Thank you so, so much for all my lovely reviews! I am so grateful for every single one, thank you so much! Now, my internet has been massively playing up lately so I apologise to anyone whose review was not replied to, or whose review was replied to twice. It's driving me crazy but we're getting there :) I really appreciate your reviews so much, there is nothing that makes me smile that much these days as the feedback I receive - coursework and revision are getting a little intense unfortunately.

101olive4u – Thank you again for another lovely review :) I've missed writing the hobbits too, so it was nice to finally get to write them again, and I'm so glad you enjoyed the Thorin and Dwalin scene! I love reading your reviews, they're always so encouraging :) Thank you so much!

Now, forgive any mistakes I may have made and please…

Read. Enjoy. Review.

Chapter Thirty Nine # Help for Heroes #

Óin had heard tell of the wonders of elven medicine, but what he witnessed Elladan and Tauriel do was nothing short of a miracle.

The old healer had been certain that they would lose Fíli or Bilbo, and he had dreaded the very real possibility that they might lose them both, but to his astonishment Bilbo woke up less than two days after the battle. Óin had been redressing Bofur's angry leg wound when Kíli's cry of utter relief had met his ears and Elladan had gracefully rushed into the back of the tent. Shortly afterwards, the elf had emerged with the good news that the halfling was awake and alert. Less than two days later Óin himself had been witness to Fíli's waking too, and he had never been so glad to hear the blond prince begging brokenly for his brother, who had been quick to fall to Fíli's side.

While Thorin had remained in the back of the tent for the first five days, on the sixth day he left to "see to business" now that he knew the immediate danger of losing his heir was past, though he returned every hour or so to check on his nephews. Other than that, Óin saw very little of his king in the initial weeks after the battle.

Within a week, Bilbo was taking weak steps with Kíli's constant support, and days after that Fíli too was staggering around with the help of his brother and uncle – and a pair of specially made crutches. It utterly amazed Óin that two people he cared so much about were healed so quickly by such a miraculous event, and he could not bring himself to loath Elladan or Tauriel the way his upbringing told him he should, especially when they brought him a selection of herbs and recipes that greatly accelerated the recovery of all of the company of dwarves, along with the injured dwarves and men in the other healing tents.

Bofur in particular had benefited from the elven remedies which had banished the nasty infection Óin had noticed growing on his severe leg would before the fever could even take hold, and though now three weeks after the battle, Bofur was able to hobble around quite nicely, even if he was confined to a chair or his bed for most of the day. Infection had settled into Ori's arm wound before any of the healers could catch it, but again Tauriel's advice helped Óin to alter one of his own recipes in order to accelerate the young scribe's healing. Personally, Óin was more worried about the traumatic events of the battle on Ori's mind than he was about their physical effects, but the innocent dwarf seemed to be holding up relatively well.

Despite the elves' help, however, there were those among the company who were not healing quite as quickly as Óin would like. Infection from the grave wound in Dori's chest had been raging through his body for over two weeks, keeping him dangerously close to death's door despite his best efforts. Only now, three weeks after the battle, had the fever finally broken and allowed Óin to safely say that Dori would most certainly pull through.

"Come on, laddie; get this down your throat." The healer said firmly, ignoring Dori's grimace.

"It tastes awful; can't you put something in it to stop it from burning my taste buds off?"

"Quit complaining," Óin ordered, though he was too happy that Dori was finally well to criticise the taste of his admittedly repulsive brews to grumble. "Your fever seems to be dying down but if you're not careful it'll be back in a flash."

Dori groaned but took the mug in his shaky hands and downed the entire lot.

"That's the way, lad." Óin nodded fondly, ignoring Dori's glare. The merchant looked like an irritable child, something that would usually irritate Óin to no end, but now it relieved him. Dori's fever had rendered him insensible for days and it relieved the healer to no end that the minder was himself enough to moan.

"Don't worry yourself, Dori," Bofur said lightly from his own bed, carefully whittling away at some new creation. "I'm sure you'll be fine soon enough."

Dori snorted miserably. "If you say so."

"Bofur is right," Óin nodded, easing himself into a chair on the other side of the tent. "The worst is behind us."

"If you're sure…" Dori grumbled, and Bofur rolled his eyes, leaning forward to ask Bifur's advice on the detail of his carving.

