The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings belongs to JRR Tolkien and the movies belong to Peter Jackson. I'm just a devoted fan.

I just got a Blu Ray player for Christmas and also got the LOTR movie trilogy as my first blu ray dvds :'D now I'm even more inspired. Thanks for all the reviews and comments and faves, it makes me super happy :)

I'm attempting to develop more of the dwarves, especially in regards to Relly and Ori's friendship because I feel like many OC fics just focus on getting with 'da luv interest' which is a terrible pit that I wish not to fall into. Also, this is a great chapter. I kept giggling during a certain scene...

The Shallow Pool

Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

It was a whole new experience to ride on a pony while travelling through the forest. The dappled sunlight on the ground created little holes of shadows on the forest floor and Relly would occasionally dangle her feet away from the side of her pony and let it float above the grass, never touching the ground. She was so used to walking everywhere that it did feel very strange to be riding. The river that passed by the hooves of her pony softly gurgled as Relly peered down and saw her reflection; dressed in clean men's clothing and the hood of her cloak resting on the nape of her neck. She had some dirt on her face but nothing a quick rinse in the creek wouldn't fix.

Relly rode the little pony behind her friend Ori, the dwarf who she liked the most out of all the company. He was very polite but as evidenced from his loud burps and outbursts, he could also a bit of a spitfire. His older brothers Dori and Nori were like his guardians and constantly looked after him and liked to tease him. Sometimes he'd be writing in that journal of his and Relly would ask what he was writing about. She couldn't read the dwarven language but Ori could be very secretive nonetheless.

"I can't even see it from back here Ori," Relly said. "Is it a poem?"

"No," Ori answered, slouching his back a bit. "I'm drawing this river."

Relly smiled. "I'm sure it looks great, Ori." She was not the artist so to see Ori sketch the river below them was quite impressive in her eyes. She guessed he was using the book as a way to record their adventure to Erebor. Relly continued to talk to Ori and sometimes Bofur would ask her questions about what she did before she met Gandalf.

"Definitely a hand-to-mouth existence," Relly labeled her vagabond life to Bofur, who was interested about her abilities as a thief. "I never stayed anywhere too long and when I did return home, there was not much left for me to go home to."

Bofur nodded, the usually upbeat dwarf looking sympathetic. To change the subject and cheer her up, he told her an off-color joke, one that was wildly inappropriate that it even made Ori's face turn pink.

"You can't tell that joke to Relly," Ori frowned at Bofur. "She's a lady."

Bofur shrugged, the dwarf knowingly guilty of not thinking before he spoke. "Aye, but she's laughing, isn't she?" as he gestured to the giggling half-Hobbit on the pony. Her face was also red from listening to the tale but she found it pretty funny despite the content. Relly laughed along with Bofur as the three of them continued to exchange conversation and Bofur told cleaner jokes after Nori called him out for telling Relly that dirty joke.

The company rode for a couple more hours until they decided to settle for the night near a large cave as Fili and Kili set up a fire. Relly happily petted her pony's mane as she joined the rest of the company in preparing for sleep.

"That is disgusting," Bilbo made a face as Relly nodded her head, the two of them watching the poor flies being sucked in and out of Bombur's mouth. "I can't possibly sleep with that."

Relly shrugged, the curves of her mouth turned upwards in an amused expression. "Me either, but I can't really sleep anyway," she got up from her blankets as she looked at the fire where some of the awake dwarves were sitting around. "Maybe you should talk to them. Get to know them."

"Talk to...?" Bilbo bunched his nose up in confusion at her suggestion but as he blinked again, Relly had already disappeared into the darkness. To be honest, he was not sure where she ran off to but she did leave her cloak behind...

The green tunic shirt, the britches and her suspenders rested on a flat stump as Relly bathed in the creek water, wanting some alone time away from well, fifteen other men. Relly liked journeying with the dwarves and especially with her forming friendships with Bofur and Ori, it felt nice to actually have social interactions with others who weren't out for her skin. Gandalf had been so nice to her and when they stopped for breaks, he would often talk to her as well.

She picked the dirt from underneath her fingernails as she caught her reflection in the rippling jagged waves of the shallow pool. Thick black strands of hair hit right at the nape of her neck, now laying flat from being watered down. Relly frowned, not really happy with who she saw in the water. A part of her wished she looked more like her mother: classically beautiful by Hobbit standards and less like her father. He had been described as sharp edges and angles, almost the extreme opposite of her mother.

Swishing her hand in the pool to break up the picture, she held her breath and went under the water to wet her hair again, enjoying the feeling of being submerged in water. It wasn't until moments later when her head broke the surface that she felt like she wasn't the only one alone near the shallow pool.

"Relly! Relly, where are you?" and the sound of Bilbo Baggins' voice nearly petrified her. Had she been bathing this long? The problem with travelling with other people now was actually reminding them where she would be if she went somewhere by herself. Relly was so used to being on her own that it had slipped her mind to tell at least someone where she was bounding off to. Then again, did she really want to tell a man she'd be bathing?

