Thanks everyone yet again!

I made few spelling mistakes in the last chapter; I'll correct them when I've got time.

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As the sun began to set, Daisy noticed Bilbo was becoming increasingly agitated about the absence of Gandalf.

'He's been gone a long while.' Bilbo said, pacing. 'Perhaps I should go and-'

'Relax, he's a wizard, he does what he chooses.' Bofur reassured him. 'Here do us a favour and take this to the lads.' Bilbo was handed two bowls of stew and Daisy watched as he marched off into the woods to Fili and Kili who were meant to be watching the ponies. Whether or not they were was an entirely different matter.

'Stop it, you've had plenty,' Bofur snatched away the spoon from Bombur's hands as the large dwarf attempted to steal some stew. 'Here you go Daisy,' Bofur handed her a bowl of stew and she sat down beside Ori. She looked anxiously towards the woods; she hoped Bilbo would be back soon to help her eat.

'Are you going to eat?' Ori asked quietly. Daisy looked at him.

'It's hard y'know. Bilbo normally helps me.' Daisy sighed, fiddling with the spoon.

'You two seem pretty close.' Ori pointed out.

'Yeh, he's a good friend.'

'I know he thinks of you more as the child he never had. I overheard him talking to Gandalf about it.' Daisy's eyes widened at this.

'But, he's only known me a few days!' She said, astonished. 'And one of them was when I turned up at his house completely unannounced!' Ori shrugged.

'It's what I heard, and it's true. I don't think Mr Baggins would be coping half as well if he didn't feel the need to watch out for you.'

Daisy couldn't describe the warm fuzzy feeling she had, as she'd never experienced it before. She was…happy. Actually happy that Bilbo Baggins considered her family. Perhaps when this was all over, she might have somewhere to go back to. That is, if she stayed the same height she was.

'Daisy, do you want to have another flute lesson?' Bofur asked as he chucked Bombur his empty bowl. Daisy looked up from her stew to meet Bofur's eyes.

'Yes, if that's alright with you' Daisy replied. In actual truth Daisy found that her lesson the previous night was actually fun.

'Fine, I'll just let you finish your dinner.' Daisy gave small nod, hoping Bilbo would be back in a minute. In fact, he'd been a while. She only hoped Fili and Kili weren't being idiots again.

'Just try little mouthfuls at first,' Ori whispered. Daisy nodded and tried to spoon the stew into her mouth. She felt someone was staring at her and she dared to glance up. From the other side of the fire Thorin sat watching her. He's going to kick me out for sure. She thought miserably. First I almost wake the entire camp and up and now he knows I can't eat. It seems I can't get anything right.

'Quick! Quick! Help!' Fili called in a hushed frantic voice as he ran up to the camp, Kili following.

'What is it?' Thorin asked, concerned.

'Trolls.' The brothers replied.

'Where?' Balin asked anxiously.

'In the forest, hardly any distance between us and them. They've taken four ponies.' Kili explained.

'Where's Bilbo?' Daisy spoke up, becoming increasingly alarmed at his absence. Fili turned to her.

'Now Daisy, it's all-'

'Where's the burglar Fili?' Thorin growled impatiently.

'We told him to see if he could set the ponies free.' Kili answered, his voice quiet.

'You did what?' Thorin asked, astonished. 'That fool can hardly walk straight without tripping up!' Thorin turned his back on them to fetch his sword. 'Right everyone up, looks like we're going to have to rescue the hobbit.' Everyone moved at once, grabbing their swords and axes.

Daisy was worried for Bilbo, and by the way Ori was shuffling his slingshot and looking at her it seemed he was too.

'Daisy, you stay here.' Fili told her as he passed. Daisy stared at him.

'Why?'

'It's dangerous. And you could get hurt. If you won't stay here for me, or yourself stay here for Thor-'

'Fili! Leave Daisy a weapon and come on!' Thorin growled as he stalked passed them.

'Oh no I don't need a weapon.' Daisy said, stepping back as Fili tried to hand her a knife.

