Disclaimer: If you recognise it, it belongs to Tolkien!

A/N: I am sorry that this has taken so long to upload, it has been a really hectic week at work and home. Hopefully that all finished now so I will have more time to write :)

Also Nori's POV just didn't seem to want to co-operate so in between writing this chapter I've started others, like Legolas and Balin. Hopefully the updates will not take so long now :)

Enjoy :D

Chapter 13

Nori POV

It had been a week since Ariana had told us her story and although that first day we had all been careful with her, it soon came to a stop as she hurled Dwalin across a clearing as we were watching them sparring that evening. After that the only ones that truly worried excessively were Dori, because he was a mother hen and Thorin, because of course he would worry about his little sister, although he seemed to be trying to out mother hen Dori. We had finally made it near to the Misty Mountains when Thorin just had to go and piss off Gandalf. We had reached what looked to be an abandoned farm house and Gandalf was muttering to himself about a farmer and his family living there and how it smelt foul. Thorin was ignoring him and telling everyone their tasks.

Gandalf spun around, "We should not camp here, we can make it a little further before dark." Thorin scoffed at that and continued to carry on telling us what to do, Ariana seemed unimpressed by his pig-headedness. She rolled her eyes and Gandalf frowned marching back to his horse, "Save me from the stubbornness of dwarves." Bilbo looked lost as he had stormed past, "Where are you going?" Gandalf had merely climbed on to his horse and stated, "To be in the company of the only person who is making any sense. Myself." He had rode off then and Ariana had walked past Thorin, smacking him soundly around the back of the head.

He looked at her, but she simply conjured her bow and walked into the woods, to try and catch us something for dinner. "Five coins says something bad happens to us tonight." Bofur muttered to me and I grinned, "Your on. Let's go and make ourselves busy before Thorin realises we aren't doing anything." I chuckled and we set about laying out the bedrolls and packs in some sort of order after taking them from the ponies and giving the ponies to Fíli and Kíli, "What are the odds we will actually have any ponies at the end of their shift?" Bofur muttered to me and I shrugged, "Better than Thorin ever surviving Ariana's temper."

Bofur laughed and we nodded. Bilbo was tasked with taking the dinner to boys once it was done. Ariana sat frowning, joining us in jumping to her feet when Fíli ran to us, "Trolls. The trolls took Bilbo and the ponies." He yelled out and we darted after him, staring at the huge trail of destruction we were following, I glared over at Bofur, then at Thorin. This was their fault, Thorin had pissed of Gandalf and then Bofur had jinxed us. Kíli was trying to get Bilbo back from the trolls as we reached their clearing, which he did by telling them to drop him, although I don't really think Bilbo appreciated it.

Ariana was fighting along side us, her curved swords glinting in the light of the cooking pot. She seemed annoyed at something and I was confused, until I saw Thorin protecting her. It didn't really help in the long run as two of the trolls grabbed hold of Bilbo and threatened to pull him apart. Surprisingly, Thorin dropped his weapons first, with all of us following after. They threw Bilbo down and then began tying us up, some of us on a spit, myself included and the others were thrown into bags and then thrown on the ground. Ariana was the last to be put in a bag and thrown against the rock the trolls were hiding against and even before they threw her she seemed to be upset. Thorin was definitely upset after they threw her as her head hit the rock with a crack, causing us all to wince.

"You fucking bastards. I'll kill you when I get out of this. I am going to rip you apart." Dwalin thundered out and the trolls seemed confused as he was not speaking Westron, but soon carried on with their argument on how to cook us. "Get yer knee out of my back." Dwalin was griping and I rolled my eyes, "So sorry, I'll move it for ya shall I?" Bofur snarked back and I chuckled, causing Dwalin to realise something else. "Get yer pointy face out of my crotch!" He demanded and I snapped back, "Yes, because I'm having such fun in our current situation." This caused Dori to pipe up that Dwalin had his elbow in Dori's stomach so he really shouldn't be one to complain. The next thing we knew Bilbo was trying to explain about how to cook dwarf and the seasoning the trolls would need, to try and buy us some time.

It didn't work as one of the trolls declared he'd eaten plenty of Dwarves with their skins on, prompting him to stand and walk over to Bombur who he then lifted up and raised him above his mouth as if about to eat him whole. "Wait, wait, wait you don't want to eat that one!" Bilbo shouted out and we all stared at him, "He's got worms in his tubes." This caused the trolls to drop Bombur, but of course that prompted a huge outcry and I rolled my eyes, every dwarf here was clearly dense, Bilbo's face seemed to reflect that sheer exasperation at us, until Thorin kicked his foot and everyone was shouting about having worms in their tubes. This apparently was when Gandalf chose to appear and break the rock behind the trolls, turning them to stone as the dawn light hit them.

