Chapter 2: Meeting the Company

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A/N: Well, here we go with Chapter 2. The beginning is a bit slow, so please bear with me. I kind of went blank on it, so I hope y'all don't mind it too much XD. Caynna meets the company! I am just starting to build her character up as well, so please bear with me on that.

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Caynna rode up to the gate that led into the town of Bree, the morning cool and crisp without a cloud in sight. A small window opened, and the gate keeper stuck his greasy, slightly creepy face in front of it. "What's your business here, miss?" he asked in a tired, wary voice.

"To pass into Bree," Caynna replied with a smile as the hood of her cloak was currently resting against her back.

"That doesn't answer the question."

"Actually, it does. You asked my business here, at this spot, and I answered. Now, if you would please let me in that would be very kind."

The gate keeper grumbled something about tricky women before he opened the gate for Caynna and Tilian to pass through. Caynna gave a nod of her head as she passed the gate keeper. "Thank you, good sir. Have a nice day," she said before Tilian took off at a canter through the empty streets toward the Prancing Pony.

Lights floated out from the inn's windows as few people milled about in the inn. Caynna dismounted from the saddle and walked into the Prancing Pony leaving Tilian untethered for she trusted the stallion to not go anywhere. She looked around for the single person she had business with, and found him at the bar with a mug in his hand. Caynna smiled as she made her way over to the figure. "Are you here to kill me?" the man grumbled in a slightly worn voice as he took his mug and drank from it in a tired way. "Because if you are, might as well get it over with."

"What makes you say that?" Caynna asked as she signaled to the bar tender to bring her a mug as well. "Water, sir."

"Well, the way you come in without your hood up means either I am dead or someone else is," the man grumbled.

A glass was placed in front of Caynna who thanked the bar tender and took a few sips. "First off, you can take your dagger away from my stomach," the man flinched and moved his left hand with the dagger in it up in plain view for Caynna to see.

"How'd you know?"

"Please," Caynna said as she turned to look at the man with a "really?" look on her face. "You obviously know what I am, so why try and outsmart me? Or, in your case, try and injure me? Do you think you would be able to escape easier?"

The man shrugged and looked into his mug with a sorrowful look. "I guess not," he mumbled.

"Now, time for the business part," Caynna said with a serious look as she moved her hand into her jacket under her cloak and withdrew a rolled up parchment. "This was given to me by your friend."

The man took the parchment and unraveled it. As he read it, his eyes brightened from sorrowful and hopeless to cheerful and relieved. "He…he sent you to…" the man was lost for words.

"My contract that I took up with your friend, here, has two daughters who are riding to you under the impression of seeing you about horses. I was to follow them and make sure they arrived unharmed as they passed through the woods, and then I was to give you that letter. You know what this letter is?"

"Yes…and no…"

"It is a statement that says you may go back home with your two nieces," Caynna said with a smile. "Your father died some months ago, and you have been claimed as your brother's, well, brother. You do not need to continue this pathetic life here as a drunkard."

"Thank you…for doing this," the man said with a smile. "I know rangers are not usually ones to be couriers. This means a lot."

Caynna waved him off heartily. "Think nothing of it! Besides, I got to finish the other half of the contract as well."

"Which was what?"

"There was a group of bandits that would usually ambush Rohirrum women traveling in the woods at night. No need to go into details, but I was to eliminate them, which I did. Now, I must be off-"

"Please!" the man said gently grabbing Caynna's arm. "Have a drink!"

"I cannot," Caynna said as she gave the man a reassuring smile while giving his hand a small pat. "I have other business to attend now. May you travel safe and stay well."

"Wait! What is your name?" the man asked as Caynna began to leave.

"Caynna Amarië," she replied with a small bow of her head before leaving the inn.

Tilian was dozing off when Caynna walked out of the inn. His head snapped up and he tried his best to look awake. Caynna shook her head at the horse before swinging up into the saddle. "Come, Tilian," she said as she turned the horse back the way they came, "let us go meet up with Gandalf at this hobbit hole."

The horse gave a snort at the mention of Gandalf for he was still insulted by being called a "stone wall" by the wizard. He broke into a canter as they passed out of the gate and began the ride to the Shire, not bothering with the back roads as Caynna did not need to travel them at the present moment.

