Author's Note: Well, here I am again, this time with an actual chapter. And no, I'm not starting a regular update schedule again. I just figured it's been so long since I've posted anything, I should let you all know I'm still alive. :D I only have about three more chapters finalized and ready to post, but I have a whole bunch more first drafts which I'm in the process of rewriting as fast as I can (believe me, you don't want to read my first drafts). I should hopefully start updating again in about a month or so (I know, I know, I said that last time). Anyway, here's a nice long chapter to keep you busy for a while. :D

Chapter 17-Eagles and Braids and Bears, Oh My

Karra sat up slowly and looked around her. An eagle dropped the last dwarf on the rock and flew off with a cry. Karra got to her feet and found herself limping as she walked over to the rest of the group, who were gathered around Gandalf and...was that Thorin? She bit her lip and tried to ignore the throbbing pain in her arm. Their leader was much more seriously injured; she shouldn't be worrying about her own minor injuries right now.

As Karra approached, she saw that Gandalf was leaning over an unconscious and bloodied Thorin. He passed his hand over Thorin's face and muttered what looked like some sort of healing spell. Thorin opened his eyes with a little gasp for breath. Karra bit her lip. He was seriously injured.

"The Halfling?" was the first thing he asked. His voice was weak.

"It's alright," Gandalf said, nodding happily. "Bilbo is here. He's quite safe."

For a moment, Karra saw enormous relief on Thorin's face, but it hardened once again as two of the dwarves helped him to his feet. Karra herself began to glance around at the others, counting them as she had heard Gandalf do at times. Reaching fifteen, she sighed with relief. Everyone was here, and everyone was safe. It was probably best not to think of where they were at the moment…hundreds of feet above the ground with only a skinny line of steps as the only way to get down….oh, darn it, she had thought of it.

"You!" Thorin's voice interrupted her thoughts. He was on his feet now, staring at Bilbo, his expression hard. "What were you doing?" he said harshly. "You nearly got yourself killed!" He approached Bilbo, still glaring. Karra winced. Didn't he even realize that Bilbo had saved his life? What was he thinking? "Did I not say that you would be a burden?" he continued. Bilbo was looking a little startled. "That you would not survive in the wild and that you had no place amongst us?" He was standing right in front of Bilbo now, and despite his short stature, he seemed to tower over him.

And then suddenly he relaxed. "I've never been more wrong in my life!" he said, his voice filled with emotion. And before anyone knew what was happening, he had enveloped the hobbit in a huge hug. The dwarves began to laugh happily, and Karra felt Fili's arm go around her shoulder. She grinned.

"I'm sorry I doubted you," Thorin said seriously, his hands on Bilbo's shoulders.

"Oh, no, I would have doubted me too," Bilbo replied, obviously trying to sound casual, and failing somewhat. "I'm not a hero or a warrior….I'm not even a burglar."

Karra grinned. And I'm not even a full dwarf. What a motley company we have here, she thought with a laugh.

Suddenly the eagles let out a cry, and all eyes followed them as they wheeled away. As Thorin looked up, he seemed to catch sight of something, for he stepped forward, staring into the distance.

"Is that what I think it is?" Bilbo asked.

Karra followed everyone's gaze forward. The outline of a single, solitary mountain jutted above the horizon. "Is that…" she began.

"Erebor—the Lonely Mountain," Gandalf said. "The last of the great dwarf kingdoms of Middle-Earth."

"Our home." Thorin's voice was laced with emotion. Karra stared at the distant mountain. Her father's home—was it her home? It was her heritage. Was that enough to make it a home? She sighed.

Her thoughts her interrupted by the lively chirp of a bird. All heads followed it as it flew away. Another bird song was heard, and more birds began to fly towards the Lonely Mountain.

"A raven!" exclaimed Oin. "The birds are returning to the mountain!"

"That, my dear Oin, is a thrush," Gandalf corrected him with a smile.

"We'll take it as a sign, a good omen," Thorin said softly.

"You're right." Bilbo squared his shoulders. "I do believe the worst is behind us."

"You know," Karra said after a moment of thought, "a year ago, I wouldn't have believed in good omens. In fact, I wouldn't have believed in omens at all. But now…." Her voice trailed off, and she suddenly noticed that Fili's arm was still around her shoulder. "I guess I could believe in anything now," she finished, a little embarrassed by her speech. "I guess the main issue right now is how to get off this rock," she said, changing the subject with a little laugh.

