Morning fell over Middle-Earth like a leaf falling from a tree in Autumn - fast and unsuspecting, though Thorin noticed when the first rays of gray light peeked into the window.

Thorin, mind still reeling from previous night events, threw off the bedsheets and sat up on the rugged mattress. Thorin pictured Dwalin doing the same in the room across the hallway from his. Away from his face, Thorin rubbed the what-little-sleep he got, because no matter how much Thorin had tossed and turned, his mind would not stop reeling so he could sleep.

Giving a sigh of not being able to do anything about it, Thorin stood up from the rugged mattress and stretched his arms to the ceiling so the muscles and tendons in his back would pop and get rid of the discomfort that the rock hard mattress had provided.

Thorin, not letting himself think about seeing in the liquid glass mirror, the woman with long purple hair, pale skin and purple eyes, quickly dressed and just happening to look out the window towards the horizon, saw that a storm was approaching, which meant the journey to Rivendell was going to be uncomfortable when the rains begin to fall.

Dwalin, mind still reeling from previous night events, sat up on the rugged mattress and rubbed what-little-sleep he got from his face.

Dwalin stood up from the rugged mattress and stretched his arms to the ceiling so the muscles and tendons in his back would pop and get rid of the discomfort that the rock hard mattress provided.

Dwalin's mind began to wander back to the image of the woman with the brown hair and olive toned skin; beautiful hazel brown eyes that Dwalin saw framed by brown eyebrows and long brown eyelashes, and Dwalin, just for a moment, let himself wonder what it would be like to wake up in the morning to a beautiful woman like the woman he had seen. What would it be like to see her beautiful face as bright as the sun, look back at him with those beautiful, gentle hazel brown eyes greeting him with a smile accented by a smile that would form her lovely lips? What would it be like to feel her soft beautiful skin against his calloused hands when holding her hand? What would it be like to feel the warmth of her delicate body while holding her in his arms? What would it be like to taste those soft lips when pressed against his in a kiss…?

Dwalin shook the thoughts away so he could focus on the matter at hand. Dwalin quickly dressed and just happening to look out the window towards the horizon, saw that a storm was approaching, which meant the journey to Rivendell was going to be uncomfortable when the rains begin to fall.

Dwalin tied his boots, clasped the brooch after putting his cloak on, secured his belt around his waist and hung his axes in the loops of his belt.

Dwalin found Thorin waiting for him when he opened the door. Dwalin also noticed that Thorin had not gotten much sleep either by the tired look on his friend's face.

Stinking Witches! No matter how young or old, Witches are always a pain in the rear. Though, Fairen did not strike Dwalin as a Witch, despite the Elder woman's words…Dwalin did not get that sense from Fairen like he did with Gandalf. No, the Elder woman probably found a few things to make the gray liquid and mix it with something to make it so the content in the liquid would hiss and form into a liquid glass mirror to show images, but nothing about the potion scrame Magic to Dwalin.

"Ya didn't sleep well I gather?" Dwalin asked Thorin while they walked back down the hall to the stairs.

"No," Thorin remarked, "Witches are a pain in the rear no matter how old or young they are! I don't need someone to tell me who I will end up spending the rest of my life with. I decide that for myself."

"I don't think Fairen was really a Witch." Dwalin told Thorin his thought process about the gray-liquid-potion and how nothing about Fairen or the 'potion' scrame Magic or had any feel of Magic like the feel he got when the company met Gandalf when the Wizard had decided to help them retake their homeland.

"Regardless, the fact that a woman told me who I will end up with for the rest of my life just irked me."

"Was that before or after ya saw the image of the woman with purple hair and pale skin? Ya were so fixated on her I swore yer mouth was going to fall on the floor and yer eyes bug out of yer skull." Dwalin told Thorin while they walked up to the front desk to meet the rest of the company.

"Neither one until I found myself fighting for sleep," Thorin hissed while they approached the others.

"Dwalin, Thorin, there you guys are!" Gandalf cried with relief.

"Yes, now let's go," Thorin barked orders and the group gave Dwalin a questioning look while they followed Thorin to the barn where the horses had been taken for the night. Dwalin only shook his head while the group followed after Thorin.

Turning this way and that, Thorin walked up to the barn; throwing the doors open and walked over to his horse. Thorin reached into the saddle bag and pulled out some sort of food item to eat while the others went to their horses when they caught up.

Giving Thorin some space, the company led their horses so all of them stood behind Thorin while waiting for Gandalf. The Wizard came out of the barn with a set of reigns held in his hand, leading an extra horse out behind him.

"Who is the extra horse for?" asked Thorin.

"Our extra guest." Gandalf nods in the direction they had come. The company turned their heads and saw a woman approaching.

"Who is that?" asked Bilbo.

When the woman approached, Gandalf held the reigns out to her, and she gladly took the reigns.

Gandalf turned to Thorin when he rode up to the woman, but Thorin kept his gaze on the woman, and from what Thorin could tell, the woman had kept her gaze on him; studying him from head to foot: a handsome Dwarf with a stern look on his face. His dark curls framing a strong face, a beard covering up a defined jawline. His blue eyes reminding her of a storm at sea, seeming to hide many things. Thorin figured, to the woman, he looked like a king, dressed in a heavy fur coat.

After Raven finished studying the Dwarf, she didn't think she had ever seen a Dwarf as handsome and rugged looking as him. But Raven didn't let those thoughts show. Instead, she closed the gap between she and him when she rode up to Thorin's side, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Thorin introduced, "I'm Thorin Oakenshield. Who might you be?" Thorin asks with critical eyes.

"I'm Raven."

"You're human," Thorin states, wrinkling his nose.

Raven silently cursed the Dwarf for being so handsome that she felt smaller than him due to his dominant and intimidating posture. But Raven didn't let his dominant and intimidating attitude shake her. Instead, Raven did what she always did best when a male tried being dominating and intimidating: challenge. And Raven indeed challenged the Dwarf King.

"And you're a Dwarf. Have a problem with that?"

Thorin rode a bit closer so his face wasn't far from the woman's. "Can you fight?" Thorin challenged back.

Raven looked the Dwarf King directly in the eyes, keeping from her face the admiration of how beautifully blue his blue eyes were and the sexiness of his facial features altogether; framed by his long curly black hair. "Yes."

"Axe or sword? What's your weapon of choice?" Thorin didn't back off from his dominating and intimidating attitude, and read clear on Raven's face that she wasn't either: a fighter, just like him.

"My hands."

"Hmm." Thorin hums, unimpressed.

"I suggest you keep up," Thorin tells Raven.

"That won't be a problem."

Thorin raises an eyebrow at Raven, but instead, turns his horse and rides out of Bree with the group following behind him.