Here's the next chapter, bit less action and a bit more chat...

I own nothing but the girls x

Chapter 6

As the dwarves, Gandalf, Bilbo and the girls made their way slowly down into Rivendell, Katy and Sarah couldn't stop staring at, well, everything. They both had been surprised when they first saw Hobbiton, but this was something else altogether. The home of the elves was just so beautiful and serene, and neither of them believed they would see anything as stunning ever again. The girls could sense that the dwarves didn't share their wonder, and that Thorin in particular did not want to be here one bit. Katy and Sarah still didn't really understand exactly why the dwarves hated the elves, but from the snippets of conversation they heard between Thorin and Gandalf, they could tell it wouldn't be fixed with them stopping by for a quick chat.

The company walked over a bridge and into Rivendell itself, and elves suddenly appeared into front of them.

'Oh my god, they all look like models. Stunning, beautiful, perfect models,' whispered Sarah to Katy.

'I know. It's not doing a lot for my self-confidence,' Katy grumbled back.

A dark haired elf came up to the group to greet Gandalf. Straight away, both girls could feel the tension and distrust amongst the dwarves, but before they could think about it anymore, there was a blaring of horns, and a pack of horses ridden by elves come thundering over the bridge.

'Ready weapons! Hold ranks!' shouted Thorin, and the dwarves bundled together, and Bilbo, Katy and Sarah were pulled into the centre.

One of the elves dismounted, and began talking to Gandalf in a language the girls didn't understand. The wizard introduced the elf to Thorin.

'Welcome Thorin, son of Thrain,' said the elf, but the company leader didn't respond with similar kindness.

Standing there, after the rush of running from orcs, made Sarah and Katy realise just how tired they were, and they struggled to follow the conversation between the dwarf and the elf. Suddenly, though, food was mentioned, and even the dwarves seemed happy to be led by the elves down winding paths to a dining area, though they were soon disappointed with the vegetables put in front of them.

'Try it. Just a mouthful,' encouraged Dori to Ori.

Ori wasn't having any of it though.

'Have they got any chips?' he asked hopefully.

'Oh my god, chips! I would kill for a MacDonald's right now!' sighed Sarah. She and Katy didn't mind eating the vegetables, but even they were craving something a bit more substantial.

Before either of them could think about a Big Mac, an elf approached them.

'Lord Elrond wishes to speak to you both,' he said.

Katy and Sarah looked at each other apprehensively, before Gandalf spoke.

'It's ok, my dears, I shall accompany you. I have matters to discuss with Lord Elrond too.'

The girls got up silently from the table, and with a backward glance at the dwarves, went off with the wizard. Kili and Fili watched them walk away with looks of distrust.

As they entered the elf's chamber, Katy and Sarah felt slightly better when they realised that Elrond was the elf who greeted Gandalf and tried to welcome Thorin earlier. A bit formal, but seems quite friendly, thought Katy.

Elrond gave both girls a small smile.

'Welcome, ladies, to Rivendell. Gandalf has told me about your situation. I must say, it is highly unusual, and not one I have come across before.'

Sarah cleared her throat.

'I don't suppose you have any idea how we might get home, do you? Not that your place isn't nice, I mean it's lovely, it's just not, well, home,' she explained.

The elf and the wizard exchanged glances.

'While I do not wish to alarm you, my concern is that higher powers are at work here, and I need to consult with Gandalf and others before I can be in a position to assist you,' Elrond said, and both girls' hearts sank.

'In the meantime, you are more than welcome to stay here, in the safety of Rivendell, until such a time when you can return home,' he continued.

'Stay here? But what about the dwarves?' Katy said, surprising herself with the outburst.

'The dwarves have their own plans, and will move on regardless. But do not feel tied to them. You would be most comfortable here,' replied Elrond.

Both girl stood in silence, not quite sure what to say.

'Why don't you give Elrond's offer some thought, my dears, while I discuss some other matters with him,' said Gandalf.

'Eh, yeah, thanks Gandalf!' said Sarah, trying to sound positive.

The girls said goodbye to the wizard and the elf, and slowly made their way back to the dining area. It was a few minutes before either of them spoke.

'So, what do you think? Should we stay here?' asked Sarah.

Katy stopped to look out at the valley before them.

'I don't know. I mean, it's really pretty. And we would obviously be well looked after here,' she reasoned.

'Yup, I'm sure those elves have baths – did you see their hair?! And I doubt we would run into any orcs or trolls here,' Sarah said.

Both girls were silent again.

