Author's note: Wow. I was amazed by the responses to the last chapter - thank you so much! Writing Gollum was the most fun I've had in a long time.

I will go and see the third movie tomorrow - and I'm excited but also terrified. I wanted to get another update out before that, sorry if it does not reveal too much about where this story is headed. I promise that I have some good stuff planned though. And I promise that I will not stop writing, even if the movie will crush my silly heart ;)

Here we go.

Chapter VIII

When Kíli awoke to a world of pain, he allowed himself a moment of self-pity. Truly, had he not had enough of those very painful awakenings in the past year? First pierced by an arrow, poison setting his body on fire, then squashed by a gigantic orc, his ribs splintering like toothpicks under its weight. And now… Kíli, his mind a little hazy, took a moment to assess his surroundings. Yes, what mishap had befallen him this time?

Cracking his eyes open a little, he half expected to find his brother next to his bed, keeping vigilant watch at his sickbed as he had done so many times over the years. But no, Fíli was not there, and Kíli remembered with a stab of disappointment that it would not make sense for him to be, since they had parted ways months ago.

That was when the events of the previous night came rushing back to him – an orc raid, him and Tauriel fighting side by side to protect the Rangers' camp, them getting separated, injuring his shoulder, injuring his head, a disturbing encounter with a skinny little orc, stumbling through the woods, searching for Tauriel, and- his heart sank when he remembered the end of his nightly adventure. He had never found her.

Ignoring the agonizing pain that the action caused to explode in his upper body as well as the dull throbbing behind his eyes that had been there ever since waking up, Kíli pushed himself into a sitting position, looking around half-crazy with worry. He was in a tent that undoubtedly belonged to the settlement of the Rangers and that was, to his horror, empty aside from the bed he was resting on. All he could think about was that if Tauriel were well or had at least been found, she would surely be here with him, either waiting for him to wake up or recovering from an injury as well. But there was no other bed and no sign of her having been there. This could mean two things – one was too painful to even think about and the other was that she was still missing.

Kíli swung his legs off the bed and tried his best to breathe through the wave of nausea that washed over him when his blood rushed from his head and the pain in various parts of his body threatened to overwhelm him. Standing next to the bed, swaying slightly, he localized his clothes and other possessions on a nearby chair and took a couple of deep breaths to stop his head from spinning. Pushing himself away from the bed he took a step and then another, waiting for the ground to become steadier beneath his wobbly legs. No, this would not work, he realized when the interior of the tent was suddenly tilted sideways and his vision became foggy. Dropping to his knees before he could fall and do more damage to his body than had already been done, he swallowed against bile rising in his throat, fearing that he was going to be sick from the pain and the dizziness, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

"Goodness gracious. Quickly, help me get him back to his bed before he hurts himself." Kneeling on the ground, he heard a female voice penetrate the haze surrounding his senses and soon felt a couple of capable hands grab him under his arm pits, lifting him off the ground. Two people he could only see as if through a dense fog supported his weight and slowly led him back to the bed and helped him lay back down on it.

"Can't stay," he muttered, trying immediately to sit back up despite the fact that he could scarcely see anything and immediately felt a fresh wave of nausea wash over him.

"Well, considering the state you are in, I fear that you will have to," the female voice returned, two pairs of hands gently and yet firmly holding him down. "Fennion, be a dear and hand me that bowl over there," the unfamiliar woman addressed the person to Kíli's left. A few seconds later, a cup was brought to his lips. "Here, drink this."

Kíli tried to turn his head away, moaning in protest, but his head was being held in place by the same hands that had restrained him previously and a pungent liquid was forced down his throat, leaving a burning taste on his tongue. He coughed and the action made his ribs hurt, tears stinging in the corners of his eyes. Little by little, however, his vision cleared and his breathing became calmer and more controlled.

He blinked a couple of times and slowly the two people leaning over him came into focus. To his left was Finn, his face pale and frightened. On his other side the owner of the female voice smiled down on him. "There, that is much better, do you not think?"

Kíli thought he had seen the woman in the Rangers' camp before, but they had not been formally introduced. Now that he saw her next to Finn, however, he knew right away that she was his mother and thus Fendir's wife. Her hair and eyes were of a much lighter shade than those of her son and husband, but Finn had clearly inherited her full lips and her broad, smooth cheeks. She was a handsome but by no means delicate woman and something in her eyes told Kíli that she was just as fierce a mother as she was a fighter. Immediately, Kíli was reminded of his own mother.

