That morning, the light shining through the round windows was the only thing Bilbo Baggins saw. He crept from his bed, careful of the idea that there was still a large company of dwarves sleeping in his living room. But as he carefully made his way to his front room, he realized that he was the only living thing in the house anymore. The company had left, and Bilbo let out a quick sigh of relief, but this was cut short, when the reality truly sunk in. And for once in his lifetime, Bilbo felt lonely.
His eyes caught sight of the large contract sitting on the table, yet to be signed by him where the line said "burglar". And at that moment, Bilbo Baggins, the young Hobbit from the Shire, knew exactly what he had to do.
He sprinted from his home on the hill, jumping over livestock and large pumpkins that lay in the ground. Many other Hobbits in the Shire asked him where he was off to, and the only thing he could respond with was "I'm going on an adventure!"
Bilbo ran for nearly 20 minutes before finally catching sight of the company that left his home early that morning. He saw the back of the dwarves astride ponies, and he yelled for them to wait for him, as the young hobbit was very tired of running and quite out of breath at this point.
When he finally caught up to the company who had stopped to wait for him, out of breath, he cheered proudly, "I signed it!" And waved it in the air before handing the contract to Balin to look at.
"Everything appears to be in order. Welcome, Master Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield," Balin cheers. A few ponies down, Elvira smiled widely, feeling a strange sense of pride and comfort knowing that the Hobbit managed to find them. She felt a sense of duty in needing to protect Bilbo, and she vowed that nothing would happen to him while she was still a part of this quest.
Thorin, who did not seem impressed with the Hobbit, ordered, "Give him a pony." As Bilbo struggled to order against riding one, Kili and Fili rode on either side and lifted him by his waistcoat to place him on top of a brown pony that was all his own, snickering to each other at Bilbo's look of absolute discomfort.
The Hobbit looked fairly uncomfortable riding it, so Elvira, who was a couple of dwarves behind him, managed to maneuver up beside him, still riding the horse that she had stolen from Bree. She became quite fond of the young horse, and decided to keep him for herself instead of returning him to his owner like she had originally planned. No doubt, whoever this horse belonged to was looking for it, but she knew that they would soon get over it. Her new horse was proving more useful to her than it would have with it's previous owner.
"Bilbo, why the long face?" Elvira asked as they rode side by side. Instead of answering the intimidating young woman, he sneezed wildly, Elvira flinching slighty at the suddenness of it. "Oh," he gasped. "It's this horse hair, I'm having a reaction." She looked at him, amused as he searched for his handkerchief, only to find it not where he would have put it.
"No, no, wait, wait, stop! Stop!" Bilbo yelled frantically. "We have to turn around." The entire company comes to a halt, and the dwarves start objecting to Bilbo's request. "I left my handkerchief."
"Here, use this," Bofur calls to Bilbo. The dwarf ripped off a strip of his seemingly damp clothing, and tossed it at the Hobbit who just barely managed to catch it, his face twisting in disgust. Elvira and the rest of the company laughed, but Elvira shook her head and pulled out one of her handkerchiefs that was a gift to her from the Elves of the High Realm, still smiling.
"Here Bilbo," she said and handed him the handkerchief. "This will be of more use to you than I."
The Hobbit took it gratefully, and used it for the remainder of the time he needed it. Money was passed around as bets had been taken place on whether or not Bilbo would, in fact, show up. Elvira received quite a large sum from Dwalin, Nori, and Fili, who all said he wouldn't show up. She knew he would, eventually. She just did not expect him to show up so soon, but nevertheless, she was happy he did.
After quite some time talking and chatting with Bilbo and getting to know the Hobbit quite well, she was glad when he finally became comfortable in her presence. It was hard getting anyone in the company to trust her, and she knew that it would be a fierce task as soon as Gandalf mentioned who she would be aquainted with. Nonetheless, she was determined to make them all see her as a friend, and a warrior in their favor, and Bilbo was the first (besides Gandalf) to accomplish this. Elvira soon heard her name called from the front of the riding company and excused herself from Bilbo's presence, but not before making sure that Bilbo and Ori were deep in conversation, for she did not want the Hobbit to be left alone. Elvira rode up quickly, passing the rest of the group to find the dwarf who had called for her. Or in this case, it was multiple. Fili and Kili, as well as Thorin and Balin, were all waiting for her expectantly, as well as Dwalin. Fili, Kili, and Balin all waiting pleasantly, while Thorin and Dwalin still had a look of discontent resting on his face as he glowered at her judgingly.
"If you are to be traveling and fighting with us, we thought we should get to know you and your background a bit more," Balin began.
