It had been over a week since Benna had begun traveling with Dwalin, and she had discovered one thing about him; he was not a chatty person. She could sense his irritation, as day after day she tried drawing him into conversation, pestering him with questions about himself only to receive short answers in reply.

'Where were they?' 'Forest' , 'Where was he from?' 'Blue mountains.' ,'How far was the shire?' 'Far'

Eventually however she had finally managed to find something he was willing to talk about.

"So why exactly are you headed to the Shire? Do you need help from this wizard guy too?"

Dwalin shook his head "The wizard is there for other business."

Benna ducked under the pony's neck to look at him "So why the shire?"

"I am going to a meeting of my kin."

"Oh so like a family reunion then?"

It was Dwalin's turn to look at her

Benna pressed on seeing the now all too familiar look of confusion "Its where all of your relatives get together after not seeing each other for a while. like a party but for family."

He shook his head "Nay lass, this is a meeting of great importance not a party."

"But your family will be there?"

"Aye my brother as well as some distant relations."

She smiled "You have a brother?"

Dwalin's step faltered almost imperceptibly as he realized he had let more information slip than he had intended.

"I do." He frowned "Though I fail to see how that is any business of yours."

Benna's smile grew "Is your brother older or younger?"

Her smile faltered a bit as he continued leading the pony ahead with out a word. Benna sighed quietly becoming overly interested in the road beneath her feet.

"Older."

She glanced up to see Dwalin looking back at her "What?"

He paused letting Benna catch up to him "My brother," He grunted "Hes older than me... His names Balin."

Benna laughed "So you have an older brother with a rhyming name?'

Dwalin tilted his chin up slightly "I suppose I do." There was a beat of silence before he glanced over at her again "What about you lass?"

"What about me?"

"Where is your kin?"

Benna shrugged resuming her great interest in the dirt under her boots "My mom left shortly after I was born, and my Dad died when I was young. I got passed around aunts and uncles until I was old enough to be on my own."

"I'm sorry lass."

She shrugged again "It's hard to miss what you can't remember. Besides," She grinned at him "If we are going to be friends we need to know all about each other!"

He gave her a withering look "Traveling companions... We are traveling companions, no more. Soon you will be the wizards problem."

…

They stopped for the night in a sparse patch of woods and began to set up camp. Dwalin unloaded the pony, as Benna knelt over the small pile of sticks, chipping a flint into the kindling until it finally sparked into a flame.

"We'll need more wood for this to keep burning through the night," She said brushing the dirt off her pants as she stood "I'll go grab some."

"Take this with ya." Dwalin handed her his knife "See if you can cut some bigger branches to take with us for tomorrow."

Benna nodded taking the knife before disappearing into the trees

Dwalin sat by the fire turning the rabbits he had prepared over it. The last rays of sun were quickly disappearing below the tree line as he sat back waiting for the meat to cook. He heard Benna walking back through the woods and stood to help her. He stopped dead as he reached the edge of the fire light. It was not Benna, but a man who emerged from the woods- sword in hand.

"Good evening." The man grinned.

Dwalin took a step back pulling an ax from his belt. "What do ya want?" He growled, frowning as two more men emerged from the forest around the campsite.

He shrugged "Anything I deem of value."

Dwalin tightened his grip on the ax "You'd best move on."

The man opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by Benna's voice.

"Hey Dwalin can you give me a hand? I think I got a little too ambitious" She called coming into view, carrying a large stack of logs.

The first man turned at the voice, a smile spreading across his face.

Hearing no reply to her call, Benna looked around the stack of wood in her arms, freezing as she saw the men standing in the camp.

"Dwalin..." She breathed

"BENNA RUN!" Dwalin roared as he lunged for the closest man. Benna dropped the logs, taking off back into the woods.

The man nodded to his companion "Bring her back."

"No you will not." Dwalin growled moving to stop him, only to be forced back as he dodge the other man's sword. He looked after the man as he disappeared into the woods after Benna, forcing himself to refocus on the two men in front of him.

