In order to avoid alerting the elves of their departure, Thorin ended up deciding to leave the majority of their ponies behind. Katniss did not accept their departure quietly, and with a heavy heart, Thorin saw himself giving her some sleeping syrup so they would avoid calling unwanted attention. He ordered the dwarrow to tie the unconscious girl on top of one of the ponies, and this allowed them to leave the elven realm without causing a fuss. They marched for long hours non-stop, until Thorin deemed they were far away enough for them to make camp and rest.

While his men set the camp, Thorin took the responsibility of removing her from the pony and placing her on her own sleeping mat. He knew that the sleeping syrup would stop working at any time now, and that Katniss was sure to be livid once she realised what he had done. He decided to leave her untied, with her hidden daggers on her possession, but he wisely chose to keep her bow and quiver far away from her reach. If she decided to use physical violence against him, he felt confident that he would easily be able to restrain her.

So he made himself comfortable, got hold of his smoking pipe and patiently waited until she came back to the world of the living.

It was a few minutes before supper when she finally opened her eyes to find his concerned ones just above her. Despite the soreness on her body, she made a point to sit up as quickly as she could.

"You!" she spat angrily at him, making the rest of the company who were waiting for dinner around the fire, turn their attention to observe them. "Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are to kidnap me like this!"

She shouted as she tried to ignore the throbbing pain she was feeling inside her head. She knew it had to be some side-effect to whatever drug Oakenshield had decided to use on her, and could only hope that it would go away soon.

"I'm sorry, Mizin."

"Don't call me that!"

"...I know I had no right."

"You bloody well didn't!"

"But I could not allow you to alert our enemy from our departure…"

"Those elves were not your enemy…"

"You know nothing about the hardship elves have bestowed upon my people…"

"What I know is that they fed us, sheltered us, and even aided us against the orcs that were after us… that sounds hardly a thing an enemy would do..."

"Erebor set in flames by the dragon Smaug; what help came from the elves? None. My people were perishing, homeless, famished, wounded, and what sort of aid did they provide? None."

"This is very hard to believe…" Katniss' determination in hating and fighting against everything he said almost crumbled at that revelation. Could those fair and ethereal creatures, that seemed unable to do any act of evil, really have denied them aid in such a horrible situation?

"The elves did not keep their promises; they lacked any honour…"

"Yes, because you were so honourable by kidnapping me the way you did!"

Thorin growled at her words, because he knew that she was right. He should have tried to use reasonable arguments to convince her to leave her things at Rivendell, not to forcefully make her leave against her will.

"I already said that I am sorry and very much ashamed by my actions."

"As you should be!"

"Are you not going to accept my apologies?"

"Why should I? Your behaviour disgusts me."

"Thorin, I think you should leave her alone. Miss Katniss clearly doesn't want your company right now…" Bilbo Baggins told him, as he approached the place where she was seating, carrying bowls of stew with him. Thorin gave a short nod to the hobbit and left them without saying anything else.

Katniss silently accepted her stew and whispered him a thank you. At that moment, she saw herself planning to leave the company as soon as her headache faded away. She could barely believe that only a few hours ago, she had been freely kissing her captor!

However, the worse thing was that the mere memory of the two kisses they had shared made her heartbeat increase and her cheeks to flush. She had to be out of her mind. How could she still be feeling attracted by that brute, obnoxious, mad dwarf? Was she as mad as him?

"I'm sorry, Miss Katniss, I had no idea Thorin had removed you from Rivendell against your will. You were already unconscious when I saw you; and well… considering how well you and Thorin were doing when I last saw you…" the hobbit blushed as he said this last part, "I assumed you were ill, or something…"

"That's okay, Bilbo. Thorin's actions are not your fault…"

"If I knew, I would've refused to leave with them as well…"

"I am planning to leave this company for good, by dawn. You are welcome to join me if you want, little burglar…" she made a point not to lower her voice as she said that, and many members of the company threw her a pained look.

"Then I shall go with you, Miss Katniss. You are more than welcome to stay with me at Bag End…" he invited her with a warm smile.

Thorin stood up and left the group to smoke his pipe in the distance, while some of his men threw him disapproving looks.

