'Yes, yes, there is somebody around these parts who can help us, I believe,' said Gandalf, stepping off of the last step of the rock that we had camped on that night. It was morning then, and the air had been a little chilly. 'He made those steps, actually. I think he named the rock the Carrock'.

Thorin considered this. 'Would he offer us safe lodging and food, all for no fee?'

Gandalf leaned on his staff, considering the woods surrounding us. 'Yes, yes, I think that he would be quite fine with it. His name Beorn, and I urge you to be civil with him, if we do find his house-' Gandalf gave Thorin a look at this. '-Please, try not to say anything inappropriate'. This, of course, had been directed at me.

The travel down from the 'Carrock' had been slow. The steps were uneven and steep, and the fear of falling was pretty great. A lot of our baggage had been lost, and we had zero food left. Even after last nights dinner, my stomach still felt dull with hunger, and my hair felt limp, and my body ached, and my cuts hurt, and my-

'Will he be alright with us arriving - all of us?' asked Bilbo, casting his gaze around at the Dwarves. We all followed Gandalf, seeing as he seemed to know where he was going. I walked absently by myself, nearer to both Gandalf and Bilbo than the others. 'If you say he's so bad-tempered, then is it a good idea to go to him?'

Gandalf looked at Bilbo grumpily. 'I would not have suggested it if I thought it was a bad idea, Bilbo Baggins'.

Told.

'I think, though,' said Gandalf, louder this time. 'That if all goes well with Beorn, then I will be leaving the company once more'. I'd looked at him, horrified. 'Do not look so grim, Millie. I have other business to attend to, but I am not leaving now. Perhaps in a day or twos time'.

Each of the Dwarves grumbled very loudly, each as put out by this information as I was.

'You wish to leave us once again?' asked Thorin, sounding a little angry. 'After what happened the last time?'

Gandalf glanced over his shoulder, shooting the Dwarf a look that made me quite uneasy. 'I always promised that I would see you over the mountains, Thorin Oakenshield and by quite good luck, I have done just that. We are now a good deal further east than I ever thought I would come with you. You will remember that this is not my adventure, and that I have other pressing matters to attend to'.

Bilbo looked completely distraught at the thought of the Wizard leaving us again.

'Is that a river I hear, Gandalf?' inquired Gloin, who walked near the back of the group. My heart practically stopped beating at the thought of a place to drink, and maybe even bathe.

Through the trees, there was indeed a river. It was fairly deep and quite slow moving, so I quickly shot a sly look to Gandalf, who had paused in front of the water. 'Can we please stop to have bath, these guys stink,' I said, jutting a thumb over my shoulder to the slightly ripe Dwarves.

'We do not!' snapped Dori.

I merely snorted.

'Yes,' decided Gandalf. 'I believe that we can risk time to clean ourselves of yesterdays happenings. After that, we will head for Beorn's house. We will not want to be too near his abode before the sun goes down,' he said, rather ominously.

I promptly ignored him. 'Shotgun going first,' I said quickly, plopping onto the ground and kicking off my boots.

'Wait until we are gone, lass!' Nori (practically) yelped.

I gave him a funny look, while the other Dwarves lazily began wandering back the way we had come, Gandalf leading them to gather some berries and leaves. 'They're feet. Jesus, is the idea of me being naked so repulsive-?'

Nori hurried away quickly, ignoring my offended shouts. 'Kili!' I called, and the Dwarf turned. 'Can you make sure like, I don't know, some unaware traveler doesn't come snooping around and get the shock of a lifetime? I'll be quick, I promise. Just turn around,' I said quickly, tugging on the hem of my shirt, now standing.

Kili stopped. 'I don't think it's entirely...appropriate for me to be here while you bathe'.

I ignored his statement. 'What? Nah. Look, I get that you think it's all inappropriate or whatever, but I trust you to not try and get a free show while I'm taking a much needed bath. Like I said, I don't want any travelers snoopin' in on me, or Ori getting all confused and forgetting which way the river was and then - bam! Innocence lost-'

Kili held up a hand, laughing. 'Alright! I doubt that Thorin will be all too pleased with me though, or Balin. I'm supposed to be a Prince, after all,' he grinned, and I kicked my boot in his general direction. 'That wasn't very ladylike'.

