Be warned. That's all I have to say.

Chapter 20

That next morning, Fíli and I talked through what he had said that night. What he actually meant with those words, rather than seeing us as burdens, was that he was afraid for us getting hurt. Just like what he thought about Rue, he told me. So I had misinterpreted it.

A week has gone since that night and Rue and Fíli still were not talking. Bilbo and I was torn between them. We had chosen to take no ones side and be neutral about the matter. We would not speak about it with either of them. Bilbo, and most of the Dwarves, even Thorin, had advised me to stay out of it. Even if I had promised Rue that she could talk with me. Well, she has shown no signs of desire to speak about it, so doing that was easy without feeling guilty.

It was awfully hard to split up the time between them. Bilbo was mostly with Rue, but it was different for me. Fíli and Kíli were not as close to Bilbo as they were to me. Sometimes I would be with Rue and Bilbo, sometimes I would be with Fíli and Kíli. It was quite frustrating having those two being angry at eachother, because the dynamic wasn't the same around camp; it was so quiet and stiff. Both of them barely smiled or even laughed when I was with them, they were just as dull as the weather had been. They would definitely not even look at eachother, at times they only cast angry glares across camps.

Fíli told me that he needed to take a pause from teaching me, so I had not been practicing with a spar-partner for a few days. Some of the others had offered themselves, but I saw it as a good chance to exercise on other things with the sword. I had been brooding about different attack-combinations, trying to make some new sets of my own. Additionally, I trained in defense, finding new ways to block and then smoothly use the other parts of my body to weaken the opponent. I had actually found some useable moves that could work. I was also training on flipping the sword back and forth between my hands in smooth and swift ways. Brandishing with it was difficult at first, but after a while I finally managed it well enough. I would practice hours after I had helped around camp; I was in fact getting better. I hope…

Speaking about helping around camp, Bilbo had actually this time heeded my pleading and improved. I was happy about that, because that meant that there was one less thing to worry about.

Thorin had refrained from speaking to me, for which I was grateful. The first days I had still been angry, but now the anger had actually, believe it or not, faded. Instead of feeling hate and disgust towards him, I had begun to try understanding his situation. I would never feel the same way he did, that I am utterly certain of. But I wanted to be at peace with him. I knew that going around and holding grudges, would do no good. Especially when we would be around eachother for months. After all, maybe, all he needed was someone to talk to. Maybe he had not gotten over his past lover and needed to get it off his shoulders. I didn't know if he'd talk to me, but I was willing to give it a try if that would be the case. He was a person, was he not?

On the fifth day we had exited the mountain range. We were now moving through a great and rocky valley, there were barely any trees or forests of any kind up here. Everytime we stopped for the night, Kíli and Fíli would go hunting and scouting for animals to kill and Rue would set up her snares. The brothers would often come back with loads of squirrels, foxes or birds. One day, they presented a stag to the company, which was cheerfully met with satisfaction and gratitude. Rue's snares would also pick up some animals, but not as much as the other two would bring back.

Today, on the seventh day, Thorin had decided that we should stop and make camp earlier than usual. We were not far away from another mountain range that led higher upwards and we had to get as much as rest as we could.

I dropped my backpack on the ground as Thorin uttered the orders. "I really miss Mirra sometimes." I exhaled and pulled out my waterskin. The water fell down my throat and tickled the dry halls of flesh.

"What do you mean?" Kíli asked as he stretched his arms above his head.

"My feet has become incredibly sore since we began wandering, it feels as if they're going to snap off any second." I said and slowly rolled my ankle of my left foot.

"You'll get used to it soon. Just give it time." Fíli said shortly, which surprised me since he hardly ever spoke.

"It has gone a bloody week." I grumbled and sat down, caressing my walking limbs. "They should be used by this time."

Camp was set up swiftly and then it was only to wait for the supper to be made. Kíli and Fíli went out hunting again, but I decided to stay put, due to the pain in my feet. I was about to go join Rue and Bilbo at where they were sitting, but Rue had risen from her laying position on the ground onto her feet. I halted and stared at her and she met my gaze, looking sad and tired. She then walked off camp.

