Chapter 16

"Not all those who wander are lost." –J.R.R. Tolkien

"To your left, Nina!" Dwalin grunted agitatedly as he swung his sword down on her again. Nina gasped as the ringing force of his blow fell on her blade. Nina blocked it sloppily and just-in-time, however she quickly recovered. Nina stood still with her knees bent and closed her eyes, exhaled, and listened for the faint whistle of Dwalin's oncoming blade. She raised Macilril and blocked it, her sword absorbing most of the force. Her arms weren't left as crippled as before, so she dared to lunge her sword at him. Dwalin's breath hitched in his throat as Macilril's tip brushed his neck and Nina had won.

"Dead." She grinned madly. Dwalin chuckled as they both sheathed their swords, covered in sweat and breathing heavily. They had been practicing for the better part of the afternoon, and Nina judged that it was getting close to dark by the temperature. "That's never happened before!" She squealed excitedly to Dwalin as she sheathed her sword.

"Aye lass, now you can beat me when I take it easy on you," Dwalin chuckled, causing her excitement to decrease. She gave him a pointed glare which only made him laugh a little. "That's better than it was, you should be grateful for that." She sighed and nodded, following the dwarf back to camp.

It had been four days since Azog's attack on the company, and they had been camping below the Carrrock, as Gandalf had described the bear-shaped rock, since that day. Nina had been training each day with Dwalin, mostly just trying to get to the point where she could block a blow without numbing her arms. She was also working with Fili and Kili on her fighting whenever Dwalin got sick of her (which happened a little more often than she would've liked to admit). Now that sundown was nearing, Dwalin wanted no doubt to eat supper and sleep, but Nina had other plans.

"Ah, Nina, how was the training?" Fili called to her when the two approached the camp.

"Better," She admitted, rubbing her shoulder gently from the soreness. Oddly enough the soreness hadn't come from her training, but rather from the use of her powers against the Orcs some days ago. She was still recovering from that, and her training helped to build her stamina.

"That's something at least." Kili joked from across the fire. She smirked in his direction.

"Watch it, someday I'll be able to beat you." She teased. Kili let out a hearty laugh at that, causing her to scrunch up her nose in mock anger at him. Fili laughed, taking Nina by the hand and leading her to their spot.

"What are we working on today?" Nina sighed as she began to take out Macilril. Fili chuckled at her eagerness.

"Not much," Fili commented, earning a frown from Nina. "I have first watch tonight so Kili will take over for me soon."

"Okay." Nina nodded, concentrating on getting in the right stance to start. They began to spar, sparring being a loose term for what they were doing. Fili called it that but Nina knew two people who actually knew how to fight could spar much more gracefully and quickly than her. This felt like a lesson, not sparring.

"Bend your knees a little more," Fili grunted between swings. She immediately did so. That was one thing the three dwarves that trained her liked: she always immediately corrected whatever they asked. It didn't always stay corrected, but she tried. They stopped for a break after a bit, Fili deciding to try an experiment with her. He grinned mischievously.

"Catch." He threw an apple from his pocket at the girl. She let out a screech that hardly sounded human and ducked ungracefully. Fili suppressed a laugh as she picked it up and looked to him incredulously.

"You could've killed me!" She exclaimed, shaking the apple at him furiously. Nina huffed at him, wondering what had possessed him to throw a rock at her. He laughed.

"Oh yes, I suppose apples can be very lethal." Fili replied sarcastically. She felt a blush creep up her neck.

"Is that what it was?" She discreetly pushed her nail into the "rock," and it gave way and she felt the juicy inside of the apple.

"I was seeing if you were any good at catching." Fili chuckled. Nina gave him a lighthearted glare, though it didn't last long before she was smiling with him. A twig snapped and they both looked in the direction of the noise.

"Thorin wants you to take your watch now, it's just about dark." Kili called to them as he walked over to join the two.

"Aye, we were just discovering the many dangers of an apple." Fili grinned, causing Nina to laugh.

"How will I ever live up to your example as a teacher?" Kili smirked as his brother made his way back to the camp.

