They walked for some hours before stopping by the river. The sunlight was passing through the trees and a refreshing breeze was blowing in their faces. Kili gently putted Merwra on the ground leaning her against a tree,he stared at her for a moment ,worried.

Gandalf noticed his concern: "She'll wake up soon" he said placing his hand on Kili's shoulder."I'll look for something to make her feel better when she wakes up" the wizard said. "You all need to make yourselves presentable to Beorn, I strongly suggest a bath in the river…" he said to them while entering in the woods.

The dwarves stayed quiet for a moment, not knowing if Gandalf was serious or not,especially Thorin. Bofur and Bombur looked at each other with a playful look and quickly started to remove their shoes,belts,weapons and coats,staying only with their pants and shirts on before running towards the river,that was shallow and clear,stony at the ford.

The others didn't wait for one more minute to do the same,running happily to the river,even Thorin seemed relieved to finally rest. All of them except for Kili and Bilbo,that stayed by Merwra's side,watching the others having fun.

"I think that you need a bath too" the hobbit said to Kili.

"No,I'm fine" he said still staring at Merwra.

"You should,you know, you're sticking" Bilbo said laughing.

"Thank you Mr. Boggins" Kili answered teasing him, giggling.

"It's Baggins,Kili, with an a…"he corrected the dwarf."I'll look after her,you don't need to worry."

"Are you sure?" Kili asked "If she wakes up you will call me,agreed?"

"Absolutely" Bilbo answered "Now go".

Kili removed his coat,belt and shoes and joined the other dwarves,that were splashing water in each other.

Bilbo stayed by Merwra's side until Kili came back,and then took a quick bath, Kili wasn't the only one who was sticking.

The dwarf sat in front of her and placed the corner of the sleeve of his soaked blue shirt in Merwra's forehead,removing the grime. The refreshing sensation woke her up.

Merwra slowly opened her eyes ,trying to adjust with the lightness of the sun,that was drawing Kili's outline. The first thing she saw was the movement on the river.

"Is this heaven?" she asked still trying to focus in shape in front of her,hearing the laughs of the dwarves.

"What?! No,it's me,Kili!" he said giggling.

"Kili!" she repeated his name hugging him tight. Unfortunately she had to stop when her shoulder started to ache.

"You're soaked!" she said leaning on the tree and looking at her shoulder,nearly healed, but the pain didn't want to go away.

"Sorry!" Kili said," Gandalf told me that he would bring something to make you feel better" he explained.

"Good" she answered,trying to ignore the pain."Where are we?" Merwra asked curiously analyzing the surroundings,the dwarves were laughing and fighting in the water. "We'll visit someone called Beorn,Gandalf said that he could help us ,and mostly you." He comforted her,that was laughing staring at the dwarves playing like little children.

"Is that Bilbo?" she asked giggling staring at the hobbit that was splashing water on Fili's face,now only some dwarves were still in the river,the others were laying on the grass,apparently drying their clothes. "Oh,Gandalf said that we should take a bath,to look more presentable…" Merwra immediately stared at her,she was covered with grime,dirt and dried blood on her left arm.

"I should join them,I look awful!" she said trying to stand up with Kili's help,her legs were dormant.

Bilbo saw her standing up and quickly ran to her direction "Merwra!" he said happily dripping wet ,"how are you feeling?"

"Better, I suppose" she answered smiling when finally managed to stand up.

"Come with me, we need to clean your arm or it will get infected,and we don't want that ,do we?!" the hobbit grabbed her hand to support her while she was removing her shoes.

"That's fine,I can help her" Kili said.

"No lad,you did enough, I want to help her now" Bilbo insisted when Merwra was dressing only a blue shirt and brown pants. He led her to the river slowly

"You know what?I'm starting to like that dwarf..." Bilbo said to her when they arrived at the margin.