Chapter 7: But the Mountains Will Shake

Brili felt her body go completely numb. Of all the ways for her to be found it was by her own stupidity! She spent years conditioning herself to put the hood up everywhere she went to avoid detection. She went close to five years doing it, for goodness sake! And now here she was, being held by the scruff of her neck by a troll, hoodless with an entire company of dwarves, half of which had participated in searching for her, staring at her like she was the Arkenstone. What sort of stupid was she? Out of the corner of her eye she saw one of the trolls pulling out a burlap sack. Oh no, she was not about to be tossed into that pile! She would never survive the humiliation! No, a fiery death was surely better than facing that ultimate fear!

"Wait!" she cried out, throwing her hands in the air before they could tuck her into the sack. "Put me on the spit!"

The once awed company looked befuddled as she begged to be cooked first. Kili began struggling against his bonds in earnest, trying to get loose to help his sister. Even Thorin let out a great snarl at the thought and began to pray to what ancestors were in his favor to help. Fili began wriggling so frantically that he had flipped over onto his belly and couldn't right himself. Bofur, however, remained quite still.

"No," he finally called out, "take me instead."

Brili glared wickedly. He couldn't do that! He couldn't offer his life in exchange for hers, she never even asked him! The trolls seemed more than willing to cook the male over the female, mumbling something about not enough meat on her bones.

"Can it, Bofur," she growled, fidgeting in the troll's grasp as the bag neared her feet.

"Take me, as well," Dwalin called out. "Let the lass go and take me!"

"Oh for crying out loud!" she shouted, trying to escape the bag. "Don't listen to them! Cook me first! I can assure you, it's preferable!"

"Don't want nothin' to be preferable!" her captor, Bert, snarled.

With that said she was tossed, quite literally, like an unsavory sack of potatoes. She went whizzing through the air like a disc and landed with an extremely loud thump beside Fili. Just her damn luck. The ugliest troll, Tom, then went about picking up dwarves at random, although he had picked up the two who had offered to go in her stead first. Surprise, surprise. She let out an irritated growl and rolled a few feet away from the pile, namely Fili. If she could just get out of this cursed sack and get to her sword she could get them all out of this situation. She just had to keep rolling…

She could distract them until daylight came then everything would be alright. Well, almost everything. She couldn't think about that right now, though. She was a ranger and being a ranger meant putting your personal problems to the wayside to better the group. She was also a firm believer that she could only fix one problem at a time. She stopped rolling for a moment and sniffed the air. Was that… sage?

"Wait! You are making a terrible mistake!" Bilbo called out.

"You can't reason with them! They're half wits!" Dori called out obviously under great distress.

"Half wits?! What does that make us?!" Bofur questioned.

Brili snorted. He was obviously the stupidest of them all! Bilbo shook his head and tried to bring the conversation back to where he was comfortable. This gave Brili the chance to roll a few feet closer to where the weapons were stacked in a slapdash pile. Now all she had to do was figure out how to get out of this cursed sack! She huffed a little and tried to wriggle. Nope, that was no good. What if she…? Okay, kicking her feet did nothing. Behind her she heard a whole lot of talking and while she knew it was important to keep the trolls busy, it was extremely distracting.

"No, no, not that one he's infected!"

Okay, that caught Brili's full attention. She deftly flipped herself over to stare at the scene before her. Bombur was inches from being chomped whole by a troll. Bilbo was standing off to the side looking frantic.

"You what?!" the second ugliest troll demanded.

"He's got worms in his… tubes," the hobbit improvised. Brili's eyes widened. Tubes? That was the best he could come up with?! To her surprise, Bombur was released and thrown on top of Kili. "In fact they all have! They're infested with parasites, it's a terrible business! I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't!"

"Parasites?!" Oin demanded. "Did he say parasites?!"

"He did!" Kili burst out indignantly. "We don't have parasites! You have parasites!"

If Brili didn't feel she was in a compromising situation she would have laughed at her brother's lack of thought. In hindsight, after she saved them, this would be hysterical! She would never let him live it down! She bit her lip in determination and began to try to claw her way from the devilish pouch all to no avail. Where was this bag from; the pits of Mount Doom?!

"You don't know what you're talking about, laddie!" Something, presumably a look from Bilbo, caused Oin to change his tune. "… I've got parasites as big as my arms!"

Kili was quick to join the fray. "No, I've got the biggest parasites! I have huge parasites!"

