An: Time for the 'real' chapter c: hope you like it! We'll also see a dwarf I introduced in one previous chapter - do you still remember her? ;)

He had been traveling for a good few weeks already, his pace slow but steady. Every morning he woke up early, rode until he got hungry, stopped to eat and then continued traveling until Saturn got tired or the sun started to set. Then he ate again, gave his pony a vegetable or two and got some sleep.

This day hadn't been any different. It had rained hard, but it had been quite a warm rain, so it hadn't bothered Kili. That had been the most exciting thing to happen since his escape.

His shoulder was beginning to be fully okay. A sting Kili could hardly feel flashed in his shoulder if he tried to raise his arm, but besides that it was fine. He was glad that most of his old scars and bruises were all faded away too. Sure, he had a couple of white, barely visible lines on his arms where Gwaen had cut him a long time ago, in order to get some blood out of him. He still remembered that like it had happened yesterday, and it still sent shivers down his spine. It was one of the most painful things he had ever gone through and honestly, he never wanted to experience it again.

As he relaxed on the blanket he had once again laid on the chilly ground, he opened his eyes and stared at the stars. He had done that a lot during the last few weeks - there was nothing better to do, and the stars were beautiful anyways. He knew that Fili would laugh at him for being such a fool, but somehow after being held inside for months, seeing a dark night sky and some stars was.. it was an incredible feeling. It reminded Kili that he was finally free again.

Not that he forgot he was. The one, same thought kept finding its way back into his mind, no matter where he was - I'm heading home. That was practically the only thing he could think about, his home and his family.

He kept thinking about Fili, his mother and Thorin, but also Gimli, Daín, Dwalin and his friends. How everyone would react. Who would give him a hug, who would ask for every single detail, who would personally march to Mirkwood and single-handedly strangle everyone who had hurt him?

Fili would do all three, Kili realized and grinned in the darkness. I know he would. Will? I don't know.. Although he wouldn't march there alone. Mom and uncle would join him, and probably Daín, too. Oh Mahal, if they did that, we'd all be in trouble. Perhaps I shouldn't tell them the truth? They really would travel there and hurt some-

Kili's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden cough. Jumping up from the blanket he felt his heart starting to race. Someone had coughed and that someone was really near.

He wasn't exactly surrounded by stuff to hide behind, but there were a lot of bushes around him, and since it was pitch black...

Gathering his courage by drawing in a deep breath, Kili spoke. He tried to keep his voice as still as he could. He didn't want it to shake now when he really needed to be brave. Somehow his holiday in Mirkwood had eaten away some of his 'arrogance', 'stupidity' and 'bravery'. Dís had used them many times to describe her youngest son. "I heard you! Why are you such a coward - come out!"

Sure enough, another noise echoed from a bush behind Kili, and the young dwarf spun around to face the sound. "I mean it! Don't just hide in there like a scared mouse, or are you one?"

"Shut up", said a stranger's voice, low and dangerous, as a tall figure stepped from the bushes where he had obviously been kneeling. He approached Kili, and in the dim light from the moon and the stars, Kili saw a knife flashing in the man's hand. "Give me your bags."

Backing a step, Kili shook his head. "No. They are mine."

"I hope you are kidding now. I will not hurt you if you hand them over willingly."

"Are you deaf? I said no."

His heart was racing in his chest. If only he had a weapon of some kind - even as little as a butter knife! All he had was a spoon, but even that was in one of his bags. All three of them stood near his blanket, behind Kili's back. The man wouldn't get to them before Kili was out of the way, both of them knew it.

"I will count to three", snarled the man, "and by three, you will either taste this blade or you step aside. One."

Wha- oh, Mahal. What now? I can't let him tak-

"Two."

Not going to happen.

Working on pure instinct, Kili jumped forward and grabbed the man's wrists, bending them down as hard and as fast as he could. The man cried out and flinched back, but Kili's grip held. Well, so did the man's, and the knife stayed still in his hand.

"Three!" the man yelled, swinging his arms up and free from Kili's hold. In less than a second the man had his arms lowered and ready to shove the knife deep inside Kili's flesh, but the dwarf was faster and dodged the blade although he could almost feel the tip of the blade scratching his skin. Taking a quick step back, Kili bent down and almost lost his balance as the man swung his knife again, but stayed on his feet.

Lashing out for the third time the man managed to hit Kili with his knife. It was a quick, almost so quick that Kili didn't feel the knife entering his arm before it was already out, but the pain following was strong and sharp and made Kili cry out.

