A lone human walked in a wild forest. A common spectator would have been shocked; it was as if a warrior of old had somehow found itself in the shaded trees, dressed in armor for battle. It was not a warrior in fact, but a hunter. All gold and shining, Lilly walked as best she could on her injured leg. A day earlier her brother, Kitchi, and she tried desperately to find the dwarves. The three were separated by the group of orcs, but they knew where they could find each other. So Lilly pressed on, determined to find her friends and her brother.
It wasn't even a full day and she found herself at the entrance of even more woods, but it seemed these were different. Large stone statues, covered in moss, were standing at the entrance. A foreign language she couldn't read was scrawled under them it seemed.
"Prolly says 'welcome,'" Lilly mussed to herself. The silence answered back, giving her a chill. The map Kitchi gave her said to go around, but it would take too long to reach them, so she figured going through was her best option. So righting her large backpack, she went in.
The path, she found out, was impossible to follow, it seemed to disappear then reappear not too far ahead. So she did what any good hunter would do, she cut straight through, knowing that paths could lead someone where they didn't want to go.
Scaling ridges, chopping unnaturally large webs, and wadding through creeks, she walked for what felt like hours, but her little watch necklace told her it was hardly one hour. She knew to ration her supplies, having been through her father's survival training, so she only took sips to rewet her tongue and throat. If she could fool her body into thinking it wasn't thirsty she could go on a little longer.
The forest gave off a bad feeling; she knew her hunches were always right. She wasn't surprised then, when she ran into a few giant spider, slicing them apart while all the while trying to make sure she didn't accidently turn herself around. If she kept her head, she would make it out of this forest, just as she made it out of the last one. So she continued on, her eyes skillfully scanning, her ears straining for any sound of an attacker or savior.
She knew something bad was up when she started seeing things. Before Lilly stood Greg, blond and bright like she remembered. When she tried to slash him, her blade went through, he wasn't real. He was just her imagination. She kept walking, ignoring Greg beside her, who was trying to slow her down. She was making it through. Nothing was stopping her. The spiders were bad but the hallucinations were almost worse, they were frightening and welcome. She decided she felt less alone with her brother beside her.
It was nightfall then, her eyes were unaccustomed to night here. For most people it would seem dark in those thick woods, but she thought the opposite. The stars that managed to peak through were brighter here than her world, where lights and smog dimmed them. She could easily make out everything, glancing up she saw it was because of a brilliant full moon. She pushed on, night and exhaustion wouldn't stop her, she needed to get out of the woods and find some food.
Lilly was taking one of her breaks when she heard a loud, blood-chilling howl. It was close by, Lilly thought, but it was only one. Others would have answered that one's call if they were nearby. So quickly digging through her bag, she brought out her silver bullets, completely loading her gun. She was ready. She wouldn't die like Greg, who was watching her with that brilliant smile now out of place. Loud crashing filled the silence as the beast approached.
Lilly stared at the monster for a moment, her voice joining the heavy breathing, "it's not your fault you're a monster, I know. But you're going to have to die."
She raised her gun as the werewolf launched itself at her, and fired a single shot, right through the heart. She watched as the wound flashed a silver light, before the thing collapsed face down. Sticking out of the back was an arrow.
"The hell?" Lilly pulled it out to inspect, seeing it was beautifully crafted not unlike the elves from Rivendell's. It couldn't have been that long ago it was shot, at most an hour. She knew if it was more than a day the werewolf would have removed it. She looked around, as gun at the ready. It wasn't long before people silently appeared in the trees and behind bushes. They had their weapons trained on her, so she lifted her gun to the one closest to her, a pretty, light haired man.
"Who are you?" another asked, he was more lovely than the others, with a baby face and long blonde locks.
"Well, damn," Lilly laughed as she moved her gun to aim at the speaker, "I'm just passing through, you'd best tell your men to back off." She was reminded of her stand down with the dwarves, this time she didn't have Jake to back her up though.
The man nodded to the others, all lowering their bows and swords, "now why don't you lower yours?"
Lilly snorted, "you think I'm stupid, pretty boy? I need some security, you have numbers then I get a weapon trained on you."
He made a strange grumbling sound before speaking his elf talk to an auburn haired girl. They both seemed to agree on something.
"Where are you heading?" blond-y asked, his eyes suspicious.
"I thought I told you, the other side of this forest," Lilly shrugged. She wasn't giving them anything but a hard time.
"Where exactly," the man stepped closer, stopping himself when she raised her strange weapon to his head.
"It's none of your business, you see that werewolf that you tried to take down over there?" Lilly nodded toward the body, "I took it down with one shot from this, I feel like elves are just as easy to kill. You may overtake me, but I'll manage to kill a few of you in the process."
Legolas could feel a chill go through him, the body of the animal from before was a reminder that she did what they couldn't, "we don't mean you any harm, we just want to help you."
