Really, really long chapter guys! Sorry! Warning to Thorin lovers though -heavy mocking of him up ahead 😝 and that picture of Dwalin up there; I PAINTED that!

"He's here."

I suppose that it was by a stroke of luck that I was closest to that door when those three knocks had rang out. While everyone had been singing, I had stood and slipped out of the room, intending on leaving the house for a little while and breathing outside to clear my slightly hurting head. And no, it wasn't because of how much ale I had drank -that wasn't affecting me at all, yet I hope. I just wanted fresh air because I was starting to feel crammed.

However, I guess I had to be a little tipsy to open that door and peek outside to see a cloaked dark haired man lift his eyebrow when he saw me. I mean, my mouth dropped just by the sight of him.

Certainly the sight of him alone shouldn't have me react like that.

Right?

Maybe it was just his eyes. They were a light blue that I hadn't expected; they were an ice blue with darker flecks in them, giving them an impossible imposing look that I hadn't realized was even possible. In seconds I felt like he had already sized me up, figuring how much of threat that I was too him. Maybe it was his face. It was a strong one, one that imagined the heroes of stories in with a trimmed dark beard growing around his face in a neat way that the other dwarves had lacked. Dark hair, streaked a tad by the few white sprouting from his forehead, splayed about his face and down past his shoulders. His rough face betrayed him; it revealed his age that I was guessing was maybe his mid-forties. Like Fili, two braids framed his face, kept by the silver decoration on the end. Maybe it was the way that he stood. There was a confident aura from him and that I had sensed from only standing behind the safety of that door for maybe a few seconds. Everything about him was sure, knowing that he was always right, always strong. And, darn it, maybe it was his voice, which was strong and definitely commanding, even if it wasn't supposed to be.

"Is this the right home?" he asked, eyeing me curiously. I couldn't help but to notice the way that his eyebrows furrowed together slightly, a confused glint sparking in his eyes.

His voice snapped me from whatever daze that I had been and I mentally shook myself. "If you're with a group of twelve dwarves and a wizard, then yeah, I suppose that you're in the right place."

He nodded and, when I didn't move, his eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you the wife of the hobbit who lives here?"

It took every bit of control that I possibly had not to start hacking or choke on my own breath, though I did feel my face turn red. "Of course not!" I blurted out and then flinched slightly when I heard scoff laugh behind me somewhere. Of course Bilbo would have heard me. "Gandalf brought me here with my two friends."

"Gandalf brought you?" Those ice blue eyes snapped onto me and I had to steel myself not to cringe away from his harsh gaze. I had noticed this much about him already; he was quick to judge and didn't seen to forgive easily.

"Are we talking about the same Gandalf?"

The man rolled his eyes and, before I knew what he was doing, pushed past me. I mumbled to myself, closing the door as I shot daggers at his back as he walked in with a confident stride and straighten my slightly ruffled dress. It shouldn't have been that surprising that everyone who could wiggled into the entrance of Bilbo's home to see this person I was starting to think was their leader. His confidence was really starting to irk me.

"Gandalf," he called out to the wizard, slipping out of his fur coat and handing it to Kili, who reminded me of someone who was smiling as hard as a child being handed a new puppy as their birthday present. "I thought you said this place would be easy to find. I lost my way, twice. I wouldn't have found it at all had it not been for that mark on the door."

"Maybe if you had better skills in direction you would have found this place," I huffed under my breath and Dwalin chuckled at me before falling silent at the other dwarf's sharp gaze.

Bilbo looked appalled as he pushed through the dwarves until he was standing beside Sydnee. "Mark?" he all but squeaked. "There's no mark on that door. It was painted a week ago."

Gandalf chuckled slightly. "There is a mark; I put it there myself. Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield."

He didn't bow, he didn't nod, he didn't smile. He didn't do anything besides from walk right up to the little hobbit man that I was even taller than by maybe a few centimeters. My hand played slightly with my bottom lip and suddenly I had to know. Grabbing Ori, I pulled the now completely petrified young dwarf closer to me and whispered in his ear, "Who is he exactly?"

