An: Thanks for all the nice reviews! c: I'm glad you liked the previous chapter, I was a bit worried with it.

And heyyyy, a long chapter this time!

"What are you thinking about?"

The question snapped Kili out of his thoughts, and he turned his head to glance at the elf. Sun was at its highest, beams of light shining through the leaves. It was warm, so Kili had taken off his jacket and the warmth had almost paralyzed him, causing him to fall deep into his own thoughts.

It was their fourth day in the woods. They had decided on the first day that keeping Kili with them when they needed to be alert in case of goblins arrived was a bad idea, so every evening they made a camp in a different location, a little further away from the palace. During the next day one guard -or Legolas- would stay by the camp with Kili while the others left to make sure everything around them was like it should, and when the sun started to set the other elves would return and they would travel for a few hours before setting a new camp. It wasn't the best plan, but that way Kili didn't have many opportunities to escape.

And today, his guard was nobody else than prince Legolas himself.

"Nothing in particular, really", Kili muttered an answer. "I just let my mind wander."

"Would you be a little clearer?" the prince asked, eyeing Kili. They had sat in silence for God-knows how long, and he was becoming rather bored. They still had hours before the guards would come back, and he didn't want to spend it in utter silence. Legolas knew that this dwarf wasn't the best partner for conversations, mostly because they both disliked each other, but he was the only one around.

Kili was a little hesitant to open his mouth, but then he realized that there was no reason for him not to tell his thoughts. They weren't exactly secrets he had been thinking about. And he couldn't lose anything by opening up a little - what was the worst thing that could happen if he just kept himself from mentioning Thorin? Kili also figured that keeping Legolas on his side would benefit him during their travel, and if just talking made that easier, why not?

"Well, for one thing, this whole place. I know I should think of this as a horrible place because of everything that has happened to me here, but I can't", Kili started, feeling a little awkward for some reason. As he spoke, he realized that being nice towards Legolas wouldn't be a bad plan. "This forest is beautiful. I can't help thinking that way."

"Do you have forests like this where you come from?"

"Nah", Kili replied, looking around himself. The tall trees surrounding them blocked most of the scenery, but it made it pretty in its own way. "I mean, we do have forests, but they are not like this. It's hard to explain, really."

Legolas nodded, eyeing their surroundings as well. "I grew up in this forest, I know it just as well as I know the palace. There is something about this place I love, something that many of us love. I'm not sure what that is, but trees are part of us. I couldn't imagine a life elsewhere. Climbing them is something we learn at young age, maybe that is the reason."

It sounded odd to Kili, that someone loved forests like that, but when he thought about it, maybe it was same kind of love that dwarves had towards jewelry and stone. It was something they couldn't really help because it was something they grew up with. Surely Kili himself wasn't that fond of cold stone and jewelry and gold because he hadn't been raised among them, but he would have picked them over trees anytime.

"I prefer to keep my feet on the ground", Kili shrugged, slightly amused because of the elf's passion towards the forest.

"You are a dwarf. I believe that you would fall from the first tree you climbed into."

"I doubt that, I'm actually good at climbing, I just don't like it too much."

Legolas raised his other eyebrow as he looked at Kili, a slight grin on his lips. "Dwarvish pride. You just have to be good at everything, or at least say that you are even if you are not. I will not judge you for not being good at climbing, you don't have to lie to me. As if it matters."

"I'm not lying!" Kili told the elf, crossing his arms as he glared at Legolas. "It seems that you want me to prove it."

"That won't be necessary", Legolas answered and leaned back, his back touching a thick tree's trunk behind him.

"Are you scared that I'm better than you?" Kili grinned even a little slyly, eyeing the elf for some kind of reaction. "I didn't think that the prince of Mirkwood would be that cowardly. I was thinking about some kind of race, but alright. We don't have to."

Legolas stared at Kili for a few seconds, through his narrowed eyes. It was hard to tell what the prince was thinking about, but Kili knew that the elf wouldn't say no. Maybe a little competition would be fun. At least it would kill some time, he thought and grinned at the elf. His actions were nothing else than a plot to survive and he knew it himself, but Legolas didn't seem to notice, and for that Kili was thankful.

