Chapter Twenty-Four: The Mouse in the House

When Emelia was a child she imagined what it might have been like to have been born and raised somewhere besides Alaska. She had pictured living in the plains of Oklahoma, staring out at the seas of endless grass for hours. She wondered what life might have been like in Montreal, or New York, or Beijing. More often than not, she had wished she could live in someplace that wasn't so cold. She had wished for it every night. Northern Alaska was beautiful, but she had always felt so alone in Kessog. It was so far away from everything she wanted to do and wanted to be.

Perhaps she shouldn't have wished so hard. Maybe it was the musings of her eight year old self that doomed her.

She decided right then and there that she would have lived in an ice cave by herself if it meant she wouldn't have to run away from another warg in her life. Running had never been her strong suit. It made her miserable. She would rather scrape her skin off with a cheese grater than voluntarily run for any length of time. She supposed running was better than being eaten by a pack of wargs, however. She imagined anything was better than being eaten by a pack of wargs.

The dwarves were faring far better than she was. The younger ones, mainly Fili and Kili, seemed to hardly notice that they had been running for a half a day straight. They shot her bright smiles whenever they would catch her eye, daring to wink at her when they saw the less than impressed look on her sweating face. If they hadn't been running for their lives, she would have punched them square in their overly chipper faces.

Emelia had to keep reminding herself that breathing was the most important thing. She found, however, it was becoming harder and harder to breathe when with every deep breath she thought her stitches might come loose. At first she thought the odd sickness she was feeling was stemming from the fear she was certain would be a constant for the rest of her life. She found that those feelings were only part of the cause the longer they ran. The rest was her cut. The majority of it was her cut, if she was being perfectly honest. She hated the Goblin King more and more with each hurried stride she took. His ugly face swam in front of her with each twinge of her cut.

She thought, more times than she cared to admit, about just lying down and giving up the entire charade of running away. It wasn't as if they could avoid the creatures forever. She thought about it only long enough to remember that she had people that cared about her. Her mother would not have been very proud of her if she had done that.

The nicest thing about how quickly they were moving was how quickly the scenery changed. At first it was mountains, then it was rolling foothills, and finally it was green flatlands. She liked those the best. Perhaps she was delirious from exhaustion, but she almost stopped to pick some of the blue and purple flowers that lined their path. She paused once, only to be grabbed roughly by her hand by Fili and forced to continue. He shot her a very concerned look when he saw that it wasn't a fleeting fancy.

She wanted nothing more than to stop running and sleep.

"Faster!"

Emelia didn't need to be told twice, although she wasn't certain if she would be able to. The pain in her chest was becoming almost unbearable. She was sweating more than ever and her vision was becoming fuzzy. Fili gripped her hand harder, practically dragging her through the field. His blonde hair blurred in front of her, blending in with the rest of the scenery around her.

"Emmy?" Fili chanced a glance over his shoulder at her. "Are you…" He was cut off by a ground vibrating roar.

"Keep up!"

Emelia felt like she wasn't even using her own legs when she was physically thrown through a door by Fili. He supported her with a shaking arm, his heavy breath fanning over her sweat drenched face. There was a crash followed by an even louder roar before there was an uncomfortable quiet that fell over all of them.

"What was that?" Ori said after a palpable silence.

"That, mister Ori, was our host." Gandalf said with a small amount of hidden amusement in his voice. "His name is Beorn and he is a skin walker. He does not take kindly to strangers, especially those of the dwarf variety, so I would suggest not bothering his home. You are guests and would do well to remember that. Get some rest."

The dwarves muttered under their breath before they all moved towards the soft hay.

"Have we stopped running?" Emelia managed to ask after she was finally able to catch her breath.

"What?" Fili looked over at her. "Of course we've stopped running."

"Good." She looked over at him, only to be met with the sight of three Fili's staring at her with the same confused expression. She leaned back from him, eyes struggling to focus on the middle head, which she imagined was the one she should address. "When did you grow two extra heads?"

"Emmy?"

"I feel pale. Do I look pale?" Emelia stumbled, collapsing to the floor. They had stopped running, which was nice, but now all she could focus on was the unbearable pain in her chest and the terrible nausea that filled her up. Her legs screamed in protest as she pulled them up underneath her. She looked up at him, waiting for him to respond. "Stop moving."

