Once again she cursed Dwarven stubbornness. Of course neither Fíli nor Kíli agreed to stay behind and insisted to go to battle which was almost certainly death. But even when she confronted them about it they didn't change their minds and argued that they could look after themselves. So she silently just sat beside her husband when he put on his armour.

"Is everything alright?"

"To be honest – no" with a sigh he took hold of her hands

"You know I have to go. I'm sorry"

"You don't have to. And neither does Kíli" she also wanted to mention that Aragorn didn't have to come either but she knew that he was leading it and was teasing Sauron himself by presenting himself as Isildur's heir so he had to go because but was him challenging Sauron. Besides, he was the one giving the people hope and needed to lead them.

"Look, I don't want my brother to come either but he insists" she snorted

"And you don't talk him out of it as you do with me? Am I really that bad at fighting that you won't have me there?"

"I cannot lose you both"

"And what can I say? I could lose the three people I hold most dear just like this. You're everything I got"

"Stay calm" he whispered "I promise that I will give everything that all of us come back. I swear by Mahal and Durin I will do all I can to protect all of us" she looked down

"Last time you promised something like this, Thorin died"

"You did not really keep your promise either when you came to the battle. And besides, I never really promised it"

"You kissed me after I told you to promise and I considered that an agreement" she reminded him.

"You remember this?"

"Of course. This was our first kiss. How could I ever forget this?"

"Well however that may be; today I promise that I will not let anything happen to anyone. And I also wanted to say that up to the one hundredth kiss I have counted all of them. Then I lost track" he kissed her and let go of her to put on his shirt over the chain mail and started stowing away his weapons. This time only a small part of his little arsenal. Before he left the room, he took her hand and pulled her with him and outside on the courtyard with the white tree they met the others that had gotten ready to leave too. Gandalf already reminded them to hurry and she just clung to her husband. Suddenly the wizard noticed and asked if she wanted to come with them and she nodded happily, making the rest of the fellowship look at her in protest.

"You cannot be serious" Aragorn finally asked and Kíli looked like he wanted to strangle Gandalf and Fíli started to talk to her to persuade her to stay. Gandalf on the other hand defended her, saying it was her right to come with them and she even fought better than the two Hobbits that were allowed to come and she saw no reason why she should stay here. Without another word Fíli and Kíli just dragged her away and the two brothers had a short talk in Khuzdul and shortly after the younger brother left. Near the Healing House they stopped and again her husband started a lecture how dangerous the whole endeavour was and how he could not just lose her like this and again he repeated himself quite often, making her roll her eyes. It angered him further and suddenly the talk went in another direction.

"I don't know who Gandalf think he is but he seems to enjoy sending people to their demise. First Bilbo then Frodo and now you. Well, I admit, Bilbo got off well but that doesn't mean anything. Do you even know how much I worry about you? Sometimes I regret that I allowed you to be part of the fellowship because I almost lost you several times. You know what your death would do to me and I ask you to not do this to me" she had so often just wanted to interrupt him and say something. For example that it was him who had almost died in the battle of Erebor and she really thought to have lost him for a while. But whenever she started he simply cut her off and continued his own lament. But suddenly he fell silent but before she could get her word in, he pressed her against a wooden post and kissed her passionately. She responded, hoping this might calm him "I just cannot lose you" he whispered, trailing his hand down her face. She started another point to get her point across too and to her surprise he listened, holding onto her as if he feared she could slip away from him just like this. Then she realized what really was going on. Fíli had only distracted her because during a next kiss he suddenly grabbed her arms and forced them behind the post where someone else grabbed them and bound them together. She let out a scream and tried to fight them but stood no chance. In her husband's eyes she saw that he was sorry but she still glared at him in anger

"What in Manwë's name are you doing?" she screamed, angry that no one came to her help. Then Kíli stepped out from behind the post, looking hat her apologetically but he too got a death glare from her. Again she clenched her fists and tried to fight the bonds but to no avail; all she achieved was that the rope burned against her skin. Fíli took her face, whispering an apology.

"I am so sorry for this but you didn't leave me a choice. I had to make sure that you will not follow us under any circumstances. But I promise you that I will get everyone back safe. Be mad at me if you want, all that counts is that you are safe. But I am sorry" he leant his forehead to hers before letting go her, straightening his back as if it hurt him to just leave her like this. In disbelief she stared after him and only noticed Kíli was still there when he put a hand on her shoulder

"I'm sorry" he muttered before he too let go of her and left. Like this she had to accept and watch how her friends and family left for Mordor, knowing there was nothing she could do. She was close to tears but to her surprise none came. Finally, she sat down with a sigh, trying to get as comfortable as she could. Maybe someone would come and free her before the others returned. If they returned. She knew how bad this could end and if Frodo not even managed to destroy the ring it would have been for nothing too. What would happen if Sauron got the ring back?

