Chapter Forty-Eight: The Reunion Special
"I think we could've done this a little more elegantly." Emelia stared down at Alfrid's unconscious body, feeling both bad for clocking him over the head with a small rock the first chance she got and excited at the fact that they were finally leaving.
"You're the one who hit him with the rock," Bilbo pointed out, bending down over Alfrid. "We were going to sneak out after he fell asleep."
"So I just sped up the process," Emelia said, peeking out from the small alcove Alfrid had led them to. Emelia had tried to convince him to let her go back to Tilda and the others, but he, being his usual pricky self, had adamantly refused. The rock might have slipped at that point. Emelia smoothed her jacket and cleared her throat. "He'll be fine."
"He's breathing."
"Told you." Emelia smirked triumphantly before she seemed to realize the situation they were in and her face returned to reflect the appropriate level of stoicism. "Right, well regardless of who's right..."
"Me."
"And who's wrong…"
"You."
"Bilbo, nobody likes a braggart." Emelia gave him a pointed look over her shoulder, noticing that he raised his eyebrows at her. She feigned innocence and turned back around to check to see if there was a clear shot out of Dale. There wasn't. Emelia glanced down to see if she could find more rocks before she shook her head, speaking quietly to herself, "Don't be stupid. You couldn't possibly hit everybody."
"Did you say something?"
"No, nothing at all," Emelia said quickly, kicking the rock she had been eyeing aside. She turned back around and came back to stand next to him, looking down at him expectantly. "Are we ready to go?" Bilbo stood up from crouching over Alfrid and gave her an odd look. She expected him to say something, anything really, instead of just staring at her. When he didn't, Emelia made a face and gestured over her shoulder with a shaky hand. "That way is full of people."
"We can go out this way." Bilbo pointed to a small break in the stone wall that looked big enough to fit half a rat through. Emelia was not impressed. She supposed it was their best option so she didn't voice her opinions. She chose instead to go over to the small bundle of food Alfrid had been forced to give them and stuffed it in her coat pocket, glancing over at Bilbo to see him sticking his hand in his jacket. He ignored Emelia as she shoved all the food she could find into all of the available space she had in clothes for later. They didn't have time to eat it, not that Emelia would have been able to with her current case of anxiety and anticipation induced nausea.
"So we don't have time to make a quick stop?" She asked, thinking of Tilda, Hiron and Galon, Sigrid, and Bain.
"No, we have to go now."
She figured as much. Her stomach suddenly felt like it was filled with worms. It was awful. Painful almost in the way it made everything feel tight and squirrely. She rubbed her hand over her now concaving abdomen and winced as her fingers brushed along the prominent lines of her ribs. She made a mental note to think about that development later, and rushed over to the small opening in the wall where Bilbo was waiting for her.
He held out his hand to help her through. She shoved her boney frame through, wincing as her back wound caught on the rough edge of the rock. She heard the faint sound of her pants snagging on a particularly sharp piece before she was finally able to squeeze her way through to the other side. Bilbo followed shortly after, seeming to have a much easier time than Emelia.
"Get down." Bilbo instructed as soon as he was through. Emelia immediately ducked, looking wildly around for what she was avoiding. When she saw nothing she glowered at Bilbo.
"I've got to say Bilbo, your concern for my glutes is noted, but can we not squat our way to Erebor?"
Bilbo rolled his eyes and pointed beyond her shoulder. She followed the line of his finger and froze, staring at the guard with wide eyes. She tried to look smaller, which was stupid, and sank back onto her heels, leg muscles clenching up so tightly they hurt. Emelia stared at Bilbo, waiting for him to start moving, hand clamped over her mouth to keep from breathing too loudly. When he didn't she started to panic. This would truly be the most laughable attempt at escape ever attempted if they didn't even make it past the front door.
She didn't know what she would do if they got caught. Then again, she didn't quite understand why they weren't allowed to leave, or if Bilbo was assuming it based simply on his own paranoia. She could respect that, even if her thigh muscles didn't. Even so, she was concerned. She didn't like to think about what would happen if they didn't get to the mountain, if they couldn't warn the dwarves about what was coming.
She expressed this to Bilbo through a series of looks and he seemed to understand, thankfully. He nodded his head slowly, pointing forward as he started creeping, silent as a mouse. Emelia was envious. Even when she was doing her absolute best to keep quiet, she still felt like she was plodding like an elephant. She reached her hands down to help keep her balance and followed along after him, crawling like a baby. They moved until they were directly under the guard, backs pressed against the wall. Emelia's fingers spread out on the dirty ground, digging in as she looked up at the underside of the arch the guard was currently standing over. She could see the tips of his shoes sticking out, causing her to dig her nails into the thin layer of icy dirt over the stone even harder. Bilbo nudged her and kept moving sideways, shimmying awkwardly until they were able to turn and crawl forwards.
