And So Died All Warriors

by Miss Always Wrong

Meri and Aleksi were in some serious trouble. They were the only ones who knew why they were brought there and what was expected of them. All the odds were against them, the dwarves didn't trust them and Thorin wanted them permanently gone from his sight. Danger was ahead and people were going mad. And Meri-, Meri seriously was in need of a drink. M-RATED. First chapters edited

2. Chapter 1

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Chapter One - Of stares and ogles

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Two years later…

"What? Surely not?"

"No, no, I'm serious! Teressa said she saw it with 'er own eyes!"

"Ah, really? Teressa? Of all people?"

"Uh, yeah...? What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing. Nothing. It's just that... You actually believed her? I mean-. You know. She's rather desperate for attention at times, doing strange things and acting even stranger every now and then. Going on and on about those mushrooms and weird smelling plants. Gil even said that the gal tends to smoke the leaves of her plants, claiming it makes her... see things. I think it's obvious she's made this all up."

"No? Really? That's funny, I had no clue! Not saying I haven't noticed 'er -, ah, curious ways with but even so, why'd she do something like that? Surely she's no liar, there's no dishonest bone in that girl's body, lemme tell you."

"Well, maybe her imagination was running a bit too wild for a while and the poor thing got confused? She's... odd like that. You know, just last week she tried to sell out a story that something disturbing was happening down in the South. Something about a great shadow looming above, spoiling the land and-, ehhh who knows? I really doubt she has it all good in the head. It's the mushrooms, I'm certain. She's got a problem with them. An addiction."

"Huh, alright well that does sound a bit off. How come I've never hear of those tales? But. I swear to you by my ma's hidden honey stash, this's no Teressa's mushroom hallucinations. I hear others whispering it too. All around the town! You know how fast the news spread here. I'm telling you, this's no joke. A dozen of dwarves waltzed through our gates just earlier today - accompanied by a wizard of all things!"

Rumors spread fast in the common bathhouse of the village in Bree-hill where it was more than easy to eaves-drop others. A girl who had no part of this conversation was left standing still in the dirty baths, her mind blank of nothing but the words just been said out loud by a completely stranger woman.

'A dozen of dwarves... And a wizard... In Bree-hill...

Dwarves.

Gandalf.

Oh shit.'

They were there.

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"Dori, Nori, Ori," Thorin called out while getting off from the back of his pony and catching the eyes of the said dwarves, "The ponies are in your care for tonight. Bombur, Óin-," he sought different pairs of eyes, "-see that our food and medical supplies are at their fullest when we leave in the morning. The rest of you are off. I will deal with the room settlements and dinner for tonight," he said and paused to look around their surroundings in the dimming daylight.

The village was getting quieter as people around the streets were leaving and settling in their homes for the night. Listening the growing silence Thorin felt unsure if it was a wise decision to stay there. It was the first night on the road since Hobbiton and all had gone all fine and dandy on the road. Yet still, if it were up to Thorin, they would have avoided all public places and just camped out in the forest as they would for the rest of the journey. But-, Thorin's eyes traveled over to Gandalf, -the wizard had insisted. For a reason or another, Gandalf had wanted them to come there. And as it was, Thorin didn't even want to begin to try and understand what sort of plans was going on inside the wizard's mind. Thorin had consented to Gandalf's peculiar urge to travel through the town, though he didn't like it, not at all.

"And make sure to rest and get your final purchases here," the leader dwarf continued after a moment of clearing his own thoughts, "There won't be a such a place to come across with any time soon and you most likely won't see the comforts of an inn in a lengthy while," he said and finally sent his company to their tasks but then hesitated before letting go of his sister's sons. "Fíli, Kíli-," two curious, young heads were turned back at him, "Just-… Avoid causing unnecessary mischief during our stay," he sighed out and threw a pointed look to the youngsters.

The Durin princes grinned sheepishly at Thorin and dutifully nodded their heads before handing the reins of their ponies to the hands of the Ri-brothers and with swaggering steps followed Dwalin, Bofur, Bifur and Gloin inside the near tavern. Bilbo tracked behind them like a little lost duckling.

Balin caught Thorin gazing at the hobbit with a certain distaste in his blue eyes and the older dwarf just shook his head with a somewhat amused expression on his face. He knew exactly how much his King was against having a defenseless hobbit with them on the dangerous road and Balin couldn't help but to feel himself entertained noticing just how put off Thorin looked. Balin himself didn't really mind this little disorder in the air, not even the slightest. A little drama was always welcomed to him. He was going to settle down comfortably, place his hands on top of his belly and enjoy the show.

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Prancing Pony was a plain old shack of a boozer that for some odd reason never went out of business. Granted that the place wasn't the most disgusting shithole out there, it was still ugly enough to make one unintentionally frown while looking at it. Old, smelly and dirty. Certainly unhygienic beyond belief. As were all the people inside it. A dim atmosphere was what surrounded the whole building, inside out, along with the strongest smell of old musty wood and spilled ale. Honestly though, it was still comforting, in some weird way. Certainly better than the smell of piss, puke and shit that reeked in other similar places. And even if it was a tad too depressing, the tavern managed to serve well enough to keep all the tired travelers and local alcoholics somewhat satisfied, and that might have been the sole reason why it still existed to this day.

Tonight it was a quiet night. People were sparse, but some travelers and locals, mostly men with the exception of a few hobbit, sat here and there with ale pints and food in their hands. Some were laughing and talking rather loudly in pairs, and some silently alone keeping an eye of their surroundings. Some were there clearly for nothing more than with bad intentions.

"Got a funny feeling in me my guts, let me tell you. Never really liked this tall race of men in the first place," Gloin muttered once they had claimed their seats at their chosen table, "Don't like how lanky they look. Don't like the way they speak. Don't like how improper they behave. I swear this bunch even smell disgusting to my nose. Like lice. And shite. I swear they stench. Stings my poor nose. My poor, tender nostrils. They're butchering my nostrils here, these reeking men folk," he ranted on, eyeing suspiciously at some men at the bar, "And it isn't only the smell that's the problem, I just don't like anything about them. Arrogant buggers. No talent at all with anything they do! Bad miners. Bad crafters. Horrible fighters. Nasty people in general. Rotten. Rotten to the core. Not much to like."

"Aye, aye, Master Glóin, heard ye well enough. Better to keep yer voice down when in here," Dwalin grunted at the rambling dwarf, stopping him from going on any further, "Don't really fancy bein' amon' them meself either but we'll manage one night. First thin' tomorrow mornin' we'll be leavin' this dump and ye don't have to smell them no more after that."

"Perhaps Master Glóin is right," Kili jumped in, partly agreeing but then his eyes were caught by a relatively nice looking raven-haired barmaid who walked past their table shooting a sultry smile at Kili at the same, "But some of their women… aren't really that bad looking, no?"

Gloin looked at the prince with unbelieving eyes, "Beg your pardon, lad!" he exclaimed, "Those twiggy-armed creatures with no trace of hair on their face? Durin, lad, you're getting me concerned! You don't know what you're talking about. Clearly, you haven't witnessed the sight of true beauty yet. Dwarrowdams! Dwarrowdams, lad! Oh, now that's some folk to admire. The real thing, take my word on it."

Kili shrugged at the subject and dutifully looked away from the barmaid. He wasn't interested in hearing lectures from his fellow dwarves just because he liked to linger his gaze on a pretty looking female. Even if the female wasn't a dwarf.

"Listen lads, hate to cut into yer nonsense," Bofur suddenly voiced out while his gaze was glued on the bar counter, a spark of humor shining in his brown orbs as he kept examining something particular, "Been using me sharp wit 'n brains here for some time now-," Which itself was joke enough to make the others smirk at each other. "Ye know, observing things 'n such. Now hear me out here, 'cause I've seen something interesting," he mused out and elbowed his axe-headed cousin to get his attention too.

"Laddies, got five coins on me-," he dramatically presented the coins to the rest, "-'n ready to put on a wee wager to lighten up this dull evening. Ye old chaps ready to lose yer gold? Make me a rich dwarf, eh? See the man-lad at the bar?" he pointed at an youthful fair-haired man who was casually leaning on the counter at the bar, "Been watching what he's up to 'n this bloke is quite an eager boy for some extra attention from the barmaid over there. A bit much too eager, aye, I'd say. I'd say, he be the one causing some big trouble tonight. Certainly not going to succeed with his efforts with the dame tonight, or at any night, at that," Bofur snickered and grinned playfully at the others, wiggling suggestively his eyebrows at the same. "Any of ye little ninnies dare to disagree?"

Being a bunch of addicted gamblers that they were, the dwarves' ears immediately perked up and all heads were turned towards the reason of their betting. The only one who lost his interest almost immediately was Bifur who couldn't care less of any business related to men-kind. Gloin, however, was twice as eager to accept the gamble, eyeing the human couple at the bar with sharp eyes.

"It's a real shame you know very little of the matters of romance, Master Bofur. I speak with the experience of a married dwarf and my experience just happens to heavily disagree with you. I'll be delighted to prove you wrong and take those coins from you."

Fili and Kili twisted their heads to see better the subject of their betting.

The brunet barmaid walked away from the counter to serve the pints she had been filling, leaving the blond man alone. With a smile of a dreaming fool, the human man gave a good long stare at the server's backside all while scratching his beardless chin.

Dwalin chuckled at that action. "Five coins on the behalf of the laddie," he grunted, amusement dancing in his dark eyes.

