Amelia woke to the sound of her phone buzzing. It was several hours into the day, though not long after she had fallen asleep, and the sun was shining down through the trees. Amelia took a moment to gaze up at it, enjoying the way it illuminated the dew covered grass and leaves, then sighed and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She had automatically brought it with her, even though she'd known she shouldn't have. Her heart pounded as she hefted it in her palm; what would she do when her family called her? Would she even listen to the voicemails that they would send? Would she call them back?

She sighed as she glanced down at her phone. At least for now, she didn't have to worry about that. Showing on her screen was a text from her friend Sarah.

Where r u 2day it read. R u ditching to get out of physics test?

Amelia pressed her lips together to prevent a small smile. Sarah was likely sitting in class right now thinking her best friend had finally dared to break the rules. Sarah would be feeling so proud. How long would it take for her to realize that something was wrong?

There were several more texts.

Test was baaaad, read the next. Every1 failed.

Hope ur enjoying day off theres lots of hw to make up, was the next.

R u gonna respond?

Miaaaaaaaaaaaa

Amelia sighed as she scrolled to the bottom of the messages from Sarah. Her fingers twitched, wanting to type out a response, but what could she say? That she was hiding in the Adirondack Mountains from orcs with the company of Thorin Oakenshield? That she was soon- she didn't know how soon- going to be travelling to a new universe, and then to another new one? That she would never be coming home? How was she supposed to tell Sarah that? Sarah would never believe her; if it hadn't been for the evidence that had nearly beheaded Amelia, she wouldn't have believed it herself.

She sighed and flipped her phone shut, stuffing it back in her pocket. Now that she was up she had to go to the bathroom, and she made her way out of the clearing the company was asleep in. There was a stream nearby, and afterwards she did her best to rinse her hands off in it, wiping them gingerly on her jeans as she returned to the clearing. If this was what camping was like, Amelia could see why her mother had never liked it.

Everyone was asleep; they hadn't bothered setting up a watch while they slept. Amelia crawled back into her borrowed bedroll, trying in vain to fall asleep again. Sarah's texts had woken in her the emotions that had never quite faded from the previous night, and she pressed fists to her mouth, struggling to hold back tears. Her shoulders shook, and despite herself a few small noises managed to squeeze out of her throat. She jerked as a hand touched her shoulder lightly, turning over to see Dori kneeling above her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. She brushed tears from her cheeks, sitting up. "Did I wake you?"

Dori shrugged. "It's fine," he promised. He stood and gestured for Amelia to join him as he made his way to the fire that had since burned low. He quickly began to build it up again, pausing when he noticed Amelia watching him. "Do you know how to do this?" he asked. Amelia shook her head, and Dori smiled. "Would you like me to teach you?"

Amelia paused, then nodded. Dori grinned and settled comfortably on the ground beside her, pushing his nest of small twigs and leaves in front of her.

"So first you need one of these. We call 'em nests. They're basically just small piles of twigs, little things that will burn easily. You also want to have the logs for the fire nearby, some small ones and some big ones." He glanced over, and when Amelia nodded her understanding he continued.

"You strike together these," he told her. He showed her the two rocks he held in his palms. "Flint and steel. They should give off a spark when struck together the right way." He demonstrated quickly, then handed the stones to Amelia. "It might take a few tries," he warned her.

Amelia nodded and bent over the nest, gingerly hitting the two stones together. Beside her Dori snorted. "That's no good," he told her. "You have to really hit them. Not little taps like that."

Amelia tried again, and Dori nodded approvingly. "Try this angle," he suggested. He reached over to adjust her hands, and again Amelia struck the flint and steel together. To her surprise a small spark flew off, though it didn't land in the tinder.

"Good!" Dori grinned up at her, and Amelia grinned back. "Now try again. When the spark goes in the tinder you need to blow gently to help it grow. Not too hard, or you'll just put the fire out."

Amelia nodded. It took several more tries, but at last a small spark landed in her nest. The breath she blew onto it sputtered out the small flame that was beginning, and as she frowned Dori chuckled.

"It takes practice," he said. "Keep going; you're doing well."

They sat there, Dori gently coaching Amelia, until at last she had managed to start a small fire. Dori nodded approvingly as she handed the flint and steel back, and he picked up one of the smaller logs.