'Daisy it's just in case you run in to trouble when we're gone.' He said as he placed the knife in her hand. 'You'll only get hurt if you cut yourself, so just point the tip away from you.' And with that he was gone.

'Fili,' Daisy whispered. 'If only you knew'. Tears threatened to fall and the temptation to calm herself like she'd done back home became all too real. She cried out as she chucked the knife as far away as possible, and then sat down heavily on the log. She was a burden to the company, she couldn't even hold a knife without thinking about hurting herself with it!

Suddenly she heard shouts coming from the forest and she prayed that everyone was alright.

'It's ok' She muttered to herself. 'They'll get Bilbo and come back.'

Only they didn't. At first Daisy thought that maybe they were trying to catch the ponies, and if she went off and something happened to the camp then she'd be in serious trouble.

But then the night wore on, and there was still no sign of them. The forest had gone quiet, and Daisy was becoming worried. What had happened? Deciding that she should go and make sure they hadn't run into any serious trouble, she set off.

Daisy was about half way across to the trees when she thought about the knife she had chucked away earlier. She might actually need it, so she went to retrieve it. As she picked it up there was a cry from the trees, and Daisy froze. It sounded like the dwarves really were in trouble.

'We're never going to get out of this' Daisy said, putting a hand to her forehead. 'Not if they're relying on me.' She walked slowly towards the forest; arm outstretched pointing the knife in all different directions.

She reached the spot where Fili and Kili had been watching the ponies and saw a few of them still milling around. She saw a faint light a couple of hundred metres away, and could hear muffled voices. Daisy crept up, knife still outstretched and trembling with fear, and crouched behind a large tree stump.

Peering over she had to suppress a gasp as the sight of three enormous trolls entered her vision. What was worse was that there were a load of dwarves getting spun round over a fire.

'How'd you think we should season them?' The troll nearest Daisy said. Season them?

'With a sprinkling of sage' Another replied. They're going to eat them?! Daisy panicked, if she didn't save them then they would be eaten, their quest would be over before it had begun. She spied a pile of sacks that contained the rest of the dwarves, and from what she could see they contained the likes of Thorin, Fili, Kili, Balin, Bombur, Bilbo and a few others that she couldn't quite see.

Daisy crawled as quietly as she could around the edge of the camp and hid behind the rock that the sacks lay in front. She could see the sacks containing Bilbo and Thorin were nearest to her. Well here goes nothing.

'Psst, Bilbo! Thorin!' She whispered and had the situation not scared her stiff, she would have laughed at their reactions.

'Daisy!' Bilbo said with relief.

'I'm quite glad Fili didn't relent and let you come with us' Thorin said, trying to face her.

'What's it doing?' One of the trolls asked and Bilbo and Thorin froze. They quickly turned around and Daisy hid.

'Never mind those ones' One of the others said. 'It's these we want to eat first' Daisy let out a sigh of relief as the troll moved back to the fire.

'We need a plan' Bilbo said.

'Thank you master hobbit for that input.' Daisy shook her head, when would Thorin overcome his arrogance?

'Come on. Dawn 'ain't fair away. I don't fancy being turned to stone.' Bilbo and Daisy looked at each other. If they could just distract the trolls for long enough, then dawn would turn them completely harmless.

'If you distract them here, I'll run out and distract them from there.' Daisy whispered to Bilbo.

'No, it's too dangerous.' Bilbo whispered back. Daisy considered that it probably was, but Daisy owed everything to these dwarves and Bilbo, and she wasn't going to let her personal matters get in the way.

'Not if we distract them well enough. I have a knife, if Thorin can cut the others free then he can attack' Bilbo contemplated this.

'What are you two doing?' Thorin said in a hushed voice.

'Bilbo will distract them from here; I'll distract them from over there. I'll cut you free with this knife and then you do the same for the others, and then attack.'

'We'll not defeat them'

'We just need to keep them busy till dawn' Daisy said, not waiting for an answer. She became to cut Thorin free but a troll cried out suddenly;

'Look! They are doing something!'

