Sorry this chapter is late, but work is taking a lot more time out of my schedule than I expected. So enjoy and I hope everyone is having a good holiday season and eating lots of food!

I do not own any of the characters in this story except my OCs.


Fili avoids me now whenever he can. I understand why, but I can't feel guilty for honestly telling him what I feel. Or don't feel in this case. It will save us both further heartbreak in the end.

There's not much to say anyway. Stay on the path and don't leave it. When I do talk to him it's to report on our dwindling rations, which Fili takes in with a hollow look and even more hollow orders to tighten our belts.

To make matters even more awkward, Kili avoids me as well. To me, it's clear Fili told him of my rejection. Fili avoids me when he can, but Kili throws me confused, wounded looks every so often, which pains me more than I thought it would. And I fear that after some time, even with all the enchantment swirling around their heads and filling their lungs, the others will notice.

I don't want to lose my friends. I don't want to be isolated from them again. Not now, not later, not ever.

The path continues on and on, always twisting and turning. Eventually the dwarves elect me to climb a tree to see where we are and how much further we have to go. To my surprise, we aren't too far from the border, perhaps only a few days walk.

As I climb back down, I notice thick webs, and shiver, knowing what's to come. And how I wish we could go around it, but I know we can't. We can barely walk straight lines as it is.

That night, we eat the very last of our rations. The water will run out in two more days. I watch as the company spirals in every sense of the word, constantly arguing and fighting with each other. Hunger makes it worse. I try to make peace between the various dwarves in our party, but end up arguing with them more often than not.

The week ends with a tense, nervous group that barely speaks to each other, except through me. Bombur awakens, but complains about food more than ever, which doesn't do much to endear him to the rest of the group.

After a day without food, Balin notices a light shining through the trees, a little further on to our left. Dwalin immediately wants to send spies, and for once Nori agrees with him. Our situation must be truly dire for these two to be getting along.

I argue against going. We're so close to the end of the forest, and though the path is horrible and twisty, it will lead us to freedom. Bombur argues that we need food more, because if we have no energy and strength with which to walk, we can forget about leaving the forest.

Probably because he doesn't want to die in here, Fili ends up agreeing with Bombur, throwing me an indecipherable look as the dwarves plunge off the path towards the light.

I close my eyes and exhale hard through my nose. Then I let loose a stream of curses, stumbling after the idiots that make up my company. I can't abandon them, and I don't want to travel alone in the forest anyway.

The light flickers ahead, steadily growing stronger and larger as we draw near. Suddenly we're ten feet away from a clearing full of elves, feasting, laughing, and drinking. I blink as my brain takes a minute to catch up with my eyes.

A party. Of course. The elves were throwing parties when the dwarves found them.

The company rushes into the clearing, not even caring that they're crashing an elven party, but as soon as they're spotted the lights go out and the elves vanish.

Cursing, we all bumble around until Balin has the bright idea to count everyone by calling their name. We sound off, and after everyone is accounted for Fili decides to rest here for the night and continue in the morning. Where we will continue to is unknown. Everyone is just about bedded down when Dori notices more lights in the distance.

Again the dwarves choose to crash the party. Again I swear and follow.

We creep up on the elves again, but Fili holds everyone back this time and tries to send Ori forward, somehow reasoning that the least-threatening dwarf in the group should make more progress with the elves than the rest of us. This does not happen, and no sooner does he set foot in the clearing than the lights disappear again and Ori falls into a deep sleep.

We sound off again, save Ori, and after everyone is found, I lie down beside someone and promptly fall asleep. Kili keeps the watch, and it is well into the wee hours of the morning when he sees the lights further in the forest.

After a long while of listening and watching to make sure the light doesn't fade out, the dwarves decide to try one more time to beg for some food. By now I've given up trying to convince them not to go deeper into the forest, so I follow along silently.

