The rain fell down around us steadily without any signs of stopping. Once again we were riding our ponies; it'd been about a week now altogether of traveling since leaving the inn that we had slept in. Since then we had been sleeping on the ground with bed rolls that the dwarves had brought and would lay onto the ground. At first it had been rough but we had gotten used to it pretty fast, Elyse being the quickest because of her time spent in the military. Sydnee had the hardest time adjusting, but she seemed to do better when Fili helped her out, pointing out little tips that would help her fall asleep or survive out in the wilderness.

But the rain was awful. It wasn't a soft drizzle or a garden rain, it was a downpour that had soaked us in minutes even through the thick fur coats that we had and made traveling absolutely miserable. My fingers were beginning to wrinkle and I had moved the small satchel that Oin had given to me in front of me to protect the drawings that I had worked on during the adventure so far.

What made things worse was the smell.

Not that I didn't enjoy riding with someone. I had given my little sisters rides on an old grumpy horse down trail rides so I was used to squealing, talkative little children, which made no exception to dwarves complaining about the weather. The wet horse smell wasn't that bad either -not nearly as bad as the stinky warrior I had chosen to ride with. Gloin. The stink that came from him was probably either the lack of bathing these dwarves seemed to enjoy or just because of the miserable fact that we were all wet and... yeah, I'm not explaining that. Then again, it was his pony Daisy that was the gassy one.

And why wasn't I riding with Thorin? Because I was still madder than heck at him and I didn't trust myself not to get into an argument with him. If it wasn't for the point that we were traveling together, then I would have already given him a piece of my mind and we probably would have been screaming at each other until someone pulled us away and we probably would still be yelling. And I didn't normally yell. My voice would raise, yes, but I had experienced enough yelling from my mother to know that screaming at someone didn't work. Besides, a person -or dwarf, but whatever- as Thorin would never listen to someone screaming at him. Even as much as I was starting to dislike the dwarf, his stubbornness was something I admired in him. My mother had used to say that I was stubborn and my friends told me that I was stubborn in a selfless way; I always tried to find the best plan or way to help everyone but me. Thorin, however, once he put down his foot, he looked at it like it was a law and he expected it to be followed. Maybe it was because he was a King but that didn't mean that he could-

"Lass, I think that ya have pierced through me armor with yore grip."

I cursed as I released Gloin's arm, mumbling a quick apology to the red-headed warrior dwarf. Correcting myself the best that I could, I grumbled under my breath before saying, "I'm sorry Gloin. I was thinking."

"Thinkin' 'bout what? Rippin' someone's head off?"

"You could say that," I grumbled.

Gloin guffawed out loud at me, glancing over his shoulder before pulling his hood up further over his head from the bone chilling rain. "Could I ask who ya wish to behead?"

I remained silent for a moment and the laugh of Dwalin behind me beat me to answering. "Are ya that daft Gloin? Who has she been fightin' wit' for the past two days?" Before I could say something to the smirking warrior, Bombur was laughing.

"Aye!" Bombur exclaimed from in front of us as Dwalin laughed behind. "They've been goin' at each other like cats an' dogs fightin' over scraps!" The big dwarf shared a glance with the sneakily grinning Nori, who was in front of him, and turned back to me with a smirk. "If I didn't know better, I would say that ya two 'ave started to take a likin' to each other."

I choked on air. "What?! No!"

"Now that ya say somethin' 'bout it," Gloin said curiously, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "I thought I noticed somethin' like that earlier when ya two had that spat at breakfast."

Cringing, I brushed back some of my loose bangs as I thought about earlier this morning. Spat was most certainly the word for it. Even though I hadn't rode with Thorin since we had started fighting two days before when Fili, Sydnee, Dwalin, and Gloin had jumped into the water, I had been trying to patch things up between us. I had wandered off to get water for Bombur and Sydnee to make breakfast and, when I had returned, Thorin had marched right up and demanded that I never leave his sights again. Safety reasons, he had claimed, saying that if I was attacked, then no one would have known. At that point my anger had snapped and I ended up telling him to keep off my butt (not my exact wording) and that Dwalin had taught me enough now how to use a sword that I could protect myself if I needed too. Both of us said things that should not have been said -I called Thorin a few choice words that had left some of the dwarves speechless and Thorin had said that I was a woman trying to take the responsibilities of a man. Neither of us had said a single word to each other since Dwalin had pulled Thorin back and Elyse and Sydnee had grabbed me. The thing was that got me was that I caught him looking back at me a few times and I kept glancing at him too from the front of the group, though every time I would punch myself to try and stop myself.

