Once Upon a Time

A Most Delightful Welcoming

Remember!
Thinking
Speaking in other people's mind
Demon voice
Singing
Animals
Enjoy!

When I wake up the next morning I am immediately met with multiple bodies pressed up against mine and I look down to see some of the dwarfs looking up at me sleepily while the other 13 were all sleeping still. The ones that were awake were Thorin and Gandalf. "Thank you, protector. I believe it is safe to assure you kept us all safe and warm through the night. How did you fair?" Thorin says quietly. I gave a soft snort and a small nod to tell him I was fine. He nods and nestles back into my warm stomach and Gandalf crawls out from under my wing. "We need to wake them. We must continue on. Oh and before we go on, what do you believe you are?" He questions. "I... am not sure. I have been called many things. Skinchanger is the most common. Why?" He nods and just shakes his head and I stare at him in confusion before I heat up my stomach so it would be uncomfortable to lay on and not long after I hear groans and gripes about how hot it is and soon I fold up my wing so the early morning sun may shine on them once more. Some either groan louder or they are just waking up. About 15 minutes later some dwarfs are still asleep so I roar, not thinking about the consequences. "Silence you insolent fool! You'll lead the orcs to us!" Thorin whisper-shouts, and I flinch and my dragon face falls, suddenly aware of the consequences of my actions. The dwarfs are now awake and all of them are standing. I pull my wing off of them and they draw their weapons while Thorin yells at me. I begin shrinking so I'm back to a pony size while Thorin is screaming. Everytime his voice gets sharper, I flinch and no one notices. Kili gets tired of Thorin yelling at me so Kili walks over to him and grabs his arm, pulling him away from me until Thorin is far enough away from me. My eyes have begun to turn into slits but I start whining and several dwarfs look to see me covering my face with my large paws and my wings tense around my back. Bofur walks over to me and puts his hand on my head and I jerk my head up to look at him. In the spur of the moment I growl at him and shrink back into the shadow of a nearby tree and several dwarfs look to me in shock, including Thorin. Kili walks slowly towards me and my pupils grow to be a little wider. (A/n: her eyes get thinner the less she trusts you so when she trusts you they will be wide slots and the opposite if she doesn't trust you.) Thorin stepped in front of Bilbo and Bilbo had grabbed onto Thorin's arm. Kili redraws my attention by putting his hand on my muzzle and gently caressing it. I pur and lean into it until he moves his hand away and my eyes slowly open and the slits are wide again. The dwarfs relax a bit but as Bilbo draws his arms away I growl in a playful manner. Bilbo looks at me as does Thorin and the small hobbit slowly wraps his arms around Thorin's once more and I relax. Bilbo moves and begins holding Thorin's hand with their fingers intertwined and Thorin goes bright, cherry red and Bilbo also has some red dusted onto his dirty cheeks. I huff in approval and nod at the awkward couple and most of the dwarfs laugh. As they are holding hands Thorin helps Bilbo onto my back and I let it happen. Even when they placed a few of their bags on my back, I let them. As we walk Thorin is walking next to me, still holding Bilbo's hand in fear of my wrath. We walk for many hours, most of the time Thorin is holding Bilbo's hand voluntarily and I smirk to myself. Sometimes the dwarfs will take turns riding on my scaled back. When we get to a place with many rocky hiding places, big large trees shading the surrounding area and blocking off my flight path, with a rock wall almost with a small path-like formation we all stop for a moment before Gandalf suggests Bilbo looks ahead and I look over at Thorin to see him visibly tense. I jump onto my back legs and raise one paw while my head falls to the side. Everyone around me chuckles and I walk over to Bilbo until we both make our way onto the path and we begin tracking our way to look ahead. We see orcs and goblins not far, maybe 30 to 40 feet and I wrap my tail around Bilbo loosely until we turn just a bit. When we do we stop and take notice of the gargantuan creature 10-20 feet off to our left. A giant black bear is standing on the rock and I quickly nudge his back to make us move back to the group faster. We get back to the group and my first reaction is to bring Kili up to my body as close as he could be. I wrap my tail around his torso and bring him close to my stomach. He taps my tail and I loosen the grip a little bit and he hops onto my back. So I have the stubborn dwarf on my back and all the dwarfs chuckle at my antics until Bilbo and Thorin both start talking. "How far off are they?" Thorin questions. "Not far, maybe 1 or 2 leagues. No more than 2." I growl in disagreement and Bilbo looks at me while I notice Thorin grab at Bilbo's hand until he finds it and the all mighty Thorin Oakenshield intertwines his fingers with Bilbo's. I laugh, well as best as I can when in the form of a dragon and Kili lays down so his chest is against my back. "We don't have much time. There is a house, not far from here we might stay in." Gandalf says, looking out towards the direction of the house. Beorn, my old friend. I smile to the best of my ability and growl in acceptance. "Are they friend or foe?" Thorin asks hesitantly. "He is neither friend nor foe. He will either kill you or let you be." Some of the dwarfs tense and I chuckle. We hear a roar and Thorin shouted, "what choice do we have?!" "None!" Gandalf responded. We all run through the forest in the rough forest ground, Kili, close to my back, gripping my loosened scales so he won't fall off. I am running through the forest with the rest of the dwarfs following close behind. I stopped and everyone passed me and Kili nudged my side with his foot before pointing at a moving object that was running towards us quickly. I saw it and immediately started running quickly towards the others and Kili made a startled noise before gripping tighter to my scales. We make it to the door after everyone and they are all trying to open the latch set upon the door. Kili stands on my back and opens the door before Thorin can get there. My mate falls back onto my back and we all run inside and when everyone is in the house I throw my body across the door but the door is pushed against my body by the great, big black bear. I stood on my hind legs and jumped at the door like a bear and I closed it quickly. Thorin latched and looked up at Gandalf with an incredulous frown. "What was that!?" "That was our host young dwarf." I growl out in my demonic tone. The dwarfish heads snap towards me and Gandalf's eyes widen. "Do not be so surprised, small dwarfs." The shock is quickly extinguished while leaving behind worried looks instead. "It's not natural. There has to be dark magic at work here!" Dori exclaimed. "There is no foul magic at hand but his own." Gandalf explains. I growl and patter over to a soft spot to put Kili down. He slid off my back in a very clumsy way and fell on his behind. I shift back into a human and I'm exempt from all clothing so Kili hastily wraps his warm fur coat around my bare shoulders. Gandalf rushes up and presents me with trousers and a tank top with a fur jacket. I go around the corner and I put the clothes on, covering myself effectively. The rest of the company quickly joins me and I am floating hazily into sleep while everyone talks quietly among themselves. The last thing I hear is a quiet goodnight floating among the company of Thorin Oakenshield.