I pre-ordered "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"! I can't wait for it to get here! You all know the drill, I own nothing recognizable as Tolkien's works or characters. I only own Elva, Isil, and Aerin. Reviews welcome, enjoy! :)

Chapter 9: A Mountain's Thunder.

"The judgement is settled." Manwë declared. "Elva, Maiar to Aulë the Smith. You are henceforth stripped of your honour as a Maiar to the Valar. You cannot return to Valinor and must remain here on Middle Earth until your punishment is finished. You allowed hatred and anger to grow in your heart, and you refused blame upon your own actions. You felt envy in your spirit at what your sister was granted. And so you shall be stripped of your gift as well. We take from you your voice. May you one day find it again, but only if you learn to love."

A white light surrounded Elva and she howled as though in great pain. It grew fainter and fainter, and finally her voice was lost altogether. Aerin watched on, his eyes hard and full of pain. Aulë watched sorrowfully, Nienna felt the grief surrounding them as her own and tears fell from her eyes. Yavanna watched on with grim satisfaction. At least punishment was administered. She would return to Valinor and send Isil back to finish her task once Elva's punishment had been completed. The white light receded and Elva lay in a crumpled heap on the ground. She sat up slowly and opened her mouth to speak. But just as Manwë had declared, her voice was gone. Elva stared at them in horror. Tears sprung to her eyes. Aulë reached out a hand to comfort her. But she would have none of it. She snapped at his hand, turned on her heel, and ran as far from them as she could. Elva could feel the hatred of Yavanna and her brother follow her. And so, the wolf woman swore her oath to never let anyone close to her again. The real Elva suddenly felt the sensation of falling, and everything went black. Both of them awoke with a start. Elva sat up quickly and reeled away Bofur. He looked around in confusion before his eyes landed on Elva.

"Were you...?" He trailed off.

Elva nodded slowly.

"My mind somehow found yours in the night." She explained warily, not sure if he would be angry. "If I enter a sleeping mind, I am forced to stay there until the host awakens... that is why I will never enter the mind of one who is in a coma."

"So you saw everything." Bofur stated more than asked.

Again, Elva nodded.

"I am sorry." The wolf woman said honestly. "No one ought go through such an experience... well, I could think of one whom I would not mind it occurring to."

Her eyes melted from their stormy grey to a glowing yellow in hatred and anger. Indeed, Elva had often thought of horrors to inflict upon Mairon. Bofur laid a gentle hand on her arm. She flinched away with a glare, then looked at the ground sullenly.

"So what I saw..." He trailed off again.

"Yes." Elva whispered. "That was when I murdered my sister."

"Quite a pair, the two of us." Bofur laughed with mock humour.

"Aye." Elva nodded, plucking at the ground. "Rather a pair of fools and cowards."

The company awoke and began their journey again. Thorin had given Elva a stern glare for running off as she had, but she stoutly ignored him. They continued to head for the mountains, Elva shifting back into her wolf form again. At the pace they were traveling it was highly likely they would make it to the mountains just after noon. That would give them enough time to begin their climb as well. So far the quest had gone without much of a hitch, barring the Trolls of course. Elva wondered how long until their luck ran out and they ran into another vicious foe. She trotted in the back again, keeping her distance as usual. Bofur glanced back at her and waited for her as was becoming a habit for him. She flicked her ears in his direction and focused on the path ahead of her. After a moment she noticed Bofur was humming under his breath. She glanced at him curiously.

"What are you doing?" Elva asked.

"Humming." Bofur replied.

"What?" She questioned.

"It a vocal vibration usually categorized as music without lyrical accompaniment." Bofur elaborated.

"I know what humming is!" Elva snapped, then flinched apologetically. "I meant, what were you humming?"

"Nothing really." He answered. "Just something I came up with in my head."

"You play the flute, don't you?" Elva asked him.

"Aye, how did you know?" Bofur replied giving her a questioning glance.

"I saw you playing it through Bilbo's window." Elva answered, waving her tail insignificantly.

"Ah, well aye, I do." The Dwarf nodded. "If I were to play it, what would you say to thinking up some lyrics?"

"I don't sing." Elva growled. "No voice, remember?"

"That didn't seem to stop you in Rivendell." Bofur commented.

"How did you know of that?" Elva rounded on him.

"Ori." Bofur grinned at her.

"Of course." Elva sniped. "For a reclusive Dwarf, he certainly talks a lot."

"You really don't get what you talking to him meant to him, do you?" Bofur said. "I mean it when I say he was terrified of you. Poor lad nearly fainted straight away when Thorin ordered him to find you. Ori was more than certain you would eat him whole. He also knew how private you were, he saw how much you hated to be around anyone else. So when he heard your song and you noticed him, he thought he was a gonner. Instead you, as he described it, gave him an "almost motherly appraisal"."