"Well, none of you are right. I can assure that whatever rumor you're all thinking of spreading isn't true. Hardly any of you are married anyways except Gloin and Bombur; how would you know about love anyways?"

"I ain't married but that don't mean that I donna what love is," Nori exclaimed. "From what I've heard-"

"There. Right there. You heard it. Not the same thing."

"She's right 'bout that 'un," Gloin commented. "Tell ya one thin' though, findin' your One is the best." Agreement came from the dwarves around us; even Dwalin looked a little dreamy when I glanced back at him. "Every dwarf has their One. They're supposed ta be the other half of ya. Once ya find your One, ya ain't ever gonna fall in love 'gain," the red-head explained.

Bombur nodded. "Aye. Sometimes ya don't know at first, but when ya have been 'round 'email long 'nough, then ya know and ya won't ever want to leave 'em."

I blinked before shaking my head, nervously clutching at the bag that was still in my lap. "I can tell y'all now that I'm not Thorin's 'One.'"

Glances were exchanged between the male four dwarves and Nori chuckled. "Nah, Milady. Ya just keep the King in check." I glared at him to explain, lifting an eyebrow curiously. "When everyone jumped in the river, ya chewed Thorin out fer not actin' fast 'nough. And then, when ya were wit' 'em kids, he actually talked to 'em. Thorin despises all kids 'cept his nephews. When he pushes us too hard, ya are the one who speaks up an' tells him that we need ta stop. Ya make sure that we're all there when Thorin 'pects us ta just follow. Ya do pretty much almost everythin' that he don't. Ya two are perfect."

"Aye." I groaned in frustration when Balin called up from his spot in front of Nori, smugly looking over his hooded shoulder with a smile. "I don't ever think I've seen a better pair."

"Right from the story books," Gloin added.

I smacked the red-headed dwarf's shoulder, almost unable to keep the growl that was lingering in my throat from being audible. "Does everyone hear us now? Let's just go ahead and scream it out!" They laughed at me, Gloin suffering the worst out of them when I started smacking him. "You guys are a bunch of stupid, romantic dwarves if you think that Thorin and I will ever get into a relationship, let alone be whatever this One thing is."

"Is that a bet?" Bombur asked, winking.

"Sure is," I barked, pointing at the large dwarf and scowling at him. "I don't have any money but I tell you what, if that ever happens, which I'm sure that it won't, I'll give each one of you a kiss." Nori whistled from the front and Dwalin guffawed. "On. The. Cheek."

"You ruined the fun, Milady," Nori chuckled.

"And," I started, thinking that they had forgotten already. "If I win and Thorin and I don't have a relationship by the end of this adventure, then you guys... uh... then you guys have to braid flowers in your hair and wait for me to draw or paint your pictures so I'll remember it forever!"

Both Dwalin and Gloin let out a loud moan as Nori and Bombur both cried out in pure fright. Balin just laughed. "Deal!" He decided for them all, only having them groan again.

"I am not putting flowers in my hair. Bet or not," Dwalin grumbled.

Turning around on Daisy, I beamed at Dwalin and managed to flick some of my hair without soaking myself with the rain that was still falling. "I'm sure you'll look gorgeous!" I teased.

His dark eyes narrowed at me and he lifted a hand to gesture at me. "Right there is what Thorin likes, I can tell ya that much. That damn mouth of yours is always talkin' and sayin' what is on that mind of yours."

Scrunching my nose up, I turned around, not happy with how Dwalin had been able to direct this to the conversation that we had had moments before. We continued on in silence, riding through the rain without saying a word as we quietly stared ahead, slipping back into our misery from before. I wasn't exactly miserable. I couldn't help but to review the conversation that I had just shared with the dwarves. I still couldn't comprehend it. Me. And Thorin. Together. While my head screamed and shook, screaming about how we should not go together, my stomach and heart clenched at the idea. A part of me actually enjoyed being around Thorin; I leaned around Gloin as the front of the line began a turn and, as if he had known it, Thorin was looking down the line and made eye contact with me until I was ducking back behind Gloin, face bright red.

Great.

"Mr. Gandalf!" Dori called out from the middle of the line. The wizard glanced back, lifting his staff in acknowledgement and raising his bushy white eyebrows. "Can't you do something about this deluge?"

"It is raining, Master Dwarf," Gandalf replied. "And it will continue to rain until the rain is done. If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another wizard."

