SEVEN DEVILS, fili durin

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"I am not scared."

Their stay was truly nothing short of pleasant, Nymeria found, a strange sense of precious peace cradled like a babe inside her as the comfort of the large home filled with greenery and life...and there was something about it that reminded her both of the Moors and the Shire. Perhaps that's why she found herself in such good spirits, her face no longer set in a scowl that haunted those who just happened to glance at her ethereal features brimming with dark magic and chaos, no, now there seemed to be a ghost of a smile curling at her lips wherever she went, a rare and rather beautiful sight indeed.

And it seemed like she wasn't the only one reminded of home if Bilbo was any indication, forcing her up to wander around the garden with him in the early hours of the morning, when the sun was high in the sky and brimming them with warmth instead of their usual struggle for heat that would come by every night, his large feet able to trudge on through the squelching mud and spiky grass with ease because of his thick skin while the faè danced over it all with her shoes shimmered with familar hints of crimson red.

He'd even somewhat gotten over his fear of the not so gentle giant that was as tall as he was terrifying, though she had a rather strong suspicion that that had to do with the fact she'd been very close by when he'd brought up some kind of polite conversation about vegetables, and that if Beorn really wanted to taste some amazing potatoes, all he'd have to do was visit the Shire and Bilbo would be more than happy to hand some over, all the while Nymeria smiled watching them, trying not to giggle at the awkward cower the hobbit held himself in as he spoke to the skin-changer, and almost falling over in amusement when Beorn grunted which had her friends legs almost giving out underneath him.

She was proud of her hobbit, watching as he came out of his shell though he hadn't really needed to, perfect as he was, watching as he gained confidence in himself that didn't come from knowing that his faè would always have his back with hands stained with chaos, ready to kill and die for him at a moments notice which made it very hard to fear most things indeed. But looking over him as he wandered up to the dwarves and joined in on their conversations as they all welcomed him with open arms and hearty laughs as they told him whatever they'd been talking about mere moments prior.

But unfortunately, it seemed that their peace obviously wasn't meant to last when Gandalf and Thorin had finally gathered the company to tell them that they had to be moving on and quick, and that they'd long since out stayed their welcome and would have to continue their journey, their quest even though the comforts of home that they'd started getting used to were about to be cruely ripped away from them once more.

And thankfully for the rest of them, Beorn had enough horses for the dwarves and her hobbit and the wizard to sit comfortably, but once more, just like when she first joined them on their journey, they bloody seemed to be one short, meaning Nymeria was truly going to have to put her stamina to the test.

She couldn't exactly say she was excited about the thought of running through the foliage of the forest, but on the other hand, the whole idea of her having to share a horse with one of the others didn't exactly appeal to her either, so she decided that the first option was definitely the lesser of two evils, and then spent the majority of the morning stretching her limbs out, massaging her legs with hands infused with the red heat of her chaos and hoping that she would have an easy journey while the others sat pretty on their bastard ponies which she definitely wasn't jealous about at all.

And yet, when it finally became time to depart from the home that had sheltered them with their bags full of supplies to last them for months, she found herself rather suprised indeed when Beorn stopped her from following after the horses that were beginning to be mounted as the rest of the company argued and cursed among themselves obviously struggling with the rather large height, his hand covering the entirety of her neck and shoulder and even a good portion of her back as she looked up at him with her flickering eyes that glowed like dangerous embers. "You'll ride with me, little faè."