Ya'aburnee

Meeting the Burglar

It had taken some convincing, but finally Thorin agreed to Gandalf's scheme. Liv had sat pensively for the most part, not getting involved in the argument, but listening intently. Mostly, in her head, she was trying to determine which series of events might begin to unfold. Aulë had given her little information as to what exactly he had foreseen, so her guess was as good as any. 

The details of the story consumed her as well. Loosing home and family to dragon fire was a terrible thing. The feeling of it sat heavy in her chest. She could hear the blaze, and the screams, the heat of it licking the skin of her face...

"Olivia!" Gandalf's voice brought her out of her trance. Her head snapped up to look at him. It had been many months since she had met Thorin Oakenshield, and now she rode on the back of a horse beside Gandalf into the Shire to go pick up their burglar, and meet the rest of the company, who did not know she would be accompanying them yet.

"Yes?" The wizard shook his head at her inattentiveness. She'd traveled with him since early November, as he wandered across the world, looking out for any signs of trouble, that the evil was returning. 

According to the wizard, there had been an increasing number of Orc raids, and although that was not a good thing, it did give Liv the chance to practice some of the healing that Gandalf had taught her. She had begun to collect a little bag of healing herbs, having vastly increased her collection when they made a week-long stop in Rivendell, and Lord Elrond had provided her with some medicines from the stores after learning of her training in healing.

"I want you to stay here," The wizard repeated himself, as the young woman hadn't heard him the first time. "I am going to meet our burglar, and then will come back to these woods to help guide the dwarves to the meeting place." Liv nodded, making sure she noted these details. She tried to focus, she really did, but her mind seldom stayed in one place for long. "Practice the pronunciation of your spells while I am gone, alright?" She nodded again. He nodded curtly and dismounted his horse, handing the reigns to Liv, heading out onto the rode and up to the hill.

***

It had been several hours since Gandalf had gone, and she was beginning to think he had abandoned her, picking at the grass, ripping it to pieces. She had long since let the reigns of the horses hang down by their feet, preventing them from going too far too fast, but allowing them to wander and graze. Sighing, she leaned back, slumping against the tree, letting her hands fall to her lap. 

Gandalf had taught her about 7 healing spells, but had only been able to perform three of them, and she had no idea if practicing the pronunciation was helping or not. She mumbled the elvish under her breath and scoffed, leaning forwards so she could unsheathe her sword, running her thumb along the eddies and swirls of the pattern on the hilt. Gandalf had taught her a bit how to wield her sword as well. She knew some hand to hand combat from self-defense classes (she refused to live in a city without them), but that only helped her so much. She'd had to help fight off a couple orcs when riding with Gandalf, but they were a stray few. How she could hope to save the lives of three dwarven warriors, she did not know.

Voices suddenly drew her from her thoughts, and she quickly and quietly shot to her feet. "Mr. Gandalf was supposed to be here," She heard a voice filter through the trees, murmuring voices of confirmation drifting ever closer.

She raised her swords slightly, holding it in front of her body, peering into the woods, grasping the reigns of the closest horse to duck beneath his neck to look. "There are horses!" She heard a new voice, "up ahead, in the woods!" She ducked back behind the horse, breath quickening slightly, not wanting to be seen.

"Perhaps it is the wizard!" Another voice chimed in, clambering forwards, "None in these parts ride real horses."

"But why would he leave them out here alone?" The voice was just on the other side of the horse. Liv slipped around him quickly, blade pointing forwards quickly towards whomever was on the other side. With a sudden scrambling and scraping of metal, there were 7 dwarven weapons pointed at her, the eighth dwarf blinking up at her in shock and mild fear. She blinked back, bewildered. They had been so silent, she hadn't realized how many of them there were, but she lowered her weapon, realizing they must be a part of the company.