"Just to see that you aren't a spy for the enemy or anything like that," Fili continued. He smiled like he was joking, but both Fili and Elvira, as well as the rest of them, knew that he was serious. They didn't trust Elvira, not yet anyway. They had no reason to. The only thing they knew was that she was a Ranger from the North that went about mercilessly killing orcs as a pastime. The company had yet to see anything in her that made her trustworthy at all, and she understood that.
"What would you wish to know of me, master Dwarves?" She asked amusingly, for as I said before, Elvira quite enjoyed being intimidating, and almost thrived upon the fact that she was feared. She loved it.
"Who are your parents? Where did you come from?" Thorin asks gruffly, beginning the conversation with a question about her bloodline, of course. She answered honestly, but not honestly enough.
"My father was a half-elf, half-man from the East, and my mother was a part- dwarf Ranger," she answered. Of course, she wasn't lying, but she wasn't telling the whole truth either. She knew that the dwarves would never come close to accepting her if she told them about her true identity, as well as the identity of her father, mother, and uncle, so she kept this information to herself. Fortunately, the information she gave was enough for the dwarves to move on in the questioning. Thorin, however, did not enjoy the newfound information of her blood. He was unsettled by her incredibly mixed heritage, and began to trust her less and less.
"When did you become a ranger? And why?" Kili asked her, with a tone that was full of simple curiosity, the very opposite of the question posed previously by his uncle. He wanted to know more about the mysterious woman who had thrown a knife at him not more than 13 hours ago. Elvira's tone lightened in her answer to Kili.
"I became a ranger shortly after my parents died, I suppose. I was captured and tortured by orcs for a number of years, and a group of rangers got me out. From that moment on, I stayed with them, learning how to fight so that one day, I could hunt down and kill the orc that held me hostage. That was more than 90 years ago now I suppose," She quickly retold them the story of her past. The 3 dwarves looked at her with pity, while Thorin's face was unreadable, as was Dwalin's. She did not want pity, nor did she need it. She had long been over the pain of her parent's death, and the only emotion she held now was anger.
The dwarves asked her a number of other questions concerning her time as a ranger, her missions, a few from her childhood that she managed to keep quite vague, and her parents. She got through them quickly, managing to make the group of dwarves laugh a few times. At this point, more dwarves were listening to her tales, including Dori, Bofur, Bombur, and Bilbo. Gandalf, of course, knew all of the things she was telling them, and he knew when she began to make things up instead of telling them the truth, but he could not blame her. Thorin would probably try to kill her if he knew about Elvira's true self, and he very much understood her hesitation to tell them.
After much riding, the company decided to stop and rest for the night on a cliff side. The horses were kept to the side, and dwarves were setting up sleeping arrangements and preparing food. Elvira stood from where she was sitting to take care of her horse, whom she had yet to name, and snuck an apple from Bofur's sack of food to give to the horse. As sneaky as she thought she was, one particular dwarf watched as she took the apple and crept over to her horse lightly. He laughed quietly to himself as he watched the horse neigh cheerfully at the sight of her with some food, and his brother caught him in the act.
"What on Middle Earth are you laughing at brother?" Fili asked him, completely aware that his brother had to have been smitten with the mysterious Ranger in their company.
"Nothing, brother. I wasn't laughing at anything," Kili replied, knowing what his brother was suspecting. It was true, he was curious about her, but it was nothing more than that.
"Of course, Kili, you laughing to yourself while staring at a beautiful young woman is completely normal. My mistake," Fili teased. He knew his brother would get tired of it eventually, but for now, Fili basked in the fact that he had leverage against his younger brother. And, in his spite, he promised to try and get to know the Ranger as well, not only for a new friend, but to see just how jealous his young brother would get.
Kili smirked and glared at him, but stood up quickly and decided to walk over to the Ranger, who was smiling at her cheerful new horse and petting his bobbing head.
"Does he have a name?" Kili asked her, startling her for a moment, but she made no movements or sounds. She glanced up at the young dwarf prince who was now standing relatively close, grabbing the reigns of his own pony as he expectantly waited for an answer.
"Not yet," she replied, staring back down at the beautiful young mare. It's color was dark: so dark, he looked as if he was shimmering a dark blue color when the sunlight hit his back.
"He came to me just recently, I have yet to name him at all."
"How did he come to your possession?" Kili asked. She hesitated for a moment, and Kili could see a flash of guilt shining in her eyes as she replied, "I stole him, in Bree." She could sense an awkward silence fast approaching, so she decided to continue to speak in order to lighten the mood. "He wasn't doing anything anyway, just sitting there. And besides, I needed him far more than whoever owned him did."
