For a change of things this is from the perspective of Sigrid. Let me know if you like the shifting of perspectives and I'll keep it (as up till now it's only been from either Katun or Bard). Enjoy!

"It's not much is it?"

"Hmm?" Sigrid looked up from her clandestine observations of one fair-haired dwarf and turned to see Tilda glaring at her, hands upon her small hips, a knowing look upon her young face. "What?"

"Sigrid, I may be younger I'm not stupid." Tilda marched over to sit beside Sigrid on the stone steps where Sigrid had taken a moment to rest. She picked up a few small stones and took to tossing them haphazardly onto the cobblestone street in front of them. "There's something going on between you two."

"Hmm…" Sigrid looked back over her shoulder when she heard Bain call to Fili and Kili from somewhere further inside the building whose steps they were now sitting on. The brothers disappeared from view then and Sigrid was left to her thoughts, and a bothersome younger sister.

They'd made it to the ruins of Dale only hours before, making their way into the foreboding shadows of the city sometime after the midday meal. Da had sent the remains of the guardsmen of Laketown to scout out the city to ensure there weren't any unwelcome visitors they'd have to deal with later and once they'd reported back that there were none, there came the somewhat awkward time of deciding who would stay where. Most of the survivors of Laketown were of the same caliber of station, Sigrid was relieved at that, but there were a few of the wealthier merchants who had tried to insist upon taking the more fortified houses for themselves (Alfrid Lickspittle being among those ranks). Da had put down their request, to Tilda's unabashed delight, and had stated that the most fortified buildings would be designated sanctuaries in case of attack, where the weak and unarmed could retreat to hold out if need be.

Now most everyone was doing their best to set up themselves in their chosen lodgings, not too spread out from one another "just in case of attack" still, and all branching out from the central part of the city where the remains of the great hall sat. It was here where Da had instructed all the guardsmen and men of the town to bring any weapons they found, creating a makeshift armory for them to work with. He also had begun to meet with the heads of the households and the guardsmen there, creating a sort of governing body that would meet to make decisions for the good of all versus just the few. It was all very efficient and effective, and Sigrid was thankful that they had Katun to help Da do such things.

Hearing Katun's voice then, Sigrid looked up from watching Tilda's attack on the cobblestone to see Katun and Da standing at the end of the cobblestone alley where they now sat. The woman handed over to Da a particularly nice looking dagger and while Sigrid couldn't hear her words she saw that Katun was animated as she pointed to various features on the dagger. She must've found it in one of the buildings in her own explorations of the city. After a moment of studying it, Da handed the dagger back to Katun and also spoke to her, but again Sigrid couldn't hear what was said. Sigrid knew her father well enough to notice a sense of comfortable familiarity had formed between the two of them. A wind picked up then, causing some dust to move into Sigrid's eyes, but she could watch long enough to see Da tuck some of Katun's wayward hair behind her ears. Smiling as she then rubbed at her own eyes, Sigrid was satisfied with her and Tilda's decision to machinate opportunities for Katun and Da to work together more; it was proving beneficial not just for Da and Katun but for them all as many of Da's decisions were made after conferencing with none other than Katun herself. She'd been the one to explain the necessity of the governing body so that it was clear that Da was most assuredly not setting himself up to be another Master, and Sigrid had no worries that he ever would.

"I'm waiting for an explanation."

Sigrid blinked down at her sister, "What do you mean?" She'd completely forgotten what it was Tilda had been speaking about.

"Him," Tilda whispered, her thumb jerking over her shoulder in the general direction of Fili and Kili, "and you." Tilda pointed to Sigrid.

"What explanation needs to be given? There's nothing going on." Sigrid rolled her eyes at her fanciful sister and looked back towards the street. Katun and Da had disappeared. She supposed it wouldn't do to sit around for much longer. There were still many buildings yet to be scoured for supplies, as that was what their current mission was, and who knew if another attack or unfortunate event might occur to rob them of this peaceful opportunity.

Tilda pressed against Sigrid's side even after she stood and moved down the alleyway to another building, adjacent to the one which housed the dwarves and their brother. "I've seen you watching him and I've seen him watching you."

