AN: Yo! Little late(er) today, but I was busy, so I made this one extra long. Again, I don't own Skyrim or the Hobbit, but I am starting to thrown in a few of my own ideas. Still, I'd recommend reading Demon-Kagetsuki's In the Shadow of Dragons, which this is 95% based off of.
Pain lanced through her body as her eyes flitted from one corpse to the next, the wails and moans of the injured-but-dying echoing throughout the valley. Fires dotted the landscape, the air thick with the cloying scent of blood. A familiar shout brought her attention to the commotion behind her. She spun around, incredibly aware of the bloodstained armor she was currently wearing, and the blood-flecked, dripping swords she held in her hands. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw an impossibly large white dragon facing off against her husband, who was protecting their daughters behind him. With Unrelenting Force, he was sent flying back several feet, landing in a heap, joints bending too far, his head askew at an unnatural angle, leaving their daughters with only each other before the great beast. Both dual-wielded Ebony swords, gifted to them on their eighteenth birthday, both wearing steel armor.
Brænna tried to rush forward and defend her daughters, but was frozen in place, only able to observe. She wasn't even able to yell or Shout as the Dovah bore down on them, smoke flowing from its open jaws. Sofia and Lucia fought bravely, striking the beast several times so that blood flowed freely, but the powerful dragon was too much for the girls, and they fell before it. The dragon stood triumphant, giving an ear-shattering roar of victory before stooping down and snatching the two in its obscene maw.
With a sickening crunch her daughters disappeared down the gullet of the beast. As their blood dripped from its teeth, it turned toward Brænna, and she found herself able to move.
She fell to her knees, numb fingers dropping her swords as she saw her family slaughtered before her. Eyes full of grief and hatred, she stared up at the creature that had done the deed. Its eyes were molten, bloodshot and red amongst the albino scales of its face, staring into the depths of her soul.
"You were never able to save anybody you cared about, were you? All those years of research and hiding for what? How feeble your attempts at saving your daughters as they lay in their deathbeds, withering in their age, minds turned to rot. How useless did you feel as the light faded from their eyes!?" it hissed rather than rumbled, voice raising to a screech by the end. "How pathetic," it spat.
The abomination's voice sparked something in her very essence. It used her numbness as kindling, flaming into a roaring inferno of rage. As she felt her fury rise, she began to hear the voices of the souls within her.
"Tear him down!"
"Destroy those who stand against us!"
"How dare it challenge our strength!"
Behind the tumult of voices each crying their own bloodlust and screeching their fury, one voice arose, a deep, black sound like the tolling of a death knell that rattled her very soul as it spoke.
"Exterminate them all. Leave no survivors."
Fire. Pain. Screaming. Pain. Pleading for mercy. Pain. Pain. PAIN!
As her vision cleared, she screamed in horror and agony as the white dragon had disappeared, replaced by the scorched and blackened bodies and faces of the company, staring blankly at her.
A figure that had once been Bilbo stepped forward, hands charred and disintegrating as he held them out in supplication. "Why did you do this to us? You promised to protect us!"
Brænna held out her hands toward the Hobbit, trying to beg for mercy, but saw her fingers had turned into taloned wings, hands covered in black scales. She looked down at herself in horror, seeing not her armor, but scales covering every inch of her skin. The once Half-Elf was only slightly aware of the strange weight until the tip of her tail, covered in cruel black barbs flicked into view.
Kíli walked forward, the remnants of his face contorted into a look of deep betrayal. "You said we could trust you…"
Brænna gasped for air as she bolted upright in the cool, predawn air, grasping at her arms, searching for wings, and clawing at her back, praying to the Nine that the scales on her back had not progressed overnight, despite her lack of Thu'um usage. She quietly sobbed with relief, having felt that nothing had changed. She glanced over each member of the camp, making sure none had been awoken by her start.
Bifur and Bofur were on watch, chatting quietly in Dwemeris, gazing into the dying embers of the fire. Their backs were to her, so they could not have seen her reaction. The rest of the company were sleeping peacefully, if snores were anything to go by, with the exception of the Hobbit, who was sitting on the same log as Bifur and Bofur, but many feet away, clearly not part of their conversation.
Knowing she wouldn't get another wink of sleep, Brænna rolled up her sleeping bag and walked silently over to where the Hobbit sat, nodding at Bofur and Bifur when they looked up. Sitting down gently beside him, she asked, "Did you get enough rest?"
