Woo! Chapter 11 is up! Firstly, I want to apologise for the confusion on the state of the chapter since taking the schedule chapter out, it will seem a bit muddled up for a while, but hopefully it'll go back to normal.

Secondly, I want to say that because of this mix up, and with fanfiction not letting most people know of updates, if you have not read it yet, the previous chapter is the one where the Company get to Beorn's, so if you have not read it yet, please read that first.

Thirdly, sorry for how short this chapter is, but I felt this was a good place to end this one.


Remembering

After leaving the house, I sit by a river, pulling my knees to my chest. I had to get away before I broke down in front of the dwarves, which was something I did not want to do. I do not like the feeling of pity others have for me when hearing my story. It always makes them treat me as if I was made of glass and would break any minute, and I didn't want that. I have always wanted to be brave and put the past behind me, but the past always has a way of coming back to haunt you.

"Violet?" I hear from behind me.

Turning, I see Kili standing there.

"Kili, I didn't hear you coming."

He gives me a small smile as he sits beside me. "That makes a difference. Usually no one can sneak up on you."

I give him a small smile before turning back to the river.

"Are you alright?" he asks after a moment of silence.

I sigh. "I will be. It's jut hard, you know?"

He nods. "I do know."

After I look at him curiously, he begins to explain.

"I never got the chance to meet my father. I was still in my mother's belly when he died. He was a miner, like Bofur. One of the best miners the mountain had. But one day, something happened and there was a collapse in the mine he was working in. He and about half a dozen others perished. I was born a few months after."

I stay quiet for a few moments before taking his hand into my own.

"I'm sorry about your father, Kili."

He smiles as he squeezes my hand. "Thanks. Would. . .Would you tell me about your family? About what happened that day?"

I look to him for a while before I nod. "It was a warm summers day when it happened and I was playing outside with Kara while the others were training. . ."


"Tag! You're it!" I yell as I tap my brother before running off with our friends who are playing.

"I'll get you, Vi!" Kara calls out as he runs after me.

I squeal as we run around the square, dodging past the other Skin Changers who live with us, all of them smiling and shaking their heads while avoiding getting hit by two runaway children. Up ahead, I see mama and papa with Etan, Valerio, Quillon and little Peony. I smile as I speed up and climb up papa's tall form, sitting on his shoulders to get away from Kara.

"Hey! No fair! That's cheating!" Kara yells as he reaches us.

The others laugh as papa plucks me off his shoulders, holding me up by the back of my collar.

"Are you not playing by the rules again, Violet?" he asks.

". . .maybe." I reply sheepishly.

He just chuckles before he sets me down and holds me so that Kara could tag me. He does so before running off and I give chase as we join our friends.

That night, we're all sitting in our house having dinner and talking about what we did that day, when screams ring through the night. Papa and my brothers bolt up and rush out, papa telling mama and I to stay where we are as he runs out.

As I go to the window and look out, my eyes go wide as I see orcs and wargs everywhere fighting and killing as they go. My blood runs cold as, one by one, my brothers are killed in front of my eyes.

"NO!" I scream before I run out.

"Violet! No!" mama yells out before chasing after me.

She pulls on my shirt to get me to stop and pulls me to her with one arm, Peony held in the other as orcs surround us. I bury my head in mamas tummy before hearing growing and snarling, looking around to see papa in his bear form defending us. Thick ropes are soon tossed around and the orcs are trying to subdue papa and to tie him up.

"Papa!" I yell as I run to try and get him free.

An orc suddenly shoves me aside and I feel a searing pain on my face as a blade slices through my skin.

"VIOLET!" I hear my mama scream and the Peony's cries.

Looking over to make sure they're alright, I suddenly realise, even though my right eye is open, I cannot see anything out of it. . .that orc made me blind. I then feel someone grab hold of my shirt and hold me up so I'm hanging off the ground, a blade pressed against my throat. I let out a whimper of fear as a white warg stand besides us and speaks to those of us still left.