Bilbo, feeling out of place among the sturdy dwarves, rolled his eyes at the bunch and muttered something about rude folk without any manners, doing inappropriate bets, eating their host's pantries empty, sticking their noses into other people's business-. He was quick to caught himself though, for showing openly such ill opinions wasn't something a respectable hobbit ought to be doing. He didn't need another reason for the whole Shire to speak behind his back for his reputation was sure to get a big blow from the whole sudden whim of going onto… adventures. Bilbo shuddered at the thought and remained quiet.

"Do you really think so, Master Dwalin?" Fili's eyebrows cocked up as he took a second look of the now lonely man at the counter.

"The lad's lookin' persistent. Not goin' to give up easily that one," Dwalin shrugged.

Bofur shook his hatted head and let a wide dimpled grin cover his face. "Oh no. No, no, no. 'tis not easy to charm barmaids. Trust me, seen more than me fair of them!" he said and sent a playful wink to Bilbo, riling up the little creature even more, "A lost game, that little sonny is, just let me tell ye."

"Alright then. Count me in," Kili suddenly joined all while still watching at the human man who was sipping his ale at the counter, "Master Bofur's right-,"

"I'mma no Master of anything," Bofur muttered sarcastically at that.

"-he's not looking to be in much of luck at the moment."

"And just what do ye know of the matters of 'bein' in luck', youn' Kíli?" Dwalin smirked and got the rest of the dwarves to share a laugh with him while Kili flushed and crossed his arm in front of him like a teased child.

"Don't mind him, lad," Bofur gave Kili a toothy smile, "Just focus on growing out yer beard first 'n then we can talk about this whole thing with luck."

Kili 'hmph'ed and sank lower on his seat, his brother giving him a sympathetic pat on his shoulders as the others kept on snickering at him.

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Behind the musty old tavern was a puny little ramshackle barn and inside that pissy looking barn were the Ri-brothers who were assigned to tend after the company's beasts.

Nori, the middle brother of the three, was doing the job told just like his brothers, only he wasn't feeling as laid back as the other two. Something was off. The back of his neck itched and it was that kind of an itch Nori always felt when he ought to be on his guard. The itch was kind of like his inner thief's sixth sense, something that had made him quite successful in his own art of crafts in the past. That was back in the days when the Ri-brothers had been living through rough times and sources of coin had been hard to find. To anyone asking now his thieving days were long gone and only something that belonged in his past. Only the itch in his neck remained to this day and it had never lied to him. Not once. He knew something was definitely not right and it made Nori anxious enough that even the ponies acted jumpy around him.

Ori and Dori were normal beside Nori and they carried on with their duties without any worries of the world, clearly not sensing anything abnormal in the air or the possible danger lurking around the corner. But then again, they weren't thiev-, ex-thieves, and knew nothing about the warning itch. Nori knew and was alarmed. He hadn't been a master thief for nothing. He couldn't see it, but he could feel someone's eyes on him and on his brothers.

The itch was bad. He kept on glancing over his shoulders for the cause of his uneasiness.

A loud grumbling sound echoed in the barn, startling the dwarves from their pony brushing.

"Ori. Was that your stomach?" Dori's eyebrows quirked up, causing the youngest Ri-brother to blush scarlet. Apparently, his belly had started talking to them. Loudly.

Ori muttered apologies.

"Take the lad inside already," Nori sighed to Dori, almost a little too anxiously, "We're almost done here anyways. I'll finish up quickly and follow." 'Better to get them away from here.'

Dori nodded his thanks to his brother and ushered Ori away from the stables. Nori shook his head and continued brushing the last of the ponies with a thoughtful look on his face. He paused for a second to scratch his neck. 'I'll be damned if anyone manages to catch me off guard.' The dwarf wasn't left disappointed when not even two minutes later light footsteps came from the doorway. Nori didn't turn around to face the intruder, instead he smoothly slid his hand into the pocket of his coat, searched for one of his hidden throwing knives there and took a tight grip of it, ready to put it in use if needed. The pony he was taking care of let out a nervous neigh, sensing his tenseness.

"You've got some fine ponies here Master Dwarf. Fourteen, if I'm right on my numbers" the stranger remarked with a soft voice.

'A female then.' Nori could hear additional brushing sounds. 'And she knows of the company.'

"Do you always lurk in the darkness, watching unaware folk, Miss?" Nori asked with a careless voice but despite it, he tightened his grip on the knife.

"My deepest apologies, Master Dwarf. I simply couldn't help myself when hearing there was a group of dwarves running around. Fear not, I mean no harm to any of you. Though honestly, I already congratulated myself on being able to sneak up on you but it seems like I was proven wrong after all," she chuckled good-heartily, making Nori even more suspicious of her intentions.

"And just who might you be?" he asked and finally turned around to face the female in question.

"Now we're asking the right questions. But why don't we humor ourselves for a while and act like well-behaved folk with good manners, alright? That would include you slipping back that handy little knife of yours, so I can properly introduce myself without having to fear getting accidentally stabbed and end up bleeding on the floor."

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The company of dwarves sat on their table, handily extending the space by pulling another table close and adding chairs for all to sit on. Dinner was made of bread and different salted meats, brought by the tavern's two lovely barmaids (one of them being slightly too eager to serve the youngsters), alongside with pints of ale to each. Thorin had informed them of their sleeping arrangements which consisted of the three last available rooms in the tavern, reasonable putting Bilbo, Gandalf and the Ur-family in the first, the Ri-brothers and Oin and Gloin in the second, and the royal family along with Balin and Dwalin in the last one. The rooms would be crowded, but that served them well, for dwarves were naturally comfortable close to their kin.

"By me beard, look at the lad go," Bofur snickered behind his ale, his amused eyes glued on the same fair-haired man who had been that night's betting target earlier.

The man was following the same pretty barmaid like some love-struck puppy and somehow during this the human duo had come close enough for the ones participating in the bet to hear some parts of their conversation.

The human man wasn't bad looking by any means in the standards of men. He was quite young, in his late twenties or early thirties. He wasn't the bulkiest or tallest of his kind, yet easily still towering all the dwarves. He wore a simple clean dark green tunic along with a pair of comfy trousers and had no doubt taken a bath just moments ago, judging by his still slightly wet short blondish hair. The man had warm brown eyes with slight smile lines. A faint scar around the length of a needle was visible on his left brow leaving that small line completely hairless. He had no beard, save from a small stubble, but his nose was straight and his jaw strong, something that told well that he was indeed a man and not a boy anymore despite the lack of facial hair. His lips were quite small and constantly pulled into a warm playful grin. He almost as if radiated this roguish air as he kept on pestering the poor brown-haired girl next to him.

"I'm trying hard to do me job here, Mister. Ye're disturbing me work," the barmaid sighed as the man had followed her to collect empty plates from an abandoned table.

"Oh? Let me work with you, beautiful. I swear, I'll be following your orders like the good boy that I am," the man winked at her, speaking in a strange rough accent, and then proceeded to help her gather the dishes.

"I'll get in trouble if me guests start doing me job," the miss tried to silently tell him off, but a small smile on the corner of her lips betrayed her real thoughts.

"Is that so? I don't want to see you in trouble," the man murmured and caught her eyes in an intense stare, "But do you want me to go? You say the word and I'll back off and leave you be, pretty girl. You have all the right to do that."

The barmaid blushed faintly and quickly broke the eye contact to collect all the remaining plates from the table. "Shouldn't ye be after Enna?" she changed the subject with a quiet voice, "She's the one they're all after. She's tons prettier than me..."

The blond man cocked his head to the side, searching for her eyes again, not succeeding. The barmaid was too shy to take any part in his games.

"I wouldn't know of this Enna's beauty. I haven't taken my eyes off you during the whole night, you gorgeous captivating little creature. Just what have you done to me? What kind of a spell have you cast on me?" he whispered and reached out for one of her brown locks that had escaped from her bun and gently placed it behind her ear, "accidentally" brushing his thumb down her earlobe.

The girl froze to stare at him. Her dark grey eyes were locked into his deep warm brown ones, getting stuck and lost in the intensity of them. Then the barmaid blinked, breaking the heated moment and quickly turned on her heels to carry away the dirty dishes, her face red as ever. As she hurried away, the man was left leaning against the table with a knowing smile and an appreciating glint in his playful eyes, admiring the maid's backside once again.

"... Hem. What. Just happened?" Kili muttered to Bofur, his jaw slightly open while still watching the man who kept on lounging couple tables away from theirs.

Bofur frowned slightly and glanced at Gloin and Dwalin to see if they had witnessed the same scene as well. "Means, if the lad keeps on like this, I'mma loose me coins pretty soon," he grumbled when he caught Dwalin's smug eyes giving him a knowing wink.

Kili turned back to the blond human with a confused face.

The man in question suddenly turned his head to catch Kili staring at him. His brows were quick to knot together as his eyes traveled from Kili to the rest of the company in the dark corner. Not a second later, his brown eyes went wide open in an alarmed way. With a panicked 'Ohgoddamnme!' the man jumped up on his feet and made a rushed turn, almost hitting his knee on one of the chairs around him, and then clumsily hurried to exit the tavern. The main door was shut after him with a bang.

Kili was left feeling more confused than before, looking at the empty space where the man had sat just a moment ago.

