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It was beginning to get light when Brine felt asleep. After a night full of dwarfs snoring loudly and talking in their dreams, she finally got some rest. However, it did not last long. Someone socked her lightly. She opened her eyes and found a dwarf with a funny moustache.
"Come on lad, it is time to go." He said. "Oh. I'm Bofur, by the way." The dwarf said happily and handed his hand for her.
"I'm Pip." She smiled and shocked his hand. At least someone was nice to her. "What about the hobbit? Is he coming too?"
"We'll see it." He grinned. "Some of us are betting about it." Bofur moved closer to her. "I am sure that he won't come, but I am telling the others that he will." Brine looked at him and then at the other dwarfs that were waking up.
"Why is that?" Brine asked curiously.
"Because that way, I will be the one that wins." Bofur smiled. "That's how I do it." Brine looked at him confused.
"But, if you always do that, don't you think they'd know that its a trick?" Bofur's face changed and the smile disappeared. He looked at the others and run to them.
Brine saw the scene and laughed. A voice caught her attention. Thorin was telling her to prepare the poneys. It took her almost an hour to get everything ready for the left. Just when she was finishing she saw Gandalf coming to her.
"Good morning, Sir." Brine greeted him. He nodded and walked to his horse. Brine looked at it scared. She had seen horses before but not that close. "Do you need some help?" She asked with doubt. Fortunately for her, he refused her help.
"Where are you from, boy?" Gandalf asked without looking at her.
"I'm from the Blue Mountains." She answered without much attention.
"Oh, a beautiful place, isn't it." Gandalf kept going with the conversation. "Such a pity what happened to Lord Shelgon." Brine looked away as she remembered her father. She did not know, but Gandalf was noticing all her reactions. Brine breathed deeply and straightened herself.
"Yeah. But he will always be in our hearts." Brine caressed her breast. She remembered the day she buried her father in the old crypt. That day, Brine made a promise. She would make everyone remember him.
"I hope his daughter could manage the kingdom right." Brine looked at him with an arched eyebrow. She thought about what to answer but she decided not to say anything more. She suspected that he had said those words with another meaning.
Thorin came out from the house just in time, guiding the Company out of the Shire. Brine was at the queue and she could not help but looked back at Bilbo's house, hoping he would appear at any time.
"Forget about him." A dwarf with grey hair said. He was next to a young dwarf that looked scared.
"Why so, Dori?" The young dwarf asked with curiosity. "He has nothing to lose, has he?"
"He had also nothing to win." Brine answered instead of Dori. She looked back again.
She walked next to Ori and Dori all the road talking about random things. Brine learnt that Ori was the little dwarf of three brothers. Dori was the oldest and then came Nori.
"Be careful with him. He is known for his dishonest acts, although he is a good dwarf after all." Dori told Brine. She looked at the man that Dori was pointing with his head. "And what about you? Who are your brothers?"
"Me?" Brine was not ready for that question. She had not thought about that part of her fake story. "I have three older brothers." Her voice sounded nervous.
"And where are they?" Ori asked. Brine's hands were sweating.
"The last thing I know is that they went to the Iron Hills." Brine lied again.
"Oh really, what are their names?" Gandalf asked. He had approached them in silence. Brine was breathing with difficulty. She needed to come with an idea quickly. Time was running out and she thought that was her end. Suddenly, a voice was heard from the distance. Someone was shouting them. Everyone stopped and tried to see the person. Bilbo appeared running with a paper in his hand. He was crying that he had signed it.
Thorin walked to him with his poney, followed by Balin. This last one took the paper and checked that everything was right. After that, he welcomed Bilbo to the Company. Thorin ordered to bring him a poney. Brine heard as the dwarfs moved on their poney looking inside their pockets. She saw as they took some bags and through them to the queue, where Gandalf took them and kept them. He looked at Brine funny.
"Everyone thought he would not come." He simply said and kept riding while he smoked his pipe.
Brine felt bad for Bilbo. The little hobbit was clearly not comfortable in the poney. Neither with the rain that started falling at that moment.
"It will be a few minutes," Dori told Ori but he was so wrong. The rain lasted until almost night. Everyone was wet and cold. They found a nice cave where they could sleep till the next day.
Brine did her work. She took the poneys and put them aside. After that, she looked for some wood to do fire. Luckily for her, Bombur offered her some help. He was the cooker and he needed the fire to start dinner.
"Can I help you with it?" She asked. Bombur accepted and, together, they prepared a soup with some onions and carrots. Kili had hunted some rabbits that added some flavour to the soup.
The dinner went very well. Brine was starting to get along with everyone. They drunk beer and laughed about random things. Even Fili was talking with her!
