"How are you feeling?" Athena whispered to Thorin, concealed with him and the others behind a rock whilst Bilbo scouted to see how close the Orc pack was to them.
"You needn't worry about me," was his reply, sending her a reassuring nod.
"You were hit to the floor multiple times and then became a chew toy for a warg, it's hard not to worry."
"It doesn't feel like I was," he replied but sighed a little when seeing her apprehensive expression, raising a hand to clasp it on her shoulder to comfort her, "I would tell you if that were not the case." And she believed him, he had not lied to her before. She nodded to show that she would not press the matter further.
"How close is the pack?" Dwalin asked which caused Thorin and Athena to turn and see Bilbo running back down to them, Thorin dropping his hand from her shoulder and stepping forward.
"Too close. A couple of leagues, no more, but that is not the worst of it," Bilbo informed them all.
"Have the wargs picked up our scent?"
"Not yet, but they will. We have another problem."
"Did they see you? They saw you!" Gandalf interrupted.
"No, that's not it."
"What did I tell you? Quiet as a mouse. Excellent burglar material," he continued, Bilbo becoming increasingly more frustrated with each word that he spoke that stopped him from delivering the news he had, Athena sending him an apologetic shrug in response to the pleading look she received while the Dwarves laughed out of appreciation for the Hobbit.
"Will you listen — will you just listen? I'm trying to tell you there is something else out there," he finally managed to get out while pointing towards the direction that he came from, worry crossing the faces of those circled around him.
"What form did it take? Like a bear?"
"Y-Yes, but bigger, much bigger."
"You knew about this beast?" Bofur asked the Grey Wizard with confusion.
"And you didn't tell us?" Athena followed up with a question of her own, sharing an exasperated look with Bofur when he walked away instead of answering either of them.
"I say we double back," suggested Bofur.
"And be run down by a pack of Orcs," Thorin remarked honestly, the Dwarves and woman nodding in agreement whilst mumbling to themselves.
"There is a house, it's not far from here, where we might take refuge," Gandalf interrupted as he turned to face the company he had walked away from.
"Whose house? Are they friend or foe?"
"Neither. He will help us, or he will kill us."
"That's comforting," Fili whispered to Athena, sarcasm dripping from his tone.
"What choice do we have?" Thorin asked, a roar splitting through the air as they all turned to face where the sound originated from, Fili instinctively pushing Athena behind him despite the height difference that would make little to no difference to his protection.
"None."
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Water soaked through her boots as they waded through a stream and into a field of flowers, she'd have stopped to admire the blooming flowers if it were not for them running for their lives, heading into the forest that was in front of them and bounding through the thicket of trees. Her face hit against a branch, feeling the sting of an open wound being created on her cheek. The company came to a standstill when an ear-splitting roar resounded through the forest and she took the time to wipe away the blood that trickled down her cheek with her sleeve.
"This way! Quickly!" Gandalf called before he turned and continued to run away from the sound that had drawn nearer since they last heard it, the company on his heels as they continued on their journey until they reached an open field, a house visible in the distance as they picked up the pace. "To the house! Run!"
Athena watched in amazement and confusion when Bombur sprinted past her, she couldn't recall seeing him run so quickly before and it was astounding that he was able to outrun all of them despite being less accustomed to physical activity.
Gandalf stood to the side when they reached the building, ushering them inside one by one with the threat of the beast on their tails. Athena was towards the back of the group, watching as the Dwarves ran right into the closed door of the house, being pushed back from the collision before they continued to push and shove at it in the hopes that their combined strength would be enough to open it and lead them to safety.
"Use the latch!" She cried out when she saw a latch holding the door closed just above the heads of the Dwarves, watching with horror as the bear-like beast gained on them, a snarl emanating from it while it raced towards them.
None of the Dwarves had heard her apart from Thorin who pushed his way through the crowd and lifted the latch, the doors swinging open while the company gathered inside before pushing to close the door once more. The beast had managed to wedge it's mighty head between the two doors, Athena reeling back from the jaws as it roared in her face — gagging at the breath. They eventually managed to heave it shut, shoving the wooden barricade down in its holder to lock the beast out.
"What is that?" Ori asked, those that were at the door panting while they tried to catch their breath, staring at Gandalf for an answer.
"That... is our host," he responded, everyone in the house turning to stare at him in bewilderment. "His name is Beorn, and he is a skin-changer," he informed them before walking further into the house and past the cows that resided there, Athena contemplating on whether they had accidentally walked into the barn rather than the house, "sometimes he is a huge black bear, sometimes he's a great strong man. The bear is unpredictable, but the man can be reasoned with. However, he is not overfond of Dwarves."
"Of course he isn't," she muttered to herself accompanied with a roll of her eyes as she raised a hand to gently stroke one of the cows on the head. It was typical that it wouldn't be easy for them in any form.
"He's leaving," Ori remarked, turning from the crack in the door that he had been looking through.
