The Adventure of Andrea Baggins

Thorin Oakenshield

The dwarves and Gandalf didn't seem to think she was multitasking, being to occupied with her book, but she was. Of course, she was listening. Gandalf opened the door and heavy footsteps entered the hobbit's house. At that sound alone, Andy felt the urge to gag.

"We won't get along," she muttered into her book and turned to the next page. There was too much stubbornness, dominance and leadership in those steps.

"Gandalf," the newcomer greeted. Andy's eyes widened slightly. Oh, Mahal. That voice. "I thought you said this place was easy to find. I lost my way twice. If it wasn't for the mark on the door, I would haven never found it.  "

And the moment of fascination was over. Andy looked up from her book with a frown.

"What mark?" she called from the couch. All the dwarves turned around. At last Andy could see the new dwarf. He was quite tall for his race, had dark wavy hair and piercing blue eyes. As they all stared at her and the new dwarf, she just raised an eyebrow. "Well? I'm not going to ask again."

"Gandalf drew a mark on the door, so we knew to which house we had to go", Fili explained. Andy's eyes fixed on Gandalf.

"You. Did. What?" she asked in a dangerously calm voice. When he hesitated to answer, she jumped up and hurried to the door. She pushed the new dwarf aside and stepped out to see for herself. Indeed. There was a glowing blue letter burnt into the wood. It was the dwarven rune F and meant thief.

"Andrea, may I introdice you to the leader of this company..."

"What the F?" she muttered. She put her hands on her hips and turned to Gandalf. "So now I'm a thief? What were you thinking?! Bilbo is going to kill me! "

"So this is one of the Hobbits", the newcomer observed. He was scrutinizing her and started to cirlce around her. She tried to stay calm, eventhough he was going on her already short nervs. "Tell me, Miss Baggins, have you done much fighting?"

She snorrted. "Please. Who hasn't. I've been in enough fights, to be able to kick all your asses out of my house if you don't finally tell me, what the hell is going on here!"

Gandalf got nervous. He  knew very well, how true that statement was. And to say, that she was in a few fights, was an understatement. It was more like... a few battles. And she survived every one of them. 

"Axe or sword? What is your weapon of choice?", the newcome continued questioning her. She narrowed her eyes. 

"The axe is good for chopping. But with the sword, you're much more swifter and it's easier to get around big oponents. I personally prefer my daggers. With them you can get closer to your opponent and hurt them in very painful ways. " Her answer suprised him. Standing still in his tracks, he eyes her closely. 

"Who are you exactely?"

"Who am I?" she repeated his question, pointing at herself. "Haven't you heard?"

"Heard what?" he snarled impatiently. Andy just grinned at him.

"I'm the thief," she replied, pulling a cute face. She became serious again. "And I suppose you're the reason your people invaded my house, ate all my food, used the furniture as a doormat. Now I have to write my will because if I don't starve to death within the next month, my cousin will kill me for the mess you made. "

Arrogantly he smiled down at her. "She looks more like a houswife than a burglar", he stated, earning little laugher from his friends and familiy. Anger flood through Andys veins. 

There was nothing wrong with being a housewife. But Andy did not like it, to be narrowed down to only that. She was an excellent burglar, they just didn't know that yet. And she could probably fight better than any of them, with all the experience she had. But this snob of a dwarf walked straight into her house and thought after forty-five seconds of conversation, he  had her all figured out.