Chapter 5

"I think we all suffer from acute blindness at times. Life is a constant journey of trying to open your eyes. I'm just beginning my journey, and my eyes aren't fully open yet."—Olivia Thirlby

"Lady Nina, come, it's time to go." Dwalin shook her awake gently. Nina opened her eyes slowly, rubbing a hand over her face. She was so tired.

"Is it even daylight yet?" Nina groaned in protest, feeling like she had only just fell asleep.

"It is almost daylight, yes." Dwalin chuckled softly at her. He sighed, helping her up from her spot by the dead fire.

"Almost is the key word there, Dwalin." Nina grunted as he assisted her. "Almost."

"Come on now, if you want to get any breakfast before we leave." Dwalin replied, Nina hearing the smile in his voice.

She walked out of the room on her own, staying close enough to walls so that she could keep a hand out to guide her at all times. She followed her nose to the kitchen, smelling the beautiful smell of bacon and sausage. She took in a good whiff of it, and was startled when a warm plate was shoved into her arms.

"It's a little crowded in there, thought I'd just bring it to you." An unfamiliar voice said to her, helping her sit down in a soft arm chair. "Fili, at your service." Nina smiled.

"You sound like your brother," She smirked. Fili sat down in the chair next to her, noisily chomping on his own plate of breakfast.

"How did you know we were brothers?" He asked through a mouthful of food. Nina mentally face-palmed. Oh, you know, I read about your sibling-ness in the book! She sighed.

"Fili, Kili, it'd be a really unfortunate coincidence if you weren't." She mumbled. Fili let out a hearty laugh, clapping her gently on the back.

"I suppose that's true!" He chuckled. Nina managed to chuckle with him, allowing herself to relax a little. Gandalf was going to get her back home somehow, and there was nothing she could do until then. Despite this, Nina couldn't help but to think of her own sister, Madison, whenever she thought of Fili and Kili. This led her to wonder whether they thought she was dead or not…

"Hellooooo?" Fili was saying, snapping his fingers in front of her face. Nina blinked quickly out of reflex, then glared pointedly in the direction of Fili. He shied away. "Sorry," He stammered.

"It's fine." She huffed, unable to really stay annoyed with the young dwarf.

"We're heading out, Fili!" Bofur called to them, shooting Fili a questioning glance and jerking his thumb at Nina. Fili nodded.

"We're coming, Bofur." He called back, answering the unspoken question that Nina was in fact coming with them. Bofur nodded with a wide grin, and headed out the door with bundles of supplies.

"I guess that's the end of breakfast," Nina half-pouted as Fili helped her walk out of the door. Fili chuckled, releasing her arm when she waved him off.

"You'd better get used to shorter meals if you're travelling with us, Lady Nina."

"Please, I wish you'd all just call me Nina." She huffed, letting the railing outside of Bilbo's house guide her toward the noise of the dwarves. Fili fell in step behind her. "Um…where's Dwalin?" She asked, realization dawning on her that she couldn't ride a horse on her own.

"Ah, I see you have decided to wake up." Gandalf's distinct and cheeky voice cut in before Fili could answer her. Nina gave a tight smile.

"Gandalf, could you tell me where Dwalin is?" She asked, trying not to sound too eager to get back with the dwarf that had become a comforting presence to her.

"He is to be riding in the front of our company with Thorin and Balin, and I'm afraid his pony does not have the room for the both of you with all of the supplies that has been added." A pang of fear went through her at this news, thinking that they would make her attempt to steer a horse—blind.

"She could ride with me if she wants to." Another voice piped up. From the sound of it, Nina could tell that he was already on his pony, and that he was Kili.

"Are you sure?" She asked him, half-hoping they'd just make her walk.

"O' course! C'mon." Kili held out his hand, letting his fingers brush her shoulder so she would know he was there. Nina sighed, hoping that Kili was a safe horseman. She took his hand, letting out a surprised yelp when he swung her up in front of him with ease. "You're light as a feather, girl." He mumbled in amusement, earning a pointed glare from Nina.

"Are all dwarves bad at lying, or just the ones in this company?" She retorted. Kili snorted, nudging their horse forward.

"It's so beautiful out here," Nina sighed contentedly, allowing the light breeze to blow against her face. Kili adjusted his position behind her, his muscles stiffening a little.

"I don't mean to be rude, but how would you know?" He said, his breath tickling her ear in their awkwardly close proximity.

"I imagine things the way I want them to be, since I can't see them for what they truly are. But either way, some things you don't need to sight to see. Sometimes I can just tell, I can feel that this is a beautiful place." She explained. She felt Kili relax behind her, and she chuckled softly to herself.