It was slow work and it felt like over an hour until they were finally able to stand up without being seen. Bilbo seemed antsy and he kept sticking his finger into the side of his coat, digging around for a moment before he caught her staring at him with raised eyebrows. He was doing that a lot. She opened her mouth to ask him about it, only to have him pull his hand out like he had been caught doing something nasty and hold it up to his mouth to keep her from saying anything.
He led her down a set of crumbling steps, practically sprinting, and skidded to a halt behind one of the destroyed columns at the edge of the city limits. It seemed extraordinarily easy to Emelia. Too easy, really, for it to be true. Her hands started to sweat as she thought about it, making them cold and puffy in the frigid air. She wiped them on the back of her pant legs, the only part of her clothes not bulging from smuggled produce, and waited for Bilbo to start moving again.
She wanted to say something but knew she couldn't, not when they were so close to the city. There wasn't anything in particular that she wanted to talk about first, but she felt the words bubbling up regardless. She wanted to know about Kili, about Fili, about all of them and how they were doing. She wanted to know if Erebor was what they expected, or if Smaug had ravaged it the way her nightmares told her he had. It had only been a few days, but there was so much she had missed. She wanted to know, but she couldn't.
So she waited and kept her eyes on the back of Bilbo's messy head as he looked out at open expanse of land in front of them. Emelia felt weird and she didn't know why. She thought she should be excited about finally getting to go to Erebor, but she mostly felt apprehension. She didn't get to tell Tilda and the twins that she was leaving and now she wouldn't have the opportunity. The guilt was already building up to uncomfortable levels, but she pushed it down for the time being. It wasn't like she was never going back. She told herself that over and over again in the absence of conversation between her and Bilbo, but it hardly did anything to lessen the horrible feeling.
"We should run," Bilbo said suddenly, forcing Emelia to look back at him with wide eyes. She felt her mouth twist down in a scowl at the mere thought.
"Like fast running, or mildly speedy jogging?" Emelia asked, rubbing her hands over the bundles of food she had squirreled away.
"Somewhere in the middle," Bilbo said, giving her a soft smile, almost as if he could see the mental math she was doing to figure out if she had the energy to spare. She didn't, she knew that. "It isn't as far as it looks, but we shouldn't linger."
Emelia nodded and immediately reached her hands into her pants, quite clearly alarming Bilbo. She smirked at him and pulled out the bundle of food so she could shove it under her arm. "What? What did you think I was going to pull out?" She winked at the look on his face and went back to readjusting herself so that she wouldn't be sprouting green things right and left. Granted, it would certainly serve to lighten the mood, but she didn't think Bilbo would take too kindly to the delay. He turned away from her and smoothed out his own coat and she thought she saw him spend a particularly long time on the small pocket on his right side. Emelia narrowed her eyes and stepped up behind him, leaning over to peer down with just enough vulture-like creepiness to make him uncomfortable. "Ready?"
"Of course," Bilbo nodded and cleared his throat. He reached back and pulled the top of his ratty jacket over his head, making him look very much like Quasimodo. Emelia couldn't help but snort. "Do you want to be caught?"
"No," She said, holding the hand up that wasn't clutching food up in a mock surrender. "Should I do the same?"
"I think it would be best." Bilbo turned back around to look up at the outline of Dale. There wasn't much light beyond the moon and the small amount torches scattered along the wall, but Emelia was certain she could see a few elves, who even in such minimal light looked impossibly put together, and men posted along the wall. She shrunk down out of instinct and pulled her jacket over her head until all of her hair and half her face was hidden. She balked at the sudden coldness assaulting her lower back.
"We look like turtles," She said, unsure of whether or not it was a good thing. "Why do we look like turtles?"
"We both have lighter hair that would reflect in the moonlight," Bilbo said simply, back still to her.
She wouldn't have even thought of that, truth be told. If it had been left up to her she probably would have gone streaking towards Erebor, shouting at the top of her lungs about how excited she was to be there. She decided then and there to let Bilbo make all the decisions that involved anything to do with being stealthy or general covertness from that point forward.
"I think we should go now."
Bilbo turned back and crept forward, keeping his tiny form as small as possible. Emelia fumbled along behind him until they passed the outer lip of the small rock formation that lay on the outskirts of Dale and swept down into the large valley separating it from Erebor. He stopped them just for a moment and looked back at the guards, as if he could see them and Emelia thought he might be able to, which was good considering she was virtually blind at the moment, before he took off running towards the blob in the distance that she had been thinking about for days.
She made a mental note not to refer to Erebor as a blob in front of the dwarves and started running after Bilbo.
It didn't go as smoothly as it should have. There was a considerable amount of wheezing and general mental complaining that kept her occupied as they sprinted their way across the valley. Bilbo could certainly book it, despite his short little legs, and Emelia was left sort of amazed at how fast he was running when she wasn't too busy cursing the mere idea of running in its simplest form.
She was comforted by the fact that despite virtually everything around her changing there was one thing that still remained the same.
