"No, we cannot take her back to your chambers," Fili whispered to his brother as he led the way deeper inside the halls of Erebor. The dimly lit corridor cast eerie shadows on the glittering walls as Kili shook his head in disagreement, still following after Fili with a loudly snoring Briseis in his arms.

"We're not leaving her with the other Privileged," Kili argued, trying to dismiss the bubble of panic that threatened to swell in his heart. His uncle was known to pick favourites amongst the newly chosen girls, going as far as bestowing them with jewels and fine silks - but this was different. Briseis had not only piqued Thorin's lust, but his interest as well. She offered the King a challenge, making her more than a mere object of physical desire, and knowing that others cared for her did nothing but spark his intrigue further.

The youngest son of Dís looked down at the girl in his arms. She looked utterly at peace, her chest rising and falling rythymically as she slept soundly. He began to wonder what she was dreaming of as he gazed upon her delicate features, noticing that her cheek was still bruised. The area where the King had struck was now a pale yellow and looked to be healing quite nicely. Her forehead however looked ghastly, the violent purple bruise had now transformed into an ugly brownish blotch that marred her sun kissed skin.

"Do you want me to carry her?" Fili managed to offer through a huge yawn, effectively breaking his younger brother's concentration.

"Naw, she weighs little more than a vat of wine," Kili explained, a small smile on his lips as he readjusted his grip beneath her legs, pulling her in closer - he didnt want to let go of Briseis just yet.

"She can sleep in my spare bed, Ill wake her before…" There was a brief pause before Fili continued speaking. The blonde looked around furtively to make sure they were alone and moved closer to his brother, his voice barely above a whisper when he spoke. "I'll send Selene to the Gallery for her in the morning."

Silence filled the air.

"You're joking right?" Kili asked, sounding annoyed despite his efforts to keep a neutral tone.

"What else can we do?" His brother hissed back, taking one step into their intense little bubble in the middle of the hall.

"Fi, we have to tell her!"

"Tell her what? That she might be worse off now than when she first arrived?"

Kili let out a frustrated growl before continuing. "We both know that the other girls are going to say something, if we just tell her that we have a plan-"

"But we don't!" Fili's words reverbrated off the stone walls and replaced the arguement with silence.

Kili felt his heart sink momentarily. If Briseis found out Thorin had claimed her as companion, she would undoubtedly wonder why they had not warned her. Or at least tried to prevent the situation.

Fili took a deep breath and started over with more patience. "Look , I know we both want to help her, but we have no idea how… and what if we can't?"

"We'll think of something," Kili stated obstinately. There was no way he was going to sit and do nothing as his uncle forced himself on Briseis.

Fili sighed again. "Very well, she can still take my bed tonight."

"Wont you be sleeping?" Kili asked with sudden concern, breaking the trend in topic. He looked at his exhausted brother and felt a pang of regret for speaking with him so harshly. Fili had dark circles beneath his bloodshot eyes and even in the dim light, a sickly yellow hue painted his skin.

Fili clucked his tongue once in form of an answer. "I have to finish those letters," he sighed, rubbing his face in an effort to chase the sleep away.

"No - Briseis will sleep in the spare bed and you are going to pass out on your own." Kili turned a stern gaze onto his brother-Fili may have been older, but the chain of command was about to change on this matter. "I'll stay up and finish."

"No, I'd rather do-"

"Fi, shut up."

"But-"

"I'll use the prompt from another letter, no freestyle. I promise," Kili grinned at his brother who looked at him wearily. Half expecting the blonde to keep protesting, the young dwarf was pleasantly surprised when the wrinkles around Fili's eyes crinkled as he smiled hugely.

"I owe you one, Kitty," he said gratefully, the level of exhaustion evident in his voice as he yawned once more and continued walking down the hall.

Kili watched his brother stumble sleepily towards his chambers before turning his gaze onto Briseis. They both needed him more than he had realized, and the sense of renewed purpose made the young Prince smile. The gnawing void in his heart subsiding for the first time in years.

Briseis woke up in a mess of bedsheets and blankets, every muscle in her body ached with pain as she unwillingly opened her eyes to the sight of a strange, empty room.

A sudden wave of panic washed over her.

Bolting upright, she frantically absorbed her surroundings in the grey, muted light. A quick look out the window at the black clouds and torrents of rain made the girl shiver before continuing to scan the room.

