Ammie, too, twitched when Thorin yelled for the group to mount their ponies. She took Kili's hand, allowing him to hoist her up on the pony behind him. "Is Thorin always so irritable?" she whispered to him, biting her tongue so she would not make the joke that popped into her mind. She felt a bit shy being close to someone so radiant, so she only lightly placed her hands on his waist to hold on and resisted the urge to start hyperventilating. 'None of that now, Ammie', she told herself. 'Remain calm!'

In the background, Bilbo struggled with getting onto his pony again, so Fili had to trot over and pull him onto it by the back of his coat. Directly afterwards Bilbo glared at him disdainfully. "I was doing just fine with that, thank you," he said.

Fili laughed, his blue eyes dancing with mirth. "Of course you were, Mr. Baggins."

The procession of dwarves through the words had started up once more with Gandalf and Thorin leading.

"Well, that's all very well and good," Ammie told Kili, "But then you are forced to protect me when you should be protecting yourself and your comrades. If you teach me some tricks, I could manage on my own. Or, I could do as hobbits generally do, and just vanish into the scenery." She giggled at the thought.

Fili overheard her and teased Bilbo. "You hear that, Mr. Baggins? Your niece has the right idea. At least she is practical about the situation." Bilbo glared again.

The group rode for a while without consequence. Ammie found herself alternating between staring over Kili's shoulder at Thorin's majestic back...And dozing off. Every once in a while she would be roused by her growling stomach. She was hungry. The hobbit girl flushed. "Sorry," she apologized. "I am used to eating a great deal more back home." Ammie then indulged in staring at Thorin for a while longer, daydreaming about his intimidating manliness despite herself. He was so serious and quite a bit older than her, and yet...

'Stop that, it's childish,' Ammie's mind said. 'No one has ever taken notice of you before. The marvelous, dwarven leader of our adventure certainly will not be the first, no matter how much you tell him you enjoy mining, mountains, and rocks. Could you even matter to strike up a conversation with him in the first place? He's so intimidating!'

At some point the group came upon a hillside with a prominent cliff jutting out above them, and another large stretch of woods. The grass was green and large rocks were scattered here and there. The remains of a small wooden structure lay before them, abandoned long ago.

"A farmer and his family used to live here," Gandalf commented, tone laced with confusion.

Thorin spoke very little as they went. He responded when spoken to, of course, but he was quiet. Contemplative. He worried about the risk they were taking with Bilbo and Ammie. Did they really have what it took to complete a quest of this magnitude? Well, he supposed they would find out.

When the company finally stopped, Thorin got down off of his pony, grateful for the chance to rest. He turned to the rest of his men as they dismounted, "We'll rest here for the night. Oin! Gloin! Get a fire going!" He looked to Fili and Kili as they dismounted and called to them, "Fili! Kili! Watch the ponies!" Thorin looked up to Gandalf when he made mention of the run down cabin formerly being the home of a farmer and his family. He huffed lightly, "It will do for shelter tonight."

Kili dared breathe a laugh at her question about Thorin's mood, but didn't dare answer it aloud. He gave a small shrug and hoped it would suffice. He glanced over his shoulder at her when she asked about learning to defend herself and a wide, excited grin broke out on his face, "I would love to teach you a thing or two. If you know something, you won't always have to hide." Kili snickered when Fili took to teasing Bilbo. He was right, though. At least Ammie bothered even to ask about learning how to defend herself. Bilbo didn't seem to understand what was going to happen. He would need to know how to fight, plain and simple.

When they arrived at the cabin, Kili was grateful. He hopped down off his saddle and assisted in getting Ammie down as well. When Thorin called out to him and his brother to watch the ponies, he gave a stiff nod and looked sadly to Ammie, "Unfortunately, no lessons tonight, I'm afraid." He took the reins of his pony and a few others and began to lead them down a little ways to a little clearing that would do well for a make-shift pen.

Gandalf was wary of staying in the clearing beside the abandoned structure. Something felt...Strange, even off about it. If they marched a short distance more, they would be close to Rivendale and able to accomplish another goal of their journey. Surely Elrond would be able to read the ancient dwarvish runes on the map.

"Something does not seem right here. I think we should move on," Gandalf said. "Just a bit further. Nightfall is not yet upon us. We have perhaps two hours of daylight left and we are close to Rivendale. We could rest in actual beds and replenish our food supply." He doubted Thorin would reconsider, but he had to at least make an attempt to convince him.

"Uncle Bilbo," Ammie said as she dismounted from the pony after Kili. "You should take fighting lessons with me! We could be a team!"

