A/N: Hey there. I know it's been another two weeks, but I have 3 quizzes, 4 homeworks and 1 lab report to deliver every week. Also, I had an annoying doze of writer's block lately and I hated every part of it. Thankfully, it all went away and I'm proud of what I did with this episode. it's 6,734 words, my longest so far! (without adding the A/N of course) Hope you like it as much as I do, because I wanted it to be worth the wait.

Now the reviews! whiteredebony: you really motivated me to write this chapter, knowing that someone waits for this story makes me write more eagerly. so thank you! :3 Miriel Tolkien: I'm sorry I've been absent for another 2 weeks, but I promise you'll get more relationship developments + ADVENTURE in this one! Thank you for sticking around. Kaiya's Watergarden: Thank you and welcome to the story! Here's a new one for you. Jennifer: We'll see how they handle being friends! :) and i'll include a summery down there, just for you. GingerSpice-8675309: Thanks! :) Guest: hahaha thank you for reading! I know Gandalf is a bit though, but you gotta understand the man, he's trying to do what's best for his world.

A Tiny Summary: On the last one, our darling ones was ambushed by some Wildmen of Dunland, and they had mistaken Fai for a Rohirrim girl. Kili, ever the chevalier, got Fai and sneaked out from the battleground and they had a chance to talk as the rest of the Company was oh so kind to behead some Dunlendings for their well-being.

Here you go!


.oOo.


Even though he was all for waiting on Oin, Kili did neither protested, nor scolded Fai when she pulled the blade out from her leg at once. Calling truce had informally forbidden the basic elements of their interactions; such as constantly snapping, yelling and all kinds of moodiness. Kili hadn't let a word out even when she had winced and cursed in the moment the blade had slid out, he just looked away for a moment and slightly frowned. I won't freak out, the young heir fought himself and turned his gaze back to the girl, even if you chop your own head off, no, not even then.

"I asked you to do it, you know." Fai reminded with a touch of crankiness in her voice.

"I still think that none of us should have done it."

The sound of the ripping fabric accompanied his words as he teared a piece from the tails of his blue hood. Catching on his intention, Fai bend her injured leg to avoid his touch. Her wound was in the back of her thigh, near to the side of it, a handbreadth below her bum. She reached out and grabbed the cloth from his hand, and once again surprised by how blunt that young Dwarf can be sometimes. Not taking the hint, Kili searched her eyes for an explanation and tugged at the other hand of the cloth, refusing to give it.

"Better do that myself now, don't you think?" A sarcastic smile tugged at her lip, she brought her hand over her wound, her fingertip casually drawing circles around it to imply how inappropriate it would be for him to touch her there. When he finally had figured it out, he blushed so hard that Fai wanted to touch his cheeks and feel how much they burned.

After he looked away and gave her more privacy than needed, she quickly tied the cloth around her wound really tight. It was bleeding much less than she expected, so the fingers were crossed for having a stitchless recovery. Her mind tangled up in the fears of possible incidents to come, Fai wanted to heal at the earliest. A sigh escaped her mouth as she tried to collect her thoughts. Even though it felt like hours, it had been barely more than ten minutes since they ran away from the scrimmage. Coming to her senses little by little, she began to feel restless about the absence of the lads.

"What's taking them so long, are they alright?" Her voice gave away how uneasy she was, and weirdly, it made Kili laugh.

"Oh my, where do you think we are?" he asked, raising his eyebrows in amusement. "We ran just half a yard away. I can see them behind this huge rock you lean. How else would I be this calm, without knowing that my brother is safe? I've counted them at least a dozen times, they are standing there, all 14 of them."

"14? I thought Ganda-"

"No, he's back. And that, my lady, is the main reason why I'm not eager to have them over. I guess him and Thorin are fighting for the last five minutes or so and the more they laten, less grumpiness we'll witness."