"That ought to be easy enough." Gloin pointed to the narrow steps running down the side of the pillar of rock. Karra gulped. If that was the only way to get down, she had a problem. The height and steepness….what if she tripped….she shuddered. She bit her lip as the group of dwarves headed towards the steps, working her way towards the back of the group. Before she knew what was happening, she was putting her foot on the first narrow step. And the next…..and the next….and then she looked down.

She had to close her eyes for a minute. To her embarrassment, she found herself grabbing onto the arm of Ori, who happened to be in front of her. "Sorry," she mumbled. "Gotta get my balance." She cautiously set her foot on the next step, staring straight ahead of her.

The trip to the ground seemed to take forever. Karra looked down more than once, and regretted it every time. Of all the places the eagles had to set them, why did it have to be here? So high above the ground?

She felt an enormous relief when she finally stepped onto the nice, solid ground. Well, it wasn't like the steps hadn't been solid, but on the ground, there was no danger of tripping and falling to your death! She sat down carefully and leaned back against the rock, closing her eyes. She winced as little tingles of pain ran down her neck.

"I," she said firmly, "can't take one more step until I rest for a little bit. You can go on without me if you'd like."

"Oh, we wouldn't dream of going on without you," Kili said lightly. "You'd just follow us anyway."

Karra didn't deign to respond. She simply lay limp against the rock, reveling in the feeling of sitting still. Her neck still hurt, and her arm, she noticed, was caked with blood, but she could take care of that later. Right now she just wanted to…

She didn't know she'd fallen asleep until she woke up. The first thing she heard was the sound of voices. Rather loud voices. She opened her eyes and peeked around the rock….and received a bit of a surprise. She jerked back in shock and embarrassment. No, no, no. I did not just see that.

Apparently, the dwarves had decided that this was a good place to take a bath, and undressed and done just that. And Karra had happened to peek around and see them, bathing in the river. She flushed slightly. What a horrible moment to wake up. What was she supposed to do now? Just sit there until they decided to get dressed again and come find her? Hmph. This was terribly embarrassing.

Well…..a bath in the river did sound like kind of a good idea. She could find a bend in the river, someplace not so open, where the dwarves couldn't see her, and do it herself. She carefully got to her feet and found herself limping. Still trying to ignore the pain in her neck, she tiptoed away from the rock, careful not to look in the direction of the dwarves.

She had to walk for a little while to find a place that was out of view of the group. Still, she felt a little uncomfortable completely undressing. The place felt so open. She decided to wash her injuries first.

She winced as the cold water hit the wound on her arm. It hurt a little to wash off the blood and grime, but it felt good to have it clean. She then washed the cut on her cheek. She finally just slipped into the stream without undressing.

She could have sat there forever, it felt so good. But she was half afraid something or someone other than the dwarves would find her, so she washed off as much dirt and grime as she could and stepped out of the stream, shaking herself dry. She sat there for a moment, wondering whether she should go back now or not. After all, she didn't want to catch the dwarves in the middle of their bath again. After a moment, she finally just stood up and headed back towards the rock.

She was met by Fili, who had apparently come to find her. He led her back to the rest of the company, who were pretty much finished bathing and dressed again.

"Ah, there she is!" exclaimed Bofur. "Where were you, lass?"

"I was…washing in the stream," she replied. "Just like you were. I thought it was a good idea."

"So you did see us," he said with a little laugh.

"Um well," Karra mumbled, "sort of, I mean I just kind of peeked around for a minute, so you know…" her voice trailed off. This was awkward…

"Perfectly fine, perfectly fine." Bofur clapped her on the back. "We understand. Don't be embarrassed."

Karra turned away. "Thanks," she mumbled. She abruptly plopped down against the rock, willing herself not to betray the pain that shot through her neck. There was nothing anybody could do about that, so there was no point in mentioning it, she reasoned. But she felt like she should do something about her other injury, so she said, motioning to the slash on her arm, "Does anyone have anything I can wrap this with?"

