Chapter 10
The smell of flowers in bloom filled Bryn's nose, but it wasn't overpowering because of the cool smell of the river nearby. Trees cast shade over the pathway, and it was comfortably cool in the afternoon.
Bryn found a willow overhanging the river, and sat down next to it. The sound of the river was soothing, and the cool breeze going through her hair reminded her of home. Her mother hadn't been a fool in wanting to came to the place. It was wondrous.
"And what are you doing my dear?" Bryn didn't even have to open her eyes to know it was Gandalf speaking.
"Seeking the company of the only person who's got any sense around this place." Bryn opened one eye, smiling at Gandalf. "It's lovely here. But His Highness says we must leave tomorrow."
"It's a shame, but I do believe that this will not be the last time you come to this place. There will be more opportunities." Gandalf sat down on a nearby bench. Brynna sat down next to him, feeling silly for not having seen it earlier.
Bryn sighed before speaking, "Why doesn't Thorin like me? What did I do to him?"
"He finds your determination discomforting. He doesn't want you to perish during the journey, especially considering that he is the leader of the company. He would hold himself accountable... No matter if he says he wouldn't." Gandalf lit his pipe and blew some large smoke rings into the air.
She huffed, rolling her eyes, "Have your opinion. I think he would be relieved to have me gone."
"Have your opinion as well my dear."Gandalf and Brynna sat in silence for a while longer, but it was only when the sky started to become orange and purple did Brynna make her way back to the common room.
She walked into the room, feeling quite gleeful when she realized that none of the dwarves had heard her. She snuck up behind Kili, signaling for Fili not to give her away before she said a loud 'hello' behind him.
Kili jumped, before turning on her with shock in his gaze. He guffawed, before bursting out laughing. "You'll make a fine burglar!" He said appraisingly, pulling her down to sit beside him and Fili.
"Did I ever tell you about what my mother did to me when I was very young?" Kili asked her, obviously he hadn't told her, and he began with his tale. "Well, she and I were playing a wonderful game of hide and seek, and I was supposed to be finding her. Well she kept on moving her hiding place and then, when I was just about to give up she jumped out at me! It nearly killed me it was so shocking."
Thorin chuckled at his nephew's story, looking down at his pipe. "She knew how to make sure you never disobeyed her."
"So Kili and Fili's mother is your sister?" Curiosity had gotten the better of her and Bryn was yet again engaging an a conversation with Thorin.
"Yes." It was a short reply, but it didn't have the usual curtness.
Bryn pondered her next question before asking, "Do you have any other siblings?"
The dwarf king had been watching her but when the words left her mouth his icy blue eyes turned away. "I... I had a brother. But now it's just me and my sister."
"I'm... I'm sorry." Hesitantly, Brynna met his gaze, which had returned to rest on her. Was he going to say something hurtful so that he could feel better?
Thorin shook his head slightly, "You didn't do anything." After he said it, he looked somewhat perplexed, and left the common room. His behavior showed that he was uncomfortable, or remorseful over his lost sibling. Brynna decided that it was probably the latter of the two things.
"There are lovely flowers here." Bofur pointed out randomly, twirling a lily he must have plucked from the nearby flower bed.
"Flowers Bofur? You're talking about flowers?" Kili gaped at the other dwarf in silence. All of the other dwarves had gotten quieter, and were listening to Bofur and Kili's conversation.
"I've always thought that flowers were a little bit of light to lift the darkness of the world." Bofur twirled the lily once more before putting it in his hair and giving them all a cheeky smile. "Don't you agree?"
Bryn thought for a moment before speaking. "I suppose that's true." She admitted, before biting her lip due to a rather painful cramp. Gritting her teeth through the pain, she excused herself and went into her rooms to relieve herself. It would be awkward when they started on the journey again, because whenever she had to do her business she would need to bring her pack with her; which would no doubt seem suspicious or odd.
Thorin was back in the room when she returned, and Bofur and Gloin were coming up with the words to a song Bofur wanted to play on his flute.
