Disclaimer: I own nothing except Eva. Not making money, please don't sue.

AN: Reviews are love. Thank you to all those who leave them. This one is a little longer.

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Chapter 9 - Advice

Eva woke the next morning tired and foggy with the sun only just beginning to rise. She had realised that her blanket had come off during the night and that she had slept for a time exposed to the elements. She moaned softly as she tried to readjust her body so she could get warm in her bedroll again, but there was no way that she would be able to get back to sleep now.

The images of her bleeding on the ice of Ravenhill terrified her. It was not a situation that she ever wanted to find herself in, let alone have people stumble upon when it came to her. Eva had always been a proud and independent woman, even with her husband and children. She was aware that she had been blessed with a husband that had understood her and had allowed her to grow as she had matured through her marriage.

Sitting up awkwardly, she glanced around the camp with the fire burnt low. She scanned until her eyes fell on a very much awake Bifur, the last one to take watch for the night. As if sensing her gaze, the dwarf looked up to the woman and tilted his head in confusion. Eva offered a weak smile and waved to him. And then the thought hit her-

He's a reasonable person to ask for advice… he's certainly done his fair share of watching…...

As quietly as she could, she got out of her bedroll and made her way over to him. Bifur blinked as his gaze honed in on her approaching him. Eva sat gingerly beside the dwarf, worrying her lip as she attempted to meet his eyes. She swallowed nervously.

"Master Bifur?"

Bifur stared at her, but tilted his head indicating that he was listening.

"Umm… I know that you don't speak Common…. but, I need your advice."

Eva watched Bifur's face carefully. In a matter of seconds emotions ranging from disbelief through to quiet pride crossed his face, until finally settling for open encouragement.

"I know that this …" Eva gestured between the both of them in frustration "... language barrier means that you can….. observe people more than usual." Eva began slowly. "And I was wondering if I could have your opinion."

The quiet grunting noises and flurry of hands seemed to encourage her, Bifur's face a mixture of confusion, curiosity and anticipation.

"I find that I'm not comfortable with the fact that I don't know how to handle a weapon, you see." Eva explained quietly so that she wouldn't wake the others. "As someone who knows the Company, who would you recommend? If I had to ask someone to train me?"

Bifur stared at her with wide eyes for a full minute. A look of complete disbelief was written plainly across his face. Eva was beginning to get nervous and made to get up, thinking that she had completely put her foot in it, when a scarred hand reached out and grasped her own gently. Bifur swallowed, seemingly concentrating on something. Slowly, he drew out his whittling knife, making Eva freeze completely.

In the dirt before them, by the grey light of dawn, Eva saw Bifur begin to draw with the knife. At first, it looked as if a child had drawn the images, simple as they were. They were effective though, as she made out the different weapons that the Company had in the dirt. She was silent as Bifur finished, withdrawing his knife proudly as he turned to the woman with a lop-sided smile.

Eva blinked at the selection before her, surprised to some degree that Bifur had actually taken her seriously. She thought for a long time before her mind registered a small detail. "Is having two of the one thing different from just having one? Is that why you've done the daggers and axes twice?"

A look of astonishment crossed his face as he nodded vigorously in reply to both questions.

Eva looked up and around from the drawings in the dirt to scan the camp, making sure that they were safe to continue the conversation. She turned to the axe-headed dwarf.

"Which one is going to suit me, you think?" she asked quietly.

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Thorin was brought into wakefulness by the soft murmur of a woman's voice. Though his body was fully awake, he listened to the quiet sound of her voice as she conversed with Bifur, of all khazad. As he listened to the conversation, stilted as it was because of the obvious language barrier, he noticed that Eva paused on occasion to actually listen to Bifur's response, rather than try to talk over him, or even shy away from him completely.

As quietly as he could, Thorin turned in his bedroll to observe the pair. He could see Eva patiently waiting for Bifur to try and explain whatever it was he was trying to say. She obviously had little issue with the fact that there was an axe-head embedded in his skull as she urged him to explain himself better to her.

