A/N: Ok so here I am apologising yet again for the delay in updating this! I'm sorry but apparently this is just how my life is now! On the plus side I have the next chapter already written it just needs a bit of a look over so there definitely won't be a long wait for the next chapter this time. Thanks for all the new reviews, faves and follows and thanks to everyone that is still reading even though I'm a disaster with the updates xx Beta'd by the ever patient DreamingGalaxies thank you as always for your help.

Arriving at Beorn's

Thorin's POV

The night had closed in and a chill was in the air before the eagle carrying Thorin and Jenna finally began to descend. Looking down he could see that they were taking them to their aerie and he was glad they were almost at their destination. Jenna clung to him, her head buried in his shoulder. Her breathing was ragged and he could feel she was burning up. She hadn't moved since the eagle had picked them up and panic was starting to rise in him. If anything happened to her he would never forgive himself. He should have left her in Rivendell. Not for the first time, he wondered what had possessed him to take her along in the first place. After what seemed like an eternity the eagle finally landed and Thorin climbed down with Jenna still clinging to him. Placing her on the ground he looked down at her. Her face was pale, dark circles were under her eyes and her lips had taken on a slight blue tint. Esmeralda had just arrived and ran to them immediately, dropping to her knees beside her friend as she sobbed.

"Gandalf!" Thorin beckoned the wizard over. "Please help her!"

The elderly wizard knelt down on Jenna's other side and held his hand over her head for a moment as he mumbled some words none of them could make out. When he had finished he looked up at Thorin, worry clearly etched on his wizened old face.

"There is nothing more I can do here. She's burning up, the wound must be cleaned and dressed but we can't do that here. The eagles have agreed to take us a little further in the morning. They will bring us to a place not far from the borders of Mirkwood called the Carrock but no further. There is someone who lives near there and he may help us. Though he can be ill-tempered and he's not overly fond of dwarfs."

Nori approached, having heard Gandalf's words. "Can't you find someone better tempered to ask for help then?"

"Not out here, no and we are running out of time." Gandalf replied. "He is our only hope."

With that Gandalf walked away to the other side of the aerie and settled down for the night. No matter how much the others asked him about this mysterious person they were to seek help from he simply would not be drawn on it.

Esmeralda stayed by Jenna's side brushing her hair back off of her face and holding her hand tightly as tears continued to run down her face. Dwalin placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Amrâlimê please, you need to get some sleep. There is nothing any of us can do for now."

Esmeralda didn't even look up. "I can stay with her. I can do that much at least. It's all my fault she's here!"

Her comment was like a knife wound to Thorin. It wasn't Esmeralda's fault that Jenna was here or that she was in this position. It was his. If only he hadn't allowed her to come. He wished now that he'd forced her to remain in Rivendell where she was safe. All of this could have been avoided if he had just followed his first instincts and left her there.

"I will see to her Esmeralda. Dwalin is right, you need to sleep and you will only slow us down tomorrow if you don't. I will wake you if anything changes." Thorin was sure that she would fight him on it and try to stay with Jenna but instead she simply nodded and allowed Dwalin to pull her up onto her feet and lead her away. She looked as exhausted as he felt.

Thorin sat down beside Jenna now and took her hand in his. She was hot to the touch and yet she was shivering. He placed his cloak over her gently and as he did so her eyes opened slightly and she looked up at him with tears shining in her eyes.

"Thorin?"

Thorin placed a hand gently on her cheek. "It's ok, I'm here."

A tear slipped down her cheek and onto Thorin's hand.

"I don't want to die. I'm scared." She whispered.

Wiping her tears away Thorin smiled at her. "You won't die. I will get you help. I promise." He hoped that he sounded more confident about it than he was.

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep." Jenna gave him a half smile before her eyes fluttered closed again.

"I don't." He whispered but she didn't hear him, she was already asleep.

Esme's POV

Esme didn't think she would be able to sleep. She was so worried about Jenna that she was sure she would toss and turn all night but as soon as she settled herself in Dwalin's arms, exhaustion took over and she found her eyes closing no matter how hard she tried to fight it. She quickly slipped into a dreamless slumber and when she opened her eyes again the sun had just started to rise over the horizon. Sitting up she looked over to where Thorin still sat beside Jenna as she slept on. The Dwarf King looked tired and she wondered briefly if he had slept at all.

