I'm back with another chapter! Yay!

Beloved Daughter: Haha :D Ah, yes, the commitment... That's a little something that will have some important consequences :D

Lucia123: Ohh, I don't wanna mess with someone whose weapon of choice is a spatula, so here's the new chapter! Although, I'll be on guard with my rolling pin in case I need to defend myself :D

Chilled Souls of the Forgotten: This will definitely complicate things, yes. But hey, everyone needs a little challenge sometimes, besides fighting orcs and goblins and running for their lives, right? :D

And to all the others: Thank you guys so much for your numerous reviews! I was really happy about all of them :D And I'm so happy that this story and my concept seems to please you guys and that you enjoy the chapters, that's just great! :D

Also, thanks to the favoriters and followers, I highly appreciate it!

And now I'll shut up and just leave you with the chapter :D

Tarya was shocked. No, shocked wasn't even close to what she was. She was horrified. What in the Gods' names had happened?!

She had hands and fingers and… and her fur was gone! What was going on? What had happened to her? She didn't want this; she wanted it to get undone. She felt awfully weird and naked.

After a seemingly never-ending moment, she realized that she actually was naked, talking in human standards. Her eyes widened just a bit further. Thankfully, she had those blankets around her; otherwise she didn't know what she would have done.

Kili was still standing before her, looking down on her. He seemed just as shocked as she was. And understandably so. But at least he had recognized her. Although, she wasn't sure how he'd managed to do that. She didn't know how she looked at the moment and she wasn't sure she actually wanted to find out.

She could only let out another small whimper when she looked at her hands. What was she supposed to do with a human body? This was ridiculous.

Suddenly, Kili crouched down so that they were on the same eye-level. She suddenly felt really small. He watched her hesitantly, seemingly not knowing what exactly he should do. Tarya looked him in the eyes and felt herself relax just a tiny bit. She concentrated on the young dwarf, for he was the only thing that was familiar at the moment.

"It's… it's all right," he stuttered. He didn't sound like it was all right, Tarya thought, and it wasn't. Everything was terribly wrong. Kili came just a little bit closer then, taking a deep breath before reaching out his hand towards her.

Tarya looked at his hand, then back into his dark brown eyes. She didn't know what he wanted from her but as he stretched out his palm a bit further towards her, she realized what he was trying to do.

It was the same gesture he had produced when they had first met. He had reached out his hand for her then to put her paw inside it. It had been a sign of trust, she thought. And she still trusted Kili, probably more than anyone else she knew. So she tentatively reached out her own hand – it was weird to see the limb move and knowing that it belonged to her own body despite the ridiculousness of it all – and laid it into the palm of the brunette dwarf.

Kili smiled slightly, closing his hand around hers. "It will be fine, Tarya," he mumbled reassuringly, "We'll just… We'll have to figure out what happened."

Kili didn't know where he was taking the courage to tell her those things. He was sounding far more certain than he actually felt.

But he just couldn't stand the look on the woman's face. She looked so terribly frightened and he didn't want Tarya to feel like this whether she was animal or human. It was weird, though, holding her hand in his and knowing that this girl had been a wolf just a few minutes ago.

She seemed nothing like the brave big wolf now. She was small, probably even smaller than him, he realized and she was afraid. She had never seemed afraid as a wolf, Kili thought.

Suddenly, the door was pushed open loudly and Kili looked up to see his uncle enter the room. Behind him were Fili and Dwalin and behind them yet were the grey wizard and Bilbo Baggins who had let his curiosity get the better of him when they had heard the horrified scream echo through the corridors.

Kili felt Tarya stiffen and she abruptly retreated her hand to bury it in the mass of blankets she was now digging herself into. It was as if she wanted to hide. She looked around the corner of the bed tentatively towards the other members of the company.

"What happened?" Fili asked, looking at his brother questioningly, "We heard someone scream."

"Yes, well… That would have been her…" Kili said slowly, inclining his head towards Tarya whom he was still kneeling before. He felt like he was sort of shielding her from the others views and that might not even be such a bad thing considering her current state.

"Who?" Fili asked and made a few steps forward. Tarya shrank in her spot.

Kili glanced at her and then cleared his throat awkwardly. "Tarya."

This time it was Gandalf who made a few steps forward, peeking around the bed. Tarya looked back at the wizard out of big golden eyes. "By my beard," the wizard breathed, "Tarya!"

Kili could see her tense up when the others caught up and were now gathering around her. Their looks spoke of sheer disbelief and incomprehension.

Surprisingly, Bilbo was the first to regain his voice. "That is… T-Tarya? But she… she's – how is that possible?"

Gandalf stayed quiet and it was Thorin who answered the hobbit in his deep baritone voice slowly. "Commitment," he said, looking over at the wizard, "Is this what it looks like, then?"