"Certainly." Oin produced a nice bandage-looking piece of cloth seemingly out of nowhere, and carefully wrapped her arm. Karra bit her lip to keep from crying out. It hurt worse than washing it had, but she wasn't going to admit that. The thick bandage on her arm made her feel horribly clumsy, but it was better than having an open wound.

The afternoon was a slow one. Everyone took the opportunity to rest up a bit, with several scattered conversations, and a whole lot of just sitting around. Normally Karra couldn't stand just sitting around, but this one time she didn't mind. The sun was high in the sky when everyone apparently seemed to think it was a good time to take a nap, and before long, they were all stretched out on the grass sleeping, except Karra, who had already had her nap, and volunteered to keep watch.

She just sat around for a little while, just being bored, watching, even though there was really no need to keep watch, and eventually fell to examining the sleeping faces of each of the dwarves. Her gaze lingered on Fili for a moment, and she happened to notice that his braids were a complete mess. She was suddenly seized with an irresistible desire to redo them.

Slipping quietly over to him, she sat down. Running her fingers gently through his hair, she unbraided the thick braids, and then began the task of re-braiding them. She had always been the hairstylist of her friends, and these braids were fairly simple.

She was on the third one when Fili snorted and opened his eyes. He stared at her for a moment, still waking up. Her fingers lingering on the braid she was just finishing, she stared back at him, eyes wide.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "And just what would you be doing?" he asked amusedly.

"I…um…." Karra stammered.

"You were playing with my hair, weren't you?" he asked, and Karra thought she detected a hint of a smile on his face. She flushed.

"Well, you braids looked so….so messy, so I just had to…." Her voice trailed off. She bit her lip. How had it not occurred to her that he might wake up? Ugh, this was just too awkward.

Fili sat up. He ran his fingers through his hair, and a slight smile grew on his face. "You do a good job of braiding," he said lightly. He grinned at her. "I couldn't exactly go around with half-finished braids, could I?" he asked with a laugh, as if asking her to finish.

"Do you mind?" she asked shyly.

"Certainly not," he replied.

Feeling horribly clumsy now that he could see what she was doing, she finished the third one and began work on the fourth one. She had gotten quite good at working with her own thick hair, but on someone else with equally thick, if not thicker hair, it was a different matter, and with a bandage on her arm no less. Finally finishing, she ran her fingers through his hair one last time and cheerfully declared, "Finished!"

Fili ran his fingers through his hair, feeling Karra's braids. "You do braid well," he said. "You should do it more often."

"Oh, I do it all the time," Karra began lightly, when the sudden realization hit her. "Oh! You mean…." Her voice trailed off. "Umm….nevermind." Ugh. Had she seriously almost asked if she could braid his hair more often? How did he not think she was intolerably awkward, she wondered sometimes. The suddenly thought hit her that his mustache needed redoing, too, but she didn't say anything. That would be slightly more awkward.

She was almost glad for the interruption when Nori and Ori walked into the group, each with a couple of large rabbits slung over their shoulders. Oh my gosh….food. It suddenly hit Karra how hungry she was.

Wait a minute….Nori and Ori were returning? They had left? Karra sat up straighter and bit her lip, realizing that she was supposed to be keeping watch. She had been too focused on doing Fili's hair that she had totally forgotten to keep watch. It was a good thing orcs hadn't snuck up on them or something! She found herself flushing hard. She hoped no one would call her on it.

Nori and Ori slung the rabbits off their shoulders and Gloin and Bombur set to making a fire. Oh gosh, Karra realized, everyone was awake now. How many of them had seen her braiding Fili's hair…or the fact that she hadn't been keeping good enough watch? She slipped to the back of the group, hoping no one would notice her.

The messy task of skinning the rabbits was over quickly enough. Certainly quickly enough for Karra; she didn't want to watch that. And boy, was she hungry. The smell of cooking meat just made it even worse, and she sat there watching it, her eyes wide. She was half glad everyone else was focused on the meal, too, and no one thought to call her out or tease her for….well, one thing or the other.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the meat was finished cooking. Ordinarily, Karra probably wouldn't have much liked eating wild rabbit, but she didn't really care now. There wasn't nearly enough for the whole group to eat their fill, but at least it was something, and they all felt significantly refreshed afterwards.

"It grows late," Thorin observed. "We should continue."

