Chapter Eight: Dark and Delightful

Emelia did not manage to go back to sleep after she woke up from her nightmares. For the first part of the early morning she had been annoyed at Kili, making it almost impossible to try and sleep through her agitation. Her entire body was still sore, adding to the stress that the dwarf had caused her and making it almost impossible to find a comfortable way to sleep. For the second part of the early morning, once she had given up on falling back asleep, she found herself thinking about the nightmares she had had entirely against her will.

She was already tired enough without having to relive the nightmares. She didn't need them being played on repeat, when it was very unlikely that she would forget them anyway.

Emelia was not surprised at how long it took the sun to rise as she laid in her uncomfortable little ball, clutching Balin's cloak to her chest for dear life. She wasn't surprised by the fact that as soon as the sun started peeking over the trees her sunburns started to twinge again. She wasn't surprised that all of the dwarves were stubborn as mules when faced with getting up. And she wasn't surprised that all of them seemed very inclined to wanting a massively huge breakfast, cooked, of course, by Bombur. She was surprised, however, when she was confronted with the leader of the company of dwarves looking down at her in her spot curled up on the ground.

She immediately shot up into a sitting position, moving herself back slightly from the intimidating dwarf out of reflex. She hoped that, at some point, she would no longer feel afraid of the dwarves as her first response.

"You will come with me." He said simply, fixing her with a very steely look.

"Erm…"

"This is not a discussion Miss Montgomery." He said, turning and walking back over the spot he had been occupying previously.

Emelia watched him, feeling her chest tighten up. She hadn't even learned his name, let alone talked to him. He had been steadily glaring at her for the entirety of her time with the group of dwarves, making her feel like he was secretly plotting all the ways he could get rid of her.

She imagined, just by looking at his face and demeanor, he was quite creative when it came to offing people he didn't like. People he didn't like being her specifically.

It took her more time than she would have liked to lift herself off the ground, contributing to the already sour mood of the company leader. He was watching her a with a look that could only be described as anger and frustration as she hobbled over to him, ignoring the looks that she was getting from all of the dwarves. She imagined they knew exactly what she was walking into.

She kept her head held high, as best she could, all the way up until she was directly in front of him. She had tried to be confident, but all of that had been completely lost when she made eye contact with the intimidating leader. He exuded power and it made her feel slightly nauseous. He was one of the few dwarves that were taller than her, adding to her uneasiness at being forced to have a one on one conversation with him. She couldn't help but feel that it would be much easier if he was the size of Ori or Balin, as opposed to the staggering size of Balin's brother, Dwalin.

Emelia felt like he was tearing her limb from limb with his angry gaze in the time that he stared her down. It felt like a million years to Emelia before he finally opened his mouth to address her with open disdain.

"Where do you hail from?" He asked bluntly, crossing his arms over his massive chest.

Emelia felt her eyes narrow slightly. She didn't really see how where she 'hailed' from mattered. She didn't ask them. She honestly didn't really care. Dwarves were dwarves, as weird as that sounded in her mind, and she didn't really see a distinction. Of course, she was probably being horribly ignorant, but it didn't change the fact that she didn't think them knowing where she came from mattered.

It didn't help matters that she wasn't overly fond of the idea of talking about her home with a man who looked like he kicked puppies for fun.

He waited with his jaw tensed and fingers flexing slightly, regarding her as she debated internally. He would probably stand there all day waiting for her to answer him. He seemed like that type of stubborn.

In the time that it took her to decide whether or not to tell the whole truth regarding where she came from, Gandalf came sidling over, smirking from something that one of the numerous dwarves had said. He leaned on his staff heavily, looking down at Emelia with his large, scrutinizing eyes. Despite the fact that she hadn't known the tall man longer than any of the others, he made her feel much more comfortable than the leader of the company did. Of course, she was certain a Grimm Reaper would make her feel more comfortable than the leader did.

It was because of Gandalf that she finally, begrudgingly, told the two of them where she was from.

"I'm from Kessog, Alaska." She said slowly, regretting almost every syllable as soon as they were out of her mouth.

They both looked down at her in utter confusion; eyes scanning her face for what she assumed, were signs of deception. The leader immediately tensed up further at her words, shifting his stance to even more defensive than she would have ever thought possible. She felt herself shrinking under his horribly distrusting gaze. It took all of her willpower to not take a step back from him, like the coward she was trying so hard to pretend not to be.

