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     Thorin had looked up from his meal when the old man that had walked up to him asked if he could join him, then proceeded to sit down and order himself the same thing he had gotten. He gave the man a slight look, but he said nothing. Obviously, this man wished to speak with him, and this man was Gandalf The Grey, a well-known wizard that had known his father. He was sure whatever he had to say was important.

     "I should introduce myself. My name is Gandalf. Gandalf The Grey." The man said, looking at the dwarf. He knew that Thorin most likely already knew who he was, though. Many knew him by several different names.

     "I know who you are." Thorin replied, speaking as if it was obvious. He glanced at the door when it opened, revealing a red haired elven maid. A rather short elven maid, at that- the shortest elf he had ever seen. The elf looked around the room until her eyes landed on Gandalf, then on him. A friend of the wizard's, perhaps? Wonderful.

     Gandalf followed Thorin's gaze, then he gestured for the elf to come over and join them before he looked at the prince again. "That is my companion, Valadhiel." He explained, then continued after the elleth had walked over to them. "Well now! This is a fine chance. What brings Thorin Oakenshield to Bree?"

     "I received word that my father had been seen wandering the Wilds near Dunland. I went looking, and found no sign of him." Thorin replied, setting his bread down before he looked from the elf to Gandalf, offering the maid no greeting of any kind.

     Valadhiel crossed her arms as she listened to the dwarf, leaning on a leg as she simply stood there next to Gandalf. So, was this why Gandalf had her come here? To meet with the dwarf prince, and to help him? Most likely. Gandalf was always helping others as well, and when it came to the wizard, there was no such thing as fine chance. "It has been a long time since anything but rumor was heard of Thrain." She commented.

     Thorin looked up at the elf when he heard her smooth, gentle, yet strong, voice- it was surprisingly strong for her being such a petite and little thing. He studied her briefly, the first noticeable thing about her being her red hair, of course, but next were her eyes. They were yellow, and the pupils, in the light, looked like that of a dragon's. He refrained from furrowing his brow. It was a rather odd sight. The next thing he noticed was the scar that went from her forehead to her cheek, as if she'd been slashed across her eye. Her eye seemed undamaged, though.

     After his brief observation, he gave the maiden a glare of sorts. "He still lives. I am sure of it." He told her before he looked at Gandalf again. "My father came to see you before he went missing. What did you say to him?"

     "I urged him to march upon Erebor, to rally the seven armies of the dwarves, to destroy the dragon, and take back The Lonely Mountain. And I would say the same to you. Take back your homeland." Gandalf replied, again looking at the dwarven prince.

     Valadhiel, when she was sure the dwarf wasn't looking, raised a questioning eyebrow at Gandalf. Yes, that was what he wanted. He wanted her to travel with this dwarf to help him reclaim his home. He wanted her to go to Erebor; a place she never wanted to go to. As long as Smaug was there, she would stay away. Then again, who would be able to drive that evil dragon out of the mountain? As much as she didn't want to go back, a part of her did. She felt that she owed these dwarves, even if it wasn't her fault that another dragon had wronged them and not she herself.

     Thorin gave the old wizard a look of suspicion. "This is no chance meeting, is it, Gandalf?" He asked, crossing his arms as he looked at him. All of this was too much of a coincidence to be a chance meeting, and from what he'd heard, this wizard was mysterious in all his ways and always seemed to know what he was doing.

     "No, it is not. The Lonely Mountain troubles me, Thorin. That dragon has sat there long enough. Sooner or later, darker minds will turn toward Erebor. I ran into some unsavory characters whilst traveling along the Greenway; they mistook me for a vagabond."

     "I imagine they regretted that."

     Valadhiel smirked ever so slightly when the dwarf made the comment, but she quickly wiped it from her face and looked at Gandalf, waiting for him to continue. She knew none of this, and she was now curious.

     "One of them was carrying a message." Gandalf laid a dirty piece of cloth on the table before Thorin. When the dwarf went to reach out for it, he continued. "It's Black Speech."

     Valadhiel watched in slight amusement as Thorin drew his hand back warily after being told what it was. Then again, the Black Speech shouldn't be taken lightly, and some were known to be superstitious about even the texts written in the filthy language. She peered across and looked at the message, then she raised her brow before lowering it again. "Promise of payment." She told him.

     "For what?" Thorin asked, looking at Valadhiel, then back over at Gandalf. After a moment, he gestured for the elf to sit. Not because he cared to be polite to an elf, but because he didn't wish for attention to be brought to them.

     "Your head. Someone wants you dead." Gandalf replied, glancing at Valadhiel when she took a seat next to him before he looked at the prince again. "Thorin, you can wait no longer. You are the heir to the throne of Durin. Unite the armies of the dwarves. Together you have the might and power to retake Erebor. Summon a meeting of the seven dwarf families; demand they stand by their oaths."

     "The seven armies swore that oath to the one who wields The King's Jewel, the Arkenstone! It is the only thing that will unite them, and in case you have forgotten, that jewel was stolen by Smaug." Thorin replied, scowling slightly when he spoke the dragon's name.

     Valadhiel had been watching Thorin as he spoke, then she looked away when he spoke the name of Smaug and narrowed her eyes a little. That dragon had caused a lot of problems. After a moment of thought, she looked up at him again. "What if we were to help you reclaim it?"

     Thorin looked at her. "How? The Arkenstone lies half a world away, buried beneath the feet of a fire-breathing dragon."

     "Yes, it does," Gandalf answered, "which is why we are going to need a burglar."

     Thorin remained silent in thought, determining whether or not he should consider the wizard and the elf's offer. He hated accepting help, but Gandalf was right. This was what he needed to do, and he couldn't do it alone. After remaining silent for a good moment, he leaned forward in his chair and looked Gandalf in the eye. "I am listening."

