Chapter Text
"Hey, wait for me!"
"Oisin! You're going too fast, Oisin!"
"Hey, Oisin!
"Oisin...!"
"...where did you go?"
"Alright, what's our plan?" I clapped my hands together eagerly, ready to hear any and all suggestions. The look Elerrína gave me, of complete incredulity as she drank from her water pouch, could have shut Durin's door and outfroze the misty mountains. "What?" I asked innocently. "We have to start somewhere, don't we?"
"But shouldn't I be the one asking you that?"
I scoffed. We'd made good time leaving the Woodland Realm, but night would soon fall, and we would need to make a camp and a fire. I said as much to my newest travelling companion.
"You are avoiding my question." Perceptive companion, then.
In truth, I did have a plan, but it was more of a guideline. A blurry one. And a short one, with two imperatives.
- Get to Laketown
- Find Bard
I had no doubt he would be my greatest ally, my surefire way of getting to the conflict's heart. The Company had a few hours on us, and they would have met the future king of Dale by now. And if not, if my interference had somehow kept their paths from crossing, I had learned not to doubt the Company's resourcefulness in these past months. Especially Bilbo's. If no one could, Bilbo would get them to the afloat harbour. In any case, wasting my time and mind in worry would be of no use. No, Elerrína was right. I needed to face the music. I needed to take my fate into my own hands and hold my position. Thorin had been wrong to cast me away. I will prove to him, to all of them, that I can exceed their expectations and save them from their own pride.
Whether they liked it or not.
Reaching into my bag, I grabbed my trusty map — the one I'd barely used until now for fear of being discovered as knowing more than I should, though it mattered little given my current predicament and I had nothing left to lose — so as to gain a sense of bearings and distances. I felt more than saw Elerrína lean over my shoulder (she was so tall that even as a regular-sized human, I had to crank my neck up if she stood too close), and we observed together the numerous annotations I'd made in what seemed like a complete other life now. On top of Tolkien's original naming of the different places our journey took us to, I had traced in light pencil the paths taken by the Company, from one stop to another, and what perils they were to encounter in every one of them.
"This is good craftsmanship," said my elven friend, a note of respect coloring her words, "Do you dabble in cartography in your spare time?"
I smiled. "I wish I were so skilled. But no, I have only borrowed it. Still, you're right, the hands that made this possessed great talent." And belonged to a true visionary.
She uncurled from her position and moved a few paces in front of me, considering my answer. I didn't know what there was to consider, though I should not have underestimated the observation skills of a member of Thranduil's personal guard.
"I suppose," she glanced back at me in a knowing manner, "that you have 'borrowed' that book in the same way?"
"I..." I bit my tongue, light enough not to bleed, hard enough to swallow unsollicited words. How was I even supposed to answer her? I could sense she was reaching out. This was her way of establishing a bond, trust. But things were too uncertain right now for me to reveal any more of my secrets. Ori was already privy to what that book meant to me, yet he only knew the bare bones of it and was one person too many. If anything, wouldn't protecting her from mysteries I couldn't begin to solve be a sign of trustworthiness?
A part of me knew that the reasoning made no sense, and shame clamped my mouth shut, keeping me from offering any half-hearted explanations that would be empty of meaning.
I distinctly heard her sigh for what felt like the hundredth time today and started to resign myself to losing another friendship before it began, when a clothed shape was suddenly thrown at me and I caught it awkwardly. Confused, I undid the brown wrapping around the object, feeling its weight and slightly rough texture that suggested frequent use or age, and gasping when I saw its contents.
It was a sword. A magnificent, silver sword with faint tones of green and gold in the hilt's design, barely even there, but enough to distinguish the shape of intertwined leaves in the wood. Elven-made, no doubt, inspired by the Woodland Realm and clearly made here. It wasn't quite as long or as refined as the ones I'd seen Tauriel and Elerrína herself wield, nor as intricately shaped as Orcrist and Sting, but in its tended-to blade, I could see my own reflection. A sturdy sword. For beginners, granted, but reliable nonetheless. "What..." Mouth open like a fish out of water, I didn't dare voice my thoughts aloud.
"I picked it up in the royal armoury before our departure," Elerrína added, probably sensing my puzzlement. "It is yours, now."
"Elerrína..."
"Do not argue with me." Her tone was final. "It had no owner and surely won't be missed. Plus, if we are to go on this danger-ridden path, this tiny knife of yours won't be of any help. You need a sword, and if anything, you would be giving this one a second life." She crossed her arms, but her expression was open, the ghost of a smile on her lips as she finished speaking. Tendrils of warmth chased the remaining doubts from my heart at her careful attention. "Thank you, Elerrína." I said, blinking wetness away from my eyes. That was quite enough crying for today.
Some would see this gift as a practical means to an end, but I knew. I knew it meant she understood. I could not reveal myself entirely to her, not yet. Only, she had just made it clear that she would wait for me to be ready. And time would make it so, I swore it now.
She seemed satisfied by my acceptance and moved on. Packing the map under my arm, I took care to slide the weapon into my belt, where it fit at the right height and weight and would be within easy reach. I would need to practice with it intensively, but its presence already put my mind at ease.
