The Fifteenth Member (Thorin Oakenshield/OFC)

Chapter 1

You don't know fear until you're running for your life not knowing whether or not someone is chasing you. But you don't stop, just in case. Right now, I ran blindly through the forest. If no one was behind me right now, with blood pumping and adrenaline racing at the feeling of a hunt, they soon would be now that I couldn't hide anymore. It didn't matter that I looked human almost all the time, it didn't matter that I was born human. The only thing that would matter to them would be that I turned into a mermaid barely half a minute after just a drop of water brushed my skin. My legs fused into a giant tail and the only thing I got on top was made of scales but it barely covered my chest and nothing else. I actually liked the scales though, they would change colors as my moods shifted, making it useful to decide what I should do or how I was feeling about anything. I could trust that, I could trust my emotion and those scales never lied to me.

I didn't know how long I had been running but when I reached a large pond with a waterfall going into it, I knew I was nowhere near the town. I lived in a small village, not far from Bree, so I knew what half-lings were and how isolated they were. When I stopped before the waterfront, I nearly fell into it. I didn't know how long I had run to get away but, clearly my body couldn't take much more. I kneeled on shaking legs and slipped my necklace off over my head and weakly flung it to some nearby bushes. It was a square turquoise pendant with many prominent bronze colored veins, with beautifully woven silver metal that attached to a thin strip of dirt colored leather. It was the one thing that didn't leave when I changed and I would rather have it dirty then ruined by the water. Besides, in the bushes no one would be able to find it if they just passed by. Crawling forward, I lowered and eased myself into the water and allowed the surprisingly deep water to gently shift my form into it's scaled appearance. The quiet noises of the forest lulled me into a foggy state of relaxation.

Only moments later I heard the telltale sounds of men coming from the opposite side of the forest. Twigs crunching and hushed voices, although apart from me I don't know who they think would be listening. But, I couldn't let them see me, I won't let what happened back in that monstrous village happen again. Ducking under the water I spied a small opening. Hurtling through the water I dove into the opening, scraping my tail in the process. Grimacing at even more pain, I glanced ahead and shockingly the hole opened up into a large cave, half submerged and the other half with rocky ground. I could still hear what was happening above me and in less than a minute the group I'd heard earlier stopped. They then decided to stay, to my disappointment. A shiver ran through me and I realized that I wouldn't be able to stay in the cave for much longer or I'd become too cold. I decided to try and slip into the water and then slip away while they slept. When I had my tail, I also came fully equipped with a pair of gills on the sides of my neck, and as much as I despised using them, it was at times like this I was grateful for them.

Around an hour later, one of the dwarves decided to take a bath and jumped in without any clothes on. Our eyes met and his expression was one of pure shock. I was trying to get over the fact that there was a naked man in the pond with me and covered my face in embarrassment and as soon as he surfaced for air, I made for the cave. I pulled myself up silently still blushing furiously and listened in on their conversation.

"Mermaid!"

"Nori! What are you babbling about?"

"There's a mermaid in there!!" That was followed by boisterous laughter.

"Nori, you're being ridiculous. There's no proof whatsoever that mermaids exist. Even if they wanted to stay hidden, someone should have found them by now. Hence, they do not exist. Besides, you would probably look in a mirror and think you were turned into a starfish, with your hair!" Thank goodness for old legends. No one really believes in anything that they haven't seen for that but their own eyes, my saving grace.

Later that evening, one of the dwarves went to take a leak in the bush where my necklace had landed. From my perch in the cave, I could see the metal glinting in the setting sun, I prayed that my necklace would remain unnoticed.

"Hey! Look what I found!" He held my necklace up for all to see and I watched their reaction carefully. Now that I got a closer look at them, I recognized two of them because they had come through our town and stayed at my house for the night a few days ago. If I remembered correctly, their names were Fili and Kili. Both of them had taken an interest in my necklace so I would be very lucky if they didn't remember it.

"Kili", Fili said, "Isn't that the necklace that Mereniver was wearing?"

"Who might this Mereniver be?" someone asked.

"A girl we met when we were traveling to the meeting at Bilbo's house. She convinced her family to let us stay for dinner. Nice girl, lazy though, she forced her brother to wash the dishes and do the laundry."

"Nori, what did the 'mermaid' look like?" Kili asked.

"I didn't see much mind you, but she had long dark hair that flowed around her, pale complexion, dark eyes and she seemed embarrassed for some reason."

Fili and Kili exchanged a startled look.

"That and the necklace? It's definitely her!"

They then turned to a man who looked quite similar to them, before turning back to Nori. "Nori, put some damn pants on!" They yelled at the same time, before turning back to the long black haired man.

"We don't know if she poses a danger to us but we'll make sure she doesn't." The man said in a voice like gravel.

When their eyes widened I knew it would be bad. I backed up into the cave as far as I could, huddling in a corner, my tail turned black with fear and I used that to camouflage myself as best I could. There were several splashes outside and I deduced that the dwarves were searching the pond for my while others were armed and waiting for me to come out.

One of them suddenly surfaced under the waterfall, it had grown unnaturally quiet so I did my best to control my rapid breathing. The dwarf squinted, he obviously didn't have very good eyesight but then again, my eyes were used to the darkness and he didn't know where I was or if I was even there. The sun was still setting and was making a silhouette of the dwarf do I could see who it was but I feared the worst. After looking right at me for a second, he went back under the waterfall.

"Nothing there", he said. Now that I heard his voice, I recognized Kili, who had been very kind to me while his brother had been mistrusting. I knew at that moment that he must have seen me but decided to not give me away so I could slip away later that night for if they chose to search again the next morning, the darkness would not hide me.

Late that night, I slipped under the waterfall and poked my eyes above the water. The dwarf on watch had his back to me, I sighed with relief, it was Kili, I knew he would let me go but even still, I made as little noise as possible as I dragged myself out of the water. I didn't know how much time I had so I extended my hand over my tail and curled my fingers to dry it. I had to do it slowly because it made a soft hissing sound when I did it but after what seemed like forever, my legs and clothes returned. Now all I had to do was get my necklace back and last I saw, they had left it in the bush. I made my way over carefully in the dark, it was exactly where I had seen them leave it earlier. Soundlessly, I snatched it and turned to run but before I could take a single step, a dwarf jumped out of the bush and tackled me with a yell.

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