She must've spoken to Bilbo.

I then set motion in my hurting feet and stumbled over to Bilbo. "What did she say?" I asked as I slumped down next to him.

"She regrets having fought with Fíli." he announced, "I daresay she's either too proud to apologize or she doesn't wan to look stupid."

I sighed, saying nothing. I had not dared to speak with Fíli, to hear what he had to say about the matter. I left that doing to Kíli, since he knew Fíli the best. But Fíli had been silent, not uttering a word about it, from what I had heard.

"I wish those two can reconcile soon and put a stop to all of this." I mumbled. "I hate when people are fighting."

"You've done that ever since you were a child." Bilbo mused, "I remember that you used to hide in a corner whenever our parents would argue, even when it was over nothing."

"I know, sometimes I would cry when they were too loud." I muttered as unpleasant memories swept in my mind.

After half an hour or so, Fíli and Kíli came back from another successful hunt and Bombur and Bofur finally started to cook supper. After a while, Bofur said something inaudible to his brother and then wandered off camp, in the same direction as Rue had gone.

"Where's he going?" Bilbo asked and stared after Bofur.

"Obviously he's going after Rue." I murmured. I looked back to Bombur. I had not helped with the cooking for over a month since Thorin decided that I should focus on practicing. Well, a break from it for only one night wouldn't harm anyone. And I'd do anything to get my mind on other things at the moment

"Bombur, would you mind if I help you?" I asked and rose from my seat.

"Not at all, Bella." he smiled at me, "Ye can start with skinning the squirrels."

I nodded and set to work. When I finished I was to cut the meat into small pieces to a stew that he was making. The whole process went by pretty quickly, so then again, I was unoccupied. All that was left to do was to stir around the stew to mix the spices and other ingredients together.

Then Bofur returned to camp. Bilbo looked at him and I couldn't help myself than to hear what he had to say.

"How is she?" Bilbo asked.

"I think her anger has fizzled away. She's hurt though, feels as if she's been lied to when it comes to the lads' lineage. I think she is sorry, but she won't admit it and she keeps a damn good straight face. But she's either too proud or too embarrassed with herself to say anything about the matter." Bofur replied.

"My thoughts exactly." Bilbo mumbled, "Oh Rue."

"I think she might be unsure of what to do, if she's both hurt and sorry about it." I said, "Obviously she won't make an approach on Fíli, so he's our only hope for now."

Something lit up in Bilbo's eyes and he glanced at Fíli, whom were sitting across the fire with his brother in silence. He stood up and then walked over to them. Was he doing what I was thinking he was doing?

"Think the Hobbit's going to have a little talk with Fíli." Bofur said and then started to make his own way over there to listen. The others also noticed this, they shared a few glances and then gathered around them, but discreetly so that they would go unnoticed.

I decided not to do anything. This would give Bilbo a great chance to connect more with our fellow members of the company. I wondered if that was what partly flew into his mind when I mentioned that Fíli was the only one that could do anything at this point. A pleasured, but barely visible, smile spread across my face as I watched him talking with Fíli.

At times the others would also throw in some words, butting in and making Fíli glare at them viciously. I kept quiet, this was Bilbo's moment of triumph and I did not want to say anything that would steal it. After a couple of minutes of discussion, I perceived that Fíli had given in. He rose from the lodge that he'd been sitting on and then stalked off camp, passing me. I looked at him as he passed and he looked back at me. His blue eyes (or Durin blue as the Dwarves called it) were tired, but his facial expression said something else. He was not going to back out of this, not when Bilbo had convinced him to do the right thing.

I nodded at him and he nodded back before he was off. A sigh of relief escaped my lips when he was gone. I looked back at the others; they were saying things to Bilbo in glad and impressed manners as some patted his shoulders encouraging.

Finally. Finally someone had taken the daring step and done something about it. And I was glad to say that it was my beloved cousin and stepbrother who had done it.

