*Aurora's Perspective*

I didn't know how I was supposed to react to being Thorin's daughter. It didn't feel like anything had changed, in all honesty, except for the addition of a few more pet names.

"I have to return to my cell, Love," Thorin- no- Papa informed calmly, brushing a hand through my hair as I clung to his leg, refusing to let go. "I know you're frightened, Aurora, but Legolas is correct. If Thranduil finds us together, he might take you from me."

"But I don't want you to go," I mumbled into his trousers, hiding my face. "I want you to stay."

He sighed sadly, kneeling in order to unwrap me from his leg. "I know, Darling. Believe me, I know, but you must give it time. We will be together again soon. I swear it."

He pressed a kiss to my forehead, and my smile must have been bigger than I thought because he laughed, chucking my chin lightly. "There we are. Now eat what is given to you- I do not want to be called back because you're not eating anything."

I shuffled my feet sheepishly, feeling my cheeks burn in embarrassment. "It hurt though."

"I know it did, Aurora, but if you don't, you'll become ill, and I can't have my little pundurith getting sick, can I?"

He ruffled my hair one last time before letting Legolas guide him back to his cell. I gave a huff of defeat, plopping down on the small pile of hay in the corner of my cell. I was left to my thoughts the rest of the day, and I tried to make sense of the sudden change in my life.

I mean, I was somebody's daughter. That had never happened before. How was I supposed to act now? Was there some sort of code I had to follow? Was there a daughter's handbook for this kind of thing?

It was weird calling Thorin Papa. I had done it before, but it was a lie then. It had only been said to help keep the Company's purpose a secret, to help keep my identity as a not-really-resident-of-Middle-Earth a secret. Now- Now it was real. I was going to have a family, a real, honest-to-God family. I was excited to be sure, eager to find Fili and Kili to tell them the news, but I was all sorts of terrified. What was I supposed to do now?

"Hello, Aurora."

I didn't bother looking up at Legolas's voice, knowing full well that he was just bringing food again.

"The silent treatment will not work forever."

I gave him a glare at that, crossing my arms against my chest as if to say, 'Try me.'

"If that was to be intimidating, I cannot say you were successful. You look more akin to an upset bunny rabbit."

I scowled, recalling how Bifur had said the same thing, but I didn't acknowledge his remark, refusing to even look at him as he opened the cell and knelt beside me, setting down my meal.

"Come now, Little One. You cannot always ignore me."

He placed a hand on my shoulder, using the other to turn my head towards him. I stuck my tongue out at him, resigning myself to the actions of an upset child. I ignored him despite his attempted bribes of food and comfort, sitting on my little wad of hay and refusing to meet his gaze.

"Aurora, surely there must be something I can do to regain your trust?"

And that's exactly what I wanted to hear. Slowly, to make it look like I was still upset, I turned to face him, murmuring, "There's- There's one thing."

"What is it?"

I let him guide his fingers through my hair, looking down at my hands as I whispered, "If- If the dwarves and I ever get out of here, will you follow us for a certain extent? We're gonna need some kingsfoil, or athelas, I think it's called. Someone's going to get hurt, I just know it, but we don't have any supplies to treat the wounds, and-"

He cut me off with a quiet hush, smiling gently. "I cannot make promises, Little One, but I will do my best. For you, I will try."

Legolas left soon after that, and it must've been four or five days before someone else came. By that point all I wanted was something to eat. The meals had stopped coming, and falling asleep on an empty stomach proved more difficult as each night went by.

"Aurora? I'm going to get us out of here, Dear. Come on now, it's going to be alright. Can you look at me?"

I obeyed, a new smile spreading across my lips as my gaze fell on the owner of that familiar voice. "Bilbo!"

He smiled, fumbling with the keys to find the one that unlocked my cell. "Hello, Muffin. Now just give me a moment, and I'll have you out of here in a jiffy."

I pulled myself to my feet as quickly as I could, eagerly throwing myself into the hobbit's open arms as soon as the door was open. In one swift motion, he had me held to his chest, hushing me with soft nonsense as I buried my face in the soft fabric of his vest.

"You're much, much too thin," he muttered disapprovingly, guiding me so my head rested on his shoulder as he walked. "Hasn't anyone been taking care of you? Where has Thorin been?"

"Had to go back to his cell 'cause of Thranduil," I mumbled in reply, yawning against his shoulder. "How long's it been, Bilbo?"

"I haven't seen you in weeks- between two and three, I think. I overheard Thorin leave you about eight days ago, I believe."

It had been that long? It felt as if he had left a couple days before, not an entire week! Perhaps Mirkwood really did mess with the mind-

My thoughts were cut short when I soon felt his hand on my back begin to move in slow circles, and I practically purred in delight, nestling down more contently in his arms. "Just go ahead and relax. I've found a way to get us out of here. I only have to release the rest of the Company, and we can make our escape."

He set me down when we neared the others cells, and I immediately bolted. I passed by all the others without even the mildest care, simply wanting Thorin right then and there. My shortened height (and legs) made the trip take a bit longer than expected, but I was soon at Thorin's cell, reaching through the bars to get to him.

"Aurora? What on this earth are you doing here?" he whispered, but there was a smile on his lips as he knelt beside the door so he, too, could reach through. He palmed my cheek in one hand, using the other to run through my hair. "More importantly, you're alright, aren't you?"

I nodded, burying my face in his palm and accidentally muffling my next words. "Bi'bo 'et me out."

"Bilbo let you out?"

I nodded again, letting out an indignant squeak when I found myself being nudged away from his hold.