She still hated running.
Pulling her jacket back down further over her face, she kept her gaze firmly planted on the back of Bilbo's now bulbous looking head. She didn't know if they were getting closer or not, but she knew she felt better. If she ignored the pain in her chest, back, legs, and rest of her body that is. The guilt she felt about leaving Tilda and the others behind didn't feel so bad when accompanied by the much nicer, so much lighter sensation of hope. She had almost forgotten what it felt like, but there it was, burning through her chest and making her feel as if she decision she was making wasn't so bad in the grand scheme of things.
Besides, she didn't think she could be blamed for wanting to see the dwarves bad enough that she would have to pick between her obligations to them, that were admittedly self-created, and her newly formed attachment to the twins and Tilda. It wasn't a fair scenario from the beginning so she tried not to think about it more than she had too.
Emelia didn't know how long it was before Bilbo finally slowed down enough for her to catch up to him. She dropped her bundle of food onto the ground and grabbed his shoulder to keep from keeling over. "Remind me why we had to sprint."
"I wasn't entirely certain that we wouldn't have been shot for trying to come over here."
Emelia stood up straighter and looked back at Dale, knowing she looked pale as a ghost in the moonlight. The perfect target, really. She subconsciously tried to appear smaller and less like a giant bullseye, which ended up being quite useless with her combination of red hair around a pale white, and comically round, face. "That's not comforting, Bilbo."
"Would it have stopped you from coming with me?"
"No."
"Then it's sorted," Bilbo said simply. Emelia wondered when he'd developed such a penchant for sassiness for a moment before she realized that he had spent just as much time with the dwarves as she had. She thought she liked it, as she was often partial to anyone who displayed any level of snark, situationally appropriate or otherwise, but decided to reserve her judgement until she saw it used more often.
"So what do we do now?" Emelia asked, unable to tear her gaze away from Dale.
"We climb."
Emelia pivoted, trying, and failing, to look at Dale, and all the pointy arrows it had to offer, and the mountain that Bilbo was currently planning on them hiking up in a directly vertical direction. A very high vertical direction. She gulped and took a step back, trying to find the flat point that they would climb to. She couldn't see it, but she trusted Bilbo enough to not get her killed. She swallowed a newly formed wad of nervous spit and turned to him.
"I'll go first," She said, taking a step up towards the river that separated them from the bottom of the mountain.
"That's very brave."
"No, it's just that if I fall, you'll be able to catch me."
Bilbo snorted and stepped around her, hopping across the water towards the nearest rock. At least he found it funny because she certainly didn't. He turned around and held his arm out and waited for her to follow him. She hesitated, which was silly considering it was only water, before she shook out her limbs and hopped, slamming full force into Bilbo as she went. All her time in away from home had obviously made her as graceful as a ballerina. She straightened her clothes and waited for Bilbo to move onto the next rock. They repeated the process six times before they were squeezed together on the tiny rock jutting off the side of Erebor, looking up at the rope that hung down the side of the manmade wall of stone in the only visible opening in the mountain.
The rope that they were going to use looked like it was older than dirt, giving Emelia immediate pause in regards to their current plan of rock climbing their way up.
"You go first."
"I was kidding," Emelia said, feeling the blood drain from her face as she looked up. "Was it this high when you left?"
"It isn't so bad if you don't think about it."
She was thinking about it. That was all she was thinking about at the moment, actually, and even if Bilbo said it wasn't so bad, it still looked just high enough to make her sick. It was definitely high enough to break a few bones, or twenty, if she fell. She pulled her hood back and stared up at the top of the rock wall and felt her pulse increase and sweat spring up on her lower back and along her neck. She didn't have the calories to spare to be stressing out so much and she thought she could literally smell the judgement wafting off Bilbo.
She rolled her shoulders and tried to stop the shaking in her hands for her climb. She wrapped her hands around the rope, tugging on it for good measure, before she started her climb up.
It didn't go well.
She stopped about fifteen times on her way, all of which included a lot of whining on her part and a lot of pep-talking on Bilbo's part, before she finally managed to heave herself over the edge and onto flat ground. She collapsed, breathing out all the panic she had been holding in. She laughed, wiping her hands over her face.
"I didn't die, B…"
A hand wrapped around her mouth before she could get her sentence out. The person hauled her up off the cold ground and slammed her into the nearest wall, pressing a knife against her throat just close enough to cause her to scream against the rough palm of their hand. The vegetables squirreled away in her pants crunched and she involuntarily cursed. It wasn't her best reaction to date, she could admit that.
The hand around her shoulder shook, causing her to close her eyes out of reflex as she waited for them either kill her, which seemed a little ridiculous, or let her go.
"Emelia?"
She cracked open an eye and mad eye contact with a very surprised looking Dwalin. He grabbed her roughly around the shoulders and pulled her into a rib-crackingly tight hug. More vegetables broke. She should probably give up on them being edible, but she stubbornly reached down her hand to pull the bundle out before Dwalin could do any more damage.
