Answers to Reviews:

Auguruj: Yeah, pissed doesn't even begin to cover it. I mean, she's gone to all this hard work to get them where they are, and now they're acting like children yet again...it's enough to driver her absolutely mad! And as for her being able to slam her blade through the table...well, ordinarily she wouldn't have been able to but (because it was definitely necessary, and because I wanted to do something like that because I live for the sort of drama those moments bring about) a certain god who lives in halls filled with galaxies may have lent her enough strength for a second to allow her to make that table look like butter, because as you said, her screaming like a maniac then breaking her blade on the table would definitely not be scary enough to make them rethink their choices XD Yeah she's got a lot riding on her, especially since she doesn't know how this is going to play out, because she doesn't know where Damien is or what exactly he's planning. And yep, once this is over (if she survives) she's gonna have a huge choice to make...but, this is a Thranduil x OC story, and we haven't quite got to that point yet, so...well, I'll leave you to have a think about that one, see if you can guess what I've done ;)

Potato-Faye: She be so fiery that even Smaug can't stand the heat!

Silver Sugar Duchess: Yaaaay another person recently joined! I always love getting reviews from new people (and reviews in general lol) as it means my story still has enough pull to catch people's interest and then keep it (hopefully)! Welcome to the journey, and I hope you've enjoyed it so far! That's exactly my reasoning for keeping things so super slow! It's rare that I find a fanfic that stays nice and steady and realistic, as most of them just jump straight into a relationship...which is fine if the character in question is like that, but with ones like Thranduil it has to be slow, otherwise it's very jarring and just throws you out of the story a bit...so, as they say, I wrote the story that I wanted to read ^^ Yep, they'll realise it eventually (but even then it'll take some time before they openly admit their feelings, so plenty of pining and fluff before the true moment arrives) and yep, I'm gonna go waaaaaay beyond the BoFA...I'm planning on keeping things going right up to the Dagor Dagorath and a little beyond that, covering Thranduil and Fennas life in Middle-earth, their eventual departure to Valinor and then their life there, as I have plenty of moments I want to write about, so rest assured, there's plenty of story yet to come!

iceflower333: Welcome to the story! Good to know it's engaging enough for people to still be binging it, and good to know that you're enjoying it so far! Everything in this story is a lot of fun to write about, and I always love hearing that people think my OC's and the original characters seem...well, in character :D I had to put some horsey bits in, because I'm absolutely horse mad myself, so it's sort of a natural instinct to write about it haha. Aww, that's so good to know, definitely gives me the motivation to keep writing what is now an absolute beast of a story!

GaaraSandNiN: Glad it was worth waiting for, and here's hoping this one was well worth waiting for as well!

Me: Hey guys, sorry for the late-ish update! My laptop was getting serviced as the cable for the screen display was on the fritz and needed replacing asap, so it had to go in way earlier than I expected it to...but it's back now, and I can finally post the next chapter! This is where shit starts to get real, so I suggest you...buckle...up Thranduil what the hell are you doing?

Thranduil: *clinging to his throne as if his life depends on it, looking absolutely terrified*

Me: Thranduil? Hey, Thranduil...Thrandy...come on, talk to me dude! *tugs at his arms until he looks at me* There we go...come on, speak, tell me what's going on in that pretty head of yours.

Thranduil: Don't...don't let them take me again!

Me: Who?

Thranduil: The...the place where your laptop went...had to go with it...the story...they took the laptop apart! *starts crying*

Me: Aww man...I told you they were just doing a service, that they wouldn't touch the story...come on, it's ok...*reaches out and pulls Thranduil from his throne, huffing as he leans his entire weight on me and nearly squashes me* Hey...come...on, let's go get some hot...chocolate, alright? They're not gonna take the laptop again...come on, this way...

60: Down Comes the Rain

I can deal with ambushes, I can deal with running headlong at an enemy I know is far superior to me, I thought, fingers spinning a rock this way and that as I stared out at nothing, but waiting…oh it's killing me inside! This is the only time I think I'll find myself wishing for the fight to hurry up and drag its ass to us!

