Hello!

Profound apologies for my terrible lack of updates on this story (a whole year almost to the date!); I have been extremely busy with a number of things in my life, including current progress on two original stories! :D

The good news is that I have been busy re-editing Not All Monsters Breathe Fire (the prequel to this story)- this doesn't mean that everyone needs to go back and re read it! I just needed to edit areas in which I was lacking in terms of plot and character consistency as opposed to creating major changes. I really couldn't even think about continuing this one before working towards the prequel being as good as I can create it (I myself am super happy with the outcome!)

Thanks to everyone for your patience and support! :D

Riley could only remember running. How long had she run? She hadn't a clue where she was, and she didn't recognise anything.

Sweat dripped from her forehead and from in between her shoulder blades, causing her shirt to stick disgustingly to her body.

As much as she ran, she didn't seem to go anywhere at all. Feet hit solid ground, but she didn't reach her destination. Despite this, she continued to run, and run, and run.

Shayla watched an unconscious Riley twitch and pant in her sleep, sweat covering her features in an infection fuelled fever.

"I don't know if she will be able to fight the infection. It had already taken hold before we were able to apply our salves and medicines." Amelia looked at Riley with the ghost of a memory in her eyes. Shayla picked at the inside of her palms in anxiety, a thousand thoughts flittering through her mind. What would she do without her best friend? How would she be able to get out of this world if she couldn't do it with Riley?

Shayla began to sob then. She missed her parents more than she had ever missed them in her life, and she was worlds away from the reassuring presence of them both.

A warm hand touched her shoulder. Shayla looked towards Amelia, whose expression seemed as though she knew what Shayla was thinking.

"We will do our very best to make Riley well again, Shayla. In the meantime, Josh will show you through to the common areas of Erebor."

"B-but.." Shayla stammered, tears clouding her vision. " I don't want to leave her. What if something happens.."

"I will watch over her. If you stay here, alone to your thoughts while you wait for her to awake, it will not be just Riley's health I will be concerned about."

Shayla heard the logic in her words, but anxiety still held her in place for a few moments until she conceded. Reaching down to Riley, she wiped the hair from her damp face, and with one last look she followed Josh from the room.

Shayla's shoulders slumped and her bottom lip trembled. This was a nightmare, a completely terrible dream.

"Come, Shayla. I will show you to some of the Dwarvish Halls." Shayla nodded, though she couldn't really force herself to care.

She watched Josh as he walked, observing the large stature of the man. It still shocked her that these people were over double her age, yet looked barely older than herself. He was definitely over six feet tall, with a strong build; not lanky, yet not quite of the immovably solid builds that the other men she had met here.

He walked with a quiet confidence as they continued through the orange lamp-lit halls. As the silence allows time for her to think over everything, a question burst from Shayla's lips before she could stop it.

"You said that there is a way to get back home? Back to Australia?"

"Yes," Josh replied. "Some of the Elves have the power of Old Magick, which allows realm travel."

Shayla continued in silence for a few moments before she asked another question. Her curiosity was getting the better of her, much to her discomfort.

"If you could get back home then why didn't you?" Josh sent her a sidewards glance then, seemingly mulling over her words. He let out a long sigh, and then laughed.

"Amelia had wanted to go back, I could tell. She gave up the comforts of our old world to protect me. In short, I suppose, it wasn't meant to be. Us going back, I mean. We had the opportunity yet we both turned it down, and we found out why we were brought to Middle Earth much later on."

"You mean like fate?" Shayla asked, now unrestrictedly curious. She had never been a believer in fate as such, though she knew that elements within the universe worked to bring out the full potential in everything and everyone. Her father had always believed that, as had her grandparents and great grandparents.

She felt her chest tighten as she thought about her family once more, a pain that felt physically constricting. Josh's next words were what brought her focus away from the fear and anxiety gripping to her heart.

"I didn't believe in fate until coming here. I didn't believe in much to be honest. All I knew, and all I still know, is that many lives were changed by being brought here and choosing to stay. Changed for the better," he ended with cryptically.

Shayla couldn't help but continue to ask questions, not only because it was in her nature, but because she needed to concentrate on something other than her inner struggles.

"How did things change? What do you mean by that? Do you think we were brought here for the same reason you were?" Josh chuckled.

