Disclaimer: The only thing I own in this story is my OC, Karra. I wish I owned certain characters, but such is the fate of a fangirl.

And Another Disclaimer: This story is loosely inspired by The Inconvenient and Unexpected Journey of Millie Fournier by kiliyousosilly, The Awkward Adventures of Meghan Whimblesby by FebruarySong, and The Adventures of Estela and Addonenniel by Luna Elen. So if you see anything that looks like I might have gotten an idea from one of those stories, I probably did. So there you go.

Author's Note: Well, this thing is finally finished. I've learned a lot, made some mistakes, and (hopefully) improved a lot. It's not the best thing I've ever written. Honestly, looking back at some of the earlier chapters kind of makes me cringe. I way overuse dialogue from the movie, for one thing. I could go back and rewrite it, but sometimes you just need to move on and be done with it, you know? But all in all, for a first attempt, I'm fairly satisfied with it, and I hope you enjoy my humble little (or, well, rather large) story.

Chapter 1-Introducing Karra McPherson

Karra sighed as she stared at the snow falling outside her window. Why did it always have to snow on nights she had plans?

Her phone beeped. Text.

Im really sorry…..i think im going to have to cancel, her friend Kat had texted. its snowing too hard and it might be dangerous. i guess you'll just have to meet HIM some other time too

Wait a minute, HE was coming? Karra texted back with a giggle. You do realize this is the 4th 'him' that you've tried to hook me up with. Lemme guess, he's tall dark and handsome.

Right, came the reply. and whenever you do get a chance to meet him you'll love him

You said that the last three times. And its the 'tall' part that always gets me. Karra was laughing now. I'd much prefer you find someone short and handsome, thank you. No awkward height difference, you know. Karra was short, and it was a well known fact around the college campus, thanks to her friend's efforts to hook her up with a guy. At 18 years old, she only stood 4 and a half feet tall, and she was getting rather tired of the 'tall, dark, and handsome' thing. And how many times did she have to tell Kat that when it came to looks, she rather preferred light haired men?

Yeah, well, im absolutely sure he'll love you, too, Kat texted back. I promise I'll schedule something. sorry we had to cancel. see ya sometime! :D bye

Kay, bye. Karra slumped back on her bed. Well, now that her dinner with her friend, and apparently, the dream guy, was cancelled, she had the whole evening to herself. She absently fingered the key that hung around her neck, wondering what she was supposed to do with herself.

The key…..she had had that trinket since, well, almost since before she could remember. She nearly always wore it around her neck, as a sort of keepsake of her dad, who had disappeared when she was six. She didn't remember much about him, only that he had given her that key before he had….gone away. It was an odd sort of key, sort of angular, but sort of pretty in its own way, too. Running her fingers over its shape, she thought of her mom. She hadn't called her lately…..

Nah. Her mom had always been distant, but ever since Karra had left for college, she had grown even more so. Karra had found it harder and harder to talk to her lately. So she had taken to not calling her as much, and gradually, she had gotten into the habit of not calling her at all. She knew she should, but…..oh well, maybe she could find something else to do with her evening.

She absently ran her fingers through her hair, which she had braided up into some sort of a style for the dinner with Kat. Her thick, reddish-auburn hair was undoubtedly her best feature, and she took every opportunity she had to play with it. Actually, its thickness tended to be kind of a nuisance sometimes, so she usually had to do something with it; pull it back just to get it out of her way. She kept it shoulder length for convenience's sake, but she liked playing with various braids and styles. Tonight, she had done a French braid across the top of her head, blending into a couple of braids down the back.

Well, I guess I might as well change out of my dress clothes, she thought, realizing she was still dressed, complete with high heels, for a dinner at a nice restaurant. She began to fan herself with a picture of her mom and dad that was sitting on a table beside her; it was a bit hot and stuffy in here.

Wait a minute—hot and stuffy? It was snowing outside. It really shouldn't be hot and stuffy in here. Maybe the apartment complex was having some sort of heater malfunction….that had actually happened before. It was beginning to feel like the walls were closing in on her. The room seemed to darken….oh, great, was the electricity having a problem, too?