I can't let this psycho win, Kili thought as he quickly covered the wound on his left arm with his right. I can't. I need them more than he does.

Not thinking, Kili took a step back before launching at the man, their bodies colliding. Unable to use his left arm again, Kili had to be creative but that had worked, so who cared?

The man let out a yell -what a weakling, Kili thought- as his back hit the ground. Kili gritted his teeth and sat up, bringing his right hand down on the man's face, hitting him again and again. He ignored the pain in his knuckles - he needed to buy himself some time to pack his things and leave again. Kili didn't stop until the man stopped struggling and his head lolled to the left, the right side of his head bloody and bruised.

Panting and in pain, the young dwarf let his body fall onto the ground next to the man, trying to steady his breathing and to move through the throbbing pain in his arm, just above his elbow, where the knife had hit. Kili could feel blood dripping down his arm and onto the ground, but he couldn't find the power to rise just yet to bind it. It could wait a few seconds more.

xx

The next day he almost fell asleep while riding. He hadn't slept well since the deep wound kept aching, burning and hurting. He had fallen asleep but woken up a while later to a horrible pain, only to find out that he had rolled over in his sleep and laid a lot of weight on top of the wound. After that he hadn't really slept, only drifted off for short periods of time before waking up because of the pain again.

It didn't hurt too bad anymore, it had even mostly stopped bleeding, and now when there was no pain to keep him awake, he found it hard to keep his eyes open.

For a moment longer he rode, struggling through the exhaustion, before he finally gave up and stopped. Kili jumped down from the pony and immediately crashed down, careful with his arm. It didn't take him long to fall asleep.

When he woke up, the day was mostly over. The sun wasn't exactly setting but it was low on the sky and it would be dark in a matter of hours.

He hadn't meant to sleep that long, and it annoyed him now. He had wasted a full day, and now he wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Uh, well does it even matter anymore? I might as well camp here for the night. This seems like a safe location anyways - I'll make myself some food and continue traveling when the sun rises. I could prepare some warm food this time, I still have plenty of potatoes and if I throw in some carrots it could be actually good. It's a shame I don't have any meat.

Quickly he gathered some wood and made a fire, sacrificing some water from his flask to boil the potatoes and the carrots. By the time the food was done, the sun was already down.

Just as Kili took a bowlful of the food he had made, he heard something. Not again, he thought, but kept listening carefully, his heart pounding in his chest. He recognized them as footsteps. Plenty of footsteps, actually. There seemed to be a lot of people walking, whoever they were. Then he heard some talking - what they said, or what language they spoke was unclear, but there was definitely talking.

Judging by the heavy sound of their steps they couldn't be elves or goblins. Elves didn't make a sound as they moved, and goblins just.. they didn't sound like that.

That knowledge gave Kili some comfort and hope. Maybe they were good guys? He hated to admit it, but he also needed help with the wound. It needed to be washed so it wouldn't catch any infections, and Kili just didn't have enough water to do so. It would be just enough until he got to Bree, from where he could buy some more. And anyways, some company wouldn't hurt. His pony wasn't really talkative, and he was bored of being all alone.

He left his bowl on the ground and stood up. There was maybe 15 meters between him and the road which lead almost straight to Blue Mountains, and so he quickly hurried the way. From there he could see a faint group of people walking to his direction in the surrounding darkness.

They are really short to be men, Kili thought, and suddenly realized something just as he recognized someone. She also seemed to recognize Kili, because for a moment she halted, before rushing towards him again.

"Kili!" called out the fiery haired female dwarf Kili knew well, a warm smile on her lips. The sight of Tuli made Kili immediately feel safe.

Eyeing the rest of the group, Kili also recognized three others, Rapu, Tapu and Penni, but the other four were unknown to him.

Rapu, Tapu and Penni were siblings. Rapu, the oldest of the trio, was a few years older than Fili. Tapu was the middle one. He was one year older than Kili was - they had been friends as kids. There wasn't that much to know about the brothers, actually. They were young but already fierce warriors, trained by their parents who had fought in many wars. They looked kinda similar, both of them had brown hair and green eyes, even though Rapu was slightly darker than his smaller brother.

Penni, the youngest, was the only girl. Kili had had a major crush on her as kids - she was two years younger than Kili, so almost the same age. She wasn't as dark-haired as Rapu, but still darker than Tapu. What made her look unique was her clear blue eyes. Some part of Kili still liked her - unfortunately she had never returned the feelings, and never would. She had always liked Fili more anyways.

Kili grinned, turning his head back to the redhead of the company who was now closer. "Tuli, I'm so relieved you're here - I need your help."