"Tilda," Sigrid didn't bother looking at her sister as she scolded her, "I've never been around a dwarf before and maybe he hasn't had the opportunity to be around humans much either. Besides you've been staring at both of them just as much if not more than me. You've also done away with formalities and begun pestering them with questions regarding their culture and kin. Bless them for not completely ignoring you or losing their temper with you."

She was thinking back to that very morning when Tilda had indeed foregone any sort of cultural formality and had launched herself into question after question regarding what it was like to be a dwarf, where they'd come from, and many more questions that had left the rest of the occupants around the fire with their heads spinning at the rapidity the young girl had inquired. To Sigrid's surprise, considering what she had heard of dwarves and their secretive nature, both Fili and Kili had been cordial when they'd answered just enough to satisfy Tilda, but not so much to give away anything terribly personal. It had been during that "conversation," that Fili had more than once directed his gaze or answer in Sigrid's direction, though it had not been Sigrid to ask the question. It had also been directly following that conversation, once they'd all packed up and moved on, that Fili and Kili had walked with the girls and Bain, the dwarves keeping up a jovial conversation with her brother and sister. Sigrid hid a blush when she remembered the time she'd stumbled behind them all and it'd been Fili who'd immediately reached out and steadied her, not bothering to say a word when he did so, and also not lingering in his touch or proximity to make her think that it'd been anything more than kindness that'd prompted him to do so. It would be childish of her to think that the dwarf felt anything for her beyond curiosity and a shared experience of survival; they'd only known each other a few days, and in that time they'd never truly conversed with one another. But, and Sigrid would never admit this to Tilda, she did find his smile most attractive and found his mannerisms most agreeable as well.

"Well I think there's something going on." Tilda was speaking again, more to herself than to Sigrid since Sigrid had left her sister by the doorway and had retreated to the far corner of the ground floor room in order to rifle around in the mess they'd found. "Or I think there could be something going on."

Before Sigrid could growl at her sister to forget and move on they heard the alarm. Da had made sure to set up guards at every entrance to the old city and it was from one of those entrances that they'd heard the shouts of guardsmen. Sigrid only barely made it to Tilda in the doorway before both Fili and Kili were standing in the alleyway waiting for them, Bain having moved ahead onto the main street. There was no point in asking them what was going on, they'd been just as busy inside the adjacent building as the girls and so wouldn't have had a chance to see what it was that would raise the alarm. As a group, they rushed with the rest of the people towards the central area of the city; in the direction of the sanctuaries. Da had made it very clear that any time the alarm was raised, the first action any non-fighter must do was to go to one of the sanctuaries.

Just shy of the central courtyard and the closest sanctuary, Tilda tripped and would've fallen to the street to be trampled if Kili hadn't reached down and jerked her to her feet again, all in one swift move. He stayed by her side, his hand on her elbow, following this. Sigrid felt Fili do the same to her and she welcomed the reassuring warmth of his hand upon her arm as well. They had to stop before the central area, however, as their way was barred by one of the most startling sights Sigrid had ever seen. Never, if asked, would she have expected to have been in the company of dwarves AND elves in the same place, or in her lifetime. And yet here she stood, as gape-mouthed as Bain and Tilda, staring at an army of elves branching out, lining each road, in all directions coming from the central court yard. Sigrid felt Fili stiffen at her side and glancing between he and Kili, she saw that they seemed to recognize someone within the ranks of the elves and did not seem to like the person that they saw. Shifting onto her toes, Sigrid tried to peer over heads and around shoulders to see what was going on up ahead. All she could make out from here was next to nothing.

"It is Thranduil, king of the elves of the woodland realm." Fili's words, whispered close to Sigrid's cheek had her momentarily startling. It was the first he'd spoken directly to her. "The tall one there, talking to your father." Fili tugged at her elbow, drawing them both closer to the wall beside them and pointed through the ranks of humanity in front of them.

Sigrid followed his gaze and saw a very tall, slender and regal looking elf, a crown of some sort upon his head, was indeed striding forward to talk to Da. The elf king was flanked by at least two other elves, not as regal looking but most definitely ethereal in visage. While the myths of elvish beauty driving men mad seemed to be unfounded, many of the elves that she saw, including the king, were almost painfully perfect looking.