Evening had set in as Caynna urged Tilian back into a canter. They were less than an hour away from the Green Dragon, and she didn't fancy fighting bandits or thieves who thought her an easy target before she met up with this group of dwarves and a hobbit. Besides, they made good time by turning the eight day trip into a two day one, but that was all thanks to Tilian who had more stamina in him than any one person could imagine. But when rounding a bend in the road after riding that particular road without seeing another soul in sight all day does not always guarantee that the bend will be empty of other occupants. "Holy-!" Caynna gave a start as two horses, more likely ponies, came out of nowhere from the hidden road that joined up with the main road.

All three horses slammed on their brakes, but it wasn't enough to stop the collision of the three horses. Tilian went down and rolled off to the side left side of the road, Caynna already out of the saddle by the time the horse went down. The other two horses tripped up on each other and threw their riders off before they collapsed upon each other in a frenzy of neighs. Caynna stopped rolling across the ground slightly out of breath. Just when she was about to get up, some extra weight fell on top of her diagonally across her back knocking the breath out of her once more. After a moment, she was able to lift her head slightly, and turned to try to face whoever was on her back. A head of brown hair lifted itself off the ground, and shook itself. "Whoever you are," Caynna groaned as she moved slightly, "please get off my back…now."

"Oh! I'm sorry!" a male voice said.

Great…just great, Caynna thought to herself.

Her scowl deepened when another male voice started to laugh heartily. "Kili, you just met her!" the other male said through laughs.

The weight was lifted from across her back as the person moved, and Caynna rolled over quickly. She sat up and took deep breaths to calm herself and to get her breath back. "Shut up, Fili," the guy named Kili said as a hand was thrust in Caynna's line of sight, and she took it grudgingly. "I am sorry about that. We weren't expecting people on the road."

Caynna waved him off as she held her head in her hand. "It is quite alright. Tilian and I didn't expect to see others either. We haven't seen a soul all day up until now," she said as she cleared her head with a shake before looking up at the guy in front of her.

That was when she got a good look at the two men, or, rather, dwarves, in front of her. One had blonde hair and a beard to match with a braid on either side of his mustache, and bright blue eyes. The other, no doubt his brother, had dark brown, wavy hair and a sort of shadow instead of a beard, and warm, dark brown eyes. Caynna was at least two inches taller than the blonde while the brunette was almost eye level with her, both pretty damn tall for dwarves. The brunette was standing in front of Caynna with an embarrassed look in his face. "No, really! We are terribly sorry about…that," he started and stopped as he saw the scar over Caynna's left eye.

"I'm not! I haven't seen your face turn that red in years," the blonde said as he smiled at Caynna. "Fili."

"And Kili," the brunette dwarf in front of Caynna added without missing a beat.

"At your service," they both said with a flourished bow at the same time.

"Caynna," she answered with a small bow of her head, though her eyes never left the two brothers in front of her, "at yours. I am really sorry about that."

It was Kili's turn to wave off the apology. "It's fine," he said with a bright smile. "Now to get the horses back up."

"Tilian!" Caynna exclaimed in slightly fear and turned to look for her grey stallion praying that he didn't go and hurt himself.

The horse gave a snort from the side of the road as he stood up with a shake and turned to look at Caynna. He arched his neck and pinned his ears back as he walked forward, holding himself up all high and mighty. "Your pride's hurt, isn't it?" Caynna said with a smile as the horse's head dropped in shame. "Nothing's hurt other than your pride, yes?"

The horse nodded his head and looked at the two dwarves behind Caynna. He pinned his ears back and gave a snort in warning not to both brothers, but to Kili who, in the horse's eyes, posed an immediate threat to Caynna after having landed on her back. "Tilian, wait," Caynna said as she put her hand on the horse's muscular chest as he stretched his neck out toward Kili, teeth bared, "it was an accident. No one is hurt, see? Fine! Everyone's fine. I'm fine. Tilian!"

The horse shook his head but kept a watchful eye on Kili. Fili walked up to his brother and swung his arm over his shoulder. "Well, are you going to sit here and let a horse tell you off?" he joked and Kili turned slightly pink.

"Let's see how you feel after you get thrown and land on top of a lady," Kili countered as he shrugged off his brother's arm.