"I am Théa, wife of Fendir. My son, I believe, you have already met," she said when she noticed Kíli looking her over.

Kíli nodded and took a careful breath, trying not to expand his ribcage too much. "Tauriel," he croaked, looking up at Théa with pleading eyes. "Where is she?"

He prepared himself for the worst when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Finn's face grow even paler and watched Théa's forehead crease with worry. "You were found two days ago on the riverbank. The men who found you brought you here directly. There was no sign of your friend near you – or anywhere else for that matter." Kíli saw pity in her eyes and was dimly aware of her hand squeezing his in a comforting gesture.

Upon hearing that last sentence, he released a breath he had not known he was holding with a sigh that bordered on a sob. This was bad, but not nearly as bad as it would have been had they found her blood or, immeasurably worse, her body. He sat up, more carefully this time, and was not restrained although he noticed Théa watching him carefully. "Then she must still be out there," he said, his voice a little shaky. "I must search for her right away, find out what happened…"

Théa shook her fair head. "As you have just demonstrated to us and to yourself, you will not be going anywhere in the immediate future." Kíli opened his mouth to protest, but she continued without heeding him. "You have suffered quite a blow to the back of your head, your shoulder was dislocated and there is some serious bruising on your upper body, although I think, miraculously, no rib was broken. I am surprised you are even awake."

Kíli looked down and noticed for the first time that his chest and his right shoulder had been bound. Lifting a head to gingerly touch the back of his head, he winced when even the slightest contact of his fingers against his skull caused a flash of pain. He looked back at Théa with hopeless desperation. "You don't understand," he said. "I cannot lie in bed while Tauriel is out there on her own. She might be hurt, she might…" He slumped forward, unable to continue, and pressed his hands to his face.

He felt Théa's hand on his back. It seemed that she was going to speak, but Finn beat her to it. "Father and some of the others are out securing the perimeter of the camp," he said. "If there is a trail they will find it."

Kíli turned his head to look at him. "How long have they been gone?" His voice sounded hollow even to his own ears.

"Ever since the last of the orcs were driven away," Finn said. "They brought you back in the morning and set out again right after."

"You said it had been two days," Kíli said, looking at Théa. "Shouldn't they have found something by now?"

The worried look that Finn sent his mother did not escape Kíli's notice. Lying back on the bed in defeat, he could not help but think how utterly useless he was. Had he not sworn to himself that he would protect Tauriel at any cost? And instead he had not only allowed her to be captured, but had managed to put himself in a state where he was unable to go after her.

Unable for now, he thought grimly when Théa left and returned with a bowl of soup. The smell of food was making his stomach turn, but he sat up and forced himself to eat all of it, not even resisting when his nurse spoon-fed him. He would regain as much of his strength as was possible within as short a time as was absolutely necessary and then he would set off after Tauriel, with or without his hosts' consent, he did not care. And until then he would ignore the looks of pity by those attending to him and would tell himself that she was alright and he would find her eventually. If he had to, he would keep looking forever.

When Kíli stepped out of the tent two days later the sun was glaring down from a bright blue sky as if to mock him in his misery. He shielded his eyes with his hand, a simple movement which still cost him a disturbingly large amount of energy. He knew he shouldn't be out here, but there was no way he would continue to lie around and wait for something to happen. If he passed out in front of the whole camp then so be it, he could hardly feel more of a failure than he already did.

He quickly turned into the other direction when he saw Théa put down a basket of laundry several tents away and stomp towards him with her hands on her hips, a look of strong disapproval on her face. He would not be able to hide from her forever, but maybe he would at least be able to gather some information about what had been happening in the camp during the past two days, because he was sure that there were things that his hosts where not telling him.

He longed to speak with Fendir, knowing that of all the Rangers he would be the most likely to understand why he could not afford to waste a single second in which he could be looking for Tauriel. Not only was Fendir aware of Tauriel's condition, but he also had at least some idea of what Tauriel and Kíli meant to each other, of some of the obstacles they had been confronted with in their past. But whenever Kíli asked about him, he was told that he still had not returned from his mission.

Rounding the corner of another tent as quickly as he could, his heart leaped into his throat for a second when he saw a tall male figure clad in green heading into his direction. But then he saw that this was not Fendir as he had hoped for a moment, but Rúthon, one of the Rangers who had been very outspoken in his reluctance towards a friendship between the Dwarves of Erebor and the Dúnedain of the North, his hope quickly dwindled.

