Chapter Fifty-One: Don't Get Caught

"Long story short, Thorin banished me," Emelia said in a rush, ignoring all the questions being fired at her from all sides. Her quick rundown of the events hadn't been very tactful, and for that she was a bit upset at how they all looked at her, but she didn't have the time, nor the patience required to soften the blow, not that she thought they needed it in the first place. She sped past them, ducking underneath the arms that meant to stop her for a moment, and headed towards the armor on the other side of the room. She shot Bombur a pointed look and he immediately pulled his arms back, holding them up in surrender. They held eye contact for a moment and he stepped back, giving her a clear path to the weapons that she had her eye on. "Can I borrow one of these?"

"Emelia, wait." Bofur grabbed her shoulder, yanking her back just as she was about to take a particularly gnarly looking serrated sword off the wall. "Take a moment and breathe."

"I don't really have a moment, Bofur," Emelia said, sidestepping him so she could grab the sword. It was heavier than it looked and, when she lifted it off its hook on the wall, the tip clattered to the floor. She glared at it and heaved it over her shoulder, stumbling backwards under the weight as she tried to lift it without giving herself a hernia. "What are these made of?"

"Iron," Bofur said, stepping in front of her again. "Put that down before you hurt yourself, lass." He tried to pry the sword out of her hand, but she took a step back, holding it closer to herself. She dodged his arm, earning an annoyed look that she'd seen from him more times than she could count. She pursed her lips and wrapped her hands tighter around the hilt, finding the roughness of the leather against her palm less bothersome than normal. Bofur wasn't even close to being half impressed with her defiance. He stared at her for a moment, and she thought he was going to let her keep the sword, before he reached forward and practically wrestled it out of her hands, holding her arms down with his elbow as she struggled to get it back.

"She has to leave." Emelia looked over her shoulder at Dwalin, unsure of what exactly she wanted to focus her anger towards him on first. His forehead was practically a beacon, a magnet attracting her fist to his fat head. She glowered at him, half expecting his usual response of indifference or slightly, albeit not mean, mockery. She even would have preferred disdain, because that would be familiar to her. That was all she saw from him for months and it only changed recently. Instead, she saw something close to pity.

It didn't sit well with her.

"According to who?"

"Thorin."

"Aye, and what was his state when he said it?"

Dwalin stiffened and took a large step towards Bofur. "He is our king. His state is not within our responsibility to question."

Bofur muttered something under his breath and turned away from her, giving her the opportunity to snatch up the sword again. She was better prepared for the weight the second time around but it still felt like it was going to tip her off balance if momentum didn't favor her. She wrapped her fingers around the hilt and held it to her body, protecting it. Bofur rolled it eyes."This is madness," He said, prying the weapon out of her hand again. He passed it to Nori, who passed it to Bifur, who put it back on the wall where she got it. "What does he mean by it? We barely have the mountain back and already he's booting people out?"

"Person. Singular. Apparently, calling him out on his bullshit is a no-no." Emelia kept her gaze on Bofur, feeling something akin to guilt spring up deep in her gut. She accepted her own bitterness and dislike, her own completely diminished respect, for Thorin right then, but that wasn't supposed to bleed over onto the rest of them. Still, she couldn't help but find his indignation on her behalf, if it could be called that, comforting. She had never spent a great deal of time with Bofur, something that she regretted at that moment, so she found his reaction surprising. She wanted to hug hardly seemed like the time, however, so she pushed that desire down.

"Emelia."

She finally tore her gaze away from Bofur and turned her attention back on Dwalin, glare deepening exponentially. "Sorry, bullhonky. Flim-flam. Malarky. Poppycock. Bunkum. Cow tur…"

"We understand, thank you," Dwalin cut her off. She clenched her hands into fists, imagining, briefly, what it would be like to punch him. Just once. It might make her feel better, if only for a moment. After, though, the empty feeling in her chest would return and they, the people of Lake-town included, would be no better off than before. "What?"

