The mist was gone by morning. It had receded during Betta's watch while she sat just inside the hollow and saw it draw itself back into the east like a slow tide rolling out again. The few trailing fingers that remained were dispelled by the first rays of sunlight that came creeping over the eastern hills. She did not wake the others just yet, preferring to let them sleep and recover a little of their lost night.

She had rekindled the fire and set a pot of snow to melt before the dwarves roused themselves nearly an hour after daybreak. Her eyes were red-rimmed and tired, but neither of the brothers had slept any better even with their extra hours. Kili's sleepy eyes widened when he saw the new braids in Betta's hair, but he said nothing, only smiled at his brother's back. There was little talk as the last of their meat went into the pot and they sat around the fire waiting for it to cook.

As they ate, Fili watched his brother devour his share of their meager stew and knew that he must find food today. Before the mist, they might have risked the flight southwards in search of warmer weather and more certain game, but there was no certainty that they could walk far enough before nightfall to escape the reach of Angmar. They were tired, cold and hungry, and Kili was still sore from his bruises. The prospect of meeting any foe, let alone one that they had no way to fight, weighed heavily on Fili's heart.

They finished their morning meal all too soon and he could not put it off any longer. "We have discussed this before, and now it comes to the point. Today I must leave you both for a time," he said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. Kili and Betta looked up. "I will seek out the trees that we saw last night below the northern slope and I hope to find some animal there…"

"I will go with you," Kili said.

"No, you will not," Fili told him, shaking his head.

"I am healed enough for a simple hunt," his brother protested. "I am strong enough to bend a bow."

"You may be, but this is no simple hunt. We do not know what animals there are here in the bitter north," Fili reminded him. "There may be only rabbits or the larger elk that we have seen in the valleys, but there may also be those monsters which are known to stalk the Forodwaith. We cannot be sure how far they wander in search of unwary travelers. You are not prepared to battle that danger."

"I am no invalid," Kili muttered.

"Yet you are not fully healed,"Fili insisted, and then he sighed, "but that is not why you must stay behind. We cannot bring all our baggage on a stealthy hunt; someone must stay to guard it."

"Betta would stay," Kili said, looking at her and expecting her to agree, but her eyes were on the fire and she seemed lost in troubled thought.

"I am sure that Betta would stay, and that she will stay, but she is injured. You will not argue with that. Would you leave her alone, wounded as she is, with no one left to guard her? I do not trust this land with our baggage; I will not trust it with our guide! We cannot leave either to be damaged or stolen while we are away. I will go to hunt, and you will stay behind."

Kili frowned, but he had no argument. It showed how greatly the journey had changed her that Betta did not protest Fili's choice. While the brother's spoke, she had gone to stand at the mouth of the hollow and had listened to their debate while absently pulling at one of the loose braids of her hair.

Fili waited for her to argue with him, and when she didn't he frowned but said nothing. He went to their small pile of baggage to gather what he would need for the long march toward the trees.

He heard the creaking of snow underfoot and, looking back over his shoulder, he saw that Betta had left the hollow. He guessed that she would climb to the ridge again. Kili guessed the same and was glad for the chance to speak privately with his brother.

"You are right, and there may be worse danger than mist in these hills," he said, fingering the feathers of an arrow with his bow set beside him.

"That I know," Fili agreed. "But there is no help for it. We have no food and cannot make the southern journey without something to eat. This stone seems to promise safety, and we might last for many days here."

"… until we starve, or worse," Kili said. "Do you think that this stone would have defended us against cursed wolves or scavenging orcs?"

Fili looked up at the ancient, carved writing upon the stone. "I do not know," he admitted. He drew a water skin around his neck and thrust it under his shirt where the heat of his body would prevent it from freezing in the cold. Every knife and axe that he could carry was in its place, and he was bundled up against the wind and weather.

"I mean to return by nightfall," he said, "but if I do not, then tomorrow in the morning you will begin the journey south and return to our uncle as best you may."

"I will not," Kili said.

Fili stared at his brother. He had never heard such determination in Kili's voice before, but before he could argue, Kili shook his head and told him, "I will not leave my brother to be buried under snow. If you do not return by nightfall, then in the morning I will look for you. There is no use arguing with me, Fili. Until I find you dead of cold or hunger or some other enemy that I cannot kill to avenge you, I will not return to Ered Luin alone."

Fili frowned, but he could see that there was no more use in his arguing with Kili than there would be for Kili to argue with him. He looked down and saw Betta's well-worn pack resting close beside his own. "If you will not leave me," he said, "then at least see that our guide returns to warmer lands before you risk your life on vengeance. if you love me, brother, save her life and take her south to the Rangers; Harandir will look after her."

Kili looked hard at his brother, his head full of questions but now was not the time to ask. He gave in and agreed. "I know that this is only a trick of yours to convince me to leave this land, but you are right and I will do this for you. I will drag our guide south even if I have to tie her up and carry her there. I will leave her with Harandir if I can find the man, but I have little hope that he will be able to keep her anywhere that she does not choose to be."

