The next few days of travel were very damp, and by the end of their first week on the road, everyone had grown very irritable.

"Is there no end to this downpour?" Dwalin grumbled, throwing his bedding to the ground in frustration. His, like everyone else's, was soaked clean through. It would be another night upon the damp ground for everyone.

"Fili, Kili, you have first watch." Thorin barked to his nephews.

Both Fili and Kili looked at each other and groaned quietly. Only Elle was close enough to hear. She felt sorry for her friends. Thorin had been placing them on watch nearly every night so far. They deserved a full nights rest.

"I can take first watch." Elle offered. She hadn't done any shifts so far, and she felt that it was high time she made herself useful.

"Really, Elle? You certainly don't have-"

"You will do no such thing." Fili was interrupted by his uncle. Elle looked over at Thorin and saw he was staring back at her with contempt, "Do not test me." He growled at his nephews, not even addressing Elle, "You will do as I say. Fili and Kili will take first watch." He turned his back on her, stalking off to make a place for himself underneath a tree a ways away from the rest of the group.

Elle growled in anger, but chose not to make a retort. As much as she would have liked to, there was no need to invoke Thorin's wrath tonight. Sleep was more important.

"Valar, would I like to show him a thing or two…" Elle muttered furiously as she pulled her wet jacket closer around her and tried to find a comfortable position in which to sleep.

OOOOO

After several more days of rain, the sun finally came out again. This created a notable improvement in the general atmosphere of the group, and there was chatter and laughter to be heard once more.

Two days after the sun's reappearance, just as the night was beginning to close in, the company came across a small, run-down cottage on the edge of a darkened forest.

"We'll camp here for tonight. Fili, Kili, look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them." Thorin commanded, reining in his pony and dismounting. Everyone sighed in relief and followed suite. It had been a long day's ride.

Elle, however, did not dismount right away. Her keen eyes tried to pierce the forest's edge, but only grey shadows could be seen. The old cottage also held the same grey shadows. Elle wasn't sure why, but they did not sit well with her.

"I think it would be wiser to move on. We could make for the Hidden Valley." She heard Gandalf suggest, and she was glad someone else had the courage to speak up. Thorin, however, would not be persuaded. Elle listened to their quarrel as she too dismounted and began unpacking her bedroll. Unfortunately, Gandalf did not make any headway against the stubborn dwarf.

"Everything alright? Gandalf, where are you going?" She heard Bilbo asked wordily, and turned around just as Gandalf stormed past her angrily.

"To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense!" The wizard fumed.

"Who's that?"

"Myself!" And with that, Gandalf stalked off down the path.

Elle watched Gandalf leave, and her heart sank. They should not be here, that much she could tell. If the shadow hanging around the edge of the woods wasn't enough to set anyone else's teeth on edge, the abandoned farm house should have had the same effect. As she helped the rest of the dwarves set up camp, she grew more and more uneasy. As much as she didn't want to have to talk to Thorin, maybe he would listen if a second person came to him with the same concerns. Squaring her shoulders resolutely she made her way up the hill to where Thorin stood lost in thought underneath the eaves of the old house. He sighed in an irritated way as she as she knocked carefully on one of the rotting planks in the doorway.

"Thorin, I know we've started to set up camp, but I don't know if we should-"

"If you're here to tell me we should make for The Hidden Valley, I've already discussed this with the wizard."

"I am not suggesting the path to Rivendell, Thorin, I only suggest…"
"I have no interest in what you suggest." Thorin stated without even turning around. Elle felt the anger begin to burn in her chest, but she closed her eyes and forced it back. She would not give him the satisfaction.

"I know you think I am different, and I understand your hesitation to-"

"You will NEVER understand because you are not one of us!" Thorin shouted spinning around to face her. His eyes blazed with a fierce, angry pride, and Elle stepped back in surprise. "Elves are not to be trusted, and as their blood runs in your veins" Thorin was upon her at this point and his chest was mere inches from hers "YOU are not to be trusted. "

He turned to leave her, but Elle was done letting him get the last word in. He could do that back in the Blue Mountains when he'd been surrounded by his supporters, but here she had friends. She had strength too. Grabbing his arm, she made him listen.

