I do not ow anything but my OCs. The world and characters are Tolkien's and Peter Jackson's.

WARNING: Blood, a bit of self harm. PM me if you want a version with those bits cut out.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

WAKE UP

It was almost amusing, how well they knew each other. How, without even blinking, a silent conversation passed between their gazes. Kili had only ever done that with his brother, until he met her. It was like words were totally unnecessary, because they could hear the other's thoughts ringing through their head.

Kili's heart twisted, the breath smashed out of his chest. Oh, blessed be Aulë, it was Gwen.

There was a touch of something in her wide, dark eyes, something Kili recognized, but didn't want to recognize. It was the primal, feral sort of fear that had frozen her in place all those months ago in Mirkwood. Now it caught her dead stopped in the middle of the crowded street.

And then all of the sudden, as if there was a cue passed between them, she turned and bolted.

The crowd wasn't moving fast enough. They were slower than slugs, oozing through the streets, always wandering into his path as he picked up speed. Energy was bursting from him, and he had to fight back against a scream of frustration. She was disappearing far too quickly down the street, weaving smoothly through the crowd, like water through stones.

He barely had time to mutter out faint excuses as he bowled a middle aged man over. The man shouted something after him, but Kili was too transfixed by the sight of Gwen, as she broke free of the crowds, immediately bursting into a sprint, nimbly dodging anything in her path.

Kili growled in annoyance, gritting his fists hard as his heart pounded into his throat. She was so close. So bloody close. Was she about to disappear after all of this trouble?

With a flash of dark hair, she turned left, disappearing behind a building. Kili shoved his way to the left side of the road, hugging the wall, and using it as a bit of leverage to forge a path, finally able to break into a run down the cobbled street. He twisted into the alley way, only to find it empty. His heart jolted hard, and he did a double-take, leaning back to look around, scanning the crowd for the faint flash of her loose brown hair, her milk-pale skin. Had she not made the turn as he thought?

A large commotion sounded suddenly, from the road on the other side of the alley way, the shout of something about cabbages drifting through the air, and Kili was through it in a second. The street he burst out upon was even more crowded than the last one, and he let out a groan as he saw Gwen to be nowhere. His eyes caught on a small cart that had been overturned. Could it be—? There was not time to think.

He forced his way through the street, not caring whatsoever who he knocked aside. His mother would clobber him over the head with a rolling pin. And at this point, he didn't care. Finally he got to the cart, where he gasped, "Where did she—"

The stall keeper glared up at him, from where he knelt, trying to gather back fallen cabbages, but jerked his head towards an alley across the street and a bit further down.

With a glance at the crowd around him, Kili realized that he had little but to trust this man, and was on his way, barreling through the streets. For the first time in his life, Kili wished that he was a bit lighter on his feet. But only for that specific case, of course.

Thank Mahal, the next road he stumbled onto was less crowded than both he had previously been on, wider and lined with much fewer stalls. He heard the clatter of footsteps, and saw a flash of the back of a cloak, disappearing to the right, meters down the road. At last free to run, Kili took off at the fastest sprint he could muster, the store fronts flashing by him in a blur, people startled, clearing out of his way. He almost missed the turn Gwen had taken, but twisted himself around in time, stumbling for a minute as he came upon the new road. It was one of the roads on the outskirts of the town, just inside of its massive perimeter wall. It was long enough that Kili got a clear view as Gwen glanced over her shoulder, as if to see if he was still following. Their eyes caught for the most fractional of moments, and she was ducking into a guard tower, plowing past the weary looking guard at its entrance.

She was going at full speed, full flight to get away from him. Damn it all!

He didn't waste another moment, and was down the long cobbled road in what felt like moments, throwing himself into the guard tower door. He was faced with the beginning of a spiral stone staircase, and without hesitation, threw himself at it, taking the steps two at a time. Thank Mahal for his unusually long legs.

He was faced with the bewildered guard halfway up, and merely pushed past the man without a second spent.

His legs were burning something fierce as he at last burst into the open air. Now he could see it clearly, as Gwen dashed along the top of the wall, her silver cloak and hair streaming out behind her. Kili could hear the odd guard shouting at him or Gwen, but ignored them entirely, trying his hardest not to be thrown off of the ramparts as he took the sharp turn in the wall savagely fast. All that mattered was the stone churning out underneath his boots, the distance between him and Gwen that was somehow shrinking gradually. He was gaining on her. And for that, he was willing to ignore the burning of his breath in his lungs and throat, the taste of blood filling his mouth, the throb of his legs, the sting of his ribs, the blurring of his vision.