Fili smiled and put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "Thank you," he said, "and good luck. Do not wander out of sight of the stone even under sun. I do not trust this land." Kili followed his brother out of the hollow and into the open air. The sun shone pale and cold above them.

"Will you take my bow?" Kili asked. "You do not know what game you may find."

Fili laughed. "Whatever I find, it will be safe from me if I come at it with a bow in my hand. You know that I have not your eye for shooting."

He looked around and saw Betta's footprints leading up the hill, and he could see her standing upon the ridge with her back to him. With one last smile for his brother to remember, Fili followed the path up the hill. He would need a better look at the land and where the trees lay if he was to plan his march, and he had one last farewell that he did not wish to make.

.

Fili was in a greater hurry that morning, but he climbed the ridge much slower than he had the night before. The trees must be several miles from their stone at least if he could not see them last night. It would take more than an hour's march to reach them, if he was able to reach them at all; if he did, he held out little hope that he would survive to make the long walk back again. The odds were stacked against him.

Fili had hidden his troubled heart from his brother, but when he looked up at Betta and remembered the tale that she had told of her own little brother's death, he could not hide his fear.

He reached the ridge too soon and stood beside her, following her gaze down the slope of the hill. The small wood was easy to see in the morning light and, though it was mostly made of bare branches, Fili thought that he saw the haze of evergreens also among them.

"You should not go alone," Betta said, but she did not look at him. "Take Kili. He wants to go."

"I will not leave the camp unguarded."

She gave a small laugh and then sighed. "That sounds very noble, doesn't it?" she said. "You must guard the camp. But it is not the truth, not all of it, at least."

"What would you have me say?"

She shook her head. "Say only farewell… until you return. You have a long walk ahead of you and the sun sails on. She will not wait, and neither should you. What happened to the impatient dwarf who rushed us away from Ered Luin only half-supplied and ill-prepared?"

He considered that very thoughtfully, remembering Betta's soft hair and soft skin, and the warmth of her hand in his. "Perhaps he has grown up."

She turned to look at him finally, and he was surprised to see anger in her eyes. "I can only hope that tomorrow finds you a day older still, for you will not grow up any taller," she said bitterly. She glanced at his back. "You are not taking a bow?"

"I have little skill with arrows, my brother will vouch for that, but I can pluck a sparrow from the sky with my thrown blade. Do not worry. If there is food out there, then I will bring it back to you."

"And to Kili."

He frowned at her. "Of course. To you and to my brother."

Betta smiled stiffly and nodded. "Then there is nothing left for me to do but wish you good luck," she said, "and give you these." She took from her pocket a wrapped up knot of rope, the nets that they had used to snare mice some few days ago. "If your brother can manage to lay them out successfully, I have no doubt you might catch something in them."

"Yes, I remember how you described their use," he said. "Thank you." He put the roll of nets into his pocket. As he did, his fingers brushed against the pearl that had been thrust deep down into the depths but had never been forgotten. He wrapped his hand around it and thought that it felt strangely heavier than before.

He should give it back to her, the thought occurred to him suddenly. If it was his fate to die here in the north, and if Kili succeeded in forcing Betta south again, then the pearl would be the only piece of her that she left behind. He did not want her to look north with the same regret that he saw in her eyes when she looked south and east toward her lost Lebennin.

Fili knew that he should give back the pearl, but he could not bring himself to part with it. "I must go now," he said. "Keep close to my brother and do not let him strain himself. He is not yet fully healed, whatever he might say." She nodded but did not answer. "I will return before sundown, however goes the hunting. I will return. Farewell."

Without another word, Fili began the climb down from the ridge but upon the northern side. After the first short drop, the slope was less steep than the southern side, but here the ground was littered with snow-covered boulders and tall drifts. After a few dozen yards, Fili lost sight of the ridge and of Betta standing upon it. He trudged on, keeping his eyes ahead but at the bottom of the hill he could not ignore the pain in his chest, and he turned to look back up the hill.

He recognized the line of the ridge but at first thought that it was empty and that Betta had gone back down to the camp, but then he saw a darker shape perched upon the edge. Shielding his eyes, he saw that Betta was still there, She had crouched down, her chin resting on her knees as she looked after him. He raised his hand to her, but she gave no answer back. He was not surprised, reminding himself that her arm was injured and her eyes were not as sharp as his. At that distance, one lone dwarf might easily be no more than a darker shadow against the blinding white snow.

Fili turned his face forward again and, ignoring his cold nose and half-empty belly, he continued to force his way through the snow toward the trees. Now was not the time for excuses or regrets. He had a hungry brother waiting for him, and as leader of their small company, it was his duty to provide.

There's nothing more spOoOoky than a mysterious forest in the middle of nowhere! And there's nothing harder to write than a winter story when it's boiling hot and sunny outside. Oh, well. If there's anything a Minnesotan knows about, it's snow and cold weather. At the rate we're going, it'll be snowing again before I get this story done :P

-Paint