Bilbo gave a slight start, before turning toward the Bosmer and grumbling, "Dwarves are as loud asleep as they are awake. I have no idea how anyone can sleep around these lot. I managed to get a few hours of shuteye in before I was woken by Dori's snoring.
She gave a strained chuckle before looking at the heavy clouds rolling in. "These dwarves will be in the same mood as you, soon. We are out in the open, and it looks like the heavens are about to split."
The moment the words left her mouth, she felt the first droplet of rain land on her face and heard the rumble of distant thunder. Almost immediately, the sprinkle turned into a torrent, the dwarves starting awake, exclaiming and groaning their indignation. In record time, they'd packed their things, though all but hers, Bilbo's, Bifur's and Bofur's were soaked and would have to dry.
Remembering how close the screams were from the night before, and with the looming threat of an Orc attack, she unpacked her Nightingale armor and secured it over the top of her tunic, and fastened her oilcloth cloak on top of that, pulling the hood over her head. She packed the remains of her belongings, fastening them to Vokun.
She mounted her steed and pulled up the mouthpiece of the Nightingale hood to keep the chilling rain from stinging her lips. She, and the quicker of the Dwarves (and the Hobbit of course) waited patiently for the stragglers to pack and mount. When everything had been cleared, the caravan began to move, all of them irritated by their impromptu bath.
They rode their ponies down the cliff face as fast as the ponies' footing would allow, and within half an hour they were trudging along the muddy forest floor as the sky continued to pour. A cold breeze had kicked up around them, fluttering at their cloaks that made the weather even worse. Brænna felt Vokun shudder underneath her from the cold as she rode. Of course, he was not from Skyrim stock, which could walk through a blizzard with little complaint. She was tempted to use some magicka to summon a small flame to keep herself and her ride warm, but decided against it, as it would be unfair to the others. She did, however, pull out a canteen, dropping a few tea bags into it and conjuring up enough warmth to prepare it. In a lull in the storm, she pulled down her mask and took a few sips of the warm, sweet drink, and with a jerk of her head, brought Bilbo up alongside her.
Without a word, she passed him the canteen and saw him relax and stop shivering for a moment as he sipped at the warm beverage, giving her a grateful look.
It was only a few minutes later that Dori called out, "Here, Mr. Gandalf, can't you do something about this deluge?"
Brænna glanced over to the Wizard, wondering if he could, in fact, dispel the storm above them. She didn't know much about the Wizard's capabilities, but the reverence with which the company regarded him, and the way they described him made her believe he was incredibly powerful. Dispelling or summoning storms were things that only a few Master-level mages were capable of performing as it required a large amount of magic to bend the laws of nature that far. It had only been in the last two centuries that she'd managed to do so without relying on the Thu'um that the Greybeards had taught her.
"It is raining, Master Dwarf, and it will continue to rain, until the rain is done," the Wizard snapped, also not immune to the irritation that the deluge had brought. "If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another wizard," he grumbled.
"Are there any?" Bilbo asked.
Not expecting the question, Gandalf asked, "What?"
"Other wizards?" Bilbo clarified.
Pausing a moment, Gandalf gestured toward Brænna. "Madam Stormcrown here has told you that she is the Archmage in her homeland, but in Middle-Earth, there are five of us. The greatest of our order is Saruman, the White. Then there are the two blue wizards… You know, I've quite forgotten their names."
Bilbo looked down at the steaming canteen in his hands and glanced back toward Brænna, who was busy making another canteen of tea for herself, sheepishly having forgotten her abilities, before asking, "And who is the fifth?
Gandalf responded, "Well, that would be Radagast, the Brown."
Rather cheekily, Bilbo asked, "Is he a great Wizard, or is he more… like you?"
Brænna had unfortunately chosen that moment to test her tea and ended up snorting a good portion of it in laughter. Giving her a hard glance that was softened by the twinkle of mirth in his own eyes, Gandalf said, "I think he's a very great wizard, in his own way," Gandalf started. "He's a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others. He keeps a watchful eye over the vast forest lands to the East, and a good thing too, for always Evil will look to find a foothold in the world.
Brænna decided that she would very much like to meet this Radagast, as they seemed to have many things in common. Her Half-Bosmer heritage had allowed her to become close to many animals, even being able to speak to them on occasion. More than once, she had calmed a hibernating bear she had stumbled across.
Then her mind snagged on something else that Gandalf had said- that Evil sought to find a foothold in the world. On Tamriel, certainly there was good and evil to be found, both in abundance, but Gandalf spoke of it as if it were a being, itself trying to claw its way into Nirn. She pondered this, wondering if Gandalf was referring to one of the Daedra, or something… darker.
