Author's Note: I'm back! Since I haven't updated in a bit, I just had to post this chapter a day early. My schedule is back to somewhat normal now, so I should be updating fairly regularly for a bit. Until I catch up with myself. Which might be soon, since I've been suffering from a sever attack of writer's block lately…..

Chapter 11-One of the Company

Karra sighed and buried her face deeper in her pillow. She didn't really have to get up now, did she? The bed was so comfortable, and…

And….

And…the realization hit her like a blast of wind. The dwarves were leaving today!

Without her! She suddenly remembered her conversation with Fili last night. The dwarves were leaving, or maybe they had already left, without her. She flew out of bed, and, without even thinking to comb her hair or smooth her rumpled clothes, rushed to the nearest dwarf's quarters, hoping against hope that they hadn't left yet….she had to say goodbye, or….or maybe she could convince them to let her go with them.

No one answered her knock. Upon further investigation, she found that the chamber was empty. On to the next…..and the next…..and the next….and they were all empty. The dwarves had left—without even waking her up to say goodbye. What was she supposed to do now? Just linger around Rivendell until she died of boredom? Well, maybe a little more exploring would be kind of fun. If anything could be called fun after being left behind by the only friends she had in this world.

She thought of breakfast. Dejected, she headed slowly in the direction of the breakfast area. She would be the only short person there this morning, and probably for the rest of her life. The thought was depressing. She had no friends here. Well, maybe she could find the elf she had met the day they had arrived here—was it Alassiel?—but that probably wouldn't go anywhere. She had lost the only friends she had, and would never see them again.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she barely noticed that Elrond had caught up to her and was walking beside her. All of a sudden, she glanced up and saw him looking down at her, a slight smile on his face.

"Hi," she said, a little shyly.

"The leader of you company spoke to me yesterday about you," he said.

Karra raised an eyebrow. "Thorin spoke to you?" she asked incredulously.

"Very briefly." Karra thought she caught a hint of humor in his voice, and grinned slightly. Very briefly, indeed. It was probably below Thorin just to look Elrond in the face, much less actually speaking to him. "I was told you were to stay here," Elrond continued. "That is all."

Karra nodded sadly. "Yeah. Apparently I wasn't really part of the company. I thought I was." She stopped herself. Was she confiding in a stranger? How embarrassing.

Elrond gave her a compassionate smile. "Perhaps they are only trying to protect you."

"Yeah maybe. I think they just don't want me around." She remembered Fili's look last night. "Well, Thorin doesn't want me around. And he's the leader, so…." She shrugged. "I didn't really want to stay." Oh! "I mean….It's not like I don't like it here…..I really do…." Why did she have to have such a horrible habit of saying things before she thought? Now she'd probably offended him!

He didn't seem offended. "You will be safe here," he replied, changing the subject nicely.

"Yeah, thanks." She looked away. "I mean, I'm sure I'll like it here." I guess. I'd like it more traveling with Fili….with the dwarves. "Really, thought, thanks for….letting us stay. You don't know how much this place has refreshed me, at least. I'm not sure about the others." There she went again, spouting off rude sounding things. Sometimes she was so darn awkward.

With a gentle smile, Elrond put a hand on her shoulder. It was as if he understood. And then he walked away, leaving her to do what she wanted. For a moment, she stared after him. And then, turning, she stared up at the mountain pass by which she was sure the dwarves had left.

Karra was never quite sure what got into her. With a glance back at Elrond, and glance at the mountains, a sudden thought occurred to her. Without a moment's consideration, she turned and ran after Elrond.

"Mr. Elrond!" she called. No, that wasn't right. "Lord Elrond!" Finally catching up to his long strides, she huffed, "Which way did the dwarves leave?"

He turned in surprise. "Which way did they leave?" he said. "Well, the way they came, I suppose. I was not here to see them leave."

"Oh, right." Karra made a face. "Because they just kind of snuck out, didn't they." She pointed. "So they left that way?"

"I suppose." Elrond gave her a strange look. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh…." She replied, trying to sound innocent. "I just had a thought."

"I see." Elrond glanced up at the mountain pass. "Well, I will leave you to your….thought." It was as if he knew exactly what she was thinking, and it was a little eerie. She glanced away guiltily.

The minute Elrond was around the corner, Karra took off. She ran as fast as she could in the direction of the mountains, across the bridge, and up the little path. She slowed a little on the ascent, focusing on keeping her footing. She struggled her way up to the mountain pass and was completely out of breath when she got there. Looking back and forth, she tried to decide which way the dwarves had gone. Well, the probably hadn't gone back into the cliffs, so that left only one way. As soon as she had gotten her breath, she started off as fast as she could without losing her footing down the narrow path along the side of the mountain.

Pretty soon she was thoroughly out of breath, both from walking fast and from trying not to slip and fall over the edge. How far had the dwarves gotten this morning? She was getting very tired from walking, and the mountain path was…..dizzyingly high. Focus on the view, she told herself. The view was….beautiful, with the mountains spread out before her, some tipped with snow, some covered in trees. She glanced back. She could no longer see Rivendell. A strange sense of longing flooded over her. Perhaps she should have stayed.

