It was a miserable day.

It had started to rain early in the morning and, thanks to the clouds, the day was chilly. By midday, everyone was soaked to the bone. Bilbo and Baylee, who didn't have cloaks of their own, had been given spares by Dwalin and Gloin. Though the extra layer had helped for a while, after an entire day of being out in the rain, the cloaks had become rather useless.

And what made matters worse was that, at some point during the day, Gandalf had disappeared. No one had seen him ride off or bring his horse to a halt, so it was impossible to know just how long he had been missing.

It was a few hours from dusk when they road past the ancient ruins of what had once been a castle. Looking at them, Baylee felt a shiver run down her spine; once upon a time, the castle may have been a welcomed sight to travelers, but now it looked eerie and wicked. She forced herself to look away, a sense of unease coming over her.

But there was one good thing about the castle: Because it sat so close to a river, a bridge had been built around the same time as it. The bridge, however, seemed to be in much better condition—still worn with age, but it stood strong against the swollen and raging river below. The weary travelers slowly made their way across the bridge, going in pairs just in case the stones weren't as strong as they looked.

By the time everyone had crossed, the rain had finally come to an end and the clouds started to scatter, allowing the blue sky to peek down at them.

"We'll travel for another hour," Thorin told the group. "Then we'll look for a dry patch to camp on for the night."

"What about Gandalf, though?" Bilbo asked as he pushed his soaking wet hood out of his face.

"What about him?" Thorin questioned, his brow rising.

"Shouldn't we wait for him?"

"He's a wizard—he knows how t' care for himself," Dwalin answered. "We can wait for him when we make camp."

Bilbo frowned and glanced over at his daughter, finding that she was doing her best to wring some of the water out of Gloin's cloak. Her teeth chattered slightly and his frown grew in size; he wished he had something dry and warm to wrap her up in. He guided his pony, Myrtle, closer to Buttercup and Baylee.

"Are you alright, dear?" he asked, still wearing a look of concern. "You look like you're frozen to the bone."

She gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm a touch cold, but I'll be fine once I dry off a bit," she replied. She leaned over slightly and twisted a section of the cloak; both hobbits watched as a good bit of water fell to the ground. Hearing her father sigh, she glanced up. "You might want to do the same, da'," she told him. "There's no telling how much water Dwalin's cloak soaked up throughout the day."

"Good idea," he murmured, watching as she wrung out even more water. "But first…here." He reached inside his jacket only to produce a small, metal flask. "Take a drink of this. It'll warm you up for a while."

Her brow rose as she reached over, taking the flask from him. "Is this what I think it is?"

Shrugging innocently, he watched as she opened the flask and took a small, hesitant sip. As the liquid slid down her throat, she made a strange face, causing Bilbo to laugh. "Well? Is it what you thought it was?"

"It is, but I honestly didn't expect you to have some Brandybuck's Best on you," she wheezed, closing the flask. Her mouth and throat burned from the whiskey while her stomach started to grow warm. Holding it out to her father, her nose scrunched up slightly; it was good alcohol, but whiskey had always been a bit too strong for her.

"I've been keeping it hidden from—well, you know." He nodded at the dwarves ahead of them. "I want it to last me a while."

"You won't have to worry about me trying to steal any of it," she assured him. Though, the warmth that had filled her stomach was now spreading throughout the rest of her body. A sigh left her mouth. "I could really go for some East Farthing wine or some North Farthing cider, though."

He chuckled, his brow rising. "Beginning to get a little homesick, are you?" he questioned.

"At times," she admitted. "But I'm still enjoying myself—for the most part. I could have done without those orc cries a few nights ago."

"I think we all could have done without those orc cries."

Though Thorin had said they would stop to make camp an hour later, nearly two hours had passed and they were still traveling. The group was beginning to voice their discontent, with most members of the company wanting to stop and dry out for the night. But they continued on, the light slowly fading around them.

Baylee sighed, having wrapped the damp cloak around herself like a blanket in an attempt to keep herself a bit warm. She also leaned forward, pressing herself against the back of Buttercup's neck in hopes of the pony sharing some of her body heat. The horn of the saddle dug into her stomach a bit, but it was a pain she was willing to endure for the warmth.

It was in this fashion she felt herself beginning to drift off to sleep only to be suddenly jolted back into full consciousness.

"Mouse-Lass!" Thorin called from the front of the line. She didn't like how annoyed he sounded.

