I would like to thank everyone for supporting my fanfic, especially OFBLOODANDROSES and Silhouettes of Starlight for following and favoriting my piece! It means a lot! Hope you all enjoy this newest addition and for those of you in the United States I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving! Enjoy this newest edition!

Except for one problem. Thorin ordered he be given a pony to ride, to which of course Bilbo promptly refused. But Svelta had taken the empty pony. Knowing this was part of her verbal contract with Thorin, Svelta quickly dismounted, before watching the twins hoist a struggling Bilbo onto her just vacated seat. Smiling at Bilbo, she gave him a reassuring pat on the knee, before turning to begin walking beside the company. Just as she had on the way out to the hobbit's home. Except when hands grabbed her as well, and suddenly she found herself sitting behind Kili on his horse. Her cheeks began greatly enflamed as she sat there.

Turning slightly, an equally blushing Kili murmured to her under his breath as so Fili wouldn't hear, "you might want to hand on there lass"

Nodding sheepishly, she loosely wrapped her arms around his waist, ever conscious of what of her was in contact with him. If this was the new arrangement, it was going to be a long ride to the Lonely Mountain, fancy handkerchiefs or not!

Stopping for the night, Svelta gingerly slid off of the horse. She was sore in places she didn't know she could be sore. Gingerly walking away from the horse, she heard a laugh, and turned to see FIli and Kili watching her. Sticking her tongue out at them, she turned bag and almost waddled to the nearest tree before sliding down.

"Lass you want to ride a horse again tomorrow?"

"Cause you'll have to!"

Laughing the twins watched as she just shook her head. There was no way that she would ever get back on one of those creatures. Glancing over, she watched Bilbo experiencing the same issue and that fact made her smile.

"Alright you lot. Let's get set for the night!" called out Balin.

Thorin turned and began assigning everyone their jobs for the night. "Bombur, you got dinner going. Nori help him if you can. Oin and Gloin, you two get firewood. Fili, Kili the ponies, and then you two will have the first watch. Ori, Dori second watch. Bofur, Bifur last watch. Everyone else, start setting up camp. Tomorrow we will switch it up." Everyone nodded at the decree and set about to work.

Clumsily getting to her feet, Svelta made off towards the edge of the woods while everyone else began to dig a pit in the middle and set sleeping pads around it. Sighing she turned, gazing around the cave they were camping in. Looking for a place where she could sit out of the way from everyone, she searched for a spot preferably maybe slightly away from everyone too, for while she did enjoy the company of her friends, she still felt safest alone.

So it was there on a ledge high above camp, nestled between a couple of trees, able to see in all directions, that Kili found her. Dinner have been called, but she had not appeared, so Fili and Kili had searched for her. It wasn't until they started looking outside the direct vicinity of the camp that their eyes stumbled upon the small form of the she-dwarf sitting gazing out over the ravine they were camping beside. Fili had then nudged Kili, handing him a bowl of food and nodding towards her form, before Kili approached her with food.

She looked up, confusion showing slightly as he called her name, calling her out of her mind. Handing her the bowl of food, Kili sat, determined to keep her company for even just her meal.

"Why are you up here alone?"

There was a rumbling in her bag until she produced a journal, quill, and ink. It was only then that Kili had realized his mistake, as he had so many times before growing up with her. It was hard to remember she was mute sometimes when it was hard enough to realize she was there. Only through being around her so much did Kili learn to recognize her, before then she blended in even for him. Gazing at her as she scribbled furiously, he was distracted when she tried to show him the page.

Safe

"What do you mean safe? You are safe with the company. Down in our company. You don't need to hide up here away from us."

I do. I don't know or don't remember why. But I am safest alone. I know this with the deepest part of me. My essence yearns to be safe and the only way for me to be safe is to be alone. Only then can I protect not only myself but everyone.

"What are you talking about?"

I told you. I don't know. Hopefully the elves can tell me.

"Elves? What makes you think we will be seeing elves?"

Gandalf.

"Has he made other plans for us besides going to the Lonely Mountain?"

I know not, only that at some point we will see elves, elves Gandalf believes can lift my memory block.

"Memory block? What like you don't have a couple memories?"

