Authors Note: Hi all, I am sorry about the delay in an update, but I had some troubles with this chapter. I hope you all like it. Edit: this chapter was updated again, a few small changes as of 9/8/22

Disclaimer: I only own my OC

Chapter 2

Many, many years later.

The Shire. Valaira had never seen such a simple place. No traces of evil could be found. It was quite refreshing and relaxing. Valaira was also quite curious to see a hobbit for the first time. In all her years of traveling Middle Earth, she had never come across a Halfling. For some strange reason they never seemed to venture far from their homes. The elf herself could not fathom staying in the Lothlorien woods for her whole life, she felt like she would die of boredom.

Gandalf, someone she had known for thousands of years, had asked her to join him and lend her help for a quest he had in mind. She was to meet him and the rest of the group to find out what this expedition was going to involve. Gandalf had said he left his mark on the Hobbits door. The wizard also asked her to come a bit later than the others, something about their leader not being too fond of elves and he had to warm this person up to the idea, which was fine with her. But she had a while to wait for that, it was still about midday, which meant more time to relax and study the lives of hobbits.

She could not believe how small the children were. The little ones who seemed to be around ten years of age could be no larger than a new born babe. And seeing them out running around, laughing and giggling at such a size was quite bizarre to see.

The sun was starting to fall, and the hobbits were making their way to their homes and the local pubs. Valaira could not help but think how she could spend a few decades here just relaxing.

As the sky grew dark she noticed the dwarves making their way towards the meeting place. First one burly dwarf knocked on the front door, then an old gray haired one. Soon after that two younger dwarves, followed by a group of them including Gandalf. The final dwarf knocked almost an hour after the others, this one was taller than the others and wore finer clothes. She assumed this was their leader.

Valaira figured now was the best time to start making her way over to the hobbit hole. She knocked three times and heard the voices stop. Small footsteps padded their way toward the door before it opened.

Bilbo hadn't expected a tall female to be at his door.

"Well I must say you are an improvement over the pack of dwarves sitting in my dining room." Valaira smiled at the strange fellow. She couldn't believe how small he was, he came just above her waist.

"Don't just leave the lady standing out in the cold Bilbo, bring her inside." Gandalf called from down the hall.

"Now Thorin, I know you said to find you a burglar, which I did, but this woman will be able to help the company claim Erebor." She heard Gandalf start to introduce her as she Bilbo welcomed her into his home. She had to bow her head to not smash it against the frames.

"A woman? Why would you allow this," he motioned to her with disgust, "help us defeat a dragon?" Thorin asked incredulously. Several murmurs of agreement could be heard from the older dwarves. The younger ones perked up a bit when she ducked under the last wall frame.

"Well I have killed three dragons in my time. Maybe that might be of some benefit?" Valaira replied coldly. If this dwarf was going to be one of those sexist abominations on middle earth then she was going to rethink this whole thing through again.

"Three dragons? How do you kill three dragons and live to tell the tail?" A blond dwarf asked. Thorin had to turn around on his chair to see this dragonslayer. Valaira saw the king under the mountains face for the first time, and his eyes pierced though her and her heart skipped a beat.

"Very carefully." She replied, receiving multiple looks of disappointment. There had to be several good stories with this elf.

"Thorin Oakenshield may I introduce a very old friend, Valaira." Valaira bowed her head in greeting to everyone, her pointed ears revealed themselves as her locks fell forward.

"You would bring an Elf to help us on our quest?" Thorin stood up and shouted at Gandalf. "Have you lost your mind old man? Never trust an Elf."

Sexist and racist, and if he thought Gandalf was old.. She almost chuckled inside.

"Trust is something that one builds over time, and I trust Valaira with my life Thorin, I would trust her with all of your lives. Before you go judging someone you have not had the pleasure of meeting, please get to know them first." Gandalf did not speak his mind like this on a day to day basis, and the elf knew this and threw an appreciative glance his way. Which he nodded in acceptance.

Thorin still stood in front of his chair, huffing like a child. Next to him, the Hobbit was looking quite confused.

"What quest are you referring to exactly? And why is there a dragon involved?" He asked nervously.

"Well that would be a reference to Smaug the terrible, chiefest and greatest calamity of our age." A dark haired dwarf with an odd hat replied to Bilbo.

The dwarf Bofur, then went on to tell how death by dragon fire would feel. Bilbo then fainted and Thorin had ignored her for the rest of the night.

As the Dwarves were readying themselves to sleep before their long journey, Valaira went outside for the night. The Shire was a quite peaceful place, and she intended to bask in it for as long as possible. And as far as she was concerned the Hobbit hole full of snoring Dwarves was far from peaceful.

She had situated herself on the small bench in the garden when two of the youngest dwarves opened the door and spotted her.

"Our uncle is a very stubborn and grumpy old man, but once he gets to know you, he will warm up to you. Don't worry."

"I am not worried; a grumpy dwarf is the least of my worries. But I have not been introduced to the two of you, which is concerning indeed."

"I'm Fili." The blond one said, "And this is my little brother Kili, at your service."

"We were just wondering if you could tell us how you killed three dragons?" Kili, the brown haired one asked, pulling some puppy eyes.

"I see no harm in that, I will tell you how I slayed my first dragon, but then you must go back inside and sleep." The two dwarves nodded quickly and sat themselves one either side of her on the bench.

