Author's Note: Hey everyone! I am so so so sorry for the long delay in getting this new chapter up. The last few years have been rather crazy in my personal life but I know that its no excuse for not progressing in the story for so long. To those who have been patiently waiting for a new chapter: My deepest apologies for taking so long. But I hope that the new chapter combined with the improvements in my writing make up for it. To those who are just now joining us: Welcome to the journey and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed working on it.

My life is slowing down for a bit so I should be able to post more chapters fairly quickly here. Reviews and criticism are highly appreciated.

After having been released from the burlap sack and getting the feeling back in my legs, Fili, Kili and I began looking for the ponies. During our initial scuffle with the mountain trolls, Bilbo had managed to let them out of their pen and they had run off. With no luck the three of us returned to the group. As we passed by Thorin and Gandalf, my fae ears couldn't help but listen in on their conversation.

"Where did you go to, if I may ask," Thorin questioned, walking up to Gandalf.

"To look ahead," came Gandalf's reply.

"What brought you back," Thorin continued, his face clearly not believing Gandalf's sense of humor.

"Looking behind," Gandalf quipped with a half-smile on his face. "Nasty business. Still, they're all in one piece. "

"No thanks to your burglar," Thorin countered, glancing over in my direction. "The woman wasn't too helpful either."

"Bilbo had the nous to play for time," Gandalf pressed. "None of the rest of you thought of that. And from what I saw, Nissa fought bravely."

Even Thorin had to concede at that.

"They must have come down from the Ettenmoors,"Gandalf continued.

"Since when do mountain trolls venture this far south," Thorin questioned looking at the stone enemies.

It was at that moment I realized I had yet to recover the dagger I had fought with, and stopped paying attention to the conversation between Thorin and Gandalf. I began looking all over for it, since the one I had stabbed earlier had thrown it randomly into the bushes. I knew it was a long shot, but it was the only weapon I had to fight with. As I was looking for my dagger, Bilbo came over and told me to follow along with the group. It appeared that they had found the cave the trolls would hide out in during the day.

As the group walked into the cave, I couldn't help but notice the putrid smell coming from it.

Neither could Nori it seemed. "Oh, what's that stench," he asked.

"It's a troll-hoard," Gandalf answered. "Be careful what you touch."

The dwarves began to look around, Bofur, Nori and Gloin focusing on the gold pieces that were lying around. I giggled a little when Gloin told Nori to get a shovel. It seemed they were going to hide the gold from other potential visitors to the cave. Not that anyone was likely to enter it anytime soon with the smell it contained. Walking farther into the cave, I saw Thorin digging through what looked to be a weapons bin. Having not been able to find my dagger, I headed in his direction. The weapons were all covered in dust and cobwebs.

"Find anything interesting," I asked searching for a weapon to replace my dagger.

He held two of the weapons in his hand and said, "These swords were not made by any troll."

Gandalf walked over to inspect the weapons. He took one replying, "Nor were they made by any smith among men." He slowly started to unsheathe the sword in his hand. "These were forged in Gondolin." Surprise was etched on his face and in his voice. "By the high elves of the First Age."

Thorin went to put the sword he was holding back in the bin. Gandalf stopped him by stating, "You could not wish for a finer blade."

Instead of putting it back in the barrel that was holding the weapons, Thorin instead pulled the blade out of its sheath. I couldn't help but be in awe of the weapon he was holding. Just by a glance, I could tell its craftsmanship was one of a kind.

Soon after Thorin called for the group to leave the cave. I couldn't blame him for it, the place was giving me an odd feeling from the moment I had walked in. I turned to head out, not having yet found a weapon of my own, but also not wanting to upset Thorin by staying behind. Outside of the cave the dwarves were looking through some of the random items laying around. Most of it was pillaged from nearby farmsteads and none of them would be useful as a weapon to me.

As Gandalf came out of the cave, I saw him holding a small blade in his hands. "Bilbo," he called out to the hobbit.

"Here," he said, handing the blade to Bilbo. "This is about your size. "

Bilbo took the blade in hand and sighed. "I can't take this," he replied.

"The blade is of Elvish make," Gandalf countered. "This means it will glow blue when orcs or goblins are nearby."

"I..I have never used a sword in my life," Bilbo sputtered out.

"And I hope you never have to," Gandalf answered, reassuringly. "But if you do, remember this: true courage is about knowing not when to take a life...but when to spare one."

Bilbo seemed to acknowledge his need for a way to protect himself, albeit reluctantly.

From his place on the ridge above the cave, Thorin called out, "Something's coming."

