Sooo, I'm back in town! Whoop! :D

And I thought I'd present you with a new chapter, even though it is really just a bit of a filler before the actual action starts :P

momopanda95: She's not exactly 4 feet but more like 3.7-3.8, so somewhere in between. Amaroks do vary in height, though, so there would be some who might be bigger or smaller than Tarya :)

All the others: Thank you guys so much for your reviews and favs and follows! It is highly appreciated, let me tell you! :D

Gandalf was observing Kili and the Amarok from a little distance, sitting on his spot next to Balin, smoking his pipe. She seemed completely relaxed at the moment, the bird she had caught already getting digested by now. He couldn't help but be fascinated by how naturally Kili treated Tarya. It was highly unusual that an Amarok would let anyone get as close to them. Maybe it had something to do with Kili's openhearted nature, Gandalf guessed, or with hers.

He reveled in the scene he had seen in her mind for a moment. It was a pity, he thought, that Amarok couldn't express themselves towards others the way they could towards a wizard. It needed a bit of magic to access their thoughts. But still, Tarya seemed to be able to communicate almost effortlessly as it was.

But nevertheless, what he had seen had him worried now. The wolf obviously didn't know what it had been but Gandalf had a sneaking suspicion. There had been rumour about some old dark might rising up again near the south of Mirkwood. It was highly possible that this shadow had something to do with it. Maybe it was time to pay a little visit to Dol Guldur, the wizard thought and puffed out some smoke to cover up his face for a moment. And he most definitely had to tell the great council about this.

Gandalf looked over at Tarya, wondering whether it would actually be a good idea to bring her to Rivendell. But then again, he wasn't sure if it was safe to leave her alone as long as he didn't know what had haunted her. He didn't want her to get hurt.

"She is very different from the wolf that accompanied King Thranduil all those years ago" Balin spoke up and Gandalf turned his head a little to see him looking at Tarya, too.

"You have met an Amarok before, then" Gandalf replied thoughtfully and Balin nodded. "It is rather rare to see one in a lifetime, even more so meeting two."

"Would you say we are all lucky, then? To have found her?" Dwalin asked from Gandalf's other side. The wizard looked over at Thorin for a moment then but the dwarf-king was staring into the fire, seemingly not listening to them. But Gandalf knew better.

"No, master Dwarf, you can deem yourselves honoured that she found you."

Thorin now looked up and directed his gaze to Gandalf who was still watching him. "You are suggesting that this did not happen out of coincidence?"

"There are only very few things that do not happen for a reason. This is not one of them, I would think." Gandalf murmured.

"Mister Gandalf," a voice then echoed through the camp and the wizard turned his head to look at Kili. "Could you tell us something more about her? About Amaroks?" he asked and quickly looked down on Tarya who was just lying beside him, all four legs stretched out. She obviously didn't care much about these stories.

"Well, they are kind creatures in general. They simply learned not to trust people too much." The wizard answered and gave the wolf a regretful look.

"Why not?" Ori piped up shyly and Gandalf sent him a friendly smile.

"They have been victims of the selfishness of people, I'm afraid… A long time ago, Amaroks could be seen more often. They were still quite rare but not as much as they are today. They did appear near villages sometimes or you could accidentally meet one when on the road." Gandalf explained. "That lies many, many decades back, though."

He now had the attention of everyone in the company on him; even Tarya herself had opened her eyes but she didn't look at the wizard, her gaze was directed into the flames. Gandalf almost thought the look similar to the one he had seen on Thorin only moments before.

"Then why are they so rare now?" Bilbo asked quietly and looked over at the wolf that was still staring into the fire absent-mindedly.

Gandalf sighed. "There was an old telling that the Amarok carried a secret. The so-called 'origin of light'. And whoever managed to discover it, would be bathed in glory and power. People, of course, tried to access this secret. And it didn't take long until Amarok were hunted and held captive. Most of the few that ventured near cities got killed. People drank their blood and wore their furs as coats."

"That's horrible," Kili breathed and some of the companions nodded in agreement. The young Durin-heir gently stroked one of Tarya's ears and she just huffed quietly.

Gandalf just tilted his head a little, observing the dwarf. "There are many terrible things that one would do to become powerful."

"So the Amarok that survived started to avoid people," Bilbo guessed, looking a bit sad. He didn't understand how one could hurt an animal in this way just to gain power. But then again, he didn't understand how people could be so desperately striving for might, anyway.

Gandalf merely nodded. "They have become rather shy. Understandably."

"Except this one." Fili said and pointed to Tarya who now turned around so she lay on her back, her paws hanging in front of her torso. She made a little noise and yawned.

"That's not right, she was rather shy yesterday when I first saw her" Kili replied and smilingly rubbed Tarya's belly. He liked the faint grey colour her fur had in that spot.

"Well, but she adjusted quite quickly," Fili answered and Kili shrugged in agreement.