"I have no knowledge of such a place as Kessog, Alaska." She couldn't help but resent him slightly for the tone in his voice when he had said the name of her town.

"You've never heard of Alaska?" Emelia asked, copying his stance and crossing her arms over her sore chest. She remembered vividly all the times her and her mother and glared at each other with their arms crossed over their chests, mimicking each other's stubborn faces.

Of course the dwarf leader was so far from being even remotely similar to her mother it wasn't even funny.

"Why would I have heard of such an absurd place?" He growled back, indicating his complete and utter lack of patience.

She completely ignored the jibe about Alaska being an absurd place. "What kind of rock have you been living under to not have heard of Alaska?" Emelia fired back, despite her mind telling her to keep her mouth shut. The leader scared the proverbial shit out of her, as vulgar as it sounded, and she couldn't even fathom why she was bothering to open her mouth at all. It wasn't as if she had anything to back up her sassy attitude. She could probably land one good punch before he had down on the ground crying like a little baby.

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, judging by the collective silencing that happened around her. She looked over at them, taking in the mixture of emotions varying from affronted, insulted, and in Ori's case, fear as he looked back and forth between her and the leader. She hadn't realized they had been eavesdropping on their conversation. She felt her face flush as she took in each other their varying expressions of offence. Some of the dwarves were muttering, shaking their heads at her apparently horrifically rude comment. Kili was regarding her with the same look that he had thus far always regarded her with which came as no great shock to her in the slightest.

"I think, my dear, we should discuss this matter in a more private place." Gandalf said, drawing her attention back over to him and the leader with a large hand placed on her trembling shoulder. "Thorin, shall we?"

The name Thorin seemed to fit the angry dwarf more than any of the ridiculous names she had concocted up in her mind. He glared at her for a moment longer before he nodded to Gandalf, indicating that she should follow after the tall man in the grey. It seemed he wasn't comfortable with letting her out of his line of vision. However, if she was being honest, she wasn't very comfortable with the angry man being out of her own line of sight either.

They did not walk far before Gandalf turned back around to the two of them, a slight smile on his lined face. He seemed far too amused by her for her liking and comfort.

"You will stop lying." Thorin said angrily, fixing her with a very dark look. "Where do you hail from?"

She felt her face scrunch up in confusion. She had just told him where she was from. The words had literally just come out of her mouth. Emelia was quite sure Thorin wasn't the type of person to play practical jokes, leaving the only option of him being serious about not having heard of Alaska.

"I already told you, I am from Kessog, Alaska." She paused, feeling panic return to her chest when she saw his hand move down to the knife he kept on his belt. "In the north. It's by Canada…" She trailed off when she saw that her words weren't helping. She felt like she was speaking to a child who had no concept of the world in the slightest.

Even Gandalf was looking at her like she was rambling on about things that only the mentally insane would talk about.

"Where," She paused, not liking the direction that the uncomfortable conversation was going. "Where would you expect me to be from?"

Gandalf peered down at her with intense eyes, making her feel very much like he was seeing directly through her. "You are a most intriguing little one aren't you?"

"Intriguing or not, she will go no further with this company until she explains her purpose in this part of the world."

"I could if I knew where this part of the world was." Emelia said, surprising herself at the sassiness in her voice. Normally she would have kept her mouth shut in situation such as the one she found herself in. Of course, she had never been glared at by a dwarf leader with a particularly sharp looking knife strapped to his waist.

"You are in the borderlands between the shire and Rivendell." Gandalf said, ignoring the slight scoff of the dwarf at the mention of the second place.

"Are those counties or…" She trailed off, feeling utterly confused.

Thorin looked down at her like she had grown a second head spontaneously. "I do not know if you are being intentionally clueless, but I will tell you this Miss Montgomery, now is not the time, nor the place, to cause problems for me and this company."

Emelia felt like she was being pranked. Her eyes narrowed in confusion as she backed away even further from Thorin, until she felt her back smack into one of the trees that offered cover from the morning sun to the three. The roughness of the tree bark scrubbed against her back, making it feel like she was being hugged by sandpaper from behind. Thorin took an intimidating step towards her, ignoring the chiding's from Gandalf as he did.

"You will tell me how you came to be alone in the wild speaking and rambling about made up places."

