Far Over The Misty Mountains ...

"Who would you prefer to ride with this morning then Miss Took?" Fili asked her, as he threw her a cheeky wink, mounting his pony. Kili, who sat atop his horse beside his brother rolled his eyes at him, secretly hoping the young hobbit would choose his company for their day of riding.

Calla pursed her lips in thought and looked between the two brothers, who were both staring at her eagerly. "Well," she reasoned after a moment of thought, "Your poor pony had to carry us both yesterday Kili, so I shall afford her a break and ride with Fili."

Kili opened his mouth to protest, but promptly closed it again when Calla took Fili's outstretched hand, sliding herself into the saddle. "Do not fear little brother, she is safe with me." Fili mocked, as he nudged his pony spurring the animal forward to join the now moving company of dwarves. A guttural grunt of annoyance left Kili's throat as he fell into line behind his brothers horse.

"So … tell me a bit more about you." asked Fili, as the company moved down another winding stone path. Calla raised and eyebrow and looked at him over her shoulder, "What would you like to know exactly?"

"Oh anything! Anything you wish to tell me?" he asked conversationally, "I like to know the people I travel with well."

"Well why don't you ask me a question? And then I shall ask you one, then all is fair." Calla offered, she was as curious about the home life of the dwarf princes as they were of hers. Fili broke out into a chorus of throaty chuckles, loud enough to catch the attention of Bifur and Dori who were riding just in front of them, "Very well Miss Took, I am willing to play your game. What is your favourite colour?" Calla scrunched her face up at the simple question, but decided not to argue, he was probably just warming up.

"That's easy, green. My favourite colour is mint green. Same question to you."

"a deep blue, the colour of my tunic. The line of Durin wear blue as their royal colours, so we learn to like it more than most colours." he pulled his long, fur lined coat aside and tapped lightly at the blue silk of his tunic, almost identical to the one his brother wore. "You have spoken of your brothers, are you older or younger?"

Call laughed remembering each of her brothers, "I am the youngest, and the only girl. Amaranth is the eldest, he works as a carpenter just outside of Bree, Briar was a musician and an artist, unfortunately he fell victim to an accident several years ago." She sniffed, holding back tears at the memory of her middle brother, "he drowned in a lake to the far east of the shire, and then there's Sorrel, he's the youngest of the three, a mere four years older than myself, he is studying medicine with the elves to the west." she smiled proudly at her youngest brother's achievements, she missed them all terribly. "Have you always been so close with Kili?"

The questions between the two continued long into the ride, until the chill of evening started to set in, and they came across a wooded area, with the remains of a burnt down farm house. The company stopped their ponies, and began to dismount, ready to make camp.

Calla turned sideways in her saddle to jump down from Fili's horse, when a large gauntlet covered hand reached up to take her petite one, helping her descend from the animal. She smiled sweetly at Kili, thanking him for his chivalrous gesture. "Thank you Kili." she said as she set foot on the ground.

"Did you ride well?" asked the dark haired prince, eager to catch up with her after her day of exclusively talking to his brother. "Oh, very well. Your brother has quite the funny bone in him." She giggled as the made their way to the rest of the dwarves who had already crowded around and begun to light a fire to both cook and stave off the night's inevitable chill. "That he does." the prince said as he flopped down onto the ground beside Ori, nearly frightening the life out of the young dwarf.

Thorin and Gandalf were conversing quietly between them, but the air carried their voices over to the curious Calla, who was watching them, her big brown eyes studying their heated movements.

"It is not safe Thorin."

"I said we camp here!"

"Oh, save me the stubbornness of dwarves!" huffed the old wizard as he pushed past the king, and stalked through the now settled group.

"Gandalf? Where are you going?" asked Bilbo, who had plonked himself down beside his cousin.

"To seek the council of the only person around here with any sense master Bilbo."

"And who's that?" questioned the young hobbit, a disgruntled look upon his face.

"Myself!" shouted back the old man as he disappeared through an intersection of rocks.

"Do you suppose he will come back?" Bilbo asked his cousin nervously, seeing that she too was watching the wizard leave. "Oh, I hope so Bilbo, I hope so." She breathed, braiding her long hair into a loose plait and tying the end with a thick mint green ribbon.

"Of course he will!" Called Bofur jovially, trying his hardest to calm the two hobbits. "He's a wizard, they disappear all the time!"

Calla couldn't help but smile at Bofur's lopsided grin and cheery words, but Bilbo remained stony faced.

"Kili, Fili" boomed Thorin's deep voice as he came up behind Calla, making her jump out of her skin, his eyes set on his nephews. "You are to watch the ponies." his voice was laced with anger, making his nephews instantly obey him, grabbing their coats and each kissing the back of Calla's hand in a gentlemanly fashion before entering the throng of trees the ponies were secured in. Kili turned to look back at Calla before entering the tree line, a warm blush flooded her cheeks as she raised her tiny hand and wiggled her fingers in a wave, and he mirrored her action.

