Breathe in. Breathe out.

As she sprinted down what seemed like a dirt road, Kelsey was trying to calm herself down, although it wasn't working very well. Her heart pounded against her chest, and heavily breathing she could hear the screeches from the orcs as they chased after her.

Please let me find help soon, she thought as she ran around a bend in the road, before colliding with a solid object. Landing on her backside, she peered up and suddenly shrieked as the horse's hooves loomed up above her, threatening to step on her.

"Woah, boy, woah," called an unfamiliar voice from the horse. Kelsey saw an old man with a grey beard and wizard-like pointed hat, smiling down at her, concern filling his blue-grey eyes. "Are you okay, milady?"

"Eh, yes thank you," Kelsey replied with a nod, getting over her shock and shakily stood up and attempted to control her breathing. She noticed a short man storming over, his long black hair with grey streaks swinging around his face and his cold blue eyes piercing through her. Kelsey suddenly realised that he was too short to be a man, but for a dwarf. Maybe he knows Kili.

"What is this, Gandalf?" he asked, addressing the old man, his hands subconsciously going to his sword at his side and keeping his eyes on Kelsey.

"This, dear Thorin, is a frightened young girl who appears to be in distress and injured," announced Gandalf, sliding off his horse and slowly walked up to her and studied her shoulder injury. Thorin, Kelsey assumed, sighed and signalled for two of his companions over.

"Fili, Kili, take this young girl to Oin," Thorin directed them, causing a gasp in the raven haired dwarf. Kelsey froze at the name, staring straight at the dark brown eyes of the very dwarf she had saved eight years ago. He looked like a day had not past since she last saw him and it made her feel self-conscious to know that she was a lot older than he was.

"Kelsey!?" questioned Kili, as he took several steps towards her. "What in Mahal are you doing here?"

"Good question, um, so I was at home having a drink and swimming in my thoughts when I saw the ball of light, so I stupidly enough followed it, came here, found myself surrounded by a group of orcs, got injured, escaped and then crashed in this horse, so here I am…tada!" exclaimed Kelsey, her words jumbling into one massive ramble. Kelsey suddenly felt silly as she had been swinging her arms around like a lunatic, trying to express her words and totally embarrassing herself.

"Ball of light?" asked Gandalf, just as Kili said "Orcs?"

Then the sound of running footsteps jumped Kelsey out of embarrassment, causing her to turn around just narrowly missing a brandishing sword from an orc. She leapt back as sounds of movement behind signalling the company of dwarves to ready their weapons. Strong hands grasped around her uninjured arm and dragged her behind the protection of dwarves. Looking at eye to eye to Kili, he smirked at her and handed her a dagger before running off to fight.

"Great to see you again, Lady Kelsey. Must we always meet in the face of danger," he called back, causing Kelsey to laugh, remembering when she first met him.

The presence of a small being beside her made Kelsey to look down to her left, at a very small man who just came up to her shoulder. He had light brown curly hair and massive feet and had a worried expression.

"You do know how to use that, right?" he asked in a quiet voice, peering at the dagger in her hand, watching Kelsey twirling it.

"Of course, I do," she exclaimed before extending her hand. "Kelsey Rose."

"Bilbo Baggins."

"Nice to meet you Bilbo Baggins," she said, shaking his hand and not observing her surroundings before Bilbo squealed with fright. Looking to her right, an orc came crashing over, his rotten teeth showing as he pulled a huge smile, thinking that this young girl had no idea how to defend herself.

Although she was freaking out inside, Kelsey kicked the creature in the chest and it stumbled into the awaiting sword of Kili, who had noticed the advancing orc. Black blood squirted from the chest wound and sprayed in front of Kelsey and Bilbo, causing Bilbo to squeak, not use to blood whereas Kelsey was very familiar with blood through her nursing career.

…..

As the dwarves finally finished off the remaining orcs, Kelsey took in how large the group was. Twelve dwarves, an old man and a very small being who she did not know the species of, as the massive feet was an alarming feature that told her, that Bilbo Baggins wasn't a man.

"So Kili, would you like to introduce your lady friend to us," asked a blonde haired dwarf who took a slight resemblance of Kili. Two thick braids framed his smiling mouth as he peered at his brother, questionably.

"This, gentlemen, is Kelsey, the girl who saved my life."

A slight blush formed on Kelsey's cheeks as she took in the surprised reactions of everyone's faces. A slight pain started to form in her left shoulder as the adrenaline started to wear off and Kelsey realised how much blood she had lost. She started to feel a little dizzy as she looked over Kili's shoulder, noticing a lone orc quietly approaching his back. Lifting the dagger in her right hand and ignoring the sudden shouts of the dwarves, she threw it past his shoulder and into the head of the orc with a thud. Thank god for the years of playing darts, she thought as she collapsed to the ground, her vision start darkening and before she passed out, she saw several pairs of boots running towards her.

Then everything went black.