I smirked behind Gloin. Bilbo, who was probably one of the few of the Company who didn't have a hood, cleared his throat. "Are there any?"

"What?"

"Other wizards."

"There are five of us," Gandalf started. "The greatest of our order is Saruman, the White. Then there are the two Blue wizards..." The wizard paused. "You know, I've quite forgotten their names."

Bilbo took a minute, absorbing what he had said. "And who is the fifth?"

"Well, that would be Radagast, the Brown."

Again Bilbo seemed to think and then he asked, "Is he a great Wizard or is he... more like you?"

While Gandalf swiveled around to look at Bilbo with an offended expression, I couldn't help but to laugh slightly. "That was certainly a great way of putting it Bilbo," I teased.

"I was just saying," Bilbo huffed.

"Well," Gandalf started as he looked straight ahead, refusing to look at Bilbo. "I think he's a very great wizard... in his own way. He's a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others. He keeps a watchful eye over the vast forest lands to the East, and a good thing too, for always Evil will look to find a foothold in this world."

oOoOoOoOo

Eventually the rain stopped and Elyse, who had been scouting like she normally did in the afternoon, was waiting for us at an old, abandon farm house. With the background of the large trees and the dark clouds, the ruins of what appeared to be a burnt home was creepy. Ori went up with me when I walked up to examine the small house. He was just as skittish as me; apparently his brothers always hanging over him as a protective shadows had taken a number on him. Everything about the house was burnt but a few little things had survived. Even as Ori mumbled beside me, wringing his hands uneasily, I picked up a small frame that was resting on a destroyed mantle, squinting a little to notice a painting of a little girl with her parents.

As I bent down to push around some ash that was covering something that had just caught my attention, Ori exclaimed nervously, "I don't like this place."

"Something about it," I agreed softly as I brushed off the last of the ash and paused. I had found a small doll in the ash. Slowly, my heart sinking as I realized what had happened, I moved the doll around in my hands. Its arms, visibly sowed on, were just able to hold on and the dress that it had, which was just simple pink fabric (it used to be pink but it had faded), flowed out past its feet. Looking up at the dark sky through the broken boards of the roof, I sighed. "Do you think the people who lived here are okay?"

Ori was quiet for a moment before looking at me. "I don't know."

A loud altercation caused me to look up from studying the doll again and Ori and I exchanged quick glances. The wizard and the dwarf King were fighting; clips of their sharp words and their angry gestures told me that they were arguing about where to stay for the night. I looked up at the house and I felt a small shiver run up my back. If I had the choice, I wouldn't stay here; call me suspicious but between the jitteriness that Elyse had expressed when she had met us here, the shape the house was in, and then my own nerves did not make me want to pitch camp whatsoever. It was classical Thorin Oakenshield however and Gandalf was running into the same problem that I had in the past. Thorin had put his foot down and wouldn't let up about leaving like Gandalf was stressing too, claiming that the last residents who had stayed here had not been fortunate. The picture of the little girl with her parents flashed through my mind and I looked down at the doll that was still in my hands -something must have happened to have caused her to part with this.

"I did not know that they were yours to keep," Thorin growled out and Gandalf had finally had enough.

With a swirl of his cape Gandalf was storming away from the dwarf King, who just simply huffed and did the same. As Gandalf got onto his chestnut colored horse, both Bilbo and Sydnee approached Gandalf, probably asking him what was wrong. The wizard was galloping off almost the second he spoke; the hobbit and the siren watched nervously as the wizard and his horse rode out the way that we came. I looked to where Thorin was with the Company. They were slowly unpacking while he directed them with sharp barks of orders looking the slightest bit angry, which made his gaze harsh and his jaw set. Ori was rushing to join his brothers when Thorin suddenly turned to look at me.

"I have a job for you. Come over here," he called up to me, waving me over with his hand.

My eyes narrowed at his tone; this was the first time that he had spoken to me that day and he was ordering me around. Quenching the anger that threatened to overwhelm me, I brushed back my bangs and tucked the doll that I had found into my bag full of my drawings as I started down. If Thorin was reasonable with whatever his demand was, maybe I would think about doing it. The look on his face said otherwise. "What?" I asked just to get on his nerves when I was close enough.

Ice blue eyed snapped onto mine at the sound of my voice and a spark of annoyance flickered through them, only causing me to grin. "Bifur needs your help collecting firewood."

