Chapter 36

Bad News

Falling asleep that night was kind of awkward. I appreciated the offer Thorin had made, but it didn't change the fact that I was all too aware of what our companions would say and think when they inevitably found out about this. I was at a point where I could have snapped at them if they so much as looked the wrong way.

I'm not entirely sure why it annoyed me so much as it did. It was all good-natured teasing and I was quite sure that not one of them was too serious about it, because the fact remained that the entire notion of what they were suggesting was unheard of. Still, it did get on my nerves and I think my first reaction would be to keep my distance from Thorin as to avoid any more rumours from coming into existence, since there were so many of them already. But that sounded like running away from things and it would not be fair on Thorin either.

Slowly, very slowly, I think there was a measure of trust growing between us. He trusted me to keep him from succumbing to the gold sickness and I trusted him enough to sleep with him watching over me. It was a friendship thing, even if it was unlike any other kind of friendship I had ever experienced in my life. It was teasing one moment, it was shouting the next. Maybe the charm of it was that at the very least it was never boring, never ever predictable.

But I thought that at least the shouting might be at a temporary end now that we had entered these dreaded woods. In there it was essential that we were not constantly at each other's throat, that we would work together well to make sure that we all got out again on the eastern end. King and advisor, as we had been introduced to Beorn by a very helpful Gandalf. The idea that I, a loud-mouthed journalist from a completely different world, had ended up advising a king was still surreal and in a way completely ridiculous, but then, so was the idea that I had been dragged into a world I had until some months previously believed to be only existing in books. And now I found myself in a world where I was knocking out orcs with a wooden shield, throwing a powerful wizard's pipe into a river and befriending a king. Somehow life never quite does what you expect it to…

Thorin

The night was not silent. There were far too many noises for Thorin's taste and none of them were reassuring. He was on edge, ready to get up and fight whatever it was that was hiding out there in the darkness. But swinging a sword around would not do him any good now. He was more likely to kill his own companions than he was to kill the creatures of this forest. It was too dark to see anything and they had too little wood to keep a fire going, for all the good that would do them anyway.

The only real option there was, was to sit here and wait for dawn to come. At least he should be glad that in this utter darkness orcs could see as badly as they could. They would not travel under these circumstances either, he knew, so there was no threat of an orc raid in the dark. It was a small consolation, a silver lining Kate would call it, but it was something and that was better than nothing at all.

So here he was, sitting in the darkness with the advisor's head resting in his lap. He had still not figured out what had made him offer to remain with her, but he knew it had been the right thing to do, whatever that was anyway. In the dark Kate had been nothing more than a disembodied voice, but the fear was obvious in it. Of course she had denied being frightened, but Thorin was not fooled. Even his men were uneasy in this place. The woman, having almost no skills of defending herself, would have every reason to be scared even if she did not want to own up to that. And a friend could offer to remain with her. It was just the part where he had offered himself up as a glorified pillow that puzzled him.

And he could tell that it made Kate uneasy, or maybe it was just this blasted forest that made her as jumpy as she was. He could not tell for certain. She had fidgeted for a little while, but eventually the exhaustion had won out and she had dozed off. Now he could only hear her deep breathing. It was a relief that his plan worked in that regard, that she was able to rest some, as she should after a long night of waking and a day of walking with a bag that was visibly too heavy for her. He made a mental note to take some supplies from her and carry them himself. He had not missed out on the way she had grimaced when she had finally been able to put the backpack to the ground. He should have known better than to let her take on so much. She wasn't as physically strong as the rest of them, Mr Baggins not included, of course.

He wondered about her now. Kate may have found it awkward to lay her head in his lap, as had Thorin, but she had not raised too many protests and the ones she had raised had been more of a show than real protests. They were coming to trust one another, he supposed, and now that her loyalty was no longer in doubt, he felt he could allow himself to rely on her word. And they were as of now the only ones in this company to know the full contents of the book. They were more or less forced to work together, even as Thorin was sure that had not been the advisor's intent when she had first suggested he read it. She thought it had been a way of distancing herself from the company, but thanks to Gandalf it had only tied her closer to the quest. It made him wonder if she regretted it now, knowing what she knew now.

