lost in the fire

on the road

A/N: Cameron gets to know the Company a bit better.

Apparently, I had been wrong when I told Bilbo we were going to have fun. This entire week had been awful, with Thorin hardly giving us any breaks, except for when we had to sleep. And even then, you could be assigned night watch, which meant almost no sleep at all. I had been on it about two nights ago, and I'd been cold, tired, and scared, jumping at any odd sound that I heard. Being in the wilderness, it meant that a lot of sounds were odd, let alone the abnormally loud snores coming from Bombur. Also, the dwarves didn't seem too keen on others than their own kin travelling along. The first day hadn't been so bad, but it had gotten worse with every day that passed. They straight up ignored Bilbo, except for the dwarves who talked to me as well, consisting of the two princes, Bofur and Balin, who were very kind to the both of us. Still, none of them liked to tell us anything about Dwarven culture or anything having dwarves involved, honestly.

This resulted into me and Bilbo remaining near the end of the pack, having quiet conversations amongst ourselves. If they wanted to be stubborn and not include us, so be it. Most of the time, the Princes who I soon renamed Pranksters, due to the obvious, enjoyed pulling pranks on anyone in the company, especially Bilbo, or flirting shamelessly with me, until their uncle would call them to the front to scold them, ruining all the fun. Whenever I got the chance to talk to Bofur, who was heavily protected by his brothers, I did, and he amused me by bursting into song ever so often. But since his brothers consisted of a very scary Bifur with a freaking piece of an axe imbedded in his skull, and a very heavy Bombur who could simply kill me by sitting on top of me, I kept my distance. I hadn't expected the journey to be easy, but it was even more uncomfortable than I thought, and it even hurt me slightly that none of them tried to involve us to be more of a part of this so-called "company". And right now, I'm trying my best not to become angry at a particular dwarf.

"No." I state bluntly, giving Dori a deadly stare.

"But, Lass, your clothes..." He protests weakly, looking over to my clothes from the dress he was holding in his hands. With dress, I meant the ugliest, most shapeless brown sack I had ever seen before. I hadn't understood why he came up to me as the others were setting up camp, until he showed it to me.

"There's nothing bloody wrong with my clothes!" I exclaim, giving him an angry look.

"They're way too exposing, Lass! It just isn't proper for a lady!" Dori argues, seeming to push his fear for my anger aside. Did this dwarf really think he could pull this off the first time he actually said a word to me?!

"What?! This is not exposing at all!" I say in shock, glancing down at my tight fitting, brown trousers and V-neck white shirt.

"Yes it is! As I said, it isn't proper! Please, just wear this." Dori doesn't give up, holding the 'dress' up for me.

"I'd rather die!" I shout, giving him a look of disgust.

"Please, just change!" He argues, a pleading look in his eyes.

"She can wear something of mine? Your clothes don't look very comfortable for travel." Ori speaks up carefully, always trying to keep everyone happy. The little diplomat. He hadn't said much to me, always turning incredibly red whenever I caught him staring at me, but I had seen how he acted around the others whenever there was an argument. This was the first time he really had said something with me being involved. As badly as I didn't want to admit it though, Ori was right. My trousers chafed my legs, and the shirt wasn't very sweat proof.

"I've got some pants to spare too." Kili helps out with a smile.

"Maybe my boots fit her?" Bofur offers, motioning towards the boots he was wearing. "I brought another pair as well."