No Place for Women

Kili and I had spent the entire time, walking just a couple of feet behind Fili and Calili. They seemed so happy just being able to walk with each other. I never saw the smile leave Calili's face. Not even once.

I loved it when you were able to walk next to someone and have a comfortable silence. It proves that you're able to be together in some way. I don't know why, but I've always enjoyed it. Like Calili and I...we've been able to walk for days without saying a single word to each other, and the silence is completely comfortable. Doesn't bother me at all. And we're together. Together as friends...sisters...family. And I absolutely loved it.

By time we reached the bottom of the mountain it was neaerly nightfall. The sun was just beginning to set. "I thought they were supposed to be here already?" Calili asked, turning to look at me. It made me shrug my shoulders.

"They are. At least that's what Thorin told me last night before we part ways with the rest of the company. He told me that they could be here around lunch time instead of after night fall." I explained to the three people looking at me with odd looks. "Something must've happened to delay them." I shrugged it off.

"What if it was something bad!?" Calili gasped, making the boys look at each other with worried looks. Quickly, I squeezed Kili's hand just a bit. Not hard. It was one of those reassuring things.

"Don't worry. I'm sure that they're fine." Fili smiled. At least someone was looking on the positive side of things! Glad to know that I'm not lone. "We'll just wait here, as was planned. They'll catch up with us soon enough."

I watched as Fili smiled down at my sister. Once more the smile returned to her face, and I felt my heart fill with joy once again. Knowing that she was happy, I turned away and looked round where we were standing. We were basically...well...on the edge of a cliff. There were trees that blocked the actually edge of the cliff a good amount, and large boulders every where you look.

That's where I chose to sit down. On a rather large boulder. It was comfortable enough. I mean, there's not many choices considering that we're out in the wild with no other choices. I mean, yeah I do have one choice...and that would be to climb up in a tree and sit there. But that took way too much effort. I decided just to stay sitting where I was. It was a good break after walking since dawn.

Kili looked around for a minute, before just sitting down in the grass in front of me. It slightly made me laugh. "You could've sat up here you know." I point to the enpty spot next to me, but he simply just shook his head with a large smile on his face.

"I wanted to sit down here! Gives you a chance to actually be tall for once! You may be a dwarf but you certainly are Hobbit sized!" He stuck his tongue out at me, as my jaw dropped. It possible hit the ground. Or at least my leg. "You might wanna close your mouth, before you swallow a bug." Fili laughed from a few feet away from me, where he sat with Calili.

"I'm not Hobbit-sized!" I began pouting, crossing my arms across my chest. His smile grew as he watched my changing reactions, "And I most certainly will not end up swallowing a bug, thank you very little!" I began to glare at the blonde-haired dwarf.

He quickly began to look at Calili for some form of help, but she gave him none. She simply sat there and laughed at the scene that was unfolding out in front of her. I must admit that yes it was slightly funny; but she probably found it more funny than any of us three did. Especially considering she's just watching what's happening but the other three of us are having it happen between all of us.

In this case, she's just an innocent bystander.

Kili opened his mouth for what looked like he was going to say something back to my comment, but all that was heard was screams. This caused us all to give him strange looks, before Calili shot to her feet. "Look!" She shouted, pointing.

Turning to the side, I saw it. Thorin and the rest of the company, and Gandalf, were running out of the mouth of a rather small cave that was on the side of the mountain. What they were running from I'm not sure, but soon enough, one of them saw us and lead the group over to where we were all sitting. That one was, Dwalin.

They all caught up soon enough, and stopped to catch their breath. Though Gandalf didn't stop. He walked around in a circle counting all of the members of the company to make sure that were all there and accounted for.

"Where is Bilbo Baggins?" He shouted, looking among everyone. "He just slipped away when we were captured." Someone spoke, though I didn't pay attention to who it was. No, I was looking back towards the mouth of the cave to see if he was just running behind and no one noticed.

"We will not be seeing the halfling anymore." Thorin said.

This made a few of the dwarves around me seem sad. Though the main one that I could tell mood's had changed was Bombur. Yet at the same time he seemed as if he knew that it was going to happen. But why? It was a question I couldn't get out of my head, as Thorin spoke harsly about the Hobbit who had been dragged along on an adventure he had never really wanted to go on in the first place- at least not until the last minute that is.

"Nope. Here I am." Bilbo said, appearing from out behind a tree.

Kili and Fili were the first to smile and run up to him, "We thought you were a goner for sure!" They spoke at the same time. "How did you make it past the goblins?" Gloin asked, looking at the small man. "Oh, it was nothing." Bilbo shrugged, I could tell that he was trying to just avoid the question all together.

"No, tell us, halfling. How did you make it past the goblins? Why did you come back. I want to know." Thorin glared at the man who was smaller than him by just a few inches. It may not seem like it, but Thorin was rather intimidating in this one particular moment.

"Why did I come back?" Bilbo repeated the question, and we all fixed our eyes onto the small man. "I often think of the Shire, I do. I think of how I miss it, and my daily routine; but that made me realize. I have a home, somewhere that I belong. You don't. Your home was taken from you, and I'm going to do all that I can to help you get it back."

This made Bofur's smile grow. His smile was larger than I had ever seen. Even though I could barely seen it now that the sun light was almost completely gone. I turned away from the rest of the company figuring that we were going to camp here for the night. I started to look around just a bit. Trying to figure out how safe it was.

When I stopped dead in my tracks. There was a Warg, only three or four feet away from me. It's sights locked dead on where I stood.