There was a large bookcase propped up against the opposite wall, cluttered with an array of objects; from old, leather bound tomes to silver figurines that glinted despite the lack of sunlight. Briseis hastily surveyed the rest of the room - a desk, two beds and a staircase. She told herself to calm down and forced a deep breath out from her lungs. Fili and Kili must have brought her here.

Just the thought of the two brothers brought an uncontrollable smile to her face. She sat, momentarily reminiscing about the previous night, and suddenly grimaced with guilt as she recalled falling asleep somewhere in the middle of Fili's story of the dragon, Smaug.

Hopefully he was not offended.

The girl rested her head on the bed frame, deciding to apologize as soon as she had the chance. Yawning hugely, she stretched, grimacing both at her sore muscles and reeking breath, but stopped short when her foot hit something solid.

Peeking down at her feet curiously, she caught the sight of clothes stacked in a neat pile with a piece of parchment placed on top.

Despite the protest of her aching body, the new member of the Privileged forced herself to sit upright, stretching the knots and kinks in her back as they popped satisfyingly before snatching the letter to read.

Briseis,

Fili's room shouldn't be too messy for you, but just in case you dont see it,

there's bread, fruit and water on the desk for you.

Hope you slept well - although by your snoring it was evident that you did.

The girl pursed her lips at the letter in effort to stifle a smile and shook her head - that little bastard. Feeling at complete ease with her surroundings now, she nestled into the bed and tilted the parchment in an attempt to catch more light on Kili's messy penmanship.

Fili and I had to take care of a few things and left for New Dale after sunrise.

We should be back shortly after noon, but

before then it is imperative that you follow these instructions carefully.

The girl felt her face drop, a sudden bubble of panic welling up inside her.

Kili - and now to some extent Fili - had become almost like a security blanket to the girl, and knowing that they were both gone made Briseis feel like a child who had just lost her parents in a crowd.

There is a guard waiting for you down the hall to your right.

His name is Melnik and he will take you to the bathing rooms. DO NOT speak out of turn with him.

From there a woman named Selene will come to see you,

and the rest of your day will be spent with her.

As you might hear, there is a feast tonight at Sun down.

I will visit before then and tell you everything you need to know.

Just trust me and know that everything will be fine.

Leave this letter under the tray of fruit on Fili's desk when you are done.

Until then, trust me and take care,

Kili.

Briseis stared at the black ink in utter confusion. What did he mean 'just trust me?' How was she supposed to trust him when she didnt have a clue as to what was going on?

She sighed, anxiety starting to creep its way into her mind as she re-read the note.

'Leave this letter under the tray of fruit…' If one thing was obvious in Kili's message, it was that they were not supposed to be helping her.

Briseis set the parchment down and stared straight ahead, her mind void of any thought as she listened to the sound of thunder rumbling far off in the distance.

She was tired, confused and alone - and the girl knew there was no one to blame but herself. If she hadn't provoked the insane King, none of this would have happened. What's more, is that Fili and Kili wouldnt have become involved either. Briseis didn't know their ranks within the kingdom, but knew they couldn't protect her for much longer. Especially when Thorin wanted to make an example out of her for others who dared challenge the King.

There was little she could do now except follow Kili's instructions and hope for an explanation soon. So with a heavy sigh, the girl climbed out of bed to get dressed.

Briseis grimaced at her offensive body odour as she yanked off the dirty clothes and balled them up, tossing them on the bed. She stood naked for a second, examing the thin layer of dirt and sweat coating her skin, making her a few shades darker than reality. The girls eyes lingered momentarily on the ugly burns circling her wrists, but before she had a chance to let the image register, Briseis pulled the silk undergarment over her head. The plain white gown was wonderfully warm, albeit too big, and the silver slippers felt magnificent on her bruised feet.

With Kili's letter in hand, the girl walked over to Fili's wooden desk. It was littered with parchment- barely an empty space on the surface aside from the small area which had been hastily cleared to set down a gold tray of fruit and bread. Briseis looked at the fruit and felt her stomach growl; there were huge green grapes, bright red strawberries and strange little red bulbs she'd never seen before. The girl snatched up the golden bread and tore it in half, it was no longer warm but still absolutely delicious.