Still feeling the pain of her cycle, Bryn tried to distract herself by drawing on a piece of paper she had got from Ori. It was a sloppy replica of Thorin's map, and Bryn almost wanted to ask the dwarf king is she could borrow the map for a moment. She ignored the little flaws; like the imprecise measurements of the kingdoms, or the way the lettering wasn't as neat as that on the real map, but she did focus on the how she did the mountain and Smaug flying above it. She was almost finished when her piece of charcoal broke, and then she had to work on gently blowing of all of the little crumbles of charcoal. If they ruined her map...
Gandalf came in at that precise moment, and disappeared a few seconds later with Balin and Thorin behind him.
"Where are they going?" Bryn asked Dwalin, certain that the dwarf king's right hand dwarf would know where he was going.
"No clue laddie, but it probably has something to do with that map." Dwalin said gruffly, looking down at the picture in her hands. "It's not bad, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference from Thorin's map myself, but you have little smudges all over it."
"Charcoal broke." She explained, before giving her replica of the map back to Ori.
"So that's what it looks like! I never got to see it from my end of the table. Thorin never really let's anyone else see the map." Ori took the drawing and put it into a leather-bound journal. "Thank you Bilbo."
"You're welcome." It was still odd how at ease the young dwarf acted about keeping her gender a secret.
The company stayed up as they late as they dared, waiting for Thorin and Balin, but after several hours all of the dwarves went to sleep. Leaving 'the hobbit' to wait for the other two dwarves hadn't sounded like a good idea to Brynna, but once again she was told that she'd be fine. So not without a few grumbles Bryn stayed in the common room with the others. She had to leave for her chambers once to relieve herself, but none of the dwarves even noticed.
Thorin and Balin finally returned after what seemed like hours, and technically she was allowed to go to sleep. But as usual, her curious side got in the way and she focused on listening in to Thorin and Balin's conversation. The dwarves spoke of what they had learned from Lord Elrond, and Bryn was glad to know that they had discovered how to find the Hidden Door that led into the Lonely Mountain.
Satisfied with her knowledge and feeling a little better than she had been feeling, Bryn made her way to bed. Managing to only step on one dwarf.
Bryn woke herself early, eager to be completely ready before they all set out again. It would be a good thing that they didn't have ponies and also a bad thing. If they were riding the ponies, Thorin would be far less understanding if Brynna had to stop and relieve herself once every two (or maybe one if it was bad enough) hours. But also, walking would be a lot more uncomfortable considering her physical condition.
She ran a brush through her hair, sighing as she set it on the night table., It would be a shame that she couldn't bring it with her. Her hair was dreadful in the morning.
After freshening up, the hobbitess made her way into the common room, as quiet as she could be. Most of the dwarves were asleep, but Thorin was awake as he usual was. Bryn instantly wondered if he always stayed up like a mother hen to take care of his company... Well, the dwarvish part of his company.
The dwarf king tilted his head toward her in acknowledgement, before returning to smoking his pipe. Bryn sat down on the cold stone floor, struggling to braid a longer part of her uneven ginger hair. Eventually, she gave up, and began to see how long she could stare at Thorin (indirectly) before he noticed. She started by looking at his eyes, the she began looking at the rest of him. Surprisingly, he didn't even seem to notice her gaze boring into him, until his eyes locked with hers and the game was over.
Thorin adjusted his position, and then began studying her. Bryn guessed she deserved it, but it still made her feel uncomfortable. She in turn adjusted her own position, occasionally glancing over at him to make sure that it wasn't her imagination making up the eyes staring at her.
Brynna wanted one of the dwarves to wake up, it would distract both of them.
Finally, it was Bofur who broke the silence with his loud yawn, before coming over to sit next to her. He boiled some water over the hot embers that still remained in their makeshift fire. He then proceeded to make her some tea -not the special kind- and himself some. It would have been nicer with honey, but Brynna still drank it, and focused herself on talking in hushed tones with the amiable toy maker.
"So what do you think the map said?" Bofur whispered over his tea, taking a sip. He looked rather like a fairytale picture in that moment, all you could see was the cup and his mustache over it, then you could see his wide brown eyes and raised eyebrows, his brown braids fitting perfectly with his comical floppy-eared hat. She smiled just looking at him. He was such a good person to be around.
