It was a pounding in her head that jostled her back into consciousness. Ali did her best to blink the world back into focus, everything just spun out. There was a terribly sharp pressure on her stomach that Ali pushed against weakly.

Next to her was Dori running upside down, Ali rubbed her eyes and looked back, he was definitely still there. It wasn't him though that was upside down, it was her. Grabbing the jacket that she had been pressed into she pushed herself up to get a better look around and she caught sight of Fili's familiar blonde hair. The rocking was going to make her sick she was sure.

"Put me down," Ali spluttered, not wanting to throw up on this man. He either didn't listen or didn't hear though and continued.

It only took a minute, although with the motion sickness taking full effect, it felt more like an hour before he stopped. Ali struggled just enough for him to drop her, landing on her butt she looked up and saw Fili press a finger to his lips. Dwalin grabbed her roughly by her sweater hood pulling her up against the stone wall. They were all here Ali confirmed throwing a quick glance around. What had happened when she was out?

They were all looking up, Ali glanced up as well, not actually seeing anything, but she could hear there was something. These men hadn't even stopped their game long enough for her to regain consciousness, she thought feeling a bit irritated.

From the corner of her eye she caught Kili stepping out and pulling back an arrow. Whatever it was that he had hit fell in front of them, shocked Ali screamed and pressed back into the cold stone. Whatever it was thrashed, growled, and shrieked, legs and fur flashed violently before shuttering to a halt.

For a second Ali had completely missed the orc that had stepped away. It was disguising, gray skin sagged on its face, black liquid oozing from its mouth, wheezing out pained breaths. If they ever did break this little façade she was going to have to compliment their makeup artists. It darted towards them raising a shrieking cry and broken looking sword.

It was Dwalin that moved first, striking it once with his hammer, then Bifur, Fili, even sweet Bofur. Was the orc a robot as well? Ali thought desperately as Dwalin's hammer reeled back for another blow something wet hit her cheek. Raising a hand she touched it numbly, but she didn't look, couldn't look away from the circle. One by one they moved away revealing the mangled remains of what was once a man.

It didn't feel as if her mind was fully working as she stared at him, "he's dead," fell from her lips but that was all. She let one of them pull her away, dragging her yet again into a run. It didn't feel as if she was actually here though, her body felt heavy, was she in shock? Ali turned to see Kili let another arrow fly, knocking another from his perch.

They were still killing! The tremor of realization hit Ali hard as she watched another fall. They were killing these men for a game, men were dying, dying! The hand on her arm pulled her back, wide eyed Ali jerked against Bofur's hand. She felt a feverish need to get away as she clawed at his large fingers almost not noticing her attempts.

Somewhere she could hear her own voice shrieking for them to stop, but she didn't feel the words forming on her lips. Ali couldn't stop as they pulled her down the stone corridor. Didn't stop twisting violently to get away, didn't stop shrieking, didn't stop shaking as yet another fell at her feet. This couldn't be happening, shouldn't be happening. Ali couldn't take seeing people die, not since…not since then.

A sharp pain exploded across her face and everything stopped. This wasn't the first time she had been struck in her life, not even close to it. Ali sat unmoving as her mind cleared finally. These men had killed just seconds before, there was no doubt in her mind at that moment that they wouldn't hesitate to deal her the same fate. It was most likely sheer luck that they hadn't already.

Ali allowed Bilbo to take her elbow and usher her down the stone corridor with the others. It would have been an understatement to say that at that moment she was the most scared she had ever felt in her life. It wasn't the same but Ali dug back to that feeling and did what she had done then, numbing the fear was almost second nature.

To say that Ali's family had been stable would have almost been the same as saying ice melts when it gets cold, it just wasn't so. On more occasions than she had been able to count on her little fingers her father had stumbled in, raging about work, people, politics, the weather, didn't matter so much. Tired and angry he would lash out, spitting foul words and landing more than just the back of his fists on her mother and Ali. Then it had been just Ali, alone.

Remembering her mother was something that even her numb façade couldn't mask. So she quickly pushed it aside before it could take hold in her mind.

Stumbling along Ali didn't actually see much, her mind was out of focus as the new members ushered them along the halls of their home. Keeping her mind clear of any thought, body relaxed, and most importantly eyes down. This had worked so many times before, leaving her enough mind to function, yet little enough that people deemed her no threat and ignored her.