They charged him both at once forcing him back and he dodged their blows. He side stepped to the side of the fire, Swinging at the men as he did, he winced as one of the men's swords crossed his arm leaving a long cut down the top of his forearm. He swung out again this time managing to catch one of the men who cried out then slumped to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of movement, he moved out of the way just in time to miss most of the blow but the man then brought the hilt of his sword down across his temple knocking him to the ground before landing a punch in his stomach, forcing the air from Dwalin's lungs. He groaned as the world went hazy around him, his ears ringing, blinking as he tried to refocus his eyes. He could see the man approaching him, blindly he reached out for his ax only for the man to kick it from his reach.

"I had heard that dwarves were hard to kill, I guess I was mistaken." The man said languidly "I had the thought to keep you alive until my man found your little friend, but I think it would be more prudent to get rid of you now. The two of you can be reunited in the after life."

Dwalin grimaced, he had not expected to meet his death before he had even set out to face the dragon. He could only hope Benna had outrun her pursuer.

Dwalin's vision swam as he watched as the man raised his sword to strike, gritting his teeth. Suddenly a shout rang out. The man began flailing around wildly, reaching for something unseen behind him. The last thing he registered was a blurry form calling out as the darkness took him.

…

It was the throbbing behind his eyes that brought Dwalin back around. He opened his eyes, then immediately shut them as the light greeted him.

"Dwalin?" A quiet voice pricked at his ears.

Mustering his strength he opened his eyes again and slowly propped himself up. He turned to look in the direction of the voice and saw Benna sitting cross legged against a tree, his knife laying in her lap.

"Benna?" He rasped, sitting up fully.

She uncurled herself from the tree, handing him a water skin "How do you feel?"

He took it from her gratefully, pausing as he took in her appearance. She looked wary and exhausted. Her clothes were torn and splattered with dirt and blood, a dark bruise was beginning to form on the side of her chin, accentuating the cut down her lip. Dwalin set the water skin aside, brushing some of the hair away from her neck. He ground his teeth as he saw the long finger shaped marks around the side of her neck.

"What happened?" He growled. She brushed his hand away as she sat down beside him, taking a long sip from the water skin. "Benna, what happened?" He asked again gently "Where are the men?"

"Dead." She said curtly.

"Dead? All of them?"

"Yes."

"How?" He watched as Benna shut her eyes, taking a deep breath in before letting it out as a short shaky sigh.

"After I ran... one of them caught up to me and managed to knock me down." She rubbed the side of her neck self consciously "We struggled for a bit but he was able to overpower me. Finally I was able to pull your knife from the sheath and I stab him in the side and then some until..." She stopped as her voice began to shake, her eyes drifting to her hands. "...Until he stopped moving. I followed the fire light back to camp hoping to find you, but then I saw that man standing over you..." She shook her head vehemently "I couldn't sit there and let you die so I jumped on him and stabbed him in the back. But I…. I couldn't get you to wake up, so I patched you up the best I could and kept watch in case they had any friends around."

She looked over at him suddenly, he felt his stomach tighten as tears began to slide down her cheeks "They were going to kill you I had to do it... I had to they..."

He put a hand on her shoulder "You did what needed to be done, there is no shame in it. Taking a life... its 'no an easy thing to do."

"Thank you." She said quietly, her eyes fixated again on her hands seemingly lost in her own thoughts.

Dwalin watched her unsure of what to say. For a moment he wished Balin was with him, surly he would have known how to help the girl. After a long deliberation he looked around the camp site, uttering the first question that came to mind.

"Where...Where are the bodies?" Dwalin blanched inwardly as his own question.

To his surprise it seemed to break the girl out of her trance.

She looked at him in surprise. "Floating down the river somewhere." She answered tiredly. "Though they had some coin on them, I figured we could put it to use." She added, gesturing to a pouch on the ground.

"How long have I been unconscious?" He frowned looking around at the now packed up camp site.

She stared up at the early morning sun "A full day, and it's now a few hours into the next Id say."

"You have been keeping watch for over a day now?" He asked, looking at the dark circles beginning to form under her eyes.

She nodded but said nothing, her hands fiddling with the knife in her lap. He felt a deep sense of guilt wash over him as he looked at her. After fighting for both her life and his, she had spent the last day alone keeping watch over him, not knowing when or if he would awake anxiously waiting to see if more bandits would come for them.