"Well I heard Balin and Thorin talking about Durin- Durin's Day. We have to be there then if I heard correctly. At the door I mean. It can only be found when the last light of Durin's day falls upon it." Brynna had heard more than that, but those were the only useful pieces of information she could gather in her tiredness.
Bofur licked his lips as he put down his cup, brows furrowing, "Well I won't pretend to understand that... But I suppose that could make sense. Dwarf doors- if made right that is- can't be seen unless it is a certain moon, time, or sun. I guess it all depends on time, but it has a lot of magic in it, so I don't really understand it." Bryn listened to him talk, content in the way that she could just talk to Bofur without worrying how he would think of her. He was probably the kindest person she had ever met.
"I read some dwarvish tales, but only the ones my mother wrote down in my father's big book. The one about Smaug wasn't in there. But I'm sure if she had known, she would've put it in there."
Bofur poked at the fire with a stick, not appearing to be listening but Bryn knew he was. "You should write yer own stories." He said resolutely, then seemed to have happened upon an idea. "Tell us all a story. Tell one about 'em trolls." He beamed at her, waiting expectantly.
Shocked into silence, Bryn just gaped. Telling her own stories? She knew that she more than likely would have a tale or two to tell her cousins when she got back to the Shire -if she came back at all- but hadn't thought about telling them while she was on her adventures.
"C'mon. It can't be hard. I know ye can do it." Bofur smiled his charismatic smile, his bushy mustache moving with his lips.
"Oh. I... I never thought about telling my own stories before. I left that to my other relatives." She fiddled with her thumbs before taking a piece of charcoal from the fire and scribbling on the ground with it. She drew her best impression of Smaug, utterly failing when a breeze blew and scattered little pieces of charcoal over it. She sighed and used one large hairy foot to wipe the picture away.
Bofur was still looking at her, apparently waiting for her to start.
Sighing, Bryn threw back her head and looked at the ceiling of the common room, ideas brewing in her mind. Right when Bofur looked away from her she began with a simple beginning. "There we were... surrounded by three monstrous trolls. And they were all bickering over how they were going to eat us." It was a good start, hardly enough to begin a story, but a good start for someone who had never come up with a story on her own.
"You sure ye 'aven't told yer own stories before?" Bofur looked at her with praise, giving her an openmouthed smile.
"Stories take time, and I'm sure I'll have the rest of it finished by tomorrow evening. Just in time for supper." Bryn promised him, laughing when he tried to make her sware to it. "I won't sware to it, knowing you dwarves you won't be in time for supper."
Fili and Kili seemed to had awoken out of their slumber, and began grumbling about how hard their packs had been and what terrible pillows they made. Thorin walked over to them, speaking in hushed tones before waking Balin. Once the dwarf king had Balin with him, he told the dwarves (and hobbit) who were awake to ''wake the others'', then he and Balin walked out of the common room to talk.
Before long Bryn had all of the dwarves gathered around her so that she could tell them what she had heard. Bofur, to her dismay, had refused to tell them, and she had a feeling that he had arranged the gathering of dwarves around her so that she would get used to the idea of storytelling.
"What did you hear lad?" Dwalin asked gruffly, resting his hands on his large battle-axe.
Bryn pursed her lips, deciding to tease the dwarves for a little while. "Well... I don't think Thorin would like all of his dwarves knowing. Why, what if one of you gets captured? You'll all become liabilities!" She pointed at all of them with a semi-reprimanding look. "Don't think that I would want that to happen to the lot of you."
"Bilbo..." Kili pleaded, practically throwing himself in front of her he was so desperate to know. She had roused his curiosity, and she had a feeling it couldn't be tamed except with the story his curiosity ached for.
