No more Prim. No more Peeta. No more Gale. No more Haymitch, Elfie, Cinna, Finnick, her mother…

Despite the darkness, Katniss ended up running aimlessly until her tired legs begged for her to stop. She then climbed the highest tree she could find, and finally let down the tears she had been trying to hold. In a few minutes, she had lost all the hope she had been nurturing of seeing her loved ones again. In a few minutes, she had learned that two of her nightmares could still come true. She had witnessed both Prim and Thorin dying horrible deaths on a battlefield. And even though she had also seen images of a much brighter future, somehow, that perspective also seemed daunting.

She could no longer deny that she indeed felt an enormous attraction towards the dwarrow King. But starting a family, having children - multiple children - getting married, and especially getting married to someone like Thorin, who had so many tribulations and the weight of a kingdom upon his shoulders. This notion terrified her. However, it was facing the hard truth that she would no longer be able to spend time with her sister that was weighing on her heart that night.

So, she remained awake, ruminating thoughts about her situation while she tried to ignore how unprepared she was for staying in the wild, as the lightness of the elven dress that she was still wearing allowed the cold night air to chill her body. It was already dawn when the tiredness got the better of her and she finally succumbed to her slumber.

The first thing she heard before she even opened her eyes was the sound of birds singing. She noticed that she did not have a nightmare that night, which she thought was pretty odd, considering what had happened. But it was the realization that she was lying on a bed that made her open her eyes widely in shock. The first thing she saw was Gandalf, who was comfortably seated in her room's armchair, holding a gentle grandfatherly smile. She immediately frowned at him.

"How did I get here?" she asked brusquely.

"Master Elladan found you sleeping at the top of a tree when he was doing his patrol rounds this morning. It was a lucky thing he did because you were already outside of the boulders of Imladris. I don't even want to imagine what could have happened to you if it had been the enemy who had gotten hold of you instead, my dear."

Katniss grunted but remained quiet. As she sat up on the bed, she noticed that she was somehow wearing a nightgown again. She silently prayed for Milliel to have been the one to change her clothes.

"You knew," Katniss accused the wizard with a frown, "you knew there was no way I could get back to my sister…"

"Truth be said, it was not very long ago that you were still struggling to believe that you had gone back to the past, isn't it right?"

Katniss begrudgingly nodded.

"But if you are a real wizard, couldn't you just do your hocus-pocus and send me back to my time?"

"I am unfamiliar with the meaning behind 'hocus-pocus' my dear, but I am afraid that sending you back might be something beyond my powers. What I can do, and it is something that I already have been doing, is asking about it to the other members of my Order. But I warn you - to not hold high hopes on this…"

There was a brief silence where Gandalf helped himself to some of the grapes that were in his hand's reach. Katniss stood up and went to wash her face with a jug of water with a basin that was set there with this sole purpose.

"Galadriel showed me Thorin dying in her mirror…" Katniss blunted as she slowly turned around to face the wizard. Gandalf opened his eyes wide in shock after being confronted by her revelation. "How likely are the visions that she showed me to be accurate, Gandalf…?

Gandalf looked deeply in her eyes before he gave her an answer.

"What you saw was likely to be one version of the future, Katniss. Many other possibilities of it are bound to exist as well."

"I think the mirror also showed at least another one…" she blushed as she tried avoiding looking at the wizard in the eyes as the memory of Thorin kissing her future-self passionately invaded her mind.

"Try not to dwell on it too much, Katniss. The best way to change the future is to focus on what can be done now, in the present."

And without saying anything else, the wizard stood up and started making his way to the door. Though, before he had a chance to get hold of the door handle, Katniss shot him another question.

"Gandalf, wait! How can I know if I am doing what is needed to get away from that future?" she hastily stood up and started to make her way to where he was standing. Gandalf stopped and turned his head so he could see her face.

"Unless you know the details surrounding his death, I guess it is hard to know…"

"I saw him being murdered by an orc. An enormous horrible orc. He did not have one hand… they were alone, on top of a frozen lake..."

Gandalf gave her a calculated look.

"Well, you better ensure that when the time comes, he is not alone then."