Everyone quickly ran to see what was happening, Gandalf warning everyone to stay together and to prepare for a fight. Not having a weapon, I felt defenseless as I grabbed Bilbo and rushed to join the others.

What appeared in front of our ragtag group wasn't anything any of us were expecting.

"Thieves! Fire! Murder," the man clad in brown screamed out as his sleigh pulled to a stop in front of us. His face was wild as he glanced around.

Gandalf appeared relieved as he stepped forward saying, "Radagast. It's Radagast the Brown! Well, what on earth are you doing here?"

The other wizard, Radagast, eagerly replied, "I was looking for you Gandalf. Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong."

"Yes," Gandalf probed questioningly.

Radagast took a deep breath, almost as if he was about to tell a really long story, when he paused, his pointer finger asking for a moment.

"Just give me a minute," he answered, leaving everyone on edge. "Oh, I had a thought, and now I've lost it. It was - It was right there on the tip of my tongue." He paused, seeming to have realized what the issue was again. "Oh, it's not a thought at all. It's a silly old..."

He stuck out his tongue and Gandalf reached out pulling something off of it. "Stick insect," Radagast finished. Gandalf gently placed the bug in Radagast's hand.

Gandalf waved us away to be able to talk to Radagast in peace. While the two wizards talked, I went back to the troll cave, trying again to find some sort of weapon to fight with. Most of the swords in the cave were either too long or felt unbalanced in my hand. I left the cave a second time, more frustrated than before. I walked back to where Fili and Kili were milling about, anxious and wanting to be on the move. Thorin glanced over at me from where he was talking to Balin and Dwalin. There was an unreadable look in his eye that I couldn't place and quickly looked away from him.

"Saw you go back in the cave lass. Looking for gold," Kili asked jokingly.

I smiled at his attempt to cheer me up. "When I left the Kingdom, I was armed only with a small dagger. I lost it in the fight last night against the trolls."

"That's right. I remember seeing you stab one of them in the eye. I bet with a proper weapon, you'd be a force to reckon with," Fili said, making the stabbing motion with his hands. "Did you look through the cave?"

"I did. The weapons in there are of fine craftmanship but either too large or unbalanced for my use."

"We'll keep looking, lass," Kili said, patting me on the shoulder.

It seemed I had been accepted into the group by some of the younger members. Even if I didn't have a place to call home yet, at least I had friends to travel with along the way.

Just then, the group all heard a howl in the distance. It sounded familiar but it was too far off for me to be certain of the source.

"Was that a wolf," Bilbo asked. "Are there wolves out there?"

Bofur walked by, gripping the handle of his pickaxe tightly. "Wolves," he answered fearfully. "No, that is not a wolf."

My suspicions that the noise we had heard belong to the warg confirmed, a low growl rose behind me. I turned around to see a riderless warg sauntering his way towards our group. Wargs are the wild, wolf-like animals the orc and goblins often rode into battle. Knowing I didn't have a weapon to defend myself with, Kili and Fili stood in front of me, pushing my back into one of the trees as the warg rushed the group. The warg pounced on Dori, knocking him to the ground. At the same time, Thorin swung down on it with his new found sword, delivering a killing blow. As he struggled to pull out his sword from the fallen warg, another one came running up from behing him. Kili shot at it with an arrow, causing it to fall and roll down the small hill surrounding us. It stood back up, but before it could go anywhere, Dwalin smashed its head in with his hammer.

Finally pulling his sword free from the first warg, Thorin called out, "Warg scouts. Which means an orc pack is not far behind."

"Orc pack," Bilbo asked incredulously.

I motioned at him to be silent and wait. With him not knowing how to use the blade Gandalf had given him and with me not having one, we needed to be patient to see how this would play out.

"Who did you tell about your quest beyond your kin," Gandalf asked walking up to Thorin.

"No one," Thorin answered gruffly.

"Who did you tell," Gandalf pushed.

"No one, I swear," Thorin insisted. "What in Durin's name is going on?"

"You are being hunted," Gandalf replied looking at their surroundings.

The group looked around at each other, fear and anger flashing through our eyes.

"We have to get out of here," Dwalin said brusquely.

"We can't," Ori reminded everyone. "We have no ponies. They bolted when we fought the trolls."

We looked around at each other, concern for getting out of this in one piece on all of our faces.

In an act of bravery, Radagast called out, "I'll draw them off."

Gandalf turned towards him, brusquely responding, "These are Gundabad wargs. They will outrun you."

With a smile on his face, Radagast countered, "These are Rhosgobel rabbits. I'd like to see them try."