Across from him, he could hear Bofur stirring. It was a lucky thing that the hatted dwarf was facing his way, because the moment Bofur opened his eyes, Thorin fixed him with a stare that made him freeze. Bofur blinked as Thorin minutely gestured over to where Bifur and Eva were seated in the growing light.

"Master Gloin?" Eva questioned quietly "I thought Master Dwalin would have been the choice for an axe."

A raking across the ground made Bofur's brow furrow in confusion.

"Oh!" came the quiet exclamation of understanding "You mean Dwalin's better at two axes, and Gloin is better at a single one?"

"Kun." came Bifur's reply, gruff but soft.

Silence filled the campsite before the rustle of fabric was heard again.

"Yes, Master Bifur?"

Thorin could see Bifur mimic Thorin playing the harp as the axe-headed dwarf hummed the lullaby from last night, then putting his entire body into the pose of 'How did you know that?'.

The happiness from Eva's earlier discussion suddenly vanished with this question and she sighed, sadness enveloping her. She was quiet for a long moment before she replied to him.

"A mother always knows, Master Bifur." she began "No matter how old their children get, a mother always knows best how to comfort them." she began wistfully, oblivious to the fact that the camp was not only beginning to wake up, but also that they were listening in on the conversation.

Bifur gently patted her hand in understanding. Eva looked up slowly, obviously trying to shake the sadness from her. "Thank you." she replied "I'll see if I can get Master Nori to talk to me."

Eva went quiet as she finally heard the camp being to rouse. She stood from her seat beside Bifur and sent him one of her ever-gentle smiles. Bifur grunted in reply, but she could have sworn that she saw the hint of a blush cross his cheeks.

Breakfast was a quiet affair, and after they had broken camp, they mounted their ponies (or in Eva's case, had someone help her), and fell into their usual places. All except Bofur, who hung back near the end of the line.

"Miss Eva?" he began.

By the tone in his voice, Eva knew that he had something important to say "Master Bofur?"

He drew his pony up alongside her own and said to her softly "Tha' was a migh'y fine thing ya did this mornin'." he began seriously "Bifur's had a tough time o' it, with his accident an' all. Not many people are able to see past tha'."

Eva turned to him "Master Bifur is a very fine dwarrow, Master Bofur. He is very capable, and much more observant than many in the Company give him credit for." She paused, "I'm used to people being different. He just requires a bit more patience in order to shine."

Bofur blinked, surprised with the depth of meaning in her words "Aye, that I can agree with."

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The day's riding had been long, the fabric of her traveling trousers chafing at her already irritated skin. She debated whether or not she would ask Oin for some salve, but was cut off from asking when Kili bounced over to her.

"Can you tell us another story?" Kili began without preamble.

Eva blinked in confusion "W-Wha?"

Kili huffed and repeated again, slower this time "Can you tell us another story?"

Eva's mouth dropped open in confusion, before it snapped shut again "What brought this on?"

"Weeelllllll…." Nori began, "Us dwarves love a good tale. And I happen to want a change of scenery, so to speak."

She frowned "Why am I having trouble believing you, Master Nori."

"Oh, please…." Ori began hopefully "I liked the last one that you told!" He didn't even wait for her response before he started fishing around for his journal.

Eva sighed, mentally pushing back the need to ask Oin for anything now that she had a good number of the younger members of the Company pleading with her. Then an idea hit her. She grimaced as obviously as she could without trying to be overly dramatic and saw Kili's face crinkle with concern.

"Are you alright, Eva?"

"Not really, but I'll hold until after I tell you your story-"

"Kili!" came Balin's gentle but firm chiding tone "Give the lass some space. She hasn't even untacked her pony yet!"

Kili blushed and ducked his head while Balin approached the woman "Do you need anything, Miss Eva?"

"Just some salve for chafing, if there is actually any. Otherwise I should be alright." she replied as she unpacked her pony gingerly.

Despite the fact that Nori was distant and vague in his words, he was the one that helped Eva unsaddle her pony. As they were taking off the saddle and blanket, Nori said to Eva quietly "Bifur told me you wanted to train in daggers."