"I want to cut his hair." Tilda whispered nearby and both Fili and Sigrid looked to her in question. "He looks too pretty."

Kili laughed and Sigrid heard Fili chuckle from beside her. Bain bounced from one foot to another, "Can you hear anything that they're saying?"

"None of us can, Bain, if you keep on your racket." One of the men from Laketown glared over his shoulder at Bain, reminding all of them that they were not alone in a crowd of unknowns but surrounded by fellow survivors.

Thus unable to really see what was happening, or hear it either, Tilda turned her attention back to the dwarf at her side, "Is it true that elves and dwarves hate each other so much?"

"Tilda." Sigrid tried to hush her sister, pointing to a group of elves standing just a few crowded people from them. "Now isn't the time."

But it was too late. One of the elves standing not far off took notice of them and instead of keeping his attention fully on the discussion occurring between Da and the king, he turned and came directly towards them. Sigrid heard Fili whisper something to Kili in their native language and watched as both dwarves shifted closer together, as if to form a battle line even in the midst of the crowd. The elf was good-looking, with dark hair, and his eyes seemed to be kind, his gaze filled with curiosity and not malice.

"Interesting to find only two here when once there were many more sitting in the dungeons of Thranduil." The elf looked between Fili and Kili then finally over to Tilda and Sigrid. He seemed to have overlooked Bain, who now stood almost directly at his side staring up at him in question. "Where are they?"

"Why should we tell you?" Kili glared at him. "You who repaid our innocence with imprisonment."

The elf held up a hand, "If I'm not mistaken, you and your kin trespassed upon our lands and made threats towards our king. But I don't make the orders, dwarf, I follow them."

"And what are your orders now?" Fili shifted, putting himself closer to Kili and also somewhat in front of Sigrid.

The elf glanced between the dwarf brothers once more before he turned his gaze to Sigrid, "The others are in the mountain now, no?" Sigrid nibbled her lower lip, refusing to answer, especially when Kili and Fili threw her looks of "don't say anything." The elf nodded though, as if that alone answered his question. "And what of the human woman, Alyse, that was with them? And the human male, Edwin?" The elf looked back over his shoulder as if to assess the status of the proceedings and then looked back down to them. "We seemed to have misplaced two of our own in the past few days as well. And I was hoping you could help me find them." The last comment he sent in Tilda's direction.

All of them were saved from answering further by the sudden appearance of Katun. She pushed her way to stand between Fili and Kili, her arms coming to cross over her chest, as she stared up at the elf in challenge. The elf seemed taken aback by her appearance and the formally confident manner in which he stood melted into one of uncertainty.

"Cha'risa?" The elf shook his head. "You're alive." He smiled. "I don't know how but it is good to see you alive." He then looked back to Sigrid and Tilda, finally noticing Bain as well. "Have you been staying with these people?"

Sigrid watched as Katun uncrossed her arms before she answered, "I am sorry but I don't recognize you. The father of these children rescued me from the river some time ago and yes I have been staying with them since then. Only recently, with the arrival of the kin of these two," she pointed to Fili and Kili, "was I acquainted with two of my former associates. However, even with their appearance, I still don't remember fully who I was or what I did prior to waking up in their household." At the last she pointed again to Sigrid and Tilda.

"You speak truly?" He questioned once Katun fell silent. Katun nodded, as did Tilda and Sigrid, and the elf was silent for a time, studying them all as if to see any form of duplicity, before he spoke again. "If it answers any of your questions or sets your mind at ease, you served with me on patrols while you stayed in the halls of King Thranduil. You worked together with another one of your associates, one Jaq, who was sent out on a special mission by the king not long after your assumed death." The elf laid a hand over his heart. "I am Orodion. While we only called each other comrade a brief time, I dare say our relationship was as affable as could be expected considering your status amongst my people."

Katun continued to stare at Orodion a moment longer before she sighed and shook her head, "I am sorry but I still don't remember you. It isn't that I doubt you, but I don't remember you." She tried to look past the elf and the crowd to the central area. "Did I hear you correctly, did you say that you misplaced two of your own?"

