I do not own any of the characters or the Hobbit (just the AU storyline and my OC) those are the work of the esteemed and brilliant John Ronald Reull Tolkien, and without his genius,this and many other fan fics would not be in existence.

Please review! I love getting them-they keep me encouraged J

The very damp dwarves were not happy about continuing on through the night up the pass, but they were even less happy crowded literally one on top of the other under the meager space between the boulders, and within a few minutes they were off.

Cirashala took one look at her soaking wet blanket, and groaned as she rolled it up, not even bothering to attempt to squeeze out the excess water as the rain came down. The blanket was rather heavy, and she grunted as she hoisted her pack onto her sore shoulders. She stumbled slightly, and Bofur grabbed her arm to keep her from falling.

She could tell by the looks Thorin was giving her that she was in deep trouble, but the threat of orcs nearby was taking up his attention. Though she would have preferred to not be moving up a mountain in the dark after a day filled with walking and training morning and night, she really did not want to meet anymore orcs.

They moved quickly and quietly through the storm, wading across the cold stream and covering about a mile before they began to climb up a narrow path. Cirashala's legs burned, and she could hear several muffled complaints behind her as Bilbo grumbled about losing the night's sleep, and being soaking wet, and about wishing he was home in his armchair by the fire, dry and comfortable.

She stumbled several times, wondering just how it was possible that her legs didn't completely give out on her after the extreme exertion she had put her body through over the past several days, then a sudden thought struck her.

The pain tea, she thought to herself. It is elvish-could it be giving me energy, like the miruvor did for the fellowship over Caradhras?

She decided that must be it, because there was absolutely no other explanation for her being able to continue on in this manner. She was confident that her body would have lost the battle with exhaustion long before now, had some other force not been at work. Stepping off to the side, she quickly dug it out of her pack, and dumped half the non drowsy mixture into her water skin, not having time to make it properly. She hoped that it would work.

Bilbo and Ori stopped by her, tugging on her arms as she stood up.

"Miss Cirashala, you cannot stop," the concerned hobbit cried.

"The orcs—" Ori added, and she held up her hand, nodding quickly.

"I know, I just needed some of my elvish tea," she replied, shouldering her pack. Bilbo and Ori looked at each other in bewilderment as she moved ahead out of earshot, sipping her tea from her water skin.

Tea, now? Bilbo thought. I miss my comforts of home and all, but…now? His expression seemed to reflect his thoughts, and Ori looked at him and chuckled slightly despite the situation.

"It is pain tea, Bilbo," Ori said to him as they trudged through the rain, having learned of it when he had offered her watered down ale and she had declined the other night. "She was almost strangled by an orc, or did you not see the bruises on her neck?" Bilbo's eyes widened as he looked at her.

"I must have missed it," he said, concern in his tone. "Is she all right?" Dori, who was next to Ori, nodded.

"Aye, though it was mighty foolish of her to wander off alone, especially after we kept telling her not to," the older dwarf grumbled. "The lass could have gotten herself killed, or at the very least drawn them back to our camp."

"Oh, let off," Ori snapped, causing both Dori and Bilbo to blink in surprise. "It bothers me sometimes that you fuss so much over me too, as though I am still a child! I can imagine, with her being told she couldn't even visit a tree without privacy, that she was growing tired of it as well." He glared at his older brother, who looked slightly taken aback, before his expression hardened.

"Aye, and how many times have you gotten hurt when I did let you be?" he retorted, "The fact of the matter is she shouldn't have gone so far out of camp, and out into the open either! She knew there were possibly orcs nearby, and she still went far beyond earshot and cover!"

"Why did she even venture so far away?" Bilbo asked, turning toward Kili. "You found her, didn't you? Did she tell you what she was doing out in the meadow?" Kili paused, face burning as he recalled the earlier incident in the inlet, knowing that was likely the reason she ended up so far away from camp.

"N-no, she didn't tell me," he said quickly, not looking at anyone as he tugged his hood further down to hide his face, before moving ahead to take up the space behind her, along with his brother. The trio looked at each other in slight confusion, but shrugged it off, pulling their coats and hoods in as a gust of wind blasted into the group.

XXX

The path quickly became very familiar as they began to wind up the mountain, and Cirashala quickly realized that it was just as slick as it had appeared in the movie. She grasped the damp rock face as tightly as she could, digging her broken nails into it as she stayed as far away from the edge as possible. She also realized as they climbed higher that this must be the mountain that Goblintown was under, and cursed under her breath, realizing they likely wouldn't be getting rest this night or possibly the next.

Fortunately, her pain tea was indeed the source of the energy that she was lacking, and the aches slowly faded from her legs and arms as it began to take effect. She found that, while she was still very tired (and missing the night's sleep), she was not trembling as much anymore, and was still able to keep up somewhat, though the dwarves' hardiness far outmatched hers.

She was towards the middle of the group, right in front of Ori and Bilbo, with Fili and Kili in front of her. The rain came down in torrents, and the wind blew heavily, driving the stinging rain into their eyes. Those who had hoods had a difficult time keeping them on their heads, and Cirashala was forced to pull her hood quite a bit forward to keep it from blowing off.