As soon as Kíli was free, he darted over to Ariana and ripped open the sack that held her, Thorin close behind him. It took Oín pouring a small amount of water over her forehead for her to start waking, then she sat up and we could see the blood drying at her temple where she had hit the rock. She waved off all their efforts to help her and just ran a hand over her temple, the blood disappearing and the wound gone. She rolled her eyes, "I have magic." She said. I shook my head, we had all forgotten it in the fear that she had hurt herself. Thorin was over talking with Gandalf, while the rest of us when about fetching our bags. As I arrived back I heard Gandalf say, "They could not have moved about in daylight."

Thorin had done his majestic spin and said, "There must be a cave nearby." I rolled my eyes. "No really, trolls live in caves during the day? Do tell me more." I groused and Ariana chuckled as she walked next to me. "I know it was a surprise to me too." She snarked and I nodded, we moved up into the nearby hills and soon found the cave the trolls had been using to hide in. "Ugh what's that smell?" Ori asked, covering his nose with his hand. "That is a troll hoard." Gandalf said and we all flinched, except Ariana who walked in and didn't seem affected by it. "Ugh how can you stand the smell?" Bofur muttered and Ariana looked at him, "I've smelt worse than this. I've lived in places were there is all kinds of things just rotting in the streets." We all looked at her, not for the first time, wondering just how difficult her childhood was.

I soon got distracted by the small chest of gold and Gloín, Bofur and I were soon burying it, "We're making a long term deposit." Gloín said as Dwalin looked down his nose at us. I rolled my eyes, turning around in time to see Ariana looking at a hole in the cave wall. "Mim Kaliâl? What can you see?" I asked, sliding up next to her. She pointed through the hole in the wall and I could see various weapons inside, some looking suspiciously like Dwarvish ones. She looked at me and I nodded, silently telling her I would keep watch as she went through. She slid through the small hole with an ease that spoke of practice and I realised that she may have gotten a lot better than me.

I watched absently as Thorin and Gandalf spoke about the swords that were left out in the main cave, clearly they were Elvish and that was almost enough for Thorin to put it back. "You could not wish for a finer blade." Gandalf barked out and Thorin took it, begrudgingly, tying the sheath on to his belt. I hid further into the shadows as they left, watching Gandalf pick up a small sword and hand it over to Bilbo, telling him how it would glow blue in the presence of orcs. I jumped slightly as Ariana slid out of the hole next to me, a few swords strapped to her back and a spear-like thing in her hand. I raised an eyebrow and she shrugged, both of us darting outside at the shout.

We cleared the entrance of the cave to find Gandalf talking to another wizard about something in hushed voices. "What exactly have you got there mizimith?" Thorin asked her softly and she presented him with a sword, causing him to inhale deeply. "Fíli come here. " He barked out and we all watched as he walked forward nervously, almost as though he was afraid he had done something wrong. Ariana was glaring at Thorin, I could tell she wanted to ask him what he had done to make their nephew so timid with him, I knew it was because he was quite hard on them. "This was my father's sword, I want you to have it." He said gruffly and we all stared at him.

Traditionally the eldest child got their father's weapons, but here was Thorin giving it to another. Ariana placed a hand on Fíli's shoulder as he took it, "May it serve you well." She muttered and Thorin nodded, clearly not one for words. She pulled a short sword from her belt and raised an eyebrow at Thorin who nodded. "Kíli?" She said and he nodded, approaching her, his steps more confident, but that may just have been because it was Ariana and not Thorin that called his name. "This was grandfather's sword, We want you to have it." She said and Kíli took it, staring up at Ariana like she had given him the stars. She leant down and whispered something to him and he nodded, grinning.

Ariana took hold of the spear thing and moved away from us, flicking it around in an arc, we all started as when she span it around the wooden shaft extended by about three foot and the blade seemed to lengthen. Ariana stared at it, running a fingertip along the flat of the blade. "Mahals balls. Who the hell made this?" She said and Gandalf and his wizard friend walked over, "May I?" He asked holding out his hand and Ariana nodded, flipping it over. He studied it but shook his head. "I am unaware of who exactly made this, I believe there may be someone who could tell us but I am not sure."

Ariana nodded and then we all spun around at a howl. A warg leapt out of the bushes above Thorin, Dwalin slammed his warhammer down on top of its head as Thorin killed it with the elvish sword. "The ponies have bolted." Ori's voice sounded from up on the ridge and my heart leapt into my throat as a warg howled again. "I'll draw them off." Gandalf's friend declared and we all looked between him and his rabbit pulled sleigh. "These are Gundabad wargs they will outrun you." Gandalf declared and his friend just smirked. "These are Rhosgobel Rabbits. I'd like to see them try." It was clearly official then that Gandalf's friend was insane.