Dori pulled him away from the door in a protective hurry, "come away from there! It's not natural, none of it. It's obvious, he's under some dark spell."
"Don't be a fool, he's under no enchantment but his own," Gandalf retaliated before removing his hat and walking onwards, Athena looking over at the wizard as her fingers absentmindedly continued to weave their way into the cow's fur. "Alright now, get some sleep, all of you. You'll be safe here tonight."
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The company had settled down for the night, blankets strewn across the floor with Dwarves lying inside them wherever there was room for them to do so. But while all the Dwarves slept there were two that could not find the peace to do so, Bombur's snoring once again disturbing what would have been silence.
Athena lay in her makeshift bed with her eyes closed, trying her hardest to block out the inhuman sounds that came from the largest Dwarf, but no matter how hard she focused on blocking out the sound it continued to disturb her ears. The straw beneath her head had also begun to irritate her, scratching at her skin every time she moved even a fraction of an inch. Out of frustration she opened her eyes, the first thing that they landed on was a ring. Bilbo was too engrossed in the ring that he hadn't noticed Athena watching him. Where most jewels radiated beauty and elegance, this one radiated a darkness that she had never felt before, it was almost as if it were speaking in a tongue that she could not understand.
Bilbo shifted his gaze upwards, spotting that Athena was awake and hurrying to stuff the ring back into his pocket, "Athena I hadn't— I didn't notice that you were—"
"Can't get to sleep either?" She cut off his panicked ramblings with a question, smiling softly at the Hobbit. She didn't feel the need to bring up the ring and make him uncomfortable, he was grateful for her not asking and wondered if she hadn't seen it in the first place. Perhaps she'd ask Gandalf about it in the future instead, if she remembered to do so she was sure he would know more about it.
Bilbo relaxed a little and lay his head back on the straw, smiling over at her in return before looking up at the ceiling, "Bombur's snoring for you too?"
"Oh definitely. Even Beorn's roars weren't that loud," she whispered, the both of them chuckling at her comment but making sure to do so quietly out of fear of waking the others.
"The straw doesn't help either, I should have brought my pillow from back home."
"Will you tell me about it?" She asked him, shifting a little to become comfier as she hugged the thin blanket to herself, resting a hand underneath her head so that her face could have a break from the scratching.
"About my pillow? Well it's soft—"
"No, about your home," she corrected him with a quiet laugh, though she found it sweet that he had tried to do so despite the confusion etched on his face, it melting away after she explained what she really meant, "I wasn't there long enough to explore the Shire as much as I had liked to."
Bilbo nodded a little, smiling as he pictured Bag End and the rest of the Shire in his mind, folding his hands over his stomach. "Well, I don't know where to start," he commented, thinking for a moment before he obliged to her request. "It rains quite a bit. I've never minded the rain though, it always made it warmer in Bag End. It was easier to sleep, knowing that I was safe and had a fire burning to keep me from going cold, wonderful for reading too. I couldn't describe the feeling of reading with the pattering of rain in the background even if I wanted to. It's great for the crops too. We have a lot of corn fields there, a lot of farmers live in Hobbiton. Us Hobbits... we don't tend to leave the Shire, some of us even rarely leave our homes. That's what we like, home. It's rare for others to visit, except for Gandalf who likes to bring the fireworks to the parties — the children love him," he explained, a twinkle in his eyes that she had not seen before. She couldn't help but to reflect his expression, smiling at his words and the imagery that came with them. She had never had a simple life, and she knew that she would never have one, so it was nice for her to be able to hear what life was like for the average Hobbit.
"Then there's Bag End, which is where I live. You've been there of course, but it's a little different when it isn't filled to the brim with Dwarves, not that I didn't like the company they brought, but it's usually quiet. The sun will rise through the front windows and into the living room, and the birds will come to life, sometimes they'll even let me feed them if they're feeling particularly trusting — it took me a while to earn back their trust after my antics as a child. I grew up there with my parents, my father built it himself. I almost always have the fire lit, it's not quite the same without it on. Mind you I need to start remembering to turn it off or one day I'll wake up with Bag End a little too warm," he continued, the two breaking out into another fit of chuckles together before settling down once more, the smile never leaving their faces, "and I suppose that's all I know to tell you. Compared to other places in Middle-earth it isn't much, but it's enough... for me at least," he finished, there was more that he wanted to say and more that he could say but from the day they had he was exhausted and he couldn't quite manage to form those thoughts into sentences, instead turning his head to the side to look over at Athena.
"That sounds amazing, I wish I could have spent more time there," she whispered, regretting how the company had taken off so soon.
"Maybe you could visit, when all this is over. You can come to one of the parties and see Gandalf's fireworks for yourself," he offered, his words enlarging the gentle smile on her face that refused to fall.
"Yeah, I think I'll take you up on that offer."
"What about Dale? What was it like before, well you know," he asked her in turn.