'But why is it that I'm actually thinking I would prefer to stick with the dwarves?' Katy sighed.

'I know. Me too. What is it about those grubby, grumpy, strange little dwarves,' said Sarah.

Katy just looked at her friend.

'I think we both know what it is. Or what it is about two of those dwarves in particular,' she muttered.

'Fine. We want to stick with the hot dwarves. But is that really worth risking our lives for? Cos that's what we would be doing. I doubt this quest of theirs is going to get any easier,' replied Sarah.

'Ok, we just need to think about this sensibly. Using our heads. We need to do whatever will get us home,' said Katy.

'But who's to say that staying here will get us home? Elrond seems as clueless as Gandalf when it comes to knowing what to do with us! We've been passed around from hobbit to dwarves to elves. I think it's time that we decided what we did,' Sarah practically shouted.

'Yeah, you're right, we should do what we-' Katy stopped mid-sentence. She had been looking across to a sparkling waterfall in the distance, when suddenly Fili came into her line of sight, walking towards her and Sarah.

Her friend turned to her when she didn't continue, and smiled when she saw Fili approaching.

'Well, there's part of the argument for staying with the dwarves,' she whispered, as she nudged Katy in the direction of the dwarf, 'I'll leave you two alone.'

Katy was about to respond when Sarah called out to Fili.

'You checking up on us or something? I'm suddenly hungry again, think I might go and see if any meat has been found in this place!'

Always so, so subtle…, thought Katy.

Fili smiled at them.

'A few of us were wondering where the elves had taken you.'

'Well, you know us, we're just fascinating creatures to you lot! I better go and make sure that brother of yours eats his greens!' Sarah said, walking off with a grin on her face.

As her friend disappeared, Katy was suddenly aware that she and Fili were alone, and couldn't think of anything to say to him. The two of them stood in silence, until the dwarf walked over to look at the valley of Rivendell.

'It's quite a place, isn't it?' he said, smiling slightly at Katy.

She nodded, still unsure what to say to him.

'Thorin is talking about us leaving first thing in the morning. We'll get some rest, probably get fed some more vegetables, and then be on our way,' Fili continued.

He looked at Katy.

'Is everything ok? You're not still annoyed at how we treated Bilbo, are you? Cos we didn't think anything bad would happen to him with the trolls.'

She shook her head.

'No, it's not that. Sarah and I have some decisions to make, and if I'm honest, it's making my head hurt a little. These past few days have made my head hurt a lot, actually. I still can't quite believe what's happening to us,' she smiled at him.

'What do you need to decide?' he asked.

'Gandalf, and now Elrond, are trying to find out how we got here, and how we can get home again. It's been really good of you and the other dwarves to watch out for us, but Elrond has said that we can stay here, in Rivendell, until we can get home,' Katy explained.

Fili didn't say anything.

'And we're trying to work out if that's what we're going to do,' she finished.

The dwarf still didn't say anything, and Katy looked at him expectantly.

'Well, I hope you make the right decision,' Fili said, finally.

Katy frowned.

'What's that supposed to mean? The whole point is that we don't know what the right decision is. Elves or dwarves? I can't even believe I'm having to make that decision,' she said, exasperated.

'I'm sorry. I guess I just don't want to make your decision even harder. You need to do what you want, not what, erm, others want. You and Sarah are the ones who are lost,' Fili tried to explain.

'Thanks for reminding me,' Katy muttered.

'I'm sorry,' he apologised again. 'I'm not making this easier for you, and I wish I could. Staying with the elves might be safer for you, but I wouldn't think you were safe unless I was watching over you myself.'

'Yeah, you're right, that's not making it any easier,' Katy laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

They stood in silence for a while, neither one of them wanting to say anything else.

'I should probably get something to eat,' Katy said eventually, but she didn't move.

Fili nodded.

'Yeah, it's not great food, but you should have something.'

They both started moving back towards the dining area, and they could soon hear the shouts of the other dwarves.

Suddenly Fili grabbed Katy's arm gently, and brought his mouth close to her ear.

'This isn't going to make your decision any easier, but I want you to come with us. Please don't stay here. I know I should be thinking about the quest but please let me keep you safe until you can get home.'

It was quite possibly one of the most romantic things that had been said to Katy, and she couldn't believe that it was coming from a dwarf, and that her first reaction was to kiss him. But she didn't. She couldn't even look him properly in the eye. Tears welling up in her eyes, she gave him a quick smile and walked on to find Sarah. We've got some serious thinking to do, she thought.

