Concerning Hobbits

Mirkwood

  Pansy stirred in her sleep, warm rays of sunlight casting lines on her face. Her pale lashes fluttered and her nose tinckled back and forth. Something large and fuzzy was on it. Pansy groggily opened her eyes and crossed them down to her nose. There perched was a large fuzzy bumble bee. Much larger than any she had ever seen. Pansy gasped and grinned wildly. Looking over to her side, she could see Bilbo had woken up as well. He looked at two passing bees slightly unnerved at their size. "Pansy giggled and tried to pet the one on her nose, but it flew away.

Rolling off her back Pansy looked around, briefly forgetting where she was and what had happened prior. But soon she remembered. "Beorn!" she gasped trying to get to her feet. Had he made it? Was he ok? She had to find out. Reaching her feet, she bolted past Bilbo who was putting on his coat and darted to where she could hear the sounds of the others. "oh you overslept!" she cursed herself in her mind.

She stopped at the top of two stone steps, the company was seated at a table as a very, very large man poured milk into Fili's cup out of a very large barrel pitcher. Pansy grinned and drew in a deep breath and ran towards him. As Beorn went to speak, she felt something tiny hug his leg, for it's all that it could reach. "you're ok!" Pansy cheered, Beorn looked down at her with amused eyes and the briefest of smiles. He patted her head. Thorin watch them warily, Pansy was very small, he would not allow this giant creature to harm her. But Beorn hardly touched her at all as he patted her head. Catching Thorin's hardened gaze. Beorn stopped.

" so you are the one they call Thorin Oakenshield" Beorn said, his voice still sounding much like a bear growls. Pansy watched him as he walked a few paces off, even as a man he looked like a bear, his hair had more of a fur texture and it went down his back, growing out of his back like a ridge of fur. "tell me why is Azog the defiler hunting you?" Beorn asked looking back at Thorin.

Kili pulled out a seat next to him and patted it "over here little Baggins!" he called, Pansy glanced between Beorn and Thorin cautiously as she went to take her seat. "you know of Azog?" Thorin said his eyes followed Pansy for a moment and then he turned his gaze back to Beorn. Everyone in the company was silent as they ate. "how?" He asked. He wasn't altogether comfortable, but he did not feel this Beorn was a threat. Any creature who could save and put up with one such as Pansy, couldn't have been too terrible. Without this bear of a man, Thorin was not so sure she and Kili would have returned.

"my people were the first to live in the mountains before the Orcs came down from the north" said Beorn looking to Thorin. Pansy leaned in while she munched on a piece of bread, this wasn't in her book, and she was itching for a new story. "The defiler killed most of my family" Beorn said side glancing. Pansy looked to Bilbo who had in turned looked to her both of them turned their gaze to large broken shakes on Beorn wrists "but some he enslaved, not for work you see, but for sport" He said. Pansy gasped and looked around, It seems she was the only one mortified by this thought. "caging skin changing and torturing them seemed to amuse him" Beorn said, Pansy covered her mouth and teared up a bit as she watched Beorn pour milk into Nori's cup.

"there were other like you?" Bilbo asked, there went that took blood again. Causing him to poke his nose where it didn't belong. "Once there were many" Beorn answered, his eyes looked so sad and hollow, Pansy glanced over to Thorin who sat slightly away from the company. It was the same look he had in his eyes at the start of this journey. "and now?" Bilbo asked, Pansy's eyes darted to Beorn, "there is only one" He said. A few tears fell from Pansy's eyes and she quickly wiped them away removing her hands from her mouth.