With a horse in their small company, they no longer had to struggle carrying their bags. Alesdair was much stronger than all of them and would be able to carry their load with no trouble, but of course, no one could ride him. Alesdair lead them toward a stone cobbled road that lead into a small village. There, they could get a small meal and Camellia could get some care for Alesdair. They stopped first at the local horse stable where Camellia cleaned and replaced Alasdair's shoes and gave him a quick brush to help remove the dirt from his coat. Then they stopped in a tavern and grabbed some ale and a warm meal.

They spent an hour in the small village before they began walking again. It was just past midday. There was still plenty of time to catch up with the rest of the dwarves and Bilbo.

Thorin continued to lead the remaining dwarves, and Bilbo, to Erebor. There was a silence that filled the company, a woeful silence. The two biggest jokesters were gone and the quirky red head was absent. They had only known her for several months, but she had belonged with them. She had terrible jokes, but they always made them laugh. She was always there to encourage them when they were feeling like they would never reclaim Erebor. They even missed her arguing with Thorin and, even though he hated to admit it, Thorin missed her too. He had seen how taken his nephews were with Camellia and how much his company liked her, but he couldn't admit, not even to himself, that he wanted her back too.

The day was drawing to a close and there was still no sign of Camellia, Kili, or Fili.

"What if they never come back?" Ori asked as they set up a campsite.

"Camellia wouldn't just leave us. She'll be back," Bofur assured.

"What if she's been eaten by a bear or something?"

"We should be more worried about Fili and Kili being eaten by a bear than Camellia," Dori joked. "She's the best archer I have ever seen!"

"Don't worry laddie," Dwalin told Ori. "The lassie will be okay."

"It's Fili and Kili we should worry about, but with Camellia there, they should be fine," Bofur commented. The sun had gone down leave only the light of the fire. The moon was even dark.

"Maybe we should make camp," Kili suggested as Camellia lead the way through the tall grass.

"We're almost there. They're just over there, I know it."

"You said that an hour ago," Fili complained.

"If we make camp tonight, I'll have lost their scent by morning."

"Scent?" Fili questioned.

"Everyone has a scent, but not bathing makes it a lot worse."

"So, you're saying you can smell them?"

"Precisely. If you'd stop complaining, this would be a lot less irritating."

"But we having eaten since we left the village," Kili commented. Camellia stopped and opened one of the saddlebags. She pulled out two large pieces of cured meat.

"It's not warm," she said as she tossed it to them, "but it will have to do until morning. Let's keep moving." She continued on through the grass.

"Camellia, it's too dark! We can't continue on!" Kili called out. There was no response from her. "Camellia?" Kili called again. He was startled with something cold reached out and seized his hand.

"Take your brother's hand," a familiar voice said. "We're almost there, I promise." He did as he was told and took hold of Fili's hand.

"You can't even see out here, how are you so sure we're any closer?" Fili asked, tired of travelling.

"You may not be able to see out here, but I can. They had set up camp about 100 yards from here. Their fire is but a speck in the night."

"But, how do you know it's their fire?" She gave his hand a squeeze.

"I can smell the meat."

"But it could be orcs!" Fili said.

"Orcs don't cook their meat. Nor do goblins. Elves don't eat meat. Hobbits don't travel outside Hobbiton, aside from our burgular. Come on, we're almost there."

"What does almost mean to you anyway?" Fili asked.

"Less than two hours." Fili groaned. He was never going to trust her time estimates again. "Don't worry. I promise ten minutes at most."

"And if we go over this ten minute mark?"

"Then we'll run."

"Run?"

"Run."

"In the dark?"

"Yes, in the dark. It's not that bad. If we go over ten minutes then you'll just have to run toward the campfire."

"What campfire?"

"Your eyesight is starting to go. You must be getting old." Fili couldn't think of a good enough come back so he just kept his mouth shut as they continued on through the tall grass. The little speck of light in the dark grew bigger the longer they travelled. It had been more than ten minutes when the dwarven company's, and Bilbo's, silhouettes had come into view.

"You said ten minutes."

"I could have made it in ten minutes, but you're a slow walker. It slowed us down." Fili scoffed and stopped. This caused the other two to stop too. Alesdair continued on toward the camp.

"I bet I could beat you running there."