A few minutes after they had finished eating their food, Balin and Dwalin approached her, asking to have a quick word with her. Even though she was quite tempted to deny them an audience, she ended up agreeing to hear whatever excuses they had made for Thorin's poor behaviour. She did that more out of respect for Balin, who she was very fond of, and Dwalin, who she learned to respect as a mentor.

"Lassie, I know you have every reason to be mad at us, and especially with Thorin…"

"Understatement of the fucking century!"

"I won't pretend that I know the details around it, but I know you have also endured the pain of losing your homeland once…"

She bit her lips feeling disheartened. That was a low blow. The memory of the ashes that her District had become was enough to make her put her armour down, and at least listen to what both brothers had to say. Balin sensed the change in her stance and took this as his cue to carry on with their plea.

"I was nothing but a wee laddie when Smaug took over the mountain. The intense dazzling flames, the panic, the wounded and the dead. Only a few of our people were able to escape the horrible fate of being either burnt by the dragon or buried alive inside the mountain…for many years after that, we remained homeless. Despite old oaths and promises, many denied us assistance, including medicine for the wounded, clothing for those who had lost everything they had, or food for the hungry. The Woodland elves were our main ally at the time, and that was the sort of help we were denied..."

Katniss squinted her eyes and frowned her eyebrows, not really willing to believe that those kind elves from Rivendell would have been able to deny such help for those in need.

"You mean to say that the people from Rivendell denied you aid when Erebor was taken by Smaug?"

"Not Rivendell elves, Lassie! The Woodland ones…" Dwalin corrected feeling impatient, but he quickly stopped speaking after a hand gesture from his older brother.

"The issue is, Miss Katniss," Balin said, trying to ignore what his brother had just said. "I will not attempt to redeem Thorin's mistakes, but I will humbly ask you to understand where this mistrust and hatred that our people harbour towards the elves comes from… many of us witnessed children dying from the lack of simple resources that the elves could've easily provided our suffering people with."

Katniss bit her lip again. She had no way to know if their version of the facts was, in fact, accurate, but she could surely understand the frustration of being denied simple resources, as that had been the modus operandis of the Capitol after all. Still, that did not justify Thorin's behaviour.

As if he was able to read the conflict inside her mind, Balin was quick to add, "I am not saying this for you to forget or forgive him, Miss Katniss. I am telling you this in the hopes that you will reconsider your choice to abandon our quest tomorrow morning…"

"Why? Why would you want me to stay?"

"Because… you have proven to be a valuable asset to our company. The wizard believes that it was more than mere coincidence that brought you to our path, and he also insists that we need the hobbit to succeed in our mission."

She sighed. After the images she had witnessed at Galadriel's mirror, she knew that his words were likely to hold a deeper meaning than he would ever know.

"Please help us to get our homeland back, Lassie. We need ya. He needs ya," Dwalin added, making her raise an eyebrow to his last comment.

"I will stay," she said after a few seconds, making both brothers release their breaths at once. "Under one condition," that made two dwarrow tense again. "If you see Thorin treating me unfairly, or anyone else for that matter, you will stand up against it, have I made myself clear?"

That made them both raise their eyebrows in shock.

"Ya ask us to rebel against our King, Lassie? You are asking us to commit an act of treason!"

"I ask you to rebel against injustice. If you can't give me your word on this, I will leave you all after dawn."

Balin and Dwalin exchanged meaningful glances before they both nodded and Balin smiled at her.

"Right, we have an agreement, then. Though I hope that Thorin will learn his lesson and we will never have to come to this…"

Katniss nodded, and she was about to turn her back to them when Dwalin quickly stated.

"Lass, I hae known Thorin since we were wee bairns. I hae never seen heem apologise tae anyone before… not even tae his faither," Dwalin added, making Balin slap his own face in frustration.

That made her frown.

"I hope that you are not suggesting that I should feel flattered because his royal grace blessed me with his more than needed apologies, Dwalin,"

And she left them before Balin had any chance to say anything else to lighten the blow.

Thorin spent the next couple of days trying to apologise to her using many different strategies, only to be rebuffed at every single attempt.

The only thing they still seemed to share every now and then, was their glaring contest. And even though she would never admit to anyone, these glaring contests set her heart on flames. Everything she could think about when his gorgeous blue eyes met her grey ones, was the memory of Thorin's experienced fingers braiding her hair on that rainy day, inside the cave, and the kisses they had shared - both in real life and at Galadriel's mirror. And before she could even think about controlling herself, her cheeks were red, and she saw herself in deep need of a cold bath. Thorin seemed to notice the wanton desire that was transpiring through her body; he always gave her a cocky smile when he caught her off guard like that. How dare him! And how she hated him for making her feel that way!

