After dinner, another of the multitudes of elves led us to a small little building with a few guest rooms. Four of them, and a shared balcony gazebo room thingy. I had no idea what it was honestly. But the dwarves wasted no time getting comfy, feeling much better after their display of 'proper mealtime music'. They all agreed to camp in the shared room so as they didn't get too used to being out of the wild, but they all seemed more than happy to finally be rid of their heavy coats as they sat around the fire cooking 'proper dwarven food'. Which looked to be nothing but sausages, but hey, who was I to judge.

As soon as the elven dinner was over though, I immediately yanked up my mask and hood, wrapped my cloak closer around me and found a corner to hide in. I didn't feel safe here. It was too open. To exposed…

Kili caught my eye across the room and motioned for me to come sit with him on a cushioned bench. I tried my best to ignore him, but as I did so he just got more and more animated and I feared if I continued to brush him off it would turn into another scene like at dinner. And I certainly didn't want a repeat of that.

So I stood and crossed quietly to the other side of the room, ignored by the others who were listening to Bofur's very extravagant tale from his childhood. He seemed to be reaching the climax when he frowned forgetfully before coming up with some outrageous tall tale of what happened. He couldn't just admit that he, you know, forgot or anything.

I sat down gently on the cushioned bench as far away from Kili as possible and pulled my knees to my chest. An arm wrapped around me and tilted me until I was leaning against Kili's side. I glanced up at him, watching the fire dance in his eyes as he watched it passively. I tried to stay still for a moment, but my curled up position made it difficult. I sighed in resignation and shifted a bit until I was comfortably resting against him. It was warm.

The fire danced dangerously, crackling as it ate away the elven chair that had been sacrificed to feed its unquenchable appetite. My eyes closed as I let myself forget about everything momentarily.

"Comfortable?" A warm voice asked from above me.

"Very." I mumbled, nestling more into my seat. My headrest shook slightly as Kili chuckled next to me. My eyes opened and I turned to look up at Kili, my head now resting in his lap. He raised one brow questioningly. I just smiled and shrugged. I felt like I had something to say, but it seemed unimportant now. It must have been since I forgot it.

"What are you thinking?" Kili asked, eyes turning back to the fire.

"Nothing for once." I sighed blissfully closing my own eyes.

"So…" The dwarf started casually. "What you said a few days ago… You want kids?"

"Nah." I said lazily. "I don't know where that came from honestly."

"You want to get married?"

My eyes opened in surprise and I looked up to see his eyes now staring at me piercingly. "Was that a proposal?" I asked in confusion.

Kili looked very tense. "If you want it to be."

I turned my head to stare into the fire, my throat feeling dry. "Nah." I risked a glance back at Kili to see him staring determinedly into the fire. "There's a lot going on right now…" I started to explain, but stopped. It sounded like an excuse. Because it was. I wasn't going to get married with such an uncertain future. It was just a recipe for disaster and heartbreak.

And the weight of the quest settled on me once again. I sat up brusquely, returning to my side of the bench and slipped my hand into my boot, pulling out the parchment I had nabbed from the orc. I unrolled it and read the dark red ink.

Plan C Section II

The Dwarves have the infant. Retrieve it and proceed as planned.

Do not endanger the infant under any circumstances. I don't need to tell you what happens if you do.

-S

Kili was reading it over my shoulder, for he said, "That's the same writing as that other note." I nodded, reaching into my boot for the other letter and unfolding it. The word 'Compromised' was still there in red ink. I looked back to the second letter to compare and froze. The message had changed.

Naughty naughty Mary.

Think you can get a leg up on me do you?

Tsk tsk.

-S

"Wha…" I stared in horror at the words.

"Mary?" Kili frowned before remembering what I had told him earlier. "How does it know your name?" He was tense now, moving closer to me. Like I needed protecting.

"I… I don't know." And I honestly didn't. It was almost like… Riddles Diary. Maybe it even was. I looked around for ink and quill desperately.

"It changed again!" Kili pointed over my shoulder. "Now it…" his voice trailed off as I looked down at the words.

It's a one-way thing dearie.

Send Kili my love!

-S

"How does it know my name?" Kili asked in alarm, now drawing the attention of the others. I jumped up quickly spinning around as I searched for a hidden camera or a spy or anything. There was no sign at all. I looked back down at the letter to see it had changed again.

Compromised.

"Dammit!" I shouted, throwing the letter to the ground.

"Nimm, what's wrong?" Miley asked in concern. Fili picked the parchment up off the floor and once again read it aloud.

"Compromised." She looked up at me. "Is this the same one?"

"No." I spat, glaring at the thing. "No it's not."

"It knew our names." Kili was horrified. "It talked to us. Nimm-"

"Whoever it is," I growled. "They're in charge of all of this. They're the ones messing everything up! And they know us."

"It called you Nimm?" M asked from her seat on the floor.

"No…" I looked at her. "It called me Mary."

Miley looked between the two of us. "Do you have any idea who it was?" She asked.

"No." I paced aggressively. "All it says at the end is 'S'."

"Like in Sherlock?" Miley frowned.

"What?"

"BBC's Sherlock." She explained. "Sherlock sighs his texts 'SH' for Sherlock Holmes."

"Never seen it." I shrugged.

"Besides," M frowned. "That's two letters. This is only one. S… what if it's Sute?"

Miley glared at her. "What if it's Sauron?"

"Who?"

"He's... a evil overlord from the-" she mouthed sequel.

"Maybe," I replied, "That kid is a part of this though. Both messages have been about the 'infant'."

"You think they're after Sute?" Miley gasped.

"Well unless there was another infant around that you've been hiding from me, yeah, I think they are."

"But why?"

"I don't know!" I shouted. No one said anything but looked at each other worriedly. "I just don't know."

"We should tell Thorin." Fili said.

"Where is he anyway?" The dwarves begun to look around worriedly.

It was Dwalin who answered. "He and Balin went with Gandalf to take a look at that map to find an entrance to the mountain."

"We'll tell them tomorrow then." Miley nodded. "For now… we should all try and get some sleep. Who knows how long until we'll be in the wilderness again." Everyone nodded and turned to pull out their bedrolls. I blinked a few time before turning to head out for a walk to clear my head, maybe gather some clues. Hints… Something.

"You too Nimm!" Miley called from behind me.

I sighed loudly. "Your not my mom."

"Never claimed I was." Miley replied indignantly.

"Then why are you acting liked it?"

"Will you both shut UP?" Fili groaned, her face buried in her bedroll. Everyone looked at her in surprise.

"She had too much of the elvish wine." Ori explained. Pathetic, but at least everyone calmed down a bit. I huffed, but found a wall to sleep next to. I needed something at my back so I could feel just a little less defenseless. The ground was hard cold stone. Tonight was going to be long.

Well... this is going to be interesting.