"-Master Oakenshield?"

"What?'' Thorin snapped from his gazing towards the two separate tables that held almost all the members of his company, and instead turned towards the two figures next to him.

Gandalf and the Lord Elrond stood looking at him with expectant expressions as if awaiting an answer.

"I said; would you like another roll?" Gandalf asked, holding out a small roll of bread for Thorin. Thorin stared at it a moment then slowly shook his head.

"No."

"Very well." Gandalf said and put the bread onto his own plate instead. Thorin turned back to the company who were all grumbling about the vegetables and lack of meat.

The sight made his lips lift a bit in amusement. He knew that after a long, tiring day, his dwarves would not be complaining about anything they had to eat, but the fact that it was food given to them by the elves, they threw their food down stubbornly onto their plates and grumbled about the manner of such food.

Although the music that was being played by the elves was sweet enough to make him frown. With all its Elvish harps and flutes the sound that they made was entirely too…Elvish for his liking.

Of course, being the respectable king he chose to keep his mouth shut. He instead decided to look down at his own plate which was filled with its own variety of vegetables, but that was all he did, look at it.

His hunger did not override his hate for anything elven. Even the vegetables.

Above the grumbling of the dwarves and the music of the elves a light laugh was heard and suddenly the talking stopped- unfortunately the music did not.

Thorin's head snapped up from his plate to see Gwendoline standing in the entry of the courtyard.

Relief settled over him as he saw her standing upright and looking anything but dead.

"Gwenie!" Kili called, and Thorin turned to look at his nephew as well as several of the other dwarves voicing their own relief.

"You're alive, lass!" Oin called and Thorin refused to pay any attention to the way his heart seemed to stutter at the sound of her laugh once again.

"Yes I am." She said and began walking to a seat right next to the hobbit. Thorin clenched his jaw at the thought of her sitting next to that Halfling and set his face in a stone cold expression to cover up the uncertain emotions that seemed to be flying through him.

He looked away quickly when he saw the hobbit smile up at her, and instead indulged himself subconsciously in the pieces of lettuce that were on his plate. Taking slow bites and thinking about anything other then that woman.

Besides he had more important matters to attend to. He knew the reason that Gandalf had brought him here. They needed a translator for the map to Erebor, and Elrond is one of the only that would be able to read them. They needed his help and-

"Mahal, Gwen!" Thorin's head snapped up in sudden awareness at the sound of Fili's distressed call, and immediately Thorin saw what he was talking about.

His body stiffened at the sight of dried dark blood across the back of Gwendoline's tunic and suddenly he felt a wave of sudden distress and anger and…shame.

The blood on her was just a reminder of what he could have done to protect her, to prevent this from happening.

He turned away and faced instead towards the setting sun, no eager to look at her wound as she questioned why they were all staring at her.

"Couldn't you have worn something a little less, I don't know, bloody?" Fili asked and Thorin did not need to look at her to sense her confusion. He blocked out the dialogue coming from them and instead turned his attention to the Elvish sword strapped to his hip.

He tried to advert his mind from focusing on his worry for that woman the stupid, irrational feelings that seemed to always be flooding him when she was nearby. It was completely un-leader-like.

He needed to focus on their purpose here in Rivendell. He needed to focus on their quest, and on Erebor, and the Arkenstone.

Concentration was vital for the success of this journey and just because a beautiful woman decided to show up and become part of it, he should not let that distract him from more important things. Like getting through this meal without becoming completely unhinged by the elves and Gwendoline's aggravating…everything.

There were times when he began second guessing his decision to let her come. She may have some unknown knowledge that the rest of them were not aware of, but that did not matter when she was a very obvious distraction to him, and the rest of the company.

She couldn't fight; she slowed them down, and most of all she managed to make him want to march over to her and…what?

What did he want to march over and do? He himself was actually not even sure.

But then he would look at her and he would see those green eyes, those same green eyes that caught him by surprise when he had first met them.

Then he would see her talking to the others, and how kind she was, and how much his company cared for her. How willing they were to protect her.

Then he would realize how important she was to this quest, even if he may not know exactly why, he could just tell.

Then he would see her repeated bravery against trolls and orcs and he would begin to realize that he would stop second-guessing himself and her, and he would begin to appreciate her willingness to join them, to help them.

Loyalty. Honor. A willing heart. That is what he saw in all his dwarves and what he now realized he saw in her.

He couldn't ask for anything more.

It wasn't until he realized that Gwendoline was glaring at him from her spot next to the Halfling that he had been staring at her, scowling no doubt. He was told multiple times that he scowled when thinking.

He averted his eyes quickly back to his plate and began to chew on an already half eaten lettuce. Silently wishing he could get up and leave the room.

Gwendoline noticed Kili's gazes at the elves before anyone else did and continued to stare at him with amusement for several minutes before he realized she was watching.

It wasn't until he winked at one that anyone else noticed.

Of course he tried to cover it, saying that he didn't think that elves had enough hair and were too flawless for him.

The best part was the irony of it all.