Even though Kíli and Fíli had helped Thorin restrain her at Rivendell, Katniss soon figured out that she just did not have it in her to be mad at the duo for very long. And soon she saw herself joining them at hunting parties and making snares together again. Every now and then though, they would make a snappy comment about how she should rush and make up with Thorin, for once and for all, because their uncle was getting way too moody. Katniss would then retaliate by giving them a murderous glare and ignoring them for the rest of the day, or until they made something silly enough to make her laugh.

One day, when they were returning from hunting, Dwalin and Thorin were having a sparring session. Katniss could not help but freeze on the spot when the vision of a shirtless Thorin Oakenshield invaded her eye-sight. His perfectly well-defined muscled arms and chest were making her heartbeat soar.

Katniss had never stopped to consider how much muscles and hair he had hidden inside all the lawyers separating his armour and body. She had never considered if she found hairy chests attractive or not, but now she had her answer. She liked it a lot. And now that she saw him half-dressed, all she could feel was a burning desire that clouded her mind and sent electric spasms all over her body. She wanted, desired, needed to feel his lips pressing, hard, against hers once again. She felt a heat coming from inside her groin, making her sweat from the inside, and coat her underwear with her own desire. She wanted to feel his hands covering and exploring her body. She wanted to feel, stroke, bite, and scratch at his hairy chest. And she wanted it soon, because she needed it now.

Her breathing rhythm increased; once again, she was all flushed. Thankfully, all the dwarrow men seemed to have their full attention on the clashing of swords exchanged between their leader and his best warrior. Every set of eyes were focused on them. All but one. Once he noticed her presence, Thorin could not help but throw a glance at the place she was standing. When he noticed the state she was in, he could not help but smile. That millisecond of inattention was unfortunately more than enough time to Dwalin seize the opportunity and throw him on his knees.

Katniss left a gasp coming out of her mouth and she immediately decided to cover it in order to attempt to hide her own swirl of emotions. Taking advantage of the fact that every set of eyes were on Thorin, and nobody else seemed to give her a second glance, she ended up deciding to leave their camp and go back to their water source to recompose herself.

She cursed herself for allowing these lustful thoughts about Thorin to invade her mind. She still resented his behaviour towards her at the end of their stay in Rivendell. He had been nothing but a brute, pigheaded, arrogant, mad dwarf that she had no intention to forgive any time soon. Despite that, at the same time, her mind and body seemed determined to play tricks on her and wanted nothing but to thought of him and crave for his touch. Katniss sighed as she decided to sit down as comfortably as she could, and slid her small hand underneath her pants, eager to feel the touch of her fingers on her core and find some form of release.

She had only done that once before, more out of curiosity than due to her own lust, after hearing some girls talking about it at school. Despite all their fuss, she had barely felt nearly as much as they had claimed she would at that time.

But right now, she was closing her eyes as she tried to remember the scene she saw unfolding inside Galadriel's mirror, the one which Thorin touched her there. Almost immediately, Katniss let a sigh of pleasure escape her lips. She knew she had nearly a million reasons why she should not be thinking about him that way. He was much older than she was, had the responsibilities of an entire kingdom upon his shoulders, and had already proven to be prone to the mental instability that he claimed to curse his family.

Still, that maddening craving she was enduring seemed to be much bigger and more powerful than any reasonable thought she had left on her twisted brain.

She carried on exploring her core, trying on different movements and repeating those that felt nicer. She thought about the sensations she had felt when Thorin was braiding her hair, and she let another small moan escape her lips. She remembered the feeling of his growing bulge on her back, and she wished she had been bold enough to feel him with her hand at that time. She was sensing an increasing tension building up inside her. Her heart was beating fast. It was like her whole body was about to explode at any minute now. She then thought about Thorin's bare chest. His delicious muscled-hairy chest. She wondered how hard it would be on her touch, which noises he would end up making if she stretched and bit his bare chest. And without any further warning, the accumulated tension inside her body burst into a million electric waves of pleasure running through her entire body. Her legs were wobbly and shaken, she could do nothing to restrain the noises of pleasure that were coming out her mouth.

