Shobha stirred, opening her eyes and finding herself laying on furs and a soft mattress. Her head ached… Had she hit it again? Then she recalled what had just happened, with the strange men dressed like Tolkien Characters and sat bolt upright.

"Woah lass… take it easy" a hand reached out to her. It belonged to a shorter man still, with a full white beard and fluffy white hair. He had kind eyes, and looked at her with some concern. " Fili go find Oin and the others." And she heard someone leave the room, shutting the door behind.

He then turned back to her "Try not to move too much lass… I'm Balin. Do you recall what happened to you?"

Shobha blinked and rubbed her head gently. She was laying on a large bed, covered by blankets and furs. The room was surprisingly well lit, even though she could not see any windows. It didn't appear to be a cell. It was decorated quite lavishly with a tapestry on one wall, and a large fireplace, and tastefully carved dark wood furniture. Her dirty clothes had been removed and she had been dressed in a large soft linen tunic – likely belonging to a man.

Balin was still observing her with concern from the end of the bed. She looked at him and nodded slowly in answer to his question.

"So… am I really in… in… Arda..?"

"Aye lass" he continued softly. "And you appear to have had a terrible fall before you met the lads. It could have been worse when you collapsed, if Thorin hadn't caught you…"

"Arda… like Orcs… and Smaug and… Sauron…" he winced when he heard her say that name.

"Well lass Smaug has been vanquished… and the orcs have lost their leader…" he trailed off taking a pipe out of his jacket and tapping it on the bed end.

Then realisation hit her "Oh gosh! You are Lord Balin… son of Fundin!" He immediately stopped and looked up, startled.

The Tolkien stories she had read as a young teenager had been favourites. And she had even had time to reread some during summer holidays in university. But she hadn't had much time to read anything but medical journals since starting work. A thought which made her shoulders slump.

"How do you know my true name lass?" He blinked "it is only known amongst our kind."

But I still don't understand how this can be a REAL place…? It's just a fictional story! Maybe I became comatose when I fell originally and this is some weirdly tangible dream… but why does my head hurt so much?

"Well I guess might just beat going back to miserable work on Monday…" she mused out loud. Balin was still looking at her puzzled, awaiting an answer.

Are these really the Durin's folk of Erebor…? They certainly look it…

"Umm.. its hard to explain, and… I don't know whether you would even believe me… I'm having trouble to be honest."

There was a gentle knock at the door, and another elderly appearing dwarf stepped up to her and studied her face carefully.

"Do you feel dizzy lass?" She shook her head. " – "

"And I don't have double vision, blurring or and nausea" she interrupted. "Although I may have suffered a mild concussion, after my fall…"

"So you are a healer then…? I thought this skill was lost to the race of men…" he continued to assess her, gently starting to unwrap the bandages to her hands.

Her bed was now surrounded by several more dwarves all staring at her. The dark haired one, she now realised must be King Thorin. He had taken Balin's place at the centre of the bed-end to his right was the menacing bald one with tattoos, who must have been Dwalin. And to Thorin's left stood the young blond dwarf and the other younger dark haired dwarf with almost no beard. She realised these must have been the King's nephews Fili and Kili. They wore gentle smiles and looked at her with a mixture of curiosity and concern.

Balin, who had now taken a seat in a chair to the right of Shobha's bed began once more "perhaps we should begin with some introductions… King Thorin, son of Thráin, son or Thror" he gently nodded his head once.

"Our Princes Fili and Kili…"

To this they both bowed and spoke in unison, "at your service, my lady," which made her smile for the first time since her hike.

"So you must be Dwalin…" she completed, watching his jaw drop fully.

"I'm Shobha – Shobha Seth, and I come from London," she continued. "This will seem strange and even I'm struggling to believe it… but I took a short trip to a place called Wales, to spend a few days resting and getting my mind off… well… things… And there, I took what I thought would be a gentle walk through the hillside, that should have lasted no more than a few hours. But I fell… must have caught my foot in a rabbit hole or something...and slid down the hill side."

The faces of these dwarrows stared back at her silently urging her on.

"And I must have hit my head and lost consciousness, although when I checked my watch it couldn't have been for long… Anyway, when I woke up, I couldn't recognise anything. The landscape had changed and I thought that I would come across some other hikers or a road or sign posts but nothing…" Looking down she noticed her palms and hands looked much better. The healer had applied some fragrant salve to all her cuts and was re-bandaging them with care. She felt no pain, which was impressive.

"After walking for several hours more… Well, I then came across your group…"

"It's just as well lass – if Fili hadn't found you… well, I doubt you'd have lasted the night." Dwalin concluded. "There are all sorts of dangers lurking out in the wilderness".

"So you did not travel with your father or husband?" Fili pressed on.

"Well no… in my land women are mostly safe to travel on their own. We don't need anyone to escort us around." she continued. "We are certainly educated and work hard for a living – maybe even just as equally as our men!"

"And what of your husband and father" Thorin finally spoke, fixing his electric eyes on her. His face still an unreadable mask. "Will they not be looking for you now?"

This made her shrink back in her bed.

"I have no husband… and yes, I expect my father is looking for me, but we have police and other authorities who carry this out."

