I was surprised to see that a little crowd had gathered in the yard. Sneaking into the hall and hiding behind the giant door once more, I watched with growing interest as Beorn listened entranced by the story that the tall stranger told. More and more of the strange shorter men arrived two by two out of the wood. The pair I had seen in the wood were present, studying the storyteller with interest. Some of the guests seemed nervous, eyeing our animals and the bees that lazily drifted in from their hives in the pastures behind our lodge.
I bit my lip and shifted my weight on my heels as the leader brought his tale to a close. Honestly, I had become so drawn in by the telling of it as well that I had not noticed that the group had grown to fifteen persons and the sun had started to set behind the hills. They had come through fire and fell creatures to stand where they were now. It was more than I could imagine in the wide world outside our forest.
"A very good tale!" Beorn declared, stirring me from the spell, "The best I have heard for a long while. If all beggars could tell such a good one, they might find me kinder. You may be making it all up, of course, but you deserve a supper for the story all the same. Let's have something to eat!"
My heart jumped to my throat at the realization that all those men were coming into our quiet hall at once. It was something I had never seen before. I grew panicked like a cornered doe. Racing back to the little room Beorn had built for me, I closed the door to the sounds of tramping boots invading our home. Soon Beorn called the ponies and dogs in to bring the torches to light the hall. I could hear the astonished voices of the visitors as they watched the animals ready the table for a meal. Sitting down on the rough boarded floor, I wrapped my arms around my legs and tried to keep myself from panicking any further. Resting my head on my knees, I closed my eyes.
It was pitch dark when I opened them again. I was surprised to find I had fallen asleep. The commotion out the hall had quieted. By this hour, Beorn would have left for the wood, leaving me alone with his guests. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as the low rumbling of voices combined in a way I had never heard trailed under the door of my room.
The visitors were singing.
I stood, my back and legs stiff from being in such an odd position for so long. Gently pushing the door ajar, I peered out into the hall lit only by the fire at the center of the room. A few of the strangers were seated around the welcoming glow, clouds of pipe smoke covering their heads like clouds in the mountains. I spied the characters I had seen in the wood. The one that had spotted me was sitting on the long table, his feet up on the bench before him. He was bent over his knees, chewing the end of his pipe thoughtfully as his comrades sang mournfully. The sound of their voices bit straight through my heart, stirring something that had lain dormant for years.
"It passed the lonely Mountain bare
and swept above the dragon's lair:
there black and dark lay boulders stark
and flying smoke was in the air."
I focused on the words of that verse, my eyelids drifting shut. Some of them did not make sense to me, but images materialized behind my eyes. The spell over my memory lifted momentarily. I could see a small settlement of men, a village before a large, dark mountain. I was little, being lifted onto the broad shoulders of a man. I had felt safe.
Their voices faded out, the moment and memory passing into the dark. I opened my eyes and looked out on the warmly lit room. I glanced over once more at the golden haired stranger. Gasping slightly, I found his eyes on me in the shadowed end of the room where I peeked from behind my door. He squinted, taking the pipe from his mouth as he studied me. I shut the door, resting with my back against the frame. I held my breath, waiting for him to come investigate. He never did.
After a few moments, all movement out in the hall ceased as the strangers bedded down for the night. Bolting my door, I curled underneath my scratchy blanket, my mind racing. It was several hours before I fell into a restless sleep.
Dawn came soon enough.
I could hear the lark out in the pastures where the bees dwelt. Perhaps I could make it out into the wood before I was noticed. The only one of the strangers who saw me might conclude that I had merely been a figment of his heightened imagination in a strange land. I unbolted the door and peered out into the hall. The smoke from the fire drifted in a single, silver ribbon from the bed of embers. I could hear snoring and heavy breathing. Deciding to take the chance, I tip toed out and past the sleeping bodies of the party.
Fili turned in his short cot, trying to block out the irregular snores of Bombur where he was splayed out beside him. He rubbed his eyes, glaring up into the rafters of the hall. He had passed a disquiet night, despite how weary he felt.
He swore he had seen the same ghostly figure of the girl-woman in the shadows of the hall that he had spied above in the oak branches of the wood. She had been peering from behind a door. In the darkness, he had been unable to clearly make out her features. However, it was the same wide eyed, unblinking gaze of a child in the mature face of a grown woman. He half wondered if the strain of the past few days was getting to him, playing tricks with his mind.
Fili turned fitfully, laying his head on his arm as he trained his eyes on the corner where he had seen her. He held his breath as he watched in surprise as the secreted door opened into the hall. The girl emerged. He blinked, his glass green eyes studying her as she spirited herself silently across the hall. None of his kinsmen stirred. She disappeared out into the white, pink dawn.
He sat up out of bed. Tugging his heavy leather overcoat over his shirt sleeves and stepping into his boots, he did his best to quietly make his way towards the door. Bofur grumbled as he passed his cot. Fili froze, unwilling to explain to anyone where he was going.
He just wanted to make sure that she was real.