When she reached the dwarves, she couldn't see Sarah, or Kili, anywhere. The dwarves were in a jovial mood, probably due to the fact they had managed to find sausages from somewhere, and thankfully didn't notice that she was upset. Fili quietly sat down in a corner and closed his eyes, pretending to sleep.

'Bombur!' shouted Bofur, flinging a sausage at the large dwarf.

Catching it, the table Bombur sat on collapsed, causing everyone but Katy and Fili to burst into hysterical laughter.

'Have you seen Sarah, anywhere?' Katy asked Ori.

The dwarf nodded.

'I think Kili is teaching her how to swordfight, they both went along that path,' he said, pointing to his right.

'Thanks, Ori,' Katy said smiling at the dwarf, and she headed off in that direction, trying not to look at Fili as she walked past him.

Kili had been teaching Sarah how to swordfight for the past twenty minutes, and she had spent the past fifteen minutes complaining about it.

'This is useless!' she shouted, swiping the air with her sword and causing Kili to jump back, 'This thing is far too heavy for me to actually use!'

'You're honestly not that bad, you just need to think about where you want it to strike,' encouraged the dwarf.

Sarah threw the sword to the ground, glaring at him.

'Maybe it's my teacher who's the problem. You're good at the bow and arrow stuff, you could teach me how to use that?' she asked.

Kili looked at bit horrified at the idea of Sarah firing an arrow.

'Ehh, maybe we'll leave that until another time,' he said, picking up her sword and handing it to her.

'Let's leave it for now. I'm exhausted. Besides, Katy and I need to decide whether we're staying here or coming with you lot tomorrow,' Sarah said.

Kili looked a bit startled.

'What? You're not coming with us? Why would you want to stay here?' he said loudly.

Sarah shrugged.

'I don't know, it seems safe here? We've kind of gate-crashed your quest, and we don't want to be a burden on you. Plus we do need to find a way home,' she explained.

The dwarf looked a bit put out.

'We don't mind you coming with us. We like having you around!' he said, giving her a smile.

Sarah didn't look convinced.

'Really? You all like having us around?'

'Ok, then, maybe just some of us. But definitely me. And Fili too!' Kili said.

'Hmm, and I like having you around too,' Sarah muttered.

She took her sword from Kili.

'Come on, we'd better get back to the others. Katy and I need to have a chat about what we're doing.'

Kili didn't move.

'You're serious, aren't you? About staying here?' he said quietly.

Sarah nodded.

'We need think about what's the sensible thing to do,' she replied.

'But what about what you really want? Shouldn't you do that? Even if it's not the sensible thing,' Kili said.

For a second Sarah just stood there, looking at him, without a clue what to say to that. What the hell do I actually want to do? she thought.

She smiled softly at the dwarf.

'You want to know what I really want?' she asked him quietly, and he nodded.

Without even properly thinking it through, Sarah moved towards Kili, closing the gap between them. Moving her hands to either side of his head, she pulled his face towards hers, and pressed her lips firmly against his.

'Sarah!'

She pulled away from Kili, grinning at him, and he grinned back at her.

'Sarah!'

Sighing, she turned around to see Katy watching them both, gesturing for her to come over to where she stood.

'Give us a minute!' Sarah yelled, and she turned back to Kili, who was still grinning at her.

'So now you know what I want,' she said, and before he could say anything she kissed him quickly on the cheek and walked towards her friend. She didn't want him to see the tears in her eyes.

As Sarah approached her, Katy could see that her friend was upset, and she quickly pulled her into a hug.

'Did I just see you kiss Kili?' she whispered in her ear.

'Yup,' Sarah replied, and she pulled out of the hug to look at Katy.

'What about you? You seem upset too,' she asked.

'Well I didn't kiss Fili, if that's what you mean. I wanted to though,' Katy said, and she looked like she was going to cry again.

'God, what has happened to us! Are we seriously crying over a pair of dwarves because we might decide to stay with some elves as it's the sensible thing to do?! What kind of book is this?!' Sarah said, wiping away her tears.

'Hot dwarves, remember,' Katy sniffed, 'And you're the one who said we should be looking for Mr Right.'

'I didn't think I would find him in Middle Earth,' Sarah replied, and suddenly she started laughing. Katy soon joined her, and for a couple of minutes the two girls were laughing hysterically, still wiping away tears.

Sarah took a deep breath and stopped laughing.

'We need to decide what we're going to do.'

Katy nodded, and taking Sarah's hand, the girls walked in the opposite direction to where the dwarves were. They needed some time alone to think.