"Hey, Pip. I bet you can't hunt one rabbit like Kili." Fili laughed. Brine knew she could not reject the bet. After all, she had told about her fake life, she was supposed to know how to hunt a simple rabbit. Brine nodded and stood up. "Wait Pip. You don't need to go alone. Go with Mr Boggins." Fili had a strange gleam in his eyes. "After all, he is a burglar."
"I-I-I don't think it is a good idea. It's too dark." Bilbo seemed very nervous. "We-We-We can get lost."
"Don't worry Mr Boggins, Pip is a good hunter, isn't he?" Kili joined the conversation. Brine looked at the brothers and walked to a bush pushing Bilbo with her.
Brine kept looking around trying to find some noise or something that could mean there were some rabbits around there, but all there was it was a silent atmosphere. Bilbo kept telling her to go but she was not willing to lose the bet. She needed to prove to them that she was useful after all.
After a while, she was ready to go back without a rabbit. She felt frustrated. Bilbo tried to cheer her up.
"You have tried, Pip. Don't be so cruel with yourself." Bilbo walked next to her when they heard some noises. "What is that?"
"It is coming from those bushes." Brine whispered and she walked slowly to the bushes. Bilbo followed her. They were ready to look in when someone yelled and came out of nothing. Bilbo and Brine ran away as fast as they could while someone was trying to catch them. She had never run that much in her life. From time to time she looked but to see if they had lost it. One of those times, she did not see a rock on the road. Brine's foot bent and she felt. "Bilbo!" The hobbit turned around and tried to get her up.
"Come on, Pip. We are almost there." Brine tried to stand up but the pain got to her hip.
"I can't!" She was almost crying. Thanks for her, the fake beard hid the tears that fell from her eyes. The footsteps that had been following them were closed. "Bilbo, go!" She told Bilbo but he refused to let her there alone.
Bilbo and Brine stood there waiting for that thing when the noise stopped. Someone cried in pain. After some minutes, Thorin appeared with Fili and Kili. They were looking ashamed. Thorin ordered Fili to help her. He did it reluctantly and put his hand around Brine's waist. It was not a comfortable situation for her so she moved away and put her hand on his shoulder. Brine thanked Fili but he did not even look at her.
When they arrived with the others, Thorin began yelling at them.
"Do you think it is funny to risk other's life?" The young dwarfs did not say a word. "How could you be so childish and immature?"
"We are sorry Thorin," Fili said seriously.
"Fili... Precisely you are the one that should behave better. You are not supposed to do that kind of things!" Fili got red. Brine looked at them and asked Balin why he was yelling them.
"Thorin knows what is fear and he doesn't find funny that others make laugh about it." Brine listened carefully at the story. Balin was telling her about a fight with some orcs. It was the fight against Azoc, where Thorin lost his grandfather and when Brine lost his father. She came back to the story and forgot those painful moments. "And that's when I knew that I could follow someone. That there was someone that I could call King." Balin had ended his story and everyone was looking expectant at Thorin.
"But he is been so rough with them. Especially with Fili. I'm not mad at them." Brine did not know why, but she felt bad for Fili. Thorin kept lecturing him about his duty.
"Fili and Kili are Thorin's nephews. He wants them to act as they supposed to be." Balin said. Brine did not know why but she felt strange for Fili. She did not know why, but she felt a hush to protect him, although she did not say anything more and went to sleep. She needed to rest after the long day.
"Hey, Pip. Wake up." Brine opened her eyes lazily. It was still dark but Kili was shocking her.
"What's wrong?" She asked with a bad mood.
"It's time for your training lesson," Kili answered as he also went to wake Bilbo up too.
"Our training?" Brine stood up. She still felt a bit pain in her foot. Kili walked to them to a near plain as he told them about Thorin's punishment for them after last night.
"He told us to teach both of you to fight."
"Fight?!" Bilbo did not see please with the idea. "I don't need to fight."
"Then, learn at least how to defend yourself," Fili said as he joined them. He gave Bilbo and Brine a sword and began to teach them the position they should take when fighting and how to move their feet. Brine saw Bilbo, he did it really well after all. Unluckily for her, she found a bit more difficult to move that quickly. "What's wrong, Pip?" Fili asked as he looked at her closer. "No! Don't take the sword like that!" He moved behind her and put his hands over hers. "Like this!" Brine could not pay attention to the lesson at that time. Nobody had been that close to her. She could felt every muscle of him and his scent... it was something addicted. She began to feel strange. Brine could not breathe well. She was feeling nervous to be around Fili but at the same time, she did not want him to go. Was she starting to see the dwarf with different eyes? No, it could not be that. She did not know him that much. But what was happening then?