"She is still young," Gandalf spoke up, smiling at Tarya and the brown-haired dwarf. "She is naturally curious and obviously trusts that none of you will try to hurt her."

Everyone was silent for a moment before Bofur spoke up again. "And how young is she exactly, Gandalf?"

"Oh, I would guess her age settles somewhere between 65 and 70 years." Gandalf smiled and Bofur looked at him incredulously.

"What? But that's… how old do Amaroks get, then?"

"No one knows exactly," Gandalf said, "Since no one has ever seen an Amarok die of age."

The dwarves stared at Tarya but she had rolled into a ball by now and closed her eyes.

Tarya had become rather tired and had now rolled herself into a comfortable position to sleep. She didn't like hearing about those stories of the suffering of her kin, since she knew all of it. It was a bit depressing, to be honest and she could easily do without it.

She didn't see any advantages in getting yourself lost in the pain of the past and she didn't want to belong to the kind of Amarok that felt resentment and hatred for their whole lives. Life was too short for that, even when it lasted longer than one could imagine.

She felt herself getting sleepier and the last thing she heard before she drifted to sleep was the voice of Gloin.

"Well… Is it true, then? Do they have the ability to make someone's fortune?"

They soon travelled further, once they had woken up the next morning. Tarya had been the first one to wake if you didn't count Bofur who had been keeping watch.

This time, Tarya wandered a bit further from the group sometimes, exploring what lay ahead and straying off the path from time to time. But she always found her way back to the company not too long after.

As they reached a meadow with the ruins of a small cabin on it, Thorin called out that they would set up camp there.

The dwarves got off their ponies and Tarya stood by Kili while he unsaddled his brown mare. Thankfully, the mood of the company had lightened up again after yesterday. It had rained a bit more today but not as bad and they were all dry by now. Only Tarya's fur was still a bit damp because of its denseness.

So as she waited for Kili to finish his work on his pony, she shook out her fur once more.

"Hey!" Kili laughed. "Watch where you're shooting those drops, will you?"

She looked up at him and saw him wipe some drops from his coat and his face. He made a face like he was chastising her and she couldn't help but grin. He just looked funny doing it. It didn't fit him.

"I am pretty sure you're finding this disproportionally funny," he said and she could see a smile tugging at his lips, so she just tilted her head and gave him a little yelp.

"Thought so" he grinned and shook his head before he turned back to his pony again. She just kept grinning.

Suddenly, she heard an agitated voice from a little further ahead. She looked in the direction and slowly walked towards the two figures arguing there. She caught the last phrases that Thorin threw at the wizard who was standing between the ruins with him.

"… A dragon attacks Erebor. What help came from the elves? Orcs plunder Moria, desecrate our sacred halls. The elves looked on and did nothing!" He was practically spitting out his words now. "You ask me to seek help in the very people who betrayed my grand-father. Betrayed my father."

Tarya didn't know what exactly he was talking about. Obviously, he had a deep animosity towards elves and as it sounded he had good reason to. She had never heard of Erebor before but she had indeed heard of dragons. She didn't know what Moria was but she did know Orcs. And so she could only imagine what horrible things had happened to those places.

"You are neither of them." Gandalf said, trying to reason with the dwarf before him. "I did not give you the key to that mountain for you to hold on to the past!"

"I did not know that it were yours to keep!" Thorin snarled and Tarya was reminded once more of the similarity between him and an actual alpha-wolf reprimanding a member of his pack.

Gandalf then just sighed and turned around, shaking his head in frustration. He walked right past her, only giving her a short apologetic glance before he stormed past the rest of the group.

"Everything alright?" Tarya heard Bilbo ask as he marched past him. "Gandalf? Wh-where are you going?"

"To seek out the company of the only one around here who's got any sense!" the wizard shouted back.

"And who's that?" the hobbit asked confused.

"Myself, Mister Baggins!" he yelled and then mumbled something to himself but it was too low and he was already too far away for Tarya to catch it.

She couldn't help but grumble a bit. What was that wizard thinking? She had come along mostly to get his help as he had told her he would find answers for her in Rivendell. And now he was just leaving?

Thorin shot her a sideways glance as he roughly called out to Bombur that they were hungry. Poor Bombur quickly hurried himself to start a fire. Now that had just been rude, she thought. Sure, she was an animal and she wasn't really known for politeness or anything like that. She didn't have to be polite to anyone being a wolf. But she knew when someone let out his or her anger on another person and the fat dwarf had definitely not deserved such a harsh tone.

She grumbled again, this time a bit lower and louder. The dwarf who she knew to be a king turned to look at her. He just raised one eyebrow at her but she could see in his eyes that he had understood that she was unhappy with his behaviour. It didn't seem to bother him much, though.

Well, she thought, after all he was their alpha-wolf and if they were unhappy with his treatment they would have to fight their own fights.

So she just turned away from him and then followed Fili and Kili as they led the ponies away from the camp to tie them up and watch them.