Beryl had plenty of time to think at the gigantic party thrown for the 'Return of the Dwarves of Erebor.' Everybody seemed happy to see them, including some few hopefuls that expected the river to immediately start flowing gold. Everyone, except one very somber gentleman who eyed Beryl with curiosity and the Dwarves with suspicion, but even he wasn't enough to really occupy her thoughts for long. Not even the now not-talking-to-each-other Thorin and Wren could occupy the largest section of her thoughts for long. No, her thoughts were still tumbling as if in that barrel on the rapids still.

"Confess, you didn't expect this. We surprised you for a change." Fili's smug grin, and her inability to talk at the moment still rankled. They really had surprised her by pulling in Tauriel to help them. She had seen the interest between the elf maid and Kili, thinking perhaps their friendship would soothe relations between the two races. They were going to be neighbors, afterall. She didn't expect a full blown romance capable of turning the elf's loyalties. She also hadn't expected Thorin's reaction, though perhaps she ought to have, given what she had witnessed. Who knows what else had happened to Thorin when she wasn't there?

More importantly, more worrisomely, it had finally registered on Beryl she was betrothed to Thorin's heir. His. Heir. One day, hopefully in some long distant future, Fili would be expected to lead the Mountain. If she were still alive, then, she'd be expected to rule with him. That was another worry. If she were alive. If she took after Old Took, she could look forward to another hundred years, maybe. Fili was a young dwarf, and could look forward to two hundred more years, easily. What sort of lonely future was she tying him to? Here her thoughts became truly maudlin. She remembered Kili's voice declaring Tauriel his One. Fili had said no such to her, perhaps she was simply a passing fancy. The wine she had been enjoying became tasteless in her mouth. She honestly couldn't decide if that were a good thing or not. She decided to call it a night, and got up to leave.

"Now, I know something is wrong, when a Hobbit leaves her plate half full and the party still going. What's amiss?" Beryl was surprised, again. She expected all the Dwarves to be occupied with the party in their honor, but no, and it was Gloin, of all people.

"Would you believe it's because my mind is too full?" Beryl hedged. Gloin simply folded his arms over his chest, waiting. "I'll take that as a no. In all honesty, I don't know where to begin, and I think I'd really prefer to sleep on it, rather than trying to puzzle the whole thing out tonight."

Gloin's expression softened at that. "Alright, Lass, I ken ye don' want to talk about it right now, but remember that you do have people you can share the burden with. You don' have to solve the world's woes by yourself." Gloin patted her shoulder in a comforting manner as he passed her, headed back towards the tables.

Beryl dawdled along the boardwalk, taking in the breeze off the lake and watching the cloud spattered sky above. The moon was waxing and the wispy clouds glowed in its light. It went a long way to soothe her jumbled thoughts. She hadn't worked through anything yet, but at least now she felt she could. That was a victory in and of itself, of a sort. Too bad her hard won equanimity was about to be shattered.

"Do you know what's waiting for you in that mountain?" The question was quietly spoken, but it shattered the silence as completely as a clap of thunder. Beryl turned around to find the somber man from before behind her, casually leaning against one of the many pylons on the walkway.

"If you mean the fire breathing menace, then yes. I do, in fact, know a dragon is waiting for us up there. It has to be dealt with sooner or later." Beryl replied as calmly as her still galloping heart would allow her. How did she not hear his approach?

"All you will do is wake the dragon to wreak ruin upon us all. How can you go along with this? The Dwarves' desire I can understand clouding their judgement. What I cannot understand is how you, a stranger with no ties, got pulled into this folly. Was it the promise of treasure." He had approached her, almost like a stalking predator, until he was practically looming over her and staring with those scary intent eyes. She silently thanked Thorin and Dwalin for all the practice dealing with scary, looming men.

She laughed at him. She laughed until she had to sit there in the middle of the boardwalk. Strangely enough, he joined her when she weakly motioned for him to. His feet dangled so far over the side they nearly touched the water below. Once her laughter allowed her to draw breath, she answered him.