"Alright, we need to make it to Laketown as soon as possible," I declared as we resumed walking side by side, "There is a bowman we must meet."
Elerrína, while dismissing some tall branches to the side, made a questioning sound. "Surely you do not mean Bard the Bowman?"
I frowned. "Yes, him exactly, how in the world—"
A snap.
"Take cover!" Elerrína yelled and roughly shoved me behind her. Immediately, I turned so we were back to back, in full view of the forest around us. Not a bird's song in the air, not a slow river could be heard in the distance. At least not by my human ears, but judging by the tense way Elerrína stood, I knew there was something I couldn't detect. But where?
"Show yourself." She spoke, bow already drawn at an unknown target. I had not even seen her move, how did she do that?
A shuffling on my side caught my attention and I finally unfroze my limbs to grab hold of my new blade. Were we surrounded? By whom?
Seconds passed agonizingly slow yet there was not enough time to formulate a plan and my thoughts ran in circles despite the adrenaline. "Elerrína..." I called under my breath, at a loss.
"Whoa, hey, don't shoot!" The suddenness made my heart jump in my throat, but the next second, I identified the voice and couldn't fight the grin that made its way onto my face.
"Fíli! Is that you?" I shouted, forgetting caution for a moment. More shuffling and then his familiar face appeared through the foliage on Elerrína's side.
"The one and only!" He responded jovially, "Actually, not quite, there's also—"
"Drop your weapons, Elerrína, it's only us." My neck turned so fast it gave me whiplash for a moment. So there was someone else, but not from the Company, no, this haughty tone could only belong to one person, or elf, in our case.
"My Prince?" She said, her voice carefully neutral, and lowered her bow. Then, another figure with fiery red hair emerged next to Legolas.
"Tauriel!" I violently turned again. That was Kíli, no doubt about it. And all of this mess was making me dizzier by the second.
A silence followed. I saw Ori from the corner of my eye, clumsily shuffling after the two dwarven princes, breaking the spell.
Just what was going on?
"So, let me get this right." I pinched my nose, massaging back the headache slowly forming behind my eyes. Luckily, the earlier dizziness had left, for I did not care to start retching so soon in front of our unexpected guests.
What seemed like hours following this... impromptu reunion, we were all sitting in a circle, around a crackling campfire.
"You two," I began, pointing at the elven royalty and his captain of the guard first because it was easier than to confront the reason why our other three guests were present, "followed us after we left the castle. For what reason, again?" Kíli hadn't been injured, there had been no altercation with the Orcs and no reason for Tauriel to come, never mind Legolas.
"This fight against the dark forces does not only concern dwarven-kind." A pause. Legolas stared in the distance, like he still had trouble accepting the reason. "We, too, are part of this world," she went on, unknowingly echoing her own words, "I refuse to let evil become stronger than us."
I nodded, so she'd see I shared the sentiment, while Elerrína and Tauriel shared a look that held more meaning than I could possibly decipher, so I turned to the rest of our party. Whether Legolas gave his own reasons mattered little to me. His being here was a miracle in itself.
"What about you, Fíli, Kíli, Ori? Why come back?" I swallowed hard, forcing the struggle out of my voice. The two brothers, who had practically sprawled onto the ground, also eyed each other, but surprisingly, Ori was the first to answer me. "We... we couldn't just leave you. You're my— you're our friend," he corrected himself when Kíli elbowed him.
"And Thorin is your king. And your uncle," I said to the princes, careful to keep my voice level, "Surely you didn't betray him by helping a traitor, on a whim?"
Kíli bore a strained grin as he continued. "Not really. Well, it's complicated. You see, Fíli here got into a fight with him, about, em, about how he treated you."
"We don't think you were right to do what you did." Fíli cut his brother, staring at me directly now. I did my best to hold his gaze steady. "But we also know that you only made a deal with Thranduil to help our quest. And that you risked yourself too. And to declare you a traitor after everything, based on this... It didn't sit right with me."
"So you..." Kíli interrupted me again before I could find the right words. "So you see, uncle ended up saying that we might as well join you if, if we thought that way. And we did. Because technically, he permitted us, right? Plus, he's the one who always taught us to stand for what we thought was right." Kíli's smile was still visibly nervous, yet his eyes shone with the same mirth, and it renewed my desire to save them from their fate with a vengeance. It must have been so hard for them, leaving the figure they had always followed and revered, to diverge from the path they had dreamed of.
"Dori was a bit mad at me, but Nori, he was smiling. I think he approved," said Ori.
"Ain't that right," Fíli sighed, but he, too, let a smirk adorn his features. "We'll join you, Erell, and we'll show them. We'll show our uncle there's no reason our grudges must hold us back from making allies and friends."
Elerrína spoke for the first time that evening. "I agree. We have a common enemy and as the free people of Middle-earth, we all have a duty to protect it."
"A shared burden is a lighter one," Legolas echoed under his breath, almost to himself.
I stared at the fire. Still burning. The light in each of my companions would never be snuffed out—not by my word.