Or even if the prince of Mirkwood did notice that Kili's smiles were mostly fake and forced, he did a good job at hiding his knowledge.

Finally Legolas nodded. "Fine. We shall see are you as good as you tell you are - whoever reaches the treetop first wins."

"Great", Kili laughed and stood up, stretching his numb legs a little. Legolas was on his feet in a mere second as well, eyeing the trees in order to find out what was the best for climbing, and soon decided that the one on the left from them was perfect. Its branches were lower than in the other trees, so Kili could easily grab them too. They both knew perfectly well that Legolas' height was his advantage, but on the other hand, Kili could slip through narrower spaces than the elf, probably helping him higher in the tree where the branched were really close to each other.

When both of them stood underneath the tree, Legolas looked down to the dwarf with an amused look on his face. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah. Are you ready to lose?"

"Don't be so sure about it."

"I am completely sure", Kili laughed and glanced up to the tree. It was high, higher than the highest tree Kili had ever climbed, but the challenge actually seemed fun. He hadn't lied when he had said that he was pretty good, but he also knew that Legolas was probably better, although that didn't stop him from giving his absolute best.

They counted and on three they both jumped up, Legolas swinging himself swiftly onto the lowest branch, while Kili followed not far behind, but far less swiftly. Legolas could have climbed at higher speed, but for everyone's safety he decided to slow down a little. Kili, on the other hand, went from branch to branch as quicklu as he just could, barely keeping up with Legolas' speed.

Halfway up the tree Kili noticed that on the other side of the trunk the branches grew closer to each other, so as he climbed up, he also moved to the side. Legolas, who was now a couple branched above Kili, snorted in amusement, stopping on his tracks for a second as he turned his head to glance down at the dwarf. "I am going slower than normally, and yet you are losing."

"Just wait and see", Kili breathed out, finally reaching Legolas' level again. He was slightly out of breath as he leaned his head against the trunk and eyed the elf. "Why did you stop? I don't need a break", he added with a grin. He started to notice that his wrist ached slightly, probably because of all the weight he had supported on it and because it hadn't yet fully healed, but he just ignored it and continued to grin.

"I only decided to let you reach me before continuing again", Legolas answered and suddenly realized that if some of his men saw them now, they wouldn't stop laughing for decades, possibly.

"That won't be necessary anymore, you will lose this one", Kili replied and grabbed the branch above him, swinging himself on it as Legolas shook his head. What on Ilúvatar's name was he doing? It was amusing, but something he had never thought he'd do. He was the prince of Mirkwood, after all. He was supposed to be a prince and not play with their prisoners. He would already be in deep trouble when they returned to the palace, his father hearing that he had climbed a tree with the dwarf would only worsen his situation.

Kili glanced down only to see Legolas just where he had left him. Why wasn't he climbing? Kili had just started to enjoy this, the climbing familiar and bringing up good memories. "Are you coming?" Kili called out, hanging by his hands from the frighteningly thin branch that bent under the weight of his body. "Or do we just climb down and agree that I won?"

Legolas' eyes met Kili's and he noticed the victorious grin on his lips, and that was when he made his decision. "Never, dwarf. I just got lost in my thoughts for a few seconds - you will lose."

And so they continued climbing, the branches getting thinner and thinner every time they climbed up to the point where Kili was certain they'd break under his feet. Luckily though, that didn't happen. Legolas was going his usual speed again, reaching Kili with no trouble. They both had gotten a little out of breath, Kili more than Legolas, but both anyways.

"I will see you in the treetop", Legolas said as he climbed up, leaving Kili behind. There were only a few branches anymore, and their speed had slowed down a lot because of all the new leaves and sticks poking at them, but Legolas was still faster than Kili. And when Kili reached the treetop, Legolas was already there, sitting on the branch and leaning his back against the trunk, grinning at the dwarf. "What did I tell you?"

"That was pure luck", Kili shrugged, rolling his eyes as he also sat down on the thin but long branch next to the one Legolas was sitting on. "If we ever did this again, I would win. You would have no chances of winning."

"You have big talks, Kili", the elf replied in an amused tone. He was trying to ignore the worry inside of him by convincing himself that nobody had seen them do this, and that he would get yelled at anyways.