With a huff I threw my rock as hard as I could, watching it tumble through the air before disappearing out of sight. Well, my sight, anyway.

"If that piece of grass had been Damien, you would have hit him quite squarely on the head," Bainor said with a slight laugh as he folded down beside me, carelessly swinging his armour covered legs back and forth from the edge of the rocky outcrop we were on.

"Only if he didn't have that stupid barrier around him...or maybe rocks are something that can go through it. I'll have to try that," I replied with a grin, leaning happily into the side hug my friend offered me. It was quite a task to get it right, given that we were in full armour, but we managed it.

"If it does, we will all have to replace our arrows with them. It would make for a small bit of entertainment, seeing the faces of our enemies as they realised we were throwing rocks at them," my friend chuckled, picking up a hunk of stone to his left and tossing it lightly into the air before offering it to me. Unable to help my own small laugh, I plucked it from his palm, weighed it in my own, and then launched it after the other one, watching as it once more sailed far and away down into the valley. My right shoulder twinged, protesting at the excess of overhead action, but I ignored it. Dislocations could go suck on a bag of dragon scales, for all I'd decided to care about them and any lasting damage mine had done me.

"Will they take the bait?" Bainor mused, eyes fixed upon the distant swirl of carrion birds, their sheer mass darkening the sky until it looked as though a living storm was heading our way.

"Of course. They are an army made up of Wargs and Orcs and Goblins…so not the brightest bunch of stars in the sky. They have Damien with them, yes, but he knows they'll still have to head to this valley if they want to take the mountain," I said, trying my best to sound reassuring. Truth be told, I wasn't all that sure if this would be the case, but there was no way I was going to let my worries take me now. I owed it to Bainor, to Thranduil, and to everyone else here, to be at my sharpest, or the knife edge everything was balanced on was more than likely going to stab me in the ass. And I've already been stabbed more than enough times to last me a lifetime...plus I don't think Thranduil would be all that amused if I came out of this battle with a knife in my butt…haaaaah, now there's something I have no doubt would leave him speechless for a while.

For a little while Bainor kept me company, greeting Aeolus when the stallion wandered over and commenting on the armour gleaming all over him. I'd been quite shocked when I'd called him over about half an hour ago and found him sporting several metal plates and a swath of chainmail around his neck and under his belly, and I had yet to find out who'd done my precious horse and myself such a favour. I had my suspicions, though.

All too soon, a crystalline note sounded all along the Southern spur of the mountain, and the happiness evaporated from my auburn haired friend.

"Ahh...it appears to be time to return to our companies in preparation," Bainor sighed, glancing over his shoulder to where other soldiers were weaving between each other, nodding and murmuring words of good luck and safe fighting as they went.

"I guess I'd best let you go then," I sighed, managing to keep some semblance of a smile on my lips as I added, "don't want you being late and being made to wait right at the back, do we?"

"No. Thurindor would be sure to win our little competition if that happened."

"Competition?"

Bainor's grin returned for a heartbeat. "Yes. The two of us are going to see who can kill the greatest number of our enemies. The winner will have bragging rights until the next battle of this size."

It took a moment, but when the Elf's words registered, I couldn't help but burst out into incredulous laughter, uncaring of who heard me. Bainor tilted his head to one side, giving me an odd look as I raised a hand to my mouth, trying not to let my laughter become hysterical.

"What's so amusing?" he asked when I finally managed to restrain myself to the occasional hiccup or titter.

"Nothing really…it's just that I know two other people who like to make competitions out of fighting, and how many enemies they can take down," I smiled, biting my lip as my thoughts turned to one scene in particular: one that I hoped to Eru would actually happen in this version of the storyline.

"You are a strange woman, Fenna," my friend said with a shake of his head, and though he smiled as he spoke, there was a tone in his voice that had me frowning.

"Hey, don't say it like that. We'll both get through this. And if one of us doesn't, then it gives the other a chance to go on a quest for revenge and have tales sung about them by bards all across Middle-earth!"

"…As I have just said, you are a strange woman," Bainor repeated, and I could tell he was trying hard to conceal his true thoughts behind the forcefully light tone he adopted. Next moment, though, his poor attempt at a mask fell, and he was pulling me into a tight hug, burying his head in my pauldron-covered shoulder and tugging lightly on my braided hair.

