Author's Note #1: This is another one of those chapters that was supposed to give the impression of a lot of traveling. So again, sorry if it seems split up, or the scenes seem short and totally unrelated. And on a totally different note, wow, Karra was moody in this chapter. I blame the fact that this whole quest thing is totally new to her. ;)

Author's Note #2: I have way too much fun naming my chapters.

Chapter 4-Orcs, Wargs, and Temperamental Dwarf Women

"We're getting into the wild lands now," Kili said one day as they were making camp. He gave Karra a pointed glance. "You know, these lands will be swarming with wolves and wargs."

Karra swallowed hard. "What's a warg?" She was pretty sure he was just teasing her, but what was a warg? The name sounded terrible.

"Horrible, ugly things with huge fangs," Fili said. "You wouldn't want to meet one alone."

Bofur now decided to join in the conversation. "Imagine the biggest wolf you've ever seen. Wargs are bigger." Karra gulped. She had been hearing wolf howls at night for some time now, and that was disconcerting enough. But wargs….? Apparently this world was a rather dangerous place. She stood up abruptly and walked over the edge of camp. That was enough teasing for one day.

"Be careful!" Fili called after her. "I told you, you wouldn't want to meet a warg alone!"

Karra just gave him a dark glare.

She flopped down beside a tree a decent distance away from camp. As she sat there, watching everyone set up, she began to reflect on the past month or so. It had been a strange one indeed. So much traveling, it seemed they must be on the other side of the world by now. The days of riding seemed endless. At least they weren't silent days. The dwarves talked while riding, and there always seemed to be at least one interesting conversation going. Karra found herself learning something about dwarf culture and history, and it was interesting. After hearing many tales of the kingdom of Erebor, she was actually rather interested to see it. Provided she ended up traveling with them that long, that is. And it seemed that she very well might, if they continued traveling through the wilderness like this for the whole trip. She had originally imagined that they would drop her off in some town somewhere, and she would find a home there as best she could. Not that this place would ever truly be home.

Home. What was happening at home? Did anyone miss her, or even realize that she was gone? What about her mom…she missed her mom. Even if she was a little distant. She still missed her. And home….her apartment…..she missed her apartment. Even if it was only a little apartment in a big college campus, she missed it. It was familiar and comfortable, unlike this…..this adventure. At home she didn't have to sleep on rocks at night. At home she didn't have to worry about wargs, or even wolves for that matter. She felt an unbidden tear sliding down her cheek. All of the memories of her mom and friends flooded back, and suddenly she had put her head in her hands and was sobbing.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there. But she was interrupted by a voice saying, "You're crying."

Karra looked up to see that Bilbo was sitting beside her. Oh, he would understand. She could confide in him.

"I miss my home," she said softly.

Bilbo looked up at her with compassion in his eyes. "I do too," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I wish I'd never come," she whispered.

"Sometimes I wish that, too," he said.

"Sometimes?"

"But sometimes I'm glad I've come. Sometimes I'm glad I'm a part of this." He sat up straighter. "It's an adventure, after all. Adventures can be good and bad."

"Mostly bad," Karra muttered.

"But there's some good that can come, too. As Gandalf told me once, home is behind….the world is ahead."

Karra sighed. "I guess. But right now I don't care about the world….this world. I just want my home….my world."

Bilbo looked at her sympathetically. "I understand," he said simply. He looked up suddenly. "I believe dinner's ready," he said, then grinned. "That should cheer you up!"

"Yeah, I guess," she mumbled. Wiping her eyes and hoping no one would notice that she had been crying, she went over to the campfire.

Unfortunately, someone did notice.

"You've been crying," Fili observed.

"Why does everyone have to notice!" Karra wailed. "Please just cut me a little slack, okay? I'm tired of traveling. And you wouldn't understand. You don't even have a home to miss." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized that she had struck a wrong chord. "I'm sorry!" she cried, seeing the look on his face. "I'm really sorry! I didn't mean it like that….please….." Suddenly she began to cry again. "I….I'm really sorry," she sobbed. "I can't do anything right."

"Please…." Fili made a vain attempt at comforting her. "I'm not offended. Please. Please just stop."