"She'll be alright Amrâlimê." Dwalin's arms closed around her waist and held her closer to him. "We'll get her help."

Dwalin had no sooner spoken than Gandalf began to rouse the other dwarfs. It was time for the eagles to take them to the Carrock. Esme jumped up straight away, anxious to get going as soon as possible, she just prayed that they would be in time to get Jenna the help she desperately needed. If they didn't then it would be all her fault. She couldn't bear the thought of losing her friend and the fact that it was because of her inability to function in a stressful situation was the worst part of all. Why did she always have to freeze? Why couldn't she be strong and brave like Jenna? Sighing, she made her way over to the eagle that would be carrying Dwalin and herself.

The journey on the back of the eagle was not as long as it had been the night before and not nearly as terrifying now that she knew what to expect. She watched the aerie get smaller and smaller as their mounts flew ever higher and soon a sprawling landscape was laid out in front of them. It was the first time that Esme truly got a sense of how vast this world was. Behind them, the mountains they had travelled through stretched along the entire horizon; they stood this morning with their tops hidden in a thick mist, eerie yet beautiful. She shuddered as she remembered the goblin caves that she now knew lay beneath them. Turning from them quickly, she looked out across the land that lay sprawled in front of them. Acres of grasslands and hillocks seemed to stretch on and on forever. She was thankful that the eagles were carrying them and saving their legs. Suddenly on the horizon she could make out a large dark shadow, the beginnings of an expansive forest she guessed. Before she could really get a good look at it though the eagles began to descend towards a large rock which stood in the middle of the plain below them, this she thought must be the Carrock that Gandalf had spoken of. They were almost there. Looking towards the eagle that carried Jenna and Thorin she prayed again that her friend would hold on long enough for them to get her some help.

Jenna was still unconscious when they landed and they had to carry her down the edge of the large rock. Luckily it seemed someone had carved large steps into the side of the Carrock to make it easier to get up and down and although they were very large the company managed to climb down them easily enough. Esme wondered briefly what size creature must have put them there.

"Excuse me, Gandalf? Who put these steps here? Are there more giants in these parts we need to be on the watch for?" Nori inquired from the back of the group where he was helping Thorin with Jenna.

Apparently Esme wasn't the only one wondering about the large steps. She shuddered as she remembered the stone giants of the mountain pass, could some of those creatures be down here too?

"No Master Nori, the giants of the mountain do not come down this far. The steps were put there by Beorn." Gandalf replied.

"Who's Beorn?" Bilbo asked as he fell into step beside the wizard.

"He is the one I spoke of last night. He is a skin changer and he owns all the land that you see stretched in front of us now. His house is not too far from here. Let us hurry and hope that he will help us."

Some of the dwarves began to grumble at the mention of Beorn being a skin changer but considering their current predicament nobody argued with the wizard and soon they were walking at a brisk pace towards what looked like a large hedge in the distance. Esme wondered what a skin changer was; could there really be someone in this world that could change their physical appearance at will? A few weeks ago she would have laughed at herself for even considering the possibility but after all she had seen since she arrived in Middle Earth she was far more likely to believe that this was in fact the case.

The land here was well tended, the grass was short and easy to walk through and there were flowers of all sorts of varieties scattered here and there as they went along. The grassland was swarming with bees and there was an overall hum in the air. They were by far the largest bees that Esme had ever seen, easily twenty times larger than the biggest she had previously come across. Soon they reached what indeed was a large green hedge and Gandalf called for them to halt.

"Right, well here we are then. We have passed through his bee pastures and the gates to Beorn's home are just up ahead. As I said last night, he isn't fond of visitors and is even less fond of Dwarves so you will all do as I say, understood?" There were a few grumbles from the Dwarves again but nobody argued with the wizard. "We best not crowd him at first so I will go ahead with Mr. Baggins. Oin will come with me and Thorin will bring Jenna. The rest of you must wait here until I send for you, do you understand?"

Esme didn't want to stay outside while Jenna was taken in to meet this skin changer who may or may not harm her but she knew there was no point in quarrelling with the wizard so she kept quiet and simply nodded. Jenna needed help and soon, judging by how the colour had almost completely drained out of her face and Gandalf had said this was the only place out here that she might get some. She just hoped that this Beorn would not hurt her friend even more. As if he could read her thoughts Thorin turned and looked at her.