She was shaken out of her thoughts when Fíli asked her, loud enough for the others to hear, "So, Archmage Stormcrown," he began, emphasizing, like Gandalf had, the meteorological part of her name, "could you get rid of this storm?" he asked, making his eyes as wide and pleading as possible.
Having raised two precocious daughters, Brænna was immune to the Durin brother's puppy-dog eyes. "I can," she said, "but I won't."
Kíli piped up, saying, "And why not?"
"Imagine a stone, high upon the peak of a mountain. Now in your mind, kick it. What does it do on the way down?" she asked.
She could see Balin grinning out of the corner of her eye, knowing he'd already figured out her reasoning.
"It falls, and rolls down the mountain," Fíli answered, not having caught the point of the metaphor yet.
"Close, but not quite," she said. "More likely than not, the stone would collide with another, and another, and those stones would collide, and eventually, a rockslide forms."
Snorting in disbelief, the other Durin brother said, "I've kicked stones down mountains countless times, and I've never caused a rockslide."
"Yes, but a rockslide and a mountain are much more stable than the weather," she answered.
"Unstable? Really?" one of the Dwemer asked.
"Yes," she answered, having pulled down her mask to speak freely to the Dwarves. "The skies are some of the most chaotic and unstable systems in the world, second only to the fragile balance of life itself," she answered.
Gandalf shot her a grin, knowing what she was up to - she was taking down three birds with one stone; she was teaching the Dwarves about the systems of nature and their instability, keeping them occupied, focused on something that wasn't their misery in the rain, and most importantly, subtly teaching them to not bother Mages and Wizards with foolish requests without considering the consequences.
In her latter years, Brænna had thoroughly studied the chaos of nature, formulating her own versions of chaos theory, the web of life, and a bare-bones study of meteorology, along with many other disciplines in an effort to better understand the natural world and how her magic could affect it. She explained how the wingbeat of an Ancestor Moth in Falkreath could end up causing a hurricane in the Padomaic, or could have even caused the very storm they were caught in. After she'd given them all something to ponder on the road, she smiled, the storm having already let up enough to just a drizzle instead of a downpour.
She saw Bilbo riding alongside Gandalf, and a flash of his burnt body from her dream filled her mind's eye. Giving a violent start, she shook her head, growling to herself.
I need to think of more tips on dealing with the Dovah. If Smaug is as ancient and powerful as Odahviing says, there is no chance in Oblivion that Bilbo will face him and come away whole. I promised to protect him, and I will not fail, she swore to herself.
She was about to spur her horse to draw it alongside him when Kíli's voice saying her name caught her attention. Her head turned in his direction, and he jerked it in a way that meant for her to come ride alongside him and his brother. She tugged slightly at Vokun's reins, slowing enough to drop back from the center of the company, where she'd been giving her lectures on natural philosophy, toward the back where the brothers were riding. His voice faded into hearing as she drew nearer them.
"...lling you, absolutely nothing happened last night! I'm just saying, she's trustworthy, and I need your help convincing the others, especially Uncle," she heard Kíli say.
"What made you change your mind? Her daring rescue of you from the river?" Fíli teased.
"Well yes, of course, but not for the reason you're thinking," Kíli said, turning more than a little pink.
"And what exactly is the reason you're thinking?" Brænna said, having pulled alongside a completely oblivious Fíli, who started in surprise.
Unable to get a single word out, Fíli stammered, before Kíli said, "Tell Fíli her that nothing happened between us last night! He's been pestering me about what happened all morning," Kíli begged, making sure Fíli didn't see the pleading look he was giving her.
Brænna turned from one brother to the other, eyes flat. "Nothing happened between us. What makes you think anything did?" she asked, coolly.
"Well… you were gone an awful long time just to return with a single deer, is all I'm saying," Fíli explained, grinning from ear to ear. "Plus, Kí here hasn't been acting himself after your little foray into the woods," he said, turning back to his little brother.
"He's probably just embarrassed by the fact that he fell out of a tree trying to get a better vantage point," she quickly lied.
Kíli's expression was murderous. For a split second, Brænna was worried he'd renege on his promise, before he played along, hissing, "You said you wouldn't tell anyone!"
Brænna said, "You wanted your brother to leave you alone, now he knows," she said, shrugging.
Laughing loudly, Fíli asked, "Is that all? Mahal, Kíli, why would you be embarrassed about falling out of a tree in front of an Elf?"
