A/N: My deepest apologies to those of you who love a certain dark-haired archer, I just couldn't resist… My only defence is that I wrote this before I saw DoS... so there's only my own evil mind behind this one. *ehem*I hope you won't hate me too much after this chapter ;)


Sara's POV

Gandalf led us from one rock formation to another as if he was looking for something. Thorin, who made sure to stay close to me, had a dark look on his face but followed the Grey Wizard anyway. We had to change our direction many times when we were about to run across with Radagast and wargs.

"Where are you leading us?" Thorin asked the Wizard when we once again were forced to change our course. He got no answer.

Soon after that we got stuck behind one large rock formation when one of wargs jumped on it. There was no way we could slip away so that it wouldn't see us, especially not when it had a rider.

Thorin turned to look at Kíli, nodding first at young dwarf's bow and then at the warg above us. Kíli nodded, readied his bow and took a deep breath. Then he took three quick steps out of the protection of rocks, turned and fired.

Kíli's arrow found warg's shoulder and that foul creature –and its rider – fell in front of us. Dwalin and Bifur killed both quickly, but it wasn't silent job. There was no way that noise would go unnoticed.

And it didn't. Wargs' howls started to come closer.

"Move!" Gandalf yelled. "Run!"

And so we did. But it was just avoiding the inevitable fight.

Thorin stopped abruptly when he saw wargs cutting the way in ahead of us.

"There's more coming!" Kíli shouted from our left side.

"Kíli! Shoot them!" Thorin yelled.

"We're surrounded!" Fíli called from somewhere right to us.

I turned to look around us and saw wargs in every direction. Everyone else had their weapons in their hands and readied themselves for the fight, and it made me feel so useless. I wanted to fight, too! I wanted to do my share! Were I in shape to channel, I'd be able to take all those wargs and orcs down single-handedly, if not without my sa'angreal, then with its help surely. And knowing that made me angry. Light curse that snake that had spooked Moonshadow!

"Where's Gandalf?" Someone asked.

"He's abandoned us!" Another called.

No, Gandalf wouldn't do that, would him?

"Hold your ground!" Thorin commanded and swung his new sword. He looked very majestic when doing that.

FOCUS, Sara! This is no time for admiring looks!

"This way, you fools!" I turned to look at the direction of sound to find Gandalf standing in the middle of rocks.

"Come on, move!" Thorin grabbed my hand and pulled me where Gandalf was. There was a hole in the ground and without warning Thorin pushed me in. Bofur, Bilbo, Balin and everyone else followed close behind. Everyone except for the three heirs of Durin. I had no idea what was going on up there and it was very unnerving.

"Kíli, run!" I heard Thorin's voice shouting. Kíli yelled something in reply but I couldn't make out what it was. Whatever it was that he had said, soon after that first Fíli and then Thorin slid down to the cave, both turning their anxious faces back upwards the very second they had landed.

And then everything went horribly wrong.

Kíli appeared in our stone-restricted view with his bow in hand, an arrow still notched. The very last second before he got into safety I could hear a thud-sound, like something hitting flesh, and then Kíli tumbled down very ungracefully. When he hit the rocky floor he laid there, unmoving, with a broken arrow shaft sticking out of his lower back.

"KÍLI!" Both Fíli and Thorin cried, and it was hard to tell which one sounded more terrified. In mere seconds they were both kneeling next to the young dwarf. Fíli broke into a frantic, almost hysterical, rant from which I couldn't make out a single word besides his brother's name, and fell abruptly silent when Kíli groaned softly.

"K-kee?" Fíli whispered, relief making his voice tremble. Kíli then mumbled something that made his brother let out a strange mixture of a chuckle and a sob.

"Keep the lad awake." Óin ordered as he positioned himself next to Thorin and began fingering the arrow shaft and the area around the wound. Thorin himself eyed the company healer carefully, his hand on his younger nephew's shoulder.