Brili actually laughed a bit at that one. Compromised or not, this conversation was getting a little ridiculous. She cleared her throat and whatever giggles remained inside and tried with the bag again. Hmph, nothing was happening. She could creep and crawl all she liked in this bag and still get nothing accomplished! No wonder those damned trolls were so fat, whatever they scooped into one of these bags never stood a chance! She wasn't sure how long Bilbo's ruse would hold up; she had to think of something!

"The dawn will take you all!"

A smile overcame her. Or she could let the wizard fix it! She heard a deafening crack and looked up as the trolls were turning to stone before her eyes. There was cheering all around her. She looked up as Gandalf began to help Bilbo from his bindings. Bilbo turned to help Fili out of his. It was in this moment that Brili realized how much trouble she was actually in. Oh sweet mercy, what was she going to do?! They knew she was here! She frantically looked around her, trying to avoid looking at them. Not helping. Fili was hurrying to untie Thorin and both were looking in her direction.

"Balls!" she cursed aloud. She couldn't run from this because of the damn bag.

She spotted a decline nearby. She couldn't run… but, oh goodness, she could roll! She hoisted herself up and began to hop as fast as her feet could. To the hills! Hop, hop, hop, she went! It actually seemed like a halfway decent plan, given her unfortunate circumstances. Approaching the peak of the hill, she lay down, tucking her knees in like when she was a child playing in the fields. Someone, Ori actually, called out for her but it was far too late; she pushed off on her trapped hands and went tumbling down the slope. She didn't get very far as the hill was actually smaller than she anticipated. The wizard met her at the bottom, her face in the grass.

"How on earth did you get all the way down here?!" he exclaimed knowingly. He helped her to her feet, while she mumbled something about an accident, and pulled the bag from around her shoulders. Blessed freedom!

"Gandalf!" she exclaimed, frenetically. "I have to go! You know the rest of the way! You're on your own!"

"What do you mean?" Brili snorted; did he really have the audacity to pretend he didn't know what was going on? "How about you join me up the hill? I think someone wants to see you."

He was looking behind her with that all knowing smile on his face. She was too busy pacing to notice what he was talking about. Nope, the quest be damned, she would return to Rivendell a failure and go back to the washroom! At least she could still be herself while washing clothes!

" No, no, no!" she insisted, her hands forming fists at her sides. "I'm leaving!" She actually walked past him for a moment before doubling back, walking backwards to look at him. A ranger remembers their manners. "Good luck!"

"Brili?" A soft, gentle voice met her ears. Oh, not Kili. She felt her heart melt a little at the sound. "Where are you going?"

She stood still and stiff for a moment. If it had been her uncle or Fili, she might have taken her chances and tried to outrun them. There was no feasible way to beat Kili in a race though, especially if he put his heart into it. She heard him step closer and she turned to face him, walking backwards as she did. She clasped her hands over her chest and tried to remember how to breathe. This moment hurt. It actually hurt deep in her chest. She wanted to tell him to go but her throat had tightened to the point she couldn't make more than a choking sound. He smiled in disbelief.

"It's really you," he breathed, a small laugh escaping him. He closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms tightly around her. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

It was in this moment, at the bottom of a hill, that Kili found peace. Every night since she had disappeared had been torture. It broke his heart to think that she had been lost somewhere alone, without him or anyone to care for her. He never gave up hope, however. Despite everyone's insistence that she couldn't have survived on her own, he believed against all belief that she would come back to him. He squeezed her tightly, still wondering if maybe she was a dream or a piece of his imagination. No, she was there. She was a solid thing in his arms and he never wanted to let go of her!

Brili's hands had remained clutched over her chest when Kili had pulled her into his embrace. Now they clung to his coat in surprise, fear and anxiety. Was this really happening? Had the past five years actually boiled down to this surprise encounter that she simply wasn't ready to face? She was still angry with them! She had spent every night since she left remembering how they had all betrayed her! And now Kili just acts like nothing has happened?! Like he had done nothing wrong?! No! She pushed off of his chest, stumbled backwards and fell into the grass, trying to stop the tears from filling her eyes and blurring her vision. She was fighting to keep her head from spinning. She wrapped her arms around her waist and doubled over. This wasn't happening! He was never supposed to have found her! Kili looked at his empty arms then back to her, confusion filling his face.

"What's the matter? Are you hurt?!"

She had been perfectly fine before they found out who she was. Now everything hurt! Her chest was on fire and every breath was like ice. She shook her head, trying to clear the fuzz that was taking over her vision. Kili took it as a sign that she was alright and went to reach for her again. She held her hand out, trying to tell him not to go near her. She needed air.