She was suddenly conscious of a strange white glow. How odd….where was that coming from…..wait a minute, it was coming from her! In shocked surprise, she pulled the key out from under her shirt, realizing that it was actually glowing. With trembling fingers, she unfastened the chain it hung on. A cool white glow emanated from it, almost making the room around her seem dark. She stared in amazement and confusion. What was happening? Was she dreaming?

The glow seemed to grow, almost hurting her eyes. It was surrounding her…she was floating in white….a moment later, sudden darkness enveloped her.

The first thing Karra heard was the sound of a bird chirping. A fresh breeze blew past her. She felt grass below her. She opened her eyes slowly. Little wispy clouds floated in the blue sky above her. She ran her fingers through the grass, enjoying the feeling for a moment.

Wait a minute. Birds? Breeze? Grass? Sky? She was supposed to be in her apartment. At night. In January. She sat up rather quickly and gazed about her. This wasn't right. Oh, yes, she was definitely dreaming. She had to be.

Well, since it was a dream, she might as well enjoy the fresh breeze before she woke up. It was rather nice here. She sighed and leaned back against a tree. This was kind of a welcome break from her apartment in the city, even if it was a dream.

But oddly enough, it didn't really feel like a dream, or it was an especially vivid dream. After all, it didn't usually hurt to sit on something sharp in a dream, which Karra had just done, and subsequently let out a yelp of discomfort. After clearing the offending stone out of the way, she sat back against the tree and waited for herself to wake up. If she did wake up. She had to. This was a dream. It had to be.

But she didn't wake up. As a matter of fact, after a bit, she began to feel rather sleepy. Ummm…..sleepy? In a dream? Okay, this was just plain wrong. For the first time, she began to seriously wonder what was happening. There was absolutely no way she could be sleepy in a dream, she thought, jerking herself awake.

Was this a hallucination? No, that couldn't be right either. First of all, why would she be hallucinating? It wasn't like she had passed out or anything like that. And besides, this was all just way too real. She could feel the warmth of the sun on her face, the grass beneath her, the tree bark on her back. You just wouldn't have all those details in a hallucination or a dream.

But surely it couldn't be real! It couldn't…it couldn't. This was just too strange. It couldn't be real. It had to be a dream, or….or….something else! It had to be!

But what if it was…..real?! Suddenly Karra felt the entirely reasonable panic of someone who had just realized that they were randomly transported somewhere without a clue of where they are seizing her. She clutched the key tighter in her hand and tried to calm down.

The key. She was still holding it. Her hands shaking slightly, she fastened the chain back around her neck and slipped the key back beneath her shirt, where she normally kept it hidden.

Don't panic, she told herself. Don't panic. I must find out what's happening. I must.

Just as she was about to stand up and recklessly head off in a random direction in the hopes of finding something or someone, she heard voices.

Voices. That meant people. Forcing herself to calm down a bit, she decided to sit back down and wait for whoever it was to come along and find her. Perhaps they could give her some information about where she was.

Whoever they were, they were obviously having some sort of conversation. Karra perked up her ears to listen; perhaps she could get an idea of who was coming. Various bits of conversation drifted to her. She heard the words, 'quest,' 'hobbit,' 'Erebor.'

Erebor? What was that supposed to mean? And where had she heard the word 'hobbit' before? Suddenly something about this seemed vaguely familiar. She searched the corners of her mind, trying to figure out what it was.

Before she had time to figure much of anything out, a rather large group of people riding horses came around a bend. No, wait, they were riding ponies. Karra was surprised to note that they were all about the same height as her. The people, that is, not the ponies. All except one of them—a person, that is—who was a lot taller than the others and riding a regular horse. Then she noticed that they were all dressed rather oddly, maybe like people out of the medieval times or something like that. The tall one wore a grey pointy hat. What was that…..a wizard? Oh, gosh, this kept getting weirder and weirder.