"Of course I'm sure." Óin snorted, and Bifur nodded in agreement. "You'll be up on your feet in no time."

Dori just sighed and Óin leant back in his chair, glad to be able to rest for a moment.

It was strange, he pondered as he stared up at the ceiling of the tent, how people could worm their way into your heart without even necessarily meaning to.

When the quest had begun, he had barely known most of the company. Of course, he knew Thorin, Dwalin and Balin fairly well and had done for several decades, but the others were mainly dwarves he knew only by name or by face. Now there was not a member of the company he would die for, and he would not necessarily define them as a company anymore. No, in the privacy of his own head he would define the company as a family – a family he was proud to be a part of.

Of course, it was a rather dysfunctional family, but it was a family nonetheless.

Óin looked up as Bilbo hobbled out of the back of the tent rubbing his stomach absently. "Do you need something, laddie?"

"Kíli and Fíli, they left about an hour ago… Are they not back yet?" Bilbo frowned.

"No, haven't seen them." Óin replied with a shake of his head as Balin and Glóin slipped back into the tent from their own walk.

"Haven't seen who?" Glóin asked as he sat down without so much as a wince, his own minor injuries having healed within the first two weeks – much to Óin's relief.

"Kíli and Fíli…" Bilbo replied with a light frown.

"They're talking to Bard, the Bowman from Lake-town; they're not too far away." Balin smiled at the hobbit and Bilbo nodded, sending a small smile of his own back.

Then the hobbit sighed, running his hands through his unruly hair. He would need to cut it soon, he supposed…his curls kept falling in his eyes.

"Is something wrong, Bilbo?" Balin asked kindly.

"No, nothing's wrong," Bilbo assured the old dwarf, trying to stop himself from wringing his hands. "I was just wondering where they were…"

Ever since the battle, Bilbo had needed to know where his son was all the time, and it made him feel more weak and pathetic than he had ever felt before. The hobbit loathed the idea of becoming the stifling adult who demands to know every move of their mature and capable child, but whenever Kíli was out of his sight and Bilbo did not know where he was, the halfling was gripped by a crippling fear that he fought so very hard to control. When he had tentatively approached the subject with Gandalf when the wizard had taken him outside, his old friend had told him that it was perfectly normal for him to feel so terrified after such a battle. The wizard had also seemed incredibly interested in Bilbo's ring, which had somehow ended up in his pocket again after Kíli ripped it off his finger, but as soon as the halfling had shown it to him, Gandalf had frowned deeply and bidden Bilbo to put the thing in his pocket and avoid drawing attention to it. Bilbo had not seen the wizard since.

"Are you sure you're already, laddie?" Balin asked in concern.

"Well, I'm not sure I'd really use the word 'alright'," the hobbit admitted with a wry smile. "But I will be, eventually."

"Aye, I'm sure you will be." Bofur piped up, shifting with a wince.

"Thank you," Bilbo sighed, sitting down on an unoccupied bed and glancing over at Bofur. "How's your leg?"

"Healing, apparently." The miner drawled, glaring at Óin pointedly, and Bilbo chuckled softly.

"I'm sure it is," the hobbit smiled.

"Aye, I hope so, but it doesn't feel like anything's changed." Bofur continued to glare at the healer, though his eyes were dancing with playful malice.

"That's because you complain too much." Óin teased, and Bilbo smiled despite himself.

At first it had been awkward – extremely awkward – being around the dwarves. No one was quite sure what to say or do after Bilbo's exile and then Thorin's actions after the battle, but after a few agonizing minutes of awkward silence, Bofur had cleared his throat and asked how the hobbit was doing, breaking down the barrier between Bilbo and his friends. It had taken a couple of days, but by now even Glóin had made his peace with Bilbo's actions and the close group dynamics of the company had returned. It comforted Bilbo more than he cared to admit to see Dori well enough to fuss weakly over the state of Ori's braids, or to listen to Bofur's gentle teasing as the wounded toymaker regained his strength, or to share a knowing smile with Balin at some comment or action of one of the company's younger members.

The gust of wind that burst into the tent blew right through Bilbo's clothes as Nori, Ori and Dwalin returned, prompting the hobbit to automatically count the absentees.