Bilbo struggled to get off of his own pony, but this time Fili let him accomplish the feat alone. He had taken offense to the assistance before. "I don't know, Ammie," Bilbo said hesitantly, after he had clumsily dropped to the floor and then picked himself up again with a huff. "The idea of having to fight... To kill anything... It makes me squeamish, admittedly."

"We don't have to kill anything!" she informed him assuredly. "We just have to fend them off long enough to get away."

"You sound so sure of that being possible," Bilbo said. He could not help but be amused by Ammie's positive attitude towards everything. If only he could be that way; he was always so cynical and sure of things going amiss.

Oin and Gloin did as they were told and got started on the fire. Bofur and the others set to preparing food while trying to keep Bombur from consuming it all before the rest could have any. Fili assisted his brother with herding the ponies to one side of the clearing. Once they'd gotten the ponies tied up, he undid his cloak and removed a concealed flask of ale. "This is going to be extremely boring otherwise, eh, brother?" He laughed and took a swig.

Ammie was disappointed that she could not begin her fighting lessons tonight, but there was plenty of time to learn. They hadn't quite gotten into orc territory yet, had they? Instead, she slipped away from her uncle and crept ever closer to the leader of the company. Golly, he was broody, she thought to herself. His arms were always crossed, his face ever drawn and pensive. She rested her hands against the tree beside her, half hidden, admiring him from afar. 'I could try talking to him,' she thought. 'He'd have amazing stories to tell... Er...Actually...Better not...' She found she couldn't muster up any courage to walk over.

Thorin looked up to Gandalf, silent while he urged him to keep his company moving. When he mentioned going to Rivendell, he could no longer keep silent, "You would have me seek refuge with our enemy!? I will not take my men to that place!" Thorin was offended that Gandalf would suggest such a preposterous thing! Go to the Elves? Nonsense! He would rather die than go crawling to them on hands and knees.

The two argued for but a few moments before Gandalf went storming off in one direction and Thorin in another. Thorin snapped to Bofur to hurry with their supper and passed him to seek solitude on a large rock nearby. He sat facing the setting sun and took a deep breath, trying hard to let his anger ebb away.

Kili tied up his half of the ponies and took to de-saddling and brushing them. Once he was finished, he turned toward his brother, whom had pulled a flask from his jacket. Kili grinned and reached inside of his coat. He, too, pulled a flask and pulled it open, "You've got that right!" He paused, though, and looked up to Fili, his brow knit with concern, "Fili.....do we have a problem?"

Bofur, ever cheerful, did not mind Thorin snapping at him and simply continued to tend to dinner. Of course, even though he had not yet finished cooking it, Ammie produced a large variety of snacks from her own pack. She shared some with her uncle, but for the most part she sat eating them on her own. For a tiny, petite-framed thing, the girl could eat. Back home, in fact, the same amount of food disappeared into her cavernous mouth as that the fat Bombur devoured with each sitting. One could simply not tell from looking at her. Perhaps it was her perpetually restless energy that burned all those calories away? When Bofur finished with the stew over the fire, she happily received a bowl and ate even more.

Meanwhile, Fili drank more his flask, no longer paying much attention to the ponies. It was a very quiet night so far. "You mean in regards to drinking?" he laughed. "Perhaps we do. But none of that matters, does it? We are young; we have plenty of time to be serious later. After all, if Uncle never marries, I will be forced to succeed him... An oh, how dull life will be then!" He shuddered, and then took another swig.

Bofur called Bilbo over to the fire and offered two bowls. "Mr. Bilbo, would you mind taking these bowls to Fili and Kili?" he asked. "Just down there." He slapped Bombur's hand away from the stewpot. "I think you've had plenty already!" Bilbo did as he was told, although he disliked wandering further into the dark. With any luck he could just drop off the bowls and return to Ammie (who was now continuing to stare intently at Thorin over her stew). The hobbit found the brothers sitting behind a large fallen tree. "Dinner," he said, holding out the bowls. Fili was squinting over the tree, counting ponies softly under his breath. His expression was one of confusion. "Is something wrong?" Bilbo asked.

Thorin came back to the group just after the sunset. It was getting chilly over there by himself and quite lonely. When he returned, he was just in time for supper. His stomach growled impatiently and he took the bowl with a ghost of a smile to Bofur. He sat down by the fire and ate quietly, but his private thoughts were interrupted. He was being watched. He'd been feeling that way all day, but he'd finally found the cause of it.

