creek they splashed through was no trouble, Cat suddenly very grateful for thick boots that shielded her feet easily from the cold water, which was a counterpoint to Caleb's lighter ones. Even while running, he pulled a face, but kept moving. They couldn't afford to stop - Cat could hear the wargs now, and she would not die like this, running and scared.

Then came the definite sound of a bear roaring. Cat had never, exactly, heard a bear roar in real life, but that was the only conclusion she could come to, and managed a violent curse at the realisation. This running from danger was becoming a huge pain in the ass, and she hated it. She was half tempted to turn around and roar back, but was dragged along by Nori. A good thing, too, because she was also half sure that thought came from the Vala who had dragged her here.

Fortunately, soon the hedged walls of the garden surrounding Beorn's home were in sight, and if anything the running increased in speed at the sight of their sanctuary - a good thing, considering that soon Cat heard the splintering of trees and the roar that accompanied the bear.

It appeared as though they were having no luck opening the door, because the entire company were idiots and decided that throwing themselves against it was a good idea.

"It's a latch!" She yelled, and Fili caught it and unlatched the door. They tumbled in, lots of yelling and shouting from the lot of them, but they managed to barricade the door before the bear could reach them, judging from the roar of frustration. Cat bent double, gasping for breath,

"Never again." Caleb managed. "I am not fucking running across open field again." Cat was in wholehearted agreement - her legs hurt and she had a stitch and also was pretty sure that if she never saw a bear again, it would be too soon.

"That was your 'friend'?" Ori sounded incredulous, also like he was still regaining his ability to breathe.

"He's a skin-changer." Caleb managed, pressing an ear against the door. Checking to see if Beorn had stopped trying to get to them, Cat supposed, which was a good idea. "He has the ability to shift between human and animal. Also, they tend to be larger."

"Great. Someone else taller than me." Bilbo said, and Cat reached over to pat his head, partly in consolation and partly because she was a little shit, and proud of it. "How d'you know he's taller than a normal human? Vaire?"

"Because of the furniture." Caleb said, now sounding amused. "I don't need to consult the goddess in my head about everything, you know. I can put the pieces together pretty well."

"Along with this, he is...not overly fond of dwarves." Gandalf said, which caused thirteen pairs of incredulous eyes to turn to him. "He can be reasoned with, however."

"Which is the only reason we will be safe here, at least for the night." Caleb leaned back from the door. "He's leaving. We should settle down, take a moment to breathe. If we can persuade him not to kill us, which we will, we'll have to head to Mirkwood."

"Well, Cat can sweet talk him into not killing us." Nori said, sounding remarkably relaxed. "She did it with a fucking goblin. And there's just elves in the forest. Fucking tree humpers."

"Hey, the elves in Rivendell weren't that bad." Cat protested. "I'm surprised Lindir didn't kill you all, the poor man."

"Mirkwood elves are a different type." Thorin groused. "If we're lucky, we won't come into contact with them."

"Yeah, that won't be happening. The safest way to get through Mirkwood is with someone who knows the forest. I'm not saying Thranduil - I know your issues with him." Caleb added, as soon as Thorin glared at him. "But not all elves are him. That is an issue to deal with later, though. Right now, we should rest, because I doubt we'll be getting more anytime soon. Also, I'm really tired."

"Sucks to be you." Cat said, before turning to Nori. "Want to find out where this guy stores his food?"

"Of course." Nori said with a grin, and Gandalf just sighed, sounding so very tired of everything.

XoooX

Beorn accepted their arrival...not necessarily gracefully, but better than Cat had expected, considering the way in which he had found out about Gandalf using his home as a refuge without informing Beorn prior to their arrival. It definitely gave him points in his favour, especially when he didn't comment on the missing food from his larder. She did feel a little guilty about what she had stashed in her pack, but she wasn't sure if Caleb's hope of finding an elven guide would actually work, or if Thorin would even accept it. Better to be safe than sorry, in her honest opinion.