"Thorin?" Ori asked. When I nodded, he lowered his voice slightly. "He's a King!"

I spluttered. "A King?"

"Well, yes. The King Under the Mountain is what most people call him. He's the leader of our company," Ori stated with a matter-of-fact tone, cocking his head slightly. "The dwarves in your kingdom referred to the Ice Mountain Queens as the White Lady and most of your enemies call you the Ice Witch. Why do you ask?"

"Because. I just-"

"And they are?" Thorin practically boomed out as he glared at Gandalf, gesturing first to me and then to Sydnee, who jumped and glanced around like he was talking to someone else. "If you wish on being along women, then I beg to differ. One hobbit who can't defend himself -if he comes- is bad enough, but two women?"

"Three," Kili piped up before Fili slapped a hand over his mouth.

While Thorin looked at him in absolute horror, Gandalf chuckled slightly and placed a hand upon Sydnee's shoulder. The poor old man was stooped over because of the ceiling; either Bilbo's home was shorter than I realized or Gandalf was much taller than I thought. "These three women have a very good purpose on this journey when they come, Thorin Oakenshield. You will not regret bringing them."

"What's so special about them?"

"Besides from the fact that I can kick your ass?" I couldn't help but to snap at him. I have been told that I have a big mouth and I will gladly admit that I do. I blame it on my mother; she had a nickname for everything and had a short temper, which would eventually effect her words and I had to withstand some pretty bad crap. The other half I blamed on my father; he had always been a man of strong opinions and I, probably for the worse, had learned most of what I knew today from him. So quick, snarky comments were normally my style when I was agitated at people. And, half of the time, my language was even more so.

My small slip of words caused a gasp to go around the dwarves. Thorin's eyes only narrowed at me, the ice blue appearing to become a shade darker than what they had been before. "I doubt that very seriously."

While I scowled and Dwalin chuckled on the other side of me, Gandalf straightened. "If I say that they shall come, then they will. But I think introductions are even more than overdue now." He paused, glancing at how Thorin and I were glaring at each other, though Thorin's was a little but more hidden than the hatred that I was probably radiating off. "This," Gandalf pointed at my friend. "Is Sydnee, a half siren, half dwarf."

Someone poked her, probably as a joke and probably was Kili messing around, and her voice spiked loud and shrill enough for both Thorin and I to break away from our glares to look at her. Sydnee had jumped again; her squeal of surprise had went from normal to a full out shriek in seconds. While everyone instinctively clamped their hands over their ears, the picture frame's glass hanging closest to her cracked in two with a responsive breaking noise once her voice lowered. The breaking noise startled me; my eyes were squeezed shut and my hands, which were covering my ears as well, balled into tight fists. A small tingling feeling shot up my arm starting at my fingers and Dwalin and Ori both shouted out just as Sydnee's small screech ended.

Slowly I opened my eyes, spying the surprised Thorin that was now about three feet from me in a protective stance and a sword in his hand, pointed directly at a stunned Sydnee. I heard a grunt by my side and glanced over at a half frozen Dwalin, who was grumbling as he scraped ice particles off of his cheek and picked at the ones in his beard. Ori was in the same position when I looked at him. Even Thorin, who must have jumped back when Sydnee's voice spiked, had a light coating of snow and sparkling ice on his coat. Just above Ori's head was a cabinet -the ice that had shot out of my hands had actually crept up along the wooden furniture and twisted through it, cracking it apart.

"She still has to work on that," Gandalf added.

"That was gorgeous!" Fili whispered, though it was so silent that I'm pretty sure that everyone heard because we all turned to look at him like he was insane. Kili even smacked the back of his head; Fili did have this adorable look on his face as he stared at Sydnee in admiration.

"And she is?" Thorin didn't turn his back on Sydnee and jerked his head at my general direction.