"Oh I suppose..." Bryn sighed a longsuffering sigh, earth brown eyes going to the ceiling before she closed them dramatically. "We... must make reaching the mountain first priority. Because the foolishness of dwarves desperate to test their hand at door making... Has struck yet again! And now the Hidden Door which we must enter to- to enter the mountain, can only be found by the last light of Durin's Day!" She finished her retelling of Thorin and Balin's conversation in a much more lively way than they would have told the company.
"The last day of autumn. That's not to much time... We'll need to leave in less than an hour." With that said Dwalin quickly repacked his bedroll, the rest of the dwarves following his lead. It was then that Bryn remembered completely that they were leaving Rivendell that day. She had her pack ready, and had already eaten, so instead of doing the things the rest of the dwarves were doing she walked down the corridor until she was just alone in one of the other, smaller, common rooms.
The breeze ruffled her hair, and she was so at peace for that moment that she nearly jumped out of her skin when a voice spoke from behind her.
"You are the hobbit that is traveling with the company of Thorin Oakenshield?"
Bryn whirled around, scolding herself when she realized it was just an elven lady. She had long ebony hair, with two simple silver clasps in the two long braids that were on each side of her oval face. She had blue eyes, and wore a dress that made them seem even bluer. Not surprisingly, she was also much taller than Brynna was.
"Yes m'am." She said, not sure if she should bow or something, or if m'am was even the proper way to address an elvish lady.
"What is your name?" She sat down on a stone bench, her blue satin dress flowing around her slim figure.
Chewing her lip, Brynna contemplated her choices. "Brynna Baggins of the Shire." Most people who were trying to hide their genders probably wouldn't have given their real name, but Brynna had a feeling that this elf already knew.
"I am Arwen, Lord Elrond's daughter." She smiled warmly, " I welcome you to Rivendell." Of all the elves Brynna had seen during her stay, Arwen seemed to be the most friendly. Of course, she hadn't exactly been allowed to socialize with the elves, if Thorin knew she was he would probably flip.
"Thank you. I- I haven't really spoken to most of the other elves." Bryn started, glancing down the hallway to make sure none of the dwarves would come down to see her.
Arwen nodded, "I can understand. Thorin Oakenshield is not the only dwarf in his company to dislike elves. And he has some reason too. Not all elves are wise." A look of sadness crossed her smooth face for a moment, and her eyes went to her neatly folded hands in her lap.
Scowling, Bryn leaned against the balcony ledge. "I don't see how he can be so stubborn though. He needed Lord Elrond's- your father's, help to read the map..." She bit her lip, was she sharing too much? Thorin hadn't mentioned anything about the rest of the elves knowing their plans.
"Don't worry Brynna, I heard from my father of your company's plans." Arwen paused, "You think little of the dwarf King?"
Bryn started. She didn't think little of him, he confused her and despised her for a reason she could not fathom. "No... I just don't understand him. He... He's rude, and haughty, and- and seems to think very little of me." Bryn played with a piece of thread that was dangling from off the edge of her jacket. She wanted Thorin's approval most of all. If he accepted her, the other's in the group just might accept her right along with him.
"I do not believe it is that he thinks little of you. Maybe he knows something you do not, and he is keeping himself on guard." Arwen's words didn't comfort Brynna to say the least.
"Tha- That doesn't really comfort me all that much." Bryn wore a doubtful expression, and noticing how ungrateful she must seem quickly put a smile on her face. "Thank you though. For everything. I know the dwarves would never say it, but they are thankful."
"My father knows that they are grateful." Arwen stood up and walked over to Brynna, "I hope you have luck on your venture." Her blue eyes were warm and friendly, but she seemed to be lacking something.
Thinking for a minute before she spoke, Brynna nawed the inside of her cheek. "Why do you look sad?" She used the blunt approach her cousins used when they wanted to know what was bothering her.
Arwen looked away for a minute, before meeting her eyes again. "I have lost something. Or something has lost me." Her words were hiding a deeper story, but Brynna decided she wouldn't push the elvish lady.
"Oh, I hope you regain what you have lost." She said, feeling very much like her cousins at that moment. They would ask her something, and if she couldn't give them a simple answer they would try to give the most helpful reply.
