Alright, so last chapter was the revision edit of the prologue and first chapter! I hope you like it and I should be able to finish the next two chapters today!

Enjoy the redo of chapter 2!:)

Chapter Two

Nakita hummed softly to herself as she packed her things into the two saddle bags. It was just after dawn, the sun not sitting very high, and the Company was preparing to leave on their journey. The morning had been silent except for the jokes Fili and Kili had shared with a few others to try and lighten the mood, but no amount of tomfoolery could make them smile for long. They were about to head for the Lonely Mountain and try to take back the home of the dwarves in Erebor. They were about to go on a journey that most considered only death lay at the end. They were going to kill Smaug the Terrible.

She let out a shaky breath as she slung the saddle bags over her horse's back. She had brought her own horse, a stallion named Ernil, which meant prince in elvish, that she had bought and raised herself. The two were nearly inseparable and they could easily read each other's feelings and gestures. The horse was actually quite tall and it was almost comical seeing such a small rider with such a massive horse. His fur was black with white and yellow dots meshed in everywhere. He looked like a starry night sky and his eyes were a color of a mix of orange and chocolate brown.

Shadowmere blew air out into Nakita's face as she spaced out. Snapping back to reality, she gently scratched the stallion's nose and sighed.

"What are we to do, Ernil? Huh?" She asked the horse, obviously not expecting an answer. "Gandalf said I'm important to this journey... What does that even mean?" The male let out a neigh when she stopped petting him and she continued once more. "I've left home only twice, three times, but that was cave exploring and all I did was kill like two goblins! Not go on a bloody quest to defeat a dragon!" She huffed in frustration. "I was a storyteller and a bard before any of that too. I have no real talent..."

She stopped moving and looked around carefully before reopening one of the saddle bags, revealing a handful of gold coins. She stared at the gold with a hungry, intense glaze over her eyes. She wanted more. No, not wanted. Needed more. She was about to go on a frenzy and steal some of the poor Hobbit's gold from his home and make a beeline for hers when a voice behind made her practically jump out of her skin.

"Hey, are these yours?" Kili came up behind her holding two twin axes. They were beautifully crafted and looked sharp and well kept. The blades were jagged and looked like they had once been a saw before becoming an ax blade. He paused and looked at her skeptically. "Were you just talking to yourself?"

Nakita whipped around, shoving the coins back in her bag. She relaxed when it was just him and snatched her weapons from him and grumbled something before responding to his question. "No, I was not thank you very much." She slid her axes on each side of her belt, leaving the sharp blades up by her hips. He looked highly skeptical, but seemed to shrug it off and forget about it.

"So, Gandalf tells us that your quite the skilled fighter." He smiled, going to stroke Ernil, but quickly recoiled when the horse tried to bite him. Nakita chuckled a bit, stroking the horse's nose.

"Did he now? Well, I'll just have to give him a talk then, won't I, Ernil?" She asked the stallion in a voice one would use to address a baby or a small pet.

"You ride a horse? I figured you'd ride a pony, like all other dwarves." Fili called out of nowhere, causing Nakita to jump at the new voice. She scowled when he walked around from the other side of her mount.

"Because Ernil is my horse. I had tried buying him from an abusive farmer, but he wouldn't take my money. Then, by..." She paused looking for a word, "some odd series of events, I saved Ernil from the farm when it caught fire... and.. burned down." She looked at a skeptical Kili. "It was tragic." She mentally shook herself and bent down to pick up a brush and began to comb through Ernil's mane, ignoring what had just happened. "And just because I'm a mutt and ride a horse doesn't make me any less of a dwarf then the next person." She huffed, angrily.

"Well, I mean, still. Usually Dwarves prefer being closer to the ground!" Fili exclaimed, trying to stroke the dark furred horse like his brother, but got the same reaction from Ernil.

"Well, I'm not normal. We established this last night. I love my Ernil and there's nothing you can do to stop me." She nuzzled into the horse's neck.

