Chapter 4; A Journey begins

*Author's note*

WE'RE GOING OFF ON AN ADVENTURE!!! Here is where it all begins, we finally reach the part where Hela and the Company of Thorin Oakenshield take off, but not before seeing that an additional member will soon come forth. And we'll also get to hear the battle of Moria from Thorin's past so expect some graphic battle tales and scenes, other than that not really any other warnings. Enjoy my lovelies :)

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I left Bilbo's home to get some fresh air and observe the quiet nightlife of the Shire. By now every Hobbit should be sleeping peacefully in their beds, dreaming of yet another peaceful morning they'll have tomorrow. Hobbits really do live a quiet, peaceful life. Living out the same thing day after day. To some it may feel as repetitive, oblivious, naïve, but to Hobbits that's just how they liked it.

Personally I wouldn't blame Bilbo if he decided to not agree to go onto this quest. It just wasn't in his blood (no matter what adventurous family bloodline he's got in him) and if he chose to stay, I wouldn't try to suade him otherwise.

But if he did want to help, then I'll take it upon myself to teach him how to survive out there. So that he won't be completely helpless or have to rely on the dwarves to protect him when they'll need to protect themselves.

"Feeling couped up in there?" I turned to see both Fili and Kili standing along the stairs.

"Mind if we join you Lady Hela?" Fili asked me. I stared at them briefly before gesturing for them to take a seat on the bench. They came down and sat on either side of me. Fili to my left and Kili to my right.

"It really is quite peaceful here, don't you think Fili?" Kili said to his brother.

"Indeed Kee, very peaceful. Although too peaceful for my taste. Don't think I could handle living the same routine day in and day out."

"And yet you go out and travel, sleep wherever you can, and fight. Isn't that a repetitive routine?" I asked the blonde haired dwarf.

"I mean a repetitive quiet cycle. Even in the Blue mountains there were squabbles, but we were trained to fight. It is in our blood if we are to be the next Kings of Erebor."

"More like you will be the next King Fili."

"Are you two Thorin's sons?"

"Nephews, actually. He's our mother's brother. Our uncle has no children of his own so if anything happens to him, Fili will become the next in line for the throne. Although if you ask me, the line of Durin will fall the moment he becomes king."

"Do you question my fighting skill Kee?"

"Fighting skill, never brother. Brains however...." Fili reached over and smacked Kili upside the head which made me softly giggle.

"You two really are brothers. You remind me much of......" I trailed off and grew solemn. The two brothers looked at me concerned and Kili asked.

"Hela? Are you alright?" I took a deep breath and looked up to the stars, hoping to dry my eyes if I kept them open long enough.

"I'm fine. I'm fine. Just....you both remind me of two Celestials who were born the same time I was. They would sometimes get into squabbles like this."

"Is it really true that you're the Last of the Celestials?" Kili asked me. I softly scoffed and said.

"As unbelievable as it is, it's true. Once there were as many Celestials as there are of every race. Men, Elves, Dwarves, even Hobbits. But the War of the Last Alliance is where my people suffered a great loss, me especially."

"But that was.....that was almost 3000 years ago!" I softly nodded.

"It wasn't easy. Living alone as the last of my kind and trying to uphold the peace around Middle-Earth all on my own. You'd think as the Celestial of Death I'd get used to it but—" that's when I felt them wrap their arms around me.

Strong and form yet comforting and filled with as much love as they could provide. And they hardly even knew me.

"This is not out of pity my lady. We may know a little of what you've gone through." Fili told me.

"We've suffered loss in our family too. Not as much as you have but still, family loss is a loss none the less. Our grandfather, great-grandfather, even our own father. I myself hardly got to know our father. Thorin's been the only father figure I've ever known." I looked down at them and slowly raised my arms and gently embraced them back.

"I am sorry for your losses, Fili and Kili. But I know your father is proud of the men his sons grew up to be." I said as they released me from their embrace.

"You really think so?" Kili asked.