The elven lady gave a wistful laugh, blue eyes returned to her hands. "I hope that I can regain that which I have lost. And maybe one day you too will see what you are missing."
Rubbing her fingers against her palms in the way she did when she was nervous, Bryn stared at the lady. What could Arwen see that she couldn't? Surely if Arwen could see something amiss she could. And if it had to do with the company... She was a part of the company. If something was off she would be able to tell.
"Bilbo!" Brynna could hear Bofur calling for her.
She snapped out of the comfortable position she had been in, "I have to go now. I am glad I got to meet you. Tell your father thank you." With that she gave one last wave over her shoulder before she ran down the hall to were the dwarves we waiting.
"Why'd you do a runner?" Bofur whispered when she got near him, helping his brother Bombur re-clasp his suspenders.
Smiling at him she helped him fix the clasp. "I didn't 'do a runner', I went for a walk."
"And can I ask where?" Bofur pressed on, giving a merry laugh when their fingers got tangled. Bombur puffed, patting his large thighs in impatience.
She thought about it for a moment, removing her fingers from Bombur's suspenders once she had helped Bofur fix the clasp. "Ah... I went to the common room a little ways away from our own. Wanted to see the view one last time."
"Ah, I got you. The view here is amazing I must say." Bofur grimaced when his stomach gave a loud rumble. "Alright, alright, I'll feed yah!" He threw his hands in the air before rustling through his pack for some dried meat.
Bryn watched as he did so, before going to grab her pack. She strapped it onto her back, tightening the straps to make sure her pack didn't slip right off her shoulders and land her in a lot of trouble.
" 'ere lad, let me help your with that." Oin came over, his two gray braids sticking out from each side of his head not making him look less wise than he was. As the company's medic, he was always caring for the other dwarves. He was Gloin's brother, and was partly deaf. Bryn had realized this when she had seen him using a metal horn to hear everyone's conversations.
After he had finished helping her get her pack on he left to go help Kili, who was having a similar problem with his own satchel. Not all of the dwarves had been given packs, or had carried them with them in the beginning, so many of they items they now possessed had been the elves previously. Kili had gotten the satchel to put his food rations in, and had found the strap to be far too long.
Brynna had luckily, kept her pack with her and not on Myrtle when the wargs had startled the ponies. She felt a pain in her side when she thought of Myrtle. She had grown fond of the pony. She briefly wondered if Thorin missed Minty. He had really cared for that animal, no matter if he just used her as a beast of burden.
Thorin was standing in the corner, obviously itching to get moving. When they were finally ready to go, Lindir' struggled to be helpful as they shoved their way to the Hidden Pass.
"Farewell! May you have safe passage on your journey!" He called finally, seeming very helpless.
Bryn waved to the elf before shoving her way up to Thorin. "Shouldn't we wait for Gandalf?' She asked, putting a hand on his arm to stop him from just walking away. He seemed to be very anxious, and that was probably because he didn't like the elves.
"He's not ready to go, so we'll continue without him." Thorin replied gruffly, not slowing his pace so that she could walk beside him.
Sighing in defeat, the hobbitess watched as the dwarves passed her. She could stay in Rivendell. Damn these doubts! She was still doubting her place in the company even then. Still, she allowed herself the pleasure of watching the waterfall crash over the falls and meet the river.
"C'mon Master Baggins." Thorin's voice jolted her out of her thoughts, and she sighed as she made her way up the pass. She just hoped that she wouldn't regret her choice to continue on.
The rain crashed around them, thunder sounding above them as they tried in vain to traverse the soaked mountains.
It had started to storm once they had gotten a reasonable distance into the mountains, and Bryn had multiple times cursed the dwarves for not being patient and stopping to wait the storm out.
"We need to stop and wait out the storm!" Oin voiced her thoughts, clinging on to Ori's hood as he shielded his eyes from the unrelenting rain.
He was ignored as a huge boulder crashed into the section of mountain in front of them.
"By my beard!" Gloin shouted, pointing at the sky, "The tales and legends are true! Their giants! Storm giants!" Another rock crashed toward them, but this one didn't crack and crumble against the wall. It stopped, and Bryn could slowly make out a figure. It was a giant!
