Evie was utterly exhausted. She could barely stand, let alone walk, and although Fildur had gotten some of his strength back after the terrifying ordeal of the previous afternoon, neither of them was quite ready to journey on again. Yet the rain was coming down much more lightly, now, and they knew that if they did not press on they risked being caught in another deluge like the one before. And with the foul taste of the murky water from that lethal trench still fresh in their mouths, neither dwarf nor hobbit was ready to chance such a disaster claiming them once again. They had cheated Death once and were not about to face him a second time if there proved another way to avoid his chilling grasp.

And so they pushed on, each step harder than the last although filled with more hope of reaching that perfect treasure at the end of their path – Evie thought only of Thorin, of his stubborn stoicism, of his tenderness, of the way his eyes conveyed so much of how he felt despite how hard he tried to hide it all… She missed him; she missed him with all of herself, and as she trudged forward in the slush and muck she made a silent promise never to leave him again.

Fildur's thoughts, of course, were centered upon the image of his wife, and were far less indistinct than his companion's. When he returned he thought only of taking her in his embrace and showing her every inch of the vitality he had been given by Evie's rescue – he had never felt more fatigued but also more alive, and he refused to surrender himself to the former. His mind kept drifting back to the idea that he had no sons, no legacy of his own. No one to carry on his line. Dis deserved sons, and the dwarf had a right mind to give them to her the moment he was reunited with his wife. Well, he supposed, perhaps not that exact moment (he was rather covered in mud and dirt and he doubted the King at Ered Luin would quite appreciate his sister being handled in such a fashion) but without great delay he fully intended to demonstrate to Dis the ineffaceable force of his love for her.

The rain was still falling down, and if Evie never saw another raindrop in her life she would not be sorry for it. It had been nearly a full day since she had been dry, and the wetness seeping through her skin seemed worse and worse with each passing moment. But they were nearly there, they must be, even though they had drifted off the path for a time in their attempt to climb back up the ridge from which they had both fallen. Or, more truthfully, from which Fildur had fallen and Evie had jumped. It was still hard for the hobbit to believe her heroics of the previous day were real and that she had indeed braved the rush of the storm and the closing darkness of the water to save her friend, but there was a deep part of her which was irrevocably glad of it. When the flame was snuffed out and all was darkness, there was something sure within her that she was ready to face whatever terrors came in the night with a brave heart and a steady hand. Well, perhaps not too steady, but capable nonetheless. Fildur was alive, and they were both traveling back to those they loved and the place they had begun to call home.

And so they both trudged on, each immersed in their own thoughts and silent for a time. That silence was interrupted by a soft, breathless gasp as Evie tripped forward and pointed toward the rise of the hill they were slowly climbing up, amidst much puffing and huffing.

"There it is! We're nearly there!"

She cried, racing faster up the incline with a fresh wave of energy. She had never been more happy to see a mountain in her whole life; it caught the words from her throat she was so glad to finally find that arching ridge, that perfectly molded shape which marked her new residence.

"Praise Durin."

Fildur sighed, taking a deep breath as he reached the top of the hill a minute after Evie. The pair looked at one another, her face flushed and his pale but with a light shining in both of their eyes which demonstrated their insensible relief that they had finally made it and that, by some miracle of fate and the elements, they were both alive. Evie supposed she had proven once again the truth in one of the most honest facts about Middle Earth – that stepping outside your door is always dangerous, even when you think it will not be. A pleasurable trip to the city of Dale can become a smoldering, terrible death in the unexpected furnace of a dragon's rage, and a short visit to the Shire could sweep one up with the rain into the dark solace of the riverbed, never to rise again. The thought made her shiver, but she knew it to be true. Sometimes the things thought to be the least dangerous could prove to be the most, and that was a surety she had learned from her travels as much as anything else. She had been near battles and skirmishes yet her encounters with death were by night attack and by the force of nature itself – hardly an expectation of war. Yet here she was, through it all, and here she intended to be for quite a while longer, if she could help it.