Damn this all, I thought as I returned the embrace, taking deep, calming breaths and fighting against the sudden pool of moisture behind my eyes. I know it's my job to keep things as they should be…but I wish I didn't have to. I wish I didn't have to say goodbye and not know if it's final or not.

"Stay safe, and stay close, Bainor," I murmured after a few precious moments more of staying right where I was.

"I will do my best…and you had best try and do the same, else I will make you sing in front of as many of my kin as I can gather," my friend replied as he, holding me as close as he could for a second longer, pulled back, the barest hint of a smile visible. I laughed.

"Ha, I think that would be more of a punishment for them than it would be for me."

"True, very true," Bainor said, smile lifting ever so slightly higher before falling away as another note from the horn sounded, calling to the stragglers. The Elf in front of me, however, made no move to leave my side; instead, he seemed to be thinking and thinking hard, a small crease appearing between his brows.

"Bainor?" I questioned softly, wondering just what it was that was flickering in his pale blue eyes. He, fighting some internal battle, took a deep breath, about to say something…and then shook his head and sighed.

"After," he hummed, more to himself than anyone else. Before I could even raise an eyebrow in askance, Bainor leant forwards and pressed a butterfly kiss to my forehead, lips lingering for just a moment.

"May Eru guide your sword, so that we may meet again when this battle is done," my friend murmured, flowing to his feet and offering me a tiny lift of his lips.

"…And yours," I replied, still trying to figure out what Bainor was hiding from me, and what he meant by 'after'. Bowing his head, and looking as far from his usual self as I'd ever seen him, one of the dearest companions I had in this world turned and started off, away from me and to a future whose ending I didn't know…

"Bainor!" the Elf turned back to me, tilting his head as I cocked a half grin at him.

"Make sure you beat your brother in that competition of yours, else I'll never let you hear the end of it!"

"I will beat him so soundly that he will never wish to speak of it!"

"Good. Now go on, get going. Go find a space at the front." This time, as he went to leave, Bainor's smile was lighter, and some of the spark had returned to his eyes. I watched him, watched until I could only see his uncovered head above the ridge of the spur we were on, watched until the last shine of his autumn hair had disappeared from where the winter light could reach on this rocky terrain.

"Does it ever get any easier?"

"The moment it does, then I will know that the time has come for me to sail for Valinor," came a soft river of sound from behind me, and I nodded. If there was one thing I could count on Thranduil for, it was being brutally honest. Staring out at the seemingly empty valley, I sighed and shook my head.

"I wish there was a way to just…I don't know, bottle everything up somewhere inside me until the fighting is done, so I could concentrate on what I need to do…but I guess, like you said, that would mean I'd be just as bad as the guys we're fighting," I murmured, leaning back against the Elvenking's legs and closing my eyes against the cold wind blowing in from the north.

"As you well know, trying to keep everything held within you is more likely to result in you becoming so overwhelmed that you simply fall to the floor and weep," Thranduil said from above me, though his words held no malice. I tipped my head in acknowledgement – that had happened several times over the past year, and each time my pale haired friend had simply sat beside me and waited for me to find the silver lining in the storm clouds hanging over me.

"Thank you for the armour for Aeolus, by the way," I said quietly after a little while, Thranduil knowing to give me a moment to gather my thoughts and let a single tear trail down my cheek.

"It is only right that those you love are as safe as possible," the Elvenking answered in a satisfied voice, and a small node of happiness return to me as I felt a hand come to rest lightly on my head. I'd not really noticed until recently, but the Elvenking seemed to take great delight in finding ways to lift my mood, much as I did for him.

"Have you done as I asked?"

"Huh?" I could have sworn I heard Thranduil roll his eyes at my obliviousness.

"Have you placed the scale beneath your armour?"