"Frightened him with one look, ye did," Bofur chuckled to the youngster and gave a slap of recognition on his shoulder, "That a lad! Used the good ol' Durin's evil eye to make him scurry away, that poor whelp of a man! Almost stumbled on his own feet, in such a rush he was!"

"Huh? Me? Ah! Oh, well, you know..." Kili swallowed his confusion, cleared his throat and gave the hatted dwarf a toothy smile, "It's my natural strong dwarvish charms that makes them shake in fear and flee with tails in between their legs. There is no man in this place who could beat me in a duel. They know that as well."

Bofur gave out a loud booming laughter - one that shook his whole being and made him lean onto the table with his elbows. "Strong dwarvish charms ye say! Woo boy, what a talk!" he kept on laughing and banging the table with his fists, "Quite the claims, young Kíli, quite the claims indeed! Can't wait the day an unlucky fella comes into yer way picking a fight. Have to see with me own two eyes the day ye can finally prove yerself!"

Kili gave him an offended look. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were mocking me! And here I already thought we started in very good terms and with a mutual understanding, Master Bofur!"

"Now, now, don't go getting all uptight," Bofur chuckled a little out of breath after his long laughter, "Little fun never hurt anyone, aye? 'n I'mma no 'Master' of anything, young Kili. Don't go around calling me such. Ye're giving them folks the wrong sort of image. Got a reputation to maintain after all."

As their little bickering went on, at the other side of the table, Ori nudged Dori's sleeve.

"Brother... Nori hasn't still returned from the stables. Shouldn't he be back already?" he asked a little restless, making few others near him to look around to see if the youngster was right.

Thorin looked questionably at Dori, who wore a slight frown.

"Almost all of the ponies were looked after when we left. Nori is surely taking his time," the silver braided dwarf mused out, suddenly getting worried of his other little brother.

More glances were exchanged.

"Aye… Ain't nothin' stoppin' a dwarf from gettin' his share of food. He's a fast lad, it's takin' too lon' for him..." Dwalin murmured and locked his eyes on Thorin's, both starting to feel suspicious.

The hobbit eyed the company in a slight distress, fearing they would end up doing something extremely loud and… violent.

"Let's not jump into any conclusions yet! There are-, there are numerous sensible reasons as to why he is running late," Bilbo spoke out quickly, sensing the growing distrust in the company.

"I'd better go and see-," Dori was about to stand up when the bar's door suddenly opened again and revealed the missing star-headed dwarf stepping inside and looking around for his companions.

"See, now," Bilbo sighed in relief.

Nori walked to them, his eyes slightly distracted and glancing all over the tavern.

Dori squinted his eyes at him, noticing the strange behavior right away. "Where were you? And what did you do this time?" he questioned, knowing something was up.

"Where is the Tharkûn?" Nori ignored his brother and looked at the others for an answer.

"Gandalf left after we paid the tavern keeper." Thorin narrowed his eyes at the strange question. "What is the matter?"

Nori pursed his lips together and seemed to be lost in thought. 'The girl was lying, must've been. There's just no way. A sneaky little liar she was, just like all these men. I shouldn't worry over nothing.' He shook his head and took the last available seat between Bombur and Oin.

"It's-, it's nothing. I'm sure. It can wait. I'm starved and ready to sit down," he grumbled and started lapping the leftover food on his plate, ready to forget the whole strange encounter in the stables.

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When the knock came, Gandalf had been deep in his thoughts inside his room. He had been expecting the soft knock on the door for quite some time already and so without wasting any more time he moved to open the door for his long-waited guests.

He had waited for two to come, but only one was there.

Gandalf was greeted by a pair of baby blue eyes that blinked at him in surprise.

On the hallway stood a short human girl with a blond French braid, wearing a big bulky coat, a green oversized tunic and a pair of baggy trousers. The ridiculously loose-fitting clothes did their job in hiding under a young little thing with a roundish face, big blue eyes and straight-bridged nose. The girl's face spoke of a girly softness, but it was her eyes which stared unyielding at anything in her way that upgraded her whole gentle appearance into that of a strong-willed, witty looking person. Though, at the moment, the girl clearly wasn't on a warpath and so gave out impossible amount of cheerful energy in a Duracell Bunny kind of way as she practically bounced on her feet at the sight of Gandalf, beaming like a child. Her pale lips which were pulled into a friendly smile, revealing a single dimple on her right cheek.

"Gandalf!" she sighed out as if a great burden had been lifted off her shoulders, "Thank the stars! It's been too long, you sly wizard! You have no idea how much I've missed your mystic wizardly presence!"

Gandalf gave her a good-humored chuckle and made room for her to step inside. "Better late than never, my dear. It's good to see you, Meri. I'm relieved to know you're still keen on taking a part in this quest. You had me worried there for a second! I thought we were supposed to meet right away when arriving here. But oh well, I believe some exchanges of views are in order, yes? First, do tell me dear, where have you lost our dear boy Aleksi?"

The girl stepped inside and looked at him with a grim face, her dimpled smiled long gone. It was almost amusing how quickly her eyes changed from soft and kind to hard and serious.

"That idiot-," she groaned, looking dead tired and ready to give up on her life, "-is the very reason why I'm running late. He was supposed to come and fetch me from the bathhouse when seeing the first glimpse of the company, and yet here I am - uninformed, and late. And without Aleksi. Were the women of this village not so keen on gossiping about every single thing that happens around this little town, I might still be there washing my hair, blissfully unaware of your arrival. But that's not even the best part of this all! Ohhh no. You want to know what's the best part? It's that I know exactly why Aleksi never came there to get me. Ohhh, I have a pretty accurate idea of what he's doing at this very moment..." the girl growled and a something dark flashed through her eyes, "One day, Gandalf this I swear, one day I'll finally have enough of his cursed skirt chasing, and might just murder that man in cold blood."

Gandalf blinked at her words and moved quickly to close the door as the girl kept on muttering death threats. The wizard sported a faint smirk behind his beard and a spark of humor lighted his eyes in a rather scary way. 'Oh, this will prove to be amusing for me.' He stroked his beard in though, letting Meri go on with her grumblings for a while more. 'Yes. Most amusing indeed.'

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Meri's heart was racing. Ever since she had seen Nori, talked with Nori, her heart hadn't stopped racing in her chest. She was going to meet them all. She was actually going to see each and every one of them in real flesh, living and breathing, right in front of her. She would hear them. Smell them. 'How long have I been dreaming of them? Of this adventure? Of Erebor? Oh boy. Oh stars. I'm going to have a heart attack and die before even meeting them. I need Aleksi. Where the hell is that man?'

Gandalf was leading her to the bar and giving amused chuckles at her quickly paling face. Meri pursed her lips together and looked ahead.

She saw them.

All of them. Together in a dark corner of the bar, eating and drinking and joking. Bofur's merry laughter boomed loudly around the place, and once hearing that Meri was sure she was dreaming again. 'That's it. I can't do this. I'm so close that it hurts, but I can't. Sorry, I'm done and out. It's ridiculous but it's just too much. Stars. I will piss on myself.'

Meri was left behind standing frozen in the middle of a hallway while the unaware wizard just continued walking on.

"Thorin-," Gandalf spoke when he reached the dwarves and Bilbo, "-a moment, please? I have some matters to discuss with you privately, and someone I want to introduce you to," the wizard said and was about to reach for the girl behind him, only to find nothing but air there. "Where in Arda-?" he muttered out and searched for Meri, quickly noticing her standing frozen and alone quite a way back at the hallway. "Valar help me with that girl…"

"Gandalf, what is the meaning of this?" Thorin voiced out while Dwalin and Balin sent the wizard equally questionable looks.

In his seat, Nori paused in in the middle of biting his bread, following the situation. His face suddenly paled sheet white as his eyes noticed a familiar blond head in the distance. 'Oh, this is bad...'

"No need to look so concerned, all will be explained. Now if you may Master Dwarf, this way. First, I believe we have to snap someone back to the presence," Gandalf sighed and was pleased to notice Thorin following him without giving too much of a fight.

Meri was so deep in her own world that her blank unblinking eyes couldn't register the wizard and dwarf walking towards her. 'I'm so pathetic. Such a coward. I've worked so hard for this. Aleksi beat my arse so many times, and pushed and pushed and pushed me for this. And what happens? In the end, I'm thinking of bolting off and giving up on everything!'

"My dear girl," Gandalf's voice startled her awake, "-whenever you decide to grant us the time, I would like you to meet Thorin Oakenshield," he chuckled at her frightened expression and nodded towards the impassive-looking dwarf standing next to him.

Meri's eyes widened. 'When did Gandalf-? Goddammmmn.'

The sight of Thorin in front of her sent an explosion of feelings inside of her. 'I can't believe. He's here. He's here.' Everything she had ever learned about the dwarf flashed through her mind in a nonsensical matter. He was more than she expected, her dreams did him no justice for his figure was a saintly sight in its own kind of a rugged way. The very purpose why she was in Middle Earth was standing right in front of her. 'Thorin Oakenshield. You're-. Oh my god.' She had to swallow. 'You're alive.' The range of feelings was tearing her apart, and making her eyes sting. 'You're here. I've finally found you.'

