It had been several months since they had begun their journey and the company happened across a spring that flowed into a pool as it splashed over the edge of a waterfall. Gandalf suggested they stop, sensing the magik in the water and the day was beginning to grow quite hot.
"This spring has rejuvenating properties. Let the others enjoy it while there is time, Thorin." Gandalf said when Thorin refused.
"Sire, we can take some of the water with us in the water skins," Halien suggested. "These waters do indeed possess rejuvenating properties, which will help to ease an aching body and give energy back to the others if they grow weary. If I add a bit of my healing magik to it, I may even be able to enchant it enough to heal wounds upon contact- whether it is inside or outside one's body."
Halien could hear Thorin going over it in his head. He knew that she was being logical and was glad to see her thinking of the others in their company. Thorin looked over at the others as they practically stripped completely naked – having naught but their underclothes on- and dived into the pool. A smile crept into the corner of his mouth and he sighed. "Very well."
Halien bowed and grabbed the water skins and a few jugs. She went to the side of the pool where the dwarves were not swimming and splashing, one or two of them jumping in buck naked. Opening the water skins, she filled each of them to the top, sealed them, and then did the same with the jugs. Then, when the jugs were full, she sat on her legs and breathed deep, tuning out the sound of the dwarves' merrymaking and summoned her healing magik. She pulled it from her belly, up through her chest, and down her arms and let it flow from her hands and fingers into each of the jugs. She spread the magik out so that it would enchant all of the jugs at once. When the water was enchanted, Halien closed the lids of the jugs and hauled each of them back to the horses. Ori had gotten out of the water to grab an apple from his pack and saw that Halien was going back and forth, carrying the heavy water jugs and skins.
"Would you like some help, Halien?" he asked her when she came back from her third trip.
Halien smiled. "I would greatly appreciate it, Ori. Thank you very much."
Ori blushed and Halien's smile got bigger as she heard his embarrassment and glee that she remembered his name. Ori helped her carry the remaining jugs and skins to the horses and ponies, then helped her secure them to the saddles. When they were finished, Ori asked if Halien would care to join them in the pool.
Ori nodded when she kindly told him that she might later and ran to the edge of the pool, jumping in and making a grand splash.
Halien went to sit underneath a tree and rested her head against the bark. She hummed softly to herself and began sharpening her weapons and those of her companions while they enjoyed a moment of carefree frivolity.
"Thorin, you must admit that she is trying," Balin said as he joined Gandalf, Thorin, and Bilbo. "I wouldn't have agreed to her company if I didn't see the effort she is putting forth. Besides, she seemed harmless enough when we first met her at Erebor. I do not think I have seen anyone as happy as her that day nor anyone so in love with the halls of Erebor who was not a dwarf."
Thorin nodded. "I do see that she is trying, much as she did with the children in our village, but that does not mean that I trust her. She is the daughter of the man who betrayed our people, Balin. She should have been there to stop him."
"She's not like her father, Thorin, and she was not even there to stop him. She couldn't have known you were going to see her father. She didn't even know if you were alive or not." Gandalf said. "She is quite the opposite of her father. Since she was a little girl, she wanted nothing more than an adventure- much like our Bilbo Baggins here. She refused to go along with the proper upbringing her father set for her, refused to be like her brother as a perfect child who always listened to her elders, always doing what she was told. She would sneak out at night to go and speak with the animals, finding more company with them than her people, and to explore the wonders of Greenwood. Though she possesses a magik that is far older than Lady Galadriel- the eldest of the elves that remain here in Middle Earth- her people did not treat her with the respect nor accept her as they should have."
As Gandalf was telling him this, Thorin watched as Halien talked to each of the horses and ponies. They had gathered around her, nuzzling her, and seemed to talk back to her as she began to sketch the dwarves enjoying the pool. He had never seen anyone so happy, not even in the days before Smaug came. Sighing, he knew that he should give her as much a chance as he gave Bilbo. "She will still have to earn my trust once more, as much as the burglar does," he said and that was how he left it.