"Oh! Yes, I have…keeps squishing my bo-well, it keeps squishing something not meant to be squished," I muttered, prodding myself on the left side of my chest. For some reason I couldn't fathom – though when, really, was I ever able to fathom out any of the King of the Woodland Realm's reasoning? – I'd been told by my friend/momentary leaning post this morning that I was to place the dragon scale I'd taken from Erebor beneath my armour and over my heart. When I'd tried to protest by saying that, rightfully so, it would be uncomfortable and would squash something that shouldn't really be squashed in such a way, I'd just been given a look that said Thranduil would take matters into his own hands if I didn't comply.

"If it turns a blade from your heart and keeps you alive, then I am willing to listen to any complaints you may have."

"Listen? More like just block them out as you usually do," I grumbled, though I wasn't so annoyed that I felt like giving up the comfortable position I was currently in just to prove a point. Besides, as Thranduil had said, if it kept someone from stabbing me in such a vital area, then it would be worth the discomfort.

My thoughts were interrupted as a low, ominous ululation sounded in the distance, and the muffled tramping of feet that even I'd been able to hear for a little while now became a thunderous vibration I could have sworn I could feel in my bones. Looks like they've taken the bait, I thought, a shiver of adrenaline running through me. Or was it fear? I couldn't tell anymore – the two had become so intertwined over the past few weeks that the distinction between them had almost faded.

After a moment more of statuesque stillness as my leaning post, Thranduil shook himself from his thoughts and bent down. I let out a surprised squeak as I felt myself being lifted up and stood on my feet, and another when something cold and metal was set on my head.

"It is time," Thranduil murmured, hands drifting to my shoulders after making sure my helm was straight. "Do not get yourself killed or injured."

"Or what? You'll lock me in your study again?" I replied with a slightly shaky laugh, though my mirth faded when I was turned around.

"I am being serious, mell pen," the Elvenking said quietly, blue eyes filled with concern he didn't bother to hide.

"Don't worry, I'm not planning to do anything stupid…well, too stupid anyway," I managed after a moment, though even to me my voice didn't sound all that sure. If I was going to deal with Damien, I was probably going to have to do something exceedingly stupid, something that would put my life at risk even in the best of circumstances. Rewards outweigh the risks, though.

"It is my job to worry about you, seeing as you do not do it yourself," Thranduil said, squeezing my shoulders and offering the faintest curve of a smile. He knew, and accepted, that I was going to have to go and fight Damien myself, and had told me he was willing to let me do so…but that didn't mean he was happy about it.

"Hey, I worry about myself plenty," I exclaimed as Thranduil slipped an arm around my shoulders and guided me towards where Aeolus and Rîrandír were stood, earning a raised eyebrow and a slight widening of his smile despite the apprehension edging it.

"You do plenty of things, Fenna, but worry about your safety above that of others is far and away from that list," my friend said, easily giving me a leg up on to my stallion.

"It's kind of hard to worry about myself when I've got the fate of this world in my hands…well, to a certain degree, anyway."

Once more, the Elvenking's expression became serious, something I couldn't quite read twining with the worry in that timeless gaze of his.

"For once, mell Fenna," he said after a little while, resting a hand over one of my own, "Try. You have danced dangerously close to far too many swords for the sake of this world as of late…I will not see this be the one that finally cuts you."

It was both an age and but a moment before the front runners of the enemy army – Goblins mounted on hyena-like Wargs – came into view, baying for the blood of the men and horses hurtling over the ground ahead of them. So few made it back…and so many of them still left. I swallowed as the rest of the army poured into view, a roiling mass of creatures too numerous to count and so filled with weapons it looked to be one giant, spike covered animal come to take the lives of everything in its path. And we're going to be charging into that…great. On second thoughts maybe it isn't such a good idea to be right at the front of things…there's still time to go sit with Bilbo…

I gazed over to where the Hobbit was currently perched, right at the tip top of a rock at the entrance to the ruins of Ravenhill. …No. I'm not a coward…and I'm definitely not going anywhere near that place if I can help it. I've seen it far too many times in my nightmares this month already.

The screeching of the carrion birds as they searched for their place to wait out the coming battle dragged my attentions away from the Dwarven structure, and I started at how much distance the enemy had covered in that one look away. They were almost completely into the valley now, boiling up its sides and crashing through the river in their bid to reach the seemingly unguarded mountain. So close…it was almost time.

