Fíli doesn't remember much about the first few days after waking up. He vaguely knows that Bilba was at his bedside when he regained consciousness, but beyond that those days are a blank void filled only with the memory of drinking healing tonic after tonic and the melodious voices of elves arguing with the gruffer voices of his own people. Bilba flits in and out, visiting with all of them and helping where she can when the dwarves are too stubborn in their haze to trust that the elves are trying to help them. They spend a lot of time sleeping and eating simple foods. The first meal that Fíli ate was abruptly rejected by his stomach after he ate it too quickly and so he, and the rest of them, have been on simple clear broths for days.

These simple meals, more liquid than any meat or vegetables, mean that their recovery is slow. Fíli would think it an unnecessary slowness but for the fact that the elf healers seem to be amazed that they are recovering at all. Mahal made his children to endure, however, and endure they all shall. Thorin is unhappy with the delay, the longer they are kept in these healing halls the more chance the Stonefoots have of reaching Erebor, but there is little to be done. Ultimately, three weeks after encountering the spiders, only Fíli, Thorin, Dwalin and Nori are recovered enough to contemplate leaving and even then they tire easily, still recovering from the lingering effects of the spider's venom. The others are struggling more, and there is some question about whether Bofur will fully recover his sight. Even if they were all recovering at the same pace there would be little point in challenging the ones who have taken the Jewel in the condition they are all in.

Being at less than full strength doesn't seem to stop Thorin from giving Thranduil a piece of his mind about the state of the road through Mirkwood. The conversation is entertaining enough to listen to, but lacks the energy that Thorin would usually put into it.

"When you said that there was a darkness over your greenery," Thorin grumbles, "I assumed some blight had taken your trees, not that you had allowed Ungoliant's Mahal cursed spawn to take over."

"I would hardly seek the help of a wizard and Lord Elrond for something as trivial as a few diseased trees," Thranduil sniffs. "As with all diseased things, you simply remove the source and destroy it." He casts Thorin a sidelong glare. "A pity that we did not think to do it with your people before you became so widespread."

The pair snipe at each other for a while longer until the healers chase their king out for the sake of their patients. Fíli finds that more amusing than he probably should, especially when one of the healers simply raises an eyebrow in the face of her king's glare.

"We cannot abandon it," Dwalin grumbles later one night when they assume Fíli is asleep. Thorin has just come from a meeting with Thranduil where the elf king has informed the dwarf that a party of dwarrow with a chained prisoner had passed the eastern borders of Mirkwood only a day past.

"We cannot go after it either," Thorin disagrees. "We are not yet strong enough and we will do little good if they cut us down as soon as we try to take it. We cannot trust Thranduil to help us either," Thorin adds before it can be suggested. "He has always sought the Arkenstone, believing that it should have passed to him before those who recovered it and protected it. As old as he is you would think that he would be aware of the consequences of trying to claim that which is not his to lay claim to." Fíli has no idea what that means, but he suspects it has some significance to the ever-tense relations between elves and dwarrow.

"Not even I can sneak into the Lonely Mountain," Nori adds. "And I'm the best there is."

"Not through the front gate," Thorin agrees, "I'm honestly amazed the dragon didn't incinerate the Stonefoots as soon as they entered Erebor."

"Unless they always planned to take the Jewel to him themselves," Nori cuts in, "even Smaug wouldn't be able to resist getting his claws on it."

"Which raises some disturbing questions," Thorin adds. "And he won't keep them alive long once they are in the mountain, nor their prisoner."

"You really believe it might be him?" Dwalin asks.

"I fear it is," Thorin mutters. "I can only think of one other who could touch it and I know exactly where he is." There is a moment of silence. "I do not know what could have been done or said to make him take it, but if it is who I fear then I have failed in my task."

"It wasn't just your fault," Dwalin disagrees. "I should have kept a closer watch."

"Where the fault lies isn't important," Nori tells them both. "What is important is how we correct it."

"There is another way into the mountain," Thorin replies, "though none know its exact location save those who were there when it was built. Fortunately, I was there. We'll need to be at the mountain before sunset on Durin's Day."

