As I struggled to sit up, Thorin placed his arm around my shoulders and helped me to an upright position. I closed my eyes and leaned back against him as dizziness threatened to overwhelm me.

"What were you thinking?!" he growled lowly in my ear and I turned to look at him, flinching away slightly at the anger in his eyes.

I had known he would be angry, just not how angry.

"Um…I was trying to avoid another crash course in swimming," I said with a slight smile, trying to deflect his anger, "Obviously I failed."

I felt the smile fade from my face as my answer seemed to just anger him more.

"Do you think this is a joke?!" he snapped, "You almost got yourself killed!"

I sighed and looked away, guilt washing over me at the pain I had caused him.

"I know," I replied, "But I had to decide between Bilbo or myself, one of us had to stay to operate the lever. Hobbits swim about as good as I do, but I run faster. What I did not count on was the orc party ambushing us."

Thorin scowled at me and started "Farren…" but was cut off by Oin.

"Well, lass it's good to see you awake," he said walking up and kneeling in front of me, "Let me take a look at you."

As he started his examination, Oin turned to Thorin, "You may want to go check on you eldest nephew."

We all turned just in time to see Fili suddenly bend over the railing and lose the contents of his stomach to the water below. Thorin sighed, gave me a look, and then went to go check on Fili. I sighed and looked around, taking in the barge we were on, trying to think of what to say when Thorin came back.

"How does your head feel, lass?" Oin asked as he continued his examination.

"It hurts," I said softly into his ear trumpet, my mind elsewhere.

"Well, that's to be expected. You got off light all things concerned," Oin answered, finishing his examination.

"Yeah, real light," I said sarcastically, looking over at Thorin as he settled Fili back down on the floor.

"I am never eating another apple again!" Fili declared.

Hearing a chuckle nearby, I turned and saw Balin sitting counting out some coins.

Noticing my curious look, Balin explained, "The lad's barrel smelled very strongly of apples. That combined with the rough ride down the river, well you can see the results."

He turned and gave me a grandfatherly smile, "At least it has given you a little reprieve from Thorin's wrath for the moment."

I grimaced and answered, "Yes, I never thought I would be saved by vomit."

Then I sighed and leaned back against the hull of the barge.

"Give him time lass, he was sick with worry when you did not follow us down. Then he watched that orc grab you and when we got you to the shore and you were not breathing, I thought he would lose it entirely," Balin said kindly.

I nodded, "I had hoped he would understand why I made the decision I did."

Balin just smiled kindly again and answered, "Like I said give him time."

After this, Thorin came and stood next to me in silence for a while. Finally, unable to take the tension anymore, I turned to him.

"I am sorry for the pain I have caused and I know you were worried, please understand I did what I thought was best for everyone," I said, looking at him praying he would understand.

He knelt down next to me, "I know," he said softly, the pain showing in his eyes, then raising a hand he cupped the back of my head and rested his forehead against mine, "Don't do anything as foolish as that again! I don't want to lose you."

I stared at him, taken aback by the emotion in his voice,his words making my heart dance with joy. Raising my hand, I placed it gently against his face, cupping his cheek in my palm.

"I don't want to lose you either," I responded, finally getting a small smile from him.

Thorin gently stroked the side of my face, "Get some rest, it is going to be a while until we reach Lake Town."

I nodded, feeling very tired, and leaned my head back, closing my eyes and falling asleep.

I do not know how long I was asleep before a loud shout from Bofur suddenly woke me.

"Watch out!" he yelled and I jerked awake just in time to see the barge narrowly miss a large column of some partially submerged ruin.

"What are trying to do, drown us?" I heard Thorin snap irritably and I looked to see him standing a few feet away next to Dwalin who was leaning on one of the barrels.

"I was born and bred on these waters Master Dwarf. If I wanted to drown you, I would not do it here," responded a voice I vaguely recognized and I turned to see a Man at the rudder of the barge.

He was tall and slim with shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes.

"Oh, I have had enough of this lippy lake man," I heard Dwalin grumble, "I say we throw him overboard and be done with it."