'Shut up and turn around,' I snapped. He grinned and did as told, stepping a little further toward the tree line and away from me. It was weird - taking off my shirt while in the middle of nowhere. I'd never bathed as quickly as I had then. My clothes and underwear were off in seconds, and I was quickly dipping my toes and legs into the river, while awkwardly sitting on the pebbles.

'Oh my God!' I muttered. Kili gave a little twitch, and I had yelped a startled, 'No! Don't turn around - it's just cold,' I'd whined, my skin going pale and prickly at the contact with the icy water. I scrubbed away the dirt that had found my ankles and my hands, and then quickly started on my face and my hair, scrubbing away the grime there. The water around me went a little murky, and I wondered how awful I had looked.

There were bruises in odd places, plus a few scrapes that I hadn't noticed while clothed. Nothing, though, that would slow me down too much.

While nervously glancing at Kili's turned back, I changed into my clothes, which quickly grew damp with the water on my skin. 'You can turn around,' I told him, squeezing the dampness from my hair. Kili did as told, giving me a quick once over. 'I feel like a new woman,' I told him, stretching my arms above my head. 'But freezing'.

Kili approached me and I straightened up, leaving my fairly knotty hair to hang limply and wetly over my shoulders. 'Your cut has healed well,' he told me, pointing to the small gash on my far cheek. 'Dwarves heal quite quickly,' he informed me, eyes darting from the cut, to my eyes. 'We also rarely get ill, at all'.

That surprised me. 'Really?'

Kili nodded. 'Very rarely indeed'. He paused then, looking at me. 'You've surprised me,' he said.

I was cold, I was tired and I was hungry, but I pressed on, eager to find anything I could about Kili's opinion of me. 'What do you mean?' I'd asked, realizing that only one of my boots was on. I grimaced lightly, curling my toes into the stones beneath me.

Kili tilted his head from side to side, trying to gather the words, I guess. 'Don't get offended,' he had warned, and I had merely rolled my eyes and given him a look. 'When I first met you at Bilbo's Hobbit Hole-' Snort. '-I assumed you were quite...insane, and perhaps were going to be a liability. Of course, I was almost happy about that, because Thorin had been so sure that Fili and I would be the liabilities-'

'You what?' I'd asked, baffled. 'You're trying to tell me that I'm not a liability? I'm useless, Kili!'

Kili opened his mouth, then started again. 'Well, yes, admittedly sometimes you can be quite a...woman - you know what I mean! - But, so far, you've proved yourself to be quite a Dwarf, Millie. Something that both myself and the others had doubted you would ever be. You're loyal and brave, which we Dwarves favor in others. You've proved me wrong'.

My face had most probably gone a funny shade of pink at that.

'Well,' I grumbled. 'Not to mention stubborn, hard headed - wait, you thought I was insane?' I'd laughed, shooting him an amused look. 'Like, honestly insane?'

Kili had the decency to look sheepish. 'In all fairness, you do have an odd way of speaking, Millie. We've only just grown used to it, you'll have to attempt to blend in more once we meet others,' he warned. 'If you want to live peacefully with- well, after the quest,' he said, blowing his brown hair from his face.

I had considered this, upon everything else that would come...would I survive. 'I know,' I told him seriously. 'I- yeah, I know,' I said lamely. 'It's just very...difficult to break out of my patterns and ways of speaking, since I've been doing it for nineteen years'. I shrugged, still quite cold. 'I'm still getting used to the fact that this is my home now'.

It wasn't entirely a secret, but it was a fact that I had not shared quite so openly.

'Is your own home so different from Middle Earth?' he had questioned, peering quietly at me. I tensed a little, wondering whether to tell him that I came from not only a different land, but a different time, a different world - a world where this world was entirely fictional.

I'll never quite wrap my head around that. Still haven't.

But, at that moment, a voice called from within the trees, 'Has the fair lady finished her bath yet? We need a turn to scrub ourselves down too!' Fili, the annoying git that he was.

'I'm finished!' I called back, bowing my head away from Kili's gaze. I had known that I would tell him, it was just a question of when he would think that I wasn't lying.

I glanced uneasily up at Kili again as the Dwarves and Bilbo bumbled out of the tree line and onto the pebbles shore. 'You look much better now,' he said quietly, looking down at me. 'Now that you've, er, bathed I mean'.

I smiled a half smile. 'Thank you'.

