“I don’t like dwarves. They are greedy and blind. Blind to the lives of those they deem lesser than their own.”
“Which, my dear Lupine, is precisely the reason I am begrudged to allow you to join the party. Thorin is the most dwarfish of dwarves you are ever likely to encounter. Logic says you would keep as far from him as possible.”
“Just because I do not like them now, does not mean I cannot feel for them Gandalf. Logic says they have lost a home and I should do all I can in aiding their return to it. I did not have a home or have you quite forgotten that?”
“You spent your years with Radagast-”
“Home is where the heart is some say Gandalf. I had no heart in that place with Radagast. Those are years I remember fondly of course, but he was just a wizard. He did not know the workings of skin-changers. Only kin could know that. We did not have kin.”
“Lupine, there are fourteen in the company. There is a leader, there is a burglar and there are a jolly group of loyal dwarves. Tell me how a skin-changer would aid them.”
“That burglar Gandalf, he is small, vulnerable and inexperienced; he is a Halfling and no more. He will need protection. You think dwarves could understand that concept? You think they would know his innocence? They have short minds. Perhaps fatally short.”
“You are underestimating them young Lupine- and the burglar too.”
“Gandalf, why won’t-”
“I never said you could not come Lupine.” he interrupted and there was a pause.
The small figure beside him raised its eyes and lifted its shoulders.
“But we shall see what the dwarves say to it. I, after all, am not the leader of the company, yet still, I myself would agree with you; any help, especially that concerning our burglar, should not be lightly declined.”
The figure’s mouth lifted slightly at the edges.
“Now, I have much to do. I must visit Hobbiton. I must speak to Thorin. Oh and I could so dearly do with a smoke.”
The figure, assuming all was done, turned from the wizard, and on light feet, moved slowly away.
“And Lupine.” added the Wizard.
The figure stopped, “Gandalf?”
“Home may not be a place. Home is feeling settled and happy and content. Home could be a companion or state of mind or a dream. I doubt that you do not have a home. You simply have not recognised it yet.”
The figure nodded, “I will remember that Gandalf.” it said.
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If this is to End in Fire: Hobbit Fan Fiction Skin-changer
FanfictionLupine is a young skin-changer. Forced into a quest amongst thirteen bumbling dwarves, an old, foreshadowing wizard and a flummoxed, little Hobbit, she embarks on a journey of action, adventure, mystery, secrets, loss and reward. All the while she...