"I'm not moving." He bent down next to her, hands reaching towards her forehead. "You're burning up." She felt his hands pressing against her neck, supporting her slightly. "Oin, Emmy needs you." Fili voice rose up an octave, making Emelia wince at the volume.

"Stop yelling." Emelia said, reaching her hand up to her chest. It stung when she touched it and her hands were sweating so much they slipped over her equally sweaty chest.

"Sorry, Emmy." Fili placated her, supporting her weight while he waited for Oin to make his way over to them. "How is your cut?"

"My sweat is making it itch."

"Charming."

"What is it? Is it her cut?" Oin said from behind Fili. He stepped around the blonde, bending down in front of Emelia. He made to move her shirt back before he noticed that Fili was still peering over his shoulder. He forced Fili to move back from Emelia, effectively blocking her view from the rest of the company, before he went back to his work. He pealed back her shirt, muttering to himself in Khuzdul. He shifted even more to make sure that no one could see around him before he set to work removing the bandages that covered up the vast majority of her chest. She glanced up at him with dulled eyes, muttering something about her decency before she allowed him to continue to examine her.

Her skin was pale, but not alarmingly so, and spotted with redness from where the bandage had rubbed against it. The cut where he had sewn her up was inflamed but showed no signs of the stitches tearing or an infection setting in. He let out a sigh of relief at seeing that she wasn't in worse shape than she was before. He had seen enough injuries to know that someone her size could not handle an infection on top of everything else. He applied the tiniest bit of ointment, being careful not to press on the cut more than was necessary. He wiped his hands on his clothes as he rooted around for one of the spare bandages that he kept tucked away in his cloak, wrapping it around her chest carefully and quickly. She lifted herself up only enough to make it easier for him before returning back to her slumped position. He pat her on the shoulder, offering a small smile that she only half noticed, before he moved back to allow Fili to tend to her.

"She is fine, Laddie." Oin clapped the blonde on the shoulder soundly, already preparing himself for the sleep that was waiting for him. "She just needs a good night's sleep. She'll be good as new tomorrow."

Fili followed Oin's hand to where he was gesturing to Emelia, only to see that she was already sleeping sounding on the straw covered ground. Fili laughed to himself, stepping around Oin to bend over her. She mumbled slightly when he lifted her up into his arms, slumping against him.

"Well that didn't take long." He mused to himself, moving towards one of the fluffier piles of straw to lay her on to sleep off the day's events in peace.

Emelia woke up to a face full of straw and a mouse nuzzling her ear. As far as wakings up went, it could have been worse. It was actually rather pleasant. Normally, she wouldn't have been fond of rodents crawling on her face, but given the circumstances of the last couple of days, she found she didn't mind so much. A mouse seemed less disgusting now that she had seen a goblin. The straw smelled clean, if that was possible, and the mouse wasn't trying to eat her face so it was a nice change of pace. Emelia smiled to herself, reaching her hand up to stroke the little mouse with her index finger. It let out a small squeak before scurrying away, leaving Emelia watching it with interest.

"Peaceful, aren't they?"

Emelia jumped into a sitting position at the sound of the unfamiliar deep voice above her. The owner of the voice could only be a giant. There was no other explanation that would do the man justice. Emelia had to crane her neck to take him in his entirety. She was certain his legs were longer than her entire body combined and about twice as thick. She started to move back from him, only pausing when she saw him smile at her.

"I did not mean to frighten you, little human." He reached down a large hand.

"You're huge." Emelia said before she realized how rude that was. "Oh, erm, not in the fat way. The arms are size of tree trunks kind of way. Like, Andre the Giant has nothing on you. I don't know if giant is a politically correct term. I'm sorry." Emelia paused, taking note of the confused look on the man's face. "Don't hurt me, I'll stop talking now."

"They said you were an odd one." The man said, once again offering her a hand. Emelia scrunched her face up, deciding whether or not to take the unknown man's hand. "My name is Beorn and this is my house."

She was happy to see that his extracurricular activity of being a bear didn't interfere with his pleasantness as a human. She grabbed a hold of his large hand, allowing him to pull her into a standing position. "Emelia Kinsington Montgomery, it is a pleasure to me you when you are not trying to eat us."

