Well hello, my lovely, beautiful, wonderful followers, and welcome to the new & improved version of my oldest story! There have been many changes from the original, including the title, mainly sparked by my now having seen all three of the movies. The ending also is drastically different, as I have now learned how to include a proper amount of angst and tragedy in my stories (and yes, that is a a slight spoiler).

This prologue, however, is just a teaser for now, a placeholder if you will, until I finish the story. I will not be posting more of the story until I have finished it completely and can edit it to my satisfaction. This story (and its future sequels) will be completed; I assure you!

(PS, please feel free to comment your ideas! I welcome constructive criticism, as well as any suggestions my readers may have that might better my stories. I would also adore any who would like to follow or favorite my story. :D)

*****DISCLAIMER***** I only own my characters and do not in any way, shape, form, or fashion own The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. That honor belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson only. I am merely borrowing their work for a short period of time.

Princess Dis of Erebor, sister of Thorin, and mother of Fili and Kili walked the halls of her home with purpose as she searched for her two sons. She knew that both they and her brother had been keeping secrets from her, and she was determined to find out the truth.

Ever since she had arrived not long after the Battle of the Five Armies, she noticed that Thorin and the rest of the Company had seemed to be in perpetual mourning. Every time she looked into her brother's eyes, they seemed shattered and filled with insurmountable grief. Her sons too were more reticent, though she briefly considered that the changes in them could simply be a side effect of having to grow up so quickly during the Quest. She doubted it though, her mother's intuition warning her of a greater problem at hand.

One thing that disturbed Dis greatly was the fact that Thorin had refused to ever again lay eyes on the Arkenstone. Instead of having it mounted above his throne like their grandfather Thror once had, Thorin had had Balin lock it away in a vault deep within the heart of the Mountain. Personally Dis was glad of this, for she had witnessed the ruin that cursed stone had brought upon her family. It was just very surprising to her that her brother, the mighty heir of Durin himself, did not lay physical claim to the stone that signified his right to rule his kingdom.

Thorin was often mysteriously absent whenever she tried to find him, and it seemed that only the Company knew where to find him. When she asked them, however, they would never give up his location. Even though she had nearly begged the Fundinal brothers for answers, they remained as silent as the very stone of the Mountain itself.

"Let the lad be," Dwalin told her firmly. "He needs to be alone to grieve." What exactly Thorin was grieving Dwalin never would tell her.

She also noticed that Thorin now always wore upon his breast a white gem which shone with an inner light, seeming at times to rival the brightness of the stars. Whenever her brother became troubled, he clutched the gold necklace tightly, his eyes closed and lips moving silently as if in prayer.

On top of everything else, there was also the problem with Kili. During their journeys her youngest son had become enamored of a red-haired Elf maid and now wished to court her. Though the entire council of elders was insulted beyond belief, Kili stood firm in his declaration. Behind him he had the whole-hearted support of the entire, rather influential Company, including his uncle and older brother.

Everyone beyond the Company had been shocked when Thorin announced his acceptance of the girl- Tauriel- as Kili's chosen. Before the Quest, Thorin would have disowned his nephew for even daring to consider an Elf as his Umùrad. Now though he welcomed her with open arms, greeting her warmly and with an emotion that Dis could never exactly place. Something serious had to have happened to her brother, she knew this, but Dis could not for the life of her think what it could be.

Her ignorance had been confirmed last week after Bofur had consumed a little too much ale and spoken quite loudly of a fifteenth member to her brother's Company. His words had intrigued Dis, and she had tried to glean as much information as she could from the drunk toy maker. Unfortunately his cousin Bifur soon silenced him sharply, and the princess was once again left with too many questions and not enough answers. What she had learned, however, was enough to make her brain spin wildly. All the signs pointed to the existence of another companion to the Dwarves besides the Hobbit, and- if Bofur could be believed- this companion was a woman.