"You are such a curious one, aren't you! I wouldn't expect any less from a fellow Aussie, and human." Josh winked at her and laughed slightly once more, before answering Shayla's questions.

"I can't say that your being brought here has something to do with the same reasons we were. That's only something the Elves can answer for you." Shayla started to feel a little sick to the stomach. If we were brought her for some reason in the grand scheme of the universe, does it mean that whatever brought us here was good? Or was it something more sinister?

"In answer to your first question," Josh continued, eyeing Shayla's expression as they walked. "Mine and Amelia's lives changed for better. We have been through so much, but I think that we took the path that fate led us to. We saved the lives of those around us, of our friends and family, and in doing so, I think we created a better, more just world. We tipped the scales of light and darkness in a time where the world needs as much light as it can be touched by."

By the time he had finished talking, Josh had a grim expression on his face. His eyes held memories that looked painful enough from the outside, let alone bearing the full weight of them.

Suddenly, Josh shook himself as though he were physically ridding himself of his thoughts. Letting a smile grace his lips, he looked back to Shayla.

"These are things you shouldn't worry about, though. You are very safe within the walls of Erebor."

As though on cue, the two met the end of the small corridors in which they were walking through and entered an enormous room.

It wasn't even a room, to be honest. It was a cavern, a beautifully carved space that expanded for hundreds of metres above Shayla's head and extended many of hundreds of metres beyond her. It was incredibly terrifying and expansive, and Shayla couldn't help but feel like a speck of dirt amongst the entire galaxy by being in this place.

"This is one of the great halls of the Dwarven forefathers. It is the first place you are led into when you come in through the front gates," Josh pointed to a place far to the right, a set of doors that looked like it should open for Giants, and not the likes of the men that Shayla had met here.

Josh showed Shayla around some more common areas. The bathing rooms, the markets, which, according to Josh, were closed by this time in the evening. More halls and great, expanding caverns. It was as beautiful as it was unnerving.

"Are you hungry?" Josh asked suddenly, a slight smirk twisting the corner of his lips. Shayla wasn't particularly hungry, though she nodded anyway.

"I shall take you to the feasting halls. You will meet some of our more.. Hairy.. Kin." Josh smirk grew wider as he continued, though Shayla just felt tired. Her thoughts were more and more wandering back to Riley, and to her parents.

All she truly wanted was to be back at home. Not even at home with Riley, though she wanted Riley to be better.

No, she wanted to be back on her land, with her parents. She wanted to see the constellations from her world, and to hear the bird songs that she knew so well. Shayla felt strange here, and not even in consideration of everything that had happened. There was something she felt deep down within her being that wholly and completely terrified her.

Ignoring what Josh had been saying, she tuned back in as the passage they were walking down suddenly opened up and filled the air with laughter, loud voices and the potent waft of smoked meat and alcohol.

Shayla almost backed out of the room. She moved infinitesimally closer to Josh's side as her eyes glanced nervously around what he called the feasting hall.

It was pandemonium.

There were people everywhere, filling the seats of the long wooden tables that expanded the length of the hall. She looked closer and saw that they weren't just people. They were all much shorter than herself, and much hairier. Much, much hairier.

All of them were either eating, yelling or chugging on big jugs of what she assumed was alcohol, or all of the above. Shayla could barely hear herself think and her heart started to beat faster and faster within her chest.

Her feet started to shuffle backwards, moving out of the bright lights and bustle of the feast until her back collided with something.

"Oomph!" A deep voice cried as Shayla stumbled forwards and spun around.

"Brother!" Josh said enthusiastically from Shayla's side, as her eyes landed on the reason for her stumble.

Kili grinned from ear to ear as the two embraced in a very brotherly hug. Shayla wasn't quite sure how they were brothers, but she insisted on sticking close to the inside of the passageway so as to avoid any more interactions.

Too bad it was in vain.

"Kili," Josh said, glancing to Shayla's form, which she had hoped had dissolved into the rock behind her. "This is Shayla. She is from our world." Josh's knowing smirk disappeared when Kili elbowed him in the ribs and laughed his reply.

"How fares your head, brother? I was the one to find Shayla and Riley in the forest after they first arrived!" The slight embarrassment on Josh's face changed to bemusement after several moments and he joined in Kili's laughter.

"I should have known! Trouble does seem to follow the brothers of Durin." Josh winked at Kili and then turned back to Shayla.