Eva turned to him slowly "If it's not too much trouble, yes I would. It will likely put Master Thorin at ease if I at least had some training, even though it may not make him any more pleasant to me."

Nori risked a quick glance at the older dwarrow sitting on the other side of the camp "Dwarves are a secretive race at the best of times. Trust is hard-earned." he murmured. "History's not been too kind to the likes o' us."

Eva gave a nod as together, they set her things up in a relatively neat pile while she was handed a small package that was basically her dinner. Eva thought as she moved, her ears hearing the distant sound of what she thought were howls. As she sat down, Fili, Kili, Ori, Bilbo, Bofur and Nori came over of their own accord. They settled in front of her, Ori's ever-present journal sitting in his lap, a quill in his hand. She pulled her cloak to sit around her shoulders against the chill of the wind before looking each one of her seated audience in the eye, ensuring that she had their attention.

"Daedalus," Eva began, "was commissioned by the King of the island of Crete, King Minos, to build a maze. As a master craftsman, he had been tasked to build this maze as a prison to the Minotaur, a creature that was half man and half beast."

She paused and made eye contact with her small seated audience, only to have her attention snapped away by the crunching of boots. She looked up and saw both Bifur and Balin approaching side-by-side.

"Once the maze was completed, it became known as the Labyrinth. King Minos then imprisoned both Daedalus and his son, Icarus, into the maze, for Daedalus had given a ball of string to Minos' daughter, which enabled the Minotaur to be killed by the King's enemy, Theseus."

Eva drew out her water skin and took a small gulp of water before she continued again.

"Daedalus was a smart man, and he wasn't called a master craftsman for nothing. So over time, he fashioned both him and his son two sets of wings from the feathers of the birds that lived on the island. When they were completed, Daedalus tried both sets out to make sure they were sound."

Her growing audience was enraptured with her words, Ori's hand flying across the page in a bid to keep up.

"He warned his son before they made their escape: Do not fly too low, or the wings will get wet. Do not fly too high either, or the wax that I have used will melt and the wings will come apart. Daedalus told Icarus to follow his flight path. His father flew first, out over the boundaries of the Labyrinth, and Icarus followed soon after.

"But once Icarus took to the sky, he became giddy with the sensation of flying like a bird. Higher and higher he flew, forgetting his father's warning to him. He flew so high that he did not realise the wax in the wings had begun to melt. Feathers came out of the wings as he soared higher still, and by the time he realised, it was too late.

"Icarus's wings fell apart under the heat of the sun, and he was sent plummeting into the sea below, coming to a watery death."

Eva sat back as silence filled the camp for a moment. "So," she began slowly, deliberately, looking at each of the younger dwarves seated in front of her "you need to remember that you may have all the energy and optimism in the world, but temper it with the wisdom of the elders here." She paused for dramatic effect here, letting her words sink in "The elder in your Company have the experience to be able to guide and teach you. They have lived longer, seen more things, some of which I would wager they would want to unsee-"

Eva was surprised when she heard affirmative grunts coming from behind the seated dwarves. Looking up, she saw the rest of the Company standing behind the seated group, most of which had approving looks on their faces. Balin smiled warmly.

"That is a worthy lesson to remember." Dori commented. "Do you have more stories like that?"

Eva regarded the dwarf carefully "From that particular time period, I do have a few. Many of the stories that I know were once used to teach the younger generations certain lessons about life. Icarus' tale is one of the more popular ones."

Dori nodded slowly, then one by one, the dwarves left Eva's story-telling ring and began to settle down for bed. One by one, they succumbed to sleep.

The next time Eva was woken was by the sound of Fili and Kili joking around with Bilbo. Eva remembered this part of the movie very well, but what alarmed her was the sheer fright visible on Bilbo's sweet face.

"They strike, in the wee small hours, when everyone's asleep." Kili began "Quick and quiet, no screams. Just lots of blood."

The laughing of the young brothers drew Thorin's attention, and his face darkened at the obvious worry on Bilbo's face. Eva sat up in her bedroll to watch.

"You think that's funny? You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?" Thorin growled.