She knew that if Thorin and the rest of his Company had their way she would quite possibly never get the answers she craved. Many times already she had tried to approach Thorin about the necklace or about his acceptance of Tauriel only for him to gently yet firmly shut her down. The others refused to even hear her questions, telling her that the answers she sought were Thorin's alone to provide. The only ones from whom she could now demand answers were her sons, which was why she was currently hot on their trail. She finally spied Fili and Kili leaving the training arena after a particularly grueling training session.

"Fili! Kili!" she called, her voice frustrated and firm. "I want a word with the two of you."

Upon seeing the look on their mother's face the two brothers exchanged looks, seeming to gage whether or not they should flee while they still had the chance. In the end they decided against it, knowing that even though they were now adults their mother could still and most certainly would flay them alive for doing such a thing. They followed her instead to her private study where she bolted the door behind them.

"Enough is enough," she said, turning on them and crossing her arms sternly. "I know that you have been keeping something from me, and I will not have it any longer. You will tell me the truth. Now."

They laughed uneasily, and Dis could tell that her sons were nervous. "Keeping something?" Fili said. "I don't know what you mean."

Dis glared at her eldest, narrowing her eyes in a silent threat. "Do not play games with me, Fili. I know already that there was a fifteenth member of your uncle's Company, and I also know that this person was a woman. Why will not soul among you speak of her? Who was she?"

Fili and Kili grimaced in unison, seemingly recognizing their defeat.

"The answers to your questions are more than a little complicated, Amad," Kili said, his expression sober.

"Cala was... a very special person," Fili said slowly with pain in his eyes. "Every single member of the Company loved her after a time, even Dori and Dwalin and Gloin. She was a sister and companion-in-arms to us all."

"Cala," she murmured, filing the name away in her brain. "If she did indeed travel with you, where is she now? Why have I not met her?"

"She's gone, Amad," said Fili softly. "Cala didn't survive the battle."

The princess sucked in a breath, closing her eyes and lowering her head. "Do you know how it happened?"

"I remember seeing her there at the end," Kili responded thoughtfully. "fighting Azog alongside Thorin. She dealt the killing blow, but he injured her badly. She used the last of her strength to heal Uncle Thorin and ensure that he would life."

"How could she heal him?" Dis asked, confused.

The brothers glanced at each other again, and their mother could almost see the silent debate between them over how to answer her question.

"Well," Fili replied, rubbing the back of his neck as he chuckled awkwardly. "She was an Elf."

Dis gaped at her sons, trying to make sense of what she had just learned. "But- why? Why on earth would she heal a Dwarf at the expense of her own life?"

"Cala was not like other Elves," said Kili defensively, and Dis thought that he might also be defending his Tauriel with that statement. "She loved all of us, and I think that she looked upon Fili and me as if we were her sons. But even though she loved us as her own blood, her love for Thorin was fierce. She gave her life for his because she loved him that much; she could not bear the thought of living without him."

"That's why he's so changed," Fili picked up. "Cala was Thorin's Umùrad, and he loved her with everything he had."

"Thorin?" Dis floundered, at a loss for words. "In love?" How in Arda could she have missed the complete and utter heartbreak in her own brother's eyes? How could she have attributed the grief and pain she had found in Thorin to anything other than a broken heart? Had she not also borne the loss of her Umùrad, her One?

"You might as well sit down, Amad," Kili spoke up from the sofa where he had sat, rubbing his right leg which had borne the wound from the poisoned arrow. "for Cala's story is a long one."

"Cala's life was filled with peril and grief, but she was a beacon of light in the darkest of times, a hope for all of Middle Earth," Fili began. "I hardly know where to begin her tale. I suppose, though, that the best place to start would be the beginning, the day we met her for the first time."

And so Dis listened in wonder as her sons began to tell the tale of how the Company of Thorin Oakenshield collided with Caladhiel Laisidhiel, Abad'Lukhud, the Light of the Mountain.

Translations:

Amad- Mother

Umùrad- One

Abad'Lukhud- Mountain-Light

Please comment and let me know what you think! I am really excited, and I can't wait to finish this story for you guys. I do believe that it might be my best effort to date! Also, I would appreciate follows and favorites!