Ri began to stir when she felt a drop of rain in her forehead. Everything felt right until she remembered the battle and her wound, then the pain came back. She let out a cry that made her face hurt all the more and her eyes shot open. At first she couldn't see much because it was dark and her eyes were still blurry but as her eyes adjusted to the gloom she could make out Kili's concerned face.
"Did we win?" she tried to say but it came out as a groan. She tried to push herself into a sitting position with her left elbow but a shot of pain came from her shoulder making her fall back down to the ground.
Kili helped her sit up and he pulled her into a position so that her back was resting on the boulder. "We have to get out of the rain." Ri managed to mumble.
Kili laughed. "It's not raining. The moon is out and the stars are shining. We do have to get back to the rest of the company though."
"But if it wasn't rain… Oh." Ri noticed the trickle of blood running down the left side of Kili's face from his temple. She noticed it was going to run into his eye so she lifted her good arm and wiped the blood away with her sleeve.
"I've seen you before, I can't quite remember where but you look familiar to me."
"Oh I'm Merrithrin, I brought you most of you're food when you stayed in Laketown." Ri said.
"Merrithrin, that name sounds Dwarvish! I'm Kili nephew of Thorin, often confused with my brother, the much less handsome, Fili. We will talk more about trivial things later. I think you're shoulder is dislocated and you've lost a lot of blood we need to get to the others."
Ri stood up then leant against the boulder while Kili got up. He winced in pain when he shifted his wright onto his left leg. "Are you alright to walk on that?" Ri asked.
"I'm sure it's just bruising." He said.
When they arrived at the tent where the injured were being treated, Kili, Despite his wounds rushed inside to try and find his brother and uncle. Meanwhile, Ri stayed back, trying as best she could to hold her shoulder in place. An elderly-looking dwarf cane out of the tent and strolled towards her. "Are ye hurt lass?" he asked, "I'm Balin."
"I'm Merrithrin. I think my shoulder is dislocated and my face feels like it's on fire." She replied.
"Come 'ere lass, we'll sort you out. Ye just need a wee bit o' stichin' in yer face and we need to pop that ol' shoulder back into place." He ushered her into the tent.
The tent was a sorry sight. Closest to the door were the people closest to death, there were people with severed limbs who's stumps were dripping blood into wooden pails, there were people with infected sword wounds, arrows protruding from various parts of the body and the odd earless one.
Ri shut her eyes tightly and tried to think about nice things but it didn't work. As Balin and Ri came towards the middle to back of the tent, there were beings in much less dire situations. She recognised most of the dwarves on raised wooden platforms, she also saw Legolas who had an arrow sticking out of his left bicep but seemed to be matter-of-factly unaware of it.
Balin guided Ri to a bench and sat her down. "Now lass, let's see yer situation." He said as he lifted her chin up. He glanced at her facial wound. "Goblin sword?"
"Dagger."
"Aye, those things 'll give ye a nasty bite even in the hands of one with half the sense of a rock." Laughed Balin.
Ri giggled as the dwarf started to clean the blood off her face and neck. "Mr. Balin?" Ri asked.
"Yes lass?"
"I was wondering why dwarves seem impervious to weapons. I mean they still get chopped up as much as we humans do but you guys seem to get on with it better."
Balin let out a deep fruity laugh. "Aye we do lass, we do, how you put it, 'get on with it'. See dwarf blood is a lot thicker than human blood, so it clots easier and we don't feel as much pain as humans."
"Well that explains a lot." She thought of Kili.
"Ok, lass. I've cleaned the blood off of yer face keep putting pressure on it with this," he handed her a cloth. "I'm going to go and find the lad Ori, much better at stichin' that I am." Balin started to walk away.
"Balin!" Ri called after him, he turned around. "Can you see if Kili's alright, he was hit in the head with a mace and he's bleeding a lot."
"Aye, lass. I'll find him."
Ri lay back on her bench, closed her eyes and sighed. She thought she had finished worrying when her mother died but the emotion was back, and she was worried about Kili. He had lost enough blood so that his face and upper-torso were covered and he probably had a cracked skull, she didn't even want to think about the foot. He was probably only worried about his good looks because of the broken nose. Even Dwarves would feel that she thought.
A hand patted her arm and she slowly opened her eyes and sat up. A young dwarf was standing next to her clutching a bag full of needles and cotton. She remembered Ori because he was always very sweet and polite when she brought him food, sometimes he would even give her a roll because he thought she looked 'too skinny for her own good'.
"Hello Merrithrin!" he chirped.
"Please, call me Ri, Ori."
"Hello Ri, so I hear you got between a goblin's dagger and it's target." He smiled as he pulled out a fine needle and threads the width of spider silk. "Actually I was caught on the backswing, just happened to be running past at the right moment." She joked.
"Uhm, Ri, I hope you don't mind me asking but I don't think you're shoulder is suppose to be that far down." He said as he pushed the needle into the side of the scratch closest to her eye. "Actually answer that once I've done stitching your face, we don't want you to move while I have a needle in your skin, could be bad for both of us."
The needle felt like tiny stings running down both sides of the gash, her main pain was now coming from her shoulder. It wasn't the same pain as her face; it was more of a deep continuous throbbing.
Ori finished stitching her face. "Yes Ori, I agree shoulders aren't supposed to look like mine does at the moment. Would you be a dear and get Balin back to pop it back in? I would myself but I can only use one arm at the moment."
He smiled and nodded. In a flash he was back with Balin who was carrying the arrow that had been in Legolas. He put that down on the ground next to Ri's bench. "Did you find Kili?" She asked as Balin got behind her and put both hands on her out of place shoulder. "I'm sorry lass," he popped her shoulder back in and she let out a yelp, "Kili is nowhere to be found"
The noise of a great trumpet sounded and Balin bowed his head. "What Balin? What does that mean?" Ri asked in a panic as she looked around the tent and saw all heads bowed.
Balin replied softly, "One of the line of Durin is dead."