He was surprised, however, when Rúthon really did make his way towards him and stopped in front of him, clearly trying to keep his face neutral as he addressed him. "I need you to come with me."

Kíli frowned. "Why? Where?" He sincerely hoped this was not about any more prejudices or grudges that he knew some of the men held. He obviously had a great number of other things on his mind right now.

"You'll see," the Ranger responded mysteriously, clearly taking pleasure in leaving Kíli in the dark about something he knew. "Come on."

When Kíli refused to budge and stared at him with narrowed eyes, Rúthon shook his head, muttering something about the stubbornness of dwarves. "There is someone here who would like to speak with you," he then added. "They will not stay long, so will you please follow me?" He smirked arrogantly and Kíli grudgingly fell into step beside him, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Has Fendir returned?" he asked, even though he did not really expect the surly Ranger to impart any useful information to him.

"No," Rúthon replied and Kíli thought he would leave it at that, but then he added, "We did receive word from him and the others though. But since I will have to recount all that anyway in a minute or so, I would prefer it if you could wait until then."

Kíli's heart sped up. Did this mean that there was news? Good ones? And who had come that would want to speak to him of all people? The rest of his walk with Rúthon was spent in silence, Kíli trying his best to keep up and not let on how much the situation affected him both physically and emotionally.

Reaching the larger tent in which Kíli and Tauriel had attended the Rangers' gathering a few nights ago, Rúthon held the flaps of the entrance open, gesturing for Kíli to step through. Kíli entered the tent with a nervous flutter in his stomach, hoping that whoever it was that was waiting for him would not give him any more trouble than he already found himself in.

Inside the tent, a few tall figures were leaning over a table, studying a document of some sorts. Kíli recognized the older Ranger from a few nights ago among them. From Finn he had learned in the meantime that his name was Hírannon and that he held some authority among the men. The other people present Kíli did not immediately recognize, but he saw right away that they were no Rangers of the North. Their uniforms were different from the green cloaks the men in the camp wore. Different and yet vaguely familiar.

When one of the men leaning over the table turned around, Kíli immediately understood where he had seen those uniforms before. Rivendell.

"L- Lord Elrond," he stammered, not quite having expected this turn of events.

"Kíli, nephew to Thorin Oakenshield," the lord of Rivendell returned, gazing down on Kíli with a friendly expression. "It is good to see you again."

Kíli dropped his gaze, a little confused. "I am surprised you remember me," he said. During their time at Rivendell, he had never had any direct interaction with the ancient elf.

Elrond raised an eyebrow in surprise and amusement. "You were a guest at my house," he said. "What host would I be to not remember you and your name?"

Kíli swallowed, hoping that the elf's memory was not as good when it came to the state of their quarters at Rivendell after they had left. Frankly, things had gotten a little out of hand back there, the company bored from a lack of proper entertainment and keyed up from a lack of things to do.

Mumbling something incomprehensible, Kíli tried to cover up his embarrassment by stepping up to the table in order to see what Elrond and the others were looking at. A map of the Angle, from what he could judge. Elrond turned back around as well and smoothed the parchment with his palm. "We met a group of Rangers north of here yesterday. They spoke of a severe orc raid in their camp and we came to see if our assistance is needed," he explained. Looking down at Kíli he added, "From what I gather the situation is under control, but you could use our help. A friend gone missing, I understand?"

Kíli hesitated. "Well, I am not entirely sure what happened that night. We were fighting together and I saw her struggle but then I got injured and…" He trailed of, feeling even more of an idiot hearing himself tell someone else about the events of that night.

"Her? I see." Elrond smiled knowingly. "Then it is a dwarf-maid we are looking for. Although I hear the difference is not immediately apparent to anyone outside the dwarven race..." H trailed off.

Kíli wondered briefly if he should take offence at that statement, but then decided to save his disdain for Rúthon who rolled his eyes and gave a sarcastic snort, muttering, "Oh, now here comes the best part."

Kíli glared at the Ranger before looking back at Elrond who seemed confused by Rúthon's interjection and Kíli's reaction to it. "Well, you see…" Bugger. How was he going to explain this? "I was travelling with neither dwarf nor dwarf-maid," he finally said. Better to just get it out in the open. "But with one of your kind. Or well, maybe not your kind exactly. A wood-elf. Her name is Tauriel." Was he rambling? It seemed to himself that he was.