Night-time watches induced strange thoughts, the dwarf king pondered, and lately a lot of his thoughts centred around the woman whose head now lay in his lap. Thorin blamed the gossiping in the company for that. In the end it always led him to wonder how they were able to jump to such a conclusion, but he knew better than to ask it of them. He doubted he would get a straight answer out of them. And in this case it would be obvious why some of them would think what they did. He remembered doing this for his own sister when she was younger, but Kate was no relative, not by a long way.

'Thorin?' A deep rumbling snapped him out of his musings and back to the present time. Fortunately no one could see how startled he was in the dark, or the owner of the voice would have scolded him for it. Dwalin would not easily let him forget about letting down his guard in such dangerous territory and he would be right too.

'Dwalin,' he acknowledged curtly. If the sounds he heard were any indication then the half-bald warrior was making his way toward him, quite possibly because he found himself incapable of getting any rest here. Thorin could hardly fault him for that. As it was he was surprised that most of the others were resting. The snoring was almost as loud as usual. 'Careful,' he warned his friend. 'Kate is lying here.'

'I know. We all heard the ruckus she made earlier.' It neither sounded hostile nor friendly. It was neutral, which was possibly the best he could expect, with things being how they were between the warrior and the advisor. They had been near enemies since the day Dwalin had learned she was a possible threat to the quest and Thorin himself. He had yet to see that Kate may yet prove to be the best way to keep this quest from failing.

He shook his head in disbelief. Was he, Thorin Oakenshield, truly admitting that he needed the help of a weak human woman? Denying it now would not do him any good now, not after the agreement they had made at Beorn's house. He had feared that things would get awkward after that, because he had shown himself to be weak in front of a woman. Kate however had not seemed to be bothered by it. She treated him as she had done since she had done since they had made those oaths, like friends of sorts.

'You should be asleep,' Thorin told his friend.

'As should you be,' Dwalin countered.

'I will find no rest in this place,' Thorin replied curtly. He would not admit that to anyone else, but Dwalin was a trusted friend who would not think about telling his secrets to anyone else. He was a true friend indeed, one Thorin did not think he deserved. Dwalin had stood by him for as long the dwarf king could remember and he was grateful for it. He had also been the first to join up for this quest, a true friend and comrade indeed.

He could hear the other sit down next to him. 'We will get out.' Dwalin was not a man of many words and he was not good at reassuring people, about as good as Thorin himself was at that, but the words came from the heart. 'Is the lass's book any help?'

That was an unexpected question. Dwalin usually pretended the book did not exist at all, so him asking after it was a novelty. Thorin remembered his first reaction to her revealing the book all too well and his reaction had been very similar to Thorin's own. Maybe he too was starting to realise that the book could be useful. After all, Thorin was his main concern and if Kate's knowledge helped in keeping Thorin safe, then he would tolerate it, and her.

'We think so.' The use of the plural was certainly not intended, but it felt like the natural thing to be saying. 'The route we are taking now is a different one than we would have taken according to that book.'

When a reply was not forthcoming, he simply assumed that Dwalin had nodded, as he used to do, though in the dark he could not see it.

'You disapprove of this?' he inquired, a little sharper than he had meant to. He knew he would continue down his chosen road, but he would feel better about doing this with his friend's approval to back him up. It wasn't simply a matter of Dwalin following him, it was about the dwarf's approval of what he was doing. That was what counted, more than he was ready to admit.

'Do you want an honest answer?' The warrior sounded a little doubtful, or as doubtful Dwalin was capable of sounding.

And if that was the case, it was almost certain that Thorin would not want to hear the answer. But in this case he did want to hear. 'Yes.'

There was a short silence, or as silent as it ever was in this forest. He could hear animals run around in the woods close to them and there were animal sounds that Thorin could not quite identify. He was not sure he would want to identify them. He was not the type to run, but this was something that set his teeth on edge. Give him an enemy he could see any day. He would rather fight Azog all over again than sit here and wonder if he would suddenly attacked from the dark.

