"We leave in half an hour everyone!" Thorin yelled to the group of sleepy dwarfs. Most of them were still sleeping when their leader suddenly decided it was time to head for the mountains. Ori slowly opened an eye, then the other. He was slowly emerging from his stupor, and he noticed that Nori was doing the same. As soon as he felt confident enough to stand, he did. Dori, who had prepared breakfast for his younger brother was hopping over the sacks that constituted the waking dwarfs on the lustrous floor of the elven terrace.
Nathrindal was standing remotely from the busy group, leaning over the marble balustrade and gazed at the landscape. The warming sun was rising, though it was fairly early, and was warming her light skin. The grey mountains were stretching out in front of them to the left, and some snow could be seen on the very top of the Waenen peek. The magnificent elven houses could be seen lying in the valley, their white walls shining and glittering in the morning sun. Suddenly, something moved to the right. It was far away, but her elven eyes were sharp enough to catch a glimpse of the moving shapes coming out of the forest. She instantaneously recognized one of the two shadows, which caused her to raise the corners of her mouth a little. The familiar blue outfit was recognizable, and Nathrindal knew Aznor was on the path. She couldn't distinctly recognize the other shape, but a quick look around confirmed her suspicion: It had to be Bilbo. The two hobbits had left the camp to go to the waterfall a couple of hours ago, and were now heading back to Elrond's house. Nathrindal had an interior smile: that was so much like Aznor. She loved to meet new people and most of the time, couldn't resist her desires. Since she was small, she had been dreading to meet another hobbit. She knew she was one, and that they lived far over the Misty Mountains in the northwest of Middle earth, but had never met one before and her knowledge of the Halflings stopped there. "Tsk, hobbits." She thought to herself.
"Some fruit, my Lady?" Nathrindal's thoughts were disturbed by Kili, presenting a silver plate full of shiny pears, apples and plums to her. The curious dwarf took the initiative to start a conversation, overcoming his intimidation because of this mysterious appeal he was feeling: his thoughts were inevitably drawn towards the dark Lady of Lothlorien. His slumber was full of her dark and silky hair, her large shiny eyes and mysterious gazes, but was not going to share this with his companions or his brother. "Thank you, Kili," She said as she grasped a red apple. Kili smirked a little: Nathrindal had remembered his name. He turned away with the plate, and headed towards the big table laid with a sumptuous cutlery and assortment of dishes: different kinds of vegetables, cakes, cream and fruits were covering the entire surface.
"So, how did it go?" asked Nathrindal with a grin. The group had set off towards the mountain path and she was walking a little apart from the group with Aznor.
" How did what go?" answered Aznor as innocently as possible, though the way her eyes were nervously avoiding any eye contact obviously betrayed the fact that she knew perfectly what her friend was talking about.
"Your little excursion with Master Baggins last night," explained Nathrindal.
"Oh, that. Well, I had awaken and he couldn't sleep so we decided to visit a little you know, just to profit from Rivendell while we could."
"Sure." Said Nathrindal, ending the conversation. She would just keep her thoughts to herself. At least for now. They walked in this quite uncomfortable silence for a time, until Bofur joined in. They spoke about things and others, and started to get to know each other a little more. Both of the newcomers appreciated Bofur's usual cheerfulness, which was quite a rare quality to be found in a dwarf.
"Majesty, would you consider stopping for a while? Ori and Bombur seem to be have trouble keeping up, and the group agrees that this river is very charming and seems perfect to cool ourselves of this heat," Dori proposed timidly. Thorin shifted his head to the right to discover Dori, his large face reddened by the effort and the sun. He took a second to think, and realized that his feet were hurting and that he was also feeling tired and hungry.
"We shall not stop for long, we have to put as much distance as possible between us and Rivendell before sunset. Let us profit from the water as long as we have some, but be prepared to leave in two hours. Once in the mountains, we might not see any before long. Fill up all the skins" He reckoned.
"Thank you your majesty, I shall inform the others." Answered Dori, relieved. He turned around and joined the group.
The dwarfs were now sitting in the grassy bank by the stream, enjoying the small breeze blowing on their faces. Some of them were bathing or washing their clothes in the river while Bombur and Balin were preparing lunch for the company. Fili, Kili, Thorin and Dwalin had left the group to investigate the small forest, and hopefully catch a rabbit or two while Ori and Aznor went picking berries. Bifur, interested by the task, joined them. Though Aznor couldn't fully understand what he was saying, she managed, with Ori's help and her rare recalls about Khuzdul language studies, to get the picture of what he was talking about. Bifur knew nothing about berries, but he knew about leaves. He pointed at different trees, speaking with his deep and muffled voice to Ori, who then translated to Aznor what he was explaining. The merry group continued along these lines as they were gathering all sorts of natural goods. Nathrindal was sitting on a grey and imposing rock, some distance away from the camp. She preferred loneliness to most social contacts, which she avoided when she could. Her left foot, peeping out of the dark robes, lightly brushed the waters surface, creating ring-shaped ripples. She was sitting with her back proudly held, a noble aura around her. As she was braiding a small strand of hair, an ancient elvish song came to her mind: The ancient elven tale of Lùthien and Beren. It was a well-known story to all elves, and the lyrics were frequently heard in the streets of major town in the elven kingdoms. Nathrindal started singing, her voice high and clear, the notes and lyrics coming naturally to her. Too absorbed by her music, she didn't notice the sound of leather boots crushing leafs in the distance. Kili was sent back to camp by Thorin, who wanted to teach his younger nephew new fighting techniques. Kili was stumping out of the forest, grumbling, when he heard Nathrindal's song. He stopped right in the middle of the path, listening. He could not understand the lyrics, but he could feel the sorrow in Nathrindal's voice and was focusing on the clear, pure and beautiful chanting of the elf. She was now standing, on the edge of the half-immersed rock, her long hair delicately falling on her immaculate corset. Kili stood for a while, like hypnotized, then quietly crept away not to disturb Nathrindal; and headed towards the camp, his head full of mysterious and beautiful elven words.
