Hope you enjoy guys!!

Brine left her room early with one of the dresses Fili had found in the palace. The night before she had devised a plan with Fili to finally bring Zirb and Thorin together once and for all. She walked to the front door where Fili was waiting for her.

"What are you doing here?" asked Brine, surprised as she approached him.

"I don't want you to go alone. The people of Valle are very unhappy with us and I don't want..." Fili's cheeks turned pink. Brine tightened his forearm. She knew how he should continue that sentence, but she saw the problem it posed for Fili.

"Thank you." Brine replied as she put a cape over her shoulders and covered her face. Fili did the same and made sure Brine was ready. Brine's little hand reached out for Fili's arm, hugging it shakily. Fili's gaze quickly shifted from the gesture to Brine. "I think this helps us to hide even more," Brine added in a nervous voice. Having him so close caused a strange feeling in her, but as she had told him, they would be safer if they acted like a couple.

"I understand," Fili replied with a nervous smile as he set off for the City of Valle.


It did not take long for Brine and Fili to arrive at a dilapidated house where people said Zirb lived. Fili slowly broke away from her.

"I'm waiting for you over here." He said as he moved slightly away from the house and looked around. Brine looked at him before entering. Despite being a dwarf, his posture was upright and he was quite tall. His moustache was moving as he glanced around with his cool gaze. Brine's green eyes ended up intertwining with Fili's blue eyes, creating a unique connection she had not felt before. Brine was slow to return to reality. She had to talk to Zirb.

She carefully entered the half-built house. She could hear someone poking around inside her and cursing. Brine found Zirb kicking and punching an old straw mattress. Brine waited until she thought she was done. She cleared her throat to make her presence known. Zirb was startled.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she held her hand up. "It's not safe, Brine."

"Don't worry, I've been accompanied." Brine saw Zirb's gaze light up and she headed for the entrance. "Fili is waiting outside." A disappointment crossed Zirb's gaze. Brine knew then that she was waiting for someone else. "I've come because I need your help. You know I'm coming home today, but I'm not very good at organizing the trip."

"I remember having to come back more than once halfway to pick up several dresses," Zirb remembered with nostalgia as she continued to put the old mattress back together. "I don't even know how you ran away by yourself." Laughed Zirb as she turned. Brine cast a look at her pretending to be in pain.

"Why don't you come and help me? It'll make it easier for me to get out of there." Brine started playing with the ribbon on her dress. She had to get Zirb to believe her plan without any suspicion.

"Of course," Zirb replied without hesitation as she took Brine's hand and squeezed it gently.


Brine and Zirb walked with Fili to Erebor. They barely exchanged a couple of words, but Brine kept her gaze intertwined with Fili as long as she could. A smile accompanied them always. When they arrived at the palace, Brine let Zirb walk to her room.

"It's your turn to do your part." She whispered in a low voice. Fili nodded discreetly and hid in a long corridor.

Brine and Zirb arrived at her room. It was quite wide and yet quite empty. There was only a dark wooden desk to match a wardrobe, and a wide bed covered by light tulle curtains which kept the insects at bay. Zirb went straight to the closet, opening it wide.

"Where did they come from?" Zirb asked, pointing to a pair of dresses hanging from a bar inside.

"Balin brought them to me when I woke up. He said it would do me good to dress like a girl again." Brine replied selflessly.

"They're not quite your style," Zirb commented. "Are you going to want to take them home?" Brine looked at her. She felt a twinge of pain in her stomach as she heard Zirb speak of the Blue Mountains as her home. She nodded to the question. They were not very pretty dresses, but Brine would always remember her adventure and Fili when she looked at them. "All right..." Zirb muttered as she took them and left them on the bed to fold. "Where are you going to keep them?"

"I think there's a sack there that might do." Brine pointed to a drawer in the closet.

"Brine!" exclaimed Zirb with her hands on her hips. "You can't use an old, worn-out sack to store your things."

"I doubt you'll find anything more appropriate here." Brine laughed as she opened her room door and waved her out to search outside. Zirb walked past her as she swore she would find something.


Brine had been sitting on her bed for a while waiting for Zirb to arrive. She did not know what she could do to entertain herself. A few knocks on her door in a row made her run to get up just as it opened wide.

"What are you supposed to be doing here, Fili?" asked Brine as she saw Fili's moustache braids appear on the door frame. "What if I wasn't decent?"

"What?" Fili blushed and looked away uncomfortably. "Just... I need you to look at this." He exclaimed as he came to and grabbed Brine by the wrist, pulling her into the hallway.

Brine walked as fast as she could behind Fili down the long corridor until they reached a kind of gallery with big windows overlooking a large courtyard. In the centre was a fountain, and next to it two figures were talking. Brine looked at Fili, who was looking at her mischievously.

"What are they supposed to be doing?" Brine asked. She did not expect Fili to improvise in their plan.

"They met by chance. Thorin has just left a meeting with Dwalin and Balin and has gone out to meditate. And she's lost, or so I think she told him." Fili summed it up as quickly as he could. He did not want to miss a single part of the conversation. Brine nodded and was silent as she paid attention to Thorin and Zirb.