Suddenly it dawned on her why this all seemed so familiar. Hobbit—the Hobbit—J.R.R. Tolkien! She remembered her dad reading that book to her when she was very little. All she remembered about it was that it had something to do with a dragon….dwarves…..and a Hobbit….whatever a Hobbit was. Oh my goodness, this could not be happening! Was she inside a book?!

She processed all this in the short amount of time it took for the company to approach her. As they came closer, she debated whether to run and hide behind a tree or start jumping and waving her arms in an effort to get their attention. She decided on the latter. Well, sort of.

"Hello?" she quavered, standing up rather quickly and trying to look determined, and probably failing.

The entire company came to a stop and stared at her.

"Sorry to interrupt your, um, quest, but, um, I'm kind of lost and I need, um, help!" she fumbled.

"And what would a dwarf woman be doing lost in the lands near the Shire?" the tall one with the pointy hat—Karra thought she remembered that his name was Ganolf or something like that—spoke.

"Umm…..I don't exactly know! I just kind of ended up here. And I'm not a dwarf." Well, she'd been called worse.

"Not a dwarf, she says!" exclaimed one of them. "Well, are you a tall Hobbit or a short Woman?" It was obvious he was teasing her. She flushed slightly.

"And dressed oddly, too," added another. Karra suddenly realized how strange she must look to them, with her obviously different dress clothes, and her high heels. Her flush grew.

"Who are you?" asked another.

"I don't know!" she blurted out. "I mean, my name is Karra McPherson. But I have no idea how I got here."

"We shouldn't leave a lady alone in the wild," another observed.

"The Shire is but a three day's walk from here," Ganolf—was that his name?—said, not unkindly. "The folk there would be quite glad to help you."

Karra glanced uncomfortably down at her shoes. Three day's walk? No. "I'd be more likely to get lost," she replied. "I really don't know this place at all, and….I'm not sure I can walk that far."

"Are you hurt?" one of the people (Dwarves, as she supposed they were) asked.

"Not really….." But my feet would hurt, she thought, not exactly sure what to say. "But these shoes….they're just not real good for walking, and….." her flush deepened even more, realizing she had called attention to her odd shoes. "Well….."

"As I said," said the same dwarf who had spoken earlier, "We should not leave the lass alone in the wilderness."

"Are you suggesting that we let her accompany us on our quest?" retorted another. "That would only put her in danger!"

"And how do we know she's not a spy of some sort?" asked someone else. Karra gasped, genuine shock on her face.

"A spy?!" she exclaimed. "Who would I be a spy for?!"

One of the other dwarves shrugged. "Doesn't seem too dangerous, if you ask me." Karra rather wished they would stop talking about her in third person; she was standing right there, for goodness sakes!

She got her wish. One of the others turned her direction. "You," he said. It was obvious the others had some respect for him, for when he spoke, all heads turned his direction. "Tell me exactly where you have come from and what you are doing here."

"Well…." Karra began. "I guess you could say it's a very far away land. And I guess you could say I got…..lost, and ended up here. All I want is to know is where I am and…..some help, I guess." Glancing down at her feet again, she added, "And I'm not sure I can walk three days to this Shire place."

The leader of the company looked her up and down, as if examining her for truthfulness. Karra felt her flush deepen even more, and she looked away.

Finally he spoke. "A dwarf woman lost in the wilderness near the Shire is indeed rather strange," he said slowly. "It does seem as if she might have been planted in our path for one reason or another." He turned to the others. "What think you?" he asked.

"Seems suspicious to me," said one, the same one that had asked if she was a spy.

"I would say that spy or no, we cannot leave a lady lost and alone," said another.

"But to allow her to travel with us would only put her in danger!" exclaimed another.

"I say she's a spy," said that same one. Karra glared at him.

"We can at least escort her to the nearest town," interjected one who hadn't spoken yet. He was obviously younger and had had lighter hair, with a slight beard. Karra thought him rather handsome. "There she might find someone who could take care of her."