"I cannot see Damien amongst their ranks," Thranduil murmured from his perch on Rîrandír's armoured back. I clenched one armoured hand, fighting not to let frustration get the better of me.

"He's there somewhere, I know it. There's no way he'd miss this." The last of the ranks of Goblins and Wargs and orcs – who were mainly in the middle of things, surrounding a great, armour covered figure whom I could only assume to be Bolg – stepped into the open arms of Erebor's spurs, and a wave of tension seemed to settle over the Elves around and behind me. It was time.

"Would you care to give the command?"

"W-what? Me?"

Thranduil gave me a smile, a momentary light in the oncoming darkness. "You have mentioned before that, grim as it is, you would like to be the one to signal a charge into battle… and here is your chance. You know what needs to be said and done." Me? Start one of the greatest battles of the Third age of Middle-earth…

I glanced around me, at the archers with their bows held tightly, at the ranks of spear and swordsmen and women hidden behind rocks and scree a little way below us, their weapons, like mine, glowing ghostly white with the creatures they loathed the most being so close. At the ring Thranduil had given me where it lay snug around my right index finger. All were still. All were waiting.

"Well…I'm never going to get this opportunity again," I murmured in Westron before, with a roll of my shoulders, straightening up on Aeolus and spinning him half about. Sod it. Let's do this!

"Tangado i chui!" I called, raising a hand into the air. As one perfect unit, every single archer drew from their quiver an arrow whose tip glowed white and strung it, pulling their great long bows back with barely any effort. Ohhh, I can see why Thranduil mentioned liking this as well… Alright, one…two…three and-

"Hado!" (Fire!) With barely a sound the arrows soared from their bows and into the sky, arcing up so high they disappeared amongst the low skimming clouds.

My twin blades sang as I drew them from their scabbards, glinting wickedly. Yeah, I can definitely see why Thranduil likes this part of things…I feel like a god! And this isn't even going to be half as epic a charge as the Riders of Rohan or that of Aragorn at the Black Gate!

"Si!"(Now) I cried and, magnificent steed that he was, Aeolus reared up and pawed at the air just as I stabbed a blade towards the sky. "Ath thûr! Ath thûr!" (To victory! To victory!)

And so, as the arrows began to fall like a deadly white rain, so too did we, a storm front of swords, spears and wizardry that would show no mercy to any who stood in our way. The Battle of the Five Armies had begun.

Translations:

mell = dear

mell pen = dear one

Tangado i chui! Prepare the bows!

Hado! = Fire!

Si! = Now!

Ath thûr! Ath thûr! = To victory! To victory!

Next Time...

61: Storms Eye

Spinning about, ready to charge towards where Thorin and the others were trying to fight their way to the ugly brute called Bolg at the centre of things, I spotted something strange. Something that froze my heart almost as effectively as that horn had. A figure, small spikes sticking out from their blackened armour, slinking along the Southern spur of Erebor, no-one there to stop them, the orcs and Goblins swarming there simply avoiding them.

Damien…and he's heading straight for Ravenhill-

Sky and bodies were all I could suddenly see as I was grabbed by the ankle and yanked from Aeolus. The blood-soaked ground rushed to meet me, but somehow I managed to right myself before the wind could be snatched from me. I whirled, blocking the blade that would have cut my throat with one of my own, and next moment I was forced to fight for my life.

Me: Feeling better?

Thranduil: *wrapped up in lots of blankets next to me, holding his third cup of hot chocolate* A little, yes, thank you...but...don;t let them take your laptop again...*shudders*

Me: Don't worry, you can stay with me next time...planned to keep you with me this time but didn't have a chance to fetch you before my laptop had to go in...besides, it's better now isn't it? No screen flickering, no spending 5 minutes adjusting the screen until it finally comes ti life!

Thranduil: I...suppose...at least now we can continue the story uninterrupted...

Me: *drinking the last of my hot chocolate* Exactly! And that's a really good things, as shit is about to hit the fan...so, to everyone out there, have fun with this chapter, and the next few, because it's one hell of a ride!