By the Fire

When she had turned on her stomach to lie more comfortably, the tenklaki woman had almost cried out in dismay when she caught sight of her left wing. It was bent at an unnatural angle, and her feathers were matted with dried blood. Someone, one of the barbarians, perhaps, had applied a splint and bandage to it, and though the sight of her mangled wing made her feel ill, she did not believe that any lasting damage had been done. Takabi had tried to convey her gratitude to the largest of the barbarians, 'Strider', but he simply nodded in acknowledgement with a polite smile. Trying to preserve her dignity after her outburst, she then inspected her wounds more closely. Peering through the blood soaked into her feathers, she could see that the wounds themselves had been cleaned, as had the bandages wrapped around the larger cuts. The wrap and splint on her wing was clearly improvised, and Takabi doubted that these beings had any experience in treating wing injuries. It was better than nothing, however, and overall she was satisfied with her treatment.

The remaining time by the fire was awkward, to say the least. The smaller barbarians stayed clear of Takabi, which was fine by her, as she had no interest in socialising with them. She preferred to study them from afar. Were these the supposed 'Short Ones' mentioned in the scrolls? She imagined so. She did not see any furred faces, however, despite it apparently being their key defining feature. They did have fur on their feet, though. Perhaps there had been an error in the translation of the text.

As it grew darker, the barbarians busied themselves with food, when they were not busy staring at her. While Strider had talked slowly and deliberately towards her, much of the conversation made between the barbarians was too garbled and fast for her keep a track of, especially because of the inconsistent pronunciation that they seemed to use (the worst of which came from the roundest Short One, who used so many contractions that it made Takabi's head spin). As food started to be prepared, the winged being's own stomach gurgled loudly, much to her embarrassment. She reached for her own bag, but as she drew a few biscuits out she glanced at barbarians own meager rations - Takabi was surprised at the miniscule amount of food they had managed to produce.

She munched on her own crumbly sweets, trying to figure out what their conversation was about, and knew concern when she heard it. Takabi, the empathetic being that she was, would not have cared in the least for the starving barbarians, but for the fact that they were her only way of navigating out of this dismal place, and going to a slightly more civilized one. That, and the solemn, hungry expression on the youngest looking Small One's face…

"I have," Takabi began, drawing the curious attention of all barbarians present as she struggled for words. Brilliant. "I have some- some… Oh damn it all, just take the stupid food." She hissed the last part in her own language, resignedly shaking the pouch of sweets upside down and promptly cramming two of them at once into her mouth, chewing grumpily. When no one moved, she pointed from the startled barbarians (though that Strider fellow seemed vaguely amused, if anything) to the sweets, using a universal gesture of 'well, dig in, you dolts'.

The youngest was the first to try it, and he seemed to like the strong sweet flavour of the grainy treats. His enthusiastic response prompted others to quickly try a sample, and soon, a quarter of the tidbits had gone. Takabi in turn took an odd piece of food from a barbarian. She examined it – it was an odd, fluffy, crunchy piece of food made out of what appeared to be a type of grain – then consumed it. It was bland, but filling, and she took another piece when it was offered.

Soon, the uncertain atmosphere had dissipated somewhat, food proving itself to be a universal language.

Their bellies filled somewhat, they settled by the fire, and the night grew darker. Takabi had grown hot and sweaty under the furs of the sleeping sack she had been given, and she shrugged off the covers to get cooler. As if the night had read her mind, the temperature decreased to a more pleasant climate. Curiously, the smaller barbarians did not share her sentiments, huddling closer to their campfire, wrapped like small entrées on a tightly packed platter. 'Strider' seemed less bothered by the weather, though.

After a while, Strider seemed to tell the others stories, and though Takabi could not understand most of the words, the barbarian's deep, rhythmic method of telling such tales was oddly soothing, and she found herself listening, entranced, regardless of her lack of comprehension. When chanting began, with unfamiliar yet melodious words that were smoothly recounted and pleasant to the ear, the drowsy tenklak could not hold her eyelids up any longer, and quickly fell into an oddly peaceful sleep before The Tale of Tinúviel had even finished.

"She has fallen asleep," Merry noted, when the hobbits had decided to stretch. The feathered being remained unmoving on her stomach, breathing softly. She looked almost peaceful, with her wounds dressed and her expression serene.

"Then she bears no ill will," Strider said, more to himself than to the hobbits, staring into the fire thoughtfully. "No evil creature would be soothed by the stories of the Old Ones and the songs of the elves."