" Ancalagon was bred by Sauron in the first age, he was meant to be the mightiest dragon of them all, but he had quite an appetite for Humans and horses. I poisoned the grass where some horses grazed with something that would not harm the horses but be deadly to the dragon. But my love for innocent animals is far greater than that of wicked Men. I freed some foul and evil men from their cells and had them drink poisoned ale. Then led them drunk from the tavern and into the dragons' lair. Ancalagon thoughtlessly chewed them up, in the wee hours of the morning he dropped to the ground dead. Now off to bed you get."

The brothers sat there a bit stunned, they were expecting an epic battle between a dragon and this elleth, not this darker story. But they walked inside anyway, leaving Valaira to her thoughts, which were consumed with Thorin's eyes.

His light blue eyes reminded her of Arvellon, her first love. She released a long sigh and let her head fall backwards so she was looking towards the stars. Valaira liked to think that her heart was mended, but when it ached like it had at times such as this, she was kidding herself.

But those blue eyes resurfaced a terrible memory.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Many many years before…

"Well, what do we have here? Elves? Do you know what I do to elves?" It was Melkor

"Valaira, run." He hissed.

She looked at him in horror. But he knew that if they both stayed, neither would survive. Melkor drew his sword.

"Go!" She took off, she turned around to see Arvellon drawing his own sword.

"I corrupt their minds, and eat their souls."

She heard the words in mind as she ran, "I love you." And that was her last memory of Arvellon. After his last words were spoken, the sound of swords crashing sounded than a dull thump. Melkor had cut off the head of her first love.

She sobbed as she ran.

Valaira tried to find her old mentors first. But they had been killed. She then went home to her mother Galadriel. She had already been contacted by the Valar, an army was preparing to fight the monsters Melkor had created.

The next time Valaira met Melkor, she came prepared. And livid. It did not take long for Valaira to defeat him. She chained him with Angainor and threw him into a timeless void. But this did not defeat the evil that was still spreading. It merely killed its king.

And this was the end of the First Age.

Melkor became known as Morgoth, and his followers continued to spread his wrath all over the earth.

Valaira and her family moved a couple times until they reached Middle Earth. Here her parents became the rulers of Lothlorien and Valaira wandered the lands. Killing Orcs and other foul creatures on her travels.

/

Before she knew it, the sun was lighting up the sky, she had spent the night staring up at the stars. And her neck was a bit stiff from it too. Movement from the inside of the hobbit hole reminded her that they were probably leaving soon. She stretched her muscles and cracked her sore neck before she went inside.

Bed pads and the dwarves sleeping in them were literally all over the floor. Valaira had to tip toe between the snoring lumps to get to Gandalf who was sitting in front of the smoldering fire, smoking. She lowered herself in the chair opposite of him.

"Did I miss anything last night?" Valaira asked quietly.

"Not much, other than many arguments over you and Bilbo. Surprisingly, Fili and Kili had no objections to either of you." The elf figured that the two brothers were the kind of people who thought the more the merrier. Her gaze drifted towards the young brothers who were sleeping in the corner right next to each other. They were quite the pair.

Not long after everyone was awake, the dwarves were having a quick meal before packing up to head out. But Valaira had not seen Bilbo since the night before.

"Is the Hobbit not coming Gandalf?"

"He did not sign the contract." Thorin said bluntly as he passed.

"And neither did you." He said gruffly.

"I think you will find that I have signed your contract Thorin Oakenshield." She replied lightly.

Thorin looked at her with a raised brow; she never even touched the document, Thorin then went off in search of Balin to see the proof. Sure enough, the elf's mark was at the bottom of the list.

Valaira had in fact signed it moments after Thorin had said she hadn't signed it, just to be sure he wasn't one hundred percent against her. If he had ignored her she would have done the same to him. But it turns out there was hope for him after all.

The dwarves were ready to leave, the hobbit still slept in his room. He would be unaware that anyone was in his home when he awoke, apart from his empty pantry.

After one final sweep to make sure they didn't forget anything, the dwarves left the hobbit hole and walked to the stable where the ponies slept the night.

"Gandalf, I did not plan to take an elf with us so I did not have a horse brought along with the ponies." Thorin emphasized the word elf with an undertone of hate.

"I have my own horse Thorin Oakenshield, you need not worry about my transportation." Valaira ignored the fact that Thorin was talking about her when she was standing three feet away from him.

"I see no horse other than Gandalf's." Thorin observed, finally looking at her.

"Phraia will come when I call her." She said following the dwarves, now on ponies, out of the Shire. When the company entered the forest, Valaira whistled a long high pitched tone, a few moments after a beautiful black horse galloped towards her, rearing when she saw the ponies.

The elf calmed her by stoking her nose and telling her in elvish that she would be traveling with these ponies for a small while so why not make some friends. Phraia huffed at this but allowed Valaira to mount her. Not seconds later, the horse bolted ahead of everyone else.

"That horse needs to be tamed." Dwalin commented.

"Many have tried; Valaira is the only one who can handle her."

"That horse does not look like it is under control." Thorin argued. Looks more like a wild beast, he thought.

"Don't be too sure about that Thorin. Look closer." And he did, and he saw the elf muttering in her native language to the horse, urging it to go faster.

That elf needed to be tamed, not the horse, Thorin thought.