Caynna turned a bit pink as well at the mention of the little incident that they had just had as she retrieved her fallen bow and quiver that had somehow managed to get unattached from the back of the saddle. She reattached it and swung back into Tilian's saddle. "Well, I must be off," she started as Tilian turned to head down the road.

"Where are you heading?" Kili called after the woman as he and his brother mounted their horses.

"To the Shire, of course," Caynna replied as the two brothers drew up beside her, their ponies just two hands shorter than Tilian.

"We are as well. Would you care to join us?" Fili started.

"I will, no doubt, travel faster than you two. I do not think we are going to the same place either," Caynna said though she knew that they were, without a doubt, going to the exact same place.

"Oh, really? And why would you be traveling to the Shire?"

"That is my business and my business alone," Caynna said in a serious tone.

"Perhaps you would like some company?" Kili asked.

"We know what kind of company you want, Kili," Fili joked.

"I'm about ready to knock you off your pony, Fili."

Fili beamed at his brother and Caynna shook her head at the two brothers. "Now, I must really be off-"

"You still haven't answered my question," Kili said.

Caynna pulled Tilian to a stop and faced the two brothers, both of whom were smiling brightly at Caynna. "Look, I know I just literally ran into you two, and I'm sorry about that. But I really rather not travel with company right now. I'm about to do a lot of that," she mumbled the last part. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be off."

With that, she turned Tilian and urged the horse into a gallop down the road and onto the Shire leaving behind the brothers to look after the dust cloud kicked up by Tilian.

Night had fallen by the time Caynna had begun her search for the hobbit hole. She left Tilian at the Green Dragon, the horse more or less happy about it, and had continued her journey to the hobbit hole on foot. Now, she was walking on the road up the many hills past the many doors of many hobbit holes. Green…green…green…green…still no mark…green…green…by Mahal, how many green doors are there?! Caynna thought to herself as she past a green door for the umpteenth time. None of the doors had a mark on it. Just as she was turning back the way she came for her fourth time, she spotted the marked door. It was glowing slightly in the dark of night, and seemed to beckon to her to come forth to the door. Found it, she thought with a triumphant smile.

She moved through the white washed, small fence and up to the door. She paused to listen to see if she could hear any sounds from behind the door, and caught the sound of many pounding feet in the house. She brought her hand up to knock, and then drew back. Should I knock? Ring the doorbell? Sneak inside and scare the living daylights out of this impossible to find hobbit and his guests? she contemplated with herself. But then, she resolved that the time to hide in the shadows was quite possible not the best idea at the moment if there were others in the house besides just the one hobbit.

With a sigh, she rang the doorbell and waited, unsure whether or not she would be let into the house. Her doubts were washed away as the round door opened and a short man with large, hairy feet stood in front of her. "There are far too many dwarves in my dining room as it is! What do you want?" he asked with uncertainty and agitation.

Caynna moved her hood back a bit, she had drawn it up once more as she neared the night covered Shire, her smiling face and twinkling, dark storm grey eyes meeting the hobbit's surprised ones. "I am Caynna," she said with a bow of her head.

"Bilbo Baggins," he said as he took in what he could see of Caynna's face, including the scar.

"May I come in?"

"Uh…no…" the hobbit said, and he regained his previous agitation. "As I said before, there are far too many dwarves in my dining room!"

"Mister Baggins," Caynna said with a sigh, "I will not do you any harm if that is what you think."

"N-no! That was not what I was thinking!" Bilbo said stubbornly. "At all! Too man-"

"Dwarves, I know. Now, not to be blunt, but one more dwarf, or half dwarf so to speak, won't hurt you," Caynna said as she pulled her hood off her head and stepped inside despite the upset hobbit as he shut the door behind her. "Wow…"

She was taken aback by the lovely wood work of the house, the arched entryways, the cleanliness of the place, and the smell of wonderful food. It had been a good long while since Caynna had been in such a wonderful, home-like place, and she wanted to take it all in before something happened. She stood their dumbstruck for a moment as she took in the house with her storm grey eyes as they darted here and there drinking in every detail of the house. "Are…are you alright?" Bilbo asked as his unexpected guest stood rooted to the spot.

"It's just…you have such a lovely home," Caynna said as she tore herself out of her memories and turned to the hobbit. "It has been a long time since I entered a house with such a home-like feeling."

"Thank you," Bilbo beamed at the woman. "That means a lot. Everything in here has been passed down from generation to generation in my family. I take great pride in this home of mine."