     "We mustn't discuss it here. Too many ears." Gandalf replied in a hushed tone. It would be very unwise, and with Thorin being wanted dead, who could tell who might be listening in?

     Thorin nodded in agreement, then got to his feet after Gandalf stood. He then cast a glance at Valadhiel before he looked at the old wizard again. "Will she be accompanying us on such a quest? Last I checked, her kind didn't like my kind."

     Valadhiel resisted the urge to roll her eyes. This dwarf didn't even get the half of it. She was not only elf, and none of the races she was mixed with liked dwarves. They were greedy, stubborn, always wanting to fight, and they hated what they didn't understand, even if it was a race that did them no wrong. "I can speak for myself, Master Dwarf, thank you." She said in a snippy sort of way. "In response to your question, yes; I will be accompanying you on this quest. If you will have me, that is."

     Gandalf mentally sighed, though his eyes held a slight look of amusement, when Valadhiel replied in her snippy sort of way. She never liked when people asked a question about her when she was standing right there, and she didn't always get along with dwarves. She found some, if not most, of them to be pretty rude, even though she herself could be the same way at times. She was snippy, sometimes rude, sometimes aggressive, and she was prideful. Thankfully, she wasn't evil. She was always ready to help those in need- she was humble enough to at least do that. Now, humble enough to ask for help? Not so much. "And I assure you that she would be a great asset on this quest, Master Thorin."

     Thorin gave a small glare at the way the elf spoke to him, and he was about to speak before Gandalf spoke up. And considering that Gandalf seemed to want this elf to join them on their quest, he had a feeling the wandering wizard would have his way. "All right. But she better not be a hindrance to us."

     Valadhiel opened her mouth to speak, her eyes seeming to flash with irritation, but she flinched when someone suddenly grabbed her from behind and held a dagger to her throat. Thorin, despite not knowing the woman and not liking the woman, drew his own sword, though when he realized a dagger was being held to the elf's throat, he realized there was nothing he could do.

     "I wouldn't do that, dwarf." The man sneered, gripping Valadhiel tightly so she couldn't get away, as well as keeping the dagger close to her throat so she wouldn't even think about attempting to escape. "Come with me, or the elf dies!"

     All in the inn fell silent, and they all watched as these events occurred. Most were too drunk to even realize what was going on, and the ones who were not knew it would be foolish to intervene, as the man could very well kill the elf. Several others, however, knew that the red-haired woman would be able to get out of this without anyone's help. Besides knowing this, they also didn't want to step in to risk the man actually harming her, either.

     Before anyone else could react, or before anyone could do anything foolish, Valadhiel decided to hurry up and take some action. Her bones began popping, and as they did, her form began to change. The man that had grabbed her was so startled by this that he released her, not knowing what devilry this could be. A silver leopard with unearthly blue eyes now stood where the elf once did, and the feline, despite being on all fours, was only slightly shorter than Thorin, as she had been in her elven form.

     The man's eyes widened when he saw the beast, and he quickly backed away, dagger still in hand. "What devilry is this?" He exclaimed in question, obviously horrified. He glanced around the room for escape, then backed up even further when the leopard advanced on him.

     Several other people had either retreated to their rooms, or they stood in the hall, or on the other end of the room, watching and murmuring amongst themselves. They recognized Valadhiel as her elf self, but they had never seen a thing such as this!

     "What is she?" Thorin asked Gandalf, glancing at him as he watched the large, silver leopard. What an odd thing... her fur had changed, as silver was nowhere near being red like her hair, and even her eyes had changed. They'd once been yellow and reptilian, though they now were blue and nearly human-like.

     Valadhiel pounced on the man and managed to pin him beneath her, baring her fangs as she released a growl. "If you leave now, I won't harm you. But if you remain here, you will regret it." She threatened with a hiss. After she spoke, she released him and watched with flattened ears as the man took off running. She rolled her eyes; this man obviously hadn't thought a woman would be so difficult to defeat.

     "She is a skinchanger." Gandalf replied, looking from Valadhiel to Thorin. "Well, part skinchanger. I'm sure you've already realized she is an elf." He added before he looked at the leopard once again. Hopefully this wouldn't end up being disastrous, as last he'd heard, no one knew about the elf's shifting abilities.

     The innkeeper, Barliman Butterbur, gave Valadhiel a look. "We don't serve your kind here." Skin changers had been said to not be a very peaceful folk, and it was said they could not control their animal instincts when in animal form. He sure didn't want to put up with such a creature.

     Valadhiel looked up at Butterbur, then she shifted back into her elvish form, bones popping and cracking, causing everyone to cringe. Thorin shuddered when he heard the bones cracking, and held back a grimace when he noticed the elf wince for a brief second.

     Gandalf stepped forward and leaned on his staff. "Surely there is no need to be so harsh, Master Butterbur. She has proven herself to be rather helpful to all of the folk in Bree, after all, and has proven herself to be a friend rather than a foe. Would you really throw someone who has never wronged you out?"

     "I can handle myself, Gandalf." Valadhiel muttered quietly. "If he wants me to leave, then I will do so. I wouldn't want any of them to think I was here to harm them."

     Butterbur looked at Gandalf a moment, then he looked at Valadhiel as he thought before he gave a sigh and nodded. "Alright, the lady can stay. Just so long as you don't go bringing any trouble with that shifting business of yours." He looked at the woman warily.

     "I promise you that you need not worry about that." Valadhiel assured the man, then she turned to face Thorin and Gandalf. "I assume we will be going to discuss these plans?" She would like to know more of what Gandalf had planned for this quest. They would have much to plan out, after all. Taking back The Lonely Mountain would be no simple task.

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