He shot down the spiral staircase after Gwen, nearly falling down after her. He certainly used gravity to his advantage though, leaping down four steps at a time, not particularly caring if he stuck the landing. When he stumbled out of the wall, he found the main gates to the town open before him, revealing a dirt path winding through the trees. Gwen was already hot on it, the dust kicking up behind her as she tore across it. Kili was after her without even the slightest moment to catch his breath.

This wasn't just quite possibly the most important chase of his life; it was the only one that mattered. If he lost this, he would spend the rest of his life wondering "What if." He'd had enough of that. It was time for some answers.

They somehow ended up on a much smaller path, no more than a trail, picking its winding way through the trees. He was gaining ground, especially in the moment Gwen tripped over a loose root, nearly sending her sprawling off of her feet entirely. She was losing her energy.

Kili was only meters away from her as the trees suddenly cleared out from around them, and they burst into a wide farming field, left fallow. Gwen didn't stop, even as she stumbled on the loose dirt. Apparently she was set on keeping up this little chase until the very end. That was well and good. It was just a few more yards—

She whirled around suddenly, a flash of silver pulling him to a ragged stop as she stumbled backwards for a moment, momentum carrying her further than she'd thought.

She brandished her blade, trembling slightly, breaths sharp and panting from her mouth as she hissed out, in the most broken, fearful, malice-filled tone, "Do not come a step closer."

Kili's eyes were wide, as he scanned her over with his eyes, breaths tearing through him. Mahal. There she was. His Gwen. A vision of fury and fear, lit by the gold of a setting sun, flushed and sweaty, hair mussed, looking, for all rights, like a rabid animal.

Had he done this to her?

He approached her carefully as one might try to approach a spooked pony: with the utmost slowness and gentleness. "Gwen—"

There was a flash of silver, and suddenly, he felt a line of cool, razor-sharp metal brushing his throat. He was forced to freeze as Gwen stared at him with wide, frightened eyes, murmuring, "I said that you cannot take a step closer."

He did as he was told, hardly breathing as the tip of her blade scraped against his throat. She was shaking. He kept his gaze locked onto hers, which was scanning almost unseeingly over his face. Her eyes drifted off of his, the metal falling away from his throat slightly, as she murmured something inaudible to herself. "Gwen?" he prompted softly.

She pulled her blade away from him further, taking a stumbling step backwards, as she repeated to herself, "It's not real."

Kili hardly dared to moved, watching carefully. What was—

"It's not real," she said again, her eyes locking onto his, tone growing stronger as she shook her head.

"What are—"

"It's not real!" She snapped as he neared her staggering back away. "You're—" she cut herself off, repeating, "It's not real!"

"Bloody Mahal," he breathed. "Gwen, you've got to—"

She was shaking her head now, her whole body wracked with shivers as she repeated that like a mantra, "It's not real, it's not real—"

"It is—"

He was cut off as she carried on, stepping further away. It almost seemed that she had forgotten her sword, resting in her hand, with the way she waved it about her, her free hand reaching up to clutch at the roots of her hair. "It's—it's not real, not real, not real—"

Her eyes locked onto his, and Kili watched in horror as she twisted her blade, running a long, deep cut across her palm with the length of the weapon. He was frozen, wide eyed as she gasped raggedly. Blood beaded up along the wound instantly, and Kili could see the flesh pulling apart. Unable to take it longer, Kili started towards her. "Bloody Mahal—"

"Stay back!" She spat, lashing her sword in his direction, narrowly missing his nose. A droplet of her blood hit his cheek, and his gut dropped. What in All of Arda was happening?

Gwen's face contorted in pain suddenly, and the sword clattered out of her hand, as if the pain of her self-inflicted wound had just hit her. She clenched her fist hard against her, and Kili could see the blood crawling out of the wound, running bright red against her pale skin. "It's not real-" she almost cried, hitting her injured hand hard, as if thirsting for the pain. "Wake up! Wake up!"

"It's not a dream!" Kili told her, alarmed. "Gwen, you're not dreaming!"

Her panic only grew at his words as she stumbled back further, reaching up to grab at her hair, smearing a trail of blood across her cheek, working her hand so that more, and more blood trickled out of it. "Wake up—Valar, why aren't I waking up!?"

