Satisfied Alyssae saw how Bombur got on his feet. She touched the wound in her shoulder. Her fingers slipped over her skin, but she didn't believe it would cause her death.
She noticed the dwarves looked awaiting at her – except for Thorin, who was on the edge of the path and looked the other way.
She knew what the dwarves wanted to know and she glanced in Kili's eyes for a short moment. His face was pale because of the tension.
'Well, as you can see, Fili is gone.' She couldn't help her voice sounded a little irritated, but she was still disconcerted because Thorin attacked her out of the blue and the fact that she had wanted to kiss him so badly.
'I planned to -'
'So now you are the one who's making plans?' Thorin asked unfriendly, who had turned around again.
Alyssae found it a childish comment and she decided to ignore him until her sentence was finished.
'Kili and I wanted to go back as soon as we had found you. Fili disappeared at the border of the woods, so you can wait outside the delusion of the forest while I'm looking for him.' She looked at Thorin disparaging. 'Or has His Majesty a better idea?'
'It is madness to leave the path on your own.'
'Only for someone who has to move afoot, but I will not.'
'I'm going with you.'
His words made her chuckle. 'You are going with me? You jump easily from tree to tree? Do you have the eyes of a hawk?'
Thorin's face darkened, although that expression disappeared quickly behind his motionless mask. 'You can't go alone.'
Alyssae knew he wanted the best for her, but she believed this was the quickest way to find Fili.
'You're the only one who attacked me.'
Thorin silenced after her words and looked the other way, whereby he accepted her plan.

In silence they walked back. Some whispered softly with each other, but most of them didn't dare to raise their voices, afraid the owners of the bright eyes would come closer.
Alyssae walked a little behind the others, so she could keep an eye on everything. She was so consumed by the environment she was startled when someone waited for her and cleared his throat.
'How's your shoulder?'
She looked aside surprised when she recognized Thorin's voice. He glanced at the ground while he kept walking. She couldn't do anything but nod, even though it hurt badly. Pain however was something she seemed to get used to, those days.
'Yes.' The silence was a little uncomfortable, because Alyssae realized too late he couldn't notice her nodding as long as he didn't look at her.
'I don't know what happened.'
Alyssae looked at him. His shoulders were hanging and from his sad gesture she knew he was ashamed of his behavior – although he could be worried about his missing nephew too.
'I do. It's an ancient magic that's floating around here.'
Thorin's sniffing made clear he didn't like magic. He looked at her very carefully and a nervous feeling overwhelmed her. She smiled tentatively, but his surly expression didn't mitigate.
'You were mad at me, huh?' Alyssae sighed. 'The voices only fueled that anger.'
The sigh Thorin let hear, seemed to vibrate her eardrums. As if he was glad she opened up herself, so he could rebuke her again. He however didn't take the initiative to speak about it and since Alyssae didn't want to keep struggling with this ignorance any longer, she started guessing herself.
'Is this about the fact I puked over your shoes?' A blush appeared on her cheeks. 'Because I'm really ashamed about that.'
Thorin grinned shortly. 'When you did so, I indeed really wanted to beat you up.'
Relieved she realized that wasn't the reason. But what was?
'You found it annoying you had to come back for me when the orcs invaded?'
'Yes, also.'
'But?'
He looked up. His glance was cold and for a moment Alyssae got the feeling she choked.
'I saw your yesterday with Fili.'
'What?' she asked frowning.
He didn't let go of her eyes, which really got on her nerves. She didn't dare to look away. What was he suggesting? Why the hell would he be angry about that?
'The two of you were walking hand in hand.'