Bombur is not here, neither are Kíli and Fíli, and Thorin's absence is unsurprising…

Other than that, Bilbo noted that the entire company was present.

"Negotiations with the men and the elves are going well…" Nori reported wearily, rubbing his jaw.

"By that he means no one's going trying to kill each other yet." Dwalin growled, rolling his eyes. "I give up on the whole lot of them. We're never going to get along with the damn elves or the damn men at this rate."

"Don't let Kíli hear you say that," Ori warned lightly, sitting himself down next to Bilbo.

"No," Bilbo agreed, "Kíli would likely rattle on for about half an hour about how uncivilised and immature you all are."

"And he'd be right to." Nori proposed calmly, startling everyone. It was incredibly unlikely for the thief to offer any input on any conversation of a serious or opinionated topic matter, and even Bilbo was shocked at that particular opinion. "Grown-ups loathe each other but get on with life, children are the ones that squabble."

"You count the besiegement of a city as a 'squabble'?" Glóin raised his bushy eyebrows in disbelief.

Nori just shrugged, sticking his pipe into his mouth. "Sure seemed like that to me."

"No smoking in here, you fool." Óin barked in exasperation, causing Nori to roll his eyes.

"Oh, please do!" Bofur called miserably. "I haven't had a single whiff of smoke for weeks, it's killing me!"

"Oh, quit your griping, you sound like a little girl!" Óin chided, shaking his head.

Deciding to steer the conversation back to Nori's original point, Bilbo spoke up. "So Thranduil's agreed, then? To give us more time to sort out the treasure and what not?"

"Aye," Dwalin paused for a moment, glancing at the others before meeting Bilbo's eyes. "We've been meaning to speak to you about that."

"Oh?"

"We don't think you should give them your gold so easily." The warrior said bluntly, and Bilbo sighed.

"Look, Dwalin-"

"It's not about us worrying about our treasure in the hands of the elves," Bofur piped up. "Though that is an annoyance, it's not the point."

"Oh?" Bilbo raised his eyebrows. "So what is the point?"

"You earned that treasure." Ori said sombrely.

"Aye, the lad's right." Glóin declared, raising his eyebrows at Bilbo. "You did went through just as much as the rest of us, it's only right that you get your just reward."

Bilbo pinched his nose. "My ideal reward would be to see that the company are safe and happy with strong alliances with the peoples surrounding Erebor so that there's no chance of such a war as this from happening in the future. I don't need any gold, Glóin. There are more important things in life."

"There are," Nori admitted. "But that's not the point. If you give your entire share to Thranduil then we're robbing you."

"Nori, you've done nothing but rob me since I met you." Bilbo pointed out, and the trickster grinned.

"That're true, but it's a different principal. I've returned your things, haven't I?" At the numerous raised eyebrows he received, Nori snorted and clarified. "Most of them, anyway."

"I'm not going back on my word – surely you can understand that!" Bilbo protested.

"We're not saying don't pay the elves," Ori protested with wide, innocent eyes. "We're just saying don't pay him all of it."

Bilbo laughed. "I appreciate your concern, but I will be paying Thranduil exactly what I promised him and that is the end of the matter."

"Thank Mahal for that," smiled Balin, who had been unnaturally quiet throughout the discussion. "I told them you wouldn't be so foolishly greedy. It wouldn't have ended well for any of us."

"Who's to say this will end well anyway?" Dwalin retorted, though his growl was empty of any anger. "They may turn their backs on us again, and then where will we be?"

"In the right."

A sudden hush fell upon the tent at Bilbo's quiet words, and the entire company looked at him.

"Aye, we would be…" Balin admitted quietly, a small smile on his face.

Bilbo almost blushed as the old dwarf looked at him like a proud father would look at his son – no one had looked at Bilbo like that for twenty two years.

The silence lasted only a moment before Bofur coughed. "Well, that's that then."

The soft patter of rain on the tent roof reached Bilbo's ears and he looked up at the ceiling with a grimace.

"That does not sound pleasant... How far away are Fíli and Kíli, Balin?"

"They were just over halfway to the men's camp – they may well go there to seek shelter from this rain if it strengthens." The old dwarf mused, and Bilbo's brow furrowed.

"How far away is that? Fíli shouldn't be walking far…"

"It's but a five minute walk from here, it's not far." Balin assured Bilbo, though the hobbit did not feel particularly reassured.