"What do you mean, 'what'? You're just as bad as him." Emelia, rather than saying all the things she wanted to to him, brushed past them and walked back over to the piles and piles of armor, digging her nails into her palm. "I can't even decide if I'm mad at you because you've been doing this since the day we met." She sighed. There was no point in starting a fight with Dwalin. Sometimes she felt like she was talking to a brick wall, even when they weren't arguing with each other. She dug through the armor and found a clean looking chainmail vest and held it up, pressing it against her chest to see how it would fit. She tried not to let it show how heavy it felt on her face, but she could tell it would weigh her down. "Do I need to wear something underneath this, or do I just put it over what I'm wearing?"

"What are you doing?"

Emelia didn't turn around. She knew what expression Kili was currently sporting without looking. Easy was the wrong word to describe telling the other dwarves that she was leaving, but it was easier than having to tell Fili and Kili. Maybe if she treated it like a band-aid it wouldn't be so bad. She decided to hold onto the chainmail, mostly because she liked the look of it, and tried to appear as unbothered as possible about the whole banishment ordeal, even though, in all honesty, the reality was starting to sink in the most uncomfortable way imaginable. She cleared her throat and looked over at them over her shoulder, hiding her expression in a sheet of red curls. "Where have you two been?"

They weren't in the large hall when she'd finished with Thorin, but she hadn't really been able to stop and look for them as Dwalin ushered her as far away from the treasure horde as possible. It only occurred to her when she was looking at them, that, due to their incredibly inconvenient timing, she might have missed them completely.

"Talking," Fili said, eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Why are you putting on chainmail three sizes too big for you?"

"You know, I liked the look of it." She looked down, noticing how big it was for the first time. "Anyway, Thorin kicked me out."

"Come again?"

"Thorin…"

"No, no, we heard you," Kili said, seemingly experiencing more emotions in ten seconds than most people experienced in a week. After a moment he walked towards her and grabbed the chainmail, muttering in Khuzdul under his breath.

"I kind of need that."

"You absolutely do not."

Fili, always a bit more sensible than Kili, seemed to process it a bit better than him. Or at least, that's how it appeared to Emelia. She jumped and, using Kili's shoulder as an anchor, tried to grab the chainmail from him. He held it further away from her and used his other arm to push her back, giving her a warning look that did nothing to stop her. She stepped back for a moment and he visibly relaxed. She had the distinct impression that he thought he had won. He tried to subtly hand it off to Fili, which was silly considering she was currently standing between them, and she held her arm out to stop him.

They glared at each other.

After a moment, Emelia let out a frustrated sigh and gave up on getting that particular set of chainmail back. She sidestepped him and made to grab another, more ornate set. Kili wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her backwards, causing her to stumble over his feet and slam into his chest. "You're annoying me," She said, folding her arms over her chest as she wiggled out of his arms so she could turn back and glower at him again.

"The feeling is mutual," He sniped back, mirroring her posture. They stared each other down for a moment, forgetting that his kin and Bilbo were currently watching the interaction without an ounce of intention to look away. There was a great deal she wanted to say to him, and she would have if it weren't for all of them watching them with interest.

"I need something," She tried to rationalize, turning around to appeal to one of the more sensible dwarves. None of them seemed willing to get in the middle of them, not even Fili, so she went back to glaring at Kili. "I can't go running around in just this." She gestured down to the pitiful ensemble she was wearing.

"There's armor for women that will fit you better," Bombur said. Kili shot him a look darker than one Emelia had ever seen on his face. Out of habit she reached forward and grabbed his arm, trying, and failing, to calm him down. Turning to look at Bombur, she trailed her hand down his forearm and laced her fingers with Kili's, finding the slight shaking that mirrored her own alarming.

"Can I have some?"

"No," Kili protested, voice rising an octave as an almost desperation took over him. "You don't need it because you aren't going anywhere."

"Laddie, you know as well as I that she has to," Balin stepped in, understanding, even better than perhaps all the rest of them, that Thorin meant business. Emelia recognized the large amount of hurt in Balin's voice when he spoke, but it did nothing to hide the grim reality of the fact that she did, as much as they might wish it was otherwise, have to leave. "It might be safer for her."