"There is not treasure enough in the world to draw a Hobbit out of her Hole, Mister?" She waited for him to supply a name.

"Bard, usually called the Bowman." He was studying her again, as if trying to puzzle her out. She wished him luck with it.

"Well, Bard the Bowman, allow me to instruct you on Hobbits. You apparently have met very few of us, if you thought a mountain of treasure was enough incentive to tweak a living dragon's nose." She settled herself, and watched him shift uncomfortably where he sat. This was a dynamic she was more familiar with, and knew very well how to handle.

"I have many reasons to be on this venture. Curiosity is one, seeing what's past my comfortable boundaries." She watched his careful nod. "Empathy was another. They've dreamed long of regaining their home. They're friends, family more like, and everyone deserves a home. None of that really matters to you, so consider this one, then: that dragon needs dealing with. Isn't it better to determine the when and how, rather than waiting for him to come out and catch you unawares?" She waited calmly, and patiently, for Bard's reply. She knew her arguments were sound, and that they had found their mark.

"I think it may be a good thing Hobbits are fond of their homes, if they are all as crafty as you." Bard leaned comfortably against the piling at his shoulder, his feet still freely swinging above the water. "What preparations would you suggest?"

"Well for one, I'd clear Laketown out. Move everyone under the cover of the trees. You may lose the town, if he wakes, but at least the people would be alive to rebuild. If he thinks he's destroyed the town and all in it, he'll have no reason to go looking further for vengeance."

"And why would he think that? Surely he will notice nobody running scared during his attack?"

"Because I'll make sure to go at night, he'll think he caught you all unawares. Though, it wouldn't hurt to have a backup plan. I'm all ears."

"It will take a day or two to gather what your Company needs for the trip to the Lonely Mountain. I will see what can be done in that time, though I'm afraid my credit is small with the Master of Laketown." He chuckled to see Beryl's shudder.

"I have seen dead toads more agreeable than that man. I think it stands you in good favor to be on the outs with him." Beryl did not expect the laughter or the pat on her shoulder following her words.

"Beryl?" Beryl and Bard both turned to see Fili standing a few feet away.

"Fili!" Beryl offered him a welcoming smile, but his narrowed gaze never left the human sitting so comfortably next to her. "Come join us, perhaps you have an idea or two to offer in case the dragon wakes?" Beryl patted the empty place next to her, but Bard was already drawing himself up to his impressive height, even for a human.

"I think enough plotting and thinking has been done tonight. I, for one, am for bed. I will call on you, Beryl Baggins, should anything more occur to me." Beryl nodded absently, still watching Fili. His hands had fisted as Bard passed him, barely giving him room enough to pass on the boardwalk.

"Fili?"

"Why were you sitting so cosily with him?"

"What?" Beryl shook her head. "I wasn't feeling well, and headed for our rooms. He met me on the way, asking me if i knew of the dragon waiting us in Erebor. Why are you acting so oddly?"

"What am i to think? My betrothed leaves me alone at the feast, and i find her cosily sitting off alone with another laughing!"

"You were jealous?" Beryl took a moment to run through everything. "You were jealous of someone whose name I only just learned? Fili, I don't know whether to be flattered, flustered, or furious with you." She drew herself up from her sitting position and wrapped comforting arms around her Dwarf, resting her head comfortably on his chest, some of her qualms quieted. She obviously mattered enough to invoke jealousy. Perhaps she'd been borrowing trouble?. "Shush ye, believe it or not, I was upset because of something you haven't told me."

She listened as his heart calmed its frantic pace and his arms drew her close, his head resting atop hers. She felt his next words as much as heard them. "And what have I forgotten to tell you?"

"Kili called Tauriel his One...I know what that means." She did not expect the laughter bubbling in his chest. She huffed at him.

"There's a reason for that, Beryl. You're not just my One. You're my Everything." She had no choice, she simply melted into his arms. They stayed that way a long while, watching the wispy white clouds float across the star strewn sky.