If she didn't already know what Bard told them, she would find this sudden, and quite frankly bipolar, expression of physical affection awkward and out of character. He hugged her for a moment before she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and hugged him back, deciding not to mention anything about the fact that he had now slammed her into a standing structure twice since they met. That might ruin the moment.
"Nori!" Apparently, Dwalin didn't care much about that, judging by the way he shouted directly in her ear. She shoved him, glowering at the way he continued shouting to the nearest dwarf, Nori in this case, like he was hearing impaired. "Nori! Get yer ass up here!"
"Dwalin," Emelia snapped, hands reaching over her shoulder to see if his violent expression of what she assumed was happiness at seeing her alive had caused her stitches to reopen. It didn't feel like it and she couldn't feel the familiar warmth running down her back. Still, she rubbed the tips of her fingers over the thick, puckered line, feeling the tenderness flaring up now that the shock of being pushed against a stone barricade had worn off. "Stop shouting before you make my ears bleed."
"What're you hollerin' about?" Nori's head popped up at the top of a set of crude stone stairs, brows raised and eyes bleary, obviously annoyed at Dwalin interrupting his sleep. He stared at Dwalin for a moment before he finally seemed to notice Emelia standing there.
"Emelia?"
"Yes, it's me. Back from the dead or whatever."
Nori scrambled up the last few steps and proceeded to squish her in yet another crushing hug, rocking her back and forth for a moment and laughing.
"What's happening?"
"Bilbo, where've you been?" Nori held Emelia at arm's length and turned to look at the hobbit, hands squeezing her shoulders tightly as if he was checking to see if she was real. Dwalin clapped her soundly on the back and smiled, genuinely and without any sort of hostility whatsoever, at her. It almost made her forget his kneejerk reaction of holding a knife to her throat. Almost. She would back at him later for that. "Look who's risen from the dead."
Her gaze slid over to Bilbo, eyes narrowing.
"I was..." He trailed off, pointing over his shoulder in the most nondescript and vague way possible. "Emelia, we were told you died."
Nori let go of her long enough for Bilbo to come over to hug her, completely ignoring, or oblivious to, the confused look on her face. She cocked her head to the side, mouth opening to ask the hobbit what on earth was going on, when he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. "Don't say anything," He whispered quickly in her ear and pulled back, plastering an obviously fake smile on his face.
Odd. She didn't remember agreeing to take part in Bacon and Eggs: Part Three. He got her here, though, so she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, for the time being.
"Keep it shady, Bilbo," She said simply, turning back around to the two dwarves so they wouldn't notice anything was wrong. She smiled widely at them. "So, where are the others?"
"We've made camp down in the one of the old armory antechambers. It isn't much, but it'll do for now."
Dwalin went down the steps first followed by Nori and Bilbo, whom Emelia grabbed roughly by the arm before he could take the first step and pinched his skin.
"Ow, what?"
"You know what, Bilbo Baggins," She hissed, digging her nails into his coat.
"It's complicated."
"Why are they acting like you never left?"
"Because they don't know."
"Emelia, stop dawdling!" Dwalin shouted up at her from the bottom of the steps.
"This seems like a terrible idea," Emelia said through her teeth, pushing past Bilbo so that she could wave at Dwalin and Nori in a manner that she hoped didn't look suspicious, even if she wasn't entirely sure what his motivation was. "This has to do with the Arkenstone?" She whispered when Dwalin and Nori turned away, impatience written all over their faces.
"Yes."
"Then I don't want to know details," She said, hopping down onto the first step. "At least, more than I already do."
"I think that's probably best." Bilbo followed after her, a small look of relief on his face when he realized that she wasn't going to spilling his dirty little secret any time soon.
Emelia gave him one more look, feeling something foreign building in her chest that she couldn't identify. The more she thought about it, even when she didn't want to, the more she felt like Bilbo was playing with fire. She hardly understood why a rock was so important, but if Bilbo thought it would change the outcome of the brewing conflict, and if in order to do so he needed to steal said rock and give it to Thranduil and Bard, she trusted him enough not to say anything until it played out naturally.
"What in the name of Mahal are the two of you doing?"
"Nothing." Emelia skipped down the last few steps, trying to hide the look on her face, and came to stand next to Nori and Dwalin. "Don't think I'm letting you off the hook about your greeting Dwalin."
"You can never be too careful," He said simply and Emelia couldn't help but smirk at his honesty. Nori smiled at her and pointed down a narrow hallway with a light orange glow at the end. He went first, allowing her to walk nest to Dwalin as they continued talking, while Bilbo brought up the rear. He seemed to content to stay off their radar, even if he was doing a terrible job at looking natural.
"You could have popped my stitches."
"You have stitches? Again?"