Karra nodded, stood up, and dusted herself off. For once they had no packs or belongings to gather, and it was kind of a relief. They could just start, and start they did. Gandalf led them away, saying, "We will not camp here in the open tonight. We must find somewhere a bit more protected."

The sun sank slowly behind the horizon as they walked, shedding orange light on the open plains. As it grew dark, they found themselves walking into a narrow path between some large rock formations. "We will camp here for the night," Gandalf stopped them.

As they were preparing to sleep, it dawned on Karra that they didn't have anything to sleep on. Of course, most of their packs had been taken by the goblins. But Karra was tired enough to sleep anywhere. She plopped down against a rock, and before she knew it, she was asleep.

"Wake up. Wake up!"

Karra opened her eyes and sat up. Was that Gandalf? She glanced around her. The dwarves were all in various stages of waking up, dusting themselves up, preparing to get going again. But it was still dark! Karra groaned and sat up. Why did they have to go now? Couldn't they have at least waited until morning?

"Orcs!" she heard the wizard cry. "The orcs are upon us!"

Karra jumped up quickly. Not more orcs. No. No. No. "Move along," Gandalf said urgently. "Get up, move. We must move quickly." Counting, making sure they were all there, he motioned for them to follow him. The filtered past him, not quite running, but almost running. Gandalf led them on through the narrow path between the rocks, practically radiating urgency. Karra, who was still waking up, was still trying to figure out exactly what was happening. She blindly followed the wizard, her mind reeling. The orcs were after them again? But how? This didn't make any sense, none of it. And her neck hurt from sleeping on the rocks and her arm was starting to throb. She just wished she could go back to sleep.

Finally, they stopped to take stock of their surroundings. In the path between the rocks, it was hard to see anything, but Gandalf sent Bilbo out to spy, saying, "Bilbo! You're our burglar. Climb to the top of the rocks to see how close the orcs are!"

Bilbo seemed nervous (and why shouldn't he be? Karra thought) but he did as Gandalf directed, climbing out of sight to a lookout point to see what he could see.

The company waited anxiously for his return. Karra bounced from one foot to the other, leaned back against the cliff wall, and generally tried to appear casual, and generally failed. The dwarves were silent, a nervous silence Karra couldn't stand. She absently began to braid her hair, only to realize that she didn't have anything to tie it with, and pull the braid back out again.

After what seemed an eternity, Bilbo finally reappeared. He seemed a bit anxious, but Karra assumed it was nothing more than the usual anxiousness of having an orc pack so close to them.

"Too close," Bilbo said urgently. "A couple of leagues, no more. But that's not the worst of it."

"Have the wargs picked up our scent?" Dwalin asked, his tone equally urgent.

"No, but they will." Bilbo furrowed his brow. "We have another problem."

"Did they see you?" cried Gandalf. "They saw you!" he exclaimed in despair.

"No, that's not it." Bilbo looked as if he wanted to say more, but Gandalf cut him off, saying,

"What did I tell you? Quiet as a mouse. Excellent burglar material."

The dwarves chuckled and gave Bilbo appreciating glances. Karra giggled. She was momentarily distracted from the seriousness of the situation by the look on poor Bilbo's face. He was so frustrated. She could totally empathize with him. Dwarves could be so….nevermind. She was a dwarf.

"Will you listen?" cried the hobbit. "Will you just listen? I'm trying to tell you there is something else out there!"

This struck everyone silent at last. They looked at each other worriedly. What could be worse than a pack of orcs and wargs? More trouble. That was all this journey seemed to be, trouble and danger and more of it.

"What form did it take?" asked Gandalf. "Like a bear?"

"Yes…" Bilbo began, then stopped as the sudden realization hit him that Gandalf had practically read his mind. He looked quizzically up at the wizard. "Y—yes," he said nervously. "But bigger. Much bigger."

"You knew about this beast?" cried Bofur, looking at Gandalf. Gandalf stepped back for a moment, thinking. "I say we double back," Bofur said, in conference with the company.

"And be run down by a pack of orcs," Thorin replied harshly.

Gandalf stepped back into the conversation now, saying, "There is a house—it's not far from here—where we might take refuge."

"Whose house?" asked Thorin. "Are they friend or foe?"

