Hey everyone, chapter has been updated because I can't believe I forgot that Golf is a thing in Middle Earth, totally spaced. Thanks Ro for reminding me! MVP! -B

Chapter 8 - Black Eyes and Wounded Pride

Eryn awoke the next morning, stiff and sore. Her body ached from their trek yesterday, also from the vigorous shaking her body did throughout the night. Sleeping in a small shallow cave was not a wise idea for temperature sake. She stretched as best she could, twisting and turning, audible pops taking roll call of her aching joints.

She slunk out and looked around, it was the small hours of the morning, the sun had yet to rise and only half of her companions we're awake. She noticed that not far off from where she slept, to her right Fili and Kili were sprawled out on their own bed rolls, also to her left was the Ur family, clumped together close to her hiding place.

The night before last Eryn wanted nothing more than to be included, so much so that she acted out of character and was beyond obnoxious. Now she felt like she had succeeded on the dramatic exit she wanted that night and she was more than embarrassed. Eryn also knew that she overthought way too much.

Before she packed up her things, she decided to look through what Merodyn had packed for her. In her pack were two pairs of trousers, two tunic shirts, gloves, and leather straps, which she had no idea what they could be used for. Inside was also a comb, a pouch of oils, soap, a strip of cloth and some strange balm in a jar. There were also food rations, a rope and a skin of water, which she had found early yesterday, though the water was almost gone much to her disappointment.

She put on her shoes and packed her things, as noticed that the camp was starting to become a little livelier while others began to stir and wake.

Eryn found Bombur, as she was sure she would always find him, next to the fire cooking a large pot of something that resembled porage. She inquired as to where he got his water and he directed her to a small stream not thirty feet from where they were camped. She thanked him and walked with her water skin, the strip of cloth and bar of soap in hand.

When she found it, she noticed she was not the only one who was washing up and refreshing their water for the day. Eryn knelt by the creek and splashed frigid water onto her face, rubbing the soap liberally onto her hands to scrub her face with, careful not to get it around her eyes. After rinsing, she rose, rubbing her face dry with the cloth she found in her bag. When she looked up she saw both Fili and Kili approaching the water, both of their eyes widening when they saw her.

"Eryn!" Fili exclaimed, "What's happened to you?!" He ran to her, grabbing her shoulder he began herding her back to camp.

"Wha-?" Eryn began while Kili walked briskly beside her, his eyes burning and looking around like a hawk. "What the hell are you guys doing?" Eryn demanded.

"What's happened to you?" Fili demanded again in return. "Why do you have bruises under your eyes?" He spun her to face him, both of his hands planted firmly on her shoulder, his eyes darting to every surface of her skin exposed, searching for more injuries. Many others had noticed the commotion and gathered around; their faces all mirrored the two dwarves holding her captive.

"What is the meaning of this?" Dwalin boomed, looking Eryn up and down as well, now she was more confused than ever.

"Will someone, please, explain to me what is going on?" Eryn yelled.

"You have two black eyes Lass!" Bofur exclaimed and said something under his breath in Kazadul.

"I have what?!" Eryn cried, touching her nose, then the bone around her eyes, examining to see if she had injured herself, she didn't feel any pain or tenderness.

Thorin approached now, fire deep set into his eyes, "What's happened to her?" He hissed, taking her chin in his hand and turning her face to examine it. Eryn blushed, pulling her face away from the very personal inspection.

"We don't know, Uncle!" Kili said, "We found her like this by the creek this morning!"

Eryn, being in a panic, broke free from the small circle around her. She rummaged through her bag and rejoiced when she found the one small compact mirror she usually forgets. She opened the mirror and examined her face, but much to her surprise and relief she didn't have a broken nose or any injury, but what she did have was violently smudged makeup. Her makeup from the day before was smudged so badly she looked like a rabid racoon. Fili and Kili were right to think that she had a black eye and we're not exaggerating in the slightest. She forgot she was wearing makeup when she washed her face this morning. Sighing with relief, Eryn grabbed her rag, poured some of her fresh water over it and rubbed in a little soap. Praying to the makeup gods that this soap wasn't Elvish magic eraser soap that would wipe her eyes clean off.

When she finished wiping her face, paying extra attention to not get it in her eyes, she shook her head, laughing.

"You really are a witch!" Kili exclaimed, the rest of the company was equally shocked and confused. "You healed your wounds so quickly.

"Durin's beard." Oin breathed, eyes bulging.

"Now I see why the wizard wanted you to join us." Thorin decided.

"What?" Eryn stared in disbelief. "That wasn't magic. It was makeup!" she explained, exhausted.

"Make up? What are you trying to make up?" Fili asked, scratching his nose.

