A.N. The third review :) Thank you, you are very kind!

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The next day it dawned bright and clear. They wrapped up everything and Thorin offered once again to add what he called her tools to his pack. It would have been logical to do so, maybe, but she couldn't move past her annoyance.

She should've paid attention and not gotten lost, she should've had a backup GPS device, and she should've stayed home when she knew her period was coming. The laptop and a bag full of assorted devices were going to pay the price for it.

For that and for her break down last night. Thoughts of being lost - because of her own stupidity - ran through her mind and she had not been able to fall asleep. Then she thought about being lost and alone and almost worked herself into a panic attack. She was not alone in the strictest sense of the word, but she might as well have been for all the good Thorin did to her.

It took her hours to ask for help. He was fast asleep, he would not hear her - or so she thought; but he did. He woke up right away and comforted her like it was the most natural thing in the world.

From panic she went right back to blaming herself, not only for them getting lost but for not giving Thorin enough credit too. Of course he would help if she needed him to. Although it was strange that he woke up after she no more than whispered his name once. What kind of a life did he live, to be used to sleeping so light?

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So here she was this fine morning - in the bushes fastening her trousers - when she heard a very characteristic sniff and her heart stopped. What the actual fuck? Are there real wolves in Alsace? There must have been a handful of them, but one that would come this close to people? It was probably a dog, she decided.

Dog or not, she wasn't going to take any chances. She unsheathed the knife and she took a few steps in the direction from where the sound came. She saw nothing - no wolf, no dog. There was only Thorin, busying himself with checking their packs; then she heard it again.

She jumped a little, it was that close. She almost expected to find the dog behind her, at her heels. The thing shuffled. This time she looked up and there it was, on a rock, above them. It seemed huge, easily as tall as herself. Only her shock stopped her scream.

The bloody monster was shuffling alright, like a cat ready to pounce. Ready to pounce on Thorin!

"Behind you!" she yelled and ran towards her dwarf. The wolf would be faster. Of course it'd be. But it heard her and changed its mind. It landed on a boulder a little to the right. For a moment there she felt triumph: it wasn't going to maul Thorin. She was still trying to reach him when the beast had enough and jumped. It jumped on her.

She threw herself to the ground, to the left. Not far enough. It was on top of her, crushing her. Its breath smelled putrid. She could see its bloody teeth.

It sat on her belly, with one front leg braced on her shoulder. She could hardly breathe and her breakfast was trying to come out. It was pawing at her, shoving her head this way and that.

She tried to wriggle and turn, tried to raise her hands in defense. By chance alone, her knife caught in its fur. It focused her on doing something and she started to stab. And stab and stab as hard as she could, as fast as she could. Just stab.

She was still brandishing her knife when she felt something seize her hand. She could not move it anymore and she let out a cry of anguish.

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"Shh, you're safe. You're safe, I'm here." He did not believe she was able to hear him. "You're safe, Yeva. Shh, I'm here." She was in shock.

He was in shock. He heard her yell but did not raise his head right away. It took him a few moments more to close his pack. He turned just in time to see the warg leap on her, its paws swatting her down.

His blood ran cold. He could see nothing but Yeva's head batted around by filthy paws. She did not even scream. He had killed the creature, but in truth she mostly saved the both of them by keeping it distracted enough that he could take it by surprise and slash its throat.

The first thing was to soothe her enough to see to her injuries. She had several gashes. He would clean them. Was anything broken? The warg landed on her, it was a wonder she was still breathing.

She was still shaking hard, but her eyes were clear.

"Yeva?"

"Wha-wha-"

"A warg."

"Wa-warg."

"Shh, do not speak. You are wounded. What hurts most?" The mention of wounds finally pulled her from her haze.

"Is it dead?" He saw the relief in her eyes when he nodded that yes, it was quite dead. "It was about to jump on you, I didn't know what to do. I - I - I thought you would die. I couldn't see you."

No, she couldn't have seen him because he had been too slow. He had seen the footprint the day before and what did he do?

"I heard you call but I was too slow to get up. You kept it busy and I slit its throat. Your husband's long knife did a fine job." Although it was not enough to decapitate the warg. They were back alright, and all he had was a bloody knife. He would give anything to have his sword back!

"Are you injured?"

