The dress was tighter around my chest and thighs, but it was good enough to roam about in and nothing private was popping out in all the wrong places. That would have made it majorly awkward when Shi had slipped quietly into my room.

The dress was nothing special - nothing compared to what I had seen the Elves wear so far. The sleeves were baggy around my elbows and the hem reached my ankles, thank God. If not, I would have been falling about the room and tripping over the darned dress. It was light to wear, lovely compared to the cloak, shirt, breeches and boots I had been wearing. On top of that - no bra. I had felt so free.

'I have brought you something to eat,' said Shi, settling a plate of bread and cheese onto my bed (which had been hell of a comfy to sleep on, by the way). It was then that my stomach gave a great and mighty groan of hunger, and I was reminded that although I had bathed and slept, I had not yet eaten.

'Thank you,' I'd moaned, diving for the food and devouring it while Shi spoke to me, eyeing me with obvious distaste. I hadn't eaten properly in days, throw me a freakin' bone.

'Your Dwarven friends are still staying silent about your wanderings in Mirkwood; I don't suppose that you would consider supplying us with this information? King Thranduil thinks it would make the whole ordeal much easier,' Shi said smoothly, eyes lingering on the bread that I chomped into.

Food makes everything better.

'Are you feeding them?' I'd asked, completely disregarding her question. 'You're not, like, starving them or anything, are you?'

Shi's face took on a look of great offense. 'We Wood Elves are not barbarians, Lady Dwarf. They were given dinner last night, though you fell asleep before we could offer it to you. They have also been given the same breakfast as you, as well as water. We treat our guests well, no matter if they are intruders'.

At her pointed look, I'd smiled quite innocently.

'Is Thorin here too?' I popped the last piece of cheese into my mouth and swallowed, finally content and happy with my fullness. Might as well make the most of this luxury, eh? 'No point in lying. I know that he is'.

Shi did not speak for a second, but then said, 'Then why ask?'

Carefully, I placed my elbows onto my knees and squinted at her. 'You have a lot of attitude for an Elf, don't you?' Without waiting for an answer, I hopped onto my bare feet and fingered the light material of the dress. 'Thanks for this, by the way. I haven't worn anything even slightly feminine or clean in months. Heck, I don't even know how long-'

T.M.I, Millie. Shut your trap when the Elves are about.

'I'm not allowed to leave this room then?' Shi nodded once, gathering up my used towel carefully. 'Oh, do you need any help with that?' Shi shook her head. 'Can I not see my friends just once?'

'Your friends are each being kept in separate cells to stop any...messages from travelling between them. You are being kept in a cell of you own, although a slightly...fresher one,' Shi stood up straight and waved her pretty, long hair over her shoulder, looking down to consider me. 'If you would just talk, you could all leave once King Thranduil has considered your story'.

I said nothing, while Shi merely sighed.

I'll skip ahead, just because what happened for the most part of that day consisted of me roaming around my cell room, Shi visiting to give me food and water and myself knocking pathetically on the door and moaning to the guard that I was having a boring old time, and could he please let me out for just five minutes.

He didn't. Big Surprise.

It was only when I was leaning against the door and studying Snowthorn that I heard voices through the fine wood. Uncrossing my legs, I'd pressed myself closer to the closed door, ear flat against the wood.

The words were a mixture of Elvish and English (what I had guessed to be English anyway, it could be called anything here) words such as 'feast' and 'wine' were broken through the male Elves words. My own guards voice became stressed (I'd grown used to hearing him become annoyed at me), until it became questioning and then, finally, he was sighing and laughing.

Annoyingly, there had then been a stretch of silence in which I had considered knocking on the door, or just simply leaving it. If the guard (like I'd assumed) had been dragged off with another, then...well, I could potentially slip out of my room and...

And what? I had no way of freeing the Dwarves, nor did I even know where they were. I'd screw it up straight away, and Thorin would go right back to thinking me an annoying, hyperactive child. I'd only just convinced them that I was Dwarf worthy-

It was then, as I had my little Angst-Fest, that the door opened sharply, slamming into the side of my head. With a yelp I scrambled to my feet, dragging my skirts up with me and staring in horror at the empty doorway.