'I do not know why you believe her.' When the answer came eventually it very nearly startled the dwarf king.

Thorin sighed. 'Because she speaks truth, Dwalin. I have read the words from her world. There are no lies in that book.' Much as I dislike it. Much as I dread it. 'I would be a fool not to.'

He sincerely hoped that no one else was awake. He was baring his soul and he did not feel ashamed of that, not when it was Dwalin who was listening to him. But the thought of others listening to his deepest worries was a little frightening. He needed to appear strong for his men, because they all relied on him. The burden was heavy, but he knew he could shoulder it. He had done that since Azanulbizar. Breaking down was not an option, not when so many people needed him to be strong, to be alive. No, that was not something that he would share with Dwalin.

'I don't like it.' Dwalin's reply was blunt and disapproval was all too obvious in his voice. 'We should not let our fate be decided by some book or other.'

'We do not,' Thorin reacted. 'That's why Gandalf brought her here in the first place.' Not that the wizard had done anything to change their fates so far, but Dwalin did not need to know this yet. 'We are changing it.' Or at least he hoped that was the case. There was no guarantee that this would turn out as they had planned, but it was a chance Thorin was willing to take. It was a chance he needed to take. He needed to do what he did now if he did not want to end this quest in a tomb deep under his Mountain.

There was another silence and Thorin realised that he had once again used the plural form, and that was bound to lead to questions. Dwalin was not the kind of man to make assumptions about his king's private life, not out loud and in front of others. If he had any opinion on the matter at all, he kept that opinion to himself. Not that there was any need for him to voice his thoughts, because the dwarf king already knew that his friend did not approve of Kate Andrews. He frowned on her knowledge and her apparent closeness to Thorin. He had a strange urge to say that she was only his advisor and friend, and not anything else, but that might sound too much like he was denying something that was actually there. He would not do that.

'You disapprove of her?' he asked when Dwalin once again made no attempt to talk, comfortable with the companionable silence.

'She saved your life when I could not.' The reply was curt and not willingly given. 'I made a promise to her not to bother her as I have done before.'

It wasn't a real answer and that was a fact that had not escaped Thorin's notice. And for some reason it vexed him. He would prefer it if Kate and Dwalin would get along, because it would certainly make his life easier. There was tension between the two of them. Kate was wary of Dwalin, even if she was grateful for the sword lessons he gave her, and Dwalin was wary of Kate. But both of them were now friends of his, albeit as different kind of friends as they could possibly be.

'I cannot ask for more,' he replied, knowing that to be the truth. He could not make his friend like the advisor, not even for his sake. Besides, Kate might just throw a tantrum if she ever learned that Thorin was, what she would call, fighting her battles for her.

'So, there is truth in what the lads are saying?' It was hard to judge what the dwarf was thinking without having the luxury of seeing his face. Sometimes it seemed Dwalin modelled his conduct on his king's: neutral tone of voice, almost impossible to read. Dwalin had spent too much time around him, Thorin thought.

His own reaction to this was one of near shock. By the sound of it, it did not take much for the warrior to arrive at this conclusion, even if there was no truth in it. It was just as well that Dwalin could not see just how close by Kate actually was, her head still resting in his lap, a pleasant weight in it. Some lock of hair had ended up over his hand some time ago, no doubt escaped from her braid. The woman's hair was too unruly to be bound for long. Maybe it said something about the owner of that hair as well.

There was something alarming about the notion of it being pleasant that Kate was so near in such a way, a way most people would not easily dismiss as friendly. He must have been listening too much to his men's talk and now it was putting strange notions in his head, things that he himself did not feel at all. This was something he had done for a friend, a friend who was scared out of her wits. There was no ulterior motive, nothing like that. Yet the fact remained that he could not for the life of him see himself do such a thing for any other friend he had. With Kate it somehow, even for all its awkwardness, felt natural and this frightened him, more than he was ready to admit even to himself.

The silence dragged on, became uncomfortable now. 'These rumours have not yet stopped?' he demanded, hoping to deflect the question thus.

