I'm so sorry for the delayed update! I hate being an adult with adulty responsibilities, I would much rather read & write fanfiction all night long but alas, full time work is a bitch. ANYWAY, here is another chapter, enjoy!

To Shayla's surprise and more so to her delight, Riley continued to join her and the others for dinner each night. She wouldn't grace the company with her presence for very long, usually a maximum of half an hour, and she sat mostly in silence between Shayla and Kili, but at least there was an improvement.

Riley seemed to have accepted the situation that they were in, or was at the very least resigned to it. She had stopped pestering Shayla with her outlandish theories about aliens, drugs and comatose hallucinations, but instead helped form slightly more realistic ideas about how they had come to be in Middle Earth, and how they would get back to their own world.

They mainly talked about the information that Bilbo and Ori had discussed with them. It bothered both Shayla and Riley, something that sat at the back of their minds and constantly niggled at their thoughts, competing for attention within their minds. Every time they spoke about creatures trying to get through to other Realms, including their own, they would often stop at the same dead end. The creatures were stopped in their attempts thousands of years ago, and when they had asked Bilbo and Ori again about the dark forces that led those attempts, all they had said was that the evil had been defeated.

There was no new information about why and how they were there now, which annoyed Riley and worried Shayla.

Their discussions often led to wonderings about the people behind in their world that would have realised their missing presence; however, their conversations regarding Shayla's family and Riley's now ex-boyfriend resulted in tears on one end and anger on the other end.

It was safe to say that these conversations didn't last very long.

Much to everyone's shock, Riley had asked to be trained with Shayla several days after her first venture down to the fields. Riley shook off the reactions, saying that she was bored and she might as well do something remotely interesting, but her true intentions behind the request were something that she wouldn't disclose, especially to Shayla. The niggling feeling that had planted itself in the back of her mind would not relent, and it made her wary and nervous.

However, the training only lasted an hour before Riley gave up. She struggled repeatedly within that time, falling to her knees and onto her backside as she overcompensated for her injured leg. Her stubbornness clung to not wanting to look like a fool rather than not giving up; as it was, she had already made herself look as weak as she felt, and it made her feel as useless as she knew that she was.

It had been almost a week since she had given up on training, and she had emotionally closed herself off once again. She continued to eat dinner with everyone, albeit very quickly, and she continued to go to the training grounds with Shayla, though only because she was quite content with throwing small stones at Kili whenever he moved too close to Shayla.

At the end of that week, Jessika and Fain stopped practising with Shayla and Kili, and begun more intensive training with Dwalin, Gloin and Ranár instead, as their tournament was only two weeks away. Fain was very visibly relieved by this, though Jessika had grown fond of Shayla and was reluctant to stop their training. Jessika had promised to continue practising with her once the tournament had been completed, for which Shayla was extremely grateful for.

That meant that it was only Shayla, Kili and Riley on the training field on the eighth morning when Bofur and Bifur walked across the cavern towards them, Bifur holding a curious bundle of dark furs in front of him. Shayla and Kili had spotted them first, as they were expecting the two older Dwarves, and stopped their training. Riley, however, was laid down on one of the benches with a dagger in her hands, absentmindedly turning it between her fingers and wondering how hard it would be to cut off Kili's stupidly nice hair without him realising.

What she didn't realise was the entrance of the Dwarves, or when the metal clinking of weapons had ceased. It was the sound of Bofur's voice that broke her out of her idle daydreaming, as she sat upwards very quickly and dropped the dagger clumsily to the ground as she turned to meet him.

"Well, well, good afternoon." Bofur said cheerily, his smile widening as his eyes fell on Riley.

"It's morning." Riley said pointedly, as she sent a slight glare in return. He smirked at her and dramatically turned his expression to the stone cavern above them, holding his hand above his head and squinting his eyes as though he were facing the sun.

"Oh, well, I suppose it is. Good morning, good morning." Bofur's expression never faltered, the banter and Riley's mildly confused expression causing his smile to widen until she thought his face might crack in half.

Shayla and Kili had small smirks on their faces, and Riley stood slowly, the annoyance she felt beginning to seep from her pores. Why were they all looking at her like that?

It was Bifur who broke the uncomfortable silence by speaking in Khuzdul. Riley glare deepened before Kili translated for him.