"Brili!" Fili's voice called out to her.

Before she could even process the sound of his voice, he barreled into her, almost knocking her over. He was kneeling in front of her now with one arm wrapped around her shoulders and the other over her neck so that his hand pressed her face into his right shoulder. He rested his head against her face and began to breathe so heavily she almost thought he was crying. But Fili didn't cry. No, she was imagining things obviously! He pulled away after a moment to hold her face in his hands. He had thought she was dead! All this time he had given up hope and yet here she was!

"You're alive! You're alive, you're alive!" he whispered over and over again. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I stopped looking!"

She pulled her face out of his hands and scrambled backwards, her chest rising and falling for air. There's no way this could possibly get any worse! Not only was seeing them hard enough but it would make leaving again harder than before. The wounds that had been inflicted upon her very soul had healed to scars. It was easier to make rash and reckless choices with a fresh wound. They had hurt her; she just had to remember that. Both brothers looked at her in surprise, unsure why their sister was rendered speechless. She grasped at her neck, desperate for the giant lump that threatened to starve her of air to disappear. Why did this hurt so terribly?! She looked up to see her uncle watching a short distance away. Mahal, she was never going to make it.

Without further ado her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell into the grass.

~o~

Brili's eyes began to flutter. She was laying down on a hard surface that was not all that comfortable. As a matter of fact, she was pretty sure she was lying on the ground. Her head began to pound and she grimaced. What was she doing in the dirt? Was that a rock under her butt? Oh great, that was a rock. She let out a groan in protest and rubbed her head. She forced herself to sit up. Who was talking and why were they so loud? Fili's face flooded her vision and took her by surprise. She actually leapt back and almost socked him in the jaw. It would have served him right for getting in her personal space like this. She shut her eyes tight and shook her head. The light was brighter than usual and she found it irritated her.

"She's awake!"

Her eyes popped open and she remembered everything. Oh holy hell! She scrambled to her feet in surprise only to have two steady arms behind her sit her back down. She looked to her left and saw Kili, holding her gently as if she were going to break. He was speaking to Fili, who stood above the two closely knit siblings. Bri tried to focus despite the fact that her brain was foggy.

"… Kili?" she murmured, trying to sit up on her own.

He abruptly turned to her, his eyes softening. "Hey, slow down. You fainted back there!"

So that's why she felt like dung on a stick. Fili knelt beside her, inspecting her pale face carefully and peeling back her closed eyelids. She let out a harrumph at the motion to which he ignored and proceeded to examine her. His eyes watered a little when he looked at her. "She should be coming around. Go get Thorin."

"I'm not leaving –" Kili was cut off by his brother.

"Now."

Kili made a less than pleased face before turning to Brili. "I'll be right back."

Brili groaned in response, wilting at the realization of what had just happened to her. Oh, her life from here on out was completely and utterly ruined. She would be sent straight back to Ered Luin and have to take so many embroidery lessons for this! She would become an expert at crochet and knitting in no time thanks to all the punishment lessons headed her way! Oh gracious! She would never be let outside the mountain again! She would never see the sun or feel the grass beneath her feet ever again! With a whine on displeasure she collapsed her upper body, her top half folding over so that her head rested between her knees and that her fingertips touched the forest floor. There was a snapping sound next to her ear and she bat Fili's hand away.

"Bri, I need to see if you're hurt," he insisted, lifting her head up gently by her chin. He had to get her to focus or she may fall over again. "Look at me. Does anything hurt?"

She had to think about that. She could certainly feel a great bruise forming on her side from when the trolls had tossed her in the sack. But aside from a few bumps and bruises she felt fine. But her heart? It was tearing to pieces. She looked at him, really looked at him for the first time since before she could remember. She was happy to see him! She wanted nothing more than to grab a hold of him and cling for dear life. To embrace him the way she had when she was young, without care or lack of love. He watched her with no expression on his features. She could feel her face scrunching up and her eyes filling up with so many wretched tears. No, dwarves don't cry!

Fili took this as a sign of pain and immediately rushed in to try to help. "What is it?!"