"Constantly, actually." Dwalin's lips pursed and Emelia found herself, once again, being surprised at the degree of compassion he was showing. Perhaps she underestimated the amount of pain her death would have caused, which seemed like an overly conceited thought, for them. She shook her head and turned away, just to avoid any sort of awkwardness. They fell into silence after that. She didn't know what to say. She thought that she should say something about what Bard did, apologize on his behalf even if he didn't deserve it, but when she tried, it didn't come out.
"It's just through here."
She felt her face crack into a grin that could rival the Cheshire's when Nori pointed to a dimly lit room just to their left. Emelia could hear the sound of talking and she immediately sped up, bypassing Nori to jog into the room without waiting for him, Dwalin, and Bilbo, who was currently doing his best to make it appear as if he had been in Erebor the entire time, to follow after her.
She skidded to a halt in the room, eyes immediately searching for Kili amongst the dwarves. She felt her smile falter ever so slightly when she couldn't find him right away.
And she still couldn't find him after she looked at all of them twice over.
He wasn't there.
The rest were, however, and they were all staring at her like she was a ghost.
"Surprise," She said weakly, looking at each of them for a moment, unsure of what she was searching for. She found an immense amount of comfort in seeing their beards, their small eyes, their large noses. She probably could have said something more profound, given the circumstances. It seemed to do the trick, however, judging by the way all of them dropped what they were doing to come stare at her like she was an exhibit in a museum.
"Emmy?"
Fili pushed out from between Oin and Dori, hands shaking at his sides. The color drained from his face, causing her to immediately wonder about his general well-being. "Fee, long time no see."
She giggled at her own rhyme and realized something was wrong when Fili didnt laugh as well.
"You…" He seemed to be struggling to breathe. Emelia glanced around at the other dwarves, wondering if they were as concerned about him as she was. Ori looked like he was on the verge of tears and Bofur seemed torn between laughing and crying. Maybe both at the same time. "Em, you…" Fili tried and failed to start his sentence again.
"Oh, come on guys. It was only a couple of days." She laughed uncomfortably and smiled, wiping her sweaty palms on her thighs. It was starting to get awkward with all of them staring at her and not saying anything. "Look, Bard shouldn't have don…"
"I can't believe you're alive," Fili breathed crossing the small room to stand directly in front of her, hand coming up to touch the side of her face. It shook violently. She looked at the ground for a moment before she pulled him into a hug. It would be better if they just got it out of the way, rather than staring at each other for hours. It was a fair bit to process, she understood that, but she was there and alive and wanted nothing more than to hug him again.
"I know, I couldn't let you off the hook that easily."
"Don't even joke about that," Fili said, squeezing her so tightly her feet lifted off the ground.
"I wasn't actually dead." She reminded him, burying her face in his shoulder. "Almost, but not yet."
"What happened?" Bofur came to stand next to them. The rest of the dwarves seemed to take this as a cue and followed after him, surrounding her and Fili. There were so many of them. All of them except Kili and, now that she could count them, Thorin. She stepped back from Fili, keeping her hand wrapped tightly around the fabric of his jacket. She noticed it was much nicer, and thicker, than hers and didn't smell nearly as bad. A little dusty, maybe, but it lacked the distinct aroma of blood and guts. How refreshing.
"It's a long story and I promise I'll tell you when I'm not dead on my feet," She noticed the wincing right after she said it. "Sorry, too soon?" She paused, looking around at all of them, noticing the dark look that settled over all of them when they really thought about what Bard had done. She sighed and squeezed Fili's jacket tighter. "I punched him for, it that makes it better."
"You should've killed him," Dwalin seethed. "The backstabbing bastard."
"Tone down the homicidal thoughts, Dwalin."
"Why shouldn't we kill him?" He seethed, throwing his hands up. "He tried to use you against us."
"I get that. Trust me I do, but there's a lot more going on than some personal issues between us and Bard."
"They want what belongs to us."
Emelia knew the look on her face was somewhere between annoyance and understanding. She wanted to say she understood why Bard had done it, but she couldn't in good conscious. She could see the desperation in the action, but it didn't excuse it in her mind. Eventually, maybe, but not right then. She could also see, however, that it wasn't something they should dwell on. It was done, she was alive, and there shouldn't be anything else to it. Besisdes, she placed a much higher importance on figuring out what to do about the orc army marching for them at that exact moment.
"They want help," Emelia said slowly, cautiously. "But he went about it wrong way."
"Are you defending him?" Dwalin snapped, causing her to immediately roll her eyes.
"No."
"Certainly sounds like it." She wasn't even if that was there interpretation.
"Are we really going to fight about this right now?" She let go of Fili's jacket and stepped towards Dwalin, arms held out in front of her in an almost desperate manner. "Please, I don't want to think about it. He shouldn't have done it and I get that you want to go beat the snot out of him, which he might debatably deserve, but I'm back and I've missed you so please don't turn this into another fight because we have too many of those coming to be having one now."
