It's another weekend update! Yay! Please enjoy and I don't own the hobbit!

Tilda had insisted that she find a dry dress for me to wear, just as the company began talking about a 'dwarvish windlance'. I was pulled upstairs and into a bedchamber that was divided neatly up by a hanging curtain. "This is mine and Sigrid's room." Tilda said. "This half is mine."

"I can see." I said, noticing the whimsically colored patchwork blanket on her bed. "It's very nice."

"Thank you." Tilda smiled. She opened a dresser and began to rummage through it. "You're almost the same size as me, so some of my clothes will fit alright." I looked at Tilda's cute little blue frock. It looked darling on her, but it was a children's dress, and I was certainly not a child. "I think I know which one I'll pick." Tilda announced and she pulled a garment from the drawer.

It was a soft violet color, simple yet pretty, and not as childish as her other clothes. "Sigrid made it for me to wear to festivals." Tilda said. "She made it out of one of Ma's old dresses." She handed it to me. "See if it fits."

I did and it fit well enough. Tilda smiled and clapped her hands. "You look beautiful!" She said. "You're just like a doll."

"It's lovely Tilda, thank you." I smiled. There was a knock at the door, and Sigrid poked her head in.

"I made hot soup for everyone." She said. "Oh." She noticed the change in my dress. "It looks lovely Miss." She turned to Tilda. "Go and get some before the dwarves get to it. Or there might not be any left."

"She's not joking." I added. Tilda ran off.

Sigrid stepped into the room and admired me. "I hadn't expected dwarf ladies to be so lithe and pretty." She said. "From what I heard they had the beginings of beards."

"I'm not a dwarf, I'm a nymph." I explained.

"Nymph? I thought they were legends."

"We are becoming the stuff of legend indeed." I sighed, closing down my memories of the colony.

"Was this yours?" Sigrid held out the anklet.

"Yes." I said, laughing a little. "We agreed to pay your father to smuggle us here. I didn't have any money on me, but I had that."

"It's quite beautiful." Sigrid said. "These are rue flowers. It grows here, the herb, right out of cracks in the board and in flower pots. It's the prettiest thing that grows in Laketown."

"I know." I nodded at the anklet. "I am named after the herb."

"Your name is Rue?" She asked.

"Yes." I replied. "That's why I took the anklet I suppose."

Sigrid held it out to me. "Then you must have it back."

"But I paid your father with it." I protested.

"Da gave it to me. The grocer wanted money, not jewelry. He said I could have it, or sell it, whatever I wanted. I want to give it back."

I groaned. "This would be the second time I tried to get rid of it, and yet it came back to me."

"Take it." Sigrid said. "No one here has much reason to wear jewelry so selling it would be a pain, and I'd never have many occasions to wear it myself. It has meaning for you, so you must keep it."

I took it back, placing it around my ankle and hiding it in my boot. "Very well." I said. "But one day I'll send you the money for it." I smiled. "C'mon. We better get ourselves some supper."

We headed downstairs to the main level of Bard's humble house. The dwarves sat around the sitting room, by the fire, eating their soup quietly. Bain passed me a bowl. I ate silently beside them. Thorin interrupted the meal at it's end, turning to bard. "We gave you our money." He said. "Where are the weapons you promised?"

"Wait here a moment." Bard replied and climbed down the dock at the back of his house. He returned later with a bundle in his arms, which he plunked down on his kitchen table.

He opened the wrappings. I did see weapons, but I wasn't very familiar with them.

"What is this?" Kili asked, picking one of them up.

Bard explained what each of the weapons were. He promised in a tough spot they'd be life saving and I had no doubt he was right in that regard but…they were homemade and quite heavy. I wouldn't be able to lift a single one of them.

"Bard…?" I asked. He faced me. "If you don't mind me asking, would you happen to have something lighter that I would be able to use as a weapon?"

"Yes. Let me see…" He began to search through his cupboards. "Aha! This should be more suited to you." He handed me a kitchen knife.

"We paid you for weapons." Gloin said, roughly. "Iron forged swords and axes!" The company grumbled in agreement.

