A/N The number of times I wrote the word "bear" and then went "Haha. Bear." because Beorn was around, were probably too many.

Also I'm planning a much lighter flashback for next chapter cause it's been awhile. Like forever. It's time for pleasant things before we go trudging through spider infested forests and running into old friends before they're old friends and are actually kind of also a dick.

Beorn's advice had been taken to heart by the dwarves. She slept like a rock, got woken several more times to eat increasingly heavy meals paired with more milk and honey, and went straight back to sleep each time. This continued even through the night with the dwarves trading off on the responsibility. By dawn she still felt an undercurrent of unsettledness but at least part of her was beginning to feel more like herself.

The house was empty, aside from the usual animals and the orange tabby that wandered lazily around the bed as she carefully got up again. Her legs were sturdy enough, if still sore. She wasn't exactly excited about the range of motion she had in her arms, but she wasn't going to test the bandages and find out how impaired she still was without their support.

At the foot of the bed was a folded stack of clothes, hers minus her tunic which had probably been beyond repair. Josephine flipped through the stack to see what was left after their flight and was excited to see that in the escape they'd still grabbed her coat, though her mask was long gone from the look of it.

Under her coat her fingers brushed the next fold and she paused, smiling as she pulled it out and laid it open. Her cloak had survived, its elven cloth no more than snagged in some places. But it was heavily stained, whole swathes of the brown had turned rusty and more of it was stained than whole. She had a feeling the cloak had traveled with her from the mountain as more of a lifesaver than a memento.

Her pack was gone, and as she started to take inventory of what she lost, she froze, looking around the bed and the area around it frantically. Her weapons, where were her weapons?

It didn't take her more than a second to find them, her entire sword belt was laying up against the wall by the bed, but for that second she was looking, she'd panicked. If she'd lost Aragorn's knife…She would've lost the only part of him she had.

Bracing herself against the wall she leaned down, careful to keep her back straight, and picked up her weapons. She set those too, on the bed, and put her hand on the scabbard of the knife. "Just one more disarming adventure and then I'm never taking you off again." She grumbled. "Legolas better not confiscate you like he does Orcrist."

Was she super excited about seeing Legolas in Mirkwood? Well, it would be nice to see another familiar face. But Hobbit Legolas was a dick and she was already tired enough from dealing with grumpy dwarves all the time.

With a determined sigh she looked at everything in front of her and started making some decisions. The oversized dwarf shirt she'd been wearing she tucked into the top of her pants to try and contain it to some degree, then grabbed her sword belt to buckle it on. As she twisted to swing it around she had to slow down, hissing as the bandages pulled and wondering how the hell even just setting her belt against them could hurt so bad.

Sure, she couldn't really fight yet, but she wouldn't have to until the spiders. But she did need to be able to wear her sword belt to inspire some confidence in the company that they could move on.

Setting it back down, she untucked her shirt (which somehow reached down to almost her knees) and began to fold it up until it sat right where her belt would go. Some finagling later, and she was gently tying it. It was uncomfortable, but the extra padding was enough to make it bearable. Besides, they'd be riding the whole way to Mirkwood, that was at least a few more days to recover.

She checked her reflection in the bucket of water by the hearth and smoothed her hand over her hair, woven in a braid she certainly hadn't done, and the bead she'd kept tucked out of sight up till then was proudly strung through a strand in full view of the world. She wondered if Gloin or anyone else had noticed its exact twin in his beard yet.

Her eyes were still darker than she liked as far as inspiring confidence went, but she was up and around and ready to go…mostly.

Outside she found the table only half occupied, with Thorin off in the distance speaking with Beorn and Gandalf. Dwalin grinned at her somewhat proudly and patted the bench next to him. He gave her a hand up, then started piling food on her plate. As she nibbled, she nodded towards Thorin and the others.

"He gonna let us leave today like I told him?"

"Thorin is anxious to go. But he is not fond of you traveling in your condition." He took a heavy swig from his mug and burped. "In a day or two more, perhaps, we will leave."

Typical. She was on his good side and she was still going to have to fight him over their schedule.

Wiping her hands on her pants she got back down, trying to hold a sturdy gait as she crossed the lawn. It was the first time she'd gotten a real good look at it and she was beginning to hate that they couldn't stay long.

A large, shaggy gray dog jogged over to her and licked her hand before falling in step. She scratched its head as they walked and began to wonder why she'd never gotten around to adopting a couple dogs back in Gondor.

"Good morning." She called as she came up to them.

They all three fell silent and Gandalf smiled at her. "Ah, wonderful to see you up, my dear."

"Is it true? Dwalin says we're not going to leave for another day or two?" Sure they'd spend plenty of time bumming around in Thranduil's halls, but things had to happen correctly before that so they would just end up being eaten by spiders or something first.

Thorin looked at her with a cautious expression, clearly hoping to talk her into it without much of a fight. "With your wounds, riding will not be easy."

"You know what's harder? Getting to Erebor before Durin's Day when people keep trying to argue with you over the schedule. Besides, I'm sure Beorn doesn't want guests any longer than necessary." She looked up at him, having to crane her neck and hoping he'd agree with her.

"You are right." He said gruffly. "But I have seen your wounds, your journey will be unpleasant."

"I'll live, but we really have to leave by this afternoon." She caught Thorin's eye. "Please don't make me fight you over this. If we had time to stay I'd be all for it, trust me."

He wasn't happy, but he wasn't arguing back at her either and Josephine waited, hoping. With a frown, he nodded and glanced up at Gandalf. "As our Lady Seer commands. We will depart before nightfall." Taking his leave of them he went to Dwalin, likely to discuss plans for their journey.