We approach once more, cautious and wary of scaring the elves off. Through the trees I catch a glimpse of a large feast, larger than the last two. There are many feasters and musicians, even a couple of dancers. The smell is divine and my mouth waters as laughter catches my ear.

At the head of a large table is a figure wearing a crown of leaves. This clearly, is the king of the Mirkwood elves, more majestic than even the book described.

But before I can get a better look, Fili steps into the light. Immediately the king whips his head to look at Fili as the fires go out, leaving the company coughing on cinders and ash.

We sound off yet again, truly lucky to still be together. Gloin growls out something about being too old for fairy tales and mad adventures and Dwalin huffs in agreement. With nowhere to go and no food or water, we fall to the ground, some of us not even bothering to roll out our bedrolls before we fall asleep.

It feels like we've only slept for an hour before the spiders find us. The first I hear of them is a scream from one of the dwarves, and for a moment I'm thrown back to that cave in the mountains. With a shake of my head I'm back in the forest, watching as my company is torn apart. We stand no chance against them. We are starving and dehydrated, and couldn't hold our own against a pack of friendly dogs, much less spiders.

I grab my partisan, feeling the ring in my boot as I run toward the spiders. With the ring I'd be invisible. I could help the company. But I won't. I will never use it. My resolve strengthening, I attack the nearest spider with a fierce yell.

I fight and fight, killing as many of the spiders as I can. The spiders are clumsy and slow, and as tired as I am, stabbing between their legs joints or their underbelly plates is relatively easy. On the scale of fighting goblins to fighting dragons, spiders are closer to goblins, both of which are harder to fight than anything I could fight on Earth.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the rest of the company fighting the spiders around me. There's a sharp pain in my leg, and I scream, stabbing the spider that bit me.

"Aspen!" I hear a call, and I blink, trying to clear my blurry vision. I watch as a couple of the dwarves fall to spider venom, my vision growing worse and worse. The venom makes my mind foggy, and I stumble around, falling to the ground. A vision shimmers in front of me, of Fili in shining, princely robes, laughing with his brother and uncle. The image shifts, and I see my Earth family, then Bombur and his family. Elladan and Elrohir. And people I don't know.

My head spins, and there's me by myself, reaching for something. In my vision I grow older and grayer, stooping over, then taking my last breath.

The venom drags me under, and the world turns black.

When I wake, the brightness of daylight hurts my eyes. My body spins slightly, the light sliding off my face. I have no perception of up or down. I can't open my eyes, and can barely move my hands. There are hisses and muffled yelps from nearby spiders, and I wiggle my hands faster, dreading the feeling of spider pincers latching onto my body. Bit by little bit, I scrape and peel back spider webs from my hands, then my arms, then my face.

I wiggle a little, looking down at the ground. It seems the spiders didn't take us far from the ambush location; our weapons are scattered on the ground, half buried in dead leaves. Which means we are also not far from some of the elven clearings.

If I let myself fall I could break an ankle or snap a bone easily. The tree branch above me is sturdy enough, but I could only pull myself up by the bits of web that dangle down to wrap around my waist and lower body.

I look down again, then reach for the webs above me, the material slipping through my fingers. My arms shake, the strength I built earlier from training gone with the company rations. I grip the webbing tighter, bunching up my legs and trying not to snap my only connection to the tree.

A small corner of my mind supplies a helpful image of what I must look like from a distance, squirming like a caterpillar and generally looking pretty stupid.

I swear to myself. Stupidity is perfectly acceptable if it means survival.

I finally manage to grab the branch, hoisting myself up to collapse on the limb, panting for breath and trying not to roll off.

I need my partisan. I need water. Then I can rescue the dwarves.

But how? This question stays in my mind as I scoot towards the trunk, inching myself down as best as I can with weak muscles. Eventually my body gives out and I fall about ten feet, landing on my back with a muffled thud.

The hissing tone of the spiders changes, and I freeze. They don't seem to be moving towards me, so I slink away as silently as possible, trying to get my bearings.