Elrond was silent for a long moment, his eyebrows knitted together in contemplation of what Kíli had just revealed. Then his eyes suddenly widened in apparent understanding. "The deserter," he breathed. "I see."

Now it was Kíli's turn to be surprised. "You know of her?"

Elrond grinned almost a little wickedly. "Not by name, no. But I have heard of a wood-elf, an acclaimed soldier, disappearing off the face of the earth right under her king's nose." When Kíli raised his eyebrows, he added, "We live for an eternity, my young friend. Of course we gossip."

Despite himself, Kíli felt the corners of his mouth twitch at the image of the lofty, dignified elves of Rivendell sitting together over a cup of tea and having a right gossip, like he remembered his great aunt and her girlfriends do during his childhood in the Blue Mountains. "So Gandalf did not tell you about us travelling the Angle when he came to Rivendell with Bilbo?" he asked in an effort to keep a straight face.

Elrond shook his head. "He did not. Or maybe he did, just not in so many words…" The elf frowned, lost in thought, but then shook himself, coming back to the matter at hand. "Be that as it may. So Tauriel of the Woodland Realm went missing the night of the orc raid. Is there a trail?"

Kíli, surprised by the elf's immediate acceptance of the fact that he had been travelling Middle Earth together with an elf-maid, made to answer, but was interrupted by Rúthon. "There was," the Ranger said. Kíli stared at him, outraged that no one had thought it necessary to tell him about that circumstance. If he had known that there was a trail to follow, he could have… No, he couldn't have, he realized. And that was probably why he had not been told – to spare him the torment of knowing that his injuries prevented him from going after Tauriel. Or to stop him from doing just that.

Rúthon continued with a cautious glance at the young dwarf who had seemed about to flare up for a second, but had deflated just as quickly. "We have had word from Fendir that they have followed the trail to the River. They have attempted to determine whether it continues on the other side, but to no success. It all but disappears."

There was silence while several pairs of eyes stared at the spot on the map that Rúthon indicated with his finger.

"Maybe they went into the river," Kíli muttered more to himself than to anyone else. "And let it carry them downstream."

Elrond frowned. "I never saw an orc particularly fond of water."

Kíli shrugged. "It just seems to be the obvious answer. They could have used a boat of some sorts."

"I believe the dwarf might be onto something," Rúthon threw in, grudgingly acknowledging that Kíli might be right. "But that also means that if the pack really used the current of the river to their advantage, they might by now have made it much further south than we presumed. They might already be out of our reach."

Elrond thoughtfully looked at the map for another few moments. "Our horses are fast," he then said. "We might still catch up with them – if downstream is really where they have travelled."

He looked at both Hírannon and Rúthon, who both nodded grimly. Kíli looked between the two men and the elf, amazed by their willingness to go after an orc pack that did not even pose a direct threat to them or their people anymore. But he would not question their motives if that increased his chances of getting Tauriel back. "Let me ride with you," he addressed Elrond.

The elf pressed his lips together. "No," he then said firmly, causing Kíli's heart to sink. "You seem in no state to travel."

Kíli shook his head. "Please," he urged. "I can ride with one of you. Tie me onto a horse if you have to. Just don't let me stay here, doing nothing."

Elrond leaned down, putting a hand on his shoulder. His face was full of pity and only now Kíli realized that he was shaking, his brow covered by a fine sheen of cold sweat. He probably did look like hell. "Rest, Kíli," Elrond said. "If there is a way for us to find your friend, trust me that we will. I do not want to risk your health by taking you with us, nor do I want to risk you slowing us down."

Well, at least he was being honest about it. But still, this was the second time within a couple of months that Kíli was in this exact same situation. Left behind, judged to be unfit for travel. Only this time, he did not want to come along for his own sake, but for someone else's.

Fine, he thought grimly. If they did not want to take him with them, he would have to find a way to go on his own. He had done enough sitting around.

Nodding curtly to Elrond, he said, "Thank you for your assistance, Lord Elrond. I wish you good luck in your search."

The elf frowned down at him with an expression of worry and he knew that it was not polite to stomp out of a tent full of people who had just offered their help, but did so anyway. He had a journey to prepare for, after all, and did not want to waste anymore time.

tbc...

You'll learn about what happened to Tauriel right at the beginning of the next chapter. Promise!