"You won't find better outside the city armoury." Bard explained. "The iron forged weapons are kept under lock and key."

"Thorin, why not take what is on offer and go…" Balin hesitated. "I've made do with worse, so have you-"

"We won't!" Thorin snapped. "We'll have to search for something else."

"But Thorin-!" I fought back.

"Rue that is not a sword you carry, it is practically a butterknife." Thorin replied icily. "It will be useless where you are going."

The other dwarves argued in his favor.

Bard grumbled to himself and packed his homemade weapons back in their bundle and restored them. "Fine, go and see if you can find anything better!" He snapped. "I doubt you will!"

Thorin turned to us. "Rest up. We leave this place when the evening comes."

I did try to rest. But I tossed and turned, my stomach still copying the turbulence of the river rapids, still burning inside me. I felt my forehead. It was warm. Perhaps I was catching a fever from being in so much cold water.

I crept silently to the other end of the house, and was surprised to Kili already sitting by the window there. "Couldn't sleep?" I asked him.

"No." He replied.

"Is your leg bothering you?" I asked, taking my seat beside him.

"A little but it's not so bad." Kili sighed.

"Then what's keeping you awake?" I asked.

"Nothing really." Kili evaded me, staring up at the sky.

"It wouldn't happen to be a lovely elf with hair red as fire moon, now would it?" I asked.

Kili sighed. "Tauriel."

"I suppose she is rather pretty-" I started.

"Like the face of the heavens." Kili muttered to himself. He shifted to better rest his leg.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you'd fallen in love at first sight." I said to him.

Kili blinked at me. "What makes you think that?"

I smiled at him. "She's stuck in your head now isn't she?"

Kili nodded. "Best not to tell Thorin though. He'd throw an absolute fit."

"I don't doubt it." I cringed, imagining the reaction it would get out of Thorin if he knew Kili fancied an elf maid. "Nymphs often say falling in love at first sight is like being struck by lightning. It hits, fast and hard and hot as fire, and then it burns up everything around you and makes way for something new and beautiful to grow."

"I'm not sure about the beauty part of it yet." Kili said. "But the feeling of being hit by lightning is fairly accurate."

I laughed at him. Not in way like he had said something stupid but in a way that was amused, soft and friendly. "Oh Kili." I said, laying my head on his shoulder, like I used to do with Gideon.

"Do you suppose I'll even see her again?" He asked.

I thought about it for a moment. "It is possible." I mused. "If we reclaim Erebor, Thorin will probably have to speak with the elves at some point, no matter how much he dislikes them."

Kili smiled, looking pleased and saddened at the same time. "You'd never believe what I'd said to her." He said.

"Knowing you, it could have been anything." I smirked. "What did you say?"

"They kept searching everyone for hidden knives, and when she locked me in my cell I turned and said 'Aren't you going to search me? I could have anything down my trousers'."

We burst into laughter at the same time. I had to cover my mouth to keep the sound in. "Oh Kili, you didn't!" I whispered.

"No, I really did." Kili smiled.

"What did Tauriel say?" I asked, still giggling.

" She said 'Or nothing.'" Kili smirked. I broke into laughter again. "Shh! You'll wake up the whole house!" Kili whispered.

I quieted myself and sighed, deep and happy. "I hope we both have the chance to meet her again." I said. "She seems a remarkable lady, one of the same calibre as me."

Kili nodded and there was a comfortable silence between us as we watched the late afternoon sky and heard the quiet lap of the lake against the docks, each of us stuck in our own thoughts.

"Rue, what do you think of my brother?" Kili asked suddenly.

This quite startled me, both in it's unexpectedness and in the way it broke the silence around us. "What do I think of Fili?" I repeated the question, my head raising from Kili's shoulder.

"Yes." Kili nodded.

"I think he's very brave for going on this quest and he's excellent with the sword, and that he's loyal and has a soul as golden as any of us and…"

"Yes, I know that, but when you see him, do you feel a 'lightning strike' as you so put it?"

