The journey to the misty mountains was estimated to be about three weeks long. Thorin had kept the company on a strict sleep schedule. They made camp early, slept for about four hours, and then set off again before dawn.
Amaris had bonded slightly with the Durin brothers since their lengthy chat at Rivendell and they often hung back to walk along her and make small-talk. Balin had been polite to her since he, unlike Thorin, didn't see why she shouldn't come along. Bifur and Bofur were as welcoming with her as they were with Bilbo. Bifur contented himself by making happy mumbling noises and waving whenever he saw her. The hobbit himself acted kind of lukewarm towards her but she didn't blame him since he probably feared Thorin's wrath.
She often found Ori looking back at her timidity as if he wanted to approach her. Dori, on the other hand, did not approve of this and was always quick to usher him away. The mother hen had been reproachful of her at seeing her ability to turn into a four-legged furry creature and kept mumbling something of it being unnatural and shot her distrusting glances. Same went for Dwalin, Gloin, who liked to pretend she didn't exist. Along with Nori, who she guessed had to do with her not sharing her food after stealing his drumstick. Bombur was slightly disappointed that his promise to get more meat for the company was conditional; rocky path offered little prey apart from the spare mouse, beetle or bird of prey. Amaris contented herself with catching and munching on the small rodents as a wolf. Witch also served as a form entertainment since they scurried so quickly across the rocks.
"We make camp here, get some rest. We'll leave in a few hours," announced the leading dwarf after a particularly chilly day of walking. Most of the company was greatly relived and plopped themselves down on the ground in sighing in relief. Amaris, who was traveling in canine form to keep herself warm, settled on catching her own dinner as Bombur cooked theirs.
She watched the mice scurry around for cover as she played with them with her large black paws. The end of her tail wiggled at the entertainment she was receiving from the easy hunt after a long day of just walking. She let out short and soft playful barks and growls as she play pounced and lunged only to miss on purpose. Some of the company noticed her little game and chuckled at her playfulness.
"Silly lass," Bofur joked under his breath, earning some chuckles and nods from his companions. His comment caught Dwalin's attention who turned to her and frowned.
"Didn't they teach you not t'play with yer food?" He growled as he rose an eyebrow at her, as if her enjoyment annoyed him. She looked up with a wolf-frown and huffed rather angrily, then bent down and caught a mouse in her maw and walked over to lay down to eat. No fun allowed apparently.
After evryone turned back to seating up camp and eating, Amaris felt someone come a sit beside her. She stopped chewing on the mouse carcass she held between her paws and looked up to see who had joined her. It was Kili, he had his bowl food with him and was smiling warmly.
"Thought I'd make you company, Dwalin can be a little bit of a joy-kill," She gave an 'uff' sound and face that read 'tell me about it'. Kili chuckled at her reaction although he didn't understand what she said. They ate in silence beside each other, watching the company eat and go to sleep before it was time to go again. When Kili finished his dinner he reached up and scratched her behind the ears. A small cloud of dust was created as Amaris thumped her tail against the ground and yawned. She set her head down and sighed tiredly as her eyes drooped, Kili still scratching her head.
"That,-that's nice'"she yawned as sleep nagged at the edges of her vision. The young prince chuckled at her drowsy little growl. Soon enough she was asleep. Although not for very long.
"Psst! Ey, lass! Wake up. You've got last watch," she was gently nudged awake by Bofur, recognizing his voice since her eyes were still closed.
"Five more minutes, Bofur. I'm not up for this," she grumbled even though it just came out as a bunch of unhappy 'uff's and soft growls.
"Hey, lass. Are you awake?"
"I am now," she growled a little as she finally opened her eyes halfway to see a Bofur looking down at her concerned. His face lightened up when she looked up at him.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. Ye were makin' all sorts of little sounds in yer sleep and' wiggling. I thought you were already awake," he apologized. She reached up and nuzzled his cheek to let him know it was alright and got up carefully as to not awake Kili sleeping next to her.
She walked over to the middle of the company and lay next the dying fire. The air was fresh and cool and the sky was painted dark purple witch turned pink to the East accompanied by the soft glow of the coals in the fire. She closed her eyes and angled her head backwards as she took a long intake of breath to scout the surround scents, nothing out of the ordinary, and then exhaled. With no sounds others that the constant snoring, she concluded that they were quite alone. She then shifted to her human form and ran a her fingers through her hair to try and comb it.
The dwarves then roused themselves one by one and she bid them good morning, witch some were kind enough to return. When most of the company was awake, Thorin's powerful voice boomed over the campsite.
"Get up, all of you! On your feet. We leave now, we'll have breakfast later," his loud announcement startled poor Bilbo, who Amaris hadn't noticed had been sleeping by the fire, as he jerked awake half-asleep. Amaris chuckled at this.
"Hey there little bunny. Sleep well?" She chimed as he rubbed his eyes open and yawned.
"What? Oh um, yeah. Yes I did, I didn't get much of it though," she hummed in agreement as she recalled her own short slumber. And with that they were off.
After about three hours of walking Bombur requested breakfast to witch no one complained. Amaris, who didn't expect to get a meal sat down and decided to watch the peaceful scenery. She thought of back home, of her mother and her sisters. She felt someone tug her out of her daydream and turned around with a 'hum?'. Once again, it was Bofur.