Gwen laughed along when he admitted to checking out an elf maid that turned out to be not an elf maid.

The roaring laughter of the company seemed to break their complaining about food and everything else Elvish they could think of.

Kili just nodded along and attempted to hide his embarrassment.

Gwen smiled as she watched them all chattering and smiling. It was good to see them getting an actual meal (no matter how much they complained about it) and getting the rest they needed.

They had been traveling for only a few weeks, 2 months at most, but it was clear to see how travel weary they were all, Gwen included.

Though the dwarves were definitely more used to such traveling and better adapted to such a thing and it was clear they were already recovering from weeks of ongoing pony riding.

Gwen guessed that she would have to get used to ongoing walking pretty soon considering that they had lost the ponies after the trolls. The thought of walking the rest of the way made Gwen frown a bit, but her smile was easily recovered as the dwarves roared once again in laughter at something Oin did.

She took a gulp of the water that had been placed in front of her and was quite content with just watching the dwarves.

Her attention was called by Balin when she heard him speaking lowly to Bilbo.

"I wouldn't bother, laddie." He said. Gwen turned to see that Bilbo had his sword out and was looking at it expectantly. He turned to look at Gwen, having noticed she was now paying attention, then turned his gaze back to Balin. "Swords are named for the great deeds they do in war." Bilbo's face fell.

"What are you saying, my sword hasn't seen battle?"

"I'm not actually sure it is a sword; more of a letter opener, really." Balin shrugged then turned back to his meal. Bilbo scrunched his face up and peered once again at his 'letter opener'.

"I'm sure it will come in handy." Gwen said to him when he was about to put it away. He paused and looked to her.

"Hmm?"

"Your sword-letter opener- whatever it is. I'm sure it will come in handy sometime." Gwen said, and when she caught his eye she continued. "Maybe you will even be able to name it yourself." Bilbo looked from her, to his sword, and back again.

"I'm not sure I really want to be in a battle to be able to name it." He said seriously, and Gwen gave him a solemn smile.

"I sure hope we don't have to." Gwen said, matter-of-factly and turned away just in time to catch Thorin's eye as he walked past their table towards the other side of the courtyard.

He looked away as soon as their eyes met and continued on to stand next to a tree with a single mug in his hand.

Gwen quickly averted her gaze as well to see Nori complaining about the music.

"I feel like I'm at a funeral!" He whined and winced as if the sound physically hurt him.

"Did somebody die?" Oin asked, being the one to always mishear things that are said.

"Alright lads." Bofur said, and Gwen's eyebrows rose when he began to stand. "There's only one thing for it." With that he pushed back his chair and moved to stand on a podium in the middle of the pavilion. With a single wink in Gwen's direction he began.

There's an inn, there's an inn, there's a merry old in
Beneath an old grey hill
And there they brew a beer so brown
The man in the moon himself came down
One night to drink his fill.

Oh the ostler has a tipsy cat
That plays a five-stringed fiddle;
And up and down he runs his bow,
Now squeaking high, now purring low,
Now sawing in the middle

As Bofur continued to sing his song, the dwarves all laughed and began to throw food around at each other. Gwen herself also began to laugh along, picking up the occasional lettuce and throwing it at dwarf after dwarf.

She would stop to look around at the elves and that only made her laugh louder at their confused expressions and the looks they sent to one another as if to say, 'What are these strange creatures doing?'

Gwen looked toward the other table as she heard her name called, just in time to receive a roll to the face as the bread hit her dead between the eyes.

She looked from the roll to where it landed on the table and back to its source, being a laughing Kili who was too busy grabbing another handful of food to realize she was looking at him.

She grabbed that same roll and in a fit of childish behavior sent it sailing back to him. Unfortunately, Gwen's aim was anything but precise and the roll instead flew straight at Dwalin.

Fortunately, he saw the roll coming and ducked just in time.

Unfortunately, the roll continued to fly until it hit right into the harp that the elf maid had been playing. There was a dull ding as it hit the strings and Gwen immediately froze as the elf stood in surprise.

The dwarves of course only saw the humor in such a thing and began to laugh hysterically. The elf looked up at Gwen who gave her a very apologetic smile and when the elf raised a reassuring hand, looked away and slumped in her chair, embarrassment reddening her cheeks.

The song continued and the laughing didn't stop either and when Gwen finally looked up after her embarrassment she met the amused eyes of Thorin Oakenshield.

He watched her and took a sip of the cup he was holding in his hand, obviously trying to hide the light smile on his face. Gwen glared at him when he only continued to look amused at her embarrassment.

Gwen half considered throwing a roll at him herself.

Much to her relief- and amusement- someone else took that opportunity themselves and a handful of mashed potatoes soared before hitting Thorin Oakenshield right in the Shoulder.

This time, it was Gwen's turn to be amused.

I'm finally back with a new chapter (2 years later)!

I actually wrote this chapter two years ago, but I'm going to have to reread everything to re-familiarize myself with the lingo and story line and everything, and go over all the notes I took for this, but I have high hopes and I am excited to continue!

-Natalia Bawden