All I've ever known

23

Dori whined,"Here, Mr.Gandalf? Can't you do something about this deluge?" It had been raining for the past two hours now. Thorin glanced over to see Mivera with her hood drenched and her body shivering. Without a word, he reached into his bag and pulled out an extra cloak."Here.", he said getting her attention. Her steel grey eyes looked at him,"I'm fine, just a bit cold." Thorin rolled his eyes and reached and put it on her himself. She was shocked but her heart warmed at the chivalrous gesture. Thorin was quite pleased to see her pull it into place better.

"It is raining, master dwarf. 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." Bilbo rode forward,"Are there any?" Gandalf looked at him,"What?" Bilbo spoke up,"Other wizards?" Gandalf nodded,"There are five of us. The greatest of our order is Saruman, The White. There are two blue wizards. You know, I have quite forgotten their names."

Mivera had been intrigued by this conversation and listened in."And who's the fifth?" Gandalf cleared his throat,"Well, that would be Radagast, The Brown." Bilbo asked another question,"Is he a great wizard or is he...more like you?" Mivera giggled profusely at this question. Thorin glanced over and saw her smiling wide. He smiled a small smile, a smile that did not go unnoticed by Bilbo.

"I think he is 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 to, for evil will always look to find a foothold in this world.", Gandalf answered.

Thorin decided to stop the group at an old ruined farm. He looked at the company unpacking their ponies,"We'll camp here for the night. Fili, Kili, look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them." They nodded and round up the ponies. Mivera was looking at the farm house."A farmer and his family used to live here.", she heard Gandalf mumble. Thorin was still giving orders,"Oin, Gloin, get the fire going." They didn't hesitate to listen.

Gandalf walked over to Mivera,"I think it would be wiser to move on. We could make for the hidden valley." Mivera shook her head,"But I've told you already. Thorin will not go near that place." Gandalf put his hands together,"Why not? The Elves could help us, we could get food, rest, advice." Thorin had been walking up and heard Gandalf's last sentence,"We do not need their advice."

Gandalf was becoming irritated,"We have a map that we cannot read. Lord Elrond could help us." Mivera closed her eyes, he did it now."Help? A dragon attacks Erebor. What help came from the Elves? Orcs plunder Moria, desecrate our sacred halls, he Elves looked on and did nothing! You ask me to seek out the very people who betrayed my grandfather, who betrayed my father?",Thorin stated. He then began to storm off.

Gandalf walked after him,"You are neither of them. I did not give you that map and key for you to hold on to the past." Mivera turned around and sneered,"I did not know they were yours to keep." This infuriated Gandalf and began to walk away from camp. Bilbo saw him,"Everything alright? Gandalf, where are you going?" Gandalf shouted back,"To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense." Bilbo was confused,"And who's that?" Gandalf answered,"Myself, mister Baggins! I've had enough of dwarves for one day!" And with that, the wizard disappeared.

Trying to lighten the mood, Mivera walked over to the fire,"Come on Bombur were hungry!" Bombur smiled at her and started dishing out plates, she helped pass them out. Thorin sat close by the farm, Dwalin by him."You're starring lad.", Dwalin said. Thorin jerked his head and turned to see Dwalin's smiling face. He was about to say something when Mivera walked up with three bowls.

She set one down on a rock across from Thorin. Mivera smiled as she handed a bowl to Dwalin."Thank you lass.", he nodded taking it. She then smiled brightly at Thorin as she handed him his bowl,"Here you are Thorin." He smiled back. His body went rigid when his hands overlapped hers. Dwalin watched, amused, as both dwarves in front of him turned a lovely shade of red as they quickly removed their hands from each other's. Mivera cleared her throat and sat on the rock and began eating her bowl.

"So, lass, it's truly been a while since we've spoken, how are you?", Dwalin said. Mivera swallowed her bite of food,"I am doing well Dwalin, and yourself?" He smiled and nodded,"I'm good. How's the uh, marriage going?" Thorin detected the slyness in his voice, Mivera however didn't. She smiled and looked from Dwalin to Thorin,"It's doing well I imagine?" Thorin nodded. Dwalin just couldn't help himself,"Aye, I hope you children are behaving yourselves, I'll not have any 'fooling around' on this trek."

They ate the rest of their meal in silence. Dwalin didn't bother to hide his smile. He had seen Mivera and Thorin steal about 12 glances upward in each other's direction. Mivera stood up and took everyone's bowls back to Bombur to be cleaned.

Thorin looked over to see Dwalin leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and a smug smile on his face."What?", Thorin asked feeling uncomfortable. Dwalin stated,"You're smitten me boy." Thorin looked away. He wouldn't admit it directly, but he was. Dwalin laughed,"And your not denying it!" Thorin was just about to retort something when Fili ran into camp.

"Trolls! They've got Bilbo!" Mivera didn't hesitate to grab her sword and follow Fili into the woods. Thorin quickly followed. He was about to run into the clearing when a hand grabbed his and pulled him into a bush. He was about to attack when he relized it was Mivera. She put a finger to her lips and pointed.

They both assessed to situation, or at least, Mivera tried to. She was so focused on how close their face were, she barely acknowledged the trolls. Thorin pointed, and Mivera followed the path his finger made to see Kili shouting at the trolls.

"Drop him!" A troll holding Bilbo looked towards the dwarf,"You what?" Kili swung his sword,"I said, drop him." The troll shrugs and throws the hobbit at Kili, knocking them both over. At that moment, the entire company came crashing through the forest attacking the trolls.

Mivera cut gashes many times in all three of the trolls' legs. Thorin ran over to her,"We've got this, get the ponies!" She nodded and ran to where the ponies were locked up, cutting the rope and setting them free. Unfortunately, a troll saw her and when she wasn't aware, picked her up. Two trolls held both her arms and legs apart.

She heard Kili shout,"Mivera!" He goes to attack, but Thorin's arm goes out to stop him,"No!" The troll called William shouted to the dwarves,"Lay down your arms! Or we'll rip hers off!" Thorin reluctanly threw down his sword, and everyone followed suit. Next thing they knew, some of them were in tightly tied bags, while others were on a turning spit over a fire.