The rising sun was blinding, and Kili has no idea which direction was up as they spun through the air. The grazing of branches against his boots told him that Rhavaniel had managed to maneuver their feet underneath them. A sickening crack and a gasp from the girl let him know she was struck with a heavy branch, and he tightened his grip on her as he felt her long fingers slip.
As their trajectory slowed, Kili's sense of weightlessness ended and he felt the full weight of his pack dragging him down. He could see the green tops of gentle firs - the trees Rhavaniel must have been hoping they could reach. His surroundings become clearer, and as he prepared for impact, he realized his short knife was still in his hand.
Kili turned as best he could in mid-air, to lean forward with his right side and bring Rhavaniel behind him. He realized that Rhavaniel had been trying to grab the branches and catch their fall, but she was not strong enough, not with the weight of them both and all of their gear. But he was strong, and quick enough, if only his aim could be true.
His booted foot hit the fir trunk first, and he put the knife in to the hilt and did not let go. They slowed with a jerk against the tree, but then it yielded to them. Boughs swayed and rocked and bent slowly until they hovered a few feet above the ground. Rhavaniel rolled off from behind Kili with an un-Elfin gracelessness and landed on her bottom, still holding his wrist.
"Let go." Kili whispered to her. She shook her head no, but had no air for words. He felt the fir tense beneath him and realized with a start it was about to snap him back up. He could not shake his knife loose, and in a split second made the heartbreaking choice to leave it in the tree.
As he rolled off and joined Rhavaniel on the ground, the tree violently righted itself and rained them with a thick layer of dust and needles.
"Are you hurt?" he asked.
"A bit, but I can walk. Run if I have to." she gasped.
They could smell the smoke, and hear the screaming of Orcs from the firetrap they set.
"Run it is." Kili was up on his feet first. With a quick mutual dust off and adjustment of their packs, the two began running North.
They did not stop running until mid-morning, when they paused for rest and water. They put down their packs with relief.
Both were filthy, and the dirt left their clothes - her green-hued jacked embroidered with ferns, and his blue traveling cloak of Dwarf spirals - indistinguishably drab and grey.
Rhavaniel began to unwind a long strip of cloth from her hand. Kili hadn't noticed it, until he realized it was soaked with blood.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I could not hold on to any branches - none of them. I misjudged my strength. I am sorry." Rhavaniel sat on a mossy rock. "Hand me the white gourd on my pack, please?"
Kili grabbed it and walked over to her as she unwrapped the last stiff bit of cloth, revealing the shredded palm and fingers. Splinters were still attached, one having pierced the palm and gone through the back of her hand.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Kili asked with a grimace.
"Because we had to run." She replied, "I will clean it now. The balm will help, and I can start to heal."
"You should have said something." Kili scolded.
"It will be alright." she assured him.
"But you can't use your bow like that, can you? Or climb fast with one good hand. You should have said 'stop' sooner. You need to know what I can't do, and I need to know what you can't do." Kili pointed out.
Kili was angry with her. The Dwarf was right, as her family was always right when correcting her. But Dwarves seemed to have much less patience and tolerance for these mistakes. Were all Dwarves like this? She didn't like it, but she had to admit she would not be making the same mistake twice around Kili. Being raised by committee, as it were, she generally allowed herself to stand gently corrected by half a dozen relatives before adjusting her behavior.
She pulled out her fine tool kit, bound up in leather, and unrolled it on the rock beside her. There were tweezers that would do nicely to pull out the splinters.
"I will get that." said Kili impatiently, taking them from her, "I can do it faster."
After a few minutes of silent plucking and swabbing, Kili spoke gently to her, "I am not mad that you couldn't catch a branch dragging five-fold your weight. I didn't expect that you could. I will need to know what you are thinking if we're going to be stuck looking out for each other."
Rhavaniel nodded in understanding.
(*********************************)
Back at the ridge, a band of burned and bedraggled Orcs and Wargs found a few drops of blood under a great fir tree. Their leader called for one to climb up for a look around. The vile creature discovered Kili's knife, and pulled it out of the tree, throwing it down to the ground. The Wargs breathed deep - they had the scent of two now.