A/N: Boy, life just throws you curveballs haha.

ENJOY!

Italics... thoughts

-Wynter's POV-

Fili's warm tears hit my cheeks as I took the time to gather up my strength. I slowly lifted one of my hands to pat the dwarf prince's arm. Not long after, the dwarf calmed.

"Ev-verything's okay, Fili."

"We will get you warmed. Oin can look you over."

Slowly, I was lifted into a sitting position. My head was spinning slightly. Bard came over with a dry blanket and placed it over my shoulders. I nodded my head in thanks and wrapped the thin blanket around me. The man looked past me and his dark eyes locked onto something. I looked in the direction his attention was caught and my eyes landed on Legolas. Whose eyes were locked on me.

The memory of what happened at the river rushed over me. I bit the inside of my cheek. There wasn't an imminent threat of Orcs or a dragon this time. I couldn't escape… and I didn't know what to tell him. I saw Bard move in my peripheral vision as Oin came over, unintentionally saving me from what would no doubt be the most awkward, confusing, and painful conversation I'll ever have.

"Hello lassie. Can you tell me what happened?"

My eyes shot back towards Oin, trying to think of what was important beyond my current panic. "Well, Bard used me as part of a bow and he killed Smaug. Then his body destroyed the tower entirely. I was thrown into the water and I couldn't swim up. The wood weighed my dress and the water was freezing. I couldn't keep my breath... Then I passed out."

Oin was able to do a quick check up on me. The dwarf thought that I would be well enough to travel, but would need long term monitoring. "We can't be certain how long you were without air, nor how the water affected you as such, lassie."

"Things will be much more steady at Erebor," Fili nudged in. "We all can keep an eye on you there."

"Fili…"

"I'm sure they have warmer blankets there too. We can get you dried off-"

"Fili, wai-"

"We'll have to figure out clothes since everything will be dwarf sized-"

"Wait a s-"

"I'm sure Uncle won't-"

"Fili!" I firmed my tone up, finally catching his attention. "I'm not going to Erebor."

The golden haired prince faltered, "Why not? We're here to help you, to take care of you."

"I was never meant to go to Erebor, first of all. Secondly, there are people here who need help. They just lost everything…"

I hoped Fili didn't blame his Company for what happened. Unfortunately, there needs to be some responsibility and accountability acknowledged for why these people just lost everything. Fili paused momentarily. "I will see to it that Uncle will help them."

"Then you'll need someone here to tell you where we are and what is needed."

"Bard can do that."

"You know Thorin won't want any interaction with him after what happened in front of the Master's house. I'll be the most use staying here. Besides, I'll be the perfect buffer between you all and Gandalf and act like Erebor's first unofficial ambassador-slash-delegate."

Fili clearly still wanted to argue with me about going, but stopped. "As you wish. Just stay in contact regularly with us, both for your health and updates."

"I'll figure out a way to."

Oin and Fili both stood to leave. "Fili, one more thing."

The blonde prince turned around.

"I'm sorry for making you worry…"

He placed his hand on the back of my head and pressed his lips to my forehead.

One second.

Two seconds.

The heir to Erebor pulled back and stroked my hair, "Never do it again. For as long as you live."

I nodded, uncertain about the display of affection that was just shown to me. My eyes glanced around quickly. Legolas' back was turned, his body walking away. Was he close enough to hear what we were talking about? Suddenly he stopped, his head turned towards the water. He was staring at Tauriel and Kili. An unsettling green feeling overtook me.

Why hadn't he come over to me? Did he think so little of the fact that I knew his name? Maybe he assumed that one of the other guards told me.

"Weren't you trying to avoid this conversation though?"

My mouth pulled into a pout that I quickly tried to school away. Better off for me to go find Bard.

Getting to my feet was easy. The fatigue that hit me once I was standing, though, was another matter entirely. I staggered over the rocky shore to the inland, trying to catch sight of Bard or one of the children. A large commotion was happening twenty feet or so away. People were yelling words like "traitor", "mongrel", "cox-comb", and many other colorful nouns. I pushed my way through the crowd to see the kids and Alfrid. Tilda was gripping onto Sigrid's skirts, glaring at the greasy slim ball. I quickly made my way towards them.

"Sigrid, what's goi-"

"To the tree with him!" A voice cried from the crowd, cutting me off.

The swarm of people began gripping and pulling at Alfrid's arms and legs. The rioters pushed the crying man forward. I saw a man come out from the crowd with a rope, preparing what seemed to be a noose. Admittedly, my body chilled further at the violence that was about to take place. Alfrid's screams rang out louder around the group. I grabbed at the children, trying to move them away from the mob. Bard pushed through the crowd.