It was no good. Fai started to bite on her lower lip as she do whenever she's stressed out. She knew that in all likelihood, she was the cause of their argument. She didn't have to be there to say how the argument goes. It wasn't hard to guess what Thorin was yelling back there. Like taking care of her wasn't a burden enough, now random men on the road was kicking up storms for her.

Another worrisome thought added to the bundle, Fai sat there quietly, pensively playing with the ends of the knot around her leg. Figuring the reason behind the sudden downfall in her spirit, Kili also kept quiet and wished that Thorin won't be giving her hell for the following days to come. All in all, it wasn't exactly her fault. A part of him was nagging to make him talk to her, for it felt nice to get along at last. He wanted to explore this brand new feeling and discover its limits, what it really was. He wanted to have deep, long conversations with her, yet her face made it crystal clear that to be left alone was what she really needed.

Not much time had passed when Bombur, Oin and Fili showed up. They looked jaded and a bit worn out. Fili was busy sheathing his numerous blades, and with a quick glance, Fai noticed that none was injured. Needless to say, it was a huge relief.

"By my beard, lads gonna fight till the mornin'!" Bombur grouched and laid flat on the ground like a sack of potatoes, causing the dust cloud up around him. Sighing with tiredness, Fili nimbly knelt beside Fai and grabbed the shoulder of his brother who sat right next to the girl.

"Zûr zu?*"

"Ghelekhur, razu?**"

"I'm fine as well. Not injured or anything." Fili smiled and gave Kili a squeeze in the shoulder before pulling his hand back. His gaze wandered and found Fai's as his smile faded away. "As for you, sis, it's impossible to have you safe and sound. I see you guys have taken care of the knif-"

When Kili noticed the little word he slipped in between, a puzzled impression flashed out on his face and he found himself wondering when did they find the chance to get this close, and why Fili hadn't mention anything. To be honest, constantly fighting with Fai and storming off, it was only natural for him to miss things. Also, he was the one to neglect her for days, and even before that, he had refused to see her because of her wounds. That was a bunch of time and Kili was absent in all of them. Fili was the one to take care of her, he was there to lift her spirit up and he had even taught her how to use her blades. Kili once more regretted the action he took, and something buckled in the pit of his stomach with envy; he wanted to know what it felt like to be close to her.

It was Fai who interrupted Fili's words with a trying smile, for she really wanted to avoid another i-have-failed-my-duty talk. It felt sad when Fili is angry with himself. "I did. Your wuss of a brother here refused to touch it."

"Hey now?" Kili protested, but none of them paid attention.

"Impressive, love! From fainting in forests to pulling out knives from your own leg. Well, that's what I call progress. Let's have Oin checking on you though, you don't wanna get it infected."

The brothers moved over for giving Oin the space he needed, and the old Dwarf untied the knot in her thigh with an impish smile on his face. "You, my child," he started, "You're gonna be the end of my Ointment. My whole time passes treating you! You're even worse than Fili and Kili's Dwarfling years."

Fai smiled but Oin only had half of her attention, for she was trying to eavesdrop on the whisperings between two brothers which was obviously exchanging details about Thorin and Gandalf's fight. But she couldn't hear a thing and the conversation got interrupted with more Dwarrows joining them. Most of the threw themselves on their backs flat, and for a while nothing but huffs and puffs in the air. So the fight was that exhausting.

"Is it really that bad?" Kili asked, looking at the field of Dwarrows lying ahead.

"Well, that, and my dear lad, we've been on the road for bloody hours! We all need some rest." Bofur complained, raising her head from where he lay a bit to make eye contact. His head thumped against the ground when he finished his sentenced. Some of the Dwarrows were already snoring.

Only Gandalf, Thorin, Balin, Dwalin and Bilbo were absent. Having her wound dressed properly, Fai thought it might be the only chance to get some rest for the night. Feeling her eyelids getting heavier, she didn't even bother to fight it. Straightening her back to a more comfortable position, she sighed and finally let go.


.oOo.