Beorn let out a booming laugh that half frightened her and half made her want to laugh with him.

"Good morning, Miss Emelia." Dori smiled at her from where he was sitting at a large table, drinking from a cup that was two-times too big for him. He was eyeing Beorn wearily, almost as if he didn't fully trust him."Why don't you come join me for a moment and have a bit of breakfast?

"Morning Dori." She glanced at Beorn only to see that he was already on his way out of the double duty barn and dining room, pulling a thick rope and bucket with him as he went. She wasn't sure how someone so huge managed to make so little sound, but she made a mental note to ask him at a later date. She turned her attention back to Dori, moving to take a seat across from him at the large table. She had to jump to take a seat, which made her chest twinge, but she felt a small sense of accomplishment when she was able to pull herself onto the bench without help.

"Where was he going?"

"To meet Gandalf, I would imagine. He left early this morning, before any of us were awake."

"How long have I been asleep?" Emelia asked, reaching for a large chunk of bread.

"A little more than a day." Dori said simply, reaching towards the fire behind him. He pulled a teapot away from the flames, pouring it into his large mug. Emelia immediately knew he was brewing tea by the smells that came wafting over towards her.

"Is sleeping that long healthy?" Emelia asked with a mouthful of bread. "Why didn't anyone wake me? What if I had slipped into a coma?"

"Oin thought you needed the rest, considering." Dori took a gingerly sip of his tea. "Do you feel better?"

Emelia looked down at herself, running a quick diagnostic check. "I think so. Do I look better?"

"Leagues. Your coloring is returning. Tea?" He offered her a mug, which while smaller than the others was still too large for Emelia. She thought for a moment before she took it from him, nodding her head. The hot water warmed her hands instantly. "It is my own personal blends of herbs. A little bit of home always seems to make me feel better, even in the worst of times."

Emelia took a small simmering sip, allowing Dori's words to sink in. She was instantly reminded of her boots. They were the only thing she had of home. She rubbed her feet together, almost to remind herself that they were still on her feet. She looked under the table, taking note of the fact that they were covered in so much blood, dirt, and filth they were almost unrecognizable. She looked at the one last time before she returned her attention to Dori.

"Your hair looks nice. Did you fix it?" Emelia asked, hoping to change the subject. She was feeling oddly good after her day long sleep. She knew that if she started talking about home all good feelings she had would evaporate instantly. She stuffed more bread into her mouth, deciding last minute to be daring add a chunk of cheese with it.

Dori reached his hand up to his hair, a large smile on his face. "Thank you for noticing Miss Emelia. We were all able to clean up a bit."

"So I am the only one who smells like a butt?"

Dori blushed at her question, looking down at his tea. "I would not say you smell like, well, that."

"Thank you, Dori. Where is everybody?" Emelia asked, swallowing another chunk of bread. She washed it down with a large gulp of tea.

"Outside. I believe they were planning on doing a bit of training today after lunch. I came in for a bit of a break from the sunshine. They told me to send you out once you woke up."

Emelia stood up, tearing off one last piece of bread for the road, before she moved towards the massive door. "Thank you, Dori. Your tea was wonderful." Dori inclined his head, smiling at her good-naturedly before he turned his attention back to the fire and the tea in his hands.

The dwarves, true to form, were practicing with their weapons on the large grassy lawn that surrounded Beorn's house. Emelia had not had the chance to look at his property when she had been in her exhaustion induced haze. Now that she was lucid, she was very happy they had decided to stay there. It was so beautiful it made Emelia stop in her tracks. She had seen plenty of beautiful sights while she was with the dwarves, but none of them seemed to relax her like the lazy peace of Beorn's home did. She wasn't sure how long they were planning on staying, but she decided she would be appreciative for any length of time she got to spend there.

"Emmy! You're awake." Emelia's musings were interrupted by the dwarves. They were all looking over at her, similar expressions of surprise on their faces.

"Hello." She waved her hands at them, making her way across the field towards them. "Disturbing the peace already?"

"That's your job, Em." Kili said, winking at her when he thought no one else was looking. "Get enough beauty sleep?"

"More than you did, obviously."

