A familiar silhouette slowly separated itself from the thick white fog hanging over the lake. Nearly without a sound, the boat reached shore.
A hooded figure began to fasten the boat on the partially broken dock. He pushed a wooden plank from his boat onto the dock, making it easier to get in and out of the boat.
"Ruby!" he smiled down at her, "Good to see that you are healthy. The winter is growing colder each year." Bard took the last two steps separating them and ruffled her long red waves of hair.
Due to her bright and unusual hair color, she had gotten the name 'Ruby' from Bard's father. She liked the name better than the name that this world had burdened her with.
Visiting Lake Town and greeting someone like 'Hello, nice to meet you, I am Smaug the Terrible. But not to worry, I have already had breakfast.' was not an option. So being called Ruby was easier and far safer for her.
"What are you doing here so early? Did you already finish the books from last month?"
It sounded like a joke to lighten the mood, but he was indeed right, she was far earlier than her normal visits.
"You know me," her cheeks slightly blushed as she remembered the last story she read, "When winter comes I am not able to get out as often, so I spent my time reading by the fire."
"And... I have no more tea left," she confessed sheepishly smiling at him.
Bards laughter echoed through the ruins at the shore. Abruptly he stopped and held his breath, looking around as if he expected the dragon to descend upon them at any second. Even though he had collected her from the shore now and then, for more than the past 40 years, he was still careful near the looming shadow of the Lonely Mountain.
His voice was nothing more than a whisper as he directed her to his boat, "We should go. Sigrid will be happy to see you this soon again."
Together they leave the shore, the ruins, and the looming shadow of the Lonely Mountain behind. The further they got on the lake the more Bard relaxed and the tenser Ruby became. All that water around her felt wrong. She liked swimming back on Earth, before she had fallen into this world. Before she became a fire breathing dragon destined to be slain by the very man she called her friend.
Lake Town was... well...run down was one way to describe it. Since the new master had come to power the situation of Lake Town had grown even worse for the town and her people. He collected all manner of valuable things, by demanding high taxes from the people, and forbidding them from fishing in the lake for their own use. He was a truly detestable slug. Still, his advisor was even worse than him. Slimy like an eel and sly as a fox. His greed exceeded even the masters.
They passed through the gate without any trouble. Ruby's human form was not very tall so she would frequently be mistaken for one of Bard's children. In this shape she was not very big, but strong. If she would have to describe herself, the build of a dwarrowdam would be the closest. Though she had no beard nor the steeled muscles dwarrows had. She tended to a hobbitish softness. She was strong and her skin thick, just what you would imagine from a dragon.
As soon as she opened the door Tilda jumped up from her seat and tackled her, her arms slung around Ruby's neck.
"Aunt Ruby! I missed you!" she exclaims, her voice muffled from the woolen cloak she pressed her face into.
"Tilda, I told you a thousand times already. Storming towards people like that is ill-mannered," her older sister scolds her with a soft smile.
Sigrid was nearly two heads taller than Ruby. Even Tilda had grown in the month she had been away. Now the little girl towered proudly over her, just ten centimeters though.
Bain was the only one who noticed his father standing in the door of his own house, looking lost and a bit out of place.
"Da, didn't you have a date with Thranduil?" he grinned sly. After a short while, he adds, "To collect the barrels I mean."
His sisters giggled while hiding behind Ruby from the glowering looks of their father. Ruby only raised an eyebrow. That Bard was dating and didn't even tell her was new. She would have to squeeze out all the good details from him later. In the meantime, she would have to be satisfied with questioning Bain while shopping.
"I was planning to go shopping. Who will accompany me?" she asks, giving Bard a chance to slip through the door and back to his boat.
He would owe her for this one. Which made it easier to get a reasonable answer later on. Looking up with a grin on her lips three excited children return her smile.
~
The shops were bustling as they all prepared for the nearing winter. They stopped by a shop selling dried leaves and herbs. The smell of all the different species tickled Ruby's nose. She had to pinch the back of her hand not to sneeze. There was no plausible explanation to clarify why she had set fire to the shop while simply sneezing.
"Aunt Ruby, look. Look! They have these red things. You bought them last time, did you not? How did they taste, were they good?" Tilda jumped up and down in front of the display. Her finger pointed at the red chili.
"They were… hot. It felt like I was breathing fire after I ate them," she said.
Her hands fidgeted, not because she had lied, no. Because she had told the truth. She had burned her favorite cloak that evening. So maybe she would buy a new cloak as well. Right after some books and tea.
"Oh, look," she hastily changed the subject, "they have this sweet stuff you like to drink so much."
Another bag full of tea and spices was handed to Bain, while Ruby rummaged through her pockets in search of the money she had taken from Erebor on her way out. She handed the kind lady a gold coin, pressing the round metal into her wrinkled hand and closing the woman's fingers around it. Hopefully she will last the winter with this.
"Let us visit the bookshop next. I hope Cal has got the new delivery he promised me last month."
Making her way through the various stalls and stands she picked up fruits and fish, some flowers, necessities and a few trinkets here and there. Each time she hands the vendor a gold coin. She closed their fingers around it, gave them a smile and walked away. Some of them she already knew for years, even if they wouldn't remember her.
Her hood hid her hair and face almost completely and the thick fog over the lake and around town made it harder to see her face as well. Her get up might make her look a bit shady, and the way she secretly slipped some extra coin into the vendors hands could only be described as suspicious, but being looked at in a weird way was better than getting too much attention.
Her first few visits she hadn't been as careful and the master took notice of her, a young girl giving out gold like stale bread. He had tried to capture her, to confiscate the gold and as the master couldn't catch her he resorted to steal the money from the people. He forced them to give him all the things she had brought them. It broke her heart and Ruby didn't visit the town for seven long years, hoping they had forgotten about her.
"Sigrid! Come on!" Tilda tugged at her sister's arm, "What are you even looking at? What are those?!"
Sigrid didn't answer. Interested Ruby follows her line of sight so see what had caught the girls attention. Maybe there was a quarrel going on, like in the last summer. That had reminded her a bit of the reality TV she used to watch long long ago.
There was a commotion, yes, but not of the amusing or entertaining kind. Some of the guardsmen were chasing what looked like kids through the street. Whispers got louder. Out of habit she tugs her hood a bit deeper.
"Did you see them?" a female voice whispered behind her.
"Yes, yes! And those beards!" answered another voice.
Ruby's ears perked up. Beards? The woman behind her couldn't possibly mean beards like in dwarrows. That was not possible, they shouldn't have been here until…
"Tilda, Sigrid! We have to go. Like now!" her sudden, rather loud outburst made one of the dwarrows turn around.
Long, golden-blond hair, the beard braided into small braids with silver beads at the end. Sharp eyes searching the townsfolk for the one speaking up. His gaze stopped by Sigrid. His eyes widened and Ruby suppressed the urge to grab the sisters and drag them behind her, telling herself over and over again that she was not the beast, but human.
The blond dwarf was dragged along by an older one with red hair. His eyes however left Sigris only once he vanished behind a corner. Ruby could feel the heat in her chest slowly subsiding, as the dragon inside her curled itself together to continue his nap. This had been dangerous.
"Change of plans. I need more tea, and food. As do you, trust me. I will pay for it all, so just don't tell your dad. Come on now you two, I have to hurry back to get it all ready in time!"