It was Caleb, actually, who started the good vibes when it came to Beorn, mentioning that he had killed the goblin king via throwing knife, and prompting Kili once again to excitedly recount the explosion Caleb had caused in the mountains. Cat got why Kili was very excited whenever he could bring up that tale, because honestly her brother setting alight goblin town with a single arrow was very badass and her only regret was that she hadn't done it herself. She had, however, gone somewhat toe to toe with Azog, had charmed the goblin king and stalled trolls with a few well placed words, so she figured she couldn't count herself out when it came to who had helped the company the most.

Either way, Beorn had accepted that they would take respite in his home for a while, and was currently serving them food and drink while in discussion. Apparently, Azog tracking down Thorin was important to him, and it took Cat a second to remember why.

"The Defiler killed most of my family." Beorn said, voice not taking on any distinctive tone, any easily read emotion. "Some, he enslaved." Cat felt her eyes flicker to his wrist, the one that still bore a huge, ugly shackle, and she felt bile rise in the back of her throat. For a second, she wished she had killed Azog on top of the cliff, had splattered the earth with black blood. She wondered if she could have, could have severed his head from his shoulders as he had done with Thorin's grandfather, maybe his brother, and gotten justice for every life he had taken. Would it be justice, she wondered, or more so embittered vengeance? Did Cat have the right to kill the orc, when he had never personally affected her?

Was vengeance hers to take, or would it be better for Thorin to strike the killing blow? This, she did not know, and did not wish to dwell on it.

"Not for work, I'm guessing." Caleb's voice was quiet, concise. "Something else, I assume. Something far worse."

"For amusement. He enjoyed caging us, chasing us down, killing us if he felt like it." Beorn said.

"There are more skin-changers?" Bilbo asked and the smile Beorn gave was more bitter than anything.

"There used to be more like me. Now, there is only one."

"I'm sorry." The words were out of Cat's mouth before she could stop it. "No one deserves that." Beorn didn't respond, which was for the best, because Cat could feel herself turn red, and instead Gandalf took up the conversation while Cat tried not to die in her seat.

"We need to reach the mountain before Durin's day." Gandalf said. "We intend to pass through Mirkwood."

"A sickness has fallen upon that place. Dark things creep beneath its branches - and to the north lies Dol Guldor, and I need not tell you what lay there." Beorn's eyes locked onto Gandalf's. "You already know, do you not?"

"A necromancer - the reason we believe Azog still lives." Caleb said when the room remained silent. "We know we are being hunted, have survived their attempts to capture or kill us. If we are to stand any chance of...of even posing a threat to the darkness sweeping the forest, we need to reach that mountain." Beorn's gaze turned to him, and then swept across the rest gathered.

"I don't like dwarves - they are greedy, and blind to those lives they deem lesser." His voice was a growl, and Cat felt herself shiver - those words felt like foreshadowing, that the greed Thorin felt when the dragon sickness hit would bring his doom, that he was willing to throw Bilbo off the mountain when he became less than a companion and more a thief. "And yet, you would trust them?"

"With my life." There was no hesitation in Caleb's voice, and Beorn could only nod.

"Fortunately, I hate orcs more. What is it you need?"

XoooX

Annalial had gotten the worst job and it was most certainly because she had put caterpillars in Legolas' bed.

It wasn't her fault that he couldn't take a joke, honestly he was such a stick in the mud. Tauriel had definitely laughed at the scream he let out the evening he found them, but had also given her the perimeter patrol as 'punishment', which wasn't bad, but it was so boring. Annalial supposed it could have been worse, it could have been prison duty, but still. Nothing happened at the perimeter, and she could be in the forest, taking down spiders and destroying their nests and picking on Legolas who was trying to look more sensational than he actually was. Maybe flirt a bit with Tauriel, exchange some banter, the usual. But no. She was stuck watching the border and she was bored out of her mind.

Then her ears pricked, the sound of whispering coming up ahead, and she shrunk into the foliage, drew her bow, and crept forward, silent as a mouse.

What greeted her was the oddest sight that had ever befell her eyes, and she had to pinch herself to make sure that she was actually seeing what she thought she was. She definitely was - thirteen dwarves, two humans, and a much smaller creature (she wasn't sure of the name of it - she had never ventured from Mirkwood before, except sometimes to Laketown, and never desired to go too far from her home unless necessary) waiting at the entrance to the forest. They were arguing, and Annalial allowed herself to creep closer, holding still only when a dwarf - one with red hair in the most insane style she had seen, turned to look in the direction of her hiding place.