They were all silent, each taking their time to think over what she said before Balin smiled and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder, simultaneously calming the larger dwarf down and indicating that he should step back to give him some room. "Looks like you've got it all settled then, lassie? On to happier things, I think."
"Please."
"How about a tour?" Balin suggested, eyes twinkling with happiness. She wondered how long it had been since he had been able to offer that to someone. Decades probably. She bounced on the balls of her feet and glanced back at Fili, noticing that he still had the same dumbstruck look on his face.
"Two things first?" She asked, feeling the absence of the missing members of their company weighing on her mind.
"Of course."
"First I want a group hug." She anticipated the looks of confusion on their faces, to which she responded with a simple smirk and held out her arms. "That includes you Dwalin." None of them moved. She rolled her eyes and gestured with her hands, beckoning them towards her. "Don't make me beg, gentlemen. It isn't cute."
"I think we can just about manage it," Fili said quietly, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. She thought he might have given the rest of the dwarves a look that made them all step forward to do the same. They squeezed in next to each other, grumbling the entire time. She couldn't help but beam at them.
"This is nice." She laughed at the looks on their faces and pulled Fili a little closer to her. Words couldn't even begin to describe her happiness. The last couple of days had been the worst of her life and it suddenly felt so much better.
She felt lighter.
And she wanted to see Kili. She wanted to share her happiness with him.
"Where's Kee?"
It was suddenly awkwardly quiet. The older dwarves smiled at her and moved away, mumbling a mixture of happy expressions at seeing her again and excuses, ones that seemed paper thin to her, for why they apparently needed to be on the opposite side of the room of her. She pursed her lips and waited for them all to leave, smiling softly at each one as they left, before she turned to Fili with an expectant look on her face.
"Where is he?"
"He hasn't been taking the news of your death very well."
"But I didn't die," She reminded him.
"We didn't know that." The mournful look was back. It looked so wrong on his normally happy face. She knew there was something more going on, something he was holding back. She glanced around the room and decided to take their conversation to a more private location, just to ease his discomfort, if there was any, more than anything. She didn't very much like the idea of leaving the room but she thought she could handle it for a few minutes if it meant lightening up Fili's spirits.
She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back through the door she had come through. She thought they wouldn't be overheard, judging by how the noise started raising in the room.
"What's wrong?" Emelia asked, keeping her hand on his arm.
He said nothing.
Fili looked down at his shoes and shook his head, hands clenching into fists. She felt the muscle move under her hand.
"Fee, please," She tried again, voice taking on a more pleading tone. "Talk to me."
He finally looked up at her and she was alarmed to see tears in his bright blue eyes. "I never should have let you leave. He asked me to look after you and I didn't. What if something had happened to you and I could have stopped it, I could have looked after you better and I di…"
He trailed off, looking away from her. She thought she saw him reach up and wipe his face, which made her look away as well. She tried to say something to break the silence, but nothing came out. It was probably better that way, for the time being. She didn't think there was anything she could say that would change the guilt he felt, even if she didn't think he should feel that way at all.
She made her decisions and she stood by them.
But that was an argument for another day.
"Hey, want to hear a joke?" She asked suddenly, looking back at him. He stared at the wall for a moment before he eyed her out of the corner of his eye, brows raised.
"Is it funny?"
"No, it's terrible. I thought it would be a good idea to make you feel worse. Of course it's funny." She smacked his arm and stepped closer to him, ignoring once again as he wiped his face, getting rid of the rest of the moisture that she was certain neither of them would ever talk about.
"Go on, then."
"What's colorful and smart?"
"I don't know, what?"
"A brainbow!" She giggled to herself and waited for him to laugh as well. He didn't even crack a smile. "Come on, Fee, that's hilarious." She nudged him with her finger and waited for something to happen. A lip twitch was enough. She kept poking him until he finally managed to smile halfheartedly, the gesture not reaching his eyes. She would take it, for now. She looped her arm through his and pulled him close, practically forcing him to look her directly in the eye. "It wasn't your fault."
"How can you…"
"Listen, please. I don't know what sort of promises you made to Kili or vice versa, but you hovering around me like a mother hen wouldn't change what I did. I still would've gone after the poppy seeds and I still would've gone after Tilda."
"Don't do it again."
"I can't make any promises." She smiled slightly, feeling some of her happiness waning. "But I'll try to stay in one place for a little bit. I'm here. Can we please focus on that?"
He nodded and leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on her hairline that caused her to smile. "Kili's probably suffered enough. Let's go."
She kept her arm looped through his and allowed him to lead her through a set of confusing tunneled staircases. She still hadn't gotten much of a glimpse of Erebor, but she decided that could wait until she saw all the dwarves. The entrance hall she and Bilbo had entered through was grand enough and it was destroyed beyond belief. She couldn't even begin to imagine what the rest looked like. She wouldn't imagine it. She would rather wait.
Fili turned a corner and pointed to a small antechamber to his left, unlooping their arms without saying anything.
