Once back at camp Bilba submitted to Oin's complaints as he re-bandaged her leg and hand, apologizing profusely the entire time for forcing him to repeat his work.

After he was finished she made her way to where Fili sat sharpening one of his knives and stood before him with her hands clasped in front of her.

At his raised eyebrow, she said, "I wanted to apologize for...attacking you...before."

He grinned at her. "Was that an attack? I thought perhaps I had crumbs on my jacket and you were brushing them off."

Bilba rolled her eyes in exasperation even as something in her relaxed at his easy forgiveness.

"Hold on," Fili said suddenly, reaching down beside him, "I have something for you."

He grabbed something and held it out to her. "It was in that cave with the other weapons. It'll probably serve you better than the one you've been carrying."

He was holding a small sword, long dagger really, complete with a sheath. Bilba took it carefully, surprised at its weight, and drew the weapon. The blade was long and curved with etching on the metal that shone and glittered as she turned it.

"It's beautiful," she exclaimed. "Thank you!"

Fili beamed, looking pleased with himself.

Bilba carefully sheathed the sword again and strapped it on. As she did she glanced across the clearing and caught, for just a moment, Gandalf's gaze. The man had barely spoken since she'd lit into him, seeming content to sit by himself and stare off into the distance. He'd become almost worse than Thorin in that regard. Bilba sighed; she'd have to speak with him too, but not right then. Perhaps she was a coward but, after talking to Thorin, she didn't feel up to anymore talks just then.

Speaking of Thorin, he'd apparently decided late morning was long enough to rest up from the night before and was getting everyone up and ready to depart.

As she watched, Balin moved up next to him and began speaking in a low voice. His eyes darted toward her as they did, concern evident in them, and she looked away quickly.

She could guess what he was asking and what Thorin was telling him. A sense of relief flooded her. The story could be passed around without her having to retell it over and over again.

Moving over to her own pack she knelt gingerly and started getting ready to go. As she did Bilba experienced the unmistakable feeling of eyes boring into the back of her head.

She turned and found Nori leaning against a tree watching her, which wasn't really new. Nori, she found, watched EVERYONE.

Of all the Dwarves in the Company he was the one she found the most...unusual. She could categorize the rest of the Dwarves. There was Thorin the Brooding Prince in Exile, the carefree Pretty Twins, Dwalin the Warrior, Balin the Scholar and so on and so forth.

Nori didn't fit any category.

The way he dressed and wore his hair created a striking look but he usually chose to hang back and blend in. He involved himself in every conversation but hardly spoke, seemed to pay attention to nothing but she was sure saw everything.

Dwalin didn't like him and Dori tried to keep Ori away from him. The word was that Nori was a thief but she was convinced it was more than that. There was no reason for Thorin to ask a thief along; particularly when he then went out and hired a Burglar as he so liked to call her.

No, there was something more to Nori.

He raised an eyebrow and Bilba realized, with a start, that she'd been staring. She jerked her head away and saw caught Thorin looking between her and Nori with a frown. Bilba raised an eyebrow at him in confusion, then shrugged and finished packing, eventually taking her old sword to her pony and strapping it on to the saddle before shouldering her pack and mounting. The rest followed suit and soon the company was moving out.

As they did Bilba deliberately stopped herself from looking over her shoulder back the way they'd come. She needed to focus on the present for now, not the past. Still, her throat clogged slightly and her eyes burned at the thought of leaving her parents yet again. She couldn't put a finger on why but she had a feeling it would be a long time before she would be able to visit again.

As usual Thorin headed the group with Gandalf and Dwalin near him. Bilba rode near the back with Fili and Kili just in front of her speaking animatedly to Ori. The rest stretched out between, with the exception of Nori who, for some reason, was riding several paces behind her.

Desiring a distraction, Bilba pulled back lightly until she rode next to him, a slight gap between them and the rest of the group.

"You were staring at me earlier, is there something you wanted?"

He shrugged. "Just wondering when you planned on telling him."

Bilba frowned. "When I planned on telling who what?"

Nori nodded toward the head of the line. "When you planned on telling Thorin about going all the way to Erebor. From the lack of shouting I'd guess you haven't mentioned it yet."

Bilba chewed on her lower lip absently, wondering how he'd come to that conclusion but having no desire to verify it for him. "You're like a spy, aren't you? That's why Thorin brought you along, so you could spy on everything for him."

He turned to look at her, a slow smile creeping over his face at her blatant effort to deflect the conversation. "Something like that."

"You must not be very good," Bilba mused, "if a simple Hobbit noticed."