I was tempted to reply with 'your worse nightmare' but the look that I received from Gandalf silenced my mouth. "That, Thorin," the wizard stated slowly, taking his time. "Is possibly the most valuable of the three ladies I have brought me. That is Queen Winifred of the Ice Mountains, the lost heir."

Silence drifted around as Thorin turned to look at me with this expression that I couldn't place. If anything, it upset me and made me extremely nervous. The other dwarves seemed just as uneasy as me; Dwalin's shoulder was twitching and Ori had practically rubbed his nose so many times by now, I was scared it might just fall off. Before I realized it, I was playing with my hair and instantly stopped, cursing myself when Thorin's eyes flickered to my hand. Nervous habits die so hard and I was currently cursing mine.

"Have you done much fighting?" Thorin asked, shattering the uneasy silence.

My eyes narrowed and I crossed my arms. "A tad."

"What is your weapon of choice?"

I thought for a moment, trying to come up with a good answer. It was definitely clear that we had different time periods here and the technical advances were a little different. They probably had no idea what a gun was. So, instead of using my voice, I lifted up a balled fist, giving him a small smile. "I call this one lightnin' and if he don't getcha, then thunder will."

Gloin's mouth dropped in surprise and Dori suppressed a chuckle as Sydnee giggled. Oin screamed out, "what? Did she say 'fightin' and yetcha yonder?" Bifur snorted in amusement. While I beamed, glad that at least some people found me humorous, I only smiled even harder when Thorin's mouth fell at the corners and a 'are you serious' look came across his face. "Your fists are your weapons?" he asked, voice void of emotion like it normally seemed to be. When I nodded, he smirked and next thing I knew, his sword was near my neck, not touching but close enough for a sick twirling in my stomach to react. "Will they save you from a sword?"

"In this case," I sneered, unnerved by how close that he suddenly was. "I would do this-" here I lifted my leg up, not hitting him because I would've dropped him like a sack of potatoes- "and then I would precede with this." I brought my right arm, since it was opposite of his sword, around and paused right before I could hit his head. "Simple."

"That doesn't save you in the middle of a battle. This is child's play compared to what could happened," the King rumbled, leaving me be and turning his back to me. "Is there any food left or did you all eat it?"

I huffed as Bofur exclaimed he would get some and the dwarves followed Thorin into the dining room. I found myself standing in the same room as Bilbo as I fumed to myself, gritting my teeth and stamping my foot slightly. "Miss Winifred?" Bilbo called out nervously. "Are you alright?"

"Of course," I sighed out, running my hand through my bangs and loosening a strand for me to play with. "I'll be fine. Thank you, though, for your concern, Mr. Baggins."

He nodded and I left him, walking where the rest of the dwarves were and propping my hip up against a wall and leaning against it. Already I had missed part of the conversation between the dwarves and their King and I was interested in why the dwarves were muttering between themselves, some even with concern. Fili was explaining something to Sydnee silently; she was sitting in the middle of Kili and Fili and was leaning toward the older of the brothers to listen. Gandalf was smoking on his pipe from his seat besides Thorin and I curled my nose up in disgust.

"You're going on a quest?" Bilbo asked curiously.

Gandalf's eyes flickered to the hobbit, lingering on me for a moment before he replied. "Bilbo, my dear fellow, let us have a little more light." When the hobbit left, the wizard produced a large paper from his cloak and spread it out upon the table. I moved closer to get a better look, standing -unfortunately for me- next to Thorin. Gandalf must have noticed my confused look. "This is a map of Middle-Earth, dear lass. We're here," he said, pointing with his free hand to a place labeled the Shire. Bilbo returned with a candle, placing it on the table, and Gandalf thanked him with a nod. "Far to the East," the wizard began. "Over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single solitary peak."

"The Lonely Mountain," Bilbo exclaimed.

"Aye." I glanced over at Gloin, who sounded like he had rehearsed this several times. "Oin has read the portents, and the portents say it is time." My gaze scowled down to Thorin, who was still calmly eating his soup. Time for what?

Oin lifted his hearing trumpet a little, nodding confidently. "Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold: when the birds of old return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end."