"So now we send her on her merry way and hope that she makes it to Dale in one piece?" Bofur asked. "And what of the orcs? Or the elves?"

"We don't even know if those orcs are actually coming," Dori said, causing Emelia to roll her eyes.

"They're coming. And I'll be fine if somebody would stop being stubborn and help me find some armor that actually fits."

"Well, we cannot seriously be considering sending her alone?"

"That's absurd."

"We could hide her," Kili mused, still, apparently, unable to accept that her time in the mountain, at least for now, had come to an end.

"Or disguise her," Ori offered.

"That wouldn't be obvious. Oh no, Thorin, this isn't the mouthy lass we've been traveling with for months. No, this is a new woman who happens to have the same hair, eyes, and disagreeable temperament." When Fili finished Emelia thought Kili was actually going to hit him. She squeezed his hand tighter for a moment before she let it go and stepped away from him, moving to the middle of the group so she could address them all before they descended into their usual conversation type that involved them speaking, yelling, and snarking over one another. They understood each other, and after so many months, she was starting to as well, but it always gave her a headache and took far longer to get anything done than if one person just said their peace and moved on.

She cleared her throat and gave Bofur a significant look to shut him up. "Look, I appreciate all of this, I really do, but as Balin and Dwalin have pointed out, I have to go. The longer we sit here and debate back and forth, the closer those orcs get and the more likely it is that Thorin will decide he's had enough of looking at his own reflection in gold. Now, I'm leaving. Are you going to help me find something to wear or not?"

An uncomfortable silence settled over them. Emelia looked at each of them in turn, both taking the opportunity to really look at their faces while she could and hoping to plead with them to let her go without more fuss. She started with Ori, Dori, and Nori, before she moved on to Oin and Gloin. Bifur and Bombur came next, followed by Bofur and then Dwalin, although she didn't hold eye contact with him for longer than half a moment. There was an understanding that passed between her and Balin and she thought back to when she first met them all and how kindly he treated her, even when the others didn't. She didn't feel like she needed to look at Fili and Kili but she did anyway, just for the complete set. She chose not to acknowledge the tightness in her chest or the persistent voice in her mind that told her this would be the last time for a very long time that she would be in the same room with them. She absolutely refused to listen to the voice that, while quieter, told her that this would be the last time ever.

"Fili, Kili, a word," Balin said, gesturing for the two princes to follow him over to a small cutout in the room. "Brother, see to it that she is properly outfitted."

She supposed the argument was over, even if Kili didn't look like he was willing to let it drop. He walked with Fili over to Balin and immediately started to speaking rapidly and incoherently.

"Come on, lass."

She bit her tongue, deciding that Dwalin didn't necessarily deserve the nastiness she wanted to level at him just for the sake of being nasty. It wasn't his fault she was banished, even if she did find it a little dickish that he didn't tell her just how messed up Thorin was before she went to talk to him. Still, it happened and there was no reason for her to dwell on it. She glanced over at Kili, Fili, and Balin once before she walked over to Dwalin.

"You're smaller than even most dwarrowdam, so I doubt we'll find anything that can fit you."

"Yea, I know, I've lost a lot of weight," Emelia griped, feeling her bitterness about that fact surge through her once again.

"You were a wee blip to begin with."

"Now I'm wee-er."

Dwalin eyed her up and down, taking in her size. He turned to the piles and piles of armor and clothing, finding something much quicker than she expected. He held out the blue coat to her first, followed by a smaller pair of pants that actually looked like they might fit her. She took them gratefully, holding them up to check the size. They were still a bit big, but they looked better than anything she had worn since Lake-town. "Where can I change?"

"We've all seen you starkers."

