The further we traveled the colder the weather turned. Days were still nice, but nights had grown chilly. The only thing that kept the company warm was the fire and blankets, though sometimes even that wasn't enough. On the nights that the weather grew extremely chilly I would shift into my wolf form and allow some of the dwarves to cuddle up to me. It was nice being used as a pillow, in a way it made me not only feel useful, but cared for. Not all the dwarves were comfortable laying on me and I was okay with that as well. But Fili, Kili, and Ori along with Bilbo found sleeping on me to be the most extraordinary thing in the world.

The first time they touched my fur they were amazed by how soft it was. My cheeks grew warm at their compliments and had I not been in my wolf form I was sure they would have noticed my blush. Every time they cuddled up to me they talked about how warm I was. Something that Fili had noticed the first time I rode with him. I explained to him that canines naturally have a higher body temperature than humans or in their case dwarves and a hobbit. I then went on to explain that because I could change into a wolf I also had a higher body temperature and that it was perfectly normal and I wasn't sick. Something poor Ori had thought as I hugged him one day after he showed me a drawing he had done.

Tonight was another one of those cold nights and I was stretched out to my full 6.5 feet letting the three dwarves and hobbit lay on me.

“Ms. Alexandria will you tell us a story from your world?” Ori asked innocently. If it was possible for a wolf to smile I did so. “You don't have to call me that. You can call me Alex, but sure. What kind of story would you like to hear?” I asked in return. As he thought about what kind of story he wanted to hear I tried to think of stories from my world. There were so many I could tell them from Disney tales to Harry Potter, to Game of Thrones; the last one might scar them though. And so I tried to remember all my favorite stories. The ones that stuck with me the best. “How bout an uplifting one? A real one. Not one from your books. You can tell one of those after,” he finally answered.

I hummed. A real story that was uplifting. That wasn't going to be easy. I found it very difficult to think of such a story knowing just how dark and dangerous my world was, but finally something came to mind. “Well in my world, we suffer from the fear of natural disasters. Such as earthquakes, tornadoes, floodings and hurricanes. When one part of our country endures one of these, the people in the rest of the country often come together to aid and assist the victims. Sure there are those that do nothing to help, but the ones that do offer their support vastly outnumber those who just sit back and complain. Even when those same naysayers become the victims of one or more of these disasters, the good people of my world band together and help anyway. Somehow we always manage to come together in the darkest of times,” I told them.

They all smiled softly. “It's good that the people find a way to work together despite their differences,” Fili said as he nestled against my side. “Yeah, but can we get a real story now? One with brave heroes and maybe a damsel in distress?” Kili asked. I laughed softly at his childishness. He maybe 77 years old, but he had this child like glee about him that I found adorable. “Of course just give me a minute to think,” I told him. I wiggled my head back and forth a few times before settling on Hercules, the Disney version of course.

“Long ago in a far off land where no mortal could go there lived gods and goddess, all of whom helped the mortal world when prayed to. The most powerful god of them all was known as Zeus and he ruled over Mount Olympus with kindness, and justice. He was a fair god who always looked out for the others, but there was one god who was jealous of his position. He didn't like that Zeus got to sit high and mighty in the clouds laughing and partying with the other gods and goddess while he was stuck in the underworld dealing with the souls of the dead. And so he sought to overthrow Zeus,” I paused there for dramatic effect. I really wanted to draw them into the story.

I could almost feel the awe coming off of them in waves as they stared at me. “Did the other god win? Who was he?” Bilbo asked. I lifted my head about to continue when I realized that Fili, Kili, Ori, and Bilbo weren't the only ones listening to the story. Some of the other dwarves were listening as well. I take that back all the dwarves were listening. Even Thorin who tried to keep it hidden, but I could tell by the way he was sitting with his head slightly turned toward me that he was listening in.

“The other god was Hades, older brother to Zeus.” Kili let out a dramatic gasp. “His brother? How could he want to hurt his little brother?” Fili asked. Which I wasn't surprised since he was so protective over his own brother. “Yes his brother and it didn't matter to Hades because he had always wanted to rule Olympus. He didn't care what he had to do. He just wanted to be in charge, but before he made any plans he sought out the sisters of fate. They knew all, past, present, and future. And Hades wanted to know if Zeus’ new baby boy was going to affect his plans to make Olympus his own. And so when they told him that if Hercules should fight he would lose he sent his minions to kidnap the baby and turn him mortal,” this time when I stopped it was because Thorin had called for everyone to get rest.

The whole company groaned, upset that they would have to wait to finish hearing the story. But I promised them that as soon as everyone was up and ready to go I would gladly finish telling them. The next morning as soon as everyone was up and the camp was packed away they began pestering me about the story. And I of course was more than willing to oblige them. My story seemed to help keep everyone from falling into a foul mood as the skies opened up and began pouring down upon us.

Hmm I know what's going to happen tonight. Hopefully it isn't as uncomfortable as it looked in the movie, I thought to myself.