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Into That Good Night

Chapter 15: Feelings of Home Away From Home

I finally got to go to the stream to bathe.

The animals were right, I really did smell. When I went to pull off my coat and tunic, I felt the bile pooling in the back of my throat as I gagged. I had been on some pretty long quests before, but none of them had been quite like this.

At least in Tartarus I wasn't there long enough to deal with the 3 week stench of not being able to clean my hair properly.

Unfortunately, I didn't bring any elvish hair wash so I was kind of screwed in that department.

I dipped a toe in the water, feeling the temperature first before running in with laughter on my lips. My body started to finish healing from the wounds of Goblin Town and the face off with the orcs on the cliff's edge, where the remaining cuts and bruises slowly faded into scars.

I knew that some damage was always going to be there, but that didn't mean that I didn't have the ability to heal.

Just like my mind, I suppose.

"I knew that I'd find you here," Varis's voice cut me out of my thoughts. "It's a good thing, too. You really needed to clean yourself."

I shrugged, splashing some water in her direction aimlessly. "You should wash up too, Vare." I turned around to give her a sly wink. "You have someone you need to impress."

A blush slowly seeped across her features. "I need to impress no one."

She took off her clothes and walked in, undoing her braids more and more with each step she took.

I raised a brow, noticing that she was still flaunting blushed cheeks. "Yeah, that'd be true if no one also meant Kili, but we both know that's not right," I jested, dunking my head under the water to avoid the splash she sent my way. When I surfaced, she had her arms firmly set across her chest in a pout. "Stop lying to yourself, you know the truth."

Varis rolled her eyes before dipping her hair back into the water with a sigh. "I do not know what you mean."

I felt a smile cross my lips. "But you do know what amralime means, don't you?"

Her eyes widened. "Wha-"

I threw my head back and laughed at the blatant shock. "Yes, I heard everything. Tell me, is the little princling a good kisser?"

She let out a choking sound.

I laughed even harder. "I'm gonna take that as a yes."

I kept poking fun at her, but she diligently kept washing herself off of all the mud and grime that came from walking across Middle Earth. I wasn't too surprised that she was obviously avoiding talking about the prince, I mean, it was Varis, and Varis didn't do too well with emotions.

Which was quite odd considering Kili was really an emotional dwarf who wore his heart on his sleeve.

When I questioned her about that, she shrugged. "He compliments me. Just as you do Glorfindel."

I winced. "You do realize that Goldilocks and I aren't on the best of terms, right?"

Varis grinned. "You'll find your way back to each other. I can feel that you are meant to be."

My eyebrows raised as I ran my fingers through the water absent-mindedly. "So you think that you and Kili are meant to be, too?"

Her smile softened, causing me to stiffen in shock. "I hope so."

I felt myself blink rapidly. "Are you going soft on me?"

She laughed. "I can promise you I am just as much of a warrior as I was before." Her eyes drifted off as she stared into the distance. "But only now, I have something else to fight for."

I nodded. "I can understand that."

That was something I had learned two years ago. I had more than just my past to fight for. Varis, for instance, was one of them. And it was that thought that led me from our conversation to something else.

"Do you think that it's possible I could get visions?" I asked her intently. "Isn't it some sort of trait that occurs in Arda?"

Varis tilted her head, wringing out some water from her fiery curls as she did so. "I suppose it's a power that some elves do possess. It's also been known that some dwarves have experienced such things, too." She paused. "Although, it is more common among the elves, rather than my kin. Why do you ask?"

I gulped. "Do humans get them, too?"

"I suppose that's possible. Why, did you see something?"

Fili, stabbed through the back.

Varis, stabbed through the stomach.

Kili, downed by arrows.

Thorin, sacrificing himself-

I let out a huff of breath that I had been holding for some time. "I don't know."

.

.

.

.

I took advantage of Beorn's kindness and took a nap in one of the spare rooms once Varis and I went back to the house. I finished letting the water heal the rest of my wounds and soreness and felt good as new- but I was tired and definitely needed a recharge.

Bilbo, bless his little soul, woke me up when it was time for dinner, knowing that I would be even more grumpy later if I slept through it, compared to how I was when he woke me up. The hobbit knew how important my meals were to me. I kinda figured it was a shared trait.

We had gathered around Beorn's large table once more, where Bombur and Varis had worked together to put together a delicious meal with the help of Beorn's animals. None of the dwarves grumbled about there being no meat, as it was too good a meal to even know that they were out their favorite food group.

"Thank you, Master Bombur and Varis," I voiced, once setting down my fork after stuffing my face full of the dumplings they had created. "This was a masterpiece."

Varis grinned. "My amad used to make this when I was young, luckily Master Bombur knew exactly the recipe I had told him of so we could collaborate."

Kili grinned up at her. "I could marry you just for how good this was, Miss Varis."