And without giving her any chance to ask anything else, Gandalf left the room, leaving Katniss alone with a heavy heart and a handful of unanswered questions haunting her mind.

Katniss stayed in her room for the remainder of the day. Not even when Milliel appeared to inform her that her dwarrow companions were waiting for her so they could conduct their daily training session, was she compelled to leave.

"Can you let them know that I am unwell today?"

"Sure. If they request to see you, should I invite them in?"

"No. Tell them that I asked to be left alone. Now, if they are quite insistent, just tell them that this is some sort of womanly issue. That should be enough to shut them up."

Milliel nodded before she left Katniss on her own again.

When she decided to leave her room, a few days later, and finally have a full breakfast at Elrond's halls, she ended up bumping into Bilbo, who was on his way to having his second breakfast. The hobbit was quite chatty, and his descriptions of what he had been doing and learning during their brief stay at Rivendell seemed to take her mind out of the issues that had been bothering her. By the end of their meal, Katniss had somehow convinced him to go on a little hunting trip with her.

"You should learn at least how to properly set some snares, Bilbo. This is not only for your sake but for ours as well. Imagine if you get lost, or if most of the company members are injured somehow… you learning how to do this will only help everyone in the long run."

So Bilbo went along with her, and together they set up snares, went fishing, and she even tried to teach him the basics of archery - even though her bow was a little bit big for him.

She ended up praising him for being really light on his feet, and in the end, they successfully managed to get her game bag full with dead squirrels and a few big fishes to their dwarrow friends. As they walked their way towards the house where the company was staying, Katniss started talking to him.

"It is a very noble thing what you are doing, you know? Helping them to get their home back…"

"Oh, I am not too sure if I am helping much, Miss Katniss. For most of the time, I am pretty sure they all see me more as a nuisance than anything else…"

"I will be honest with you, Bilbo. When we left Bag End, I did not think you would join us at all. I am not sure if I would have done the same if I was in your position at that time…"

Bilbo was about to interrupt her to say something, but she stopped him with a wave from her hand.

"No, let me finish. You had no reason to join them, you had everything you could possibly need in Hobbiton, and I am pretty sure that it was not the perspective of a treasure that made you come along on this journey. Still, despite all those things you are still here. Why?"

Bilbo remained quiet for a while, trying to think of a proper answer.

"Must have been the Took in me, I guess. I was probably a bit out of my mind. I am not a fighter or a hero, I am just a mere hobbit..."

"Whatever the reason was, you decided to join and help them in the end. I think it was a very noble and brave thing to do, helping Thorin and the others to recover their homeland. I have lost my home too. I am sure you probably heard about it by now. If anything, I am the one to blame by my District destruction. I would do anything in my power to change Twelve's fate…"

"And perhaps you will have your chance now. If it is true that you are from the future, the destruction you have witnessed is something still to happen, is it not?"

"Yes… I know, you are going to tell me that I can change it… everyone keeps telling me this. The thing is, I have no idea how to make this change!"

"Well, there must be a way! If not for this reason, why would the Valar send you here?"

Katniss frowned as she carefully considered his words.

"I don't know, Bilbo. I did not ask for this. I wish things had happened in another way. But things were just thrown at me and I had to deal with it. My father's death… my sister's name coming out of the ripening…"

"Ripening?" Bilbo asked with a frown. Katniss took a deep breath.

"Right… let me tell you my story, Mister Burglar…"

After learning about all the hardship surrounding Katniss' past, and also about the fears she had due to the different perspective of possible futures she had witnessed in Galadriel's mirror, Bilbo made a point of spending more time around her. This obviously led him to end up spending more time around the dwarrows, and consequently being forced into a decent amount of sword fighting. It felt a bit odd for Katniss, to know that someone else in their company apart from Thorin and Gandalf, now knew about what she had endured before meeting them in Hobbiton. However, somehow, that also felt comforting, and she knew that she was slowly getting ready to share more things about her past with the rest of the company if a good opportunity arises.