Emelia looked back and forth between the two of them. She had thought she was done feeling like a caged animal having been relieved of the trolls company, but now that she was back into a tree, looking around wildly, she suddenly felt like her situation had not changed at all. She still felt trapped and stifled. She still felt alone and scared. The only thing that had changed was instead of being almost eaten by trolls she was being judged and disdained by a group of thirteen dwarves.

"I fell through the ice," Her voice shook as she tried to press herself into the tree even more. "He wasn't supposed to go over to the thin ice, but he did. He did even though we told him not to. He did and he fell. And me," She suddenly found herself sobbing, sinking down into the moist earth at the base of the tree, completely oblivious to the alarmed look on Thorin's face. "I had to go in after him. I couldn't just let him die." She pulled her legs up into her chest. "So I jumped in and ended up here. It was snowy when I left and now I'm sweating like a pig in a forest. I jumped in to save him and I ended up in some random place, surrounded by random people, being asked random questions that I have no real answer for."

She was completely out of breath, making her sobs come out like dry heaves as she tried to steady her breathing. She had not meant to become a sobbing, blubbering mess in front of Thorin. In fact, she had meant to never become one in front of any of them. She had wanted to curl up and cry for days and now that she had finally let loose about her little trip down through the water, she couldn't hold it in anymore.

"I am sorry. I didn't mean to end up here, bothering you and your band of merry men." She chocked out thickly, keeping face pressed firmly into her knees, making her voice come out like a muffled mess. "I'm sorry but I don't know where I am, or why I am here," She paused, letting out another loud sob. "And it scares me."

The two men were silent, looking down at the mysterious woman with mouths slightly agape. Gandalf immediately moved forward, placing a tentative hand onto her trembling shoulder. His hand covered her small shoulder completely, highlighting just how much larger than her he was. She flinched violently when his hand touched her shoulder, but she did not try and back away from him like he had observed her doing in the time she had been with the dwarves. Gandalf, for his part, pitied the young woman. Her story was patchy and sparse, at best, but from what he understood it was more frightening and traumatic than any young woman should have to experience alone, if not at all.

Thorin glanced over at the wizard briefly before he spoke to her in a gravelly voice, feeling entirely awkward as he looked down at the crying woman.

"I did not mean to frighten you further." Her sobbing had descended into dry heaves, making her sound and look very much like the youngling dwarves when they were injured or upset. "It was certainly not my intention Miss Montgomery."

"Thorin, we found the troll tracks and everything is packed up." A voice suddenly said, causing all three of the people huddled away from the rest of the company to look up at the sudden appearance of the new dwarf. Fili, followed closely by Kili looked at their uncle for a moment before their gazes trailed down to the red faced woman huddled on the floor. Fili glanced back over at his brother briefly before he moved closer to the small group, only to be stopped by Thorin holding up a large hand, halting him in his tracks.

Fili looked down at Emelia, trying his best to look sympathetic towards her. She did not see his attempts to smile at her in order to make her lighten her mood. No, all she could see was Kili starring down at her while she cried like a wailing baby. That was enough to make even the most injured of people sober up completely. She felt her entire face flush at the thought of him seeing her crying and huddled in the dirt. He would probably hold it against her for the nose thing. The thought made her entire chest burn at the thought.

"Tell the rest of the company that we will leave momentarily." Thorin said, dismissing his two nephews with a stern look.

Kili immediately turned over his shoulder and stalked back over to the rest of the dwarves, pulling a hesitant Fili along behind him.

Thorin watched them walk away for a moment before he addressed the small woman on the ground. She had stopped crying and was watching the two dwarves with an odd look on her tear stained and puffy face.

"Are you well enough to travel?" Thorin asked, ignoring the dark look he received from Gandalf at the less than sympathetic tone in his voice.

"I kind of have to be, don't I?" She asked, allowing her legs to straighten out in front of her, revealing the moisture that her eyes had left from being smashed into the tops of her knees. "I'm not going to stick around here on my own only to be grabbed by something worse than some demented trolls."

Thorin felt his eyebrows raise at the sudden change in her personality. Not five moments ago she had been crying like an infant, curled up into a tight ball, hugging her legs like they were the only thing she trusted. And now she was lifting herself off the ground heavily, brushing the dirt and twigs from her backside, looking over at Thorin with a begrudging sort of trust that he attributed to unadulterated desperation. She had not wanted to come with them, but she knew she had to if she wanted to survive. If she wanted to make it out of the forest, she would have to trust them, as apparent as it was that that caused her no small amount of pain to her pride and conscious.