"No, its makeup." Eryn sighed, digging in her bag for her small zipper pouch of travel makeup. She pulled out her tube of mascara and held it out for him to take. "Where I'm from, women wear makeup to change their appearance, or feel prettier." She explained. They each took turns inspecting the foreign item, opening the tube and looking at the wand, some sniffed it; others, much to Eryn's horror, tried to lick it.

"But why would women want to change their appearance?" Bilbo asked, scrunching his nose. "Like a disguise?"

"No, it's hard to explain, but some women use makeup to compliment parts of their face they like, because they like it. Some of them want to disguise themselves, you could say... but usually it's because they want to cover something up." She pointed to a dark birthmark below her cheekbone, close to her left ear. It was dark but Eryn could cover it easily with her hair. "Like this. If I want to cover this up, I use makeup. Or if I want to feel prettier, I wear this makeup." she said, taking back the tube of mascara.

"Miss Fey, your world sounds very strange." Bofur said, taking off his hat like he was mourning. "Women are beautiful, though some are a little sore to sight. There's always a lad willing to look them in the eye every morning." He nodded, slapping his hat back on his head.

"I think it's preposterous!" Gloin shouted, "They don't need it! Why, if my wife were any prettier, Mahal himself would be asking for her hand."

"What's wrong with wanting to polish the silver every now and then?" Dori retorted.

Eryn could tell there was an uproar about to begin, but so did Thorin. "All of you, back to your tasks, Miss Fey has had enough attention for the day, and the sun hasn't even fully risen." He said as he shot her a steely look. "Prepare your things, we leave as soon as we have eaten. Bombur, see it done." He shot, everyone mumbled responses and sauntered off.

Eryn shot her eyes downward and she fumbled with the zipper of her makeup bag while she tried to put her things away quickly. Every time Thorin and her were involved in the same conversation, she made a fool of herself, or he seemed inconvenienced at least. She pursed her lips and sighed. But was she really going to just run away every time there is a spark of confusion or conflict? Eryn took a deep breath, clenching her eyes shut. She turned and tried to find Thorin, she would get this sorted out before her offense grew, just like she preached yesterday, she didn't need to get stuck in a crazy cycle of misunderstanding.

She looked around the camp for Thorin but didn't see him anywhere. She turned in the direction of the creek and decided to try there. Replacing her pouch in her bag and grabbing her water skin once again she strode down the small path to find him.

Sure enough, kneeling by the stream was Thorin. He turned at the sound of footsteps and sighed.

"What is it Miss Fey?" He asked, splashing water on his face.

"I just," Eryn began, as she played with the cap of her water skin. "I feel as though we've got off on the wrong foot." She admitted, looking down at her shoes.

Thorin rose, standing before her incredulous, his lips parted as if he was going to say something, but instead he remained silent. Staring at her for a long moment, tactically assessing how to proceed. "How do you mean?" He finally asked.

"I know that you don't want me here, I just don't know what I did to make you not like me." Eryn admitted, crossing her arms across her chest. "You seem bothered by everything I say and do."

"I said I do not trust you, not that I do not like you. Don't stoke the fire that you're trying to put out." He challenged; Eryn felt the guttural punch of his honesty. "I am not my nephews who are fond of conversation with strangers, which worries me for other reasons, but we will not discuss that now." He crossed his arms across his chest, standing firm and tall. "There are lines I must draw with how I lead my people. I am a king without a throne, but a king no less. These men agreed to follow me, yourself included, on a perilous task no less, some are not even warriors, but they agreed to follow me." He paused, looking past Eryn at the group of Dwarves. "I must choose when to be a friend and when to be a king. So, I will be what I must, when I must, even at the expense of the feelings of others." Thorin looked at her with his mouth set into a hard line, but it wasn't without humor as they edge his mouth was beginning to curl upward "It has nothing to do with liking you, do not assume, Miss Fey, you know what it does."

Eryn felt the creeping burn of embarrassment flood her cheeks.

"That's my line!" Eryn said with a hint of pride, he was using her jokes. "I did assume didn't I?" Eryn asked, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head. "And I certainly made myself out to be an ass." She sighed, latching her eyes onto her feet again. Thorin was silent as she stood there, patient enough to let her work it out, much to her surprise. Eryn realized that she didn't know these people at all. Just because she had read about them and knew them, doesn't mean she truly knew who they were. She took such care to ask questions of everyone else that she forgot to include him. It had only been a day as well, how well can you get to know someone in a day?

"I'm so sorry, I made something out of nothing." Eryn whispered after a long silence, "I guess, I thought because I knew you, that I knew who you are." She sighed again, but picked her head up and looked him in the eye, he stared at her searching. "Can we start over? I feel like I've just made a fool of myself every time we've spoken."

"You have," He verified, "and as for being bothered by everything you say and do, once again, I do not know you. You are a stranger who speaks of things I do not understand, things you should not know and you've admitted to having secrets, why should I trust you?" he challenged further.