"Neither," replied Gandalf, in his typical, and totally Gandalf-like, way. "He will help us, or he will kill us."

"Oh, that sounds just great!" cried Karra. "And we're supposed to trust this person?"

"What choice do we have?" asked Thorin, turning to Gandalf.

A roar rolled through the air behind them. "None," Gandalf said matter-of-factly. "Run. RUN!"

And before Karra knew what was happening, they were running. They ran for what seemed like hours, before they finally stopped for breath. The sun was beginning to rise. For the first time, Karra noticed that they had exited the path between the rocks, and were now in a forest. How had they gotten there? Karra was almost too busy catching her breath to even think about it. She barely had to time to even do that before Gandalf called, "Come on!" and they were off again. A horribly loud roar split the air frighteningly near them, and Gandalf cried, "This way! Quickly!"

Karra gasped and tripped over a rock. What was with her and tripping over rocks and crucial moments, for goodness sakes. She steadied herself, and, wincing slightly, ran forward, following the others as best she could, only to be caught a little off guard as they exited the forest rather suddenly and found themselves on an open plain. A house surrounded by hedges rose up in front of them.

"To the house!" cried Gandalf. "Run!"

Fortunately for Karra, there weren't any rocks in the open, grassy plain, but she was just beginning to realize that her neck was hurting her terribly, and she found herself lagging behind the company…slowing…slowing….oh great, something was going to catch up to her…but she just needed to catch her breath….

"Come on, Karra!" cried Ori, pulling her by the hand. Karra groaned. They were almost there. Almost there. They ran through he hedges surrounding the house, and through some lush looking gardens that would have been quite nice had they not been fleeing orcs. Huge bees buzzed around them. Finally, they reached the door of the house, and stopped for a moment as they attempted to open it.

Attempted. But that seemed to be all they could do, attempt, for the door wouldn't budge. Bombur threw himself against it, and if something didn't break when Bombur threw himself it against it, it was strong, for sure. Pretty soon the whole company was banging on the door, trying to break it down. Another roar rolled through the air behind them.

"Open the door!" cried Gandalf.

"We can't!" cried Karra.

"Quickly!" cried Thorin, pushing his way through the mass of dwarves to the door, and pulling on the bolt as hard as he could. It opened with a snap. The company swarmed into the house, the huge bear at their heels. It shoved its gigantic head through the door, growling. Karra found herself pushing as hard as she could against the door, along with the other dwarves. The bear growled. The dwarves, as one, gave one final heave, and the door slammed shut, pushing the great head outside. Someone slipped the bolt, and the company gave a collective sigh of relief.

"What was that?" gasped Ori.

"That…..was our host," replied Gandalf dramatically.

"Hmm?" she said bewilderedly. "Our host is a bear?"

"His name is Beorn, and he is a skin-changer," Gandalf replied matter-of-factly.

Karra looked at him quizzically. "Hmm?"

"Sometimes he's a huge black bear, sometimes he's a great strong man," Gandalf explained. "The bear is unpredictable, the man can be reasoned with. However he is not overfond of dwarves."

Karra groaned. More trouble, more trouble. When would it all end? Couldn't she just have a little rest for once?

"He's leaving," said Ori, peeking through a crack in the great wooden door.

"Come away from there!" cried Dori, pulling the young dwarf away from the door. "It's not natural, none of it," he said desperately. "It's obvious he's under some dark spell!"

"Don't be a fool," laughed Gandalf. "He's under no enchantment but his own. Alright now," he continued, "get some sleep, all of you. You'll be safe here tonight."

Karra winced. "Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly.

Gandalf nodded. "Quite sure," he replied, not sounding sure at all.

Well, that chapter turned out pretty long. I swear, I think it's the longest in this story. I'm rather proud of myself. ;) It was fun figuring out what happened between the movies. And if you review, I'll give you Beorn. XD

Aaaaand, I have a question. That really needs to be answered. A couple of chapters from now, I someone calling Karra 'princess' in dwarven. I'll leave you to speculate who calls her princess, but it's probably not who you think. ;) Anyway, my question is, what is the dwarven word for 'princess' or something like it? I can't seem to find this anywhere. If I can't figure this out before I post that chapter, I'll just edit it out, but it would be nice. :)