"Don't move or you'll regret it," a very low, stern, and gruff voice said from behind me.
I froze. I had let my guard down in a place I didn't know very well. Something I shouldn't have done.
"Turn around slowly," the voice spoke again.
I did as I was told and realized then I should have kept my one weapon, even if it was small, readily at hand.
Once I had turned around completely, I brought my hands up so that my captor could see I was unarmed. He instantly brought up the sword to point it at my neck. My captor was yet another dwarf and was likely one of the tallest to have shown up at the hill-home. But, unlike the others, his armor was more elaborate and far more intricate than any the others had worn. His hair was a deep black and blended in with the short beard he had on his face. It was one of the shortest beards I had seen on the dwarves by far.
"What are you doing here? And who are you," the dwarf asked with a light nudge from the tip of his weapon.
"I..uuhh.." I stammered.
"We are going to walk into this house and you are going to tell me everything about yourself. And you will not leave out any single little detail."
He grabbed my arm and began leading me toward the front door where the rune was. He knocked on the door and it was almost instantly opened. We were brought into the home and my captor asked for a chair. Once it was produced my pack was taken from me and I was forced to sit in the chair.
"Now talk," my captor said as he stood in front of me. "And start with why you are here."
"Don't you know it's more polite to introduce yourself first before you go around demanding the name of someone you threaten to kill," I replied. I knew it was a long shot, but at least it would buy me some time before I had to tell them who I was.
"She has a point you know," the owner of the home piped up.
"Aye that she does," the wizard quipped in. He walked up to me. "My name is Gandalf the Grey. And you are?"
I hesitated. If I stayed here in the Shire any longer than I already had, the Elder Council was liable to find out I was still near. I figured I had no choice. It was either death from the council or death from my current captors if I didn't answer.
"My name is Nissa. I came from lands to the west. That is all I can tell you," I answered.
"Lands to the west…There are no lands to the west," my captor exclaimed loudly.
"Believe what you want to, but there are lands to the west. They border this place called the Shire. Again, that is all I can tell you," I replied.
"I don't think you are telling us everything, young Nissa," the wizard spoke up again, eliciting a dirty look from my captor.
I sighed. It seemed there was no getting around it. I would have to tell them just who, and what, I was and where I was from.
"My full name is Nissa Chantrea. I come from lands to the west, known to my people as the Western Fae Kingdom. I was banished for reasons you are not privy to. As for why I am here, my banishment was to be in the lands east of the Kingdom. I'm to find a home far beyond here and I am never to return to my old home. As for why I am still in the Shire right now, instead of farther east, I saw the wizard write an ancient rune on the door to this home. I stayed because I was curious as to why. Does that answer your question," I stated.
"That explains it then. The sweet scent I smelled earlier today on the slight breeze was you. I'd always been told that the Fae existed. But I never believed it until now," Gandalf stated with a slight smile on his face.
"Fairies? You want me to believe that she is a fairy," my captor exclaimed.
"Please, young one, forgive him for his lack of manners," the wizard said coming to speak to me. "His name is Thorin Oakenshield. This here is Bilbo Baggins owner of this humble abode. And the rest here are Fili, Kili, Balin, Dwalin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Ori, Nori, Oin and Gloin." He pointed to each in turn as he said their names.
"Why tell her our names? She isn't joining us, like I see you planning in your head Gandalf. We have enough to worry about without having a woman to worry about as well," the one named Thorin, my captor, stated rudely to the wizard.
I stood up quickly making the chair I had been sitting in fall back to the floor.
"I'm not just any fae or any normal woman," I said to Thorin. "I can fight as well as any man of my people. And you have no right to judge me as if you know me."
"Be careful how you speak to me. And you're right, I don't know you. Therefore, I don't trust you. Perhaps I should let you join us. At least that way I could keep an eye on you and make sure you don't cause any trouble for us," he replied leaning down to speak to me face to face.
"And just where are you heading," I asked.
Again the wizard piped up. "How about some food for the both of you before we discuss things any farther? There is still some of the stew left and I believe a couple of mugs of ale still left in the keg. Come help yourselves, the both of you."
He ushered us into the parlor where the rest of the dwarves had returned and had sat down at a table. I too sat down and was given a mug of ale and a bowl of the stew Gandalf had mentioned. I began to eat and when I tried to drink the ale the smell of it alone churned my stomach and I asked for a glass of water.
I listened as Gandalf and the dwarves explained their quest to Bilbo. Of how they had lost their home, a place called Erebor, to the dragon Smaug, how the elves had given no aid to the dwarves, and how Thorin had taken on any odd job he could to help the remnant of his people survive. It was story that my father had once told me as a young girl. It stirred something in me that I hadn't felt before. A sense of curiosity.