"Bifur has brought you a gift, Miss Riley."

"A gift? What? Why?" Riley's voice rose slightly, her suspicious and fearful expression glancing at Shayla's excited one. Was she in on this?

With a nod from Kili and a nudge from Bofur, Bifur unravelled the fur wraps he held within his arms to show a beautiful staff. It was around one metre in length, with three expertly carved edges that ran the length and met at the top with a carved wooden hook. The length of the staff was intermittently broken up with carvings of runes and strippings of metal, as well as a place about three fourths of the way up that was wrapped in a thick piece of leather and trimmings of grey fur.

It was absolutely and completely beautiful.

Riley was speechless for several moments, her jaw slack as she stared at the intricacies of the staff. It was Bofur that reluctantly pulled her from her reverie, as he had not seen her eyes full of such happiness before. It was something that not even Shayla had seen; she didn't even think Riley had ever felt the emotion before.

"Kili spoke to me about your troubles with your balance and your injured leg. I spoke to Bifur because he has the experience and knowledge in working with both wood and metals and the like, due to his nature as a toymaker you see, and he agreed to make an item, a weapon that may aid you. Of course, it may take some time to adjust to, it is not a typical weapon, though we have made weapons out of lesser items before, pans and ladles if my memory serves me." Bofur drabbled on, as he usually did, but for once Riley didn't mind. Bifur passed the staff to her with kindness in his eyes and she took it gingerly, touching each inch of the wood with her fingertips, feeling the cold metal and the warm leather against her palms.

The level of elation and joy that filled Riley's whole demeanour, washing over and reinvigorating her was almost like witnessing a whole different person. No longer was Riley stoic and guarded or full of rage, but she was now overwhelmed with so much happiness that it shocked everyone, especially herself and Shayla.

Bifur had made this gift for her to help her, to make sure that she could defend herself with assistance for her injured leg.

Riley did not know what she was more moved by; the fact that Bifur had handmade something so incredible for her, or the fact that she had been given a gift in the first place.

She had never been given a gift in her entire life.

Despite her curses against it, tears begun to prick at her eyes, and feeling overwhelmed with something as simple as being given a present for the first time, she embraced Bifur in a tight hug. The Dwarf was slightly shell-shocked by the movement, and patted her back carefully before she let go, and she verbalised her appreciation to Bofur.

"Thank…Thank you… This is…" Riley couldn't find the words, but she was thankful that Bofur had.

"Come here, love, it's quite alright." Bofur wrapped his arms around the taller woman, and she felt strangely comfortable within his embrace. Quickly though, she moved from his hold and turned her gaze back to the staff, grasping it gently but protectively, as though someone were going to take it away and tell her it was a mistake.

"Come, Riley. Let us see what you have got."

Shayla had been on the outskirts of the scene, knowing that it was going to happen before it had. Bofur had asked her many questions about Riley for Bifur to create something that was perfect for her. It seemed as though it was, too; Shayla had never seen Riley show public affection towards anyone in her life. It moved her beyond words to see real happiness in the eyes of her friend, even though it lasted only several minutes before Riley's composure sealed over once more.

Kili had begun to practise with Riley and her staff, and the difference between her abilities with the swords and daggers before, and with the staff now was incredibly obvious. The Dwarven Prince was teaching her how to use the staff to find her balance, and how to swing it towards an opponent without using ridiculous amounts of force or overbalancing herself to protect her leg. In the meantime, Shayla trained with Bofur and Bifur watched Riley practise with the staff.

They trained for another hour before Shayla and Riley were guided down to the bathing springs. Despite the obvious reluctance from the others, Riley kept her staff instead of leaving it in the training room, using it as she needed to walk through the sloping and stepped maze that was Erebor. Not that that was the main reason why she had kept a tight grip on it; the wood and steel against her palm had instantly coursed a change through her being. She felt safe and she felt somewhat worthy as well. Riley had never been given anything except for heartache and betrayal, but now she had been given something so beautifully intricate and meaningful, and it made it hard for her to cope with it.

Her immediate reaction was to hold tightly, metaphorically and physically to the piece of wood, because it was something that she knew would never betray her.

