Chapter XII: Questions That. Need Answering

A/N: This chapter was not the most cooperative. I wanted to have it out by Christmas, but that was not to be. Today is actually my 7th anniversary on the site. Bold is elvish, italics is Khuzdul. Hope you enjoy the chapter! SSD

"She saved our king. Which means she is more than welcome here. I'm not foolish enough to throw aside a skilled healer elf or no. And if you're findin' time to complain about that, I'll find something for you all to do to occupy it, since you're not busy enough!" Dain roared at a group of Iron Hills dwarves.

As much as he did not like dwarves, Erudan could appreciate Dain sticking up for his sister. And this hadn't been the first time rude remarks had been made.

It had been five days since he'd arrived with his father, grandfather, and Aedric. He'd been on a trip to Lorien and Aedric had been one of the rangers escorting the group. His father had already been there for some time due to administrative business. After his haru dropped off his great grandmother, who had then instructed the four of them to meet up with Radagast before being escorted away to rest. They'd done that and picked Beorn up on the way there.

He'd been expecting to see a battle. While he had gotten that, Erudan had been shocked to his core by his sister's actions.

When she wakes up, she won't know what hit her! Elrond thought as he went about checking the wounded in Dale. He was splitting his time between Erebor and Dale.

Elrond was pleased that his only granddaughter would live. But what she had done to get herself into her current unconscious state, was the height of foolishness, especially for one like Ashara who only had basic knowledge of triage and magic rituals.

Where did she even *hear* about the Coi Nire? It is not standard reading!

Her dying would wreck more havoc than she could have possibly realized.

The dwarf was lucky to merely have physical wounds. Whereas Ashara had wounds to her body and her fëa. Both of which would heal in time.

Nori was using every bit of his skill at moving about unseen. The Company needed information and suspected that Ashara's kin were not telling the entire truth about what went down on Ravenhill. Spying on elves was far from easy, even for one of his skill.

There were also those two rangers to contend with.

When he finally got into hearing range of Ashara's quarters, the conversation was clearly being held in one of the elven tongues, which he understood very little of. Most of what Nori knew was likely profanity that Ashara had thrown at Thorin during their captivity in Mirkwood.

"You're good at sneaking around for a dwarf. I almost didn't hear you. There's still a heaviness to your walk," a voice called out.

Ibnith Nori thought as he turned around to see the ranger who'd been next to Ashara during the parlay with Bard and Thranduil, leaning against the wall.

"What are you doing here?" the ranger asked.

He replied, "Rumors have been going around. Snatches of conversation from Mirkwood elves saying that Ashara risked her soul to save Thorin."

"Well they got that much right. Luckily for everyone involved what she did worked. You might want to clear out though. Erudan is on a warpath. About the only member of that Company of yours he doesn't want to try and give a good beating to is Bilbo." The ranger made a shooing motion.

Nori, while being slightly peeved that he had gotten caught, understood the desire to pummel anyone who could be perceived to harm his siblings.

Not that he'd want Dori to know that he felt that way.

Bilbo had learned more about Ashara in the past ten days than in the last six months of travel. Most of what her family was telling him (Bilbo was counting Soren and Aedric as family) were stories involving her weapons training when she was younger, including several she would likely have preferred to not see the light of day.

Especially the one involving her grandfather and the archery range. Regaling such stories helped them cope, Bilbo figured.

"Hey Soren, will you tell me what she said to Thorin when she tossed the dagger at him?" Bilbo asked, even though he was not quite sure he wanted to know.

"That is for her to tell you when she wakes up. If I told you, I would not have the fun of watching her try to avoid answering it with her father and grandfather around!"

There was more than one reason why Aedric spent much of his time outdoors. That was one of the reasons he loved his job as a Ranger. Helping the people of Dale clean things up was just a perk, given that he was claustrophobic. Which meant that being inside a mountain was... Unpleasant. Few knew of that fear. And Aedric preferred to keep it that way.

As he was walking back into the Mountain, he heard a very familiar voice shouting in Sindarin and a not so familiar voice shouting in Khuzdul. Erudan had been not in the best of moods, given his sister's current state.

But that didn't mean he needed to insult their hosts.

Dragging Erudan away from Dwalin (whose brother was doing a similar thing) Aedric hissed "Nethet innas na ruthui ir ne gelias en le eitha mellonzya!"

Erudan argued back, "I naugrim ar karina nesa ninya!"

Aedric rubbed his eyes before replying, "Sana né Azog, la mo Ashara tul si as!"

Erudan growled, "Ya sana casar aran lennas an, indun harya quettar le i casar!" before storming off.

Turning back towards the two dwarves Aedric said, "I'm sure Erudan will apologize to you once Ashara wakes up, he's not like this usually.