The exiled King under the Mountain stood tall(ish) and proud in front of her, as if owning the very space under his feet as well as the air that surrounded him. His features were dark and unyielding and clearly bred as a higher class. The clothes on his short and sturdy body were made of finer materials, though still not as nice as he was probably used to wear back in the days. Unlike the other older dwarves, he had his beard trimmed short and the long, dark hair that rested on his wide shoulders free of any braids but two. Meri knew it had a meaning to in the dwarven culture, but couldn't think any further of the matter when her eyes caught the sight of his unbelievably pale blue ones. One could only describe them as 'as blue as Durin's' for there was no other blood line in mortals that could own such a shade of color in their eyes. But as beautiful as his eyes were, they were also loaded with a big burden - hardened into steel in such a way Meri couldn't see a thing past that wall.

"Thorin Oakenshield," she finally whispered out, clenching her jaw as new burning feelings flashed through her. She gave him one quick and very clumsy curtsy. "My name is Meri Karhu, sir. At your service." she added the latter part quickly, remembering that it was polite for dwarves, "Ah-, forgive my-, my strange behavior at the moment, Master Oakenshield. It's just-I've waited quite long for this day to arrive."

Thorin blinked and nodded his head uncertainly, giving her a wary look. The girl spoke in a rough accent and looked… strange. A foreigner. She obviously was a daughter of men, that much was clear, but her short slight figure, as well as other little details on her were confusing him. As was the fact that she was clearly wearing men's clothing, which was of course usual for female rangers and even for some she-elves, but she clearly was neither. He hadn't come across with such a woman before, everything on her seemed unfamiliar to him. Thorin wasn't friends with unfamiliar matters and so he automatically heard the warning bells ringing inside his head. A frown wasn't far from his face.

"Well met, Miss Kaar-hu," the dwarf pronounced her name uncertainly, like he was carefully trying to taste it before chewing, not missing the spark of humor in the girl's blue eyes after he had done this, "Though, I must admit I wasn't aware we were supposed to meet anyone. Gandalf, what is the meaning of this? Why is she here?" he continued in a troubled voice, turning back to the wizard, very unamused.

Gandalf cleared out his throat, trying to mask his small nervousness. "Ah, well but, I invited her here of course. It is as I promised you Thorin, I am to find you your burglar-," he said, glancing at where Bilbo was seated and then looking back at Thorin, "-along with some other sources of additional aid for the journey. Miss Meri here is included in that last part," the wizard smiled to him with a mischievous spark in his eyes.

"Other sources of-," Thorin muttered and then growled under his breath, his eyes darkening for a moment as he finally realized what this all meant and why Gandalf had insisted them to come into the village in the first place.

Then he took a deep calming breath, turned back to the girl and gave her a quick once over, before slowly turning his seething sapphire eyes back to Gandalf. If a look could cast fire on someone, Gandalf would have found himself suffering some pretty serious third-class burns right there.

The two males stared each other in a heavy silence.

"No." was Thorin's painfully slow answer.

Which was met with a tight-lipped smile from Gandalf.

"Oh, but, yesss." was his equally slow reply.

A fight was about to break down. All the signs were there for first sparks to start flying around. Meri had to shift on her feet to ease the pressure she was feeling. Her gaze bounced from Thorin to Gandalf, taking in their serious faces and unyielding eye-contact which was as intense as one could get without crossing the line of being, well, on the romantic side.

"Gandalf. No." Thorin spoke out after the tense silence.

Gandalf's eyes narrowed but kept on with the staring contest. "This decision has already been made two years ago, and you have nothing to say to this. Meri is a valuable friend to have, one that you will learn to appreciate in time. She will come with us on this quest."

Thorin let out an ugly sneer at the wizard. "Two years ago? You're delirious, Gandalf. Just what does she have that makes her so important for the journey? Wilderness is no place for a woman and what you ask of me is a disgraceful thing to do. You have no right to send her to her death. Just like you had no right to do that to the Halfling."

"Hem," the girl suddenly interrupted them, looking quite uncomfortable with the whole situation."Gentlemen, I'm right here, and can speak on my own behalf. I think what we need right now is to calm ourselves, sit down and-."

"I have every right to bring her along!" Gandalf boomed, cutting off the girl like whatever she wanted to say held no meaning, making her blink at the wizard in a what-the-hell kind of way, "Her fate is to be included in this adventure and there is no other way!"

Meri moved on from the surprise of getting talked over to, and turned to Thorin. "Gandalf is speaking the truth, you know. I don't mean to sound rude, but I'll most likely just follow you anyway-,"

"Her place is not in the company or in this quest!" Thorin argued heatedly back to Gandalf, bluntly ignoring Meri and her bewildered look when she was, yet again, cut off from the conversation, "She is nothing but a man child, for Mahal's sake, barely old enough to serve an ale! What reason could she have to help dwarves? I have no trust in her kind!"

"Ai!" Meri cried, now also starting to lose her calm, "No need to get personal here! I'm far from a child-!" she huffed out, crossing her arms in front of her.

Gandalf continued talking to Thorin, not even hearing the girl. "She has a reason, and a very fine one indeed! If you do not hold trust in her, then trust in me! Her talents shall bring you a great benefit on your way!"

"Seriously! Do you two even listen-!" Meri hopelessly tried but was cut off, again.

"I am beginning to reconsider my trust in you Gandalf," Thorin said darkly, "Your way of taking care of matters is highly questionable! You have been doing nothing but hiding precious information from me, operating matters with a mischievous mind and choosing incompetent individuals to join my company! I care not whether she's talented or not, she holds no importance in this case!"

"Well, bugger. This is getting ridiculous. Should I get offended? I mean-," Meri stopped talking when sensing something wrong.

The air around them grew heavy.

The few candles around them wavered, their lights dimming.

Noises in the background faded.

And Gandalf.

Gandalf looked very much pissed.

"She-!" the wizards hissed, not too loud for the whole bar to hear but twice as effective, "-has seen your quest's outcome beforehand, Thorin Oakenshield! Do you dare to defy my wish to take her along?!"

After Gandalf's sudden wizard-like powerful boom, a heavy silence fell above the trio. Meri blinked in surprise and looked at the wizard like he had finally gone mad. 'Well. That escalated quite quickly, if I may just say. I think the cat is out of the bag now. Hopefully anyone else didn't hear that or we're all pretty much screwed.''

Thorin turned to Meri with unbelieving eyes, leaving a fuming Gandalf to glare at his profile. Meri smiled weakly and sent an awkward wave to the dwarf. At least she finally got his attention now.

"Yo."

"A seer?" Thorin muttered cautiously and slowly let his gaze wander from her head to her toes with a calculating look in his eyes.

'Oh, nothing beats a good old intense and very awkward once over.' "Ah, well, I'm afraid that's slightly exaggerated. I only know of few things related to your quest. I've seen them in my dreams." 'And yeeears back, could say another lifetime ago, in the movies.' "And I've seen you in my dreams." 'No-, wait! God, that came out wrong!'

The frown on Thorin's face was so deep his eyebrows almost met each other. For good ten seconds he looked at Meri with these mistrustful eyes before he turned to Gandalf to confirm this claim. "Is this true Gandalf? Has this-, this child truly seen what the future beholds?"

Gandalf, having calmed himself down again, nodded at him with seriousness in his wise eyes. He let his gaze wander through the bar, searching for any unnecessary pairs of ears that could have been listening and was satisfied when finding none. "That she has."

"Ridiculous. What you're trying to claim is-, Gandalf it's impossible!"

"No," Gandalf shook his head, "It's an enormous gamble, yes, foolish even, and inhuman in many ways. But perfectly possible. Our Meri here has been given a huge burden to carry on her little shoulders, and if it is a gift or a curse, we have yet to find out."

Meri frowned slightly. 'Yes, I'm the real victim here.'

"And just what have you seen, Dreamer?" Thorin whispered carefully, facing Meri again.

Meri shut her mouth tightly and glanced uncertainly at Gandalf, going over all the matters they had gone through just half an hour ago. She was given a cautious nod from the older man and so with a shaky sigh Meri looked straight into the piercing blue eyes of Thorin, still marveling over their beauty, and spoke.

"I've seen... much. I know much. Things from the past, and from the future. Odd glimpses from here and there, if you may. Strange events with strange people and with no further explanations. It's mostly been very confusing. Making only little sense afterwards when not knowing any details or backstories, or even the exact time frame of all the happenings. But there's one thing… One thing I know for sure, is that they all started in one place… and will end in the exactly same place," Meri licked her lips,

"In Erebor."

Thorin's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"What know you of Erebor?" he muttered darkly, taking threatening steps towards the surprised girl.

"I know much, King under the Mountain," Meri repeated quietly without a beat, too nervous to do anything else.

Thorin's glare intensified after hearing the title, but Meri just took a calming breath and kept her sincere eyes on Thorin's thunderous ones.

"Listen, you have great mistrust for strangers, even greater for those of another race, that I know and seriously don't expect anything else," 'After all you've been through, that is…' "But what you must understand is, that I'm here only because these bloody dreams won't leave me alone. They taunt me almost every night, and make me worry for these short, hairy people I've never even met in real life."

At this, she glanced at the table full of dwarves, missing the amusement dancing in Gandalf's eyes, "They make me concerned over a bunch of complete strangers... You can't possibly understand how frustrated I've been over this for the last two years. It's been-, it's been madness," she ran a trembling hand through her braided hair, "But, I've come to understand they have all along prepared me and showed me what I was destined to do. My purpose, the very reason why I exist… is to be here. To help you. And to guide you."

Meri paused for a while, searching for the right words to say. 'Probably should've written down some sort of speech or something. Would've made this much easier.'