"I can see that," she answered.

"Caynna, my dear," the voice of Gandalf said as Caynna turned to the wizard, "thank you for joining us.

"I always keep my word, Gandalf," she responded with a smile as she removed her cloak.

Gandalf gave her a look of disapproval as she didn't move to remove her jacket, and shook his head at her. "My dear, you may be at ease here," he commented.

Caynna gave a sigh and a nod and proceeded to remove her jacket. Underneath her jacket, she wore a dark greyish-brown leather jerkin that tied in the front, which, of course, fit to her feminine body. It covered her shoulders and fell short to frame her hips, accentuating her feminine features as best as it could with her lean, toned body. Under her jerkin she wore a light greyish brown snug undershirt with long sleeves. She was indeed broader in the shoulders than most women, and had more muscle, yet she was still feminine in her aspects. She was lean, however, and her curves were not overboard, but smaller than most women giving her the look of a female warrior with more lean muscle than bulk.

Bilbo's eyes widened in both shock at the woman's rather pretty figure, and fright at the sight of the weapons she carried. "You're prepared," he mumbled as he took Caynna's cloak and jacket and placed them on a wooden chest with cloaks in them.

"I trust you traveled well?" Gandalf started as he and Caynna made their way closer to the commotion by the pantry.

"I lost my way about four times," she replied.

"A ranger could not even find a hobbit hole? That is unheard of!"

"Your directions to find a 'green, round door' basically referenced the whole of Hobbiton," Caynna countered good-naturedly.

"Well, I guess I should have been more specific, but you did find it! That is what matters most, my dear."

A familiar face that Caynna had just met an hour ago walked past the doorway as he headed to a barrel of ale, but he stopped in his tracks as his bright blue eyes beamed at Caynna in shock and confusion. "Caynna?" Fili asked just as his brother walked in behind him, both of them taking in the woman's full appearance with relative shock. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here on behalf of a request from Gandalf," she answered.

"That was what your 'business' was?"

"You could have ridden with us!" added Kili.

Caynna shrugged again indifferently. "It doesn't matter. One can't be too careful, you know," she said.

The brothers exchanged a look before they picked up the barrel of ale and began to move it to another room closer to the table. "Uh…Fili, Kili," Gandalf started the head count on his fingers as well as looking for the dwarves, "Oin, Gloin, Dwalin, Balin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori, Ori!"

Ori, the youngest looking red-headed dwarf, let go of a basket of tomatoes he was trying to wrestle out of Bilbo's grip. Fili, Kili, and Ori I got, Caynna thought as she looked at the dwarves, but what in Mahal's name were the others again?

"Excuse me, miss," Ori said to Caynna, "but I don't think we have met. I'm Ori."

"Caynna," she replied as she looked at the other dwarves.

"Miss Caynna, how did you get that?"

"Get what…oh, the scar?"

"Yes," Ori confirmed with a nod.

"It is a battle scar," Caynna said in a short tone that offered an end to the conversation.

"Ori, come help us, laddie!" someone yelled.

"Coming, Dori!" Ori answered before giving Caynna a friendly smile and leaving.

Ori, Dori, Kili, and Fili, Caynna thought and then the rest of the names hit her. Dwalin, Balin, Gloin, Oin, Bombur, Bifur, Bofur, and Nori. Those are the names, but who belongs to who?

"You look confused," Kili said from behind Caynna.

"Names…so many names," Caynna replied as she rubbed her temple with her pointer fingers. "Who is who?"

"You already met Ori," Fili piped up.

"That is his brother, Dori, next to him," added Kili as he pointed at a dwarf with some interesting braided grey hair and beard.

"That's Nori, Dori and Ori's brother," Fili said as he pointed to the auburn haired dwarf next to Ori who was currently helping set out plate, though the auburn haired dwarf snuck a silver fork or two into his pocket before he continued to help.

"That is Balin," Kili pointed to a white haired and bearded dwarf.

"This is-" Fili started as someone knew came up to the three.

"Dwalin, at your service," a burly, tattooed dwarf with a bald head said as he gave Caynna a small bow. "You must be Caynna."

"How'd you know?" Caynna asked in suspicion as her hand rested on her large dagger out of habit.

"These two told me of your interesting meeting."

"Oh…" was all Caynna said though her hand never left her dagger.