Kili found himself immediately on the back foot "We didn't mean anything by it…" he began quietly

The frostiness in Thorin's voice didn't budge "No you didn't. You know nothing of the world." He walked away quickly, anger radiating through his entire being.

Eva heard Balin sigh, a look of understanding crossing his face. "Don't mind him, laddie. Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs."

Bilbo cringed slightly as the orcs shriek yet again in the distance, but turned his gaze to Balin as the older dwarf began to speak.

"After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria. But our enemy had got there first." Balin's voice was quiet, but Eva found that he didn't need to be loud to be understood.

"Moria had been taken by legions of orcs, led by the most vile of all their race, Azog the Defiler. The giant Gundabad orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began by beheading the king. 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. That is when I saw him. A young dwarf prince facing down the Pale Orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe. His armor rent, wielding nothing but an oaken branch as a shield."

A look of pride crossed his wizened face "Azog the Defiler learned that day, that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken. Our forces rallied, and drove the orcs back. Our enemy had been defeated, but there was no feast, nor song that night for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived."

Balin looked over to Thorin quietly brooding a little way from the camp "And I thought to myself then, there is one who I could follow, there is one I could call King."

Bilbo's quivering whisper was heard then "And the Pale Orc? What happened to him?"

It was Thorin who answered, his voice bitter "He slunk back into the hole whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago."

Fili and Kili both shared guilty looks at the venom in their Uncle's voice, and as they turned to Eva, they were surprised and somewhat alarmed when they were met with her grim look as well. She looked like she wanted to say many things to the brothers, but seemed to be considering her words carefully. When she finally did speak, her tone was darker than they had ever heard her before, sending chills through them in a way that Thorin had not.

"Azog is the reason why your Uncle has no grandfather," she began quietly, her voice low and full of warning "the reason why your grandfather is missing and the reason why you have never known your other Uncle." Her gaze was cold and frightened them more than they were willing to let on.

"Do not become Icarus." She turned then and shifted back into her bedroll without another word.

Nobody saw Eva favour Gandalf with a narrowed brow.

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Thorin walked through the maze of halls under Erebor until he reached the outside, hoping for something that he couldn't quite name. The chill of the autumn air met him and he adjusted his furs. He could see the ashened runes of Dale from here. Beyond that, the little blinking lights of Laketown. He saw the orcs massing in the distance, but he needed to check something first. At the corner of the parapet, a figure was clad in bright Khazad armour.

"You should be with the Company, Your Majesty." came the quiet tones of a woman's voice.

"You should not be here in the first place." he countered.

She turned around and Thorin froze.

Eva's dark eyes met his own filled with grim determination, her helmet hanging in her hand and her trademark braid hanging to rest over her breast plate. She had tied it off with her red and gold ribbon contrasting with the fact her armour was engraved with Khuzdul runes.

"I needed time to collect myself, I guess." she replied.

Thorin slowly made his way towards her "Why? I would never ask you to rage into battle with me."

Eva huffed "And it is for that reason that I will be right beside you when this battle begins. Yavanna knows that your Durins are a bunch of blockheads!"

Thorin stopped to gaze into her face. He noted with a frown that she had dark circles under her eyes. Her cheeks were not as full as he remembered them to be and she had more worry lines than he would have liked.

"A promise is only as good as the actions behind it, Thorin." she began as she stepped into his personal space. She had to tilt her head up slightly to meet his gaze "I promised you that I would be with you until the bitter end."

Thorin could touch her from here if he wanted to, but he stayed his hand "You know I would not ask that of you, Eva. You are too precious for me to risk."

Eva tilted her head "Don't you get it, Thorin?" she whispered "Dwalin, you and I, we are Sword, Shield and Heart. That was how your Maker forged us."

He reached out to take her, armour and all, into his arms "The pieces of each other's soul."

Thorin's eyes shot open, the images from his dream refusing to disappear. He swore he could almost feel the cool hardness of Eva's armour against his skin and he gave his fingers and experimental flex. His heart stuttered a sharp staccato against his ribs.

He needed to talk to Balin.

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Edited as of 5/2/2022.