"And yet the only person in this company I've seen even remotely close to naked is Thorin. How is that fair?" Dwalin smirked at her and turned around, shielding her from the rest of them so she could slip on the pants without the rest of them seeing her. She dropped her pants and slipped the new ones on, finding an unnatural amount of glee in how relatively clean they felt. The material hugged her legs, revealing their twigginess. She threw the old pair aside and shimmied, stretching out the fabric and getting used to feeling of them. She tucked her shirt into her pants and stepped back into her boots. Dwalin handed her a set of silver chainmail next, watching her as she put it on. A silver breast plate followed, although she needed help buckling it. Putting the blue jacket on last, Emelia held out her arms, shaking them, looking down at herself for a moment. "I look stupid."

"Are you ready to go, Em?" Kili, Fili, and Balin had returned. Kili shrugged on another coat over the thin one he already wore and grabbed a spear off the wall, testing the weight in his hands. "Here," He said, handing to her. She narrowed her eyes, taking the spear with a skeptical look over his shoulder at Fili, who simply shook his head. "Are you ready?"

"You're coming with me?"

Kili stared at her like she was slightly, or not so slightly, insane. "Of course."

"No, you can't."

"Excuse me," Kili said, stepping closer to her with a very hard to read look on his face.

"I won't let you," Emelia responded, reaching out her hand to grab his coat. She pulled him closer to her, shooting a furtive glance around the room at the rest of the dwarves, feeling uncomfortable with their watching eyes for the first time since she's stormed into the small chamber. Her hands wrapped more tightly around the fabric, pulling him down so that they were only a few inches apart. "Thorin banished me. You're a prince, and even if you only act like it about .1% of the time, you can't come with me."

"I don't care."

"Kee…" She started, but he cut her off.

"You argue about everything, but this is a fight you're going to win. I'm coming with you."

Glancing around the small room once again, she leaned even closer to him and moved her hand up to his neck, fingers splaying out on the skin. She could feel his increased heart rate just under her palm, the thin layer of nervous sweat on his skin. Things had gone so downhill so quickly she didn't even have time to talk things through with him. If she had, she would have pointed out that he didn't need to run the risk of alienating himself from Thorin just to make sure she was okay. "You're sure?"

"Without question."

She responded by kissing him softly on the cheek, unsure of what she could say. Really, there wasn't anything she could say. Neither of them smiled as she leaned back, making sure to keep the space between them minimal. She felt better with him closer, less tense, more comfortable with leaving, even if the idea still made her chest hurt. The hand that wasn't holding the spear wrapped around hers as Kili laced their fingers together.

"We should go," Emelia suggested after a moment, realizing that milling around wasn't going to make things any easier. Some of her anger had dissipated, leaving her with a large amount of hurt that she didn't know how to channel. Kili squeezed her hand tighter, practically cutting off her circulation, and nodded, looking away from her to share a significant look with Fili. She had given up trying to understand their unspoken communication several months back, but there was something about the darkness that flashed across Fili's face that she could instinctively get. He was worried about them, but not for the usual reasons. She had told Fili that she thought something bad was coming, something more than just orcs, and she saw, written clearly all over him, that he was starting think so as well.

It was exponentially easier to get out of Erebor with Kili's help than it was to get in with Bilbo. She didn't begrudge the little hobbit for having the upper body strength of a t-rex, considering her had almost dropped her while they were leaving Dale, but Kili was able to swing her down from ledge to ledge without much effort. They left through the side entrance, rather than the front, choosing to go back to Dale via the seam-like downslope that ran the length from the mountain to the outskirts of the destroyed city. Large rocks framed either side, making it the perfect place to avoid being seen.

Or it would have been, if Emelia hadn't accidentally slipped and fallen ten feet to the bottom of the side entrance. She landed with thud as she fell on her backside, letting out a loud yelp of pain as her thigh scrapped on the rough rocks until she skidded to a stop.

"Em?" She glowered up at him as he hopped down next to her, bending low over her with a concerned look on his face. "Are you hurt?"

"Just sore. You know, from being dropped ten feet on my ass."

"You hand is slippery."

"It's called sweat," Emelia griped, allowing him to help her up. She turned around and wiped her hands over her pants, cringing when she felt the dirt. She'd worn her new pants a grand total of about ten minutes before she messed them up. "And it's definitely your hands that are slippery."