"One would think so," Gandalf replied thoughtfully, although he wasn't sure himself what to think of the whole affair.

"There is no way this is possible. Tarya is a wolf – an Amarok – and not a little girl!" Dwalin interfered loudly and incredulously.

"Of course it is her," Fili said, gaining everyone's attention with the softness of his voice, even Tarya's. He was looking at her with a little calming smile and trying his best not to scare her more with an agitated tone. She seemed distressed enough as it was. "Just look at her," he said, "Her eyes are as golden as they were in her wolf form and her hair is as black as her fur."

Kili nodded but brought the attention back to something that had confused him before. "What do you mean by commitment?" he asked his uncle and was met with a hesitant look.

"She has committed herself to you when she saved your life, Kili," Gandalf said after a moment, "and I would think that this is the outcome of such an act."

That didn't really help him understand and Kili looked at Tarya for an answer but she had the very same look on her face while staring at the wizard.

Tarya watched the wizard in disbelief. What was he talking about?

Well, of course, she knew what commitment was. Or at least, she'd heard of it. But she had never actually thought the stories to be true. They were legends even for Amaroks themselves. It had never happened to any Amarok she'd known.

Never would she have believed that it would happen to her and escpecially that something like this would happen! What did this mean?

She had committed herself to Kili?

This was ridiculous. Sure, she had been willing to give her life for him to be safe but… she stopped her thoughts right there. No, the wizard was right. She had committed herself to this dwarf, she realized and her eyes grew even bigger. She liked him, he was her friend and therefore he was worthy to be saved even if it cost her own life. If this was what caused commitment, then she had indeed committed herself to this dwarf before her. Bloody hell.

But then why did she become… this?

She hesitantly looked up and met Kili's gaze. He was still staring at her questioningly, so she did something that she had seen a lot of people do and thought it to be the appropriate thing to express her feelings now. She shrugged.

"Is she mute?" Fili asked then and Tarya looked over at him. He seemed genuinely worried about her and she couldn't help but smile a bit. It was nice to see that Kili was not the only friend she had made so far in the company. Even though – apparently – he was the most important one.

"I wouldn't think so," Gandalf answered, smiling, "But I would imagine it to be rather difficult to use one's voice when one has never had the need to speak before."

Tarya could only agree with the wizard. She wasn't even sure if she was able to actually speak like they all did but she had been a bit too busy with her whole transformation to try yet. But now that she thought about it, she couldn't help but be curious. This was absolutely new to her. She had fingers and hands and she could grab things like a human. And she also had a voice, so she could possibly speak like a human, too.

She'd listened to enough people talk during her years as to know their words and their phrases. But she couldn't think of what to say at all to begin with while the others talked about what to do with the current situation. She didn't really listen to them.

And then she decided to say the only thing she thought worth trying to say for once.

"Kili," she mumbled quietly to herself as to try out the sound of it.

All eyes were on her immediately.

"Did you say something?" Kili asked with raised eyebrows, looking surprised.

She nodded.

"Kili," she smiled.

Her voice.

Kili couldn't remember ever having heard a voice like hers before. His name had fallen from her lips like a strange sound that she was trying out. Which was probably the case, he thought. Her voice was a bit coarse but sweet and mild nevertheless. And it was very quiet at the moment so that he wasn't sure she'd even really said his name or if he had simply imagined that.

"Did you say something?" he asked her.

"Kili," she repeated and now a small smile came to play around her lips. Kili was fascinated by it. The smile was shy but happy and it shot right into his heart, leaving a warm feeling there. He immediately shook the thought off. What was going on with him?

"Yes," he said and returned her smile. This was a start, at least.

Gandalf observed the two with slight amusement twinkling in his eyes. It was very interesting, indeed. He would not have thought that Tarya would change into a form like this. And he wasn't sure that this was really the outcome of an act of commitment. He had heard his share of stories about Amaroks that committed themselves to someone and never had there been mention of a result like this. There seemed to be something else playing a part in this. But he didn't know what it was yet and so he didn't utter his thoughts. He would have to ask someone else on his views on the topic to clear this mess up.

The wizard didn't think that any Amarok had ever changed into any human form whatsoever before. But here she was, lovely Tarya, neither dwarf nor elf nor was she of the race of men. She was the human form of an Amarok and Gandalf was fascinated by it.

However, he wasn't sure how to proceed now that Tarya was a young woman and not a wolf anymore. Would she be able to go on with the company and this journey? After all, this body was new to her and Gandalf wasn't sure whether Thorin would be willing to take her with them now. Admittedly, he didn't know whether Tarya would be willing to stay behind. Particularly now that she had committed herself to someone.

As Gandalf looked at the Amarok, he was not sure whether she actually knew about the whole importance of the bond she had made.

