Chapter Three
"Bilbo isn't awake yet." said Ariella as they ate breakfast. "Well he did say last night he wasn't coming." said Balin. "Well, he might change his mind." spoke up Ariella. "You want to wager on that, Ariella?" said Gloin. "Oh, is that a bet we have in order, Master Gloin?" said Ariella playfully. "Yep." said the red haired dwarf. "Fine then. Its on! By the way, loser will have to dance in a pink ballerina costume." said Ariella. "Ariella, that is messed up!" exclaimed DJ hearing that. "Yeah! If we did lose, that means we have to dance in pink outfits?" snarled Kili. "Yep." said Ariella. DJ rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe that Ariella was going to do that. "Agreed." said Gloin.
"And you're agreeing on it, Gloin? Shame on you!" snapped Dwalin, glaring at the dwarf. Even Thorin glared at him. "Well, we have no time to lose. Lets go." said Thorin, standing up. Ariella and DJ followed Thorin and the company outside of the Green Dragon where they would meet. "DJ, you will ride with me." said Thorin. "Who will I ride with?" asked Ariella. "On a unicorn, Miss Ariella." said Kili sarcastically. "Ha, ha, very funny, Kili!" said Ariella. "You'll ride with me lassie!" called out Bofur.
As Ariella mounted the pony, sitting in front of Bofur, she looked at the dwarf. "You wouldn't believe that nonsense, Bofur? Kili thinks I should ride a unicorn, which by the way, there is no such thing as unicorns!" said Ariella. Bofur laughed. "I could see Kili on one!" chuckled. Ariella burst into laughter at Bofur's remark. "You seem to be good with animals, Miss DJ." said Thorin. "Growing up, I done a lot of barrel riding for rodeos. My life pretty much revolved around horses and ponies. I also worked with show horses and ponies as well." said DJ.
"Wow." said Thorin. The two sat in silence for a little while as they waited. "I hope your friend wasn't serious about all of us have to dance in pink costumes." said Thorin. "I'm afraid to say this, Thorin, but she was serious. But don't worry, I'll stop her from doing something stupid." said DJ. "I hope so." said Thorin. Suddenly Bilbo arrived, running with contract in hand. Bilbo handed over the contract to Balin, and Balin looked it over. "Well, everything is in place! Welcome to the company of Thorin Oakenshield!" smiled the dwarf. "Give him a pony!" snarled Thorin.
Fili and Kili lifted up the hobbit, placing him on the pony and they begin their journey.
"Well I guess I know what this means." growled Kili. "That means we have to dress in pink outfits and dance!" moaned Fili. The dwarves could hear Ariella in the back cackling as hard as she can. DJ looked at the dwarves. "We'll get her back." said DJ. Thorin looked at Ariella. "Don't stoop to her level, DJ. That's childish. You're as bad as Fili and Kili." said Thorin. "But she's going to make you guys look ridiculously stupid!" said DJ. "I know." said Thorin. "But doesn't she deserve some kind of payback?" said DJ. "Haven't you heard of hard work, DJ? We'll just put Miss Ariella to work, as a payback." said Thorin.
DJ thought about it. Ariella has never worked in her life, considered that she lived inside a lamp most of the time. DJ thought it was a good idea to put Ariella to work. Later, they stopped and made camp. Ariella stood in the center of the camp, calling the attention to the dwarves. "Alright, listen up boys! You lost your bet, and now its time for your reward!" grinned Ariella. "Ariella, don't you even think about it." said DJ. "What reward?" asked Bilbo. DJ explained to Bilbo the situation. "They lost the bet, so Ariella is making all the dwarves dress in pink and dance." said DJ. Bilbo burst into laughter.
"That goes for you too, Bilbo." said Ariella.
"ME?! Why me?" glared Bilbo hotly. "Because you over slept this morning." said Ariella. DJ stood up, standing face to face to Ariella. "Ariella, you have gone far enough! This stops right now!" barked DJ. "Oh come on, DJ! Stop being such a party pooper! Can't a genie have a little fun?" said Ariella. "No! You just sit down right there and do nothing! Park it, missy!" demanded DJ. The dwarves and Bilbo smiled at DJ. "Yes, your royal pain in the-!" grumbled Ariella. "She didn't just call you a pain in the butt did she?" asked Fili. "Yes, she did. But I'm everyone's favorite pain in the butt." smiled DJ. Fili smiled back.
DJ went to her spot and she sat down, nearby Thorin. Thorin looked at DJ and smiled, and gave her a nod. "Thank you for stopping her antics, DJ." said the dwarf. "You're welcome, Thorin!" said DJ, smiling back at the dwarf. DJ took out her sketchbook, and began working on some sketches. "DJ, were you involved with anyone back in your world?" asked Thorin. "Oh, you mean in courtship?" said DJ. Thorin nodded. "No. I chosen to remain single after a relationship I was involved in after my parents died. The man I was dating, well courting, got involved in the wrong crowd and he took up drugs and alcohol, and he started getting abusive with me, not only that, he became unfaithful and possessive. After I broke it off with him, he kept stalking me, until I got the police involved, and I put him in jail." said DJ.
"What did he do to you?" asked Thorin. "I cannot talk about it." said DJ sadly. "DJ, its okay. You can talk about it." said Thorin, gently. "I said I don't want to talk about it, okay?!" snapped DJ. Thorin sighed. Meanwhile, Fili and Kili began talking about orc raids, trying their attempts to scare Bilbo. Thorin could hear the young dwarves laughing afterwards, and he became angry. Thorin stood up, pacing in front of them. "You think orc raids are funny? You think it's a joke?" said Thorin, hotly. "We didn't mean anything by it." said Kili softly. "You know nothing of this world!" snapped Thorin, and he walked away from the company.