"Really?" He looked down at them for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face, before he smirked and stepped closer. He ran his hand over her face, squeezing her cheek like he did when she first came back. She mirrored his action, making sure to apply a little more pressure than he did. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"I would appreciate the sentiment if it didn't come at the expense of my tender, tender, legs."

"I will gladly alleviate that pain for you," He said, voice lowering as he helped clean off some of the muck on her clothes. "You would not even need to ask." Emelia made a big show of rolling her eyes, which Kili responded to with a small smile. "I'm sorry I dropped you."

"I'm sorry you did too."

She turned around to look at the path, hoping that her loud screech didn't ruin any chance they had of sneaking back into Dale without being noticed. She didn't think it would matter much, given how indifferent the people there seemed to be towards her, but she thought it would be easier to get back inside without the threat of accidentally being shot in the eyeball by a trigger happy elf with nothing else to do but shoot people instead of actually being useful. Emelia could just barely make out the soft glow of the fires hallowing the outline of Dale just enough for her to make out the shapes of the guards on top of the battements. "They aren't looking in our direction," Kili said, coming to stand beside her, answering her question before she could ask it.

"You can see that far?" She purposely kept her voice down, knowing that, even though Dale was a mile, if not further, away the elves could still hear them if they didn't keep their volume to a minimum.

"Dwarves have excellent eyesight."

Emelia gave him an unimpressed look, finding it incredibly annoying that humans were the only ones, apparently, that didn't get cool improvements in Middle Earth. Her life would have been exponentially easier if she was able to see more than ten feet in front of her in the dark. It certainly would have made Mirkwood easier. She held out her hand, waiting for Kili to take it, and scanned the outline of Dale once more, trying to remember what she could about the layout before she gave up. "Me and Bilbo…"

"Pardon?" Emelia froze, realizing what she'd just said half a moment too late. None of them were supposed to know that Bilbo left the mountain in the first place, let alone had made a trip to Dale. She felt his hand convulse tightly around hers, blunt fingernails digging into the back of her hand. They hadn't gone more than ten feet away from the carved dwarf's feet, so it didn't seem out of the realm of possibilities that he might make her go back and explain everything. She cycled through any and all possible plausible excuses for what she'd just said, both straight out lies and variations on the truth, and drew a blank. Trying not to show her internal panic, she pulled away from him, taking three very large steps away from the mountain, still wracking her brain. "Emelia." She let out an unsteady puff of air, running one of her hands through her hair. Kili came up to stand directly behind her and grabbed her shoulder, spinning around so she was facing him.

"I'm not going to throw Bilbo under the bus."

"I don't know what that means," He said, sounding frustrated.

"You can't get mad and you certainly can't get mad at Bilbo."

"I will not get mad."

She held out her pinky, hoping he would remember the gesture without her needing to explain it again. He glanced down at her bony finger before he looked back at her face, holding her gaze as he hooked his finger around hers. "Bilbo took the Arkenstone and gave it Bard and Thranduil," She said in a rush, feeling like the worst snitch imaginable. His face visibly darkened but the anger that she expected didn't manifest itself towards her. He opened his mouth, to let out a diatribe of complaints, she was sure, but she cut him off quickly. "He thought it would be better, help more people if Thorin didn't have it."

"You knew." The statement cut straight to her bone, it seemed to her, but she still didn't regret it. Maybe things with Thorin could have gone smoother, but as long as he refused to acknowledge that there was a very real threat, she didn't see how it could be any different.

"I did."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I agree with Bilbo," Emelia said, disliking the slight feeling of fear that washed over her. She didn't think either of them were fickle, but she still worried he would feel differently about her for not telling him the moment she found out. "Kili, I didn't know how bad Thorin was until I saw him. I don't really understand how a rock can make a difference, but Bilbo took it to try and help and I trust him."

"More than you trusted me."

"Kee," She started, folded her hands in front of herself nervously. Her fingers ran over the cool surface of her breastplate, nervously, rhythmically like a tick. She would have worried at her scar if she had been able to access it, but considering the multiple layers between her fingers and chest, she had to pick at the only thing available to her, the ornate decorative features on her armor in this case. "It isn't a matter of not trusting you."