"Because you're not dreaming!" Kili shouted as loud as he could, hoping that his voice could cut through her hysteria. He dared not step closer, despite how much he wanted to grab onto her wrists, and stop the way that she gripped onto her hair, the way she frantically twisted more and more pain into her wound. "You're awake, Gwen! It's not a bloody dream!"

She looked up at him as he said this, and suddenly, it was as if she was actually seeing him there for the first time. A whimper trickled out of her throat as she drew further away from him, eyes wider than saucers. "Kili…"

"Aye," he said, voice ragged, heart thudding up into his throat. "I'm here."

She flexed her injured hand almost subconsciously, and after a moment, drew herself up, speaking in a quiet, distant voice. "What are you doing here, Kili?"

"I…" he swallowed hard, trying to keep the strange flood of emotions in his chest at bay. "I had to find you."

"Why?" she asked. "Did I not leave you? Did I not tell you to forget me?"

"Well," he said. "You did, aye. But…I've never been good at listening, you see?"

The playful comment failed completely, as Gwen kept looking at him like he was the strangest sight she'd ever seen. "I left you. I told you to go, and live your life, and…and now you're here? Kili…what…what are you doing?"

"I tried," Kili said softly, trying to keep her calm. "I tried to forget but…I can't live without you. I can't forget you."

"How…" she began, her gaze leaving his to try and find answers in the churned dirt beneath her feet. "How could you do this to me?"

"Wha—" she was entirely serious. What had he bloody done, indeed? He hadn't the slightest of clues. "What do you mean?"

"I…I had left you. I had closed that page, I had finished that chapter, I had resigned myself, but now you come here, and you…you ruin it! I was moving on, Kili!" There was something akin to desperation in her eyes. Something that begged him to have just been some strange figment of her imagination.

"Were you?" Kili asked. "Because it seems, as of now, that you haven't been!"

Her hands worked as the wheels in her brain churned. "Nothing has changed. We are still just as apart as we were—"

"Nonsense!" Kili shot back. "That is total bloody nonsense and you know it! Gwen, I'm here. I'm here to bring you home—"

"Do not speak to me of home! I have no more of a home than I did when I left you—"

"I'm a mess, alright?" Kili interrupted. This was all going downhill far, far too fast. "Without you, I—I can't bloody live like that! And I'm looking at you, and you agree with that! You know that you won't last, with us being apart! We—"

"It hurts, yes, Kili, but it can only lead to worse—"

"Worse than what?" Kili challenged. "What could be worse than this…this death we're living! I love you Gwen, and you know that you love me as well, even if you try to numb yourself to it! Our love—"

"Open your bloody eyes, Kili!" She snapped, staggering further back from him, using her hands to indicate her appearence. "Can't you see? Can't you see that this 'love' is destroying me? Can't you see the way it wears on me, the way it's chipping away at me piece by piece, tearing me apart, scraping and carving at the little happiness and stability that I have left?" She ground each of those words into him, as if trying to draw up as much pain as possible into his heart with her stinging tone. "It's ruining me and it's doing the exact same to you!"

"It's ruining nothing! You can't—"

"I can't eat!" She hissed, eyes blazing with pain. "I can't sleep, but to be tortured in my dreams, I cannot blink but see your face, my heart cannot beat but shatters with that pain! And you dare tell me that it is not ruining me? I cannot walk, I cannot breathe, some days, I cannot stand—"

"And you think that it is any different for me?" Kili scoffed. "Being without you, it's bleeding me dry!"

She once again reached up to pull at her hair, as panic flared in her gaze, blood streaking down her arm. "Then how do you show your face here? Why do you come after me, when we were on our way to freedom—"

Kili growled in irritation, trying to grasp for control of her wrists. He missed them by an inch, but still shouted, "That wasn't out love doing all of that, Gwen!"

"It is!' she almost sobbed. "It's those smiles we shared, its each of the words we exchanged, its each of those stupid bloody kisses that we never should have had—"

Finally, he managed to snatch up her wrists, and Mahal. Her skin burned against his. Burned with a future that could be. He dragged her in closer to him. "That is not our ruin. Our ruin is in our separation! It is in your thinking that nothing good could come from our love! It is in your refusal to see that it is the breaking, not binding of our hearts that destroys us! It is in the fact that you cannot trust me enough to t—"

"It doesn't just work like that Kili!" she spat, a tear sliding through the blood on her cheek as she struggled against his grip. "Our 'love' does not fix everything! Trust does not solve our every problem! A leap of faith cannot carry us to safety!" More tears fell now, and Kili could feel the raw power of her emotions like a physical blow against him. "The things you dream do not come to any reality! Maybe in your perfect little vision of a world, it does, but not in any I've lived!"

