Wayfarer of dawn

IV. In which bodies are flung

By the time the company had their next break Bilbo was saddle-sore. But when Rána saw where they were going to stay for the night she frowned. She could feel a dreadful, sad, and haunting presence in the broken down shed. And she no longer wanted to rest, she wanted to leave. In the corner of the broken shed she saw a little doll, made of rags and buttons. "A family used to live here" she voiced to Gandalf, her voice soft and sad. He nodded solemnly. Gandalf agreed with Rána's thoughts, though unkown to both of them. He walked up to Thorin. "We should leave, we could make it to Imladris before nightfall" Gandalf told Thorin. And Thorin looked up, clearly not pleased by this idea. Disgust was clear on his face as he answered. "We are not going near that place." "The elves can help" Gandalf voiced, trying to reason with Thorin. "I will not go near that place." Gandalf huffed angrily and stormed back to his horse. On his way he passed Bilbo and Rána. "Gandalf, where are you going?" Bilbo asked. "To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense!" "Who's that?" "MYSELF, Mr. Baggins! I've had enough of Dwarves for one day!" Gandalf cried out angrily, before hoisting himself atop his horse and galloping away.

Rána frowned, for she had heard the conversation between Gandalf and Thorin. She had heard Thorin's aversion towards her kin. And now Gandalf had taken off. She turned to Bilbo with a sad look. "Do not take his words to heart Bilbo, he is merely tired and weary. Which clouds his judgement over others" Rána told him, trying to brighten his spirit. And it seemed to work, fo Bilbo nodded and set off to join the Dwarves for dinner. And so did Rána, sitting down next to Bofur. "I do not mean to pry, but may I ask what happened to Bifur?" Rána asked him, refering to the axe stuck in Bifur's head. "Ah, you're not prying. No worries." Bofur told her with a sad smile. "It was an orc attack. We all got away quite unscatched, but Bifur....he took an axe to the head. It was a miracle he survived, but that miracle came with its costs." Bofur told her, looking at his cousin Bifur sadly. Bifur's hands were busily working on a wooden toy, but there was to much excess wood to see what he was making. And Rána looked at him with admiration in her eyes, for she had once tried to make something out of wood and it had taken her ages. "Once there were days where the entire town would watch him make wooden toys, and never we knew what it was, untill he knocked all the excess wood off. His creations were the most beautiful ever seen, and lords and ladies came down from their high chairs to buy wood-work from him. He spoke with them all, cheery and friendly. And ever polite. But now... now all he can make are twisted lumps of wood, never as beautiful as he used to. And the only language he speaks is Khuzdul, the ancient Dwarven language." Bofur finished sadly, his eyes drooping and his shoulders hunched. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that...." Rána said, her voice soft and caring. She had no other response than that, for she did not know how to respond to such a sad tale. Bofur just nodded sadly. And together they continued to watch Bifur.

Rána had been sitting, drawing, by the fire for quite some time when Bombur exclaimed happily "Stew!" Rána's eyes flitted up from her nearly finished drawing and she smiled. Bofur glanced down in her lap to look at the drawing, and a gasp escaped his lips. The drawing he was looking at was a drawing of Bombur, Bifur, and himself. Bifur by the fire, working on his wood. Bombur next to him, a bowl of stew in his hand. And he himself was sitting next to them with a clarinet. How she knew he liked that instrument best was a wild guess to him, but he loved the drawing. It was so detailed. And then she put her pencil back to the paper, and wrote down 'Sigin-tarâg' beneath it. The Khuzdul word for 'the Longbeards'. And when Bilbo set out to bring Fili and Kili some stew Rána got up to go with him. She ripped out the piece of paper and handed it to Bofur with a smile. "Hand this to Bifur for me, will you?" She asked him. "I had no idea you knew Khuzdul" "I know little, but it's enought to try." And with that answer Rána was walking after Bilbo, a smile on her face.

When Bilbo and Rána reached Fili and Kili, however, that smile faded away. "What is it? What's wrong?" Rána heard Bilbo ask Fili and Kili, as she went to inspect the tracks. Vaguely she registered Fili and Kili telling Bilbo that the ponies were gone, and how they figured he could take a look at it. But by the time they caught up with her she was already watching the trolls. But beside her concern for the ponies, and confusion as to why Fili and Kili missed something the size of an overgrown tree, Rána wondered why the trolls had come down so far from the mountains. But she had no time to ponder on her thougths as she, apparently, had zoned out for far too long. And now Bilbo was being held up by a troll, who decided he had sneezed up Bilbo. Rána sighed and shook her head before creeping around the campside, grabbing an arrow and notching it. By the time she was on the other side she let the arrow fly into the hand of the troll. Causing him to drop Biblo. And that's when hell broke loose.

If you were to ask Rána how in the Valar's name she ended up suspended in the air by her legs, in the grip of the fat hand of a troll named Bert, she would give you a very vague answer. Something along the lines of 'At one moment I was peacefully shooting an arrow in a troll's hand and the next the Dwarves were running around and creating havock, slashing at the troll's legs and other limbs they could reach. And then I saw one go for Bilbo and my body moved on its own accord, pushing Bilbo out of the way and getting lifted up'. Now the troll that was holding her was also the troll she shot, so he wasn't the nicest of the bunch. "Drop yer weapons ur she'r gets fried!" He called out. And the Dwarves looked up in shock, to find one of their companions dangling above the fire. But Thorin dropped his sword with an angry face, and the others followed his lead. But still the troll did not drop Rána, he just grinned. And flung Rána against a tree. Where the world went black for her.