Ya'aburnee

Questions

The going was slow, after a time, the air getting darker as the canopy got higher and thicker, the stones of the path becoming less and less easy to spot. "Follow the yellow brick road," Liv muttered to herself.

"What?" Thorin asked.

She shook her head, "Nothing... I... just reminded of something, that's all."

Both walked side by side silently, keeping a sharp eye out for the path, although after a time, their eyes tired of searching for the stones, sometimes nearly mistaking a random stone for one that had been intentionally placed there.

The forest got thicker and thicker, the trunks of the trees getting larger and larger, twisting and turning, their roots eating the stone beneath them. Eventually, Olivia fell back to walk beside Bilbo, her head beginning to ache, eyes burning. She was starting to have trouble seeing the stones anyhow, darkness consuming her vision much quicker than it did that of the dwarves. The dwarves were all much better at seeing in the dark than she was, she had found out.

"How're you holding up?" Bilbo asked her as she fell into step with him.

she groaned, rubbing her temples. "Well my head feels like it's splitting in two, but otherwise I'm alright. You?"

"I've tripped over more roots and rocks than I can count," Bilbo replied.

She laughed in understanding. "Yeah, the trees grow wild here."

"Have you been here before?" Bilbo asked her, and she shook her head.

"No, the furthest east I've been before now is Rauros, hundreds of miles to the south." She replied. "Closer to the kingdoms of men."

"Are you from near there?" Bilbo asked tentatively, and she shook her head. 

"You would not believe me, if I told you where I was from, Bilbo."

Bilbo was about to question her, but Thorin paused ahead, turning to address the group. "We will stop for a rest! Get some sleep. Fili, you take first watch."

"Let's see about collecting some wood for a fire," Gloin said, and Bofur nodded.

"No," Olivia said, "Stay on the path. If you can collect some wood from the path, you may, but don't stray out of sight of the group or leave the path." Both dwarves nodded and she slipped her pack from her shoulders, starting to prepare herself for a rest.

"Someone's bossy," Kili plopped down on the ground near her with a cheeky grin.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm just trying to keep the company from offing itself."

"A very noble cause my lady," he said with a flourish, and she rolled her eyes, detatching her bedroll from her bag.

"What do you want Kili?" She looked at him sternly, but with a playful glint in her eye as she turned away to lay the material out on the ground.

"Why, I'm offended," He said, putting a hand to his chest in mock disbelief. "Is it not enough to simply wish to be in your noble presence, my lady."

She laughed. "You and your brother have been harassing me nearly non-stop for days now. Do not expect me to believe this is merely an innocent visit to your favorite member of the company." She motioned dramatically to herself as she sat down on her bedroll, cross-legged, facing Kili.

He tsked, pretending to be hurt. "I'm deeply wounded that that is what you think of me my lady. Truly, I would never intentionally torment you." Both parties tried to look serious, but broke into grins, laughing.

"You are awful," She laughed, "And I hate you very much!" She didn't mean it of course, which Kili knew.

He laughed a bit more, but  his face turned mischievous, and she knew he was feeling quite clever, but she bit her tongue and waited for him to speak. "I actually didn't come over here to bother you at all. Fi' and I just had a few things we were wondering about human culture. It's so different from dwarves, you see."