But Karra didn't want to stop. She just wanted to cry into someone's shoulder, and Fili was handy. With a sniff, she dropped her plate. Leaning against Fili, she put her head in her hands. "Oh, I'm so stupid," she cried. "I'm clumsy, and I'm dumb. Everything I say comes out wrong. How do you even tolerate me? I was never serious. I never meant anything seriously."

"I know….I know you didn't…." Fili was a bit flustered. "It's fine….it really is…."

"No, it's not!" Karra exclaimed. "I've been so thoughtless sometimes…..did I ever offend you?"

"You didn't…." he soothed. "Please…."

"Stop trying to comfort me!" she snapped. "I'm done with my dinner. Goodbye for the night." She stood up and walked haughtily to the edge of camp.

Kili turned to Fili with a grin. "I didn't know dwarf women were so temperamental," he said.

"Listen, I'm really sorry about last night," Karra said a little awkwardly as she bumped along on the pony behind Fili the next day. She hadn't really wanted to ride behind him, but he had insisted, as always. "I guess I was just tired, and….I don't know. I just wasn't in a good mood. I really am sorry."

Fili turned around and grinned at her. "Oh, no, it was perfectly fine. I'm sure you needed a….cry."

"Yeah, but I didn't have to do it on you." Karra flushed slightly thinking about it. "Admit it, you think I'm strange."

"Of course not."

"Well, at the very least, you think I'm…..different."

He nodded. "Well, yes, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Is it?"

Karra sighed. "Sometimes it is."

This time he smiled, not grinned. "Not for you."

Karra flushed. "Are you trying to flatter me?"

He turned back around, this time with a grin. Karra sighed and let out a large yawn. "I'm getting kind of tired," she said. Oh well, she knew him well enough by now. "Do you mind if I….fall asleep?"

"Not at all."

Karra drifted off to sleep with her head on Fili's shoulder, just as she had done that first day.

"Oh, that's nice. We're camping by a cliff tonight." Karra wasn't exactly thrilled by the prospect. "I mean, what if someone rolls over in their sleep?"

"I suggest you camp farther from the edge, then," said Fili, sliding off the pony and swinging her to the ground.

"Right. As if I didn't think of that. I just don't like heights." She was now spreading her bedroll as far away from the edge as she could get it without bumping into the cliff wall. She had never had a problem with sleepwalking, but a sudden fear struck her…..

"I wouldn't worry about it," Fili said. "With as far away from the edge as you're setting that up, you'd have to sleepwalk to get even remotely near the edge." Karra rolled her eyes. "What?" Fili asked.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that I was just thinking that I was afraid I'd sleepwalk. I think you read my mind."

Fili chuckled, then glanced at where Karra had spread out her bedroll. He cleared his throat.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I didn't realize how close I was setting mine up next to yours. Yeah, not a good idea. I mean, I don't really want to sleep that close to the guys…." She sheepishly picked up her bedroll and set about moving it rather far away.

He gave her an amiable smile. "Has anyone ever told you that you use the language in strange ways sometimes?" he asked.

Karra was a little shocked. "What do you mean?"

"I finally just figured out what you mean by the word 'guy.'"

"Oh! Yeah, I guess you don't use that word here," she said lamely.

"And 'yeah' is the same as 'yes,' am I right?"

"Yeah….I mean yes. I must say, you've done a very good job of figuring my 'language' out."

He shrugged. "After hearing you talk for a while, I began to put words in context. It wasn't that hard, really."

"Yeah, well, at least you don't talk without using any contractions," she replied. "I tried to read a fantasy story once where everyone did that, and it was so annoying."

This time Fili evidently didn't know what she was saying. "What?" he asked, a perplexed look on his face.

Karra flushed. "Nothing," she muttered. "You wouldn't understand. You're in a fantasy story."

Fili shook his head. "This is one of those times when I can't even figure out what you're saying by context."

Karra rolled her eyes. "Nevermind," she mumbled. "Umm….change of subject, please?"

Fili grinned at her. My, he did that a lot. "I think I'll go see what they're cooking for supper," he said lightly.

