Laurel

Warmth encased me, slowly bringing me to awareness. Everything was soft, but the warmth was very pleasant. A smile worked its way onto my lips as I curled in on myself and cuddled closer to the warmth. When I inhaled through my nose contently, I could smell fresh grass and flowers. Summer was always nice for long afternoon naps in the sun.

Unease started to work its way into my nerves because it wasn't summer; it was winter. There should be snow and ice underneath me.

Immediately I opened my eyes and scrambled to a sitting position.

Green and blues as far as my eye could see. The sound of running water filled my ears from behind. Vibrant and beautiful green grasses and plants covered every inch around me. Some flowers popped up here and there. Turning around let me see a small waterfall of beautiful teal. Everything was picture perfect.

A small ache in my middle had me grasping it and closing my eyes. Bright red filled my mind, blood everywhere. A sword sticking out of my stomach.

I was dead.

Tears started to burn the backs of my eyes. This must be some sort of heaven then. That's the only explanation. I died in my world by a lightning bolt, then I died in Middle Earth by the steel of an orc. Did I move on to another world? Did I finally meet true death?

Slowly coming to my feet, I started to stumble to the waterfall. If this was the true afterlife, it was beautiful, but I was alone.

Slipping my bare feet into the water of the pond the waterfall flowed into, I closed my eyes again and brought Kili's face to my inner eye. Just like I thought, I remembered his sweat and soot covered face, eyes wide with worry as I told him to go back to the mountain without me. If I concentrated hard enough, I could remember the softness of his mouth and the taste of his lips. A sob wrecked me as I slowly rocked myself.

The loss of a life with him was truly heartbreaking. We could have had a good life too. I was so out of place in my own world, but once I came here to be with Kili everything changed. I belonged in Middle Earth. I found a family in Middle Earth in the dwarves, in Bilbo and even in Thorin.

"Now, now Child," a gruff voice called out behind me, "no need to work yourself up."

Startled, I turned to see who had joined me in my little piece of heaven.

It was a dwarf surprisingly enough. He looked older than Thorin, but not quite as old as Balin. Dark brown hair started at the top of his head and worked its way down to the middle of his back, and somewhere near his jaw it blended beautifully with his long beard. The coarse hairs of the beard ended around his middle as well. He was dressed in a simple dark grey shirt and dark brown pants and canvas shoes. This I found intriguing because all the dwarves I had met wore boots. None the less I could tell he was a dwarf just by the bulkiness of him, and lack of height compared to the humans I met like Bard and Gandalf.

Small brown eyes raked over me slowly as he nodded once, finally smiling with a big roaring laugh.

"Excellent," he bellowed with his hands on his stomach while he laughed. "Well done girl, you have done exceedingly well."

A little shocked, I turned to face him fully from the ground. I wasn't exactly in the mood to stand, so I looked up at him dumbly. "I'm sorry, what—who are you," I asked.

He approached, coming to sit next to me on the ground, leaning back on his hands and letting the sun bathe his face.

"I have many names," he smiled pleasantly, "but the dwarves call me Mahal, you may as well."

The name Thorin was calling into the sky as I bled out in his arms. So, this was heaven—and I was looking that the being the dwarves considered a God.

"Ah," I tried to clear my throat a little roughly, "well yes. I'm Laurel, Laurel Took."

Another deep laugh left him, "Oh we know very well who you are Laurel."

"We?"

"The Valar, we are the ones who shaped Middle Earth in its infancy. Now we watch from the otherworld and try to intervene when it becomes a little too chaotic."

The Valar? No one exactly gave me a history lesson when I arrived. Maybe the Valar was a name for a group of Gods? I didn't respond to him, instead I sighed, pulled my knees up and together to rest my chin on them.

He hummed softly, then sighed contently before speaking again.

"I just wanted to come here and congratulate you Laurel."

I was killed in my time and brought to Middle Earth for a reason.

"So," I turned my head to look at him, "did you throw me into that lightning bolt and send me to Middle Earth—or was it an accident and you seized the opportunity."

His eyes turned to slits as they looked out back to the waterfall. "It was by the will of all the Valar you were brought to Middle Earth," he replied simply.

"Why me?"

"Your blood," he finally turned his whole body to give me his full attention. "Your bloodline was very precise. The purest of lines in your time to be able to bring you back in time to Middle Earth."

The smallest of laughs left me in disbelief, "Are you trying to say I am some princess or something?"

In turn he smiled, "It is debatable, but I was referring to the presence of magic in your blood. You are specially born of a diverse heritage. Human. Hobbit. Elven. Dwarven. If you had been anymore human, we could not have brought you back in time here."

Dwarven? "Elrond said I was human, hobbit and elvish, he didn't say dwarf," I said surprised. The thought was nice. Thorin would have been proud to know I had dwarvish blood in my veins. The thought of Thorin reminded me of the fact I was dead, and it did not matter anymore.

"Lord Elrond was correct; he just was unable to see the dwarven is all. Small mistake. Dwarven and hobbit features are somewhat similar, so I could understand why he was unable to see it fully," Mahal responded pleasantly.

"Why though," I asked sadly, "why did you bring me back?"

"It is a long story," he sighed, "it will take a while to explain."

An annoyed fake laugh left me. I used my hands to gesture all around me. "I have all the time in the world if you haven't noticed."

So, he told me—everything.

"The adventure you have taken from the moment you came to Middle Earth to the moment you entered Laketown happened very similarly as you have experienced it. In Laketown is where everything happened differently.

"The dwarves gained aid from Laketown to go to the mountain. Kili on the other hand was poisoned, just as you have experienced. Thorin deemed him unfit for the journey to the mountain, so Kili was meant to stay behind. Fili opted to say with him. He almost died in Bard's room, just as you had experienced—but it was Tauriel the elf who saved him from death—the same way you did.