I choked out a laugh, followed by most of the company. "Aye, you'd marry Bombur too, then lad. He's the one who cooked most of it!" Bofur exclaimed, making Kili splutter in response.

"Well, I wouldn't say that-"

"Poor Kili, too bad Bombur's already taken," I said somberly, clutching a hand to my heart. "Alas, it was never meant to be."

Bombur's cheeks, as rosy as they usually were, now resembled two tomatoes on his face. "Why, lass…"

Varis let out a long sigh, patting Bombur on the shoulder in defeat. "It seems I should give in, and allow Kili's affections to pass onto the better dwarf."

Those words sent most of the company into a fit of laughter once more.

"Brother, it seems as though you have the lot of them conspiring against you," FIli chimed in, making me shrug as his eyes looked pointedly over to me.

"Vare wouldn't know what to do if I never gave her a good ribbing, wouldn't you?" I said, looking over to where Varis was now sat by Kili, as flushed with color as a rose. "It's not like you never did the same to me with Goldilocks."

Varis snorted, nearly spitting out the sip of milk she had taken. "I did not-"

"It actually wouldn't surprise me if she made fun of you," Bilbo joined in. I looked over to see his eyes wide with glee. "The two of you are constantly going at it like two middle-aged-married hobbits."

Some of the dwarves chuckled at that. "Are hobbits the type of creatures to make jokes?" Beorn questioned from where he was passively leaning back in his chair. "You must be a bunch of funny bunnies."

"Hobbits are a remarkable folk with greater humor than one would expect," Gandalf cut in, before taking a draw from his pipe. "It is precisely that reason I knew Master Bilbo would be able to come along on this quest."

"Besides the fact that he's an expert burglar, right Gandalf?" I jumped in, blinking a few times innocently in the wizard's direction. "You did make an acknowledgement to him being the best."

Bilbo seemed to sink back in his seat as Beorn let out a laugh. "This silly bunny, a burglar? Surely you must be speaking in jest."

I looked over at Gandalf. "Yeah, tell him Gandalf. Surely, we must be joking."

The gray wizard glared at me over his pipe. "I am afraid I am speaking in all seriousness, Master Beorn. Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet and quick, able to go past the most horrendous of foes without being seen or heard."

I sighed. "That doesn't mean you should let Bilbo go play chicken with a dragon, Gandy."

"Play chicken?" Ori asked.

"What in Mahal's name is that supposed to mean?" Dwalin asserted.

"Do you really think that, Lady Persephone?" Fili looked over at me curiously.

I was about to speak with the dwarves who had just burst out in response, but a cough from the wizard's direction took my attention from them.

Gandalf's glare had become even more grave. "I do think that you should take your grievances up with me in another setting, Lady Persephone."

I shrugged. "I'll take them up with you whenever you're ready. I have a list."

Varis face palmed. "Of course you do."

Some of the other dwarves mumbled between each other, and I knew they all thought my comments were in bad taste. However, Thorin was one of the few who merely drank in silence while monitoring the others in his natural state of aloofness.

I crossed my arms, turning to look over at Varis. "What? Bilbo is one of my friends now, and I've always had a thing about making sure my friends were protected and safe." I looked over to Bilbo with a soft smile. "Especially when that friend is one of the bravest people I have ever met, of course I am going to make sure no one takes advantage of him."

Varis shrugged. "Well, that's not surprising, at least," she quipped, before pouring some water for herself. She looked at the dwarves. "She's always been this way, ever since she saved my life in an orc raid on my village."

Beorn leaned in closer. "How did you find yourself amidst an orc raid, Lady Persephone?

I felt a small smile cross my face at the memory of my friends that once surrounded me. "I had been taken in by the elves, Master Beorn. Lord Elrond had taken me in as a ward and helped train me, knowing that I was not fully human. You see, I come from another world, and was brought here to help stop a war that apparently has been lurking around the corner for the past thousand years."

The large shape shifter blinked. "You come from another world? Hm. Perhaps that is why you smell so strange."

Some of the dwarves laughed at that, Varis included. I shrugged. "At least whatever you smell now isn't BO."

"What is BO?" Ori asked innocently, dodging Dori's light scolding at asking such a question.

I grinned over at him. "It's the gross smell that forms under your armpits when you sweat too much. Dwarves have a lot of it, I'm afraid."

Dwalin slammed a hand on the table. "That musk is what dwarrow are proud to smell like, lassie!"

"What, are you sayin' we smell bad?" Bofur let out an exaggerated groan, taking his hat off and holding it against his chest in woe. "How horrible you are to us, Miss Sephie."

"You mustn't know what you speak of, lassie," Gloin grumbled.

"Not that we should even be speaking of such things," Dori griped.

I shrugged. "Ori did ask."

The oldest Ri sibling looked down at the youngest with annoyance. "And he certainly should think before asking such another question again."

Nori shrugged over at his brother. "At least he didn't go askin' how she knew that the elves didn't just shag trees."

Dori's face went pale.