'Daisy, go!' Thorin hissed and Daisy ducked behind the rock.

'One's escaped!'

'No it hasn't, they're all there. Now come help me with this seasoning.'

'No, I'm sure something went this way' Daisy held her breath. She couldn't get to the safety of the trees without one of them seeing her.

'No it didn't just come over here for-'

'Aha! There it is!' Daisy cried out in horror as she felt herself being pulled up from the ground. 'What is it?'

'There's another one!' The troll that had Daisy swung her around.

'No! I found this one, I'm having it' It argued. There were cries of 'Daisy!' and 'Let her go!' from the dwarves both on the stick and in the sacks. Daisy looked down and saw that Thorin had got himself free and was now cutting Kili loose.

Daisy bit back tears as the troll's grip on her tightened. Stay calm Daisy, just distract them.

'Hold on a minute!' The troll who had her cried. 'This one's a girl!' The other trolls stopped what they were doing.

'A girl?!'

'Yes a girl, and for that you'll need….' Bilbo had suddenly cried out, jumping in his sack. Daisy, amidst her fear tried to think of something to help Bilbo out.

'Need what?' The trolls asked.

'Need….need..'

'Different seasoning!' Daisy blurted out, and then mentally slapped herself. Bilbo was looking at her with wide eyes, as were the rest of the dwarves. Oh god you've done it now!

'Oho! That does make sense lads.' The troll holding said, nodding his head. Then he brought Daisy up to his face. 'I don't suppose you know what type of seasoning would work best do you?' Daisy grimaced from his terrible breath and tried not to gag.

'Um' She breathed. 'You could try….mint leaves?' She said awkwardly.

'Mint leaves?'

'Yes….they're very good for making things….minty?' Daisy said, though it was obvious she was lying. Not to the trolls though, it would seem.

'I do quite like minty things.' The troll who was turning the stick thing commented.

'Perhaps the girly knows how to season this lot'

'You are completely right Bert' The troll nearest the sacks said. They have names?

The troll holding Daisy walked over to a large rock, and put her down. Daisy stared in astonishment, they'd just let her go!

'Now what would you say is the perfect way to season a dwarf?' Bert, she gathered, asked. He even took out what looked like a charcoal stick and a piece of ugly looking cloth. 'Come on missy,' He looked at her expectantly.

Daisy glanced at the dwarves for help but they were too busy looking between her and the trolls, a mixture of astonishment and awe on their faces. Daisy saw that their original plan had gone to waste, as Thorin was the only one presently cut free and he wasn't doing anymore cutting in a hurry.

'Um, you could try….lavender..?' Daisy said.

'What a load of rubbish! She doesn't know what she's talking about. I say throw her in a sack with the rest of them' Daisy trembled.

'Quiet Tom! Let the young missy speak' Bert said.

'Um I meant for the smaller ones' She squeaked faintly.

'You see Tom, that there is quality knowledge.' The one furthest from Daisy spoke.

'Hmph, I don't want to hurry you Bert and William but the night won't last forever.' Tom huffed.

'And what' Bert leaned in closer and Daisy had to hold her breath. 'Would you say we do for the bigger ones?' Daisy thought for a moment, she couldn't stuff this up. The sun was almost upon them, she just had to keep going for a few more minutes.

'You could….' She quaked. '…..try a mixture of herbs. You know, because they're bigger they need more variety to…balance the flavours..'

'You see! Beautiful knowledge right there.' Bert cried, picking her up.

Daisy let out a soft 'Oomph!' as Bert's fist enclosed around her middle again.

'This one could prove useful!' William said, poking her shoulder. Daisy let out a cry.

'Don't break her! How else are we going to get the dwarves done properly?' Bert grumbled.

'You're both fools. If we take her advice and they taste horrible then what we going to do?' Tom muttered. 'I say we eat her.'