"What beast?" Bilbo and Sydnee squeaked at the same time.

I had to admit -I was curious too. Everything was slightly confusing to me; I wasn't exactly sure what was going besides from the dwarves were interested in this one place that they hadn't been able to access in a long time. This beast sounded promising and my curiosity was peaked, which was never that good. Thorin had just recently finished his meal and simply placed the soup bowl beside his arm, leaning back in his seat as he listened calmly. I calmly, without saying a word, picked up the bowl and stood with it, waiting for the conversation to end so I could leave and place the dish with the other dirty ones. The king's gaze followed the bowl and he seemed awfully confused on why I was doing such a thing. Sydnee's concern only caused Fili to smile and lay a hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

"Well, that would be a reference-" Bofur started from his spot at the table.

"Cake's done!" Elyse boomed as she stamped into the dining room, holding up her finished masterpiece in the air with a proud smile. Heads snapped up to look at her and Thorin still had his head turned as he studied me for some reason. I mentally laughed. We forgot to introduce him to Elyse -boy was he gonna be surprised.

Elyse finally saw Thorin just as she was sitting the cake down besides Bombur, who looked like he had died and gone to heaven as he clutched at the plates that she had given him. Her eyebrow lifted and her head tilted to the side. "Who's the woman?"

As quickly as heads had turned to Elyse's cake, jaws dropped along with one or two plates and I covered a hand over my mouth, fighting down a smile and failing to keep my laughter in. Thorin slowly turned to look at her, astonished. I bet that's never happened to him before and I bit my lip, basically choking myself not to dissolve into laughter right then and there. Elyse must have been completely focused upon that cake. Everything about Thorin -at least to me anyways- was very manly, even his hair. And, he was speechless. Priceless.

"Whoops, sorry," Elyse said, already cutting into the cake and trying to give him an apologetic smile even though a smirk was trying to dominate it. "You looked like a lady from the side. Sorry 'bout that."

Thorin turned a questioning gaze to me. "That's Elyse," I explained to him. "She's a skin-changer."

"Of course," he replied dryly.

The cake was passed around and Elyse sat beside Kili, who basically ran to get an extra chair just so she could sit down next to him. Everyone was content on eating their cake except Thorin -I think he refused because he didn't want to eat anything from someone who'd called him a woman- when Bilbo cleared his throat. We all turned to him, still chewing and commenting on how good Elyse's delicious cake was. "You were referencing to what now, Bofur?" he asked.

"Oh. Oh, yes!" Bofur wiped off his mouth and laid his fork politely down beside his plate before launching back into story mode. "It would be a reference to Smaug the Terrible, chiefest and greatest calamity of our age. Airborne fire-breather, teeth like razors, claws like meathooks, extremely fond of precious metals."

"Yes, I know what a dragon is."

"I'm not afraid!" Ori called out, standing up from his seat. "I'm up for it! I'll give him a taste of the Dwarvish iron right up his jacksy!"

Both me and Elyse laughed at the young dwarf's outburst as Dori wrestled him back down into his seat, hissing about ladies being present, and Thorin scowled, shooting me a look as I nibbled on the cake and giggled. I made a face at him, scrunching up my nose, and couldn't help but to giggle again when he seemed bewildered and turned away quickly. Darn. If he was going to be like this the entire time, then hey, I was going to enjoy this all I possibly could.

"The task will be difficult enough with an army behind us," Balin said, gaining everyone's attention respectively."But we number just thirteen. Not thirteen of the best, nor brightest."

As the dwarves started complaining, Elyse's harsh laughter rang out. Thorin's hard gaze snapped to her as she laughed yet again. "I don't know; I think that if my leader looked like a woman, I would think that you guys are doing pretty good; everyone would stop to look at his extreme prettiness."

Now I couldn't hold it in; my nerd laugh came roaring out and I bent over to try and catch my breath. The only thing that stopped me was the fire that was burning in Thorin's eyes when he stood, glaring at Elyse. "One insult was enough; two is unacceptable. If I looked like you do, I would be afraid of men thinking of me as a fellow man."

