Emery's dreams are filled with color. Not the kind that gave her a severe case of motion sickness on the way to see Tulkas and Aulë, thank goodness, but similar to the sky she saw once she was there. Come to think of it, this place looks almost exactly like that room did...
"Actually," says the voice of Aulë behind her, "this time, you really are dreaming. I simply guided your subconscious here." Emery smirks, but doesn't turn around. She doesn't need to. Since she's still in wolf form, her acute senses can detect where he is. Instead, she stares at the sky, admiring the clear view. Why am I here? she thinks, guessing he'll understand her.
"Two days ago, the little ones were told not to give you a name, because you wouldn't be staying." She nods, remembering when she arrived at the dwarves' cozy home. "Whether they give you a name or not, you must remain with them. Do you understand, child?" She nods again, but wonders why that's so important as to warrant a dream. "Well, you haven't exactly been looking in your pack for messages since you became a wolf, have you?" he chuckles. She smiles in amusement, but turns away from the sky to look at him. You didn't answer my question. A soft sigh escapes him as his eyes unfocus, and he doesn't answer immediately. After a moment, he says "Some things...cannot be explained, at least not yet, and not without the risk of ruining everything." She doesn't like it, but accepts his reasoning.
After mulling for a minute over how to phrase it, Emery asks a question. Should I remain a wolf? Dis and Thorin might be more willing to let me stay if I appear as one of their own.
"The choice is yours of course, but I would consider whether your task in this world would be more or less accomplishable if you were to reveal your true form to them," says Aulë. She ponders this. As a wolf, she wouldn't be able to use weapons, but she would in a manner of speaking be a weapon. She did just kill a snake, and she's only a cub. And if her current size is anything to go by, she'll be an enormous one by the time she's done growing. But he didn't say 'stop being a wolf,' he said 'reveal your true form.' Does that imply that by revealing myself I would lose their trust? she asks. "Not necessarily, at least not this soon. The true concern would be the dwarves' fierce protectiveness of the dams. They make up only a quarter of the population, and are treasured above all but the children. If you were to reveal yourself, the company would be unlikely to allow you to join them on the quest in the future." Oh. Well, that's that decision made, then. Aulë chuckles. The sound becomes muffled, as though trying to pass through a fog. Within a minute, a thick fog really does appear. It covers everything, making it impossible to see anything. After a minute, the fog changes color and becomes so thick, it's as if her eyes are closed. Hang on...her eyes really are closed. And that color looks like what she would see if a light was shining through her eyelids.
Emery becomes aware that she's awake...and very warm. Why is it so warm? She opens her eyes and starts to pant. She lifts her head and looks behind her, and sees a blanket covering her. Huh, that's odd. She looks around and sees that she's still in Fili and Kili's room, but that in and of itself is not what captures her attention. Piled up on the little bed is a huddle of four sleeping people. Dis is tucked under Thorin's arm, Thorin himself is leaning against the wall, and the boys are curled up in their arms. Dried tear streaks still cover the boys' cheeks, but in sleep they seem to be unperturbed, if Fili's soft snores and Kili's loud ones are anything to go by.
Inwardly smiling, she silently slides out from under the blanket, stands, and stretches. The stiffness taken care of, she quietly leaves the room. She goes downstairs to look for a way to get the front door open without waking anyone, but doesn't see how she can. She goes to the kitchen, but sees no door besides the one that leads to the cellar. Seeing no other option, she makes sure no one can see, then closes her eyes. She focuses on growing hands, becoming slightly taller, and losing her tail. After a moment, the young damling reaches for the handle of the door. Being so small, she has to stand on her toes to reach it. Luckily, it's completely silent as it turns. She pulls the door open just a few inches, then changes back into a wolf. She gently nudges the door open a little wider with her snout, then slips outside. She walks around to the side of the house and squats.
After relieving herself, she goes back inside. Once again making sure no one can see, she turns into a little girl, silently closes the door, and turns back into a wolf. She heads back up the stairs and is about to re-enter the boys' room when she realizes something: her leg doesn't hurt. She just went down the stairs and back up without a second thought or a limp. Hesitantly, she tests it out by putting her weight on it. Nothing aside from a bit of soreness, as if she'd only sprained it.
So...a magic bag, shape-shifting, and now super healing. She narrows her eyes and sends a figurative glare to Aulë and Tulkas. Did you two turn me into a freaking Mary Sue?! She hears a booming laugh from Aulë in one ear, and in the other ear Tulkas's voice chuckles and says "would you rather we had given you so little as to make the odds of your success astronomical?" Emery grumbles a bit but says nothing else about it. She does however, say I thought the whole reason for the dream was that it was the only way to communicate directly? "I did not say that," says Aulë. You didn't not say that either, in fact you implied it. Tulkas is the one to laugh this time as Aulë simply replies "you were asleep. It is far easier to hear something in sleep if it is heard in a dream." She still doesn't fully understand but the logic seems to make at least little sense.
Emery walks back into the bedroom and stares at the little family. It occurs to her that while she may know the story of the sons of Durin like the back of her hand, she knows next to nothing about the characters, themselves. Dis's husband was never actually mentioned in the movies (or the books if memory serves). Now, she knows that his name was Flynn, and that he died sixteen years ago. At this point in time, Fili and Kili are nearly twenty-two and seventeen, respectively. Fili would've been five years old, but he's a dwarf, which would've put him at the developmental age of a human infant or toddler. Kili would've been a newborn. So neither of the boys would've been old enough to retain any memories of their father before he died.
Thorin's story was fairly straightforward in the movies. He was a young adult when Erebor fell to Smaug, and during the Azanulbizar (the battle of Moria) his father went missing and his brother and grandfather were killed, and the fate of his people was thrust on his shoulders. Add that to comforting a grieving sister and raising two nephews, and you get a dwarrow who bravely shoulders far more than his fair share of life's struggles.
Then there's Dis. She was a princess of Erebor, the wealthiest kingdom in all of Arda. As a daughter of a wealthy family, she would've grown up in a privileged and easy life. As a princess, she probably would've had expectations and responsibilities. As the youngest of three, she would've been given a bit more slack than her siblings. Since those two older siblings were brothers, she likely would've been doted on and a bit over-protected. Then, however it happened, she met and fell in love with Flynn. Emery has no idea if he was a miner, a warrior, or a nobleman. She has no idea when they married, or if they met before or after Smaug attacked.
Come to think of it, she has no knowledge of this family aside from what was narrated in the books and movies. Sure, the fanfiction stories helped her to gather a picture, but all of them were based on the imaginations of the authors, and not what actually happened.
Just as Emery decides to try and investigate into their past, there's a knock on the front door.