Kili would have said something, but Gwen refused to stop, the words rolling off of her tongue, her struggle against his grip weakening. "And I've tried, Kili! I've tried to hold onto daft, girlish dreams! I've tried to trust in happy endings, I've tried to have my fairy tales be real, and it doesn't work! Reality always comes back in and ruins you!" She beat his chest with both of her fists, as if desperately trying to impress the words upon him.

"Gwen—"

Her voice was growing ragged now. "This isn't a fairytale. We don't overcome our problems with 'true love,' the story doesn't get the happy ending we want. The commoner doesn't end up with the prince, and it bloody well doesn't all end with a ride into the thrice-cursed sunset!"

That was where, at last, she ran out of hateful words. Kili was simply left to stare into her teary, broken eyes, trying to pull some sense from his life. What to say to that?

Trembling, he softened his grip on her wrists, dropping her uninjured hand. His heart ached as he closed her blood slicked, wounded hand into a gentle fist, pressing a soft kiss against her unbloodied knuckle. They were both frozen into an odd sort of trance, even as Kili looked up to her face, reaching up to clear away the mess of blood and tears that was smeared across her beautiful, horrendously unforgettable face. She seemed to jolt back into her senses just as his finger brushed against her and pulled away from him. Tearing her eyes away from his.

A long silence fell, in which Kili discovered that a good amount of her blood had ended up on his hands. He could taste it on his tongue, smell it on him. It was everywhere. With a glance to the fading light, he cleared his throat faintly. "We need to get back to town. It'll be dark soon."

There was a slight pause, but Gwen nodded at him.

They were absolutely silent, on the way back into town. Gwen kept her hood up to hide her face, and Kili merely ignored the glances he was getting for his blood-smeared hand. Kili guided her to the inn that he had a room at, somewhat surprised when she didn't protest. Was she staying there as well?

Kili lead them across the filling tavern, to the innkeeper, nudging Gwen up to stand beside him. "Excuse me," he said in a gruff voice, catching the man's attention. "My friend's had a training accident. Do you—"

Suddenly, a small woman bustled up next to the innkeeper, speaking before Kili could finish. "Accident? What's this?" her eyes flickered over Gwen, who flinched back slightly, before speaking. "Let me see."

Gwen grudgingly offered up her injured palm, which the small, but evidently fiery, woman grabbed quickly, eyes growing wide at the sight of the blood dried in rivulets down her wrist. "Some training accident," she mused as she carefully pried apart the hand Kili had tucked closed. He felt Gwen wince next to him, and without thinking, lifted a hand to her shoulder to stabilize her. She jerked away from him, shooting a slight glare in his direction.

It seemed that the woman saw all of this interaction, her eyes darting, observing the tension between them, the wheels of her mind churning. "Maedre," the inn keep began, his eyes on the customers growing leery of Kili and Gwen's blood crusted hands and lifted hoods.

"Aye, I know," the woman said, brushing him off. "Head on up to your room," she instructed Gwen, giving her hand back to her. "I'll be up in a minute to get that stitched up. What room are you in?"

"Five," Kili answered quickly with the room number he'd received, not letting Gwen have the time to slip away from him.

The woman observed this with a quirked brow, and Kili could feel Gwen's glare on him, but he ignored it in favor of giving the woman and the inn keep brief nods, before placing a hand on Gwen's back, leading her away from the tavern's prying eyes, up the stairs.

He could feel tension wrought through Gwen's spine under his hand, and as soon as they were out of sight, she pulled out of his grip, pointedly refusing to make eye contact with him. Kili was almost frozen with disbelief as a rush of cool air filled the space she had filled. After so long of wishing, hoping for her to be in his arms, feeling her phantom warmth, she was finally there. And yet, she felt even more distant than ever. His fists clenched at the loss, but he pressed on, leading the way to the door painted with the number five. He unlocked it, and it swung open easily. As soon as he and Gwen were inside, and the door closed behind them, the silence they'd been trapped in broke. "What in the Valar's namewas that, Kili?"