"Now you feed the fire," he told her. "Start out small, or you'll overwhelm it." As he spoke he gently eased the branch onto the flames, and with a small crackle of glee the fire rose to greet the offering. Amelia fed in another small branch, and soon the two began to add the larger logs. Within a few minutes they had a merry campfire going, and Dori clapped Amelia proudly on the shoulder.

"Good job," he told her. "Now," and he scooted closer, taking her hand in his. "Do you want to talk?"

Amelia shrugged, turning her face away. She felt uncomfortable with Dori's eyes probing gently at her. She knew he meant well, but she didn't want to be mothered over at that moment. It was reminding her of her own parents, making her want to cry again.

"I'm fine," she promised. Beside her Dori frowned.

"No you're not," he pressed. "Talking will help."

"Really," she said. "I'm fine."

Dori sighed, but this time didn't object. The two sat in silence until Bombur woke, yawning heavily.

"Morning," he called. He stood and made his way cheerily over to where Amelia and Dori sat. "Hungry?"

Dori snorted. "Always." Bombur gave him a quick grin and began to root around in their packs, pulling out slabs of meat that they had taken from Veronica's house. He set to cooking them, and soon the smell of the food woke the others. Gradually they began to make their way over. At this point Dori was standing behind Amelia, pulling at the pine needles that had caught in her hair while she slept. Amelia winced as he accidentally yanked her hair, and from where he sat a safe distance away Ori offered her a sympathetic smile.

At last Dori decided there was no more he could do for her hair. Bifur had taken Dori's spot to Amelia's left, and for a moment the two dwarves exchanged glares. Then Dori sighed and moved off, plopping down next to Ori and Nori. To Amelia's right sat Kili, and Amelia frowned as she struggled not to stare at him. He had been one of the first to rise with Fili, and as the company began to come to the fire, each smiling in greeting at Amelia, Fili had drawn his little brother to the side. From the corner of her eye Amelia had watched them exchange a few tense words, and then they too had come to sit, Kili settling beside her. He had offered her a smile, and soon had pulled her into a joke.

Thorin studied the forest as they ate, staring back the way they had come. "We should continue into the forest," he declared. "We are too close to civilization." There were several nods, and the company quickly shouted agreements.

"How do you feel, lass?" asked Oin.

"I'm fine." Amelia sighed and led the old healer prod gently at her chest, and with a nod he stood again.

"You're healing nicely," he told her. "Faster than normal folk. I doubt it should be more than a few days until you're good as new."

Amelia nodded, offering Oin a small smile. As he moved away her phone buzzed again, and Amelia pulled it from her pocket and glanced down to see who was calling her. It was her mother.

Kili glanced over as he felt Amelia freeze beside him. She sat utterly still, staring at something held in her hand. He recognized it as her phone, which she had passed back to Ori while driving the previous day. As the young scholar had examined it she had explained its use to him, and Ori had scribbled down the information.

"What's wrong?" he whispered. He shifted slightly closer to her, brushing her hand with his. "Mia?"

Amelia glanced up, and Kili's heart throbbed when he saw that there were tears in her eyes. Now her hands were shaking ever so slightly, and she bit her lip. "My mom's calling," she told him. "I can't answer, can I?"

"No," said Gandalf. The wizard had overheard their conversation, and was now giving Amelia a gentle frown over the fire. "In fact, it might be best if you turn that off and leave it behind."

Amelia nodded and hit the power button, but stuck the phone back in her pocket once Gandalf had turned away. She knew he was right, but she just couldn't bring herself to relinquish her last tie to her family.

Kili said nothing as she turned to him, and he gave her a small nod that promised he wouldn't tell that she had kept the phone. He reached over and squeezed her hand gently, then cleared his throat.

"Gloin," he shouted. "When was the last time you bathed? You smell as bad as an orc!"

There was a roar of laughter from around the fire, and Kili was pleased to see that Amelia had also chuckled. Gloin scowled and lobbed his fork at the younger dwarf, though he was also chuckling.

"You don't smell too good yourself," he returned.

"Seriously," agreed Fili. He waved his hand in front of his nose, making a mock face of disgust. "Take a bath, brother."

"You first," Kili said. Fili grinned, wiggling his eyebrows in a silent challenge. Kili grinned back, and within moments the two were rolling about on the forest floor.