He snorted. "I've never met a simple anyone who knew Black Speech."

"My mother taught me," Bilba explained. "I don't know where she learned it, probably on one of her adventures with--"

Her voice trailed off, she didn't really feel like speaking Gandalf's name at the moment.

At the front of the line Dwalin leaned over to say something to Thorin which had him twisting around to look at her and Nori.

Bilba frowned. "What did you do to earn that look?"

He laughed. "I imagine it's less what I did and more what I'm doing."

"And what's that?"

Thorin was still looking and now a slow smile spread across Nori's face. With his eyebrows braided up as they were it gave him a truly wicked look. He nudged his horse closer and leaned over toward her. "I have a proposition for you."

"You do?" Bilba asked in surprise. She looked away from Thorin and focused her attention on him, leaning over and dropping her voice to match the low tone he was using though she didn't know why. "What?"

"I want you to teach me Black Speech. It's quite a useful skill to have when one is spying on one's enemies."

"If that one were a spy of course," Bilba said with a slight grin.

"Of course," Nori said, deadpan.

They were both holding themselves at awkward angles which forced their ponies to slow down and widened the gap between them and the others.

"So in return for me teaching you Black Speech," Bilba said, "what do I get?"

At this Nori actually managed to lean even closer. "How about lessons in Khuzdul that don't require you having to do a poor job of eavesdropping on Bifur?"

Bilba stared at him and then slowly felt her face break out in a truly brilliant smile. "I think I would like that, Master Dwarf, very much."

Nori nodded and started to say something else but was suddenly forced back as a massive bulk shoved between them. Bilba looked up, startled, to see Dwalin casually shoving himself and his pony smack in the middle of them, forcing Nori several yards away.

On Dwalin's other side Nori was looking up toward the front of the line with a mischievous look and Bilba followed his gaze just in time to see Thorin turn away and face forward.

"Master Dwalin," she said in surprise. "What are you doing back here?"

He grumbled something under his breath and then said, "Thorin didn't like how far back you were hanging. It's dangerous out here."

As if she didn't know that already. Bilba sighed, she would never understand dwarves.

Nori headed past them, moving to ride near his brothers without actually being with them as he normally did. They made an odd set, the two older ones placing Ori between them even though they weren't speaking to one another.

A thought occurred to her. "Do you think Dori dresses like that and acts so incredibly proper all the time to try and offset Nori's influence on Ori?'

Dwalin grunted. "Probably."

Movement signaled the arrival of Fili and Kili as she spoke. Fili dropped just behind her while Kili rode on her side opposite from where Dwalin was.

"They're probably trying to balance him out," Kili said cheerfully. "Nori is an incredibly bad influence while Dori is an incredibly good influence. Between the both of them Ori might actually turn out normal."

Or so smothered the boy couldn't breathe without his brothers making sure he wasn't coming down with something. Bilba had barely had a chance to talk to him as every time they rode or stopped his brothers were clustered tightly around him.

A commotion drew her attention to the left and she tensed at the sound of something large moving through the trees.

A howl split the air. Bilba felt her blood run cold. "What was that? A wolf?"

"No," Dwalin said, his voice hard. "That was no wolf."

Thorin had ordered a halt to the line and was standing in his stirrups, trying to see through the trees around them.

A second howl split the air and now the horses were beginning to act up. Bilba struggled to control hers as a third howl sounded, just behind them.

Thorin twisted in his saddle, looking back.

A moment later he shouted, "orc pack! RUN!"

Bilba felt her blood run cold, orcs? As in ORCS? Like, real ones?

She had no time to consider it further, though, as the group began to run. She went from sitting quietly on the pony to clinging in desperation as they galloped across the ground. Bilba wasn't an exceptional rider. She knew how to sit and not fall off but not when the pony was terrified and fleeing from creatures that wanted to eat it.

They broke out from the trees, empty land spread out ahead of them. Risking a glance over her shoulder Bilba felt the blood drain from her face at the sight of Orcs astride giant beasts exiting the woods after them.

She swallowed hard, her throat dry, and turned back around. Her body continued to bounce and jolt, so hard that when she bounced particularly high and landed with a jarring thud it took her a few seconds to realize she'd hit not the pony, but the ground.

Ahead of her the Dwarves were still running, every step taking them farther away while, behind, the Orcs were quickly catching up.

Bilba got up, her body shaking. She turned, drawing her sword.

It was absurd, utterly absurd. There were at least a dozen of them not counting those things they were riding.