Across the way, some, he'd spotted the young Hobbit watching him. His piercing blue eyes locked with hers and held them. He had paused in consuming his supper to watch her. He wasn't sure why he was holding her gaze for so long, but he couldn't drag his eyes away.

Kili nodded in agreement with his brother and cracked a grin, "At this point, Uncle would need to pay a woman a lot of gold to put up with his brooding nature." He snickered, but glanced over each shoulder, fearful that, somehow, his Uncle had heard him. He looked back to Fili and gave a snort, "You? King? I can see it now, brother. You're made King. All seems to be well. And but three days later, the kingdom lies in ruin around its drunken Lord." He took a long swig from his flask, downing nearly half the contents. He hid the flask in his coat when Bilbo showed up, not wanting the hobbit to run off and tattle to Thorin that his nephews were well on their way to being drunk.

It was in that moment that Kili noticed something amiss. He silently counted the ponies himself and he felt his stomach drop when he came up short. He glanced to Bilbo, "We have a problem. ....We have fourteen ponies. ....But there were sixteen."

For the entirety of the day, Ammie had successfully observed Thorin Oakenshield without his noticing. He was very interesting to watch; she enjoyed entertaining the sorts of things that serious, brooding person might be contemplating all alone. Some tragic past, perhaps? (She'd been absent for the explanation given to Bilbo while riding.) Did his stately appearance match his previous deeds? Ammie liked to invent such stories to herself, in her own mind. But it was bound to happen eventually, she supposed, that Thorin would glance up and catch her staring. And he did.

At first his expression had been one of quiet curiosity, but as he prolonged the stare, it became more and more intense. More piercing. More like a glare. He even ceased his eating to do so. Ammie's big hazel eyes held Thorin's for perhaps ten seconds, but then she faltered. The hobbit girl flushed and lowered her gaze to her stew, which she then began to shovel more energetically into her gaping mouth as a distraction. She recalled what her mother had said to her as a child--"It's rude to stare, Amarantha!" Thorin probably did not appreciate it. Now that he knew she would have to rein in those tendencies of hers.

Fili, too, checked over his shoulder to make sure their uncle was not magically behind them and judging them for their crass words and actions. He almost spit out a mouthful of drink at Kili's comment about paying women gold to put up with Thorin. "Aye," he chuckled. "Maybe that is a tiiiny factor in the need for Erebor, eh? Cannot get uncle a woman without the gold." He tried not to laugh louder and draw attention to the pair of them. "You know you would be just the same!" he teased. "Perhaps we shall co-reign and make everyday a holiday. The kingdom would fall to shambles."

Once both Fili and Kili had noted the missing ponies, Fili discreetly concealed his flask and stood, creeping into the brush. "This way," he murmured. The brothers would have to investigate, of course. How could two ponies have disappeared so quickly without their noticing? They were not being that rambunctious, were they?

Bilbo was uncertain if Fili meant for just Kili to follow or if he was to come as well. He also had yet to give them their bowls of stew, so after a very anxious moment Bilbo hurried after the two of them to catch up. He held the bowls out for them to take, hoping they would get the picture, but they were ignored yet again. He swallowed nervously. Did he really want to come face-to-face with the ponies' abductor(s) if he could barely protect himself? "S-See anything?" he whispered.

When Ammie looked away, so did Thorin. He returned to his meal, but he found himself glancing up to her between bites. What was it about her that distracted his thoughts? It was almost beginning to worry him that such a delicate creature, one that would serve him no purpose, could fill his thoughts so easily.

When Thorin finished his meal, he gave the bowl back to Bofur, whom sent Nori off to wash it with the others. Thorin brushed some dirt off of his clothes and tugged them straight. He started toward Ammie slowly, as to not startle her as he did in the woods earlier that day.

Kili followed his brother, moving quickly, but as quietly as he could. Hopefully, the ponies had just gotten loose and he didn't want to startle them away. He was aware that Bilbo was following them, but didn't pay him much mind.

As they went further into the forest, Kili was surprised to see entire trees had been uprooted. Catching his brother, he pointed them out and looked around, "Something's uprooted the trees, brother. ...This is serious. Something very big is out there and I have a bad feeling." Kili's tone was a tell tale sign to his brother that he was worried. Very worried. Scared? Perhaps not yet. But it was close to that point.

Keeping true to her new resolution, Ammie did not look at Thorin again for the remainder of her meal. She thought he might be waiting for her to do it again, and she had no desire to be yelled at...Just as she had been when catching up to the group earlier that day. She returned her bowl to Bofur, thanking him for making dinner and then offered to help with cooking the following day if he liked. Bofur seemed excited by the prospect and agreed. The female hobbit scanned her surroundings for her uncle Bilbo, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Bofur," she asked. "Have you seen Bilbo anywhere?"