Thorin watched the interaction with a tiny smile threatening to sneak onto his lips, before grumbling loudly "Come on Bombur, we're hungry"

The night had deepened swathing the entire forest in an inky blackness, the only sources of light coming from the bright, silver moon and the burning red of the fire. The dwarves milled about the flame, Bombur stirring a great pot of broth, Bofur stood beside him ladling it into dishes and distributing it between the ravenous dwarves who were talking and sleeping.

"He's been gone an awfully long time." Worried Bilbo as he continued to pace up and down.

"He'll be back, stop your fretting." called Bofur as he filled up two bowls of broth, handing them to the jumpy hobbit, "Here take these to the lads." he pointed his elbow in the direction of the trees Kili and Fili were residing in, looking out for the ponies. Bilbo nodded defiantly, but his hands still shook with worry, the hot liquid sloshing over the sides, earning a deep sigh and a stern look from Thorin who was eyeing the display with disapproval.

Calla frowned, instantly feeling sorry for her cousin. "Give him a break, he's just worried. We can't all be hardened warriors like you." She directed at the dwarf king who just turned away, dismissing her reprimand, which made her blood boil in her veins. She was about to advance on the dark haired leader, to give him a piece of her mind, when Bilbo shot her a pleading look, stopping her in her tracks. "Here Bilbo, let me take one of those." she said instead, relieving him of one of his charges and following him into the darkness of the woods.

The two hobbits trod lightly over the twig covered ground, trying not to sneak up on the two dwarf princes who had their backs to them, both men stood completely stock still, staring straight ahead of them. Calla and Bilbo exchanged a look, a little wierded out by the brothers strange behaviour.

"What's the matter?" Bilbo asked as he came to stand beside Fili, looking from one brother to the other.

"We're supposed to be looking after the ponies." stated Kili, his voice tight with thinly veiled panic.

"Uh yeah, so?" questioned Calla as she popped up between the two princes.

"Only, we've encountered a slight problem. We had sixteen … and now there's … fourteen" finished Fili.

"You lost two ponies? How the bloody hell have you managed that?" Calla scolded, slapping both Oakenshields lightly on the chest with her free hand.

"we don't know really know." moaned Fili as he started to fidget.

"Ok! Lets see who's missing" reasoned Calla shoving her bowl of broth at Bilbo and taking Kili's hand in hers, pulling him along to inspect the ponies. Kili smiled, his face heating up as he felt her small fingers wrap around his, the digits unconsciously interlacing.

"Daisy and Bungle are missing" the younger prince mused as they met back up with Fili and Bilbo in the centre of the clearing.

"That is not good. That is not good at all." fretted Bilbo, following after the pair, who were still holding hands. "Shouldn't we tell Thorin?"

"Uh no, best not to worry him." Fili said as he surveyed the trio, his eyebrow raising as he clocked his brother holding Calla's hand, he made a mental note to tease his sibling for it later, when they were in less of a sticky situation. "Actually we thought as our official burglar you could look into it ..."

Bilbo gaped at the blond dwarf like he had just grown two more heads, and stuttered loudly "W...Well it looks like something b...big and quite d...dangerous"

"Yes, that was our thinking" answered Fili as he moved through the clearing inspecting the damage to the vegetation as he went. Kili went to follow after his brother, but stopped, feeling a gentle tug. His dark eyes widened as he realised he and Calla were still holding hands. "Uh … Uh … Sorry," he offered, as he pulled away to go after his brother, both embarrassed and his tummy full of butterflies. Calla looked at the ground, suddenly glad the woodland was too dark to notice the deep scarlet hue that was now tinting her pretty face.

"Look! Over there! There's a light!" hissed Fili, as he slunk across the woodland floor, crouching behind a fallen tree trunk. Kili, Calla and Bilbo hastily joined him, their eyes glued to the red light coming from behind the trees. They paused for a minute, watching hulking shadows move across the light, before both hobbits piped up together, "So, what is it?"

"Trolls" muttered Kili, who quickly jumped over the fallen trunk and rushed closer to the light, his brother following. Calla followed suit, hopping over the tree and running after dwarves, only stopping to nag at Bilbo who had gone back for the bowls he had accidentally left on the fallen tree. Just before the hobbits could reach the safety of darkness the lumbering form of a troll made its way past them. Bilbo instinctively dropped to the floor to avoid being seen, and just as Calla was about to do the same she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist, pulling her towards the tree.

She gave a nervous squeak and struggled against the arm, until her back was pressed into a tree trunk, and the owner of the arm clamped a metal clad hand over her mouth. A stray shaft of light passed over her captors face, and Calla sighed, seeing the handsome features and dark eyes of Kili's face mere inches from hers. His breath ruffled a few loose strands of her hair as he raised a finger to his lips, telling her to hush. She nodded, and bunched her hands into the leather of his coat, keeping his body pressed against hers and out of the light.