The ground quaked, and all of the dwarves stumbled and tried to regain their balance as the mountain itself split and formed itself into another giant. From their position, they were on it's knees.
"Kili!" Fili cried for his brother as the two were separated by the giant's knees splitting into two legs. Bryn held Kili back, Bofur in turn clinging to her. Thorin and Fili shouted for Kili and other members of the company, and Bryn watched as they were able to jump onto a stable area of the mountain. Her relief was short lived, and the giant they had first seen destroyed the one they were on by smashing it's head off. The giant fell forward, and the mountain rushed towards the other half of the company.
Bryn let out a cry, lacing her fingers with Kili's as they both were smashed against the rock. There must have been a hollow she hadn't seen, because Kili was ripped from her and she could hear the others groaning. As the giant fell back into the abyss of the mountain, she felt it pulling her with it.
She screamed, but no one could hear her over the roar of thunder and rain. Luckily, she could hold of the rock right before she was pulled down into the depths with the giant. She didn't dare call out, she pointed all her energy into holding on to the rock face, no even daring to pull herself up.
"Where's Bilbo?"
"Where's are hobbit?"
She could hear the company's cries for her, but she couldn't answer. Her throat had clenched up in fear, and she struggled to speak. She was surprised when she saw Thorin's face looking down at her, and she finally managed to gasp in recognition of their worry.
"Bilbo!" Bofur tried to give her his hand, but she could barely reach for it. She managed to lift herself up enough for her fingers to brush the toy maker's before she slipped. A strong hand on her back steadied her, and she was pushed up into Bofur's arms.
"Thorin!" Kili and Fili pulled their uncle back up, and the dwarf king pulled himself to his feet.
Bryn gasped, still lying down next to Bofur. Her hands were bleeding, and she could barely keep herself from laying her head back from the exhaustion. Thorin's blue eyes looked her over, hard as diamonds and laced with fire.
"We thought we had lost our burglar." Bofur said, smiling at her in relief. Bryn nodded at him, still out of breath from her near-death experience.
"He's been lost ever since he left home." Thorin's cold remark froze Brynna to the spot. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Thorin's cold blue eyes met her's, and she felt tears welling up.
It had felt much like a slap to the face, and she let out ragged gasps of pain as they made their way into a cave Ori had spotted. She continued to cry, and she let out sobs when the lightning was loudest. She didn't want anyone else to know she was crying, in a way, she still wanted to seem strong enough to stay. But Thorin's words had made it clear that he didn't want her.
"Nothin's in here!" Dwalin said gruffly to Thorin, the dwarf king telling him to search the back anyways.
No one had stood up for her. No one had countered Thorin when he had insulted her like he had. Half of her wanted to go and bloody up his nose, and the other half wanted to bury herself in her coat and not take another step.
Placing herself as far away from the dwarf king as she could manage, she placed her pack behind her and quickly unrolled her bed roll.
"Time to make a fire!" Gloin rubbed his hands together, and Bryn looked up in anticipation. She desperately wanted to dry her clothes.
"No. Not tonight." Thorin took one last look out into the stormy night before going over to his bedroll.
She tried, oh she tried to give Thorin the most brutal glares she could manage, but every time she looked at him tears filled her eyes. Wiping her nose on the scrap of cloth Bofur had given her, Brynna made her decision.
Thorin didn't want her. And as the leader of the company he made final decisions and made the final move to accept someone into the company. He might as well have told her to go back to Rivendell.
And that was exactly what she planned on doing.
Once she was sure everyone was asleep she quickly rolled up her bed roll and pulled on her pack. She paused, surveying all of the dwarves as they slept. Oin and Gloin were both snoring away, Kili was on his stomach and had a trial of drool on his face, Fili was sleeping on his back, mouth slightly open, Ori was sleeping next to Dori with his arm tightly wrapped around his book, and Dwalin had his chin on his axe, eyes flickering open as he snored.
The other dwarves slept and snored, and Bryn didn't even bother to look for Thorin.
