A/N Couldn't help myself. I had the feelz. I needed to spend more time back in Middle-Earth cause it's just better.

It's also bed time and I have work in the morning so I'm gonna drop this one like it's hot and dive into bed.

What do you mean I have to come up with a title for the chapter first?

Shit.

I also realized in an earlier chapter I had Aragorn say mellon nin and not meleth nin by accident and fully made him friend zone his own wife.

And then in the last chapter I made it sound like the dwarves were shoplifting the bardlings instead of helping them get their coats on. I figured that out at like ten thirty last night when I was trying to sleep.

This is why we do a second draft rewrite when this is all over.

Warm sun spilled over her face and warm rocks against her back took away some of the chill of the icy lake. Now exposed to the air, Josephine could feel the distinct sting of burns on her arms and legs, a small price to pay all things considered.

The day had dawned like nothing had happened, just as bright and cheery as any fall day on the edges of elven land. When she closed her eyes there was still fire and blackened buildings, freezing water and the sensation of falling.

A wet cough came from beside her and she opened them again, finding Bard sitting up and hacking into his fist. The beach was quiet, but a bustle of sound could be heard off in the distance, the survivors camp no doubt. They'd washed up maybe a mile down the bank from it all.

"Are you alright?" Bard asked her once he'd gotten his cough under control.

Josephine sat up slowly, cradling her left arm where he'd caught her from falling the night before. It ached and the muscles burned up through her shoulder but at least it was still in its socket. "Been better. But definitely been worse. You?"

"I'll be fine. Come on." He got up and reached down to help her to her feet. "We need to get to the others."

He started walking, rushed to go whether she was ready to set out or not. She stumbled the first few steps over the rocky shore before finding her footing.

"I owe you my thanks." He said as they traveled. "If you had not come, it may very well have been my son who had to face the beast. And beyond that, I may never have made it out of that cell."

"You would've figured something out." She assured him.

Both of them were too tired to bother with conversation and they trudged along. As they got closer to the part of the shore where the town survivors had gathered, they saw that they weren't the only ones to wash up.

The first body they saw, Bard rushed up and turned it over, hoping to find someone alive and just in need of help. As soon as he did, he jerked back and looked away. A victim of Smaug's fire, too far gone to even guess at who it might've been. Josephine kept her eyes on her feet after that, wishing she hadn't looked as hopefully as he had.

As they started walking again he sighed. "How many? How many were lost because of your friends' greed?"

Less than would be lost if the War of the Ring failed. Less than if Sauron and Smaug joined forces. "With Smaug dead, many more lives might've been saved in the future."

"One cannot live their life on what ifs, Josephine. Such talk doesn't help those who pay for it here and now."

"He would've come out of that mountain and destroyed town after town sooner or later. If Thorin hadn't done it, it would've been someone else. That, I know for certain."

"I find that hard to believe."

"I don't really care if you do or not. But you've got three kids and several hundred survivors with winter on the way and very little in the way of food, you don't have time to think about what was." That one she definitely knew from experience.

Bard had his eyes peeled the second he could make out faces in the crowd, and while his children weren't in sight, to both their dismay, Alfrid was. He was tugging at a coat, trying to wrestle it from a woman. The two of them got there just in time for Bard to snatch Alfrid's wrist before he could hit her.

Josephine couldn't remember what fate he ended up with, but she didn't feel too bothered at the idea that he might not survive the battle.

"I wouldn't go turning on your own, Alfrid." Bard hissed in his ear. "Not now."

He shoved Alfrid away and Josephine took the distinct pleasure of kicking his legs out from under him. Grasping him by the shirt she leaned in, grimacing at his breath. "If I see you raise your hand to someone like that again I'll cut it off." Would she really? No, probably not. But he didn't know that.

"DA!" Tilda yelled.

Josephine stood back up and felt a weight come off her, all three of them were in their father's arms safe and sound.

"It was Bard, he killed the dragon! I saw it with me own eyes! He brought the beast down! Shot him dead with a black arrow!"

As the crowd surged towards Bard, Josephine slid back to the edges, cradling her arm again as she was jostled. Bard needed his "King Bard" moment and she needed to-

"JOSEPHINE!" Bofur yelled, charging at her from the shore line. "You foolish, stupid woman! Damn near gave me a bleedin' heart attack!" He poked and prodded, turning her this way and that, checking for blood or maybe missing limbs. "Do you think we couldn't see you up on that tower as we rowed away? Do you?! Well we saw everything! Thought you died fallin' off!" He pulled her sharply into a hug.

"Ow! Bofur!" There went her shoulder again. At least it wasn't her sword arm.