Kili had no reaction for a moment, but then began to laugh loudly. This was a reaction Elvira did not expect, but she was glad it was this and not that of mistrust and anger towards her.
"You truly are a mystery, Lady Elvira," he finished, still smiling widely and shaking his head down at the ground. She grinned at him, shock shining through and joy at finally making a friend or two.
"I do believe we should name him though," He continued, reached forward to now stroke the side of the white horse's head. "He is far too majestic a horse to carry on nameless, don't you agree?" Kili was close in proximity, his breath fanning against the side of her face and she momentarily forgot to breathe herself.
"We'll have to come up with something, then," Elvira continued, tilting her head towards him and smiling once more, and Elvira could sense that there was more than just one in the company who now trusted her, and the thought made her happy.
The two made their way back to the rest of the group just as the sun was setting and the dwarves were sitting down to sleep. Kili and Elvira sat on either side of Fili, who was stoking the fire gently. She rested her back against the wall of stone behind her, yawning lightly.
"You should rest, my lady," Fili noticed she was tired, and suggested she sleep, for the journey the next day would be long and tiresome. Elvira, who was not fully tired, but not nearly awake enough to argue, simply stated, "I am a Ranger, master dwarf. I have gone weeks without sleep or sustenance of any kind," Elvira quietly muttered, but while doing so, her eyes drooped and she laid down upon the ground and closed her eyes, falling asleep almost immediately. Both brothers saw her do this, and smiled at each other, finding the tough act the Ranger tried to put on all the time amusing in the least.
As the night went on, the wind picked up, and the dark-haired prince noticed the shivering Ranger in the corner. He stood slowly, picking up his cloak and walked over to the young woman. He draped his dark blue cloak across her shoulders, immediately noticing her shivering cease as she snuggled further into the new "blanket" that was around her. He smiled to himself, and walked back to where he was previously sitting beside his blonde haired brother.
"I saw that," Fili muttered with a slight smirk.
"Saw what?" Kili smiled mischievously, but before Fili could say another word, a loud piercing shriek echoed around the walls of the mountain behind them. Elvira jolted awake faster than anyone else, jumping up to stand on her feet and immediately putting her hands on her two blades that were fastened tightly to her sides. She relaxed when she realized that the sound came from far off, and brought her hands back down as she leaned tiredly on the mountainside behind her. Only after the others were awake did Elvira notice the heavy, dark blue cloak that remained wrapped around her shoulders, knowing immediately that it was not hers. She glanced to her left to see Kili looking back at her. She smiled back, took the cloak off her shoulders, and went to return it, but not before meeting the hard, cold gaze of an angry Mountain King. She held his gaze for a moment, almost challenging the King, but smirked and looked away when he broke gaze. She stood in front of the sitting pair of brothers with Kili's cloak in hand.
"This is a fine material, master dwarf, I suggest you hold onto it. We wouldn't want you freezing to death before we reach the mountain," Elvira said loudly.
"We wouldn't want to lose you before then either, and you seemed to need it more than I did," he smiled lightly up at her. Even in the dark, he could see the soft features of her face illuminated by the fire glow.
"Thank you, but I can handle a little cold." Kili knew now that the woman standing in front of him was stubborn. Almost as much as a purebred dwarf. She refused help when it was offered, stuck true to her promises, and when she thought something was right, it was right. Kili was altogether intrigued, and he knew it.
"I have no doubt about that, my lady," he said, taking his cloak from her hand, their fingers momentarily brushing together during the trade. "But just in case you need it again, know that I will not hesitate to give it to you," he said lightly. Elvira smiled and turned to see Thorin staring straight at her. The stare was cold and empty. She felt open suddenly, vulnerable under his gaze, almost like he could read her thoughts and hear her mind whirring. She turned away from Kili and walked to the end of the cave and laid down. A frown came across Kili's face as he turned away too. Another scream echoed across the mountains, jolting them both awake. Elvira's hands instinctively moved directly to her knives, pulling the one on her left side out and holding it up defensively.
Bilbo, who had now awoken completely, asked what the shriek was, and Fili and Kili took it upon themselves to answer him.
"Throat-cutters," Fili stated matter-of-factly. "There'll be dozens of them out there. The Lowlands are crawling with them."
"They strike in the wee small hours of the night, when everyone's asleep" Kili added on, seeing what his brother was doing and immediately following along with the game. "Quick and quiet; no screams, just lots of blood," he whispered. At the sight of Bilbo's blood drained face that held a look of pure terror, the two of them looked at each other and began to laugh, but their momentary joy was cut short.