"Oh, lassie," he said, "He'll be with Fili and Kili. I sent him with their dinner. That way." He pointed. If she had been paying attention, Ammie would have noticed Thorin gradually moving towards her with an unwittingly-determined expression (he always looked determined somehow). But she settled on trying to find her uncle. Besides, she liked the brothers. She headed off in the direction that Bofur had indicated.

~~~

Bilbo heard Kili's hushed murmur to his brother and went pale. What was strong enough to uproot several trees!? "Well, I should be... Going..." he muttered, trying to pawn the bowls off on the boys a third time. Again he was ignored.

Fili's brows knitted with concern. He gestured for Kili to stay put and cover him, and wandered further forward into brush, his blue eyes flickering this way and that for some other sign... And then, in the distance, he saw a dim white-orange glow. The glow of a campfire. He glanced back over his shoulder at Kili, signaling with his eyes, and then crept lower towards the ground. He took special care to keep his steps quiet even with the leaves and twigs littered everywhere. As he approached the fire, he heard voices arguing amongst each other.

Bilbo wanted to run back to the others to warn them, but he was also afraid to be alone on the way. He thought that he might trip and make a loud noise that would alert the ponies' abductors to his presence, and then he himself would be captured. He resolved to stay close to Kili.

Upon seeing her leave, Thorin made to go back to his own quiet musings, but he just couldn't let it go. He wasn't entirely sure what he was even going to say to her, but he quickened his pace and hurried after her. He wanted to catch her before she got to...well, where ever she was going.

When Thorin was close, but a few steps behind her, he cleared his throat. The sound was low, almost like a growl. He didn't mean it to come out that way, it just sort of happened. His stomach flipped in his gut, which surprised him greatly and he found his mouth had gone dry.

Kili waited for his brother's signal, then followed him. His footsteps were light and careful. He, too, could see the fire and by the sounds coming from the clearing, he knew exactly what they were up against and grumbled it aloud, "Trolls." He wished, by some miracle, that they wouldn't have to engage them, but he knew he would. He just knew it.

Just then, startling him, a troll stomped passed, two more of their ponies under each arm!! Inwardly, he cursed and growled aloud. This was ridiculous!

Ammie was startled by a sound a few steps behind her that sounded like a cross between a growl and an angry clearing of the throat. She jumped a few centimeters into the air, crying out in alarm, and then tripping over--surprise, surprise--another root. She did that a lot. The girl landed on her hands and knees, and then sprang up a moment later while simultaneously spinning to face her comrade/attacker. The source of the noise was almost as shocking as the noise itself, eliciting a gasp from Ammie.

It was Thorin Oakenshield, the man she had been staring at for the latter half of the day ...Following her and then growling! He was angry! He was going to tell her off! Ammie turned beet red, almost the same hue as her hair. She held her hands up and waved them in front of her wildly. "I'm sorry!" she blurted out. "You looked so pensive, I couldn't help myself!" That came out wrong. "I mean, I never see people like you in the Shire, dwarves like rocks and mining and you look like a warrior, too, so you're fascinating and--" She floundered for an explanation that made her seem less strange, but it was difficult to accomplish.

~~~

Fili stopped just shy of the troll's campsite, crouching low behind a tree and a patch of rocks that would obscure him and his brother fairly well. There were three of them. The troll who had just tromped past with another pair of ponies dropped them into a makeshift pen with the other two and tied their leads to one of the logs blocking them within. He beckoned for his brother to join him behind the rocks. Bilbo was forced to hide there with them and whispered, "What are those?"

"Trolls," Fili replied quietly.

Bilbo squinted at the ponies, and then glanced at the trolls sitting beside a giant cauldron over the fire. One was stirring it with a giant spoon. He put two and two together. "Oh no, they're going to eat our ponies!" he whispered frantically.

"Aye," Fili murmured. "Unless..." He grinned at Bilbo mischievously.

Thorin made a strange noise when she tripped and made to assist her to her feet, but she managed quite well on her own. Her expression surprised him greatly and he was shocked when she started apologizing to him. She had been watching him all day? No wonder he felt like he was being stalked. He dared crack a smile, then held a hand up to her, "Hush, please. You are in no amount of trouble. That is not why I've come." Truth be told, he had no idea why he was there. To be frank, he didn't have much to say to her, but that's what bothered him. He wanted to have something to say to her. Fumbling for something to say, Thorin spit out the first (and dumbest) thing that came to mind, "Are you enjoying the journey?"