"Erebor is all I've thought of ever since the dreams started. And it's all I know anymore," the girl swallowed a lump in her throat, her eyes getting annoyingly wet again. "Do you not want all the help you can get with reclaiming your home back?"

Thorin's hard eyes examined her closely while she was talking. He felt unsure of her even after hearing her reasoning and this doubt inside him automatically pushed him into not liking her. A seer or not, she was a child of men and had no place in dwarven matters, no place at all. 'Gandalf insists she is essential.' Thorin turned to the wizard's side giving him a dark look. 'The Lonely Mountain will be lost because of this cursed wizard!'

"I will not have her slow us down, Gandalf, a seer or not," Thorin growled quietly to him, still refusing to accept this turn of events.

Gandalf merely gave him one pointed look. "Would you rather turn your back to someone who has, dare I say, some rather critical knowledge of your future?" he asked, and after a passing thought added: "Why, you do realize what could be done with her information, should it be passed on… to wrong hands?"

A new kind of realization sunk into the head of the King dwarf. Mahal only knew just what else the girl knew. Dread began to fill his stomach just to think what could happen if someone with evil intentions should reach any piece of this knowledge about his dear quest. There would be someone to try and stop him – there always was someone. And unlike he would have wanted, he didn't have an army with him to stand by and fight for his home. Right now he only had a handful of loyal dwarves by his side who were already risking their lives for this quest.

There was no other way. He couldn't afford to get rid of the girl. Seer or not, she already knew too much.

Thorin cleared his throat before speaking to Gandalf, not even bothering to lower his voice so that the girl wouldn't hear him. "You planned this all along, Gandalf, you knew of her and didn't tell me. You chose not to tell me. Why? She is a threat, do yo understand? A threat to this quest. She could have destroyed everything we have planned - and who is to say she already hasn't? How can we tell whether she is being honest with us, that she wishes to aid us? What if she has already revealed all she knows to another Master? Tell me Gandalf, how can I place any of my trust on her, when it seems that I cannot even trust in you? You tricked me into this!"

With that, Thorin swallowed some of his bitterness and cleared his throat. "This Dreamer-," he spat out the name like it had a bad taste on it, "-will be your responsibility, as will her death fall into your hands. This decision is yours alone, and I will not take any part of the disgrace that her involvement brings."

"Done and done!" Meri cried out hurriedly, her heart beating painfully fast in excitement. There was no need to prolong this god-awful situation any further. "Now, where do I sign?!"

Thorin's shoulders stiffed at her exclamation while Gandalf looked at the girl with his eyebrows high on his forehead. She had stolen his turn to speak.

"Just a second there, Thorin," the older man spoke and stopped Thorin from turning back to his company, "There's one more thing..."

"What. Is it?" the dwarf hissed lowly, already sick and tired of playing along with his games.

Gandalf stroked his beard thoughtfully before giving an answer.

"Ah. Well. You see. There might be another person involved. A man, so to speak."

Meri held her breath while seeing Thorin closing his eyes tightly. She sent a quick prayer. 'Good God, give strength to this dwarf to deal with our bullshit. He's on the edge right now and in desperate need of some holy spirit to carry him through this all. That is all I ask, some peace of mind for this poor suffering creature. Don't let him explode. Not yet. For I think I can see a vein pulsing on his forehead and I know there's still more to come.'

"Another one?" Thorin asked in a voice that was ready to commit a murder, "Another seer? By Mahal! Just where have you picked up these freak of natures? And why would I even have the need for another if I already have one?" 'Durin, how many creatures knows of my plans?!'

Gandalf cleared his throat, trying to keep his own temper in check. "Yes, the man dreams also. Which means that he knows of the situation just as much as Miss Meri here. This should serve as a reason enough to take him along and make sure that all the secrets regarding your quest are safe and close to yourself. Also, these two travel together, have traveled for a long time now and will not be separated because of this journey."

"It's true Master Oakenshield," Meri butted in with a small, apologizing voice, "We two come as a pair. There's no other way."

Thorin kept his eyes closed and tried to keep his composure as calm as possible. Things were certainly not going the way he intended and he felt a hot wave of anger pulsing through his veins, building up in his head and creating the early symptoms of a major headache. He often had those when being in deep distress, and he just knew the rest of his night was doomed from any form of rest. 'Not only do I have a poor burglar, but now also two suspicious man-children in my company. This cannot be a good omen for the quest.'

"Of course you do," the dwarf muttered sarcastically under his breath, "And just where might this male companion of yours be right now? Why is he not here to speak for his own behalf?"

Meri shut her mouth tightly, seeing just what kind of trouble she was causing for Thorin and it was making her feel like a total failure in front of the dwarf King. With a nervous glance at Gandalf, she silently passed the question for him for she couldn't bear to be the one giving Thorin any more bad news. After all, how was she supposed to tell Thorin that the human man he was asking for had a dick as his brains?

Gandalf cleared his throat and drummed against his staff in a thoughtful way. "It seems that our young Mister Aleksi has been momentarily… distracted, by other means, so to speak. However, I have the strongest believe that he'll join us any moment now, for he too knows the importance of this quest."

Meri felt like rolling her eyes so she simply just closed them and remained silent with the whole thing. 'Some bloody distraction that'll prove to be.'

Thorin was even less impressed than the girl and it showed on his face. The dwarf felt the greatest need to strangle something but instead he sighed through his nose and eyed Meri with a deep distaste.

"I don't care to discuss these matters twice in the same night," he said, his voice holding a certain irritated edge, "One hour. We'll wait for your companion for one hour and if he doesn't turn up, I'll have no interest in speaking to him at all. We'll go through this with you and with my company, and you will answer the questions asked and then later inform the man just what he's missed. Is this understood?"

Meri fiercely nodded her head, feeling ridiculously like a little child being told what to do by her parents. It didn't help that Gandalf hummed in humor right next to her.

With that out of the way, Thorin let his eyes wander from Meri's face to her body, once more taking in her small size and her choice of baggy men's clothing as if they were personally assaulting him in some way. Unbelieving what he was seeing, he chose to close his eyes and shake his head. 'Has Gandalf even realized how young and… little she is? This man-child barely stand taller than my dwarves!' The early signs of headache were turning into a steady, unpleasant thudding in the front of his head. His dwarf-instincts were screaming that females were not supposed to go on such dangerous quests. Females were looked after of, cherished and protected! 'She's not built for this journey. She won't make it. This Dreamer will die.' No matter how Thorin despised other races and no matter how he wanted nothing to do with anyone else that was not a dwarf, he still felt a painful sting of wrongness in his heart when looking at the little girl in front of him, knowing he was sentencing her to her death when allowing her to come with him. Yet another thing to add to the already huge burden on his shoulders.

"Tell me-," Thorin grunted through his teeth, hoping for at least some sort of a light in this hopeless situation "-that this isn't your first time on the road. Say that you're familiar with travelling, that you have more experience than what your appearances leads on. At least, tell me that you know something about defending yourself."

Meri was quick to grant him an answer, so keen on lessening his distress in any sort of way to pay attention to the sexist insult he was giving her. "Yes!" she spluttered out and inwardly half-fived with herself when seeing the relieved flicker in Thorin's eyes, "Yes! Yes, on everyday basis. I'm no stranger to hard work; I've known the ways of traveling and how to defend myself for quite some time now. Master Oakenshield, I know I might not look like much, but I'll try my hardest not to be an extra weight to the company. That's… really not the reason why I'm coming along. You'll understand in time. I'll prove myself, I will!"

Thorin looked grim, like he didn't fully believe what she was saying. She sounded like she was trying too hard to make him believe her, to make him trust her, and that was what made him only more wary. Strangers were not this friendly with him without a reason. Strangers-, he grimaced, -did not just try to gain his favor for nothing.

"We shall see about that…" he muttered sourly, "Shan't we now? For it seems like I've been given no other choice in the first place."

Thorin gave one murderous glance to Gandalf and then, like an offended child, he turned his back to them and marched off with quick, angered steps. No doubt the company would know of the newest twist of events in a matter of minutes.

Meri sighed and turned to Gandalf who seemed to be fighting off a traitorous smirk.

"Well. That… was delightful," the wizard commented, once again stroking his beard while watching the distancing back of the dwarf King.

Meri gave him a pointed look, immediately feeling much more relaxed when Thorin was gone. "You think? For a while I was actually quite afraid he might go all Hulk on our asses…! Stars, talk about being paranoid! Did you see the way he looked at me? Did you? Like I was some-, some vain, good for nothing, common town wench! Gandalf, he's even worse than what I expected, just how are we supposed to get along if he can barely even stand the sight of me? Gosh, just-, do you even want to know what my mama would've done to him if she'd seen the way he looked at me?! I mean, men like him inspire that woman's inner serial killer!" she exclaimed and threw her hands up to dramatize her statement.

Then, after a moment, she nervously added, "Seriously though, do you think he'll ever learn to like me and Aleksi?"

Gandalf, quite humored with her rambling, put his hand on her shoulder in a comforting way. "Worry not dear child. Thorin might be a little challenging as a new acquaintance, even for a dwarf, yet in time I believe he will grow-, hem… How should I word it... More approachable. Even to such as you and Aleksi."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Men? In our quest? Unheard of!"

"Did ye say a seer?! Seein' Erebor in her dreams?! Durin's balls! She's a spy! An assassin!"