It was all she needed to throw her resolve. This was her brother and she loved him, once so strongly she had been willing to fight life and limb to stay with him forever! She knew she was supposed to be angry and without doubt that anger and fire would return but in this moment she was weak and didn't care to stop it. With a cry she flung herself forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her head finding refuge tangled somewhere in his hair. He had been too alarmed to reciprocate at first. After all, his sister was not one to show too much emotion often. Finally, after a moment he folded his arms around her and ran soothing fingers through her disheveled hair. He didn't speak, just listened to her snuffling against his shoulder and occasionally shushed her gently. After a time he pulled away, holding her out by her shoulders an arm's length away. Her eyes were red and puffy but he was pretty sure that was the extent of her injuries.

"He'll be here soon," Kili's sullen voice called out as he rounded a corner.

Brili looked up and felt her heart surge again. Kili! She had missed him more than words could describe! She launched up from her perch and with another cry she sought the comfort of a brother's arms. He, however, was used to Brili's softer side and knew just what to say and how to say it to make her tears lessen and get her to smile. Brili remembered a time when this embrace brought her nothing but peace and security. She was safe in these arms and as long as she stuck with Fili and Kili nothing could ever, ever harm her! She regretted everything about leaving them so long ago! Her only wish was that she had contacted them sooner!

"What is this?" a gruff voice demanded at the display in front of him.

"Uncle!" she wailed, releasing Kili and collided into Thorin's chest without thought or care. She felt younger again, the way she would when she was barely two feet tall! He smelled of dirt and leather with an underlying stink of troll, exactly the way she remembered sans troll smell.

He enveloped her easily, as he towered over her even when she wore heels, and looked down at her. Her shoulders were rising and falling in earnest and he could already feel a wet spot on his shirt where her head lay. She clung to him and began to whisper a thousand apologies into his chest. He couldn't hear what she was saying, and wasn't sure he wanted to. Thorin, having no children of his own, loved his niece and nephews as a father would. It was this love that kept him calm and sane when he would travel far from the mountain. After a long time of her weeping on his shoulder, he finally lifted her off the ground, carrying her to a fallen tree. She didn't resist being carried like he had expected her to. He placed her down and knelt in front of her, rubbing his thumb over her wet cheek. Fili and Kili sat on either side of her, the latter pulling the girl into his side and resting his arm over her shoulder, his head leaning on hers.

"Hush, you are safe, little one," Thorin soothed, smoothing the stray hairs atop her head.

Thorin was about to ask where the girl had been for so long. The moment of fondness was lost and he found himself quite peeved by finding her in this place, hiding amongst them. Brili knew that face and could tell her uncle's retribution was going to be quite unpleasant. Happy to see her or not, she had done wrong; so, so terribly wrong. She had done away with her family's nobility and good name to avoid a marriage, an honor to her race. She had publicly shamed her fiancé by rejecting him and then running off before the ceremony could even come to pass. She sighed and steeled herself for the onslaught.

"I'm going to let you handle this, Fili," he murmured. "There is a troll cave nearby that I must see to with the wizard. As the man of your house she is your responsibility."

She looked to Fili and he bore the same look as his uncle. He was angry with her, and rightfully so. She lowered her eyes. Her uncle's wrath she could handle, but Fili's? No, she could hardly stand the look of disappointment in his eyes. It made her feel so terribly small. Thorin briefly placed his hand on her cheek, almost as if he were trying to assure himself that she was alive, before turning and leaving. She sighed and looked to Kili who to her surprise was looking ahead, anger and ire lacing his features. She wanted to explain. She wanted them to understand why she had to leave them all those years ago. Did they not see how strong she was now? She had the courage to run and face a troll with little to no preparation! Kili's eyes narrowed and he stood up, leaving her side to stand with their eldest brother. Scorn marred Brili's face, had she no one on her side?!

After a while of silence Fili finally spoke first. "Where were you? You have been gone for a long time and I… we… searched every possible corner. How did you manage to hide for so long?"

She took a deep breath. Sitting on a fallen log in a forest not too far (but far enough) from Rivendell, she felt humbled. She had wronged and she would face the consequences of that before parting to Rivendell. She would be able to rest easy now, knowing her brothers would know of her wellbeing. She took a deep breath of air.

"I've been with the elves," she practically whispered. Kili's eyes narrowed in disbelief. The one place he never thought to check. She had grown up wanting to immerse herself in the life of men. He never considered that she would seek haven with the race her uncle hated so.

"Elves…" Fili repeated, letting the word roll off of his tongue with repulsion. "And how did you come by these elves?"

Bri scoffed at her eldest brother. "Does it matter?"