-oOo-

She sat there for what felt like hours until the laughing voices of men pulled her from her negative thoughts. Slowly she opened her eyes and then called out to the two men to free her hands, finally having found her chance to get away

"Why should we?" came the retort and they laughed again. She shook her head

"You cannot be serious"

"We are. Why should we help you? What's in it for us" she gasped

"I'm married just that you know!" she protested and the men came closer, reminding her she actually was helpless right now. Before thinking too much she screamed for help and tried to get her dagger from the boot with her mouth which she also managed but the blade fell to the ground and one of them quickly put his foot on it. She glared at him and politely asked him to remove his foot

"Or else?" he teased and she squinted her eyes but knew there was not much she could do to save herself like this. She really needed someone to help her unless she managed to distract them

"Else you get in trouble. Not only with her husband but with me too" she suddenly heard a voice from behind and she looked around, seeing a brown haired man leave from the healing rooms, stopping next to her.

"We did not wany anything bad. Just riling her up a little" the one closer to her said and lifted his hand, taking a step back

"Yes, no harm done" the other spoke and they left together. She breathed out in relief

"Maybe next time consider who you are trying to rile up" she hissed. Her saviour picked up the dagger and cut through her bonds. Before she took the weapon back, she removed the rope from her wrist and rubbed them. "Thank you" she spoke when she got the dagger back and put it back into her boot. She wasn't even sure how far the men would have gone. Maybe they just wanted only to anger her a little before helping her.

"You are Lhindril, daughter of Arathorn, are you not?" he asked

"Yes, I am. And you?"

"Faramir. Son of Denethor, former Steward of Gondor" The way he said it sounded like his father had died. Probably in the battle.

"I am sorry for your loss" and to her surprise he shrugged.

"I cannot say I miss him too much. He always loved my brother more. My brother always focused on strength and battle more, while I preferred books and magic" she chuckled

"I'm sorry to hear that too. But to be honest I neither love books nor fights really"

"And still you wanted to join them in today's battle against Sauron despite having been asked not to go?"

"Well…" she started, trying to avoid the question and luckily also Faramir seemed to notice and changed the topic.

"And you're the one who has a claim to the throne of Gondor. Our new queen" she looked down

"I have a claim. But my brother will be your king. I belong in Erebor. With Fíli" she only muttered the last two words.

"You are the queen there, aren't you?"

"I am. But not just because of that I can't leave. I can't just leave my husband and Erebor has become my home despite everything. For so many years I didn't think I'd ever find a home but once the mountain was free of Smaug and back in the hand of Dwarves I knew I had a place to stay. A home and a place I'm needed" there was a smile on the man's face

"So you are the woman who accompanied them on the quest to reclaim the mountain and kill Smaug?"

"I was. Can I ask where you heard about this? And I hope you know everything already because I absolutely could not tell the story yet again" she said with a smile, hoping he'd get the joke.

"You won't have to" he replied "I already heard everything first handed. From Mithrandir"

"Gandalf? How?"

"When I was younger, he taught me magic and often told me story. This one was among them"

"Oh well. Then I hope you liked it"

"I did. But when I was younger I believed it was only a legend and only later realized it really happened"

"I know that. There's so many myths and legends that you cannot believe until you have to realise they are indeed true"

"Exactly. Just like the story of the One Ring. Everyone was raised with the story and now we are confronted with it and had to realise it really happened und Middle Earth is in danger. I only really realized when I saw the ring with my own eyes" she looked at him in surprise

"You saw the ring? Does that mean you met Frodo and Sam?"

"I did. It was when I was leading my men in the attack against the Haradrim that were going to Mordor. We took the Halflings prisoner and wanting to prove my worth to my father and hoping to make him proud I tried to send him the One Ring. But then I realised it had to be destroyed because in the hand of Man it will never do good" she could see he was feeling embarrassed

"It's not something bad. It can happen and has happened before. I mean we had someone in the fellowship who too wanted to use the ring against Sauron. I mean he joined us to help destroy the ring but sometimes it still seemed like Boromir wanted to use it instead and he even attacked Frodo over it. I really hope that only was the power of the ring that made him do it"

"You were in the fellowship? Then you must have known my brother" she wanted to ask who his brother was but suddenly realised how everything fit. It was Boromir. Suddenly she felt bad. That he had died and how she had just talked about him

"Yes, I knew him. I... am sorry for your loss and assure you that I didn't want to talk about him in a derogative manner or so." only now she realised that maybe he didn't know yet that his brother was dead and started to feel even worse. She didn't want to be the one to tell him the news. For a while he was silent.

