So, alright.

This is not my first fanfiction but it is my first fanfiction not being written in my native language but in English. So please: have mercy if there are any mistakes in grammar or spelling or maybe vocabulary. I'll try my best to avoid any errors but I thought I might put a little 'warning' here, just in case. :)

However, I hope you are going to like the story and leave some comments if that is the case aaand, yeah. Let's get started!

The sky was covered in dark, almost black clouds but no raindrops had yet fallen on the company that was riding through green woodland.

Bilbo Baggins looked up to the sky and sighed quietly. It was only a matter of time until the raining would come undone upon them and they would all be soaking wet. And of course – in all the hurry he had left his hobbit hole – he had not brought anything to protect himself from it. Heavens, he hadn't even brought a handkerchief. The hobbit wondered if the dwarves were prepared for rain, even though he didn't really think so. Sure, they had their cloaks and their hoods but once it would begin bucketing down, he doubted that they would be much drier than him.

Although luck seemed to be on their side since the rain held off this evening and the company could set up camp on dry ground and start a fire without any trouble.

Bilbo was already quite used to the way things went about in the evenings. Thorin would usually order Bombur to make some food for all of them, then someone – mostly Fili and Kili – were ordered to look after the ponies and he chose three dwarfs to keep watch for some hours respectively during the night. Bilbo had never been chosen to keep watch which was quite alright for him since he wouldn't exactly be of any use would there be an attack or any other problem. He didn't even have a sword.

The hobbit sat down next to Ori who was writing eagerly in his little notebook and watched Fili and Kili disappear behind the trees with the ponies out of the corner of his eye. Soon after dinner was served and after some chatting over the campfire, most of the company went to sleep when Fili and Kili came back. They had tied the ponies to some trees so that they could still be seen from where they had set up camp. Bifur was the first one to keep watch and so the only one awake some time later.

Carefully and without making any noise she ducked to hide behind some bushes. Never letting get her prey out of her sight. The deer had raised its head suspiciously and looked in her direction without seeing her. The darkening evening gave her an advantage since it covered the environment first in grey tones that became darker the closer the closer night came. With her dark grey and black fur, she was able to use her surroundings as camouflage.

She made another few tentative steps forward and this time the deer didn't seem to hear her footsteps, it just kept browsing the woodland floor.

One more step. And another, then she was readying herself to jump and rip the animal's throat open with one systematic bite with her sharp teeth.

Suddenly – just as she was about to go for it – a cough echoed through the silence of the woods and startled the deer which then in the dim light recognised her standing not even two meters away. Before she could even blink, the animal ran and fled through the bushes.

A deep frustrated snarl erupted from her throat as she lost sight of the deer. Normally, she would have chased after it and probably even gotten it but there was something that kept her from doing this now.

She got up from her ducked position and back to her full height. Irritated, she took a few steps in the direction the cough had come from, careful not to put too much weight on her injured left paw.

Bifur kicked the brown-haired dwarf in the shin, after he had only gotten a cough out of Kili the first time when he'd shaken his shoulder. Now the dwarven prince opened his eyes and sat up to look at Bifur sleepily.

"Is it my turn already?" he asked and Bifur replied a gruff 'yes' in Khuzdul. Kili sighed silently and got up. "Good night, Bifur" he mumbled and the older dwarf just nodded before lying down and getting some sleep.

Kili sat down on a rock and pulled out his quiver and bow. After a few moments, his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the night and he started to check the sharpness of his arrows quietly. He was still quite sleepy but that didn't bother him much. He actually liked being on watch since he could just let his own thoughts wander and reflect on something without having anyone interrupting. He didn't really revel in his thoughts much, he never actually had the time to do it but at night, when there was no one awake but he and the moon, he allowed himself to think of what had happened so far and what was yet to come.

A movement on the edge of the camp in front of him caught his eye and he immediately readied his bow. At first, he thought he had been mistaken when he didn't see anything but suddenly, there was a sharp reflection of light and he spotted two eyes that shimmered golden behind a few leaves. Eyeing him closely.

He pointed an arrow in the direction of these eyes, although he was sure it was some sort of animal that was probably more scared of him than he was of it. It shifted slightly seeing the weapon but didn't run. Instead it lowered its head and stepped a bit closer.

And now Kili could see the head of a large black wolf peeking out of the bushes and looking at him curiously as it seemed. Curiously and warily.