"I am sorry Benna,'' He said kneeling in front of her "You should not have had to endure all this alone. You could have died."

"I'm pretty sure I died once already, what's one more time." She said half heartedly, trying to lighten the mood.

Dwalin shook his head "They wouldn't have just killed ya."

She looked at the ground. "I know, the one chasing me wasn't exactly subtle about their plans." She said quietly "But I couldn't just leave you."

Dwalin sighed and much to her surprise took one of her hands in his as he stared intently at her.

"Wha.." Benna started but he put up a hand to stop her.

"I Dwalin son of Fundin solemnly make this vow before Mahal. I swear to protect and watch over Benna McCallium, daughter of Frank, from this day forward until the day she returns to her home land. By my life or death, by sword or by shield I will see this vow fulfilled."

Benna could feel a few stray tears starting to fall down her cheeks as he stood offering his hand to her. She took it using the momentum to pull him into an embrace. After a moment she felt his arms hesitantly encircle her.

"Does this mean we're friends?" She asked, with a small smile

He sighed "Aye, I suppose it makes us a bit more than travel companions."

Benna wiped her cheeks with her sleeve before bending down to pick the knife off the ground, "We should get moving. I packed up the camp while you were unconscious."

Dwalin shook his head "You need to rest."

"You said you were on a tight schedule to get to the Shire. We have already lost almost a day and a half."

He looked at her and frowned, he knew she was right; they had no time to spare "Fine but you're riding the pony until we get to Bree. I'll carry the extra bags."

As the day wore on Benna needed a nearly constant conversation to keep her awake enough to keep from falling off the pony, even resorting to teaching Dwalin to play I spy to keep herself awake.

"Ok I spy with my little eye something that is green."

Dwalin huffed at her "I thought we agreed nothing green until we are out of the forest. It's cheating to pick something green in a forest!"

"Fine I spy with my little eye someone who's being a sore loser."

Dwalin gave the pony a small whack with the reins he was holding causing it to shift suddenly.

Benna gave a small yelp of surprise as she nearly fell.

"Wow I should have said 'I spy someone who is a really big sore loser'." She grumbled as he laughed.

…

"Here lass put this on." Dwalin said, tossing her a cloak as she dismounted from the pony.

"What's this for?" Benna asked pulling it on.

"Were about to enter Bree, and your clothes will draw too much attention. Well stop and get you some new ones in town". She nodded following closely after him as they entered the town. Benna looked around the town with great interest as she followed Dwalin towards a row of shops, it was the first time she had seen any hint of civilization since waking in the forest. People bustled around the town dressed in old fashioned clothes, but what struck her the most was how tall everyone was.

"Dwalin, why is everyone in this town so freaking tall?" She asked.

He gave her a funny look "They are not. They are normal height for humans."

"But I'm a human!" Benna frowned.

"Lass I know a dwarf when I see one, and You are a dwarf.. and a wee one at that! Maybe that fall off the mountain compressed your bones." He said with a shrug.

"Wow not ok, I can joke about my death but you can't!". He threw her a long suffering look before pulling her into one of the shops.

"My companion needs traveling clothes, whatever you can have ready in a day!" Dwalin announced to the startled shopkeeper pushing Benna in front of him.

The woman looked in surprise at them before collecting herself "Of course I have a few things that can be altered quickly," She said taking some measurements "They'll be ready this evening".

Benna sank into the tub. Dwalin had gotten them a room at the local inn for the night so they could rest for a few hours. He had dumped their things in the room before giving the key to her and telling her to keep the door locked until he came back from getting their supplies. She scrubbed the dirt and blood from her skin before drying off and pulling on clean clothes from her bag.

After a while there was a knock at the door. "Benna it's me" She heard Dwalin call. She flung the door open and he stepped inside arms full, before dumping the items on the bed. "Here ya go, got your clothes from the shop, and I got ya some other things I thought you might need the rest is in the saddlebags on your pony"

"Pony? You got me a pony?".

"Technically our visitors from the other night paid for it and the rest of this stuff." He said with a shrug. Benna looked through the packages - three shirts, a few pairs of pants, along with a cloak and boots, and to her surprise a bow and arrow. "Though you might like something more than that little knife of yours," He said "Now get some rest, we leave before sun up."

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