The Master bid the company farewell and they were off. As they rowed down the canal to reach the vastness of the lake, Halien heard Bofur as he reached her, Kili, and the others.

"Bofur, I am sorry, they could not wait any longer. Thorin asked me to stay behind to take care of Kili. He's very sick and I cannot do much to heal him with my current skill." She said to him.

Bofur looked after the boats as they disappeared from view. He sighed, but then his attention was immediately drawn to Kili as he began to grimace in pain and groaned.

Halien looked at him in fear and knew immediately from the progression of his illness that he had been hit with a Morgul shaft. "Oh no, ancestors no!"

"What, what is it?" Fili asked.

"We need to get him somewhere safe, now," Halien said, helping Kili up. She hoisted his arms around Oin and Fili's shoulders, then led them through the streets towards the only place that she knew was safe and had someone who could help.

They ran to the Hall of the Master and Fili called out to the Master.

"Please, wait!" he asked. "Please. We need your help."

Halien looked to the Master. "Good Master of the Lake, we need your help."

"My brother is sick," Fili said, looking at him desperately.

"Sick?" the Master asked. "Is it infectious? Get back. Alfrid, Alfrid, don't let them get any closer!"

"How dare you, you pathetic little Men!" Halien said, gathering up her skirts and marching up the stairs to Alfrid, ignoring the guards. "That is my nephew! How dare you deny us aid when we have promised to deliver so much to this place to rebuild it anew and bring back the trades of old? How can you be so despicably heartless and cruel?"

"Please, we need medicine!" Oin asked.

"Do I look like an apothecary?" Alfrid said with a smirk. "Haven't we given you enough? The Master's a very busy man, he doesn't have time to be worried about sick Dwarves. Be off with you. Go on."

Halien became so infuriated that she began to spark with blue flames as she reached back and threw her fist straight into Alfrid's face, breaking his nose. "I will see to it that you and your idiotic Master will be removed from office and stripped of all your titles. You will regret ever crossing the Dwarves of Erebor and you will regret ever crossing me. As Queen of Erebor, I have the necessary power to do so and do not even think for a second that I won't."

With that, Halien Greenleaf left a bleeding Alfrid, and the Master whimpering on the staircase as she turned around and marched off with the others following close behind her. "Come, I know of one place that we can go to get help."

A banging came at the door and Bard opened it to see Bofur, Oin, Fili, and Kili. "No, I have had my fair share of dwarves. Go away." He barked and tried to slam the door on them, but Bofur stopped him.

"Please, Kili's sick. He's very sick." Bofur told him. "No one else will help us."

Halien came up behind them and looked at Bard.

"Halien!" He said in surprise.

"Thorin asked me to look after Kili, but Bard…" she said, looking from him to her nephew, then back to him. "He's been infected by a Morgul shaft."

Bard's eyes widened. "How can you be sure of that now?"

"The infection is spreading faster than it should if it was a normal wound caused by a normal arrow. I didn't recognize the shaft, for I have never seen one, but I have treated many of my kin before who had shown the very signs of Morgul poison." She explained, then pleaded with him, "Please, Bard. He needs a safe place to lie down so that I can try to treat him and I trust you. For some reason, I trust you completely. Please, the Master would not help us. He and the sniveling little weasel Alfrid infuriated me so much that I punched him. I think I broke his nose. No one else will help us. Please, Bard?"

Bard nodded, not giving it a second thought. He opened the door wide and ushered them all inside. Fili and Oin led Kili to the bed and laid him down. Bofur busied himself around, gathering hot water for Oin as he asked if there was any Kings Foil- Athelas in the Elven Tongue. Bard told them it was a weed and they fed it to the pigs. Bofur told Halien that he was going to find the pigs and try to get some Kings Foil to slow the poison.

While Bofur ran through the docks and streets, Halien asked Tilda and Sigrid for some water and a cloth. She climbed onto the bed next to Kili while Fili and Oin held him down by the arms and Bane held down his legs.

"Kili, you must be still!" Halien told him, sternly and knew that he was in a great deal of pain.

"I'm sorry…" Kili tried to say, looking at his aunt and seeing her concern. Tears were starting to brew in her eyes and he knew that it was bad.

"Hush, now, Kili. You have nothing to be sorry for. I will try to do what I can to stop the poison, but we can't do much without Athelas." She told him.

Kili nodded, then writhed in pain, crying out as the poison began to really take its toll.

Halien felt her heart aching for her nephew, uncertain if she could even save his life. She tried to think of what Lady Galadriel would have said to her in times like this, tried to find the courage to push through her fear and worry, and when she did, the young elven princess of Mirkwood and queen of Erebor breathed out slowly and focused all of her magik on healing Kili. She thought of drawing out the poison, of stopping the bleeding, anything that would spare his life.

Bard and his children stared in wonder as she began to glow with a soft white aura. Bard felt a sense of peace as he watched Halien close her eyes and her hands move to hover over Kili's body. Halien started to utter an elvish incantation, one that she had barely mastered, and Kili's thrashing stopped, his cries momentarily silenced. Bard watched in amazement as the dwarf's breathing eased a bit and he looked over at the elf maiden, somehow managing a smile.

"Halien…" Kili started to say, reaching a hand towards her.