The dwarves around her hooted with laughter. She patted Kili on the shoulder as she turned her attention on the rest of the. Just like Dori, they all looked much cleaner and put together than she had seen them look in a long time. Their braids were freshly done and their faces were free of dirt for the first time ever. Even their clothes were new looking. They made her feel shabbier and dirtier by comparison. She was used to being the clean one.

"Why do you all have your weapons?"

The dwarves looked down at their hands. Some of them seemed happier with their weapons. It made very little sense to her, when she really thought about it. She had never known weapons to bring about happiness, but dwarves were admittedly beyond her area of expertise so she didn't think much of it.

"Just a bit of lighthearted competition." Ori said, holding up his slingshot with pride. "Want to join us?"

She opened her mouth to respond only to be cut off by Fili. "I don't think that's a good idea."

Emelia looked over at him, folding her arms over her chest. "And why not?"

Fili seemed to shrink slightly at the intensity of her gaze. He took a step back from her to stand next to a very amused looking Nori and Gloin. Fili seemed to realize that he had made a mistake as soon as he said it. Emelia stared him down, waiting for him to backtrack.

"Well, you're still technically injured. I wouldn't want, we wouldn't want, to see you get worse."

"You don't have to lie. It is okay to be nervous about me beating you." Emelia said, a large smile on her face when she saw the stunned look on Fili's face. Of all the ways she could have responded to him, she imagined he didn't expect that one. In truth, she wasn't sure she was feeling up to competing against a bunch of over-competitive dwarves. She was, however, feeling up to doing something that would make her laugh. She was feeling up to doing something that was steeped in stress, or panic, or fear.

"While I do not deny you would be fierce competition…"

"An understatement." Emelia added in with a nudge of her elbow.

"You shouldn't risk it." Kili finished for his brother, stepping back slightly just in case she decided to respond with anger.

In truth, they had a point. For the first time in a very long time all of them, with the exception of Ori, were being very logical in regards to her. Some of the older dwarves were looking at her like they thought she should be sitting down, rather than standing arguing with them about whether or not she was fit for anything. The younger ones seemed slightly disappointed, but still nodded their heads in agreement with Fili and Kili.

Emelia felt disappointment seeping through her. Mostly she was disappointed with the Goblin King for hurting her bad enough that she couldn't really take care of herself, but she found she was slightly more annoyed with herself. The cleverness that she normally prided herself on had been seriously lacking in that situation. And currently, but she considered that to be worse. She had been petrified then. She could hardly think of an excuse for her lack of cleverness now.

"What if we did something different? Something I could do?" She asked after a long moment of silence. She wasn't quite sure where she was going with her line of thought beyond the desire to do something fun with the dwarves.

"What did you have in mind, Lassie?" Bofur asked, leaning forward with a look of curiosity on his face.

She hadn't planned on them jumping on her suggestion that quickly, leaving her scrambling for an answer. "Erm, well, I guess we could play a game that all the," She paused desperately thinking of a way to spin what she was thinking of in a way that the dwarves would be interested in. It was honestly the only thing that popped into her mind. "All the warriors play it as a way to get ready for battle."

"What is it?" Ori asked, not bothering to hide his interest.

"Football. It's called football."

"This isn't really how this game is supposed to be played, is it?"

Dwarves did not really understand football, even though Emelia had spent the better part of the afternoon explaining it to them. She had had to be creative about making a suitable ball, and end zones, and just about everything else involved, but she had thought they would be able to make do. They did, for a while, but it had all turned south when they had learned about the tackling. She had not anticipated, which was an oversight on her part, how much they were going to enjoy the tackling part and only that.

Emelia had decided to politely excuse herself after Nori accidentally ran into her, throwing her to the ground and onto her cut a bit harder than she would have liked.

She looked over at Balin, ignoring the sounds of Dwalin holding Nori down with a headlock. Balin, Oin, and Dori, who had joined them shortly after Emelia suggested the game, were sitting on one of the benches against Beorn's house. They were watching the scene in front of them with amused looks on their faces.

"No, not really." Emelia admitted, glancing back to in time to see Fili and Kili go racing past them, grappling with each other. "But they seem to be enjoying themselves, so I guess it doesn't really matter."

"It was nice of you, to suggest it I mean, even if they don't really understand the point of the game." Balin smiled kindly at her, patting her gently on the shoulder.