I let out a loud snort. "Do you really want to know, Master Nori?"

Beorn let out a loud cough that seemed to be covering up a laugh. "There will be no such talk coming from Ladies at my table," he asserted, turning from me to Nori with a pointed gaze. "I like to believe I allow a lot to be spoken of, but nothing of that sort should be brought up in the company of a noble woman."

"Master Beorn, unfortunately Persie and I are far from being too innocent to hear about such things," Varis bemoaned. "Persie, considering her ellon, Glorfindel and she have been together two years in every sense of the term. And I, considering I found myself locked in her bathroom while they were having one of their… moments."

Kili looked over at her with wide eyes, but wisely said nothing.

"She's not wrong," I credited.

"What is it like being in a relationship with Lord Glorfindel, if you do not mind me asking, Lassie?" Balin asked, his voice breaking any sort of raunchy conversation that was about to take place. "Is he as the stories claim him to be?"

I fiddled with the pearl ring that still rests on my finger after all this time. "Yeah, I guess. I mean, I knew him before I knew the stories that followed him. But yes, he lives up to them all and more."

Varis smiled over at me gently. "He was remarkably kind to me, especially after having lost my only family in the world. He and Persephone and their friends made sure I was well looked after and taken care of in Elrond's halls."

Kili laid a hand on her arm. "I must owe him a great debt, then."

Varis blushed.

"Is it true that he defeated a balrog?" Fili asked, leaning forward in his seat. "Or is it just another tale of the elves?'

I bristled slightly at the words. "Yeah, it's true. And just so you all know, he did die taking the life of a balrog, if only because he was wearing his hair too long and the mighty tentacle of the beast wrapped itself around it too firmly to let go, dragging him into the depths along with it."

The dwarves seemed shocked at my words, as Gandalf nodded to me discreetly.

"Glorfindel was given life once more by the Valar, and instructed to defend Arda at any costs. He is now a sworn bannerman for Lord Elrond, and is currently the general of his armies," Gandalf finished, taking another puff of his pipe. "If that does not help for you to understand just how lucky we are to have someone who has worked with him in our company, I do not know what will."

Beorn looked over to me curiously. "You must be a mighty warrior indeed to have such a being at your side."

I pursed my lips. Yeah, well he's not exactly at my side now, is he?

"Persie is one of the greatest warriors the elves have seen," Varis spoke up, noticing the faint look of despair that crossed my features. "She is deadly on the battlefield, far more than anything I myself have seen before."

"She has much power, indeed," Gandalf agreed, his eyes turning kind once they looked down into my own. "But she has the spirit of a warrior and loyalty to her friends that is unmatched in our world. I do believe that we are friends with a legend, and I am intrigued to watch as she continues to make History while being at our sides."

Thorin let out a soft grunt in agreement. "Aye, this young warrior has my trust."

I smiled. "Thank you."

He nodded briefly before taking another swig of his drink and going back to watching with his face aloof.

As the questions kept pouring out from the rest of the company about my adventures and what it was like living with the elves, who they happened to believe were beasts all their own, I started to find myself feeling more and more at home.

.

.

.

.

I was dreaming.

I had to be, because Glorfindel was right next to me, walking in an ancient wood that only could be home to elves. These elves glowed, and many bowed as they noticed his fierce presence. He stalked through a path, making his way to a large open space where two thrones sat next to each other.

And there, in that room, were friends I had long missed.

They were together. All of them.

"Lord Glorfindel, it is a pleasure to see you," the Lady Galadriel spoke, her voice as serene as ever. However, there was a hint of mischief in her eye, one I knew was 100% up to part as her eyes flickered in my direction, meeting my own with a soft smile. "I was expecting you."

"Of course you were," He grunted out. His tone startled some of the others.

Aldarion and Geoffry stood up from where they had been sitting amongst Arwen and Alma with Gerda standing watch in the background. Elrohir and Elladan looked over at their general with shock.

He normally never wore his emotions so openly, so I was not surprised they were so caught off guard.

"What has happened, my friend?" Aldarion questioned, taking a few steps in our direction. "Who is it?"

Arwen grasped Alma's hand for comfort. It was as if the pair already knew something bad had happened.

"It's…" Glorfindel let out a sigh, rubbing his forehead in frustration as he tried to make sense of what words he could get out. "It's Persephone, she is gone."

Arwen let out a gasp. "Gone!"

Elladan and Elrohir stood up in anger. "What do you mean, gone!"

Alma wrung her hands together. "Where is Varis? Surely she would-"

"She is not dead," Glorfindel choked. "But I fear that we will not have long until she is." His eyes scanned those of the others. "I need your help. She needs your help. We need to go save her."

Lady Galadriel looked at him solemnly. "She is only gone if you do not make haste."

"And Varis is with her?" Arwen asked, looking between her grandmother and father's general for clarification. "What happened?"

"Dwarves. Dwarves happened."

With those words, everything faded into darkness.