It was inevitable for Katniss to notice Thorin's frequent absence, as catching a quick glance of him became a rarity. She was missing his presence so much that she could not help but ask Balin and Dwalin about his whereabouts. They both gave her sly knowing looks and assured her that Thorin was not deliberately avoiding her, but that he was quite busy by making her some new arrows, among other things. She frowned at their dismissiveness but ended up deciding not to ask any further details about it.

A few days later, Balin informed her that they had finally managed to read Thorin's map the previous night.

"I'm not surprised that the reading of the map was done last night. It is an auspicious night for our people. The first night of our summer festival. It was quite a feast when we used to live at Erebor…"

Katniss smiled at the fondness that the dwarf showed as he talked about his homeland. Nostalgia. She knew that feeling too damn well.

"Did you find anything important hidden on the map?" she asked casually.

"It said that we must stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole. Which is ill news, as we now have a date where we need to be there by."

"Oh, shouldn't we be on our way, then? Hit the road as soon as possible?"

"Oh, my dear Lassie, that is exactly what we want to do. But Lord Elrond politely requested for us to remain here until a certain council can take place… but Thorin is rightfully determined to leave sooner than later. Mind you, do not comment on this with anybody else. Especially with the elves, as I know you have become quite fond of some of them."

Katniss nodded in agreement. Indeed, she had bonded quite well with Milliel, and Glorfindel and her always had a nice exchange of words every time they crossed paths. But what really had gained her favours was when she received a surprise visit in her bedroom one night from Milliel and Gilraen, to find out that they had been working on remaking one of Cinna's designs for her.

Katniss felt extremely touched by the kindness of their gesture as she tried on their version of the perfectly matched trousers, blouse and cardigan that she once wore during her Victor's tour.

"I have never seen anything like it!" Gilraen complimented as she stroked the knitted cardigan that she had made and embroidered. "Like I was telling Milliel, I did not believe that this would end up looking feminine in the slightest. I mean, having all these dark colours. But somehow it does work… and it suits you."

"I cannot thank you both enough for this… Cinna was…" but Katniss started to feel emotional, and was unable to finish her sentence.

"We are making a few others too. Just wait, in one week's time, you will be able to see it!" Milliel informed her with a warm smile.

A few days later she was wearing that exact attire when she decided to make her way to meet her dwarrow friends. She was very surprised to find Thorin sitting down on the top of an ancient white building while smoking his pipe. He looked at the horizon, but she just knew that he had to have noticed her presence. It was not as if she was trying to be particularly stealthy after all.

This was the first time she was seeing him since she had been presented by the visions in Galadriel's mirror. His death; this thought made her grip the staircase very tightly as if his life relied on it. The memory of their children; this thought led her to another one which made her blush, as the image of him moving his hands through her body made her almost forget to breathe.

"Good evening, my lady," Thorin greeted Katniss with a nod, as he put down his pipe. She blushed furiously but did not look away from his flirtatious stare even though her heart was beating faster than she could remember it doing.

"Thorin," she pronounced his name not louder than a whisper. She was craving for his presence, companionship and there were so many things she wanted to ask him - his sudden disappearance, being the main issue resting on the tip of her tongue. "You have been busy…"

"Indeed," he agreed before he stood up and gave her a quiver full of arrows that he had made during the time he spent inside Elrond's forge for the past two weeks. She accepted the gift and loaded her bow, eagerly to try it on. She aimed at a tree in the distance that she knew would be on her way when she walked back to Elrond's house later that evening. Needless to say that she hit the target exactly at the spot she had aimed for. She then turned back to Thorin, who gave her a grunt of approval.

"Thank you." She looked at him as she slid her hands through her new set of arrows.

"My pleasure, Mizin," he said as he restrained himself from stroking her face. "Dwalin told me you have made quite a progress with sword fighting."

"Oh, really? I'm glad he said that to you. To me, he only tells me to improve my footwork or I will end up dead in a ditch…"

Thorin chucked.

"Dwalin can be harsh, but he means well."

"I know… your friend is a good mentor," she said as she stroked her new set of arrows. "How did you get my arrows weight so perfectly?"

After hearing that, he was unable to hide a cocky smug from his face.