"You all need a bath," mumbled Bilbo. He sniffed delicately at his underarms, then sighed. "So do I."

"Tonight," Thorin said. "First we need to get moving." As he spoke he stood, kicking dirt onto the fire. "Boys, stop fooling around. Let's clear out."

There were several grumbles, but within ten minutes the dwarves were ready to go. Amelia stood uncertainly to the side, following behind the dwarves as they set out. Kili and Fili drew her to the center of the group, somehow managing to keep her laughing as they walked.

They stopped early, Thorin deciding that they had gone far enough. They were near a stream, just deep enough to bath in, and the dwarves all rushed for the water. Amelia hung back, avoiding looking in the direction of the stream. When the company returned, still with damp hair but smelling much better, they were pleased to find a fire going. Amelia and Dori traded smiles, and then Amelia went to go wash.

She didn't have soap, a razor, or a towel, so it was with uncertainty that she made her way to the stream. Nearby though, she found that the company had pounded into a bowl-shaped depression of a boulder a root, which had turned foamy and soap like when combined with water. Amelia quickly shucked her clothes and stepped into the river, wincing as the cold water surged over her. She washed quickly, then dunked her head under the water to try and wash out the pine needles that Dori had missed. Carefully she began to tug at her hair, wincing as her fingers snagged on its many knots.

After accidentally yanking on her scalp for the fifth time she decided to give up for the time being and climbed out, gingerly brushing water off her skin with her dirty clothes. She quickly donned her clean outfit, did her best to scrub her grungy clothes in the river with the remainder of the soap, and returned to the campfire. There she set her clothes with the bundles of cloth the rest of the company had left by the fire to dry, sitting next to Bifur. The dwarf, she had noticed, didn't talk very often, especially to her, as he knew she could not understand him. He glanced up as she sat, offering her a small smile that she returned. Despite the fact that he hadn't said much, he had been nothing but kind, and Amelia was already warming to him.

Fili nudged at Kili as Amelia sat by Bifur, gesturing to the girl as she began to pick at her hair. She had put on another pair of those odd trousers from her world, as well as a long sleeved shirt that was a forest green. He bit back a grin as he saw his brother was already staring at her, wistfulness in his brown eyes.

"Go over to her," Fili urged.

Kili shook her head, and Fili rolled his eyes.

"You want to," he pointed out.

Kili scowled. "Of course I do," he admonished. "But I can't. She doesn't know me."

Fili shrugged. "At first we didn't know her, but that didn't stop you. It's still her."

Kili sighed. Fili knew him best, knew when to push him and when to back off. The fact that Fili wasn't backing off meant that the elder brother was likely right. "Fine," he grumbled. He stood, grabbing his hair brush from his pack, and made his way over to her.

"Would you like help?" he asked. Amelia glanced up and blushed, and Kili's heart pounded. The gentle red coloring to her cheeks, when combined with the deep green of her shirt, made her hazel eyes flicker and stand out like flames in her face. Wide and framed by long lashes, Kili had always thought them beautiful.

"Ok," she agreed. Kili sat behind her, ignoring Bifur's smile, and began to run the brush through Amelia's hair. There were several tight knots, and Amelia grimaced as Kili eventually resorted to yanking at the brush.

"Sorry," he murmured.

"It's alright," she responded. Kili returned to his work, and soon Amelia relaxed in front of him. As he finished she went to pull her hair back in a ponytail, using a small red hair tie, but Kili stopped her.

"Don't do that," he said. "It's not sturdy."

"You have your hair pulled back," she reminded him. Kili raised one hand to where the front portion of his hair was bound behind his head, then shook his head.

"Clasps are more secure than- whatever these are." He stretched the flexible band between his fingers. "But you're looking to keep all of your hair out of your face, right?"

Amelia nodded slowly, reaching up to twirl between her fingers a lock of her hair. "Yeah," she admitted.

Kili nodded. "Your bangs," and he reached out to touch the sections of hair that were shorter than the rest, "won't be held back in a ponytail. You need braids."

Amelia nodded. "I'm not good at those," she told him.

Kili smirked. "I know. I'll do them."

Amelia's eyes widened slightly, but she nodded and turned around. Kili grabbed her bangs and began to plait them back. Again, it took Amelia several minutes to relax, but eventually both did, and Kili fell into the familiar task. He took his time, carefully braiding back sections of her hair, then pulling them together into one large braid that ran down the center of her back. He tied it all together with her hair tie, and couldn't help a snort of amusement at the flimsiness of the material.

