Disclaimer: this is not mine. All materiel to Tolkien and Peter Jackson respectively. I only own my OC.

Poor Bilbo was at his wit's end. These dwarves had barged into his home, completely cleaned out his pantry, and made a total mess of his home in general. Then that other dwarf had come in and humiliated Bilbo, in his house. That was really quite rude.

Altogether though, he really wasn't all that surprised by a finale knock on the door.

All the dwarves looked around in confusion, taking note that everyone was there. Only Gandalf was perfectly at ease as he stopped Bilbo from going to get the door.

"It will be better if I get this," he murmured. "She is not… exactly… used to people, you might say."

"What is this about, Gandalf?" questioned Thorin. "I asked you to get a 14th member, not a 15th as well!" Gandalf smirked at this and went to the door.

When he opened it, all the dwarves craned their necks to try to see in front of him. A rough voice, seemingly unused to speaking said, "hello, Gandalf." The dwarves were quite startled to realize that the voice was female, a rough and yet pleasant alto.

"Lupa, my dear! Come right in! Let me introduce you to these wonderful dwarves!" Now Gandalf stepped to the side and the woman came in, hesitating a moment before stepping over the threshold. Fili gasped when he saw her features in the light, for she wore no cloak.

She had night-black hair that was shaved on the sides and done in a mohawk in the center, fully revealing her pointed elf-like ears. Her eyes were a beautiful cerulean blue and perfectly shaped; under the left was a tattoo, what seemed to be a red teardrop. Her skin was a tanned brown, completely unlike any other race of Middle-Earth any of the Dwarves had seen. It was marred by many pale thin lines that were likely scars, although Fili had no idea how a female could get so many. She wore a green sleeveless wrap-around shirt held in place with a belt. Her pants were canvas, a light tan brown that were puffed out slightly. They were tucked into brown leather boots that were covered in travel dust. On her arms were leather bracers that, at Gandalf's request, she pulled two sharp looking daggers from. Laying them in a separate pile from the Dwarves' weapons, various other small knives joined them. A leather satchel rested on her hip, held in place by a strap going over the opposite shoulder and a second strap going around her waist.

Bilbo gulped when he saw that her nails, grown to just past her fingertips, were filed into points.

All in all, she had a kind of feral beauty, Fili concluded. While he wouldn't call her beautiful in the traditional dwarven sense of the word, her wildness gave her a glowing aura almost. She grinned when she saw him staring at her dusk rose lips, revealing teeth that had been sharpened into points as well; he quickly looked away.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked Thorin again. "I do not want some weak female on this quest, Gandalf. She will be a burden and a distraction. Useless." He felt very disconcerted when the woman growled at him, though he did not show it. Gandalf put a restraining hand on her shoulder and she visibly relaxed. A bit, at least.

"I do not ask your permission on this matter, Thorin," replied Gandalf. "She will come, whether you like it or not. I specifically asked her help on this. Lupa will be a great help! She knows these lands like the back of her hand! Or she did, anyway..." he ended with a mutter.

Lupa grinned again. "Of course I still do, Gandalf. There are few things my people forget, and the lay of the land is not one of them."

Thorin then heard Gandalf's voice in his head. -Do not meet her eyes for more than five seconds. Any longer is a challenge for dominance.-

"A word, Gandalf, if you will?" growled Thorin, standing and walking to a different room of the hobbit hole, where Gandalf followed.

"What is she, even?" Thorin whisper-yelled. "I do not want a useless female on my quest, for she will be naught but a burden and a distraction! And I especially do not what a she-elf!"

Gandalf looked at Thorin for a moment, a smirk on his face. Then he asked, "Have you ever heard of the Sizaan Elves? A long lost tribe of elves so different from their cousins that they split off almost entirely?" Thorin froze at this.

"You do not mean..."

"I do."

"But... are the stories of how they are raised by animals true?!"

"They are. And that is why you must not challenge her. She was raised by wolves, the harshest animals for ranking. She has already identified you as the Alpha of this group. She will not wish to challenge you, but if you do first, she will have no choice but to answer in kind."

"But why must she come?!" demanded Thorin.

"Because she is a formidable fighter and extremely intelligent. And, well, the other reasons are hers to tell you as she will. But come, we must continue with our meeting." At this Gandalf swept out of the room, with an outraged Thorin following in his wake.

And that is chapter 1. "But Twillin," the readers cry out; "It's practically the same as every other dratted Hobbit fanfic I've read!" To which I say, "Don't worry. Not even I'm sure where this is going to go."

And isn't Lupa such a wonderfully original name?!

Ha. Ha.

Anyway, constructive criticism is much appreciated if you feel like taking the time.

Twillin out!