Her smile disappeared and the group stopped. "What is it? Did you hurt yourself again?"

"Again? You've never seen me hurt", Kili answered with a dry laugh, showing her his wound. "But yeah, although it wasn't my fault. I was attacked."

"Believe me, I have heard enough stories from your brother to know, even if I haven't seen it happen", she said, eyeing the young dwarf with somewhat worried amusement in her eyes after glancing at the wound. "Is that your camp over there?" she asked, pointing at the place where Kili had peacefully spent the day. There was no hesitation in her voice, and Kili really liked how eager she was to help.

The youngest dwarf nodded. "It is."

Tuli ordered the rest of the group to continue their travel while she stayed with Kili. He would have liked to change a couple of words with Penni and her brothers, but they all seemed eager to continue traveling already, so Kili let it go and watched them as they walked past, some of them muttering a hello.

"So, do you want to tell me what happened?" Tuli asked as they sat down, shuffling through her bag. "And I don't mean just your wound. Nobody has told me anything, but I know that everyone's grief has something to do with you. Fili and your uncle returning to Iron Hills, broken and sobbing, without you. King Daín going all crazy in Lake-Town, shouting your name- what is all that about?"

God. He didn't know if he could tell her about it, he hadn't still decided whether or not he would tell anyone what really happened. It was complicated.

"See, Tuli, I don't know if I can-" Kili started hesitantly only to be cut off by her.

"You tell me the truth, boy", she said, "or I will cut off your hair", she added with a chuckle, although there was a serious tone in her laugh. Kili groaned; he knew arguing wouldn't do anything. She would keep pushing it until he told her - she was as stubborn, or even slightly more, than Thorin was, and that dwarf really was stubborn. Everyone could agree on that fact.

Sighing deeply, Kili nodded. "Long story short, I got in trouble and everyone thought I was dead", he simply said, shrugging like it was not a big deal. "Took me a while to figure out how to.. how to make things right and be able to get home. I was badly injured at one point, or actually a few points, so it wasn't too easy to just leave. But here I am now, on my way home."

Tuli nodded, not looking up to see Kili, as she was still shuffling through the bag. "Uh-huh. And what kind of trouble was that?"

"It included elves", Kili said, as it was general knowledge by now. Everyone knew that elves had 'found' the shirt of his, stained with blood. "And fighting. A lot of fighting."

Now Tuli looked up, furrowing her brows. She didn't seem satisfied with the answer, but after a few long seconds her face relaxed and she nodded. "Fine. Keep it to yourself - all that matters is that you're here now. Where is your wound? Let me take a look."

xx

"Don't you have to join the others?" Kili asked as Tuli was done bandaging the wound. The female dwarf shook her head, her red, braided hair jumping on each side of her head.

"No. They can manage alone for a moment just fine", she replied, leaning back where he sat next to Kili. The fire rattled in front of them, illuminating the surroundings a little.

"Won't Daín wonder where you are if you don't arrive at the same time with the others?" Kili asked another question, glancing at Tuli, who looked back with sheer amusement glimmering in her eyes.

"You ask a lot of questions, Kili. But no, he will not. I'm free from service for another month and a half, and I'm free to do what I like during this time", she explained, ducking her head. "I broke my ankle a month ago. It's almost fine now, even if it aches after a while of walking. Still, king Daín will not let me work before it's fully healed, and that will take time."

Kili chuckled. "You are giving your ankle time to heal, and you use it by wandering around Middle-Earth? You should have taken a pony or something", he told her, holding the bowl of mashed potatoes in his hands. It wasn't hot anymore, the food was already kind of cold, actually, but it was good. "Do you want some?"

Shaking her head, Tuli opened her mouth. "I'm good. Oh, I just remembered something. Have you been in touch with your brother yet?"

Furrowing his brows, Kili shook his head. "I haven't. Why?"

"When he and Thorin left Iron Hills to return home, Fili promised to write me, but I haven't received anything. As he always tends to keep his promises, I'm worried about him", Tuli explained, looking at Kili in a very apologetic way.

Why wouldn't he be fine? He probably forgot because he thought I was dead, Kili thought and shrugged. "He's probably fine. Just forgot to."

"There's more than that, Kili", Tuli sighed. "The winter was harsh, as you probably noticed." Actually, I didn't, but good to know. "They left Iron Hills a few weeks before the big storm - it was snowy and it was freezing everywhere outside. They had to travel home in that weather. It hasn't been that cold in decades! And I just.. I hope he's okay, but I'm not sure anymore."