I bounced up from my seat. "Bilbo you are a genius!" I cried out as I limped across the camp to him.

"Easy!" he gasped as I clashed into him. "We can still only hope at this moment. We're not sure if they really will make it up."

"After all this time, master Baggins." Balin smiled, "I think they will. It was not hard to see that they also despised this horrid silence for so long."

"Now we can only wait." Oín added, "If they come back, still not friends, then I'll be damned to force those two to make peace with eachother; forgiven or not."

The Dwarves chuckled at his comment and then we started to eat supper while anxiously waiting for them to return. I finished the meal swiftly and then put the bowl and spoon aside. It felt like we had waited for an eternity, until the whole camp silenced as we heard footsteps coming our way. I glanced over my shoulder and there they came, walking together as if nothing had happened, with small smiles on their lips.

Rue and Fíli walked up to Bombur and received some stew from him. While they did that I noticed that the others had begun to whisper to eachother, questioning whether they had made it up or not. I could easily tell by their expressions that they had.

"They look happy." Kíli said as he glanced at them, "Think they worked things out?" I nodded and a smile stretched my lips.

"Seems like it." I replied. I gazed at Bilbo across the fire. He noticed me and smiled back at me. "I love you." I mouthed to him.

"I know." he mouthed back. I stuck my tongue at him as Rue and Fíli sat down next to Kíli and I.

I looked at them as they ate in quietude. I was so happy that they had cleared things out; everything would go back to the same now. You never really appreciate something until it's lost, that is something I had learned from the last few days.

Rue and Fíli went to go sparring with eachother after they finished their supper. I would have joined them if I could, just to watch them, but my feet were paralyzing me.

I was getting rather tired at this hour, even if there was still some light left for a spar. I stood up on my feet and flinched at the pain in them. I wouldn't even be able to spar because of these cursed limbs…I gazed around camp and found my backpack a little further off, how on Earth did it get there? I cursed underneath my breath as I stumbled my way to it, unintentionally falling down the ground as I reached. I groaned in pain and sat back up.

"Belladonna?" Thorin's voice droned from behind. I snapped my gaze upwards behind my shoulder and found the leader of our company.

"Yes, master Oakenshield?" I said and held his gaze.

"Would now be a good time to perhaps have a talk?" he said, his voice being low and quiet for the others not to hear. I bit my lip, being unsure if this was a good time. Rue and Fíli had finally reconciled and the atmosphere around camp had gone back to its usual, merry mood. I really did not want to become angry again, or hurt for the matter.

"Perhaps it is." I said and gazed away from his Durin blue eyes, sounding a little nervous. "Or perhaps it isn't."

"Why would it not?" he sank down to his knees, "We should really talk. You and I cannot go on like this anymore, the others might notice that something is amiss between us. We can't afford any more drama and fuss than there has already been." he grumbled bitterly, summing up the past week.

"I know." I sighed and glanced at the others, "But I fear that some have already noticed." I said as my eyes caught with Bilbo's. He stared at us, not quite understanding why we would speak so quietly to one another. Thorin glanced over his shoulder and gave Bilbo a hard glare, which sent Bilbo's gaze away instantly. Thorin sighed heavily.

"Your cousin should know his own business." he nearly spat in annoyance.

"However." I said and then went back to Thorin's eyes, "As much as I would love to talk, this is not a good time. I have been miserable and furious for days and now that it's finally gone off, I would like to enjoy it when it lasts."

"You've been angry with me?" he asked, sounding surprised. My eyebrows drew together.

"What else did you expect me to feel? Gratitude?" I said sarcastically. "Yes, Thorin, I have been so angry that I could've slit a man's throat out."

"It didn't seem like it when Rue became a member of the company." he mentioned.

"That smile was because you let her join. Nothing else." I said plainly, trying to seem as indifferent as possible.

"Whatever you say, miss Baggins." he rose back to his full length, "We shall have this discussion another time then."