Kili turned slightly to his brother, then looked to Bilbo. He grinned wildly and took one of the bowls of stew Bilbo had, then gave him a gentle nudge toward the trolls' camp, "You're so small, you'd slip by unnoticed! It's perfect! You are, after all, a burglar! Show us what you're made of!" Kili looked like a maniac with the grin that split his face in two. It was a crazy plan, sending the Hobbit, but it was worth a try. Bilbo could attempt to free the ponies while Kili and Fili ran to get help.

Ammie's mouth fell open stupidly when Thorin assured her she was in no trouble at all. Furthermore, he made no comment in regards to her staring, and simply... Changed the subject altogether. To the journey. And then smiled, astoundingly! Ammie glanced off into nothing for a second, narrowing her eyes in confusion, and then returned her gaze to the regal dwarf. "Oh, uh... Yes. Yes I am. I mean, not a lot has happened yet. It's only been a day. But so far, I'm having a good time. It's...Different. I brought a lot of food, so there's not much difference from home, minus the... You know, not having anything but dirt to sleep on. But that's okay. I'll manage. I'm adaptable like that. Haha!" Realizing that she was talking too much on her own, the female hobbit swallowed nervously. "H-How about you?" What a boring question. She wanted to bash her face into the nearest tree.

~~~

"W-What? No, I--" Bilbo sputtered, aghast that the dwarven brothers had suggested it.

Fili took the other bowl from the hobbit, giving him a gentle shove in the direction of the trolls and the fire. "You'll be fine! We're here if you need help. If there's trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl, once like a brown owl."

Bilbo crept towards the trolls, since he had no choice apparently, and wondered to himself what those owls even sounded like in the first place. "Wait just a minute, what does a barn--" he turned to find the brothers' previous spot vacated, and cursed under his breath. He tried to move towards the ponies' pen without being seen, eavesdropping on the trolls' conversation as best he could given the situation. Their words might alert him to when they would attempt to get the ponies for the stew, after all.

Thorin listened with amusement to her response. He was glad that she was enjoying herself and even breathed a light laugh when she rambled. He opened his mouth to respond to her question, but something caught his eye. Kili, running up the hill toward them, his brother not far behind. Something was wrong and Thorin cursed quietly.

When Fili shoved Bilbo toward the camp, giving him mad instructions about hooting like an owl, Kili couldn't help but snort a laugh. Shoving a few heaping spoonfuls of stew in his mouth before discarding the bowl, he tore off for their own camp. He hated to alert Thorin to their mistake, but he had to go get back up for Bilbo. It was only a matter of time before all hell broke loose.

The trolls argued constantly while Bilbo attempted to free the ponies. They argued about eating the ponies, one being under appreciated, the other sick sick sick to death of mutton. It would be comical if they weren't so repulsive.

The one whining about being under appreciated seemed to be in charge of the group. He seemed to have the most authority. The second seemed to be suffering from the worst of colds. He sneezed and sniffled, blowing his nose every few minutes in a very large handkerchief that could have served as a tarp for anyone of normal size. The third seemed a grouch and didn't say much but to argue over the flavors of food. It would have been very strange for Bilbo to see such a sight.

It was indeed incredibly bizarre to listen to three enormous and ugly trolls arguing in such a manner, about petty things such as flavors, colds, and being under-appreciated. If they were not so keen on eating every living thing, and more than likely him, Bilbo might have considered starting a conversation with one of them. Not that they were the brightest individuals he'd ever met (though on par with some of the hobbits he knew in the Shire).

Bilbo fiddled with the leads of the ponies, shushing them to try and keep them from neighing or fidgeting too restlessly so as to alert the trolls of his presence. One of the trolls turned to reach for something close to the ponies and he ducked behind a rock in the nick of time. Once the troll had turned away again, he scrambled to free the leads and found they were too tightly knotted on for him to undo with ease. He glanced about for some sort of... Tool... And his eyes settled on one of the troll's belts. They had some sort of scythe-like weapon tied to a long stick.

He found it an incredibly risky plan, trying to take something directly off of the troll, but how else was he supposed to save the ponies? Bilbo took a deep, quiet breath, and crawled towards the middle troll with the cold. He reached for the weapon carefully, anxiously chewing on his lower lip.

~~~

Fili spotted Thorin beside Ammie, walking over briskly and announcing without delay, "Trolls took some ponies. Bilbo's trying to free them. Better hurry, he might need help." He panted, glancing at his brother for a second confirmation of the events that had just occurred. He did not wait for his uncle to reply, due to urgency, and started back into the woods. Bofur ran to rouse the rest of the dwarves from their resting positions, in case they were needed.