"ENOUGH! Let him go! LET HIM GO!"

The mob fell quiet at their savior calling for their disruptions to cease. Alfrid laid startled on the ground. Bard ignored the man's existence and turned to the displaced villagers around him.

"Look around you! Have you not had your fill of death?"

The sleaze ball laying on the ground popped up and grabbed onto Bard's shoulder. A muffled "aye" sounded from him before Bard elbowed him off of himself. The words had their intended effect though as the crowd around us went from irate to lost and helpless peoples.

"Winter is upon us… we must look to our own, to the sick and the helpless. Those who can stand, tend to the wounded," the dripping bowman began making his way through the crowd towards the washed up wreckage, "And those who have strength left - follow me. We must salvage what we can."

A woman with a handful of blankets in her arms asked what everyone else was thinking. Her voice shook with uncertainty and grief, "What then? What do we do then?"

Bard stopped to look back at the woman. His eyes clearly showed that he too was uncertain about the next steps to follow. The brown hues flickered around the faces of the newly homeless. Then they stopped, meeting the woman once again.

"We find shelter."

Admittedly, admiration filled me at how Bard seamlessly took over the role of leader. I followed behind the man. Although exhaustion weighed my bones and the wet dress froze and clung to my skin, I forced my feet to keep up with the group that was following Bard.

"I need a group to go back into town to see what survived the fire. The rest of us will stay here and look through the wreckage that's washed ashore. Look for food, linens, clothes, salvageable wood, anything that can help us," Bard instructed us. The bowman turned leader chose some of the younger men to go into the ruins of Laketown. Once he sent the group off, he turned back to us, separating us into two groups and having us work towards the edges and back.

"Is there anything that we can assist with?"

Electricity shot up my back as his voice sounded around our crowd. I wanted to look. I didn't want to look. Bard nodded before assigning Tauriel to one side of the group. On the opposite side. Legolas was with mine and Bard's. As we moved out, my eyes were trained on Legolas.

Would he come over?

Would he not come over?

The Elf Prince did stay close to me, surprisingly silent though. As we worked through the wreckage the prince didn't move more than five feet away from me. The silence was slowly driving me crazy. What in the world could I say to him though? For my peripherals, I saw his mouth open slightly before closing. Once more it opened and closed. Our silence continued once more.

When our investigation was finished, our loot included soaked, threadbare sheets, some fish of questionable quality, and a single box of preserves that somehow managed to escape the destruction.

I grimaced as our scavenging party broke up to gather their things. Legolas had quickly left my side to talk with Bard and I moved away from the shoreline, looking around for those to help pack their items. As I was helping a mother tie her baby to her chest with her shawl, I saw glowing blonde hair out of the corner of my eye. Instinctively my eyes followed to find Legolas walking with Tauriel.

"Thank you, miss," the woman touched her hand to my cheek and left. I took the time to watch the two elves. They looked as though they were leaving. The blonde prince stopped momentarily and he turned to look back at me.

I saw a brown horse gallop into the clearing beyond him.
"Wynter!" Bard's voice sounded behind me. The elf on the horse pulled Legolas' attention away from me as Bard stopped beside me. My head didn't move toward the man; my eyes were locked onto the scene in front of me.

The elf on horseback called to Legolas. In the Elvish that followed I caught the word for father. I could guess that Thranduil was looking to get his son back to Mirkwood. The blonde prince turned back to Tauriel, obviously asking her to follow. They were stopped by the elf's next words. Legolas took little hesitation in his reply.

"You may tell my father: If there is no place for Tauriel, there is no place for me."

"Legolas," Tauriel quietly called to him, "It is your King's command."

He turned to her, warmth in his eyes. I didn't need to know Elvish to surmise what he told her. Even though I knew that they weren't together later, that I was still in his future, it didn't stop the heavy, sickening pit in my stomach or the burning that appeared behind my eyes.

"Ahh, I see," Bard gave me a knowing look. I turned away from the two elves leaving and looked back to Bard. His face looked curious. My head shook in response.

"I don't want to talk about it…"

"Later perhaps then. We must get to Dale before nightfall."

Bard went to gather the group of refugees and I stole one last glance at the receding blonde hair before moving to help the relocation. The twenty mile trek to the ruins of Dale took surprisingly less time than expected, even with the slowed pace from those who were sick and wounded. I clasped my fingers together, fighting against the chill that was starting to settle in my bones.