DJ looked over and saw Thorin looking out. Balin then began his story to Fili and Kili about why Thorin hated orcs so much. DJ and Ariella sat and listened attentively. "Oh my." gasped Ariella. DJ wiped a tear from her eyes, feeling sad for Thorin. "What happened to the Pale Orc? What became of him?" asked Bilbo. "The orc filth died within his wounds long ago." scowled Thorin, as he returned to the company, sitting back down in his spot nearby DJ. "You have my deepest condolences of the loss of your family, Thorin." said DJ, taking Thorin's hand.
Thorin squeezed DJ's hand. "DJ." whispered Thorin. Suddenly, something came over DJ.
She had no why she had done it, as she leaned towards Thorin, kissing the dwarf gently and briefly on the lips. The kiss took the dwarf by surprise, because he didn't expect it. "If I was to ever fall in love again, it would be you." whispered DJ. "It sounds to me you already made your decision, DJ!" smiled Thorin, as he pulled DJ gently into his arms. "Will you accept my offer in courtship, DJ?" said Thorin. "I accept, Thorin." said DJ, as she laid her head on Thorin's chest. "I will tell you what happened to me in my last relationship. The man-well, he raped me." said DJ.
"WHAT?!" cried out Thorin. "Thorin, don't worry. He's in jail for a very, very long time, not to mention he is very far away from us, so we don't have to worry about him." said DJ. "If I was there, he would've gotten a few body parts decapitated." snarled Thorin. DJ laughed. "I would've love to seen that, but I could've done that myself." said DJ. "Why didn't you?" asked Thorin. "He was stronger than I am, I couldn't fight him." said DJ. "DJ. You need to learn to fight. In fact, starting tomorrow morning, I will train you in your weapons." said Thorin. "Really?" asked DJ. "Really." said Thorin. DJ laughed. "Okay." said DJ.
The next morning before the skies clouded up, Thorin took DJ to train in her weapons for a little bit. "Oh shit. Its clouding up." snapped DJ. "We have to get going anyway." said Thorin. DJ nodded, and they went back and joined the company. "Where did you two go?" asked Ariella. "Training DJ with her weapons." replied Thorin. After everyone mounted their ponies, they continued their journey. It started to rain that day. DJ didn't mind the rain, but Ariella and the other dwarves, even Bilbo complained about it.
"Oh come on! You guys aren't going to melt, unless you're sweet and made out of sugar!" joked DJ. Bilbo laughed. DJ chuckled at Gandalf's response to Dori' s musings of the rain, then Bilbo changed the subject asking Gandalf if there were other wizards like Gandalf. "You don't remember the names of the two blue wizards?" asked Ariella. "It's been many, many years since I've seen the blue wizards." said Gandalf. Later, Thorin called out to the others to make camp. DJ offered to help Bombur on cooking supper. "I didn't know you cook, DJ." said Bombur. "I love to cook. I love to share to you some recipes handed down to me from my grandmother, someday." smiled DJ. Bombur grinned.
DJ told Bombur of her grandmother's famous lemon cookies.
"I wish I had the ingredients on me now, I would make up quite a few batches of lemon cookies." said DJ. "Damn." said Dwalin. "What?" asked DJ. "Your tempting me! I love cookies!" said Dwalin, playfully. "Oh, I'm sorry Dwalin." said DJ. Meanwhile Gandalf and Thorin exchanged heated words, arguing over about making a stop in Rivendell. Ariella approached DJ. "I don't understand your boyfriend sometimes, DJ." said Ariella. "Boyfriend?" said DJ with a puzzled look. "Thorin Oakenshield? Remember? The one who held you in his arms last night?" said Ariella.
"Ariella, we're not boyfriend and girl friend, just yet. If that's what you're thinking." said DJ. "Then why did he kiss you?" asked Nori.. "You guys didn't see that!" said DJ. "Oh yes we did!" grinned Dwalin. DJ raised her hands, giving up and walked away. "She's turning into Thorin already!" chuckled Ariella, sitting down next to Bofur. "You are quite pretty, Ariella. So yer really a genie?" asked the dwarf. "Yes." said Ariella. "Do you grant wishes?" asked Nori. "Yes, but I only grant those wishes for those who really, really need. A good wish should not go wasted." said Ariella.
"So if one makes a wish request to you, it has to be a really good important wish, right?" asked Nori. Ariella nodded. Ariella started to feel uncomfortable explaining her wish policies to the dwarves, worried that one of them would request one. "Ariella, may I have a word with you please?" asked DJ. And it was DJ, who caught on to Ariella. Ariella walked over to DJ. "Ariella, you really should watch what you say around the dwarves. Especially when it comes to your wishing policies." said DJ.
"Well they asked, DJ! I couldn't lie to them! That's against everything in my book. Genies never lie!" said Ariella hotly. "Well? I like these dwarves and all, but I don't trust them completely just yet. Thorin knows you're a genie, Lord only knows what he'll do if he attempts to make a wish!" said DJ. "Now DJ, Thorin would never do such a thing, you know that. He's got more important things to think about." said Ariella. "I don't know." said DJ, and she walked away. Fili and Kili already left the camp to watch over the ponies, and Bilbo left to take bowls of soup to the young dwarves.