"C-coming," she half called, half yawned. Sitting upright once more, she urged Buttercup to increase her pace just a bit. It took some effort; she still wasn't the best when it came to riding, so the mare only listened to her most of the time.

When she eventually reached the front of the line, she found their leader wearing a sour face. "We're going to stop soon," he told her, his eyes looking at the road ahead, "and when we do, I want you to look around the area and find us somewhere dry. I will not have us sleeping in the mud."

She frowned, looking out into the trees that surrounded them. On the road, there was still a good deal of light, but under those boughs, it was already quiet dark. "Alright," she said, sounding uncertain. "I'll do my best." As much as she wanted to point out that it would be nearly impossible to find anything dry after the day-long downpour, she kept her mouth shut.

Just as he had said, half an hour later, he brought the company to a halt in the middle of the road. The light had faded a bit more, making the hobbit lass a bit more hesitant to venture out in search of dry lodgings. Dismounting Buttercup, her nose scrunched up as she landed with a small splash, feeling bits of mud get sent up her calves.

"If you run into any trouble," Thorin told her, "give as shrill and loud a whistle as you can manage." He would have told her to hoot like an owl, but something told him that she wouldn't be able to muster enough volume to be heard.

She nodded. "Understood," she said before turning to head into the woods.

Before she could take more than two steps, however, Fili called out to her. "Baylee." As he rode over to her, he reached inside his coat and pulled something from a hidden pocket. "Here. Take this—just in case." Leaning over, he held out one of his many sheathed knives.

"Thank you," she told him, a nervous smile on her lips. She tucked the knife away into her own pocket before turning and, hoping she wouldn't have need of the blade, hurried into the underbrush.

"W-w-w-wait! She shouldn't be going in there alone!" Bilbo stammered, his voice barely audible from the back of the group. "What-what-what if something happens to her?!"

"Ah, she'll be fine," Bofur assured him. "She's sneaky enough that, even if somethin' were out there, it probably wouldn't see her."

His words did little to comfort Bilbo. "You can say that so easily, but you're not her father!" He clenched his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I should be out there with her."

"Give her a chance," Bofur chuckled. "Fili gave her a knife, so she's got at least a wee bit o' protection." He then shook his head. "Anyway, don't you think we would already know if there were something unsavory in the woods? The ponies wouldn't be as calm as they are. They can sense danger, you know—just the slightest whiff o' something off an' they're as skittish as can be."

"But you don't know that," Bilbo grumbled. "We could be upwind of whatever danger's out there!"

"You worry too much," he said, his brow rising in amusement. "You hobbits have good hearing, aye? Better than us dwarves. Give the area around us a good listen an' tell me if you hear anything that doesn't sound right."

Muttering to himself, Bilbo shut his eyes again and did what Bofur told him to do. Hobbits did have good hearing (better than dwarves and men, but not even a quarter as good as elves) but it took a bit of concentration. There were layers to the sounds they could hear and most hobbits had learned to outright ignore anything that wasn't immediately around them.

In Bilbo's case, he could hear, first and foremost, the hushed conversations of the dwarves around him. They were complaining to one another about how wet and tired and hungry they were, so he started to concentrate on the next layer of sound, which was the breeze and how it lightly shook the branches of the trees and bushes around them. Droplets of water fell from their leaves, their needles, and their strands of moss. And beyond that, he could hear the faint sound of Baylee muttering to herself; she was too far away for him to make out just what she was saying, but she didn't sound scared or worried—in fact, she sounded fairly annoyed.

'Probably because she's got mud between her toes,' he thought. 'She's always hated that feeling…'

"Well? What do you hear? Anythin' that makes you want t' scamper off into the woods?" Bofur asked after a few minutes.

A defeated sigh left the hobbit's mouth. "No…Just her talking to herself." He lurched forward in the saddle somewhat as Bofur suddenly patted him on the back.

"See? Ya overreacted for no reason!" he grinned. He leaned backwards against the bags and parcels strapped to the pony's flank, tucking his hands behind his head as he closed his eyes.

Sighing again, Bilbo slumped back as well, a pout on his lips. "If you were a father, you'd probably overreact, too."

"Hm. Don't think so." Opening an eye, he glanced over at the hobbit. "Alright, maybe if ever I had the honor o' havin' a daughter I'd be a wee bit overprotective like you. But sons?" He shook his head. "Naw, I wouldn't worry too much."