Takabi awoke with a start a short time later (though it felt much, much longer) when she heard an exclamation. Groggily, she straightened, intending to stretch her cramped wings, before grunting in pain as she was given a painful reminder of her previous adventures. As the cloud of sleepiness left her mind, a sudden inexplicable uneasiness replaced it, as moonlight flooded the clearing. Instinctively, she reached for where her daggers would be on her hip, before realizing that the wary barbarians had probably removed them. She could not understand the orders shouted by Strider, but she followed the example of the smaller barbarians and sat around the fire, facing outward, though she had to stay some distance away from it, in order to keep her wings and tail feathers out of the way of the flames.

There they sat in tense silence, and while Takabi longed to ask what was going on, terror and unease sealed her lips. Instead, every feather on her body stood on end, and her olive skin crawled as she listened for some indication of their pursuers, because she knew somehow that something sinister was out there in the darkness. Confused, frantic thoughts clouded her mind, as she realised how helpless she was in her current state, not to mention that she had no idea who-or what was out there in the darkness.

After what felt like an eternity, a sharp cry of exclamation drew her attention to growing shadows, the sight of which struck an instinctive terror into her heart. The surrounding air seemed chilly, as though she were back at home in the polar atmosphere of the mountains. Then, when she could not feel anymore fear, they approached.

The tightly knit group they had formed was broken as soon as each individual's terror overtook them, and Takabi wasted no time in jumping away from where the shadows advanced. From the sidelines, she saw the shadows, and the barbarians, quaking in terror – Strider was the only barbarian still in command of his senses, and was attempting to organise the remainder into some kind of defensible order. The shadows seemed only interested in the barbarians, largely ignoring the terrified tenklak, who did not notice that one of the Short Ones had been missing. The shadows rushed past her and beset themselves on the barbarians, seemingly converging on a vacant space, until she heard foreign words spoken from a faraway place.

A great shout grated Takabi's ears, and she saw Strider attempting to drive each shadow off, a blazing piece of wood in each of his hands. The shadows screeched, a sound which made her flinch, until sense overcame her terror enough to follow the barbarian's example. Running to the fire and stooping, she picked up two flaming branches, dual wielding them as if they were her daggers, and turned to the nearest shadow. It recoiled, as the first shadow had from Strider, before recovering itself and lunging at her. She clumsily dodged out of the way, inhibited by her large bird feet and injuries. Strider then came to her rescue, managing to drive off that shadow too. Before Takabi could comprehend what had happened, the shadows had gone, vanished suddenly, the terror that had permeated the air jarringly replaced with an empty, thick feeling of shock.

Takabi heard a cry behind her, as the roundest of the Short Ones found one of his companions face down on the cool grass. The barbarians rushed towards him, and she hung back, unsure of what to do, and unsure of whether she cared enough for the barbarian to check. However, they paid her no mind as they lay their fallen friend by the fire, and Strider ran off into the night. They had covered their friend in all of their blankets, and he slept silently, as if dead, his companions hovering nearby. They conversed in worried voices that almost made Takabi herself concerned. She attributed her conflicting feelings to the fact that they resembled children. Ugly, furry, wingless children that looked far too mature for their size, but children nonetheless.

The night plodded on, and Takabi could not sleep as she did before the chaos, so instead she offered her blanket to the round Short One, as he had given his own to his companion and looked rather chilled. He looked surprised, at first, before smiling and asking her something. She frowned, and dug into her scroll again, asking him to repeat it several times before she finally could hold a conversation with him.

"Won't. You. Be. Cold?" He asked for the millionth time, as she finally got the gist of his gibberish.

"No," She replied. "Home is cold – snow, and wind. Here is warm. You need furs, I give."

He took it after some convincing (a lot of broken convincing, which was extremely annoying for the both of them), and then introduced himself as 'Sam', a relatively easy name for Takabi to pronounce. 'Pippin,' 'Merry' and 'Frodo', on the other hand, were names that did not come easily, but were learned after practice. After the introductions, however, conversation was more difficult, and they finally lapsed into an uncomfortable silence while they waited for Strider to return.

A/N:

SO. That happened. Sorry if it sucked balls, but at least we're trudging through this plot.

Forgive Takabi's attitude, arrogance is a big part of her personality. She's in a new, alien place (if you haven't noticed by the way she goes on about it every three freaking seconds) so she's on the defensive. Also, she's just kind of a bitch to combat her original purity sue tendencies, but let me know if she crosses into the jerk sue territory too much, please? I'd be grateful.

Exam week for uni's coming up soon, so I might be a bit slack during the next few weeks as I try to not fail my very expensive subjects. But, if you even bothered with reading this, then thank you very much!