The Gathering Storm. The Hobbit fanfic. A Thorin Oakenshield love story.

Chapter 39: Missing Ponies.

Taryn's POV:

"Are you okay my dear?" Gandalf asked Taryn as they went into the woods.

"I'm fine, thanks Gandalf." Taryn said with a small sigh.

"He is just too stubborn to ask for help." Gandalf said with a small sigh. "I'm going to go look ahead, do you want to go with me?" Gandalf asked her.

"No no, I'm going to stay here. I just need to cool off and then I am heading back to them. I sense that they are going to get theirselves into trouble," Taryn said as she thought about how that farmhouse looked and how it made her feel.

Gandalf simply nodded his head at her answer. "Alright my dear. I will be back later on," he said as he rode off on his horse.

Really Taryn did not go that far. She just needed some time alone to cool off. She knew Thorin did not mean to upset her, but the words still hurt. Really she felt the same way when it came to her father. But her uncle was a good man.

Taryn sighed as she sat on Luna under an apple tree and just cried. She wiped away her tears with the cloth of her tunic shirt. "I'll be fine Luna," she said to her horse out loud. Luna had spoke to her in Taryn's mind.

Taryn slowly stood up on Luna's saddle and pulled herself up into the apple tree. She walked along the branches balancing herself easily. She grabbed an apple and bit down into it. The apple was ripe and juicy. It tasted much better then that stew that Bombur would be making right about now.
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Bilbo's POV:

Night had fallen and neither Gandalf or Taryn had came back yet. Bombur had made a dinner of some sort of stew and the dwarves were sitting around the campfire eating their dinner. Most of them were talking amongst theirselves, clearly not worried about Gandalf or Taryn. But not Bilbo, the little hobbit had finished his dinner and was now pacing back and forth.

He walked across the campsite and over to where Bofur was standing near the pot of stew. "They have been gone for a long time." He said with a concerned look on his face.

"Who?" Bofur asked only half paying attention.

"Gandalf and Taryn," Bilbo said in a irritated tone of voice.

"Oh well. He's a wizard! He does as he chooses." He said as he poured some of the stew into bowls. "And she will be fine on her own. According to Gandalf she is highly skilled and trained. She can defend herself," Bofur simply said to Bilbo.

Bilbo had turned to walk back to his bedroll, when Bofur called him back.

"Here, do us a favor." Bofur said to Bilbo as he handed him two bowls of stew. "take these to Fíli and Kíli." Bofur said and gestured towards where the ponies were.

Bilbo let out a long sigh as he nodded his head. "Sure," he said as he took the bowls into his hands and turned on his heels. As he leaves the campfire he hears Bofur tell Bombur that he's had plenty of stew.

Bilbo walks across the campsite out into the dark where Fíli and Kíli are watching the ponies. He passes some of the ponies grazing, to see Fíli and Kíli standing together looking puzzled.

Bilbo hands them their stew, but they just ignore him. "What's the matter?" Bilbo asks when they do not take the stew.

Kíli inhaled deeply, "We're supposed to be looking out for the ponies." Kíli said as he gestured to the ponies to the side.

"Only we've encountered a slight problem." Fíli said while slowly looking to Bilbo who was standing in between them.

"We had sixteen," Kíli said to Bilbo with a concerned look on his face.

"But now there's only fourteen." Fíli said to Bilbo finishing the sentence for Kíli.

They take a stroll through the remaining ponies, they examine them. "Daisy and Bungo are missing," Kíli says as he checks to see which ponies are remaining.

"Well, that's not good. That is not good at all." Bilbo said while following Kíli. He was still clutching the two bowls of stew. "Shouldn't we tell Thorin?" Bilbo asked with a sigh. He didn't want to get Thorin more mad.

Fíli turned and looked at Bilbo. "Uhh, no. Let's not worry him. As our official burglar, we thought you might like to look into it." Fíli said to the little hobbit.

Poor Bilbo was put on the spot, so he walks forward. He looks around to where the ponies originally were and sees some trees recently uprooted and laying on the ground. "Well, uh...look, some--something big uprooted these trees." Bilbo says with a worried look on his face as he gestures to the trees. "Something very big, and possibly quite dangerous," he said as he gulped in some air.

Fíli stepped forward and looked over the uprooted trees. He peers through the trees to see something in the distance. He crouched down as he tilted his head to the side. "Hey! There's a light. Over here! Stay down," he said to Kíli and Bilbo as he gestured them to crouch down near him.

As the three of them quietly run through the forest toward the light Fíli has seen, and they hide behind a log when they realize that it is a fire. Harsh laughter sounds from near the fire.

"What is it?" Bilbo asks as he looks at Fíli with a frightened look on his face.

"Trolls," Kíli replied when Fíli did not answer.

Fíli and Kíli slowly make their way through the forest to get closer to the fire. Bilbo stays behind, holding the bowls of stew, and unsure on what to do. Bilbo starts to follow them, then returns to grab the two bowls of stew he left on the log. He then continues following them. Bilbo hides behind a tree and sees a massive mountain troll walking toward the fire, carrying a pony under each arm.

Bilbo looks towards the troll and then back to Fíli and Kíli. "He's got Myrtle and Minty!" Bilbo says and gulps, as he realize why the trolls have them. "I think they're going to eat them, we have to do something." Bilbo whispers to the brothers as he leans forward.

The two brothers look up at him in unison. "Yes; you should. Mountain trolls are slow and stupid, and you're so small." Kíli said to Bilbo while pushing him forward.

"N--n--no--" Bilbo managed to say clearly frightened.

"They'll never see you." Kíli says trying to reassure the hobbit.

"No, no, no..." Bilbo chokes out again as he shook his head.

"It's perfectly safe! We'll be right behind you." Kíli said to Bilbo.

Fíli nods his head in agreement with his brother. He takes the two bowls from Bilbo's hands and puts a hand on Bilbo's shoulder to urge him forward. "If you run into trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl, once like a brown owl." Fíli said to him.

Fíli and Kíli push Bilbo toward the fire. He begins whispering Fili's instructions to himself, trying to remember them, but gets mixed up.

"Twice like a barn owl, twice like a brown--once like a brown? Are you sure this is a good idea?" Bilbo said to the brothers as he turns around, but Fíli and Kíli are already out of sight.
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Poor Bilbo, I don't think Fíli and Kíli should have sent him after the trolls all alone. This was mainly just a script chapter. There will be more Taryn in the next chapter.

Thank you for the reads, votes, and comments.