"Shut up, Kee."

"You're awfully quiet today." Erich noted as he and Madison made their way through the forest. She kept walking, avoiding the brambles and thorns. "I promise you your sister will be fine, I'll bring her home." He looked to her sincerely. "She just needs to be shown the right thing to do."

"I know, but do you think the dwarves are truly mean to her? They seemed really supportive of her back there…"

"They must know of her powers that the Elf gave her…" Erich stroked his chin. "They're in on the plan. Trust me Madison they only want to hurt her."

"I don't know…"

"Madison. Do you love your sister?"

"Of course I do!" Madison turned on him, glaring.

"Then trust me, I know how to save Nina."

"Now wait just a darn minute." Madison growled. Erich cocked an eyebrow at her. "You say these cryptic things to make me stop questioning you but I think the real question that needs to be asked is how exactly you plan on saving Nina?"

"Well," Erich sighed. "That's between my master and I. You have to trust me Madison, she will be returned to you safely." He met her gaze evenly and set a hand to her shoulder.

"Don't you dare hurt her in any way while getting her back," Madison started to sniff, surprised when her eyes started welling with tears. He gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"I care about your sister more than those dwarves or anyone, except of course you, and I will get her back safe and sound." He smiled.

"Why do you care about her so much? How do you know her?" Madison furrowed her brows. Erich smiled faintly.

"She does not know me yet, but she will, and she will know that I care about her."

"So what were you working on?" Kili asked as he wandered around in his spot in front of Nina, who was sitting on a log.

"Catching stuff apparently," Nina sighed amusedly. "But we didn't really get to do much before you came."

"My apologies." Kili grinned. "But Uncle wouldn't take kindly to my brother being late for his watch duty. You know how he gets…"

"Yeah I know well enough how unpleasant Thorin can get." Nina laughed, and Kili chuckled with her. "But he did take me in and he's kind to me…now, so I can't really say much."

"I suppose." Kili nodded, looking around. "The stars are beautiful tonight."

"Are they?" Nina smiled gently as she craned her face toward the sky and closed her eyes, scrunching up her nose subconsciously. Kili smiled sadly at her.

"Come on." He grabbed her hand before she could protest and started pulling her with him.

Before Nina could say a word, she was being hoisted into a nearby tree, the trunk thicker than any she'd ever felt. Kili stayed behind her and helped her as she climbed the tree, clinging to the branches blindly. She climbed up and up and up until she thought she would run out of tree to climb, but Kili kept her moving. Finally he slipped past her and pulled her up the rest of the way, and they ended up sitting in the branches at the very top of the ginormous tree. The leaves were huge, and Nina wondered how it was possible for a tree to be so tall; and she felt the breeze blowing her hair gently. She closed her eyes serenely as the cool air surrounded her and Kili and she found herself beaming from the sheer peacefulness of it all.

"I used to climb trees every day when I was a young lad," Kili chuckled softly as he leaned back on the branches carelessly across from her. "Thorin used to get so frustrated because I was always too afraid to come back down."

"I had a treehouse at home." Nina chimed in.

"Your family lived in a tree?" Kili asked, sounding very concerned. Nina laughed.

"No, I had a little shelter that my dad built in a tree for me to play in, and I used to go into the woods and spend hours in it." She smiled sadly, remembering her home as if it were a fantasy that had never been real. It seemed like ages ago that she had lived there with her perfectly weird family. A tear rolled down her cheek and she scrubbed it away with her hand.

"That sounds very nice," Kili said softly. He was kind enough not to mention her tear.

"Anyway," Nina sniffed, gaining her composure. "You said the stars were beautiful tonight?"

"Aye." Kili nodded, both of them craning their heads back to face the sky. "They are beautiful."

"Of all the things I've been able to see by using my other senses, I have never been able to see the stars. I can't touch them, or taste them, or hear them. I can only trust that they are here, and I can never see the stars."