"It matters!" Kili suddenly shout his eyes filled with a ferocity that, for the first time in all of her life, frightened Brili. "I thought you were dead! Do you not understand how afraid I was for you, sister?! You should have come home!"

She looked at him slightly taken aback. She expected this sort of outburst from Fili, but she and Kili were best friends. Surely if anyone understood her, he would. His face grew more indignant at her reaction, rather than softening like she thought it would. It was this face that lit the fire in her, reminded her that it was their pig headed stubbornness that brought her to leave. She rose from her seat, pointing a finger into his chest.

"Come home?" she seethed. "I had no home! You all cast me out the moment you set that vile proposal on my shoulders! I had to leave because of you!"

"Mahal," Fili breathed, rubbing his temples with his forefingers. "It was a wedding, Brili, not a death sentence!"

She turned to the eldest with resentment filling her eyes. "Of course, how could I have been so foolish?! It must be the same foolishness that drove me to believe any of you cared for me!"

This drove Kili to the point of madness. He grabbed her by her shoulders and began to shake her. "You let us believe you were dead just so you could avoid your responsibilities!"

"I left to be free!" she argued, flinging herself out of his grasp and stepping away from them. "I was never meant for the mountains! I was meant to be outside in the sun! You both knew it at one time!"

Fili sighed, trying to remain calm for the sake of both his younger siblings. "That's why we chose Bofur. He was the only one who agreed to take you outside the mountain after you were wed. Every other dwarf refused!"

"I don't care what Bofur would or wouldn't do! I had the right to a say in it!" she cried out.

Kili's voice was deadly serious. "No, sister, you have no right."

She stopped to stare at him, her face going blank. This, this right here was why she had left. Somehow her brother's believed that, because she was a dwarrowdam, they had all the say in what happened to her. They decided when she would go outside. They decided when and who she was to marry. Some things never changed. She opened and closed her mouth, a thousand insults on the tip of her tongue ready to be fired but she held on to each one. No, insults would do no good and only add wind to this raging inferno. She bit her lower lip and stared longingly at both of them. Would they never understand? She angrily turned her back to them and brushed a stray tear from her eyes, noticing the pile of weapons in the process. Her knives; she still had to collect them. Without a word of explanation she stalked off, each step stronger and easier than the one before.

"Stop!"

She flinched. Kili was obviously not done berating her. She rolled her eyes lazily and lolled her head to the right. She was tired all of a sudden; drained and weary without any more fight to give. How could she begin to enlighten her brothers if they both insisted on treating her like a mindless animal? She was their sister, not some piece of livestock to just give away to who they saw fit. Her time away had clearly taught them nothing about the value of her life. She was a fool to have thought it had. She disregarded his call and crouched beside the pile, finding her belt easily amongst the throng. She felt tougher as she wrapped the leather strip around her waist and fastening the buckle.

Fili was going to try to make things right. He was going to make every honest attempt he had in him to ignore his brother's tactless outburst and charm their sister into forgiving them. He knew he could do it; he had done it a thousand times before when they were both children. She might huff and puff for a few more hours but with the right words and the right tactics she would soon forget they had even been separate. He cleared his throat and walked after her, leaving Kili to stew in his own hostility. He watched his sister rummaging through the mound of weapons with a scowl on her face. Nice work, Kili, way to make this difficult for him. He cleared his throat, eager to be the helpful brother he once was before.

"Something's coming!" Thorin shouted in the distance.

That got her attention quickly. She withdrew a blade from the side of her belt and braced herself, looking past him and towards the sound rustling through the trees. Before he could begin to comprehend this she was darting past him, ready to face whatever evil that could be hiding in the forest on her own. Worried, as an older brother should be, he drew his sword and sprinted after her.

"Get behind me!" he ordered a few steps behind her.

She scoffed at the command and picked her pace up. Couldn't he see that she had no need for brothers to care for her any longer? She was a ranger after all! She had her blade and the entire earth beneath her feet; that was her peace.

Let them try to lock her up in that mountain. The mountain would never survive her.


This chapter took one sleepless night and two work days to finish! I really hope you enjoyed it!

As always, feel free to leave me a review with any thoughts and questions. I'm a touch worried about the brothers' and Thorin's reactions. (Thorin's in particular!) I'm also dying to know what you all thought! :)

A special thanks to Nessa Minyatur for the favorite, to Dizzie123321 and nbowles for the alerts and to my three awesome reviewers, Aranel, twiggy and my guest! I really appreciate the feedback!

Until next time!

-kimmy