Halien sighed and slumped back, catching herself against the wall. "Kili…" she said, smiling wearily as she put a hand on his forehead. "I have stopped the flow of the poison, but it will take time to draw out the poison completely and energy that I do not have to spare. You should be fine, though, if not worse for wear."

Kili managed another smile as Halien kissed his burning forehead. "What would we do without you, Aunt?"

Halien smiled in return. "Well, things wouldn't be as easy nor fun without me around, that's for sure."

Kili tried to laugh at that but winced in pain.

"You need to rest, Kili," Halien told him, trying to move off of the bed. "I've done what I can and used more energy than I had anticipated. All we can do is wait for Bofur to return with Athelas and try to draw out the poison and treat the wound from there."

Bard came over and helped her stand as she got off the bed. She put a hand to her belly as her son kicked as if to protest for the strenuous activity.

"Are you alright?" Bard asked, holding her around the waist.

Halien put a hand on his chest and nodded. "Aye, the lad is just kicking. I don't think he liked me using so much energy to heal his cousin." She tried to laugh at that and took Bard's hand and placed it on her belly.

Bard smiled a bit when he felt the healthy kicking of the baby. He helped Halien over to a chair so that she could rest and set her down slowly. "Your son seems healthy enough."

Halien nodded. "Do you want to say hello?"

Bard looked at her as she took his hand and placed her forehead against his, closing her eyes. Off to the side, Fili, Oin, Sigrid, Tilda, and Bane watched as Halien whispered something and Bard snapped his head back in shock.

"Da?" Tilda asked.

Bard looked from his youngest daughter back to Halien. "I heard him… How…?"

"It's something I figured out how to do a couple of months after I found out that I was to have a son. He has no clarity or flow to his thoughts, but he can think and he can speak to me and anyone else I wish to share his thoughts with. He is so curious." Halien explained. "My gift to read one's mind has allowed me to link with my son's mind and allow me to understand what he experiences as he grows within me. It allows me to explain things to him in ways one might not think possible and it allows for me to show him new and exciting things that he has to look forward to. When he is born, I can speak with him, mind to mind, without using words and be able to get to know him much more than without my gift. If he is lucky enough to inherit my abilities and skills, then I can teach him so much better than I could without my magik."

Bard looked at her. "But he will be half-dwarf. Isn't there a chance that he can never wield magik?"

"Aye, that is true, but he will be half-elf, as well. He will have an equal chance of wielding magik as he would to not wield it." Halien said with a smile.

"Did you really punch Alfrid in the nose?" Bard asked, then laughed when Halien nodded. "I would have loved to have seen that. That rat bastard deserved it many times over."

Halien smiled and giggled with him, realizing how much Alfrid infuriated her and how gratifying it was to punch him.

Her smile soon faded when she and the others all heard a deep rumbling, a rumbling that come from the mountain. Halien's eyes widened. 'No…'

Bard stood, moving to the table, and watched the window as his children ran to look outside of it.

"Da, it came from the mountain!" Bane said.

Bard looked from his children to Halien as she stood. "Halien…"

"Thorin…" she muttered, her fear clear in her eyes and she came to stand next to Bard at the table.

Bard placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked at him. "It will be alright." He told her, trying to reassure her.

'Bard, if that was the dragon, we do not have much time.' Halien thought to him, lowering her shield.

'I know.' The bargeman replied.

Behind them, Kili was beginning to moan in pain again as the poison pushed its way through the defenses that Halien had put up. Fili left his brother's side and came over to Bard for a moment.

"You should leave us." He said. "Take your children and Halien and get out of here."

"Fili, no." Halien started to say.

"And go where?" Bard asked, looking at the dwarf. "There is nowhere to go."

Tilda came over to her father, fear and worry playing across her face. "Are we going to die, Da?" she asked.

Bard looked at her, at Sigrid and Bane, unsure of what to say or do. Halien shook her head. Looking up at Bard, she thought, 'You have to tell them something. They are your children. As their father, only you can truly comfort them.'

"No, darling," Bard said, coming to his daughter.

Tilda looked up at her father. "The dragon is going to kill us."

"Not if I kill it first," Bard said.

"If the dragon comes, I will protect us with my magik, Tilda," Halien said.

Tilda seemed somewhat reassured by that and ran to the elf maiden. Halien wrapped her arms around her and held onto her.

Bard felt scared, worried, and protective of his children. He did not know where the rest of the day would lead and how it will turn out, but he knew he had to protect them. He had to protect his village, his people, his family, Halien. He reached above the table and pulled down something metal and when Halien saw it, hope returned to her eyes and she smiled.

"The Black Arrow!" she said. "Bard, if you can get up to the Windlance, then you can take down the dragon."

Bard nodded. "That dragon will not come near my family, nor you, Halien."

Halien looked at his children. "It is going to be alright. Your father has the Black Arrow, the last of its kind, but it will be enough to take down the dragon. I promise we will make it through to see another day."

Bard pulled her into his arms. "Halien, look after the children for me. I need to get to the windlance."

Halien wrapped her arms around him and breathed in his scent. It still surprised her how comforting the scent of sandalwood and spices was to her. "Of course I will. They will be safe with me."

Bard pulled away and grabbed his coat and the Black Arrow. He looked at her and nodded, sending her a silent thought that made her smile, and he left the house. Bane ran after him and Halien went to stand with the girls at the window, looking out at the Lonely Mountain.

"Thorin, be careful, my love."