A/n: Italicized parts= speaking in another language

"I cannot see where the pathway leads. Do we follow it or not?" Dwalin yelled back to the group.

"Follow it, of course!" Bofur answered as he followed after Dwalin.

"I think that would be wise," Gandalf told the group as the majority went down the pathway. Bilbo and I followed the group from behind. We followed Dwalin who led us out of the cave into familiar territory for me. Beautiful buildings lay down in the valley below us. The trees glistened in the evening light. The valley felt magical, almost. The one place I was able to call home. "The Valley of Imraldis. In the Common Tongue, it's known by another name." Gandalf told the group who was awestruck by the city. "Rivendell." Bilbo and I answered in unison.

"Here lies the last Homely House east of the sea." Gandalf continued. Thorin stepped towards Gandalf, angry. "This was your plan all along, to seek refuge with our enemy." I rolled my eyes at his claim. "You have no enemies here, Thorin. The only ill-will to be found in this valley is that which you bring yourself." I countered, smirking at him before walking down to Bilbo who was still in awe at what he was seeing. He had told me on the drive to Trollshaws that he had always wanted to visit Rivendell and that he had heard many stories about the beauty of Rivendell. I could tell those stories didn't match what he was seeing before him.

We followed Gandalf to the entrance of Rivendell, passing over a bridge to an inner courtyard. A few elves passed by above on a bridge, smiling down at us. Bilbo gazed in awe at the architecture of the courtyard, while the dwarves shifted about uneasy. As everyone stood waiting, a male elf walked down the steps, his soft footsteps echoing in the courtyard. I looked up to see who was coming to greet us and my heart fell to my stomach. "Mithrandir!" He called out to Gandalf who turned to face him.

"Ah, Lindir!" Gandalf stepped towards Lindir, motioning for me to follow since I spoke Elvish. I didn't want to, but I reluctantly stepped forward. I passed Thorin and Dwalin who were whispering to each other and I caught the words 'stay sharp' leave Thorin's lips.

"We heard you had crossed over into the Valley." Lindir spoke to in Elvish. I nodded while Gandalf spoke, "I must speak with Lord Elrond."

"My Lord Elrond is not here." Lindir answered. Before either one of us could ask where Elrond was, horns sounded off. We turned and watched a group of armed horsemen ride in, approaching quickly. Thorin yelled something in dwarfish, that I couldn't catch, and they formed a tight circle, pulling Bilbo into the middle. I covered my eyes as I watched the dwarves stupidly arm themselves. The horsemen circled around the group, until the leader stopped in front of Gandalf. It was Elrond. He jumped off his horse and greeted his friend. "Gandalf. Aurora." Elrond acknowledge us, as he took off his helmet while we bowed to him.

"Lord Elrond. My friend! Where have you been?"

"We've been hunting a pack of Orcs that came up from the South. We slew a number near the Hidden Pass. Strange for Orcs to come so close to our borders. Something, or someone, has drawn them near." Elrond explained as he handed an Orc sword to Lindir. "That may have been us." I answered, motioning towards the group. Thorin stepped forward and Elrond looked upon him. "Welcome, Thorin, son of Thrain."

"I do not believe we have met." Thorin said sourly.

"You have your grandfather's bearing. I knew Thror when he ruled under the Mountain." Elrond replied. 'Under the Mountain' was what many called Erebor since it rests under the tall lonely mountain in the North.

"Indeed; he may no mention of you." Thorin said, insulting Elrond. He couldn't wait five minutes to insult Elrond. Elrond ignored the insult and spoke to the dwarves in Elvish, "light the fires, bring forth the wine. We must feed our guests." Lindir nodded and began to walk up the steps when he turned back and motioned for me to follow. I followed behind him as I heard cheers from the dwarves at the sound of food.

Lindir took me to my old room and had a few elf maidens bring me a dress for supper. I changed into a navy strapless dress with detailing that looked like stars on the dress. The elf maidens pulled my hair into an elegant updo and placed a delicate necklace on my neck. I was shocked at how beautiful I looked as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. Once I felt like I was ready to eat, they led me to the area where everyone was. I descended the steps, and everyone glanced up at me as I walked to my seat at Elrond's table, which was sadly next to Thorin. I saw Kili and Fili's jaw drop as I sat down, making sure to teasingly wink at them. I smiled at the three men I was sitting with and out of the corner of my eye I saw Thorin's cheeks turn pink for a millisecond. He didn't blush, did he? "You look lovely Aurora," Elrond spoke as a plate of food was set down in front of me. "Thank you, Elrond." I replied, grabbing my glass of wine to drink.