Thorin and Gandalf quickly got the group together, placing Bilbo and myself towards the middle. Fili and Kili tasked with gathering everyone's belongings back at our campsite. I was pleased to see they had grabbed not only my bag, but my cloak as well. As we moved towards the edge of the forest, we could hear more and more howling and distant yelling slowly getting closer and closer. Just as the wargs and their orc riders were about to be on us, Radagast and his rabbits sped off out of the forest, leading them away.

"Come and get me," he yelled, pure joy lacing his laughter. At least one of us was having fun.

Radagast leading the orc pack away from us gave Gandal the opportunity to lead us out of the forest and in the opposite direction of the chase. We came out onto a rolling plain, dotted periodically with large boulders and outcroppings of rock. If I were Gandalf, I would use those to hide our progress.

Our first jaunt led us from the forest to a large outcropping of rock a few hundred feet away. I was still fairly agile considering my stride difference to the dwarves and managed to keep up. Just as we came upon the outcropping, we could hear Radagast's laughter and the snarls and growls of the wargs, almost directly in front of us. We stopped, trying to determine the direction the chase was going.

"Stay together," Gandalf whispered urgently.

Rather than continuing forward, we backtracked, before heading in yet another direction. It almost felt like we were going in circles. It didn't help that Bombur's pack was loaded with all of our cooking utensils. I was concerned that the orcs or the wargs would hear it and stop chasing Radagast.

After taking a moment to catch our breath behind a large boulder, Gandalf yet again had us heading in another new direction.

"All of you, come on," he gestured. "Come on. Quick."

As I ran by Thorin, I overheard him question Gandalf. It was almost like Thorin didn't trust the intentions of the wizard.

"Where are you leading us," he had asked.

I never heard Gandalf's response, if there was one. We crested one of the rolling hills on the plain, moving down the slope towards another outcropping of rock. We were just about to pass it when Radagast led the orc pack back in front of us, Gandalf instantly ushering us closer to the rock in an attempt to hide. We huddled around the side of the boulder, as there was no overhang to hide underneath. While the dwarves and Bilbo attempted to catch their breath, I could faintly hear something moving around on top of the boulder. The growling soon was heard by everyone, and they all tried to quiet their breathing. I heard the sound of a weapon being drawn by the orc above us. I was standing next to Bilbo, Dwalin's arm in front of us both, silently telling us not to move. On his other side was Thorin, who was had the vantage point to see our enemy, he turned his head to the left where Kili stood. Kili was the only archer among the group. Thorin glanced down at the bow in Kili's hands and then up above us. It was clear what the suggestion was. Take aim and kill. The only problem being that he would only have one chance to kill the warg. If he missed, our cover would be blown. Kili drew an arrow, took a deep breath, nodded, and stepped out away from the boulder as quickly as he could. The motion and the sound of the drawstring drew the orcs attention. The warg turned to face him. I couldn't see where the first arrow landed, but by the sound of it, it had to be the warg. Kili quickly notched another arrow and aimed again. The second shot was aimed to bring down the warg and his rider, as they came tumbling down the side of the boulder. The moment they were within reach, Dwalin and a couple of the other dwarves nearest, quickly moved to the task of killing both the warg and the orc. But it was too late. The screams of death are not always quiet and in these rolling hills they tend to echo louder than they would in the forest. It was quickly apparent what our location was. Gandalf was keeping watch while the dwarves finished killing the orc. We could hear the howling, but the echoing plains made it difficult to see where they were. It didn't matter. Gandalf wasted no time in telling us to run for it. There was no hiding this time as Radagast was no longer there to act as decoy.

We ran and ran and ran. I was unfamiliar with the land so to me it seemed as if we were going in circles. The hills we ran over weren't large, but to Bilbo and the dwarves, who were unaccustomed to running for so long, it began to take its toll. Gandalf was realizing it too, as his own pace had started to slow down. That or his age was getting to him. No matter where we turned, the howls of the wargs and the war cries of the orcs shadowed our every step. As we crested yet another hill, the group took a pause.

"There they are," Gloin cried out, pointing directly in front of us.

Following his gaze, a few hills away, was the orc pack that was chasing us.

"Quickly," Gandalf cried out. He had us change direction, placing the pack on our left and more hills to the front of us.

We had reached an area of the plain that was mostly flat and surrounded by the small hills on each side. The group had stopped running. It seemed the orc pack had split up to try and cut us off. Thorin was staring down a few of them ahead of us, while Kili pointed out that more were coming from behind.

"Kili," Thorin yelled out. "Shoot them!"

"We're surrounded," Fili cried out, drawing his own weapon to fight with.

I had turned to Bilbo and was about to convince him to let me use his sword to fight with since I had more experience fighting with it when one of the dwarves yelled out, "Where's Gandalf?"