Shayla knew the staff would help Riley for training, though she hadn't realised that the staff would be such a huge turning point in Riley's disposition and attitude. Not only had she stayed at dinner for the entire night, but she didn't purposely sit in between Kili and Shayla, and she even spoke to the others at the table without raising her voice or making a rude comment.

That was an enormous improvement by Shayla's standards.

Shayla's happiness at the day's events seeped through her skin until it was tangible, and Kili commented on it as they were laying on several blankets at the outpost, looking up at the stars.

"You're happy." He commented, and Shayla could feel his gaze on her, as he lay his head to the side, resting on his arm.

"Yeah." She smiled up at the stars, the shine of them sending a pale illumination over the outpost. Everything was much more vivid here; the colours of the sunsets she had just watched to the richness and vastness of the sky that she was under. It was beautiful.

They lay in peace for a little while longer, until Shayla turned her head to face him.

"Thank you for helping with the staff… I haven't ever seen Riley so full of any emotion that wasn't complete hatred or anger." Kili smiled widely, his eyes reflecting the joy that Shayla exuded.

Kili turned to lay onto his side, propping his head up with his hand as he looked at Shayla with a curious expression on his face.

"Shayla, why is it you are friends with Miss Riley?" Shayla bristled slightly at the comment, frowning at Kili. It seemed to take him several moments to realise what he had said was not quite appropriate and he promptly apologised.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause any offence… I was curious, you are two very different women." Shayla looked up towards the sky again, the intensity of Kili's gaze causing her stomach to churn nervously.

"I suppose… But I think that's why we work well together. We push each other out of our comfort zones, we challenge each other." Kili quirked his eyebrow at Shayla.

"How?"

"Well… I try to nudge Riley out of her shell… She doesn't trust easily, and she doesn't like to leave her niche, that's why we went out camping in the first place, before we ended up here. We left to get away from her stupid boyfriend, I was hoping the time away would help her." Shayla laughed a little bitterly, continuing. "She challenges me by… By… She… She looks after me, she protects me like an older sister would."

"That does not sound very challenging to me. Protecting someone shouldn't mean smothering them." Shayla sat up suddenly and stared at Kili, who looked up her with a solemn expression.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shayla asked quietly, heavy emotions broiling beneath her skin.

"It just does not seem like a very healthy relationship." Shayla stood then, crossing her arms across her chest and storming several steps away to turn and face Kili who had now stood to face her.

"You don't even know either of us." Shayla's anger begun to become very visible to Kili, and it seemed Riley had definitely rubbed off on her. "You don't know who either of us were before we got here."

"Crises usually reveal a person, their true selves. Riley is bitter, guarded and possessive, but everything about you exudes compassion and light." Shayla shook her head in frustration; she knew the words he spoke of Riley were truthful, but she didn't like hearing someone talk about her like that. She was still Shayla's best friend, regardless of her faults.

"How can you even say that after today? After she has made so much progress?" Shayla felt sick to the stomach.

Kili raised his hands up in surrender, moving one step towards her but no more.

"I'm sorry Shayla, I did not mean to offend you. I just…" His eyes were wide and apologetic, and Shayla knew that he didn't mean anything malicious by his words, but she couldn't find it within her to forgive him just then. He dropped his hands to his sides then, his chocolate brown eyes glistening in the starlight. "I will take you back to your chambers. I did not mean to hurt you." She nodded and walked past Kili, attempting to ignore the sadness that lingered within his eyes. Kili followed after her, much like a lost puppy in Dwarf form.

Shayla did not speak to Kili the entire way back to the chambers, and she was glad that Riley was still asleep when she snuck back into their room.

She was frustrated that he had ruined her elated mood, but she was mostly angry because he had put a little seed of doubt into Shayla's heart, that maybe her best friend wasn't the best friend she could have.

Turning over in the bed and cocooning herself within the furs and blankets as Riley often did, she attempted in vain to rid herself of her doubts and fall asleep.

She knew that it was going to be a long night.

Gah, I don't like Kili/Shayla (Kayla? Shili?) angst, but it won't last long I promise! Shayla does not hold a grudge like Riley does. I am really happy with how this chapter has progressed for Riley though; she will slowly start coming out of her shell now and be a slightly more bearable character.

Thank you for the review pallysdeeks and welcome SuperWhoVenger214, lovely to have you continue from NAMBF! I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend, you're all rad and totally deserve it xxx