And then, in the stillness, Bilbo Baggins had sprung into my vision, gold ring in hand.

'Holy-!'

He pressed himself quickly against the door, closing it with his weight. His hand found my mouth, to which quickly muffled any swear words that were sure to start bubbling out.

'You found me,' I'd sighed happily, bringing the stressed looking Hobbit into a much needed hug. 'Bilbo, I thought you'd been locked out into the forests or something. I was worried, man!'

Bilbo returned the hug, albeit a little awkwardly. 'I've been hiding. I have the ring, after all. I don't have much time, so please stay quiet and listen, Millie'. He didn't even wait for my affirmation of silence. 'The guard that has been posted outside of this room has gone with the other guards to the cellar, where they're now drinking some rather potent wine'.

Sounds like something I'd enjoy. Go on.

I began buckling on Snowthorn. 'I've already got the others into the barrels, but I needed to get to you last while they hid. Come, we don't have much time. I'm going to turn invisible but I will hold onto your hand and lead the way. Alright?' Er-

The only word that I had been able to stutter out was, 'Barrels?' And then, 'You've seen them - the Dwarves?' Kili, Fili - Kili.

'Yes, yes! Come on, duck and run!' And then the crazy little Hobbit grabbed onto my hand and yanked me out of the door while I scooped my bag into my arms. The hallways were empty, but the distant sound of singing could be heard, further down the hallway where I had not yet ventured. Bilbo disappeared in the blink of an eye, although I could still feel the pressure of his hand in mine.

They're waiting for you. They waited.

I had never felt more part of the company than I had then.

We ran as fast as we could, pressed against the walls while also trying to be silent. When it came to turning a corner, we would slow down and tiptoe. Finally, we came to the doors that led into what I remembered to be the King's Chamber. Where the Dwarves had been sent away, and where Legolas, the Prince, had escorted me to my room. Probably to try an scoop some information out of me.

Bilbo's hand slipped form mine at one point and my heart gave a funny little spasm of panic. It was, thank Everything, quickly slipped into mine once again and his pull was harder, as if he new exactly where to go now.

We stopped outside the doors when an Elvish conversation became louder than the Elvish singing, but that too soon evaporated into the distance - whew.

I'd hardly noticed how cold I was growing, having only worn a dress. I had also barely noticed the fact that my feet were bare against the stone floor, or that we were slipping through the great doors and into the King's empty Chamber. I don't know how I'd hardly noticed, seeing as it took the dual burden of myself and the invisible Bilbo wrench open the heavy doors quietly.

For a moment, there was that kind of great anticipation. You know, like we were to open the doors and a voice would should 'Hey there!' Thankfully, no one did. Bilbo had been right in saying that everyone had gone to this great feast, but I also knew that the guards would be down those steps right in front of us, and that we would have to slip past them too.

Feet stumbled across the King's chamber, through the door in which the Dwarves had disappeared and down the uneven, clean and hard stone steps. The singing was faint now, but there was a soft snoring to take its place. A voice whispered into my ear, and a hand pulled me to a stop. 'They are asleep, but you must be quiet!'

This new, superhero Bilbo was starting to freak me out a little, if I'm honest. I mean, at one point he had been at the same experience level as me: Useless. Now though, he was a respected and listened to member of the group, and I was just barely learning to defend myself.

I mean, the Hobbit was kickin' ass in all kinds of ways.

Bilbo's tug pulled me quietly to the bottom of the stairs. We ducked and peered around the stone wall corner, spying out the Elves that sat around a table, heads lolled against the wood and empty goblets standing proudly next to them. I recognized one of them as my own silver haired guard, the one who would accept my banter through the door with 'hmmm's and 'oh yes?'s.

And there, leaning against the doorway at the opposite end of the cellar, was Balin. His old face caught a contagious smile as I waved madly at him, mouth sealed shut and keeping as quiet as Bilbo had told me to. Speaking of that, the Hobbit soon reappeared right beside me, rolling the ring nervously past his fingers.