Unfortunately Dwalin had known him for years. 'You know they have not.' The tone was once again gruff, but not unfriendly. 'And they won't, not while the two of you keep sneaking off to places, holding hands, having whispered conversations everywhere.'

It would almost be too easy to give a much simpler, much more innocent explanation for these things, but he would not be seen defending his actions. He wasn't answerable to any of them, no matter what Dori clearly had deluded himself into thinking. What Dwalin called sneaking off was probably sneaking off, but not to do what everyone was clearly thinking. There was nothing at those occasions that was in any way romantic. They were meetings to plan their strategy and strangely enough Thorin had found they were working well together. They made for a good team, just not in any other way than being allies and friends.

'Then you should tell them they should have other and better things to concern themselves with.' He could not quite explain why he was suddenly as snappy as he was. 'We are on a quest to reclaim our homeland. They should get their priorities straight.'

If Dwalin realised that his king was suddenly a bit more chagrined than he had been before, then he did not comment on it. 'I would not disapprove of it,' he said suddenly. Somehow Thorin didn't think it referred to the gossip they had been discussing. For a moment he was puzzled, not sure what his friend was even saying, but then he realised that it might very well be the topic of the gossip that Dwalin was talking about. It made him almost choke on his own tongue.

And that was leaving the fact that Dwalin had more or less given his approval for the non-existent match out of consideration. It became increasingly apparent that Dwalin was taking this seriously and as such, he was prepared to put up with whatever it was that Thorin wanted, as long as he was convinced it wasn't bad for him. Kate should probably be rejoicing that she fell into the not bad category, but something told the dwarf she would have cheerfully bitten Dwalin's head off for assuming things that weren't there. It was probably just as well she was still sleeping.

'Nothing is the matter between me and Miss Andrews.' He was training himself to address her by her first name, but for now the use of her last one might just make it clear to Dwalin that there was nothing between them, nor had there ever been. 'And you would do well to put an end to these blasted rumours when you hear them.'

His annoyance with all the gossip was growing by the minute. Some people should know when to keep their mouths shut, especially when there was nothing going on between him and the advisor besides friendship. And Thorin did not expect that there ever would be something more at all. He would never marry. It was something he had accepted long ago. He was shouldering too many burdens, was always on the road. That was not the kind of life he would wish for a woman. And he had no illusions. He was probably too old already to take a wife. No lass in her senses would consider marrying one his age. And Kate had only just begun her life. She was too young, yet if they both lived to a normal old age for their respective people, they would die around the same time, a strange thought indeed.

'Short of bashing their skulls together, I don't think there is anything I can do about it.' Thorin could hear the amused smile in his friend's tone of voice.

And that is supposed to cheer me up? The sarcastic voice in the back of his head sounded remarkably like the advisor, come to think of it. He must have heard too much of her sarcasm lately. 'Get some rest, Dwalin,' he told the warrior, knowing that this was an argument he could not win. If even his closest friends were convinced that there was something going on between him and the company advisor, then there was probably nothing he could say to change that. Only time would set them right.

And honestly, he had better things on his mind. They still needed to find their way through this forest and stay away from orcs, spiders and whatever else lurked in this blasted forest. He truly did not have the time to deal with such trivial matters and angering himself over it would not do him or anyone in the company any good. He could better keep his thoughts on the matters at hand and leave everything else till later. It was the best he could do now.

'No,' Dwalin disagreed. Judging by the noise he made he got up to try and find his way back to his bedroll. Either his sense of direction was better than Thorin's or his memory was sharper than his king's. Thorin was not sure he would have been able to find anything in this dark. 'I'll keep watch.'

The warrior would never voice concerns, but Thorin was no fool. Ten to one that Dwalin knew that he had already stood watch the previous night and that he had not slept at all, so now he took over to give Thorin the chance to rest. It was one of those things that did not need to be spoken. It was a thing friends did for one another.

And maybe his friend was right on this account. He was tired and the thought of someone he trusted staying awake made him able to relax some. And it would be wiser to rest while he could. The road was still very long and he could simply not stay awake every single night. So he rested his head against the tree trunk he was sitting against and closed his eyes. He drifted off sooner than he'd expected.