"In the mountain the dwarves woke Smaug, who took flight and laid fire to Laketown. Bard used the wind-lace and iron bolt to kill the fire drake, but only after the town was in flames. The people of Laketown went to Dale for shelter, just as you have seen. Thorin was still sick with the Dragon Sickness. They declared war. Orcs and beasts came to join the fray.

"Thorin, Dwalin, Fili and Kili rode to the cliffside called Ravenhill. There Azog threw Fili from the cliffside, killing him. Thorin began to fight with Azog to avenge Fili. Tauriel the elf came to Ravenhill with Legolas to warn the dwarves of a second orc army approaching. Another orc, Blog, began to attack Tauriel, and in turn Kili died at Blog's hand defending Tauriel. Finally, Thorin died striking a killing blow to Azog."

As the words came from his lips, I remembered each of the events that happened. I remembered my hands burning with boiling water as I shoved herbs into Kili's wound and chanted for him to live because I loved him. My mind raced as I remember sleeping on the mountainside and getting the dream of the brothers dying and Thorin about to die as well.

"It was very important that the Dark Lord did not gain that mountain. That is another story I will not bore you with, but the Valar watched what happened the first time. Thorin Oakenshield was meant to do great things in Middle Earth, he was not supposed to die on that mountain side.

"It was decided we needed to combine our efforts to rectify the mistake that had happened. We needed to change the outcome of the battle and make sure Thorin Oakenshield survived. So, we began to plan how to place the right people at the right moments to try and change the outcome of this battle.

"It was thought if we could have Thorin Oakenshield love again, maybe he would not have succumbed to Dragon Sickness. Maybe he would have been in the right mind to make better decisions on how to handle that battle. When you were born, we began to put our plan into motion."

Another awkward bubble of laughter worked its way into my throat. "You wanted Thorin to fall in love with me," I asked a little astounded and put off.

Mahal laughed deeply again, looking at ease as he leaned back again, telling more of his story.

"It was our intention at first, we knew you two would not be true soulmates, but we were hoping that it would suffice enough to persuade Thorin and his decisions. Thorin already experienced his soulmate and sadly lost her long ago, but his heart is not broken, it could still love again. Once you were born, we knew your heart and his would not yearn for one another's. I am creator of dwarves and decide One's, but you were outside my reach. You found and created that all on your one. Your blood was the perfect mix to bring you back to change things.

"When you were at your most vulnerable, we connected you to the Durin's during one of your dreams. You immediately sought out Kili, trying to gain his attentions. He felt you there that day, pulling at his pant legs."

It was the very first dream I had. I remembered it vividly. Kili was talking and walking with Fili and Thorin down a dirt path. I had been yelling and crying trying to get any of them to notice me for a while. My father had just died that day and I was heartbroken and confused on who these men were and where I was. It only led me to grasping at his legs and sobbing up at him. For a split second I thought he looked down at me to see what had happened, but he looked away so quickly it led me to believe he was just glancing around.

"Alright," I sighed at the memories. "You got me. I fell in love with the youngest prince of Erebor and through weird magical powers a group of Gods threw me into a lightning bolt to send me back in time to Middle Earth—because my blood was perfect. I am just a very small girl, Mahal. What did you think I was capable of?"

At that moment, his large hand reached out to touch the back of mine that was fisted in the grass between us. "Exactly what you did. We knew you were capable of hunting and taking care of yourself and having a love for family we knew you could go to the ends of the Earth to save them. Which is exactly what you did Child."

This brought on the tears with no restraint. Throughout the whole journey I did anything I could to help. I did everything I could to save each and every one of them at any given moment—even my life.

"Yes," I sobbed, finally bringing my hands to my hot wet face. "I even used my body as a shield and gave up my life to save Thorin. Kili—" The words wouldn't come. What was Kili going through, or what has he gone through hearing of my death?

"You are not dead," Mahal said evenly.

This brought me to turn my head sharply towards him in confusion. "What do you mean I'm not dead? I'm in Heaven or Valhalla or whatever you want to call it!"

Mahal worked his way to his feet, brushing off his pants at his full height. He sighed when he offered me a hand. "You are not dead child, merely resting. This is but yet another dream. I thought it was best to meet you and explain what I could."

The tears finally stopped streaming down my face at his words. Not dead. Almost bubbling with hysterical laughter, I flopped down to my back on the ground and gazed up at him lazily. With the sun shining brightly down at us, his silhouette became dark and large. "How," I asked breathlessly.

"Gandalf and Thranduil. They were able to use their combined efforts to heal your wound completely. You are resting in Erebor now. The dwarves are just waiting for you to wake," he stated simply.

All the thoughts and feelings I had been processing since waking all were flying out of my conscious thoughts. I was only sleeping, and that meant when I woke again, I would wake to Kili, my family and friends.

"Wait—is everyone okay? Kili, Fili, Thorin, Bilbo—"

"Yes child," Mahal laughed and clasped my hands softly, "They are all fine. You were the only one with serious wounds."

"How do I—"

"Simply rest as if you were going to sleep," he said quickly, "then when you wake, you will wake to the world once more. Thank you once more Laurel took, you have done a great service to Middle Earth. Tell Thorin Oakenshield that he needs to stop cursing me already, it's like a small headache whenever he does."

Right before my eyes his body seemed to sparkle and vibrate. Slowly he faded into nothing, leaving me laying in the soft warm grass closing my eyes eagerly. All I could think about is how happy I was to know everything I have done saved everyone, that when I woke it would be to Kili and my family.

Eventually my thoughts started to lose focus and garble, the first sign that I was falling asleep.