'I must put the keys back onto his belt,' he mused, very quietly. 'Wouldn't want him to get into trouble'.

Yeah. Wouldn't want that.

I hastily sped quietly across the floor, grabbing onto Balin's shoulder very quietly and yanking him into a sudden and awkward hug. As he pulled away, the beard twitched and he said, quite gruffly, 'Follow the hall down there, lass. You'll find them'.

I did as I was told.

With my bag banging against me, I hurried down the hall and wrenched open a door slowly, slipping through the doorway and toward my waiting Dwarves. They were each in a barrel, just as Bilbo had said. The barrels were stacked up against the wall, meaning that many of them were on top of each other. I was, madly, reminded of a cheerleader pyramid.

'The Hobbit got you here then?' declared Bofur in a low voice, leaning out of his barrel, gloved hands curling around the sides. He smiled widely.

I snorted, walking toward the lot. 'He helped, I suppose'.

'And found you an Elven dress along the way,' said Thorin, cocking a thick eyebrow. I blushed at the fact that I was indeed a Dwarf wearing an Elven dress. 'No matter, get into a barrel-'

He was cut off by Balin and Bilbo opening the door and shutting it quickly behind them. 'We've taken far too long,' announced the twitchy Hobbit. 'Millie, Balin, climb into a- well yes, well done Balin,' commented the Hobbit, watching as the dwarf climbed past Bofur and into a barrel of his own. 'Millie, you are small, share with- okay, yes'.

I had cut him off by starting toward the only Dwarf who I would consider sharing a barrel so closely with. Or, I hadn't really though about it at all. I'd watched him from the moment I'd entered the room, and after that everything else had fallen into one, solid order: get as close to him as you can, and don't leave him again.

As Bilbo began the job of sealing up all of the barrels as quickly and as efficiently as he could, I took my bag away from my shoulder and handed it down to the Heir, the Prince. His barrel was one of the lowest on the floor. This would mean very awkwardly crawling onto my hands and knees and backing into it. Get ready for a face full of butt, Kili.

'Hurry up, Millie,' whispered Ori, quite paranoid about the next lot of Elves coming down soon.

I shot him a dirty look and threw my back hair. Around me the Dwarves muttered profanities as they were sealed away, while Bilbo said, 'Once we've been cast out, I've made them loose enough for them to be pushed off'. That shut them up quickly.

'My air holes are horrendous,' muttered Balin as he was sealed away, while Thorin said something about his complete lack of space. As they mumbled, I backed awkwardly into the barrel with Kili, hyper-aware of the fact that my dress was riding up and that, once I was entirely in, my bag was causing great discomfort.

'So,' I muttered. 'This is comf-' I was cut off by the sudden clatter of Bilbo smacking the lid onto our barrel, and so we had been sent into darkness, light filtering through the various air holes that had been made.

Our breathing was heavy in the small space, and I was very aware of Kili beside me and his still not washed clothes against my clean, rather pretty dress. 'You still stink,' I told him lightly, not one for emotional hellos.

'And you look beautiful, Millie,' he told me, no trace of joking in his voice. I could see his face, but awkwardly (there wasn't a lot of space) I had jolted my arm from where it had been squeezed at my side and felt around for his hard jaw, his rough stubble. Once I found it, I felt there for a moment, muttering a small thank you and just pleased to be touching him again.

The barrel was growing hot with our breathing, and vaguely I heard the loud chatter of others. The Elves had come.

'I don't want to leave you again,' I whispered quickly, madly. I had known that this was the moment, in a barrel as we tried to escape the grasp of an Elven King. 'Last night I decided that if I managed to get back to you, I wouldn't waste another moment arsing around or awkwardly trying to tell you - you-' Oh bloody hell. 'Kili, I don't care about the fact that you don't have a beard, or-' Oh God, I'd forgotten the speech.

'I- you're mine'. Not hers, mine.