What do I do? Find the elves? The dwarves may not survive that long. Fight the spiders before freeing the dwarves? I might not survive that long. I've still somehow got my pack, even after all this time. There are three daggers I can use. If I can get Dwalin or Gloin awake I'm sure they can help with freeing the rest of the dwarves.

This decided, I find a tree with dwarves and manage to pull myself up. I pull out two of the daggers and start cutting through webs. I haul the dwarves onto the braches and cut through their webs, slapping them awake in some cases. The dwarves are bleary at first, but come alert as soon as they can, given our dangerous situation.

I've moved onto the next tree before the spiders see me. They hiss and scream, scuttling quickly in my direction. I growl and finish with the bundled dwarf I'm working on, scrambling down the tree and tearing through the forest in a random direction. As long as the spiders are away from the dwarves I'm happy. I check over my shoulder to see that they're following, and out of my eye I glimpse Fili climbing up the tree to finish what I started.

With the spiders following, I head away from the dwarves, dodging trees and swerving around bushes. I hear a couple climbing in the trees overhead, and one drops down on top of me. I veer away, managing to avoid the spider. I swipe at another, but I know I won't last on my own much longer.

I loop around, coming back to the dwarves, the spiders slightly behind.

"Fili!" Fili stumbles towards me, pulling out another knife out of his coat along the way. "Aspen?" His face is slightly confused, but his eyes are clear enough. When he looks at me, I see none of the pain and grief of the past weeks, only a grim determination.

"We need to get away from here. Towards where we saw the fires last night. We're not too far from it," I say. "Aye," Fili agrees, and calls to the others to hurry and gather the weapons. The dwarves grab whatever weapon is closest and begin to trickle out, only for the spiders to reappear.

The dwarves and I manage to keep them at bay while edging our way out of the clearing. "This way!" Balin yells, and we slowly fight our way through the forest, killing spiders as we go. It's tricky, and more than once we have to pause to cut a dwarf free from webs, or dodge pincers dripping with venom. But our blades are sharp and cut through webs and underbellies easily.

Time drags as we fight the spiders. I stick with Bofur and Bifur, allowing them to cover for me when possible. I'm not used to fighting with daggers, especially against spiders, and even with the venom still in their veins the dwarves fight more fiercely than I do. I fall into the pattern of stabbing and parrying, only able to concentrate on the spider in front of me. At one point a spider knocks a dagger out of my hand, but Bofur kills it and I'm able to retrieve the dagger safely.

Balin draws us to one of the clearings from last night, and there seems to be some kind of magic boundary around the perimeter, because the spiders refuse to go any further, retreating into their darker part of the forest, hissing at us all the way.

The dwarves fling halfhearted cheers and curses after the spiders, and I turn to Fili, sharing a tired smile with him before I remember we're not talking. Pain stabs through my heart and I turn away.

Bofu asks, "Well now what do we do?" I only sigh and plop down where I am, in no way able to answer Bofur's question.

Fili looks closely at the group, and also sits down. "We rest until tomorrow morning. None of us are in any shape to go anywhere." At this the dwarves grunt their agreement and start to settle in for the night, checking weapons and rolling out the bedrolls.

Bombur tosses me my partisan, and I smile when it's in my hands again. I thought it was left behind with the spiders. I have travelled far with it now, and when I don't wear it I feel its absence.

The group is quiet as we clean wounds and weapons, making sure both are free of blood. None of us were gravely injured in the fight, and I clean out the pincer wounds as best as I can with my limited supplies and knowledge. Finally, I sort through my pack to take inventory, stopping when it's too dark to see.

Fili allows Gloin to risk a small fire, with the last of the wood collected from outside the forest. I steel myself for a necessary conversation.

"Fili," I call as I approach, and he stands from where he was sitting with Ori and Nori.

"Yes?" he asks. I nod my head to an unoccupied spot in the clearing, away from the others and an ever-watchful Kili. I haven't forgotten our last real conversation, and from the tense set of his shoulders, he hasn't either.