Fai didn't know for how long she used Kili's shoulder as a pillow, she wasn't even aware of where her head rested before the rest of the company had joined them and woke her up. She wanted to look around but her head wasn't moving, for Kili's head was resting on top of hers. When her wriggling pulled the prince out of his sleep, they quickly gathered themselves like it was nothing, and hoped for their slightly reddened cheeks would go unnoticed. The Dwarrows were all around them and Fai could have sworn that she spotted a cheeky smile on Bofur's face, but then she got distracted by another thing which made everything else insignificant.

The King Under the Mountain, with a deadly expression on his face. He was fuming. His eyes darkened with rage, he looked like he could use another scrimmage at the moment, too bad that they had vanquished all the Dunlendings. Fai tried to avoid eye contact at all costs, it felt like his gaze could sear through her. When Gandalf made a sudden appearance and asked whether she wanted to take a walk, it was the first time she felt happy for him creeping up on her.

Walking with an injured leg was easier than she thought, for the knife was buried with an angle and cut through around an inch from the surface, the wound wasn't as serious as one might imagine. Still, it stung. She was limping beside the old wizard as they grew away from the company. Smoking on his pipe, the Wizard was looking weary from the earlier fight. Apart from leaning a little occasionally to help with Fai's pace, he didn't do anything to reveal his intentions. Yet, Fai knew. Why else would he took her for a walk with an injured leg? Not wanting to drag out any longer, she huffed.

"Alright, tell me. How bad it is?"

They stopped walking and in return, Gandalf huffed too. "He wants to know why I insist on carrying you around. He wants to know what it's with you. I shut him up again, but I don't know for how long."

Softly palming his face, Fai tried to think in the comforting darkness she pulled before her eyes. She definitely wasn't trusting of him, letting her secret out to Thorin would not only be the end of her, but their quest and probably their lives as well. Distracting him with such power, he'd be out of his mind. She wanted to keep them safe, and as her life in the Middle-Earth carried on, she figured out that the best way to protect them was to be nonexistent. Things were beyond her, and even she knew what's going to happen beforehand, avoiding the danger was nearly impossible when she was just a little human from the Earth.

"We have to give him at least something." she bemoaned, not knowing what that something really is. They started roaming again and after a long exhale, Gandalf opposed. Smoke clouded around his face, she couldn't see his face but his voice was notably determined.

"We can't afford to have him find out about you. It would only be disastrous. Now child, we must come up with another story."

"But Gandalf, I don't want to invent lies.. And you know, there isn't a story reliable enough to make them settle with the fact that you, brought a young woman to a very dangerous quest. Bilbo is one thing, he has a purpose, but what's your excuse for me when I can't even fight?"

"Don't be unfair to yourself," Gandalf laughed, seeing how lightheaded that pipe makes him sometimes, Fai really wanted a drag of it. "I only brought you to Rivendell. To plow ahead was your own decision, and to be quite honest, it ceases make sense to me. Preferring this quest over the hospitality of the kindest Elf of all, well, it's another one of your mysteries."

"Are you serious? I grew up with this book! I couldn't miss the chance to be in it. I'm well aware of the fact that I am a bloody fool, but I can't help it. I may die here, but trust me, even my death will be more interesting than how it would be on Earth."

Then silence took over. There was nothing left to talk about, at least for the nonce. They began to walk the path to reunite with the others but Fai would sacrifice a lot to stay out of Thorin's sight. It must be a couple hours till dawn breaks. Being the ultimate all-nighter, she had the ability to tell the time at any point of the night. The dark could look the same, but she always knew.

Occupying her mind with the most irrelevant thoughts, Fai did her best to stay under the radar when they got back. Seeing them all packed up and ready to leave, a part of her inside wailed from tiredness. Taking cover behind the Dwarrows, she made her way to Fili and Kili's side, as Thorin grumbled something about being late and moving on.

