Aaand, here's the promised second chapter!

I wish you all a great week and I will be happy to read your opinions and reviews when I come back from my little holiday!

Whoop! :D

The rain only stopped two hours or so before dawn and the sky finally cleared up to let the sun through. Thorin called out that they would set up camp and Tarya could hear the dwarves sigh in relief.

As they dismounted their ponies and tied them to some trees, she waited patiently a few feet away. She was relieving her bandaged paw from her weight now and so only stood on three legs. The pain had gotten considerably better if compared to what it had felt like before Kili's treatment but the continuous walking for the whole day had still done the trick. It hurt.

Kili was coming towards her then, his brother at his side. He looked at her worriedly when he saw her standing there and crouched down in front of her, reaching out his hand. He didn't have to wait; she immediately put her paw in his palm.

"Wow," Fili muttered, observing the two of them. "And I always thought Amarok were bloodthirsty monsters."

She sent the blonde dwarf an unnerved look and puffed out some air of her nose. She would have told him that he was an idiot if she could have.

"She doesn't seem to agree." Kili grinned and released her paw. "I will change the bandage later. It's all dirty from all the walking in the mud today."

She grumbled thankfully and she thought he understood since he smilingly stroked her neck for a moment before getting up and walking over to the place where the others were setting up the fire and their bedrolls.

Tarya followed him but made a little detour to Bofur who was getting out a little wooden thing and stuffing some weed into it. She stopped at his side and curiously looked at the object. She'd never seen it before but the smell that was coming from the weed seemed familiar to her. She had definitely smelled that before around other people's camps.

The dwarf with the funny hat gave her a sideways grin when she tilted her had as he kindled the weed.

"It's a pipe," he said to her then and she looked at him surprised. None of the dwarves beside Kili had spoken to her directly until now as if they still didn't believe that she understood every word. Obviously, Bofur wanted to give it a try. "You smoke the herbs and it helps you to relax."

He had now inhaled deeply and suddenly smoke was coming out of his mouth. Tarya watched him curiously. So that was what smoking looked like, she thought. Well, there were definitely a lot of things that smelled better than this. Then he made a little ring of smoke come out of his mouth and she gave an amused yelp, which made him chuckle.

Then a little whistle echoed through the camp and as she turned around, she could see Kili sitting on his bedroll, waving a clean bandage at her. She would have frowned at him if she could have. She liked him but the whistling wasn't really her thing. She wasn't a lap dog, after all. She gave him a little snarl then, not really threatening but still clear. Immediately, she had the looks of all of the dwarves on her who had been close enough to hear it.

Kili raised his hands in surrender. "You're no friend of whistling. Duly noted. Excuse me."

Satisfied, she slowly walked over and sat down in front of him. He gave her a little smile before changing the bandage. While he took care of her paw again, she sat there and let the talking of the dwarfs, the crackling of the fire and the smell of the food Bombur was cooking wash over her.

Contrary to what any of her instincts would usually suggest in a situation like this, she felt very relaxed. She felt some of them watch her sometimes but she didn't mind. She was a curiosity and they could not be blamed for their interest in her.

She looked over at Ori who was sitting by his brothers, scribbling into his notebook and looking over at her from time to time and she wondered what he was doing there.

As Kili wrapped up the bandage he had gotten from Oin around Tarya's paw, he looked at the black she-wolf who was busy watching Ori. He looked over at the dwarf himself for a moment, catching how he glanced at Tarya for a moment before returning to his notebook. Kili smiled slightly. Ori had been making sketches of their surroundings and their company ever since they had left the Shire. He could only imagine how excited the dwarf must be now that he had the chance to draw an animal that was rare in such a way.

He fastened the bandage and let go of the big paw. Tarya looked at him and hummed friendly.

"You're welcome," he said as she lay down beside him, rolling on her side so that her back was lightly touching his left leg. She was staring into the fire then and Kili watched fascinated as the light made her golden eyes shimmer like a melting sun. Then she closed her eyes and he got up to get his share of dinner from Bombur.

When he walked back to his spot, she had vanished and he looked around the camp but couldn't see her anywhere.

"Went into the bushes a few minutes ago," Fili said from his side and sat down. Kili frowned a little but before he could even say anything else, Tarya emerged from the bushes quite a few metres away from the company's camp and strutted past Dwalin, Thorin and Gandalf through the camp and planted herself next to the youngest Durin again. A dead bird between her teeth.

Kili only frowned at her when he saw the new bandage already full of dirt again but Tarya only looked at him innocently and he shook his head.

"I'm sure my brother would have shared with you, you know" Fili said then, grinning at the wolf and then at Kili, earning himself a little grumble from her and an eye-roll from him.

She knew that the brunette dwarf would probably have shared his food with her but she didn't want to eat from his ration when there was already not much given out to any of them, as she had observed. And she was sure that Kili was very hungry himself. So, even though Bombur's stew smelled like heaven, she had left the camp when she'd seen that Kili had turned his back on her.

It hadn't taken her long to find something edible. But it had been quite a challenge to catch it. Her paw still hurt but she'd tried for the bird nevertheless. Unfortunately, it had noticed her attempt when she had been very close already and she had had to jump to catch it mid-air. She'd gotten it but the landing had sent a painful sting through her leg.

But now that she was lying beside Kili again, she was contently chewing on the bird's remains while he spooned his own dinner and she didn't really think about the pain any longer, it would certainly be better in the morning already.

Kili casually stroked her back every now and then.

She could get used to this, she thought. This was actually quite nice.