"You think it's funny? You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?" Thorin Oakenshield stood and questioned them, obviously offended by their lack of seriousness of the topic. Elvira had her fill of orcs in the past, and she began to side with Thorin. A night raid of orcs was what took her parents away from her. It was no laughing matter.
"We didn't mean anything by it," Kili muttered a form of apology. If there was one thing he hated, it was being reprimanded by his uncle. It made Kili feel like a small child again, and he hated feeling so defenseless.
"No," thorin growled. "You didn't. You know nothing of the world."
His words stung, but neither brother said another thing until Thorin had walked a short distance away from the rest.
"Don't mind him, Laddie," Balin walked over. "Thorin has more cause than most hate orcs."
I could prove that theory wrong, I'm sure, Elvira thought.
As Balin dove into a tale of the Battle of Moria, Elvira found herself completely entranced by his words.
"Azog the Defiler. The giant Gundabad Orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin, as well as the line of Valar," Balin said. Elvira flinched when she heard the name of her line of heritage.
"Who is the line of Valar?" Bilbo asked. Elvira stared at the dirt on the ground in front of her, terrified of Balin's answer. For her name was known. Not well, but it was known.
"The line of Valar is an old elven line of heritage, where Lord Elrond and the King and Queen of Rivendell descend. Azog promised to wipe them out for the sheer fact that they are not purebloods of any kind. Most who come from the line of Valar are mixed blood," He answered. Elvira held her breath, and did not breath for a long time.
"I did not know Rivendell had a King and Queen," Bilbo muttered, obviously hearing things only of a Lord Elrond in his books of Rivendell.
"The King and Queen were shot down in an ambush by the pale orc outside of Rivendell, over a hundred years ago."
Although the amount of time he stated was wrong, she knew that she now had to be careful of what she told them, for someone was bound to catch on sometime.
She was drawn back out of her own thoughts when Bilbo asked again, "And the Pale Orc? What happened to him?"
Thorin had now turned around, and growled, "He slunk back into the hole whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago." Balin and Gandalf shared a knowing look that only Elvira managed to catch onto as well, and she shook her head at the ground distastefully.
"And no more talk of elves, I wish not to hear about their misfortune. What were they doing when we had misfortune tenfold the amount they did?" Thorin continued spitefully, but no one answered him.
"Probably trying to deal with the loss of their King and Queen due to the pale orc," Elvira muttered under her breath, but Kili, Fili, and Balin had heard her.
"What do you think, lassie?" Balin asked Elvira.
"I think Azog the Defiler is too powerful to be brought down by a mere scratch. He's still out there, he has to be," She shook her head.
"You knew the pale orc?" Kili asked incredulously, becoming more and more impressed with the young woman as time went on. Thorin turned around once more, intrigued now by the Ranger and her tale of the same orc. Elvira scoffed.
"Azog the Defiler was the orc that captured and tortured me," she said. She thought carefully over her next few words, "He killed my parents, and I went to hunt him down, but I was severely outnumbered. He captured me, and brought me back to his caves where he beat and tortured me for information that I could not give him," she spoke. She had yet to look up from where she was using her knife to skin a tree branch, knowing that it was better if she kept her gaze down and her hands busy. "After the rangers got me out, I ran across Middle Earth for nearly 80 years in search of him before I caught word that he was fighting in the Battle of Moria. I went to aid in the battle and kill the orc, but by the time I made it to the gates of Moria, the battle had been won and Azog was gone."
Silence filled the air as each dwarf and the Hobbit let her story sink in. The King under the Mountain spoke first.
"You came to the dwarves aid during the battle?" He asked quietly. Elvira finally looked up, to see Thorin's eyes filled with shock.
"Yes and no," she answered. "My main goal was to get to Azog, but of course, I would have fought alongside your kin, even if Azog had not been present."
Her reply shocked Thorin beyond belief. This woman, this ranger, was part elf. And yet, she told him that she would have fought in battle along side him and his kin, had she come sooner. A blossom of respect grew in his soul for the young woman, and he mentally put himself down for judging her so harshly before. For she had been through the same, if not more, pain than he with Azog the Defiler, and he began to cherish the small similarity they shared. He still did not trust her, but he began to see her more as a warrior than just some she-elf.
No other dwarf spoke again, the weight of the conversation bearing down on them as the shrieks of the orc pack echoed across the wind and the glow of the fire shaded them all from the darkness of night.
HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS. I DID.
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stay warm
(Because it's hella cold out)
- EM