Following aimpatiently striding Thorin, the Company was glad to finally have some trees and bushes around. They weren't out in the open anymore, and with its confidence they keep walking even faster. Fili, Kili and Fai were at the ends of the convoy for a, Fai wanted to be away from Thorin and b, the brothers insisted that she must take it easy with that injured leg. None of them spoke, everybody wanted to move along as quick as possible and be done with it for the day. They were tired and hungry, and that wasn't a good pair to be for the Dwarrows. They were so down and out that walking had became monotonous.

But then, something happened.

A Warg's cry pierced through the night. Everything stopped for a moment, than more Warg voices followed. When Gandalf roared for them to run, it didn't matter how weary they were, they even put blinking aside and did nothing but run. Fai felt the blood drain from her body with fear but she couldn't let it take over. Haunted by the numerous images of what was to come, she sprinted among two young heirs of Durin and didn't take any notice of how the wound stung.

Her scream dissolved into the Wargs when she saw Bilbo falling behind, but the brothers didn't let her stop. She bellowed the Hobbit's name in panic, as a Warg trapped him in front of a boulder. Fai lost sight of the Hobbit and prayed the Valar for his salvation. It is surely beyond doubt that she knew Bilbo originally had to survive, but with her unexpected presence in Arda, she wasn't sure about anything anymore. Her vision was shaky for they kept running, but sure as death she saw the tip of Bilbo's glowing sword knocking through the Warg's skull. Heaving a sigh of relief, she stopped looking over her shoulder and turned her gaze to what's ahead.

It was amazing how her reflexes work, because she definitely didn't remember when she pulled out her knives. Being the defenseless girl to the one who runs her guard up even though she's wounded, she had hard time believing it. To their left, there was Ori with Dwalin's hammer, swinging it around surprisingly well. Fai saw him stunning one of the Wargs with a dash of the hammer. Thorin immediately seized the opportunity and killed stabbed the beast in his head.

Running at full steam, it beat them hollow to see their path had led them to a dead end. There were pine trees lined up, and at the end it was nothing but a cliff. Looking back again, they saw that it was no ordinary Orc pack like they had taken down rather easy. These monsters were neverending this time, with just a single glance, Fai already had counted 15 of them. Dwarrows were trying to keep them away, Kili was shooting arrows and Bifur was throwing rocks at them. In a little while, being cornered with nothing else to do, they started climbing on the trees.

Except, it wasn't so easy for her. All of the Dwarrows, even Bombur, had found a way to pull themselves up as Fai looked up and searched for a lower branch. Wargs were running rapidly, attacking trees on their way. She had just found a branch that was secure enough and pulled herself up when she noticed that Bilbo wasn't around.

"BILBO!"

Her cry alarmed the others and she found herself hanging in the air instead of hitting the ground when she attempted to jumped from the tree. Struggling with the arms that caught her, eventually one of them pulled her to his own side and wrapped one of his arms around her in order to make her stand still. His free hand was covering her mouth, then she heard his voice.

"Please, don't - the tree is not strong enough, don't draw the beasts here!"

It was Kili, constantly begging her to be calm. They stood like that for another minute, with him holding her tightly and mumbling sweet nothings to keep her from struggling. When he was convinced that she would be quiet, he carefully let go of her and reached for an arrow from his back. As he shot a Warg in the middle of its skull, Fai's eyes caught a glimpse of the Hobbit's neon sword, and in seconds he was on a tree next to theirs with Ori.

All the trees were occupied. Fai looked and saw Dwalin and Nori on the tree right in front of them. Her eyes also found Gandalf's grey robe at the backmost, the Wizard was settled on the tree on the edge. And behind them, there was Balin, and Thorin. Even though they were trees apart, the girl still managed to see the fire burning in his eyes. His face was crooked with rage, darkened even, and his gaze wasn't moving an inch. It was nailed on to something that made all the hate in the world gather up in his eyeballs. It was dripping on him, so intense that Fai thought she would drop dead. She didn't thought he was this angry at her, he looked like he wanted to slaughter. Fa, wanted to look away but somehow couldn't, so she didn't realize the actual subject of his gaze.

