Lifting up the amulet, Sydnee beamed as she showed Elyse, happy that she had been the first to the necklace. It was a strange beautiful thing with a corked blue-tinted bottle hardly the size of half her hand. Inside was a wolf throwing its head back, howling into the little glass with a dark tree sprouting behind the wolf as the creature sat on a green hill. As Sydnee let the necklace fall between her fingers so her friend could see it better, the chain clinked noisily as it straightened on the gray links that held it together. As the sun caught it, blue little sparkles appeared in the water of the bottle. Floating at the top of the water, a pearl rested gorgeously to represent the moon that the wolf was howling at.

"Isn't this pretty?" she asked Elyse with a wide smile.

Her friend returned it slowly, her emotion being betrayed by the look of admiration that was in her eyes shining so brightly. Careful not to show any emotion, Elyse wrapped her fingers around the little corked bottle delicately as if not to break it. "It is gorgeous," she agreed slowly.

Of course Elyse was acting like that. The dwarves that had joined them in the market area had already gone off on their own ways, except for Kili, Fili, and Thorin. The brothers had decided to stay with Sydnee and Elyse. The King, Thorin, was currently with Winifred, haggling with the man who owned the booth that they had picked her sword from. A crowd of children were behind them, waving when Winifred looked at them and squealing as they hid when Thorin glanced back at them. Both Fili and Kili had offered to buy anything that the two women had wanted; Kili was already studying Elyse as she calmly examined the necklace that was now in her hands. They were supposed to be finding armor and weapons, but Sydnee had already determined she wouldn't find any. She wasn't someone who could swing around a sword or wear armor; it would crush her.

Most of the dwarves had agreed with her, saying that she was too short to even be scary to someone that she might have to fight. With Elyse they had all just nodded -she had always been a fighter and currently she had two knives that Kili had already gotten her with a black belt decorated with small silver buttons with her new weapons hanging from her hips. When Winifred was mentioned, Thorin just snorted while the dwarves also agreed. They had said that she had the energy and, with her ice powers or whatever they could be called, she could literally freeze people to death once she gained decent control over it. She seemed happy with the sword that Thorin had just gotten her. A sour look was plastered on the King's face as he tossed money down on the booth for the man, who greedily snatched up the glittery coins and began counting them.

"I'll get it for you," Kili exclaimed, walking up between Sydnee and Elyse as he rummaged in his pocket.

"You've already gotten the knives for me," Elyse replied.

"So?"

While they argued back and forth about how Kili wasn't going to buy it even as he paid for the necklace, Sydnee shrugged and turned to Fili. The blonde was inspecting some throwing hatchets that he had found. Sydnee had learned fast that Fili was literally a walking storage of weapons. In both boots alone he had a pair of knives for safe keeping; he had told Sydnee that if all else failed, he could just give her one. Besides, he was too cute. He was just too cute. She had absolutely no clue why he had two braids in his mustache framing his mouth or why when he was around her, all he seemed to do was stutter. Oh, she knew why, and it tickled her pink.

Nudging his arm with her elbow, she leaned down beside him. "Whatacha lookin' at?" she hummed, doing her best to contain her giggle when he almost jumped out of his skin.

"T-These hatchets," he spluttered, motioning toward them. It was a pair with matching designs of swirls and one white stone that was in the center of the handles. "I was debating rather or not I could teach you how to use them."

"If you want me to throw them, I can tell you now that I can't."

"Well, I-I can help you with that, if you would like."

Sydnee gave him a small smile, leaning back and shaking her head. "That's really sweet of you, but no. I'd hit something else besides from what I'm trying too." She had to bite her lip to keep from smiling at the blush that came upon Fili's face. He was so nervous around her. When it came to anyone else, even Winifred and Elyse, he was stood tall with a light expression touching his face and a confident swagger. If she was anywhere near him, he attacked like a shy schoolboy.

"Then may-maybe you would like a new dress that would protect you more when on our ad-adventure. Not that the one you have on isn't nice!" he quickly added when her eyebrow lifted slightly. "But maybe like ar-armor!"

"Sure, if we can find something..."

Fili burst into a wide smile. He grasped her hand -she was surprised by how much bigger that his hands were and how many callouses were on them- and began pulling her to where there were more weapons in the booths. "I'll find something that's the best that can be offered here! A beautiful woman like you can't be undefended on an adventure!" he exclaimed, making a few of the hobbits glance at them curiously as Fili pulled her through the crowd. They even dashed by Bofur, Bombur, and Bifur. Bofur was even counting money and Bombur paused in looking over food to watch them race by, returning the small wave that Sydnee gave them.

"Here!" Fili halted in front of a booth so quickly that Sydnee ran into his side. He steadied her before proudly gesturing to the clothes that were lying out upon the booth. "Do you see anything that you like?"

She looked over them curiously, studying the dull colors and the shining metals of the armor. None of them really appealed to her eyes. Most were noticeably three times the size that she was and she wrung her hands together nervously, wondering how to say something to Fili and the man that was staring her down. There was a man also at this booth -a different one than the one that Thorin had bargained with unsuccessfully. "Um..." she started. "Do you have anything that's... smaller?"

The man seemed to break free of whatever daze that he was in. "Of course! Just give me one second."

Fili huffed as the man ducked under his booth. Sydnee felt him lean in close to her, his breath tickling her ear as he spoke. "I don't like how this man is staring at you like that..."