'No, this is top quality.' Bert argued. 'I say we take her back-'

'The dawn will take you all!' A deep voice boomed and Daisy was spun round to meet the sight of Gandalf standing high on a rock. She had to admit, he did look impressive.

'Who's that?'

'No idea,'

'Can we eat him to?'

Gandalf then, with an almighty push of his staff, split the rock in two. The sunlight poured onto the trolls and Daisy cried out as her vision was shaken up as Bert tried to escape the sun's rays.

Unfortunately he didn't, nor did he let go of Daisy and so when Bert finally succumbed to stone Daisy was left painfully held several feet in the air.

There was an almighty cheer from the dwarves when they realised they were no longer going to be eaten. However that was soon stopped when Daisy cried out:

'Can someone help me please?' Bert's grip was surprisingly tight, and it was getting quite hard to breath. Bilbo was the first one who registered what was happening.

'Gandalf!' He cried and Gandalf hurried over to the base of the troll.

Fili, Kili, Thorin and Bilbo who had already managed to cut themselves free hurried over behind the wizard. Daisy thanked whoever made the dress she was wearing, as they had put lots of layers underneath, meaning she wasn't about to loose her dignity.

'Gandalf!' Daisy gasped. 'Could you possibly do something?'

'I'm trying my dear girl.' Gandalf responded picking up his staff.

'But you're a wizard! Surely you could just blast the troll to pieces!' Kili cried. 'Can't you see she's in pain?!'

'I, for the first time in my life, agree with my nephew Gandalf.' Thorin voiced, looking up at Daisy with concern.

'Unless you want to blow Miss Daisy to pieces I suggest you keep your mouths shut!' Gandalf shouted. 'Now Daisy, I'm going to have to break the fist, so brace yourself. Master Fili, be ready to catch her.'

Daisy only heard the words 'break' and 'catch'. He vision was becoming blurred and her breaths came in short bursts. All of a sudden there was a mighty crack, and she felt the rock holding her in place crumble around her.

Then she fell.

She was positive she was going to hit the ground, but instead landed in the arms of Fili who steadied her. The three dwarves, wizard and hobbit let out sighs of relief.

Daisy on the other hand, was trying to get enough air into her lungs. Fili held her upright while she gasped and she felt someone put an arm round her.

'Daisy?' A concerned voice asked.

'J-just give me a –m-minute' She coughed, wincing. She was going to have a few bruises appearing in the next few days. She was vaguely aware of someone helping the other dwarves down and a few more bodies joining the group around the base of Bert.

'Is the lass alright?' Dwalin ask. Dwalin, of all people? Daisy took a deep breath.

'I-I think I'm fine now.'

There was silence and then an almighty cheer erupted.

'We can't thank you enough Daisy' Bofur explained. 'You were brilliant!' And all of a sudden the dwarves were around her and shaking her hand. After a few minutes Fili and Kili took hold of her arms and lead her to a rock to sit down.

'It was pretty brilliant. I mean, I've never seen anyone make friends with a troll. He was going to take you home!' Then: 'The lads have accepted you, you know. I guess we do owe you our lives' Kili said. Daisy hadn't thought of it like that. Bilbo came and joined them.

'Are you ok Daisy?' Daisy nodded. 'Ori hopes you're ok, he's just putting his things back on. I'm sorry the plan didn't work out. I was too amazed that they had you in conversation.'

'You're not the only one' Daisy breathed.

'It seems we all owe you a great debt, Daisy,' Thorin said, walking up to the little group. 'Thank you.' And with that he walked off. Fili rolled his eyes.

'Never has been good with emotions.' He muttered.

Daisy watched Thorin walk away and talk with Gandalf.

'Did you get the ponies?' Daisy asked suddenly.

'You were almost eaten and almost crushed by a troll and all you ask about is the ponies?' Fili laughed. 'But in answer to your question, yes they are all fine. I think. I hope.'

'Make ready to leave!' Thorin called. 'There must be a cave nearby; we're going to find it.'

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This was actually quite fun to write!

Hope you liked it