Priscilla looked to Bilbo, who was now looking at his toes, trying not to make eye contact with her. "Bilbo?"
"I, ah..." Bilbo hesitated. Gandalf stared him down until he began to speak again. "There's something I probably should have told you a long time ago. I never thought it would be, er... significant, really."
Priscilla frowned. "What wouldn't be significant, exactly?"
Bilbo let out a deep sigh. "Well, for starters, we're only half-siblings." He said simply.
She just stared at him. A bird chirped nearby, and the dwarves around them continued in their own conversations and activities, a low mumble around them. Bilbo finally spoke again.
"And uh, I didn't fully believe this myself til just now, but... mother didn't exactly have you with another... hobbit." He said, very quickly, as if it were easiest just to spit it out and be done with it.
"And this wasn't significant how?" Priscilla said, shocked.
"I never thought you'd need to know it unless we, uh... left the Shire." Bilbo said the last part under his breath, realizing his mistake.
Priscilla gestured at the wooded area around them frantically. "We're in the Trollshaws."
"Yes, I realize that." Bilbo said, still not making eye contact with her.
Gandalf cleared his throat. "It would seem that your father, Priscilla, was one of the Fae."
"The what?" Kili interrupted.
"The Fae were- and perhaps still are- a magical race that lived here in Middle Earth in the First Age. They had various magical abilities, relating to nature for the most part, and could alter their appearance if they so chose." Gandalf explained. "Over the years their numbers have dwindled, and they may have even died out by now, except for Priscilla here."
"The Fae were just stories, Gandalf. You don't really mean-" She started to interject.
"I am being completely serious, Miss Baggins. That's why your eyes never seem to choose any one color, and your ears have always been pointier than any other hobbit's you've seen." Gandalf said, matter-of-factly. "And had I known this, I would have insisted that you stay home."
"And why's that?" She asked, aggravated that he would still think that about her.
"That ring on your finger is no ordinary ring." Gandalf said, quietly. "Nor is that box any ordinary box. Only the magic of the Fae can open or use either of them."
"So you're saying I..." She trailed off.
"The Fae themselves needed no help from any tangible object to use their powers. Since you're only half blooded, it would appear that you can use their objects, but not their magic without the objects. In other words, without that ring, you're just an ordinary hobbit." Gandalf said. It was coming together now.
"And with the ring?" She glanced at it, still glowing.
"I don't know for sure." Gandalf took a breath, contemplating. "My guess would be that you need training and practice to use it for longer periods of time and for bigger acts of magic. Beyond that... I cannot say. We would need to ask someone of higher knowledge of the Fae. Perhaps Lord Elrond, in Rivendell, or Lady Lorien. Many believe they were only stories, as you said, and I have not done much reading on them as they weren't written about in many instances."
"So why would you have kept her home had you known?" Kili asked, frowning.
"I mentioned they had all but died out. That's because they were killed off. Where there is good, there also lies evil... and their magic seemed to attract danger. Perhaps that was why we found that box in the troll hoard." Gandalf continued. "None of their homes or objects have survived to this day, and if they have, it's little rare things like this box. They were a small people to begin with."
The four of them stood there for a moment, watching, thinking, waiting... for something. Priscilla didn't know what. She didn't know what to think at all.
"Should we tell Thorin?" Bilbo asked after a moment.
"No. Not yet, at least. Wait until we have further knowledge of this." The wizard said, pursing his lips. "Perhaps it would be better if you took the ring off until then, Priscilla. Keep the box in your pack for now. It would be safest to just leave it here and forget any of this happened, but Elrond and some others I know will want to hear of this, and I need proof. You shouldn't be in any danger so long as you don't use the ring."
She took the ring off and put it back in the box, then held it for a moment, looking at the object in her hand. Closed, it almost looked like a seamless box of wood, with no latch or hinges at all. She opened it and closed it a few times, slowly, watching it.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier." Bilbo said, stepping closer.
"I see why you didn't. Let's just pretend this didn't happen until we know more." Priscilla said, stuffing the box into her pack and taking a deep breath. She was confused and felt like panicking, but at the moment it seemed easier just to forget about the ring until she learned what it was, how to use it, and what danger it actually posed.
Even still... she was only half Took. No Baggins. Something inside her lifted, almost. She'd always felt odd for being a hobbit who always wanted to go adventuring and exploring, but she was content to live with the wanderlust in her heart while at home with Bilbo. It all made sense to her that way, but she felt guilty for feeling that way too. Was she happy about only being half related to Bilbo, or did she miss the simplicity of her former life, even before Dwalin had showed up on their doorstep that first night? Was she really the last of her kind, and was she safe? How would Thorin react when he found out? It was all sinking in now, and she wasn't sure how she felt about anything anymore.
"You alright, Priscuit?" Kili said, touching a hand to her arm lightly.
"Yeah... yeah. Just let me..." She abruptly sat down before she fainted again.
"Priscuit?" Bilbo looked questioningly at Kili.
"'Cause she likes biscuits." The dwarf said nonchalantly.
Bilbo opened his mouth to say something else, but closed it again, and nodded, brow furrowed. Kili just shrugged at him. Bilbo looked at Priscilla and she just rolled her eyes at the two, putting her face in her hands.
She sat like that for a while, just taking everything in, breathing deep and trying to set her thoughts straight. Bilbo and Gandalf walked off after a minute, and Kili moved to go too.