Growling, Kíli said, "Because now, I'll never hear the end of it," he muttered as he spurred his pony forward.
Fíli's laughter trailed off as his brother rode away. In all seriousness, he turned to her and said, "That being said, I never got to thank you for saving him. I promised our mother that I would take care of him, and I don't know what I would've done if I'd lost him. I apologize for my uncle's behavior toward you, and want to let you know that not all of us see you like he does."
Smiling appreciatively, she nodded, saying, I was only doing what is right. I will not allow any of you to come to harm if I can help it."
They walked quietly for a few minutes, as the sun broke through a hole in the clouds, turning the rain into a glowing golden drizzle. Eventually, Fíli broke the silence and asked, "So, you said you could change the weather with magic, is there anything else you can do?"
She laughed, and said, "There are plenty of other things I can do. I've studied magic for a literal age, even creating some of my own spells."
"Could you show me one?" Fíli asked.
The Half-Bosmer thought quietly at what she could possibly show the Dwemer that would actually impress him, before a sly smile crossed her face. "You wouldn't happen to have anything made of iron or silver on you, would you?" she asked.
Fíli fumbled in his pockets for a moment, before he tugged a simple iron dagger out of his belt and handed it to her, hilt first. Holding it gently in her hands, Brænna released Vokun's reins, trusting him to follow the Caravan, and concentrated. A gentle green glow flowed from her hands around the weapon, and within seconds, the dagger gleamed brighter. As she held it out to him, he all but snatched it out of his hands, turning it over and over, before giving her a bewildered expression.
"You turned it to silver!" he hissed.
"And I can do more," she said, holding a hand out for the dagger and grinning.
It had been a while since she'd been able to impress someone with magic that everyone in Skyrim was used to Mages doing. She took the silver dagger from Fíli, and with a little concentration turned the shining silver into dully-glinting gold.
Snatching it out of her hand, Fíli inspected the dagger, even biting it. Eyes wide with a newfound appreciation of magic, and amazement, Fíli stared at her as she lifted a finger to her mouth in a shushing movement, and with a quick wink, she spurred her horse forward, leaving the Dwemer alone with his new shiny dagger.
After the rain stopped, the days passed easily, and the air began to warm up. Brænna tried to converse with some of the dwarves with varying degrees of success; some of the Dwemer like Balin were more than happy to talk to their Elven companion, while others ignored her, pretending she didn't exist.
One evening, nearly a week after they left Hobbiton, just as the sun was setting they passed an old, abandoned farmhouse. Thorin barked out, "We'll camp here for the night. Fíli, Kíli, look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them."
Brænna heard Gandalf whisper, "A farmer and his family used to live here." She was ill at ease with the edge of worry in his voice. Just as Thorin ordered Gloin to start a fire, Gandalf turned to him and said, "I think it would be wiser to move on. We could make for the Hidden Valley."
Thorin stopped in his tracks, and turned toward the Grey Wizard. He all but growled out, "I've told you already; I will not go near that place."
"Well why not? The Elves could help us. We could get food, rest. Advice," Gandalf counseled, listing all the positives such a destination would bring them.
Pointed ears perking up at the mention of other Mer, she decided to listen in to the rest of the conversation.
"I do not need their advice," Thorin said, as was expected. "It's bad enough you've foisted one on us, I would not have us be surrounded by them."
Trying to reason with the Dwarvish prince, Gandalf said, "We have a map that we cannot read. Lord Elrond could help us!"
"Help?" Thorin barked, before continuing, his voice raising with every syllable. "A Dragon attacks Erebor, what help came from the Elves? Orcs plunder Moria, desecrate our sacred halls, while the Elves looked on and did nothing! You ask me to seek out the very people who betrayed my grandfather and father?"
Voice weary, but tense, Gandalf said, "You are neither of them. I did not give you that map and key for you to hold on to the past."
"I did not know they were yours to keep," Thorin said.
Brænna herself would have strangled the Dwarf had she been in Gandalf's position, so she mentally applauded as he decided to stomp angrily toward the woods ahead.
Startled, Bilbo looked up from his unpacking and asked, "Everything all right? Gandalf, where are you going?"
"To seek the company of the only one around her who's got any sense!" Gandalf yelled, not even turning as he stalked away.
"Who's that?" the Halfling asked innocently.
"Myself, Master Baggins. I've had enough of Dwarves for one day!"
Brænna wasn't offended by the comment at all, knowing exactly what it was like to deal with stubborn, arrogant nobles. She was half-tempted to follow the Wizard, but decided against leaving the company without a magic user.
