Lyra stood at the edge of the Shire as a soft breeze swirled around her as daylight fades into darkness. Her fists clinched and unclenched a few times as she tried to urge herself forward. But her feet were not listening to her brain.
"What are you waiting for?" a voice hissed as a person walked up beside her and lightly touched her arm with his.
"An excuse." she hissed, as she felt her stress level rise from the sudden appearance of a dwarf prince. One of which is really starting to get on her nerves. Lyra heard a sigh escape the dwarf princes mouth and a groan escaped her own.
"Fine, let's get this over with." Lyra hissed, marching up the small hillside earning a small chuckle from behind her.
"Well are you coming or not?" Lyra questioned with hands on her hips, once she reached the top of the hillside. She heard the dwarf prince grunt and started to follow her.
Once Thorin caught up with her, Lyra began to move again looking for a door with a carving on it. Neither of them speaking until it was clear they had past a house more then once.
"This carving really should have been bigger." Lyra hissed, getting agitated. She narrowed her eyes and opened her elf ears letting the sounds of dwarves and one grey wizard fill them. "I think I hear them."
"After you." Thorin motioned mockingly. Earning a death glare from Lyra which only earned her an eye roll from Thorin. The pair followed the loud singing and laughing to the door with the mark telling them they had found the right place. Thorin knocked hard and Lyra giggled softly as the whole house grew quite. A few minutes later the door was opened by a small hobbit who looked to be no more then sixty. Gandalf slumped behind him as he was the tallest amongst everyone.
"Gandalf." Thorin nodded as he entered the house first followed by Lyra who smiled and nodded at Bilbo as she passed. "I thought you said this place would be easy to find. We lost our way twice. We would not have found it had it not been for the mark on the door."
"And the noise. Don't forget the noise." Lyra butted in, which only earned her an eye roll from Thorin.
"Mark? There's no mark on that door. It was painted a week ago." Bilbo urged, frustrated and overwhelmed.
"There is a mark. I put it there myself. Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce the leader of our company: Thorin Oakenshield." Gandalf explained.
"So... ...this is the Hobbit. Tell me, Mr. Baggins, have you done much fighting?" Thorin questioned.
"Pardon me?" Bilbo retorted, wondering what of importance fighting had in the present moment.
"Ax or sword? What's your weapon of choice?" Thorin continued.
"Oh for Merlin's sake, can I eat first before I have to witness an interrogation of a small hobbit?" Lyra hissed.
"Well, I do have some skill at conkers, if you must know... ...but I fail to see why that's relevant." Bilbo responded, as he looked between Thorin and Lyra.
"Thought as much. He looks more like a grocer than a burglar." Thorin hissed.
"Oh for......." Lyra hissed moving passed Thorin roughly and heading towards the pantry to raid something to eat. She gathered what little was left of cheese and a cup of juice and sat herself down at a chair that was on the left side of Thorin. She was getting rather annoyed with the dwarven prince but she was glad she was in the company of others as well and not alone with the dwarf any longer.
"What news from the meeting in Ered Luin? Did they all come?" a short dwarf with white hair asked.
"Aye, envoys from all seven kingdoms." Thorin nodded.
"And what did the dwarves of the Iron Hill say? Is Dain with us?" a more balder dwarf questioned. He also had more tattoos then the others had. He seemed like one Lyra didnt want to cross in the dead of night.
"They will not come. They say this quest is ours, and ours alone." Thorin replied.
"You're doing a quest?" Bilbo questioned.
"Bilbo, my dear fellow, let us have a little more light. Far to the East, over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single solitary peak." Gandalf urged politely.
"The Lonely Mountain." Bilbo observed.
"Aye, Oin has read the portents, and the portents say: it is time." a different dwarf spoke.
"Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold. When the birds of the old return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end." another said.
"Uh...what beast?" Bilbo questioned, rather shakily.
"Well that would be a reference to Smaug the terrible, chiefest and greatest calamity of our age. Airborne fire breather, teeth like razors, claws like meat hooks, extremely fond of precious metals." a dwarf with a hat smirked like he was proud of knowing what a dragon was. Lyra rolled her eyes and stood from the table taking her cup to the kitchen and placing it in the sink. She could feel the eyes of many dwarves but at the present she did not care.
"Yes, I know what a dragon is." she heard Bilbo hiss.
"I'm not afraid, I'm up for it. I'll give him a taste of the dwarfish iron right up his jacksy!" a dwarf who had spoke before mentioned, who at this moment spoke with courage but Lyra was sure that when the time came he would wet himself.
"Good lad, Ori!" a dwarf spoke.
Ah finally a name. Lyra thought to herself as she walked back to the dinning room.
"Sit down!" someone hissed.
"The task would be difficult enough with an army behind us, but we number just thirteen, and not thirteen of the best, nor brightest." the older dwarf stated as Lyra sat back down in her seat next to Thorin.
"Hey! Who are you calling dim?" Ori questioned.
"Sorry, what did he say?" a dwarf questioned.
"We may be few in number. But we're fighters, all of us! To the last dwarf!" one of the few younger dwarves stated.
"And you forget we have a wizard in our company, Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time." Lyra assumed was the brother had mentioned.