Thorin approached us as the others began yanking of their boots and coats. 'It appears that you have found a bathing companion in my nephew, Miss Fournier,' said Thorin, and there was a trace of lighthearted humor in his voice. Of course, he had been referring to Rivendell's bath escapades, where Kili had also accompanied me.

I had stumbled over my words while Kili sent his Uncle a look that quite blatantly said, 'Really?' My gaze, though, was quickly redirected to the undressing Dwarves. Heck, even Gloin was peeling his...onesie type thing off.

'I'm still here!' I'd yelped, covering my eyes and scrambling to pick up my boot. 'Can't you at least wait until I've left before you begin stripping down - my God!' I grumbled, disappearing into the trees from the near smiling Thorin and the laughing Dwarves, plus Bilbo.

I hopped along, successfully pulling my leather boot onto my foot and reaching the small clearing where Gandalf wandered, a few of the Dwarves packs bundled into a small pile, plus my own bag. The Wizard hovered in an area, staring up at the darkening sky. A ghost of a pale moon stared back. 'I wish to talk to you, Millie. While we are alone, if I may,' he turned toward me, using his staff to carry his weight. After seeing how he had takin on those Goblins, I highly doubted that he actually needed it.

I nodded, rubbing my cold arms. 'Shoot - er, talk,' I repaired, remembering Kili's earlier words.

Gandalf gave a small inclination of his head and stepped closer to me. 'You have grown close to our Dwarven company, specifically two certain Heirs of the Durin Line,' he hummed, raising his bushy eyebrows at me. 'Some would call the relationship with the two near inappropriate, considering their own relationship status, and yours'.

I grew uncomfortable very quickly. 'If you're about to give me 'the talk', then you're too late, Fili got there before you, Gandalf. And trust me on this, he covered everything. From marriage, to babies-'

Gandalf smiled brightly. 'So it is young Kili who has captured your attention. You know, I had wondered which of the brothers it was, and I did have my suspicions of the boy'. I closed my eyes and prayed for patience. 'You have been warned of the difficulties then - concerning Heirs and such?'

I nodded, blushing. 'You know, we're not...we're not even-' I breathed in deeply. 'We not a...couple. I don't understand why everyone is insisting upon jumping to that conclusion- I-,' I clenched my fists and hunched my shoulders angrily. 'If I wanted a boyfriend back home, it would be simple and nice. Here though? Here, there's the problem of Heirs and dragons and getting killed and not knowing how to tell anyone anything because Fili said that Dwarf women usually go after the men, but Gandalf man, I don't know anything about that kind of thing!' My eyes stung. 'Not to mention the fact that I'm probably dead back home'.

Gandalf blinked, and then simply smiled quite kindly. 'Although I wish I could help you, this is something that you must figure out on your own, Millie, my dear. I do not wish to interfere with anything that may run quite smoothly without my help. What I do want to know though, is what you plan to do after the quest to Erebor?'

I smiled quite plainly. 'If I survive, that is'. I sighed and shrugged. 'Sorry. I've been told by the Dwarves that I'm welcome to the Blue Mountains, or to Erebor should they reclaim it. I think-' I was annoyed that he was going to be proved right. 'Kili and Fili have made it known that they won't let me go homeless or alone, as has Bofur'.

Gandalf's smiled brightened. 'You have made yourself quite popular among our company. It appears that now even Thorin has taken to your odd charm, and our Hobbits'. He peered at me, quite serious. 'You grow tired and scared, I know that. But you're quite strong, do not give up'.

I had no words, and by the time my mouth opened to reply, Kili and Fili were bursting through the scattered trees, laughing and shaking their wet hair. Fili's long, braided hair cast an especially wet spray my way.

Admittedly, it was difficult to avert my eyes from Kili. He wore the blue cotton shirt, but it was looser and he was wet, and oh lord, the man was a stunner, you know.

The other Dwarves them came into the clearing, and Thorin went to talk to Gandalf. I went about tying my hair into a ponytail after borrowing some string off of Fili, who watched in amusement as I tried to keep the strands locked up tightly. In the end, he offered to do it himself, but then paused, glancing at his brother who had been mooching over his pack, but now stared at us.

'You know,' said Fili. 'I need to find myself some berries. Kili can do it'.

I gave him a long stare. 'After last night? I thought that braiding each others hair meant-' I struggled with an appropriate word. 'Laying with each other, or whatever'.