Kili glanced at the prince. That was the first time Legolas had used his name around him, and it sounded odd to his ears after so many 'you's and 'dwarf's.

xx

The rest of the elves returned just when the sun was completely down, interrupting Kili's and Legolas' conversation about bows. Kili's knowledge about them had revealed Legolas Kili's choice of weapon, which had engulfed them to a deep conversation about how they worked, which was the best situation for them, how they were better than swords or axes and also how they were not. Kili had no idea how long they had talked about them, but he didn't mind. That was the first real conversation he had had in ages.

Kili flinched as Gwaen jumped down from his horse with such a power that even the horse neighed. Gwaen hadn't done as much as touched Kili during their travel, but his actions had been quick and forceful for those four days they had been there. It seemed that the presence of the prince -Kili guessed that it was because of Legolas and not the other guards, because the other guards hadn't been a problem to Gwaen earlier- kept Gwaen from abusing the dwarf. Kili was happy because of this, but he knew that soon it was Gwaen's turn to be his guard and only Mahal knew what would happen then.

As the other elves came down from their horses and settled down on the ground, ready to eat something, Kili could relax. Gwaen was sitting quite far from him, next to two guards Kili had already spent a day with, Úron and Roden, who happened to be brothers. The blonde brothers had been quite similar to each other, although Úron as a younger brother had been a little less uptight than Roden. Not that Roden had been bad - Roden had also been really kind towards the dwarf, but had seemed a little nervous and just uneasy with the whole situation.

The other two guards were still kind of nameless to Kili. He had heard both of their names once of twice, but hadn't really paid attention. As far as Kili knew, they were just normal guards like Aíthon, and well, he wasn't even interested in their names. The one with almost white hair had pushed Kili down a few times when nobody was watching them, so Kili had quickly started to dislike him. The other one had a bit brownish hair, and even though Kili hadn't interacted with him yet, he believed that this elf was nice. He just didn't seem mean.

"I suppose you are hungry as well", Legolas more asked than stated, raising another eyebrow at Kili. This yanked him back to the reality from his thoughts, once again.

"I'm starving", Kili replied, eyeing the elves all at once. As he moved on to Gwaen, their eyes met, and for a moment Kili felt the same kind of fear rush over him as in the dark corridors in the palace after his third escape attempt. The look in Gwaen's eyes was as cold as ever, and even though Kili knew that as long as he didn't cause any trouble, no trouble would come to him, he didn't like it.

"Let him starve", Gwaen said in a emotionless tone, never breaking their eye contact. "Would serve as a good reminder not to be so disrespectful."

"Not serving food serves as a good reminder", chuckled the white haired elf. Gwaen took his eyes off Kili to glance at the speaker, nodding with a smirk on his lips.

"I don't think starving the dwarf is a solution to anything", Legolas commented, sending a glare towards Gwaen. "He has not been, in any means, disrespectful today. Quite the opposite, I must say. If you have a problem towards him for no reason, keep it to yourself, Gwaen. We should be better than dwarves, and your actions don't really point to that."

Kili knew that Legolas meant well, but the part 'we should be better than dwarves' made something pinch inside. Anyways, he was relieved that Legolas had stood up to him. It was a pleasant surprise, and Kili couldn't help but wonder if all the relaxed and polite chatting had made that happen?

Úron glanced at Kili, his bright green eyes apologetic, and the dwarf nodded with a grin. It's okay.

As the stew was cooking on the fire, Legolas ordered Gwaen to go out into the forest and pick them some berries to eat. As Gwaen rose with a betrayed look on his face and disappeared into the woods around them, Kili couldn't help but smile as Legolas and he exchanged a look. Was this some kind of punishment?

Time passed and Kili found himself thinking more about all of that. He had spent a good while in the palace, and he had noticed some things. The first thing he thought about was that they had a lot of guards, really, a lot. Had not a single one of them wanted to look after Kili? What was that about, anyways? Looking after him. He had never heard that he needed someone to 'look after' him before during his many months in there. And why was the prince suddenly this eager to help him out? It was all so confusing.