Elva snorted and flicked her ears.

"Ori lived with Thorin in the Blue Mountains." Bofur explained. "His mother was killed by Smaug when Erebor was destroyed. Ori was quite young during this, and so he grew up without a mother figure in his life. One of the reasons he was so keen on coming along on the quest. But anyway, he said as soon as you gave him that look he knew he would never have to be afraid of you again. Even though you're snappish and aloof-"

The wolf woman gave Bofur a warning look.

"He feels safe around you." The Dwarf finished.

Elva glanced at the ground in contemplation. It hadn't been just Ori that felt something. She had decided to protect him back in Imladris. Her heart felt a little warmer when she heard he felt safe around her. But that also placed even more of a burden on her shoulders. She couldn't ever let him down like she had Isil, but she was still not sure how to let her heart open up again. But that still didn't mean she had to open up fully. Elva glanced up at Bofur again.

"I do not sing." Elva growled.

"As you wish." Bofur replied, the wolf woman catching a note of sadness in his voice.

They continued walking in a silence, and this time Elva allowed him to continue to walk next to her. A few hours before sunset, the company was on their way up the knees of the mountain. So far nothing too major had occurred. Bilbo nearly fell into a crevice or slipped of the edge on several occasions. But nothing else had gone wrong. Of course the mountain could not allow that to continue for long. Soon a torrential downpour beat upon the rocks making the terrain rather slippery and treacherous. But the company continued onward. Elva's ears were flat to her skull in annoyance at the rain. It was rough and treacherous going, and the company's pace had slowed considerably. Thorin called to the company to find shelter. Suddenly, one of the Dwarves cried for everyone to look out. A great slab of stone had been launched into the air and was heading their way.

"This is no thunderstorm." Balin said. "It's a thunder battle! Look!"

The company looked to where Balin had pointed and stared in awe. Two Stone Giants could be seen in the raging winds and rain throwing massive stones at each other. Elva's eyes widened at the the gargantuan creatures.

"Well bless me." Bofur said fearfully. "The legends are true! Giants! Stone Giants!"

The Giant had picked up another bolder and threw it over its shoulder as though it weighed less than a feather. It hit a second Giant that stood a ways off behind them. Suddenly the mountain began to tremble and move. Elva dug her iron hard claws into the rock to keep from falling over the edge into the endless chasm below. She looked up and saw that the company rested on the knees of a third Stone Giant. The rock began to crack apart as it stood up and the company was split in two. She, Thorin, Kili, and several others she did not know the names of still were on the left knee. Bilbo, Bofur, Ori, Balin, Fili, and the rest were on the right knee. The third Stone Giant was knocked to the side and its left knee hit the side of the mountain. Thorin called everyone on that knee to get to safety. They rushed to the solid mountain just in time. The Stone Giant stood back up. One of the other Giants took a stone and threw it at the third, knocking its head clean off. The third Giant fell forward, its knee positioned to collide with the side of the mountain. Elva stared in horror.

"Bofur!" She cried out in desperation, her thoughts echoing across the whole of the mountain.

He glanced at her momentarily, terror shining in his eyes, and then the Giant's knee hit the side of the mountain. Her mental screech of anguish rent the air and the rain in two. She had begun to opened her heart and was forced to watch as it shattered into tiny, piercing fragments again. Thorin rushed forward to see if there was anything left of them, he called his nephew's name praying for some miracle. Elva rushed past the others and ran just behind him. Her heart begged for Bofur and Ori to be alright, but she could not sort out what her exact feelings or reasons were. The rest of the Dwarves followed them around the corner. Elva froze when she rounded the corner and her legs threatened to collapse in relief. Everyone was alright. She did a quick-shift to return to her human form and tackled Ori in a bone crushing hug. Then she turned and did the same with Bofur. Realizing what she was doing, Elva quickly pulled away and glared at the ground.

"What was that for?" Bofur asked with a smile.

"I was concerned that I would have to clean up your remains." Elva sniped. "It wasn't a task I wanted to undertake. Very messy."

"You were worried about me." Bofur grinned. "I'm flattered."

"I was not worried." Elva growled. "Slightly concerned, but certainly not worried."

"Oh, aye." Bofur nodded. "My mistake."

He glanced around a moment and his face clouded with worry.

"Where's Bilbo?" He asked.