Eyes narrowing, Elyse glanced at Sydnee. "Who is this woman anyways?"

"I am Thorin Oakenshield," rumbled out the dwarf. "King of the Mountain and I demand respect from you!"

"You won't be demanding anything outta me. King or no, you're not my King so I'm not worried about it."

Thorin leaned forward, hands placed upon the table as his voice dropped a level. Gandalf, who I could just see around the angered dwarf, was watching intently in case trouble happened. I decided to do the smart thing before Thorin managed to pee Elyse off. "We're going outside for a moment," I announced as I shoved the last of my cake piece into my mouth and placed the plate on a dresser where Bilbo cried out in despair. "Uh, you guys continued whatever you're talking about and I'll calm her down."

"Oh, I'm calm."

"I'll go too." Sydnee stood as well and all three of us walked outside, Elyse immediately beginning to kick up the grass of Bilbo's pampered yard.

The night, though a little chilly, was rather nice and Sydnee and I sat down on the bench while Elyse stormed about the yard, stamping her feet and mumbling to herself. In an attempt to calm her, I glanced up at the night sky. The stars, which were so different even from Virginia, were clear and shining bright like little lights up in the sky. Elyse, who had always wanted to be an astronomer when we were in high school, practically knew everything (or to me at least) when it came to the stars. So, to distract her, I pointed up at the millions of little lights decorating the night sky.

"Elyse, where's the Little Dipper?"

Almost the second she looked up, the anger that had been in her eyes disappeared, being replaced by a touch of awe. I smiled, glad that it had worked. "Right there," she stated, pointing up at the millions of stars visible. Clouds were roaming about, but they failed to hide all the stars.

"It's really pretty here," Sydney said softly. We drifted off into silence, hearing another eruption of the dwarves complaining behind us before Thorin exploded and got them quiet. She paused, glancing back at the glowing windows of Bilbo's house, before turning back and placing her hands over her face to run at her eyes. "Do you think we'll ever go back home? It's nice here but... I don't want to be a siren. I don't even know how I'm supposed to be. And why aren't we humans instead of short little dwarves? I don't like being this small."

Elyse and I shared a concerned glance and I wrapped an arm about her shoulders, pulling her into my side for a hug. I never hugged people. The only people I've ever hugged is family, very good friends, and one or two boyfriends. Hugs were rare to me like precious stones to others and they normally made me want to hurl with disgust if I was hugging someone I didn't like. But this was Sydnee. While she hadn't started crying yet, her voice had been strained and everything had to be catching up to her. "It's okay... We'll.... We shall be fine.... It'll just be... a little rough until we figure out what's going on. I feel so much better here. There's less pollution, there's a code of honor here, there's so much that so different than our world that's better."

"And we're not small -we're fun size!" Elyse announced, opening her arms up wide with a smile.

Sydnee giggled. "I guess so." She paused and then smiled. "We do have something more important to talk about though..."

"We do?" I asked.

"Kili and Elyse talking."

Elyse's face turned bright red. "Kili? What about him?"

"You think he's cuuuuuute!" Sydnee giggled.

"Yeah, maybe." I burst out laughing along with Sydnee and Elyse's face flushed even redder. "And what about Fili? He's been following you around like a lost puppy!"

Now Sydnee was turning red and I laughed again. "The brothers? Oh lord you two!"

"What about you?" Sydnee teased, nudging me. "Any of the dwarves to your fancy?"

I shook my head, brushing back some of my loose bangs. Even if I thought about it real hard, only one of them I thought was at least handsome, but his personality of I'm-always-right ruined everything for him. And if I told Sydnee, she'd do something that would embarrass me and he would only glare at me even harder. So, I did the sensible thing. "Nope. Not me. Nobody."

Elyse snickered. "Indeed."

Glaring at her, I placed a hand over my heart and crossed my fingers. "Not this one! Cross my heart and hope to die!"

"Oh no, of course not," Sydnee snickered.