"We aren't far from Rivendell now", Gandalf said from behind my back. "If we get him there –"

"The lad won't be able to walk with that in his back." Óin said and gave the arrow shaft a small flick, which made Kíli scream in pain. "And if he could, we couldn't get him there in time. That arrow has almost for sure caused some serious damage. He'd die on us before we reached the halfway." The half-deaf dwarf added, not minding the dirty looks he received from both the King and his heir for causing Kíli unneeded pain. At the mention of Kíli dying all blood seemed to escape from Fíli's face.

Thorin turned to look away from Kíli and his eyes met mine. It seemed like he was going through a battle inside his mind.

"Sara", he said finally, "I know you have troubles with that Power of yours. I wouldn't even ask this otherwise, but…" He trailed off. His eyes finished his sentence, though.

You are his only hope. Please help him.

I nodded and walked next to Kíli, opposite of Thorin and Óin.

"I can't Heal him with the arrow still in his back, so one of you needs to be ready to pull that out when I say so." I ordered, immediately taking lead of the situation. "But not earlier, mind you. Óin knows what's at stake here, we don't know what will happen when that arrow is taken out, and I might have huge troubles channelling, so the timing has to be perfect."

Thorin and Óin changed a short look before Thorin positioned himself so that he had better access to the arrow. Then he turned to look at me expectantly, hand already gripping the shaft.

I took a deep breath and reached for the One Power, but I found nothing. The Power shone there right in the furthest corner of my eye but I couldn't get the hold of it. Then the nausea came, and I closed my eyes to be able to concentrate on the battle inside my head.

I had never tried to force the Power to come to me, for I knew it wouldn't work. The secret of channelling saidar was in surrender; I'd have to surrender myself to saidar to be able to channel it. But what I did now was probably closer to forcing than what any Aes Sedai had ever done. Like in novice trainings, I imagined myself as a riverbank, gently guiding the flow of the river. The nausea I was experiencing made my imaginary riverbanks crumble but I forced them to stay together, almost as if trying to force an actual river to flow the way I wanted it to.

Despite my efforts I had to start all again thrice before I finally I felt the victorious smile forming on my face as I finally got hold of saidar.

I opened my eyes and turned to look at Thorin while also preparing Healing weaves. I didn't have time to open my mouth, though, before Thorin yanked the arrow out, making Kíli scream again.

Thorin's timing couldn't have been more precise; I finished the weave one second after he pulled the arrow out, so I was able to Heal Kíli right away. When Kíli responded in a desired way I stumbled bit further away from him in case I had to throw up again, letting go of saidar as I went.

I couldn't say whether I was glad or not when it turned out I wasn't going to empty my stomach again, for instead of that my headache had increased from pounding to something that I had no words to describe, and I felt more than slightly dizzy. It took more than a minute of blinking before world stopped spinning around in front of me, and that I realized that someone was talking to me.

"Sara? Sara, are you alright?"

I swallowed and closed my eyes as nodding sent the world spinning again.

"Just… just give me a minute." I whispered and leaned against the rocky wall, taking in deep breaths. "Do you need something?"

"I just wanted to say thank you." Thorin whispered back. "You can't imagine how much I appreciate what you did. My nephews are basically the only family I have left."

"I would've done it even if you forbade it." I said smiling at him. "I couldn't have just stood there and watch him die, now, could I?"

Thorin smiled back at me before turning to return to his nephews' side. After a small hesitation, though, he turned to face me again, his features slightly unsure. It was strange to see ever so confident and, well, slightly arrogant Thorin Oakenshield look unsure about something.

"Yes?" I pried as he just kept looking at me.

"I… I just couldn't help but wonder… the way your body has reacted to channelling after you hit your head. It made me suspect… if you keep doing it without a proper recovery, is there a chance for… permanent damage?"

I gave him a surprised look; it seemed that Thorin was a lot smarter than he was given credit for. Well, smarter than I had given him credit for, at the very least.

