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Brine walked to the deep of the forest until she could not hear Fili's voice. She was mad at him. He could not like Zirb. He did not know her well and it was not a dwarf girl. She was deep in her thoughts that she did not hear the voices coming near her.

"I'm glad that you are fine." It was Thorin's voice. Brine hide behind a tree and watched the scene.

"I'm sorry, my lord. I did not know they would catch me." Zirb said as she looked down to her hands in her stomach.

"But you manage to escape." Brine could see Thorin smiling. She did not believe that he could even know how to do it. Brine saw as he caressed her cheek. "But I don't want to put you in danger again." The smiled disappeared. Brine could not take her eyes off them.

"You were not supposed to know it." Fili's voice sounded next to her. Brine startled.

"What do you mean?" Brine asked and Fili pointed to the couple again. Zirb was saying something that they did not hear. "Is he kind of interest in her?"

"Something like that." Fili looked at her with upset eyes. "Do you understand what I have told you before?" Brine stood silent for a moment.

"What are his intentions with her?" Brine looked hard at Thorin.

"He has no intentions," Fili answered and met Brine's eyes for the first time in the morning. "He can't be with her."

"Care to explain it?"

"He is the King under the mountain. He cannot be with someone like her. Even if it is what he wants more."

"All because she is a maid?" Brine said loudly and Fili put his hand on her mouth, silenced her.

"Because she is from the race of the men." Fili sounded angry. It was when Brine understood everything. She looked again at the couple. Thorin was caressing Zirb hands and kissed lightly her forehead.

"Have they met before?" They seemed so close that it could not be possible they had met a day ago.

"I have heard stories about how Thorin met a young girl in a forest near the Iron Hills. She was only a child but Thorin knew then that he had given her his heart. The stories said that he looked for her for so long, caring and loving her till the end of his days."

"You should be more critic with those stories." Thorin deep voice sounded behind them. Brine and Fili turned to him and found his cold blue eyes fixed on them. "You two disappointed me. Hearing others conversation..."

"Uncle I-" Fili began to say but Thorin interrupted her.

"Thorin, Fili!" Kili came running to them. "We have found the orcs' cave!" He announced. "This way!" He shouted and ran guiding them to the place. Brine followed them but Zirb stopped her.

"If you don't mind, I would like to talk to you." She asked.

"Don't worry Zirb." Brine answered but Zirb insisted that she owed her an explanation. "It's okay, really. I know everything." Zirb did not seem convinced but stopped insisting.


Brine and Zirb joined the crew with a putrified smell. They both complained about it and yelped when they saw some dead bodies half-eaten by the worms.

"Look at everything they had here," Bofur said as he kicked a little chest with gold coins. He called the others and buried it. Brine looked at them with curiosity. "You can say it is a future inversion." He said. Brine laughed and nodded as she kept looking around the cave. She found some necklace with some jade hanging from it. Brine took it in her hands.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Bilbo asked. "I think it might be the necklace of a queen." Brine smiled at the innocent of Bilbo.

"It is an elvish necklace. Not the necklace of a queen but maybe the necklace of a lady court." Bilbo seemed a bit disappointed.

"How do you know so much about elvish things?"

"I don't know. It is something that seemed to be buried in my mind." She confessed. It was something that Brine always had in her mind and she was dying to know the reason for it. Brine returned from her thoughts as she heard Gandalf approach Bilbo and lay something on him. They both looked at him with interest. It was a small sword whose blade lit up in the presence of Orcs. "Impressive." Brine murmured without taking her eyes off it.

"Not as impressive as this," Fili replied as he raised a large axe with unknown engravings on its edges. "Surely it would belong to some ancient dynasty, wouldn't it, Bifur?" Fili smiled at the old dwarf who answered in the ancient language of the dwarves.

"What does it say?" Brine asked as she ran her finger through the runes. "Ouch." She complained and a trickle of blood began to flow from her finger. "It's sharp."

"Surely the orcs have been keeping it all this time. It's not an easy weapon to use, you know?" Kili joined in the conversation. "I found this for you." He handed Brine another sword much thinner than Bilbo's. "You're getting better at fencing so you can get your own weapon." Kili smiled. Brine nodded as she held it by the hilt.

"It's quite light." She commented as she held it up in front of her.

"It was probably a child's sword, but in your case, it might work." Kili laughed. "Oh, I want you to have this, too. I may need them later. Mine is wearing out faster than I expected." Brine took several bows that Kili had in his hands, as well as arrows.

"Will you ever teach me how to use it?" It was something Brine had always been curious about. She saw the movements of the archers' so agile and synchronised.

"Maybe," Kili replied.

"First learn how to use the sword and then you'll move on to the bow." Said Fili in an older brotherly tone. He messed Brine's hair and walked out of the cave where everyone was waiting.

Thorin and Gandalf were talking about their weapons. The rest were trying to remember the place of the cave for the future. However, everyone went silent when they heard some noise approaching them. Brine looked at Zirb, who was behind Thorin. She felt relieved about him protecting her. She also noticed Bilbo's sword.

"Isn't it working?" She asked worriedly.

"I don't know!" He answered and everyone prepared themselves for the fight. Gandalf walked first and met a strange man.

"Radagast!" Gandalf greeted him. "You have scared us, my friend." He laughed and patted his back. The strange man seemed to be in a hurried and Gandalf offered him his pipe to help him relax. It worked after some minutes.

"Something is wrong, Gandalf. Something is wrong in the forest. I feel something wrong with it. Like a strange presence that it is poisoning everything there." Gandalf looked at him confused. "I think there is a necromancer doing strange magic in Dol Guldur."