Kili watched Nina carefully, gulping nervously. He watched as her blue eyes shone brightly, so bright that they could rival the stars she spoke of. Kili smiled to himself, wondering why she was so different from others.

"That's the beauty of them though, isn't it? Even when you can't see them, you trust that they are there, lighting the path." Kili mumbled, mostly to himself. Nina smiled gently at him.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"So, how exactly did you become an artist if you can't…?"

"I can't see?" Nina cocked an eyebrow at him with a smirk. "I would touch whatever it was I wanted to see, and imagine it as best I could."

"What if you wanted to see a person?" Kili asked, his voice wavering.

"I would do what I do with objects." She met his gaze and for a moment Kili could have sworn that she was looking at him. "May I?" She reached out her small hands shakily.

Kili answered her by taking her hands and guiding them slowly to his face. He let go when her palms covered each of his cheeks, her thumbs rubbing gently over his stubbly face. Her soft, warm fingers brushed over his cheeks and his chin, the feather-light touch causing his breath to catch in his throat. He had no idea why. She went over his forehead as well, and then she reached his ears and giggled.

"What?" He frowned.

"They're kind of big…" She laughed. Kili shook his head at her and laughed a little.

"Oh, shut up." She continued her examination by going over his nose and back to his chin, and then she took a deep breath.

"Smile for me Kili." He did as she asked, and it was a genuine one. She brushed her fingers lightly over his smiling lips and she smiled. "You have a very nice smile." He chuckled. "What color are your eyes?"

"Brown, dark brown." He replied and Nina nodded.

"I'll admit you look much different than I expected, but it is still nice to know what you look like." She concluded, and he felt a wave of satisfaction when he saw her blush.

"How do you do that?" Kili asked in awe. She shrugged.

"Here: close your eyes and do what I just did. You can see someone without sight, Kili." She sat still as Kili set a hands on her cheeks and allowed himself to close his eyes. He felt her soft skin and it felt smooth under his calloused hands. Kili sighed, letting himself get lost in her touch and he found himself unable to move his hands. Kili opened his eyes and saw that he was staring into her blue ones. Kili felt something. It wasn't some fleeting sensation he knew that, but it wasn't some grand feeling either. So what was it?

"Please." This was the only word he could manage to say, for some reason, before Kili leaned in and let his lips brush against hers. Nina gasped softly, but Kili only increased his pressure, though not too much. He kissed her as his confidence grew. He pulled her closer; he felt as though he couldn't get close enough to the peculiar girl. He closed his eyes and continued the kiss, trying to control himself when he felt her small hands playing with his hair. Dwarves' hair was very sensitive. He held her closer, kissing her longer than he had honestly expected he would. Too soon, Nina broke away. She let out a shaky breath, not daring to move any farther from him. Kili watched her face as fear washed over it and she pulled away.

"Help me get down please." She peeped. Kili nodded, his voice having left him.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." He mumbled once they had safely made it to the ground. Nina nodded shortly, allowing him to escort her back to camp where she laid on her bedroll and did not dare say another word to him. Kili mentally kicked himself—he was such an idiot!

Nina screamed at herself in her mind, what had she done? She knew the ending to this story, and she knew Kili wouldn't make it. She could by no means start to complicate things now…why had she allowed it? What confused her more was why it had happened in the first place? Kili certainly hadn't seemed like he felt anything for her, but then Nina could never be sure. These were dwarves after all, and she didn't know their culture too well. And something that scared her the most was that she couldn't stop replaying it in her mind, reveling in the feeling of them being so close. She had liked it.

"Nina Bailyn you're such an idiot." She whisper-sighed to herself before trying to sleep. She couldn't let any attachments form with these dwarves; not like that. Even if things were different and she wasn't destined to protect Middle Earth…

Kili was still destined to die.

Author's Note:

Heyyyyy so a little short chapter but still quite a bit happened am I right? For those of you who don't like a romantic aspect to this story, I promise you don't worry. This is not a super rushed relationship or anything as you will see in the next chapters, so don't be worried! Anyway, any theories yet as to who Erich might be? As always review and until next chapter!