"If your father is as half as the two of you combined, I'm sure he's smiling down at both of you."

"Thank you, Lady Hela." Fili thanked me with a bow of his head.

"As I've told pretty much everyone tonight, including you boys. Just call me Hela." They both nodded before heading back inside Bilbo's home.

I looked back down at the contract and that's when I began to hear humming. It was low and ominous but it still held a powerful, yet sorrow-filled tune. I walked back up the hill to see all the dwarves gathered around the parlor, the fireplace roaring gentle with Thorin and a few other dwarves smoking their pipes. That's when I heard Thorin began to sing.

*Thorin*

Far over the misty mountains cold To dungeons deep and caverns old We must away, ere break of day*More dwarves joining in*

To find our long-forgotten gold

The pines were roaring on the heights The winds was moaning in the night The fire was red, it flaming spread The trees like torches blazed with light

Watching from behind the window and hearing this song of the Dwarves—no feeling their song. It struck my heart in a way that I had never felt before.

Gandalf was right. Like me; they longed to reclaim something that was rightfully theirs. That belonged to their people. Like how I've searched far and wide for my family's Celestial magic, these 13 dwarves are willing to brave the wilderness and raging rivers, face off any enemy that gets in their way in order to reclaim their homeland.

I looked down at the contract and saw the signatures of Thorin and Balin at the bottom and the remaining signature was for me as the role of CELESTIAL GUIDE:

I went down to the bench and picked up a rock and used Cersei's magic to turn the rock into a small dagger and gave a quick cut to my palm. I hissed softly before then shifting the dagger into a quill and I pressed the point of the quill onto my palm, soaking it in my blood.

For the oath of a Celestial is in blood. And any contract we agree to must be signed with it.

I signed my name at the bottom before shifting the quill back to a rock and then used Ajak's magic to heal up the cut on my palm. I blew air onto my name so that it would dry quicker before entering back inside.

The dwarves were just about to retire for the night when I made myself known to them. Not a single one of us spoke a word to each other as I walked over to Balin and presented him with my contract, I then turned to Thorin Oakenshield and kneeled before him.

"Thorin Oakenshield. Son of Thrain, son of Thror, rightful King under the Mountain. I, Hela, Last of the Celestials. Do so forth pledge myself unto you and give you my service until the quest to reclaim the Mountain is fulfilled. I will gladly give my life to protect you and your kinsman of Durin's Folk and serve as your Guide and 15th member of this Company. What say you?"

The room was silent for a brief moment when I felt a hand clasp itself into my shoulder. I looked up to see the hand belonged to Thorin, he gave me a grateful nod as Balin said.

"As written by the way of the Celestials, Welcome Lady Hela. To the company of Thorin Oakenshield." I turned to Thorin's advisor and he gave me a wink.

"We leave at first light. Get some rest everyone." Thorin ordered to everyone in the living room. I stood up and turned to Gandalf and he smiled gratefully at me. He came up and stood beside me.

"I knew you'd come around my friend."

"Being the last of the Celestials, I promised Ajak that I would do all that I could to protect and guide every race of Middle Earth in times of great peril."

"I know she is very, very proud for all that you've done for Middle Earth. All of them are." I nodded solemnly before sighing heavily and left the wizard so that I could retire for the night.

Just as Thorin commanded, at the hour of twilight while Bilbo was still asleep we cleaned up the mess and put everything the way it originally was. So clean it was like we were never there. And then just as the sun was starting to rise, we took our leave of the Shire to pursue our quest to reclaim Erebor.

Gandalf led on ahead riding his horse and I walked beside him while the other dwarves rode on their ponies behind us. As we walked onward, I could hear them taking bets on whether Bilbo would change his mind (Gandalf persuaded Balin to leave the contract behind just in case Bilbo signed it). Most of them were betting against him while there were others who believed Bilbo would come around.

Even Gandalf and I took wagers on this little bet of theirs. The sun continued to rise higher and higher and all around us birds and other animals were finally starting to become more active. That's when we heard a voice being carried along the air.