"Come on, Bombur, we're hungry," Thorin said to the largest of the Dwemer, pointedly ignoring the receding grey figure.
Brænna heard Bilbo whisper to Balin, "Is he… he is coming back, right?"
Balin had only a shrug to give Bilbo as a particular comparison caused Brænna to chuckle.
Oh Thorin, she thought, trying to stifle her mirth. You remind me so much of Nazeem.
Night had fallen quickly after Gandalf left, and she was enjoying the soup that Bombur had prepared. The large dwarf was one of the kinder ones, and had even allowed her to sprinkle in a few Mora Tapinella she'd collected before the journey, having explained their restorative properties.
After the Dwemer had seen her add the odd-looking fungi, some of the more untrustworthy refused to eat it, claiming she was trying to poison them. They were only satisfied that it was safe after she'd eaten a whole bowl of the concoction while staring up at them, a deadpan look on her face.
Now that they were all full, they had begun to chat, Bilbo saying to Bofur, "He's been a long time."
"Who?" Bofur asked, slurping out of his bowl.
"Gandalf," Bilbo clarified
Chuckling, Bofur replied, "He's a wizard! He does as he chooses."
The hatted dwarf ladled out two bowls of soup and handed them to the Halfling, saying, "Here, do us a favor; take these to the lads."
She watched Bilbo disappear into the brush, confident in the Durin brothers ability to protect the Halfling in case they should run into trouble. She turned around just in time to see Bofur cuff Bombur, who had tried to grab at the ladle.
"So lass," Balin said, sitting down next to her. "You know about us, but we don't know much about you, other than what Gandalf has told us, that is. Care to tell us a bit about yourself?"
All the idle chatter halted as the dwarves turned toward their Elven companion.
Shifting uncomfortably under the weight of their stares, she made sure to keep her expression guarded before asking, "Is there anything specific you want to know?"
"Not much, just about yourself, where you come from," the kindly dwarf asked.
His brother, always the more pragmatic of the two, asked, "How about you start with that fancy armor of yours?"
Brænna weighed the decision about whether or not to tell the company of the armor's origin, as technically it was supposed to be kept secret. She thought, Oh to Oblivion with it all, this isn't Skyrim.
"This is my Nightingale armor. It was gifted to me personally by the Daedric Prince Nocturnal, our deity of night, darkness and luck," she explained, before mirthfully remembering Karliah's description of their patron deity. "One of the other Nightingales, members of our order, once described Lady Nocturnal as 'a scolding mother who always pushes her child to do better,'" she said. "In my long time in her service, I haven't found a better description than that," she chuckled.
"Do you have any other deities in your lands?" Ori piped up, the young scholar thirsting for information as he scribbled in his little journal.
Glad that the company didn't seem to see it as blasphemy against their own gods, Brænna laughed and said, "You better believe it! Tamriel has many different provinces, and while many of them recognize the same entities, their names, their capabilities, or whether they're divine or damned depends truly, on who you ask."
"Could you give us an example?" Ori asked, scribbling furiously.
She laughed, saying, "Absolutely. Long ago, in some far-off part of Tamriel, was born Hjalti Early-Beard. Through his own innate power and the fact that he conquered all of Tamriel, he was eventually recognized as a God called Talos after his death among Mankind, which made the Altmer pretty angry.
"The Altmer- the Elves that live in the Summerset Isles?" asked Balin, remembering her distinctions between the groups when she'd explained to Thorin.
"Absolutely. I don't agree with Thorin on much, but I am certain that we'd both agree that the High Elves of the Summerset Isles are the most stuck-up, effete, pretentious bastards to ever walk the face of Nirn," she laughed outright, then realized none of the company had joined her. She sighed, saying, "Long story short, the Altmer invaded Cyrodiil, the capital province of the Empire, which technically owned Skyrim. Inevitably, they won, and outlawed Talos-worship throughout Skyrim, leading to a particularly bloody civil war."
"And this Skyrim is where you come from?" asked one of the Dwemer from the back.
"Indeed," she said. "It's a very unforgiving, cold land in the north, surrounded on three sides by ice-peaked mountains and the frozen Sea of Ghosts to the north," she explained. "The people there are hardy, bull-headed, and stubborn. Most of them dislike anybody that isn't a Nord like them, but like always, there are exceptions."
She paused, saying, "As for myself, I don't like talking about myself that much. I hold many pretentious, long-winded titles given to me for my accomplishments, most of which I received by accident. Despite that, I prefer to work in the dark, away from the center of attention. I go where I'm needed and help solve problems that arise across Tamriel," she explained simply.
