She began to lose count of the days but all she knew is that maybe some of these people were her friends and that accepting that this was reality made it easier for her, not by much but it helped.

Toma felt disgusting. She couldn't remember the last time she had washed herself and she could tell that she stunk more than someone being dragged through horseshit and she felt like there was enough grease on her to fry chicken. And she is sure that if she has to turn her underwear inside out one more time, she'll beat her head against a rock.

Her lower half killed her every day. The riding was terrible and the only real running she had ever done was through the ER which wasn't as big as anyone would imagine, especially in the small hospital she worked at.

The flames licked the fire logs and she just sat and watched. She missed the internet and television. There was so many luxuries gone and she couldn't wait to get back home. But of course traveling on ponies isn't the fastest way to get anywhere.

Fili sighed as he held two bowl of stew and plopped himself down next to her. He needed to tell her and she didn't seem as irritated as most nights. He saw her smile out of the corner of his eye as he moved the bowl towards her.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," he stopped and scratched the back of his neck, trying to word the news nicely. "Thorin wants to train you to defend yourself."

She choked on the bit of soup she had in her mouth and slapped herself on her sternum. Her eyes watered as she looked up at the handsome dwarf.

"You are joking, right?"

"No. Uncle doesn't want one of us to go down trying to protect a woman that shouldn't be here." he said nonchalantly.

Toma stopped short of her fit of coughs and absorbed what he had said. He was right. She didn't belong here. Toma looked down and moved the bowl of soup to the side and fiddled with her hands.

"That was rude. I apologize." he said when he saw her begin to shut down.

"No need to, Fili. You are right though. I don't belong here. Seems like I tricked myself into believing that I did."

He didn't know what to say or even if he should say anything. Awkwardly, he got up and sat farther away from her and let his brother sit next to her. He looked down at his dinner but felt something chew him up inside.

The next day felt easier than the past for her, possibly it was the idea that it was real that she wasn't as tense and alert as she had been. She'd even let some of them call her by her nickname. It was relaxing to finally be off guard and rude to them and she could be a little bit like herself.

She sat behind Kili with her cheek against the back and felt the warmth of the sun beat down on her. Most of them-well, that was a lie- all of them were still, on some level, uncomfortable with her clothes. Toma thought they were insane, the long sleeve shirt and jeans was one of her more regular outfits and more than acceptable in her world. She kept forgetting that it was different, and she was still trying to get used to it.

Toma stayed like that for most of the day, content and lazy- as lazy as you could be riding a horse. It came to an end of course by the time they had stopped for the day.

Her training began soon after stopping. She had just gotten off of the pony when Dwalin came swinging at her with an axe. Toma screamed as she ran from the much shorter man. So perhaps it wasn't the best way for her to start training, Dwalin had thought, but it was quite entertaining to see her run around and scream for everyone.

Bilibo didn't and neither did Fili. The hobbit didn't say anything because he didn't know his exact standing with the company. Fili itched his arm and watched her scatter around the camp while Dwalin yelled at her to defend herself.

"Dwalin, stop," he said. "This is ridiculous."

He heard Thorin chuckle as Toma tripped over a rock. Thorin watched with his arms crossed over his chest and a smile playing at his lips. He knew it was cruel to do it to the strange girl but it had been a long day and everyone needed a good laugh.

"She has to learn. Surprise attacks is a good way to learn."

Toma looked up from where she had landed, hurt evident in her face. Her good mood had completely vanished within that minute. Looking down, she tried to hide the tears that tried to escape, she didn't want to embarrass herself further. A hand appeared in her sight, she refused to look up for a moment to wipe away the stray tear that had escaped.

Fili waited patiently for her to grab his hand. She held his hand tightly as he helped lift her on to her feet. He noticed her red eyes and felt even worse about how they'd been treating her.

"Thank you, Fili." she sniffed.

"I'm sorry about Dwalin. I don't know why either him or my uncle thought that that was acceptable."

She stayed silent but still had Fili's hand in a grip that became tighter with each approaching step of Dwalin and Thorin. He was impressed with the grip and knew he could easily shake her off but he felt it would be best for her to have some kind of support. There was the selfish reason inside him though, he just wanted to get a chance to touch her just a bit longer.

Dwalin stood in front of the pair and leaned against his axe. Toma looked down and waited.

"Here lass," Dwalin held out a sword- to them it wasn't much of a sword but a large butter knife- it was the lightest they had.

Toma looked at Fili. He nodded towards the sword, a go ahead, but she was still unsure. Hesitantly, she grabbed the sword. Dwalin had held it with such ease, like it had weighed nothing and she was prepared for that and not a fifty-pound hunk of steel. It made her lean over and loose her grip on Fili's hand.

"Pick it up, we are starting."

"I don't know anything about swords, I barely know how to hold a gun properly!" she exclaimed.