The words came out in a whispered confession in a barrel, just as the barrel began to roll forward. Of course I was terrified that he had not said anything during my little confession, of course my face was ablaze with blushing and stammering. But once the barrel began to move, his large hands grabbed on to my waist to bring me closer and my legs locked tightly onto his, keeping him in place.

We protected each other, Kili and I.

There were three great jolts (in which our foreheads bumped together) and then a moment where we free fell, I guess. Then, there was a splash beneath us, the feeling of swaying and bobbing and feeling emptiness beneath you - something that kept you afloat, but was not quite solid. My head swayed, my knees jerked upward and Kili gave a great 'oof!'

'S-sorry!' I yelped, realizing precisely where I had kneed him.

'The lid,' he bit out. 'We're upright!' Despite his short sentences, I understood what he had meant. With our rough swaying, we soon managed to punch off the lid with aching palms, bursting into the sunlight and the splashing water of the real world.

I spun around to face the river, back pressed against Kili's chest. The others were around us, all of their lids having already been pushed open, their shouts were drowned out by the roaring of the river. We were thrown forward, underneath a great bridge and further down the river, spinning around bends and shouting when we drew too near to any rocks.

'This was an awful idea!' shouted one of the Dwarves.

My dress had been drenched by the constant splashing of water, and all I could shout was, 'Amen!'

The trees on either side of the banks grew thinner as we went along, and I knew that we were getting further and further away from the depths of Mirkwood. Behind me, Kili shouted as the river dropped down and with it we went, swaying and lurching in the rough, twirling water, our stomachs heaving and our mouths full of salty water.

It seemed to last forever.

'We are coming toward a bank!' roared Thorin, finally. 'Get ready!'

Nothing could have prepared me for the sudden twist that Kili took with the barrel, directing us into the same direction that the others were going. The action sent me straight into the curve of the barrel and my stomach into DO NOT THROW UP mode. As the land scraped beneath the barrel, ourselves and the other Dwarves scrambled painfully out while we still moved, throwing ourselves onto the rocky, uneven bank. My foot, having my wrapped around my bag, was yanked painfully as the weight of said bag pulled at it.

For a moment, I just lay there, wondering if any of what had happened had actually just happened.

The others had the same idea as me, as they all lay there, too sore to move. Had we looked closer, we would have seen that just around the other corner of the bank, there was a Man upon a platform collecting in each of our lone, floating barrels. We would have also seen the small town, just further along, standing alone upon a large lake.

We were, apparently, too busy for that.

'Bilbo!' gasped Bofur, spluttering water from his beard and tightening his hat (which must have been glued to his head, or something). The Dwarf went to the stumbling, sick looking Hobbit who gladly took the support that Bofur gave him. 'You didn't get yourself a barrel, silly Hobbit!'

'Not enough time,' swayed Bilbo, curly hair dripping.

Right, we were wet.

I was wearing a white dress.

And I had just confessed by feelings to a Dwarf who still said nothing.

'Is everyone here?' said Thorin, standing up himself. I sat upright, curling my arms around my chest and praying that no one would look at me. Dwarves lay all around me, flat against the rocky bank, holding their heads and moaning about 'bloody barrels'. In fact, Bombur, Dori and Ori were still half in theirs, and Ori was in the process of throwing a wriggling fish from his barrel.

Fili and Kili were huddled together, quietly checking the other over. Fili gripped Kili's arm, while the other looked up at his Uncle, then straight at me. I just shrugged at him, not knowing what else to do.

Kili held out his hand and without even pausing, I half stood and stumbled over to him and Fili, arms still wrapped around myself. You know, having a wet white dress just made things awkward, and having been rather cold...well, certain things could have cut ice at that moment.

That was disgusting, I'm sorry.

Snort.

Thorin's voice was rough and loud as he stood, hand on Bilbo's shoulder. 'Bilbo says that the Elves-' he spat the word with pure loathing now. Honestly, I couldn't help but glower at the mention of the Elves, no matter if it was right for them to capture some intruders. 'Said the barrels were sent toward Laketown. We will make our way toward the town now'.