"Thank you. Did you know that he has always been there for me no matter what? He always defended me against our father"

"I'm glad to hear this. That your brother was there for you, I mean. Not that your father didn't approve of you. And I wish I could say I knew Boromir better but somehow he was one of the members of the fellowship I least interacted with. But he was a great man. Brave and loyal. He did mention his father I believe but I can't recall he mentioned you"

"He was. Father was so proud of him when he sent him to the council in Rivendell. But I think he started to regret it when I was chosen to be leading the army against the Haradrim. He didn't think I'd be up to the task. And he regretted it even more when my brother died. He even admitted that he wished our places were exchanged. It seemed like at the moment of Boromir's death my father lost everything and didn't even seem to notice I was still there and criticized me even harder for failing my tasks and abandoning Osgiliath"

"That sounds very hard. But I am sure you have done what is best for your men when you decided to not defend Osgiliath further. I believe it is what Boromir too would have done."

"I can't say but I suppose so. How has growing up been like for you? I mean with your heritage and your father dying so early?"

"I even saw him die" she said "We were on a ride together when he was killed and we lived in Rivendell after this. Elrond never told us who we were and of our duties hoping to protect us. But once he did tell me I couldn't believe it and it got too much so I ran away. For years, until I met Fíli" she smiled

"This means you don't know your brother very well?"

"No, I only knew him as a little child and then only found him again just before the quest started. Sometimes I still can't believe it and sometimes it feels like we never were apart. Sibling bond" she said with a shrug

"Would you say you are close nonetheless?"

"I can't say. I guess. We might not know each other like I know Kíli but it's slowly coming along. And I'm just so glad to have him back. Even though it's my fault we got separated in the first place. Then again, I could only really compare our relationship to the one of Fíli and Kíli and they are very close. Doing everything for each other and they rarely are apart and they would definitely die for each other. But then, if that happened I don't know how the surviving brother would handle it. And to be honest, I don't either. How did you feel when your brother died?"

"At first I couldn't believe it and there was this overwhelming sadness. Then I had to focus on my new task and had no time to grief. I might have tried to please my father"

"Then I hope you can find the time to grief now. I think right now everyone does"

"I will"

-oOo-

They talked for another long while until there suddenly was a loud rumble in the distance and they shot up, as did most of the others.

"What was that sound?"

"No idea" many others said and some got up to have a better look

"Look!" an older man from Rohan cried and pointed into the distance. When she followed his gaze she saw the last moment of a strange, bright lightning. And they all ran closer to the edge of the city to better see it. Everyone seemed confused and discussions about what had happened broke out. Then a one-eyed man with a severely bandaged head stepped onto the little wall and shouted

"My friends, it can only mean one thing. Sauron was defeated. Middle Earth is saved" first the whispers went on for a while as if toe be sure that it really was true but then they started cheering and crying from joy. They hugged each other, patted shoulders and smiled and she stood a bit apart first with a smile before stepping closer and immediately being in a crushing hug soon. At some point Faramir joined them, and she just hugged him too.

"They did it. They really did it. The ring is destroyed, we won" she cried at him, making him smile broader.

-oOo-

The next few hours the mood was very upbeat but then the fighters returned from the Black Gate and she noticed that while there was joy to see them also the horror that there surely were many dead hung in the air too. The first person she could recognize was Kíli and with a happy sigh she ran towards him, falling round his neck and hugging him as hard as she could. But since he didn't hug her back and only stiffened, she let go of him again.

"Oh sorry, did I hurt you? Didn't want that" she apologised. Gimli approached them too and threw her a weird look but before she could consider what was going on, she saw Aragorn and hugged him too but he simply stopped her, grabbing her shoulders "What's wrong? Did something happen? I mean we did win, right?" no one said a word and she started to think that something did happen in fact "Alright" she said "If you won't tell me, I'll find Fíli so he can" she just wanted to leave them when Aragorn shook his head

"Just wait a moment. Please" there was a weird look in his eyes too that she couldn't make sense of. He glanced at Kíli "Do you want to tell her?" she felt her throat constrict and heard her teeth chatter. She realised what was going on; something must have happened to her husband! She tore away from her brother and stumbled backwards, silently begging that it wasn't true. Then her legs gave in and she fell to the ground and the others were quick to be with her.

"No" she whispered "Tell me it's not true. Please" she whispered hoarsely and started crying.

"We're all so sorry" her brother said quietly and began to stroke her back. Trying to talk again but she cut him off with a loud whimper. She couldn't hear anything else. How could it be that Middle Earth was saved but her own world destroyed?