"Wait! Wait!" we stopped and turned around and saw Bilbo running to catch up to us. In his hand was the contract and he said to us "I signed it." He walked up to Balin and handed him the contract. Balin skeptically eyed him before taking out his magnified loupe and read Bilbo's signature carefully.

"Everything appears to be in order." He folded the contract and proclaimed just as he did for me last night, "Welcome, Master Baggins to the Company of Thorin Oakenshield." I smiled softly, Hobbits really are full of surprises as Gandalf said.

"Give him a pony." Thorin commanded as he looked ahead and urged his pony onward, which made the rest of us follow him. All the while, Bilbo protest.

"No, no that won't be necessary. Thank you, I'm sure I can keep up on foot. You know I-I've done my fair share of walking holidays, you know? Even got far as Frogmorton once." I heard Bilbo give out a yelp as I turned and saw Fili and Kili work together to hoist the halfling up and the next thing Bilbo knew, he was now riding a ginger-haired mare named Myrtle.

Myrtle gave out a neigh as she threw back her head once which made Bilbo flinch nervously. I walked beside Bilbo and reassured him.

"She's just saying hello to you Bilbo. She loves getting new riders." I stroked the side of her face as she gave me a little kiss to my knuckles.

"You-you can talk to animals?"

"Hear their thoughts, more or less. My brother Druig could read the minds of all living creatures. Even go so far as altering their brain waves and put them under his control. All because of this stone." I gestured to the onyx black stone on my left gauntlet.

"Is that what you were talking about last night?"

"That is correct. Each gem holds a Celestial power of my brothers and sisters. When we make camp, I'll tell you a little bit more about these gems." He nodded.

By now the dwarves who had said Bilbo would join us were collecting their rewards. Pouches filled with coins inside were being tossed back and forth from dwarf to dwarf.

"What's that about?"

"Oh they took wages on whether or not you'd turn up. Most of them bet that you wouldn't." Gandalf told Bilbo.

"And what about you two?" the halfling asked both Gandalf and I. Gandalf hummed while I remained stoic. A pouch was thrown into Gandalf's hand, meanwhile my reward came from behind me. I caught it in my hand without even having to turn around to look for it.

"My dear fellow. I never doubted you for a second." Gandalf said as he pocketed his winnings away.

"And I trust Gandalf's word more than anything. If he believed you could make it, I wasn't going to bet against you." I told him as I pocketed my winnings away. I turned to give Bilbo a wink and smiled shyly at me before letting out a sneeze into his sleeve.

"Oh pardon me Hela." He groaned out. "It's horse hair, having a reaction." He then looked through his belongings for what I could assume would be a handkerchief. His face then dropped as he exclaimed. "No, wait, wait stop. Stop! We have to turn around." The company stopped and turned towards Bilbo, Gandalf and I.

"What on earth is the matter?" Gandalf asked impatiently.

"I forgot my handkerchief." Bilbo said.

"Here." Bofur's voice rang up. He tore off a part of his shirt. "Use this." He then tossed it to Bilbo, who held it up like it was the most vilest thing he had ever seen.

Some of the dwarves chuckled at Bilbo's expense while Thorin ordered us to move on.

"I'm afraid you'll have to manage without pocket handkerchiefs and a great deal of many other things Bilbo Baggins before our journey's end." I told him.

"Hela is right dear fellow. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire. But home is now behind you, the world is ahead." Gandalf said as we continued on head and headed off into the wild.

When nightfall came, we made came alongside a perch on a cliffside. Bombur got a fire going and prepared our supper. Everyone got a bowl full of stew and I'll admit, Bombur knew how to cook a delicious meal.

"This meal is delicious Bombur." I complimented him.

"Thank you milady. The secret is knowing how to measure the proper spices." He told me.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind for some fellow Rangers I know up North. One of them in particular, knows how to wield any weapon but give him cooking duty....." I shook my head and could remember the poor taste of him overdoing the salt.

