PS: Yes, off to the woodland realm and all the wonderful creatures that leave in the trees. And while they are on better footing, it's still not stable ground - and it probably never will be because they're both terribly stubborn. And I'm afraid I can't tell you what I plan for the end, however I got an idea from another reader and the ending won't be completely sad - but that's all I'll say cause I don't want to spoil it for everyone.

Sophia: I'm glad you liked that Thorin stayed by her side, I thought it did well to show that though he's not always happy she's there he does genuinely care about her well being. When he does realize he's in love with her he'll be too stubborn to admit it cause he's, well, Thorin; but he'll get there eventually. And I don't plan on changing the ending of the book, however there will be a twist; well actually like 3. But like I told PS, spoilers.

If Nora never rode a horse again it would be fine by her, already her entire body ached from the bustle of galloping strides and they'd barely ridden a day. But as glad as she was that they'd stopped she wasn't at all happy to see what forest they would be trekking through; the trees twisted gnarled and grotesque with barely any leaves – it looked as though the entire forest were dying.

"Here lies our path through Mirkwood," Gandalf said standing beneath a worn down wooden gate.

"No sign of the orcs," Dwalin said straining to hear, "we have luck on our side."

Nora didn't feel very lucky in that moment as she stared at the great mass of woods; it was far larger than anything she'd seen, the land had been clear before but then suddenly there were trees everywhere – and they had to walk through it. "Set the ponies loose, let them return to their master" Gandalf said and Nora looked to him surprised, wondering if they'd have to walk the entire way through on foot. She was now regretting her first thought of wishing to be rid of them.

"Here," Thorin said gruffly offering her a hand and helping her down from the horse, ensuring that as he grabbed her waist her body was far from his own. By turning away he missed her irritated look, though Balin saw it and smiled at Thorin's discomfort to have his hands on her.

She stood to the side as the dwarves set loose the ponies, eyeing the trees, dreading having to walk through the terrible woods. "Not my horse, I need it," Gandalf called turning all their heads surprised.

"You're not leaving us?" Bilbo asked too shocked to believe the wizard would.

It was exactly what Nora was thinking, Gandalf having told her repeatedly he would do all he could to learn why she was there and if there were a way back – only he did not seem to be including her in his leaving, and Thorin had already taken note.

"Gandalf," Thorin said once he'd finished speaking with Bilbo, his voice low and displeased as the two stepped aside. "You have no plan of carrying her any longer, do you?" he asked watching the wizard turn to Nora as though he'd entirely forgotten her; which is as Thorin had known would happen all along, the moment they found her she had been his burden alone to bear.

Gandalf knew Thorin was unhappy with Nora being left, especially after he had been assured she wouldn't be. "There is no chance of her living where I will go," he explained. "If you still believe she is of no use to you then return her to Beorn with the ponies, he will take her and keep her safe. Though she might just prove to be the very thing you have needed all along if you let her, the choice is yours alone for she cannot come with me."

Thorin stood nearly glowering as Gandalf turned and made for his horse. "I'll be waiting for you at the overlook, before the slopes of Erebor."

Nora couldn't believe he was just leaving them, was leaving her with the dwarves; she knew the only reason she'd been allowed to stay was because Gandalf had promised that whenever he left she would too – she wasn't a complete fool. She knew also that Thorin could leave her anywhere he pleased, and with the hot way he looked at her as Gandalf left them with several warnings, she was worried that he would. She turned back to Gandalf hoping he just might be waiting for her to join him so that they could leave, but there was no such luck.

"No matter what may come, stay on the path," he urged them as he rode away, leaving them all behind.

Timidly she looked to Thorin, seeing his hard eyes still boring holes into her skin. "Come on, we must reach the mountain before Durin's day," he told them, turning from her and facing the forest. "Lets go, we've got one chance to find the hidden door." And with that they stepped through the gate and onto the old path. He wanted to leave her behind, to send her with the ponies back to Beorn for he had saved her as she lay dying. Yet the thought of her purpose for finding Middle Earth solely to aid his quest kept him from giving that order; if perhaps she were to be something he needed in the end but could not see it. And even if she were entirely useless, her burden was light and it did not weigh him down. The decision had been made for him, he would keep her close and do what he could to ensure she would not come anywhere near death again.

"Watch your step," he said to her as she walked behind him, not having the luxury to waste time falling over vines and brambles. Several more times during the long hours they walked he or Dwalin warned her of where to step, Thorin often times reaching back and lifting her over whatever blocked their path. Each time he waited for her irritation at being treated as a helpless woman, or for her to bat his hand away and help herself as she had done the times before; though he heard her sigh and once caught the roll of her eye, she said nothing. "Do you think so little of me to believe I would leave you the moment he left?" he asked her quietly when he was the one finding the way in the front, Dwalin walking behind her helping the others.

His question had surprised her, because she realized he had known the whole time Gandalf would leave her with him. "Well you haven't exactly been nice," she answered.

"And you have?" he asked looking back at her incredulously, remembering the several times she'd lost care in how she spoke to him.

"I was perfectly pleasant," she informed him as she stepped around an overgrowth in the path, "then you acted like I was some," she paused to think of an adequate word, "disease who'd infect everyone. How'd you think I'd react?"