As he stepped back Amelia reached up and lightly touched her braid, smiling softly. "Thanks," she whispered.

Kili nodded. "That should get you through a night in the forest," he promised. He sent her a quick grin that she returned. "Maybe Dori will leave you alone now."

Amelia chuckled. "He's not that bad," she said.

Kili grinned again and sat next to her. He was now feeling rather optimistic, rather like his old self, confident as memories of braiding her hair flooded through his mind, relaxing him. At least that was familiar. He leaned back on his elbows, grinning up at her.

"What's it like?" he asked. "Being so tall?"

Amelia scowled. While Kili had braided her hair she had forced herself to relax, and now she was feeling very comfortable with him. "What's it like being short?" she responded.

Kili snorted in amusement. "I'm a perfect height," he told her. "What do you do when you need to get through a tight space?"

Amelia shrugged. "I crawl. What do you do when you need to reach something high up?"

"I jump." Kili grinned at her, and together the two began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" asked Bofur. He sat beside them with three bowls of stew, quickly passing two of them to Kili and Amelia.

"Nothing," Kili chortled. Bofur grinned and bumped him with his elbow, and Kili returned the blow. Amelia yelped as they nearly smashed into her, and edged slightly closer to Bifur. The old dwarf chuckled, then barked something to Bofur and Kili in Khuzdul. They stopped the battle they'd been moments away from, digging into their stew with some lingering chuckles.

As soon as he was finished eating Bofur stood, drawing the attention of the company as he launched into a story. As he finished everyone applauded, and they began to settle down for the night. This time they set up a watch schedule, and Thorin elected to be the first one to sit guard.

He glanced behind him to his company as they all settled down. They were in their usual pairings, siblings and cousins snuggled up together. Amelia had taken her place between the Brothers Ur and Thorin's own nephews, and Thorin noticed that Fili and Kili had switched places tonight; now it was Kili who was closest to her. He sighed; Kili had seemed back to his old self that night, but Thorin didn't know how long it would last. Surely once they had finished guarding Amelia Kili's newfound spark would fade.

He mused over this as he sat guard, and hardly noticed when his time was up. He would have sat there for many more hours had Balin not come up and shaken his shoulder gently.

"It's my turn, laddie," he said. "Try and get some sleep."

Thorin nodded, patting Balin's shoulder as he stood. "Goodnight Balin," he called.

"Goodnight," Balin replied. Thorin crawled into his bedroll, where Bilbo was already curled up, trying in vain to gently push the hobbit over. Bilbo's eyes fluttered open, and with a grumble he shifted to make room for Thorin.

Thorin chuckled, leaning down to plant a kiss on Bilbo's nose. "Goodnight Bilbo," he whispered.

Bilbo didn't respond, already asleep, and Thorin settled down. Sleep was long in coming for the mountain king, but eventually it did come.

The company woke the next morning and prepared breakfast quietly. Amelia was still asleep in Bilbo's bedroll, and a silent agreement had gone around the camp not to wake her. The smell of food eventually roused her, and she rose to find the dwarves whispering quietly to themselves. As she sat she allowed Oin to check over her, and the healer gave a happy nod.

"From what I can tell, you've about healed," he told her. "How do you feel?"

Amelia shrugged. "Fine," she said. Oin nodded and stood, patting her on the shoulder.

"I'd say you're back to normal then."

Amelia smiled as he moved away, accepting the bowl of stew that was passed to her. She glanced up as Dwalin cleared his throat.

"Since you're healed," he said, "it's time you learned how to fight."

Amelia bit her lip, then nodded. Dwalin began to pull out his axes, setting them, along with the weapons he stole from the other members of the company, before her.

"Pick one," he ordered. Amelia glanced up in surprise.

"Are we doing this now?" she asked. "What about breakfast?"

Dwalin scowled and took her bowl, setting it on the ground nearby. "You eat when you've trained," he told her. "Now pick a weapon."

Amelia sighed and inspected the array before her. There were axes and knives of all shapes and sizes, some bulky for heavy chopping, some slender for throwing. There were several swords, the heavier, dwarven versions, as well as Bilbo and Thorin's elfish blades. Dwalin had even added Kili's bow to the pile, though the young dwarf had handed it over with a scowl.

