Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 4 of All For One and One For All. Thank you to those who have left reviews. It does mean a lot to me that you guys are enjoying this. I hope that you guys are enjoying Rin. I'm excited to show this next chapter to you guys. I'm taking my time writing this chapter because I am trying to make it as long as I can. Without further ado Chapter 4. ENJOY!
Chapter 4
Rin walked into the Shire like Gandalf had told her to the week before as night had fallen. She had her horse with her that she had gotten from Lady Galadriel when she was in Lothlorien. It was so peaceful in the rolling hills. She knew that it was going to be bad once the dwarves got to Bilbo Baggins' home in the Shire ate all of his food and caused such noise for him. She stopped outside of the winding path that led up to the hobbit hole that had the blue glowing mark on it. She closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh. She clicked her tongue and her horse followed her over to the tree that was near the property. She tied her up and patted her nose. "Shhh… I know." She pulled an apple from her bag and gave it to her.
Her horse took it from her.
Rin patted her nose lightly as she took the treat from her. She turned and looked at the hobbit hole and began to walk to the gate letting herself through it. She walked up the narrow path before bringing her black fingerless gloved hand up to knock on the door.
"No. No! There's nobody home. Go away. Go bother someone else. There's far too many people in my dining room as it is already." A male voice shouted from inside that she knew was Bilbo's voice.
She could tell that he was upset which meant that most of them were already there except for the final one, Thorin Oakenshield had yet to arrive with the rest of the company. This meant that she had made it before him which meant that she was the next to the last to arrive which was good.
Bilbo opened the door and his eyes widened upon seeing Rin.
"Rin." She said, bowing her head.
"Gandalf…" Bilbo called for the bothersome wizard.
A smile came to Rin's lips. She knew that he was going to call for her. She just knew it. He was quite bothersome, but at least he could introduce her to this hobbit. She saw him come out.
"Ah, Rin. So nice of you to finally show up. I thought that you weren't going to show up." He said, looking her over.
She pulled her hood down finally revealing her red-brown hair and golden brown eyes that were hidden by the black hood of her cloak. "Sorry, it took me so long. My horse was being stubborn." She said with a small smile. "And a little sightseeing on her part, her friend. Can't blame a 21-year-old wanting to look around." She said as her cheeks flushed a little bit.
"Bilbo Baggins this is Rin, a Ranger of the North," Gandalf said, introducing her to Bilbo.
Bilbo looked at her with wide eyes. He wasn't expecting her to be in his home.
She chuckled lightly looking at him. "It is wonderful to meet you, Master Baggins. I am hoping that I am not interrupting you."
Bilbo cleared his throat. "No." He said, shaking his head and looking at Rin.
"You must be hungry Rin," Gandalf said, looking at her.
She nodded her head. "Yes… and parched. I only had bread on me when I left." She explained to him. "It was all I could get before I left the prancing pony." She removed her gear so she wouldn't be so weighed down from everything. Just now dressed in a black tunic, corset underneath it, breeches, black boots, and her dagger on her leg. Her ring still dawned on her finger that Awen had given to her.
"Come my dear girl."
"You must eat." Bilbo agreed with Gandalf.
"Come," Gandalf said, ushering her into the other room. "Lads, be polite."
"Polite?" One of the dwarves asked for belching and she knew who it was, which was none other than Gloin who was Gimli's father.
Rin scrunched her nose up. She knew that dwarves could either be polite or not. It all depended on how you came up to them.
"Yes, polite. We have a lady joining us."
"A lass?" Bofur asked in shock.
"Yes," Gandalf said, shaking his head.
Rin came out from behind him revealing herself to the dwarves who went slack-jawed seeing her.
Balin's eyes went wide. "I never thought I would see the day." He said in wonder tears were in his eyes upon seeing the ring that she wore on her finger.
"What is it, Balin?" Fili asked, looking at the elder dwarf in concern.
"A ranger of the North," Balin said softly.
"I thought they remained with their own…" Kili said with widening eyes. "And I didn't think women would be one…"
"We thought wrong…"
"She is here to help," Gandalf said, with a smile. He moved his arms in a way that said make some room for Rin to sit down. "She has come a long way. I asked her for help. She is hungry and thirsty. So please make some room for her."
Kili and Fili quickly made room for her. "She can sit with us." The brothers shouted together with cheeky smiles on their faces. Of course, they would want her to sit with them. She was closer to their age, to begin with.
Gandalf patted her on the shoulder causing her to look up at him.
"What?" She asked softly, still awkward about the whole thing that was going on around her. She had no idea what the heck she was even doing. She was still new to this whole world and still new to what her task was even supposed to be. She was supposed to save the line of Durin. How the hell was she supposed to even do that? She was just one girl. A ranger of the North a Dunedain, how was she supposed to save three dwarves to make sure that they lived?
"Go have a seat and eat. Please Rin." He said softly. "I will introduce you to everyone once the leader of our company arrives." He nodded his head towards the two brothers.
She nodded her head knowing that he would probably introduce her as soon as Thorin got there. It was bad enough that she knew their names and they didn't even know mine. Bilbo already knew her name and she knew him, but the company didn't know her. Now that was a bad sign of things to come. She had a feeling deep inside of her gut that Thorin was most likely not going to trust her because Dunedians were known as dangerous folk. After all, they were always fighting against orcs and were known to be kind to others including elves. She sat down next to the brothers and looked over shyly at the two of them. She saw that they both had cheeky smiles on their faces.