Kate

Kate was not entirely sure what made her come back to the world of the waking in the end. It could not have been the light, because when she opened her eyes there hardly was any. There was more light than there had been – not that it could be less – but still everything and everyone was painted in greys and blacks. But at least she could see something again and that was a relief, more than she felt ready admitting to anyone.

For a little moment she felt disorientated. Her neck was hurting because she appeared to be lying on a pillow that was a little too high for her. And that didn't make any sense, because she was quite convinced that she did not even have a pillow with her. Most of the time she just folded her cloak under her head to have some support there, but this did not feel like her cloak.

Her brain was still hazy because of the last remnants of sleep that told her to quit the thinking and go back to sleep while she still had the chance for it. Her friends were still merrily snoring the day away and since it didn't appear like they were in immediate danger from anything, it was probably safe to rest for a little longer.

But the riddle of the pillow was tugging at her mind, demanding an answer and she knew she would not be able to sleep again until it was answered. She blamed her natural curiosity for this, the I-want-to-know-something-and-I-want-to-know-it-now -attitude. That did come in handy in her job, but in times like this it was mostly just hugely annoying.

She propped herself up on her elbows to take a look. Sleep instantly fled as the shock kicked in. What on earth was her head doing on Thorin's lap? How had it come to be there? As far as she knew it had absolutely no business being there.

She worked herself into a sitting position, trying to think straight. There was a faint recollection of going to sleep the previous night and Thorin was in it. They had argued about her trying to seek out her brothers and he had prevented her from doing it, pointing out to her that she would never be able to find them in this blasted dark, offering to stay with her himself. Kate wasn't entirely sure why he would even consider offering such a thing, but she had been glad that he had done it. It had made her feel a little safer.

She recalled saying that his behaviour would sure suffice to get the whole blasted rumour mill up and running again. Thorin had reminded her that it was too dark for anyone to see anything and he had been right, at the time. Right now dawn was coming and she had better get away from him before any of the others woke up and started jumping to conclusions.

Thorin himself was still sleeping, rather deeply too. He did not even stir when she moved away from him. His head rested against the tree trunk he was seated against, mouth half open. In sleep his face looked relaxed, younger somehow. He certainly never looked that peaceful when he was awake, she observed. Well, everyone deserved to have some peace of mind, Thorin no less than others.

She stretched and decided to make breakfast. By the looks of things no one had been standing guard last night and she was the first one awake. The thought of not having someone watching over them was a little unnerving, but she would have to admit that even if there had been, they still would not have been able to see a single thing. No one could have seen in this darkness, with the possible exception of the creatures that lived in this forest.

She was turning towards the centre of the group when she realised she had been watched. Dwalin was sitting up, studying Thorin and her with quite the unreadable expression, one he seemed to have copied from his king. It was rather difficult to make out what he was thinking normally, but in this half-light it was even harder. But one thing was for sure, he had seen her lying with her head in Thorin's lap. Oh, shit.

Playing ignorant would do her no favours, but she might just get away with pretending it was nothing important, even if it clearly was. So she took up her bag and joined him. 'Morning,' she greeted. 'I was wondering if you could perhaps help me preparing breakfast?'

He gave her a curt nod. 'Aye.' That was talkative, for him.

It didn't do anything to lessen the disapproval that she could feel radiating off him now that she was closer to him. He did not like what happened here, but there was a certain amount of acceptance as well, acceptance that it was not within his powers to change anything about it. If anything, it set Kate's teeth on edge. Was it just her imagination or had the speculating about the non-existent relationship increased tenfold in just the last few days? After the whole stay with the eagles people seemed almost convinced that there truly was something between Thorin and her, and far more than friendship as well.

As annoying as it was, could she really blame them for thinking that way? Hardly, she supposed. Ori's drawing had made that much obvious to her. If she looked at her own actions from the others' perspective, then it was all too easy to see that some things could be explained rather differently from how it had really been.

It did not change the fact that there was no relationship and in this case it was probably better to tell Dwalin that. 'There's nothing going on,' she said bluntly. 'Between Thorin and me,' she added.