"Yes it is. You had the opportunity to tell me and you chose not to."

"Me and Bilbo aren't dwarves. We don't understand you, me even less so than him, so I thought, if it came out that we were stealing stuff, it wouldn't be a matter of what was right, it would be a matter of race just like everything else seems to be recently."

"Your race has never bothered me," He said, seeming to think it was somehow what she wanted to hear. He backtracked when he saw the glare on her face, stumbling slightly over his words. "I don't mean that not being dwarrow is bad."

"That isn't what I was trying to say. Thorin is sick. He kicked me out just for disagreeing with him. I think he might do something worse if he found out about Bilbo."

"Thorin is not himself," Kili agreed, turning away from her. His shoulders tensed, drawing up slightly as he peered at the carved dwarf feet in front of him. He folded his arms over his chest, keeping his back to her for a moment before he sighed heavily. "We grew up on stories of Erebor, me and Fili, of its beauty and power. I used to imagine what it looked like, but it never did it justice. Now that I see it, I can understand why Thorin wanted to reclaim it."

"That doesn't exclude him from being a decent person."

Kili seemed to debate internally, letting a long silence follow over them before he spoke in a somber voice, "You're right."

"We have to help the people in Dale."

"Bard and the elf king are aware of the orcs. If they wanted help, they would have sought it." Kili turned back around to face her, a look on his face that she had never seen before.

"They're just as stubborn as Thorin."

"What do you propose?" He seemed almost nervous to hear what she was going to say. She felt like a spotlight was currently shining on her face, like she standing in front of an audience while they waited for her to say something profound and tactical. She cleared her throat and picked at the metal on the breastplate. Emelia hadn't really given it much thought beyond knowing that something needed to be done, but even that was easier to say when no one was actually listening to her. Kili raised his eyebrows expectantly, causing her to suck in a deep breath.

"I don't know," She admitted. "Why did you come with me? Really, why?"

"I love you. I did not ask you to marry me on a whim. Even if you refuse to give me an answer..."

"Your timing is horrendous."

"I still support you and the decisions you make."

"Even when they're shit?"

"That's when you need the most support."

"I'm sorry. I should have told you, but I made a promise to Bilbo that we would figure this out if Thorin didn't come to his senses. I just didn't think we would actually have to carry through with it." Emelia had never felt like such an odd combination of a child in an adult's body in her entire life. It was too much responsibility to think about trying to change things, but she had no other choice. She felt silly for not asking Kili, and Fili for that matter, to help her from the very start. She already felt better being able to lean on him, to look him in the eye and tell him exactly what she was feeling.

"That's why you didn't talk to Bilbo before you left, to protect him from suspici..."

"You two are still here?" Emelia screamed, jumping back out of reflex when the figure jumped down behind Kili. "Breathe, Lassie."

"Bofur, what the hell?" Emelia snapped, trying to steady her breathing. The other dwarf laughed and stepped up next to Kili, clapping him on the back as he smirked at her. "We're trying to keep a low profile."

"Then you should stop screaming," Bofur said, causing her to blush. She cleared the throat awkwardly and rolled her shoulders back, trying to look like she hadn't just let out a sound that would make a banshee proud. "Fili sent me," Bofur clarified before either of them could ask.

"Why?"

"Apparently, he's worried about you on your own."

Kili scoffed, opening his mouth to say something undoubtedly argumentary before Emelia shook her head, cutting him off with a look. "Thorin still doesn't know."

"No, but the longer we stand here gawping at each other, the more likely it is he'll wise up." Emelia noticed that the tone of Bofur's voice immediately changed when he talked about Thorin, bit she decided not to press it. They didn't have time, regardless.

"We'll think while we walk," Emelia said, making up her mind.

"What is there to think about?"

"How we're going to get Thorin, Bard, and Thranduil to forget that they hate each other long enough to focus on keeping people safe."

"Should be easy," Kili said.

