A/N: Alrighty, my lovelies, the game is on! The glorious RagdollPrincess and your humble servant had an inspiration spree and more chapters are to come pretty quickly. Remember, it is Thorin2 and Wren2 from Another Night, Another Path, and that is the beginning of their journey.

Seven years passed and...

Written by RagdollPrincess

Kili stood by the river filling his water skin. Balin and Thorin were sitting by the fire smoking pipes, getting ready to travel for the day. Today was the day they would arrive in Bree.

Kili walked back towards the campfire and perched on a rock. He felt agitated and was anxious to be on the move. Thorin seemed unwilling to go, surprising considering this was the day he would be finding his long lost love. Kili glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, feeling slightly irritated with his uncle, mostly without warrant but instead due to Kili's own irritable mood that hung over him like a cloud.

Kili noticed Balin fidget briefly as he glanced at the king as well, clearly waiting for Thorin to declare it was time to depart. Thorin seemed lost in his own thoughts, though, an anxious wrinkle formed between his brows.

After another moment, Balin cleared his throat. "Thorin," he began, "perhaps you could tell us a wee bit about our future queen." This comment seemed to draw Thorin out of his reverie, although he only stared blankly at Balin as though he didn't comprehend the question. After a brief pause Balin continued. "I only mean that it might be nice to have some warning as what to expect," he encouraged.

Thorin's eyes dropped to his hands, which Kili noticed were uncharacteristically worrying a twig he had picked up somewhere. At first Kili thought Thorin wasn't going to speak, and was surprised when Thorin looked up at them.

Suddenly Thorin spoke in a quiet anxious voice, sounding lost like a small child. "What if I am wrong? Even if she is unattached, will she be willing to lock herself up in the stone walls, without sunlight and her herbs, and give up her life and live according to the Dwarven traditions? It is not an easy life for a Queen..." Balin looked at his friend for a moment before placing his hand on his shoulder and squeezing it sympathetically.

Kili rolled his eyes, muttering, "Most likely she will run away from you in the middle of the night without such as a note!" Balin sighed as he stared at Kili, shaking his head in disappointment. Kili closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.

Balin closed his own eyes briefly as though asking Mahal for patience before shaking his head at Kili across the fire, silently urging him to speak no more. He turned to Thorin and prompted him again. "You were saying, Thorin?"

Thorin hadn't seemed to notice the exchange between Kili and Balin and had lapsed back into silence, staring off into the distance. He suddenly shifted his eyes to Balin.

"She is like no one I've ever met before. She's intelligent, and she seems cool and distant on the surface, but when you look in her eyes, which are the most unusual colour I've ever seen, you see that there is gentleness there. She's very small for a human, but she has remarkably strong hands."

Thorin chuckled at some memory he didn't share with them. "She bossed around all of these men in the infirmary as though she owned the place, this scrap of a girl. She can be quite bossy, actually, and you don't want to make her angry. You'll regret it if you do. It's better to just do what she says because you'll end up doing so in the end anyway." Thorin chuckled, his face beginning to relax.

Kili felt red hot rage boil up inside of himself. He was furious. He was furious with Thorin for making him come on this journey to find a woman the fool hadn't seen in over seven years, but he was mostly furious that Thorin was in love and was so hopeful and excited about seeing this woman, despite the anxiety that seemed to take him from time to time. Kili was angry and wanted to spite anyone who dared to be happy in love when his own love had abandoned him. He couldn't stop his rage from boiling over as he heard Thorin's words.

"You're a fool," he spat at his uncle. Both of the older dwarves looked at Kili in astonishment. "You're a fool to think she's still there, waiting for you. She probably moved onto the next available man as soon as you left, mocking you for being unable to get the deed done. She probably fucked some other man the moment you were out the door, laughing at the dwarf who declared his love for her when she didn't even know your name. By now she's probably working as a whore in some brothel, mother to half a dozen children she's sent off to other families because a woman so willing to bed someone she barely knows is clearly unfit to be a mother or wife to anyone, let alone a queen."