'He told me,' was the curt reply.

That was a surprise, but a good one in this case. 'Good,' she said. 'Then you can stop looking at me as if I'm responsible for every misfortune that has befallen you.' Things had always been awkward between them and for no apparent reason, not that she was aware of anyway, and it vexed her. Yes, of course she was the weakest member of the group, but she wasn't useless, not anymore. Good grief, he had even admitted to that himself. He had also promised not to bother her anymore and he hadn't. But he didn't need to rub her nose in her faults to convey the message perfectly though.

And she had just about enough of it. She picked up her belongings and demonstratively moved away from him, not ready for any kind of discussion so early in the morning. The rest of the camp was waking up slowly and she sought out her brothers for company. Dori fussed over both her and Ori's hair, Nori tried and failed to make off with some things that weren't his and Ori was already consulting his journal for something. It was reassuringly familiar and predictable.

The familiarity of it all made the dark threat of the forest bearable. It didn't mean she suddenly liked it, because that was definitely not the case, but it made her capable of accepting that this was the way things were and she would have to see it through. Somehow it was worse looking at the forest from the outside, than being on the inside.

She stuck close to her family, but joined Thorin at the head of the column when Dori's fussing began to annoy her. Apparently he too had come to the conclusion that something must be going on between Thorin and her, because lately he had started lecturing her on dwarvish propriety and courting rules. It was hardly subtle and Kate did not feel up to it. Somehow it had all sounded more interesting when Ori spoke of dwarvish customs than when their eldest brother did it. Of course, Ori's chatter had the distinct advantage of not being a lecture.

'So far, so good,' she commented, beckoning at the road. It was obvious that at least this part of the Men-i-Naugrim had not been in disuse for years, even if it wasn't all that it clearly had been once upon a time. The sides of the road were overgrown with plants of every kind, all of them looking extremely poisonous and inedible. The rest of the road was still in acceptable condition, allowing them to travel fast. It was, however, the question for how long this would last. Near the eastern entrance the road was practically non-existent, Beorn had mentioned, even when he had admitted that if they were careful, it should be doable to travel there. He had strongly advised against it, but he had given in eventually. After all, it was their quest and they should do as they wanted, something Gandalf had yet to understand.

While the state of the Old Forest Road was probably a good thing in terms of them being able to move faster, it was a worrying thing at the same time. She had checked the book again shortly before they entered the woods and it said nothing about orcs traveling into the woods themselves. But it was clear now that they did, maybe to go to Dol Guldur. Orcs didn't love forests, but Mirkwood felt like the kind of forest where an orc would feel totally at ease. And with Azog hunting them he might not feel opposed to entering this place either, so even when they would not run into orcs that roamed around here anyway, they always had the chance of the Defiler catching them up at some point in time. That didn't feel like a tempting prospect either.

Thorin nodded. 'Indeed.' The dwarf king seemed to be in a pensive mood, bordering on grumpy.

The rest of the company wasn't as cheerful as they had been before they entered Mirkwood, but the gloomy mood that had plagued them the previous day had mostly subsided now that they had walked for a day and nothing had gone wrong. It was just another day's march for them. Bofur was whistling a tune, Ori and Balin had an intense discussion about something probably very academic and Kíli had tempted Bombur and Fíli into a game of I Spy. Everyone was a little more alert than they usually were, but that was about it.

'Do you want to talk about it?' Kate inquired.

He looked at her face. 'Do you want to talk about it?' he countered.

She sent him a quizzical look and an arched eyebrow. 'Talk about what?' she wondered.

One corner of his mouth curled up in what appeared to be amusement. 'Whatever it is that makes you scowl at the road the way you have done the entire morning.' Whatever had been on his mind seemed to disappear for the moment, making room for this new, almost teasing side of him.

Kate settled for rolling her eyes. 'We're in Mirkwood,' she pointed out. 'Isn't that reason enough for a person to scowl? Heaven knows you've been doing it most of the time.'

'You weren't scowling yesterday,' Thorin observed.