Lilly sneered, "I met some elves earlier this week, they were pretty nice, of course they didn't have their weapons pointed at me and they weren't giving me the third degree."
"You're armor is elvish," Legolas inclined at the shining gold, "why would they give it to you?"
Lilly laughed, "must have been my winning personality. They saw I needed some help, so they gave me protection."
Tauriel looked at the human; she was pretty, with fair features and strong stance. It also seemed like the girl was a great big wound. She had a sling on her arm, she kept the weight off her left leg, and her face had a bandage that covered her right cheek. In the middle of surveying her, the girl's hard stare turned to her.
"What? Do I have something on my face?" Lilly smirked at her own joke, before turning serious, "my name is Lillian Mason, Lilly for short. Just point me in the most Easterly side of the woods and I'll be on my way."
"East, what business do you have in the east?" Legolas circled the girl, "I have met a group earlier going east."
Lilly's attention was fully on the blond elf, "what? Who did you meet? When was it?"
Tauriel knew what was going to happen next, and wasn't shocked to see the almost imperceptible nod to the others. Before the girl could realize the change in atmosphere she was swarmed. A loud crack pierced the air and Legolas went down. She rushed to her prince, the weapon only seemed to hit his arm but he was bleeding profusely from a hole. Lilly then laughed, earning everyone's attention.
"Don't watch Greg, I may die by the hands of a bunch of pretty little elves. Mom and dad will be so disappointed in me, I thought I was stronger than this. Fuck." She slumped then, tired as she looked at nothing. It seemed the forest was affecting her mind. The others bound her, and pushed her along, leading her back. She didn't struggle much as she let them take her back to the palace.
"So you got separated from your flock, then?" Legolas asked; his arm bandaged up until they got back to fix it up, it was obvious she was an ally of the dwarves. Why they would bring a human along with them was curious, but Tauriel bit her tongue as Legolas stared down the girl.
"I guess, I went to sacrifice myself so they could get away," Lilly looked down at her injured arm, "I guess it wasn't my time to die though. I'm trying to join them again, I promised to… help them."
Legolas hoped get answers before they got back, "help them how."
Lilly weighed her options, no way was she telling him the whole truth so she decided to lie by telling the partial truth, "I'm what some of my people call a 'Hunter.' We hunters are helpers. We go around killing monsters, like the one from earlier, and saving people. We needed help and they were willing to let us come for our fighting skills."
"Our? Who else was helping?" Legolas looked a bit confused; she acted like there was another person with her again.
"My brother," Lilly looked down, "we were attacked by orcs and separated. I had to continue on to find him; we both know where we'll meet, after this forest I'm sure I'll find him."
Legolas was silent then, it seemed she was either not telling the whole truth or was in the dark. It seemed all Men were untrustworthy and unwise. They were not as bad as dwarves but they seemed to be foolish in their shortened lives. It wasn't long before they made it to the palace.
"So, you going to show me to my friends?" Lilly asked, eyes darting around and trying to take notice of everything she could, "it'd be nice to have my stuff back, a little girl like me wouldn't do much damage with all you armed to the teeth."
Legolas looked pointedly to his arm, before staring hard at the girl, "do you think me a fool?"
"Oh, that? It was a little accident. You don't jump a person who has a finger on the trigger, it was your own fault, I would've followed you if you just asked nicely."
Legolas nodded to the one who was carrying her backpack, but it seemed like he refused to give back her gun, machete, and knives. She shrugged and shouldered her pack, and looked expectantly at Legolas. The one good thing about being a hunter was knowing how to improvise, losing her guns hurt but she could still fight.
"Take her to her friends," he smirked, nodding to Tauriel.
Lilly was grabbed from behind, the woman from earlier pushed her forward.
"I'm in no hurry now," Lilly said as she limped along, "I finally caught up, no need to rush."
This human confused Tauriel, she seemed so wary like she carried more than just her own weight around. "I like to get jobs done quickly." She was shocked when the girl stopped in front of her suddenly, turning to glare at her, daring her to hurry her along.
"I've been walking for almost 3 days straight now. I was alone, injured and I went as quickly as I could to catch up. Now that I'm here I would prefer not to strain myself anymore." Lilly turned back and trudged on at her own pace, turning when the elf woman told her to.
"Here we are," Tauriel said quietly, but her voice grabbed the attention of several dwarves close by, all in cages.
"What the hell!? Is this how you treat people? Let them out now," Lilly's voice got a loud reaction from the dwarves. They all yelled out, the ones who could see her confirmed that it was in fact Lilly. They were all so happy to see her. Tauriel knew the girl wasn't just some helper who tagged along for the fun of it.
"Sunshine!?" Kili was the closest to her, pressing against the bars, "what happened to you!? We thought you were dead."
Lilly rushed to him, laughing for the first time in days, "what do you mean, Kili? You think a little monster could keep me down?"
Tauriel was shocked to see the handsome dwarf run a finger down the bandage on the girl's cheek, "you'd be mad if I told you the truth, so I'll say no, nothing could keep our little Lilly down."