"That's only a few weeks away," Dwalin grumbles. "You and I, Nori and the boy might be ready to travel by the end of the week, but the others are still recovering. The four of us cannot take on a dragon, and do you really want to put the boy in the path of his flames?"

"We will have the wizard," Thorin replies, "and the hobbit girl no doubt since Tharkûn seems determined not to let her out of his sight."

"That doesn't strike me as wise," Nori disagrees, "although she's quieter than anyone else we have, she has her own part to play later."

"One Thranduil would cheerfully help her to avoid, if only for the sake of irritating me," Thorin mutters. "Tharkûn would have her come with us, and whether we take her or not there is a risk that she will not make it to Khazad-dûm either by the design of Thranduil or the fire of the dragon. The wizard pointed out this morning, however, that Smaug has never encountered a hobbit. It may be that having her with us will be to our advantage."

"Well, that adds Adra to our party," Dwalin says. "She's well enough for it, though, and I'll be happier to have someone to watch the girl's back."

Fíli is less happy about it. He would rather that Bilba be left somewhere safe, the journey has been dangerous enough for her already, but he has no say in the matter and so he shifts slightly to get more comfortable and lets himself drift into sleep.

Over the following days Fíli feels his strength returning more rapidly as he begins to eat solid meals again and he is allowed to spend some time training with the others. He tires quickly, finding that the frustration of it makes him more likely to lash out at anyone nearby. His arguments with Bilba, which had long stopped, start up again over ridiculous things. More often than not she seems on the edge of saying something only to stop herself at the last minute and walk away, and many of those times Fíli realises that Gandalf is watching them both with amusement shining in his ancient eyes.

He pushes himself as hard as he dares and as his stamina improves so does his temper. As his temper improves he finds himself wondering how Thorin intends to get the Arkenstone away from the dragon. Smaug will surely know that something, even something recently added, has been taken from his hoard and he will more than certainly track them down to take it back, even if the dragon is as unable to touch the gem as the rest of them are.

All too soon Thorin is declaring that it is time for those of them who are fit enough to make their way to Erebor. It feels strange to leave half their number in Mirkwood, even though they are under the grudging protection of the elves and go onwards without them. Fíli had never thought to come near the Lonely Mountain, even with all of his dreams of travel that he had once shared with Kíli this place had seemed impossible to get near. Now it looms ever closer with each passing day as they skirt the long lake and the town which floats upon it at Nori's suggestion. The spy looks at the place with a barely concealed sneer of disgust when they ride by but otherwise has nothing to say about the place. They have all the supplies they need, and they can little afford the detour in any case. It will already take them too long to get to the mountain and even a delay of an hour may mean that they arrive at the location of the secret door too late to open it.

Bilba resumes her habit of sleeping close to both Adra and Fíli, curled between them throughout the night and shivering as the last warmth of autumn begins to give way to the early chill of winter. The elves have given her clothes which will allow her to better withstand the cold, but even then there is little they can do against the biting winds which blow over the desolate landscape and the early snows which already threaten to fall. At the beginning of their journey Bilba's closeness might have irritated Fíli, but now that he has been forced to leave Ori in Mirkwood while he heads towards almost certain death to reclaim the Arkenstone he finds her a comfort.

It is two days until Durin's Day when they find themselves in the ruins of Dale, where it has been decided that they will leave their ponies, and Fíli finds himself wanting to tell Thorin that he will wait with them. There is still a great deal that he needs to see, a great deal that he promised the memory of his brother that he would do. None of those things involve being roasted by a dragon. Bilba approaches quietly and wraps her arms around him, squeezing as tightly as she can although it is nothing to the strength of a dwarf. He holds her in return, able to feel her tremble though he has no idea if it is fright or nerves. In reality it is probably both and he relishes the comfort that he can find in this simple gesture without having to worry what the others might think of his need for it.

They part as soon as Thorin barks the order to get ready, slinging packs with food and blankets over their shoulders so that they can begin the nervous trek around the base of the mountain to the spot where Thorin insists the hidden door can be found.

At least dwarrow don't tend to see all that clearly over long distances.


A.N: I made a few changes to this chapter, namely the addition of the small interaction between Thorin and Thranduil. Starting to catch up to where we were quite rapidly now.