"What was what?" He sighed, as he leaned back against the door, rubbing at his temples.

"Why wouldn't you just let me go off to my room?"

"Because I'm not letting you go yet."

"But—" she began, but stopped quickly, pursing her lips and saying in a clipped tone, "I thought that I made it very clear earlier, time has not changed out circumstance—"

"I'm not letting you go yet," Kili interrupted. "I thought I made that very clear."

"Kili—"

"We need to talk," Kili huffed. "We need to bloody calm down and talk about this all."

"There isn't anything to talk about!"

Kili was having none of that. "Shut up, Gwen. I love you, but if you would just bloody shut up, that would be brilliant."

Gwen fitfully ignored the comment on love, instead saying, "Shut up? I thought you just said that we need to talk."

Kili groaned, squeezing his temples even harder. "You know what I meant."

"Did I?" she challenged, lifting an infuriating brow. "Because I don't know that I did."

"This!' Kili cried. "This is exactly what I mean! When you refuse to bloody listen—"

He fell silent as the door behind his back shook with knocks. He took in a deep breath, shooting a glance at Gwen (who was staring quite firmly at the floor) before pulling the door open. The woman from before bustled in without a glance towards him, carrying a small box in her arms. "Onto the bed," she ordered Gwen, plucking a stool from the corner as she went.

Gwen did as she was told, and the woman seated herself directly in front of the girl, reaching for her injured hand. "Fill the basin with water and bring it over," she told Kili without even a glance in his direction. Bossy.

Kili didn't dare to disobey, though, and set the full basin on the ground next to the woman within a moment.

She set to work, dipping a clean cloth in the water, wiping the now dry blood off of Gwen's arm and hand. Kili was about to go back to lean against the wall, seeing as all of the seats in his room had been taken, but the woman called him back. "Not quite so fast. Get me the candle."

Kili huffed, but did so, setting it onto the ground next to her. She didn't let his stray this time, as she pulled a small glass bottle from her box. "This is going to hurt. Sit next to her to—"

"I don't need him," Gwen gritted out, her gaze fixed onto the wound, not even drifting towards Kili.

That stung his heart rather, but he didn't let it show on his face, shrugging and making his way to the far side of the room. Damn that girl.

"Fine," the woman breathed, before unhesitatingly pressing a ball of cleaner-soaked cloth onto the edge of the cut.

Gwen's whole body went ridged, her eyes squeezing closed. Kili could see her other hand gripping hard into the blankets on his cot, and he was almost surprised that she didn't cry out. She held strong though, as the sharp smell of alcohol filled the room. Kili sighed a breath out. He didn't like seeing her pain. He liked even less not being allowed to help her through this pain.

Once she had seen the wound clean enough, the woman pulled a needle and thread from her box. She plucked the candle off of the ground, passing the needle through it a few times, before setting it back down, threading it carefully. She gave no warning, before she pierced it through the skin of Gwen's palm. Gwen's head fell back in a silent cry of pain, and Kili's own hand flexed with the sight of it. He forced himself to watch at the thread was drawn through, completing the first stitch, but after that, he had to look away, as his gut churned. Bloody stitches. He knew they were necessary. Indeed, they were very helpful, but that didn't mean that the sight of them being put in didn't make him at least a bit dizzy.

He looked up when he heard the sound of thread cutting. The woman was dabbing the wound over once again with alcohol, before nimbly wrapping it firmly in a clean bandage. "Clean it out every day, and rewrap in in fresh bandages. Remove the stitches, carefully, in a week, and you should be healed up in fair time." She passed Gwen the glass bottle she'd been using, as well as a clean roll of bandages.

Gwen nodded. "Thank you."

"Aye," the woman said. "Just try to avoid any 'training accidents' in the future."

Kili acknowledged the look she sent him with a shrug. Gwen's wound wasn't his fault.

"I'll send clean water and supper up," she said, before brushing out of the room past Kili, carrying the medical box with her.

The silence fell heavily, as Kili tried to massage the growing headache out of his temples, while Gwen gingerly flexed her newly bandaged hand. After a moment, Kili allowed himself to look at her properly with a sigh. Her skin was pale(possibly with blood loss), the shadows under her eyes dark. Her eyes were a bit puffy still, from crying earlier, and there was the coppery, muddy shade of dried blood smudged across her face, also worked into the roots of her hair. She looked like a proper basket case.