"Well, I'm willingly here, aren't I? I want to help you because I can, and because whatever it was that Gandalf told you is worth something isn't it?" Eryn pursed her lips and shrugged, she still wanted to know what Gandalf told Thorin that night, and she didn't intend to say anything to him about her knowledge of their story until she did so.

"As to my secrets, like you said, I don't know you. Some secrets are things that don't pertain to our mission at hand. What does it matter if I'm married or where my family is?" She challenged him in return.

"It matters because you are a woman. If you were married it would be a great dishonor for you to be traveling in the wilderness with men other than your spouse. We value your propriety." He stated. Eryn knew that Dwarves held women in high respect, but this was exceptional awareness, though not to the circumstances at hand.

"Even if I was married, my husband wouldn't be here, remember? I opened that door and now I'm stuck here. Unless he came with me, the circumstances would still be the same." Eryn shrugged, uncapping her water to take a drink. Bickering was exhausting. "I have to get back home regardless of my marital status."

"Your logic is sound." Thorin admitted, and he shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"So, can we start over?" Eryn asked again, this time extending a hand. "Or at least do our best to be cordial?"

He acknowledged her hand for a great while looking at it as if it were a snake. Finally after a hearty sigh, he took it and nodded his head towards her. She wasn't sure if it was because he didn't want to be cordial or if he didn't want to touch her.

"So tell me," Eryn started, "Are you confident?" She asked, refilling her water skin.

"Confident in what?" He asked, perplexed.

"In your quest." She informed, a warm smile playing on her lips.

"I honestly cannot say," He admitted, much to Eryn's surprise. "They're not all warriors, the lot of them are craftsmen at best. But they're loyal, when I called, they answered. That is all I could ask for. Though I fear I cannot lead them well." Eryn saw for just a moment a small crack in the armor. Why he admitted this to her, she did not know, and by the look on his face, he was perplexed by his honesty as well.

"Well, have you ever done anything like this before?" Eryn asked, feeling emboldened.

"Like what?" His eyes narrowed.

"Taken a small group of people to slay a dragon?" Eryn explained.

"Well, no. Though we have faced the dragon before, but not like this." he said

"Then I'd say you're par for the course." she shrugged.

"You and your otherworldly phrases." he muttered. "What in Durins name does that mean?" his hands clenched at his side.

"You're familiar with golf, right?" She asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"I am," He nodded, eyes narrowed. "What does golf have to do with slaying a dragon?" he asked.

"Well, nothing," Eryn admitted sheepishly, "But, I assume you're familiar with the rules… So, considering you've never done this before and you're making all the right swings, in all the right ways. You're on your way to making par for the course!" She extended a smile, though he did not return the gesture, the tightness in his jaw released. "You're doing enough, and you're going to do great." Eryn mused.

Thorin, diagonally nodded his head, then turned from her, his eyes were set on something far in the distance. Eryn wasn't sure if he was mentally still there or not. He seemed to be deep in thought so Eryn decided that was her queue to leave him to his thoughts, turned and returned to camp.

When she arrived back, Bombur had finished breakfast and everyone had gathered around the campfire to enjoy their porridge. She borrowed a bowl again, and vowed to make her own if necessary, but Bomber encouraged her to keep it until they got to a place where she could purchase her own.

They all sat merrily, but everyone seemed slightly tense, Eryn wondered if that was her fault.

"What were you and Thorin discussing?" Bilbo asked, when Eryn took a place beside him at the fire.

"Oh, just how big of an idiot I am." Eryn admitted. "That and golf."

"You're hardly an idiot, Eryn." Bilbo said, shaking his head. "Wait, did you say golf?"

"Well, I sure feel like an idiot." She said before she took a big bite of her food, she wasn't sure what it was, but it was incredible. It tasted like a warm, buttery but salty-sweet biscuit. "Bobur, I think you're the real wizard here." She said as she shoved another spoonful in her mouth.

"Hardly!" Bombur said with a hearty laugh, "I'm just passionate about food!" He exclaimed, shoving a large spoonful in his mouth.

"Me too," Eryn sighed. "Me too."

"So, what did you and Uncle speak about?" Fili asked, sitting down across from her.

"Why were you discussing golf?" Bilbo asked again, pursing his lips, almost in a pout.

"Golf?" Kili asked, sitting beside his brother. "I didn't know Uncle liked golf…" he muttered. Others around the campfire perked up with interest as well.

As the warm amber morning sky broke behind them, everyone finished their breakfast, discussing the game of golf.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it was a lot of fun to write! Once again, please let me know if anything was off in the dialog, I really do appreciate constructive criticism. Thank you again! Now who's ready for some action and adventure next time?! -B