"Aaaaaye, 'n what a lovely little assassin she'd make too! Just look at her lads, look at that fair healthy hair!"

"Never mind her, what about the man? He's more like to try to kill us all."

"I'd just like to press that I don't approve any of this. Bringing gentle folk into wildlife… We'll have female blood on our hands soon."

"And she's rather small for her kind, don't you think? Wonder if she can she even lift an axe?"

"Doubt it. The lass is naught but skin and bones, not going to last long on the road. The faintest breeze of wind will carry her away at first given chance. Mahal knows what'll happen if an actual storm surprises us…! We'll have to rope her to one of the ponies just in case."

"Would you stop gossiping about her already? She's looking right at us."

"Ha. If she's a seer, then I'm an orc."

"Ye are as ugly as one…"

"No, no, no, why are we allowing this to happen-? Ori stop looking at the girl."

"But how young she looks…! Say, are we sacrificing baby girls in the wilderness now?"

"Have you even considered how inappropriate it is to have one female among a company of thirteen male dwarves?"

"Oh dear. Oh dear. This is very wrong indeed. Very wrong."

"Aye, well, I'mma take me baths as naked as a baby dwarfling 'n the lass just has to adapt. Might as well fall in love with me."

"Just shut up already! Shut up! Each and one of you!" Nori boomed while banging his fist to the table and earning silence along with irritated looks from his companions. Even Thorin looked at him with raised eyebrows. "The lass is coming, we like it or not! The Tharkûn made it clear that he wants these men on the road with us and I wouldn't go against a wizard's will! Now stop nagging about this already, you're all giving me a Mahal damned headache!"

Bad looks and some annoyed grumbles were sent to his way but otherwise the dwarves smothered their whining.

That was before Fili mused out a "I do think she's pretty, though", making the company, with the exception of his snickering little brother, groan loudly at him. "What? I'm just saying! For all we know, she could be half dwarrowdam with her height!"

"You are mistaken there, young Master Fíli," Gandalf's sudden voice spooked the gossiping group of dwarves. Most of them jumped slightly on their seats as if they had been caught doing something wrong.

The wizard brought the girl for introductions and everyone went to shamelessly stare at the short blond girl, even Bilbo. The girl answered their intense gazes with an equally shameless staring of her own. This back and forth ogling went on for the next awkward ten seconds before Gandalf decided to take the matters into his hands.

"Judging by your rather loud chitchat, all of you must now know of Miss Meri Karhu then. My dear girl, here you can finally see the company of Thorin Oakenshield."

Meri blinked and cleared her throat before dipping down into a deep curtsy, feeling fourteen pairs of eyes on her. 'Talk about stepping into the spotlight.' "At your service, gentlemen. I've been looking forward for quite some time to meet you all, as Master Oakenshield must have shared with you already. I'll be joining you in this quest for now on and so will my partner. That is… if he'd first grant us his presence, of course." 'That damn fool of a man. I'll be making sure he wakes up tomorrow morning with no balls attached to his miserable being.'

Some of the dwarves gave her hesitant nods while the rest looked at her with unimpressed eyes. No one said a word, just continued gazing and making the girl more than aware of the uncomfortable air around them. For the second time that evening, she nervously shifted on her feet beside Gandalf and wished for someone to say something. It was clear that no one knew how to act in such a situation. Though, Thorin sure looked like he was enjoying all the discomfort his dwarves brought to the girl.

The silence was growing unbearable and Meri felt an awkward cold drop of sweat rolling down her neck.

"Aye... You sure are no dwarf," Fili - praise his pure precious soul - finally voiced out what everyone in the table was thinking.

Meri blinked again and focused her eyes solely on him, making the youngster slightly flush at the same. Whether it was because of his obvious statement or her intense gaze on his person, Meri found the sight of his ears turning to red absolutely darling, especially when they were big - as was common for dwarves - and the blush was so easily noticeable under his fair hair. In a way the girl was sorry for making him feel embarrassed by her ogling but she simply just found it much easier to take them all in one by one rather than trying to get a grasp of the whole picture in front of her.

Fili was a charming looking, late-teen dwarf. Young, reckless and handsome. And though already knocking at the doors of adulthood, he still had a childish spark of mischief in his appearances. He was the only blonde of the group and boy, was his long golden locks looking pretty and well-taken care of. Not a single tangle in them. Yet even more beautiful were his eyes, those bright pale blue orbs that shone brightly and with that child-like innocence. It was obvious that he hadn't yet seen his first true battlefield, for his eyes weren't dimmed in that sense, as were the case of his uncle's. Same Durin eyes with the same pale blue color, only Fili's were much, much brighter even in the current dark lighting.

Meri gave an easy smile to the blushing teenager.

"I sure am no dwarf," the girl stated in good humor, "I'm glad we've got that sorted out for once and for all."

Fili smiled sheepishly and the red in his ears got deeper. Beside him, his brother snickered quietly at his reaction and bumped their shoulders together hard, starting a hushed bickering between the two.

Gandalf hummed and set his hand onto Meri's shoulder as a kind gesture. "You needn't feel so wary of her, Master Dwarves," he said to the company, "Meri is a perfectly trustworthy friend to have, something you will come to realize sooner or later, I am sure. I have no doubt she only has the best interest of the company in her mind."

"But Gandalf, tell us, is it true what Thorin says?" Balin spoke out from next to Thorin, turning his eyes to the grey wizard, a curious glint in them, "A seer? Truly?"

Meri looked from Fili to Balin, feeling her eyes rest with the sight of him. With hair and beard already pure white from his respectable age - and strangely free of any sort of dwarvish braids - Balin was definitely one of the oldest dwarves in the company. There was something warm and grandfatherly in the dwarf and not only because of his striking outer resemblance to Saint Nicholas, but also because of the soft, almost understanding look in his warm brown eyes. Meri could easily picture him being the one to give others support and comfort when in need. At that she felt a sudden bang of homesickness and longing to see her own late papa. Though, to be honest, Balin seemed to be much kinder soul than the meddling mischievous old man from her childhood that always got her talked into his ridiculous childish tricks. Tricks that always ended up with her alone facing the consequences with her pissed off mama. 'For an old fart with a walking stick, that man was suspiciously quick to vanish from the spot when things started going down…' No, Balin seemed much too courteous to be compared with her late papa.

Meri turned to eye at Gandalf beside her with a slightly judging look on her face. 'You, however…'

Gandalf nodded at Balin and his grip slightly tightened on Meri's shoulder. "We must choose our words carefully, Master Balin, should we wish to stay unseen. These are delicate matters we are speaking of and there are… ears everywhere."

Meri quirked an accusing brow at him. 'Really? Does that rule not apply on wizards and their wizardly power-booms in the middle of public boozers then?' She spotted a slight side-smirk from the tall man and she had no doubt he knew what she was thinking.

"I can imagine," Balin agreed with Gandalf and eyed Meri again, "All sort of things you must know of, Miss Kaar-hu… All sort of things, indeed…" he mused out mostly to himself, before he blinked and realized he hadn't even given her his name yet, "Ah! By my beard, how rude of me not to introduce myself. Apologies, lassie. I am Balin, son of Fundin. At your service."

Meri felt like sighing in relief, not even caring about the way her last name was getting butchered for the second time that night, not when she finally got some positive signs from one of the dwarves. Maybe the night was not doomed to fail after all.

"It's truly a pleasure, Master Balin. Please, just Meri is perfectly fine." 'And that's because you people are shit at pronouncing my surname, kind sirs.'

"Well then," Gandalf cleared his throat, "Now that we have this sorted out, why don't you take a seat dear girl, while we wait for the last piece of our puzzle to arrive?" he smiled thinly and gestured towards the table.

Meri listened his advice, ignored the burning stares of some of the dwarves and picked herself a chair in between Bilbo and Nori while Gandalf went to sit next to Thorin.

The hobbit looked slightly bewildered from having the human girl sit beside him and he nervously twiddled with the buttons on his vest. The presence of the girl itself was not what made Bilbo stunned but more of the company's attitude towards her. Everyone seemed to act slightly too suspicious and Bilbo couldn't tell why. Surely a girl of her age and size, added with the well-mannered way she spoke, wasn't any real danger to any of them. Bilbo didn't think so. He was just surprised and a little intrigued. The girl spoke in an odd rough-edged accent and it perked up the hobbit's natural (un-hobbit like) curiosity.

"Ah, well, why hello there dear," the Halfling spluttered out once he had somewhat collected himself, "Pardon me for being so straight, but I couldn't help but to notice the accent," he tested the waters, though doing it very awkwardly and with an oddly uncharacteristic bluntness, "I believe I have never heard such before. Where is it that you hail from Miss Karhu? The South?"

Meri had barely time to take a calming breath before the small hobbit next to her spoke to her, making her turn to his side. She focused her blue eyes on him and scanned his features closely, making him a little flustered. 'Gosh. What an overly adorable little creature. Just look at those little curls and button nose! And he actually got my name right, good for him!'

Bilbo certainly stuck out like a sore thumb from the rest of the company. Chubby and even shorter than the dwarves, he was shorter than Meri too with the tip of his head barely reaching her shoulders, and the girl found this amusing as she was used to men towering her short frame like skyscrapers. Bilbo could have easily passed as a child if it weren't for his big hairy hobbit-feet and a face of a mature person. He had kind features compared to the dwarves - soft and chubby and with a healthy rosy color on his cheeks. It was obvious that the hobbit had lived a peaceful, easy-going lifestyle, with full meals on the table every day, a warm and cozy bed to sleep on every night, and a safe home to return to. It was almost enviable how innocent and unaffected he still was of the nasty world that began just outside the borders of Shire. Shadows hadn't yet had their chance to taint his pure being. 'But how long would this last…?'

