"Da! You have to go and check on her. What if something bad happened? What if the dwarrows took all her food and tea and … and forced her to bring them to the mountain?"

"Sigrid is right, father. Ruby lives all alone there in the shadow of the mountain. She helped us all so much," Bain intervened before his father could say anything, "she doesn't deserve to be left all alone."

Tilda stepped forward. She didn't say a single word. She only clutched her stuffed animal while her lower lip slightly began to tremble. Big round eyes staring at her father.

Bard sighed, against his children he didn't stand a chance. He once again looked at the stuffed animal his youngest was holding. It had been a present from Ruby a long time ago. Such a strange animal. Long and gracile legs with hooves like a horse. The long neck, almost too long to be real, on the thin body ending in a horse-like head with two ears and two bumps, which looked like they could have been horns at some point. Two dark beads as eyes and a pink tongue in the slightly open mouth. What a strange creature. But the strangest by far would be its colouring, yellow with brown spots. This could only be a made up creature.

"Fine, I am going," he nodded, "Sigrid, you look after Tilda. Bain, keep them safe while I am gone. The slightest sign of danger and you take them out of here. If you have to, go to the forest and wait there for me. I won't be gone for long."

Bard gave each of his children a kiss on the forehead before he took his bag, a rather improvised weapon and left this home to search his lifelong friend in the shadows of the mountain.

~

The screaming subsided when Thorin abruptly stopped at the beginning of the large staircase leading into the treasury. Dwalin collided with Thorin's back, almost knocking them all down the stairs. The warrior caught Ori in the last second before the scribe could tumble over the edge, earning a dark glare from Dori, while Nori protectively snatched their youngest from Dwalins grip. Gloin and Balin ran in, shortly followed by a confused Bifur. Bofur took a while longer, but he as well entered the chamber, huffing and puffing.

Silence filled the grand halls of Erebors treasury. Ruby nudged Bilbo's arm. The hobbit was awkwardly silent. Looking to the side she could see him shaking, hands covering his face. Was he scared that their shouting might have woken the dragon? Right before Ruby could place her hand on his shoulder he bursted into laughter. The merry sound echoes through the large hall, recoiling from the walls and transforming it into a strange layered grumble.

In an instant the weapons were risen once again, while the dwarrows built a protective circle. Poor Ori squeezed in the very middle. Alarmed they scanned the vicinity, looking for the big, scary and definitely deadly dragon. Bilbo and Ruby were hidden from their sight up on the balcony.

"Let's go down and surprise them," whispered Ruby to the still snickering hobbit.

Bilbo only nodded, one hand pressed over his mouth to stifle his laughter. Together they made their way down the stairs. Ruby stopped in the shadows of a large pillar, letting Bilbo go on. It might be better for the gentle hobbit to ease the tension, before she showed herself. She couldn't be sure how they would react to the new face in their very own home.

"Bilbo! We thought you were lost!" Balin began walking towards the hobbit, but a firm hand on his shoulder stopped him.

Thorin stood there, a hand on the advisor's shoulder. He looked grim, furious even. Ruby leaned a bit in, out of the shadows. He was really handsome, even dirty and ragged as he was at this point.

"Y-you should have seen your faces! It was hilarious," snickered Bilbo holding his stomach with one and the railing with the other to not fall to his knees out of laughter.

Thorin raised an eyebrow, looking down at the shaking hobbit. His eyes were narrowed and not as amused as Ruby had anticipated. She would have at least thought him to be happy that there was no fire breathing dragon in his ancestors home. Strangely enough, but he looked dark and cold, but only for a moment. As the king raised his gaze to face Balin.

"What do you make of this, Balin. Burglar, where is the Arkenstone?"

Before the king's advisor could race his voice Bilbo stood up, his knees still shaking and the corners of his mouth curled up into a grin. He was probably quite amused to see the leader of their company so baffled and lost for words.

"Thorin, instead of barging in on another innocent person, dragging them into your mess and eating them out of home and house you should greet our host. She was kind enough to invite me to tea and cookies as well as offering a hot bath and some new clothes. This is Ruby." gesturing in her general direction.

Thorin's face changed from grim to utterly confused in just the blink of an eye. He looked at the pillar Bilbo had pointed at, the pillar she was hiding behind. Peeking out of the shadows she smiled brightly up at the soon to be king.