"How did you come by these?" Elrond asked, continuing the conversation about the swords we had found. "We found them in a troll hoard on the Great East Road, shortly before we were ambushed by orcs." Gandalf answered. I grabbed a forkful of salad and silently ate, while Elrond gazed at us. "And what were you doing on the Great East Road?" he asked. No one spoke up. Thorin excused himself and went over to the table where everyone else was sitting.

"Thirteen dwarves, a human, and a halfling. Strange traveling companions, Gandalf." Elrond said before drinking some of his wine. Gandalf began to speak highly of the dwarves, talking about how they work for one of the richest companies in Middle Earth. That all changed when Bofur stood on top of the small table in the middle and began singing. The dwarves joined in, banging their fists or silverware against the table, and began throwing food. I ducked just in time as a piece of food came flying past me. The elves sat and watched in horror, not knowing what to do. Elrond made no emotion as he watched, while Gandalf turned white as a sheet as he watched what was unfolding. When the song was over, the dwarves threw more food around, hitting statues and almost hitting Elrond. Luckily, supper was over. A few elf maidens led the dwarves to their sleeping area while some began to clean up the mess. Gandalf and Elrond went off to speak to each other, and Lindir had taken me to the nearby fountains.

I sat down on the edge of the fountain and placed my hand into the cool water, swishing the water around. "I'm so happy to see you again, Ro." Lindir spoke from behind me. I looked down, trying to come up with a response. "It hasn't been that long since I've been in Rivendell." I answered, avoiding his stares. Lindir sat down next to me. "Yes, but you have become more beautiful. You have bewitched me both body and soul" He spoke in Elvish, grabbing onto my hand.

"Lindir, I can't. We are not the same, you and me. You are Elvish and I am human. You are bound for the Undying Lands. I am destined for the Hall of Mandos." I told him, pulling my hand from his grasp and walking away. "Yet your brother can choose an Elf, but you can't?" Lindir countered, stopping me in my tracks. I turned to face Lindir. "You, like your brother are of the Dúnedain. You survive longer than most humans."

"But we still die. I am not staying in Rivendell; my ties are to the dwarves of Erebor. This is the last we will see each other." I turned and walked away, heading to my chambers.

The next day was spent making sure the dwarves didn't cause to much ruckus. They had spent the morning swimming in a large fountain, naked. Yeah that was not fun watching. So, I quickly left once I got scarred with the image of a naked Bombur.

I made my way to the library and found a seat on the second floor to read. I glanced up from my page and noticed Bilbo had made his way over, staring at the painting and the statue that held the shards of a sword. "Aurora," he asked as I looked up from my book "what happened to this sword?" I stood and walked over to him. "It came from battle a long time ago. When evil ruled the world. Men, Elves, and Dwarves came together to battle the evil on the slopes of Mount Doom and defeated the evil. But sadly, it destroyed the sword. That was a long time ago." I explained, picking up the broken hilt of the sword to show him before placing it back down. "And whose sword was it?" he asked before turning to face the painting behind us. "Elendil, the high king of Gondor. His son Isildur, saved the world. That's him in the painting." I pointed to the man, holding up the sword at the dark evil. "And who is that?" Bilbo asked pointing to the evil. "Something you shouldn't have to worry about." I said, patting him on the shoulder and walking off. Bilbo gazed at the painting, his eyes focusing on a golden ring.

The dwarves where in their quarters, partying and having fun, when Lindir walked into the room. I stood as soon as he entered, and the dwarves went silent. "Do not turn on the TV. The dwarves cannot see what has happened." I looked at Lindir in confusion, "what do you mean?"

"Speak in common tongue lassie!" Bofur yelled at me. I turned towards him as he threw a sausage to Bombur. As soon as Bombur caught the sausage, the table he was sitting on broke. The dwarves erupted into laughter. I stepped over to Lindir. "What is happening on the TV, Lindir?" I demanded in Elvish. The dwarves continued laughing as I stared at Lindir who said nothing. I grabbed the remote off the couch and turned the TV on. Everyone went dead silent.