That sublime sensation lasted only a few seconds. Katniss closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling, wishing it had been longer, stronger, wanting to see if she would be able to do that again. However, she also knew that someone would surely come around to search for her if she did not get back to their camp soon. So, instead of succumbing to her carnal desires this time, she stood up and went to wash her hands as she mentally cursed a certain dwarrow King.

Katniss could not help but blush when her eyes met Thorin's as she got back to their camp. He was being treated by Oin, as his friendly spar with Dwalin had apparently led to him needing some form of mending. Thorin smirked at her, almost as if he knew what she had been up to a few moments ago. That made her blush even harder and made a point to get as far away from him as she possibly could.

However, a few minutes after she had settled down at her spot for the night, Thorin went over to the place she had chosen and placed his own mat next to hers. She looked up at him feeling affronted by his boldness.

"Even though I think that you look adorable when you are mad, don't you think that I already endured punishment enough for my crimes, Amrâlimê?"

"I trusted you. I really did. You knew that, and how did you repay me? By dragging me, drugging me, and kidnapping me…" she was starting to stand up, so he did the same and held her hand - not a firm kind of grasp, but a soft and delicate one.

"I'm sorry. I know that what I did has no excuse. I acted without honour…"

Many of his men looked shocked by his confession. Others looked at her, curiously waiting for what her answer would be. Even Katniss seemed to be taken aback by his choice of words.

"I can't just ignore what happened…"

"I am not asking you to do that. I am asking for a second chance. A chance to redeem myself from my previous mistake… a chance to prove that I can be someone worthy of your affection..."

She bit her lip as she tried to avoid looking at him in the eyes, but before he could restrain himself, Thorin saw his own hands moving to reach her chin and lift it up so she would have no choice but to face him.

"I know it has been as hard on you as it has been on me," he said in a low whisper that was meant only for her ears. "Stop denying us like that…"

That made her blush again. She knew he was right, but she did not want to give him the satisfaction to yield and go back to his arms that easily.

"I will think about it. Now, get away from my sight!" she said as she forcefully brought her arms away from his grasp.

He nodded and did her bidding. Only then did Katniss notice that the entire company was in an awkwardly mortal silence. She tried to ignore them and carried on busying herself by organising the supplies inside her shoulder bag. A few minutes later, when she tried to sneak a glance of his whereabouts, she noticed that Thorin had sought exile from the company of the others and was far away, smoking his pipe.

Few days had passed, and Katniss was still avoiding Thorin's presence despite her promise to consider his apologies. He tried to keep it to himself and did not seek her during that time. Even if she kept calling for his name during her nightmares - which she had done for the previous four nights - he provided her comfort while the episodes lasted, but did not raise the subject with her the next day. He could sense that she needed space, and he was ready to oblige.

That day, they decided to stop early, as they had crossed paths with a small lake, which was an ideal thing, considering that they were all in deep need of a wash. They set camp a bit farther from the lake, so the dwarrow men were able to bath secluded from Katniss' sight. Thorin, Dwalin and Balin all stayed behind with her, and when confronted by Katniss about the reason they had not joined the others, Thorin just answered that the trio would go after everyone had their turn.

They all used that time to get the fire going, and even Thorin seemed to be making an effort to help out this time, instead of just staying away, bossing the others around. After what appeared to be an entire hour, Thorin asked Dwalin to fetch the others out of the lake. Soon, they started returning; most of them were still dripping water from their long hair and beards, despite being somewhat fully dressed.

The baskets full of fishes that Dori and Nori had carried back, informed Katniss what would be on the menu for that evening. When Dwalin approached her, she was almost sure that he was about to summon her up to another sword or axe lesson, but instead, he told her to grab her belongings and to go to have her turn at the lake. However, as she started walking her way to the lake, she noticed that both Dwalin and Balin were following her from behind. This made her freeze and turned around to face them with severe stern on her face.

"Why are you following me?"

"We are supposed to guard you while you wash, Lassie…"

The frowned on her face increased as proportionally as her anger. But before she could argue with them, Thorin quickly decided to intervene and take the blow instead.