"Even if she were a—were a-a Balbo instead of a Baylee, I'd still be worried about her," Bilbo mumbled. "She's got too much Took blood in her for her own good."

He looked at the hobbit again; like the rest of the group, he had often heard Bilbo grumbling to himself about his and Baylee's Took blood and how it was, apparently, nothing but trouble. "You know that's not her fault, aye?"

"I know, I know…It's mine and Ambrosia's fault." He shook his head and looked up at the darkening sky. Despite not hearing anything worrisome, he was still anxious. "Baylee can't help that she's got more Took than Baggins in her, but I can't help but be afraid it's going to get her into real trouble one of these days."

"Or maybe it's going to get her out of real trouble one of these days."

His brow rose and he turned back to Bofur. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is plain as day, lad," he chuckled. "You keep thinkin' it's going to get you into trouble, but one day, it might do the exact opposite."

Bilbo opened his mouth to argue against that, but it was then that Baylee came hopping out of the underbrush. She had mud all over her front and even some on her chin—she must have tripped, he thought. A small sigh left his mouth; if there were any streams nearby, they weren't safe enough for her to wash off in. She may have to remain covered in mud for some time.

"I found an abandoned farmhouse!" she chirped. Bilbo was surprised she was in such good spirits when she was so dirty. "I looked it over; it's in quite the state of disrepair, but it's dry inside and there's room enough for all of us. There's even a paddock for the ponies nearby."

"How far is it from here?" Thorin questioned, his brow rising when he saw the mud all over her.

"Not too far—maybe about three hundred yards. But you might have to lead the ponies on foot; there isn't much of a clear path between here and there." She pushed her skirt and petticoats down slightly, her nose scrunching up when she saw just how much mud covered her front.

"Was there a pigsty that you happened to fall into?" he joked, dismounting his pony.

Seeing him dismount, the others started to follow suit.

She pouted. "No. There isn't much light under the trees, so I ended up tripping over a root." A sigh left her mouth. 'Good thing I have a spare dress,' she thought, her brow rising. 'The trick is finding somewhere that I can change into it without the lads seeing me…' Tucking a stray bit of hair behind her ear, she started to lead the group into the underbrush.

The terrain wasn't terribly rough, but she was extra cautious of any tree roots or rocks that may have been in their way—she didn't want to fall in the mud again. Soon enough, they were stepping out of the underbrush and into a small clearing. About twenty yards from them was the remains of the farmhouse; it was only one floor, but the roof looked like it was still intact. Approaching it, they let Dori give the wall a couple of good hits (he was the strongest dwarf in the group) to judge how sturdy the building was. When it didn't so much as shake, it was deemed safe.

As they stepped in, they found it still fully furnished, as if the owners had just stood up and left it one day years and years ago. The dwarves didn't seem to mind this, though, finding it a bit fortuitous that they would have an actual table to eat at for the first time in nearly a month.

'I wonder what Halfast or Prim will say when I tell them about finding a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere like this?' Baylee thought, standing on her tiptoes as she looked in one of her saddlebags. Her brows furrowed when she didn't find the dress in the first saddlebag, so she went to the other side of Buttercup and started to search the other bag. 'I suppose they won't be as impressed by a farmhouse as they will be with all the castles we've seen. Castles mean that an important person lived there—they may have even had their own kingdom!' Still finding no trace of her spare dress, she pulled down her pack and started to look through it.

"What're you looking for, dear?" Bilbo asked, coming over.

"The spare dress I packed," she replied. "I don't want to wear this filthy thing much longer." She pulled out her bedroll and the two oil skin pouches as well as the roll of cloth that was her spare underclothes. The only cloth item left in her pack, however, was her spare coat. "What in the…I know I packed a spare dress."

Bilbo's brow rose. "Well, unless it's an invisible dress—which I hope it's not—it doesn't seem like you did." He rubbed the side of his neck. "Come to think of it, dear, I haven't seen you wear anything but the dress you've got on."

She rubbed the side of her neck as she stood upright. "I think I might've confused my underthings for my brown dress," she sighed. "Looks like I'm stuck in this muddy thing until we reach a place where I can wash it."

"And just what do you plan on wearing while your dress dries, young lady?" he questioned, his voice stern. "You can't just walk around in your bloomers and stays around the lads!"