As he dashed off with his rabbits and leading the wargs away from us, we all followed Gandalf, running out in the open across the plains. Gandalf kept changing his route, never keeping it straight and it was confusing. He wasn't making it difficult for anything to follow us, it was clear he was looking for something. He paused behind a huge rocky outcrop, giving us chance to stop. My heart nearly stopped as Ori failed to stop and almost went dashing out in to view of the orcs and their wargs. I was eternally grateful when Thorin pulled him back, pushing Ori between Dwalin and himself. That I didn't like.

We all froze as the sound of a warg panting reached our ears just above our heads. Thorin nodded at Kíli and he nodded back, Ariana's face was as blank as her brothers, but her eyes betrayed her nervousness at putting our youngest dwarf in front of the creatures above us. Kíli managed a perfect shot to the warg, unfortunately the orc cried out as it and its ride fell. Thorin quickly slit it's throat and Fíli plunged his sword through the wargs head. Ariana wiped around and soon had her bow in her hands, "Run. Run." Gandalf cried out and Ariana fell to the back of the group as we ran.

We lost sight of Gandalf near a rocky outcrop. "Where is that blasted wizard?" Thorin snarled out and Dwalin growled, "He has deserted us." Ariana merely stood on top of the outcrop and helped Kíli to pick off the wargs and their riders as they got closer to us. Fíli stood by his brother, protecting his back and I immediately looked for my own brothers, especially Ori. Dori could probably have thrown the wargs across the clearing, but Ori had no experience. Despite what Dori thought I had not abandoned them for no reason and I wouldn't do it again.

We were all preparing to fight the wargs, when Gandalf's head appeared out of the rocks Ariana was standing on. "This way you fools." We looked at Thorin quickly, before dashing to where Gandalf was. "Kíli." Thorin barked out and Ariana continued to cover us as we slid down between the rocks, the hole underneath deceptively large. Ariana and Thorin were the last to slide down and we all held our breath as horn sounded above us. We all jumped back and readied our weapons as an orc fell down the gap, fortunately it was already dead. Thorin pulled the arrow out of its skull, "Elves." He snarled glaring at Gandalf, who was looking suspiciously innocent.

We all turned at Dwalin's shout, "There's a path back here, what do we do?" I rolled my eyes and smirked as Bofur answered. "Follow it of course." Like it was the most stupid question he'd ever heard. Ariana followed behind Gandalf and Bilbo, who asked Gandalf. "The air feels strange in here. Like it's heavy with something." Gandalf looked down at our little burglar, "Indeed it is." He said cryptically and I rolled my eyes, helping to shove Bombur through a narrow bit of the path. "It's magic isn't it?" Bilbo asked and Ariana was the one to answer. "Yes, it is magic. Why have you brought us here Gandalf?" I recognised the elvish tongue, looking up at Thorin, who was studying them. "She learnt it whilst in the mountain. She had learnt really all she could of Khuzdul and was devouring all the books we had. Including theirs." He didn't sound to please about it.

Gandalf had yet to answer Ariana, "There's a light up ahead." Bofur's shout came floating back and we all dashed out on to the ledge and stared at what greeted us. The valley below us was carved by several rivers and streams, the gaps between the rivers where bridged by the same white stone that made up the buildings that showed between the trees. All wide windows, open balconies and what looked like large rooms, the thief inside me gleeful at how easy it would be to steal from these rooms, but also wary as everything was so open and exposed. "Welcome to the Valley of Imladris, The last homely house. It is known by another name in the common tongue." Gandalf said from behind us.

Bilbo was awestruck as he stared out across the valley and said, "Rivendell." We all turned to face Gandalf. "You have brought us to the elves? There will be no warm welcome here." Thorin growled out and Gandalf glared at him. "The only ill will in this valley is that which you bring yourself, Thorin Oakenshield. We have a map that none of us can read, we need Lord Elrond's help." He snapped out and I heard Ariana sigh, before signing behind Gandalf's back. Just do it brother. I like it no better than you do, but we do need the help. Thorin growled but nodded.

Gandalf nodded, seeming quite pleased with himself and led us down the valley side into the houses below us. "This will need to be handled with delicacy, tact and no small degree of charm, which is why you will leave the talking to me." Ariana snorted, "This should be so much fun. I do so love seeing elves. " She groused and Dwalin murmured moving up beside her, clapping a hand on her shoulder and murmuring something to her. She grinned wickedly and I almost felt sorry for the elves, almost. I gazed around the small courtyard we were in, seeing where all the little exits were, where was best to climb and what the best escape route would be, when a tall dark haired elf came walking down the steps in front of us and greeted Gandalf in their flouncy language.