"This is pointless, we are losing daylight." This was a dwarf wearing furs, silver streaking ebony hair. Handsome, she supposed, for a dwarf, though she wasn't necessarily that way inclined. Too small, too...beardy. "We should start now and stick to the path, like Gandalf suggested."

"And risk losing track of it?" The man stated, scowling at the dwarf. He was younger, closer to what Annalial was used to - although he, too, had a bit of a beard growing, it was obvious he didn't have the same experience the dwarf had. "With the terrible luck we've had, we'll end up losing it and possibly falling prey to whatever lies in this forest."

"Any idea what that may be?" The creature that Annalial didn't know the name of asked - he had curly gold hair, and oddly large feet, topped with the same gold hair that was on his head.

"An idea, yes, but if we wait for a border patrol, then it won't be of consequence." He replied, and Annalial blinked a few times. They were waiting for a patrol? She felt her lips twitch up - suddenly, this duty was looking less boring and more of a thing she could use to antagonise Legolas.

Also, making sure travellers made it safe through Mirkwood, was very important. But mostly the 'it would annoy Legolas so much' thing.

Still, she was going to at least pretend that she was going out of her way to escort them, so plucked an arrow from her quiver, stepped out of the bushes as quiet as she could, and shot the arrow at their feet before drawing another.

"If you would explain your intentions, I won't shoot this next arrow." She said, keeping her voice polite as all eyes turned to her. "I warn you, next time, I won't be so kind as to hit the ground."

"Are you sure Elrond told you correct information?" The blonde dwarf muttered to the man, and the taller man raised his eyes to the sky as though asking for patience. Annalial lowered her bow at the name that came from the dwarf's lips.

"You have met with Lord Elrond?" She asked, scarcely believing that he had contact with dwarves, when Thranduil nearly spat whenever someone so much as mentioned them. She didn't know why he hated them so, and had asked Ahnir once. Her uncle had gone quiet and sad, glancing in the direction of Thranduil's quarters, and had not answered. He knew, but it was obviously not his story to tell, and she respected that. She respected Ahnir.

"We briefly spent some time in Rivendell, yes." The man replied, before dipping into a bow. Annalial tried not to preen too much at that. "I am Caleb Adams - this is my sister, Catherine Adams, Bilbo Baggins of the Shire and the Company of Thorin Oakenshield. We were told by Elrond that, if we waited for a border patrol, our passage through Mirkwood may be safer than if we took the elven road."

"Lord Elrond was correct - the elven road is in...slight disrepair." She cringed internally at the thought of the crumbled bridge, how they'd had to ferry boats back and forth across the river so there was a way to cross without falling in. "Oakenshield, you said? I think I recognise that name...vaguely, mind. I was very young when dwarves were last about these parts. Or, well, young for an elf." She tilted her head slightly. "I suppose I can help you through the wood. Bear in mind, there are...things that lurk in these woods that are not safe, be it for your well being or for food. I ask you don't hunt - I don't have provisions on me, but it shouldn't take too long to reach my fellow guardsmen. They're clearing out a nest."

"A nest?" The dwarf with a hat asked, confused, and Annalial decided to not answer the obvious question.

"Yes. If that's all, I shall lead you in." She said, turning on her heel after shouldering her bow once more. "Do keep up, won't you? The woods are dark, and if I lose one of you, I won't be coming back."

"Are you sure this was the right idea?" She heard someone whisper, and it was the woman who replied.

"The best one we had." She answered. "Besides, she's cute."

Annalial did not smile at that.

XoOoX

Me, chanting: Lesbian elves, lesbian elves!

Ah Mirkwood, my least favourite place in the movies because giant spiders. Not as bad as my sister, because she's an arachnophobe, but details.

Annalial and Ahnir are my OCs, Ahnir will feature more than Annalial in future chapters and he is secretly my favourite.

Expect changes from now on in, because this is where things differ. For one, they're not gonna get fucking lost in Mirkwood, so jot that down.

Anyway, hope you enjoy! - Jazz xx