Unfortunately, it also decreased her visibility, and, given the incredibly steep drop to the right, she decided a wet head was preferable to falling to her death. She allowed it to blow off, resolving to see if there were any pins in her pack when she had a chance to pin her hood in place. The icy rain pelted her face, and she was forced to squint and blink rapidly just to see where she was going.

"We need to find shelter!" She heard Thorin cry out, and Fili and Kili both looked back at her with concern. Wait, where had she heard that before?

"Look out!" Dwalin roared, and Fili and Kili whipped their head around, eyes widening as they saw the massive boulder coming straight for the rock above them. Thorin cried out something about taking cover as the dwarves crouched into the rock face. Cirashala's heart pounded in her ribs as she threw her arms over her head to block the splintered rock from hitting her head.

This was supposed to have happened five days ago!

XXX

Cirashala slowly peeked out from under her arms as Balin spoke words that she had hoped she would never hear said in person.

"This is no thunderstorm! It's a thunder battle!" Balin cried. "Look!" He pointed toward the east, and her face drained of color. For there, clear as the storm around them, a giant made of stone emerged from the very bones of the mountain itself. The great beast reared up, breaking stone off the mountain it rested on, and reaching its great arm back to throw.

"Why bless me, the legends are true!" Bofur cried. "Giants! Stone giants!" The beast released the massive mountaintop, sending it flying through the blowing wind toward another giant behind them. It hit the giant in the face, causing it to fall back into the mountainside where they had been several minutes before. Bilbo's face was agape, his eyes wide with terror at the sight he never even considered seeing either.

"No, this isn't supposed to be happening! Not now!" she cried, forgetting her resolve to keep her knowledge of the future secret in her terror, and Fili looked back at her with a strange expression. Before he could speak, however, Thorin shouted.

"Take cover, you fools!" he cried, and Cirashala saw Kili grab Bofur's pack, the miner still staring in awe at the massive creatures, and shove him down into the mountainside. Bilbo had been crouching down on the path, there being little other way to see cover, but stood up rapidly. Cirashala could feel the mountain rumbling under her feet, and she literally stopped breathing as she looked at the dwarves ahead of her.

I-I am behind Fili, she realized, a knot of unimaginable terror gripping her stomach. He-he was on the side that got smashed into the cliff….

She didn't get to finish her thought, for just as in the movie, the rock began to split under Kili's feet. The young dwarf looked at his elder brother in terror.

"What's happening!" he cried as he looked at Fili, moving his leg to the eastern side of the fissure.

He must have the answers, he must! Kili thought. Fee knows everything!

"Kili, grab my hand!" Fili cried, but he was just a split second too late. The brothers faces bore looks of abject horror and terror as the stone giant had done what Kili had merely jested about that morning-separated the brothers.

"Fili, Cirashala!" he cried as Oin held him back. Fili reached for him again, foot slipping on the edge of the fissure, and Cirashala grabbed the back of his pack and pulled him back onto the rock to keep him from falling.

"Fili, no! You won't make it!" she cried. As the giant whose knees they were on got headbutted by another, they could see Thorin's side crash into the other side of the path. Breathing a sigh of relief at seeing them move safely over, Cirashala was unprepared for the lurch their side made.

Apparently Fili wasn't either, as he slipped and fell on his stomach, before managing to crawl up to where his hand could find purchase on the rock face. Cirashala and Bofur reached over, helping pull him up. As soon as the young heir's grip tightened on the rock wall, both he and Bofur wrapped their arms around her, pressing her against the wall.

"No! Grab Bilbo!" she screamed, looking at Bofur, since the hobbit was on the miner's other side. "He doesn't have gloves!" Bofur looked at the hobbit, whose hands were repeatedly slipping as he grappled for a hand hold, and grabbed his arm, pressing him up to the rock as well.

Cirashala closed her eyes and breathed deeply, praying to Eru that they would all make it out alive as they were supposed to.

XXX

Kili followed the stone giant's knees with wide eyes. If he had bothered to pay attention, he would have been grateful that his feet had found apparently solid ground to stand on. He would have been grateful that half the company, his uncle included, were, for the moment, relatively safe.

But he did not care one whit about himself, or the fact that his uncle and half the company were safe. In fact, he didn't care about the rest of the company at the moment at all-his terrified thoughts were on his brother and the young woman, still trapped on the stone giant's knees as it fought with the others.

In terror he watched as they scrambled for a foothold. His heart had almost leapt out of his throat as he saw Fili slip, before Cirashala and what appeared to be Bofur pulled him up to safety. He could see his brother and the miner holding her to the mountainside, but that did not comfort him.

He was so absorbed in watching those he deeply cared about that he didn't notice when their giant grabbed a large stone off the mountain they were standing on until someone cried, "Look out!" He turned his head around, seeing the giant his brother was on hit another in the face with the giant stone.

XXX

Every single member of the company looked on in horror as the giant behind them hurled a rock at the giant half the company was on, beheading it. The company on stable ground ducked as a fresh onslaught of rocks fell over their heads.