As the city appeared on the horizon, and expectant chatter sonuded amongst the herd, the Lonely Mountain loomed ominously beyond. The sight of the mountain could only distract so much from the ruins that waited before us. Every building was streaked with black soot. Charred bodies were everywhere, covered by a blanket of snow.

The amount of destruction this one dragon caused to hundreds of thousands of people caused me to shudder. From all my time in Middle- Earth, these past two days were truly the worst of anything I had witnessed then. My feet came to a stop in front of a building that had scorched crates on it's side and the tiny little body that hid behind it.

My eyes closed. This all was too much to look at. Bard stopped by my side and placed his hand on my back.

"We need to keep going."

I opened my eyes and nodded, keeping them trained up at the building tops and barren trees. We moved farther into the ruins. There were those around us sobbing at the destruction, no doubt thinking of their now forsaken homes. Bard was helping usher the rest of us along when Alfrid's nasally voice cried from above.

"Sire!"

Bard's head whipped up, an apparent 'who me?' expression on his face. I followed his gaze up as well.

"SIRE!" The man whined again, running across a bridge on one of the buildings, "Up here!"

Deep brown eyes rolled as the bowman maneuvered through the sea of people. I coughed slightly to cover up a snicker that forced its way out. Now was definitely not the time. We continued through the ruins. Many of the refugees were unsure what to do now. Bard's voice sounded from above us soon after.

"Make camp here tonight. Find what shelter you can. Get some fires going."

The man turned back around to speak to Alfrid once more before he moved out of sight. I began helping everyone unpack. All of the villagers moved into the dilapidated houses. After helping with the fires, rations, and some general child rearing, I found a place under an awning to sleep that faced away from the Mountain. Something about it didn't sit right with me and being hidden behind several walls and buildings lessened the unease somewhat. A fire sat nearby, warming me as best it could. In the distance I thought I saw the glittering ripple of waves.

"The stress and the exhaustion," I reasoned to myself before drifting to sleep.

Once again I awoke in the purple clearing. My body quickly righted itself in realization of where I was and I began looking wildly for the sight of golden hair.

"He's not here," that silken voice I've grown to recognize sounded from beside me. I glanced over to see the black haired male drinking from a tea cup. I huffed as I laid back on the ground for a moment before getting up.

"Why am I always coming here? And who are you?"

"Unfortunately, I have no answers for your first question," the not-elf replied, setting his cup down and moving to pour another cup. "Only speculation."

"And how about my second question?"

"I am Irmo. I am the one who created this sanctuary. Now come, sit."

I moved closer towards the small tea table, "So what are you then? Legolas said that this place is in a space where time doesn't matter?"

Irmo motioned once more to the seat in front of him and I begrudgingly agreed. So it was all by his rules then.

"Your lover was correct in that this is Olórë Mallë. He was also partially correct in that it exists in a space where time works a little differently."

I stared him down, waiting for my first question to be answered. The male smiled politely before turning back to his tea. The silence dragged as he continued to drink his tea. "You're not going to answer my first question?"

"There is no need to. You will find out soon enough."

I wanted to roll my eyes at him. This was worse than getting information out of Gandalf. There were little cakes on the small tea table decorated in soft pastels. I grabbed one and bit into it, relishing the honey and lavender flavor. I took a sip of the black bergamot tea. Although this didn't seem to be real, every flavor here was enticing. Several more cakes were relished in the silence.

Irmo soon stopped his sipping to study me, "There is one thing I will share with you little one."

I paused in my eating. Although this man seemed to live in serious, cold, and stoic, something about his tone told me that whatever he was going to tell me was important.

"The next time you see me, we will not be here. Thus far, you have done little to alter your past. Remember this, so you do not make any rash decisions that would alter it."

The surrounding scenery began to go fuzzy, one of the telling signs that I was about to wake up. I locked my gaze with the purple hues in front of me.

"I will keep that in mind…"

When I awoke, the tastes of lavender, honey, and bergamot still danced in my mouth. I sighed deeply as I opened my eyes to tents set up around the ruins of Dale. I blinked the sleep away before it truly dawned upon me what I saw. Laketown hadn't been able to salvage anything that would help us make a tent, let alone the several dozen that were around the ruins. I jolted from my seated position.

"I need to find Bard."

I jumped down the steps, slipping on the last step and landing awkwardly on my ankle. I hopped a few steps before returning to my run. I danced around the displaced villagers.