Bofur let out a low whistle and glanced over at him. "You two certainly don't waste any time."

"No."

"Well, I guess that settles that."

Neither Kili nor Bofur seemed to understand the meaning of the word subtlety. No matter how many times she told them to channel their inner butterfly, their plodding steps continued to reverberate in the darkness until Emelia was sure a group of elves would be waiting to jump them the second they crossed over one of the collapsed walls. Emelia had been watching the small crack her and Bilbo used for the last hour, back pressed against the only rock large enough to cover all three of them that still allowed her to see what was going on. Every time a guard would turn or move on, another would take his place, leaving them with very little options other than to sit and wait. "Are we just going to sit here all night?"

"Shush," Emelia hissed, throwing out her hand to clamp over Bofur's mouth. "We have our plan, I'm just trying to think of the logistics."

He mumbled something unintelligible and stepped back, shoving her hand away from his face. "We can't very well do nothing."

"I'm thinking," Emelia whispered, crouching down, pulling them both with her. Her hands shook visibly, causing her to shove them into her pocket as she thought about her part. Distract the guard. Distract Bard and Thranduil. Evacuate the women and children. Don't get caught. It sounded simple enough, but she knew, as with all things, something would inevitably go south.

Kili touched her softly, fingers brushing over the small of her back, light as a feather through her chainmail. He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek, the stubble causing her sensitive skin to itch. "You need to calm down. This will work."

"This will not work," Bofur said from their left, a deadpan look on his face.

"That's not helping."

"Okay, I'm ready," Emelia decided. When Kili had first proposed his plan for keeping the women and children safe she had thought it was the stupidest thing she had ever heard. They didn't have much else at the moment, so she agreed, feeling nothing but apprehension ever since. She turned around to face them, glancing at Bofur once before she focused in on Kili. "I'll keep Bard and Thranduil busy while you two do your thing."

"What about the guards?"

"We'll figure it out as we go along."

"Fili was right to worry about you two," Bofur said, shaking his head. "You're both daft."

"I've heard worse." Emelia popped up on her toes and kissed Kili quickly. "Wish me luck." She stepped back over to her spot next to the rock, returning her gaze to crumbling Dale wall, allowing Kili and Bofur to talk without the thinking she was eavesdropping, although she totally was. She stepped away just enough that she looked like she was out of earshot. Just as she thought, Bofur immediately rounded on Kili, whispering harshly at him.

"You know what this means, even if we succeed."

"I know."

"You'll be labeled a traitor for even suggesting it."

"I know, Bofur."

"Thorin banished her for less. What do you think he'll do to you when he finds out?"

"It is better me than her." Emelia looked down at her feet. "What else can we do?"

"Nothing. That's what worries me. It worries me even more that it doesn't seem to bother you."

They fell into silence.

Emelia took a deep breath, massaging her knuckles into her thigh for a moment, before she crouched down and started crawling towards Dale, running through the plan again and again as she tried to block out Kili and Bofur. She didn't need to hear him to know what he was going to say. And she didn't want that guilt, not until she had less on her mind. To distract herself she went through the plan again.

Distract the guard.

Distract Bard and Thranduil.

Evacuate the women and children.

Don't get caught.

She took a deep breath and stood up, making sure that her face looked properly scared. She pinched her cheeks and shoved her knuckles into her eyes, wincing at the sting that caused them to water. She pushed her last seed of doubt out of her mind, forcing herself to focus in as she closed her eyes and let out the loudest, most desperate scream for help she could muster.

Heyo! Guess who finished college? As you can imagine, I've been crazy busy trying to get all my stuff together to graduate, leaving me with very little time to focus on all my fanfictions.

This chapter originally included all the stuff in Dale, but I think it flows better as two, so you'll see that, including what Kili suggested, although it should be pretty obvious, next.

Anyway, as always, thank you for the reviews and continued support. We're reaching the point of no return, so it takes a lot of planning on my part to make sure all the pieces fit together, including how Emelia's relationship with Kili effects the decisions he makes in regards to her and his loyalty to Thorin.

Ya'll know the drill!