"I see..." Kili raised an eyebrow at the horse, expecting it to bite it's owner as well, but all it did was nuzzle her back. "He's... really something."

"Everyone, let's go." Thorin's voice called from ahead to where his pony had been stabled. She watched him mount the mare and begin to walk. Fili and Kili waved to Nakita before bounding over to their rides and mounting them.

"Are you ready boy?" Nakita asked Ernil. He snorted back at her, seeming to ask her if she was ready. Sighing, she gave a swift jump and pulled herself onto the bare back of the stallion with all the grace of an elf. Fili had been watching her and wondered if she weighed almost nothing like an elf as well.

"Aren't you going to use a saddle?" The soft voice of Ori asked from below. She looked down to see him on his own pony with his own saddle.

"Oh, uh, no. I prefer to ride without one. It's more comfortable for me and my horse." She smiled gently as she explained.

"Oh, I could never do that. I wouldn't feel as safe without a saddle." He countered with a shy chuckle.

"I can respect that." Was Nakita's reply as she adjusted her weapons and tucked the straps of the saddle bag under her so it wouldn't slip off.

"If you'd like, I could put your saddle bag with mine. That way you wouldn't have to worry about it." He offered quite kindly. She was touched by the gesture, having no one else attempt to get close to her.

"Oh, no. That's quite alright. I can carry my own weight, but thank you very much." She blushed softly, never having been asked something so nice. They continued to walk side by side, talking all the while.

"So, what did you do before all of this?" He asked politely, trying to keep the conversation alive.

"I did quite a lot of things before I became a mercenary, but the things I was best at were a bard, story teller, and a fortune teller." She replied.

"Really? I would never have taken you for such. Us dwarves are quite musical, though, so I could see it and a fortune teller... that's quite the useful talent. Perhaps you could read my fortune one day." He chuckled and Nakita let out a gentle laugh. It resembled the soothing sound of wind chimes. "How did you read the fortunes?" He asked, knowledgeable that there were several ways.

"I read the cracks in bones after they were thrown into the fire." She provided and added, "It's quite a common trade with the man folk in Gondor and will pay good money."

"Interesting." He had pulled out a small book and was frantically scribbling down something. She didn't say anything about it, knowing that someone was going to document the quest, so she just sat there and focused ahead of her. She looked to watch everyone in front of her, reciting their names in her head.

"Wait a minute," Her head snapped up and looked back behind her. "Where's Bilbo? I thought you needed a Burglar..." She asked, looking over to Ori.

"He never signed the contract, so we're continuing on without him. Maybe Thorin will give that job to you." He chuckled and, having finished his scrawling, put his book and quill away. Nakita gave a face at the thought of having to become their Burglar.

"I'd rather not." She mumbled and frowned receding back into her thoughts. She didn't think she would be able to stop herself with all that gold in the mountain. She was a bit sad to not have the hobbit with them as well. He seemed like a nice fellow and since neither of them had really never left home with such a large task at hand, it would have been comforting to have someone like that to talk to. She sighed, dreading the quest a bit more now without the company of a hobbit. Not to mention, he was such an adorable little fellow with his height. She felt comfortable with him.

After about an hour of riding a cry stopped the Company in their tracks. All heads turned to see a winded Bilbo running with a pack rising over his head and a scroll of paper in his hand.

"Wait!" He cried, his voice sounded slightly pleading, "I signed it!" He caught up and handed the contract to Balin, wheezing. "I signed the contract..." He said between gasps.

Balin smiled and looked to Thorin. "Everything seems to be in order." When Thorin gave a grunt in reply, Balin turned back to Bilbo. "Welcome to the Company, Burglar." He chuckled and Nakita looked up just in time to see... an eye roll coming from Thorin? She wasn't sure if she had imagined it, but Gandalf chuckled from behind her, so she thought maybe not.

Bilbo took the pony that had been carrying extra luggage and once he was settled on the pony, they continued their way.

"Good to see you changed your mind." Nakita said with a polite smile. "I wasn't sure I would survive with all of them alone." She chuckled and Bilbo gave a small smile, looking uncomfortable on the pony. She pulled to the side to let Gandalf ride in between them.