"I bet you can't."

"Let's see who's faster than!"

"Kili, would you like to run too?" Camellia asked. "I mean, it won't make any difference, I'd still get there first, but I thought you'd like to face off against your brother." Kili snorted.

"You might beat Fili, but you won't beat me."

"Looks like we have a race." They line up with each other and Fili started the count down.

"Ready…set…go!" They took off at full speed. It looked like a tied between the three of them, but Camellia began to fall behind slightly. Now it was on Fili and Kili against each other. Their race had alerted Thorin and the rest to their arrival, but they did not know that it was the two missing dwarves and the red head so they had drawn their weapons, ready to fight.

Fili and Kili had nearly left Camellia in the dust, but she had reached the campsite just a few seconds later.

"I beat you!" Kili started.

"No, I beat you!" Fili disagreed.

"No, you guys were tied," Camellia said once she got to the camp.

"But, I beat you!" Fili said, animated.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" she waved him off. He was not going to let her forget this for a long time.

"You're…back…" Bilbo was the first to speak. The three turned to the group in front of them.

"I figured I should return them to where they belong," Camellia said.

"Are you staying?" Ori asked.

"You belong here too!" Bofur said before she could answer.

"With how often I have rows with your leader, I don't think that I should be here. I cause more trouble than I'm worth." A chuckle could be heard from Thorin as he stood up and walked over to her. She pulled herself up straight and was ready for whatever harsh words he had for her.

"You run off with my two nephews." His tone was stern and a small mite sharp.

"They followed me," she stated quickly.

"You don't bother to fight. You argue whenever you have the chance. You're stubborn and impulsive. The worst of it all, you're an elf!" He paused to stare her down. He was a little less than a head taller than her. She stared at him with as harsh a stare as he gave her. "You don't belong here." She expected nothing different, though it still hurt to hear those words. The others muttered around her expressing their disagreement to each other. "That is what I have held as true until recently. You belong in this company as much as I do." Camellia's jaw dropped. She knew not what to say; she just stared at Thorin, shocked. "My nephew has been quite taken by you." He gave a small glance toward Kili before returning his gaze back to Camellia. "I couldn't deny him that simple happiness even though you're a huge pain."

"I…" she began to say.

"Camellia, speechless. That's a shock!" She truly didn't know what to say. She was so used to Thorin's cold exterior, especially toward her, that when he finally said something nice, she was flabbergasted. A simple 'thank you' wouldn't be enough for his gift. An unsuspecting Thorin found himself embraced in the small redhead's arms.

"I can't express how thankful I am," she muttered into his clothing. He wrapped his arms around her, a way of saying that he accepted her thanks.

"This doesn't mean I'm going to stop being snarky," she said as she pulled away. An outsized smile was plastered on her face.

"I didn't expect it," Thorin said, a small smile on his bearded face.

"Welcome back, Camellia!" Bofur said, slapping her hard on the back. She smiled at him. "Ori was worried about you." The young dwarf turned red.

"We told him not to worry about you. He should worry more Fili and Kili." Balin said.

"Oh, she's not that dangerous," Fili said, throwing an arm over her shoulders.

"I think they were more worried that you'd get eaten by a bear," Camellia said with a smirk.

"Funny," Fili said, stepping away from her. Alesdair walked over to her to nudge her cheek. She lightly rubbed his neck and started to unload him. Once she had gotten all the bags off, Alesdair took off into the night. A yawn escaped her lips as she watched her horse run off.

"You should go to sleep." She jumped slightly. She turned to see a barely bearded Kili.

"I didn't expect you to be there; you startled me."

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. You should get to bed too. I've been dragging you around all day." She squatted down to sift through her bag. Kili also began to sift through his bag. "It's not in there." He looked at her. "It's right here. I kind of reorganised everything." She handed him his blanket. "You and your brother don't know how to pack anything." Kili laughed.

"That's why we have you."

"I really hope that's not the only reason you keep me around." She kissed his cheek and headed off to the corner of the campsite. Camellia was just about to fall asleep, but a soft kiss to her forehead woke her. When she opened her eyes, she saw the warm brown eyes of her favourite dwarf lying next to her. She wore a small smile as she closed her eyes again and drifted off into sleep, curled next to a jovial Kili.