"Why is he all by himself up here?" Emelia asked, rubbing her arms at the lack of warmth. It was frigid up here and dark and lonely. Not the sort of the place she could ever picture Kili.
"He's been up here since Bard came to treat with Thorin. I've tried to get him to come out."
"Do you think he'll be happy to see me?" She didn't even realize she still carried that insecurity, but there it was rearing its ugly head. Her hands trailed up to her hair as she tried to tame the unimaginable mess of mats and tangles. She rubbed her hands over her face in a vain attempt to clear some of the dirt before she realized it wouldn't do much. She still smelt like death.
She winced and looked down.
"Tell him that joke."
"No. Apparently it wasn't very funny." He finally laughed. It was soft sound and almost nonexistent, but it was there so she was happy. "I've got a few zingers up my sleeve, I'm sure I can get a chuckle or two." She moved her hands to smooth out her clothes before she finally looked back at Fili. "He's through there?"
Fili nodded and stepped to the side, holding his arm to let her pass. "Emelia?"
She paused and turned back to look at him, chest tightening in anticipation as she compulsively smoothed her clothes down again. "Yea?"
"You look beautiful."
"Oh shut up."
She winked at him and turned to walk down the small hallway. Her hands shook, but she kept walking, feeling her face crack into an almost psychotically happy smile. Emelia hadn't felt so excited in a long time. It almost hurt, actually. She ran her hands over her clothes again and stepped through the small stone saw a figure hunched over at the far side of the room, shoulder slumped and head rolled forward. She immediately cleared her throat and took a few quick steps into the room as Kili turned around. She smiled awkwardly and held her hands behind her back, unsure of whether or not she should run and tackle him in a hug or wait for him to make the first move.
"Hey, Kee."
"I think we should stop here." Gimli said, stretching out his muscles. They were sore from sitting all day. He glanced down at Wenny, smiling slightly at the horrified look on her face. He's expected that reaction.
"What? No!" She stood up and grabbed him by the arm. "You can't stop there. That's just mean."
"You're guests have arrived." Gimli reminded her, standing up as well. She had already kept them from greeting his old friends with her persistence. It was admirable, but inconvenient.
"What happens?"
"Wait and see." Gimli started walking out of the room, aware of Wenny trailing behind him, prattling off rapid questions until she was out of breath. After a moment he felt her slide her small hand into his, causing him to stare down at her with raised eyebrows. "Are you trying to butter me up?"
"Why would I do that?" Wenny asked, squeezing his hand.
"I'm not going to tell you what happens next until you spend a quality time with your guests, so you can just quit now," Gimli said simply. She pulled her hand out of his immediately and crossed her arms over her chest.
"You aren't my Ada."
"No, certainly not. But I am the only one who knows everything that happens with our dear friends Emelia and Kili, so you should do as I say." Gimli smirked down at her triumphantly when he saw her contemplating his words. He thought Legolas would be impressed with his cleverness, but he also could image the eye roll he would receive for giving into Wenny as much as he had.
"So they live?" Wenny asked, latching onto his words with a hopeful look on her face.
"I didn't say that."
"So they die?"
"I also didn't say that."
The noise she made in response was almost unnatural.
She wasn't happy, that much was clear. She didn't say anything else to him as they walked through the halls towards the large gathering room just off the throne room. Wenny had suggested they continue the story in the gardens, which Gimli found entirely too green for his tastes. Legolas and Nim had smiled and swanned off to do whatever they did throughout the day, leaving him on babysitting duty, once again. He didn't mind, per say, but now that they were nearing the end, his mind kept traveling towards the nap he would finally get to take and the peace and quiet he thought he had earned.
Wenny kept her distance from him, fully content to pout the entire way, until they stepped through to the throne room. Her parents were already there, along with King Thranduil and three elven guards dressed to impress. Gimli snorted, drawing their attention over to the two new arrivals. Wenny clapped her hands together, seemingly forgetting about her annoyance at Gimli, and ran to stand next to her parents. The guests turned to look at them and Gimli instantly felt his weariness at spending so much time with Wenny, which was really exhaustion as he got older than anything else, melt away.
"Ah, Gimli. We were wondering where you had gotten to."Aragorn crossed the room and threw his arms around Gimli, clapping him roughly on the back in enthusiasm. He had more grey in his hair and the lines next to his eyes were deeper, but he still looked so youthful. Gimli felt old. Even more so after spending so much time with the elves."You look well, my friend." He squeezed his shoulder and smiled at him, walking with him back towards the others.
Arwen looked as beautiful as ever as she stood statuesque next to Nim. They had their arms wrapped around each other in a warm embrace.
Legolas stepped up to the two of them, leaving Wenny alone with Eldarion, who had been content up until that point to stand at his mother's side. Gimli eyed the two of them for a moment, taking note of the blush on both of their faces, before he turned to look at his old companions.