No. She had made her decision. She would feel kind of stupid going back now. Pushing back all sentimental missing-Rivendell thoughts, she pushed on, forcing herself to put one foot in front of the other, and not to look down the mountainside. Gradually, the narrow path widened slightly. After a long while, Karra heard faintly echoing voices. Her heart quickened, and she walked a bit faster. She was catching up!

Turning a corner, she came rather suddenly on the company. At first, no one noticed her. She walked rather nonchalantly right into the middle of them before anyone actually did see her.

"You came!" exclaimed Kili a little too loudly.

All heads turned their direction. Everyone stared at Karra. She gulped. For a moment, she regretted her decision. But then, standing as tall as she could, she tried to look determined, and was pretty sure she failed.

For a moment, everyone was silent. And then Thorin slowly approached her. Karra was almost scared.

"Did I not say you were to stay at Rivendell?" he said sternly.

"Yes." She swallowed hard.

"Did I not say you were only to travel with us until we found a place for you?" he asked.

"Yes." Karra backed away a little.

"Then why did you follow us?"

"I…" Karra fumbled for an explanation. "I…I wanted to be part of the company. I was starting to feel like one of you." She grew more confident as she spoke. "I couldn't just let you leave without me. I…I feel like I've invested some of me in this….this quest. I couldn't bear not being there when….when it ends." She stood up straighter and tried to meet his eyes, but that proved something she couldn't do. She quickly turned away from his dark gaze.

"This journey will be long and dangerous," he said darkly. As if it hasn't already been dangerous, Karra thought. "We cannot allow a woman to travel with us."

Karra suddenly felt anger rising in her. Hadn't she traveled with them for nearly their whole journey so far? And hadn't she become as good as one of them? A woman! How dare he!

"And so you'd leave me with the elves, who you don't trust?!" she exploded.

There was a moment of silence. Everyone stared at her.

"Uncle," Fili spoke up after what seemed an eternity, "I think we should let her stay with us."

"Yes," Kili piped up. "She's traveled with us for so long….."

Bilbo unexpectedly spoke up. "We should let her come," he said shyly. "You let me come."

This time everyone stared at Bilbo. Thorin turned his dark gaze away from Karra for a moment, then looked back at her. Fili tapped him on the shoulder. "Uncle…" He motioned for Thorin to come with him. Kili and Balin followed them.

"I guess they're too polite to talk about me in front of me," she said nervously, at the same time noticing how weird that sentence had sounded. Trying not to watch them talk, she leaned back against the cliff and attempted to look nonchalant, and failed. The entire company was silent, as if they were waiting, too.

Finally, after what seemed longer than an eternity, the four came walking back. After a slight dramatic pause, Thorin looked her direction, and said slowly,

"You will travel with us."

Kili let out a whoop and clapped her on the back. She just grinned as Fili took her hand and squeezed it, and Balin said congenially, "You're one of us now, lass."

Karra beamed. "Yeah….one of the company!"

With only a glance in her direction, Thorin ordered, "Move along."

"I suppose you realize this entitles you to a share in the treasure?" Kili asked her as they walked.

"Treasure? You never told me the benefits!" Karra exclaimed.

"Ah, yes, treasure, lass," Balin chimed in. "Great halls of it. Halls of gold….and many other treasures. The Arkenstone. Have you ever heard of the Arkenstone, lass?"

The conversation continued for most of the rest of the day. As they walked, the ledge grew wider and sloped gently downward, until they had traveled out of the cliffs that surrounded Rivendell. The sun had almost set when they made camp for the night. Karra had to admit, as uncomfortable as ponies were, walking for a day was almost worse.

"I think my legs are going to collapse," she groaned as she plopped down on the ground, watching everyone else make camp. "And I'm pretty sure I forgot my bedroll."

"Here." Dwalin tossed a blanket in her direction. "Use this."

She stared at it. "That doesn't look comfortable." She was ignored. With a little huff, she laid down with her hands behind her head. "Ah….it feels good to lay down," she sighed. "That was a lot of walking."

"I thoroughly agree." Karra turned her head to see Bilbo sitting beside her. "Ponies were better."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Oh…thanks for helping convince Thorin to let me stay."

"You did a fair bit of convincing yourself. Your comment about the elves…."

Karra flushed. "It just kind of….came out. I'm not sure how I could be so saucy to him."

"Saucy? I thought it was clever."

"Well, thanks, I guess. But it seems like Fili and Kili and Balin did most of the convincing." She rolled over and sat up. "Isn't the scenery here awesome? I love sunsets like these….."

Karra sat up and stared at the moon. She really must find something better to sleep on, she thought. The blanket made a good pillow, but she was sure the rest of her would be very sore in the morning. And just like last night, she couldn't sleep. She felt that even though she had been traveling with the company for weeks, this was her first real night on the quest. She was one of them now! And she had a share in the treasure. Treasure. She fingered the necklace she had found in the troll hoard, and with it came the thought of her mother. And her father. For the first time in a while, she began to wonder who her father was. That strange conversation between Fili and Kili that she had heard….perhaps her father had known of this world. What an odd thought.

She quietly stood up and tiptoed to the edge of camp. What a strange adventure this had been! What was to come?

She had no idea of the adventures that lay before her.

I just realized that I have 45 follows! Yay! I can't believe so many people like my story enough to follow it! I love every one of you! And I just used way to many exclamation points!

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