"So lass, tell us more about them power gems of yours. You said back in Bag-End of how your sibling's magic is within them, right?" Bofur said. I took the spoon out of my mouth and set it back into my bowl.

"Yeah, yeah. Umm I guess gather around for story time gentlemen." They all gathered around me. Ori, Fili, Kili, Bofur, Oin, and even Bilbo sat down in front of me nice and close. Dori, Nori, Bifur sat behind them while the rest all stood up. "To first start off this tale, I'll point out that these gems didn't start as gems to begin with."

"But they look like real gems."

"Indeed they do, but they didn't. You see, after the war of the Last Alliance, my siblings Celestial Magic was scattered all throughout Middle Earth. The first one I found was my older sister Cersei's elemental magic. I was standing on some dead patch of land when I looked down to see an ordinary rock beginning to glow. I reached out for it and as soon as I picked it up, it morphed into this green gem and soon life began to grow again. It was then I knew I had found my sister Cersei's Celestial power. As the third age continued on, one by one I've managed to collect and find my other sibling's Celestial magic found in ordinary objects. This black gem you see, this holds my brother Druig's Celestial powers of the mind. I found his magic hidden within a very powerful brand of wild mushrooms near the borders of Bree. And my sister Makkari's power of star-like speed, I found from a strand of a Meares hair a day's ride from Rohan."

"How could you create gem pieces from objects like that? Rock I can see but horse hair? Mushrooms?" Glóin asked me.

"That's a special additional power my sister Cersei has. She can also convert matter into anything she wishes. She can turn a solid to liquid, liquid to gas, or gas to a solid. Whatever she needed to do. Those Celestials who are able to do more than one ability or prove to be stronger than all the other Celestials become part of the Council of 10, alongside the Celestial Prime."

"Celestial Prime?" asked Bilbo.

"The Highest ranking of all Celestials. Said to be not only the first Celestial ever born, but also the strongest of them all. Not even the power of wizard's could defeat her." Gandalf explained to the Hobbit.

"What about those three remaining spots?" asked Ori as he pointed out the three missing gem slots. I sighed heavily and looked down at them.

"That Ori is where things got difficult. I have searched and searched far and wide over Middle-Earth thousands of times over, but in all that time I could never find the Celestial magic of my little sister Sprite, my older brother Ikaris, or Thena's magic. So for 400 years I have all but given up the search for their magic. Either they've disappeared from Middle-Earth all together, or I fear they've been found by the wrong hands." Looking at the two missing slots on my right gauntlet and the one missing on my left.

"I don't think so." Fili said. I looked up at him confused. "I don't believe your family would've allowed their powers to fall into the wrong hands. Maybe they're just waiting for the right time to show up."

"You really think so?" I asked him. He nodded.

"I think you may have given up too quickly. Fili and I have learned that sometimes it takes not looking for something, for us to finally find what we long for the most." Kili added. I smiled softly at the young princes before Dwalin asked me.

"Now you said you're the Celestial of Death, what exactly does that mean for your Celestial magic?"

"As the Celestial of Death I have the ability to see what's beyond our world of the Seen. I can see and allow spirits to communicate in our world. To be honest, I have yet to fully understand why I was chosen to be the Celestial of Death, or the full extent of my power. Even back when my kin still walked Middle-Earth, I was the only Celestial given the title of Celestial of Death. No one else. Not like my own powers can be useful in combat. That's why I rely on my enhanced Celestial strength as well as the temporary power of my siblings magic."

"I do think that's enough questions for our Celestial guide for the night." Gandalf said coming to my rescue before anyone else could speak up.

"Agreed. Get some sleep everyone, we travel at first light. Fili, Kili, you both take the first watch. Dwalin and I will take the next watch in a few hours, followed by Bofur and Bifur." Thorin said. After clearing up the dinner, the dwarves all unwrapped their bedrolls and blankets and took rest wherever they could.

I took my place right by Fili and Kili close to the fire and just stared at the fireplace.