Meri blinked and came back to the current matter. Bilbo's question was a tricky one and she had to think a while what to say to him. 'I kinda hoped this conversation could've taken place much, much later.'

"Ah, you see," she began slowly, giving him an apologetic smile, "Westron isn't really my native language, as you can tell. Nor is any of the languages here that you might know of. I come from very far Master Baggins… My home is-, it's so far away I fear it's not possible for me to return there ever again. So far, I cannot show you the lands from any map that you may have. Or from any map you might know of, to say the truth. It's really no wonder you find my accent a bit strange. Actually, I'd find it very much surprising if you'd ever heard of it before."

Bilbo took in the explanation with a slight look of bewilderment on his face. Never had he heard of any unreachable lands, not other than the Undying Lands, and surely that couldn't be the case of this. But, above all, he was startled when hearing her using his name, which he was sure he hadn't given her yet. On the second though! he was more horrified of himself for not introducing himself to her in the first place, as was more than polite to do when first meeting someone. Had any hobbits been near to witness this shameful moment of his, he'd never hear the end of it. "Pardon me Miss, you seem to know my name already. How can that be?"

Meri just shook her head with a secretive smile and gave him a little wink, to which the hobbit blushed to and sank deeper on his seat.

Dori was not convinced with the information she had given them and he quite rudely barked into the conversation. "Unknown lands? Now see, that there doesn't sound too promising to me," he spoke out suspiciously. "What are you doing here then? Surely a stranger from a strange faraway land must have a strange purpose here, other than to cause distrust in a strange group of dwarves?"

Grunts of agreement were heard from the other dwarves.

Meri would have loved to stick her tongue to the oldest Ri-brother, but decided to play it cool and be patient with him. 'God knows, this is a strange situation for all of us.'

Her blue eyes took in the face of the silver-haired dwarf with fancy neat braids sticking tightly against his scalp. He had sharp, masculine features and a strong looking body under his clothes, all these making it easy to intimidate his enemies. However, when Meri got over the first layer of harshness and distance, she locked her gaze with his, and found a pair of sweet caramel eyes that held the look of a– 'Oh my…' -they held that exact look and softness of a loving mother. 'Or a very devoted big brother…' Dori was the eldest of the three Ri-brothers and he certainly had the air of "man of the house" around him, and the way he kept his youngest sibling glued to his side only strengthened that image. Meri could easily detect the protective streak that he had.

Drumming her fingers on the worn table, Meri thought what to answer him. She didn't want to lie, knowing that over time she would only get caught and possibly get accused for trying to horribly deceive them. But she couldn't just go ahead and tell them the whole nasty truth either, clearly remembering the words of warning from Gandalf earlier that evening. 'Still. If I ever seek for their trust, I got to be truthful. In a subtle way.' Meri took a notice of Thorin watching her with a dark look and she quickly licked her suddenly gone-dry lips before answering.

"I seriously don't have a clue of why I'm here. I wish I had the knowledge of every decision made by the higher party, but sadly, I got no idea of their true reasons, Master Dori." Hearing his own name, Dori's eyes widened and he looked around to the other dwarves to share his shock. "All I know, is that something… happened to me and my partner, something quite insane, which then lead us to our purpose in here. We've discussed this with Gandalf and decided together, that it's the best for us to just accept this without causing any unnecessary commotion, and play our parts as the Valar intended us to do."

Gandalf nodded to this, coming to her aid. "Your newest recruits are in a quite unusual situation indeed. But as it happens, their misfortune shall come to be your blessing, Master Dwarves," he gave a small sad smile to Meri, "After all, you are not the only beings in Middle Earth who are far away from home."

That brought a slight guilty flicker in Dori's eyes, and the silver braided dwarf hesitated to pursue the subject any further. After all, the pain of losing home was something he knew very well of.

Gloin was the next one to speak. "Very well then. The lass seems to be harmless enough, for now," he claimed, but still eyed Meri with caution, "But, what of the man? Where is he? There are details to discuss and facts to get straight, so why isn't he here?"

Meri turned to look at the dwarf and noticed him immediately straightening up on his seat when he saw her looking. He answered her studying gaze with a challenging stare of his own, as if daring her to inspect his very being the same manner she had done to the others before him. Gloin was a warrior, that much could be told by only looking at him and reading his body language. He was trained by mind and body to face challenges and right at that moment, his hard eyes looked at Meri like she was a new opponent for him. Or more like just another new bug to be crushed under his foot. The girl didn't let his hostile reaction bother her, her examining eyes automatically sliding over to his hair. Fiery red and voluminous as lion's mane, Gloin's hair was probably the ideal hair in dwarvish culture. Something to truly gloss over and be envied by, but Meri though it to be slightly a bit too… much with muchness. Then again, the dwarf looked like he was very proud of his uncontrollable mane so who was she to tell him he was clearly over-doing it? Moving on from his hair to his beard (really, there was no telling where one started and the other one ended when the whole dwarf seemed to be covered in the same voluptuous red hair) the girl found it fancily decorated with different beads, making her curious of the reason of them all. Gloin was the perfect image of a dwarf from all the fairytales, from head to toe, more than anyone else sitting in the table with him.

Getting back to the situation in hand, Meri recalled Gloin's question and suddenly felt like face palming herself. This was the third time today someone asked where Aleksi was, and that did not include her own constant questioning of the same matter. Just what could she possibly answer to the dwarf? 'Well, Gloin, my dear dwarf, Aleksi is currently busy chasing skirts it seems. He might come, or not, depends really if he gets lucky enough with his efforts.' Maybe crying was more suited considering her situation. 'That bloody, useless little-.'

"Oh, but. Worry not, Master Glóin," Gandalf was the one to answer the dwarf with a knowing glint in his eyes and turned to look at the main entrance in one (overly)dramatic motion, "I have a small hunch that he'll be joining us any moment now. Any, moment, now…"

Meri cocked up her eyebrows at the wizard's words. Knowing that Gandalf was not one to bullshit around, she turned to look at the door with an expecting expression. The company behind her did the same. And, as always, Gandalf's wizardly knowledge didn't let anyone down and the old man knew perfectly well what he was talking about.

Not even a second later the main door opened with a big bang, making people send curious glances towards it. A familiar fair-haired human man - at this very moment, Bofur in the background let out an unbelieving gasp when realizing who he was - rushed into the room wearing a distressed look on his face. He took couple of hasted steps inside while searching all over the bar in an anxious manner. Once his gaze settled onto Meri, he stopped right onto his tracks, looking like he had been caught doing something terribly wrong. His wide brown eyes bounced from Meri to Gandalf, to Meri, to the dwarves behind her, to Meri, to the dwarves again, and finally back to Meri. The man gulped noticeably, his Adam's apple plopping up and down.

"Oh shit," he whispered out from his place near the doorway, and ran his hand through his blond hair, "Oh arse," he breathed out and moved his hand to scratch his neck. "Meri-bear!" he tried to smile at the girl, but could only manage a small shy quirk of lips when seeing the girl's impassive look.

The man walked with quick long strides all the way up to them, his eyes getting a certain light in them when looking at the tall wizard at the table. "And Gandalf the Grey! My man! How long it's been? It's good to see-!"

"It's good to see YOU," Meri cut him off, clenching her jaw and giving the approaching man a disappointed look all while standing up from her seat on turning her back to the dwarves, "And what a good thing too that you were here with your sharp eyes to make a note of the company's arrival…! And coming straight to get me...! Would've completely missed them otherwise…! What a good thing, indeed…!" she hissed to him quietly but angrily, not really wanting the table full of dwarves behind her to hear her.

The man gave her a guilty pout and rubbed the back of his head in a goofy way. "Ah hah hah. Now, calm down Baby Bear, you're starting to scare me a little… You see, there was this-," he tried to explain but quickly quit his pathetic try of an excuse when Meri gave him a quick flicker of her hand to hush him out, one that greatly amused Gandalf who watched the exchange with raised brows.

"There, always, is," the girl growled out, before taking a deep inhale and forcing a calm look on her face. With one final pointed look to the man, she turned to speak to the company again, "I really must apologize my partner's horrible manners. He's truly bad at being on time at the places he's most needed in…" she sighed at them like a mother of a disobedient child would, which was funny because she was clearly much younger than the man.

Meri glanced at Aleksi and continued her motherly role by saying: "Now, why don't you start making up your rude absence by introducing yourself to the company?"

She did a quick pointed nod towards the table full of dwarves, and Aleksi was brought into the reality of their current situation.

"Well, arse," he blinked at the sight, "Aleksi Ek, at your service!" He rushed a quick bow to the company before giving each and one of the members a long, calculating look, succeeding making the dwarves quite uncomfortable under his heavy gaze.

