Disclaimer: I do not own anything Hobbit/Lord of the Rings related they belong to J.R.R Tolkien and movie wise to Peter Jackson. Any characters not recognized belong to me.

Please don't be angry if translations are off. I did my best trying to find accurate sites to help.

Translations:

Alatulya. Welcome

Mani marte? What happened?

Chapter 2 of Home Again

The sun shone high in the sky as Gandalf and Calinmiriel continued along on their journey. Calinmiriel bounced excitedly in her saddle as she rode along on her pony.

"Where are we going Mithrandir?"

"We are going to take you home."

Calinmiriel scrunched up her nose in confusion for a minute before she suddenly became distracted by a rabbit that ran across their path. Such a happy child Gandalf thought to himself as they rode along. After a while the pair stopped for a small meal. While Gandalf was preparing the meal, Calinmiriel snuck an apple from one of the sacks and fed it to her pony before bouncing off to as corner not far away.

"Do not stray too far child."

Minutes later Gandalf had finished their meal and turned to find Calinmiriel was nowhere to be found. He turned several times looking left and right for the child before she suddenly dropped out of a tree, hanging upside down from her knees on a limb.

"Come the food is ready." Calin righted herself before dropping out of the tree joining Gandalf. Soon after finishing and cleaning up the pair were back on the road.

As darkness descended, they began looking for a place to stay for the night. They found a small rock outcropping among the trees and decided to settle there for the night. Well, almost. Calinmiriel had slept for a little bit but not for long. She had never known life outside of Rivendell, and this was certainly not Rivendell at night. The smallest sound would jar her from her sleep. She shot up from her bedroll for the tenth time that night on the verge of tears.

"Fret not, we will be safe, the dawn is almost here." Gandalf reassured her as he dug through one of his bags. He pulled out a small object and put the end of his pipe to it.

"What is your favorite creature?"

"I like chasing butterflies and fireflies."

With her answer the object shot from Gandalf's hand into the sky, rocketing past Calinmiriel causing her to jump back. It suddenly burst into an explosion of colors and began to float all around. They were butterflies, beautiful firework butterflies were flitting and fluttering all about, so many different colors and kinds flew around Calinmiriel. She suddenly forgot that she was afraid and began to giggle as one of the butterflies landed on the tip of her small button nose.

Soon Gandalf lit another firework, this one burst and turned bright like thousands of tiny little diamonds. Calin laid back down on her makeshift bed as she watched the faux fireflies flicker around her. Not long after she was fast asleep.

Almost two weeks had passed since they had set out. Today it had begun to rain. Not just rain but torrentially downpour. This no doubt had begun to put a damper on young Calin's mood. She was wet, tired, and grumpy from the journey. They had begun stopping less often and Calin had almost fallen off her pony twice when she dozed off. She was growing increasingly impatient by the day and wished they were at their destination.

Calin looked up from under her soggy, damp hood and noticed a large wooden gate not too far ahead of them. As they drew nearer she noticed a slot in the gate. Gandalf knocked on the gate with his staff and the slot slid open. Calin could just make out a pair of eyes. Soon the gate began to swing open and Gandalf motioned for her to go ahead.

Soon they stood at the front of a large inn. It had its front on the road and two wings running back into the land partially cut out of the lower slopes of the hill. So that the rear and second floor windows were level with the ground. There was a wide arch leading to a courtyard between the two wings, and on the left under the arch there was a doorway reached by a few broad steps. Above the arch was a lamp, and beneath it swung a large sign board: A fat white pony reared up on its hind legs. Over the door was painted in white letters: The Prancing Pony.

A young boy rushed out from the door and came to meet Gandalf. Gandalf helped Calin off her pony and handed the reins of both horses to the young boy. The two then walked into a rather large common room and were greeted by a rather portly man.

"Gandalf, to what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Just passing through and require food and lodging for the night." Gandalf replied as he led Calin to a table in the center of the large common room. She scrambled up onto a chair just as the portly man that owned the inn placed a bowl before each of them.

From a corner of the room a hooded figure watched the odd pair. Once they were finished the figure stood and joined them.

