I sat with the sun on my back, eyes weary and emotionally worn.

"I haven't seen Rina at all since we came to Rivendell." I looked up to see M walking over in a new traveling outfit. A gift from the elves. She looked much more comfortable in it then that hobbit dress from before. Wherever that had come from.

"I'm sure she's following Ori around." I grumbled.

"She's not, I checked…" M gave me a look over. "What's wrong with you? It looks like you got drowned in your own tears."

"I just got a bath in the fountain." I rolled my eyes.

"Which is obviously why your eyes are red as cranberries." She replied sarcastically.

I glared back. "You're annoying. Go away."

M laughed. It wasn't a merry laugh, though it wasn't cruel either. It was more of a 'I can't believe this' kind of laugh. And when she stopped, she said to me, "You know just as much as I do that this is something you need to talk through."

"No." I looked away. "Not this time. This time I just need to get over it."

I desperately wished she would just hurry up and leave already. Instead of staring at me like a tabby cat. But instead of leaving me alone, she did the opposite. She sat down next to me on the slightly soaked bench.

"It has to do with Kili, doesn't it?"

"I hate you."

They were not teasing words, though I had often said that to many friends in jest. This time it was purely honest. Pure distaste. "I really, really hate you."

M stared at me for a moment before responding. "I hate you too. Get over it." It made sense. The one person in the world that would hate someone the most is themselves. We see our flaws through a microscope and our qualities like a tiny boat all the way across the ocean. It's only natural to hate yourself. That's just what people do.

"So if you aren't going to tell me what happened," M said, drawing me from my thoughts, "You might as well pick up your sorry ass and help me find that dumb ghost."

"Who cares about her, she's just annoying and useless."

"We're in a story. No matter how messed up it gets, this is still a book. And that means no one is unimportant. Ever." I looked up at M in surprise. She was right. Of course she was, how dumb could I be? If Rina was truly missing, that meant something was up.

"Fine." I sighed, pulling myself to my feet tiredly. "Let's get this over with."

The two of us walked for a long time, calling out the ghost's name. It drew enough attention, that I pulled up my hood and mask again, hiding myself from the curious stares of the elves. Neither one of us talked to the other, unless absolutely necessary. And when we did, it was in short, tense fragments of sentences that just barely got the point across. My throat was feeling hoarse from calling the ghost's name by the time we finally heard a response.

"help… over here…" It was so tiny and faint; at first we didn't hear it at all. "helppp"

"Is that?"

"m… nimm… over here"

"It's coming from that bush!" M pointed off the path. Both of us exchanged a glance before creeping forward and parting the thick branches to look beneath. We found ourselves staring at a little thing. It was Rina, with long blonde hair and flowing white robes. The thing was tangled up in the branches. She was no bigger than the length of my hand.

"Rina?" I asked.

"who else could I be…" the tiny thing snapped feebly trying to pull herself from the branches. "i could really use some help here…" M reached into the branches and pulled the tiny Rina out.

"What happened?" M asked examining the thing in her hand. "You're so tiny! And… and I can touch you!"

"your skills of observation are huge…" the tiny voice replied before Rina collapsed wearily on her palm. "i'll explain everything, but first… could I have some… food…"

M looked over at me before nodding to the tiny person and starting off back to where our provisions were. "So what happened?"

"rivendell is a special place…" Rina explain weakly. "the magic here is strong, and I… I thought maybe… it could be used…"

"What do you mean?" I asked. "You brought yourself into physical form?" Rina nodded that she had. "Why? What went wrong?"

"it was a little more… taxing… then I thought it would be…" she frowned. "but I had to or I would go insane… i thought I could handle it… just watching him… hearing his voice… but it was not… it was never enough…" She smiled sadly. "i want to talk to him… touch him… stare into his eyes and know that for once, they were really staring back…" M and I shared a tired glance. "i- I love him…" she croaked, the tiniest of tears falling from her face. "and if I have to sacrifice my power… brave the wrath of… anyway… it is worth it. anything is worth it…" My eyes fell on her as her words traveled to me. She sure was in love that was for certain. She was willing to risk everything while I… well.

I wasn't even close to that bravery.

She made herself weak on purpose, just to be with some mitten-wearing scribe. It was brave of her, if a little bit idiotic. Suppose he didn't love her back? Or she found out that the real him wasn't what she had thought?

Seeing her gaze on me broke me from my thoughts. And she spoke. "it is a risk worth taking…"

"How did you-"

"M! Nimm! There you two are!" I looked up to see Miley waving to us from an archway ahead. Sute was nestled in a sling in front of her as she walked towards us. "We've been looking everywhere for you two."

"We?" I asked looking over her shoulder to see Bofur, Ori, and Fili coming up the path smiling. Kili was there as well, hanging in the back. But he wasn't smiling. And he definitely wasn't looking up at me.

"What's up?" M asked in confusion.

"Lord Elrond has invited us all to dinner again but you two were still not back so we- what on earth do you have in your hands?" Everyone's attention now shifted to the tiny Rina, who was blushing like mad.

"This is Rina." M introduced. "The ghost that's been following us around the past week."

"That's her?" Ori whispered, approaching slowly before lowering himself until he was on eye level with the tiny spirit. "She's beautiful…" he breathed, gazing in fascination at Rina, who looked like she was about to explode from embarrassment.

"Apparently this place allowed her enough power to take physical form." I explained briefly. "But it's taken a lot out of her, so we're going to go dig up some grub for her to see if it'll help at all." The others nodded except Ori who was still stuck in a trance. Slowly, he raised one hand, extending a finger towards her all friendly like. Rina stared at it for a moment before crawling over M's palm and reaching a tentative hand towards his finger. She seemed to be trembling as she extended her hand further. Her size made the slender hand even more delicate as it slipped onto Ori's large index finger. Both of their eyes opened wide as they stared at each other in silence.

"wow…" she gasped, chest rising and falling rapidly. Ori smiled sweetly, before rising and, keeping his finger steady, gave the tiny spirit a gentlemanly bow. Rina managed to rise to her feet and give a graceful curtsy in return.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Lady Rina." Ori smiled calmly as he stood again.

"and you master ori…" she smiled back shyly. The dwarf put one hand next to M's and escorted the tiny lady over to his own hand with his finger before helping her to sit down gently in his palm.

It was one of the sweetest things I had ever seen. Sappy and dumb, but really really sweet.

Bofur came over and patted the lad on the back, grinning. "Congratulations lad, you've found your One!"

Ori beamed at the older dwarf. "I can't wait to tell Dori!"

"Who?" Fili frowned.

"Hmm?" Ori hummed in confusion.

"Who's Dori?" Fili asked.

"Who?" the scribe frowned.

"Eh forget it," Fili shook her head. "I must be hearing things." The scribe smiled understandingly before turning away to bring Rina back to the others.

Strange… that Dori sounded familiar. Oh well.

^/^ they are sooooo cute. omg I can't contain myself!