A/N: I decided to write another update because why not! We are coming up on some pretty emotional stuff here, and if you've been avid in following this story along with the movies, then you know who will make an appearance pretty soon!

The song below is Do You Hear The People Sing from Les Miserables. I do not own it, nor do I own the Hobbit as such.

Please review! I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions and suggestions. Keep them coming!

"Where's Bofur?"

"If he's not here, we leave without him. We have delayed enough. If you are armed and ready, start loading the boats."

"What about Linnor? She ain't here either, Thorin. Are you saying we leave without her?"

"She'll be here on time. So will Bofur. Now move."

Thorin motioned his company onward with an impatient gesture and sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. It had been a long night of drinking and planning, and it was clear that the majority of them were still hung over. Not the way he had planned to broach the mountain. Although, if he had to be completely honest, the vast majority of this quest had not been what he planned. Thorin held a hand up to his eyes to block the morning sun as he searched the crowds. It would seem that the entirety of Laketown had come out to the harboring docks to see them off. Women and children huddled together in the chill dawn air, and men stood at attention to give them a "proper" sendoff.

But as Thorin scanned the eager, frost-bitten faces, he didn't see the one he was hoping for.

"It's time. We cannot wait any longer." Thorin led the group down to where the Master had two long boats waiting to take them to the base of the mountain, just beside the demolished city of Dale.

One by one, dwarves piled into the boats, and Thorin began passing down the weapons to Dwalin and Gloin in the first boat. Further down, Balin was doing the same in the second to Nori and Bombur. A flash of dark hair and white pallor caught his eye and Thorin thrust his arm out to prevent Kili from getting into the boat.

"Not you." Thorin didn't meet his nephew's eyes. He couldn't. He knew the pain and utter disbelief he would see, and he couldn't bear the thought of looking into his youngest's eyes and know that he was the cause of it.

"What?" Kili was looking at him incredulously, and Thorin kept his gaze focused downward. He knew Fili had turned and was listening intently and he averted his eyes from his eldest as well.

"Time is of the essence and you will only slow us down." Thorin could almost see his words drive deep into the young dwarf's heart. Kili had always strived to make him proud, to be seen as worthy in his eyes. How could Thorin tell him that he was always proud of him? That he had nothing to strive for? That he loved him as his own, as he always had? After this, he may never get to.

"Thorin..." Kili's voice was high. "I am going to be there when that door is open. When we look upon the halls of our forefathers, Thorin-"

"Kili." Thorin couldn't bear to hear his nephew's fevered rambling. He cupped his cheek in his palm. "You're ill. Stay here and rest. Join us when you're healed." Thorin smiled gently, but he could tell it did not help much. His own heart clenched tightly at Kili's evident heartbreak, the fever drawing his eyes dark.

With a brokenhearted choking sound, Kili limped over to a nearby barrel and lowered his armored weight down with a wince of pain. Thorin sighed and continued to lower weapons when a body leapt up and moved passed him. He was about to protest when Oin gave him a pointed look before moving towards Kili.

"I will stay with the lad. My duty lies with the wounded." the healer said, and Thorin felt a short burst of relief. At least Kili would be tended by one of their own.

"Uncle." Thorin turned to the boat, his reluctant glare passing over his fair-haired eldest heir and resuming passing weapons down to Dwalin. Fili was looking up at him beseechingly, just as brokenhearted as his darker brother, who was stubbornly refusing Oin's help. Thorin could vaguely remember that bond he had shared with his own brother, a bond his nephews seemed to share one thousand times stronger. It had hurt deeply when one of them had gone someplace the other desperately wanted, and could not follow. "We grew up on stories of the mountain, stories you told us. You cannot take that away from him."

Thorin sighed again, this one deep enough to make him feel empty. He motioned for the guard behind him to continue passing the swords and amour down and looked Fili in the eyes.

"Fili, one day you will be king and you will understand. I will not risk this quest for one dwarf. Not even my own kin." He hoped Fili would understand now, rather than in the future. They could not be slowed. If they even so much as missed Durin's Day's sunlight on the door by even a second, they would lose the mountain forever.

Fili looked at his uncle steadily before heaving himself out of the boat and started to move past. Thorin's arm shot out and for the second time he found himself holding back his nephew. Only this one was steadily determined.

"Fili, don't be a fool. You belong with the company."

The cold stare that hit him then was something he had never seen before. It probably was how he seemed at times when he was beyond the words for anger.

"I belong with my brother."

And with that Fili went to stand by his brother, who looked as shocked as he felt, though with love shining through his grimacing smile. Thorin watched in a slight numbness. He had so hoped his heirs would be beside him. And now-

"Thorin!"

Thorin whirled around to see his niece pushing past the onlookers and coming to stand in front of him. Her hair was mussed and her face red from the cold. Her lips were a faded pinkish blue and here eyes were puffy, like she had been in tears. Thorin hid his discomfort. Tears were Dis's area, not his.

"Linnor. You made it. Balin has some extra armor over there and you can pick up a sword-"

"I'm not going with you."

The words came out rushed and halted, like they weren't planned. And by the teary eyed grimace on her face, Thorin knew Linnor hadn't planned to say them. Not like that anyway.

"What?"

Linnor took a deep breath, and Thorin watched as another tear tracked down her cheek.

"I said I am not going to the mountain with you, Thorin. I can't. I can't-I will not watch you march to your deaths. I will not- I can't-" Linnor shook her head. "I am not like you. I am not a Durin by heart, not really. My home is not that mountain. It's so far away from here, back in Rivendell. And I never should have left. I don't know what I was thinking, that I could be here, with you. I am not a warrior. I'm just a girl. You will always be a part of me, my family, my uncle. But Thorin, I am not a part of this. I-I am going home. And that is not with you."

Thorin was frozen in place. He could not lose another piece of his family. She...she was his niece, the last piece of his brother he had.

"Linnor..." he started, and as he did before with Kili, he reached out and cupped her cheek in his rough palm. "Whatever you decide to do, know that I support it. But know this. You will always be a Durin, a part of this family and this right to our home. Because I hope that you see that it is your home. You joining this company was Mahal's blessing on us. You have made such a difference to our lives. If you cannot stand with me now, I understand. But when this is over, when we come out on top, I will send for you. Decide then where you belong. Not when emotions are too high."

The sound of a horn broke their embrace, and Thorin stepped away from all three of his kin and back into the boat. Amidst cheers and screams and sobs, the boat pulled away from the docks and out onto open water to the mountain.

Linnor watched with tears streaming down her face. It was done. The screams of joy from the people around her were only hollow echoes in her ears.

"Do you hear the people sing!
Singing the song of angry men?
It is the music of the people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!"

Linnor turned away from the painful sight of the separating company and stopped short when she saw Fili, Oin, and Kili all huddled together around Kili's shivering frame. Before she could say anything, though, she heard the sound of running feet and heavy breathing.

"Oh!" Linnor turned to face an out of breath and obviously still hungover Bofur. "Did you all miss the boat as well?"

Linnor was about to reply, to fill them all in on what she had just done, when Fii's panicked voice rang out on the docks.

"Kili? KILI!"

Linnor whirled back around just in time to see her cousin lurch forward and land hard on the docks, his eyes rolling to the back of his head, before going limp in his brother's arms.