Josephine raised an eyebrow and glanced down at the dog who was still standing at her side, leaning into her hip. "How hard did he hit his head back in that forest, huh? He's almost agreeable now."

"He said you would set off without them if he tried to go against your wishes." Beorn explained.

"It would get them to come after me and get their asses in gear." She agreed, though she hadn't gotten as far as planning what she'd do if arguing didn't work.

"You have strange companions, Gandalf." He looked towards the house and then south, towards their path to Mirkwood. "I will gather supplies for your journey."

Josephine and Gandalf watched him lumber off before he turned to her, leaning on his staff and looking worried.

"Are you certain you are ready to travel?"

He was scrutinizing with his gaze and Josephine was feeling very transparent under it. At least Gandalf was more attune to working towards the greater good than some of the dwarves would be regarding her injuries, but she really hoped she could be more honest with him without it getting back to the company.

"Okay fine, I feel like shit warmed over. But what am I supposed to do? Hang around here for two more days, put us behind schedule, set our timeline off so we don't hit our milestones at the right time? There's not really another option here. And I can't reorganize things and go with you to the High Fells instead, you'll be away too long."

"Oh will I indeed." He said, somewhat annoyed. Probably because his secret mission wasn't so secret, at least to her.

"I'm not doing this to try to prove some point about keeping up with the company, that's what I'm getting at." She clarified. "It's leave today or else god knows what'll happen. And trust me, I'm already really not looking forward to what's supposed to happen as it is."

"I do trust you, Lady Josephine. You have yet to lead us astray as far as I have been able to tell. Though our journey through the mountain is still somewhat a mystery to me as to its use. But I imagine that is something I will discover with time, hm?"

He squinted at her with a knowing smirk and she smiled back wearily. "Oh you'll figure it out eventually."

They walked back towards the house together, the dog still glued to her side. The dwarves were swarming like ants trying to get everything together within the next few hours. Thorin, who was sitting on a round of wood, looked up as he sharpened his sword. "Beorn is waiting for you inside. He is going to change your bandages before we leave. Once he is finished you will rest until we depart."

Josephine hid the fact that laying back down again for a bit sounded ideal and just nodded, pretending to bristle a little at the order. "Oh goody. I'll be inside then."

Beorn was tearing soft light cloth into strips when she got inside. He had a continual air of grumpiness about him and she had a feeling he was counting the minutes before he had his house back. If she were him, she knew she'd be feeling the same way.

"Sit down, face the wall."

He motioned to the alcove where the dwarves' coats still made up her bed. Now that she was a bit more aware of things, their concern warmed her heart. It was a lot like how she'd felt when she'd realized the fellowship was full of people who were truly her friends, not just the embodiments of a story where she didn't belong.

She took off her sword belt, immediately relieved at the loss of weight and pressure. Setting it to the side she sat down on the bed and folded her legs under her while she listened to Beorn work behind her.

"I will have to take this off." He said, plucking gently as the excess fabric on her shirt. "I will try to work quickly, I know of your kind's discomfort with such things."

After getting the wound in her leg and knowing the healers that had saved her life at Morannon had probably seen all her bits and pieces multiple times before Ciril showed up, Josephine wasn't as bothered by it as she used to be. Something about horrible life threatening injuries had made her apathetic to the various forms of undress she had to go through to not die.

"I've dealt with worse, but I do appreciate your discretion."

With permission he helped her out of the shirt and set it aside, then began to untie and untuck the ends of her bandages. They wound around and around and around her chest, stomach, and shoulders. It was practically another shirt all on its own. Once it was gone she moved her shoulders experimentally and regretted everything.

"Fuck that's bad." She didn't try to cover her reaction. Beorn wasn't going to be one who would make them stay, and if he was tending to her she wouldn't be able to hide it much from him anyway.

Like it had been listening in on what was happening, the orange tabby hopped up onto the bed and nudged its head under her hands for attention and a distraction.

"You have come far in a short time, but your road is still long." He wrung out a cloth and began to wash the wounds.

The water was cold and steeped with more Athelas, something she was planning on asking for as big of a supply as he could give her. He reached a partially sensitive portion and she jumped.

"Steady."

He wasn't a big talker, and Josephine was grateful. It took enough concentration to stay quiet and still while he worked, there wasn't enough left to have a conversation. She had a hunch he knew that too, and was potentially even staying silent on purpose.

Her theory was supported as he began to apply a salve that tingled and seemed to slightly numb the wounds. That was when he finally spoke again.

"I will send you with bandages and salves. Use them sparingly so they will last until the wounds close." He paused so long after that, that she thought he was done, but then he continued. "The pain will last far longer."

Comforting. "How long do you think?"

He was quiet for a moment. "I have seen it last many months."

Josephine frowned, he'd seen it? There weren't scars on his back from lashes, what did he know about… "Your people?" The ones who had been imprisoned, he'd been there. He still had one shackle bound to his wrist, which she could see as he reached around her to start wrapping the new bandage.

He grunted and then went silent, a silence she wasn't willing to break. The job was done quickly and with more gentleness than she'd expected from him. He scooped the old bandages up in one hand and left without a word after slipping the shirt back over her head.

Already one step ahead of her, the cat nestled down into the furs on the collar of Fili's coat for a nap and Josephine followed suit, bunching her cloak up under her head.

"I guess I should be thanking you for your help too, huh?"

The cat chirped and rolled onto its back, finding the one sliver of sunshine hitting the bed to fall asleep in.