"Yes." I agreed and he began walking away, "Wait, Thorin." I called silently. He stopped and then looked over his shoulder, hope glistening his eyes. Just because of that I nearly regret that I even called for him. "I'm not angry anymore. Just thought you ought to know." I said softly. He stared at me for a moment, then nodded and went back to camp.

I sighed again and stretched my limbs, yawning also a little. My feet ached even more this time and I hissed between my teeth. It seemed like the more I sat still, the more they hurt. They had become a little white, which worried me a little.

"Oi, why are you sitting out here?" I was so startled I gasped as he sat down right in front of me."

"Kíli! Goodness, you scared me." I breathed and put my hand over my heart, smiling a bit.

"Sorry." he smirked.

"I came to get my backpack, but my feet completely budged." I growled sourly. "I'm not even sure if I can stand up. They've gone white. Could you get Oín for me?" I asked him. He pursed his lips as he looked at my feet.

"They are quite white indeed." he agreed, "But I don't think you'll need Oín for a problem like this; the blood circulation needs to get up and running."

What? Was he a healer now as well?

"Then who else could possibly get my circulation up and running?" I muttered and rolled my eyes, laying flat on my back, "Just go and get- AH!" I cried out as I felt his rough hands on my tender skin. It tickled me so much that my foot yanked instinctively in his grip. I stared at him with eyes wide open and supported myself on my elbows. "What do you think you're doing?" I squeaked.

"Getting your blood circulation up and running." he smirked at me playfully as his thick thumbs caressed the stiff muscles on the pads of my foot.

"Stop that! It's tickling me!" I writhed and squealed, doing everything in my power not to kick his face.

"It's the only way to make your feet better." he snickered and then roughened his moves, "Besides, if it's tickling you then it's far more amusing for me."

"Oh you-" I hissed at him but trailed off when he squeezed my foot harshly.

"How sad that you just had to fall out here, away from the others, no one to keep you company." he sneered, "All alone and helpless."

"I'm not alone, the others are just-" my eyes narrowed. "You planted my backpack out here, you cheeky Dwarf." I wheezed, "You planned this all along." I had to flex my stomach in order not to laugh. It was quite funny though, I'll admit that.

"I'm sorry to say that I'm guilty of such crime." he confessed comically, "But Uncle was faster than me, I noticed. What did he want by the way?"

Confound it all.

"Uh, nothing. He was just checking up on me." I said swiftly, avoiding the subject. I gasped when Kíli's hands caressed tougher. My foot actually felt better now, undeniably. Kíli then carefully let go of my foot and looked at me.

"How does it feel?" he asked. I looked at my foot and twisted it back and forth. No pain ached through the muscles and the tendons did not feel strained.

"It feels better, much better actually." my eyebrows rose, "Where did you learn that?" I asked, sounding impressed.

"Oín taught me, it's not that difficult really." Kíli shrugged, "All you have to do is massage the muscles. Quite simple and easy trick I think."

"I agree." I huffed. He picked up my other foot and then began working on it as well. I shrieked a little at his hard handle at first, but after a while, I started to enjoy it.

"Speaking of which, why exactly did you want me out here?" I asked him, giving him a flirtatious look, but in a friendly manner. I knew there was something on his mind, but I couldn't figure out what.

"Oh, I don't know." he spoke quietly and squeezed my foot again, making me squirm. "I just felt like it." he grinned at me.

I felt my stomach turn; but I did not know of what cause. I decided to ignore it.

"We haven't really had a real conversation for a week." he said.

"Oh come on, we've still been around eachother. Isn't that enough?" I laughed.

"Presumably not." a smug smile grew on his lips. "Perhaps I missed talking with you."

"I bet you did." I chuckled sarcastically, but not really knowing if he was joking around or if he was being serious.

"I'm being serious, Bella." he said, the smile fading off. I winced a little on the inside, well I had, in fact, also missed talking with him.

"I know, I know." I lied, "I missed you too. I'm sorry, I just became so downhearted."

"I did too. I don't blame you." his smile grew back again. "Good thing Rue and Fíli are friends again.". Something in his dark eyes twinkled, locking my eyes with his.