Kili found himself pressed up against a tree, Thorin's hand painfully tight around his neck. Kili didn't struggle but stared at Thorin shock. Thorin had never raised a hand to him in his life, however much he may have deserved it at times. It was rare for Thorin to lose control, and Kili had only seen it a few times. Whenever Thorin did threaten violence, it was always when someone he loved was threatened, and once towards Bilbo when he'd found out that the hobbit had given the Arkenstone to Bard.

For a moment, the urge to continue to snarl insults at his uncle overtook Kili. A self-destructive part of himself that seemed to grow stronger each day, along with the pressure slowly building in his head, was deeply tempted to see how much Thorin could take before he snapped on Kili and caused him bodily harm.

Kili would have welcomed the physical pain such an altercation would have brought, a break from the emotional agony that consumed him and an opportunity to work off his constant state of agitation. But even through the fog of his own misery Kili was able to see in Thorin's eyes that some of the words Kili had said were fears that Thorin had been grappling with himself.

They stood locked together for a moment before Thorin hissed, "Don't spread your hatred and venom just because your own heart has been broken." Kili had remained silent until Thorin released him.

"Forgive me, uncle," Kili said in a low voice. Thorin eyed him coldly before nodding curtly and turning to prepare to mount his pony.

When they arrived at Bree later that day, they proceeded directly to the infirmary. Thorin stopped outside of the door, his hand frozen in midair as he had been reaching to pull the handle of the door. He seemed paralyzed. Kili glanced at Balin, but the older dwarf seemed to have schooled his features into an expression of detached calm.

Kili glanced at his uncle again and followed Balin's lead, remaining silent as he shifted slightly on his feet, waiting for his uncle to move. He saw the muscles in Thorin's jaw tense as Thorin clenched his hand tightly in a fist for a moment before releasing it and grasping the door handle, wrenching the door open and moving through it as quickly as his injured leg allowed.

Kili and Balin followed him into the infirmary, keeping a distance as Thorin turned towards a long open well lit room. Thorin moved through the doorway to the room and stopped just over the threshold. Kili followed Thorin's gaze, which seemed to be fixed on a small figure at the end of the room.

Kili glanced around the room finding it empty of all healers except for the small figure. He realized Thorin must have had another lapse of anxiety brought on by not finding the woman he sought in this room. Wishing to be helpful, Kili took breath to encourage Thorin to ask the small person he was staring at if she possibly knew where he could find the woman they sought, when the sun from a nearby window caught the figure, illuminating her copper hair that was wrapped tightly around her head in a braid, small stubborn curls escaping and clinging to her thin neck.

Kili froze in shock as he remembered Fili's words. "Not the skinny redhead?" Fili had asked before Thorin had snapped at him.

Kili realized he was indeed looking at a person of that exact description. The figure was quite small, easily described as skinny, and her hair was as orange as the setting sun. Kili watched as she helped a patient, her movements determined and purposeful, as she instructed the patient in a bossy tone to drink his tonic. She was wearing a horribly unattractive green tunic the colour of swamp water over which was tied an apron covered in something disgusting, which Kili was sure he didn't want to know the origin of.

Kili stared at her in astonishment. This could not be the person they were here to see. It wasn't possible that this slip of a girl was the person Thorin had fallen in love with. She seemed so odd, so frail. In the name of Mahal, she looked as though she'd break upon being touched, let alone being bedded by a dwarf.

The woman turned away from the patient, apparently not having seen them yet, and quickly removed the disgusting apron and disposed of it in a nearby basket clearly intended for this purpose. Picking up a crate of vials, she turned towards the doorway and raised her head to glance down the row of beds, freezing as she finally caught sight of them, her eyes suddenly locked on Thorin's face.

Kili stood, waiting for someone to move or speak, and felt himself grow impatient as the silence stretched. He exhaled in relief as the woman cleared her throat but felt frustrated as she only carefully set the vials down again, her thin shoulders rising as she appeared to take a deep breath. He noticed a slight tremor to her hands as she then smoothed her dress. She raised her head again, holding her chin at a proud angle and squaring her shoulders as though attempting to compose herself, her expression unreadable.