"I will keep her safe Esmeralda, I promise you." Then with a nod he turned and followed after Gandalf.

POV Thorin

Making their way through the gate and up towards the large house that had been hidden behind the hedge, Thorin got his first glimpse of their would-be host. Beorn was a huge, brawny man. In fact he was easily the largest man Thorin had ever seen and he did not have a friendly demeanour. He stood in front of his house, his arms crossed; leaning on an axe he had been using to chop firewood. As they approached, Thorin tightened his hold on Jenna reflexively. A horse stood at Beorn's side and he looked to be having a conversation with it. He scowled as they came closer.

"Well here they are now, they don't look too dangerous. Let's see who they are and what it is they are wanting." The horse neighed and trotted back towards the house.

"I see you already knew of our coming Master Beorn we are very sorry to have disturbed you, it was never our intention." Gandalf spoke politely to the large man but his scowl only deepened. "My name is Gandalf. My friends and I have had a hard time with goblins in the mountains and Miss Jenna here has been injured. Master Oin here is our company healer but we have lost our supplies and he has no way of healing her without them. We were rather hoping that you might be able to help us."

The large man grunted and stepped closer to inspect Jenna. "What did you go near goblins for? Stupid thing to do!"

Thorin bristled immediately at the admonishment. Beorn however didn't seem to notice, instead he continued to scowl. Just as Thorin began to think the skin changer would refuse them Bilbo stepped forward from where he had been half hiding behind Gandalf.

"Will you not help her? Please, she'll die if you don't." The hobbit all but squeaked.

Beorn growled as he focused his attention on the hobbit. His eyes widened slightly. "Well what have we here? You are not a dwarf!"

Bilbo swallowed hard. "Erm no, I am Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, from the Shire. I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance."

The taller male frowned at their burglar but he stepped back and gestured to a small building off to the left. "That room there! Take her and see to her wound, you will find everything you need in there."

Oin took Jenna from Thorin and disappeared quickly into the room with her. Thorin would have preferred to go with her but he needed to make sure that the rest of the company would be safe from this skin changer first. As if Beorn had read his mind he turned once more to Gandalf and grunted. "Send word for the rest of your friends to come."

Gandalf started at that. "You were aware of the others?"

Beorn leaned forward to look more closely at Gandalf raising an eyebrow as he did so. "Nobody sets foot on my lands without me knowing of it, wizard. I have heard word of you since you landed at the Carrock. Send for your friends, I wish to hear more of this tale of yours."

As Bilbo scurried off to inform the others that it was safe to come and join them, Thorin and Gandalf followed Beorn into his home. He led them to a large hall with low ceilings and a fire pit in the centre of it. Taking a seat on the floor near the fire, he gestured for Thorin and Gandalf to do likewise. There was a hole cut in the ceiling to allow the smoke from the fire to escape but the room still smelt heavily of it. Gandalf began recounting their journey to Beorn as Thorin sat silently watching the skin changer for any sign of disbelief in case he decided to attack them. Soon the others had arrived and taken seats all around the fire and Thorin could relax a bit more. He knew that with the rest of the company here they would have some chance of fighting their way out if it came to it. Soon Gandalf had told Beorn everything there was to know about their journey so far and the tall man nodded solemnly as he rose from the floor.

"It is an interesting tale that you tell. True no doubt considering your friend's injuries but I must check. Stay here and eat, I will return soon. The kitchen is through there." Pointing towards a large set of doors Beorn stopped beside Esme and stared intently at her for a moment before he quickly left them to it.

Ordering the others to go and eat and nodding to Dwalin, Thorin took the opportunity to go and check on Jenna. He felt responsible for the lass and as much as she annoyed the life out of him at times, he would not be able to rest easy until he knew that she was going to be ok.

Dwalin's POV

Dwalin didn't like this place. It stunk of smoke and animals and the skin changer gave him a bad feeling. When Beorn stopped to look at Esme it took every bit of restraint in him not to plant his axe in between the larger male's eyebrows. Thankfully the skin changer was in a hurry it seemed and rushed from the halls to go and check their story, though how he planned to do that Dwalin had no idea. It wasn't like he could just walk up and ask the goblins. Not unless he was in league with them that was and Gandalf would surely have known about it if he was, or at least he hoped so. For now Dwalin chose not to worry about it, he needed to make sure that Esme ate something, even though all she wanted to do was go and see Jenna. Pushing some bread and honey towards her he frowned when she just sat looking at it with tears in her eyes.

