Ya'aburnee

Gold and Swords

Not far away, they found the troll hoard. It reeked of dead flesh, and Liv nearly gagged as a breeze blew from the entrance, wafting the horrible stench into her nose. Flies buzzed around, picking the rotting scraps of meat off of the bones that littered the floor of the cave.

Liv walked beside Gandalf as he entered the cave, holding her breath as long as she could to avoid breathing in the fumes.

"Oh, what's that stench?" Nori asked in disgust.

"It's a troll hoard." Gandalf replied, "Be careful what you touch."

There was coughing and retching from behind her, Liv struggling to keep from retching herself.

There were piles of random stuff, weapons and trinkets, jewelry and gold. They had stolen so much from the people they had killed. She pulled the sleeves of her tunic over her hands, putting her hands over her mouth and nose to mask the stench.

"Seems a shame to leave all this lying around," Bofur's voice drew the attention of a few of the company. "Anyone could take it."

"Agreed," Gloin said conspiratorially. "Nori, get a shovel."

Liv shook her head, turning back to inspect the dimly lit cavern. They were going to go fight a dragon for its hoard. They would either end up with so much gold, that the small amount in the cave would seem trivial, or they would be dead, in which case it wouldn't matter that they had hidden the gold anyways.

She heard a clank of metal, turning to see Thorin holding a sword, and grabbing for another from a collection of swords. All were covered in cobwebs, and absolutely filthy, but a few of them looked particularly well crafted, especially the two Thorin had just picked up. "These swords were not made by any troll." He glanced up at Liv and Gandalf as they approached, handing the first sword off to Gandalf. Liv had a beautifully crafted sword of her own, but was very curious, especially because she knew that the handle of the sword Thorin held was made from a real dragons tooth.

"Nor were they made by any smith among men," Gandalf agreed as he inspected the blade. He drew the blade slightly, blowing some of the dust away, Thorin turning his sword to do the same. "These were forged in Gondolin," Thorin froze at that. "By the high elves." As Thorin moved to put the sword down, Gandalf scolded, "You could not wish for a finer blade."

Thorin reluctantly drew the sword, searching for any imperfection that he could use as excuse to discard the blade, but he found none, reluctantly keeping it. He moved closer to the light from the cave entrance, using his torch to try and read the Tengwar script that ran down the side of  both blade and sheath.

Bofur, Gloin, and Nori all sat around a chest, burying the gold. Dwalin looked on disapprovingly. "We're making a long term deposit," Gloin explained.

"Let us get out of this foul place. Come on, let's go. Bofur, Gloin, Nori." Liv sighed, following Thorin and out of the cave. She had seen all she wanted to, and was getting tired of the horrible smell. She let the fresh air blow against her face, closing her eyes with a contented sigh before opening them and moving closer to Bilbo.

"Anything interesting in there?" He asked her, and she nodded her head towards Thorin.

"Thorin found a couple of swords. They were made in Gondolin, an ancient elvish city that fell long ago."

Bilbo nodded, his attention being stolen by Gandalf exiting the cave, Liv moving further up ahead, following the others. Some of the dwarves were still showing off what they had found inside the troll hoard. Liv pushed on ahead, though not too far, waiting for Gandalf and Thorin.

A sudden rustling caught her attention, and Thorin voiced her thoughts, running past her to the front of the group. "Something's coming!"

"Stay together!" She heard Gandalf say, drawing her sword as she followed closely behind Thorin. "Hurry now! Arm yourselves!" Gandalf quickly caught up to the front of the group.

The thing skittering through the underbrush burst forwards shouting. "Thieves! Fire! Murder!" The sledge drawn by a fluffle of rabbits came quickly to a halt before them, and the company was unsure whether to fight the man or not.

"Radagast!" Gandalf said fondly. "Radagast the Brown!" Both he and Liv lowered their weapons quite quickly, the rest of the company more slowly following suit. Gandalf approached the man and said quietly, "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you, Gandalf," He replied, "Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong."

"Yes?"

Radagast took in a breath, ready to speak, but his words fell short. Again, he seemed to have the words, but lost them a second time. "Just give me a minute... Oh, I had a thought and now I've lost it. It was right there, on the tip of my tongue..." The next words came out slightly distorted, "Oh, it's not a thought at all... It's a silly old..." He stuck his tongue out, and Gandalf pulled the object from his mouth. "Stick insect." He held his hand out and Gandalf dropped the bug into it. Liv bowed her head to hide an amused smile. "Oh, is that Olivia?"

She looked back up at the mention of her name, smiling. "Yes, it is."

"Oh, it's lovely to see you again." Radagast opened his mouth to say something more, but Gandalf cut him off.

"Let us step aside to talk. I wish to hear what is wrong." He led the brown wizard a short ways away, and Liv shook her head, moving to sit down on a log.

"You've met Radagast before?" Bilbo asked tentatively, sitting beside her, and she nodded. "He's a little... odd."

"Well, I suppose. He's not very good with people. But he is kind." Olivia shrugged. "I see you've got yourself a sword."

Bilbo looked down at the blade and sheath in his hands bashfully. "I suppose I do have..." After a quiet moment, he awkwardly added, "I'm not entirely sure how to attach the sheath to my belt.

Liv smiled and held her hand out. "Can I look at the sheath?" Bilbo nodded, handing it over to her. "There are a few different ways to attach swords and knives to your person. This looks like a pretty standard attachment." She grabbed ahold of the leather loops. "See these two loops?" Bilbo nodded. "You want to thread it through your belt, on the opposite side from your dominant hand. The shorter one should be towards your front, and the longer one should be towards your back." She handed the sheath back to Bilbo with a smile.

"Thank you," He said with a smile. He looked around for a moment, before leaning closer to her, speaking more quietly. His voice was sincere and he sounded a little lonely as well. "And thank you for being so helpful... The others... they would've laughed at me for a question like that. You just... you just help."

She smiled kindly at him. "They've grown up with weapons, they've known how to hold them and tend to them and use them since they could walk." She replied, "It's not really their fault, they just don't understand, is all. But I had to learn all this stuff too. Gandalf was very patient with me... well, most of the time." She laughed softly, and Bilbo chuckled along with her. "You belong here with us..." She glanced up at the company. "Even if some of them don't see it yet."

Bilbo opened his mouth to say something else, but a howl in the distance cut him short. They were out of time.