In fact it wasn't until she had stumbled into the room that they gave her that she recovered and let the panic set in. First off she didn't know where she was. Second she was now somehow involved in some sort of twisted game. Third, she was going to die if she didn't think fast.

She had to get away, Ali thought as she paced the expansive room, she had survived too much to be killed for something so stupid. Again the image of them beating the orc flooded her mind, her chest felt impossibly tight. Kneeling down she wrapped her hands around her stomach and leaned forward resting her forehead on the stone floor. She wanted to cry, wanted to let herself give in to the shaking fear inside.

That was weak of her, crying is weakness, pain is weakness, her father's words spun in her head making her sick.

"You're father was a cruel man," a soft voice whispered in her ear.

Jerking away Ali's heart pounded painfully against her ribs, landing on her butt a few feet away she stared wide eyed at the woman who had startled her. She was beautiful, impossibly beautiful actually, as if angel lights were literally radiating from her skin. Her light hair was wreathed in an intricate crown, her light gown fell perfectly as it should have if she had been fidgeting with it for minutes. Everything was light and flowy and beautiful.

A small smile played on her lips, surely she was looking at Ali and seeing some girl who looked like she had just rolled down a mountain.

"Do not fear, I'm here to help," the lady said gently, rising smoothly to her feet. "You have questions, I shall do my part in answering them. My name is Galadriel."

The table was unusually silent for a group of dwarves. Not that the damnable elves were aware, carrying on with those forsaken harps as if that was even music. Thorin heard someone mutter about feeling like they were at a funeral and silently agreed. The food they offered wouldn't have helped lift their moods no matter the situation. Instead he watched has the company pushed tomatoes around their plates.

It was obvious what the problem was, Ali, of course when wasn't she the problem recently. Almost as soon as they had walked through the gates an elf maiden had whisked her off. Thorin had done his best to not protest, it wasn't his business what she did, she wasn't part of his company, she had never signed a contract with him. Still as he leaned back in his chair he found himself clenching his fist in his lap, his knuckles still warm from the contact.

Thorin's gut knotted when he thought about how it felt when he struck her, as if he had laid a hand on an angel. It was obvious that she had never seen battle before, but she had screamed so loudly. Ali was scared but she wasn't making any sense, surely she knew they were doing what they had to in order to live. Bofur had tried to shake sense into her, but Thorin had just reached out.

There was regret immediately in his heart, then as she closed down there was pain. It felt as if someone had put out the fire in her eyes as she stumbled along with them. Thorin felt sick, felt as if she had shut down part of his heart with hers.

"Laddie," Balin gently touched his shoulder, Thorin looked around to see an empty table. "The others have retired to the balcony for the night."

Thorin nodded and moved along with his old friend, not really paying attention to where they were going. Absentmindedly he rubbed his pained chest.

"That is the curse of finding your One," Balin smiled softly nodding to Thorin's hand when the younger dwarf's head snapped up.

"What is this feeling," Thorin asked, although he believed he knew.

The older dwarf stopped in the moonlit hallway. Balin opened his mouth and closed it, thinking his words through. "That would be her pain," Balin said finally.

"Dwarves as you know are passionate in everything, throwing themselves fully into what their hearts desired." Balin continued as he began to meander down the hall again, "that does not cease when we find our One. Or other half of our heart, as such it is only appropriate that once your hearts have touched you would share the feelings of the other. Ali is in pain, that much even the densest of the company can tell."

"I don't wish for this," Thorin almost rasped.

"Aule does not do as we wish but as he wishes," Balin snapped, "Thorin the sooner you accept this the better it will be for both of you."

"She hates me," Thorin muttered, sounding more bitter than he meant.

"Have you given her a reason not to?" Balin loved Thorin as if he was his own son, but this boy was sometimes too dense. "You have been nothing but impossible to get along with this entire journey, it would do you no harm to try and be more polite."

Thorin knew Balin was right, although he had not found a time when the older dwarf wasn't. Hand still tingling he realized his heart didn't pain him so much. Tomorrow he would talk to her and try to set things straight.

Well there it is, a serious chapter.

Ashmo21 there was a bit of a super meltdown but it's over, yay!

I didn't know how to avoid at least a bit of one, since i've tried to keep Ali as real as possible

Now things can lighten back back up :)

As always thanks to all the lovely people who are reading this,

Please comment if there's anything you would like to see, questions, or suggestions.