I bit my lip. This felt like it was spiraling towards something. I still didn't know his true intentions on leading me out here, which made me feel a little unsettled and nervous, but still curious. That little spark in his eyes said something that I could not tell what it meant, but I had a slight clue of what it was.

Our friendship had been casual and flirty, in an amicable way, until that morning in Rivendell, when he came after me. I would've never thought before that moment that he could be thus comforting and understanding. That little trick he showed me had helped me a lot this week. I kept on thinking in a positive way; trying to convince myself that everything would be alright in the end. Which stopped me several times from bursting out in anger and tears. I had never thanked him for it formally, so now maybe this was a good time to do so.

"Kíli?" I said as he let my foot go.

"Does it feel better in this one now as well?" he asked and looked at my foot, not understanding that I was trying to say something.

"It feels better than best." I said swiftly and then managed to catch his gaze.

"Something on your mind?" his brow furrowed.

"I… I just wanted to thank you." I stammered.

"Thank me for what?"

"For that thing you showed me back in Rivendell." he winced a little, "It has really helped me through this week. Thank you so much, I don't know what could've happened if I didn't have that trick to use.". It was very obvious that people were rarely serious with him.

He smiled causally, "No worries, Bella. I'm happy to help."

I sat up again, facing him. "Why did you bring me out here, Kíli?" I asked softly. I admit that I was nervous to hear his answer, my stomach was turning inside out in anticipation.

"Do you not know?" he said lowly and his smile vanished again. My eyes widened a little and now my stomach took a sharp turn, making me flinch. That look he gave me made me incredibly nervous and I couldn't help but look away, biting my lip. My eyes landed back at camp. I noticed that some of them were staring curiously at us as we sat there, including Thorin. I couldn't bear to look at them either, so I returned to Kíli's instead.

"Kíli…" I breathed as he leaned in closer, "Don't." I begged.

"Why not?" he whispered. I could feel his warm breath on my lips, making me shudder.

"The others are watching."

"Don't mind them."

"This isn't right."

"Yes it is." he said, then leaned even closer. I sucked in a shaky breath.

"Kíli, you're my friend."

"I think we both know that you want more than that."

He was so close now that our noses were nearly touching. It was unbelievably tempting to just let go. I could not deny that my heart had desired this since Rivendell, feeling his warm touch on my skin and his arms around me as our lips caressed one another, after he had held me in his arms for the first time while comforting me. At the same time, it felt so right but yet so wrong.

"There's nothing I would want more." I confessed nervously, making him flinch at my sudden honesty. "But we're on a quest, Kíli and I don't think Thorin would approve of a romance among the members."

"My Uncle may be a king and the leader of this company, but he has not the power to force me to stay away from you." he murmured confidently. "Nor do I think he can force you."

No, but the plot-twist was that Thorin also had feelings for me. And Kíli was not aware of that, which made things way more complicated.

"Please, Bella." he pleaded, "You've had me ever since the first time we met."

"What?" I gasped. He nodded, no lie in his eyes and no hesitation in his voice. It surprised me more than it should've done.

"I just wasn't sure if you could feel the same way. But both Fíli and Rue said-"

"They knew?!" I hissed and leaned back. I glanced around us, trying to find them. They would pay for this.

"Yes, but it doesn't matter." he said. I looked back at him and he was smiling that usual, charming smile. This time my heart skipped a beat and I felt goosebumps allover my skin. "Do I make you nervous?" he purred teasingly when I blushed.

"No." I lied grumpily.

"Liar." he chuckled.

"I'm not a liar."

"Yes you are.

"No I'm not-"

He interrupted me in the middle of the sentence, colliding my lips with his own. I was so startled and shocked that I whimpered. His eyes were closed and his arms embraced my waist as he pulled me closer to him, unwilling to let me get away. I resisted at first, but he was so strong that it was no use.

I felt my own eyes closing and butterflies tickled every part of my body and my head was spinning. His lips were softer than I'd imagined, even though his stub scratched my cheeks a little. Our lips moved as if they were made solely for eachother and for no one else. My arms, uncontrollably, wrapped around his neck, pressing hard against him.