"It wouldn't be good for them to be out in the rain at all, would it?" he worried.

"Not particularly…" Óin agreed, and Bilbo looked towards the doors of the tent.

"It won't do you any good running after the lads now," Balin pointed out calmly. "You'll just worsen your own injuries, and that won't get us anywhere. Bard is with Fíli and Kíli – he has enough sense to keep them out of the rain."

The low rumble of thunder rippled across the sky and Bilbo jumped, looking at the flap of the ten. Óin's increasing look of concern fuelled Bilbo's pounding heart, and he thought of all the awful consequences of Fíli, in particular, being out in the rain.

Only two days ago, the heir to the throne of Erebor had not even been allowed outside the tent, and despite Balin's assurances that the men's camp was not very far away Bilbo was beginning to panic a little.

Lightening crackled across the sky as the tent flap opened and a familiar young lad stuck his head into the tent. "I have a message for Bilbo Baggins?"

"Oh, uh, thank you," Bilbo stammered, before smiling quickly and gesturing for Bain to come into the tent. "Come in out of the rain. Everyone, this is Bain, Bard's son."

Bain smiled, giving a deep, respectful bow to the dwarves, before addressing Bilbo. "My Da asked me to tell you that Fíli and Kíli are sheltering from the rain in his tent - Kíli said you'd likely be worried about them."

Bilbo felt his whole body relax as his mind calmed. "Thank you very much, I was."

Bain smiled and nodded looking around at the dwarves. "I'll be heading back now, unless any of you need anything?"

"I think we're fine, thank you." Bilbo smiled. He had been very impressed with the young lads and lasses of Lake-town who had come up from the town to help in the aftermath of the battle. The sons of the soldiers ran errands and took messages throughout the tents, and some of them had proved invaluable for the healers, such as young Aled, the boy who Bilbo often saw in and around the company's tent.

"Just one minute, laddie," Dwalin spoke up as Bain turned to leave. "I heard tell it was your father who ended the life of Azog the Defiler."

Bain's chin tipped up a little proudly and he nodded. "Aye, it was."

Dwalin grinned at the lad. "Offer him our congratulations…and our thanks."

"I will." Bain beamed proudly, bowing once more before ducking out into the rain.

Bilbo had heard of the bowman's dramatic defeat of the Pale Orc right from Ori's lips, as the young dwarf had watched it happen, and he knew that Bard had very nearly lost his life fighting the vile creature. Instead, the barge-man had lived to gain the respect of his people, the dwarves and the elves, and Bilbo wondered whether the man thought it worth the nightmares.

Another growl of thunder made Bilbo jump again and he ran his hands over his jaw agitatedly.

"You'll have a lot worse than thunderstorms to face, weather wise, if you leave Erebor when you mean to, Bilbo."

The hobbit looked up at Ori in mild surprise. "I'm sorry?"

"You mean to leave as soon as you can, which would likely be in about two weeks, given the rate you're healing. By then winter will be almost upon us - you would have to travel through the Misty Mountains in the snow. Surely it makes more sense to leave in spring?" Ori argued softly.

"Not necessarily..." Balin sighed heavily before Bilbo could interject. "Politically, it would be better for them to leave sooner rather than later."

"Because of Bilbo's exile?" Ori frowned.

"No not at all – because of Kíli. There will be those more suspicious of his upbringing than we were and there may be those who will not want to accept him as his rightful position as prince. If we say Kíli returned to the Shire to recuperate after the battle they may be more likely to welcome you back again, should you ever wish to return."

"And it wouldn't necessarily be a lie, either." Dori pointed out a little weakly. "I can imagine that the Shire would be a good place to heal."

"On the other hand there'll be those wanting to meet him - and you too, Bilbo - they won't be impressed that you left so quickly." Dwalin countered darkly. "They'll think him weak for abandoning the city and they'll question his links to elves and the like."

Bilbo grimaced. "I never thought it would be this complicated to reunite Kíli with his family."

"Bet you never thought he'd be a prince, either." Nori pointed out. "None of you have even mentioned one of the biggest complications."

"What would that be?" The hobbit groaned.

