The following day dawned bright and clear, a contrast to the hollowing storms of the night before as they all huddled in Beorn’s house, terrified orcs would break down the door at any moment.
However, they had all fallen asleep at some point, exhaustion winning, and they awoke quite refreshed and dreadfully hungry.
Thorin awoke to the scent of warm bread smothered with butter and honey, a heavenly wake up call even to his Highness’s sky high standards. He stood, stretching slightly as he did so and joined the others who were awake at Beorn’s table where he was setting another loaf of freshly baked bread.
“Morning Thorin,” said Avice, the first to notice his presence. Aelith, Balin, Gandalf, Nora and Bilbo were also at the table and looked up at her words, echoing them with varying degrees of alertness.
“Morning,” he returned gruffly, nodding his head as he sat down next to Balin at the end of the table facing Avice.
Gratefully accepting a slice of the tantalizing bread he chewed thoughtfully, his gaze resting on Avice’s face. After a moment, she became aware of his scrutiny and asked,
“What?”
“Why do you always wear a mask?” he asked abruptly. Avice stiffened, glancing down the table at Aelith who looked worried.
“Because,” she said obscurely, turning her attention back to her bread.
“Because isn’t an answer,” he persisted, curious now. Avice slammed her fists onto the tabletop with an unexpected ferocity that cause several more dwarves to stir.
“Everyone has their secrets Thorin. Some are just more visible than others.” With that, she stood, grabbing her bread and stalked out of the house.
Everyone watched her exit in stunned silence.
“The smell of orcs lingers…” commented Beorn, breaking the silence. Aelith look at him, but then went back to eating as though nothing had happened.
Thorin however, used to getting his way, wasn’t about to let the subject drop, despite the absence of the person in question.
“Secrets?” he said accusingly down the table to Aelith. “What are you hiding from us?” Aelith calmly looked at him, but Bilbo began defensively,
“Thorin that’s not fair. You have no right-”
“No,” Aelith stopped him, getting up and moving to take Avice’s spot to face them as she spoke, “he has every right.” She paused and Thorin repeated his question,
“What are you hiding?” With a sigh, Aelith began,
“Many years ago, I was a young Ranger, wandering about as most Rangers do…”
**flashback**
A younger Aelith stumbled into a clearing. She looked about for a moment and then dropped her heavy pack and began setting up camp.
Twilight came fast and soon, only the stars, moon and her crackling fire were there to light up the night.
Suddenly, there was a crack of a twig. Aelith stood and spun, instantly drawing her sword and gazing intently into the night.
A slight figure emerged from the forest, cloaked and moving quickly.
“Who are you?” called Aelith. The figure froze, seeming to notice Aelith for the first time, and then released a string of curses in elvish.
“I hope you know how to use that sword of yours,” the figure finally returned, its voice decidedly feminine.
“Why?” Aelith’s eyes narrowed when without warning a huge roar filled the night.
“That’s why,” the figure called, moving across the clearing. Aelith quickly joined her and not a moment too soon as a huge beast burst into the clearing, fangs bared and twice Aelith’s height.
In a flash of movement, the stranger threw herself at the beast and it roared in pain as at least ten daggers burrowed themselves in it’s flesh. Aelith watched, mesmerized, as the figure drew a bow and began shooting the creature as it danced around it, dodging its clumsy blows.
Propelling herself off a tree, the person managed to land ontop of the beast and quickly ran up its back to its head before swiftly dropping, hooking their legs around the beast’s neck and shooting an arrow directly into the thing’s jugular.
Pulling herself up, she leapt off the beast in one fluid movement, tucking and flipping the air before landing neatly a good distance away as the creature gave one, last, gurgling roar before collapsing.
Slowly approaching, the figure gingerly prodded it with her foot, confirming it was dead. Aelith joined her and looked the beast over.
“That was impressive,” she finally said. The figure shrugged,
“Just another job.”
“Job?” Aelith questioned. The stranger chuckled and said,
“I’ll make you a trade. My backstory for yours with a nice bowl of that stew I can smell.” Aelith smiled,
“Deal.”
The two returned to Aelith’s fire and she dished up a second bowl of stew before turning to hand it to the stranger, gasping in surprise and almost dropping the bowl of stew as she did so.
The stranger had drawn back her hood and in the firelight, her features were revealed.
A petite face with dark brown eyes framed by a mane of reddish gold curls. What was shocked Aelith were the delicate, pointed ears peeking out.
“A hobbit?” she asked in shock, taking in the girl’s slight stature and build. The girl laughed and muttered,
“Close enough.” Then in a louder voice, “Now I believe I promised you a story.” She took the stew from Aelith and sat down, taking a bite and savoring it. As she swallowed, she seemed to collect her thoughts and began.
**flashback end**
“And I found out she went around, doing ‘jobs’ for the landowners about here, earning money by getting rid of beasties like the one she’d just taken down,” Aelith went on. “After hearing my story, she invited me to join her and not having any money to my name, I accepted.”
“What about the others?” asked Balin, curiously.
“They came later, one by one,” Aelith explained. “After staying in that area for a while, business began to run low. We ran out of stuff to kill, so we moved on. We found Avice, Nienna and Nora on our travels and they all joined us for reasons of their own.”
She paused in her story, looking Thorin in the eye.
“Each of us has a past and probably secrets that we don’t care for Middle Earth to know. We have accepted each other and overlooked whatever baggage is attached. They will confide in you in their own time.”
With that, she got up and went out the door to find Avice. Just then a sleepy Runa and Nienna joined the table.
“Stupid Aelith woke us up,” Nienna complained.
“Woke you up,” Runa corrected. “I was woken when Fili rolled over and punched me in the face.” She glowered, then brightened asking, “Might I have a glass of exceptionally cold water?”
Everyone stared at her, before Beorn slowly handed her a mug filled with crystal clear water. Runa grinned,
“Thank you very much.” Her grin turned mischievous, “Be right back.”
She stood and walked away and moments later, they heard a startled yelp followed by spluttered cursing.
Runa skipped back to the table and sat down, setting her now empty cup next to her plate of bread. She gave them all a dazzlingly innocent smile and said,
“I’m going to need a refill.”