Karra grinned back. "Fine. Run away from my awkwardness," she said. "Whatever. I can set up my sleeping bag by myself."

"I'm assuming that 'sleeping bag' is the same thing as 'bedroll.'"

Karra just grinned again. "You should be a language professor," she said with a laugh.

It was the middle of the night, and Karra wasn't exactly sure what had woken her. She only remembered that she had been dreaming of her home, and her dad. She remembered him clearly, although it had been years since she'd seen him. He was a handsome man, thought rather short; her mother had always said that she'd gotten her height from him. She had seen him in her dream. He was sitting on the couch at her house….there was an odd sort of lonely look on his face. And then she had heard…..

Karra jerked upright. There it was again. That was what had wakened her. It was the most blood curdling scream she had ever heard. A horrible sound, not at all like a warg or wolf howl, not at all. This was something different, something more dangerous.

It seemed that Bilbo had heard it too. He came scuttling over from where he had apparently been awake, to where Fili and Kili, who were apparently awake, too, were sitting. Goodness, thought Karra, am I the only one who ever sleeps in this company?

"What was that?" Bilbo asked nervously, voicing the question that Karra had wanted to ask.

"Orcs," Kili responded.

"What are orcs?" Karra asked, at the same time Bilbo said, "Orcs?" They looked at each other and smiled slightly. Karra almost blurted out, 'jinx.'

"Throat cutters," Fili replied. "They'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them."

"They strike in the wee hours of the night," Kili continued dramatically. "Quick and quiet, no screams, just lots of blood."

Karra and Bilbo looked at each other. "I don't like blood," Karra mumbled. Bilbo just looked terrified, saying nothing. All of a sudden, the two 'young' dwarves began to laugh. Karra began to splutter, then gave them a dark glare.

"You," she said caustically, irritated. Fili and Kili just laughed more. Just then, Thorin, who was apparently awake too, came walking over. He glared at the two boys. At that moment, that was what it looked like, two boys who had been caught at some mischief by their stern dad.

"You think that's funny?" Thorin said, and his voice was bitter. "You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?" For a moment, Karra actually felt sorry for the two…..Thorin did sound rather intimidating, after all.

Kili tried to look innocent, and failed. "We didn't mean anything by it."

"No, you didn't," said Thorin harshly. "You know nothing of the world." Turning quickly, he walked to the edge of the cliff and stopped, just before falling off, Karra thought.

Balin, who was apparently awake too, came walking over. Gosh, who was sleeping tonight?

"Don't mind him, laddie," Balin said amiably. Of course, anything he said in his thick Scottish accent sounded rather amiable. "Thorin has more cause to hate orcs than most. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain…"

Karra sat up straighter. She felt a story coming.

And come it did. Balin told of the great battle for Moria, a battle that lasted for many heart wrenching hours, a battle that cost the life of the great King Thrain. A battle that earned Thorin the name of Oakenshield, through which he gained great glory in the songs and tales of the dwarves. A battle that ended in sorrow, and in the deaths of thousands—many hundreds of thousands—of dwarves—for every victory must come with a price. A battle that earned Thorin Oakenshield the honor and glory of kingship—for, as Balin said, there, standing victorious, was one more than worthy of the title of King Under the mountain.

The entire company was awake now, and staring at Thorin in awe. He turned, and, not seeming to see them, walked through the midst of his company, every bit the future king of Erebor. In silence, the dwarves turned away, and returned to their sleeping places, as if still digesting what they had just heard. Karra crawled into her bedroll and stared up at the stars, her mind whirling with thoughts of the ancient tale. The last thing she thought before she drifted off into sleep was I am so going to dream about orcs tonight…

Whew, we finally get to something that's in the movie! Actually, I like making up my own stuff better. For the movie scenes, I have to go watch the scene again (not that I have any objection to that, lol!), figure out how to describe everything, and try to make it interesting, and not make it look like I had just copied the script or something. Therein lies the hard part. It's a challenge. I hope it was interesting. :P

So…um…who do I offer if you review? Hm….I don't quite want to give up Fili and Kili yet…..um….oh, never mind. If you review, you're awesome. Everyone wants to be awesome, right?! ;)