"Kíli gave me that arrow from yours. The rest wasn't hard…"

They started their staring contest once again. He was slowly testing the waters as he slowly walked towards her, narrowing the gap between them. She blushed furiously, but she did not back down from his magnetic presence. Instead, she moved her hand to stroke his long hair and beard, as she slowly started to make her mind around to the fact that there was nothing in the world that would keep them apart now.

That was until they heard some voices in the distance that made her immediately pull apart from that embrace. Only to realise that, besides Gandalf and Lord Elrond hastily talking on the distance, Bilbo Baggins was a few meters away from them. The hobbit gave them an embarrassed and apologetic smile, while both Thorin and Katniss frowned at him.

"...I think you can trust me enough to know what I am doing," Gandalf politely argued with Lord Elrond in the distance.

"Do you? That dragon has slept for sixty years. What will happen if your plan should fail? If you wake the beast..."

"But what if we succeed? If the dwarves take back the mountain, our defences in the east will be strengthened."

"It is a dangerous move, Gandalf"

"It is also dangerous to do nothing! The throne of Erebor is Thorin's birthright! What do you fear?"

"Have you forgotten? A strain of madness runs deep in that family. His grandfather lost his mind. His father succumbed to the same sickness. Can you swear that Thorin Oakenshield will not also fall? Gandalf, these decisions do not rest with us alone! It is not up to you, or me to redraw the map of Middle Earth…"

"With or without our help, these dwarves will march on the mountain. They are determined to reclaim their homeland. I do not believe Thorin Oakenshield feels that he's answerable to anyone. Nor, for that matter, am I."

Thorin, Katniss and Bilbo watched that conversation between Gandalf and Elrond fade away in the distance. Thorin remained looking lost at the horizon, and Katniss looked at him feeling helpless. Both Katniss and Thorin ignored the hobbit when he excused himself and decided to carry on his walk and leave the duo alone once again.

"Thorin…" she started feeling a bit concerned on how this whole conversation might have affected him. "What was Lord Elrond talking about? Strain of madness?"

He took a deep breath before he could find enough strength to look her in the eyes.

"Gold sickness. It is greed beyond the acceptable; violence that emerges from a sense of ruthless entitlement... not only for gold and jewels, but for people as well. It set my Grandfather mad, and my father after him," he finished bending his head down to avoid seeing her reaction.

However, instead of running away after such revelation she got closer and closer, and forced him to look back at her by lifting his head with her small hands.

"I won't let you fall for that, did you hear? Not under my watch. And if you do, I promise I will beat some sense straight back to your thick mind!"

His eyes softened to the sight of Katniss so fiercely determined to protect him from his family fate. But even though her face was centimetres apart from his own, he was still caught by surprise by the feeling of her lips clashing upon his own already needy and fiercely. This unexpected, but surely more than welcome gesture, set his body on fire, making him immediately close his eyes and get a better grip of her hips and hair. He had waited for this moment for so long, dreaming, imagining how her lips and body would taste and feel like when pressed so closely against his, and still, the reality seemed much better than his expectations. Her tongue danced inside his mouth full of passion, committed to making him feel assured of her help.

Thorin knew that the moment she had chosen to show her affection for him was ill-timed, as he should probably be ordering the others to pack and leave Rivendell while the White Council was taking place, as Gandalf had instructed him to do. But he had longed for that moment for so long, that it was impossible for him to think straight.

In the end, it was Katniss who broke the contact and moved away from him.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…" she whispered as she slowly moved away from him. But he stopped her half-way and brought her back into his embrace.

"You should," he urged as he slowly started stroking her cheeks and hair. "You should, Amrâlimê; unless… did you not want this…?"

"No! I wanted, just… you know that I am complicated... and messed up…" she said as she looked away from him.

How could she tell him that she was still trying to figure out her feelings for Peeta and Gale…? The blow on her spirits that had come by witnessing his death inside Galadriel's mirror? But Thorin was oblivious to the swirl of emotions that were overwhelming her at that moment.