Fili cast his eyes to the sky. 'The things that you come out with, Millie. Yes,' he carried on, looking at me. 'But it depends on the context which you use it in. You asked Kili to braid your hair, even involving the word sleepover, of all things. Of course we got the wrong impression from that-' Both Kili and I shared an awkward look. 'But asking quite plainly if a person would tie you hair back - there is nothing so intimate about it. Also, women Dwarves are less sentimental about their braids, while men use them to identify different things. Battles, marriage, status, purity'. At that, his braided mustache twitched.

'So it depends on how you want them to see it?' I had asked.

Fili nodded. 'Exactly. Now,' he dropped the string onto Kili's lap. 'I am hungry. Brother, help the damsel in distress'. He smiled cheekily at me and I pulled a face at his retreating back.

'I can understand why the two of you are related,' I told him, dropping down onto the floor in front of Kili and crossing my legs. I smoothed out my hair and said, 'You're both as equally as annoying as the other. Well, go on then, get ah-tying with my hair'.

Kili scoffed quietly behind me. 'Would you like a braid?' he inquired.

I thought about it quite intently, thinking about the others braids, and how Dwarven they seemed. 'No,' I decided. 'No. Not yet. Just tie it back, please'. I chewed on my lip while he carefully gathered my hair into his hands and went about tying the white string around the wet mess. 'Why don't you have any braids?'

Kili's fingers brushed the nape of my neck and I stiffened, my cheeks heating up. Fili, from the other side of the clearing, shared an amused look with Dwalin. Funny thing is, they had thought I was so blind that I would not notice it.

'I would wear them, sometimes,' he said, hands pausing. 'But I am the less experienced out of all the male Dwarves here. Many are trained in combat, are scribes and have been taught under higher Dwarves - I have done none of those things. Only after reclaiming Erebor will I feel comfortable to wear a braid in my hair'.

I frowned. 'You're leaving something out'. I half-turned to him, realizing that he had finished tying my hair. 'Go on, tell me. I hardly get all judgmental or freaked out about anything people tell me. I'm a good listener'.

Kili looked ready to bolt. 'I don't- fine then. It is common, though not always fixed, that a males Dwarfs hair will be braided after gaining this status, by a woman that he has...lain with. It is a right of entry, of a kind. A ritual. Parents will braid their children's hair when they are young, but their are specific kinds of braids on the elder Dwarves, and you know why they wear them from the type of braid that they wear'.

I had actually found it quite interesting. 'I think I understand, there's just a lot of different cases in which you can wear one, though you can wear one despite not earning one'. I nodded, mouth open slightly. '...Okay, I think I get it. So that's what Fili meant about purity, I get it now. Jeez, all of this for some hair braiding'.

Kili smiled, looking truly amused. 'Once you have grasped the basic outline, there is not much need to know anything else'.

I nodded, then stalled with a hot feeling burning in my stomach. 'It is common, though not always fixed, that a males hair will be braided after gaining this status by a woman that he has...lain with'. The heck was he going to lay with?

I know, okay? I know I should have been worrying about other things, and I was. I always was. Yet, the idea of Kili celebrating his success with a Dwarf woman, so intimately-

It set my teeth on edge.

'What's wrong?' he asked. His hair looked quite clean and fluffy, now newly washed. 'You look ill'.

I shook my head and played with my ponytail. 'Nothing, nothing. Thank you, by the way,' I said, referring to my hair. I couldn't quite get rid of that feeling of wrongness in my stomach, that...jealousy.

'Oh, glorious,' said Gloin loudly, though his voice was heavy with sarcasm. 'Bear prints! Gandalf, look, bear prints!'

Gandalf turned quickly, alert.

From then on out, I remember that things got rather interesting.

This is quite a 'settle into the book' chapter. I wanted to establish some Dwarven themes, some Millie/Kili bonding, some Fili teasing, and Thorin being a little kinder. More wil happen in the next chapter, I promise.

I know it may seem that Kili and Fili are quite open with Millie about a few things, but when you think about it, they are careful about how they talk to her about such things. Although I want to establish a bond with Millie and Fili that shows an easy bromance kind of thing. With Kili...well, he's still rather awkward with Millie, bless him.

Guys, the reviews. I'm almost of 500. It's amazing. Thank you so much.