Fildur and Evangeline pressed onward, closer and closer to the main mountain settlement of Ered Luin. Their feet were sore, their lungs were stripped of their usual fortitude, their skin was caked with mud and other signs of the trench, and their bodies were weary beyond comprehension, yet on and on they walked, putting one foot before the other in the knowledge that very soon they would arrive at a place they called home.

.

.

Evie and Fildur were only a fourth of the way up the boundless steps leading to the main entrance of the fortress when there was a great noise as if the mountain itself was groaning… The massive door opened up and out of it trailed a line of dwarves who were moving with great haste. The pair stopped to watch them, almost without realizing it, and it took Fildur and Evie a moment to notice that they had become so preoccupied with the sudden activity at the top of the stairs that they had forgotten to keep climbing. The companions' efforts would have been wasted, however, as the dwarves had begun their descent down the mountainside and seemed to be heading in their general direction. Evie looked to Fildur, who appeared just as surprised as she was to see such a response to their return. But as she glanced him over she realized that if someone arrived at her doorstep looking in such a state, perhaps she would run out to meet them too. The hobbit could barely tell it was Fildur under all the mud caked on his face; his garments were torn and sullied, and they were both without luggage or their ponies. At least it had stopped raining.

"I suppose we don't have any time to make ourselves look presentable…"

She joked, and Fildur smiled. He appeared as if something which had spent years living in the riverbed, and Evie could only imagine what she must look like to him.

"As long as we don't show up to the wedding in such a state, eh?"

He replied, sighing with a smile. The wedding. There were so many questions still unanswered, so many plans to be made, and yet after the sudden rush of nearly losing Fildur never mind her own life, none of it seemed to matter so much anymore. She loved Thorin Oakenshield. She loved the dwarves of Erebor, now of Ered Luin. And she would do everything she could to transform that love and that passion into prosperity and to be the best queen she could be. Fildur's thanks of the previous day rang in her ears, and his confidence made her feel strong enough to measure up to whatever she needed to. She was ready to be tested, as she surely would be, and some small, stalwart part of her felt as though she was prepared to succeed.

A few of the dwarves on the steps were rushing down quite quickly now, while others lagged behind. One of them at the forefront had a familiar gait, and it took only one missed beat of Evie's heart for her to realize that it was Thorin. She stepped forward, stumbling up a few more steps in her haste to get to him. Fildur was not far behind her, but his eyes were set even higher upon the mountain's face – a new figure had come through the door, obviously alerted after the others, and it was unmistakably Dis. For how slow he had been before, nothing could stand in Fildur's way as he climbed up to her, pushing past Belinir and Kochar without apology. Kochar ignored it, understanding well enough, but Belinir huffed in his usual way. Yet all this went unnoticed to Evangeline, whose eyes were alight as she fell into Thorin's embrace. His arms wrapped around her instinctively, pulling her close and surrounding her like the clouds did the sun.

"Thorin…"

She whispered into the furs at his neck, her small, suddenly trembling fingers clinging weakly to the soft material.

"Evangeline, what happened?"

He asked her gently, his fingers stroking her hair and catching on the matted clumps of mud and twigs left behind in her once golden curls, tokens of the river. She could not reply for a moment, but simply held herself against him like a solitary leaf shivering on an empty branch, unable to relax for fear of being torn away from the root which had always brought her comfort. She felt as if everything would fall away if she let go, if she moved at all… Something in Thorin understood, and he patiently held her while she tried to regain a sense of herself. She felt his lips at her temple, more of a gesture than a real kiss, and his nose tickling her hairline… Her soul sighed, feeling at ease at last as she melted into his arms.

"We were caught in a storm…"

She told him, slowly backing away so they could look at each other. He seemed so clean, so well groomed… The soft scent of his hair made her head spin. His fingers brushed some of the dust from under her eyes, and she had a sense from the distressed look on his face that there was some evidence of tear tracks etched into the mud painted on her fair features. Her eyes were incredibly light as they peeked out from behind that mask, and Thorin was absorbed in them for a moment as he looked down at her, nearly agape. There had been a terrible storm the night before, but he had not worried for her, he had thought she must be safe in an inn somewhere… To imagine that she had been out there, braving the elements with his sister-husband… Evie watched his brow twitch and the muscles in his neck tighten and realized that he was resisting the urge to kiss her. Her heart swelled at the thought of it, almost painfully.

