── true courage is knowing not how to take a life, but when to spare one
IN WHICH THE LAST
OF THE DRAGONKIN
JOINS THE COMPANY
OF THORIN OAKENSHIELD
TO RETAKE EREBOR
A FIRE AND GOLD SERIES BOOK
THORIN OAKENSHIELD × OC
AN UNEX...
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In Middle Earth, most of the people who lived there knew about the other kinds of people who lived there, if only in the fact they existed in the absence of greater knowledge of them. Those who wandered from place to place without ever really having a place to call their own were among those who were best known by people all over Middle Earth. Wherever Aninth went, people knew who she was and what she was seeking and she’d never been able to decide whether this was to her advantage or not. But, given the companion she always travelled with, it wasn’t like she could get away from being known to everyone she came across.
The inn she was currently staying at was one she liked a great deal. The owner was kind, not just to her, but to her companion as well. That wasn’t the most common thing. While most other owners of inns and taverns she’d stay at wouldn’t often turn her away entirely when she flashed some gold at them — often all she had — they weren’t happy at having her companion inside their establishment with her. Preconceptions had changed a great deal since she was a young girl.
Blowing a stray strand of blonde hair out of her eyes, Aninth had just secured her bag when there was a knock at the door of the room she had rented. Figuring it was the innkeeper, wondering whether she would be leaving or paying for another night, she simply called out, "I'll be leaving in just a moment, sir!"
Aninth was surprised when there was no verbal reply and simply another knock at the door. Going to answer it to see what the problem was, Aninth had to look way up when she opened the door to see the familiar face of the man dressed all in grey. Of all the people she expected to see on the other side of the door, the face of Gandalf the Grey was definitely near the bottom of her list.
"Come in," she told him, beckoning him inside and closing the door behind him.
He sat down at the small table inside the room and Aninth hurried over to the fireplace where her small kettle was sitting on the stone and lifted it, placing it in the flames for it to begin to boil. She then moved to grab the two cups she owned, setting them on the table in front of Gandalf, finally looking up at him with a smile as she waited for the water to boil.
"It is very nice to see you again, Aninth," he told her.
"And you, Gandalf," she said. “It’s been too long since our paths last crossed. It was in Bree, wasn’t it?”
“No, I believe it was in the Shire.”
“Ah, yes,” she said, remembering now. “I was visiting Bilbo. When I lost my father’s home, those of his belongings I was able to keep were entrusted to him.”
“That was kind of him.”
"Yes, our fathers were friends, I’ve known him for a long time. Though I will admit I don’t visit him as much as I should,” Aninth admitted, before shaking her head and turning back to Gandalf. “But enough of that, what brings you to my lodgings?"