I was silent. I didn't know what I felt. At times it hit so quickly it almost felt like a flash of lightning, but I had never become so sure and enthralled as Kili was by Tauriel right now. There had been no quick and simple sudden yearning to be by his side day and night. Maybe it was because I was there anyways, what with this quest. I didn't know a thing, and couldn't make ends out of any of it, my feelings sitting in my mind and my heart in giant, tangled heaps.

"Why do you ask?" I inquired of Kili.

"I saw you kiss him, back in the cells. Well, nearly anyway."

"You saw?!" I almost shouted. "And you didn't tell us?!"

"I didn't know what to make of it at first, but then I thought about it some and I realised that, well, your friendship has grown much in the last few months."

Again I was at a loss for words. Our friendship had grown, surely it had. But in what way, which direction? Had my side grown more than his, or his mine?

"Fili and I are true friends now, until the end." I stated, as it was the most honest thing I could think to say, the thing I was most sure of. "And that is what we are, as far as I yet know."

"And that half-kiss?" Kili asked.

"It was an accident. I wanted to kiss him on the cheek, just like I had everyone else." I said. "But guards were rushing toward me, and I was rushing too and my lips landed in the wrong place."

"Hmm." Kili hummed, processing the information. "I guess that's why you ran off like that."

"Yes." I nodded.

Kili stood. "Well, I'm going to catch what sleep I can. We'll be leaving quite soon." He walked back inside "You coming?"

"Soon." I replied.

/

I did step back inside and fall asleep for another half hour or so. Then I was shaken awake, by Bilbo. "Rue, c'mon we're going soon."

"Going where?" I asked, rising from my makeshift bed in the kitchen.

"To the armoury." Bilbo said.

"We're stealing from the armoury?!" I whispered.

Bilbo nodded. "Believe me, if there was any other way, I'd protest. But it's a dragon. So if I have to steal swords for my friends thenI suppose…well I will simply borrow some."

I laughed at the hobbit. "Borrow some, huh? Bilbo they hired you as a burglar."

Bilbo smiled at me, then went to go and fetch his coat. I pulled myself out of bed, shivering when the blanket was put aside. The only thing warm was my head, which was beginning to ache.

"Hurry Rue, we're leaving." Fili said. "We've got to procure some weapons and a boat and then we make for Erebor."

"I'm coming." I said, getting to my feet quickly, which oddly made my head spin for a second.

"C'mon Kili." Fili pulled his younger brother to his feet. Kili stood upon his leg and discomfort flashed through his eyes. Fili noticed. "Is your leg doing alright?" He asked.

"It's probably just a little stiff. I'll be okay, just give me some time."

Fili continued to keep an eye on him as the company gathered and then filed out of Bard's house, then navigated their way to the armoury.

"How are we getting inside?" Bilbo asked.

"That window." Nori pointed out. "Everyone get into place now." They work quickly, one piling on top of the other, creating a strong staircase of dwarves.

Thorin toke a small running start and climbed up them first, opening the window and stepping carefully inside. "No one is here." He whispered back to us.

Fili and Kili are next. Then Gloin. Then Dwalin. Then Bifur. Bilbo. Lastly is me.

I climbed through the window. My body began to protest, aching in every place. I thought that I must be getting ill, from all the cold water and lack of sleep and exhausting myself while running for my life.

Of course, now was not the time to fall sick. I held my head high and began to pick up swords, trying to find one that I could weild easily. "Try this one." Fili passed me a thin blade, shorter than most, but very agile. I practised a few drills in the air.

"It will do against a dragon." I nodded.

"Then it will be yours." Thorin said, picking it from hands and passing it to Kili, who was holding a growing pile of weapons. Kili looked strained under the addition of weight but he stood strong and began to walk down the stairs and toward the dwarves outside.

"This dagger is just about your size Bilbo." I turned to the hobbit.

"Rue, I don't need anything. I still have a sword, the elves did not capture me." Bilbo argued.

"You might need more than a sword." I said. "And you've yet to tell me how you evaded the elves so well."

There was suddenly a loud, echoing crash. Swords and axes clattered noisily down the stairs. Fili and I rushed to the stairs to find Kili, who had stumbled and fell, no thanks to his injured leg probably.