"I've heard you've been quite preoccupied as of late, Gimli," Aragorn said, folding his arms behind his back. "You haven't written me in weeks."
"She is as persistent as her mother and as annoying as her father." Gimli chuckled at the look on Legolas' face.
"She seems to taken a liking to you, for reasons I still cannot explain," Legolas quipped back.
"Eldarion missed her," Aragorn mused, turning to look at the two children. "He kept wondering when your family would come back to Gondor."
"We have been wondering the same." Legolas stepped closer to that they could speak more privately. "Every time we find the time, a new band of scavengers pushes into our borders."
"Their numbers are wearing thin," Gimli said, moving to stand between his two taller friends. Thranduil was now speaking to Nim and Arwen and Gimli noticed that he had s slight smile on his face. It still looked off to him. He was the sort of man who wasn't made to smile. "Even still, the scouts report new bands passing into our lands from the south. They're becoming desperate."
"Perhaps then, it is good you two came when you did." Legolas looked between the two conspiratorially. Gimli knew that look. He liked that look. His thoughts of rest and relaxation washed away as new ideas of hunting down a pack of orcs entered into his mind. His hands ached to hold his axe again suddenly, fingers twitching into their old grip.
"We are supposed to be relaxing," Aragorn said, laughing at the look of disbelief on Gimli's face. "I believe that is why you were here originally."
"Well, yes, but who am I to deny a friend in need?"
"Perhaps Nim will join us as well," Aragorn suggested, looking over at the blonde elf. She was smiling at something Thranduil had said, head tilted back with a small laugh. It had been years, to Gimli's knowledge, since she had gone on a hunt with them.
"She has been devoting her time to Tauriel." Legolas kept his answer purposely vague, out of respect more than anything else. Even Gimli had noticed how depressed she seemed in the few weeks since she had come back. Aragorn nodded in understanding.
"All the same, I wish to know how she's been."
"I am certain she will find the time to inform you of every detail." Aragorn laughed and looked down at his feet.
"Come, you must be exhausted from your journey." Legolas placed his hands on their shoulders. "We can show you to your rooms and let you settle in. Liluwen," Legolas called his daughter over. Gimli noticed, once again, the look on her face when she turned away from Eldarion. "It's time to let our guests go."
"But Ada," She protested briefly before she saw he father's arched eyebrow. She turned to look at Gimli and smiled. He was instantly weary of that look. That was purely her mother showing through. "I told El about the story. He wants to know."
"It's El now is it?" Gimli asked, much to Wenny's embarrassment. She blushed a deeper shade of red, probably hoping no one would notice her nickname. "Even the kissing bits?"
"Now I'm intrigued," Aragorn bent down to be at eye level with Wenny, holding out his arms to pick her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed tightly. "What sort of story has Gimli been telling you?"
"It's about Thorin and his company."
"That's a good one," Aragorn nodded at Legolas, who looked quite thankful to see that his daughter's attention was moved away. The four of them, with Wenny in tow, moved back to stand with their families. Eldarion peered up at them, looking much older than he was. The intelligence already evident in his eyes was alarming, but Gimli knew not to expect anything else from the child. He was the son of Aragorn and Arwen, after all. "Eldarion would love it."
"What, Ada?" Eldarion asked, voice light and clipped. He was younger than Wenny, but Gimli had always thought he acted so much older, so much more mature. Despite being physically the same size, Wenny was still so much more naïve and childlike.
"Wenny has a story she thinks you'd like?" Aragorn set Wenny down to stand next to him
"Are there warriors?" Eldarion asked.
"Of course!" Wenny said it like it was an idiotic question, causing all the adults to laugh. "And dragons,"
"Dragon," Gimli corrected her.
"Fine, dragon," She emphasized the singular form. "It's so exciting!"
"Patience, Liluwen." Nim stepped forward, reiterating what Gimli had told her a thousand times over. The message wasn't sticking. He couldn't help but smirk, his affection for the offbeat girl flaring up again. "Allow them a moment to breathe."
"Fine," She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "El, do you want to see the new bow Ada gave me?"
"Sure." Eldarion nodded and looked up at his parents to confirm. Aragorn inclined his head, glancing over at Arwen, who did the same.
"I will come find the two of you for dinner," Arwen said, bending down to place a light kiss on each other their brows.
They took that as their cue and instantly turned to leave. Gimli couldn't help but eye them as Wenny grabbed his hand the moment she thought they were out of sight of her parents and his.
He was certain he was going to have fun with that little tidbit of information. He could already imagine the looks on their parents' faces when they found out. Gimli tucked it away for another day, however, when Wenny and Eldarion were older and, probably, much more difficult. He was certain they would be the cause of his grey hairs, so he thought it was only appropriate. He focused his attention on his friends, fully for the first time in weeks. He had spent so much time thinking about the past, he had almost forgotten the problems of the present.
And there were many.
He sighed and followed after them, content with listening to them speak more than anything else for the time being.