"At last.." Thorin grumbled. His voice was stiff and impatient. He held onto his shield tighter and expectantly squirmed on the branch he nested. Balin to his side was no way near being keen. His face was the absolute contrary. He looked sorrowful.

Then Fai figured it out. She turned so quick that she thought her neck would break, but nothing mattered in that moment, for the one stood under the trees. His expression looked disturbingly similar to Thorin. The hate was undoubtedly identical, the creature's little marbles of eyes were filled with hatred far more than they could take. His pale skin covered in bright pink, old scars was stretched with animosity. He lacked one arm, the arm Thorin Oakenshield had cut off long time ago. There was a bifurcated, crooked, rusty iron bar stabbed in the ghost of his lower arm. Maybe it was useful for taking a man or two, but it was no way a good alternate to what he once had. Looking at his miserable makeshift arm, Fai saw the momentarily smirk on Thorin's face.

There he stood, right under them.

Azog the Defiler.

After this short reunion filled with blind hatred, the Warg attack started again. Climbing halfway through on the trees and pulling the trees to the pieces with their claws, this time they were even more barbarous. Kili hanged his bow on his back again and pinned Fai against the tree, for the tree was shaking insanely. Her heart skipped a beat when she noticed how close they were standing, and a little -so little that it could easily go unnoticed- gasp gave away that Kili's did too. Their faces were only inches away and Fai once again was busy swearing a blue streak within her, for being distracted by him in the most inappropriate time imaginable. When a Warg headbutted the tree again, he held him even tighter, and they both nervously turned their heads away.

She could thank the Warg who knocked over Ori and Bilbo's tree.

Because it collided onto their tree, and Bilbo and Ori had to jump from it. So they did, with Ori landing right beside Fili; and Bilbo nearly on top of Kili and Fai. The pair quickly pulled away from each other in order to catch the Hobbit, but they find themselves standing askew as their tree was tumbling as well. So began the domino effect, and Fai couldn't count how many trees they had switched. At one point, Dwalin hold her and swung her away to a distant branch, where she was caught by Bofur. And it was totally a work of primitive reflexes when Kili had thrown Bilbo at her and she somehow managed to catch it. Just like that, they were finally settled on the last tree standing, with Gandalf on top of them and a huge, endless gap lying beneath the tree.

Azog's cruel, annoying cackle heard for this time the company was really cornered.

Or so he taught.

With a stupid, yet effective reflex, Fai saw her hands caging a burning, inflamed pine cone without a second of hesitation. Oh, did she know what to do! With excitement, she juggled the cone for a little as she tried to aim, and shot it out in front of the Wargs. Her hand was burning little, instant burns but she didn't mind, for her leg was giving her more hell than some little flaming cones. After she threw the first one, she'd been handed a second immediately, and so on, they successfully set a protective semicircle fire in front of their tree. There was no Wargs under them anymore, and Fai saw the infuriated look on Azog's face behind the flames.

The Dwarrows from all the branches around started cheering. Balin and Dwalin's voices were the loudest and Fai saw Fili and Kili roaring with huge smiles on their faces. I wish, Fai thought, oh I wish it was that easy.

And with a deep-seated cracking, the huge pine tree of theirs started bending. Roars quickly became screams and they tried to hold on to something for dear life. Fai hugged the branch with both arms and legs to stay strong as much as possible. With every crack, she wanted to rise and check the others but it wasn't possible when they quaked so much.

Then the branch Ori was stepping on gave up. His scream heard, instantly accompanied by Dori's. Ori was holding onto his brother's leg and they both were hanging in the air. Dori didn't look like he could hold for so long. Stiffly holding onto the branch with all he had, he was trying to talk with the last breath left.

"Mr... Gandalf..." he bursted, and his arms slipped away.

But they didn't fall, for the Wizard was quick enough to point his staff and went to their rescue. Their situation however, wasn't any better for it wasn't easy to carry two Dwarfs at once. When the tree had locked on a horizontal position, Fai let go of her hands and straddled on the pine trunk like it was a horse. She tried not to look under for the was meters and meters of hollowness, instead, she fixed her eyes on Thorin, who was standing up on the tree, readying his weapon and his shield.

