They've waited till the sun rose to begin traveling again, but that quickly proved to be a bad idea. Rain drenched all of the traveling people as they trudged through the thick forest.
"Here, Mr. Gandalf, can't you do something about this deluge?" Dori called out to Gandalf.
"It is raining, Master Dwarf, and it will continue to rain until the rain is done. If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another Wizard" He simply called back to Dori.
Veryan snorted under his breath as Dori signed in annoyance, not at the old Wizard but at the terrible weather they were stuck in the middle of.
"Are there any?" Bilbo questioned the two in front of him. Veryan looked back at him in confusion as Gandalf spoke in his own uncertainty "What?"
"Other Wizards" the Hobbit made his words more clear. Veryan perked up at this, nodding in mild happiness "Oh yes, Mr. Baggins. There are five of them"
Gandalf nodded along, not turning to look at either of them as he continued for Veryan "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." Bilbo nodded it slight understanding as he nudged his head twords Veryan "Is he the 5th then?"
Veryan chuckled and shook his head "Im afraid not Mr. Baggins, I'm merely a prodigy-" "Oh but quite a great one my friend" Gandalf cut off the boy. He was pretty used to doing this. He turned to Bilbo and leaned in as much as he could "Boy perfected quite a lot of spells, difficult ones even at his young. A talented soul"
Veryan shook his head and turned to Bilbo himself as Gandalf leaned back "If you really want to know, the 5th would be Radagast the Brown."
"Is he a great Wizard? Or is he more like you?" Bilbo asked, looking at Veryan before finishing on Gandalf.
The old Wizard took this as his question to answer "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. 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"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally the rain has stopped as the group traveled through some plains, coming up next to a broken down house. Thorin stopped and turned his horse around to the other's, making them stop in their own tracks "We'll camp here for the night" he announced, leaving no room for arguing.
Veryan jumped off of his horse and looked twords Gandalf, seeing him look at the abandoned house with knowing eye's. But rather then going to him, he instead helped out the other Dwarves unpack what they were going to need for the night, each one thanking him for the help.
He did hear some chattering whilst helping Bilbo and Balin, and when he turned his head he could see Thorin and Gandalf were the one's talking. Gandalf looked mildly frustrated by the man in front of him, whilst Thorin looked mad himself. With a clear huff, Gandalf turned around and trudged to his horse.
"Everything alright? Gandalf, where are you going?" Bilbo asked, trying to understand why the Wizard so suddenly walked away from the prince.
As the Hobbit's eye's found their way to the prince, Veryan made his way to the now mounted Gandalf. He did not ask any questions, for he trusted in Gandalf to make the right call. He always did. "Be safe Gandalf. Come back soon, who knows when these Dwarves will need you're help"
As much as the Wizard was annoyed, he smiled down at the boy, and with one final goodbye, Gandalf took off, leaving nothing but dust flying in his place.
Veryan crossed his arm's and huffed, now he was the only one left that had to deal with the Dwarves.
He jumped as he heard a voice beside's him "Is he coming back?" Bilbo asked him as he watched on at the now small figure in the distance.
The Heterochromia male looked down at the concerned Hobbit "Of course he will. Just a question of when, that's all"
Bilbo looked up in uncertainty at him, but there wasn't anything Veryan could tell him without outright lying to him, so he chose to stay quiet as he helped out to tie up the pony's.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"He's been gone a long time" Bilbo spoke out in concern as he now looked upon the shining moon.
"Who?" Bofur asked him absentmindedly as he poured himself some soup Bombur made.
"Gandalf" He answered the Dwarf as he looked around, hoping to see the Wizard from the horizon.
Veryan sighed and handed a bowl off to Ori, listening in on the conversation, choosing to stay quiet whilst Bofur spoke. "He's a Wizard. He does as he chooses. Here, do us a favor. Take this to the lads" Bofur handed Bilbo two bowl's of soup, and gestured his head twords Kili and Fili. Bilbo took them and tried not to stumble his way to the brothers.
Veryan saw his struggles, and handed of his job to Bofur before he ran up to Bilbo and snatched one of the bowl's from his hand's. "You look like your fit to drop" he simply stated as the two made their way to the brother's. Bilbo didn't say anything in turn, but Veryan did see the appreciative smile.
They walked up to the brother's and jutted the bowl's at them, but it was like they've turned to stone, not even flinching as the bowl's made it to their peripheral vision. Veryan and Bilbo glanced at one another, not knowing what to exactly do.
"What's the matter?" Bilbo finally decided to ask.
The brother's didn't even take their eye's off of the ponies, as Kili started "We're supposed to be looking after the ponies" "Only we've encountered a slight problem. We had 16...now there's 14" Fili finished for the other.
Upon a further look Veryan did notice that two of the ponies were missing, to his relief his horse was just of to the side, almost hidden by the shadow's of the forest.
Veryan gently placed the bowl next to Bilbo as he went around with Kili and Fili, checking on what ponies were missing.
"Daisy and Bungo are missing" Kili announced to the other's as he checked over the ponies.
"We'll, that's not good. Ha, ha" Bilbo nervously replied to Kili, carrying the two bowl's by himself once again.
He looked over at where Fili and Veryan were standing, and gestured down to the fallen tree "And that is not good at all. Shouldn't we tell Thorin?"
At that, Fili quickly turned to him, and in a dismissive tone replied "Uh, no. Let's not worry him"
Veryan shook his head and leaned down to Bilbo "If I had to guess, these two really don't want an angry Thorin on their hands"
He stood back up as Fili uncomfortably coughed, getting their attention "As our official burglar, we thought you might like to look at it" he directed his words at Bilbo, who still stood there with the bowls.
"Uh, well...Look, something big uprooted these trees" "That was our thinking" Veryan shook his head at the obvious word's Bilbo spoke, and chuckled by Kili's response.
That didn't stop Bilbo from continuing "It's something very big, and possibly quite dangerous"
They stood there, soaking in Bilbo's words, when Fili pointed out a light source. They moved in closer, and hid behind a fallen tree, overhearing grumbled conversation coming from the direction of the light.
"What is it?" Bilbo asked them frightened, and Kili answered "Trolls"
Kili and Fili jumped up, followed closely by Veryan, and finally Bilbo, who had to stop and grab the two bowls of porridge.
They quickly and quietly made their way though the forest ground and behind two large trees, the brother's hiding on one side, whilst Veryan pulled Bilbo to the other.
They watched in horror as a giant Troll walked past them, carying once again a set of ponies.
"He's got Myrtle and Minty" Bilbo whispered to the other's in shock, taking it personally.
He once again turned to look at the Troll and sighed "I think they're gonna eat them. We have to do something"
Kili and Fili turned to Bilbo in sync and nodded "Yes, you should"
Bilbo turned to Veryan, expectantly, only to have the boy shake his head and point at him "Don't look at me, I'm far too big, they'll notice me instantly, no matter how stealthy I might be"
Bilbo looked at him in disbelief as Kili hoisted him up "Mountain Trolls are slow and stupid, and you're so small they'll never see you"
Bilbo shook his head through out his sentence. Kili and Fili grabbed the bowls from his hands "It's perfectly safe. We'll be behind you"
Fili pushed him forward "If you run into trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl and once like a brown owl" and with that he was pushed out of the hiding place.
"Good luck Bilbo" Veryan whisper shouted at him, sneaking away with the siblings faster than Bilbo could stop them. He turned and went after the Troll, muttering to himself as he did.