Gandalf replied in kind and then asked for Lord Elrond. "My Lord Elrond is not here at the moment." The elf, Lin something, said. Gandalf seemed to deflate slightly until the horns sounded behind us and riders approached over the bridge we had just crossed. The pricks rode around us, herding us into a circle. Bilbo, Ori and Ariana were shoved into the centre of the circle and I could hear Ariana casting aspersions on our parentage at our actions, I grinned at a particularly loud sentence. "When I get out of this brother dear, we are going to have a long, sword heavy talk about how to treat me." I shared a smirk with Bofur as Thorin flinched.

The elf that was clearly Lord Elrond dismounted and I stared at the circlet on his head, it would be worth quite a bit if I sold it in it's individual parts. "Gandalf, it is good to see you. Strange to have orc so close to our borders. They must have been hunting something." His eyes seemed to twinkle as he looked at us and frowned, elves were weird. "Ah yes that may have been us." Gandalf said, gesturing to us and Thorin stepped to the front of the group. "Thorin Oakenshield. Welcome." Another sentence of Elvish flowed from his lips and Gloín growled out, "Are we being insulted?" Ariana scoffed, "He's inviting us to dinner." Her voice caused Elrond to gaze over at her and I frowned and stepped closer towards her as did several others when his gaze widened and he stared.

We all filed into what passed as the elves dining hall and I stared, there was so much silver on the table I began to catalogue what I could get for it. That soon stopped as bowls of greens and very little meat appeared in front of us. At the head table I saw Gandalf, Thorin and Ariana showing Lord Elrond their newly acquired weapons, the names of Gandalf and Thorin's sword sounding quite impressive, but it was Ariana's spear thing that got the best reaction. Lord Elrond held it and examined it, "This was forged a long time ago, by Durin himself, it is said to have been his chosen weapon. I have no idea how it ended up in a troll hoard." Ariana and Thorin were simply staring at it until Gandalf cleared his throat. "I believe you have another Elvish blade for Lord Elrond to see?"

The question caused Ariana to turn and glare at Gandalf, but she still pulled the blade from it's sheath and gave it to Lord Elrond, who froze and stared down at it. "Where did you get this blade? How did you get this blade?" His tone of voice, despite not understanding the words, had us all turning our heads and placing a hand on our weapons. He would be dead before he even thought of attacking Ariana. She glared at him, "It was a gift. From the blonde prick of a king in the woods. He sent it to me for my second birthday in Erebor along with a book of stories. Why?" Her voice was icy and even the elves surrounding us seemed to be waiting with baited breath for Lord Elrond's answer. "This blade is an heirloom from Thranduil's family. He brought it over with him when he sailed across the sea with my father. This blade is worth more to him than you could imagine." Ariana recoiled as if struck and stood.

She snatched the blade back and slid it away. "Then why in the ever loving fuck would he give it to me? Why give it to a child being raised by the very people you hate? Why?" Her voice was angry and we could all hear the hurt in it. "Whatever she is saying isn't good. I just hope that Thorin can keep his temper a little longer." Balin muttered and Bilbo looked up at him shocked, "You really think he would attack our host?" He whispered back and Balin shrugged, pausing as Elrond began to speak. "I don't know. I have no answer's for you on this and I would guess that if you asked Thranduil himself he would have no answer for you either." Elrond seemed close to shrugging as he finished speaking, but startled at Ariana's snapped out response as she turned and stalked out of the room. "Well I won't be asking him shit. If I wanted to listen to an asshole, I would fart."

Whatever she said had Gandalf shaking his head and all the elves looking scandalised. It didn't get any better as dinner wore on, as Bofur ended up starting a food fight and singing drinking songs which while amusing to us, seemed to offend the elves and caused Gandalf to sit at the table looking like he had sucked on a lemon. Thorin seemed to be amused as we walked back to our rooms that night. "I don't think I have ever seen anyone as scandalised as the elves tonight. Let's try and keep it up for the rest of our stay." He murmured as we walked, causing Balin to turn and glare at him, before shaking his head and entering the room he was sharing with Dwalin. "Mahal help us on this quest." He muttered and we all grinned. This visit would be very interesting, I grinned as I entered the room I was sharing with Dori and Ori, for once Dori didn't see fit to chastise me for my behaviour at dinner, yes very interesting indeed I thought as I sat down heavily on the nice clean bed.

A/N: I hope I've got all the spelling mistakes, if not I am very sorry :) More Rivendell should be up soon!