Before she knew it, more than half of the loaf had been scarfed down along with a handful of grapes, a bunch of strawberries and a goblet of water. As she ate, Briseis looked around at the wooden desk- at the mounds of letters and parchment piled upon one another. Some of them bearing the seal of Erebor, others of unknown lands and sigils. The girl speculated, concluding that Fili was the Royal Scribe. It made sense looking around at the amount of books, quills and ink scattered about the room, but for some reason the job didnt fit Fili. The blonde dwarf had the build and skill of a warrior, and the handsome features any woman would go mad for-definitely not two things associated with a scribe. Then again, the only thing she had ever learnt about kingdoms and royalty had been from books and stories. For all she knew, he could just as well be the royal jester.

Shrugging her shoulders in defeat, the girl turned her grey eyes to the window and continued eating as she watched the rain pour over the mountainside.

"Melnik?" Briseis' voice was unsteady as she approached the guard from behind. He was the only dwarf dressed in armour who stood unmoving in the busy corridor full of strange people and sounds.

There were no signs that he had even heard her over the bustle, or if he was even the right guard. Kili's letter had mentioned nothing in terms of identifying the stranger…

The girl crept closer, not wanting to draw attention to herself as she decided call the guard one more time.

"Melnik?"

This time the dwarf spun around on his heel, golden armour glinting in the light as he looked at Briseis with stern, black eyes.

The girl took an instinctive step back, thrown off by the ferocity of the guard's scowl.

"Where in the blazes have you been?" Melnik boomed. A blanket of silence quickly covered the hall and she internally cursed the guard. "I've been standing out here like a commom slave since sunrise!" Melnik growled, his thickly accented voice rang through the deafening silence as the girl's face flushed. She could feel every pair of eyes on the pair of them.

So much for not drawing attention to herself.

"My apologies, I lost my way," Briseis lied, forcibly smiling.

The guard eyeballed the girl before throwing at her a look of disgust and a cloth sack. She caught the sack with ease and peeked inside, trying to ignore the dozens of stares as she studied the fluffy brown towel and scrubber within.

The dwarf growled at her to follow, and she did so without a word of protest, spurring the people in the hall to resume their activites just as noisily as before they'd been interupted.

The two made their way through the bustling corridors, Briseis keeping a safe distance between herself and the grumpy guide as she kept her head and gaze level, trying not to gawk at the strange new sights around her. The girl nearly stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted a group of beautifully brown skinned beings dressed in gold. She had never seen anyone with such dark skin before, and had to fight an uncontrollable urge to go up and touch them just to make sure they were real.

Finally, after what seemed like an age, Melnik stopped outside a bright, blue door and turned to look at Briseis again; his bushy black brows and beard making him look like a ball of hair with eyes.

"Bath," he grunted curtly, pointing a sausage-like thumb towards the door.

"Uhh- okay…" the girl wanted to ask if she could at least use a chamberpot first, but Melnik had already started his way down the hall. "Arse…," she muttered, before looking down again at the sack he had tossed her earlier. Kili's letter had mentioned a bath, and the girl was absolutely ecstatic about it. This would be her first chance in more than five days to wash away all the sweat, dirt and grime which had accumulated into a greasy film on her usually soft skin.

The new member of the Privileged ripped the door open and nearly hollered with joy as the warm, humid air hit her.

Joy quickly transformed into awe as she gawked at the beauty and splendor of the bathing hall. Sheets of aquamarine crystal paned the translucent ceiling, refracting light and flooding the hall with an iridescent blue glow.

Two grand staircases on either side of the walls coiled upwards to a terrace, her grey eyes widening in further disbelief at the two enormous fountains hewn from the mountain-each pouring a stream of steaming water onto a single point in the middle of the chamber .

In her village, the communal bathing hall was all they had- a flat empty room with a brick barrier in the middle, one side for women and children, the other for men. The imminently cool water was directed from the river south of Norwoth Dale by a series of rotting wooden shutes. It had always been more than enough for the girl, but upon seeing this…

Briseis cracked a huge smile and bounded towards the man-made waterfall, kicking her shoes away immediately as the marble floor got warmer and warmer. She happily pulled off her white gown, tossing it along with her towel and scrubber on one of the two stone benches near the shower. The mist provided a taste of refreshment, spraying her lightly as she stood in her thin undergarments, unsucessfully trying to shrug out of the silk.

"You dropped your towel."

The deep voice cut through the sound of splashing water and nearly made Briseis' heart stop. She whipped around, reflexively covering her chest with her hands; a mixture of fear and sheer panic surfacing within the girl as she laid eyes on a very naked Thorin.