Author's Note: I own nothing.

18 A Plan in the Works

Tauriel was curious. She had long known her Soul Singer was a dwarf, and as such had never expected to meet him. It was something she and Legolas had often bonded over. But now he was sitting in the dungeon beneath the palace. And he was a direct descendant of Durin, the nephew of the would be King Under the Mountain. It made her life much more complicated. In theory she could petition to have him released to her since they were bonded by the Valar but given his heritage it was unlikely that Thranduil would allow it, let alone allow her to stay if he ever discovered their bond. But she could at least answer the question he'd asked that first day he'd been brought in. She was just disappointed she didn't have better news for him. She approached his cell and he sat up from his cot raising an eyebrow at her.

"You asked about a fourteenth companion, someone we missed when we brought you in." She said and his eyes widened as he sprang from the cot right up to the bars.

"Have you found them?" He asked. Tauriel frowned.

"I am sorry, we have found no one. It is possible they escaped the spiders, but I don't know if they would have escaped the woods themselves. Many things crawl through the dark these days." She said shaking her head at him. His face fell. He sat back down on his cot looking dejected.

"Thank you for looking. I did not expect that much of a kindness from my jailer." He said with a hint of amusement.

"Tauriel. My name is Tauriel." She said and he managed a smile.

"Kili son of Dis." He said his smile growing slightly. "I would say at your service but I do not know if that would be a good plan under the circumstances. Still it is lovely to meet one so kind, even in such a place." He said and thought he spotted a dusting of pink on Tauriel's cheeks as she turned to check on the other dwarves. As she vanished from sight a disembodied voice whispered next to him making him jump.

"You're a better actor than I thought you would be." Bella's voice was amused and Kili had to turn away from the door so as not to show his amusement to any others who may be watching.

"And you are a snoop Bella Baggins." He said under his breath. He head a light laugh, like a breeze passing him.

"I was hired as a burglar, I hardly think a snoop is the worst thing I can be called." She said and she could hear the smile in her words, quiet and echoing as they were. "Do you think it's her?" She asked even more quietly than before. He nodded, but remained silent. She sighed and fell silent again as more footsteps came down the stairs. The blond elf lad who had taken Orcrist from Thorin passed the cell glancing at Kili before making his way down to where Tauriel was doing her rounds. Kili frowned, the blond didn't come down here often. He wanted to ask Bella what was happening but he wasn't sure she was still there. He turned to watch as Tauriel and the blond left speaking Sindarin as they went. Tauriel glanced back at him and he thought he saw the ghost of a smile on her face as she did.

Bella was curious as to why Legolas was down here, he didn't tend to go down into the dungeons. She followed the pair back up the stairs as Legolas spoke.

"My father is starting to notice you are going down to check on the dwarves." He seemed to be reprimanding Tauriel. She glanced around as though worried they were being watched. Which of course they were but the elves eyes slid right over Bella.

"What would you have me do knowing my Soul Singer sits in the dungeon below us? Nothing? What would you do my friend? If you knew he was below and could do nothing about it because of a decades long grudge!" She demanded lowly. Legolas shook his head.

"I know you cannot stand by and do nothing, but I would advise caution. The Feast of Starlight approaches within the week. My father expects your focus to be on that. Perhaps you could at least feign interest." Legolas suggested and Bella frowned. A feast? That would be an excellent distraction. Tauriel shook her head.

"I will try to shift my focus." She promised as they passed all the way out of the dungeons. Bella followed them for a time until she heard one of the other guards speaking of a shipment coming in from Lake Town.

"I hate pulling those barrels in, it's boring." One guard complained.

"Yes, at least sometimes we get to see some action. You were with Tauriel when the dwarves were captured right?" His companion asked as they headed down the stairs. This stairwell was parallel to the dungeons and as they made their way down the stairs Bella realized this must be the main entrance of the cellar. But this was a closed space there was no way to receive a shipment from here, was there? The guards kept talking as they entered the cellar and walked over to a solid wooden floor. One of them pulled a switch set into the floor and the other picked up what looked like a massive pole with a hook on the end. When the switch was pulled a portion of the floor moved. The guard at the switch moved to hold the portion of the floor open as the other guard began to fish up barrels from what sounded like water below. Bella risked sneaking closer and blinked, there was a canal down there, some kind of river. She could see daylight down below. She slipped back to the dungeon. She slipped up to Thorin's cell and looked around ensuring they were alone before pulling off the ring and digging in her pack for the map she'd copied in the library at Rivendell.

"It's sort of a miracle you still have that." Thorin said, having just noticed her in front of his cell. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Your pack." He clarified. "We all lost ours in Goblin Town." He pointed out. Bella sorted pulling the map out of her bag and unfolding it. She traced her finger down a river and grinned.

"I think I may have just found our way out of here, but we may need to wait a few days. There's a feast, everyone will be busy." She said and Thorin grinned at her through the bars.