"It is possible to lose the ability to channel." I admitted, not looking straight at Thorin. "It's called burning out. But I would gladly burn myself out if it meant saving one of you lot. I could for sure learn to live without being able to channel, but losing any of you…" I raised my eyes to meet the ones of the dwarf standing next to me, "I could never learn to live with that."

Now it was Thorin's turn to look surprised. However, that look was quickly replaced by a grateful smile, before he turned and made a beeline for Fíli and Kíli.

I closed my eyes again and let out a deep sigh. I had finally found a word to describe my headache with: tremendous. I had a feeling that, compared to my headache, the feeling caused by Dwalin banging my head with those two axes of his would've felt comfortable.

However, that headache couldn't spoil my delight for being able to save Kíli from far too early death.


Thorin's POV

Sara's confession that she would've helped Kíli anyway made me feel slightly better, but it didn't erase all guilt I felt. It was because of my request after all that she had had to strain herself, to take the risk with this… burning out -thing.

I could for sure learn to live without being able to channel, but losing any of you… I could never learn to live with that.

Her words warmed me from inside; it was nice to know that that was the way she thought of the whole company. And then, of course, my heart was eager to point it out that those words meant that she included me as well.

I shook that thought away as I knelt down next to Fíli, who held onto his brother like he was never going to let go.

"Fee, could you loosen your grip little bit, please? You're strangling me."

"Never, ever, scare me like that again! I thought you…"

"That's enough, Fíli." I said gently, laying my hand on his shoulder. "Let the boy breath."

Fíli didn't let go of his brother, but he did loosen his grip a bit.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Kíli as he moved into a better position in Fíli's arms.

"Bit tired, but otherwise fine." He replied. Then he glanced at where Sara was still leaning against the cave wall and added: "How is she?"

"She's going to be perfectly fine."

"Are you sure?"

"She told me so herself."

Kíli nodded and a silence fell between us. I watched with a small smile how Fíli slowly let go of his brother as it became clear that Kíli truly was fine.

"We'd better get going." I said after a while. "Can you stand up Kíli?"

"Of course I can."

"Sure you can, just like Sara did earlier today." Fíli said ironically. "I'll stay close to him, Uncle." He said turning to look at me, and I nodded.

"I don't see where the pathway leads." Dwalin called from ahead. "Do we follow it or not?"

Like we would have any other choice; climbing back up would be very hard, if not impossible.

"Follow it of course!" Bofur called back.

The pathway was so narrow that we had to go in one at the time. While I went in last I saw Sara close to Fíli and Kíli near the front of our company.

It didn't take very long before pathway began to widen, Mahal be thanked; in that short part of pathway that was narrow, Bombur got stuck thrice. That truly tried my patience.

When the pathway was wide enough for two to walk side by side Balin came next to me.

"You know, looking at what the lass has already done, it seems like Mahal sent her to take care of us." He said, sounding amused.

I glanced at Sara walking ahead of us, and a small smile tugged corners of my lips.

"It indeed seems very much like that."


Sara's POV

I sighed deep in relief when I got out of the narrow part of pathway. The walls only inches away on both sides of me made me feel slightly claustrophobic. If it wasn't for Fíli and Kíli's jokes I certainly would've freaked out.

I hope hallways of Erebor aren't as narrow as this. I found myself thinking.

I had no idea how long we walked but after what seemed like an eternity I could see exit coming closer. When I got out I felt my jaw drop.

In front of us opened the most beautiful scenery I had ever seen, and I had no doubt it was also the most beautiful scenery I would ever see. "Beautiful" was far too mild word to describe what I saw, trees, waterfalls and everything!

"The Valley of Imladris", Gandalf said proudly. "In Common tongue it's known by another name…"

"…Rivendell." Bilbo finished. "We're going to see Elves!" He exclaimed enthusiastically.