"What's so funny?" He asked, clearly puzzled. Nina let a little laugh out.

"You dwarves." She answered. "You all tense up and get really uncomfortable whenever my blindness is mentioned. I've lived with no sight my whole life, it's not a secret that no one can talk about."

"Sorry," He mumbled, and she could sense that there was more he wanted to say. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How did you…learn things? Since you can't see, how did you learn things?" He stammered, the other dwarves tuning in to the conversation to hear her answer. Nina sighed, how does one explain modern education to dwarves?

"I went to a school where all of the people were blind, like me. We go there for four years, and then we get to go be adults. I'm in my last year," She paused, actually missing her school for a moment. Who would've thought she'd ever miss blind school? "Anyway, we read by running our hands over the paper, and the letters are bumpy dots, and each pattern means a new letter, and that's how we read.

"Writing is kind of complicated for normal people to get, but I'll try to explain it. We have this slate, with rows of pins like in two single file lines of three. Then we have a stylus, or…a stick, and we use that to poke through the holes of the pins, or cells, and that's how we write. Well, that's the simplified version of it anyway."

"Mahal, that sounds difficult!" One of the dwarves called from a little farther ahead. Nina looked up to the source of the voice, her face going red.

"Were they all listening?" She whispered to Kili. She felt his chest rise and fall quickly in laughter, chuckling at her.

"Nah, just most of us." He teased, earning him an elbow to the side. "Hey now, feisty girl!" He coughed in mock hurt. Nina found herself genuinely laughing, unable to keep hold of the stress she had feeling lately.

"Come on, you're not that weak, are you?" She teased back. Kili laughed with her, shaking his head at the strange girl.

"Oh trust me, he is!" Fili replied from beside them on his own pony. This only fueled Nina's laughter, though Kili just scowled lightly at his brother.

"You're one to talk, Fee. Remember that time when mother scared the living daylights out of ya?" Kili retorted, peaking Nina's interest.

"When was this?" She pried.

"A few years ago, Thorin told us a story meant to frighten us into obedience (even though we're grown dwarves) and Fili got so scared that our mother couldn't resist the opportunity to fool him." Kili explained.

"So she jumped out at me dressed like some mad man, and I screamed." Fili mumbled, finishing the story. Kili threw his head back, tearing up from laughing so hard.

"The look on his face, and the girlish scream were priceless!" Kili choked out through the fits of laughter seizing him. Nina laughed at that, just imagining the scenario.

"Oh shut up, Kee! I'm sure there's plenty of stories about you I could tell!" Fili argued good-naturedly.

"Please, tell me," Nina laughed in the direction of Fili. He happily complied, and the two brothers took turns trying to outdo the other with embarrassing stories about each other.

"Well I'm beat," Nori sighed, stretching out beside the fire.

They had made camp that night in the rocks, some curling up in their blankets and going to sleep as soon as they finished eating while some lingered by the fire. Bilbo had chased down and joined them during the afternoon, just as Nina was expecting based on the book. He was currently tossing and turning, trying to find sleep despite Bombur's excessive snoring.

"Night, Nori." Fili called to him as Nori bundled up his things to move to a sleeping place. Nina stayed close to the warm fire, letting it warm her up as she listened to the soft conversing between Fili and Kili, who were on watch that night.

"You should get some sleep, Nina." Fili called gently to her. Nina didn't move, just basking in the warmth of the fire and trying to remain locked in her thoughts of home. "Dwalin asked me to make sure you slept good." She looked to him at the mention of Dwalin, who she hadn't been able to talk to the whole day.

"I'm not that tired…" She trailed off with a yawn, trying not to show her tiredness. She heard chuckles from both Fili and Kili as they urged her to go to sleep.

"Please, Nina, just get some sleep." Fili urged her.

Nina squirmed uncomfortably, remembering the night before. She had slept well in Bilbo's home of course, but she had been plagued with unsettling dreams. She kept seeing that tree falling onto her, seeing it. She hardly remembered what a tree looked like, let alone one falling on her in the middle of a chaotic storm. Nina shuddered, suddenly feeling afraid of that storm. The creeping thought that the storm could hit here got to her, and she was shaking before she could control it.

"Are you alright, Nina?" Fili asked gently, seeing her distress. She looked in his direction silently, and he saw her expression to be close to that of a child afraid of the dark. "Would you like to sleep by us?" He offered. Nina smiled gently, moving to walk over them. Kili got up and guided her to them, and she settled in between the brothers by the fire.

"Why didn't you say you were cold…?" Kili muttered under his breath as he noticed her shaking. Nina really wasn't cold, but she didn't protest when Kili pulled his cloak around her and fastened the clasp around her neck. Nina turned to face him awkwardly as he pulled her long, blonde hair out from under the hood, letting it fall easily around her.

