Billana does not leave the cell for the next four days. She isn't sure how the elleth knew about her true form, but she isn't going to risk being caught and somehow Elladan had managed to convince Legolas that the ravings meant nothing. Billana isn't going to undo all that hard work. Kili, when she tells the boys, has his own theory about it that Fili is quick to brush aside and that leaves her more curious about the other magics in the world than she has ever been. They agree, however, that it would be a good idea for Billana to avoid going past that cell at all if possible, and so she remains with them with only a quick trip to let everyone else know that in four days Elladan and Elrohir will be setting them free.
Those days seem to drag and yet she almost doesn't want them to end. She is with Fili and Kili, and while the cells aren't overly warm she has her lovers to help keep the chill away. She knows them better, as people, than she thinks she has known anyone. They don't have anywhere to hide from each other like this and there is little more telling about a person than the way that they behave in close quarters after a long period with little to nothing to do. She has seen them after a day of riding, she has seen them on a quiet day in Rivendell and at Beorn's when there were still tasks that needed completing and things to occupy their minds. She has seen them under the pressure of an attack and the strangeness of Mirkwood. This is a different kind of pressure, a different place, and even though their tempers have sometimes got the better of them she finds that she doesn't fear them as she had thought she might. The anger of others has always been a source of concern for her, and while she might fear their uncle when he is truly in a temper, Fili and Kili she knows that she can trust.
"You, Billana, are incredibly fortunate," Elladan says when he appears at the cell door one evening after they have been fed.
"In what sense?" She replies, bouncing on her toes at the thought of finally being freed.
"In the sense that you have friends willing to risk their handsome necks to help you," he tells her, and Kili snorts. "And also that I was there the time Tauriel decided to start pointing you out to Legolas."
"How did she know?" She asks as the door opens.
"Tauriel is young, younger even than Legolas if you would believe it," Elladan replies, checking that no one is coming. "And she has risen through Thranduil's ranks with unprecedented swiftness, mostly due to what she can do." They move on to the next cell. "She has what the dwarves might call the Sight. From what I recall, they can use it to see the truth in things, or the lie I suppose. In my people it shows the residue of enchantments used, and it is very likely why she is among the worst affected by the mess of the curse out there. Another good reason to keep my father out of this place. I didn't think she would notice you, or I would have warned you to stay away, but obviously it extends to Wild Magic as much as it does the Gift."
Bifur, Bofur and Bombur have been released by this point, and are having a reunion that is rapidly hushed by Fili when they begin to get too loud. Oin and Gloin are grumbling about being released by an elf when Billana can finally respond.
"What did you tell him?"
"That the chaos the curse induced in her mind was making her see that which could not be," Elladan says. "And which of us would know more; the healer who helped identify her ability in the first place, or her friend?"
"Are you not both?" Kili asks curiously.
"No," he replies shortly. "Better understanding of her ability changed her, not helped by Thranduil's insistence that she needed to remain here rather than come to be trained by my father. This curse must been making itself known even then, he would have wanted to use her to find the source and he gave her an inflated sense of her own importance to do so."
Nori and Dwalin emerge from their cell and the thief has the kind of cat in the cream expression that instantly makes Billana worry. Nori ignores Elladan, but for a sharp grin, and comes straight to Billana's side, flinging her arm about the hobbit's shoulders and squeezing lightly.
"I trust our princes were suitably behaved," she smirks, and Billana flushes. "I hope they're at least deserving of Balin's ire once he gets his hands on them. Are they as good as the rumours say? They're a bit too young for my tastes, but I've always been curious. You can tell Auntie Nori."
"Nori," her brother warns from inside his cell as Elladan looks for the right key, "leave her alone. How about learning from her example instead of corrupting her with yours?"
"If I could have some silence?" Elladan cuts in testily. "I'd rather you not all make so much noise that someone hears. Guards are at a minimum due to the feast, but that won't last if they hear you all bickering like children." That earns him more than one dark look, but Nori abandons her place at Billana's side to go to Ori, who is shaking his head and smiling fondly.
Balin and Dori are quickly released after that and her guardian seems poised to come to her when Dwalin grabs Balin's arm and begins to talk in a low voice. She sees Balin sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose, and she suspects that the topic of 'my brother's wife' has come up between them. Nori hadn't been happy about it and from the looks of things Dwalin isn't exactly thrilled either, no matter what the two have them had been doing in their cell. The discussion remains quiet, however, and they all follow Elladan, though she cannot help but notice that he is taking them deeper in rather than towards his rooms or the exit as she had believed was the plan. Then she recalls that they have to get Thorin, who will probably be rather put out at being the last one to be retrieved, and she follows silently.