"I think you are perfect. Perfect for me…"

He said that placing a loose strand of hair behind her ear, as he wondered if she would allow him to braid her hair again, once they set camp far away from that elven realm. Slowly, he brought her back to his lips, this time taking the charge of the pace they were in. Instead of the hastiness of her previous kiss, he set the mood slowly, savouring every single second of this proximity. Making her feel the extent of his love by the softness of his caring touch.

Unfortunately, he knew that they would have to stop soon if he wished to depart from Rivendell unnoticed. So he broke the kiss, and admired her flushed face, knowing that he had been the reason behind her accelerated heartbeat. Passed a few moments when they were both a bit more recomposed, he decided to address the issue of having to leave Rivendell with her.

"Amrâlimê, I wish we could carry on, but my duty demands me to think beyond my own desires. We must depart from Rivendell. We must do it now, while the elven Lords are distracted. Go and pack your belongings with haste and meet us back at the beginning of the mountain trail in one hour. We cannot wait any longer…"

"Right. I understand…" she nodded, and was about to start walking away from him when he stopped her, holding her arm once again.

"Make sure you do not alert any elf about our departure. Try to be as discreet as possible when leaving your room…"

"Oh… but how can I possibly depart without saying goodbye to Milliel, Thorin? She has been nothing but kind with me since I arrived here…"

"I'm sure she will quickly get over it…" he grumbled impatiently, but she was not having it.

"She has Cinna's old sketches under her care. I will not leave Rivendell without it!"

"Sketches? I'm sure we can ask Ori to re-do whatever it is for you…"

"Thorin! They were made by my friend who died to keep me alive! You can't be seriously thinking that it could be easily replaced like that…"

"We cannot alert the elves! They are sure to prevent our departure if they learn that we are leaving…"

"I can't leave Cinna's sketches behind. They are important to me!"

"You shouldn't have lent your things to an elf!" he growled full of anger. "Now you will have to trust that she will look after it until we can get it back…"

"This is very unfair and unreasonable!" she denounced, also altering her voice tone. "If I want to speak with my friends before we leave, I will do it, and I would like to see you try and stop me!"

"You will not jeopardize our departure because of a silly whim!" he demanded. "Come here," he said, grabbing her arm with a bit more strength than needed and started to walk her back to the house that his company was currently living in.

"What are you doing? Where are you taking me?" she complained as he started dragging her around.

But Thorin did not answer her. He felt a pang on his heart as he carried on dragging her around for a few minutes. He knew that he was not doing the right thing with her. He knew that he would have to apologise and make up for his behaviour, but he felt like his actions were justified, as he did not want her to prevent them to leave. On her turn, Katniss did not go quietly without a fight. Many times she attempted to escape from his grasp, but she was just not as versed in body combat as he was, and also not as strong. Later, he would have to ask Dwalin to fix that, but right now, it felt like a blessing. Soon, he was carrying her immobilized body on his shoulders, and while she was biting him in retaliation, making him bleed, he tried to convince himself that was the only way to avoid her elven maid to be informed about their departure.

As soon as he arrived back at the house where his company was staying, everyone immediately looked shocked at him, who tried his best to ignore their condemning glares.

"Nori! Go to Miss Everdeen's room and pack up her things without alerting anyone. Get Bilbo to do the same and meet us at the mountain trail in fifty minutes. Dwalin, Kíli, Fíli; look after Katniss for me; ensure she doesn't escape! Everyone else, pack quickly. We will be leaving this place in forty-five minutes"

"Do you think this is really necessary, Thorin?" Balin asked with a frown at the way he was handling the female member of their company.

"She was being unreasonable; she wanted to alert the elves about our departure…"

Hearing that, made the majority of dwarves who were giving him a nasty glare to frown at Katniss instead.

"This is betrayal, Lass!"

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Thorin! I just wanted to get my things back!"

"And you will! Once we recover Erebor, you shall have anything you want, Mizin…"

"Do. Not. Call. Me. That!" she spat in rage as she tried to get free from Dwalin's and Kíli's tight hold of her body.

Thorin sighed. Nobody would believe that she had finally opened up to him after that. Yes, he was going to have a great deal of making up to do once they left the Hidden Valley.