The Fifteenth Member

Lone Survivors

Attara's POV

A rare silence filled the air as the group took in Gandalf's words.

"His name is Beorn, and he is a skin-changer" Gandalf continued. 

Suddenly I remembered hearing those words before, long ago. When I was a very young child my mother used to tell me and my sisters stories about all the races of Middle Earth. She talked about hobbits, men, elves, and dwarves, but the stories we liked most of all were of the skin-changers. As my mother described them, they were creatures that has the unique ability to change between the forms of men and animals. My sisters and I often pretended that the birds that flew alongside us were skin-changers.

"He's leaving!" I heard Ori yell, snapping me out of my thoughts. I wiped a singular tear off my cheek that I had not even realized was there. I glanced around the group hurriedly but it seemed none of them had noticed. 

Dori quickly pulled Ori away from the door and scolded him for watching the beast. "Come away from there!" he started "It's not natural, none of it. It's obvious: he's under some dark spell." 

"Don't be a fool" Gandalf scolded "he's under no enchantment but his own. Alright now, get some sleep, all of you" he told us "you'll be safe here tonight" 

As I looked around the house I realized that we were not alone - a large number of animals also seemed to be taking refuge in the skin-changers home. There were mice, bees, cows, and horses throughout the house. As my eyes fell upon the horse my heart ached for Phari. I hoped he had managed to stay safe after our encounter with the trolls and was living happily somewhere. 

As I began to set my pack to settle down for the night, Fili and Kili placed theirs on either side of me. They had insisted on doing this every night since our skirmish in Goblin Town. At first I had argued against it, insisting I did not need to be protected as much as they thought, but now I simply accepted it. I let out a sigh as the finished setting up their beds for the night, but they merely chuckled in response. I would never tell them, but I actually found it kind of sweet they had become so protective over me. 

I had become very close to the brothers throughout the trip. We had begun keeping score of who saved who the most, and after our last encounter Kili was up by one. I'll have to even out our scores I thought to myself with a slight smile on my face. 

As I drifted off to sleep for the night I heard the familiar sound of the brothers saying "goodnight princess"  but was too exhausted to argue. 

The next morning I woke to the quiet sounds of voices in another room of the house. As I sat up and stretched I realized none of the dwarves were around me, but Bilbo was still snoring away. As I watched, a giant bee landed on his face and woke him with a start. I stifled a laugh and headed towards the voices of my companions. 

As I enter the large kitchen I see all the dwarves sitting on benches around a huge table and a large man I did not recognize standing nearby. They were drinking what seemed to be milk from giant mugs and the table was piled high with food. I took a seat between Fili and Kili and dug into the food. 

"We didn't want to wake you" Fili told me.

"You looked to peaceful" Kili added, with a playful twinkle in his eye. I simply rolled my eyes in response.

The tall man - who I assumed must be Beorn - then began to address Thorin saying "So you are the one called Oakenshield. Tell me, why is Azog the Defiler hunting you?" he asked.

"You know Azog? How?" Thorin questioned

A faraway look came upon Beorns face. "My people were the first to live in the mountains, before the orcs came down from the North" he began, " The defiler killed most of my family, but some he enslaved." 

A hush fell over the group. No one seemed to know how to respond for a moment. I gave him a sympathetic look - It seems Azog and his kind  had made it a goal to wipe out as many races as possible I thought to myself. It was then I noticed the manacles that remained on Beorn's wrists. I shuddered thinking how many of my people could have suffered the same fate. 

"Not for work, you understand, but for sport" Beorn continued, "Caging skin-changed and torturing them seemed to amuse him." he said bitterly. 

"There are other like you?" Bilbo asked, hope evident in his voice.

"Once, there were many." Beorn told him.

"And now?" Bilbo prompted. 

"Now, there is only one." Beorn stated simply, before turning towards me "like you"