There was another knock at the door, and in walked a very large ginger dwarf, with his beard in a large plait. He carried a tray with a bowl of what looked like steaming soup, which he set down on a small side table to the left of her bed.

"Bombur!" Shobha smiled in recognition.

"Aye lass, " he was a bit taken aback but continued. "You will need to eat something. I will have more water and tea sent up shortly." And with that he turned and left.

"So tell us lass, how do you know so much about us?" Balin picked up again.

"Well I guess that's where it gets even harder to explain…" she looked around at the faces that were all firmly fixed on her awaiting an explanation. "Your story to reclaim Erebor is a famous story… I guess it is something of a legend really…" And then she paused. This wasn't how it was written though.

"Although it is slightly different…" she wasn't sure how to tell them that Thorin, Fili and Kili had all died in battle, according to the story. And then she remembered.

"Gandalf!" It was like a ray of sunshine, as she considered that he may have the power to return her back to her world, and her poor parents who must have been worried sick. "I have to see Gandalf… he may be able to help me.. get me back home!"

"Oin…?" Thorin looked over. And Oin shook his head turning to Shobha.

"Oh lass, you had a nasty fall. And you're weakened from your travels. You will need to rest for a bit first. You are a scrawny thing as it is."

"Or Elrond… and the Elves.. Please, I need to go to Rivendell!" she pleaded, even though she noticed their all faces turn sour.

Finally after brooding a while, Thorin spoke "No, you are in no state to travel. I will send out word to Gandalf. And we do not have enough of us here to spare to escort you safely to Rivendell either. In the mean time it is decided; you are our guest here at Erebor and we will make your stay as comfortable as possible."

"But I am ok –"

"No!" Thorin commanded firmly. "You are here under MY care. And as such your safety is now MY responsibility… whatever the customs of your land were. These do not apply here in ours, where wild beasts, goblins, orcs or worse roam."

Shobha was tired. Her head ached and she wanted to go home to her own bed, pyjamas, and a couple of paracetamol. Before she could focus on holding her emotions back, hot tears began to spill down her cheeks. She didn't have to spend that weekend alone, torturing herself and likely her parents, to get over what silly residual feelings she had for Mike, the man who left her and was quite happy to walk away with no hesitation. Perhaps if she hadn't then she wouldn't be here in this mess, on her own in a strange land.

Thorin, turned away. It was possible she registered the slightest hint sadness about his eyes on his otherwise unreadable face and wondered why. "Come Fili and Kili. We have work to attend to" he said ushering them out. As he reached the door, he paused and spoke without turning to look. "Balin, will you see to her please..? There are some of Dis robes in the dresser – clean and pressed." He lingered a bit longer in the doorway, still looking away from her.

"Th – Thank you your Highness.." she sniffed. Dis was his sister if she recalled correctly. She was very grateful for their hospitality, even though, she was not completely able to express it at this point.

To this he gently tilted his head once and after a glancing at her for a few moments over his shoulder when he thought she wasn't looking, he turned and left, followed by Dwalin.

Balin who had been observing closely, quickly walked over to her side table and passed her the bowl of soup.

"Come on lass, time for some warm broth" he placed his hand gently on her shoulder.

"And then you can have some tonic for that headache, once you have something in your stomach" Oin said collecting up all the used bandages and placing the jar of salve on top of the dresser.

She nodded and began drinking the broth. It must have been flavoured with some form of meat, although there were no actual pieces. Normally Shobha would have turned this away being a vegetarian, but felt ungrateful to do so at this point. She decided if there were pieces that she would leave them at the bottom of the bowl.

After finishing her broth, followed by a glass of water and the small bottle of rather bitter tonic provided by Oin, she settled back in bed.

Balin had patiently remained in the chair to the right of her bed. Initially he busied himself reading a scroll, followed by building the fire up again, and finally smoking his pipe, with a tobacco that was clearly much more fragrant and sweet compared to what Shobha had ever smelled. Then he turned to check on his charge once more.

"Now you should get some rest lass." And pointing his pipe stem at a large wooden door he said, "the wet room, is through there, should you need it. But perhaps you should call for help if you want to walk through, I'm not sure you will be steady enough."

"Thank you Balin" she smiled. "Is this Dis' room then…?"

"Aye, from before she was married. She stays in the Queen's Chambers now when she visits, next to Fili and Kili." He carried on studying her face carefully. "Dwalin and I have rooms adjoining yours, so should you need anything we can help you. We do not have many Dwarrow-dams here at Erebor still. Certainly none that Thorin feels will be able to look after you, but Dis has said she will be travelling over soon. Until then Dwalin and I will help… it may not be much – just helping you walk over to the wet room or around to the dining hall. But it is better than no help lass."

He stoked the fire once more and brought over another blanket. "In any case, Thorin insists that you are looked after by members of the company only, for now.. he carried you back on his pony, himself to make sure you were safe after they found you."

She felt embarrassed at how weak she must have appeared. And he seemed to immediately pick up on it, reminding her of her own father.

"Oh there's no shame in that Shobha… we have all needed help at some point or other."

"Balin… I won't be going back will I…?" she said tucking herself in.

He just turned from the fireplace, and gave her a sympathetic smile.