"Is everyone ok?" she glanced around, some of the dwarves she could easily see but others were below and above where she stood and out of her sight, "I saw all the smoke and when I reached it there were dead orcs everywhere."
"Hey, Kili," Fili's shout interrupted his response, "don't hog her, we all want to see the little spit fire."
Lilly laughed as she went to the fairer brother, "why, Fili, is it me our is your beard longer?" she playfully tugged his scruffy little beard, trying her best to ignore the bars between them.
"Oui, it's still more than what Kili's got," he joked. Lilly was quickly looking into each cage, quickly checking to see if they were all there.
"Lassie, it really is you," Bofur stood, his eyes meeting hers in the dark.
"Oh, Bo," she grabbed the bars that were separating them, "I missed that voice of yours." And that feeling of finally being safe and having all your fears and doubts catch up choked Lilly. She fell to her knees as she looked up into the face of the man who helped her so much. She was always the type of person to be fine with pain and suffering until someone she loved looked at her with sympathetic eyes. She was crying then, unable to stand back up, even with Tauriel trying to pull her to her feet. It was as if all her pain was switched on now that she finally accomplished her task. Her feet were on fire, her ribs ached, and her arm throbbed in its sling.
"You have to stand," Tauriel urged, bearing all her weight, "we have to find a cell for you."
"Put her with me," Kili said, "I owe her my life, I have to repay her. If you get me supplies I can tend to her wounds."
Tauriel looked to Lilly, and when the girl nodded quietly, the elf heaved the girl to the room where the dwarf prince was waiting. He immediately bore the small woman's weight, setting her against the wall while he made her a bed up.
"Thank you Kili," the girl's voice was small and Tauriel found herself wanting to stay and listen to what the two would say to each other, hiding around the corner.
Kili laughed at that, "it's the least I could do. So, where is Jake?"
Lilly looked down at her hands, feeling a familiar sense of loss bubble up, "we were separated. A group of orcs attacked us so we had to split up and try to lose them. It's been a day since I've seen him…"
Kili felt bad for the girl, but Jake could be returned to them, "he is okay. After all, you found your way back to us, I'm sure a tough guy like Jake will too."
Lilly nodded mutely, she needed Kili's almost childish belief that everyone was going to be okay, "I'm tougher than Jake." She grinned.
"Oh? I don't think Jake would be flinching as much as you are right now," Kili said, working on her arm first and laughing as she cringed when he opened the soft cast and sling.
"Don't you start with me," Lilly pouted, "you try being flung against a cliff wall by a Wendigo and see how you come out."
"Is that how you got all your injuries?"
"All but my leg, which was from the orc attack," she looked down at the cell floor, "I almost died. Jake and Kitchi drug me back to the fort and some witch man fixed me as much as he could… Jake said I was messed up bad. I had my arm twisted clear around, broke five ribs in eight places in all, and my face. Look at what it did to my face, Kili." Her voice broke and she sounded defeated.
The nearby dwarves and the elf who was listening thought it was strange that her face seemed to be her biggest concern.
"Aye, you have a lovely face," Kili laughed, but his heart dropped when the girl took off the bandage.
"The healer couldn't fix it, not when my ribs and arm were more important," Lilly looked at the bandage she tore off.
Kili stared at the cut, the part above her eye was visible before, but now that he could see the whole thing he could tell it was worse than he first thought, "Lilly, you know what that scar will mean?"
Lilly frowned as she chucked the used bandage to the other side of the cell, "that I'm weak?"
Kili ignored her bitter answer, "that you'd give anything to keep people you care about safe, that you keep your promises, that you're a survivor."
Lilly stared up at the dwarf, eyes watering, one marred by perfection while the other told stories, "thanks Kili."
"Lassie," Bofur hated the silence that Lilly sunk into, "how would you like to hear a little song?"
Lilly made a choking noise before answering, "yes please." She sounded so small then, but she would give anything to hear Bofur sing to her again.
Bofur began softly, a sweet dwarfish song that instantly calmed her nerves, Kili, Fili, Ori, and Dori joined in.
When the song ended the group went silent for a moment before Bofur called out softly, "is Lilly okay?"
"She is sleeping," Kili whispered back quietly, as he stared at the now sleeping girl. Her hair was matted with dirt and blood, her face scarred, and her entire being exhausted and he felt a wave of guilt, he had given up on her, he had started to lay her memory to rest. But here, in the cold dark cell was a woman who refused to give up on them. Her will and her love pulled her here, ignoring all the pain and loss she went through.
Bofur smiled, as he got out his carving he had been working on, and began singing as he whittled the finishing details. Bofur couldn't have been happier, having Lilly back. He was a little jealous that Kili got to be with her, but having her so close made the relief overpower his envy.
His singing ended as he looked at his finished carving. It was a perfect likeness, and he allowed himself a small moment of pride.
Hope you enjoyed!