"Now, now, Dear, I'm just letting out Thorin. Hold on…"

I wasn't happy about being pulled away and instantly darted back towards Thorin, throwing my arms around his neck as soon as the cell was unlocked and opened.

"There's my brilliant girl," I felt, more than heard, Thorin mumble into my hair, tucking me against his chest. He enveloped me in his arms, and I couldn't bring myself to protest the action, especially not when he smoothed the hair away from my face and began to kiss my forehead repeatedly between every word he spoke.

"Mahal, Aurora, it's been too long. Far, far too long…"

I could only nod, refusing to loosen my grip on his neck as he continued, backing away slightly to get a better look at me. He held my waist so I stood in his lap, his eyes darting up and down and gleaming with ill-concealed anger.

"They haven't fed you since I last saw you, have they?" he muttered, brows creased in concern, and I squirmed a bit in discomfort when he placed his hand against my ribs. "How do you feel? And do not lie to me, Pundurith."

"I just feel tired," I admitted quietly, letting the dwarf do his inspection. "Papa, are you okay?"

"More angry than anything, Darling. How long has it been since you've last had a meal?"

"Bilbo says it was around a week ago-"

Thorin looked about ready to shout, but I hurriedly placed both of my hands over his mouth, shaking my head earnestly. "You need to stay quiet or the guards'll come."

I felt him stiffen beneath my fingers, but I quickly whispered, "I'm okay, Papa. Promise."

"Okay?" he hissed, shaking his head once I pulled away my hands. "No, this is not okay. Not at all. Once we are out of here, you are to see me immediately about getting something to eat."

"I've been worse."

He seemed to hesitate at that, so I repeated myself, keeping my voice low and quiet.

"I- I've been worse, Papa. This is nothing to worry about."

Thorin looked ready to say something, but he was cut off by Bilbo grabbing my hand and running with the whisper-shout of, "This way! Quickly!"

The journey down to the wine reserves was a bit of a blur for me, especially since I was being tugged at by both Bilbo and Thorin, a battle of wills seemingly go on between the two even as they dragged me along with them. Oh, it also didn't help that I did not even reach either of their waists in height and could not see through the forest of twenty-six dwarf legs and two hobbit legs.

…My new height was a severe pain in the derrière.

"Into the barrels!"

I blinked, not even realizing we had made it to the wine reserves. I was in Thorin's arms, being settled into a barrel that was already inhabited by Kili.

"You alright there, Lamb?" Kili questioned, shifting the both of us so I was settled against his chest, one of his hands holding my back and the other cupping my head in his palm. He used his elbows and knees to brace us against the barrel, prepping himself (and me) for the ride to come.

"I'm- I'm fine," I stammered, realizing with horror what was to come. Tolkien had never gone into too much detail on what happened in the barrel escape, but if the movies were accurate in the sense that Legolas was alive, then they could be right about the poison arrow…

"Kili, promise me something."

He looked surprised by my outburst but nodded, lips in a firm line. "Anything."

"No matter what happens, please, just- just stay in the barrel."

"Aurora, why-"

"Please, Kili, you have to stay in the barrel!" I was begging, my voice rising to almost a whine. "You just have to trust me."

"Alright, alright, I promise- Whoa!"

I let out a squeak as the barrel started rolling, and I found myself clinging to Kili for dear life. It was like I had no control over anything- simply being rocked and pushed from side to side as water flooded our barrel and drenched us head to foot. It felt like an eternity, and all I remember is muffling my cries into Kili's chest while he hushed me consistently and stroked my hair.

"Ssh, ssh, hey, it's alright- We're gonna- We're gonna be just fine- Just hold on tight- It won't- be too much longer-"

I felt the barrel slam into something hard, knocking my head against the side due to the impact, but that didn't matter to me. Through my fuzzy mind and ringing ears, I could hear Kili talking about raising the gate, could feel him shifting about in our barrel.

That just wouldn't do.

I elbowed Kili in the nose with a quick "Sorry!" before beating him out of the barrel. My rather rude action did slow him down, and I found myself diving between Orc legs and dodging random blades in order to reach the top of the gate. I tugged at the lever, ignoring every cry telling me to get back down, and I jumped, heaving all of my weight onto that bloody switch. It was only then that it began to move, raising the gate, and I laughed in victory, wedging a rock against the lever to keep it in position, before running back to the edge. I was soon prepared to jump off, feet dangling over the edge as I aimed for my barrel.

Something hit me just before I jumped, right at the back of my head, but it didn't necessarily hurt. It was just a faint throb so I ignored it, trying to focus on the barrels beneath me that suddenly seemed like they had multiplied. Twenty-six dwarves? Two hobbits? That wasn't right…

I looked up again at a garbled shout, realizing the dwarves were trying to say something to me. I couldn't figure it out. It was muffled and dull, like they had their hands covering their mouths or something, but, either way, it just didn't sound right, and why was everything getting so much darker? It was morning, wasn't it?

My feet slipped out from beneath me, then, and I was falling before I even realized it. I somehow twisted around, managing to catch a glimpse of the sky as I toppled off the edge. My vision was fading quickly, far too quickly I realized, but I managed to see one thing coming straight towards me just before I fell into the water.

The arrow.

I am probably the worst person in the world. Not updating in practically, what, a month? Good gracious, if you hated me, I wouldn't be surprised. Life's been hectic, and I swear I'll try to update a tad more frequently, but I shan't make any promises in fear that I can't keep them. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Like I said, I'll try to update more, and the next chapter is nearly complete, if that's any consolation. :) 'Til next time!