If this is to End in Fire: Hobbit Fan Fiction Skin-changer

Chapter 10- Talk of Skin-changers and of the Past and of the Future

The smell had confused her for some time now. She strode steadily along, her pace still urgent, but not rushed. The scent of dwarf was near and she knew they had stopped for the night.

The new smell however, puzzled her. A heavy, lumbering stride of a huge creature could be felt through the ground and Lupine knew that it was not far away. It was from this direction that the smell came, though she could not guess what its form may be. There were hints of all kinds of animals, from mice to bears to hawks and goats and a general, calming scent of the fresh greenery tinged the air.

When the footsteps grew closer, Lupine realised that, whatever the thing was, it now stood between her and the dwarves and she continued with slow caution. Heavy breaths replaced the sound of movement and the creature had stopped as if waiting for her.

The trees thinned abruptly and a large, open space appeared, encircled by the woodland. The grass was tall and crispy yellow and a large, hedged wall could be seen in the centre of the space.

Coming closer she could glimpsed the creature now, as it sat, no more than ten paces from the tree line. Watching it in the dark, she felt neither fearful nor at ease and instead, curious. The form seemed to be that of a huge bear and it watched her in quite the same way she watched it.

When she reached the very edge of the woodland, the bear lifted its snout and pushed a large paw towards her. Lupine searched suddenly about her for shelter, but the huge form had paced forward before time had allowed her to move.

Eye to eye, the bear and the wolf stared.

And their eyes flashed.

Then a low growl echoed in the bear’s throat and the wolf recoiled. Lupine slipped to the ground in surprise and her form shifted to human once more. She felt smaller and more vulnerable now, but the bear stopped its advance and watched her again. She saw the eyes of her brother peering down at her, though she knew this was not him. She felt almost unsurprised when the bear’s fur fell into skin and its frame shrank down to the ground and staring up from beside her, the eyes of a human-form skin-changer flashed.

Now that the man stood before her, she could clearly see his bear-like features. His face was shrouded with a deep, brown beard and eyebrows, and his shoulders were broad. He was tall and had thick arms, and wore a waist coat across his chest.

“It is a long time since I have seen another of my kin.” said the deep, slow voice of the skin-changer.

Lupine remained silent for there seemed no response to this.

“I am Beorn.” he continued, lifting down his hand and pulling her to her feet. Lupine was a taller than dwarves of course, but beside this skin-changer, she felt no larger than Bilbo beside Gandalf.

“Are you with those blundering dwarves?”

Lupine smiled and nodded but the skin-changer shook his head,

“I don’t like dwarves. They are foolish and greedy. What desperate need would cause you to journey with them?”

Lupine looked down at the ground and cleared her throat, before looking back up at the huge figure.

“They are the dwarves of Erebor and are travelling to the Lonely Mountain to reclaim their homeland.” she said, before realising that she had made the same mistake as Bilbo in the tunnels- she was saying too much too easily.

But then she thought again and she understood how safe she felt beside Beorn. She was his kin.

His eyes looked down at her in question.

“And you?” he asked again.

“I do not have a home and I-” Lupine stammered. To many she had told this lie now, but before a skin-changer, it seemed the hardest to say, “I wish to help them find theirs.”