The dwarves didn't see the girls for the rest of the day, and when they asked where they were, an elf told them that Elrond had given them a room to sleep in. Kili and Fili's hearts sank when they heard that. If he has given them a room, they both thought, then I guess that means that they are staying.

As dawn broke, Thorin quietly woke the company up. He wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible. Gandalf had told him that Katy and Sarah were deciding whether they were to remain in Rivendell, and when the dwarf didn't see them in the morning, he assumed that that was the last they would see of the girls.

'Come on, it's time to move,' Thorin said, once everyone had got their stuff together.

Bilbo looked around, slightly puzzled.

'But what about the girls? They aren't here yet!'

'They are no longer travelling with us. This is not their quest,' Thorin replied, glancing at his nephews, who both avoided his gaze.

A few of the other dwarves voiced their surprise at the news.

'They want to stay with the elves?!'

'They could've at least said goodbye!'

'Did you say or do anything to annoy them, you pair?'

Bofur directed this to Kili and Fili, and he grinned at them until he saw the hard look on both their faces.

'Ok, bit of a sore point then,' he muttered, and the rest of the dwarves stopped talking as well. Bilbo suddenly looked like he might want to stay too.

'Enough talking, let's go,' said Thorin, and the company silently made their way towards a path out of Rivendell.

Bilbo kept glancing behind him, not sure if he was ever going to see Rivendell, the elves or the girls again.

'Master Baggins, I suggest you keep up,' shouted Thorin, and the hobbit hurried forward.

'Hey! Wait for us!'

Bilbo glanced behind him again, this time coming to a complete stop, causing Dori to walk right into him.

'Do you want Thorin to have a fit or something, lad?! Keep moving!' he muttered.

'I thought I heard something, that's all,' the hobbit replied, and he started walking again.

Bilbo only took a couple more steps when he heard it again, and this time Fili and Kili stopped as well.

'We're coming with you!'

'Wait for us!'

The voices got louder and louder until the rest of the dwarves were also standing still.

'ARE YOU ALL DEAF OR SOMETHING?! OR ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE US RUN THE WHOLE WAY TO THE DRAGON TRYING TO CATCH YOU?!'

Half-running, half-wheezing, Sarah and Katy suddenly appeared from around the corner.

The dwarves and Bilbo started cheering, and even Thorin had a slight smile on his face.

'If you are accompanying us any further, then I suggest you keep up and stop causing any further delays,' he barked at the girls.

'And it's lovely to see you, too, Thorin!' Sarah chimed.

The company started moving again, and Rivendell grew smaller and smaller in the distance.

'So what made you decide to join us, then,' Kili smirked at Sarah.

'Let's just say I thought about what I really wanted, and I fancied some more of it. If you get what I mean,' she replied innocently.

The dwarf went bright red, showing Sarah that he knew exactly what she meant.

'So are you going to braid my friend's hair, then, Kili?' Katy asked, 'Cos where we're from, a girl kissing you means that she wants you to start, what's the word, courting her.'

'Errrmmm…'

'I think for the first time in his life, my brother is lost for words,' Fili said, appearing next to Katy.

She smiled at him, saying nothing.

'I'm glad you decided to come with us,' he said to her quietly.

'Me, too,' Katy replied, and she found herself blushing slightly.

'And I'll do my best to try and keep you safe,' Fili said.

She rolled her eyes.

'Hey, I'm not some damsel in distress, you know. I can take care of myself,'

Fili grinned.

'I know. I just want to make sure that you don't hurt anyone with that sword while you're doing it!'

'Well I guess you better start teaching me how to use it, then!' Katy replied.

Kili snorted.

'If you're anything like Sarah, then you'll need all the practice you can get,'

'Hey!' Sarah yelled, 'You said I wasn't that bad.'

'Of course I would say that, you had a sword in your hand!' he said cheekily, causing all four of them to laugh.

'KILI! FILI! Will you quit trying to impress those females and get a move on. I told you to keep an eye on them so they didn't get into trouble, not so that they could lead you astray. Keep up!' bellowed Thorin from the front of the group.

'Sorry, uncle!' they both said in unison.

'Come on,' whispered Fili to Katy while grabbing her hand, 'I don't want to almost lose you again.'

Katy and Sarah smiled to each other, and with one final glance behind them, they strode on to keep up with the dwarves and the hobbit. For the first time since they turned up in Middle Earth, they actually felt that they belonged somewhere, and just a little less lost.