Her lips pursed in a pout, her cheeks turning a bit red. "Da'…you know I would never do that," she told him. "And even if I did have to resort to that, I do wear a shirt under my stays and I have a coat in here…Not to mention, I could make a temporary dress out of my blanket." She then shook her head and moved to return her things to her pack.

Bilbo shook his head as well. "If I had any spare clothes, I'd loan them to you," he told her. "As it is, though, I barely had time to grab anything before I ran out of Bag End." When she had everything back in the bag, he plucked it off the ground and started to carry it into the farmhouse for her.

As the two of them walked in, they were greeted by the sight of Gloin and Oin just getting a fire started. Fili and Kili were still outside, along with Nori and Dori; the four of them were gathering up the ponies to take to the pen Baylee had spoken of. Bombur, meanwhile, was already working at cutting up vegetables for dinner.

With a small sigh, Baylee went to go find a spot where she could lay out her bedroll. She looked around, seeing that Bilbo had already laid his out near the hearth; on the other side was Dwalin's bedroll. It would be a lie to say she wasn't tempted to move it out of the way and put her own down in its place, but as the large dwarf walked past her, the thought quickly left her mind.

'That'd be asking for a death sentence,' she thought, walking around in an attempt to find a place to put her things. 'It seems this place was a bit smaller than I thought…then again, it only looked bigger because there weren't thirteen dwarves in it already…' A small sigh left her mouth when she found that the only spot she could really fit was in the corner furthest from the fire. '…I'll just try to stay as close to the fire as I can until it's time to turn in.'

Laying out her bedroll, she pondered if she would have any fighting lessons that night or if the princes would be in too sour of a mood from the weather. She supposed not, though, given how tired and grumpy everyone else looked. Reaching into her pack, she grabbed the oilskin bag that held her jerky. As she opened it, she was greeted by the smell of cherrywood smoke and her eyes closed in momentary bliss.

'Thank you, Halfast, for giving me all of this.' Pulling out a few pieces, she closed the bag once more and tucked it back into her pack. 'I wonder how he's doing? I wonder how Prim's doing for that matter…she's probably furious with me for just up and leaving without a word to her. I'll definitely bring her back some sort of pretty jewelry as an apology if I can—probably a necklace; she's always had a soft spot for those. I wonder if there's anything Halfast would like…? Maybe I'd be able to find him a handsome new cleaver…?'

Standing up, she wove her way around the dwarves and made her way to the hearth. A shiver ran down her spine as she felt the heat of the flames beginning to warm her skin. Wanting to stay out of the way, she sat down off to one side, making sure she curled up into enough of a small ball that Bombur or someone else wouldn't trip over her. She took a bite of her jerky as she let her eyes fall shut, enjoying the heat. After being out in the cold and the rain all day, it was a refreshing change of temperature.

It seemed like only a few minutes had passed by when someone gave her a small shake. Stirring, she opened her eyes and yawned. "What is it…?" she asked, not looking to see who had roused her just yet.

"It's dinner time," came her father's voice. Turning her head, she found him looking down at her with some concern. "You've been asleep there for nearly two hours, dear. Are you feeling alright?"

"Two hours? Yavanna's grace, it felt like I only closed my eyes for a moment." She stretched, a little grunt leaving her mouth as she felt her back pop. "I'm feeling fine, though, da'. I just wanted to warm up after being in the rain all day." She smiled reassuringly at him before standing up.

"Aw, why'd you wake our little mouse, Bilbo?" Ori chuckled.

"Yeah, she was adorable over there, all curled up and warm," Nori joked. "Are you going to make her return to her cold nest in the corner?"

Bilbo pouted as the others started to playfully scold him as well. "Because it's dinner time and the little mouse needs to eat," he said, wagging a finger at them in an almost fatherly fashion. He then paused, realizing he had joined in with calling his daughter a mouse. Glancing over at Baylee, he gave her an apologetic smile.

"Speakin' of eatin'," Bofur interrupted, bringing two bowls of soup over to him. "Can you take these t' Fili and Kili for me? I need to make sure Bombur doesn't go in for fourths."

"I'll come with," Baylee offered. When Bilbo opened his mouth to protest, she quickly said, "Right now, I feel like I'm going to fall back asleep at any second. The night air might wake me up enough to get a bowl of soup in my belly before I pass out again."

Unable to argue with her logic, her father nodded and handed her one of the bowls. "Alright, but as soon as you pass the bowl off to one of those lads, it's right back here for you."

