SEVEN DEVILS, fili durin

CHAPTER TWO

"You mock our pain."

Nymeria didn't trust many creatures, she didn't trust elves, didn't trust the race of men, didn't really trust any other hobbits and most certainly didn't trust the tall wizard moving off towards the door. The young faè didn't trust anyone in the room apart from Bilbo and yes, that included herself as she pulled the small halfling behind her, upper lip curling and her hackles raised, awaiting whatever was outside with a pinch of salt and already having a suspicion of what it was.

The door slowly opened, everyone waiting with bated breath, and sure enough, there was another dwarf on the other side of it, set apart by being rather tall compared to the others around them, perhaps reaching her chin or nose if he were to stand next to her, and his dark stormy eyes set on the wizard in front of him, ignoring the occupants into the home as he stepped inside. Without an invitation as he trudged his mud defiled boot across the wood of the floor, this time she openly snarled. She'd forgotten just how disrespectful dwarves could be.

"Gandalf. I thought you said this place would be easy to find. I lost my way, twice." His low voice rang out though the silence, baritone and rough, filling the already tense space as he strolled inside, eyes flickering from place to place as he took in his surroundings, nodding towards his fellow dwarves that stood to the side, acknowledging their inconspicuous bows that Nymeria had caught with narrowed eyes, watching the way he paused when he glanced towards her.

"I wouldn't have found it at all, had it not been for that mark on the door." He said, keeping his front facing the almost feral looking girl, feeling a certain kind of pull in his gut that told him not to turn his back on her, lest he wanted to be trying to dislodge her in the next moment. Suddenly, a small head popped from around her back, their eyes wide as they scrambled forwards, missing the girl's hand as she tried to pull him back.

"Mark? There's no mark on that door, it was painted a week ago!"

"That's your problem with all of this?" Nymeria snapped, stepping towards him as if to pull him back but deciding against it, keeping her hostile gaze trained on everyone and everything in the home, magic churning unpleasantly under her skin, feeling her fear and anxiety and waiting for the moment to latch out with its cruel chaos, noticing the way that the majority of their hands hadn't strayed away from their weapons due to that very reason.

"There is a mark, I've put it there myself." Gandalf told the hobbit, shutting the door behind him and giving Bilbo a gentle and somewhat reassuring look, trying his best to keep the peace. "Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield."

Bilbo turned to look at the dwarf properly, obviously still not having a bloody clue on what was actually going on here and why it appeared that it was his home that it was all happening too, his brows still furrowed in confusion but not feeling intimidated in the slightest, not with Nymeria in his eyeline anyway, as the larger being stepped towards him, looking down his nose in every sense of the word. "So, this is the hobbit. Tell me, Mr. Baggins, have you done much fighting?"

"Pardon me?" He muttered, more to himself than anyone else as Thorin began to circle him, quite like a predator does a prey, sizing the hobbit up with his eyes. Nymeria, keeping herself to the shadows, felt her upper lip curl once again, her hand pressed against the wall and feeling it start to crack and crumble between her finger tips.

"Axe or sword, what's your weapon of choice?"

"Well, I do have some skill at conkers, if you must know. But I fail to see why that's relevant." Nymeria resisted the urge to slap her hand against her forehead, looking between the two with narrows eyes, ignoring every instinct in her body that told her to move into a crouch and protect what was hers, like the creatures of the Moors had taught her to do all those years ago.