Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise. The song in this is in no way owned by me, I'm just borrowing it.

A/N: Sorry this has only just been uploaded, what I thought was allergies was actually an eye infection, so looking at my screen for long periods of time hurts my eyes and my visions a little blurry.

I apologise for any spelling mistakes, I think I've got them all.

So enjoy some confrontations, Dori being a Badass, ale, Bilbo swearing, stories, a song and two apologies. :D Also for the song, Ariana is in italics, Bilbo is in normal and together is in bold.

Chapter 26

Bilbo POV

I followed merrily along behind Kíli and Ariana, next to Fíli, as they made their way down to the chamber that still housed all the armies and the people of Laketown. Ariana was truly a wonder, she looked so kind, beautiful, caring and soft that you would never have imagined that a core of Mithril and dragonfire ran through the heart of her. She walked with such purpose despite being unconscious for a week. Tauriel and Legolas appeared beside us and I looked up at her. "Lembas?" I asked and she nodded, staring at Ariana. "She ate 11 slices of it." I stared as well, it was no wonder she had all this energy if she ate that much.

As we approached the chamber I could hear a lot of arguing coming from the chamber, most of it seemed to be issued in the rough voices of dwarves. Kíli let go of Ariana's arm and moved back to stand beside us, as Ariana slammed open the chamber doors with her magic and entered the room, almost gliding. I watched in amusement as every person in the room froze, before dropping into a bow, knelt upon the ground. I smirked, knowing what they were seeing, Ariana's dress was enchanting in itself with its shifting colours and foreign, exotic design. I don't think she realised that it showed the muscles she did have, softening them only slightly, but she most definitely had to know that it showed of her wings and the Arkenstone brilliantly.

The finishing touch of it all was her eyes and how the gold was rolling around within them, flashing and ebbing in the light. "Is there a problem in here?" Her voice was soft, her words kind, but that was a voice she had so often used on the company and there was sharp steel hidden in the softness. It signalled that a cutting speech was coming. One of the dwarves that had tried to confront Ariana in the tent, but had been turned away by Kíli and the Lady Dis stood. "Aye, there's a problem here. We want's to see the queen." He bit out and I watched as Elrond and Galadriel stood to Ariana's left at the edges of the crowd, shaking their heads slightly and smirking. "I am the Queen." Ariana drawled out, tapping her staff on the floor and letting Thalion perch his raven form there.

The dwarf flinched slightly, before chuckling. "Nice try girlie. Now where's the queen, we demand our payment of gold." I sucked in a breath and waited, the result of that sentence should be amazing. I could feel Kíli shifting next to me, "Someone's going to get it." He whispered lightly and I agreed, someone was definitely going to get it. "Girlie? Girlie? Excuse me? I'm sorry I thought it was made clear before the battle that I AM QUEEN." Ariana's voice rang out around the room, an echo of her magic rolling over the room and there was a definite murmur of agreement. "The fact that you seem to be unaware of just who I am tells me that I owe you nothing." A flash of gold to my left caught my eye and I saw Elrond handing a coin to Galadriel.

I smiled softly, making myself look unassuming as Ariana stared down at the dwarf who had spoken to her. "Is there any dwarf here who answered the call for aid who was given false pretences of payment? Or is it merely this small number?" One of Daín's soldiers stood and bowed deeply, "Those of us who truly marched with Lord Dain did so to defend our homeland. There was no promise of payment, nor did we want any." Ariana nodded her head at him, her smile serene and calm. She looked back towards the dwarf in front of her, her smile sharpening. "Tell me, if you came with Lord Daín then you would be under the same assumption as these dwarrow. If you came with Lord Daín you would have been on the battlefield with the rest of us, defending our home. Clearly you weren't." She snapped out the last sentence and smirked, "This leads me to wonder, why exactly are you here then?"