The dwarf he had mentioned looked up. By the confusion that appeared upon Bifur's face, I knew that Thorin had said nothing to the dwarf with the axe in his head. I turned my head to look at the King. "Bifur," I said calmly without looking at him and staring at Thorin. "Do you need my help?" The dwarf grunted and, out of the corner of my eye, shook his head. I gestured toward him. "He said that he doesn't need my help."

"Then you'll help Dwalin clean the weapons." We both looked at the buff warrior, who was currently placing the last of the weapons aside, humming to himself as he dusted off his hands and gazed proudly at his work.

"I don't think Dwalin needs my help either," I commented sourly.

Thorin once again locked gazes with me. Something told me, as my eyes narrowed and I sank down onto a hip with my arms crossing over my chest, that the King was testing me. What for I hadn't found yet, but the gaze he was giving me, if I looked past the anger that still resided in his icy blue eyes, promised something. "Watch the ponies then," he snapped. "Seems to be the only thing you're useful for at the moment."

It seemed like the entire Company froze at Thorin's words. My mouth dropped open in surprise at the pure harshness that had come from the King; I felt like he had taken a knife and stabbed me several times. I hated feeling useless. If tears came, they would come later; I never cried in front of anyone if I could help it and rude comments from handsome dwarves had never once made weep. But... it was so... mean. The rest of the Company must have thought that same; once they had recovered from their shock, they stared at their King with their own version of anger. I could have sworn that Gloin was even growling and stood, only to pulled down by his brother Oin.

"You shouldn't say that to one of my friends." I was surprised to find Elyse suddenly pushing us away from each other -when had we gotten so close? "Say anything like that again and I'll rip out your throat."

My ability to move returned to me and I gently pulled Elyse out of my way to stand before Thorin. I hardly reached his shoulders, which I'm sure didn't make me look all that impressive in his eyes. Judging by some of the looks he gave me, I'm sure that I never look scary to him. "Okay, King Under the Mountain," I growled. "I don't care who you think you are, but you can't just say things like that. I don't care that I'm a Queen and a woman, but that definitely does not mean that because I'm a woman that you can try to treat like crap. The least you could do is say please. Will that hurt you, Thorin Oakenshield? Please tell me, 'cause I'm trying to figure it out."

"You are a woman-"

"And that means what exactly?" I interrupted, annoyed. Crossing my arms and settling into a hip, I glared at him, hoping he felt at least some kind of guilt.

Nothing even remotely close to guilt flashed across his eyes. "You're a woman, that's what it means. You are not supposed to give orders."

"So I stand here and listen to you boss me around, huh? Just listen to you blindly with whatever you please?"

Thorin's face fell; he had seen my point. "No, it's not like that," he scowled and continued before I could say anything else. "Your point is valid, but you acknowledged that I was leader when you signed the contract to join the Company. This is what you signed up for." He turned his nose up slightly as I paused, seeing his point. "Now go make yourself useful somewhere."

Here the anger finally released itself and I glared at him, placing a finger on his chest. "Make myself useful? How the hell would you like me to make myself useful? As far as I'm concerned, everyone here has their place and I'm just sorta there! There is no where to make yourself useful!"

"If you don't like the way that things are here," Thorin growled, leaning forward. "Then leave! There's nothing stopping you!"

There's not. He had a point. Angrily, I pushed him back, hissing, "fine then, I'll leave. It doesn't matter! I'll just go and be fine on my own!"

"Milady!" Bofur exclaimed, obviously surprised. "Y-ya can't do that!"

"And why can't I?" I snapped, whirling around to glare at the dwarf with his funny hat, pigtails, and large dimples. I could practically feel Thorin fuming beside me. "What's stopping me?"

Bofur spluttered, eyes wide, and I turned around on my heel, stomping furiously over to where the food was. Sydnee and Elyse both stared at me as I grabbed a few apples to shove them into my bag with my drawings along with a canteen of water, mumbling to myself. Someone grabbed my wrist and I shook them off, looking up with a scowl. Balin looked at me worriedly as Elyse and Sydnee stood in the background with concerned expressions. "Lass, what are ya doin'?" the old dwarf asked.

"What's it look like?" I spat back. "Really Balin, I thought that you were smarter than that."

The sides of Balin's mouth pulled down into a frown and Elyse shook her head at me, running her hands through her dark hair nervously. "Winifred, please, don't do this. Thorin's just... just being a... a jerk. He's not worth walking out into the woods all alone."

"If you go, we'll go!" Sydnee promised, grabbing Elyse's arm and placing a hand over her heart proudly. "We stick together."