Bryn took a deep breath, before stepping over warm bodies until she reached the entrance. She dared take one more peek at the dwarves she had wanted so badly to call her family, before heading for the entrance.
Thunder rumbled outside, and it still rained, but no longer were the giants fighting each other. The small hobbitess peered outside, before letting her face be touched by the rain. It was cold, and she leaned back into the shelter of the cave for a moment before starting to leave.
"Where are you going?"
Oh no. Not Bofur...
Bryn turned to face him. She would tell him the truth, he deserved it. "Back to Rivendell."
"No! No you can't leave now!" Bofur got a pleading look on his face, eyes desperate, "You're part of the company!"
Bryn shook her head looking at her feet before meeting his brown eyes. "No. No I'm not. You heard Thorin. I don't belong here." She gestured towards the sleeping dwarves, her brown eyes threatening tears once more.
"You're homesick... I understand." Bofur nodded his head in sympathy. The ears on his hat bouncing in time with his head.
"No! No you don't! You're used to this! To never staying in one place, to traversing the world! Not belonging anywhere!" The words were out, and she knew she could never take them back.
Bofur stayed silent, just staring at her.
"Oh Bofur... I... I didn't mean it. You- I'm, sorry. I..." She fumbled over her words. Hating how cold she had just been to the one dwarf who had been kind to her.
"No... You're right." Bofur looked at the dwarves in the cave, eyes sad. "We don't belong anywhere." He looked back at her, mustache perking up with his sad smile, "I wish you all the luck in the world." He pulled her into a hug, and all Bryn could do was think of how horrible she was.
How on earth was she actually just letting herself hurt Bofur? Sweet, kind, loyal Bofur. She would miss him. Maybe.. Maybe if he... um... Survived the journey, she could see him again and tell him the truth?
"Bofur... I have to..." She would tell him, let him know so that he wouldn't feel so bad for how the other dwarves had treated her.
"What's that?" Bofur pointed to where her elvish blade hung at her side. It was glowing brightly, and it was shining even through the scabbard.
She pulled it out so that she could see part of the blade, and that was when she noticed the cracks that were appearing in the floor.
Thorin leapt to his feet, and all she could hear him say was "Run" before they all hurtled down through the floor.
She could hear malicious laughs and cackels, and saw small evil creatures holding torches around her as she sped down a makeshift tunnel. When she finally landed, she noticed that she was on top of Thorin. They were in a large cage, and all the dwarves struggled to get to their feet before a swarm of goblins came rushing at them.
Now, she had never seen a goblin, but Kili and Fili's shouts told her what they were. Thorin pushed her off of him, one hand on her shoulder as he held Orcrist out in front of him. A goblin quickly landed on his back, pulling his black hair as it cackled in glee.
The hand on her shoulder left, and she could hear more goblins screeching in the distance. It was hard, but finally, she managed to hunker down enough to go unnoticed by the goblins and dwarves.
Silent, and unmoving, Brynna watched as her only hope of saftey was dragged kicking and screaming away. Well, there was more than one dwarf, but she decided to count the group as one. Knowing them, and she did, they would never leave until they had all of their own.
When she could no longer hear the company's yells, she deemed it safe enough to follow them. Hopefully, all of the goblins would follow the sound of yelling dwarf. Her sword was as bright as a torch, it's blue glow illuminating her face and arms in the dim torchlight.
Holding her little sword out in front of her, Brynna slowly padded towards the pathway she had seen her dwarves taken down. Now when did that happen? Bryn wondered, when had she started thinking of them as her dwarves?
A squeal of delight brought Bryn whirling around to face a particularly small goblin. It wasn't really small compared to Brynna, but it was smaller than most of its kind.
Bryn hacked at it's arm, surprised when it instead leapt aside and then proceeded to jump on her back. It bit her shoulder, bruising her shoulder through the her jacket. Bryn let out a yelp, barely hanging on to her blade as she stumbled backwards. She noticed too late how close to the edge of the walkway she was, and the added weight on her back sent her falling backwards into blackness.
Her head hit a stone, and everything faded into blackness.