None of the dwarves in front of her answered and Ariana nodded, shifting slightly and causing attention to be brought to her wings as they shifted with her, the feather's brushing along the floor slightly. "Don't answer that. You are here because you thought my family would be weak. You assumed that the gold sickness cannot be broken. You assumed you would come here to find one if not both of the heirs either injured or dead and my brother in the depths of madness. You assumed it would be easy in all the commotion to assassinate my brother and potentially his heirs to secure the throne for you chosen ruler. You assumed too much. My family is strong. The Defiler wished to wipe out the Durin line, but instead we wiped out him. We are the rulers of this mountain and if your chosen wants to rule it, he can come and try to claim it. I doubt he'd get past the gate before he dishonoured himself."

Ariana moved forward to stand directly in front of the dwarf and his friends, crowding uncomfortably close to them. "Consider this a warning that you may take on your travels with you. If you dare come to take this throne by means of killing the Durin line, come in far greater numbers than the orc did. Come prepared for a fight. Come prepared to die, because what I will do to you will make the Defiler look angelic." They stared up at Ariana and she smirked. "I defend what is mine viciously and I will not hesitate to rip each and every person apart for it. My family rules this mountain and that is not likely to change." She span around and walked up the steps towards the company. "Dwalin, Dori, Nori, Bifur. Would you see these lovely dwarrows out of the mountain please?"

There was a chuckle behind me as the four moved forward. The one who spoke was next to Dori and as he passed Ariana tried to grab at her wings. He soon found himself thrown clear across the chamber by Dori. "Try to touch my Queen again and I'll break you." Dori snapped out and Ariana smiled, the mild mannered dwarf was gone and in his place was one not even Dwalin wanted to mess with, especially as there were very few in the mountain currently who could best Dori for his strength. She had clearly been aware that the dwarf would try something, there was no other reason to ask Dori to come forward, cunning little Fae that she was. She smiled serenely as they walked past and out of the chamber before turning back to the others.

She shook her head, "Please get up. There is no need for you to be on the floor." She asked and everyone stood, several of the children of Laketown darting forward. Ariana smiled and allowed them to pull her deeper into the crowd, I could feel Legolas shifting uneasily next to me and shook my head. "I don't think anyone in this room is stupid enough to hurt her. Relax Legolas." I told him and he sighed, nodding. "I know that but she is my nana and she nearly died. I can't help but worry." I nodded and we all moved around the room, settling in amongst the groups of people as laughter and light came back to the chamber for the first time since the battle. I ended up sitting back with the company and several others, the elven leaders, Legolas, Tauriel, Daín, Dis, Frerin and Bard as Ariana finally moved back to us.

She smiled and gently sat down, adjusting her wings and skirts comfortably. "I think I just remembered why I hate dresses." She muttered and we all laughed, Daín passing her an ale and clapping a heavy hand on her shoulder. She merely smiled and took a drink, I jumped when a similar tankard was hovered in front of my nose. "For you Bilbo." Bofur said and I grinned as I accepted it. "Why thank you, Bofur m'dear." I said taking a sip, "Careful there Bilbo, that's dwarven ale." I raised a brow at Dwalin's words, did he truly think that hobbits drank weak drinks. Clearly he had never had some of old Gaffer Gamgee's cider. I smirked over at Ariana, before looking around. "Oi, what you looking for Bilbo?" Nori asked and I looked at him confused. "The fuck Dwalin seems to think I give. I can't seem to find it."

I smirked as they all stared at me, winking at Ariana as she descended into laughter. "I think I lost it, maybe in the goblin caves?" I said, pretending to think. Gandalf snorted and shook his head. "Or maybe it was in Farmer Maggot's field when you were but a tween." I whipped my head around and then groaned at the smirk on his face. "I can't believe my mother told you that story. I wasn't the only one there I'll have you know. We had no idea that the bottles we'd stolen, uh I mean borrowed, contained such strong home made cider. It was completely my cousins ideas the caused us to get caught that night." I said, indignant as I sipped at my drink.