It almost made him pause at hearing his behavior toward her put into those words, realizing even then he was being harsher than warranted. After climbing over a large root he offered her his hand knowing she would need it, and because she needed it she took his hand and leaned on him before standing on her own again. "I did not mean to," he said reluctantly, not used to having to offer apologies and now he was giving her a second one; and he wondered then what exactly she was doing to him.

She could see apologizing wasn't easy for him, and as a king she knew it wasn't; and so she nodded without fuss and continued on behind him. "Thank you," she said softly, turning his head in surprise.

"For what?" he asked keeping his eyes ahead instead of looking at her: finding his resolve weakened when he looked at her sweet face.

"For being a better man than I thought you were," she answered, nearly running into him when he stopped to stare at her shocked. Though he quickly straightened himself and continued on, leaving her to follow after him wondering what she'd done to get under his skin this time.

"Perhaps I should walk before you," Dwalin said behind her, and she nodded her consent before falling more toward the end of the line. For another hour they continued to walk before Nora realized they were going in circles, and that the reason why she was so dizzy was because of the plants; but she'd tried worse hallucinogenics than these and so she sat down and waited for five minutes before they circled back to her. For a long while they did this, walking and walking and Nora stayed sitting when no one listened to her and rubbed her temples hoping it would help the fog drifting in her head.

"We've lost the path!" she heard Bofur cry somewhere behind her.

"Find it, all of you," Thorin's deep voice ordered.

She continued to sit listening as they came around again, wondering how long it had taken before they realized they were lost; and even then they continued on in circles. The longer she sat the worse her head felt until she grew nauseous, and then she just wanted to go to sleep.

"I don't remember this place, none of it's familiar," Balin said as they all went around again.

It was several long minutes of their voices reverberating off the trees before they came back around, as lost and muddled as before. "Look a tobacco pouch," Dori said picking it up off the ground and staring at it amazed. "There's dwarves in these woods."

Bofur took the pouch from Dori and looked at it wide eyed. "Dwarves from the Blue Mountains, no less. This is exactly the same as mine."

Nora sat a few feet beside rolling her eyes irritably, wanting to slap them both upside the head at their stupidity. "Because it's yours, do you understand," Bilbo said, the only one to realize it. "We're going around in circles, we are lost."

"About time," Nora grumbled to herself as she rubbed her eyes, starting to see colors she shouldn't be.

"We are not lost," Thorin told them firmly. "We keep heading east."

"But which way is east, we've lost the sun?" Dwalin said almost panicking, voicing the problem Nora had already realized.

She sighed as they began arguing over what to do, her head falling into her hands as she tried to breathe less toxic air.

"On your feet Nora," Thorin ordered, his foggy head making him even more harsh than before.

"No," she refused childishly, her heart pounding in her ears making her head hurt all the more.

He turned to her outraged at her refusing his order, the air clouding his sense and so he marched to her and pulled her to her feet. "I will not have you falling behind and getting lost."

Her face was comical it was so offendedly angry at his having grabbed her. "I've been sitting here for an hour while you all wandered about. And you didn't even notice you stupid oaf."

"You do not speak to me this way I am a king," he yelled glaring up at her.

She nearly laughed in his face. "You want to know how much I don't care?" she asked daringly before shoving his shoulders sending him a few steps back.

His eyes grew wide as he stared at her completely shocked, her face defiant as she stood her ground – her eyes beckoning him to come fight. "You," he growled before charging forward.

None of the others were paying them a bit of mind as she beat against his chest while he tried to grab her hands to make her stop; the others were too busy fighting amongst themselves about which way they would go, and then arguing about which way was better. And so no one stopped Thorin as he continued to scrapple with Nora.

"I have half a mind to bind your hands and drag you on a leash," he said through clenched teeth as she continued to strike his chest and shoulders with her tiny fists.

"You wouldn't dare," she told him stubbornly even though he could; "you don't have the balls."

That was the metaphorical straw that broke the camel's back and Thorin lunged forward and held her against a tree. She stood trying to wrench her arms from his grasp as he held them down beside her, both of them breathing much too deeply from their useless exertions for there to be any room between them. And so when they finally stilled and looked at one another they found that their faces were much closer than they should have been. Her head cleared at finding him so near, at the way her heart thudded to a stop when his eyes fell to her mouth. That was the moment the cloud in his mind shifted and his sense returned, and he looked to her eyes before taking a step back at realizing what he had almost done.

If they had been in a movie they would have kissed, it's what happened in almost all of the movies she'd watched with two stubborn people. But before either of them could say anything, or refuse that it had almost happened, the sound of silence reached Thorin's ears and he turned away.

"Where are the others?" he asked worriedly, knowing they wouldn't have left.

"Thorin."

He ignored her soft voice, blaming her for having distracting him – for having made him think of things such as her lips and how they would feel pressed against his own. Instead he continued looking around, calling for first his nephews and then Dwalin but received no answer.

"Thorin."

It was the sound of her strangled gasp that had him turning and catching her as she fell. "Nora," he said cupping the back of her head and staring at her shocked face as she tried to catch her breath, as she tried to warn him. He couldn't understand what she was trying to say or what had happened, and he pulled her closer when her eyes fluttered closed and looked around. His mind had just understood what it was seeing when a spider leapt at him taking him off balance and tearing her from his arms. "No," he roared reaching for his sword. A sharp pain erupted on his back and a strange numbness filled his veins and left him unable to move as he stared at Nora's unconscious face as the spider began wrapping her in its web.