A Place to Belong

Chapter 4: New Acquaintances

Thorin dusted himself off, shrugging aside the sack he had spent most of the night in. He stood there now among his fellow dwarves happy and content to be alive.

His eyes caught the young woman hanging upside down, still in the trolls grip. He stifled a laugh when she fell to the ground and then quickly fixed herself, acting like she'd meant to do it that exact way. Thorin was amazed by her, not hours ago she had been lying in the care of Oin, bleeding out from her wounds and unable to stay conscious, but now... she stood as though nothing had ever happened.

He watched as she retrieved her boot from Fili, who had sneakily snatched it from the statues grip as she had recovered from her fall. His nephew looked her up and down with keen and searching eyes, she had simply ignored any attempt at a conversation and walked on, slipping into her boot. He admired her for that.

It was then that her eyes caught his. He tried to avert his gaze but could not. There was something about her... something familiar; he couldn't put his finger on it. She stood, an expression of pensiveness on her features. Her piercing eyes burned into his, was she aware she was looking at him?

Her eyes were a peculiar mix of colour. He could see hazel at the centre bleeding into a peridot green with a dark brown almost black ring around the outer iris. They had an ethereal glow to them. He could think of only one other person with eyes like that. He cast away the thought thinking it incredible; though her eyes were friendly he still did not know who this person was or her intentions.

Her aura was commanding and powerful; he himself had to admit it. Everyone was drawn to her and that slightly worried him, but if she was as sincere as she looked she may be useful.

Thorin snapped back to reality as Gandalf came into view. He strode forward to meet the wizard as he circled the stone trolls.

"Where did you go?" Thorin asked him, he wouldn't admit out loud he was thankful for the wizard's actions, but this wouldn't make him forget the reason he had left in the first place.

"To look ahead" Gandalf said bluntly, staring Thorin square in the face.

"And what brought you back?" continued Thorin.

Gandalf smiled broadly, "Looking behind."

Thorin shook his head and smiled, while Gandalf could be a pain, he was useful in tight spots and was also quite the joker.

"Nasty business! Damn Trolls!" the wizard said, striking the nearest statue hard with his staff, a small piece chipped off and he fumbled to replace it but in the end just let it plunge to the ground.

"Nasty? We were almost eaten alive, Gandalf!" began Thorin, "...and all thanks to your burglar too! I told you I would not be accountable for him!"

Gandalf's bushy grey eyebrows raised high at his. "Yes Thorin it may have been by his doing but... he was the one to get you out, mostly. Had he not played for time you would most likely have been troll food before I had arrived!"

Thorin bowed his head a little, to hide the expression of defeat. Gandalf was right; if not for Bilbo none of them would probably be here now. He would have to thank him at some point.

"Now..." said Gandalf, "these trolls couldn't have moved in daylight so...."

"There must be a cave nearby!" stated Thorin, beginning to walk off, following the huge lumbering tracks of the trolls deeper into the trees.

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Braerka stood eavesdropping on the wizard and Thorin, right now she couldn't miss a beat, she wanted to find out what they were doing and fast. She knew the longer she stayed near the more complicated things would become and the more reason she would have to kill him. The others in the company were fixing themselves up, reclaiming clothes and anything else the trolls had taken from them. Each looked more comfortable now in their own attire.