"Oh Bard, his name is Bard," Bilbo put in, sounding a bit irritated.

"How do you know?" Bofur asked.

"Um.. I asked him," Bilbo replied and I raised my brows at the sassiness of his reply.

He definitely was not the timid little hobbit that left the Shire all those months ago.

"I don't care what he calls himself, I don't like him," Dwalin stated.

I got up slowly, and walked over to the group.

"I was under the impression that you did not like anybody, so what makes this time any different?" I asked earning a snort of laughter from Bofur as Dwalin turn to me in surprise.

"Farren, should you be up?" Bilbo asked from beside me.

I waved away his concern as Balin spoke up.

"We don't need to like him, we simply need to pay him," he said, "Come on lads, empty your pockets."

With that, everyone started patting their pockets and pulling out coin purses, except for Gloin. I searched my pockets, even though I rarely carried gold, and to my surprise I found one coin in the inside pocket of my tunic, next to my pouch of Athelas seeds. I stared at it in surprise for a moment before handing it to Balin.

"There's a small problem," Balin said gravely, after counting all the coins, "We are ten coins short."

"Are you sure?" Thorin asked, coming to stand next to me.

Balin counted again, then nodded and everyone started frantically patting their pockets trying to find anything left.

"Gloin," Thorin suddenly addressed the red haired dwarf sternly, "Come on give us what you have."

We all turned to him and he seemed to squirm a bit under the combined stares.

"Don't look to me!" he insisted, " I have been bled dry by this venture."

We all looked at him in disbelief, but he did not seem to notice and continued his mini rant.

"What have I to show for my investment? Nothing but misery and grief…" he trailed off when he noticed we were no longer paying him any mind, but looking over the top of his head.

In the distance could be seen the peak of the Lonely Mountain showing above the mists.

"Erebor," I heard Thorin whisper and I slipped my hand into his for a moment.

He turned and looked at me, "You're almost home," I said as I read the unspoken emotion in his eyes.

Upon seeing the mountain, Gloin seemed to have a change of heart and pulled out a half-full coin pouch and handed it to Balin.

"Here, take it, take all of it!" he exclaimed and we all sighed in relief.

Suddenly Bilbo cleared his throat and motioned with his head toward the back of the barge. Everyone turned to see Bard making his way toward us.

"The money, now," he said and Thorin drew himself up in defense.

"You will get the money after we get our provisions, not before," he replied.

Bard sighed irritably and replied back, "If you value your freedom, you will do as I say. There are guards ahead."

At this we all turned and looked, sure enough we could see docks starting to appear out of the mists. Finally, the company agreed to give Bard the money and he instructed us to hide back in the barrels. A problem became very evident quickly, as it was noted that there were only fourteen barrels and fifteen of us. I looked at my pendant and, to my dismay, noted that the magic had not returned yet and, from the color, knew that it would be several more hours before it did. After some shifting, it was decided that Kili and Fili would switch barrels, as Kili's did not smell of apples, and, since one of the barrels was slightly larger than the rest, Thorin and I would share that one, as he stated again that he did not want me out of his sight. I ran to gather my things, but realized that they would not fit in the barrel. Bard offered to roll them up in the quilt I had been covered by and I could see I had no other choice. I, rather reluctantly, handed them to him. Finally, we were all hidden in the barrels. In our barrel, Thorin and I were packed tightly together. I could feel my face flush as I place my arms tightly around him and buried my face in his chest. After a few minutes of waiting, that included a running commentary from Bilbo, who had poked a knot out of his barrel so he could see, and speculation that Bard was betraying us, the sound of some cranks could be heard. I looked up to see a chute positioned above Thorin and my barrel and, before I could figure out what it was for, fish started to issue from it and onto us. I buried my face farther into Thorin's shirt as he cradled the back of my head. As the fish covered us up all I could think was how much I hated fish.

A bit of a filler chapter I know, but we are almost to Lake Town and I have something juicy planned! Thank you for continuing on this journey with me!