"What are you doing here?" Thorin asked without moving from his place leaning against the fountain.

"I was looking for the way back to the rooms," Zirb replied with her head down and looking into her hands as she twisted a piece of cloth.

"What do you have there?" Thorin asked. "What do you have there?" he asked angrily again and walked over to her, wrenching the cloth from her hands. "You have it, don't you? What do you intend to do with it?" Thorin knelt as he opened the cloth and shouted in desperation. Zirb walked away from him in fright, but something made her change her mind.

Brine looked at Fili, surprised by Thorin's behaviour, but Fili did not look at her. His gaze was fixed on the couple. Brine saw how Zirb knelt in front of Thorin and took the piece of cloth from his hands. Zirb looked for Thorin's face and embraced him tenderly. Brine felt a strange twinge in her stomach. Suddenly she did not want to be there anymore. She did not want to go on with the plan. She got up quickly while pulling Fili.

"Let's go."

"Why? They're still down there." Said Fili as he let himself go. "Brine!" He exclaimed as he stopped her.

"This is none of our business." Brine felt a knot forming in her throat. "Fili. Please." Her green eyes dug into him.

"All right." Fili finally replied.


Fili accompanied Brine to her room in complete silence. Occasionally Brine caught a few furtive glances but nothing else came out.

"Well, here we are." Fili stopped in front of Brine's door and waited for her to come in.

"Thank you for coming with me." Brine muttered without looking up from the floor.

"It was nothing." For some strange reason, Fili did not feel like leaving Brine alone. "Brine." He called her after a long hesitation. "What happened before?" That question made their eyes intertwine.

"I don't know, but..." Brine tried to find the exact words to describe her feelings. "Didn't you feel like we were meddling in something that didn't belong to us? They have something else hidden that we don't know about, and I doubt we ever will." Brine averted her eyes. "Thorin looked so broken."

"And Zirb seemed to be the only one who understood him," Fili replied. "Brine, the plan was..."

"Forget about the plan, Fili. We have to leave things as they are." Said Brine turning to her room and leaving Fili with the word out.


It had been hours since Brine locked herself in her room. Zirb had knocked on her door several times, but she had not answered. She needed to be alone and pull herself together after being so miserable with someone who had offered her so much kindness in her life. Again a few knocks on her door caught her attention. Brine waited until whoever was knocking got tired but the sound of something sliding under her door made her get up from her bed. There was a note wrapped in a red thread that continued outward. The note was completely empty, so Brine became curious and began to slowly follow the thread. She climbed up some stone stairs and walked through narrow corridors until she came to an open balcony from which she could see the City of the Valle and the ruins of the City of the Lake. The sun began to descend, leaving an orange light that bathed the corners of the landscape.

"You've arrived quickly." Brine turned quickly. Fili was behind her with his hands behind his back. "The truth is, I was hoping I'd have to go looking for you." He smiled as he stared at her.

"Where am I?" Brine asked curiously.

"According to Balin, this is where the ceremonies were held before they had to flee because of the dragon. I thought it would be a good idea to arrange the dinner we planned between Zirb and Thorin here." Fili walked up to her and stood next to her.

"Fili, I told you we weren't going to go on." Fili started walking and pushing Brine to follow him.

"Exactly, but I had it all set up and it would be a shame to throw it all away, wouldn't it? Don't look at me like that, it's not the food. What else would I do with all this?" Brine saw Fili point to a table set up with big, comfortable chairs and different dishes and fruit. The table was surrounded by a light curtain that protected it from intruders who wanted to steal some of the food.

"Fili..." Brine could not believe it.

"Since you're leaving now, I thought it might be a good idea to take advantage of the fact that I had everything ready to say goodbye," Fili replied as he helped Brine onto the table. Brine looked at him tenderly. She did not expect Fili to be so nice to her after all.


Dinner could not have been nicer for Brine and ended with the two of them sitting on the balcony wall with their feet dangling in the air. Fili started talking to her about the stars and the constellations. Brine paid attention to every word he said, treasuring every word and every gesture.

"Thank you for everything, Fili. It was something... Something magical."

"You're welcome." Fili smiled but did not look away from something he had in his hands. "Do you know what they say about the red thread? They say there's a red thread that binds people together. A bond that is so strong that nothing and no one can break it. And those people are bound together forever." Brine felt Fili's hand on hers and saw a red thread tied to her little finger. "I'll always be by your side, Brine." Fili took her hand and kissed her back. Brine stared at him. Fili began to bow but angry voices began to echo inside. Fili snapped his tongue and separated from Brine, turning and running inside. Brine followed close behind, a little disappointed by the interruption of the moment, as she wondered what would have happened if they had not heard those voices. Voices that came from Thorin, who had Zirb kneeling in front of him.

"No one will leave or enter Erebor until what is rightfully mine appears!" exclaimed Thorin. "And as for you, I hope you will be pleased with your new quarters. Take her to the dungeons." He said to Dwalin, who begged him not to. Zirb's screams went into Brine's head, and no matter how much she covered her ears she still heard them filled with rage and terror.