My once determined choice to leave was faltering now and my hands slowed from shoving food into the bag. I couldn't just leave my friends. Thorin's stupid attitude shouldn't bother me enough to walk away from the people that I had grown so attached too. Besides, this wasn't the best place to just walk away. With darkness coming quickly now and the uneasy feeling I had earlier just growing steadily now, it didn't seem like the best idea was to just pack up and leave. "Perhaps-" I started, only to hear the rest of the Company talking to each other.

"Thorin, ye just asked off the poor lass," Oin exclaimed, sounding rather stunned.

"Ya can't be serious either," Dori added.

"She is no help. Queen or not, she does not belong here. She is one more to the too many misfits that are already here. Now keep doing whatever you were doing."

My resolve faltered and I knew, right then and there, that I just wanted to leave. The anger that Thorin had made inside of me dammed itself up in my chest and my throat clenched; the hyperventilating attack I would have whenever I got seriously mad. Clenching the bottoms of my coat, I glared at the ground and tried to regulate my breathing. Balin placed a hand on my shoulder to try and comfort me. "Lass, it'd be better if ya stayed here. I would feel better."

I glanced back at Thorin; he had already turned his back completely to me and I felt my heart drop. I don't know what I was expecting but now I just felt like he had severed whatever chance we had to even be acquaintances. Now I just couldn't stay. The tears from before were beginning to surface and I hastily wiped my eyes with my arm, turning away from my friends and Balin. "Just give me a day or two to be on my own, alright? I just need a little time by myself," I sniffed. "I'm sorry, guys, but I'll be back, I promise."

While Balin and Sydnee both looked relieved and left not that much later while I continued packing, Elyse stayed. She crossed her arms and warned me for a moment before shaking her head. "You sure about this, Winifred?"

"Yeah." My voice was soft to keep from crying now. "I'll be fine. You can come and check on me when you're supposed to be scouting for him if you want."

Elyse stared at me as I stood and sighed, removing the bag that was on one of her shoulders. "You shouldn't go alone."

"Elyse, I'll be-"

She shoved the bag into my hands and I gasped when it literally started squirming. Curiously, I opened the flap and stared at the brown head with the large dark eyes and the cute little white streak running down its nose with the brown flecks in the mark. I smiled and giggled once I had recovered. "His name is Lammy. You really shouldn't go alone with your state and he should be able to keep you some company at least."

"Thanks Elyse."

"Don't thank me. You've done a lot more for me sometimes..." She paused; I bowed my head at the time that she was talking about. "Just go ahead and go and I'll check on you later tonight."

I smiled and hugged her before I left. The woods were nice and cool, a bright contrast to the heated and stressful environment that I had just left. Everything here was pines and moss littered almost every rock that was here. I was just walking by the ponies that were grouped nearby and absent of any guard from the dwarves, cooing at Lammy as the little goat baby stuck his head out of the bag and baaed every now and then, when I felt a shadow. Pausing, I glanced around. None of the ponies had moved and they continued eating, flicking their tails lazily and their shoulders twitching. Lammy had gone strangely silent and his head had sank back into the bag when I looked down to check on him. Without thinking, I wandered to where the gassy Daisy (she happened to fart when I walked over there and I started coughing and giggling at her as I waved away the stink that seemed to stay there no matter how hard I tried to rid of it) and then Bungo, Balin's pony, were eating. They were at the edge of the dwarf's ponies, each one with steaks of white through their manes and tails and the oldest of the group. I had just placed my hand on Daisy's neck when something snapped in front of us.

Bungo and Daisy's heads shot up; Daisy farted again. Nervously I searched the area as the two ponies nervously moved in my direction, causing me to yelp when Daisy just avoided stepping on my foot. As I scrambled to get out of their way, another smashing came directly behind me. My heart was pounding in my throat when to distinctive weights plopped onto the ground on either side of me as something large arrived and caused Daisy and Bungo to snort nervously. Breath catching, I felt my mouth drop open in surprise when something wet dropped down onto my head. Slowly, I tilted my head up.

A gray face, smushed and rounded, was looking down at me. Its eyes were small -so small I couldn't tell the color of the irises- and its nose resembled a misshapen wart that just happened to have two nostrils. Fangs that had been rounded off with age appeared as its mouth opened slightly and drool dripped from its humanoid mouth. Its face was wrinkled and its ears were rounded on the sides of its head.

By the time I even thought to scream, a large hand was descending upon me and I had no chance.