"Then let us move on. We have spent enough time in this godforsaken place to last the lifetime of a hundred dwarves." With that Thorin stomped back over to the rest of the group effectively ending the conversation and leaving Gandalf and Emelia standing alone in the forest.

"I suppose that would be our cue to follow, wouldn't you think my dear?" Gandalf asked with an amused smile on his face. "Let us see if we can't find you some shoes before we depart."

If Emelia was being honest with herself, there wasn't a dwarf that she would have liked to share a pony with. They were all a complete mystery to her, making the thought of sitting back to front with one of them more than a little uncomfortable to think about. That being said, she found herself, rather surprisingly, enjoying the company of Fili, who had so graciously offered to share his pony with her. He had placed her in front of him, wrapping only one arm around her to grab a hold of the reins, using the other to gesture around them wildly as he told her stories of their home in the Blue Mountains.

Early on in their journey to the troll cave he had apologized, rather profusely and profoundly for the way he had addressed her and spoken to her when he didn't even know her name. It wasn't just the way he spoke that she found to be odd; it was the content that alarmed her.

He seemed to think it inappropriate to comment on her physical being after not knowing her for more than a couple of moments.

Emelia had to stop the laughter when he had apologized profusely.

She had not minded his forwardness. In fact, she had quite enjoyed it for the simple fact that it was one of the few things that were familiar to her. The boys in her hometown, as few as they were, had said that sort of thing all of the time regardless of whether she wanted them to or not. It made her feel like she was closer to home, as odd as it was, and that fact comforted her immensely.

Fili had relaxed even further after she had told him that his words did not bother her, resulting in an even more animated and talkative ride that left Emelia feeling slightly brain-dead from all of his words and slightly dizzy from trying to keep up with all of the different dwarves in his elaborate tales.

"You should have seen his face when he finally got out of the pond, Emelia." Fili said, laughing loudly at the look his brother was shooting the two of them from over his blue clad shoulder. Emelia found no need to quite Fili, considering he was currently telling her a rather embarrassing story of Kili. Anything that embarrassed him made her feel slightly happier, even though she couldn't really explain why. "He looked like a proper drowned rat. Uncle was furious when he trolled water and mud through the house. Turned red as a beat."

"Did you forget to tell him that you pushed him in?" Emelia asked, feeling a slight chuckle come bubbling up in her chest despite her perpetual sour mood.

"I saw now reason that uncle should be privy to that information." Fili said, letting out a loud booming laugh when he saw his brother shoot him another dark look before spurring his pony to move away from the two of them. "Besides, Kili had tattled on me for ruining mother's new dress not two days before. It served the little wanker right."

"And I'm sure he agreed with you."

"Well I am the elder brother, as much as he'd like to deny it, so he always has to agree with me." Fili said, puffing out his chest so much with pride, Emelia could feel his armor pressing into her back even more.

"Elder bother more like it." Emelia said, immediately regretting it. She didn't know if it was too soon to be joking with him, making her face heat up with the thought of what he would say.

"That was funny Miss Emelia." Fili said, poking her with his free hand. "I'm impressed."

"You don't know me well enough to be impressed or not." Emelia pointed out, earning a loud chuckle from Fili.

"From what I do know, I think you're absolutely and delightfully at odds with my little brother, making you entertaining and alright in my view."

"Speaking of dark and delightful up there," Emelia said, earning an ever louder chuckle from not only Fili, but from Gloin and Nori as well. "I don't really understand what his problem is with me."

"He's just upset because you damaged his ugly mug." Gloin said, shooting her a wry smile. "He gets enough flack as it is from dwarf women back home."

Emelia couldn't help but feel like Kili, the snarky little buggar, wouldn't exactly be happy with them discussing him in such a way. He had done nothing to put himself in the good graces of her, but she still felt slightly bad for the way the other dwarves were making fun of him. Not that she would say much to stop them. She couldn't help herself from thinking, despite herself, that those dwarves were more than slightly wrong about Kili having an 'ugly mug'. If she was being honest, he was quite the opposite with his dark hair and impossibly, intimidatingly handsome face. Not that she would tell the little princess that. He pissed her off royally and she was likely to give him something to hold over her, in addition to his stupid nose, in any way at all.

"I am sure he does alright." Emelia said before she even thought about it. She felt Fili tense up slightly, silencing his laughing at her words. Gloin shifted awkwardly in his spot on his brown pony, shooting her an odd look. "With the women I mean."