"Fíli." Nori replied simply. "I have a strong suspicion he will want to accompany Kíli back to the Shire, and though I s'pose he needs just as much recuperation as his brother, I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't look good for both heirs of the throne to go gallivanting across the world again."

"Fíli should stay here," Balin said regretfully. "Tradition dictates-"

"Damn tradition," Dwalin argued with a scoff. "Do you want to be the one to separate those two again?"

"I said he should stay here, not that I wanted him to." Balin sighed softly. "Tradition dictates that any new directheir to a dwarven throne should stay in their kingdom for at least two years to symbolise their loyalty to their people. Usually the new heir is a babe so it means little, but in this situation there will be some who wish to apply the law to Fíli… There may be folk who would deem his leaving the mountain as treason."

"Aye, but if Thorin authorised it?" Glóin suggested. "They can't consider something treason if the king gives his consent for it to go ahead…"

"Besides, every king faces some form of opposition. They'll be folk getting their beards into a twist whatever we do." Dwalin pointed out.

"Unfortunately, my brother is right." Balin turned to Bilbo dejectedly. "And if- Mahal forbid it - anything were to happen to Fíli, the situation would become even more complicated."

"Nothing's going to happen to Fíli." Bilbo insisted firmly. "He is recovering just as well as I am, if not better, and he will be absolutely fine very soon. It is entirely his choice what he wants to do."

"What if we send them on a diplomatic mission to Ered Luin? They could stop through the Shire on the way…" Dori suggested.

"That's no good," Nori argued, though his voice lacked the agitation it usually housed when he argued with his brother. "They don't want to go to Ered Luin, they want to go home. 'Stopping through' would not be sufficient and you know it as well as I do."

"I find it rather amusing you're all debating my future as if I'm not here…" Bilbo thought aloud, backtracking when the eyes of the all the dwarves fell upon him. "Don't get me wrong, though, I'm very glad you are. Now at least I'm not the only one who is utterly confounded as to what would be the most sensible plan."

"Now I don't think there's such a thing as a 'most sensible plan'," Ori piped up, tugging on his mittens as he offered up his opinion, looking almost sheepish at having started the debate. "There are too many variables…too many potential problems and too many potential solutions."

Bifur spoke quickly in Khuzdul, adding in several Iglishmêk signs before tipping his head, his eyes boring into Óin's.

"From a healer's perspective?" Óin raised his eyebrows thoughtfully. "Well the soonest Bilbo will be able to travel is about two weeks, but that would have to be at least three before Fíli was well enough to make a journey of that magnitude. It would be better if they waited longer, but at the same time, Kíli is homesick – more so than our dear hobbit here. He's been through enough already; the best thing for him now would be to be home."

Complications whirled through Bilbo's head and he sighed. Only now was it dawning on him just how hard it would be to leave the mountain, or more accurately the friends he had gained on the way to the mountain, and he was no longer thinking of political difficulties.

"Greetings, all…" Dain Ironfoot grinned easily at the occupants of the tent as he came in out of the rain.

"Where's Thorin?" Dwalin asked casually over the various salutations.

"Speaking with the chief healer about when it will be possible to move the injured into the mountain." Dain explained, taking a seat and making himself comfortable.

Over the past week or so, Bilbo had found that he rather liked the Lord of the Iron Hills. Dain was an easy dwarf to get on with, with a friendly temperament like Bofur's that was merged strangely with the same lust for action that defined Dwalin. Bilbo had shared a couple of interesting conversations with the dwarf, who made it clear that he believed Bilbo's actions with the elves were justifiable and brave, if slightly foolish. Talking with Dain was as easy as talking with Bofur or Dori, though he was certainly rather more intimidating than Bilbo's friends.

Still, it was far easier to talk to Dain than it was to talk to Thorin. Ever since he woke, Bilbo's relationship with his son's uncle had been incredibly awkward. Thorin had apologised gruffly yet profusely for his actions and his blindness, and Bilbo had accepted the dwarf king's apology, but that did not mean that it was easy to talk to Thorin, even after two weeks.

Awkward was the only word to describe it.

"So, what's the riveting conversation going on here?" Dain clapped his hands together loudly.

"We were talking about an infuriating relative of our kings who likes to stick his nose into other people's business," Dwalin growled, though his eyes were light and his tone was teasing.