"Esme, you need to eat! Jenna will be fine now that Oin can heal her properly and she won't thank you for starving yourself for her. As soon as you're finished we will take Oin and Thorin some food and you can check on her then."

Esme didn't answer him but nodded quietly and started to demolish the bread at a speed Dwalin had not known anyone to be capable of. He couldn't help but grin at her enthusiasm to see her friend again. Tucking into his own food Dwalin tried not to think about what would happen to Esme if Jenna didn't pull through this. Her wound was so bad that even the wizard couldn't fix it and he worried that Oin would not be able to either.

As soon as they were done they gathered some bread, honey and milk and took it out to the healing room that Jenna was being treated in. Pushing open the door they found themselves in a room which although small was still bright and airy. Like the rest of the house it smelt slightly like animals but the smokiness was at least missing here. Instead the smell of smoke had been replaced by the smell of herbs. Placing the food he had brought on a small table inside the door Dwalin took a look around the room. Every shelf and table in the place was covered with herbs and ointments and it reminded him of the houses of healing back in Ered Luin. Jenna lay in a large bed on the opposite side of the room, Thorin was seated beside her holding her hand and Oin was fussing with a bandage at her neck. The colour had not come back into her face yet and again Dwalin worried about what would happen if she didn't make it. As soon as Esme saw her she started to shake and then burst into tears.

"Oh Jen!" Esme tried to run to her friend but Oin stopped her before she could reach her.

"Don't crowd her lass. She'll be alright but she needs time to heal. Come with me, I'll make you some tea to calm you down." He muttered.

Tears were running freely down Esme's face now as she looked at her friend and then back at the healer who was stopping her from being with her. Stepping closer, Dwalin wrapped his arms around her.

"Oin is right amrâlimê. We must give her some space and you need to rest just as much as she does."

Oin nodded at this and took Esme's hand leading her back out of the room again. Dwalin sighed as she left. He hoped whatever tea Oin made for her would help her to get some sleep, after all they had been through she needed it. Turning back to where Thorin still sat watching Jenna, Dwalin frowned. He had never seen his friend like this before.

"Do you have feelings for her?"

Thorin looked up suddenly at his question and then sighed. "I feel responsible. She wouldn't be here if I hadn't told her she could come. She should be safe in Rivendell not lying here like this."

Dwalin came closer and took a seat next to Thorin. "She would have followed us anyway."

Thorin tightened his grip on Jenna's hand. "You don't know that."

"Yes I do. She would have followed Esme no matter the cost. Just as I follow you."

Looking up at him Thorin frowned. "No matter the cost?"

Dwalin looked towards the door that Esme had left through and sighed. He knew his duty and he would stick to it no matter what the cost. "Aye. I just never realised the costs would ever be this high."

"Go back Dwalin. Take them with you and go back."

Dwalin was taken aback by Thorin's words; he never would have expected his king to offer him a way out of this quest. There was no way however that he was going to take it. Smiling at Thorin he shook his head. "You know I can't do that."

"Then what? Leave them here?" Thorin questioned.

"It's not the worst idea." Dwalin sighed.

Thorin's frown deepened. "She'll not thank you for it."

Dwalin nodded in agreement, Esme would most likely be furious but it was a risk he was willing to take. "Aye, I know. It's a price I'm willing to pay though to keep her safe."

"I promised to take her to her father." Thorin pointed out.

Dwalin knew all too well that once Thorin made a promise to someone he would always see it through but this was one that he could not allow to continue. "We can send word to the Iron Hills; her father can come and collect her here. I begged Mahal for another chance and he has given it to me. I will not put her in danger again if I can help it. I love her too much."

Thorin nodded. "Indeed, I would prefer not to put either of them in danger again if it can be helped. How do you plan to tell her?"

Sighing heavily, Dwalin rose from his chair to leave. "I honestly have no idea."

"You have some time. I will not leave until I know that Miss Jenna is well."

Dwalin nodded and made his way over to the door.

"Dwalin?" With his hand on the doorknob he turned again to face his King. "I'm sorry you've had to make this decision."

Sighing, Dwalin turned away and opened the door.

"So am I."

TBC