Good grief, had that man become insistent. 'You know that discussion we had some time ago about you being a social worker? I still think it doesn't suit you.' She was quite sure that she did not want Thorin to know about her little discussion with Dwalin. He had been annoyed enough before and Kate was sure that him storming off to rectify the entire situation was of no use to anyone, least of all to them. That was the thing with this kind of gossip: the more one protested against it, the more insistent the gossipers became, because they saw the denial as confirmation. Best to let it bleed to death. She was however not so sure Thorin shared those views.

The dwarf fixed her with his sternest stare. 'You are evading the question.'

She weighed her chances should she decide to go for the innocent approach, but something told her that was not going to work at all. He was just too focused now on trying to get her to talk. 'Fine, have it your way. Just try not to fly off the handle, will you?'

The stare intensified, ordering her to elaborate. The promise she was waiting for would not be forthcoming.

'I had a little argument with Dwalin just now,' she told him. 'He did not seem to believe me when I told him there was nothing going on between us, but he kept looking daggers at me, so I walked away. End of story. Now will you let it go?'

That was very unlikely. After all, it was Thorin Oakenshield they were talking about and he wasn't very keen on letting things go. He sunk his teeth in them and hung onto them like a bull dog. It was quite possibly the reason why he could still get very upset over his grandfather's death that had happened more than a century ago and that was leaving his anger towards the dragon out of consideration. He held grudges well and Kate made a mental note never to give him a reason to hold one against her.

'He did not really insult me,' she added. 'He was just well… disapproval incarnate. He told me you had already told him that there was nothing going on, so I suppose that takes care of things.'

Unfortunately Thorin could be rather sharp when he put his mind to it. 'Then why was he disapproving?' he wondered. There was wariness in his voice; he knew she was holding out on him.

'Because he didn't believe you?' she ventured hopefully, but one glance on his face told her this was not doing the trick. 'Very well,' she sighed. 'He may have seen that you were acting as a glorified pillow. Does that by any chance mean something that I should have been aware of?'

The dwarf shook his head. 'It does not.'

'Then it is just Dwalin reading too much into things?' she checked.

'It is,' Thorin confirmed. He seemed pensive again and not for the first time Kate found herself wishing she could open up some secret door in that thick skull and take a look inside to find out what was going on in there. Heaven knew that might make her life easier every now and then.

'Do you want to talk about it?' she asked hesitantly. Friends were allowed to ask, were they not, especially when said friend was the one who had begun this attempt at social work, not that it really worked.

'You cannot guarantee we will not encounter elves, can you?'

Kate had not really expected a reply and especially not one such as this, which was, come to think of it, no reply at all. 'I'm sorry?' This came just out of the blue and she had no idea what he was trying to make her say.

An exasperated sigh was the result. 'You cannot…?' he started to repeat.

'Yes, yes,' Kate interrupted. 'I did hear you the first time, you know.' Not that it made any more sense now. 'Just curious though, how did you link Dwalin's behaviour to the presence of elves?' And here she was thinking that only women did these sudden changes in the topic of conversation. Her mother was famous for it. But Thorin was the last person she had expected this from.

Thorin was evidently not feeling up to sharing. 'Answer the question.'

'Please,' Kate muttered under her breath, before she continued in a louder voice: 'Well, it is their realm. I suppose it is possible that we should run into one patrol or the other. I only know what's in the book. I do not have the gift of foresight, you know. I'm Kate Andrews, not Mystic Meg, and in this case I know just as much as you do, which is to say: nothing at all.'

Thorin merely nodded, not even reacting to her last, almost sneered, remark. 'If we should run into them, you will pretend to be my wife.'

That struck her speechless. 'I'm sorry, what?'

She must have misheard this. Thorin hated the endless speculating as much as she did. He least of all should be willing to pretend to be married to her again, never mind that he was the one to suggest it. That would not help them in killing these bloody rumours at all.

But when the silence lingered and Thorin was still not preparing to explain himself, she realised that maybe this plan was not as stupid as she had judged it to be at first. After all, it were the elves he was talking about and if she had learned one thing about them in the short time they had stayed in Rivendell, it was that most of them had a sense of propriety that would put many a pope to shame. Put the elves in the Vatican and no one would question it. She amused herself with conjuring up that mental picture before dismissing the fanciful thought and returning to the matter at hand.

