It seemed as though they spent hours together, Thorin showing her nearly every inch of Erebor. He smiled as she spun in circles, gazing up at the vast columns and stonewalls. Halien climbed up onto a stone pillar and held onto a nitch as she gazed out of the vastness of the halls.

"This is incredible! Your home is much bigger and grander than I remember!" she exclaimed.

Thorin's smile grew bigger as she stayed there for a moment to take it all in. "You are quite the climber. Do you have an excellent view of things from up there?"

"Aye, the view is amazing from here," she replied. "I like to spend more time than my father would allow climbing the trees of my homeland and scouting our borders. I know every inch of Greenwood and could lead you safely through it with my eyes closed."

"Perhaps one day you can show me your home."

Halien looked down at him and smiled. "It would my pleasure, sire." She watched as another dwarf, Balin, called to Thorin and beckoned for Halien to follow them. Halien nodded and slid down the stone pillar, limber as a cat, hugged Balin- telling him how much she had missed him- and they made their way back to the throne. Thorin took his place by his grandfather's side and a dwarf brought out a chest that gleamed like starlight when it was opened. Halien, standing by her father, watched as her father's eyes widened and he cautiously approached the chest, reaching out to it slowly before it was slammed shut. Thranduil looked up at Thror and Halien knew, instantly, that something was wrong. Thorin looked at his grandfather, not understanding what was happening either, and then back at Thranduil.

"Father?" Halien asked as Thranduil turned away to leave.

"We are leaving, Halien," he said.

"But, Father..." she tried to protest, begging him silently to explain.

"Halien, we are leaving," Thranduil repeated, his voice cold.

Halien felt tears in her eyes as she tried to reach out to her father with her mind, only to be met with an icy barricade that startled her so much she stumbled backward. She turned back to the line of Durin and bowed. "I am sorry, your majesties if we have offended you or upset you in any way. Thank you for your most generous hospitality." She saw the confusion in Thorin's eyes, as clear as her own. He started to move towards her and Halien heard him silently begging her not to leave, to help him figure out what was going on, but she could not. Her father called to her one final time- his tone even colder than the barricade in his mind- and with one last look at Thorin, the tears in Halien's eyes slipped silently down her cheek, for she knew that the alliance was finished and that she would never again be able to leave Greenwood and come back to Dale and Erebor, to gaze upon its grandness again and even worse, that she may never see Thorin again.

"I am sorry..." she whispered and turned on her heel and hurried to catch up to her father. Behind her, she heard him calling her name, sensing his father, Thrain, stopping him as he made to run after them.

"Let her go, Thorin." she heard him say to his son. "What is done is done."

Halien tried to wipe away the tears as she reached her father, still sensing Thorin's confusion- mirroring her own- and the rage that seemed to brew like a tempest inside her father.

They left the land behind and journeyed back to Greenwood. Halien tried to ask her father why things had happened the way they had, but all Thranduil would say was that the dwarves had stolen from them the treasures of the mountain, refusing to return them. Sighing, her heart aching to go back to the great kingdom, Halien watched as the Lonely Mountain grew ever smaller in the distance.

Some months later, word came from Erebor that Dale was under attack and they needed reinforcements. Thranduil and the elven army he commanded hurried to assist the dwarves, Halien riding at his side. When they reached the city limits, Halien saw the fires burning the lands, the now ruins of Dale alight with a fierce blaze. It was dragon's fire. She watched as the dwarves fled Erebor, smoke billowing from the great doors. Halien was in shock, for they had just been there not too long ago, then she watched as her father looked away from Erebor and chose to forsake the alliance that they forged with the dwarves. In the distance, she could hear Thorin calling out to them for help and she could hear his fear in his thoughts. They were overwhelming and made her feel helpless.

"Thorin…" Halien whispered. She looked to her father, but he turned his head away from the blazing scene below. "Father, we cannot leave them! They need our help!" she called as her father steered the large elk back towards Greenwood.

"I will not risk the lives of our kin to save them. I will not endure the wrath of the dragon." Thranduil said.

"You cannot do this!" she cried.

Thranduil stopped, smacking her across the face. Her brother, Legolas, stopped and stared in fear for his sister. "I am your father, and more importantly, your king. You will not disobey me again."

Halien felt anger rising as tears fell from her eyes, a trickle of blood sneaking out of the corner of her lips. "You are not my king…" she said, a sudden venom to her words as she fought the urge to strike him back. "My king would honor his alliances, no matter what the cost. If you will not honor the alliance, then I will, as is my duty as the ambassador of our people."

She turned away, but her father said, "If you go to help them, you will not be welcome back into Greenwood."

"It is our duty, Father, to honor our alliances. If we cannot do this one thing, the dwarves will hate us forever. Whatever the case is on the treasure you say they stole from us, I know that the Durin line is strong and must endure. I will see to it that the people of Erebor and Dale are safe and can find new homes. If that means that you cast me out, so be it. I will not abandon them to the dragon." she said. With one last look at her father and brother she said, "After what happened to Giliath and Gweran, you should be ashamed of yourself for denying these innocent people aid. That dragon took them from us and I intend to see that these people do not suffer the same fate that they did." Halien turned away and with that, she urged her mare onward to the burning lands.

Without another look, she made her way through the winding hills and boulders to help anyone she could. She rode as fast as Torwen could carry her and she searched and searched, looking for any signs of Thorin or his family. There was nothing and she helped as many people escape to safety as she could before she continued to search. No matter how hard she tried, she could not find anything. But that did not stop her.