"That is Gloin," Kili continued as he pointed to a red haired and bearded dwarf.

"And his brother Oin," Fili added. "He's got the ear trumpet."

"Bofur has the funny hat."

"Bifur has the ax in his head."

"Wait, what?" Caynna asked as they turned to a dwarf that indeed had an ax in his head. "He's…got an ax…in his head," she mumbled in shock. "That's…interesting."

"And that, lassie," Dwalin pointed to the overly fat, red haired dwarf carrying three cheese blocks, "is Bombur."

"Did you get them all?" Fili asked.

"Or did we lose you?" added Kili.

"Ori, Nori, Dori," Caynna said as she pointed out each dwarf. "Bifur, with the ax in his head, Bofur, the one with the funny hat, and the fat dwarf is Bombur. Oin has the ear trumpet and Gloin is the red haired dwarf next to him. That's Balin, you're Dwalin," Caynna said to the tattooed dwarf next to her, "and I believe you are Kili," she pointed to Fili, "and you are Fili," she pointed to Kili.

The two looked offended. "I'm-" Kili started and Caynna waved him off.

"I'm just messing with you two," she said. "You're Kili and you're Fili," she pointed to the right brother at each name.

"Well, you have a good memory," Dwalin said with a smile as he took a sip of his mug of ale. "Though, if I may ask, what race are you?"

"I'm sorry, but do I look odd to you?" Caynna asked in mock offence.

"Just a little bit," Fili said with a nod.

"Half man, half dwarf."

"Ah…that'd explain it," Kili said with a pleased nod.

"Explain what?"

"Why you are taller than most dwarves, but smaller than a human."

"Slightly broad and muscular," added Fili.

"Yet more feminine looking than a regular dwarf woman," Dwalin put in helpfully.

"And you don't have a beard," Kili finished.

"I can live without the beard. It would get in my way too much," Caynna said with a disgusted look at trying to picture herself with a beard before giving the three dwarf men a mock confused look. "Do you all have a one tract mind here?"

"No," the three chorused.

"Are you four going to stand around all day or are you going to come eat?" Bofur said as he passed them.

Dwalin gave a nod and turned to the dining room that had a table heaped with food. "You can sit with us," Kili said with a smile.

Does he ever stop smiling like a puppy? Caynna thought as she looked at the handsome dwarf in front of her. Or is that just his face?

"Kili just wants you all to himself like back on the road," Fili joked and got elbowed in the stomach by his brother.

"That was an accident," Kili said with a glare.

Fili raised an eyebrow and Caynna was tempted to elbow the blonde dwarf herself. "We are never going to live that down, are we?" she grumbled.

"Nope!" Fili said with a light hearted tone before he stepped in between the two and threw an arm over each of their shoulders making Caynna tense up. Fili noticed and gave her a look. "Relax! You're really jumpy."

"I don't take well to people," Caynna started and slipped Fili's arm off her shoulder, "touching me especially those that I don't really know."

"I doubt you can even handle those weapons on you," Fili said with a smirk.

"Would you like to find out?" Caynna said in a dangerous voice.

"Are we going to eat or not?" Kili asked the two.

Fili was taking in Caynna's appearance with curious eyes. She looked like she knew how to use the blades that she had, but she was a female. Surely she couldn't, right? At least, not as well as a man could. "I guess we will have to find out later," Fili said in a lighthearted, but serious, tone. "For now, food sounds nice."

Fili turned to the table and towed his brother with him. "Caynna, my dear," Gandalf said and motioned to the chair next to him, "come sit."

Caynna gave a sigh before moving to the chair. "I've met the entire company now," she said as she filled her plate with some ham, a biscuit, and some turkey.

"Well, not entirely," Gandalf said as he grabbed a biscuit.

"Are we missing one?"

"Yes. He will be here later. Water like usual?"

"Thank you," Caynna said as she took her glass that Gandalf had already had filled for her. "This should be an interesting trip."

"That is, if we can get the leader of our company to let you come."

"You haven't spoken with him?"

"I have…sort of," Gandalf said with a sly smile as Caynna was finishing her ham and moving to her turkey.

"How do you think he will respond to me?"

"We will have to see, my dear," Gandalf said as he snagged some ham before it was passed on. "We will have to see."

"Why don't I like the sound of that?"