"Don't let him hear you say that." Fili said, spurring their pony to a slower pace. "He'll never let you forget it."

"I imagine he wouldn't…" Emelia trailed off, feeling her entire stomach churn as she looked around the area that they found themselves in. She recognized it almost instantly as the area that led just up to the troll hole that she had been kept in for three solid days.

She had hoped she wouldn't have to come back to it. She had heard the dwarves talking about finding where the trolls kept her and their treasure, but she had rationalized it in her mind that she would not be with them when they went on that little trip. She would have much rather stayed in the little clearing, where Thorin had wanted so badly to leave her, than to ever have to venture within a hundred miles of the nasty little cave ever again.

Of course, when was she ever one to get what she wanted? Especially if the last few days were any sort of indication.

It took the company a little less than thirty minutes to finally come to a stop outside of the troll hole. The smell of decay immediately washed over all of them, making the dwarves make noises of disgust and revulsion as they dismounted their ponies. Fili helped her down gingerly, eyeing her stocking clad feet warily before he left her side to go speak to his brother.

They had not been able to find her shoes, leaving them with the only option to all, including Kili, give her an extra pair of socks to layer to avoid damaging her small feet. The result was her traipsing about looking like she had suddenly sprouted feet that should have belonged to a man about four hundred pounds heavier than her and about three feet taller. She stayed firmly rooted her in spot as the dwarves bustled about around her, some going in the cave, some choosing to fire random questions at her to make her feel more at home. She looked down at her comically large feet, making a mental note to not even acknowledge the place she had been held captive until she felt someone come stomping up to her, drawing her attention away from the ground.

"There were some odd looking clothes in the cave, we thought they might be yours." It was Ori who stood before her timidly, holding out her under pants and thick shirt.

She immediately grabbed them, offering him a small smile in thanks before she realized something altogether sad and alarming.

Her boots were still in the cave. The boots that her mother had given her were still in the dank cave. Considering she wasn't about to just leave them in there, she closed her eyes warily for a moment before she set off determinately towards the entrance of the cave.

She felt her entire body shaking as she made her way closer and closer. She imagined this was PTSD felt like. Her palms were sweating, as well as her neck and lower back. Her legs felt like jelly and her arms were about as strong as a pair of wet noodles. All and all she felt about as strong and mentally able as a baby penguin.

She wasn't about to leave her mother's boots in the cave, however, so she trudged on, slipping slightly on the many layers of stockings that covered her feet until she made it to the entrance of the cave.

It was just as dark and depressing as she remembered; just as scary as she had dreamt it to be. The chains were still attached to the walls where she had been kept. She could see dent in the pile of refuse her body had made, making her stomach churn. She could see where she had wet herself multiple times judging by the stains on the floor. She could smell the same rancid smell she had been bathed in for days washing over her as she shakily made her way into the cave.

She had made it past where the three trolls had slept when she finally started to panic.

Emelia could just see them lying there, laughing at her as she cried or soiled herself. She could just see them stripping her down to noting, leaving her curled up in shame and fear.

The entire place made her stomach bubble with shame.

She did her best to keep moving towards the small pile she knew her boots would be in.

Thorin, as well as Gandalf, Bofur, Nori, Gloin, and Dwalin watched her as she went, eyes following her with raised eyebrows. It seemed she was not only surprising herself.

She stumbled only twice, whether from and obstacle or from panic inspire fatigue, until she made it to the pile of clothes and supplies. She bent down low, ignoring the shaking in her body and picked her way through the stuff until she came upon her blood soiled boots.

She did not waste any time in getting out of the cave as soon as she had her boots. She held them tightly to her chest, squeezing them for dear life as she sprinted back to the entrance, only loosening her grip once she was sure that both she and they were safe and free from the stifling air in the cave.

Emelia wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she was quite sure she would never part herself from those boots. They, in addition to her under layer of clothes, were all she had left of home. She wasn't about to let them escape her. She had rescued them, unlike she had been able to do for herself, and for that, they would never be out of her grasp if she could help it.

They were a victory in a sea of failures for her, and she wasn't about to let them slip out of her grasp so easily and quickly.

I am terribly sorry for the delay. This Chapter was hard to write. It came out being kind of fillerish, but she had a talk with Thorin, which was a little informative. She went in the cave which will do a lot for her character happiness. Next chapter lots of her and Kili time.

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