"Well," Orodion smirked, "now that I've seen you, I've a good guess as to where they might've gone to. Are they with you or did they travel onward to the mountain with the others?"

"Who?" Katun brought her gaze back to Orodion and Sigrid hid a smile. The woman was clever.

"In truth, it doesn't much matter to Thranduil where your friends Alyse and Edwin are. He is more concerned regarding the whereabouts of his son Legolas and Tauriel, one of the patrol captains. They were last seen on the day these," Orodion pointed to Fili and Kili, "disappeared. One can't help but assume there's a connection."

"Edwin is sick." Tilda offered up unexpectedly, earning more than a few glares.

Orodion studied her sister a moment longer before he nodded, "I see. Then I can take a guess as to where Tauriel might be. Though that still leaves the question of Legolas…"

"And what will you do with that guess?" Katun questioned, her arms coming up to cross over her chest again.

"Not much, since it is a mere guess." Orodion smiled and Sigrid found that she liked this elf. "But if you happen to see an elf maid around this height," he held out his hand, "with reddish hair, do let her know that King Thranduil is less than impressed with her recent actions and she'd do well to grovel her apology to him soon if she wants to avoid banishment or something else equally unpleasant."

Katun nodded, "We'll keep your words in mind IF we see such an elf."

There was a commotion behind them and they all turned in time to see the group of elves signaling to Orodion to rejoin them. It seemed that a decision of some sort had been made and now was the time to act on it. Orodion nodded to his companions before he looked back to Katun.

"Again, though the circumstances are not so pleasant, it is good to see you alive Cha'risa. And I hope that all of your companions and," he looked to Fili and Kili, "yours as well may live beyond these days to see each other reunited in peace." He turned and left them then.

It was Tilda who spoke up first after he'd gone, "What does that mean?"

"Bain," Da appeared in front of them then, having moved through the parting crowds, "take your sisters and go back to the house. Stay there until I come back." He looked down to the dwarves and nodded to them, letting them know he expected them to stay nearby as well. "Katun, I'd like to have a word with you."

Sigrid watched as Da took Katun by the elbow and led her down the street a pace in order to talk to her. Instead of waiting to see what would come of the conversation, Sigrid turned and followed her grumbling brother and sister towards their house, the dwarf brothers walking behind having a conversation in their native language. When they got to the house it was Tilda who barreled her way inside and told a befuddled Tauriel of all that just occurred. The poor elf had been in the midst of feeding a finally woken Edwin when they'd arrived. Her eyes were wide when she looked past them all towards the door where Sigrid turned to see Katun standing.

"Is it true?" Tauriel asked.

Katun nodded, "Bard just left to go talk to the dwarves inside Erebor now. He's going to remind them of their promise to Laketown," she looked towards Fili and Kili, "as well as remind them of an older agreement between Erebor and King Thranduil regarding some gems." She seemed to just then notice that Edwin was awake and staring at her. "You're awake."

"Yes," the man's voice was scratchy from lack of use, "Tauriel was telling me of everything's that's happened since we helped the dwarves at the river." He gave a soft smile, "I'm glad to see you alive Cha'risa."

Sigrid watched as a look of resigned sadness crossed Katun's features, "Until I remember myself by that name I won't go by it. I'm known as Katun to these people. I'm sure Tauriel told you I have no memory?" Tauriel and Edwin both nodded. "I'm sorry for that."

"It is no matter." Sigrid watched as the man grimaced, direct result of shifting on his cot. Tauriel immediately set aside the broth she'd been feeding him and went to help him get more comfortable.

Tilda's question redirected Sigrid's thoughts, "Did Da really leave? All by himself?"

"Yes, he was elected by the others to represent Laketown and it was agreed by all there that the elf king's presence would most likely only incite anger from the dwarves so your father went alone." Katun looked over to Fili and Kili. "Do you think he'll be successful?"

Sigrid watched the dwarf brothers glance at each other before Fili looked back to Katun and sighed, "That depends entirely on what your definition of successful is."

Sigrid closed her eyes. That didn't sound good at all.