Ariana was having a hard time getting her laughter back under control, wiping her eyes and nodding. "Something very similar happened to Thorin, Frerin and Dwalin when we first moved to Ered Luin." She smirked over at them as Dis laughed and nodded, "Aye, I remember. They went out drinking with Víli, thinking they were going to capable of out-drinking him and getting him to confess his intentions for me." The three mentioned dwarves were shaking their heads and groaning. Ariana smirked over at the boys. "Aye, instead they came back singing the lewdest of drinking songs, drunker than you've ever seen. They ended up waking up adad and grandfather, who then made them sleep outside for waking me up and singing such lewd songs in my presence."

I laughed at the story, smiling at the laughter around our circle. Kíli and Fíli were laughing and looked interested at the story. Ariana winked at them and signed the word for later at them, causing them to smirk and nod. Bard's three children came over and the youngest curled up in Ariana's lap and asked, "Miss Ana? Can you sing us a song?" Everyone froze at the request as Ariana looked over at me and I knew then what song she wanted to sing, it was one she had told me about from her home world. I nodded, she had told me the words one night as we had sat on watch, singing it softly under her breath and it was one that made sense to sing.

"Mother cannot guide you,

Now you're on your own.

Only me beside you,

Still you're not alone.

No one is alone, truly.

No one is alone.

Mother isn't here now.

Wrong things. Right thing.

Who knows what she'd say.

Who can say what's true.

Nothing's quite so clear now.

Do things, Fight things.

Feel you've lost your way.

You decide but,

You are not alone.

Believe me. No one is alone.

No one is alone,

Believe me.

Truly.

People make mistakes.

Fathers,

Mothers.

People make mistakes.

Holding to their own,

Thinking their alone.

Honour their mistakes,

Fight for their mistakes,

Everybody makes,

One another's terrible mistakes

Witches can be right.

Giants can be good.

You decide what's right.

You decide what's good.

Just remember.

Just remember.

Someone is on your side.

Our side

Someone else is not.

While we're seeing our side

Our side

Maybe we forgot.

They are not alone.

No one is alone.

Someone is on your side.

No one is alone."

The chamber was silent for a few beats after Ariana and I finished singing, several people wiping away tears. I looked over at Ariana to find Bard's youngest asleep in her lap, with the other two leaning against their dad and Kíli leaning against Fíli. I looked to my left and stared, Thranduil was looking at Ariana with such open adoration that even Galadriel was staring at him. Legolas and Tauriel seemed unaware of his expression, but a glance at Ariana's three siblings saw that they weren't. Thorin seemed to be smiling softly, while Frerin looked a little grossed out by the fact that it was an elf looking at his baby sister like that. Dis however seemed to have realisation on her face, like she was seeing the maybe Thranduil wasn't all ice after all.

I smiled over at Ariana as she stood gently and handed Bard his little one, before stretching tall, her wings reaching out to the sides as she did so. I glanced over towards the people of Laketown and many were awed by the sight of her wings. I took another sip of my ale and watched as Ariana turned and bowed to the chamber, "Forgive me for leaving you so early, but I need to rest." The people nodded and she took the staff that Thranduil handed her, smiling at him, before leaning down and pressing a kiss to Fíli and Kíli's foreheads and walking out of the hall.

Soon conversation was flowing again and tales were being told around the room, the conversation light and easy for the first time in a long time. It was truly amazing that just Ariana's presence could do that. I turned to look as Thranduil shifted, clearing his throat before speaking. "Ariana was right earlier, there are several apologies that need to happen. Least of all to her. I owe an apology to those of you driven from this mountain, I should have offered aid instead of being, as Ariana put it, 'petty and childish'. Looking back I can see now that that is what my behaviour was. Also I believe I am aware of what I need to apologise to my son for and that was for forbidding communication and behaving in the way that I did. Forgive me."