Bilbo and I were still being herded by Dwalin towards the center of the group, when he replied, "He's abandoned us!"

The orc pack was slowing circling closer to us, hemming us in on all sides.

"Hold your ground," Thorin ordered.

We had nowhere to run, no possible means of escape. It felt like the orcs were playing a game with us. I was afraid that my abilities would make the others hate me. But if it meant keeping them alive, it would be worth it in the end.

I knelt down, burying my hands in the long grass around me. I began to speak to the earth, asking for its help. "Karna I' galad sana thond. Natula vee' y' ram ar' onta y' tinechor." Over and over I kept repeating it. "Make the trees take root. Become as a wall and create a shield." Just as I could feel the trees nearby responding to my call, hope popped out of a hole in the ground.

Gandalf appeared out from behind a small boulder. "This way you fools," he cried out only to disappear again.

Thorin didn't hesitate to follow his advice, standing on the small rock and calling for everyone to move quickly.

I ignored him. I could still feel the power rising in my hands and wanted to hold off to the last possible moment to make my retreat. One by one the dwarves ran past me to the secret passage Gandalf had found. The orcs quickly realized we were making an escape, as one of the wargs attempted to attack. Thorin kept it at bay, quickly killing it. Soon, the only ones left above ground were Thorin, Kili and myself. I heard Thorin call out for Kili to run but in my ears the sound had become muted. I heard a large humming sound building. I saw Kili begin to run towards our escape and slowly stood up. As I did the trees closest to us began to grow at an exponential rate. I was busy watching my handiwork and not paying attention. Kili grabbed my arm as he ran past, dragging me with him. I could barely keep my feet as Kili descended down the mysterious entrance. His grip on my arm was the only thing that kept me standing. As soon as we were down, Thorin joined us, albeit with more grace than I had used.

Just as soon as we were all safe in the tunnel, a horn sounded. The sound was unfamiliar to me. But then again, everything here was, being so far from fae lands. Sounds of battle echoed down to us. Hoofbeats of what could be horses or ponies, the sound of a bow's drawstring as arrows flew, the death cries of the orcs and wargs that had been chasing us. Everyone stood up, looking earnestly towards the entrance for an idea of what was going on. We didn't have to wait long as an orc quickly rolled down the entrance. Gandalf quickly made sure it was dead. Thorin reached down and withdrew the arrow from its neck that had delivered the killing blow.

"Elves," he stated, disgust clear in his voice. I watched as he looked to Gandalf, frustration clear on his face.

Before Thorin could question the wizard, Dwalin called out. "I cannot see where the pathway leads. Do we follow it or no?"

"Follow it of course," Bofur replied taking lead, the other dwarves following suit one by one.

Fili and Kili kept me close. I had a feeling that Kili wasn't too thrilled with my recklessness above ground and wanted to make sure I wouldn't do anything stupid any time soon.

"What were you doing up there," he asked as we walked, validating my suspicions.

"I helped in the only way I could. I called on my gifts to help it just took a bit to work," I answered squeezing myself through a narrow part of the path.

The path was difficult to follow, as it went from narrow to wide as easily as taking a breath. Bombur had difficulty making it through at times. It took almost an hour from when we had started but we eventually came upon an opening, with space to breathe. There was a small waterfall, with steps leading down to a pathway.

That was where we all stopped. Once I saw what lay before us I knew that I had never seen anything of such beauty. The Elder Council of the Fae Kingdom had its Hall of Memories and Valley of Destiny. But those were modest in comparison to what I saw before me. Steep cliffs guarded a city sprawled on the edge of a waterfall.

Gandalf came up from behind. He must have seen the look of pure reverence on my face as he spoke. "The valley of Imladris. To the common tongue its known by another name."

"Rivendell," Blibo replied, his voice giving away his adoration of the place as well.

"Here lies the last homely house east of the sea," Gandalf continued.

Thorin turned back to confront the wizard, anger evident in his features.

"This was your plan all along," he stated, the question not leaving much room for discussion. "To seek refuge with our enemy."

"You have no enemies here, Thorin Oakenshield," Gandalf countered. "The only ill will to be found in this valley is that which you bring yourself."

Everyone was silent, listening to the confrontation between the Dwarven king and the wizard.

"You think the elves will give our quest their blessing," Thorin questioned. "They will try to stop us."

"Of course they will," Gandalf replied, surety in his voice. "But we have questions that need to be answered. If we are to be successful, this will need to be handled with tact. And respect. And no small degree of charm. Which is why you will leave the talking to me."

And with that we descended into the valley.