The company had now been walking for a while when the sun went down, but where they were, they couldn't stop to establish a camp for the night so they were forced to climb ever higher and deeper into the mountain. A terrible rain was now falling on the narrow and dangerous mountain path, and the dwarfs were not pleased at all by the weather. Little Bilbo was walking behind with Oin and Gloin, just behind Aznor and Ori. The two were, despite the torrential rain, having a merry discussion about knitting, something that Ori seemed to excel at. Bilbo was wondering about last night, smiling and slightly blushing as he remembered Aznor's spontaneous hug, and how embarrassed she looked afterwards. He must admit he liked spending time with the hobbit, and would like to get to speak to her in private again if ever they got the chance. Even though it was quite childish and unusual, he didn't mind her hugs, quite the opposite. He was going to join Ori and Aznor's conversation when a terribly loud scream was heard. Suddenly, the mountain was trembling, the wind howling, rocks seemed to be falling from the skies and two colossal rock giants appeared in the landscape. They were part of the mountain and had just woken up, waking up terrible storms as they rose.
"I will speak about my mother's doilies later" thought Bilbo, terrified.
"By Aulë, what is happening?" Asked Fili, protectively pressing against his brother.
"The gods bless me, stone giants!" Said Bofur to himself.
"Everyone stays together!" Shouted Thorin to the pack while he was pushing stones off the path to find his way towards the group. The two stone giants seemed to be fighting against each other, throwing stones around, creating terrible earthquakes and terrorizing the dwarfs. All of a sudden, one of the giants took a step back and something surreal happened: half of the group was squashed flat onto the mountain wall. Nathrindal twitched when she realized Kili was part of this half.
"No!" yelled Thorin completely stunned by the event. The stone giant took a step forward again, and the worried dwarves discovered that some of the dwarves who were compressed were still moving.
"Kili!" shouted a voice in Nathrindal's head, and she jumped the meter between the two halves of the group but unfortunately tripped and fell flat on the top of the bowman. The dwarf was detailing the elf's beautifully delicate face and was drawn to her dark and magnificent eyes. Nathrindal looked at him with anxiety and confusion when he teased with a grin and a wink.
"You could at least wait for us to be alone before jumping on me!" He said. Nathrindal's face relaxed (she even smiled a little) and answered:
"Don't be silly." with a reprimanding voice, as she rose from the floor and smoothed her dress. She had come back to her impassible state and no emotions could be detected. A quick check around confirmed that the dwarves were only slightly injured, but none had died, which greatly relieved Thorin. Aznor was moving towards Nathrindal, who didn't seem really disturbed by the situation, and was calmly trying to stay away from the edge as much as possible. Aznor looked around, counting the members of the company. Fifteen. Someone was missing. She looked around, trying to find out who was missing; but she knew even before she started: the bronze haired Halfling. Completely submerged by panic, she frantically started screaming.
"Bilbo! Bilbo!" forgetting all about elven manners, and desperately hoping to see the hobbit safe against the mountain wall. Nathrindal was gazing at her screaming and shouting friend when she heard a small 'here' nearly inaudible, coming from the right. She bent down and saw Bilbo's hand, desperately trying to hold onto the slippery rocky edge, while the rest of his body was hanging in thin air far, very far above the ground.
"He's here!" She shouted loudly to get the attention of the panicked group, and Bofur arrived to help her. Aznor also turned towards Nathrindal in a split second, her eyes widely opened by terror and her hair completely soaked. At this precise moment, Nathrindal realized how much and why the Halfling was so important to Aznor: the only representative of her race she ever saw was about to slip down and die in terrible pain just after they had met. Bofur was now bending over the edge, held at the belt by Bifur, Dori, Gloin, Fili and Kili, trying to reach Bilbo's slippery hand. Bilbo, feeling his fingers losing strength, saw Aznor's panicked and terrorized face over the edge, and in a last attempt tried to give himself enough impulsion to catch Bofur's hand...and succeeded. After pulling the soaked hobbit up onto the safety of floor, the dwarves made sure he was okay. Aznor, in a delighted squeal, embraced Bilbo in a brief, tight hug. He was too exhausted to react or move.