We all stared at him, Legolas absently nodding as his hand clasped his father wrist. I smiled and watched as Thranduil stood and walked out of the hall, I could have sworn that the tips of his ears were pink. My stomach suddenly growled and I pressed a hand to it. "Excuse me." I said as I stood, placing my half drunk ale on the floor and wandering down to the kitchens. It was as I was walking back that I looked up as I finished chewing the last of my snack. Up on the walkway was Ariana and Thranduil, I slipped my ring on and followed them. Curiosity was one of my less favourable traits, but I needed to see that Ariana was ok and that Thranduil wasn't going to upset her.

I crept up behind them and followed them along the battlements, Ariana's arm tucked into the crook of Thranduil's and her staff tapping the floor softly. "You said you were going to rest." He said softly and Ariana nodded, "I did, but the night is so clear and it has been so long since I looked to the stars that I wished to take a walk before retiring for the evening." Thranduil nodded, looking down at her as she walked, "You should not try so hard, so soon after waking. You have only been clear of the fever for three days and your wounds were barely healed when I last checked them yesterday."

Ariana looked up at him, nodding. "I know, but I would like to bring some happiness to a time when there are so many that do not feel it." She sighed and they paused on the battlements, Thranduil watching her as she looked out over to Dale. "I mean no offence, but why is the happiness of others so important to you? Especially when many of them care little about your own." Ariana looked up at him then back out over the plain. "I think the saddest people always try their hardest to make people happy. Because they know what it's like to feel absolutely worthless and they don't want anybody else to feel like that." She said and Thranduil froze and looked at her closely, his gaze never leaving her face.

I watched in shock as Thranduil grasped her hand and turned her to look at him, crouching down until he was kneeling on the ground and looking up at her. "It pains me to hear that you count yourself amongst the saddest people. I truly wish that I had not played a part in that as well, but I did and I cannot turn back time. I can apologise for it, but words truly mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. I will try to show you everyday how precious you are to those around you, how you have truly wound a cold hearted immortal king around your finger and I will try to be the person that you see me as. Estelio enni, meleth nin." I stared at him in shock, as did Ariana before she tugged on their joined hands and got him to stand.

I watched as she lay a gentle hand on the left side of his face, keeping it pressed there even as Thranduil flinched. "Aranamin, you are the person I see you as. You just need to see it in yourself. I do not want you to change so greatly, I think we can all learn to change now that events have occurred. I told you when I was a child that you went through things and came out stronger. Just as I have, as many have. I do trust you Thranduil Oropherion and in time I hope that becomes more. But please remember, I don't easily trust someone, so when I tell you 'I trust you' don't make me regret it." She said and he nodded, pressing a kiss to her forehead and linking her arm through his. "I understand, meleth. I will try to never abuse the trust you have given me. Now I believe it is time for you to get some rest, tomorrow maybe a more difficult day." I watched as they walked out of sight, before turning and going back to my room.

I ducked into an alcove as I walked, watching as three new dwarves walked past. Again they hadn't been in the mountain before the battle and they certainly didn't look like they'd seen recent battle. I sighed silently and followed them for a little while. "Can't believe there's a elf loving woman sat on the throne. She isn't one of us, she's not of Durin's line." One of them muttered and the other nodded, "We'll deal with it all tomorrow, there's supposed to be an open meeting for everyone in the mountain. We'll confront the whole lot of them tomorrow." He said and I shook my head. They clearly didn't know who they were messing with. I crept past them and down to my room, taking the ring off inside the door and getting ready for bed. As I settled in to my bed, I couldn't help but think that maybe Thranduil could be right.

A/N: Ok so Thranduil...Never saw that coming.

Right so I'm not sure who to have as the next POV I'm thinking maybe Galadriel or Elrond, just to get inside their heads ;)

Estelio enni, meleth nin. - Trust me, my love.

Aranamin - My king.