'Stop your struggles, or my master kills the pup.'

Papa instantly stops as he sees me having a blade against my throat and reverts back to his human form. The other Skin Changers also stop struggling and are tied up, those who aren't are those that carry babes, like my mama, but they are promised the death of the babes if they so much as think about running.

The one holding me tosses me to some other orcs and the last thing I see as I am tied up is a pale orc, who could be a few heads shorter than papa, and his sneering face before I am knocked unconscious.


"The next thing I remember is waking up in some sort of cell and chained up to a wall with Peony in my arms."

"Your parents?"

"In other cells around me, along with the others who were captured."

He goes quiet for a moment. "What happened to your mother?"

"She was raped and tortured along with the other women. Mama was the first of us to die from her wounds after a few days, the others followed one by one. Peony died in my arms while we slept. There was nothing I could do. . .I tried to bring her back. . .but I couldn't, it was too late. . ."

I choke back a sob, a few tears manage to escape as Kili wraps his arms around me and pull me into him, so that I am sitting on his lap. I wrap my own around him and lay my head on his chest, happily accepting the comfort from the dwarf.

"How did you escape?"

"A few months after we were captured, it was soon just papa and I that were still alive. I was asleep until I heard a massive clang. . ."


I am jolted from my sleep by a clanging sound, opening my good eye, I see papa rushing into my cell after managing to escape his own. He wrenches my chain from the wall and lifts me up.

"Come, we're getting out of here." he says as he goes to leave.

"What about mama and Peony? We can't leave them." I croak out, my voice hoarse from screaming and no water.

"I'm afraid we must, little flower, there is nothing we can do for them now."

I wrap my arms around him as he runs out of the dungeon we are in and out into the open, killing orcs as he goes while keeping hold of me. As he runs out of the settlement we were held captive, he sets me on my feet.

"Run, Violet! I'll hold them off!"

"No! I'm not leaving you papa!" I shout out while taking his hand.

He kneels in front of me and holds me, kissing my head. "You have to, I'm not going to let you die. Now go! I will find you, I promise!"

He pushes me away as he turns to face the oncoming orcs. I look to him for a few moments before I turn and run into the forest, hoping I will be able to see him again.


"I was found by Radagast the next day who took me in and healed me. Unfortunately, even though he's a wizard, he couldn't give me my eyesight back. But I grew used to it. A few days after, papa did keep his promise and found me with Radagast. He asked the wizard if he could look after me while he found a new home. A few years later, I came here, and we've lived happily here ever since."

Kili grows silent once more as he takes in my story.

"Mahal. . ." he breathes. "No one should go through such horrors, never mind a child. How old were you at the time?"

"Six."

He winces. "Wow. . .when I was six, I was pranking Uncle Thorin with Fili."

I smile as he says this, wanting to know more about the dwarf.

"Tell me about your childhood."

Kili smiles at me, that charming smile that made me swoon inside. "What would you like to know?"

"Anything. Everything."

He laughs. "Well, I don't think we have much time for me to tell you everything, but I'll share you a few things."

He then proceeds to tell her stories of where he grew up, telling her what his mother was like and all the pranks he and Filli used to play on people; especially one they did to Thorin, by dumping cow dung on him one day. Even though I laughed when he explained, and so did they when they did it, it certainly wasn't funny when Thorin got his hands on the two. Their backsides were sore for days after, they were barred from having any fun and were forced to clean the barn and stables for a month.

As Kili continued to share his stories, we got so comfortable neither of us noticed I was still on his lap, or eyes watching them, a grin on the tall figures face as he turned from the two, hoping that maybe his daughter can finally find some happiness in her life.


Oooooh, sparks are maybe starting to fly for our two love birds, and Beorn can certainly see it, so for those of you worried Beorn would tear Kili apart for making moves on his daughter, there's no need to worry. He only does that to those who startle him.

Please keep your lovely reviews coming, I love hearing from all of you xx