Author's Note – I sincerely apologize to EVERYONE for not updating in a while. Real life has kind of been an issue for me. Also…while we're on the subject of issues…how does everyone feel about the title change for the third Hobbit film? It went from "There and Back Again" to "The Battle of Five Armies". Is Peter Jackson suggesting that most of the third film will be devoted to the battle? Well, we all know how that ends.

Leave some comments about it in your reviews. :)

Shooting Star
Written by Milady Oakenshield

Tauriel was the last awake. She observed as all the others nodded off, and she was the one who stood by watching for more signs of trouble ahead. But although the dragon's corpse now lay at the bottom of the frigid lake, they were far from danger; something else was brewing, she sensed it.

Her eyes would not look towards anything else. And all she could think about was the morbid silence of a town ravaged by destruction, and what that silence now meant for the survivors. The men, the woman, the children. They lost people. Men who no longer had wives, women who lost husbands, and children, and children now considering themselves orphans. Tauriel could relate.

Her eyes went to the stars. For such a bleak night, the stars are what shone brightly. There was something comforting about them. There was the mountain in the far distance, and Valar knows what happened there, but at least the stars were twinkling bright. She'd go there sometimes. She'd watch the white light fill the air, and sometimes she'd make a wish.

Tauriel looked back into the remains of Bard's home, to the sleeping dwarves, and children, and she almost smiled because just for tonight, anyway, they were safe. Then she turned and walked through the doorway.

Oin and Bofur were sound asleep on the floor. Sigrid was curled up next to her brother, head pillowed on his shoulder, her arms wrapped around herself, and Bain's right arm coiled round Sigrid's shoulder. To her left was the bed Kili was in. And he slept in such a way where his head was positioned on his brother's lap, and Fili was leaning up on the wall. Little Tilda curled up tightly to Kili, and Kili had his arm wrapped over Tilda's shoulder, and Tilda was curling her finger in strands of the dwarf's hair, while clutching tight to her ragged doll.

Tauriel gingerly approached. "Kili?" She called, her voice soft as a whisper, and then she reached for his shoulder, shaking him as gently as possible, as not to wake Tilda or Fili.

Hers was the face he sees when his eyes slowly flicker open, and he struggles not to wake his brother or the small girl warming to him. She flexed her index finger and beckoned him to follow her, but held a finger to her lips as an indication for him to remain quiet. Kili picked his head up from his brother's lap and slowly scuttled off the bed, carefully removing Tilda's fingers from his hair and assisting her to rest on Fili's lap, as his head had.

Kili followed Tauriel from the house. She grasped his hand then pulled him along. She stepped onto the railing, and he followed, and then they were perched on the roof with their legs dangling over the edge.

"Look."

She pointed out away from him, indicating towards the sky, and the stars.

And he smiled.

I always thought it was a cold light. Remote and far away…

The stars were beautiful. He never really looked at them before. Never thought it was worth his time. At all. He never saw a reason to ever take the time to look. But now he was. He was looking right at them, and he was entranced. They were so full, and clear.

And then Tauriel pointed to something else. "Kili, make a wish."

He looked to where she pointed, and they witnessed a star streaking across the sky over the lonely mountain. Kili closed his eyes and made a wish. Wishing, it seemed so redundant. So moronic and stupid. None of his wishes ever came true. But when he opened his eyes, and she was still sitting there next to him, he took her hand and realized for the first time ever, that one of his wishes did.

I'm not sure if I like this one. I think it was rushed, but that's just my personal opinion. Maybe y'all can let me know what you think in your comments.