Elva searched through all of the faces nearby but saw no sign of the Hobbit. His struggling grunts could be heard from the edge of the narrow path they stood on. Bofur and Kili lunged for him and tried to grab onto his arm. Just before they reached him he slipped farther from their reach. Thorin clambered down the side of the ledge and grabbed the frightened Hobbit; throwing him back up to safety. But that caused Thorin to slip down the mountain side as well, leaving him dangling over the chasm. Elva growled and forced herself into a second quick-shift. In a split second she was back in her wolf form. The wolf woman slid down the side of the ledge, locked her claws into the stone face, clamped her jaws over Thorin's shoulder armour and held on until the tattooed Dwarf could grab him and pull him up. Then she clawed her way back to safety herself, Bofur grabbing onto the scruff of her neck to help her up. Thorin glanced at her and gave a grudging nod of thanks which she nodded curtly back in reply. She sat down wearily and flexed her claws. These Dwarves were going to be the death of her. Her muscles ached from quick-shifting twice in such a short period of time, and she knew she could only do it one or two more times before rest was required.

"I thought we'd lost our burglar." The tattooed Dwarf commented.

"He's been lost ever since he's left home." Thorin growled. "He should never have come. He has no place amongst us."

Thorin called the tattooed Dwarf, whom Elva finally learned was called Dwalin, and went to search a cave just ahead. Elva glared at Thorin harshly and glanced up when she felt a presence close behind her. Bofur stood there with a smile on his face. The wolf woman glared at him and pinned her ears.

"What are you smirking at?" She asked.

"Nothing." Bofur replied with a wider grin. "I was just admiring how you rescued our courageous leader from certain death."

"Do not mistake my act of kindness for liking him." Elva snapped. "If he fell I am quite certain you all would begin to run around in panic and get yourselves killed. And that was something I did not feel like dealing with."

"Whatever you say, Elva." Bofur smiled.

"Let's get out of this blasted rain." She growled, stalking into the cave.

Elva waited until everyone was inside before standing at the mouth of the cave and shaking out her drenched fur. Bofur stood right next to her and she managed to get him wet. He gave her a half hearted glare; which she returned with a wolfish humoured flick of her ears. Thorin turned to the pair of them.

"Bofur take the first watch." He said. "And you, wolf, make yourself useful and keep watch with him."

"The wolf has a name." Elva snarled at him.

Thorin started when she spoke to his mind and stared at her.

"How are you doing that?" He asked.

"I am projecting my thoughts into your mind." Elva replied hotly. "But I will not be addressed as 'wolf'. You will call me by my name, Dwarf."

"Fine, Elva." He stressed sarcastically. "Make yourself useful and keep watch with Bofur."

"Of course, because saving your pathetic hide wasn't useful." Her hackles raised threateningly. "Maybe I should have let you fall into the chasm afterall."

"Is that a threat?" Thorin whispered dangerously.

"It's a promise." Elva replied, her jaws parting in anger, showing off her needle sharp teeth. She raked her claws across the stone floor, gouging out scars in the rock.

Thorin placed a hand on his sword as he glared at the wolf woman. Elva tensed her muscles and prepared to lunge at the Dwarf prince. Suddenly a figure stood between the opposing forces. Thorin and Elva glanced down to see Ori holding out his hands between them. He had a hard, but frightened, look in his eye. Elva pricked her ears at Ori, stepped back, and shut her jaws. Her hackles were stilled raised in irritation and anger at Thorin. The Dwarf prince stared in surprise at Ori but kept his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"We're all frightened, and tired, and cold, and wet." Ori stated sternly. "But that doesn't mean we can be at each others throats. Now make nice... um, please? I don't want anyone fighting."

Ori's tirade faltered and he finished in a nervous mumble. Elva's eyes softened at him and she let her hackles fall. She glanced at Thorin, the hard glint returning, and waited for the Dwarf prince to make the first move. He glared at her, turned away, and retreated to the back of the cave. Elva padded to Ori and gave him a gentle nudge with her nose.

"You have bravery in you." She said softly. "Keep hold of it."

Ori smiled at her and nodded vigorously. She gave a wolfish smile and padded to the mouth of the cave to keep watch as Thorin had ordered. Bofur nestled into a small crevice a little farther back from the mouth. He lit his pipe and smoked it contentedly. Elva sat just inside the mouth, her tail curled lazily over her paws. She continued to swivel her ears in every direction, searching for any sound or disturbance. The rain continued to beat down on the mountain, but the thunder battle had long finished. The only sounds left were from the crashes of thunder in the sky. Other than that, all was still.

Ori is so adorable! Every time I watch LotR or read it and get to the part where they find Balin in the Mines of Moria, and I realize that Gandalf probably took the book from Ori's skeleton I get all teary eyed... why must I get so attached to fiction characters? It's not cool! So yeah, Elva and Thorin had their first real interaction. They'll have more as the story goes on... maybe not so hostile though lol.