"This was your plan all along." I heard Thorin's accusing voice behind me. "To seek refuge with our enemy."

"You have no enemies here, Thorin Oakenshield." Gandalf answered. "The only ill will you will find in this valley is that which you bring yourself."

"You think Elves will give our quest their blessing? They'll try to stop us!"

"Of course they will. But we have questions that need to be answered."

Surprisingly Thorin said nothing, just sighed in defeat.

"If we are to be successful this will need to be handled with tact. And respect. And no small degree of charm. Which is why you will leave talking to me." Gandalf continued and with that he proceeded to lead us into the Valley.

While Gandalf led us I looked eagerly around, admiring this beautiful place. Bilbo was the only one who shared my open admiration; all the Dwarves had grumpy or wary looks on their faces, except for Fíli and Kíli and Ori, who looked around with well hid curiosity. When I asked young brothers why all others had so long faces, they told me about hatred between Dwarves and Elves, and that Thorin takes that hatred into brand new spheres because of his personal history with Elves. I tried to ask more about this "personal history" but Fíli and Kíli surprisingly refused to talk about it, glancing warily at their uncle's direction.

When we arrived to the beautiful courtyard dwarves looked around warily and stayed close to each other. Then I saw a tall man with long brown hair coming down stairs leading to where we stood. Getting a good look at his face I came to a conclusion that he was the most beautiful man I had ever seen. Not handsome, but beautiful, and, for some strange reason, how looking at his face seemed to make my heart flutter slightly annoyed me greatly.

"Mithrandir!" The man called. I had no idea to whom he spoke before Gandalf turned and answered him.

"Ah, Lindir", the old Wizard greeted the man who replied by waving his hand.

Thorin whispered something to Dwalin who stood next to him.

The man – whom I assumed to be an elf – started to talk to Gandalf in a singing-like language. I had never heard such a beautiful language before.

This place makes me add word 'beautiful' to everything I see. Or hear, for that matter.

"I must speak with Lord Elrond." Gandalf said so that we all were able to understand.

The elf looked apologetic.

"My Lord Elrond is not here."

"Not here…? Where is he?"

Then I heard the very same horn sounding that I heard right after escaping from orcs. Turning around, I saw several horse riders coming. Thorin and Dwalin started to call orders to others and soon Bilbo and I – and finally Ori also – were pushed inside protective circle of dwarves. I would've liked to shout to them about how ridiculous and stupid their way of acting was.

Coming elves rode to the courtyard and surrounded us and in doing so alarmed dwarves even more. I was so frustrated with them; we were on their courtyard, and they behave like this! No wonder there's tension between Dwarves and Elves!

"Gandalf!"

One of the elves guided his horse closer to the Grey Wizard.

"Lord Elrond." Gandalf said and then switched into that singing-like language. The elf called Elrond answered in that same language and greeted Gandalf with warm hug.

"Strange for orcs to come so close to our borders." Elrond said in Common tongue. "Something, or someone, has drawn them near."

"Ah, that may have been us." Gandalf said turning to look at Thorin.

"Welcome Thorin, son of Thráin." Elrond greeted.

"I do not believe we have met." Thorin replied.

Well, at least he's acting polite.

"You have your grandfather's bearing." Elrond continued. "I knew Thrór when he ruled under the Mountain."

"Indeed? He made no mention of you."

Thorin, please, just TRY to be polite. We're in his house and need his help after all.

Elrond spoke once again in that language I began to assume was Elves' native language.

"What is he saying? Does he offer us insult?" Glóin asked in slowly rising voice. It would've been really hilarious situation, had others not joined him.

Gandalf saved the situation, thankfully.

"No master Glóin, he's offering you food."

That made dwarves to have a small council, lasting only a few seconds.

"Well, in that case, lead on." Glóin said.

Light bless the Dwarves and their eternal hunger. I thought with a half-hidden, amused smile.