There was an emptiness which lived in her bones and clung to the marrow of her soul. She felt hollowed out by the plague of always wanting while recognizing she would never have what her heart yearned for – that there would never be a returning call to her miserable, futile pleading for the return of the only true happiness she had ever known. It was not just a husband she had lost, but an entire lifetime. It was a complete and utter darkness of the soul, one she might never be removed from, and it hit her instantly the moment Evie was jarred awake. She felt it deep within her, a cruel knowing she would never escape.

"Evie… Are you alright?"

It was a familiar voice, and it seemed like it was coming from very far away. When the hobbit looked toward it, however, she realized Dis was right in front of her. The dwarf held out her hand to help Evie up, but she simply stared at her husband-sister's open palm and blinked. The brunette gestured to her again, leaning forward and grabbing the queen's arm to gently shake her out of whatever reverie she was trapped in. It worked, well enough, and the healer stood up, swaying.

"You shouldn't be here…"

She announced numbly, her grey eyes glassy as they tried to focus in on her friend.

"That's what Fildur said too… But here I am. I refuse to stand idly by while my brother is in danger. Not that there's anything I can do, really, but at least I feel better down here than I do up there… I had to sneak by him, you know. I brought the bread and water you asked for; stole it right off a kitchen maid on her way down here. Fildur kept going on and on about how dangerous it is and how I might inhale too much dust and dirt… Dirt! Can you believe that?! Durin's line has been inhaling the dirt in the heart of our mountains since birth. And so will my child. He will be made all of mountain dirt if I have anything to say about it."

"You're sure it's a son?"

Evie asked, her voice wavering. Dis' brow furrowed; she had finally determined that something was dreadfully wrong with her companion.

"I can just feel it… He will be fine, Evie. He's lived through much worse than this, I promise you. He's the strongest dwarf in this whole mountain range and he will get out of there. Just you wait."

The blonde swallowed, unsure of how to tell her. How to begin… The queen closed her eyes, pressing her fingers to her forehead as she tried to think. Her mind was blank, too blank, it made it hard to focus in on anything when there was so much nothing. All she kept thinking, over and over again, was that he was gone…

"Here, I brought you this."

Dis told her, rummaging through a linen bag slung over her shoulder. It was a small patch of fabric, dark blue with a raven stitched in the center. The princess pressed it into Evie's hand, placing a stone on top of it and closing her fingers around them both. She gently touched her shoulder in a demonstration of sympathy, her bright blue eyes betraying her own fear clearly enough.

"It's a talisman, if you will. Sometimes, if something like this happens, people will carve rune stones and sew symbols like this as a sign of goodwill, of hope in the face of danger and strength in times of trial. They will leave them places as a reminder for others to find their courage and believe. There are many set out at the entrance to the tunnels… I took a few when I came down here to pass out to the dwarves who are digging, and to you…"

She trailed off, taking a deep breath and trying to meet Evie's gaze with as much fortitude as she could muster. The hobbit made a small noise in the back of her throat, trying to find her voice, which seemed to have abandoned her just as surely as her hope had.

"So everyone knows?"

It would be her duty to tell them of Thorin's death, of course… But how could she tell her people if she could not even tell Dis? Evie was lost, so wholly and desperately lost, and there was no finding her again.

"Yes… It's been two days, Evie. Eventually even old Belinir figured it out… He has done well, I will admit – he has kept the city from panicking and has tried to keep word of it as quiet as possible. He tells everyone that you are here at the king's side, ready to heal anyone who is brought out of the rubble, and that all will be well. They have confidence in you, Evie.. And in the fine miners doing their best to free the trapped… Spirits are hopeful, but in the face of the drought it's so hard…"

She hung her head, losing the words she had put such confidence in only moments ago. Being down here was taxing, whether she wanted to admit it or not – the dust was the least of it, but the smell of struggle and fear in the air, the darkness leaking out of every corner as though it was ready to smother her… And the quiet pik… clink… of the axe as it found its mark on the rock as carefully as it could… It was like a scene from a nightmare.