"Mithrandir." The wizard looked up as the man removed his hood. Calin looked up at the young man in front of them. There before her stood a lean, tall man with shaggy dark hair, grey eyes, and a stern face covered in light stubble.

Calin tugged on Gandalf's grey robes. "Does everyone know you, Mithrandir?" Gandalf just gave a small chuckle and patted the child's head.

"Calinmiriel, this is Strider."

"Alatulya."

Strider was a bit taken aback at first. The child was too small for an elf child and had no point to her ears. Also she was too small for a human child, she had shoes covering her feet and they were proportionate to her figure so she was no hobbit child either.

"Mani marte?" Calin asked when he didn't answer right away.

"You speak well for one so young." Calin smiled at the compliment.

Strider sat himself next to Gandalf and the two began to talk. Calin just sat there swinging her tiny legs back and forth as she looked at the other people crowding the common room, they all seemed so strange to her.

"Will they take her?"

"They wouldn't deny one of their own."

"What of her other family? Does the child know?"

"She is safe this was. For her own good she must not know. Not just yet. When the time is right she will be told. Her time will come."

Soon Gandalf and Strider had finished their conversation, and just in time too. From next to them Calin let out a yawn far too big for someone of her small size. Gandalf grabbed the innkeeper's wife as she passed and whispered something to her. She turned to Calin.

"Come with me child." Calin looked up at the older woman. She was a plump blond woman with streaks of grey mixed in. Calin hopped off the chair and looked at Gandalf.

"I will follow soon."

Calin followed the innkeeper's wife. She led Calin up to a room and ushered her in. Soon a younger woman knocked and entered holding a basket in her hands. She walked past Calin and joined the older women in the other room. Soon Calin heard her name being called and walked in to join the two women. She was quickly disrobed and rather unceremoniously dumped into a large tub, where both the young girl and the innkeeper's wife began to scrub the dirt and grime from Calin. The innkeeper's wife was growing impatient with the child in the tub before her.

"Keep still." The woman hissed as she scrubbed Calin's scalp. Calin squirmed even more in defiance. The innkeeper's wife dunked Calin's head into the water. Calin came up sputtering and coughing.

"Next time stay still!" The innkeeper's wife said rather haughtily.

Calin just shot her a nasty look before shifting her body back and forth in the tub causing a tidal wave to splash up out of the tub and drench the innkeeper's wife. She was furious before storming out of the room the woman looked at the young girl.

"You deal with the little monster, I'm done!"

Calin managed to give the young woman no problems and was soon dressed and ready for bed. The young girl soon took to the task of trying to detangle the knots from Calin's long auburn/maroon colored hair. As she exited the room Gandalf entered.

"You caused quite an uproar."

Calin just smirked and replied, "They were trying to scrub me raw. That's what she gets. Calin hopped into bed as Gandalf just chuckled. Before she closed her eyes Calin turned to Gandalf.

"How much longer before I am home?"

"We will arrive in a few days at most."

"Will I know my family?"

At this question Gandalf frowned a bit. He couldn't tell her there would be no blood relatives there for her. "You will know those who will care for you in time." The wizard's words confused the child as she settled in the bed.

The next morning Calin rose and looked around, Gandalf was nowhere to be seen. Just then a knock was heard at the door and Calin saw Strider pop his head in.

"Come, I am to keep you entertained for a while, while Gandalf is out. Plus I do not think the innkeeper's wife would watch after you." He said with a wink.

Calin blushed. "You heard about that?"

"The entire inn did." He added with a laugh as he patted her head.

Calin grabbed a few things and went into the other room. Minutes later she returned dressed and ready to go. Strider brought her out to the garden between the wings of the building. Just as they arrived at the archway Calin took off running. She was picking flowers, when she reached out Strider grabbed her by the hand.

"Not that one, that is poisonous." The next several hours Strider showed her what was safe and what flowers she should avoid. He could not believe how fast she picked up all he had to tell her.

Finally it took me a while to update. In the next chapter I will fast forward a bit and we will meet some of our other favorite characters and perhaps by the fourth chapter I'll speed up time and the quest for Erebor will begin.