Everybody let out tired, great groans.

'Up!' snapped Thorin, not in the mood to be disobeyed. With that, our company had stumbled to our feet. Kili stayed close to Fili, while I stayed close to Kili, his hand on me at all times, and my head lolling against his shoulder.

My eyes snapped open, though, when his warm breath was next to my ear with a, 'We will talk soon, I promise'.

There was a long bridge leading to the place that Thorin had called Laketown, and what a well named place it was. From what I could see from the outside, the Town was square and sitting upon stilts and platforms of wood to keep it away from the calm water below. Thatched roofs and houses were seen to make up the square of the town, and long boats broke the water.

The Dwarves boots made funny little squelching sounds, while my feet ached from being bare and walking along the rock and wood. Bilbo walked quite happily(ish), having had hard Hobbit feet. The Dwarves braids dripped and their beards were drying with brittle salt of the river. They were pretty miserable, all in all.

'You say there is a Master of this town?' asked Nori.

'Aye,' answered Thorin. He had been short with everyone since first laying eyes on the Misty Mountain that towered in the distance, his eyes full of longing and sternness. He'd been especially short with Kili and Fili, who lingered at the back of the group with me. 'And we must convince him to let us stay here before we make for the Mountain'.

It was hard, sometimes, to believe how far we'd come.

Finally, the odd group of us reached the gates that lead into Laketown. At these gates, there had stood to guards of the race of Men. I had guessed so, anyway. They were tall and didn't have pointy ears, so I had assumed (rightly, as well).

After a moment of staring at us in bewilderment, one of the guards gripped the hilt of his word and said, 'Who are you and what do you want?'

Thorin stepped forward, shorter than the two Men but far too miffed off to appear weak. 'I am Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror, King Under the Mountain,' he declared. I've said it once and I'll say it again, could 'Hello, I am Thorin', not suffice? 'And I wish to see the Master of this Town'.

One of the guards opened his mouth and then closed it and then said, 'Oh. Er, and who are these?' He looked to the rest of us in our bedraggled, cold state.

Thorin's shoulders had drooped in annoyance, and his eyes had taken on a tired, hard look. 'Kili and Fili, sons of my sister. Dwalin, son of-' I will not bore you with the family history of each of the Dwarves, so I'll leave the rest to your imagination. To put it simply, Thorin had named each of the Dwarves and their fathers. Literally.

'-Bilbo Baggins, who has joined us on this journey from the West, and Lady Alexandria, daughter of-' Thorin cut himself off, paused and then looked back at me. Oh, this would be one of those giggly moments in the cinema, wouldn't it?

'Robert,' I filled in awkwardly, crossing my arms even tighter. The guard looked down to my feet and my wet dress, cocking an eyebrow. I cocked one right back, while Kili stood in front of me and Thorin coughed loudly. Of course, I had known that Dwarves were stupidly protective of their women when it came to other races.

The guards considered us. 'Only the woman Dwarf wears a weapon,' he said.

'And I can hardly use it, so there's not point in taking it away,' I returned, popping my head out from behind Kili's back. Not that you'd be able to take it anyway. The guards shared a look and then shrugged, apparently too caught up with the fact that Thorin Oakenshield had returned.

'The Master is at a feast, but very well. Follow me'.

And then they opened the gate into Laketown, and I wondered exactly what would transpire.

Food, hopefully.

This chapter took FOREVER to write. I'm sorry, but I hope that you understand that writing from book to my own writing is hard enough, and then trying to add some originality to the scenes. I changed things, as you can see, but it still flows into the same place: Laketown. I'm so excited to write about Laketown, just because much will happen!

I won't let out too much, but from what happened in this chapter, perhaps you can guess what will happen. Now that they will be safe and dry, there's a lot of time for talking, huh?

Onto the obvious thing, 1000 reviews! I died, guys. I freaked out and then died. Thank you so much, I mean it! Anyway, expect the humor to return a bit more, now that Millie's in a place where she isn't a alone and freaking out.