The Dwarrows looked at him in disbelieve as he marched down the truck, on the other side of the fire barrier, excited voices of the Orcs could be heard. Fai knew how much Azog wanted to fight him. His eyes gave everything away, even though he was pretty far away. Fire wasn't the only thing making his eyes sparkle.

Revenge was.

"Torin undag Train-ob***" the pale Orc drawled, every muscle on his body twitching wickedly in anticipation. He waited till Thorin to climb over the flames, and when he did, they both looked at each other for a while with pure, blind, wild rage. Fai couldn't see who acted first, but it was Thorin who roared. Azog on his Warg, rode against Thorin and before any of them knew, the pale Orc ran Thorin over. He took a victorious stroll around, enjoying every single millisecond of causing Thorin pain. He then turned around, holding his giant mace up in the air and rode back to Thorin, who was trying to get back to his feet.

Well, he couldn't. Azog swung his mace and hit Thorin in the chest so hard that the Dwarvenking swirled on the air and landed in front of a Warg. Orcs watched the scene with amusement and waited with bated breath for their turn of the torture as the Dwarrows wept. Fai's eyes brimmed with tears as she saw Balin sniveling intensely. Her eyes searched for the princes, they were holding onto some branches with Dwalin beside them. She couldn't see their faces but she was a hundred percent sure that they were enraged.

And she was right. In an instant, Dwalin darted forward to go to Thorin's rescue, but the tree was no friend of his, for the branch he was holding on to suddenly cracked under his weight and he found himself hanging desperately. Going berserk out of despair, he kicked the air in vain. When a Warg closed his jaw around his chest, playing with the him, biting slowly the company bellowed in unison.

Suddenly, Thorin gathered enough strength and hit the Warg in his head with his oaken shield. The beast winced in pain and throw Thorin away. Another pain added to the bundle when Thorin had hit the ground. Azog frowned and grumbled at one of the waiting Orcs.

"Biriz torag khobdudol!****"

The filth stepped forward with relish and brushed Thorin's neckline with the tip of his scimitar. Adjusting his hands, he then raised his weapon. A moment before he cut the Dwarvenking's head off, something hit him out of nowhere. With the impact, they both fell down. Thorin was too wounded to get up, but his eyes widened at seeing what this something was.

Or, someone.

Bilbo Baggins, who had attacked the Orc right before he beheaded Thorin. Who was hurling battle cries probably for the first time of his life. Mr Baggins of the Bag end, who was sitting on top of an Orc, stabbing him from the chest with his gorgeous, neon blue Elven sword. His action left the company gobsmacked, even Azog, for a second back there.

Finding the power to pull himself up, Dwalin eagerly climbed back on the tree trunk and then pulled the young heirs to him. The trio prepared their weapons and started sprinting to the battle field, being finally free and ready for their part of the revenge. Fai was no different than Balin, so she crawled to his side and they held hands. If it wasn't a dramatic battle scene, you would be crying from laughter instead by looking at this hilarious pair, watching the events hand in hand like it was some exciting football game. Roaring with watery eyes, hardly keeping themselves from joining the fight, they stood there, like two amazing hard cases they are.

Bilbo back in the battleground still in shock from what he just did. Rising against an Orc now, what kind of a Hobbit he had became? It was impossible to believe that for a while ago, he was the one who gardened all day. Holding his sword still wet by the filthy Orcish blood, Bilbo wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. He knew that Azog's eyes were on him, piercing through his flesh with anger. He knew that now he was the target, and he wished to be that lucky again when he attacks.

With Dwalin, Fili and Kili he was much more secure. Swirling his sword around, occasionally stabbing some Wargs or Orcs in their knees he tried to keep himself safe but was it really possible? With a sudden, excessive weight descending on him, he fell onto his back and faced the very wild, fanged and slabbery mouth of a Warg. That was it then, that's the end of everything.