Dwalin groaned at the unknown word and excuses. "Just hold it up and we'll start from there."

She felt weird as she held the sword up like she could remember it from the movies she had seen. Fili covered his mouth with his hand, never seeing anything done so improperly, and wanting to save himself some second hand embarrassment, he looked up at the sky.

"What are you doing?"

"Holding a sword." she said it as more of a question than anything.

"This is going to be tough."

She never wanted to hold another sword again. Big and terrible blisters were forming on her palms and it hurt her to close her hands or even hold anything. She sat near the fire picking at them, going against her instincts of leaving them alone.

It was quiet tonight. Gandalf had wandered off, mad at Thorin's decision to stay near an old house- which admittedly was creeping her out- but it was just a one-night stop. She couldn't see the harm in it.

With Fili and Kili out watching the ponies, it was an uneventful night and she couldn't have been happier with that.

Bofur passed down a bowl of the same soup they had been eating every night. She groaned as looked down at the ever thinning soup. They were running low on food and would have to stop at the next town for more food supplies.

She sighed and accepted her fate of bland dinners for the rest of her life.

Half way into the bland meal, Fili came bounding through where the ponies were grazing. His hair was wild and he was out of breath as he approached Thorin.

"What happened?"

"The ponies were taken by trolls. Bilbo is trying to get them."

"Mahal," Thorin cursed and looked over the group of dwarves. "Grab your weapons."

Toma grabbed the sword to her left but Fili stopped her with a hand over her own. She looked up at the blond dwarf and he only shook his head.

"I'm coming too."

"Toma, you can't. You aren't that great with weapons yet," Fili held her back and placed her to sit on her bedroll. "We will be back soon. Just stay here."

With reluctance she stayed behind and watched the dwarves grab their weapons and charge into the woods.

For hours she sat there waiting for them. She fiddled with her phone until it died and then there was nothing to distract her. Toma lifted her shirt to her nose and cringed at the horrid odor that radiated from it.

She had been putting off changing into her scrubs until she had a chance to wash the clothes she currently had on, but she didn't think she would be able to hold out for much longer.

Picking herself up, she rummaged through her bag, moving her equipment out of the way and finding the gray shirt and pants. She stripped herself of the smelly clothes and felt the cold air nip at her skin.

Toma felt better with just her underthings on but with the possibility of the company coming back, she pulled on the clean clothes. Her clothes were clean but she sure as hell was not. Her skin felt sticky and darkened by the dirt she had been sleeping in.

She paced around the dying fire and made up her mind on what to do.

Toma crept through the forest, following the stampede of tracks they had left behind. She thought it would be harder to follow but their heavy steps were easy to notice, even in the dark.

A light shined through a part in the bushes. She crouched to avoid being seen and parted the bushes. Her heart jumped to her throat and the hand that held her sword went to cover her mouth. The sword clattered to the ground and everyone looked to find the origin of the noise.

The company were either in sacks or on a spit above a fire. She had no idea how she would be able to help them out of this pickle. Toma looked around them, seeing the large creatures talking over the very much so annoyed company.

She moved climbed a tree and looked above them. Examining the area, she found that there was no way that she could sneak one out at a time.

Toma stared in defeat at the pile of dwarves. The branch she stood on creaked but she didn't notice until she was falling. She landed on the ground with a hard thump.

The trolls and company noticed the ruckus and the loud groan that followed the rustling of bushes.

"What was that?"

A troll approached her spot and she began to panic like any normal person when faced with such a large, hideous creature. She rolled in the bushes and was grabbed around her torso by the troll.

"Look at what we got here. A female dwarf!"

"First off, you're wrong. Secondly, stop fucking manhandling me and let me down!"

Not the best wording.

She found herself in a sack and lying next to Fili, who was currently pissed off.

"I told you not to follow us."

"You were the one that said you'd be back soon, I waited for hours, and I got anxious and thought something bad had happened and look at that. I found you all in fucking sacks or getting fucking roasted." she hissed.

"Toma, you sho-"

She was lifted into the air and brought to hang above on of the troll's mouths, to her right she saw Bombur in the same position as her.

"Put her down!" she heard Fili shout.

"No! Not those ones, they're infected!"

"They're what?"

"They've got worms in their… tubes," Bilbo said, not particularly convincing. The trolls that held Bombur and Toma tossed them back into the pile of dwarfs, with looks of disgust on their faces. "In fact they all have it, they're all infested with parasites. It's a terrible business. I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't."

"Ow." Toma moaned, she rolled her body to face up at the sky. There was a burst of movement up by a rock and heard the company complain about how they didn't have parasites. She understood what Bilbo was up to.

She tried to cover her ears at the sound of the arguing that followed. All the falling was not good for her hearing nor the headache that was starting to form.

The sound of a rock grinding against another echoed through her ears and the light that spilled over the area they were in streamed across the company.

"Someone turn off the lights."