"Thank you," She peeped, feeling a little safer once she had been reminded that the two dwarves meant her no harm. She noticed vaguely that the cloak smelled like campfire—presumably from the fire right in front of him—and disgusting sweat. Like, it wasn't that endearing bad smell, it was just gross. Nasty, gross, dwarf smell.

"Now get some sleep," He said, his voice so soft that she could hardly decipher if it was real. "Come on, I don't want to be riding with a grump tomorrow." He grunted, both of the dwarves chuckling at that from beside her. She felt oddly safe there, with Fili and Kili on either side, able to protect her. She felt an odd sense of comfort—that was until the screeching started.

"What was that?" Bilbo asked, hastily making his way over the two dwarves on watch.

"Orcs." Kili deadpanned. Nina looked up to him in fear. She didn't remember any danger of orcs this early on in the story.

"Orcs?!" Bilbo parroted shakily.

"Throat-cutters, there'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them." Fili added, causing Nina's head to swivel over to his direction with the same fearful expression. Bilbo sounded as if he might faint.

"They strike in the wee small hours, when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet; no screams, just lots of blood." Kili whispered dramatically. Nina gave him a pointed glare as he and Fili started laughing to each other over their joke.

"You think it's funny?" Thorin growled from out of nowhere. Nina subconsciously shrunk back from his voice. "You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?" He sounded disgusted with his nephews.

"We didn't mean anything by it…" Kili muttered, Nina feeling both the brothers' bodies stiffen at their uncle's harsh words.

"No, you didn't." Thorin spat. "You know nothing of the world." He stormed off dramatically after that, leaving the brothers to sulk to themselves. Balin, however, sighed heavily and approached them.

"Don't mind him, laddie. Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria," Balin explained. Bilbo and Nina listened a little more attentively than the rest, having never heard the story before. "But our enemy had got there first." He growled.

"What happened?" Bilbo peeped.

"Moria had been taken by legions of Orcs lead by the most vile of their race: Azog, the Defiler. The giant Gundabad Orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began…by beheading the King." Balin's voice wavered. Thorin, not far from the camp, stood stoic, listening and trying not to let the image of his grandfather's head at his feet resurface.

"Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing, taken prisoner or killed we did not know. We were leaderless, defeat and death were upon us." Balin continued the tale. Nina couldn't help but imagine the bloody, chaotic battle in her mind, and thought of Thorin losing his grandfather and father all in one instant. "That is when I saw him: a young dwarf prince facing down the Pale Orc."

Thorin faced Azog, nothing but grief and vengeance clouding his vision. He braced himself as Azog swung his horrid mace and knocked away his shield. Before Thorin could comprehend the blow, his sword was knocked from him by the beast. Thorin was thrown to the ground by the force, desperately grabbing an oaken branch in a vain attempt to protect himself. He used it to block Azog's next swing, and he felt the spikes of the mace through the branch. With a gut-wrenching cry, Thorin took up his sword again and sliced off the mace arm of the Pale Orc.

"Azog, the Defiler, learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken." Balin ended his story, bringing Thorin's mind back to the present. Nina replayed in her mind the battle she imagined, and Thorin's defining moment as a new king. She frowned. Maybe, just maybe, there was a time when Thorin wasn't so horrible and broody, she thought.

"Our forces rallied and drove the orcs back. Our enemy had been defeated. But there was no feast, no song that night, for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived." Balin whispered, his voice full of grief. He looked over at Thorin with watery eyes. "And I thought to myself then, there is one who I could follow. There is one I could call King."

"But the orc?" Nina frowned. "What happened to him?"

"He slunk back into the hole whence he came." Thorin growled at her. Nina rolled her eyes. He couldn't even be nice when answering a simple question. "That filth died of his wounds long ago."

"Oh, okay." She mumbled.

"Get some sleep now, all of you. We have much ground to cover tomorrow." Thorin ordered. Nina sighed, laying down in between Fili and Kili. She felt safe once again, knowing that the brothers had been joking and that Azog was dead. That is, until the screeching got closer.

Author's Note:

Soooo, sorry for the delay. I got a horse! *jumps up and down excitedly* and...I also officially lost a friend... *awkwardly sits back down*...but writing has kept me going, and I promise that this I won't abandon this story or my other two. I wanted to give a quick thanks to kitcat12 for the help with the research on how people that are blind read and write, I hope I described it right :)

Also, thanks to those who reviewed/followed/favorited this story, it means a lot and I hope you all stay with me even though I didn't update when I should have.