"I can understand his anger. If my sibling were in her place I'd be acting out of sorts myself. Though I will reserve the right to bloody thrash him in the sparring ring," Dwalin replied.

"You'll have to beat Ashara to it!"

I'm not ready for this Fili thought as he sat by his uncle's beside.

Despite what Elrond saying that it was a certainty that his uncle would wake up, there had been some dwarrow who wanted to crown him. Which he had refused point blank to allow. The elf lord's skill as a healer was well known, so if he said Thorin was going to wake up, he was going to wake up.

He just wished his uncle would hurry it up.

Fili checked over his uncle again. Immediately after the battle, his uncle had been as pale as a ghost. Now, a little over two weeks later, he seemed to have regained some of his coloring.

"Please wake up irak'adad. Being in battle is easier than dealing with politicians," Fili pled.

"I'm sure... you are... doing fine," a voice rasped out.

Fili couldn't believe it. Before he said anything, he gave his uncle a bone cracking hug.

"Gently!"

After releasing Thorin, he ran to the door and ordered the guards, "Get Lord Elrond. My uncle is awake!"

The good news spread around the Mountain like wildfire: Oakenshield was awake. And likely already making a nuisance of himself with the healers.

I still think that there can never be a worse patient than Ashara, Elladan thought as caressed his still unconscious daughter's face.

The dwarf waking up was a good sign that his daughter would soon follow.

Some time later his father strode into the room, muttering imprecations against Thorin's ancestry in Sindarin, before sitting down.

"Difficult patient is he?" Elladan asked.

"He makes Ashara look like an easy patient," his father replied, before asking with narrowed eyes, "When was the last time you ate?"

Elladan had to stop and think. Elrond then ordered, "If you can't remember the last time you ate, then you need to eat. Go. I will stay with Ashara."

Knowing that arguing would not help, he got up and went to the kitchens where he mechanically ate some stew. Elladan wandered around, until he oddly found himself before a shrine to Aulë.

For a moment he prayed, Aulë, you clearly have a plan in mind for my daughter. Please let her wake up soon.

After a week of being confined to his bed and later his rooms, Thorin was happy that Oin gave him the clear to walk around. Dwalin would be with him.

"Don't go to far. You need to build up your strength," the healer ordered.

Upon leaving the room, Thorin said, "I want to go check on Ashara."

"Not too surprised by that. Good thing her brother is in Dale today," Dwalin replied.

"Why?" Thorin asked.

"He's hostile towards the Company members except for Bilbo. The lad wants a go at you in particular. He sees you as nearly killing his sister," Dwalin answered.

In a way Thorin could not blame Erudan. However, he had not asked Ashara to do whatever she did to save him. And treating his kin poorly was not something he would tolerate.

On the subject of what Ashara did, "Dwalin, do you know what she did?"

"Her kin haven't exactly been the most forthcoming with information. Probably were waiting to see you awake. What little we do know is from snatches of rumor heard from Thranduil's folk, say that she would've sacrificed her soul to save you. We do know that much is true, according to one of the Rangers."

Thorin's blood ran cold. "Why would she do that?"

"No one knows

At this point they were getting close to where Ashara was located.

From behind them, Lord Elrond seemed to have come out of the walls and said, "I am not too surprised to see you here. It saves me the trouble of seeking you out. This really is not something that can be spoken where wrong sets of ears can hear. There are questions that I have concerning the events on Ravenhill, so let us go inside."

Once inside the sitting area and he was seated, Elrond asked, "Do you have any ideas why my granddaughter saved your life? By several accounts you had tried to kill her a few hours earlier and called her ancestry into question."

The elf was being quite blunt for on of his race, Thorin noted. Then again, family was family.

Answering as honestly as it could, "I have no idea as to what her reasoning was."

Elrond gave him a penetrating stare for some time before stating, "It seems as if the only person who can give the answers is currently unconscious."

"What did she do?" Thorin asked.

"Something very foolish, rarely attempted, and even more rarely successful," the elf lord replied.

The blasted elf was back to being vague, Thorin thought as he went back to his quarters.

A/N 2: Next chapter is the Yule chapter. I know, the timing is a bit off. Looking forward to seeing what you all think.

Sindarin/Quenya

fëa- soul

Nethet innas na ruthui ir ne gelias en le eitha mellonzya!- Your sister will be angry when learns of you treating her friends with scorn!

I naugrim ar karina nesa ninya!- Those dwarves nearly finished off my sister!

Sana né Azog, la mo Ashara tul si as!- That was Azog, not anyone Ashara came here with!

Ya sana casar aran lennas an, indun harya quettar le i casar!- When that dwarf king comes to, I will have words with him!

Khuzdul:

irak'adad-uncle.