Ammie's eyes widened and she looked to Thorin with alarm. Uncle Bilbo might be in trouble?! She sprinted after the brothers without hesitation. Of course she would try to help! This was her own uncle involved, after all!

Thorin grumbled irritably when Fili told him of the terrible news. He turned and very quickly grabbed his weapons from near the fire. He strapped them as quickly as he could to his person and made to follow his nephews.

Upon seeing Ammie following as well, he caught her arm as gently as he could, "No! You must stay here! You have no weapons, no fighting skills. You will be killed!" He was stern, but not overly commanding. He wanted her no where near the trolls for a few reasons. The most important being that she was defenseless. She could be seriously wounded or killed. The second being that she could get in the way of his men while they tried to take the trolls down. And the third? If Gandalf returned while they were gone, someone would need to be there to tell Gandalf what was going on. Thorin wouldn't take no for an answer, but braced himself for her to attempt to defy him.

Kili, standing beside his brother, sweaty and panting for breath only nodded dumbly at Fili's words. When Fili began to head back, as did Kili. He was hoping to get to Bilbo before the trolls found him. His chest burned with the force of his running up and down the hill as quickly as he did and he hoped it was worth it.

The trolls continued their ridiculous arguments and it only seemed to get worse. They slapped each other, poked each other, twisted each other's noses. It was absurd. A real sight to behold if it wasn't so terrifying.

The trolls, thankfully seemed not to notice Bilbo while he attempted to spring the ponies from their pen and even when he attempted to get the knife from the troll's belt. It wasn't until he reached for his hankie that things turn a serious turn for the worst.

Bilbo will have been scooped up, smashed against the troll's distorted face while the troll blew his nose directly onto Bilbo's dark green waist coat. It was a moment Bilbo would never forget nor would the troll when he looked down at the frightened Hobbit. He let out an awkward shriek and pointed to the strange, wiggling mass in his hands, "Oi! Look what's come ou' of me hooter!! It's got arms 'n legs 'n ev'ryfing!"

The trolls stared at Bilbo curiously, "Wha' is it?"

"I dunno! But I don't like the way it wriggles around!" The troll dropped Bilbo onto ground, disgusted with what he thought came out of his body.

Ammie squeaked as Thorin caught her by the elbow, yanking her back. He gazed into her eyes sternly and struck her dumb with his words. He was... Well, Thorin was right. She would be practically useless in a fighting scenario. But she had...Other talents. Wasn't that why he had contemplated hiring her in the first place? Hobbits as burglars! Right?! "He's my uncle," she pleaded. "I'll hide! What if they catch you? Who will set you free?" She did not expect the dwarf to change his mind, but she had to try!

~~~

One moment he'd been reaching for the scythe, and the next... Bilbo's eyes were wide as he laid perfectly rigid in the troll's hand, rivers of gooey green snot rolling down his body and dripping onto the ground. He was so disgusted, he could have died. He saw Fili and Kili's laughing faces in his mind, and imagined striking them over and over again with a blunt object. Suddenly discarded onto the ground by one of the trolls, Bilbo realized they'd asked what he was.

In his currently repulsive, dazed state he thought it was a good idea to answer. "I'm a burglar. I MEAN, A HOBBIT--" he tried to correct, but the damage had been done.

Meanwhile Fili led himself, his brother, and the other dwarves through the wood in the direction of the trolls. He could already see their campfire glinting in the distance and sincerely hoped nothing terrible had befallen Bilbo in their absence.

Thorin, his brow knit with concern, shook his head. Putting a hand gently on her face, which was quite surprising, he gave her a stern look, "You needn't worry about me. Stay. Here. Your Uncle will never forgive me if something happens to you."

Without another word, Thorin tore off after the other dwarves, his weapons at the ready. At this point, he was sure they were going to need them.

Upon returning to the troll camp, Kili was shocked to see Bilbo being manhandled again. The trolls were demanding that he tell them if there were more of his kind hiding away. Upon hearing that they intended to dangle Bilbo's toes in the fire to make him talk, Kili boldly shot into the clearing, his sword raised and his voice booming, "DROP HIM!!"

The three trolls were quite excited about the prospect of there being enough flugaberberhobbits in the forest for a pie. Their stomachs grumbled and lurched at the thought. Their mouths watered and one dangled Bilbo upside down, prodding him while he waited for Bilbo to tell him where the others were.

To say the trolls were shocked when Kili showed up would have been the understatement of the century and only managed to force out, "Youwha'?!"

Ammie had been prepared to dispute further, except something unexpected occurred that threw everything off. The regal dwarf, the leader of the company, gently placed his hand on her face. Electricity jolted through the female hobbit. She was unused to physical contact, much less from handsome men, and her posture stiffened instantly. Ammie tried to speak, but she could only mouth words and whatever sound did emerge came out as garbled nonsense. No real words, no argument. It sounded, rather, like she'd consented to staying. And, suddenly, Thorin disappeared into the woods with the others. She had been successfully abandoned beside the camp with no knowledge of her uncle's fate. And he'd accomplished this through...Through touching her! The cheater!

She flailed her fists around wildly, throwing a silent tantrum to herself for about five minutes. Eventually she calmed down and sat down on the floor, gazing up to the sky with a blank expression and her mouth hanging open. Her stomach twisted nervously. What if the others didn't come back? Suddenly a deep, wizened voice spoke from behind her. "Ammie, where have the others gone?"

Ammie teemed with a heavy mixture of excitement and relief. "Gandalf!" she cried, bouncing happily. "Hurry, trolls have stolen some ponies, and probably Uncle Bilbo! This way!" Gandalf appeared incredibly alarmed by this information. She completely ignored Thorin's wishes, in the end, and led Gandalf after the rest of the party.