"Maybe he'll give us a discount," she whispered back.

The blond dwarf looked at her, stunned. As much as Sydnee hated to admit it, she was used to such treatment from most men. Fili was the only one that she had seen in a long time that wasn't as disgusting as the ones that normally confronted her. "Still, it's not polite," Fili all but growled. "As far as he is concerned, you could be married to this prince."

"Prince?" Sydnee gasped, shooting him a glance just as Fili took her arm and the man straightened from underneath his booth, beaming as he held up a new dress. She stared at the dress for a little while, trying to get over the fact that Fili was a prince, and then said, "that's a little weak, isn't it?"

"By appearance," the man said with a smile, casting Fili a dark look, who smirked in return. "But, in truth, everything about this dress is made from Mithril, an indestructible armor. In battle, or anything else, you will be safe from any weapon that could possibly harm you." It was a dark red dress with a tan front and a heavily decorated corset. Indeed it was pretty; the only problem that Sydnee saw was that it had no sleeves. Even then, just as she was thinking about it, the man lifted up a tan-colored fur coat. "This would come with it," he offered.

"Do you like it?" Fili asked her.

"Yes."

"How much are they?"

The man said a price and Sydnee watched as Fili's face scrunched up. Instead of demanding another price like Thorin had, Fili simply pulled free the amount, handing them to the man as he gathered the dress and nodded for Sydnee to leave. "So much for the discount," Fili mumbled as they walked back to Bilbo's home.

Sydnee giggled. "Well, it was worth it." Fili looked at her, tilting his head to the side and asking her to explain with his eyes. "I figured out that your a prince! How are you related to Thorin?"

"Kili and I are his nephews and heirs." The blond prince gestured to the brunnette that was currently leaning against the fence around Bilbo's fence, a smirk on his face as he talked to both Winifred and Elyse. "He's really protective over us, but we managed to get him to take us with him one this adventure to reclaim the Lonely Mountain."

"That's good. Is that where we're going? The Lonely Mountain?"

"Eventually. Now you go change and I'll wait here for you. I'm sure that Uncle is itching to leave by now."

Sydnee changed as quickly as she could in one of Bilbo's many bathrooms. She might have changed in record timing since her track years; her thoughts were more focused upon Fili than worrying about how her hair might be sticking up on one side. The dress fit her perfectly and the fur coat was definitely warm enough even without her sleeves. She basically ran out of Bilbo's home, stopping only long enough to listen to the hobbit snoring in his room before she bounded out the door, holding up the ends of her dress.

The ponies -which the dwarves had corrected her several times on because none of them were tall enough apparently to ride horses- were no where to be seen. Sydnee panicked for a moment, thinking that the Company had left her. She ran up to Bilbo's gate and opened it as she leaned over it, glancing both ways to eventually find the Company a little ways down the hill. Gandalf waved at her from his saddle on his chestnut mare, attracting some of the other dwarves. They paused in what they were doing. Fili, already upon his pony, beamed and waved like Gandalf had, only to receive a death glare from Thorin, who was in the middle of tying a bag upon his little pony stallion. She rushed down the hill and stopped beside the Gray Wizard, panting.

"I thought for a moment that you guys had left me," she said in between pants.

"I wouldn't let 'em," Bofur called out, a few 'ayes' follwing from the other dwarves. "Ya look stunnin' in yore in dress, lassie."

"Thank you," she smiled.

"Sydnee!" She glanced at where Winifred was busy putting a bridle onto one of the ponies and where Elyse was standing beside her. "Come here real quick!" Once Sydnee had bounced over, practically diving between Kili and Fili on their own ponies, Winifred smiled and smoothed down the forelocks on the pony. "You find everything that you needed?"

She nodded. "Sure did!" She couldn't help but to notice how Elyse was fiddling with the new wolf necklace that was around her neck. "Did you see the-?"

Thorin, from the front of the Company, barked out an order in a different language. The dwarves, who had been conversing between themselves as Gandalf waited patiently for them to begin a little ways ahead, immediately fell silent. The dwarf King rode up to them on his dark pony, looking at all of the women like they were problems that he had trouble fixing. "Do the three of you know how to ride?" he rumbled, blue eyes narrowed.

Winifred's hand shot up with a smile. "It's been a little while but I'm sure that I can do it again. All of these ponies seem rather tamed."

"The siren and the skin-changer does not?"

"The skin-changer," Elyse said darkly. "Scares the ponies." She held out her hand toward the one that Winifred was still petting its forelocks. The pony's eyes widened in fright and it ripped away from Winifred, nostrils flared as it stamped away from her.

Thorin didn't seem fazed by this. "It is probably for the best," he snorted and Elyse glared at him with a small growl. We have only one pony that can be rode anyways." The King glanced around and then looked at his two nephews. "Fili! Kili! Take one of these ladies with you!"

Sydnee felt her eyes narrow and her lips purse as the King directed his pony away, returning to the very front of the Company. Kili helped Elyse up in behind one onto his pony as she laughed and said something about Primrose. Winifred mounted her pony without a single word or thought, settling down into the saddle naturally and picking up the reins to hold loosely in her small hands. Sydnee glanced up as Fili stopped beside her and offered a hand at her. "Milady?" he hummed with a smile.

"My dear prince," she teased, taking his hand.

Little did she know that this was the first acts of many where she would lay her life in Fili's hands.