Fire and Water ThorinxMermaid!OC

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Loreth stared down the entrance to Mirkwood along with Gandalf and Bilbo. An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. It was this forest. It radiated a foul sickness. Just looking at the trees themselves one could tell that all was not well here. The trees were mostly withered and dead, others the treetops bore dead and dying leaves of orange and red.

Loreth sighed, "Gandalf, this forest is sick. Is there no other way around?"

Gandalf was studying the forest when he spoke, " not unless we go 200 miles north and twice that distance south."

The wizards words filled her heart with dread. She turned and went back to Thorin.

"Is there a different path?" He asked once she was close enough.

She shook her head, "No. we must go through Mirkwood." Loreth heard Thorin sigh. He must've felt the same way she did about it.

Everyone turned towards Gandalf when he suddenly demanded to not unsaddle his horse. The rest had turned theirs loose so they could return to Beorn.

"You're not leaving us?!" Bilbo stopped the wizard.

"I promise, I would not do this unless I had to." Gandalf spoke to Bilbo privately for a moment before climbing back in the saddle. He spoke to everyone now, "I'll be waiting for you, at the overlook before the slopes of Erebor. Do not enter that mountain without me. This is not the Greenwood of old, the very air of the forest is heavy with illusion. It will seek to enter your mind and lead you astray-" Gandalf reined his horse away in the opposite direction. He issued one final instruction"-no matter what may come, stay on the path!"

The company watched their wizard ride away with doubt in their hearts. They would have no choice but to brave the forest on their own.

They entered the forest of Mirkwood and seemed to do pretty well until they got into the thick of it. They had been following the path as instructed, but Loreth watched with careful eyes as the dwarves and the hobbit started to act very strangely. Thankfully she still felt fine, although she could feel the sickness on the forest like a looming grey cloud.

"The path leads this way," Thorin observed.

Loreth furrowed her brows, "Thorin, it's this way." She pointed.

He blinked and stared at the ground, where clearly he had just told them to go the wrong way. He cleared his throat, "follow Loreth."

Loreth didn't now why she had remained unaffected but she wasn't going to question it. After a long period of walking, the company clearly needed rest. They were going on about hearing voices and seeing figures in the forest, turning on each other and starting petty fights. Loreth led them to a little section off the path so they could take a breather. She wouldn't admit it, but she needed one too. Her breath was taking longer to catch up with her. A churning feeling in her stomach coming back every now and then.

Some of the dwarves questioned how far they were from the mountain, they didn't even know which way was east or west, from the covered forest, not even Loreth knew that answer. She looked up and hatched an idea.

"Thorin?" She called softly to him.

He swung his head around, the braid with the mermaid scale, shining in the low light. His eyes looked far away in a daze.

"I'm going to climb up and see where the mountain is—see how close we are." She stated.

Thorin looked up and blinked in thought for a moment, "alright, but take Bilbo with you." Loreth nodded and went to the hobbit. Bilbo was more than willing to accompany her.