Fili waits. "The elves will capture us soon," I begin. "Our path has followed the book quite closely. I don't think we can avoid it. Or their king."

"What do you propose we do? Are you willing to tell me now?" Fili's voice holds a bit of a challenge but I refuse to acknowledge it.

"I still want you to negotiate with him. Do your absolute best to offer something he might want. Gems, trade, a mutual agreement to never bother the other. But if that doesn't work, if we're imprisoned, then I might have to negotiate for you. Perhaps he'll listen to a human rather than a dwarf."

"I doubt it." "Or we could bribe him. He's partial to silver and white gems. We promise payment upon reclaiming the mountain." Fili takes a step back, looking deeply unsettled by this, as he should. He's not king yet, and they are not his gems to do with as he pleases. They're not mine either, which is why really I hope it doesn't come to this.

"Are there other options?" "I can't think of any others, but maybe you'll think of something I haven't. Nori is particularly helpful."

What I don't tell him is that I do have another option. One that I will only use if our lives are threatened. I tuck the idea away, afraid to even think about it.

Fili thinks for a moment, obviously trying to come up with other solutions.

"The king does not deserve any gems mined and perfected by dwarves. It is a betrayal and insult to our people to even contemplate such an option. But it seems I must."

"Aye, I think you must," I respond quietly. We sit in silence, and for a few moments I'm able to pretend our last conversation never happened and we're just two friends, side by side in an old, rotting forest, watching the fire die and enjoying each other's company.

"I'm sorry," he finally says.

"Why?"

"My advance was not welcome to you. I would not have said anything if I thought I did not have a chance… But it doesn't matter. I made you uncomfortable, and for that I apologize.

Our relationship will be the same as it has always been, and I will not let my feelings interfere. I only hope you will forgive me."

I look over at Fili, who's counting leaves on the ground. He still thinks he's in love with me. My heart gives a squeeze as I say, "Thank you for apologizing. I forgive you, and as long as we can remain friends, I'm happy."

Fili gives a small smile at this, and captures my hand. He doesn't say anything, but gives a little sigh, kisses my hand, and walks back to the fire, head down the entire time.

I watch him go, feeling somehow like I'm the one that should be giving an apology.

I don't need to. Right?

He apologized.

He apologized for making me uncomfortable. I can't even describe what that means to me.

Maybe dwarves get it. They get that when a woman says no, they mean no. What a novel thought. My mouth twists to something between a smirk and a smile, and I go back to my spot for the night, falling asleep before the others.

Fili has us up with the first light in an effort to find a way out of the forest before nightfall. I don't think we'll find our way out in one day, but I pack up my things and strap my partisan in place, walking close beside Fili as we leave the clearing.

Eight of us agree on a direction and that's the way we go, heading who knows where. We don't stop for food because we have none, and it's getting dark again when Gloin plops down where he stands, refusing to go any farther. All of Fili's cajoling and threatening does nothing, because Gloin doesn't budge, just sits there and refuses to go any further.

Bofur, Bombur, and Bifur follow suit, and with four dwarves down Fili has no choice but to give in.

Not five minutes after we've all set down our packs do the elves find us. We're too tired and too dehydrated to put up a fight, so the elves don't even bother disarming us, instead tying us up in a long line with blindfolds.

We walk and trip along for maybe thirty minutes before I hear water flowing, and I sense we're drawing closer to the elven halls. I think back to my conversation with Fili the night before, hoping he won't forget what we talked about. We pass over a river, and I feel a space open ahead of me as the water falls behind. Through my blindfold the light dims, and I hear singing from the guards as they lead us into the caverns, the sound echoing around us.

We walk further before we are stopped and forced to kneel, which for me is awkward with my hands tied in front and a partisan on my back. The blindfold is lifted and I blink, my eyes adjusting. I look up, and staring at us is the elven king, a staff in his hand and a crown on his head.