"You're a thief, Relly, but you're not a ghost!" he called out again, sounding strained. Had she caused a panic? A female in the woods by herself in the dark...it would certainly raise alarms. "Where is she?" she heard that last murmur as she lowered herself into the pool, feeling embarrassed again.

"Turn around Bilbo!" she finally yelled out at him, the Hobbit turning around only to find the thief sharing his fourteenth portion of treasure was in the shallow pool, her bare shoulders exposed as Relly's face turned a vibrant red. "Now, turn back around and go away!"

Bilbo stammered, surprised he found the missing member of their company as well as the fact the half-Hobbit had been bathing. "Y-you left your cloak!" and he held out Relly's tattered cloak in his balled up hand. Relly hit her head on the embankment, stupid stupid stupid! "Everyone's been looking for you! Thorin thought you had been...been..." and he trailed off as his face too began to turn a faint pink upon realizing his current situation as he purposely averted his eyes away from Relly. "I'll tell Gandalf I found you."

"You should do that." Relly frowned, keeping her shoulders above water level to give herself some sense of modesty. It was mortifying enough learning everyone was searching for her thinking she had been kidnapped or something, but Bilbo finding her when she was bathing? Once Bilbo had left, Relly bolted out of the water as she literally threw her clothes back on and rolled up the hems of the pants again as she took off, fearing a tongue lashing when she got back to the campsite.

When Relly finally arrived back to the campsite, most of the other dwarves were asleep. Kili was resting on Fili's shoulder, Dori was snoring loudly and Bifur was sleeping on his back and muttering something. Finding the dying fire, she tossed some wood to keep it burning as she sat down on the closest rock. Relly was wrapped up in her cloak, sitting by the crackling fire as Thorin Oakenshield approached her with a serious, authoritative demeanor about him. Relly remained sitting on the rock as she rubbed her hands warm, not prepared for the dwarf's words.

"I am still not entirely comfortable with a woman travelling along," Thorin put it out there point-blank, "for fear danger and harm may come to you. The female dwarves where I am from are tough, stubborn and can hold their own. You, Relly Crillynook, I am not so sure about. You go off," and he really stressed the phrase ' go off', "into the dark without telling me or Balin or anyone here where you decided to run off to. What if you had run into an enemy? You would be exposed," he must have known she was bathing, "and vulnerable without your weapon. Gandalf has placed his trust in you but as far as I am concerned, you have not given me a reason to give you mine."

She hung her head low, feeling the sting. Here she thought she was getting along with most of the dwarves. Thorin just said he didn't trust her. Relly felt wounded. Relly was a thief by trade, of course nobody should be able to trust her, that would be defeating the whole purpose of burglary! But why was Thorin's lack of faith in her so disturbing to Relly? She had nothing to say as Thorin stood in front of her a few minutes before finally adding, "Do not worry me again," and he left her alone, probably for her to reflect on what he just told her.

"He means well, my dear Relly. We were all looking for you, but the important matter is that you are safe and sound now," Gandalf told Relly as a means to comfort her but it did not help much.

She told Gandalf good night as she went back to where she had placed her blankets, near Bilbo and Bombur as the half-Hobbit did a walk of shame to her resting spot. Bilbo was already asleep, no doubt trying to sleep away his embarrassment. Her glance lingering on him a little longer than usual, Relly exhaled softly as she pulled the wool blanket over her body, forcing herself to get some rest for another long day of travel.

"Let me tell ya lad, I almost wish I'd been Bilbo if I were there last night," Bofur tried to smoke his pipe but the relentless rain dimmed out any chance of a good puff. Relly slumped her shoulders, already knowing what Bofur was going on about. He was just a bunch of talk, which Relly liked for the most part, but even the talkative dwarf was grating on her nerves. The rain wasn't helping with her mood either. It reminded her of that day back in Rivertown, soaked to the bone and with no shelter.

Ori frowned, gesturing to Bofur that she was listening in. The dwarf without a mental filter paused as he set down his wet pipe, his head jerked back when he saw Relly's expression. "Ah, sorry lass. I heard from Gloin you got quite the chew out from Thorin last night."

Relly wrung her hands. "I'm so used to getting away with things it's a bit different being caught." Her eyes travelled to the front of the line where Thorin was leading as she lowered her voice. "He says he doesn't trust me."

Bofur chortled. "Really now?" his tone sounded a bit sarcastic but kept his smile on his face. "Thorin was looking for a burglar, and we got two with us. Dunno what he expected."

"But you're the nice one," Ori added, keeping his hood over his head and trying to keep his tiny braided beards from getting wet. "Mr. Bilbo's not even talking much today, not a single complaint about the rain."

Ori brought up a good point as Relly peered over her shoulder to where Bilbo was in the line. By what she could tell, he definitely wasn't enjoying the current weather but his lips were thinly tight. Relly turned back around to listen to Dori ask Gandalf if he could change the weather, to which Gandalf wryly responded that perhaps they should seek out another wizard.

There's more Gandalfs out there? Relly thought to herself as Bilbo asked Gandalf how many other wizards there were. He's very strange by himself, I don't even want to know how much more strange the others are.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter :)