Hello friends!

I just want to apologize for how outrageously long this chapter is. I couldn't find a good place to split it up so it's all going to get stuffed into one long chapter. A huge thank you to the two reviewers (Sorry, Guest, but I did leave you hanging and I'll do it again! hehe!) and the follows/favorites! They are greatly appreciated!

See you in a couple of weeks!

Brili was going to vomit, if the amount of drool collecting in her mouth and the way her stomach had begun to twist into knots was any indication at least. Her vision grew hazy as her eyes struggled to focus on something in the room to try and reorient herself; the patterned wallpaper she was staring at was only making her dizzier.

She had to be mistaken; there was no way that her brothers would be here of all places.

"You must be Mr. Boggins." No, that was definitely Kili's voice without a doubt.

To her surprise, she actually dry-heaved a little when he spoke. It was as if her body was attempting to expel any memory she had left of him.

"Nope! You can't come in, you've come to the wrong house," Bilbo's voice answered as Brili finally started collecting what little remained of her common sense.

There was a window just above the toilet… Perhaps if Bilbo let them in then she could slip out the window before they found her huddled in this bathroom like a lamb waiting for slaughter. But how did they find her all the way out here, while she was working on a job no less?

And why after all this time?

"Wait! What? Has it been cancelled?"

"No one told us."

Fili's voice triggered another one of those lurching dry-heaves and she had to hunch over the sink for fear of actually upchucking those delicious pastries from that afternoon.

"Cancelled? No, nothing's been cancelled. What—"

"That's a relief!"

She was able to count muffled the footsteps they took to barge into the house.

"Careful with these. I just had 'em sharpened."

Like you had mine sharpened five years ago, I'll bet.

"It's nice, this place, did you do it yourself?"

She crossed the dark room in five paces to perch herself up onto the toilet. Sweat was pooling in the lines of her palms and the buckles on her boots were rattling faintly in time with her quaking knees. But she was relieved to note that it didn't sound like they had started searching the house just yet. There was still time to save herself.

"Fili, Kili, come on. Give us a hand."

Wait, a hand with what? You know, she wasn't really keen to stick around and find out. They sounded like they were a fair distance away from the front door. It was past time for her to shake tail and get the hell out of—

The window wouldn't budge.

No. No. No.

Frantically, she checked the latch only to notice that she'd unlocked it. She was desperately trying to pry the window open when the doorbell went off for a fourth time. This time Brili slipped and her foot sloshed into the, mercifully, unsullied toilet. Now she was not only frantic and frightened but wet.

All in all, not a good combination.

Fine, if there wasn't a way out of this dingy rabbit hole through this room then she'd have to make her escape out the front door. She drew in another slow, deep breath to force her body to reset and checked her hood and cowl to make sure that they wouldn't move during her escape. They seemed secure enough to at least get her out of here and to her pony. If for some reason that part of her disguise should fail she had her mask on over her eyes.

She would be okay. She had to keep telling herself that. On the count of three she'd open the bathroom door and run.

One.

Two.

Three…

As the door creaked open she cringed and her stomach jolted unpleasantly before she realized that no one else heard it over the chaos coming from the pantry and kitchen. Daring a quick look, she noticed that there were far more than the four dwarves she'd counted when she was trying to escape through the bathroom window. And, to her absolute horror, she recognized more than a few of them… Many of them had once been frequent guests at her family's dining table.

"My Lottie figurine!" Bilbo cried out from the living room sounding not unlike a bereaved widower. "She's smashed to bits! W-who did this?"

Lottie figure— Oh, that must have been the porcelain doll she'd been looking at when Dwalin had come in. She winced sympathetically before trying to route her escape. She was both surprised and relieved to note that no one noticed her yet and, if they had, they didn't seem to care that she was there one way or another. It should be relatively easy for her to use the crowd to sneak past the kitchen to the front door.

"Not the jam, please!"

Bilbo sprinted from the living room and back towards the pantry with remarkable speed for a man who was obviously very accustomed to living—and eating—in comfort. He seemed to have quickly recovered from the loss of his prized figurine out of pure necessity.

"Excuse me, that's a tad excessive, don't you think? Have you even got a cheese knife?"

"Cheese knife? He eats it by the block."

That voice…

Brili froze mid step, her body going rigid and her joints locking up almost painfully.

"I understand this is a bit of a shock, milady. I mean you no harm."

What was he doing here? She backed away from the voice slowly—she refused to show her back to him—glaring at the back of his head and wishing more than anything that she had some of her gear on her. A bad move because a moment later she bumped into someone's shoulder. She'd bumped into Fili who was carrying a barrel of ale with Kili. Her eldest brother gave her an annoyed glare but thankfully didn't do anything to try and interact with her. Her other brother, however, was a different story.

"Hey!" Kili called out, practically thrumming with positive energy. "Mind doing us a favor and grabbing those tankards from the kitchen?"

She absolutely did mind and she'd be seeing herself out now, thank you very much.

Completely doing away with any attempt at subtlety, she made a mad dash for the front door, knocking someone—Oin—over in her haste. Hopefully she'd run into Gandalf and be able to arrange a new rendezvous point for her to meet him and his charge. If not, well, it looked like her contract would have to be terminated and her payment voided but there were just some things worth more than coin. Her freedom being one of them.

It felt like ages, but she'd reached the front door in only a few long strides. Exhaling loudly, she gripped the handle and twisted it; her legs tensed, ready to make a break for it. When she heard the latch click she pulled her arm back with enough force to break the door hinges. Only, much like the window in the bathroom, the door didn't budge.

But that was impossible, her hand was on the handle. It wasn't locked either.

"Ah! There you are!" Gandalf's voice called out to her over the mayhem going on around them. "I've been looking for you."

Of course, the door wasn't broken and she'd be willing to bet the window wasn't busted either. This was the work of magic. Once you were in, you couldn't get out. Why would Gandalf do this?

"Please," the wizard continued, looking around the room as if he were looking for someone specific, "come with me. There are a few young men that I'd like you to meet."

"No." Her voice was so quiet that she was surprised that he could hear it.

"No?" he asked, his tone confused as he took in her trembling form. "Are you all right? Wait, why are you in your full attire? Your mask is not necessary here."

"No. Open this door. Now."

"There's no need to be shy, my dear. Come, sit and eat with our companions. Our hobbit has provided this lovely feast to be shared."

"I would not eat with those wretched dwarves even if I were starved and on my last leg," she ground out, thankfully still aware that she needed to keep her voice down. Mahal forbid that they heard her. "If it's the contract you are worried about then my departure voids it. You won't owe me any money."

"Contract? This has nothing to do with our contract. I brought you here because I believe I have found where you came from. If you'd just come with me then I'll…"

An unwelcome shiver travelled down her spine. So that was it; he still believed that she didn't know where she was from. If she wasn't in such a horrible spot, she'd have found it all to be very comical.

Gandalf, it seemed, had begun to piece together the truth. "You never lost your memories, did you?"

She shook her head slowly.

"And would you happen to be a princess who ran away from home?"

She didn't move, terrified of what he might do with this information if he had it. All this wizard had to do was pull back her hood and they'd all know who she was. She couldn't even begin to fathom why he'd done this but she desperately prayed for him not to say anything.

If she wanted his silence then she'd better make a damn good case in her favor.

"I am," she finally whispered, hand still gripping the doorknob like a lifeline. "Please, you have to trust that I am in hiding for a reason."

It was degrading really, a ranger of Rivendell pleading like this.

"They've been looking tirelessly for you," he responded. "They would be thrilled to know that you are well."

It wasn't a lie. Fili and Kili would have liked nothing more than to see their lost sister returned to them. Gandalf knew this, even if Brili didn't.

"I can't be seen by them. They cannot know who I am under any circumstances. I need your word that this will go no further…"

He sighed after a moment. "Your secrets will be safe as long as you are insisting on keeping them. If you remain in your gear that should keep your identity enough of a secret. I trust that you will still honor our contract? I believe Bilbo would be more comfortable knowing that you were with us as a guide."

After all, to a ranger, the contract was sacred. Gandalf knew as well as she did that she wasn't likely to break it if there was a compromise that could be reached. Not that he really expected her to be able to maintain her disguise for the nearly four weeks that it would take them to reach Rivendell. It would be quite the feat, even for someone with more experience under their belt.

There was still a good chance that he could reunite the line of Durin and reforge that bond.

She begrudgingly nodded her head after a moment's deliberation. She'd signed an agreement with him, she was honor bound to see this work completed.

"I will take you as far as Imladris. No further. I don't care what happens to them. My priority is you and the hobbit."

"Understood."

They stood there in uncomfortable silence for several long seconds, Brili still keeping the door handle in a rigid grip. She really wished that he would release whatever enchantment he'd placed on the door so that she could just get the heck out of here. To think, five years after she'd told such careless lie it had come back to haunt her like this.

"Who's that?"

Brili winced, him again; as if she didn't have enough troubles already.

Bofur offered her a friendly grin as he approached and held his hand out to shake hers. She made a point to clasp hers behind her back and recoil away from him. She hadn't let him touch her when he was her fiancé and she was sure as shit not going to allow him to try it now.

"Ah, Bofur," Gandalf cleared his throat, "this is… my apprentice. I'm afraid they aren't really one for conversation. Do forgive them."

Bofur let out a low whistle. "A wizard's apprentice? Sounds like a cushy job to me. You'll have to tell me about it."

Fat chance in the forges of hell, pal.

Brili snapped her head from side to side rudely as she stalked away from the door and Bofur's still outstretched hand, cautiously making her way towards the dining hall to see what was going on. Gandalf was right, there was a veritable feast underway but Brili was certain that their host had not graciously provided anything. It was pilfered from him more like. Before she could wordlessly excuse herself to find a more quiet place to haunt, a mug of ale was all but shoved into her arms.

The idea of drowning her miseries in a drink was an appealing prospect at the moment so when the table called for a toast she lowered her cowl enough to tip the drink down the hatch. Mahal, she forgot how much she hated hops. The taste that it left behind reminded her of vomit. She'd managed to get a quarter of the mug down before promptly spitting the rest out, spraying the back of someone's head—Dori's—with the frothy remains that she couldn't choke down.

Well, that was really gross. Turns out that there was a reason she preferred wine.

Suddenly noticing the silence around the room and twelve dwarf eyes staring intently at her, she realized her blunder. Dwarves, especially dwarven men, do not spit out ale. Before she could come up with a halfway decent plan to backpedal, the silence was broken by one of the dwarves releasing a deep throated belch. There was a round of entertained laughter right before they all followed suit.

How uncouth.

Now, with everyone's attention diverted away from her, she allowed herself the chance to look at her brothers for the first time in almost five years. Kili was exactly the same, it seemed. He was still the life of the party, egging on the others by banging his hand on the table with the loudest laugh in the room. Wait, had his beard grown in more? She could have sworn it was patchier the last time she'd seen him. He looked like he'd grown up in the past few years.

Fili, on the other hand, was different. Not physically, that part was still the same; the blue eyes, fair hair, perfectly arranged braids in his hair and beard. He looked like the Fili she remembered but there was a somberness to him now. Those eyes that matched her own were constantly darting around the room as if looking for some sort of threat before landing back on Kili. It was almost like he had to reassure himself every few minutes that his younger brother was still there.

Had she done that?

No, that was extremely unlikely. He had probably picked that behavior up from their uncle. After all, he was Thorin's chosen successor. Their uncle had been grooming him for that role years before she'd left and she doubted that his training had even paused after she'd left Ered Luin.

Just look at the two of them, they'd forgotten all about her.

That was enough of that.

She was unable to hide the sneer on her face as she pulled her cowl back over her chin, lazily tossing her half-full tankard on the corner of the table, and stalked out of the dining room back towards the kitchen. It was quiet in this room, no dwarves to bother her. Well, no dwarves at least but there was a hobbit. A distraught hobbit by the looks of things, at least based off of the way he was slouched and the occasional sigh that escaped him. He appeared to be trying to take inventory of what items had been purloined from his pantry.

Had he even gotten to eat anything? Poor fellow. She reached into her knapsack to pull out one of the paper wrapped pastries that she'd been saving for later. She politely tapped his shoulder to offer him a snack. The poor bloke leapt visibly in surprise before releasing a whoosh of air once he took in her clothing.

"I thought I'd imagined you," he mumbled, looking at her warily like she'd start stealing the remaining scraps of food he had left. "I don't suppose you're the reason all of these dwarves are here?"

Durin's beard, she hoped not. She shook her head perhaps a little too emphatically before handing him one of her treasured pastries. He accepted it gratefully and wasted no time unwrapping it and helping himself. After a few bites he looked at her as if something else was likely her fault.

"Are you the reason that Rosalind closed shop early today? I wasn't able to purchase any dessert this afternoon."

He couldn't see her smirk but he did frown as she nodded her head decisively.

Bilbo looked like he was going to say something else to her but one of the dwarves had risen from his seat and began to trod mud through the house on their way to the bathroom. Now, left only to her own devices, Brili couldn't help but peer over her shoulder at the dining room before promptly turning back around to survey the empty shelves again.

A small—so small that she'd thought she'd beat this out of her years ago—part of her wished that she could join the others. She dared to briefly imagine what it would be like if she had stayed behind. She could be sitting at that table as one of their equals. A silly notion. Even if she had stayed in Ered Luin then she'd have never even seen this table. She doubted her brother's and their chosen fiancé would have ever allowed her to travel so far from their home—no, his home; the plan was to send her off to live with her intended. It was high time to banish that little daydream now before she allowed it to take root in her mind.

"So, a wizard's apprentice, y'say?"

That was an entirely unwelcome voice.

Stiffly, she shifted her feet to regard Bofur broodingly over her shoulder. He looked less put together than the first—and fortunately the last up until now—time she'd laid eyes on him. When she'd met him at that dreadful birthday party he'd been stuffed into a freshly pressed and starched dress shirt. He looked less intimidating to Brili now than he did then but she wasn't entirely certain if that could be attributed to his attire.

No, she probably wasn't intimidated any longer because she was a well-rounded ranger, a fighter. If he got too close to her then she'd be able to slice him up eight ways from Sunday and hardly lose her breath doing so.

Dwalin's hulking form appeared beside Bofur. "This little thing? A wizard's apprentice? Don't be daft, Bo, he's no more than a lad."

A lad? Me?

They think her a boy? Well if that wasn't the the best news she'd heard all—

"That's no lad," Bofur argued, tutting like Dwalin was some sort of blind fool. "I know me lasses and that there is one."

Damnit.

"A human lass?" Dwalin's eyes narrowed in on her, assessing her from top to toe but, fortunately for her and less so for him, her back was turned to them and with her traveling cloak he couldn't tell one way or the other what she was.

Balin joined the pair now. "She's much too short to be a human lass, brother." His tone was slightly exasperated, the voice of an older brother that has always had to be the brains for his younger sibling.

"Perhaps she's one of these hobbits," Bofur suggested, looking at her like she might confirm his suspicions despite having been silent this whole time.

"No, no," Balin argued, shaking his head disapprovingly, "look at the feet."

"Feel free to chime in any moment," Bofur added, flashing her a cheeky grin. "I promise we've had our fill at the table. We're not going to eat ya too."

Rather than dignifying that crude statement with a response, she raised her hand over her shoulder with an inflammatory gesture that caused no small amount of snickering from her former fiancé. Well, at least the sod came with a sense of humor. Balin merely sighed while Dwalin looked like he was ready to pummel her for daring to insult him in such a manner.

Luckily for her, Bilbo showed up as a fine distraction.

"That is a doily, not a dishcloth!"

Dwalin and Balin had gone to find themselves a quiet place to sit while Bofur had simply taken up residence directly across the pantry. He kept staring openly at her, a curious glint in his eye. After a few long minutes of increasingly awkward silence he shrugged and returned to the dining room table just as Kili was leaving.

"Say," her brother called out to her as he filled his pipe, his demeanor friendly as ever, "Bofur over there says you're the wizard's apprentice. What's that like?"

Just as she was about to repeat her rude hand gesture Balin butt in, "I'd not bother trying to chat with that one, laddie. She's got quite the bee in her bonnet."

Finally, it was about time someone around here took the hint that she'd like to be left alone.

Kili nodded, lighting his pipe and taking a long drag off of it. "Bees you say? Sounds rather serious to me."

"It means that you'd be doing yourself a favor if you walk away," Balin explained with the level of patience that only a tutor could posses.

Fortunately, Kili had already been distracted. Down the hall just a bit Fili was collecting Ori's supper plate. Too bad for Bilbo—who wanted nothing more than a moment of peace and quiet—that Fili started whizzing the plates like discs across the room to Kili who in turn began to hum them past the pantry towards the kitchen sink where another dwarf was stationed by the kitchen sink. After several minutes of what Brili could only describe as blatant tomfoolery and mockery, the group of dwarves had somehow managed to collect all of the dirty dishes without a single crack. By the time their host had regained his wits, he was pleasantly surprised to notice that everything was clean, despite all of the noise.

(Not that you could blame him for being skeptical, he'd already had one prized antique broken by a dwarf this evening.)

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Three firm, commanding knocks in quick succession was all it took for Brili start trembling all over again. She would know that knock anywhere and if anyone were going to figure out who she was underneath this disguise it would be him. As Gandalf hastily made his way to the front door Brili found herself offering a silent prayer to her ancestors, assuming she happened to be in good standing with any of them.

She'd do anything to wake up from this nightmare now.

The front door was opened and the final guest stepped inside. Even in quiet tones she recognized the voice, a lilt of somber humor in his tone. No, this was not a nightmare and there would be no waking up from it.

She was obviously not in good standing with her ancestors.

After a few murmured words at the door Gandalf stepped aside as Thorin Oakenshield crossed the room and made his way to the kitchen. He didn't even cast a glance at her as he strode past the pantry to make himself comfortable. Brili held her breath as he walked by, as if the simple act of breathing would be enough to give her away. Once he was seated and served a simple meal made up of whatever scraps remained from the feast the others had enjoyed Gandalf approached her.

"It'll do no good to pretend you don't exist," he said quietly. "I suggest you join us in here."

She followed using the wizard's tall frame to try and avoid drawing attention to herself. Once the Gandalf sat at the table she took a spot behind him. She'd be pleased to know that the way she leaned against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest looked rather intimidating. In truth, she was only doing it because she didn't trust her quaking knees not to buckle beneath her.

It wasn't until he took his first couple of bites that Thorin noticed her.

"I don't recall inviting you," he murmured, eyes barely flickering to her before returning to look at his meal. "Who are you and what is your business here?"

Mahal, it felt like he could see underneath her hood. Had her uncle always been this intimidating?

"Ah, yes, er," Gandalf interceded, much to Brili's relief, "this is my companion. Rest assured, your secret is safe with them."

"You? What would a wizard like you be doing accompanied by a dwarf?" He directed his attention back to Brili with a suspicious stare. "What mountain do you hail from?"

Her arms began to ache with the pressure that she was gripping them with. After several long seconds where she fought with every fiber of her being to keep from trembling, Thorin turned his incredulous glare back to Gandalf. He looked absolutely scandalized that he was expected to tolerate someone who was blatantly refusing to speak to him.

Gandalf, bless him, cleared his throat. "Apologies, they are unable to speak at—"

"Oh!" Kili piped up, smacking his forehead loudly as if this new piece of information explained so much. "She's a mute. Ah, that makes sense now. Balin, she's not got bees in her bonnet, she can't speak."

Balin huffed before Brili distinctly heard him grumble, "She can communicate just fine, my boy."

She was not at all bothered over them thinking her a mute. In fact, she'd take it. She wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak. Thorin seemed to ingest this information slowly as he chewed on a bread roll. Finally, he jerked his chin back towards the kitchen. Even better, if he wanted her to leave the room she was not going to argue. It wasn't like she needed to hear his plans, she'd get the wizard and the hobbit to Rivendell as contracted regardless.

After a few moments of quiet lurking she'd made her way to what she presumed was either the hobbit's bedroom or guest quarters. Curious and more than a little hopeful, she tested the window in this room too only to find that it was under the same enchantment as the door and the bathroom window. There would be no way out of here until the wizard lifted his spell. With nothing left for her to do but wait, she shut the door to the room, removed her dirty boots, and crawled onto the small bed.

She'd barely gotten the chance to close her eyes when the shouting of thirteen dwarves the room over woke her. So much for that then. Sure that she'd be able to get away with it safely tucked away in this little bedroom, she allowed herself to release what could have been the most exasperated groan of all of her life; a groan that was rudely interrupted by Thorin shouting over the rest of the dwarves.

There'd be no rest for her here so, with that in mind, she crawled off the remarkably comfortable bed and tried to content herself with roaming the hobbit's home.

"If there is a key… There must be a door…"

Ah, she'd wandered too close to the dining room it would seem. Wait, had Fili just said something about a key? A key to what?

"These runes speak of a hidden passage to the lower halls…"

Hidden passage? Brili was again reminded of the hidden passage she'd used out of Ered Luin. But this couldn't be about that… Right?

Kili's voice was full of awe as he murmured, "There's another way in."

"Well, if we can find it but dwarf doors are invisible when closed." Gandalf paused with a whoosh of air. "The answer lies hidden in this map and I do not have the skill to find it, but there are others in Middle-Earth who can."

Oh Mahal, was he planning on bringing them to Rivendell? Furiously, she marched towards the room to slam her fist against the doorframe. She couldn't vocally protest Gandalf's plan, not here and most certainly not now that they were surrounded by the very sort that she'd worked so hard to protect herself from.

But she would be absolutely damned before she allowed them to take even a step anywhere near her home.

Her uncle smirked. "It appears that your masked pet takes some objection to this?"

Gandalf offered her an apologetic grin before quirking a brow at her. "Pay them no mind. They are under a fair deal of strain this evening.

That's an understatement.

"Now, the task I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth and no small amount of courage. But if we are careful and clever then I believe it can be done."

What could be done? That was the trouble. If they hadn't all gathered here to find her—and she was unspeakably relieved that they didn't appear to be here for that reason—then what had they gathered here for?

"That's why we need a burglar!" Her distant cousin Ori looked like he was rather proud of himself for reaching such a conclusion.

She blinked under her hood. They couldn't be talking about her, she wasn't some lowly thief. Well, not since she'd first left Ered Luin that is. Gandalf had not contracted her to steal anything, she was there as a guide and protection, nothing more.

Bilbo seemed to think she was the burglar because he looked right at her as he spoke. "Hmm, yes, a good one too. An expert I imagine. She'll make a fine one I think."

The entire table looked at her again and she crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest and shook her head. Absolutely not. But, if not her, that only left…

She pointed a short finger right at Bilbo, much to Gandalf's quiet entertainment.

"And are you?"

She recognized that dwarf, a bushy red beard and wild hair covering all but his eyes… He was a frequent guest at their family table… Oin? No, that was the medic… it must be his brother, Gloin. Bilbo once again looked at Brili like he expected her to answer the question, instead she wagged a finger in his direction before pointing to him again.

"What? Me? Am I what?"

"He said he's an expert!"

"Me? No, no, no, no, no. I'm not a burglar! Why, I've never stolen a thing in my life!"

"I'm afraid I would have to agree with Mister Baggins. He's hardly burglar material," Balin's gaze drifted towards her. "Perhaps the quiet young lass would be better suited."

For his suggestion, Brili treated him to another inflammatory hand gesture. The aged dwarf looked rather put off by her behavior but fortunately Thorin's back was to her so he hadn't witnessed a thing.

"Aye, the wild is no place for gentle folk who can neither fight nor fend for themselves." Dwalin glared at her over his shoulder. "Nor lasses."

Brili took great offense to that insinuation. She was well-trained now and had no doubt that she could outwit any one of these dwarves in the wild. When she'd first left home, probably not. But she was certainly nothing to overlook now. Still, it didn't matter. She huffed through her nose before turning her back to them. Whatever they needed a burglar for was none of her—

"That's ENOUGH," Gandalf boomed. "If I say Bilbo Baggins is a burglar then a burglar he is."

Good for Bilbo, let him deal with whatever mess they've gotten themselves into.

"… And while the dragon is accustomed to the scent of dwarf, the scent of hobbit is all but unknown to him which gives us a distinct advantage."

Dragon? Did he just say dragon?

She whipped around so quickly that she worried for a moment that her hood would fly off her head. There was only one place she knew of where a dragon reigned. Well, one place that would be of interest to her uncle at least. But they couldn't be…

Brili could only recall one other time in her life when it felt like time had slowed to a crawl and that was the birthday where they had announced her engagement. Now, as the realization dawned on her that her uncle was taking her brothers on a fool's errand to recapture Erebor, it slowed down again. It was an errand that they surely would never survive.

Her knees began to quake again with the certainty that her brothers would more than likely die because of her uncle's greed.

"Very well." Thorin's voice sliced through the fog of her mind like a blade. "We'll do it your way. Give him the contract."

Another poor sod that would find themselves dead because of her uncle, Brili was sure of that.

"And what of your assistant?" Thorin scoffed over Bilbo's muttering. "I'm not going to be held responsible for anyone who has not signed the contract."

"Of course," Gandalf answered. "They are only here to support me, rest assured."

Thorin walked over to Brili, dipping his head as if he were trying to get a peek under her hood. Her hands curled into fists, ready to pop a solid hit on the nose if need be.

"I don't like traveling with an unknown. Tell me, wizard, how did you come to meet this mute dwarrow?"

"Oh, eh'm, I meet many folk during my travels," Gandalf answered around a puff of pipe tobacco. "This meeting was the same as most."

"And their name?"

If Gandalf felt guilty for lying then it didn't show. "Pardon?"

"I asked you what their name is," Thorin said slowly as Brili took a step away from him, not bothering to hide her discomfort.

"Oh-ho, of course," Gandalf fumbled, puffing away to buy some time. "S-surely you overheard your nephew's astute observations earlier! My companion is unable to speak."

"She cannot write?"

Brili did not like that calculating look in her uncle's eye.

"Well, no, I don't believe so," Gandalf muttered in return.

And just like that, the calculating look was gone; replaced with a flicker of disappointment that was gone in the blink of an eye. "I see, a simpleton. Very well, your companion is your responsibility."

Both Brili and the wizard let loose a sigh of relief but Gandalf did leave her with a look that very clearly expressed that she had a lot of explaining to do on her part. Fine, she owed him that much for covering for her.

Bilbo, on the other hand, would have given anything to feel even a fraction of the relief Brili felt in that moment. "I-Incineration?"

"Oh, aye, he'll melt the flesh right off your bones in the blink of an eye!" Bofur called out, rather unhelpfully, to Bilbo.

Brili recognized the look on the hobbit's now pale face, the way his chest had begun to heave with the effort to breathe, and the layer of sweat collecting on his brow. She'd seen this before in Rivendell when a scullery maid had walked in on her gutting a doe after her first hunting excursion. This poor sod was going to faint any moment now.

"You all right, laddie?"

It would not be a stretch to come to the conclusion that the hobbit was not all right. Still, Bri supposed it was good of Balin to ask.

"Think furnace with wings," her fiancé added, his tone remarkably unchanged considering the subject. "Flash of light, searing pain then 'Poof!' you're nothing more than a pile of ash."

She couldn't imagine how that statement was going to do anyone any good. And she was right, after one last breath Bilbo looked up at her for a moment. Then, much like that unprepared elf maiden had done when Brili had yanked out her catch's entrails, he hit the floor.