"So what is a Dunedain doing this far out of her known grounds?" Kili asked curiously looking at her with sparkling curious brown eyes. He was looking at her like she knew something so deep and important.
She bit her lip nervously.
"Kili she doesn't have to tell you if she doesn't want to. Rangers are known to keep things private, but Rangers can't keep things private if they are to join this company. And Gandalf did ask you to come for a reason." Fili pressed the matter further which caused her to shift in the seat that she sat in.
God these two were making her feel very uncomfortable. Why couldn't they just stop? Couldn't they just keep the questions for later when Gandalf introduced her after their Uncle came? Couldn't they just wait for that instead of being such young stubborn hotheaded dwarven lads that they were being right now?
"Lads leave the young lady alone." Dori snapped at the two of them. "Let her eat. She is famished and parched. You heard Gandalf, she traveled a long way to get here. He will tell us everything by the time our leader gets here. I am sure of it. Just let her rest for the time being."
Kili and Fili looked at each other and agreed to leave Rin alone.
"Thank you Master Dwarf," Rin said softly to Dori.
"It is no problem, Miss. Just eat up." He said with a smile. "You do look parched and hungry."
Rin nodded her head and began to nibble at the food that was in front of her. She had to avoid some of the food because some of the food she didn't eat to begin with such as fish and pork. She was being watched with every move that she made. Like she was something new being seen by these dwarves, but of course to them she was new. She was something completely new to them and a female to boot at that. Her cheeks began to flush.
"Gentlemen please let her eat in peace," Gandalf said, looking at them. "Don't watch her every move while she is eating; she does have allergies to some food."
Fili looked over at her concern and so did Kili.
"Food allergies?" Kili asked, concerned.
Rin looked up shyly from her food.
"Is it bad?" Fili asked softly wondering if it was a bad thing if she was to ingest the wrong thing.
"I get ill." She admitted, tucking a strand of her red-brown hair behind her ear nervously. "Very sick from eating them. That is why I avoid them."
"So no death?"
"So far no." She said, shaking her head, which was a good thing. She hadn't had any death experiences from eating fish or pork, but it didn't mean that it could happen. It could very well happen if she wasn't careful. But she wasn't about to let something like that happen to her.
Thankfully they went back to their meal with her finally joining them. Which was a good thing. Thankfully she wasn't going to be interrupting their nice time.
"Bombur, catch!" Bofur shouted, throwing something at his brother, which he had caught in his mouth.
She scrunched her nose up as Bombur ate whatever Bofur had thrown at him. She knew that Fili had left her side at some point to go and get a refill of ale of course. She looked up and of course, he was on the table carrying three cups of ale. She shook her head.
"Who wants an ale?" Fili asked loudly.
"Let him have another drink!" Dwalin shouted at Fili.
"Here you go," Fili said, handing Dwalin a cup of ale.
Dwalin poured his ale into Oin's hearing trumpet.
Oin looked at his cousin in anger sputtering.
Fili came back over and got off of the table, settling down next to her. "Your ale milady." He said with a coy smile.
"My Master Dwarf, are you flirting with me?" She asked, raising her eyebrow as she looked at him.
Fili smiled and winked at her. "I've never seen a lass much like yourself."
She felt her cheeks flush a little bit. She heard the loud squeal of Oin's hearing trumpet meaning that he had gotten the ale cleaned out of it.
"On the count of three," Nori shouted.
She raised my eyebrow.
"One…. two…"
"Up!" Kili shouted.
All the dwarves began to drink together.
She shrugged my shoulders. She knew how to hold her alcohol fairly well and she knew that this stuff was about the same as beer in her world so she drank it down like them just not as messily as them. Since they were messy drinkers she was not so messy she liked enjoying her ales more than that. She finished in about the same amount of time as them setting my tankard down as well.
They began burping.
Ori let out a loud belch.
They laughed loudly.
"I knew you had it in you," Bofur said proudly.
She chuckled lightly. She burped and covered her mouth. Granted it was loud, but nothing as loud as Ori's. "Oh…" Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment.
The dwarves looked at her.
"Well…" Fili said with a grin. "Didn't know you had it in you Milady. You do."
She looked down shyly. She scratched the side of her cheek.
"You are going to fit in with us just fine," Kili said, swinging his arm around his brother and giving her a cheeky smile.
Now she wasn't so sure about that. "Well… let us see what your leader says about that, alright?" She said softly before turning her head to look at them. "He is the only one that can make that choice, you know that."
The two dwarves nodded their heads knowing that their uncle was the only one that could make that choice of having her in the company. They had that look in their eyes in the hope that she was going to be allowed to join the company. She guessed that they found something inside of her that they liked. Even though they hardly know who she was yet, other than knowing that she was a Ranger of the North. They don't even know her name yet. That's terrible how could they be so trusting? Is it all because of Gandalf? It had to be. That silly silly wizard… god he is going to get her killed in this journey. Did she know what the hell she was even getting herself into?
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This is the end of Chapter 4. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. I enjoyed writing this chapter. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. I'm going to try my best to update the story as often as I can. Reviews keep me going when I write these stories out. It might take me some time. Until next time.