All at once, bags of money went flying to a few of the dwarves, making Nakita crack a smile. Bilbo looked around confused and asked Gandalf what was going on.

"Some of us didn't think you'd want to leave your home." He stated simply, still holding onto the smile on his face.

"Did you think I would come?" He asked, but instead of answering Gandalf just smiled, that is until a bag came flying his way. Nakita let out a soft laugh as he answered Bilbo. Ernil flicked an ear at her laughter, seeming to be happy that she was happy.

Hours later of riding, the dwarves had just about enough of Bilbo. Nakita took back every nice thing she had ever said about the hobbit, doing everything she could from not tackling him and beating him to death with a rock, or gods forbid, her own fists. It had been nice at first, they had chatted before Nakita pulled up farther to sit in the middle of Bofur and Nori, keeping to herself and her own thoughts. Bilbo from then on would just nag and complain about anything he thought was bad about this wretched journey and Nakita, like many of the others, was sick of it, but Nakita by far looked the most enraged. She had fallen back again to sit beside the hobbit, hopefully her huffs and grumbles would shut him up.

He went to open his mouth and was about to complain about the heat when she turned and glared razor sharp daggers at him. Instantly he closed his mouth and after that was relatively quiet.

Hoping to calm herself down a bit, Nakita lifted her feet up and laid her back down against Shadowmere's. She wasn't afraid that he would stray from the group because he had quickly gotten the notion of following the other ponies. She closed her eyes and bunched up her long hair into a pile to cushion her head. She was just about to drift off into sleep when she heard the distinguishable voices of Fili and Kili beside her. She opened her eyes to see that their chins were level with her head.

"Can I help you two?" She asked grouchily.

"Oh, no. We just thought that a lovely dwarven lady such as yourself would like some company." Fili said, all too innocently. Kili nodded vigorously in addition.

"Uh huh..." She raised an eyebrow at the two. She looked back to see Bilbo kitty corner behind Fili give her a look, hoping that she didn't believe that they weren't planning something. She blinked slowly in return, letting him know she didn't. "Seriously, what the hell are you two up to?" She asked, looking back and forth between the two. Kili mocked a hurt look and Fili soon followed suit.

"How dare you think that we're up to something!" Fili cried.

"We were just being friendly!" Kili added.

"Yeah, and I'm a wizard!" She flailed her arms as if she were zapping something above her and rolled her eyes. Gandalf looked back at the word wizard and cocked an eyebrow, but went back to watching the path they were going. "Fine, then if you don't mind, I'll just close my eyes and take a nap." She did as she said and pretended to nap, after a few moments she slowed her breathing down to make it seem like she had actually dozed off. She heard Fili encouraging Kili to 'do it' and she was instantly curious as to was 'it' was.

In a horror filled moment she felt a hand brush the hair that had tumbled down and laid on her saddlebag under her. They were looking through her bag. In a flash, Nakita was jumping up, snatching Kili's hand away from her bag. She jumped off of Ernil and onto Kili's saddle, pulling out a small dagger from her boot and holding it to his neck. Anger burned in her eyes and her hair was dancing in a frenzy from an invisible wind.

"Never do that again." She threatened. Her orange eyes stared into his brown ones and Fili yelled something frantically. Soon all the dwarves had turned to see the woman standing on Kili's pony, holding him like a hostage. Gandalf rode up beside them and angrily asked what had happened. Nakita simply sheathed the dagger and jumped back onto Ernil, continuing to ride. Thorin ordered everyone to keep going and everyone stayed a distance from the dwarf woman.

"What happened?" Gandalf asked Kili again and he looked over to him, eyes still wide. Nakita listened to him explain himself in a stuttering voice and she took in a deep breath, her hair calming itself and resting back down. She was told to never let anyone know who she really was for the sake of the other's life and she intended to do that, even if she had to hurt them a bit. This was going to be harder than she had imagined.