"That is nonsense!" Gandalf complained and began an argument with his old friend. Thorin joined the argument too. Everyone was waiting for them to finish when someone noises were heard again.

"What is that?" Brine asked worriedly.

"Orcs!" Kili answered as he stretched his bow and looked around. Brine threw a quick look at Bilbo's sword. This time it was shining in a deep blue.

"Run," Radagast shouted at Gandalf and the rest of the company. "I'll take care of it."

"Radagast, don't talk nonsense. They're Moria's orcs. You'll never get away." Gandalf sounded desperate.

"And these are rabbits from the green forest. Let them try it if they want." Radagast sounded convinced. Gandalf looked slowly at his friend before he ran away. The company soon followed him. Brine looked at that peculiar man for the last time, wishing his plan would work.


What happened next was somewhat accelerated. The company went out to some plains and started running, running away from the orcs. Radagast left. seconds later, with his cart pulled by rabbits and followed by orcs mounted on top of wargs. Gandalf was in the lead, leading the dwarves across the plain. Thorin kept asking about the fate to which the magician guided them, however, he received no answer from him.

There was a time when everyone feared for their lives. They were hidden behind a stone wall while an orc guarded the area. At a signal from Thorin, Kili tightened his bow and nailed an arrow into his skull. The orc fell slowly with the howling of its orc. Dwalin finished the job. However, this attracted the attention of more orcs running to the place. Brine ordered Gandalf to find a solution quickly. Gandalf looked at her and nodded. He soon found a dark grotto by which he ordered all the dwarves to descend.

"Where are we, Gandalf?" Dwalin asked in a bad mood. Gandalf looked at all the members until he finally answered.

"Gentlemen, welcome to Rivendell," Gandalf announced. Thorin took a hard look at him as he muttered something in the ancient dwarf language.

"Rivendell?" Kili asked Fili.

"An elf territory." Brine answered quickly as she followed the dwarves through the dark grotto.


They soon arrived at a paradise of arches, trees and waterfalls. Rivendell was characterized by its golden colours and the sweet music that floated in the air. Brine could smell the quiet of the place. A peace of mind that quickly vanished. In the blink of an eye, the dwarves were surrounded by elvish soldiers.

The dwarves raised their weapons. Brine joined them and slowly examined their armour and horses. Everything seemed surrounded by a special magic touch. The circle opened at the moment when an elf with more sophisticated armour entered and approached the company.

"Gandalf." The elf smiled taking off his helmet. His long dark hair fell on his shoulders. Brine looked intrigued. She had not seen an elf for many years.

"Lord Elrond." Gandalf returned the greeting, tilting his head slightly. "I was wondering why you hadn't come out to meet us." Gandalf smiled.

"There was a group of orcs dwelling on the borders of my kingdom," Elrond responded and returned a complicit smile while indicating that he should accompany him to dinner.


The dinner was divided into two groups. On the one hand, Gandalf, Thorin and Zirb accompanied Elrond at a presidential table. The rest of the company sat at a table farther away.

"Why don't we all sit together like Lady Zirb?" Ori asked.

"Ori, Lady Zirb is Thorin's guest. You can't compare yourself to her." Dori answered in all parental.

Brine watched the couple in the distance. The exchange of glances made clear the presence of feelings between them. For a moment she wondered if there would be any chance that those two would end together. She looked sideways at Fili and wondered if he could give her an answer.

"Well, guys, what are those long faces for?" Bofur laughed as he stood on the table and began to pound it with his foot marking a peculiar rhythm. "There's an inn of old renown/.../Where they brew a beer so brown/.../Moon came rolling down the hill/.../One Hevnsday night to drink his fill." He sang. Kili laughed and joined him.

"On a three-stringed fiddle there/.../Played the Ostler's cat so fair/.../The hornèd Cow that night was seen/.../To dance a jig upon the green." Some dwarves joined them dancing.

"Called by the fiddle to the/.../Middle of the muddle where the/.../Cow with a caper sent the/.../Small dog squealing/.../Moon in a fuddle went to/.../Huddle by the griddle but he/.../Slipped in a puddle and the/.../World went reeling." Bofur answered Kili and took some of the elves instruments to play the rhythm.

"Downsides went up- hey!/.../Outsides went wide/.../As the fiddle/.../Played a twiddle/.../And the Moon slept till Sterrenday/.../Upsides went west- hey!/.../Broadsides went boom/.../With a twiddle on the fiddle/.../In the middle by the griddle/.../And the Moon slept till Sterrenday." Kili and Bofur sang together. Brine felt as she played the rhythm with her feet too.

Bofur jumped and danced among the dwarves that were starting to join him.

"Dish from off the dresser pranced/.../Found a spoon and gaily danced." Brine could not help it and danced with the others as she laughed. For the first time in forever, she was enjoying the dance.

"Horses neighed and champed their bits/.../For the bloodshot Moon had lost his wits." Brine was surprised to hear Fili singing too. He walked to Brine and danced with her laughing.

"Well, cow jumped over, Dog barked wild/.../Moon lay prone and sweetly smiled." Kili answered his brother and joined Brine and him too. Fili whispered something in Brine's ear.

"Ostler cried, 'Play faster, Cat!'" Brine shouted and clapped her hands with him. He took her arm and spun her. "Because we all want to dance like that." They sang together. Fili kept dancing with Brine. She could notice the elves' eyes fixed on them. Zirb was smiling and clapping like Gandalf. Thorin had a shy smile too but not as bigger as the others. Brine came back from her thoughts when Fili took her in his arms. He was embracing her waist too high. She felt his hand caressing the side of her breast lightly. Brine pushed him hard and looked at her confused. Did he felt something? She could not risk Fili discovering the truth and telling Thorin everything. It could be her end.