Basically. I remember nothing earlier than that day in the Blue Hills that I first met you and Fili.

"But that was only 10 years ago."

I know. I remember nothing before then. It is as though one day I showed up in your village and just seemed to be, like magic. One moment I wasn't there, the next I was, no intermit time to grow up, be born, have a childhood. Nothing. There is nothing in my mind before the day I first met you two. It is merely a blank slate.

"That is so strange!"

It scares me.

"It would scare me too don't worry about that!"

But what scares me more. What scares me more is what Gandalf said. It matters not who I am, just that I'm safest with the company and the spell over the village is broken. Part of me wonders if Gandalf is the one that took my memories and is too guilty to give them back so he has developed this ruse to make it seem like other magic put it in place.

Kili sat, thinking about this. He realized then that all the time that Fili and himself had known her, they had never asked about her childhood, about her past, as they merely hadn't cared. All they had wanted was her friendship, untainted as it was from the need to serve the two princes, untainted as it was from the social caste system separating the two princes from everyone else. Looking at her curiously, he asked, "Who are your parents?"

I don't know.

"But surely you were living with someone for the last 10 years?" he asked amazed.

Her silence as she gazed over the ravine was her only response.

"Oh."

Kili joined Fili for the watch, bringing down her empty bowl as he did. He had left her with parting words assuring her she would be safe with his brother and himself if she ever wished to sleep closer but that while he and Fili were on watch they would make sure she was also safe up there on the ledge. She had nodded her thank and gone back to staring. It bothered him but he needed to return to start his watch so he could not dwell on it further. Turning to his brother, he brought up what she had said before concluding, "Do you remember anything strange about her when we first met her?"

"No I don't believe so"

"Me neither"

"And you said she is just staring across the ravine now?"

"yeah, always returned to that state."

"Weird"

"I know"

Each brother lapsed into silence as they continued to look around, trying to see if there was something across the ravine, reflecting on their strange friend, and thinking of the days to come. Their thoughts though were interrupted by a howl rising out of the east.

"What was that?" Bilbo was awake.

Nudging Kili with a smile, Fili responded "Oh just an orc."

"An orc?"

"Yeah bloodthirsty creatures. The forest is probably crawling with them." Kili muttered with a laugh

"You think that's funny? You think a night raid by orcs is funny?" Thorin was apparently awake too.

"No, we didn't mean any harm." Fili muttered.

"We didn't know." Added Kili

"Of course you don't know. You are too young, too inexperienced. You don't know nothing."

The brothers hung their heads in shame, only raising them upon Balin's comment.

"It's alright laddies, Thorin just has more reason than most to hate orcs."

And with that he launched into the story of Thorin and Azog and the battle at the Mines of Moria.

Svelta sat, out of the notice of all the dwarves up on her ledge, listening. She was intrigued with the story. She had been watching a lone warg pace across the ravine but had thought nothing of it now that they were in orc territory. Only now, with this story did she realize really who she was traveling with, who these people were, and what out there might want them dead. This journey would definitely be an interesting one at that.

Balin concluded his story with "and I knew, that was a king. That was one I could follow."

Thorin turned, facing the company, knowing that in that moment he had the support of every member, now awake and watching him, and knew that he could count on every single one for their support in his cause. Gazing at his nephews, he nodded at them once before returning to his sleeping pad, causing all the others besides the twins on watch to silently fallow suit. Finally it was just them two and Svelta up on her ledge awake.

Returning her gaze across the ravine she noticed the lone warg was gone and knew trouble was close at hand. Hopefully they would be gone soon enough in the morning before the orc pack found their way to them across the ravine. Glancing down at her two closest friends, she hoped in the end, she could protect them from the dangers of the world. For, for some reason she didn't know, she felt the ability to defend them against any enemy, and hoped this would come to help in the end but wouldn't be needed. Yet her gut was clenched already at the disappearance of the warg, telling her she would need to protect her friends if any hoped to survive.

Sorry I didn't feel like writing out the entire speech by Balin at 3 am, but on the flip side I already have the first half of the next chapter written! Will hopefully post that soon. Until then, have fun in life my readers, you are all amazing people. Hope you enjoyed!