Thorin watched in horror as the giant began to collapse, seeing the company, and more importantly his eldest nephew, stumbling. They had turned, facing outward, all of their arms in front of each other as they held themselves to the rock, with exception to Cirashala, who gripped the rock face between Bofur and Fili with her eyes tightly shut, knuckles white.

He gripped his axe, wishing with all his might that he could somehow fight the giants. It would be far easier than watching helplessly as the fear filled eyes of those in peril crossed near them. It reminded him of how helplessly he could watch as the dragon crushed Erebor's army, shooting flames and swiping them aside as though they were nothing. It was so long ago, but now his heart could see his nephew in peril, and an overwhelming feeling of dread crept into the usually stoic king's heart.

"Come on!" he cried, the rawness of his emotion seeping through his cry. But they could no more come to him than he could get to them, and he could only watch in terror as the giant began to fall backward, the knee his nephew and his closest friend were precariously perched on careening straight toward the side of the cliff he was standing on.

For once, the exiled king under the mountain wanted nothing more than to hold his golden haired nephew, to feel him living and breathing against him, safe and sound, instead of in great peril on a quest for an empty mountain occupied by a dragon-a mountain that he had never seen.

XXX

The cliff face rushed to meet them, and Fili looked over at the frozen young woman next to him. Her eyes were scrunched shut, and she had an iron grip on the stone giant. And, from what he could see, she didn't know that they were all about to die.

He had noticed that his brother was increasingly protective of her, though the blood debt had long since been paid. While Kili had been continually protective of those he called friends, it did not explain the reason why he had gone after her himself when she had wandered off instead of telling the company first, especially after Thorin's lecture about how he had gone up against the trolls himself to protect Bilbo. He had at first attributed Kili's nervousness around her to his general awkwardness around girls, and when Kili had told him about feeling strange he had when Fili had awakened with her, he had attributed that to his brother feeling guilty over what he had done.

But when he saw how patient the normally impulsive Kili had been when he had trained her in archery earlier that evening, and the odd way he had avoided both Fili's and Cirashala's gazes when they had returned from retrieving her arrows, a small thought had begun to work his way into Fili's mind.

He had begun to think back to those strange looks Kili had given her when she wasn't looking and the unusual flushing that resulted from it, and the way Kili had been so gentle with her when she had nearly frozen to death.

He recalled the lent tunic, and how Kili had struck Nori and had to be held back after his loud prank, fire in his eyes. Kili was quite the prankster himself, and had never reacted so seriously to one done by another. He also recalled how possessive Kili had become with her, when Bombur had offered her a hand up after nearly crushing her in their pileup on the icy path and Kili had refused to let the remorseful dwarf anywhere near her, and Fili's eyes widened.

He was jealous of me….when I woke with her in my arms, he realized in shock. By my beard, he…he carries a torch for her.

The stone face was only a handful of yards away. He turned quickly and pressed her up against the stone, his body between Cirashala and the oncoming rock. He didn't know what else to do, but he was determined to keep her safe as best he could.

Even if he were to die in less than two seconds, the least he could do was keep the young woman that his brother cared for from getting killed as well, even if Kili was doomed to care for someone he could never have. And his blood debt would be paid.

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A THOUSAND SORRIES! My fingers got away from me again! Who knew a five minute scene in a movie would turn into 3,000 words! I will start the next chapter immediately, and PROMISE I won't go to bed til it's posted for you all, so you get GT! Again, my apologies! (I should probably refrain from telling my readers I am going to get to a particular point, since my treacherous fingers have their own dang ideas! Stupid fingers)

A response to guest reviewer Ri-chan-Thank you! I am glad you are enjoying my wandering muses taking over my fingers, since they are awfully stubborn and do not want to share power ;P As to your other question, the problem is probably best answered in Tolkien's own words, "It is because of the fewness of women among them that the kind of the Dwarves increases slowly, and is in peril when they have no secure dwellings. For Dwarves take only ONE wife or husband each in their lives, and are jealous, as in all matters of their rights." I got this from the LOTR appendices in the section entitled Durin's Folk. The problem with her being a widow is that she has taken one husband, and though he was killed in the accident mentioned in my prologue, it is considered extremely improper amongst dwarves for men to "consort" with women they are unwed with, especially widows, because in their minds, she is already claimed and cannot be claimed by another (as to consorting in that way outside of marriage, since Tolkien was avidly against such a thing, even going so far as to explicitly state that elves do not, I would imagine the same rule applied toward dwarves, and I am trying to keep my story in line with Tolkien's "rules" for his world). Of course, being dwarves, they have little understanding of how human relationships/marriage vows, etc work ;)

A response to guest reviewer "Guest"- well, I am trying to keep this realistic. It has only been 13 days since she was injured and since they met, so it likely won't happen for a while. She still has to work through her grief, which will likely take all the way to the Battle of 5 Armies, and he isn't fully aware of his side of things yet, though his brother just figured it out, and when he does, he will think things can't happen due to the reasons I mentioned above in my response to Ri-chan (sorry to be vague, but I don't want to spoil all my readers) so it will be very angsty. And yes, Thorin won't be too happy about it, but….well, I don't want to spoil the ending ;)

Thanks to all who review, favorite and follow- I love you guys! :D