"Thorin would be furious if he knew you were here."

Evie said softly, wishing that perhaps she could send Dis away, and to safety, and then she would have more time to think of just how she would deliver that terrible, crushing news…

"I know," Dis admitted with a sly smile, "you know how he is now that I'm with child… He's too busy down here to pay much attention to me, but when he does I feel like I'm under interrogation. Have I been eating well and resting and I shouldn't go out or strain myself – the worst of it is he has passed his worrying on to Fildur now too, so I'm never free of it... Anyway, I haven't spoken with him since I've been here.. But I had to come. You understand."

Evie nodded, a lump growing in her throat. She would give anything to be with child, to have her husband worry about her as much as Fildur and Thorin did… She could not begin to imagine what her own pregnancy might have been like. But now that was simply a whispered hope turned to a memory of when she was able to afford such precious dreams. Her womb would never be filled, and there would be no doting, haggard husband watching over her. She closed her eyes, fighting back the inevitable tears which would make her look weak to those around them and would no doubt reveal to Dis the truth of Thorin's fate. The healer's fingers gripped tightly onto the stone and the fabric surrounding it, wishing in vain that they could give her strength.

"It is enough just to hear his voice and know he's still living."

Her husband-sister shared, and Evie's eyes opened wide and her face shot up like a thunderbolt had struck her. She opened her mouth to ask, but Dis was, as usual, one step ahead of her.

"Come here," she placed her fingers over Evie's hand holding the talismans and led her to the corner of the blockade, off to the side of where they were still pik'ing away.

"Listen."

She whispered, pointing to the rocks and closing her eyes. Her other hand drifted unconsciously to her belly, which was growing larger by the day, and gently stroked the swell of her unborn child. Evie's eyes remained on that sacred lump of flesh for a moment before they were pulled immediately up to the work of the axe as she heard a voice from the other side of the rock.

"Clear."

It was Thorin's voice, without a doubt. It was a tired, strained, worn version of his voice, but it was unmistakable. Evie's breath caught in her throat – he was alive!? But it wasn't possible, the specter had seemed so real, there was no way that…

The axe pik-clink'd again and there was a pause.

"Clear."

Came the voice on the other side, Thorin's voice, and Evie almost collapsed right then and there on the rocks she was leaning against. She could have died in relief, in that fluttering, unearthly, surreal sentiment that rushed through her on its way to the heavens. He was alive – it had only been a dream. She would sooner believe that her entire life had been a dream and that the nightmare of her husband's spectral visitation had been the only reality she had ever known, but the hobbit could only pray that the perfect, faultless sound of her husband's voice was truly real and that the hopes and prayers of their people had indeed been answered. Evie would never dare ask Mahal, that great keeper of life and death, for anything again, if only it was true Thorin lived. She took Dis by the hand and pulled her into a hug, squeezing her friend tight and taking a broken, fragile breath.

"You must go," she whispered, placing her hand still clinging to the runestone and the cloth against Dis' swollen belly. "Go and protect our little prince. It is as you say – Thorin will live. He has to."

He would not dare defy her heart and try her very sanity again by leaving her twice in one afternoon.

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Author's Note: Thank you all so so much for your comments on the last chapter! I'm so honored by your responses to it – I am very grateful for your reactions and can't thank you enough for sharing them with me! This chapter clears a bit of all that up – but I promise Evie's vision wasn't just to play with your emotions… It may become relevant again a little later in the story.

Thank you all so much for your continuing support – I can't believe that in less than a month the last of the three films will be out! And it will mean that I have been writing this story for two whole years! But we still have a lot more to experience together, so I hope you're all along for the ride!

My very best wishes to all of you as the holiday season approaches – with Thanksgiving right around the corner I must admit that one of the things I am so very thankful for is all of you! 3