"Not getting any sleep?" asked Kili.

"Guess my mind is too wrapped up for me to sleep. Thought maybe staring into the fire would help me relax some."

"Is it have to do with your family?" asked Fili. I sighed softly but remained silent as I adjusted my position to my stomach. That's when I heard it, that horrible, shrilled roar piercing through the air.

"What was that?" Bilbo spoke up.

"Orcs." Kili muttered.

"Orcs?!" Bilbo said as he quietly scampered over to us. I raised myself up and could hear them again.

"Throat cutters. There'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them." Fili replied.

"They strike in the wee small hours when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet no screams. Just lots of blood." Kili finished his brother's statement ominously. Bilbo looked around scared out of his wits. That's when I heard the brothers softly chuckle.

I narrowed my eyes as they glowed a gold color and next thing they knew, they had smacked each other in the face. They looked at each other in shock. I smirked and my eyes shifted back to my normal color.

"That'll teach you both to scare Bilbo like that again." I lectured. The brothers looked at me, that's when Thorin sneered.

"And she should do much worse to you both. Do you think a night raid by orcs is a joke?" at hearing their uncle's reprimand Kili looked down shamefully and said.

"We didn't mean anything by it."

"No you didn't. You know nothing of the world." Thorin sneered at them again before walking off and standing alone by himself away from the company.

"Don't mind him laddie." Balin comforted Kili as he came up and stood over the small semi-cavern in which Fili, Kili and myself had taken refuge in. "Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs."

I turned towards Thorin as Balin began to tell the tale:

"After the Dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria. But our enemy had got there first. Moria had been taken by legions of orcs led by the most vile of all their race; Azog the Defiler. The giant Gundabad orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began—by beheading the King."

In Thorin's head I could see the battle clear as day in his mind as Balin told this story. I could even feel his grief and horror at the sight of his grandfather's beheading. Azog even adding salt to the wound by tossing Thror's head like it was a rock skipping across the water.

"Thrain, Thorin's father. Was driven mad by grief. He went missing. Taken prisoner or killed, we did not know. We were leaderless. Defeat.....and death were upon us. That is when—I saw him." Balin's tone turned from ominous to hopeful as he looked towards Thorin. "A young dwarf prince facing down the pale orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe. His armor rent wielding nothing but an oaken branch as a shield." Thus giving him the name Oakenshield. "Azog the Defiler, learned that day. That the line of Durin would not be so easily broken."

I saw as Thorin battled against Azog and even at his lowest point, he managed to severely wound Azog by cutting off his hand, rendering the Pale Orc a crumbled, agonizing mess as he cradled his hand. I then saw as Thorin became the leader his people needed as he led them to one final battle charge.

"Our forced rallied, and drove the orcs back. Our enemy had been defeated. But there was no feast, nor song that night. For our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived......" I turned to Balin and he gave me a look of consent as I looked into his mind and could feel and see what he saw that day.

The number of dwarves that survived that day, you could probably count them on both of your hands. I could feel his grief from that day but also his hope as he turned to Thorin, both on that day and present day as he spoke.

"And I thought to myself then. There is one who I could follow. There is one—I could call King." Thorin turned around and looked at his company, who were all now wide awake to hear Balin's tale. All of them looking to their rightful king. Thorin walked back towards us as Bilbo asked Balin.

"And the pale orc? What happened to him?"

"He slunk back into the hole whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago." I turned to Gandalf and he and I looked at each other unsure on whether we both should say something.

'He'll find out one way or another.' I told him through our telepathic connection.

'I know my dear. But best not make yourself a target for his wrath. For even a Celestial could've easily held off against someone like Azog.'

'At the time I was still recovering my strength from handling the Deviants when I came across the Pale Orc.' With that I decided to shut my eyes and try to sleep.

*3rd Person POV*

As the dwarves fell back asleep, they were unaware that across the gorge on another cliffside they were being watched. And not by friendly eyes.

"Send word to the Master. We have found the dwarf scum and the Celestial-rat."