Nathrindal was relieved, and felt quite glad she had heard the Halfling's tiny peep before he fell. She took the head of the company and walked with Fili and Kili to find a safe place for the company to rest. For a couple of seconds, Kili peered at her: they intensely looked into each other's eyes and felt an electrical current between them. Nathrindal felt an urge to touch his face but didn't move a finger and kept looking at him in the eyes with a completely emotionless stare. Kili smirked and joined his brother a couple of steps ahead. Something special had just happened and both of them felt different but didn't know what to think about it. But this was not the immediate priority. They had to find a shelter and quickly, or they would freeze to death.
Bilbo was looking at fire, lost in his thoughts. He was part of the only ones still awake with Nathrindal, Bofur, Nori and Aznor, and was feeling empty and exhausted but he knew he just wouldn't be able to sleep until he spoke to the hobbit sitting on his left. He was planning on staying around the fire until they all left, so he sat still and silent, hoping he wouldn't have to wait too long. Nathrindal was discussing strategy with Nori while Bofur was softly playing music on his flute. The hobbit had thanked the elf many times for she had saved him from certain death, but didn't obtain much of any reaction apart from a slight shrug of the shoulders. "Never mind" thought Bilbo, he was still immensely grateful to the Lady of Darkness. One after the other, everybody left the fireside to go to bed, and the two hobbits were left alone. After a couple of minutes, Bilbo couldn't stand the silence anymore so he turned to Aznor and began with an uncertain voice.
"I would like to talk to you about what happened earlier today." Aznor stiffened and Bilbo smiled. He passed his arm around her shoulders in a reassuring way as she answered, her voice betraying a little stress.
"Yes, please excuse my attitude, I was far too familiar with you, I mean I really should have controlled myself, it's just that I was really panicked so I didn't, you know, control myself. It's just that you are the first hobbit I have ever met, and I really want to know more about you. Sorry Bilbo. I won't do that again I promise. Sorry." As she spoke, he tenderly detailed her face: she really was pretty. Far prettier than the female hobbits he had met around Hobbiton. Maybe it was the elven influence that made her skin look lighter, but that didn't matter to him. Her green eyes were captivating.
"It's alright. I wanted to thank you for your concern, and don't worry about manners, just be yourself. I want to get to know the hobbit, not the elf." She looked up at him and smiled, a smile of sincere happiness. Bilbo carefully tucked a strand of her soft hair behind her ear and they sat next to the fire for a while when they heard a strange noise.
The sandy floor started to creak, and Thorin, aware of the imminent danger, called everyone to wake up. In a split second, the floor cracked open and everyone in the cave went rolling down a vertical, dark and rocky tunnel, bumping their heads on the tunnel wall until they all fell on top of each other in a sort of enormous basket circled with wooden claws to prevent the prisoners from escaping. Balin was trying to get out from underneath Bombur, which is quite impossible knowing that you need at least four strong dwarfs to carry him. They didn't get much time to reorganize themselves before a horde of hysterical goblins came to torment them. Each and every member of the company (apart from Gandalf who seemed to have disappeared) was firmly held by number of evil creatures, which were pushing them towards a fragile looking rope bridge. They were all completely submerged and outnumbered by the enemy and had no other choice than to follow the goblins. After about ten minutes of pushing, teasing, snarling and kicking, the group of adventurers were presented to the Great Goblin, leader and tyrant of Goblin Town. Swiftly looking around him, Gloin could see rope bridges, wooden huts, thousands of torches exposing scary shadows on the mountain walls and legions of goblins teeming around towards what they called the "center of town".
Nathrindal was starting to get very annoyed by the Great Goblin's teasing, even though she didn't have any particular friendly feelings for Thorin. She was staring at his hanging skin beard, and was wondering what would happen if she cut through it. The goblins were now getting angry and very excited, and on their leader's order, they attacked the dwarfs. They were about to get massacred when Gandalf appeared armed with Glamdring, the Foe Hammer, in a great beam of light, releasing so much energy that everyone fell flat on the wooden floor.
"Take up the arms!" Said he, in an imposing and imperial voice. "Fight!" He shouted to the company, who took advantage of the Goblin's weakness to get up and grab their swords. Nathrindal grabbed her bow and, cornered back to back with Kili, they shot arrows in every direction with great dexterity while they rotated.
"Nice shot!" Kili said, seeing the Goblin Nathrindal shot with extreme precision just between the two eyes.
"You aren't bad either," she answered, a very subtle smile on her lips. As the group fought and progressed on the wooden platforms and rope bridges through Goblin town, Bofur realized that little Bilbo went missing, again, but didn't get a chance to tell anyone. Ori had noticed it also.
"Ouch!" Thought the hobbit, slowly opening one eye to discover nothing more than darkness. He could feel his whole body aching, resting on some sort of gooey material, perhaps mushrooms. He was wondering where he was, his sword and the goblin who tackled having had fallen, when he heard a sound. A spine-chilling sound came from the shadows and a split second after, two enormous, gloomy eyes were shining in his direction, and Bilbo thought he was going to faint.