What happened next was a surprise to everyone but Fai and Gandalf. The Warg on top of the Hobbit was gripped by the claws of some giant Eagle. In fact, all around them there was Wargs and Orcs lifting off. Huge Eagles who came to the Company's rescue was throwing their enemies off the cliff. Sighing in relief, Fai looked around for her Eagle. She wanted to outlive this situation so badly, she wanted all of them to survive because they originally supposed to. She couldn't imagine the guilt of causing a member of the Company to die, and every time there was trouble going on, she was almost sure that would be the case. Managing to save their skin from another calamity, now, she could sleep for days in its relief.

Expectedly, the tree was about to fall down completely. The fighting Dwarrows and the Hobbit made their way back to the trunk, as one of the Eagles gripped Fai so gently. She didn't thought that a bird of prey could be so cautious. One more thing that wasn't expected was the sudden fall, when an Eagle dropped her of on top of another. Dizzy from the rough landing, her hands wandered on her wound, putting pressure on it to ease the pain somehow.

"This. Is. Mad."

She wanted to have a fight with the Eagle who threw her right beside Kili. Preoccupied with her troubles, she couldn't even realize that he was there until he spoke. She was hurt and wanted to take care of herself instead of trying to keep herself balanced like she always had to do when he was near.

"Yea, I suppose," she mumbled, it was amusing to see him all excited, it was great when the child side of him took over. When was it less than great, really?

"You suppose?" he squeaked. "Fai. We are on a bloody Eagle! On the air. Flying. After living underground for years, the lads- oh my, a pouch of gold says that Balin must be puking right now."

And than he cracked. Looking around, Fai cracked too, because the Eagle who was carrying Balin and Dwalin just flied beside them and the scene was unimaginable. Two brothers, holding each other tightly with closed eyes and furrowed brows. It was only natural though, as Kili mentioned, they had lived underground and being at this heights was far-fetched for their essence.

"Oh dear, did you see their faces?" she laughed hysterically, pointing her finger in the direction of the long gone Eagle. When Kili didn't reply, her gaze fixed on his to check what was wrong. He looked- different. With his puppy eyes and died out laughter, Fai really got worried for him. And totally against to the dynamic of their relationship, she was the one to ask the well known question this time.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

It felt weird to see him like that. Fai was used to him being either spirited or enraged, but sad? Gloomy? No, it wasn't right. She wanted to make him feel better so badly, to make him laugh again. The urge was irresistible. And it sent waves of panic to her body as she questioned her feelings. It was scaring her to witness how fast they evolve, and how dangerous it become with each day passed. When did a simple crush turned into this annoying state of can not bearing when he is sad? She shook her head and thought that it was normal, that maybe being friend caused it all. Now, how would she know, she had no friends back on Earth. It was all new, and caring about someone was creepy. Do not freak out, she reassured herself, it is still just a stupid crush, and you're worried cause for the first time in your life, you have a friend.

"Fai?"

His voice pulled her out of her trance and she got embarrassed for not listening to the answer of the question. Her eyes found his and she tried to find excuses for her zoning out.

"Oh, sorry, I'm so tired that I- Nevermind, I'm here. Now tell me what's bugging you."

A faded smile brushed passed his face and trying to ease her, he lightly nodded. "It's alright, I'm tired too and I didn't say anything anyways."

Fai didn't ask further, she figured it would be annoying if she persisted. So she looked down instead and watched the forests and rivers pass by beneath them. Middle-Earth was not looking any less dangerous. All the dangerous creatures dwelling in that forests, she could see them all at once. She felt Kili's eyes on her and after a while, he began talking.

"It's.. This is all too much, do you understand what I mean?" he asked, and they both smiled at how meaningless his question really was. With his smile still on, he continued. "Oh, of course you do.. After what we've been through, my former life began to feel so.. surreal. I can't remember what was it like to not constantly run for my life. To not be worried sick over my brother's safety. To not see blood all the time. To not kill things all the time. It was like, my life back in Ered Luin was a lovely tale in a book I used to like, and now the book is long forgotten and this became my reality. I can't even imagine how I lived like that anymore."