"Oh, well. No, uh, I...I wouldn't say..." Gandalf stuttered.
"How many then?" One asked.
"What?" Gandalf muttered.
"Well, how many dragons have you killed? Go on, give us a number!" one urged.
"Uh...Please. Please." Bilbo stuttered.
"Enough! If we have read these signs, do you not think others will have read them too? Rumors have begun to spread. The dragon Smaug has not been seen for sixty years. Eyes look East to the mountain, assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lies unprotected. Do we sit back while others claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor?" Thorin stood, as the dwarves around him almost coward in fear. Lyra almost felt in awe of the dwarven prince. Almost. But not quite.
"You forget, the Front Gate is sealed." the older dwarf stated as Thorin sits back down. "There is no way into the mountain."
"That, my dear Balin, is not entirely true." Gandalf smiles as he produces a key and Thorin recognizes it.
"How come you by this?" Thorin questioned.
"It was given to me by your father. By Thrain. For safekeeping. It is yours now." Gandalf explains, handing Thorin the key, who clutches onto it hard.
"If there is a key, there must be a door." one of the younger ones exclaim.
"Oh really Sherlock, how do you figure?" Lyra hissed, her voice dripping with sarcasam.
"Lyra." Gandalf warned before turning his attention to the younger dwarf, "These runes speak of a hidden passage to the Lower Halls."
"There's another way in." the brother furrows his brow.
"Well, if we can find it, but Dwarf doors are invisible when closed. The answer lies hidden somewhere in this map...and I do not have the skill to find it. But there are others in Middle-earth who can. The task I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth... ...and no small amount of courage. But if we are careful and clever, I believe that it can be done." Gandalf explained.
"That's why we need a burglar." Ori added.
"Hmm. And a good one too. An expert, I'd imagine." Bilbo nodded in agreement.
"And are you?" one of them asked, excitement and hope filling the dwarfs eyes. Lyra let out a sigh knowing full well that this was a setup at Gandalfs doing.
Bilbo looks behind him and notices that the dwarves are talking to him, confused he asks "Am I what?"
"He said he's an expert. Hey." the same dwarf exclaimed.
"Oh he did not and you know it." Lyra scolded.
"Aye, who is this girl Thorin?" the scary looking dwarf asked, looking Lyra up and down like she was a pig to roast over the fire.
"None of your damn business that is who I am." Lyra hissed as Bilbo muttered about not being a burglar and never stealing a day in his life.
"Well, I'm afraid I have to agree with Mr. Baggins. He's hardly burglar material." The old dwarf stated, as Bilbo shook his head.
"Aye, the Wild is no place for gentle folk who can neither fight nor fend for themselves." the scary dwarf rolled his eyes.
"Enough! If I say Bilbo Baggins is a burglar, then a burglar he is. Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet. In fact, they can pass unseen by most, if they choose. And, while the dragon is accustomed to the smell of Dwarf... ...the scent of a Hobbit is all but unknown to him... ...which gives us a distinct advantage. You asked me to find the 14th member of this company and I have chosen Mr. Baggins. There's a lot more to him than appearances suggest. And he's got a great deal more to offer than any of you know. Including himself. You must trust me on this." Gandalf said, standing making the lights grow dim. He looks at Thorin, who reluctantly agrees with the wizard for once in his life.
"Very well. We will do it your way. Give him the contract." Thorin sighed. Once the old dwarf rolled the contract out he began to explain and Lyra tuned the noise around her out. She could feel the eyes on her and did not need to look to know who they belonged to. Before she knew it more then just his were on her and it made her very uncomfortable to the point where she stood and made her way to the living room.
A few minutes had passed before Bilbo had passed by heading to what Lyra assumed was his room. She sighed to herself as some of the dwarves made their way to where she sat near the fire. The two of the three youngest dwarves who she could tell where brothers found themselves plopped down in the floor next to her.
"So shall we be calling you Auntie on this trip?" the younger of the two questioned.
"No." Lyra hissed, "And why would you even ask such a question?"
"If you have to ask us that question then you have been blind all night." the blond stated with a smirk on his face. "I will bet my life that before this quest is over, you and our uncle will have fallen for each other."
"Wait what?" Lyra questioned. "Thorin is your uncle?"
"His sister is our mother." the younger nodded, "My name is Kili by the way and he is Fili."
"Lyra." Lyra smiled softly as Thorin made his way to where we sat. Lyra felt a bit warmer as the dwarven prince stood nearer as embarrassment began to creep into her stomach as the brothers beside her made her blush and wish she was not in this hobbit hole.
"Far over the Misty Mountains cold. To dungeons deep and caverns old. We must away ere break of day. To find our long forgotten gold." Thorin began to sing.
"The pines were roaring on the height, the winds were moaning in the night. The fire was red, it flaming spread. The trees like torches blazed with light." the rest of the dwarves began too.
Lyra left embarrassment behind and goosebumps replaced it, there was nothing like hearing them sing about their homeland. It made Lyra a bit sad for her own, before she remembered who sat on the throne. And the goosebumps were replaced by burning anger.
A/N: Comment below with your thoughts!!!