"Hi, Bofur. Sorry for my attitude this morning, I'm quite cranky when I'm sleepy," she chortled.
"Aren't we all?" He laughed, he then seemed to remember something and walked a short distance to get something. He came back with his bowl that still had a little food in it. "I noticed ye didn't eat much. Mice can only give you so much I recon. Here, take this. I was going to give it to Bombur anyway, you need the energy," he held the bowl of food to her.
"Oh good Gods, Bofur. Thank you," she laughed in glee and gave him a short hug before taking the bowl of stew. With a smile and a sort bow, he returned to the dwarf-camp. She could hear the others teasing him as he walked back.
"Can't help but get acquainted with the ladies now ca we?" Came Fili's voice.
"Oh, shut it. I was only tryn' t'help! We don't want her t'drop dead now do we?" He defended himself.
Although she could hear the smile in both their voices. She chuckled as she finished up her food. She finally turned to give the bowl back to the cook and found, guess who, Thorin, glaring daggers at her. Again.
She very visibly rolled her eyes at his behavior and went to give the bowl back to Bombur and thanked his brother once again for sharing with her. After that, Thorin, who had been watching her pleasant exchange with the two brothers, loudly announced that breakfast was over. And they set off again. And this were things get interesting.
You see, the company was headed for a specific path through the misty mountains. Only there were two ways to get there. One was faster, but offered about as much food as the mouth of an active volcano. The other took three days longer to cross that the other, but passed by a bountiful forest. They were running very low on meat.
They came to a halt when the path offered two routes, the forest or the mouth of the active volcano. They all stoped as Thorin and Balin, who were at the front of the group, both consulted a map together. Because Thorin can't navigate to save his hide. As told to her by Bilbo, he had lost his way in the Shire. Twice. There were post-sings at every corner, seriously. Finally, the duo had come to a decision.
"We go left," hollered the Grumpy Badger. He was headed for the active volcano route. Half of the company followed after him. Amaris, who was at the middle of the line, stood her ground, arms crossed and tapping her foot.
"Thorin," she called, he turned to her with an unpleasant expression, "don't you think we should go right?" She had asked him in a collected and calm tone, her arched brow and slight frown on her lips however, told otherwise. The dwarf king almost sneered at her, he didn't like people questioning his decisions. Amaris, apparently, couldn't be able to care less.
"We save three days of travel this way. We go left," he declared dismissively as he turned.
"I say we go right, actually,"
The entire company looked at Amaris as if she had just said that Smaug was in fact fire breathing sheep.
"Do you?" Came Thorin's voice, filled with controlled anger. Some of the dwarves started taking slow calculated steps back away from the two.
"If we go your way, we'll starve to death before we even lay foot on the misty mountains," she argued, the dwarf king looked to Bombur for confirmation. The cook nodded apprehensively. "If we go my way, however," she countered, "we will have the time and environment to hunt and replenish our food,"
"We can eat in lesser amounts for a few days, we'll make it,"
"And then what? We wont have any food to last the rest of the trip Thorin!" She growled aggressively at him.
"As the leader of this company and King under the Mountain-" Thorin started but the she-wolf wasn't having it.
"I will grant you your designated respect when I find myself on Erebor's grounds, but for now i would like to remind you that you are not my King!" Amaris snarled loudly. There was a moment of pin-drop silence as she spoke again forcefully, "When I find myself on your territory will I treat you like your royal statue. In the meantime, we will take the longer route to make sure we don't starve. We are going right. One way or another," she growled stubbornly.
And then, ladies and gentlemen, the glaring contest of the century. Thorin seemed to be thinking hard, witch seemed to be a new occurrence, and then looked impossibly smug. Then looked to the others and shouted something in Khutzhul, and turned and walked down the path he had chosen. The dwarves sent her apologetic glances and followed him. She may not owe Thorin her allegiance, but they did.
"Fine," she told herself before rolling her shoulders backwards as if preparing for a fight. "We do this the hard way then," she stomped over to the brooding bastard that was Thorin Oakenshield.
Thorin, for one, was quite pleased with himself. He had just shown Amaris that his company answered to him and to him alone. And he had successfully put her in her rightful place.
Or so he thought.
There were a few things that Gandalf had missed while introducing the two.
First of all, Amaris Aubrey Aether the tenth did not give up that easy.
And second, when she told Thorin 'one way or another',
She wasn't joking.
"Um, Thorin-" was all Balin could say before Amaris put her plan into action. All of a sudden, he was yanked upwards off his feet from behind, launched up in the air, and landed on furry back with a thick black stripe running it downwards. The She-wolf and her new rider then turned heal and strutted off onto the greener path.
The company was shocked to say the least, but followed their leader against his own will. If Thorin was headed in that direction, so were they. Thorin, after having recovered from the shocking turn of events, tried to dismount the large wolf. Amaris gave a deep growl as he lifted his foot and used illusions to speak in his mind.
"If you so much as lay a single toe on the ground, I will shave you bald and have Dwalin tattoo 'I'm an idiot numskull bastard' onto it in Khutzhul," she snarled menacingly. The dwarf looked down to the wolf's face with a horrified expression, then put his foot back on her flank.
"Good. Good dwarf king, you do learn," She taunted the dwarves's leader. He glowered down at her but was wise enough not to comment.
Things were not going too smoothly between these two.
End of chapter four
A/N: Amaris is done with your shit, Thorin.