Every one of his words applied to Fai and how she felt all the time. The Middle-Earth was real. The world where she had to learn how to use knives and bows, the world where she fears for her life all the time. Where she gets injured, where she runs, where she sleeps on the ground under cloaks. But it was also the place she had friends, where she did things besides eating, reading and sleeping. A 'normal' world where people had daily jobs instead of quests was long gone from her dictionary, and it was in a way traumatic, how fast it all happened. With all the sincerity on Arda, Fai nodded and almost felt grateful towards him for going through the same things with her.

"I don't know, maybe this is the surreal one, but I definitely don't feel like it," Kili continued. Once the bubble was bursted, and he couldn't stop after realizing that talking was making him feel good. "I don't know how mom managed to do it, I really don't! How she accomplished to soften the world around us so much. She was always paving the way for me and Fili, and we didn't even noticed! Even our greatest pain.." he paused. When he talked again, his eyes were cloudy and his voice was much more bleak. "She somehow managed to make even that bearable, in the name of Durin, how can someone do that? I.. We lost our father when we were really little, me and Fili. That is our only real trouble and now look where we are. I'm not even sure that I would be talking to you an hour from now. I can't tell if we make it through one more day. It's all so real. No matter how this ends, none of us will be the same anymore."

"We are not the same already," Fai mumbled, thinking about how much she had changed since the beginning. "We all change by the hour."

Kili tried to make eye contact but her hazy eyes was fixated on something. It was a thing she do when she was pensive, he realized. "You are right," he remarked, and her eyes instantly got back to his. "I see it on Thorin the most. Trust me, he wasn't always like this. He raised us, he tried his best to change our mother's ways for years -by the way now I can see why. He wasn't as though while doing it. He wasn't all fluffy and kind either, but he wasn't this grumpy, I swear."

Imagining a merry, loving Thorin Fai couldn't hold back her laughter. When Kili's gaze questioned her she revealed the vision in her head. "I didn't mean to laugh, but I can't think of him as anything but grouchy. He is the last person on Arda that could be even a tiny bit of lovey-dovey."

Kili shared her amusement as Fai kept talking. "I'm sorry that this is all so severe. Everything happens so fast, I feel exactly like you do. I'm alarmed all the time! And I'm sorry that you lost your father. I won't be giving any details, but my mother died when I was a baby. And as for my father, let's say I'm not lucky at all, when it comes to family."

A warm feeling on her hand slightly startled Fai, when she lowered her gaze, she saw Kili's hand resting on top of hers. Knowing that they finally managed to have a deep, intense talk, they both smiled. A giant Eagle's back was the weirdest place imaginable for it to happen but they both didn't seem to mind. After all, weird was their absolute must. She couldn't stop looking at their hands, and she also didn't know what to say. When Kili sympathetically squeezed her hand, their eyes met again and she knew he understood.

Like sharing things wasn't weird enough, she was now sharing pain. And she had never thought that it was a thing to diminish when shared. One last squeeze, and their hands parted. Not knowing what to do with the awkwardness after holding hands, Fai decided it was best if she slept for a while. After all, it wasn't all for escaping. Her wound was stinging so much that she didn't want to be conscious and feel it for another second.

She buried herself deeper in between the feathers of the bird and a silly smile settled on her face at how warm it was. One might never thought that it would be comfortable lying on an Eagle, but there Fai was, her head resting in the cavern of the birds wing. His muscles moved under her as he flapped its wings. It was like a weird kind of massage yet felt amazing. As the Eagle shook her like she was in a crib, her eyes slowly closed and she drifted off.


.oOo.


E/N:

-Zûr zu? (Khuzdul| How are you?)
-Ghelekhur, razu? (Khuzdul| I'm fine, you?)
-Torin undag Train-ob
(Black Speech| khobdudol (Black Speech| Bring me his head.)

Thank you! R&R if you feel like it :3