He separated himself from the wall with a bit of reluctance, moving to the small table where the water jug and towel still sat. There was a bit of water still left, so he took it with him, as well as the towel, taking the seat the woman had left. Gwen eyed him critically as he tilted the jug, dampening a section of the cloth. "What's this?"

Kili didn't speak, reaching out to hold her chin. She jerked out of his grasp. "Don't—"

"You haven't a mirror, and believe it or not, but I'd rather not be toting around a lass looking like she's just taken part in a horrific murder," Kili explained drily.

Any protests she was preparing were cut silent as he grasped her chin gently, bringing up the cloth to dab at the blood and tears dried onto her face. He almost had to smile at the familiarity of this. Him, exhausted by Gwen's absurdity, tending to her wounds, while she seethed under him, refusing to meet his gaze. Of course, that time by the river had been quite a bit different. Their problems were a little bit more difficult to solve now.

He finally broke the silence, as he sat back in his seat, looking at her eyes, even if she refused to look back. "You know, I'm not just going to give up."

She glanced up at him for a moment, before sighing. "It's only a matter of time before this all comes crashing down on us, Kili. I would rather have that be now than in years when…when I've let myself hope."

"What if it's not a matter of time?" Kili challenged, though he kept his tone calm. "What if it all worked itself out, what if it never came crashing down?"

Her gaze met his hard, the thoughts twisting behind her eyes, before she shook her head, casting her gaze back onto the floor. Kili grit his teeth at her silence. "Gwen, tell me? Why? Why do you insist on it being a matter of time? Why must it come crashing down?"

She hesitated again, her gaze flickering to his for a moment, before she began speaking. "Because…because nothing could be this perfect."

He saw her eyes. As in, really saw them. At last, she allowed him to see into her without the veil of madness or anger. And there was disbelief. The sort of disbelief that stemmed from a loss of childlike dreams. The loss of trust in the impossible. The loss of her hope.

She broke this silent communication, burying her face in her uninjured hand, letting her hair fall forward around her face. A glint of silver caught his eye, and he reached out in an instant, and there, in his fingers, was a tarnished and water-stained lump of silver, threaded onto a tiny braid. His bead.

The heat of tears caught in his eyes, as Gwen drew that hair back over her shoulder a bit apologetically. She had kept his bead. The bead he had woven into her hair upon their farewell. She hadn't lost it, or let it in her pocket for those months. She still wore it. Still wouldn't deny their love.

"Gwen," he began, voice surprisingly rough. "I want you to look me in the eyes, and tell me that you don't love me. Tell me that with as much truth as you can, and I'll be gone. I'll go home, and I won't bother you another day after that." Her eyes lifted to his disbelievingly. Kili swallowed hard, and continued. "Tell me that you have lost all hope, tell me that you do not still dream of the future we know together. Tell me that you do not think of what could have been, of what still could be. Tell me that the tenderness that you once held for me has grown bitter, that the embraces we've shared were all for naught… Tell me that you do not ache every minute, and tell me that you will not always ache every minute when we are apart. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you do not love me still, and you will not see me again."

Her mouth opened, then closed again, and her eyes darted from his as she breathed out, "Kili…"

"My eyes, love." he corrected her softly, placing a finger under her chin to lift her gaze back to his.

"I…I do not…" Her words seemed to run out, something akin to desperation darkening her gaze as she groped for the correct words. Finally, she surrendered. "I can't."

Kili let her chin go, sitting back in his chair with a sigh. Her head fell forward into her hand, that beaded braid falling over her shoulder again, as if impressing her words.

"Then," Kili breathed. "I'm not giving up. Not so long as we still love each other."

She peeked a glance up at him through her hair, as if in disbelief, before dropping back down to her hand, breathing out, "Bloody dwarves."

Well….I'm sure this chapter didn't turn out quite as you all were expecting…I have no regrets. Perfect relationships bore me. Is it just me, or have Gwen and Kili gotten a lot more eloquent than when last we saw them? I guess this is what happens when I'm stuck reading high literature instead of Hobbit fanfic…

I can't believe how long this chapter got. It's like 2000 words longer than my most recent chapters have been. Oh well. This was a pretty important chapter. Let me know if I did well with it, or your thoughts on it in a review! It's the best way you can repay me for the hours of my life I've burned away for this story. Thanks! And until next week!