We sat outside for a little longer, enjoying the cool breeze and talking petty things that the dwarves wouldn't think of mentioning in years. One of them was why there was no girls but us so far; Elyse hypothesis that it was because of their sloppy nature, Sydnee thought that there were no women in dwarven society, and I prompted the thought that males think that they're more superior over females. There were few others that we thought about between ourselves and mostly just laughed at each other. Though we did have a good time laughing at Thorin.

"I feel like he is one of those people who never laughs at a good joke that you tell and then you're left standing there all awkwardly," I said as I lazily drew swirls on the ground.

Sydnee crinkled her nose as she propped her face in her hands and swung her foot back and forth. "Maybe he's not a dwarf. He ate neatly and he's definitely not as funny as the others. He kinda just sits there and sulks. Do think maybe something happened to him?"

"It can't be that bad. If it was, I feel like the others would have at least mentioned it to us," Elyse commented as she gazed up at the stars.

"Maybe Kili braided his hair wrong."

"And that would put him in such a bad mood? Nah."

I finished my drawing in the dirt, smirking as I added the finishing touch to a cross-eyed Thorin. "Well, I think I did him justice."

"Make his tongue sticking out or give him the durp face! How about the one that my older sister draws?"

"No!" Sydnee screeched, slapping her hands over her eyes. Her voice spiked a little like it had done earlier, though it was nothing compared to the glass-shattering one that had emitted from her. "I will not be able to get that out of my head for the next seven years! Don't, Winni, dont! Please! I'm begging you!"

I smirked again. "I dunno... Can you imagine such an expression on Thorin's face?"

Elyse was rolling on the ground on in mirth, tears spilling from her eyes she was laughing so hard. "Do it! Do it!"

"Darn it!" I wiped at my eyes, trying to see straight. "I can't focus now!"

The door to Bilbo's home opened and Nori stuck his head out. Elyse straightened immediately, stoic, as Sydnee and I continued our laughing feast. The dwarf waved to us, smiling slightly. Sydnee attempted but ended up falling off the bench onto me instead, causing Nori to lift an eyebrow and make me laugh harder. "Wot be so funny, lass?"

I couldn't form any words to answer.

Shaking his head, Nori chuckled at us. "Thorin, wants ya to come in now. It's gettin' dark out an' there might be somethin' here of the likes that might be dangerous."

"The only thing around is sleeping hobbits," Elyse said as she gathered me and Sydnee like she was a mother duck and we were her little, still giggling ducklings.

Nori's eyebrow lifted again. "How do ya know lass?"

She tapped her nose with a small smile and Nori's head fell to the side in confusion as he held the door opened for us. "Oh, let's just say that I have a few tricks up my sleeves."

I was still giggling from earlier when I bumped into a very solid chest. One hand reached out to gently grab my arm, steadying me, and my head jerked up to see who had. I met a pair of ice blue eyes. Thorin. The scent of smoke lingered on him -then again, there was a pipe in his free hand that was still lit and smoking slightly- and my nose curled in disgust. A scowl instantly appeared on his originally expressionless face when he must have recognized who he had steadied. His hand on my elbow was released and he took a step back, still scowling.

"There are details that we must discuss about the future. Join us in the living room," he announced before walking off, glaring at me over his shoulder.

Without thinking when he was gone, I mimicked him with my hands and Nori laughed beside me, clamping a hand upon my shoulder. "I didn't know ya could be so feisty, Milady!"

"You don't her that well," Sydnee reassured him.

"I hope ta though." Nori winked at us. "All of ya. It'd be borin' without bringin' some lasses 'long wit' us. The nights get cold without some good lass's cookin'. And dessert."

"It depends on where your going, I suppose," Elyse said softly, out of her element.

Nori paused. I nervously brushed away some of my bangs, waiting on his answer as he frowned suddenly and shook his head. "Maybe it would be best if ya lasses stayed," he mumbled as he rubbed at the back of his neck. "The places we plan on goin' ain't safe for lasses or lost heirs." His eyes flickered to me.