"Ruby? What is a Ruby?" he didn't even bother looking her in the eyes, instead he looked down at the hobbit once again, as if Ruby wasn't even there.

In the meantime Ruby had stepped out of the shadows into the flickering light from the torches. While Thorin was talking to Bilbo and Balin (generously ignoring her) she put her mind to get a closer look at the rest of the company.

Dwalin eyed her with suspicion while shielding Ori. Dori looked at her as if he was about to just wrap her up in a blanket and never let her leave again. Bifur stared at her from a bit further back, standing right next to Bombur who was still catching his breath. Gloin still held onto his weapon, scanning the halls for any danger to come.

Ruby took a deep breath to give them a big welcome, this was their home after all so it would be only right. As she opened her mouth a foul smell, even stronger than before almost overwhelmed her and made her choke. The dragon in her chest grumbled, bearing his teeth at the smell.

"You should take a bath, you know? The thing with the water and the soap? You are really stinky."

Thorin spun around, finally looking her into the eyes. It seemed like the king was at a loss for words yet again.

"You are a girl." he concluded not very wisely.

"Most certainly," she nodded, quickly remembering her good manners, "Hi, I'm Ruby!" grinning she extends her hand.

~

The discussion had been tedious. How in the world could dwarrows be this stubborn? Only the argument that there would be no food if they weren't taking a bath could finally win them over. No matter the muffled comments or confused looks, Ruby stayed adamant and would not budge.

Humming Ruby hopps through the long hallway. In her right hand she held the Arcenstone, while in the left she held one of her favorite books. She wanted to show it to Ori. The young dwarf was by far the easiest to approach and certainly a worthwhile conversation partner.

As she passed by the bathing facilities Thorin stepped out into the hallway. A very wet and naked Thorin Oakenshield. Ruby stopped her humming and skipping through the hallway. This, this was straight up fanservice! Damn, he was muscular.

Back home she had read many stories and many many fanfiction of which a few were a bit, well… hot. Luckily Ruby had enough practice in putting on a poker face. Like that one time when her teacher confiscated her phone with the website still open.

"Thorin, what can I do for you? Are the clothes perhaps not to your liking?" she pointed at the towel wrapped around the king's waist.

Thorin closed the distance between them with two large steps. Now he was towering over her. He was tall. Almost two heads taller than her. Her eyes were on the perfect height to stare right at his bare chest. Waiting all these years alone here in the mountain was definitely worth it.

"I believe you have something that belongs to me," he said with a low growl.

Ruby took a deep breath to focus her mind, starring a bit longer than necessary before her eyes found his. His eyes were as blue as Tolkien had described them, sadly they weren't as warm as before.

"Oh, sure. It is a nice stone. Very handy. But I guess now I have to search for a new reading lamp," she gently places the stone in the king's open palm before grabbing his wrist in a quick motion and pulling him down to her.

"If you do anything stupid, Thorin Oakenshield, like starting a pointless war over a scratched ego, I will take the stone away as quickly as I have given it to you. You are not your grandfather. You are a great leader to your folk and even though you are sometimes a fool and a stubborn idiot you were right to come home," she released his wrist, hoping she hadn't used too much strength on him. Well, dwarrows were sturdy, right?

Turning around she continued her skipping down the hallway. She didn't see the young scribe behind the corner of the entrance to the baths, his eyes looking back and forth between the small red haired girl and the speechless king, or the slight blush on the king's cheeks and ears all the way down to his neck. She neither saw the spy, tucked in a darker corner and witnessing the whole situation while glaring at her back with suspicion and curiosity.

Ruby stopped in the middle of her movement. Ori immediately held his breath while Nori made sure to stay in the shadows. Thorin on the other hand straightened his back.

"Oh, and make sure to tell the others that dinner is ready. You must be hungry after your travels. I am eager to hear your stories," Ruby smiled warmly back at the king, leaving the thread she had spoken in a cold voice earlier nothing more than a dream-like illusion.

"What a curious creature," Nori whispered all but to himself, observing his king closely.

Thorin stood in the empty hallway, nothing more than a towel around his hips, the Arkenstone in his hand and staring with a dazed expression down the hallway where not long ago a small child-like girl with fiery red curls had skipped away. And as it looked she had taken more from the king than just his voice.

AN: Thank you for reading my story