Gandalf and Meri were long forgotten from Aleksi's world as the man greedily eyed the sight of dwarves in front of him like a kid in a candy shop. It was kind of scary in a way, and the dwarves surely didn't appreciate his burning gaze on them. His stare lingered on Fili and Kili, and something unrecognizable passed through his eyes, before he blinked, and turned to look at the leader of the company. Brown eyes suddenly glinted with appreciation and excitement. 'Holy shit. Dude. It's actually taking place, right now. I'm in front of Thorin-fucking-Oakenshield and his kin, and the actual goddamned company! I can't even-. Holy shit. I got to remember to breath. Going to pass out otherwise. Two long fucking years, man. You have no idea. Thorin, dude, you seriously got no fucking clue. We've been getting ready for you for two years. For this. I can't believe it. We're finally here. We're going to take over Erebor. This is-. Jesus. I need a drink.'

"Thorin Oakenshield," Aleksi rasped out with a dry throat and let his eyes take in the sight of the future King under the Mountain, who was currently staring at him with a dark look on his face. 'Keep the glare, man. I'm only here to make sure you're staying strong and alive and healthy and sane. Alive and sane, sane and alive. Those are the key words for this quest.'

"Isn't this a longed-for meeting!" he continued with a sudden roguish grin, looking at the dwarf like he had just seen one of his best pals again, "It's about a time you marched back in to that mountain of yours! Believe it, me and Meri have already been waiting for years for someone to take some action over the matter. Years, man! And let me tell you now, for a man who has absolutely no patience at all to begin with, that's a pretty damn long time to wait, especially for a mortal man. You know, I don't really have any extra years in my pockets to wait around for you to be chilling and doing nothing. Any much longer and I might've dragged you there by myself, with only the three of us taking over the Mountain," he rambled light-heartily, still not being able to take his eyes off from the said dwarf.

Meri gave the man one long unbelieving look, her eyes growing wider and wider with each word Aleksi let out from his careless mouth. Before he had even finished with his talking, the girl had already fully covered her face with her hands in mortification. 'Jesus. Christ. Why did I let this man speak?' She massaged her face. 'Thank lord mighty high above that Gandalf already gave away our secret or things would've taken one rather nasty turn here. Talk about being suspicious, who the hell speaks like that to a complete stranger!' She peeked through her fingers and glared at her fellow human. 'And would you stop eye-raping the dwarves already, you big idiot!'

Gandalf's eyes sparkled with amusement but Aleksi's speech didn't seem to give a great impression to the dwarves. Majority of them looked at him with dark eyes.

"For two years…?" Balin whispered to Thorin, who only shrugged back to him as an answer.

"Hold yer tongue and show some respect to your superiors, boy…!" Dwalin growled at the same time, banging his fist on the table and making ale splash around from the pints, "This's no commoner yer speakin' to! The dwarf ye're currently facin' is one of the royal sons of Durin, the rightful ruler of Erebor - and the next King Under the Mountain…!" he hissed angrily and stared Aleksi with his infamous hard look on his face, making Aleksi suddenly regret his own straightforwardness.

Meri took an unintentional step back from the table while watching the big dwarf seethe at Aleksi. If she previously though Gloin looked hostile enough towards her, it was nothing compared to Dwalin's ruthless behavior that downright slashed out to attack the human man. Now, if Gloin was a warrior to the core, Dwalin, on the other hand, was an unpredictable wild beast, one that was ready to protect his territory anytime at any cost. The dwarf was… huge, and not in the fat kind of way. Comparing to the others, he was easily the tallest of the bunch, even outgrowing the Durin royals, and had the widest, most muscled shoulders Meri had ever seen on a person his size. Like Thorin, Dwalin too had grim features and no signs of gentle traits on him, looking very much unlike his kind his older brother Balin. But just like Balin, Dwalin too didn't bore any braids on his dark hair or beard, though he did have few beads struck (rather painful-looking too) through his ears. But that wasn't the most curious thing about the dwarf, it was the fact that the crown of his head was, actually, very much bald. Which was an eye-catching twist in itself, but, the hairless area was also covered in strange tattoos, making Meri seriously think that maybe the dwarf had purposely shaved off his hair for a reason or another. Though, before the girl had the time to really start thinking about it all, she forced her eyes off the fierce looking dwarf, afraid that he would caught her staring.

Thorin leaned forward at the table and did a quick look around the dim tavern, searching once more for any unwanted audience before exchanging some silent words in Khuzdul with Dwalin. After that he turned to gaze at the still standing human man, giving him an unimpressed once over.

"Quite the… individuals you've found me Gandalf," the leader commented, flashing another unamused look to the wizard next to him, "From the manners of this one, I can only imagine you've picked him up straight from the streets. And you want me to welcome him to my trusted company, just like that?" he asked slowly and closed tightly his eyes, trying to keep his cool.

Gandalf stroked his beard while looking at Aleksi with twinkling eyes. He turned to Thorin and smiled.

"Why, yes. Yes, I do."

Thorin shook his head at the answer and focused his eyes on Aleksi's person again. He could spot the same unfamiliar, rough accent from the man's tongue, making it clear that he and the girl hailed from the same place, though where, Thorin did not know and it was making him feel uneasy. Odd names, odd appearances, odd accents, odd manners… And the petite girl was wearing men's clothing, for Durin's sake…! If either one would suddenly grow out a second head, the dwarf wasn't sure if he would be surprised to see that. This human man happened to give him odd vibes too, that is, even more odd than the girl, making Thorin suspect that there was something else wrong with him than just the clear cultural differences.

"I'll be completely honest now, for I see no point in politeness here," Thorin spoke to Aleksi, eyeing him with deep resentment, "I do not want, nor do I ask for your services, Mister Ekk-," the dwarf King grimaced at the odd surname, "-and if it were up to me, I absolutely wouldn't let you join us in this quest, no matter what your female companion may claim to have seen in her dreams. Nevertheless, I find myself in tough situation because according to Gandalf, I apparently need you on this journey. And although I do not agree with his reasons, I'd be a fool to deny a wizard's demand." The wizard earned nasty looks from the other dwarves. "I'm told you too have this gift of… foreseeing," Thorin brought out with a skeptic tone, holding in the need to pinch the bridge of his nose, "Are the dreams you see the same as the girl's? Have you seen Erebor as well?"

As soon as Erebor was mentioned, the dwarves grew uncharacteristically silent around the table, a hungry curiosity burning in their eyes as they watched the humans and waited desperately for answers. Even Bilbo seemed to be more than anxious to hear the news.

Aleksi took a deep breath when listening to Thorin's voice in the air. He felt like a silly little school girl standing in front of her life-long crush - not that he had any experience of being a school girl - but couldn't care less about that, even though he felt the odd looks some of the dwarves were giving him because of his shameless ogling. 'Dudes, relax. No homo. I'm not going to molest the dwarf or anything. It's just some healthy, manly admiration. Nothing gay.' He had to remember his manners when giving Thorin an answer or Meri would surely kill him in his sleep. Or Dwalin, judging from the dark look the dwarf was giving him.

"Well, then, I can only hope that in time we can prove just how useful we could be to you and to the company," Aleksi glanced at Meri and saw her hesitantly nodding at him in encouragement, "As to your question, yes, I see these dreams too. However, my-ah, visions-," he inwardly snickered at the word, wondering just what the hell had Meri and Gandalf been feeding to these dwarves, "-don't come as often and aren't as accurate as Meri's but nonetheless they are pretty much the same stuff. It's as Gandalf said, you need us in this quest. We are here to give you help with whatever comes across you while on the road." 'And after it. Dude. Especially after it.'

"Yes, yes, that much I've already gathered," Thorin said impatiently, not keen on playing nice anymore, "But Gandalf insists-," he gave a quick grim look to the wizard, "-that you've dreamed the outcome of this quest, along with other things that concerns me and my company. Whether I believe this or not, I doubt that the wizard would completely lie of such things, and though this all sounds like a big hoax to me, I'll give you a chance to humor me for a while. So have a go for it," he said and gestured to the humans in a way as if allowing them to do their magic, "Tell us. Reveal all you know. Just what lies for us in the future you claim to have seen?"

Everyone around the table seemed to be holding their breaths as Thorin leaned further on the table, watching the blond man with such a fiery intensity in his sapphire eyes it would have made any grown-ass man suddenly stutter and blush with odd thoughts. Luckily, Aleksi was more than accustomed to that kind of passionate eye-playing (though, mostly by him and in a flirty fashion) that the heated stare of the dwarf King left him unaffected, if not a slightly satisfied to know that he had something Thorin desperately seemed to want. Meri, beside him, however, was not as fortunate as him, with her being woman and all, and as she took in the blazing intensity of Thorin's eyes she was left standing there with swooning legs and a red face. Aleksi wondered if he should be getting ready to catch her when needed.

Thorin licked his lips, only one thought in his mind as he leaned even further on the table, his gaze boring into Aleksi's brown eyes as he whispered the words out.

"Are we to be successful in reclaiming Erebor?"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-..-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

EDITED 2019

"Men like him inspire my inner serial killer." -All women ever

So much staring. So much ogling. So much eye-molesting.

Let me introduce you to Aleksi Ek and Meri Karhu! I seriously get all giddy and giggling when writing these two nutters, they're just so fun to play around with. Thorin's a huge self-centered asswipe with some serious anger issues - a big surprise there! Though, there's so much more in him than just being a people hating sourpuss just like there's so much more in every single character in this story. I want to tell about these other qualities too and about the traits and behavior that people often tend to put aside.

Shout out to Midnight Moon Lupine for the first review, hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

Stay strong, stay safe and always use protection, people. And gimme feedback.

Secretly yours,

Miss Always Wrong.