"Wait," she called, suddenly remembering the dinky sword Thorin had given her. He turned and looked at her. She pulled it out, standing, and unwrapped it carefully. "Thorin said I should ask someone to help me sharpen this. Could you maybe...?" She held it out to him, and he grabbed it to look at it.
Now that she looked at it closer, it really was a horrible sword. Once it had been a longer sword for a man, but it appeared as if it had broken off halfway and had been reforged to have a tip at the end, as a sort of makeshift shortsword. The hilt was dented and chipped and unpolished and the blade was dull, and it seemed unbalanced. Still, it was a better weapon than nothing.
Kili sat, and she sat again as well as he pulled out a small whetstone from his pack and showed her how to hold it. "And go down the blade away from you, never up." He finished, holding her hand and moving it in the motion. He let go and let her do it on her own for a bit, until it was sharp enough on both sides. "You'll want to do that often so something like your own dull blade doesn't get you killed." He said, taking the stone back and examining the sword.
"It will be a pain to unwrap it every time I need to fight. If I need to fight." She added the last part quickly.
"It might be better to store it in a makeshift scabbard over your shoulder until we can get you a proper one. Wear it like Dwalin wears his smaller axes, just be careful not to lop off your head when you unsheathe it." Kili said, busy getting into his pack and grabbing a roll of leather. He started to wrap the hilt, giving it a better, more comfortable grip, and then tied it off at the pommel. He gave it back over his arm, hilt first.
"Thank you." She took the sword, testing its weight, then wrapped just the blade and attached it to her pack so she could pull it over her shoulder easier.
"The Greenwood is sick, Gandalf. A darkness has fallen over it. Nothing grows any more,at least nothing good." A voice she didn't recognize said. She turned and saw Gandalf walking with another man past them, off to a private area where they could talk and not be overheard. The other man was dressed in ragged brown robes and wore an equally worn hat over his tangled, greying, long hair and beard.
"Radagast the Brown." Bilbo said quietly to Priscilla as he stepped up to her, watching the wizards curiously. They talked for a bit, and then she heard a howl and loud snarl like a wolf's just over the hill behind them.
"Was that a wolf? Are there- are there wolves out there?" Bilbo asked, suddenly nervous at the prospect of more fighting, turning to the Company.
"Wolves? No, that is not a wolf." Bofur said. Priscilla stood, looking towards the noise. From behind a nearby crag, a very large, vicious, wolf-like Warg appeared. It leapt into the midst of the Company, knocking down one of thedwarves, and Thorin killed it in one strike with his new sword. Another Warg attacked from the other side, snarling. In a swift move, Kili drew his bow and loosed an arrow at it, bringing it down. Dwalin stepped over and smashed its head in with his larger axe, killing it.
"Warg Scouts! Which means an Orc pack is not far behind." Thorin said, examining the Warg he'd killed.
"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" Gandalf asked, almost angrily.
"No one, I swear. What in Durin's name is going on?' Thorin said, eyeing Gandalf.
"You are being hunted." The wizard said simply.
"We have to get out of here." Dwalin said, yanking his axe out of the other fallen Warg.
"We can't! We have no ponies; they bolted." Ori said panicked, running up.
Gandalf talked with Radagast for another moment, then gestured for the Company to follow him. Priscilla followed close by, trying to get into the center of the group, because she still had no idea how to use a sword and was better protected surrounded by dwarves who had fought before, rather than on the edge of the group where she could easily be picked off.
Radagast rushed out ahead of them, drawing the attention of the Orc pack to him as he raced across the land on his sled pulled by a number of rabbits. Gandalf ran, leading the Company away, hiding behind various rocks in their surroundings as they went. They all stopped and huddled under an outcropping of rock just as the Wargs stopped and smelled the air, tracing the scent to the Company.
A single rider stopped at the top of the rock, smelling the air. Kili, without looking at her, pushed Priscilla further in closer to the rock as they ran in, where it was safer. They all stood in fear for a few moments, waiting. Thorin nodded to Kili silently and he stepped out quickly, shooting the Warg and its rider. They fell, and the dwarves killed them.
Priscilla watched in horror, still not used to seeing death so close at hand. These orcs were ugly creatures, and the Wargs were frightening and large and bony, and for a moment she wished she were home in her windowsill, reading a book.
The rest of the Orc pack turned to chase them, surrounding the Company as they ran. Gandalf led them to another large rock, and disappeared.
"We're surrounded!" Fili shouted, and the dwarves pulled out their weapons and began to fight. Kili shot a few Wargs and riders down, and the other dwarves worked proficiently with their weapons, while Bilbo and Priscilla hacked and waved with their tiny swords, trying to figure out how to hit something with them. She felt helpless and vulnerable and like a burden to the Company just then.
"Hold your ground!" She heard Thorin shout over the din, and although she was terrified, she refused to curl up into a ball and hide, even though she felt like doing just that. Gandalf popped up from a crack in the rock suddenly.
"This way, you fools!" He shouted.
"Come on, move! Quickly, all of you! Go!" Thorin shouted, ushering the dwarves to the crack in the rock. They filed down, sliding down the rock into the cavern below one by one. Kili and Thorin stayed up on top, holding the Wargs off as the others went in behind them, and Kili hopped in last after making sure everyone got through okay.
They all stood there, listening as the riders above them screamed and fought. They were still fighting... something.
An orc, killed by an arrow, fell into the cave. Thorin stepped forward and grabbed the arrow, looking at the slender point of the arrowhead.
"Elves."