"Oh, you must mean that Dain fellow!" Dain replied in a low voice. "He is a rotten, nasty piece of work. No honour or discretion at all."

Bilbo snorted, amused at his companions' behaviour, and Balin chipped in.

"We were discussing the political complications of Kíli's desire to return home."

"Ah," Dain's face fell into a thoughtful frown. "Oh…"

"What's your opinion on it?" Bilbo asked curiously, and Dain shook his head slightly.

"What have you got so far?"

Dwalin efficiently summarised their conversation for Dain in a couple of minutes, and the Lord pursed his lips. "So… Let me make sure I understand you: Kíli and Bilbo need to get home, but it isn't decided whether or not they'll be staying there permanently or returning to Erebor. Fíli wants to stay with his brother for as long as possible but it's not really proper for an heir apparent to vanish into thin air. There may be folk who contest Kíli's – and maybe even Fíli's – status as prince if they do return, and there will be political and emotional repercussions whatever is decided. Have I missed anything out?"

"I don't think so…" Bilbo sighed heavily. "You probably know the politics better than I do…"

All of a sudden Dain's eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers. "They should go back to meet Dis. No one could dispute her right to see Kíli before all the other nobles and that – she's his mother and she hasn't seen him for years. We can manipulate that until it's politically a little more stable – there's plenty of time to add detail -, and Kíli and Bilbo can make up their minds about what they want to do while they're in the Shire. Dis would get to meet Kíli even if he did decide to stay in the Shire, and if that was his choice, Fíli can return to Erebor with his mother, which would ease the separation a little."

"That's the best idea any of us have come up with yet," Balin mused hopefully. "It might just work – Thorin would approve…"

"What's more, she'd be less likely to murder him if she saw her sons before she saw him." Dwalin pointed out.

"Murder him?" Bilbo raised an eyebrow.

Dain, Balin and Dwalin exchanged grins, and the eldest amongst them explained his brother's statement. "Look at it this way, laddie. How would you feel if you lost your son, thought he was dead for two decades, only to receive one letter from your brother telling you quite bluntly that he was alive but that he had joined a quest you feared would end in death without any formal training at all. Imagine that then your brother succumbs to a sickness that nearly gets both of your sons killed…"

Bilbo pursed his lips. "Hmm. Thorin's in big trouble, isn't he?"

"Aye," Dain chuckled loudly. "That he is … I cannot wait to see it!"

Okay, I hope that chapter was alright :) Not my best, I know, but I do have a few points:

-Now, I'm sorry to anyone who may be disappointed that I skipped ahead several weeks. I did write the next couple of days after the battle, but I felt that it was just dragging, with complications being added just because that seems to be what everyone does. What I ended up with was a whole chapter which went nowhere and just seemed like a rewrite of the typical people-get-injured-and-their-family-are-sad scenes that I love reading, but it did not feel like my writing at all. So, instead, I chose to skip ahead where I can move on the plot because THIS STORY DOES NOT END HERE. I suppose you could say that this is the end of the quest story arch, but I have so much more planned and I wanted to set some of that up rather than drag out the healing process. However, despite scrapping what I originally wrote for this chapter, I will write flashbacks to when Bilbo and Fíli woke up if you'd like? There will likely be flashbacks back to the first two/three weeks later, but if there's interest I can slip some in earlier than expected.

-Everyone survived: I just wanted to say that the survival of the entire company was not written in order to satisfy my desire to see them all live – it was done because I still need them all! Like I said, I still have plans to continue this story past the end of the book and there's not a single company member who won't play some kind of role in the near or distant future.

-In regards to Fíli being out and about so soon after the battle – it has been three weeks and the miraculous elven healing is a factor but another major factor is that the men's tents are literally very close in this story and he genuinely did not have to hobble far. Also, dwarves obviously heal very differently from humans, especially with elven medicine ;)

-Anyone who has any ideas for specific details regarding the politics and what they want to happen PLEASE LET ME KNOW because I haven't figured out the finer details yet. I know where I want to be, I'm only 90% sure of how to get there ;)

Now, I'm aware this is not my best chapter – it's a transitional chapter between the second main story arch (if we count Kíli's childhood as being the first) and the third main story arch and it has to introduce the new issues the characters are facing so I hope it's not too bad.

Please let me know what you think, I love your reviews so much :)