My Unexpected Journey

Another Mystery

Thorin turned around as he heard the group of clunky boots. He is not as I imagined him as in the book, I never pictured him looking this masculine.

I made eye contact with him for a brief moment, and didn't know whether to smile or say something, but I did neither because he looked away.

"Bilbo, my dear friend," he said as Bilbo approached.

Bilbo looked shocked to see his companion in the flesh once again, I would too. There was a soft and innocent look on his face, I liked how vulnerable he looked, because it added to his overall kind heart.

"Thorin," he managed to get out.

And Thorin took him into a deep hug, one to make up for the time he was gone.

They broke away from the hug and Thorin looked around, and stopped to focus on me.

"Is this her?" He asked openly, I wasn't sure if he was pleased to see me.

I stood there awkwardly as everyone looked at me.

"Y-yes this is YN, she let me stay in her home when I got lost in that other world," Bilbo said as he stepped beside me, making me feel more comfortable.

"It's really nice to meet you," I tried to say as respectfully as possible.

Although Thorin was a dwarf like the rest, his presence was so much different, in an intimidating way, and I understood it completely.

"Hm," is all he said, I felt a strange shiver in my body. His lack of a response indicated that my presence wasn't wanted.

"Uh," I softly stammered to myself. He turned around already and the tiger dwarves followed.

Bilbo saw what happened, and noticed my confusion.

"You just. He needs to warm up to you," Bilbo said.

"It's not you, I think he is just a bit shaken by everything right now. And-"

"I understand," I said, "I hope we can get along."

That's kind of disappointing. I have always admire Thorin, his pride and consistence. But it was too much to ask the same respect and admiration from him, because I was merely just a stranger to him.

oOoOo

We were all gathered at the wooden table, I barely managed to squeeze myself in between Bilbo, and Filli.

"As some of you may heard," Thorin lowered his voice.

"Azog has also returned, in the same way as Fill, Killi, and I," he said.

"What in the-?!" Killi said loudly.

"Don't be stupid, I told you this yesterday," Filli punched his side.

"We need to plan an attack right away, because there is no doubt that he is doing the same thing," Thorin said seriously, in a monotone voice.

"What about the armies? And the others who suffered from the battle?" I chimed in. All the dwarves turned their heads to me.

"How should I know," he said plainly. It sent the same shiver down my spine, and he looked away from me again. Like my question meant nothing to him.

I looked at Bilbo, and he shook his head with sympathy, and shrugged his shoulders.

"Let us retreat for the night, and we shall meet again tomorrow morning," Thorin said after he was done talking. The dwarves got up and parted to their rooms.

"I know he will like you," Bilbo said as we stood.

"He has to," he added.

Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and found a white haired dwarf, whom I already knew.

"I'm sorry we haven't officially met yet, my name is Balin," he said with a polite bow.

"YN, at your service," I said as I pretended to grab the skirt of a dress and curtsied. Balin laughed.

"I apologize for Thorin, he doesn't quite understand why you have accompany us, but I promise he will show his kind heart," Balin said.

"I'm just a visitor, I will do whatever I am asked if it means helping you all," I said.

"Visitor eh?" Balin said softly, and dispersed.

I looked behind me to talk to Bilbo, but he wasn't there, and then I looked for Balin, but he quickly got away. The bar was now empty.

I quickly walked outside, to see if anyone was there.

"Bilbo? Killi? Bofur? Anyone?" I said out loud. The streets were empty, and I couldn't help but feel a little scared.

I went back into the bar, and before opening the door, through its window, there was a man sitting at one of the tables by himself.

There was no way someone could have gone in without me noticing. I remembered that the normal principles of my world no longer applied. Anything could happen, and I had a hard time accepting that.

I decided to walk inside, and ask him for directions. When I opened the door, he didn't bother to look up at me, and I saw that he was actually a very small man. A green cloak was dropped over his head, he didn't want to be seen.

"Excuse me, have you seen-"

I was interrupted by an approaching group, perhaps it was Bilbo and the Dwarves. I turned around to see if it was them, and I recognized their voices.

"Oh never mind I found-"

I turned back to the small man, but he was no longer there.

Did I see a ghost?

The door opened, but I was frozen because I couldn't make sense of what happened.

"Whatcha standin there for?" I heard Bofur say. They must have went out somewhere to collect some of their things, they carried some bags, and other weapons.

"I thought, I- I swear there was-"

"You're as pale as snow, are you okay?" Bilbo emerged from the group and stepped to me with concern.

"Never mind," I disregarded the occurrence.

oOoOo

"Okay listen up lads, there are only 4 rooms, so we're gonna have to share. But we agreed to let YN have her own room," Bofur said as he stood on a wooden stool.

"Thank you! But I don't need my own room, I'd be glad to sleep on the floor honestly," I said.

"Please! That's no condition for a pretty lady like you!" Bofur said, and the dwarves agreed.

oOoOo

I slipped one of the night gowns I grabbed from Bilbo's closet, and it surprisingly fit just right. It smelled of years of age, there was a lot of dust that flew off of it, but I cleaned it as well as I could.

I heard a knock on the door, and put my hair comb down to answer.

"Come in," I said.

The door opened, and it was Bilbo.

"Hello," I said with a smile.

"I just wanted to," he cleared his throat, "to see if you were comfortable." He made eye contact with me and then quickly looked away.

"Oh I am! Sweet of you to check on me," I replied.

He got red, "well the others were wondering to, and so I decided to... You know, come and ask."

"Oh well tell the others thank you," I say.

"Okay, goodnight," Bilbo said and made for the doorway.

"Wait-" I said. I wanted to tell him about the mysterious man I saw.

"Yeah?" He said as his eyebrows raised.

I paused for a moment and made a tense face.

"Something you want to say?" He asked.

"Never mind," I said. And we both said goodnight.