Then suddenly she began to move quickly towards them, at first walking and then beginning to run, her red mouth stretched wide in a grin. Thorin began to move towards her, slowly as he limped, before her body crashed into his, a loud thump resounding in the long room.

The woman began to laugh as she threw her arms around Thorin's neck, and Kili watched Thorin wrap his arms tightly around her waist and lift her small feet off the ground as he held her to him, his own deep laugh rising from his chest as he buried his face in her neck. "You came back!" she exclaimed. "After all these years, you came back!"

Thorin only appeared to hold her more tightly, and after a moment she pulled away from him, gasping for breath. If Kili had thought he couldn't be any more astonished, he was proven wrong when Thorin brought his hands to the woman's face, cupping her delicate jaw in his large palms and looking deeply into her eyes in earnest. "Honourable healer," he said. "I have come to take you to Erebor."

She laughed, her slanted eyes crinkling with mirth. "Well, my lord, I have to change. I can't go in healers' robes." It was as though they were continuing a conversation they'd had only that morning over tea rather than reuniting for the first time in almost a decade. Her voice was strong and confident with a sarcastic lilt to it that made Kili raise his eyebrows, if he could possibly raise them any further.

Thorin laughed with her as she brought her hands to his cheeks, stroking them affectionately. As though she was unable to stop herself, her nails dug under the whiskers there as she began to scratch as his beard. A deep rumbling noise escaped Thorin's chest, his face breaking with a wide cat like grin, and Kili wrinkled his brow, feeling almost embarrassed for his uncle at the undignified behaviour.

The healer pressed her body into his as though she was moving into to kiss him when she suddenly pulled away. Thorin's brows drew together in concern at the sudden distance, reaching for her as she cleared her throat and nodded pointedly towards Balin.

Thorin glanced around in confusion, clearly having forgotten the presence of his companions. For a moment, he glared at Kili as though Kili had intentionally interrupted his reunion with healer. Kili couldn't help but glare back at his uncle in irritation, wishing to remind his uncle that he had not volunteered to come along on this journey. He bit his tongue, however, as his uncle spoke.

"May I present to you, Wren, your future queen." Wren's eyes widened at his words, and Kili wondered why she suddenly looked at Thorin in shock, her head snapping to Thorin so quickly that the copper curls that had escaped the tight braid bounced against her neck. Kili bit back a laugh as he wondered if maybe his uncle had gotten her name wrong. It had been seven years after all.

"Queen?" she asked in surprise.

"But of course," Thorin dismissed. "You are going to marry me." She stared at him momentarily in shocked silence before composing herself.

Balin moved first, clearly unable to contain his delight. Kili wondered what Balin had to be so happy about, but Balin seemed completely taken with the woman before them. "Balin, at your service," he said, grinning as he bowed deeply, his arms spread wide in welcome. The healer smiled at him graciously, and Kili didn't fail to note the slight bow of her head as though she was queen already.

Gritting his teeth, Kili stepped forward after Balin retreated. "And Kili, at your service," he said, unable to keep the cold tone out of his voice. The woman's smile faltered slightly as her gaze settled upon him. Kili held her gaze briefly before looking away, angry as he felt her strange eyes bore into his. He saw something he didn't like in her eyes as she gazed at him, as though she could read his thoughts and see into his heart. Even though he had only just met her, he felt an intense dislike towards her immediately upon the introduction.

The moment was broken as Thorin reached for her, his patience stretched to the limit, while she laughed as he began to steer her towards a nearby door leading to a small closet. Thorin wrenched the door open as he spoke to them. "Go to the inn. I'll join you there later." He backed the healer into the closet, slamming the door shut behind them.

Kili and Balin stood staring at the door and then each other in astonishment before Balin smiled at Kili, gesturing for him to follow Balin out of the room. "Come, Kili, let us find some food," he said. "You've done naught but drink ale since we departed Erebor, and I'm sure to see you eat a proper meal before the day is out."

A/N: The next chapter is just about ready to go and should be up in a couple days. And don't forget, if you want to know what's wrong with Kili, read What The Future Brings by RagdollPrincess.