"Have you seen Bard? Where's Bard?"

No one had an answer for me. I heard shouts from a building next door asking about food. Bard's back appeared in the crowd, moving inwards. I followed close behind.

"Bard."

He was quickly trying to tend to everyone's concerns. I called his name a little louder, "Bard!"

He had just finished telling the group to prioritize rations to the children, the wounded and the women. "Yes Wynter?"

I was right at his back, evading the people scattered around the abandoned building. "Bard you need to-"

He moved as a man on a mission. I struggled to catch up with him as his feet quickly climbed the stairs in front of us.

"Bard, wait-"

"Morning Alfrid. What news from the night watch?"

Oh good, Alfrid can tell him!

"All quiet, sire-" Nevermind.

"Bard, no-"

"Nothing," Alfrid sneered at me, "gets past me."

The bowman had marched ahead and out of the building. I saw him stop at the top of the steps in front of us and hurried forward. There, elves dressed in grand armor of gold and crimson stood in formation. Alfrid came up behind us and his mouth fell open at the sight.

"Except an army of elves it would seem... "

I gave Alfrid a glare before I moved to Bard's side. Those who were able trailed outside to behold the unannounced troops. Mummers sounded around us as the dark haired man before me moved to get through the formation. The lines he stood before parted into a pathway for us. Bard paused for a moment, eyeing them warily.

"Wynter, I would rather you stay here."

I nodded along with him. I was not in the mood to have to go and see Thranduil again, and he probably didn't want to see me either. The bowman moved through the formation as they parted and closed around him. From my place on the steps, I saw Thranduil ride in on an Elk, poised unnaturally still in a way only elves could.

"My Lord Thranduil; we did not look to see you here."

His cool voice filled the emptiness of the ruins, "I heard you needed aid."

Behind him came a large wagon filled with provisions and drinks. I eyed it warily and chewed my lip as Thorin's and Balin's voices sounded in my head.

"Where were the elves-?"

"There was no help from the elves that day, nor any day since."

Perhaps a guilty conscience, one could moved to speak to Thranduil. I was surprised I could hear them around all the commotion.

"You have saved us! I do not know how to thank you."

"Your gratitude is misplaced. I did not come on your behalf."

I could feel my eyebrow quirk up at the Elf Lord's statement. No guilty conscience then. He continued.

"I came to reclaim something of mine. There are gems in the mountain that I too desire. White gems of pure starlight."

The lord motioned his head and the soldiers that seemed to once be stone began making their march out of Dale.

"Man, why did my first assignment as the unofficial delegate have to be preventing a siege? Why couldn't it have been like trade negotiations or something easier that didn't involve someone who wanted me dead?"

My faith in Thorin wasn't much, especially seeing the disregard for the whole of Laketown for his forefather's home. Maybe I could convince myself that this self-inserted job of mine wasn't important and let events unfold the way they would…

But I didn't want to see Fili's dreams for Erebor die because of the sins of his mother's father or of Thorin. The dwarf and his brother wanted good, wanted to rebuild and prosper. They had ideas, plans outlined, wise dwarves around them who could help them accomplish it. My faith in Thorin might not have been much; My faith in Fili was great.

I sighed as I pushed through the soldiers, following closely behind Bard. The man was asking if the Elf King was really really willing to go to war for a handful of gems.

"The heirlooms of my people are not lightly forsaken."

"We are allies in this... My people also have a claim upon the riches in that mountain! Let me speak with Thorin."

That caught Thranduil's attention as he looked at Bard, fixated on the man. "You would try to reason with a dwarf?"

Bard's voice steeled with determination, "To avoid war?... Yes."

"If Thorin won't reason, Fili should be open to it," I sounded from behind the two. Thranduil looked at me and his face immediately soured.

"You-"

"-Have been put in charge of the Lonely Mountain delegation by Prince Fili."

The icy glare that the king gave me made the icicles hanging off the awnings and the trees feel like a scorching sun. "A single person cannot be classified as a delegation."

I shrugged, pushing Bard forward, "Then come with us to file a complaint."

A/N: So I've learned that super spaced out chapters decrease the use of subtlety haha. I thought Fili's feelings were far more obvious but eh. If you're curious, I actually made a list of the chapters I allude to his feelings in. Enough reviews and I'll post it (If not, I will personally send them to you as well and I would love critique's on what could've been done better, outside of regular updates haha). Anyway, believe it or not I know how everything goes from this point on its just getting it all written down at this point. Review if you feel up to it!

Much love,

Secret Moon Princess