"When I was a kid my father used to park me and my mom in front of the," She paused, thinking of how to adjust her story for someone who didn't know much of anything about where she came from. "In front of the local game bundled up in blankets. We, my mom, dad, and I that is, would watch it every Saturday and Sunday. It was something that made me very happy and while it was not my original intention, it makes me happy to see that other people can enjoy it too."

"You didn't play?" Dori asked, wincing when he saw Ori get grabbed and thrown to the ground by Bofur. "Watch out!" He shouted to the dwarves still participating. "Sorry."

"No. I'm too small to play." She gestured to her small stature, smiling at the thought of her playing football on the same field as some of the college or professional athletes. She imagined one good tackle from one of them and she wouldn't be able to walk straight for a month. "Plus, it's more of a guy sport where I come from."

"You cheated!" Emelia and the older dwarves looked around at the sound of the loud shout. "You always cheat!"

"I did not." Bofur and Gloin were currently involved in a shouting match, pointing back and forth. "You're seeing things."

"Perhaps we should intervene." Balin suggested kindly, standing up from his spot. "Before things get too out of hand."

Balin moved towards the dwarves, shouting things in that odd language that the dwarves spoke, gesturing with his arms in an attempt to get them to stop the game conflict from escalating into an actual conflict that ended up worse for them all. Emelia moved to follow them, only to be grabbed around the middle from behind. The dwarf was laughing and covered in sweat, which she normally didn't considered to be a good combination. "Emmy, you should have told us about this game ages ago. It's brilliant."

Kili finally placed her on the ground, reaching his hand up to wipe some of the dark hair that had stuck to his sweaty forehead out of his face. There was grass sticking to his clothes and skin. As she looked up at him she noticed, for perhaps the first time, how long and slender his nose was compared to the other dwarves in the company. It was almost artistic, now that she was really examining it. She noticed that along with the rest of the grass on his face, that there was a piece sticking to the side of it. She reached up a hand to remove before she even thought about it, pulling it off while his eyes watched her confused interest.

"What are you doing?" He asked, confusing twisting into a knowing smirk. "If you wanted to touch me, we could just go someplace more private."

Emelia immediately stepped back, fully embarrassed that she had been so distracted by his nose. "You're just like Fee."

"Not just like him. I'm more charming aren't I?"

He took a step closer towards her, reaching out a hand to her shoulder. "You smell." She pointed out, taking a step back from him that he mimicked.

"Not as bad as you." He said, laughing when she swiped at him. He stepped back from her hand, throwing his hands up in mock defense. "I'm only joking."

"It amazes me that you aren't married. Truly." Emelia rolled her eyes.

"Perhaps dwarven women can't handle my overabundance of charm."

"Perhaps dwarven women are smarter than you give them credit for."

"Your words hurt, Emmy."

"I'm glad you liked football by the way, even if you didn't really end up playing it properly." She looked down at her feet, changing the subject as she scrubbed her boots into the grass. "You do know you were supposed to keep score?"

"We did." Kili pointed out. "I scored four points."

"That's not technically possible."

"Anything is possible with a dwarf." Kili said, glancing around him. "Before I forget, me and Fili wanted to show you something after dinner."

"Is it a place for me take a bath?"

"I was kidding when I said you smelled bad." Kili said, face instantly becoming fearful that he had truly upset her.

"You weren't." Emelia was starting to offend herself with her own body odor. She subconsciously rubbed her arms, knowing full well that he wasn't lying to her when he said she smelled worse than he did. "I never thought I would miss deodorant."

"I don't know what that is." Kili said, smiling despite his confusion.

"I'll tell you if you promise to find me some soap to bathe with and some clean clothes to sleep in."

"I think I might be able to handle that." Kili wrapped an arm around her, despite her assertions of how bad she smelled.

"You're the best, Kee."

"I know."

So, I wanted to show them being happy for a little bit, considering that from now on that isn't likely to happen very often. In general, these first couple of chapters are going to feel a bit off until they are back on the road based simply on the fact that I am trying to expand and originally very short scene. Please bear with me.

REVIEW! I honestly cannot tell you how much each and every single one of them means to me. Thank you to everyone who came back!