"I know you think we are very different, Thorin Oakenshield, but the hair on my head and the blood in my veins says we are NOT. I know you think I don't belong here, but in my eyes, I belong here just as much, if not more than any of you!" At that Thorin's eyes widened and he made to argue, but Elle cut him off. "The last one hundred and twenty YEARS of my life I have spent wandering from place to place with nowhere to call home and no one to call family. Yes, I have spent some of those years in the company of elves, but only because they do not turn me away! They don't hound me and strip me of my dignity until I have no CHOICE but to leave, even though it means leaving the closest friends I have EVER known, as well as the man I-" She stopped short, realizing this was not a conversation she wanted to have right now. Thorin tore his eyes away from hers in embarrassment. Elle took pity on him, and tried to remove some of the anger from her voice. "I am sorry for what happened between us, but that is in the past, Thorin. I am not trying to offend you by coming with you on this journey; I am simply trying to find a place for myself. At least have the decency to grant me that chance." With that last parting statement Elle turned and walked away from the king. She could feel his eyes burning holes into the back of her head, but she didn't stop or turn until she reached the fire pit. There, she greeted the stunned company with a small smile, and sat down heavily upon a log. Dwalin immediately began sharpening his axe with his whetstone in a threatening sort of way, but Elle was too distracted to care.

"Don't take his stubbornness to heart, lassie." Balin murmured kindly as he brought her the first bowl of stew. The gesture lifted Elle's spirits, and she accepted it with a gracious smile. Her smile grew even larger as she saw Balin knock the whetstone out of his brother's hands on his way back around the fire. "Behave." She heard him mutter, and it was all she could do not to snicker at the murderous look on Dwalin's face.

"Thank you, Balin." She said happily helping herself to a large spoonful of her dinner. It wasn't the most delicious concoction Bombur had ever made, but it was filling, and it gave her strength.

"Do you really think there's something out there?" Nori asked, coming to take a seat on her left with his dinner.

"Is it something… unnatural?" Dori asked sitting down next to his brother.

"I'm not sure." Elle said slowly trying to find the words to describe what was making her nervous, "I just have a bad feeling… It's as if something obvious is staring us straight in the face, but we've missed what it's telling us."

"I know what it's tellin' us… Time for a new cook!" Ori piped in. He had just taken his first spoonful of stew and did not seem pleased at all. His remark sparked a chorus of laughter, and Elle chuckled along with them. Not even Thorin's bad mood could dampen the spirits of this company.

OOOOO

Thorin stood and looked out over his companions. He suddenly felt very lonely. As he watched Elle retreat back down the path to where the other dwarves were gathered for dinner, Thorin couldn't help but feel shamed by her words. It was true. He had done those terrible things she said. He had acted rashly and he had acted wrongly, and to top it all off his plan hadn't even worked. He had told himself so many times that he didn't feel anything for Elle, but in reality he still loved her just as much as he had twenty years ago; maybe even more judging by the way it was getting harder and harder to control his emotions around her. Thorin wanted her admiration so badly it hurt, but each time that ache came – when she talked to him, or when she did something to draw his attention – his pride shut it out with angry words and foolish actions. In that moment, as he watched Elle interacting with the rest of the company, Thorin had a strange epiphany. Her kindness, her strength, her humor, her laugh, all of these things had been branded into his soul, and he was a fool if he thought he could continue on living without them. Yes, she had hurt his pride, but, if he thought about it realistically, that wound had been well on its way to healing many years ago. The worst part about the way he'd treated her, Thorin reflected forlornly, was not the guilt he felt for having treated her so badly; the worst part by far was the realization that she would probably never forgive him.