Her eyes widened as they bore down on her and her breathing was harsh in her own ears.

It looked like fate simply wouldn't stand for a Baggins' reaching Rivendell.

A roar sounded behind her and suddenly Dwalin was riding past her, his warhammer swinging in the air as he charged the Orcs. Several of them dove out of the way in shock before rebounding back toward him.

An arm closed around her waist and Bilba suddenly found herself on a pony, a strong arm wrapped around her.

"Hold on," Fili's voice commanded. The pony spun to a stop, nearly falling as it turned back the way they'd come.

Bilba caught a glimpse of Kili firing arrows from the back of his own mount, before turning to flee as well. Fili twisted in his saddle, sending several knives flicking behind them and they were flying across the plains to try and catch up with the others.

Behind them the creatures continued to give chase. Bilba felt the wargs snapping at them, could almost feel their breath in her ear. Against her back she could feel a light tremor running through Fili and was startled to realize he was scared too.

Well of course he's scared, a voice chided her in her mind, giant dogs are trying to EAT him.

She was growing exceptionally weary of things trying to eat her and the ones she cared about.

Bilba struggled to swallow, her hands tightening in the mane of the pony.

Ahead Thorin had turned and was now thundering back toward them. He must have realized they weren't going to make it. The others started turning as well and Bilba felt despair at the thought they would be caught thanks to her inability to hold onto a pony.

A horn sounded.

What?

Hoofbeats thundered from nearby and suddenly full grown horses were there, racing between the Dwarves and Orcs, cutting them off with a precision born of long practice.

Fili reined in his pony and watched as the Orcs were cut down.

Elves, Bilba thought, watching the lean beings gracefully destroying the Orcs as though they were at a dance rather than at war.

The battle, if it could be called that, was over in seconds, long enough for the rest of the company to return and regroup around them.

One of the Elves, tall and lean with long dark hair came forward and spoke quietly to Gandalf before addressing Thorin.

Elrond, Bilba realized. She'd recognize him anywhere from the pictures her mother often showed her. Once she'd have been near delirious with joy at meeting him. Now, however, she felt nothing.

The opportunity to meet him hadn't been worth the cost she had paid then or the cost she had nearly paid now.

Thorin looked annoyed, but then he always looked annoyed so who knew what he was truly thinking. She knew he was angry over having to ask Elrond for help and being saved from Orcs by Elves probably didn't make him feel much better.

Suddenly Thorin turned and pointed toward her. Bilba stiffened and felt Fili's arm tighten around her in reassurance.

"Why is he pointing at me?" she hissed. Thorin gestured, motioning her forward. "Wait," Bilba insisted. "He's pointing at you, right? You can let me down first."

The last thing she wanted was to be the focus of attention of someone like Elrond. Fili chuckled, the sound rumbling through his chest. "Relax, I don't think he means any harm."

Then they were moving forward. Bilba made a strangled sound and then forced a polite smile onto her face as they approached.

"Here she is," Thorin was saying. "Bilba Baggins of the Shire."

Elrond inclined his head. "Greetings, Miss Baggins. We've been watching for you."

Bilba hesitated and then greeted him softly in Sindarin, stumbling only slightly over the words as her nerves got the best of her. At the end she asked politely how it was they knew her or knew to look for her.

"Mahal," Fili muttered. "Just how many languages do you speak?"

Thorin too was looking at her, impressed, and Bilba gave a slight grin at the sight. It was about time he realized there was more to her than just being a Hobbit.

Elrond, for his part, looked delighted and quickly responded to her in kind, complimenting her on her pronunciation and lack of accent.

Then, for the courtesy of the rest, he switched back to Common. "We had letters arrive for you, shortly after you must have left your home. They alerted us to your coming and we've been watching the roads." His eyes glittered as he shot a distasteful look at the Orc corpses. "You're lucky we did, we might not have been in time to help you otherwise."

Letters? Bilba thought. She had letters? Her stomach twisted at the thought that someone would have written her so soon after she'd left. Had something gone wrong?

"I'm sure it's fine," Fili whispered.

"I hope so," Bilba answered.

The Elves started off toward Rivendell and Thorin and the rest followed them. Bilba found herself riding next to Thorin as he and Fili discussed their mutual disgust at having to seek help from the Elves. They spoke in Khuzdul, a fact which would have made her happy usually but, now, she barely focused on it.

All she could think of were the letters, her gut twisting at the endless thoughts of what could have gone wrong in the short time she'd been gone.

As far as she was concerned they couldn't reach Rivendell soon enough.