Dwalin asked, "You say you've killed a hundred and seventeen dragons. What got you into the business?"
"Now that is a story-" Brænna began, already mentally editing the story, but at that moment, Fíli and Kíli burst through the brush, weapons in hand, wild looks in their eyes.
"Grab your weapons, we must hurry!" Kíli hollered.
Startled, having been listening to the Half-Elf's stories, Thorin stumbled upright, grasping at his sword. "What! What's happened? What is going on?" he hollered back.
"Where's Bilbo?" Brænna asked, shoving down the panic that was rising inside her.
"He's off trying to rescue our ponies from the trolls that took them!" Fíli answered, turning back toward the forest.
In a flash she was beside him, grabbing at his collar, shouting right in his face, "AND YOU LEFT HIM ALONE?"
She dashed off into the brush after Kíli, snarling openly. She spotted dim firelight up ahead, and observed three massive figures chasing Bilbo around.
"What in Oblivion are those?" she hissed to Kíli.
"I told you, they're trolls!" he hissed back, giving her a confused stare.
Bewildered, she said, "Those aren't trolls, those are fat giants,"
He shook his head, saying, "Whatever they are, they've got Bilbo!"
She was about to say more, when she heard one of the 'trolls' say, "Gotcha!" and her heart dropped.
Whispering, she asked, "What are their weaknesses?"
"Weaknesses? Joints I suppose. And they turn to stone in sunlight," he answered.
Brænna laughed outright. "Oh, I'm gonna love this," she said, and strode out into the clearing.
Behind her, Kíli hissed, "What are you doing?" but didn't step out next to her.
"All right, boys," she said, pitching her voice so the Trolls could hear her. "You've had your fun, now drop him."
"You wot?" the troll holding Bilbo asked.
"I said, drop the halfling," she growled, igniting her hands with spells she'd learned from her old friend Florentius Baenius.
The troll tossed Bilbo at her just as she ignited her two spells, Stendarr's Aura and Sun Fire, whipping up a halo of deadly sunlight around her, wreathing her right hand with the glow. She dodged out of the way, but snagged the Halfling with her left arm.
"Oof!" she said, nearly stumbling. "Bilbo, you need to lay off the sweets," she groaned, before setting him down gently.
The trolls backed away from this impossible witch with sunlight in her hands, shrieking.
Brænna's blood boiled. These cowards, these abominations had tried to steal something that was hers.
Instantly, the chorus of voices from her dream was back.
"Burn them!"
"Petrify them!"
The voices screamed, and so did she. Wreathed in sunfire, her hands reached out like talons toward the three retreating trolls, beaming rays of light that petrified troll flesh in their wake. She grinned, showing off unnaturally long canines as the trolls howled in agony.
"Obliterate them," the death-knell voice said, and she obeyed, swapping Sun Fire for Fireball, which exploded against the trolls, turning everything stone to rubble.
Soon, she stood in the clearing, fires burning all around her, the smell of burnt flesh in the air, and gravel that had once been three trolls crunching under her feet. The magical fires had burnt away the forearms of her sleeves, showing off the black whorls and curlicues of intricate tattoos that seemed to move and writhe in the flickering light. She grinned like an animal, panting heavily, exulting in the devastation she had wrought
"Brænna?" a voice from behind her said, and she whipped around to face this new threa- her friend, Bilbo.
Immediately, she extinguished the flames, and hugged her arms tight to herself. Wide, panicking eyes flicked from fire to fire, to the rubble at her feet.
"Oh gods," she whispered in old Nordic. Looking up at Bilbo with a pleading expression on her face, she whispered, "Did I hurt anyone?"
He knelt in front of her a few feet away, wary, but trusting. He shook his head not saying anything, keeping an eye on her.
Before she knew it, she was bent double, Bombur's stew, half-digested, splattered on the gravel in front of her. She heaved multiple times, hiccupping in a mixture of terror, relief, and a tumult of emotions that she couldn't, and didn't even try to, differentiate.
Sobs wracked her frame as she realized how close she'd come to losing so much control, how close she'd come to hurting Bilbo, who was now talking to some of the company.
With one final heave, she passed out, and knew no more.
Yo! Did a little something different from Kagetsuki's story there at the end! Hope you liked it. Remember, all questions and reviews will be answered/acknowledged every even chapter from now on. PLEASE review, especially if you didn't like what I wrote today :)