~~~

Bilbo shrieked for the trolls to put him down, assuring them quite vehemently that there were not enough hobbits in the wilderness to make a pie and that he was the only one available. Of course he was not going to mention the dwarves and Ammie, even if right now he did not harbor the most positive feelings towards Fili and Kili.

Speaking of the brothers, no sooner had the trolls held him over the fire than the two returned with the rest of the dwarven company in tow. Fili and Kili sprang immediately to his rescue, cutting at the legs of the trolls. Bilbo was promptly dropped, and in the chaos he managed to get a hold of the scythe. He tried cutting the ponies loose again, now that he had a proper distraction to work with, but his freedom was short-lived.

A moment later, two of the trolls plucked him off of the ground and held him up as a hostage. They tugged on his arms, threatening to rip them off if the dwarves did not lay down theirs. Bilbo sighed deeply, rolling his eyes. Really, such a mess. This was all the brothers' fault.

Thorin cut and slashed at the trolls, growling fiercely at them. He thoughts, for a fleeting moment, drifted to Ammie, hoping that she obeyed him. It seemed to power his arms further and more so when they began to feel tired. It was odd and this strange feelings were driving him mad.

For a while, things seemed to be going in their favor, until the trolls got a hold of Bilbo. The dwarves stood together, facing down the trolls while they threatened to pull Bilbo limb from limb. With a disgusted grunt, Thorin put down his sword. His company followed suit, none happy about surrendering to dimwitted trolls.

And it only got worse from there. The trolls managed to scoop up every single one of them. They sacked half of them and piled them up at the base of a tree. The other half were stripped to their undergarments and tied to a roasting spit in a neat configuration. As one troll turned the spit to evenly cook the dwarves, one grumbled excitedly, "These litt'e fellas'll cook up quite nice with a hint of sage!"

Bilbo Baggins, too, found himself tied to the neck up in a burlap sack. Several of the dwarves were tied to a spit over the fire, as if the trolls intended to slowly roast them. It did not appear to be working very well, save for making them very, very sweaty and uncomfortable. One of the trolls complained about the cooking taking too long, and then that conversation led to the mention of not wanting to be caught after sun up. Something about turning to stone. Eureka! Bilbo needed to stall for time! Somehow! But what could he say?!

"Wait! You're doing that all wrong!!" he yelled, struggling in the sack to sit upright. After a few seconds of floundering and the trolls staring, he managed. "I'm a hobbit, and... We hobbits are very knowledgeable about things like...Like cooking! That's not how you properly cook dwarves! First you have to...You have to skin them!" The dwarves gaped at him, aghast. Was he betraying them to the trolls!? "Sage isn't strong enough, actually. Those dwarves..." He nodded at the ones on the spit. "...Are infested! Parasites. Nasty business."

Bilbo's eyes flickered behind the dwarves ever so briefly. He caught a flash of gray robes through the trees, which only boosted his confidence. Gandalf was here, Gandalf would save them! "In fact, they're all infested!"

