The Adventure of Andrea Baggins

Beorn

In the following days Andy avoided everyone. They tried to rise her spirit again and bring her to interact with them. However, she brushed them off after a few minutes. At some points she opened her mouth and seemed like she wanted to say something. Then her face twisted and she turned away again.

After another cold night Andy shook the dwarves awake.

"Get up!", she scream-shouted. "The orcs are coming. "

It didn't take long for them to get up and leave. The sun was slowly rising, not giving them a lot of light to work with. They stumbled through the woods as good as they could, following Gandalf through the unknown. After midday had passed, they decided to do a break.

"Andrea, dear", Gandalf called her. "Would you be so kind and go scout ahead?"

She gave him a glare before pushing herself up again and disappeared between the trees.

"What's wrong with her?", Ori asked worried as they watched her leave.

"She's been through a lot, since we left Rivendell. She just needs a little time to process it all", Balin tried to calm them a little. He himself was also worried. He was certain, that she was processing something. But was rather sure, not everything had to do with their journey.

"But she's acting really unusual", Bofur said and Bifur nodded in agreement. "And she didn't try picking a fight with Thorin for a while now. "

"Don't worry about her", Gandalf spoke, leaning on his staff. "She's feeling haunted by her past. As soon as we reach a safe place, her nerves will be able to calm down and she'll come around again. " He hoped so.

The dwarves didn't continue their discussion after that but kept looking over their shoulder once in a while, to see if she was back already.

As soon as Andy was out of sight, she transformed. A sigh left her lips and she stretched herself. Even though it didn't hurt being in another form, being in her original body felt so much better. After pulling her hood over her head and securing her daggers she sprinted of. Being able to run so fast again she felt like flying, the wind cut around her body and whispered in her ear. It didn't take her long to find Azog and his pack. They just crossed the last mountain, now following their trail down. Andy was about to run back, as she caught sight of a huge black bear. Surprised she stood still for a moment. She didn't know, that they still existed. She was told, that all the skin-changers were dead. The bear sniffed the air and his head turned towards her. She could feel its burning eyes on her. Goosebumps spread over her arms, as a threatful growl rolled through the beast's chest. Quickly she stepped back and turned around. The feeling of the beast's eyes upon her never left her body, though she knew, he wasn't following her. She broke through the bushes and crashed into Dwalin. He caught her, before she could hurt herself. Not even taking notice of him, she looked back over her shoulder, breathing heavily.

"How close is the pack?", was the first thing the company asked. Her head snapped around, her eyes flickering over every face she saw, making sure, they were all still there. Noticing her odd behaviour Thorin's brows furrowed. He opened his crossed arms, waiting for her to answer.

"To close", she finally spoke, her voice sounding hoarse. She quickly cleared her throat and stood up straight again, shaking Dwalin's hands off. "A couple leagues, not more. But there's something else. "

"Have the wargs picked up your scent?", Dwalin asked. Andy's head shot up and she stared at him with a piercing look.

"Of course not. But they will soon. We have another problem. "

"Did they see you? They saw you", Gandalf called out, a little panicked.

"No, that's not it", Andy said and looked at him with disbelief written all over her face. Did he think so low of her?