That must be it, the elves' ideas of propriety. They would never let a human woman travel with a bunch of dwarves. It would be the whole Bree-scenario all over again. They had obviously not been able to believe that she was traveling with the dwarves out of her own free will and if the elves of Rivendell had not believed them married, they might have thought the same. Bloody elves. The more she heard about them, the less she liked them. Well, that should make Thorin's day.

'This is about the elves and their sodding sense of propriety,' she concluded. It'd better be, because if it wasn't she might just end up screaming like a lunatic.

A curt nod was the reply. The talkative mood seemed to have vanished in an instant, quite possibly because elves were hardly an ideal topic to discuss and Thorin's hatred of them, especially of the ruler of this realm, ran deep.

She shrugged. 'So, that means we're sticking with the Rivendell cover story?' she checked. 'The whole nonsense about me being from Bree, you coming there and us falling in love, that kind of nonsense, right?'

Something in her words had made the smile come out again. 'Yes, that nonsense,' the dwarf confirmed. He sounded amused. 'Though I would advise you not to use the word nonsense in the presence of Thranduil.'

She nudged him in the ribs, temporarily forgetting that he was wearing armour, so she only succeeded in hurting herself. 'Ouch. Shit! And I'm not a child, Thorin. I won't be as stupid as to make it sound like the story it is.' She smirked at him. 'Though I can't promise you not to use the word nonsense where the elves themselves are concerned.'

His eyes joined in the smile. 'I could not fault you for that.'

She laughed. 'Oh, I'm sure you could if I did that when we actually stood before them and me and my big mouth just talked us all into trouble.' She shrugged. 'Anyway, it's only a worst case scenario, so I'm not particularly worried. The elven settlement is miles….' Whatever else she had wished to say got stuck in her throat and she skidded to a stop.

She had not been paying too close attention to the road before now, but occasionally she looked down to see where she was going. Right now, she wished that she hadn't.

Thorin had halted too, fixing her with a stern glance, silently demanding what had caused her to behave in such a way.

Kate pointed at the print in the mud in front of them. It was frighteningly similar to the paw print they had found just outside the borders of Mirkwood, not to say, identical. And it was a print that, according to the book, had absolutely no business being here, because this part of the road was meant to be in disuse, overgrown. But the road was not overgrown and neither was it out of business. That print in the mud was more than enough proof of that.

There wasn't any real doubt about the creature that had made it. She had seen their paw prints before. They were like a dog's, only quite a lot bigger. It made her once again wonder why it had sounded like such a bright idea to call one of these beasts a nice doggy again, because nice was not a word one would easily use when talking about wargs.

'Shit!' The soft hissing to her surprise came out of Thorin's mouth, although it would be safe to say that he had not realised that he had used one of her curse words and now was hardly the moment to remind him of it. This was far too serious to joke about.

Because the print was not leading out of the forest, back to the west entrance. It was pointing east, the direction they were heading. And by the looks of it, it wasn't very old yet. There were wargs in Mirkwood and only heaven knew where exactly they were. Kate could feel a cold shiver travel all the way down her spine.

From Kate's notes: I have been such a fool. I should have persuaded Thorin to take the northern route. I knew in advance that this was dangerous, yet I still advised to go south and now just look at the mess we're in. Could it be too late already to turn back and get out of here before it is too late?

That's it for today again. Next time there will be a little action, I can promise.

On another note, I was asked some questions about a sequel involving some of the moments Kate keeps mentioning in the journal pieces. I have been planning a collection of one-shots, outtakes if you like, for all the things that are mentioned, but not really elaborated. That, however, will have to wait until I've finished one of the other stories I'm currently working on, because I just can't keep four stories going at the same time. In the meantime I won't mind if you let me know what kind of situations you would like to read about.

Next chapter should be up Wednesday as scheduled and there will be some action then, promise. In the meantime, please review? I'd love to hear your thoughts.