"Not a scratch, but you are," because of me, Thorin could not help thinking.

"It hurts like a bitch." Now she was sobbing. "It hurts so bad."

"What hurts most? Is there anything broken?"

"Broken? I - I don't know?"

"Can you breathe properly? Take a deep breath." She did, gingerly at first, then she took another. "No sharp pain?"

"No."

"We shall have to leave as soon as may be. I'll help clean your wounds and apply your ointments, but we have to be quick. Can you stand?"

She could, after a fashion. She was not steady on her legs, she was trembling all over. He was glad to see that neither her trousers nor her tunic were damaged. There were plenty of scratches on her face and neck, but they did not appear deep. The bruises on her body were another question entirely.

"Any sharp pain anywhere at all?"

It took almost half an hour to get her ready to move. They were back in his world and everything would be different from now on. Just the same, he could not bring himself to push her to hurry. She took on a warg for him - she had to because he had been careless.

"I shall carry your pack too. We have to move as fast as we can, as far as we can." He was itching to be on his way, fear of their pursuers mingling with the excitement of being home. She did not speak much at all and did not fight him on the backpacks. He was a bit surprised when she grabbed his hand and refused to let go. No matter, they would advance faster this way.

"Where are we going?"

He took a moment to answer. For one because he was not entirely sure where they were, but had a hunch. For another because they did have at least two options, even if Yeva did not know. He had decided their route and it was essential that they move. "South."

"You believe we are in Trollshaw?" He was not surprised that she guessed. She claimed not to remember the book, but she had a keen eye for details.

"Aye. I do not know which end, but aye, we must be."

"Then south towards the main road. And then?"

"Bree or Rivendell, whichever one is closer."

"You would go to Elrond?"

"I am not an idiot, no matter that you think me so." She laughed, as he intended, then let out a loud hiss. Her upper lip was split, the left cheek was becoming red, and her eye was almost shut with the swelling. They continued in silence as fast as they could, which was not nearly fast enough for him. Warg packs could cover great distances in very little time.

"What happens if we go to Bree together and I look beaten up?"

Nothing good was the answer. The menfolk would suspect he was the one who put the bruises on her person. No one would listen to a strange woman with a strange speech and strange clothing telling a story about coming from another world to be attacked by a warg. So he shrugged and they kept going.

It was midday when she asked for a few minutes' rest.

"I have to pee but - I - I'm sorry, I don't want to be alone."

"Do not worry about it, I'll turn around."

"Yes, but - um. Should I dig a hole? Should I do anything to cover the - the smell of me?"

Ah. "I would not bother. The wargs can run fast for days, we cannot outrun them if they are after us. Our only hope is to reach a settlement or to be lucky enough that only one or two scouts will find us so we would stand a chance to fight them off."

Maybe it had been the wrong thing to say. She looked disturbed and started trembling again.

"I'll hurry then." And she did.

A while later they ate cereal bars - not his favorites, and apples. They did not stop until the darkness fell and even then they continued quite a bit until they found an outcrop that allowed them to sleep a few meters off the ground. They would be well hidden.

"No fire tonight."

"No, we cannot risk it. We have enough cereal bars, do we not?"

"Aww, you are starting to love them!" Her speech was a bit muffled, what with her split lip and swollen face. He huffed in mock disgust and she laughed a little, careful not to move her lips too much.

Yeva told him that she wanted to sleep next to him just tonight. She did not want to close her eyes and see the warg again in her dreams. He knew what nightmares did better than most, but there were other considerations too. That morning, waking up with her in his arms, had not been easy. She was a woman. She was an attractive woman who was not his sister.

She situated herself flush along the rock wall. "You can sleep with your back to me if you wish. I just don't want to be alone."

"I shall never leave you alone."

"You promise?"

"Aye."

She was looking intently at him and his brain was just starting to catch up to his mouth. What exactly did he promise?

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The next morning he found she was again in his arms. He did not mind; he slept well and so did she and they needed their rest for the days ahead.

"No fire, huh?"

"No, you will not be able to have your coffee tea." He knew she loved her tea, but it was better to move on and away as soon as possible.

"I guess we really are in Middle Earth."

"Aye." He wanted to say more, to offer some encouragement, although he was not sure how. "At least you are not likely to be bothered by your neighbor anymore." He was pleased when she let out a huff of laughter.

