Hello! Sorry this took so long getting up! I'll keep this little note up here brief then...yeah that's it. Go read!

Rated-T

Warnings

Abuse/torture

Some OOC-ness maybe

I might not get all of their talking entirely accurate so please bear with me

Things you need to know

"Lydia/other Ereborians speaking in Khuzdul"

Disclaimer-I don't own the Hobbit or How To Train Your Dragon.

Here We Stand United

Chapter 11

"Join the Mad King on his Mad Quest? Funny!"

"Really?"

"Aye, that's exactly what they said. No respect for Uncle Thorin, I tell you! Oh, and get this! They started blabbering on about how we should give up on Erebor, and had the balls to tell Uncle to marry Lydia off to that Firebeard prick or the Longbeards would be kicked off the council! Mahal, I thought Auntie Bilba was going to murder them all!"

"I would think so! No sister of mine will be marrying anyone anytime soon!"

It wasn't the oddest conversation he'd walked in on, that Nori knew for sure. However, it was still rather strange. For one, why did Kili know more than Frodo? Frodo was Thorin's son and heir of Erebor. By that logic, it should have been Frodo filling Kili in on what had happened during the meeting. But no, for whatever reason Frodo had not gone to the meeting, Kili had, and now the two were speaking with righteous anger over what had been said about the princess.

"You've got that look again. Would ye calm down? Glaring at everything will not help us get across Middle Earth," Nori spared a glance over his shoulder as Bofur walked up to him with a slightly strained smile. He hated that, when she wasn't happy. Damn it, what had become of them? None of them used to be the way they are now. Ered Luin didn't use to be a cesspool either.

"Okay, look, I know our situation ain't ideal, but if these kids from Berk can do what they say, we'll have easy sailing, er, flying, across Middle Earth. No worries, and then we'll beat Smaug and take back Erebor," Bofur snapped, and even that strained smile was gone from her face, and Nori realized he'd been thinking aloud.

"At least we won't have to deal with the Runners* or Wargs," Nori admitted, trying to be optimistic about the journey. It was worth it for the smile that lit up Bofur's face, flashing those dimples that he loved far too much. What kind of King of the Underworld was he, though, melting at a bright, dimpled smile from a girl that, by all rights, should not have mattered to him?

"C'mon, Hiccup wants to teach us how to fly. I'm hoping for one of those Deadly Nadders. There's a right pretty purple one calling my name," Bofur said, grabbing Nori by the hand and tugging him back onto the boat where the dragons were kept, below deck. They'd had no choice except to keep the dragons in the cages of the brig. It was the only way Thorin would have allowed the beasts aboard.

"Oh, great, two people actually showed up," Hiccup said as Bofur approached the dragon trainers, still pulling Nori along behind her. Glancing around, Nori realized that Bofur and himself were the only two Ereborians below deck, near the dragons, besides Lydia, but she was busy ignoring everyone.

"Yeah, well, uh, training a dragon and flying it sounds pretty cool, or whatever," Nori tried to brush it off, but Lydia had tuned in once he started talking, snickering and pointing to where Bofur still clasped his hand, as though the toy maker was afraid he'd make a break for it and leave her there alone. Flushing, Nori yanked his hand back, embarrassed to have been caught in a moment of weakness. Then he mentally cursed himself as her expression turned hurt before becoming like ice as she turned to the Vikings.

"Well, we might as well get started. Now, since we don't have much time for you to bond with a dragon, we're going to be using this nifty little plant called dragonnip. Give it to a dragon of your choice and it'll make them happy and friendly," Hiccup stated, holding out two small fistfuls of a green plant that looked more like grass than anything else.

Nori cautiously took the fistful of dragonnip, looking around warily as all the caged dragons perked up, their amber eyes locked on him and Bofur and the small plant in their hands even as Snotlout and the twins opened a couple cages and coaxed the cautious dragons out. Lydia was watching warily as well, one hand on the hilt of her new ax as the purple Deadly Nadder Bofur was talking about earlier approached Bofur slowly, sniffing at the air as it went.

Bofur reached a hand out to the Deadly Nadder, and its eyes seemed to widen as it caught a stronger whiff of the dragonnip. Quicker than Nori would have thought possible, the dragon zipped into Bofur's space, nuzzling at her clenched fist where the dragonnip was and practically purring. Smiling giddily, Bofur gently scratched the dragon under the chin and accepted the fish Astrid passed her, feeding it to the purple Nadder who seemed so much like a puppy now. It was actually incredible. All his life, Nori had thought all lesser dragons were mindless, bloodthirsty beasts, when really that was the farthest thing from the truth.

"Well, good, great, that's great! Alright Nori, your turn. Just...approach the dragon slowly, and offer him your hand. You've got to show him you mean no harm," Hiccup said, gently pushing Nori towards the Nightmare. It stared at him, and he stared back. Just because this had worked for Bofur didn't mean he was comfortable with doing this. But, Hiccup was the dragon trainer, so he was going to trust the Berk teen on this. He stretched out the hand containing the dragonnip, and no, Lydia, his hand was not trembling as the dragon's snout moved uncomfortably close to his hand. It'd be so easy for the Nightmare to just bite his hand off, and he rather needed his hands to fight and pick pockets...

It was to his great shock that he didn't lose his outstretched hand moments later, instead the Nightmare followed the Nadder's lead and chose to grudgingly press his snout to Nori's hand.

"See, now that's not so bad is it?" Hiccup said as the two Ereborians spent a little time with their new dragons. Bofur had a wide smile on her face and even Nori looked genuinely happy, instead of like he was up to mischief. And Lydia smiled, because things were looking a little better for them now.

*BREAK*

Peace never did last, when it came to an Ereborian. Durin's folk never had great fortune. Alvin was persistent, Lydia would give him that. Their second day in Ered Luin, the Outcasts had caught up to them, and set their catapults on the town.

The dragon trainers, and few Ereborians who could ride a dragon, were forced to hoist their friends onto the backs of a relatively tame dragon and take off into the flaming night. The Outcasts had the drop on them, and if they'd already made it to Ered Luin, it was quickly becoming a race against time to get to Erebor. So they rode off into the night, some screaming protests as the now flaming town disappeared behind them.

Lydia looked back, and what her eyes saw was the fire from Smaug the Terrible, flames dancing around the great halls of her ancestors, and screaming Ereborians as they burned in their home. It burned, and she watched.

Dun dun dun! Lol no not much of a cliffhanger. Still, not a bad chapter, I suppose. I had to give the Company a swift kick in the rear as they really didn't want to get a move on with my plot.

And I'm seriously starting to think my schedule will never get back under my control. Seriously, sporadic and random updates abound! No promises on when the next chapter will be up.

*Runners, or Speed Stingers. I'll have you all know, I was going to bring the Speed Stingers into this story even before the episode with them in it! Just wanted to make that perfectly clear.:)

Review!