She nodded in understanding and moved to follow her father as he left the farmhouse. When they left the warmth, a small shiver ran down both their spines as they were greeted by the cool night air.

"Was I really asleep for two hours?" she asked, her brows furrowed slightly.

"Mhm. I watched you sit down, take a bite of jerky, close your eyes, and not move for two whole hours." He stepped over a rock, having just barely seen it in time to do so. "At first, I thought you were just savoring the warmth of the fire, but when Nori crept over and stole some of your jerky, I knew you had to be asleep. You even slept through Bombur accidentally dropping his giant spoon next to you."

She pouted. "Nori stole my jerky?"

"Don't worry, he made sure to share it with Dori and Ori. They were quite the fans of it."

"Of course they were—it was cherrywood smoked. You'd have to be crazy to not like it."

His brow rose as he looked at her. "Ooh, a parting gift from young Mister Pott?" He then blinked, realizing that he had caught her in the middle of stealing a taste from the bowl. "Baylee Baggins, are you stealing some of Fili or Kili's soup?" he said in a mock scolding tone.

A cheeky grin came to her lips as she let the spoon fall back into the bowl with a small 'plop'. "I was just wanting to make sure it didn't need anything! And it doesn't, mind you. It's quite good. What is that that Bombur used? Tarragon?" She laughed as Bilbo reached over and lightly tousled her hair.

"It's not tarragon. He used thyme," he chuckled. He then let out a sigh, keeping his vision on the ground in case there were any more hidden rocks. "He's been gone an awful long time…"

"You mean Gandalf?"

"Yes. We don't know when he disappeared from the group or why…or even how long he plans on being gone. For all we know, he's simply abandoned us."

"I doubt that's the case," she told him. "He's a wizard, right? You told me that they're pesky folk who are always getting themselves into trouble or bringing trouble along with them. So let's just hope he's getting himself into trouble and not bringing it with him."

His brow rose. "I did say that, didn't I?" he murmured, more to himself than to her. "That day feels like it happened years ago, yet barely a month has passed."

"It's hard to keep track of the days when you're out in the open like this, isn't it?" she chuckled. "I reckon it's around May 24th by now."

"You always had a better mind for remembering dates." He smiled down at her before looking up to find the princes standing ahead of them. "Fili, Kili, we've brought you some food," he said as he and Baylee came to stand alongside them.

The pair of dwarves didn't seem to acknowledge them at first, not moving as the bowls of soup were offered to them.

"Fili? Kili? Is something wrong?" Baylee asked, her brows furrowing when she saw them staring out into the night.

"We're supposed to be lookin' after the ponies," Kili stated.

"Only, we've encountered a small problem," Fili then told them.

"We had sixteen."

"Now there's fourteen."

The two finally looked down at the hobbits, finding that it was their turn to be staring out into the darkness.

"Daisy's missing," Baylee told them.

"So is Bungo," Bilbo added. "Shouldn't we let Thorin know?"

"Ah, no, no," Fili said quickly. "We thought, as our official burglar an' Mouse-Lass, you two may like to look into it."

Frowning, Baylee bit her lower lip and glanced over at Bilbo. "We…could give it a shot. Perhaps part of the pen's fence was broken and they just wandered off?"

Bilbo sighed, finally passing off the soup to Kili. "Let us hope."

Passing the bowl off to Fili, Baylee followed Bilbo. As she looked around, she could see a few fallen logs, though, to her, nothing looked very suspicious about them. She continued further forward, her eyes narrowed slightly as she thought she spotted something in the distance.

Her father, however, could see that the logs were newly overturned, as their leaves were still bright green and he could smell the sap from the freshly broken branches. He could also just barely make out what looked to be giant footprints in the wet earth. Gulping, he looked over at the princes.

"Something big came through here," he stated. "Something big enough to rip these trees up…Which means, it's probably dangerous."

"That's what we were thinking," Kili solemnly agreed.

"There's a light!" came Baylee's voice. "It looks like some sort of fire!"

Hurrying to catch up with her, the three of them soon found her crouched behind a fallen log—one that wasn't recently put there. Joining her, they squinted through the night as she pointed out the glowing speck in the distance. Bilbo swallowed hard as he saw something massive move in front of the light.

"What is it?" Baylee squeaked.

Fili looked over at the two hobbits, a bit of fear and worry on his face. "Trolls."