"What do you think? It was pretty bare boned when we finally got to renovating it, and almost all of the furniture had to be replaced, but Amad took over in the decorating once we got it all rebuilt and clean. Sometimes Conner will even come up here when he's feeling down, we'll find him asleep on the bed."

Cricket looks around in wonder at the apartments Kili had led her up to, high above and to the side of the royal quarters. It had an alcove leading straight out of the mountain, as it was almost right next to the side of it, with a large balcony just the right size for Conner to land on if flying in from the outside, as well as a pole going straight down into, apparantly, the room she was using now, hidden behind a large curtain made to look like her changing area. Conner had gleefully showed her how it worked, sliding down in his child form then flying back up in a small version of his dragon form, wrapping his self around her shoulders and purring loudly, burrowing into her neck.

"Kili, it's beautiful! I can't believe you went to all this trouble, I thought it was honestly just going to be my own room, for me and Conner. This though…this is amazing!"

She was very glad that Dis had taken over the decorating, as if any of the company had done it, there was a chance it would end up very Spartan in nature and looks, likely with nothing but weapons and various nick-nacks everywhere. As it was, there was a large Queen sized bed on a beautiful mahogany frame, a plush feather mattress on top with a dark blue and silver comforter set, sheets and pillows. The entire room was done up in the same blue and silver theme, the furniture all made of the same mahogany wood with soft cushions, table runners, candles sitting in silver ewers, rich fabric draping the walls in a slate blue, the carpet a dark chocolate brown. While there were weapons in the room, they were her own from her last visit, up on the wall and crossed over one another, right over her armor from the war, displayed on a mannequin.

"When we went back to the tents Thranduil had let us use, it was lying on the bed, next to Antons bag." Kili had explained where she had turned to him, confused on how they had it when she had wearing it the moment she disappeared. Speaking of which, said bag was sitting inside of the closet carved into the stone, along with a surprisingly large number of clothes and shoes, likely from Dis commissioning multiple seamstresses to correctly equip her for any occasion. The outfit that she received in Rivendell was hanging in there, and she strokes one of the sleeves lightly, remembering better times, when the company was whole and still in good spirits.

"Are all of them like this?" She asks curiously as Conner shifts in midair and lands on the bed in human form, bouncing once before lying spread eagle and grinning at the other two.

"I'm honestly not sure. Uncle sent builders to each location after informing who ever was in charge of the situation, and the builders made sure each set of quarters was cleaned and built. After that, each leader was given an amount of gold to use on equipping the room, which they were to do while the builders still there, and were told to make it tasteful, like a royal guest room, with a small area for weapons. Only once they were finished would the builders leave, so Uncle could be sure the instructions were followed. The only place they had trouble was Minas Tirith, since there is currently no king, those in charge were quite against listening to a dwarf. Other than that though, they're all done. Likely they will all vary depending on the area."

"I knew I made it a demand during the stupid war, but I didn't think it would be this big a deal." Cricket says, stepping out of the closet and looking at the sheepish dwarf prince, smiling at him. "I just thought it would be a good way to spend my share of the gold, since there was a chance I wouldn't be here to spend it. I wanted to make sure Conner was taken care of, and it seemed the best way to do it."

"You're both family." Kili says with a shrug. "We take care of family, and if that's what you wanted, we were going to make sure it happened, to our full ability to do so. And if you were going to spend your own gold to do it…well, it was going to deserve every bit of gold spent. And honestly it wasn't even a question of whether Conner was going to be taken care of, it was more of would I still get any time with him if I can never drag him away from her. She zeroed in on him as a child who needed love and mothering, two things she was amazing at, and took him under her wing from the start."

"She hugged me a lot." Conner chimes in, rolling off the bed and going to stand next to her, taking her hand and looking up. "She gave me lots of hugs, and made sure I ate plenty of food, tucked me in at night…held me when I was sad and missed you…she made sure I knew I was loved."

"Then I owe her more than I thought." Ashley says quietly, going down on one knee and taking him in her arms, squeezing tightly before raising back up, Conner still held by her. "I knew Kili would do that, but having her help makes me feel a lot better."

"We all tried to help." Kili says, leading her to the bed and helping her sit down on it, sitting next to her as Conner cuddles into her lap. "It only felt right. Whether it was babysitting, teaching, lending him a hand or just giving him company, there was always one of us around. Even at Thrandiuls palace, either me or Legolas would be with him."

"I owe all of you then." She says, laying her head on his shoulder. "For making sure he was always loved and welcome when I couldn't be there to do it. I only wish I knew what brought me here in the first place so I could figure out a way to control it. I hate thinking that I could be dragged away at any moment. But, it does help knowing he won't be alone. Thank you…all of you."

"That's what family is for." He says, laying his head on hers and taking her hand, looking at one of the fingers curiously. "By the way, where did you get this ring? I've never seen you wear it before."

"I'm not sure." She says, looking at the ring as well, voice soft. "I think I woke up to it being there, but it feels natural there, like it's been there forever, so I left it on. It might just be I put it on before we went to the tombs and forgot. It is pretty though, like you said, for being so simple looking. It has all these shimmery looking runes inside the band, and on the top as well if you look at it in the right light."

"Hmmm." They both go silent after that, enjoying a quiet that one rarely gets in the mountain as they sit there. "How would you feel about taking a trip to the Greenwood tomorrow, so Conner can show off? He's been wanting to show you how big he's gotten and everything he's learned so far from the elves, and there he can transform with worrying about freaking anyone out."

"Just us?"

"Until we get to the edge of the woods, it will be us and a guard or two. Once we reach the woods we're under the elves protection. Uncle insist on guards until then, however. Unless we sneak out, which will get all three of us into trouble."

Cricket chuckles. "You say that like you've gotten caught before. But yea, that sounds good. I'd like to see how much the rest of the middle earth has changed, and I'm really up for seeing Conner in full dragon mode. Can I fly him?"

Kili grins at that, a grin that reminds her of when they were all throwing food around Bilbo's table and singing loudly, and she can't help but grin right back at him. "That, I can guarentee."