"Can I use this?" Amelia touched her finger gently to a short sword, looking up at Dwalin questioningly. The dwarf hefted the sword and examined it. Wide enough to withstand heavy blows, it was, if used correctly, a powerful weapon. However, Dwalin had seen the way Amelia had held the orcish sword in her house, and knew that she likely wasn't strong enough to use it.

"That's too big for you," he told her. "You don't have the muscle or the skill to use a large blade. Try this." He lifted a large dagger from the pile of weapons, passing it to Amelia. It was, as well as he remembered, most similar to the dagger the Phoenix had carried. Although the Phoenix had always been proficient in all weapons, she had largely preferred daggers and bows, the more delicate weapons.

Amelia nodded, not questioning Dwalin's choice, and the warrior grabbed another dagger from the pile of weapons. He moved to the edge of the camp, gesturing for Amelia to join him.

"You want to hold it like this," he told her. He demonstrated, and Amelia quickly copied how he placed his fingers across the hilt. "Good," he said. "Now, try and hit me."

Amelia gulped, but did as Dwalin said. She was acutely aware of the others watching her, but she forced herself to ignore them as she lashed out at Dwalin. He sidestepped easily, bringing his own dagger in a sweep towards her neck. Amelia ducked and stabbed at him again, and he blocked her blow easily.

"Try and block me now," he told her. "I want to see how you do so."

Amelia nodded, and the next time the warrior struck at her she raised her own blade. His blow was soft, and she quickly disengaged their weapons and backed off.

Dwalin lowered his dagger and thought. "You flail your other arm," Dwalin told her. He pointed to Amelia's left arm, and she glanced down at it. "Whenever you strike or block, your arm goes out to the side. You don't want to do that; it would be easy for an enemy to hack it off."

Amelia frowned. "Sorry," she said.

Dwalin rolled his eyes. "Don't be sorry, just fix it."

Amelia nodded, and Dwalin continued. He began to teach her some basic stances, ordering to switch rapidly between them, and for an hour they trained. By the time he released her to eat she was sweating and panting, and all but collapsed on the ground near the fire. For a moment everything was silent as she caught her breath, and then Nori handed over her stew.

"If you want," said Kili, "I can teach you how to use my bow."

Amelia nodded, quickly gulping down her stew. "I'd like that," she said.

"You need to build muscle," Gloin stated. He reached over and prodded at Amelia's biceps, noting how they were barely even there. "You can't fight with twigs for arms."

Gandalf rolled his eyes. "Let Amelia eat," he called. "You have all day to work her."

As Amelia grimaced the company laughed. She took her time eating, but soon Kili was dragging her off with his bow in hand. He stood her several feet away from a tree, handing her the bow and one of his arrows.

"Ok," he said. "Do you know how to hold them?"

Amelia nocked the arrow and drew back, aiming at the tree. "Like this?" she guessed.

Kili pursed his lips as he inspected her form. "Not quite," he said. "You want your feet to be parallel to your target, turn them this way." He nudged at her boots until she turned. "Turn your torso towards your target, twist a bit more. Now lower your elbow. Relax. The thing with a bow, or any weapon, is that you have to relax with it. You need to let it become an extension of your arm, until you could use it in your sleep."

Amelia nodded. "How do I aim?" she asked.

Kili smiled and stood behind her. "You want to look down the shaft of the arrow," he told her. "Squint if you have to, though you want to work out of that. It gets disorienting in battle." He ignored how Amelia gulped nervously at the mention of battle, continuing his lecture. "Line the tip of the arrow up with your target, then release."

Amelia did so, and the bow string gave a sharp twang as she released it. The arrow shot forward, missing the tree by a margin of about a foot.

Kili nodded. "Not bad," he said. He handed her another arrow. "Take your time; line it up. As you get better we can work on rapid fire, but for now just worry about hitting your mark."

Amelia fired, and her next arrow hit the tree. Kili grinned and pulled it out, then took a dagger and carved away a section of the bark. "Try and hit there," he told her.

Amelia was unable to do so, but she did manage to hit the tree several more times. Together they depleted his quiver twice, eventually making their way back to camp.

"You did well," Kili told her. Amelia grinned happily, and Kili's heart soared.