Instead Thorin removed his cloak, placing it over the hobbit's slim shoulders. It appeared massive when surrounding her small frame, and she seemed to shrink within its warmth.

"No, you will ruin it.."

She whispered, her voice strangely hollow. Thorin shook his head, dismissing her concerns without a thought.

"Come, you must be in need of a hot bath and a good meal."

She would not argue to such a warranted suggestion, and her body immediately awoke to the idea of a bath. She doubted she had ever needed one so badly in her life.

Thorin took her hand, and they both nearly jumped when she hissed unconsciously upon the contact. Turning over her palm and brushing some of the dirt away with her other hand, Evie revealed a great gash running along the middle of her hand. Thorin made a deep noise in the back of his throat and it stirred something in the hobbit to see his concern.

"It's nothing," she said softly, removing her hand to her side and looking away for a flash of uncomfortable shyness before meeting his eyes again. "I can wrap it myself."

Thorin swallowed, nodding.

"After your bath Dwalin and I will meet you in your room; I will help you bandage your wound."

He should send someone else; certainly what he was proposing was indecent… But perhaps with both of them there… It did not really matter when his tone was so solid, so unyielding, and his eyes were set as they were… When Thorin Oakenshield made a decision, that was the end of it. And far be it for Belinir or anyone else to challenge him in this or anything else.

Belinir. She glanced over at him, and was startled to see the contemplative look on his face as he watched over the couple. She was not sure how to understand it… His eyes met her own, and she remembered the question she had asked him before she had left, before she had grown so confident in herself and her place at Ered Luin. What if he answered negatively? What if he thought a solitary king would be a better one? Had she given him too much power over her? Those fears would have to wait until later… Now Thorin was ushering her gently up towards the doors of the mountain fortress, and the idea of a steaming bath was more alluring than thoughts of her own doubts.

They passed Dis and Fildur, who were laced together like two pieces of ribbon tied into a bow. The only reason Evie could tell where one dwarf ended and the other began was that one of them was covered in mud and grime and the other was quite clean – or had been. It appeared Fildur was sharing his gifts of the river with his wife, for when they pulled away she was nearly as covered in it as he was. Their last kiss made the Shireling look away with a blush on her cheeks, hidden under her dirty mask. They were married, she supposed, and yet such intimacy was usually confined to private moments. Then again, if she and Thorin had already been wed, it was hard to judge if he would not have stolen the kiss he had wanted to give her earlier.

"Come, my lady. Let us get you to safety."

Safety. It was such a pretty little word, so comforting and so seemingly stalwart. But how easy to lose it, to sacrifice safety and security for a greater cause. The dwarves had felt safe in Erebor, and now it was an empty shell of its former grandeur, blackened from the inside out by the singing fire of the dragon. Ered Luin did not have the sort of egregious wealth which would attract such a creature, or encourage any great assault, yet could they truly feel safe here? Evie supposed they could, although Eriador had proven surely enough that it could be dangerous in its own ways, as seemingly innocuous as the surrounding lands appeared. All the healer knew was that she felt safe when she was in Thorin's arms, and that perhaps that feeling was more important than any other. They were about to pledge their lives to one another, and the only true security Evie could ever have was in her love for him and the surety of his returned affections. They could protect each other, and if they could not… If they could not, then they would suffer whatever fate destiny had in store for them. But they would do it together. For Evie would never leave his side again.

.

.

.

.

.

Author's Note: Thank you so much to everyone who has recently commented or joined in on reading this! Your thoughts and responses mean the world to me – I can't believe it's coming up on a year now that I've been working on this story! The new movie comes out in a few days and I am very excited to hear what all of you think and to see what we have in store for us! I'm sure it will inspire a lot more with my story – and the timing will be great as Fili and Kili will be introduced in 'Home' before too awfully long and I know their relationship to Thorin is going to be more fully explored in the new film. Anyways – I hope you enjoy this new chapter! Much love to all of you!