Thorin couldn't quite make sense of what he was seeing. He had never thought anything like this would be possible to happen. And yet, here he was, standing before an Amarok that had become human. He didn't know what to make of that. It was certainly intriguing; it was something no one had ever witnessed before. It was some sort of strange… treasure.

"What shall we do now?" Dwalin asked then, sounding far quieter than he had before, probably as to not upset Tarya, Thorin thought. "Will we take her with us?"

The question was clearly directed at him and the dwarf king sighed silently. "We will see if that is possible," he said hesitantly. He'd have to make up his mind before making a decision. "First, we should get her something to eat and drink. I suppose you are quite hungry after the events of this day." His last words were directed at Tarya who hesitated a moment. It looked like she wanted to say something but in the end she simply nodded, giving the king a grateful look.

Thorin nodded as well before turning to his youngest nephew. "You will take care of her, Kili, while Fili and Master Baggins will get her some clothes to cover herself." He saw his older nephew nod and the hobbit mumbled a short "of course" before they quickly left the room.

The dwarf king then nodded towards Dwalin. "We will inform the others of… this." He shot the wizard, Kili and the girl on the floor a last look before he retreated from the room with his friend.

This was probably the best way to deal with this situation at the moment, he thought, the practical one.

Tarya felt a bit better now that so many eyes were not observing her anymore. If only a bit.

Unconsciously, she shuffled a bit closer towards Kili who had sat down on the floor next to her by now. Near him, she was at ease – or more at ease, at least. He saw her move closer but didn't react to it; he just let her do as she pleased. And she was thankful for that.

She met his gaze then and couldn't help but smile timidly. This was just too awkward. She didn't even know how to behave anymore. She'd never had to worry about her behaviour when she was a wolf. But how would anyone act in a situation like hers? She doubted that anyone would be really at ease and knowing what to do.

Kili gave her a reassuring smile and Gandalf hummed beside them. "I shall leave you both alone for the moment. I think Tarya is quite safe in your company, dear Kili." He said and Kili just agreed with a short nod.

"I shall talk to you later, my dear, when you have… adjusted a bit," the wizard told Tarya before he left the room as well.

Now there was only the two of them left. Tarya buried herself in her blankets a bit further so that only her eyes and nose were still uncovered. She felt weird and she felt ugly. She had never actually thought about looks before. Animals didn't care about things like that. But now she was awfully aware of her body and she didn't want the dwarf to see her like this, even though, she didn't exactly know why she felt like this. It didn't make any sense to her.

"You don't have to hide from me," Kili said lowly, obviously deciding that conversation was the best way to deal with this. "I'm your friend."

Tarya sighed. He was right. He was her friend, so she sat up a bit straighter and looked him in the eyes, a bit more determined this time.

"How are you?" he asked carefully.

"Good," she managed to say after a few seconds. She would have to get used to her own voice. It was strange to hear it come out of her mouth. Strange, but not unpleasant, she decided. She felt it was actually quite fun to be able to speak.

"Your wound is healing fast," Kili continued, obviously trying to keep her busy in the conversation so that she wouldn't retreat into herself. Or maybe so that they both didn't have time to overthink this whole situation and drown in the strangeness of it.

Tarya nodded. "That… is normal for me," she slowly said, concentrating on every word.

"At least one thing that is," Kili chuckled and she couldn't help but smile, too.

They were silent for a moment then and she watched Kili shuffle awkwardly before he contemplated her face. His facial expression softened a bit while he examined her eyes, her nose, her mouth, her neck and she couldn't help but wonder what she looked like. So she asked him.

"What do you see?" she asked.

"I see you," Kili smiled.

"Hm. How am I?"

The dwarf seemed to hesitate for a moment before looking back into her eyes. "Stunning," he mumbled then and suddenly, Tarya felt an awkward heat spread in her cheeks. Surprised, she reached her hands up to touch them. She heard Kili chuckle.

"You're blushing," he told her.

"What does that mean?" she asked him, confused. She couldn't recall ever having seen anyone blush and she certainly hadn't experienced it herself before. Kili scratched his chin pensively.

"It shows that you're embarrassed by something," he then said, "In this case, you're flattered by what I said."

Tarya looked at him, slightly stunned. That was exactly what she felt like but she thought it extraordinary that her body would react to it in such a way. This was very interesting. But it was also a bit impractical if it meant that her emotions could be read so easily from now on.

"It's the truth, tough." Kili continued smilingly, "You were already beautiful when you were a wolf and that hasn't changed one bit."

She didn't know what to say so she just inclined her head in silent thanks and smiled to herself.

"Thank you," Kili said eventually and she looked back up to meet his gaze. He seemed very serious now, looking at her intently.

"What for?" she managed to say.

"For saving my life," Kili said, taking her hand in his own again. Tarya didn't mind. "Please don't do it again, though."