He pulled away just as quickly. "Are ye hurt? What's wrong? Of course ye'r hurt, ye fell off a bell tower. Come on, let's get ye to Oin, we're gettin' ready to set out for the mountain."

Ushered away without much option to resist, she followed Bofur's lead, catching Bard's eye as she left. The kids were still tucked against his chest and he mouthed a silent thank you. She dipped her chin and gave him a smile before turning her attention to the coddle of dwarves rushing towards her from the moored boat they were preparing.

Fili smirked and crossed his arms as they stumbled over. "Foolish." He tsked playfully. "What will uncle say?"

"He'll say thanks for killing a dragon for me, my dearest wisest seer." She joked, perching on the edge of the boat.

Oin puttered around here, pulling a jar from his pocket and slathering something on her burns. "I'm gettin' a might tired of yeh using all my salves."

"If it's any consolation I'm getting a might tired of using them too." She leaned down conspiratorially. "But if you had any willow bark left, I wouldn't be opposed."

Slipping his hand into his coat he slipped a small bit of bark into her hand and gave her knee a gentle pat. "Ye tell me if ye need more."

One more voice joined their party, one that was distinctly out of place but very welcome, at least in another time.

"First spiders, then orcs, now a dragon? Tell me, do you seek out danger, or are you just exceedingly unlucky?"

"Both." She replied, turning her head to see Legolas, joined by Tauriel. She watched them closely, looking between Tauriel and Kili. Nothing. Odd…or was it? It wasn't a particularly lore friendly romance and she was fairly sure the two hadn't even spoken. If this whole Tauriel thing didn't get resolved she was going to have a lot of questions for Legolas when she got home.

Oin took her sore arm and folded it against her chest, then bound it in a sling.

Legolas seemed impatient. "I would have a word with you." His eyes glanced over the dwarves. "Alone."

With a grunt she got back on her feet, shoved the spit of bark between her back teeth, and they walked down the shore a ways until they were away from the dwarves and survivors.

"You're about to run off to Gundabad, aren't you?" She assumed, as Legolas and Tauriel stopped under the boughs of a tall pine. "Wanna see for yourself if the old hold is back up and running?"

Tauriel looked warily at Josephine, but not entirely surprised. "If there are orcs in Gundabad once more, the King should know."

"That is, unless you already know." Legolas' eyes snapped onto her, demanding an answer.

Did they really need to go? Was there a reason more than recon? Josephine couldn't remember. If she'd known she was going to be chucked into Middle-Earth back in the day, she could've watched the Hobbit trilogy a little more thoroughly. But she would've rather tried to keep Legolas and Tauriel close by than send them off. Maybe even…With three to protect, maybe she could even eventually talk them into helping her.

"Gundabad is chock full of orcs. They've been breeding bats too, big ones." So unlike the bats from her old home. These were no sky puppies. "And once Bolg gets there, he'll collect an army to bring to Erebor."

Tauriel frowned. "You know of Bolg?"

"Too well. He's one of my bigger problems in this whole adventure, right below Azog himself. Well, now that the dragon is dead anyway. Look, you'll do more good in the long run helping the survivors get to Dale than you will going to look at an old Angmarin stronghold to see if I'm right about the orcs. I'd suggest you both stay put."

Tauriel looked over her shoulder at the encampment. "Many of them will not have made such a journey before. They will need help."

A loud whistle came from the boat and Kili was waving her over, an attempt to rescue her from the grumpy elves no doubt.

"Think about it." She clapped him on the shoulder and pushed past them. "Namarie, mellon nin."

Well, either she'd just pissed him off enough he'd go up and check just to spite her, or he'd take her intel to heart and stay there with the survivors. Tauriel seemed to like the idea of staying though, so Josephine had a feeling Legolas would come around to it too.

Reaching the dwarves Josephine sighed, the last bits of energy she had were slipping away like she was full of holes. Though, in a way she kind of was. "How long will it take to get across the lake?"

"Several hours at least." Bojur said, getting ready to shove off.

"Good." She took Fili's offered hand and he helped her up into the boat. "Because I'd really love to spend a few of those unconscious."

Bofur and Kili pushed the boat back into the water and jumped in, the four dwarves taking up discarded and washed up shovels as oars. Leaning back against a small pack of meager supplies, Josephine was starting to struggle to keep her eyes open. "Wake me when it's my turn to row." She mumbled.

Kili scoffed and said something under his breath, followed by Fili sounding like he was admonishing him for something. Josephine couldn't make out either and cracked her eyes open. "What was that?"

Fili set his oar down and turned to her, pulling her cloak over her a little more securely against the wind. "Pay us no mind, you get some rest. We'll wake you if we need help."

She didn't have to be told twice by then, and in seconds she was out.