The Hobbit

Chapter Six

When morning came and they set off, the rain that Evelyn had sensed the day before decided to come down on them. She could hear the dwarves grumbling under their breath and spotted poor Bilbo shivering as he had left his cloak in his rush to leave. The woman didn't hesitate to bring her horse alongside his pony, unfastening her cloak as she did so. With a quick swish, she draped the cloak over his shoulders, causing the hobbit to jump ever so slightly.

He immediately began fumbling to take it off. "Miss Evelyn," he stuttered out through chattering teeth.  "I can't possibly-"

"You can, and you will," Evelyn stated firmly. She would have cast some sort of spell to make herself stay dry, but with how far the storm was reaching, according to Ember, she decided not to so she wouldn't deplete her strength. "I will not take no for an answer. Besides, the cold doesn't bother me like it does you," she fibbed, pulling the reigns on her horse to drop back.

"That was a kind action," Ember said softly, but Evelyn could hear the worry laced in her tone.

"I will be fine," Evelyn assured the dragon as she kept her head down to shield her eyes from the rain.

"If you say so," Ember said reluctantly as she began to pull away from the woman's mind. "But remember that you will not be doing anyone a favor should you get sick."

With that said, Ember withdrew herself to focus on keeping her wings shielded against the wind. The last thing she or her rider needed was her presence to be made known.

"Here, Mr. Gandalf?" Dori called up loudly, clearly sick of the weather already, to the wizard who was riding near the front of the company. "Can't you do something about this deluge?"

"It is raining, master dwarf," Gandalf replied, his tone laced with a bit of annoyance as he turned his head back to look in the direction of Dori. He looked up at the sky after a moment, squinting his eyes in an attempt to see if it would be letting up any time soon. "And it will continue to rain until the rain is done," he continued with a huff. "If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another wizard."

"Are there any?" Bilbo asked from under Evelyn's cloak.

"What?"

"Other wizards."

"There are five of us," Gandalf stated, glancing back at Bilbo. "The greatest of our order is Saruman the White. Then there are the two blue wizards...do you know, I've quite forgotten their names."

"Alatar and Pallando," Evelyn chimed in from the back, having met the two briefly. Her dark hair was plastered to her face and neck as the rain soaked through her clothes and gave her a slight chill. The appearance of the girl caused several of the dwarves to give each other worried glances.

"Ah yes," Gandalf mused, seemingly quite oblivious to his friend's predicament.

"And who is the fifth?" Bilbo asked, looking down guiltily. He felt horrid about using Evelyn's cloak, but he knew she wouldn't take it back until the rain had passed.

"Well, that would be Radagast the Brown."

"Is he a great wizard? Or is he more like you?" Bilbo questioned innocently and Evelyn gave a small snort at hearing the question.

"I think he's a very great wizard...in his own way. He's a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others," Gandalf explained after regaining his composure. "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 this world."

Gandalf ended the conversation there and left everyone to ponder over his words. Evelyn hadn't even noticed the person ride up next to her until she felt the warm fur of a coat being placed over her shoulders. She glanced up to see Thorin riding back to the front of the company and smiled to herself at the gesture. She honestly hadn't expected Thorin to do something such as that, but she appreciated it nonetheless. As she was pulling the coat tighter around her small figure, she failed to see the glances thrown back and forth between the company.

~~~~~~~

After a while, the downpour finally came to an end and by evening they had found a small clearing with a burned down farmhouse to rest. The place immediately had Evelyn and her dragon on edge. There was something horribly wrong with the place but they couldn't think of what it could be.

"We'll camp here for the night," Thorin called to the company who began dismounting the ponies. "Fili, Kili, look after the ponies," he ordered his nephews and Evelyn couldn't help but laugh softly at their annoyed faces. That was more than likely their punishment for their antics the previous night.

Evelyn dismounted her horse, Thorin's fur coat still wrapped tightly around her. "Don't get too comfortable," she said once she sensed her dragon begin to settle down. "I think we are both in need of a flight and we can scope out the area from above."

Ember hummed in agreement, her excitement at flying with her rider clearly showing through their link. "I would suggest you hurry before I come and snatch you up."

Evelyn grinned before walking up to Thorin, slipping his coat off in the process. She held it out to him which caused him to nod his head in thanks before taking it back. "I'm going to scout ahead and make sure we won't have any unwelcome guests tonight," she said as she began walking to the woods.

"Why don't you let one of the others go instead?" Thorin questioned, clearly not keen with the idea at all.

Evelyn racked her brain for a response. She could hear the running water of a small river not too far away. "I can handle it, plus I heard a river as we were riding, I could use some privacy."

Thorin wrinkled his nose slightly which caused the woman to let out a short laugh which she quickly covered with a cough. "Perhaps you should all go wash once I'm back. You lot are beginning to smell." The grin on her face grew as Thorin sent her a small glare, but his dark eyes held amusement behind them.

"Take your time," he muttered and marched off towards Gandalf who was looking at the crumbling farm house.

She walked into the woods before sprinting over the branches once she was a fair good distance away from the rest of the company. Ember gave the woman directions to where she had found refuge amongst the more dense area of the forest and it wasn't long before Evelyn fought her way to the brush. Her arms immediately flew to wrap around as much of the dragon's neck as possible and a low hum escaped from the dragon.

"I've missed you," Evelyn sighed out from her spot under the dragon's neck.

Ember hummed once more and blew a light cloud of smoke on the woman. "And I you, little one."

Evelyn easily climbed onto Ember's back, mindful of the fact that Ember wasn't wearing the saddle. They would just have to take things easier than they normally would have. The last thing Evelyn needed were her legs blistering like they had when fleeing the Ra'zac.

"Let's fly," Evelyn said and let out a shriek of laughter when Ember leapt into the sky, soaring high into the clouds.