Bilbo's niece was also hiding in the brush. Ammie, who had now taken it upon herself to free the ponies unnoticed, suppressed a giggle. Oh, Uncle Bilbo... So clever! She successfully sawed the leads off of the log with the scythe, and gently put it down. She would frighten the ponies away after untying the dwarves closer to her. The female hobbit crawled low to the ground, just behind a bush that shielded her from the trolls' sight. Thorin and his nephews were just on the opposite side of the bush, and discreetly she reached for the rope tying the sack over Thorin. She made eye contact with him and gestured, with her hands. Her hands formed a triangle on her head, 'pointy hat', and a sweeping motion under her chin that could only represent 'long beard'. Hopefully he understood.

Thorin was absolutely and utterly annoyed at that point. Tied up in a sack was not how he intended to spend his evening. And what made it worse was Bilbo's brilliant plan to have the Dwarves skinned!! He seriously regretted having the Hobbit join them. Perhaps they wouldn't be in this mess.

What shocked Thorin further was to see Ammie. Had he not told her to say at the camp?!! He opened his mouth to silently tell her to run for it, but he stopped when she made the motions to indicate Gandalf was nearby. He stopped and nodded. Then he waited. He even gave Kili a hard kick to shut him up. He gave his nephew a hard look that spoke the words 'Play along.' without him having to open his mouth.

The trolls argued with each other and Bilbo over the proper way to cook the dwarves. One wanted to eat them raw, but the scare of parasites cause him to drop him promptly. They argued and fussed over their potential dinner and finally, one of the dwarves grumbled and poked Bilbo in the chest with a large, fat finger, "You fink I dun know wha' you're up to?! Wha' do you wan' me to do?! Le' 'em all go?!"

Bilbo did not know how much longer he could keep up the act. The dwarves around him began shouting in unison about how they all had parasites. Kili announced that he had "the biggest parasites", as if were an actually competition. But the trolls, bless them, were smarter than he'd originally given them credit for. They realized Bilbo's ploy eventually. To his horror, one of them was just about to drop a raw dwarf into his mouth when suddenly Gandalf the Grey burst from the trees with purpose.

He leaped onto a giant boulder, and using his wizard's staff, split it in two. Sunlight spilled into the clearing and all the trolls began to wail loudly with fear and surprise. Ammie took this as her chance to untie everyone. She sprang out of the bushes and undid ropes here and there as quickly as possible, while the three trolls gradually began to turn to stone.

By the time everyone had been freed their three enormous forms stood still, frozen in the exact position the sunlight had found them in. They only resembled stone statues now. Bilbo dropped back onto the grassy floor, if only to allow his nerves to calm and his head to stop spinning. Gandalf came down from the boulder to join the rest of the group. He was enormously glad to see Thorin and the others still in one piece--particularly Bilbo.

Once Thorin was free of his sack, he looked to Gandalf. He looked up to the old wizard and gave him a tiny smile and a nod. Thorin went to Ammie and laid a hand gently on her shoulder. He put on a mock stern look, which wasn't so mocking, he looked down right serious! He took a careful breath, "I thought I told you to stay at the camp. I told you it was too dangerous down here." It would probably be damn near impossible to tell if Thorin was truly angry or not. Damn his limited facial expression.

Kili, glad to be out of the sack, assisted his brother in getting up and then went about retrieving his weapons. After that, he immediately took to rooting around through the camp, seeing if there was anything of use they could take. Hell, the trolls didn't need it, eh? He found himself, though, heading for a small cave not too far away from the camp. He waved over his shoulder for his brother and the others to follow him.

At some point Bilbo managed to heave himself off of the grass, utterly spent both mentally and physically. He had half a mind to find the brothers and smack both of them upside the head for setting him in this predicament in the first place! It was then he remembered that he was absolutely covered in troll snot. Bilbo's face contorted in disgust and he began scurrying around frantically, looking for some sort of spring or stream to fling himself into. If not for his preoccupation with hygiene, Bilbo might have noticed Thorin and Ammie having a peculiar exchange that would have roused protective, uncle-ly instincts.

As Thorin's hand fell on her her shoulder and his piercing, judgemental gaze carved into her, Ammie found herself unable to formulate a coherent retort. She could not decide if Thorin was upset at her foolishness or merely conveying some concern that she'd abandoned the camp. "B-But, Gandalf," she sputtered, "I brought him. And I'm okay, r-right? Yeahsoeverythingisfine--" Her words began fusing together from nervousness.

Fili stood with his brother, announcing "Troll cave" to the others. A putrid stench emanated from the cavern, as well as a deafening buzzing of flies. Gandalf told the others to be careful what they touched, and led the group inside cautiously. The walls and floors were lined with long-dead, half-eaten carcasses and random objects. Some gold coins were littered along back wall.