"Kili is the brother of Amelia's husband Fili, and therefore my brother in law. Most definitely less attractive and more dim-witted."

"Oi! If you continue in such a disrespectful way you will scare away Miss Shayla!" Kili then turned to Shayla, actively ignoring Josh's smirk in the process.

Shayla thought Kili's smile was reassuring, but she honestly felt anything but reassured. Her sense of unease was growing drastically. Kili must have noticed, because his expression became concerned.

"Miss Shayla, are you well?" He moved closer and held out an open hand as though in preparation to catch her. She wasn't feeling sick physically, but she was not feeling well mentally. It wasn't something she was ready to disclose though; maybe Riley had rubbed off on her more than she thought.

"I'm feeling really tired. Is it okay that I go back to my.. Um.. My room?" Shayla asked awkwardly.

"Of course. Kili, can you show Shayla back? I have my niece and nephew to discipline." Josh had a smirk on his face and a glint in his eye despite his words, and Shayla looked over at the cause of a sudden spike of noise in the hall.

A girl and a boy, probably just younger than Shayla, were standing atop one of the long hall tables, chugging their beverages from large jugs. Everyone had stopped eating and drinking and were now yelling and chanting, laughing and cheering from the sidelines.

The boy and the girl had upturned their jugs at almost the same moment, but the girl's hand raised in the air a split second before the boy's, her face lit up victoriously. The cheers and cries expanded throughout the air, almost deafening to Shayla's ears.

Josh took that moment to walk over to his family, and Kili motioned for Shayla to move through the passageway. As they walked, Shayla noticed Kili sneaking glances at her, a frown etched into his face. It took a while for Kili to say anything, which was anything but the attitude that he usually had.

"Miss Shayla.. Are you sure you're not hungry? You must keep up your strength." Shayla shook her head, knowing that Kili was still watching.

There was another silence while Kili thought about what to say.

"Is it something else bothering you? Are you thinking about Miss Riley?" Shayla exhaled, her shoulders slumping. She didn't even need to respond to reveal what was causing her anxiety.

"If there is anyone that can save your friend, it is Amelia. She is one of the most skilled healers our Kingdom has seen."

"She isn't in our world. There are no hospitals here, and Riley is dying. I don't think her skills are going to help Riley," Shayla sobbed bitterly. Tears begun to leak soundlessly from her eyes. Kili looked uncomfortable, the show of emotion from Shayla seemingly too much for him to console.

"Have you heard about what Amelia did many years ago?" Kili asked suddenly, a determination growing in his words and sparking in his eyes. Shayla shook her head.

"There was a great battle here. A horrific, terrible battle. Josh, Fili, our Uncle Thorin and myself were all mortally wounded, on our way to Mahal's Halls. Amelia used your medicine and our healers to save us all. We would have died if not for her. I have complete faith that Miss Riley will be fine."

Shayla nodded again, wiping her nose in the process. She hoped he was right. She hoped more than anything.

"Thank you," Shayla whispered, glancing at Kili from her tear stained face. Kili nodded and smiled, his posture relaxing once more.

They didn't speak again, not until they had reached the door of Amelia and Fili's living space. Before Kili opened the door, he asked once more if Shayla was hungry. Shaking her head, she forced herself to smile at his offer.

She was sure it looked more like a grimace.

Shayla entered and walked nervously back to the room where Riley was. She was terrified to the core of what she would find, but her fears were unfounded.

Riley was still restless in her sleep, but the sweat on her brow didn't seem quite so dense, and her skin didn't seem quite so pasty. Amelia had fallen asleep sitting on the chair next to her, and Shayla felt appreciation for this lady for the first time.

Without allowing herself hope, she moved back to the bed she had been given, and in an exhausted heap she let sleep consume her once more.

She woke up what felt like only minutes later, though she knew it had been some time by the stack of food that was piled on a plate, sat on the chair next to her bed.

Shayla smiled, knowing exactly who had left it there.

Short chapter I know :( if there are any inconsistencies between previous chapters please let me know! I've moved house in the past few weeks (so twice in the past year) and I am missing parts of my story board :'( In saying that I have to reorganise my characters and plot so my chapters won't be frequent unfortunately and I apologise!

Thank you for everyone who has stuck with me this far! You're all fantastic :D