"They are doing nothing but following my orders. Please, don't fight over this, it is just for your safety…"

"I think I have proven to be more than capable of looking after myself, Thorin…"

"Aye. I don't doubt your capabilities for a second, Mizin. But you are the only lass in the group. There is no one else to watch your back while you are distracted. And we are no longer in safe lands. We are too open in the wild now…"

Katniss frowned at his words, but she nodded back to him before she carried on walking to the lake with Dwalin and Balin as her silent shadows. When they arrived, both dwarves positioned themselves at different sides of the pond before they turned their backs to her. Despite their attempt to give her some privacy, she felt somehow vulnerable. Katniss had been naked in front of Cinna and Flavius before - not to mention the many doctors from the Capitol and District Thirteen that surely had seen her body exposed at some point. Still, there was a sense of uneasiness that came along with striping herself naked in front of two males, even though they had their backs turned to her.

"I just want to make it clear that if you turn around, I will shoot you," she informed them just before she started removing her underwear.

"Lassie, I thought you knew us better than that. Besides, we are too fond of our beards to do such a foolish thing," Balin informed her from a few meters away from her. "Thorin would have our hide if he dreamed we did such a thing!"

"We would only turn if yer life was at stake, Lassie…" Dwalin's voice came from the other side of the lake. "Just don't be stupid to shout fur nonsense things an' ye will be fine…"

Katniss did not answer them back; instead, she just dived inside the icy cold water. Despite the brain freeze caused by the sudden change in temperature, that was an overall welcoming feeling. After spending an entire day walking non-stop, some coolness and a nice clean was everything she could have wished for. The fishes swimming around her legs reminded of her own lake at District Twelve. She thought with fondness of the many times she had swum on that lake with her sister and deceased father.

However, having people standing there just waiting for her to finish made her enjoy the moment much less than she would have done otherwise. So, she tried her best to wash her body and spare clothes the quickest she could. Once her bath was over, she was drying herself with a towel that Nori had snatched for her from Elrond's house, when she decided to ask them a question that was burning inside her mind.

"Why would Thorin have your hide if you were to spy on me?"

"Are ye really that daft?" Dwalin asked, feeling genuinely astonished by the innocence of her question. "Can't ye see the lad is head over hills for ye?"

"Lassie, don't mind my brother's choice of words… but feel assured that regardless of what you might infer from his previous actions, Thorin carries for you deeply."

Katniss was suddenly glad that both dwarrowmen still had their faces turned away from her, so they could not see how flushed she was by that revelation. So she decided to use that opportunity to ask something else as she tied her boots' laces.

"While in Rivendell… I've heard Elrond and Gandalf talking about his father's and grandfather's madness…" She noticed both dwarves tensing their body posture at the mention of the madness that had cursed Thorin's ancestors. "... do you think that there is any chance that Thorin could fall to the same path as they did?"

"Thorin is strong. He won't succumb to it," Dwalin bluntly stated.

"Thorin has always been a very noble and honourable leader. He always looked after his people the best way he possibly could. We trust that he will have enough strength to fight against it, if he ever falls ill from gold-sickness, Lassie…"

"His actions with me in Rivendell wasn't that noble, was it?" she told them, "Right, I am decent. You both can turn around now…"

They did not address her concern about Thorin's lack of chivalry with her while they walked back to the camp, though Katniss thought that they did look slightly embarrassed.

All the company members were at the campsite, enjoying the fresh fish they had gathered earlier. Katniss was sitting next to Bilbo and the Ur family, who were keeping them entertained with some unbelievable fishing stories of their own. That was until Bofur decided to change the subject.

"Lassie, I don't know if you will remember, but last night while you were having another nightmare…" Bofur started and ended up catching the attention of the other members of the company, because they all either had witnessed, or already knew that she had been calling for their leader during her nightmares. Even Thorin, who was still wet, as he had just returned from the lake with Balin and Dwalin, gave a severe, stern frown at the toymaker, which clearly sent a message for him to mind well his next choice of words.

Katniss let a small sigh of surprise escape her lips, as she did not recall having any nightmare at all.

"You mentioned something about getting away from careers… what are careers?" Bofur finished his sentence, leaving a considerable silence behind.

Katniss looked from him to the others and sighed. Bilbo, who was the only one that, besides Thorin, knew about her story, gave her a gentle pat on her shoulders. That both comforted and encouraged her to utter the words that she knew it was about time for her to say.

"Right. I think it is time for me to tell you all about the Hunger Games…"