It felt like time stopped when our lips touched. It felt like fireworks were sparkling around us. It was an amazing and breathtaking sensation, everything about it made me tremble fiercely in his arms, afraid that he would let me go.

But then, he did pull out of the touch, making me whimper again in protest. Everything was quiet around us, no one uttered a word and there was no other sound to be heard. His brown eyes were shackled with mine.

"How did that feel?" he asked slowly and that smirk came again. I opened my mouth to say something, but I was speechless. There were no words to describe what I just felt. "That's what I thought." he snickered, as if he'd read my mind. "We should go back to the others." he said and then began loosen his arms around me. By the look in his eyes, I could tell that he was expecting me to protest. To go against his expectations, and to tease him, I did the same thing as he was doing.

"You're right." I agreed, "It's getting rather late.". This surprised him and he looked confusedly at me as I pulled my arms back. He was not prepared for my satisfied confidence. I smirked playfully at him and then rose to my feet. His eyes narrowed when I reached my hand out for him to take it.

"You're playing a game here." he said darkly as he grabbed my hand, pulling himself up.

"I don't know, maybe I am." I winked at him. I was playing a game, but it was immensely difficult to keep the mask on. In truth, my whole inside was screaming of happiness. I picked up my backpack, but he was still staring suspiciously at me.

His dark brown eyes had this new sort of attractiveness and gravity that could've easily pulled me back into his arms, now that we had kissed for the first time. But I stood my ground, resisting as much as I could muster.

"I have my eyes on you." he growled warningly. The look on his face made me laugh.

"Sure you do." I patted his shoulder. I walked past him towards camp. He stayed put and stared after me. I glanced over my shoulder to look casually at him. "Are you coming?". A low growl rumbled deep from inside his chest, which made me chuckle. He followed after me and I could feel his gaze on my back. It was terribly fun teasing him. I had alway been the yielding one whenever we teased eachother, now I knew why he loved teasing everyone in the first place. For some reason, I felt like I had won something. I felt so mighty and invincible that it made me smile triumphantly.

We reached camp and everyone had their mouths shut. They did not look at us, I saw that Rue and Fíli had returned from their spar, but they sat in different corners of the camp, apparently knowing of Kíli's approach on me and waiting for us to come back. I met Fíli's gaze and nodded at him. Then I looked over to Rue, who was grinning broadly. I decided to go over to her. I sat down next to her and Kíli went to his brother, not breaking the eye contact between us.

"How was it?" Rue asked, still smiling.

"Better than I could've imagined." I smirked, still staring at Kíli. We sat there for a couple of minutes, staring intensely at eachother. I had the feeling this had enrolled to a staring-contest, which I knew he'd never win. After a while, a irresistible smile tugged at his lips and I couldn't help but snicker when he lost. He laughed quietly as well and then broke the eye contact to speak with his brother.

"So you and Fíli knew the whole time?" I looked back at Rue. She nodded.

"I wanted to tell you so badly, but I had promised Kíli not to say a word and this whole thing with Fíli-"

"It's alright. I understand." I said, "The most important thing was that you two made peace. Did it go well?"

"Well…" she said a little hesitantly, "We both got a little mad and I may have yelled at him, but in the end we made up."

"Good. That was all I needed to know." I smiled, assuring her that she did not have to go into the details. "Give me a hug."

She laughed, but gave me a swift, but loving hug. The others had now begun to stare at Kíli and I, looking both confused but yet satisfied, as if they knew about it as well. The only one who did not look like that was Thorin. He was staring at me as if I had gone behind his back. But I did not care, to be honest. I did not care what anyone thought of us; they could love us or hate us, nothing would change the way I felt. Thorin could be angry and mad all he wanted, all that mattered was that he, or anyone for the matter, did not intervene between Kíli and I.

I wondered, if this was the feeling you felt when… You were in love?

I know I went a little overboard, I'm sorry, I just got way too excited when I wrote this. But hey, at least it finally happened!