Guards burst through the door, pointing arrows directly at us. "Thieves!" One of them shouted. "You're stealing from the Master of Laketown!"

"There's more of them out here!" Another shouted. "They're dwarves!"

"Take them to the Master." The captain growled. We were all roughly grabbed and then shoved through the streets.

And because most dwarves cannot do things quietly when they are happy instead of annoyed, we were naturally quite loud and this woke much of Laketown's citizens, who all seemed to follow us to the largest building in the town.

The door of the building opened and a large, greasy looking man, dressed in rather sophisticated robes, strutted out. "What is the meaning of this?!" He barked.

"We caught them stealing weapons, sire." A guard replied.

"Ah! Enemies of the State, eh?" The Master replied, eyeing us down.

"A desperate bunch of mercenaries if there ever was one sire." A familiar, nagging voice added. Alfrid. He resembled to me a black weasel.

"Hold your tongue!" Dwalin replied. "You do not know to whom you speak! This is no common criminal! This is Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror!" Thorin stepped forward that moment, his head high and shoulders thrown back.

"We are the dwarves of Erebor. We have come to reclaim our homeland." He spoke, his voice clear and proud, and most definitely kingly. The people around us spoke in quick, hushed whispers. "I remember this town in the great days of old. Fleets of ships lay at harbour, filled with silk and fine gems. This was no forsaken town on a lake. This was the center of all trade in the North!" I watched as the citizens stood taller. "I would see those days return. I would relight the great forges of the dwarves and send wealth and riches flowing once more from the halls of Erebor!"

The crowd cheered. I smiled. It was certainly kind that Thorin should recreate commerce in Laketown and I felt as elated as the citizens for a moment. Then I laid eyes on the sneering face of the Master and that feeling fizzled away into a growing concern. I did not want such a man corrupting the town and taking the money away from the people.

"Death!" Bard suddenly burst from the crowd. "That is what you'll bring on us!" He turned to Thorin. "If you awaken that beast you will destroy us all."

Bard made a good point. There was no telling what the dragon would do, where it would go, what it would destroy if we failed to kill it.

"You can listen to this nay-sayer, but I promise you this; if we succeed all will share in the wealth of the mountain." Thorin vowed. The Laketown people seemed quite pleased by this. "You will have enough gold to rebuild Esgaroth ten times over!" The people cheered again, hope for better days springing to life.

"All of you! You must listen to me, you must listen…" Bard tried to speak to them desperately. "Have you forgotten what happened to Dale?! Have you forgotten those that died in the firestorm?! And for what purpose," He eyed Thorin. "The blind ambition of a mountain king, so driven by greed, he could not see past his own desire!" The faces of the crowd fell, remembering tragedy and death.

I did not know what to think, or who's side to support. We needed to kill the dragon and get back Erebor, but it was risky. Thorin's ancestors may have been greedy, but Thorin was not his father or his grandfather.

"Now, now." The Master shushed the arguing men. "We must not, by any means, be too quick to lay blame. Let us not forget it was Girion, Lord of Dale, your ancestor, who failed to kill the beast!" I would have snarled at the master for such dirty play, but this information was rather shocking for me. The dragon, once upon a time, could have been destroyed? Erebor could have been saved?

Bard reeled at this statement.

Alfrid spoke "It's true sire. We all know the story. Arrow after arrow he shot, each one missing it's mark."

Bard faced Thorin one more time. "You have no right, no right to enter that mountain."

Thorin stared back. "I have the only right".

Thorin faced the Master then. "I speak to the Master of the men of the lake. Will you see the prophecies fulfilled? Will you share in the great wealth of our people? What say you?"

The Master paused for a moment before replying "I say unto you…welcome!" The people cheered again, and Bard was consumed and lost in the crowd. "Welcome and rise! Welcome, King Under the Mountain!"

I felt overjoyed in that moment. Now we could get weapons and supplies, without stealing them. Now we could reclaim Erebor. Now we could finish this quest and kill Smaug, protecting this town on the lakewater.

My stomach ached again. This time laced with a sharp concern for Laketown's fate if we failed.