"We can handle anything that you throw at us," I answered confidently. "I mean, how hard can it be?"

"Ya'd be surprised, Milady."

"Ya comin' lasses?" Oin stuck his head out around the corner to the living room, one hand holding his hearing trumpet and the other occupied with keeping his pipe up.

I nodded and Sydnee literally bounced into the room, plopping down in a seat that was offered besides Fili -well, more like he shoved Kili down off the couch arm and Sydnee took his spot. Elyse stood besides the pouting Kili and I walked up to Balin sitting in an armchair, who had waved me over. I was presented with a long piece of paper that I took without a word. "That," Balin started. "Is the contract to join our company."

My eyes flickered over to Thorin, who had deliberately turned his back to where it was facing me and he leaning against the fireplace's mantle. I slowly opened the long parchment and was surprised when what seemed like a few feet of paper rolled few, every inch covered with black ink. As I skimmed over the writing, I asked, "And everyone in your company agrees with us coming?"

Thorin's shoulders stiffened. The others answered with 'ayes' and some 'of courses.' Balin glanced at Thorin and shrugged. "It wouldn't matter. Gandalf wishes for all three of you lasses to come, if you wish."

"Wait." I turned slightly to look at Sydnee, who had been passed a contract along with Elyse and had been reading it. "This says evisceration. What's that?"

"Disembowelment," Bofur replied with a chirp. "Ye can only expect when a dragon is mentioned, lassie."

As Sydnee's face paled, Elyse slowly pulled her head up from studying her own copy. Her face and eyes had both steeled and I prepared myself for what she was going to say next. "Will we come back?"

Silence drifted around and Thorin finally turned away from the fireplace. "I cannot guarantee any of your safety. There's a chance that all of us can die, that none of us can make it." His eyes focused on mine and I suddenly found it hard to breathe. "Maybe you shouldn't come. You have a kingdom that needs you."

"Her kingdom is technically nonexistence," Ori exclaimed. "When her parents died in battle, the Ice Mountain Kingdom fell apart over the years. The last reports mentioned... failure in economy... and-and decrease in jobs... The very last spoke of the kingdom dying a few years ago..." Ori stammered as Thorin shot him a glare.

I sighed. "Then I don't have a kingdom to rule, huh? Nothing to send me back home." Rolling down to the bottom, I took the pen that Balin had and scribbled a quick signature on the line, pausing for a moment to look at it and confirm my decision before I handed it to Balin. As far as I knew, I was signing my death away. "Means I can help y'all get yours back."

"Same." Elyse passed a signed contract to Dwalin, who was beside her, and the paper traveled around to Balin. "I've signed my life away once to protect others. I ain't scared of doing it again."

We turned to look expectantly at Sydnee, who had turned incredibly paled and was shaking so much that the quill in her hand was bouncing uncontrollably. Fili placed a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her. "I can protect you, if you wish to come," he promised and blushed as wolf whistles echoed around the room until Thorin silenced them with a glare.

"I-I do want to come, if my friends are going," Sydnee muttered just loud enough for me to hear.

"If you don't want to Syd, we won't blame you," Elyse told her with a sad smile.

"I'm sure Master Baggins wouldn't mind you staying," Gloin said.

Shaking her head with a burst of confidence, Sydnee swirled her name on the line to sign and pushed everything at Fili in an attempt to distance herself from them. "There. I'm coming. Happy everyone?"

"Indeed," Elyse spoke for us all.

Balin nodded as he gathered the three contracts and went over them. He eyed us when he was done. "Welcome to the company Queen Winifred, Elyse, and Sydnee."

A small cheer went around and Thorin stamped his foot down, quieting the dwarves. "We must rest now," he announced. "Tomorrow we start off early." He glanced at us, his eyes lingering on me. "We shall buy you swords and armor if any are sold here and, if not, at the first town that we come across. The women shall have the spare room; the rest of you spread out your bedrolls."

I snickered. "Don't you need your beauty rest, though, Thorin?"

"Not as much as you do, Milady."