Elrohir meets them with Thorin as they approach a store room and they are all ushered inside quickly to take possession of their belongings. It is nice to have her things again, even if the pack is emptier than she would like. She glances at the twins who are holding a frantic hushed conversation between themselves.
"We were told there would be supplies," Thorin grumbles.
"They're at the exit of the passage we intended on leading you to," Elladan waves him off and turns back to his brother. "Are you certain?" He demands.
"Positive. I heard the report delivered myself," Elrohir replies. "Our report that the mountains were suspiciously clear of orcs and goblins has Thranduil worried. He's set extra patrols and they'll be too close to the tunnel exit for the dwarves to get out quietly. They've probably already found the supplies."
"Why didn't you tell me about this before?" Elladan hisses.
"Because I didn't know it for certain until they nearly came across me unlocking Thorin's door," Elrohir replies. "Plan B?"
Elladan turns to them all and he looks a little unnerved to find thirteen dwarves and a hobbit all glaring at him.
"At least we have a plan B," he mutters. "Come along, before they catch us here."
"And how do we know that you aren't playing us false?" Thorin demands. "This is something that you should have been aware of before releasing us."
"Do you want to get out of here or not?" Elrohir asks. "Because for my part I'm more than happy to take all of you back to where we found you and leave this place with Billana."
That prompts some more grumbling, but Thorin draws back and nods, allowing them to follow the twins out of the storeroom and down another corridor. The twins mutter softly about the noise of dwarf boots as they go, one or other of them ranging ahead and behind to check for patrols. That, at least, Billana knows that they are very good at, and the fact that they managed to come up with a contingency plan has to come from the pranks they like to play at home. She isn't so certain of how well they've managed to plan, however, when she discovers that they have led them to the wine cellar. The dwarves aren't happy either.
"Just get in the barrels," Elrohir hisses, glancing at the elves who lie insensate at a nearby table. "They drop the barrels into the river once a week and let them float down to the lake. They aren't due to go until tomorrow, but we'll get away with doing it now if you shut up and do what we say."
"There's a problem with your marvellous plan, oh wise sons of Elrond," Nori pipes up. "There's only twelve barrels."
"None of us are small enough to share," Bofur points out, "how do we choose which of us is left behind?"
"We don't," Billana replies. "I'll stay, if I put my things in with one of you I can fly out."
"I'll stay as well," Kili adds, glancing at his brother who looks like he is about to object to the plan at length. "I can do the same with my things, if these two can hide me on the way up?"
For a moment Billana thinks that Elrohir will object to helping them get Kili out of the cellar but Elladan mutters something too quietly for her to really hear and his twin withdraws. Fili, however, is not so easily silenced, even as she and Kili are undressing he is making his objections to the plan known. If something happens to them or the other elves catch them there is every chance that he will lose his brother and the one he is courting all at once. She meets his worried eyes with her own, and reaches up to touch his cheek with her hand. Then she takes a chance.
"Will you take out my braid?" She asks and sees a flush coat his cheeks. "I know what I'm asking," she whispers, remembering the long ago conversation over dinner about unbinding hair. "I know what I'm offering," she glances at Kili who is also staring at her. "I love you, both of you, and-"
Whatever else she had to say goes unsaid as Fili drags her into his arms. She clutches his coat, not able to do anything more under the ferocity with which he kisses her and she hears a number of throats clear uncomfortably. Kili's fingers are already working the beads out of her hair, leather pouch in hand to store them in and he hands them to Fili when the pair break apart.
"This is possibly the most beautiful thing I've seen in all my thousands of years," Elladan observes drily, "but I would be so much happier if we could get on the escape plan and leave the emotional confessions until we've got you all out."
"I could watch a little bit more," Nori smirks, and Bofur quietly adds his agreement only to have Bifur whack him on the back of the head.
"Please, just get in the barrels," Elrohir almost whines.
"The elf is correct," Thorin sneers at Elrohir, "the quicker we get inside the quicker we get out of this pit."
This time the remaining dwarves scramble to obey, placing their bags and weapons into the barrels as they climb inside. Billana hands her pack and little sword to Fili, while Kili gives his to Thorin, and the pair of them stand to one side to watch as the twins check that everyone has a space and is secure enough.
"Wish we could say it was a pleasure," Elladan says, "but we all know that would be a lie." He pulls a lever and the barrels roll down a ramp into the rushing river below.
"Why is that one naked?" Elrohir asks, pointing at Kili with a look of distaste that speaks volumes.
"Kili can turn into a raven," Billana replies before Kili can make a snide remark.
"Of course he can," the elf sighs. "One day, you are going to tell us the entire story of how you met them. I have a feeling it is far more interesting than we were led to believe."
A.N: Like I was going to deprive them all of the fun of a barrel ride.