Gwaen returned with some berries and handed them over to Legolas, who inspected them, probably to make sure they were fine to eat. Kili eyed this from where he sat close to the prince - he had almost forgotten what berries tasted like. Back home he would eat them almost every night before going to sleep, mainly because they were light but filled your half empty stomach nicely. Of course they also tasted delicious.

"Here you go", Legolas said soon, reaching over to Kili with the berries on his palm. "This is a good dessert, isn't it?"

The murderous look in Gwaen's eyes was priceless if you asked the dwarf, and he could have sworn that Legolas also enjoyed it.

xx

The next day Kili spent with the white haired elf. It seemed that the elf -Alvor, Kili reminded himself- wasn't pleased of how Legolas had treated him last evening, so he took it out on Kili. He didn't do much, only pushed him around a little and against a tree couple of times, causing a little bruises somewhere on Kili's back, but nothing more than that. Thankfully the elf believed that if harm was done on Kili, Legolas would take action and a sanction would be brought upon himself later on, and so Kili was almost safe.

When Alvor had had enough and finally left Kili alone, Kili found himself thinking once again. He couldn't come up with any reasonable explanation on why this was all happening, and it was driving him insane. He doubted he would have time alone with Legolas in a few days so he could ask, but he didn't want to wait. On the other hand, he wouldn't ask in front of the other elves.

It was frustrating, and Kili let it out by forcefully pulling out grass from the ground and throwing it as far as he could. Soon, though, Alvor spoke. "Hey! Stop it, dwarf! The ground isn't there for you to rip it apart, it is there to support your feet!"

"I don't think I am causing any serious harm on the ground by pulling out a little bit of grass", Kili sighed a little bitterly, not feeling up to fighting with the fool.

"I dare you to say that again", Alvor hissed, glaring at Kili from where he stood near a tree. Some part of Kili wanted to rebel, stand up and spit at the elf, but the more reasonable side of him that had grown a lot during his stay in Mirkwood -more or less thanks to the constant threat of Gwaen hurting him- told him to shut his mouth and apologize.

I am not apologizing, Kili thought and rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. Alvor kept glaring at Kili for a couple more seconds, probably trying to prove his point, before nodding in approval. It pissed Kili, how most of the elves really thought they were so much better than he was. Just because they were taller and had lived for far longer than he would ever live didn't mean they were royals compared to Kili!

Sooner or later, though, the sun started to set and the others returned. As Kili noticed Legolas riding towards the camp with his white horse, he shot up and walked up to him. They weren't far from the other elves, so Kili kept his voice down as he spoke. "I need to ask you something, but I don't want the guards to hear it."

For a moment Legolas looked kind of puzzled, but then nodded with a sigh. "I suppose we can step away from the others for a few minutes", he told Kili, to his big surprise. Kili hadn't thought that finding the time and place to talk with the prince would be that easy. "Alvor, did everything go well?" he continued, now looking at the white haired guard that stood not far from Kili.

"Everything went really well, the dwarf didn't cause any trouble, sir."

"I'm happy to hear that", Legolas answered, motioning Kili to jump on the horse. "We might as well ride as we speak. Do you not think so?"

Kili smirked, gritting his teeth. "I, uh, would rather keep my feet on the ground. I told you this yesterday."

Legolas nodded with a slight grin on his lips. "I remember. Fine, we can also walk as we talk."

"Great", Kili answered with a smile and a nod. "Where will we head?"

No sound echoed out as Legolas slid down from his horse and his feet met the ground. "Nowhere far. Just somewhere", he replied as he bound the pony to the nearest tree, making sure that she wouldn't run away. "Done."

Before they set off, Legolas turned to the guards and told them to start preparing the food, and that they wouldn't be gone for long. Nobody asked any questions, although Kili could see that Gwaen looked like he wasn't really agreeing with the idea, the way his face tensed up gave it all away to everyone. When Legolas turned around, Kili showed Gwaen the best victorious look he could pull off.

Review! I would love to hear what you think will happen and what has happened (that I haven't yet told you, perhaps) - I have these very awesome "I love Gwaen" stickers and I could send every reviewer one!

..no? You don't want them? ugh, alright.

Jokes aside, I hope you liked it!