Scenes of burning buildings and smoke came onto the screen, the headline saying, "Erebor in ruins." Dwalin stood and walked to Thorin's room calling him out into the living room. Thorin silently watched the TV. "Turn it up, lassie." Balin softly spoke from his chair and I pressed the button to turn up the volume. "We are in shock at this. It seems an unknown arsonist has set fire to most of Erebor, leaving it in ruins. Authorities are saying the arsonist has identified himself as Smaug the Terrible. No word yet if Smaug is tied to the Orcs of Mordor. We do not know the death toll, but authorities are guessing it will be in the hundreds. No comment yet from Thorin Oakinshield whose company had built up Erebor. We now go to our reporters on the field."

No one knew what to say as we stared at the TV. Thorin silently exited the room, back to his quarters. Lindir exited as well, while I turned off the TV. The dwarves didn't need to watch anymore. They didn't need to see the destruction of their home. "What do we do now?" Kili asked, looking to Balin to answer. Balin shook his head, "I don't know."

I set the remote down on the couch next to Kili and walked off to Thorin's room. I knocked on the closed door and waited a few seconds for door to open. No one answered. I twisted the knob and opened the door to see Thorin sitting quietly in one of the chairs in the room. I stood at the door and waited for him to acknowledge my presence. He didn't. "Ahem." I clear my throat and he still didn't glance up.

I stepped over to his chair. "Can I come in?" I asked, even though I was already in his room. He glanced up and nodded and I sat down in the chair across from him. "I'm so sorry." I told him as he stared at me. Thorin said nothing. Silence linger between us. Unbearable silence. I mean this was the first-time since meeting Thorin Oakinshield that I hadn't tried to insult him, plot pranks on him, or come up with nicknames to call him. But now, he just looked like a broken child who had given up on life. "What's the plan?" I asked. He looked up at me in confusion. "What do you mean?" he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.

I thought for a moment, trying to come up with an idea. Then it hit me. "Let's take back Erebor. It's your home. You're the King Under the Mountain. We defeated trolls, ran from Orcs, let's go stop this terrorist." I jumped up and started pacing back in forth. "Aurora, we need to let the police deal with this." Thorin answered as he watched me pace. I stopped in front of him. "The police will only do so much. We've been attacked by Orcs on the Great East Road and now Erebor is on fire. That doesn't happen every day. Something is going on, something evil." I explained, sitting down in front of Thorin. He rubbed his chin, thinking intently on the situation.

Before he could answer, there was a knock on the door. Gandalf stood in the doorway. "I need to speak with everyone now." Gandalf said before leaving, indicating this was up for debate.

We stood and went back into the living room where Gandalf stood in front of everyone. The dwarves were discussing amongst each other until Gandalf cleared his throat to silence everyone. "Bilbo, my dear fellow, let us have a little more light." Gandalf told Bilbo who brought over a candle while Gandalf set a piece of parchment down on the coffee table. "Far to the East, over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single solitary peak." Gandalf spoke to everyone while Bilbo shined the light over the map.

"'The Lonely Mountain'." Bilbo read from the map. The dwarves began to whisper to each other. I caught Fili and Kili whispering about taking back Erebor. "You forget: the front gate is sealed. There is no way into the mountain. We all saw it on the news." Balin announced to everyone who had whispered about taking back their homeland. "That my dear Balin is not entirely true," twiddling his fingers, Gandalf produced an ornate key. Thorin looked at the key with wonder.

"How did you come by this?" he asked.

"It was given to me by your father, by Thrain, for safekeeping. It is yours now," Gandalf replied, handing Thorin the key as everyone watched in wonder.

"If there is a key, there must be a door." Fili piped up. Gandalf pointed to a set of runes on the map. "These runes speak of a hidden passage to the lower halls."

Fili and Kili glanced at each other. "There's another way in." Kili told his brother excitedly. "Well if we can find it, but dwarf doors are invisible when closed. The answer lies hidden somewhere in this map and I do not have the skills to find it. But there are others in Middle Earth who can. The task I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth, and no small amount of courage. But, if we are careful and clever, I believe it can be done." Gandalf explained to the group.

I began to think in my mind who could read the map. "Elrond can read it." I thought to myself. Everyone turned to face me. Apparently, I said my thought out loud. "If there was anyone in Middle Earth who could read that, it'd be him." I continued as I watched Gandalf nod with approval. "This was your plan all along wasn't it?" Thorin demanded.

Gandalf said nothing and motioned for Bilbo, Thorin, Balin, and me to follow behind him as he grabbed the map and left.