"Right you are. As you said, you are a dwarf of many talents: you convinced me to not go back to the cabin for the foreseeable future."

"Yeva," he waited until she looked at him. He grimaced a little seeing how badly bruised and cut she was. It looked worse than the day before. "I shall not leave you to fend for yourself, you can trust me."

"I do trust you. But in this world I'm useless and it's going to be difficult."

"Aye."

She threw him an annoyed look, although she was smiling slightly. "You're supposed to say that we'll manage."

"We shall. Let us go."

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"You'll go looking for your Company now?"

"Aye, that is my intention."

He said he would carry both packs and she let him. Both packs and herself, because today she felt even worse than before. Her hip was aching, her thigh too. Yesterday she had been afraid and any pain just didn't seem to matter. She wanted to be away from the warg and that was all she could think of.

Now, after a night of poor sleep on a rock, every little thing in her body hurt ten times worse than before. She did not lie that she could breathe without feeling any sharp pain, but then again Thorin did not ask about dull pain. The paracetamol didn't seem to help any.

In the morning she took advantage to liberally apply diclofenac to all the bruises she could feel, although now that they are moving again she could not say it had any great effect. At least he did not see the bruises, she managed to pull up her pants just before he came back. It was important to keep moving.

So here they were now, Thorin carrying everything and pulling her along as well. She felt utterly helpless and hopeless and she hated every minute of it.

"I want to come with you."

"Of course you shall come with me," he answered after a moment, "I already told you I do not intend to abandon you."

"Yes, I know, but I mean I don't want to remain in a human settlement; or an elven one."

"Hm," was all he had to say in reply, with a frown for good measure.

"I'm serious, Thorin." She was not only serious, but she was also afraid. If human societies were anything like the Earth's middle ages, she wanted nothing to do with it. No one bloody thing!

"We have time to worry about this."

"Nope," she stopped and his hand jerked.

"Do not stop."

"Oh, alright, but the answer is still no," he just didn't understand. She was dead serious.

"I intend to go back to Ered Luin, this is where my Company would have gone when I failed to arrive. It will take months to reach my halls, Yeva. You shall have time to decide what you would like to do and where you would like to live."

"You'll try again next year? The quest?"

"Aye. Did you not say that we have to retake Erebor?"

"I did, I did. I didn't know if you wanted to do it, knowing how it is possible to end for you." He shrugged but didn't say anything else. Not that there was much to say. She couldn't imagine how it would feel to know you have a duty to go to certain death. Just like those people in her world caught in a war right now, she thought. They feel they have a duty to stay put and fight, many of them to death. "I want to come with you when you do."

"Nay."

"I'll run after you, you know that. I'll bribe Gandalf if I have to," she smiled at the absurdity of such a thought.

"No. You know what it will be like."

"I will come, that's non-negotiable as far as I'm concerned. Although it's better that you give me a reason why not before I jump to some conclusion of my own."

"You cannot fight! You can barely walk as it is."

"True." He was right in this respect. She would hinder them, and make them lose time. And yet. "You're right, but I'll still come." He answered in his dwarven language, which was probably a good thing. "Listen, I understand what you're saying; I do. But I still stand by what I told you a few days ago: you don't have dependable advisers. Every once in a while you need somebody to knock some sense into you. I offer my services. I won't even ask for a share of the spoils."

"Is that all?" He smiled a little at her.

"I don't want you to die. I care about you, Thorin. You never asked about my work and I never explained the details, but I'm a damn good analyst, believe me. I know I can help you."

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They continued in silence, each of them in their thoughts. Her hand was still in his, only now he took a little more care, making sure she had enough support.

I care about you, she said. She'll come and ask for nothing in return because she cares about me. On and on her words went round in his mind.

That morning she put on some ointment on her leg and hip, when she thought he was away. He only caught a glimpse of her and felt his stomach churn at how badly bruised she was. She knew what was likely to happen, she knew it would be worse still. Yet she wanted to come.

Fíli and Kíli came because they thought it was their duty. The kingdom was going to be theirs, after all. For the rest the treasure was of utmost importance, besides the recovery of their kingdom. None of them came for him alone. Just for him, with no other expectation than to help and be a friend.

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