Soon all of the others were chiming in with suggestions, and pretty soon everyone was talking at once. Karra looked back and forth between various people, trying to figure out what was happening, and whether her fate was being decided, or whether they were all just arguing pointlessly. She was just about to plop down back against the tree and put her head in her hands when the leader spoke.

"Enough!" he shouted, and everyone stopped rather quickly. "Enough," he said more quietly. After a moment of tense silence, he spoke again. "She may travel with us until we find a place for her."

Karra let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't going to have to walk three days back to this 'Shire' whatever that was! She was quite happy….for a moment. That is, until she realized she would have to ride on one of their ponies.

"We have no extra ponies," she heard the handsome light haired one saying. Turning to her, he offered, "You may ride with me." As she approached him, he offered her his hand to help her up.

"I've….I've never ridden…anything…before," Karra mumbled. All the same, she took his hand, and between her awkward efforts and his help, she managed to get up on the pony behind him. After a moment or so of wondering if she should or not, she finally decided that she would put her arms around his waist to steady herself, no matter how awkward it was. He didn't seem to mind.

"Welcome to the company of Thorin Oakenshield, at least for a little while," he said, turning around as best he could to look at her. "My name is Fili."

"I'm Karra," she replied. "Oh, I guess you already know that. Is your name seriously Fili? That's weird." She realized how rude it sounded after it came out of her mouth. Why did she have to be so darn awkward?!

Fili didn't seem insulted. Instead he just grinned at her and said, "I might say that your name is strange, only I chose not to."

Karra bit her lip. "Sorry. Umm…..since I'll be traveling with you, at least for a little bit, could you introduce me to the rest of the company?"

"Of course. Over there on the brown pony is my brother Kili…." And Fili gave her the names of the rest of the company, including Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf. Of course, that was his name. But all the rest of the names….they were all just as odd, and they all rhymed. How in the world was she supposed to remember all of them, and then actually remember who they belonged to? Oh, well, maybe she wouldn't be with the company long enough that she would need to.

"I heard the word quest. Could you tell me what kind of quest this is?" Karra asked out of honest curiosity; also, she wondered how much she actually remembered about The Hobbit.

Fili seemed a bit hesitant, and it suddenly struck Karra that he probably wouldn't want to tell the details of their quest to a complete stranger. After a moment, he said, "It is a long tale."

"Well, we have a long time, don't we?" Karra said cheerily.

"Very well," he replied. "I suppose I should start at the beginning. My great grandfather, Thror, King Under the Mountain…."

And Fili told her the whole tale, with frequent interruptions from Karra. First he had to explain to her what and where Erebor was, and then he had to explain exactly what Smaug was, and then she needed to know what a hobbit was, and so on. He seemed a bit perplexed by her confusion, but answered her questions readily…..with just a bit of teasing. The story took up most of the afternoon, including a short stop for lunch, and after the tale was finished, Fili left Karra to think about what she had just heard.

And think she did. This all sounded slightly familiar, but only slightly. She remembered liking The Hobbit as a kid, but she didn't remember much about the story. She was really beginning to wonder what was happening. Was she really inside a book? And how….?

Finally she gave up trying to reason it out and fell to examining the other members of the party. She had decided that the dwarf she rode behind was really quite handsome, his brother was pretty cute, and Thorin Oakenshield was fairly attractive, in a regal, distant kind of way, and she was just beginning to analyze various dwarves' hairstyles, when she began to get rather sleepy. The afternoon was beginning to seem very long, and the sun very bright. The scenery was….well, the scenery was pretty, but the sun was so bright, and warm…

She closed her eyes, hoping Fili wouldn't mind if she leaned on him.

This isn't a dream, was the last thing she thought as she drifted off to sleep, her head leaning on the golden-haired dwarf's shoulder.

Alright, I hope you liked it, because there will most assuredly be more! I have about a third of this written out on my computer, so the next chapter I'm writing will be far ahead of the next chapter I'm posting. Hopefully I'll stay about 13 chapters ahead of myself. Hopefully. If I start procrastinating, just give me a little kick in the….well, you know what I'm saying.

…..review?