She thought about his question for a moment. It had been so long since she'd been to Dale that there were parts of it she couldn't remember so she lay there trying to think of what she could tell him.
"It was... bright and busy. Where sunrise was the best in Hobbiton, sunset was magical in Dale. The entire city would glow orange, the city itself was made from bricks and stone of orange, yellow, and white and the sunset always accentuated those colours, creating a sight that I've never seen anywhere else. There were markets dotted all over the place, there was a stall on almost every street you walked down. There was also no shortage of taverns, in fact I stayed in one myself so oftentimes I'd hear laughter all throughout the night. The city never appeared to sleep, it was always alive in one way or another, I was only there for three months though so I don't remember as much as I wish I did," she explained what she could remember, a reminiscent smile on her face as she recalled where she once was.
"You were there?" He asked her with confusion overtaking his face, he was under the impression that she had only heard tales of it.
"I was."
"But, you can't be any older than thirty," he remarked in bewilderment at how youthful she looked despite being as old as him.
"I am a lot older than thirty," she responded with a chuckle.
Bilbo nodded in understanding at her confession before the confusion returned as he tried to figure out how old she actually was, her watching in amusement as he used his fingers to count. "How old were you when you were in Dale?" He asked her.
"I was twenty," she responded, she would have put him out of his misery but watching him fiddle around with the numbers was too entertaining.
"That would make you fifty," he finally worked out, looking at her with wide eyes as they scanned her face,
"Correct," she confirmed, watching his bewildered expression not falting for a moment.
"But shouldn't you, well, look like it? You don't look any older than twenty-five at least," he asked her, stumbling over his words as he didn't wish to say anything that could offend her. He knew she wasn't an Elf seeing as her ears had no noticeable point on the tip, and she was too delicate looking to belong to the race of Dwarves.
She lay there for a moment debating on whether or not she could tell him the truth, coming to the conclusion that telling him wouldn't cause her any harm and that he could be trusted, most of the other Dwarves had figured it out for themselves anyway — as long as she didn't tell him of her heritage. "I'm one of the Dúnedain. There aren't many of us left but we live longer than normal men do."
Bilbo nodded a little in response, not thinking too much about the revelation as a different question plagued his mind. "You were only in Dale for three months, so where are you from?"
His question was difficult for her to answer. Was she supposed to reply with where she was born or was she supposed to reply with where she considered her origins even if not entirely true? She also wondered whether or not she should tell him, it wasn't something that she tended to spread around, the only people who knew of her past were Fili and Kili, not even Thorin was completely aware. Though there was something about Bilbo that made her trust him, it was as if he had brought the warmth and comfort from Bag End with him. "Rivendell."
"Riven- really? You never mentioned it."
"It isn't something that I share often. After Dale fell I didn't know where to go so I went back to my parents. I'd visited Rivendell in the past but it became my residence when I was twenty-four. My father died around that time... he was shot down by a pack of Orcs, so my mother took my brother and I to stay with Lord Elrond," it had taken her fifteen years to open up to the two brothers that had become like her family, yet here she was telling a Hobbit that she met only a few months prior.
"I'm sorry about what happened to your father," he offered his condolences and she only nodded at him in acceptance of them, "so Rivendell. That's your home then?"
"It was. It was my home, I'm still figuring things out in that regard."
Bilbo nodded to himself before another question came to mind, "will you return there? Once all this is over?"
"I don't know to be entirely honest with you. I wanted to but, I left in the night and didn't tell anybody where I had gone. I know now how impulsive and childish that was regardless of how young I was. Each day that passed it became considerably more difficult to go back, to be truthful I'm afraid of what will happen if I return. When we visited, Lord Elrond was nothing but understanding and forgiving, but it's not him that I seek forgiveness from," she explained quietly, the smile fading from her face as she focused on a stray strand of straw that lay across the ground, feeling Bilbo's questioning gaze she decided to elaborate, "my brother was only eight when I left. Even though there's a somewhat large age difference between us we spent most of our time together. I had a lot of growing up to do still so we'd play together and I'd read him his favourite stories. Unlike my mother, I fear that he will not forgive me for abandoning him so hastily."
"Family is..." the Hobbit trailed off while he shifted and thought carefully about his next words, "I look at this company and I see a family of sorts, some by blood and others by choice. And what I can see is that no amount of time will ever be able to change the love that they have for one another and for you, if you and your brother were as close as you say you were then I truly do not believe that he would not welcome you with open arms, or at the very least an outstretched hand. And you didn't abandon him... not really. You just took a little break to focus on something else."
"Perhaps you are right Mr Baggins," she told him with a small smile returning to her face, closing her eyes once more while pressing her head into the straw a little to get as comfortable as she could do.
Bilbo took the hint and he turned onto his side to try and get more sleep again. Her talk with Bilbo had eased her mind just enough for her to be able to block out the thundering snores of Bombur, drifting into a dreamless sleep while a goat chewed at the end of her blanket.