The Hobbit: An Unexpected Reunion

Chapter 11

"No!" shouted Dwalin, the company of Thorin Oakenshield reconvening in their shared quarters. Fili had left Mira only after Thorin and Fróia emerged from their meeting. The four dwarves talked a bit before separating to inform their prospective companies; Thorin and Fili expected the news to inspire different responses than with Fróia and Mira's. They hadn't been wrong.

"We can leave on a different day, in our own way!" Dwalin continued, clearly not happy with taking assistance from Fróia and Mira's company.

"And when will that be, Master Dwalin?" asked Kili, rising from the pillows he had been sitting on when his uncle and brother returned. "Summer is quickly passing, and we want to be at the mountain before Durin's day. So why not travel together?"

"We do not need their help!"

"Perhaps we could part company after we are beyond Rivendell's borders," offered Dori, a bit skeptical of Fróia and Mira but not as strongly as Dwalin.

Fili shook his head, "We are practically going in the same direction. It'd be pointless to separate! Besides, they could need all the help they can get, traveling as a group of sixty dwarves through orc-infested territory!"

"Don't bring personal opinion into these decisions, young master Fili!" chided Dwalin.

"You're one to talk, Dwalin!" the young dwarf replied.

"That's enough!" roared Thorin. He turned to his friend, "Dwalin, why don't you trust her?"

"I find the fact that we are attacked by an orc pack the very next day we run into her highly suspicious!"

"You think she tipped them off?" Kili dismissed, shocked by his kin's deep distrust for the she-dwarf that, in his opinion, had shown nothing but kindness to him and the company.

"She or someone in their group," Dwalin guessed.

"Neither Mira nor Fróia would do such as thing!" affirmed Fili passionately.

"Why would the sisters put their own people at risk? They almost lost people during the chase!" commented Bilbo. Thirteen dwarf eyes turned on him. They had forgotten he was even in the room. "What?" the hobbit defended. "I'm just saying."

"Maybe the pack was following them, and it just chose to attack us when it did?" Bofur suggested.

"So what if it is? If we let them leave without our help, and the orcs are still out there, they could be killed!" worried Ori, who had remained silent until now. He raised a very valid point.

Someone was either after Thorin's company or Fróia and Mira's and both had worked together to survive the orc pack with no casualties. Had the pack attacked only one of them, that story might have ended differently.

Ori liked the two sisters and he had found distant relations living as members of the larger company. He could not stand by the idea of leaving the poorly defended company on its own. He might be the youngest member of the company, and one of the quieter ones, but he wasn't afraid to say something when he felt it true deep in his bones. He looked up to a lot of the dwarves around him and it bothered him that many were so critical of Fróia and Mira.

"Ori's right," said Kili, moving to stand beside his brother. "Fróia and Mira might be skilled warriors, but there's a lot can happen between now and the Lonely Mountain. We cannot stand by while others go out into danger, knowingly, without help that we could willingly give.

We're fighters! We knew this quest would have its occasional perils, but I can't see how we can call ourselves Durin's folk if we don't travel with these dwarves and help them!"