rukhs-kakhuf = orc turd

Then

Emery's ears ring as a snap and a scream pierce the air. She ignores it, though, and keeps running. Her ears matter little when a warg is dragging a young dwarf by his leg. She can smell blood...the rukhs-kakhuf's teeth broke his skin. She pumps her legs faster, pushing through the burn in her muscles. She's only run this fast once before.

It was just a picnic. No one's been themselves since the funeral last month, and Dis declared that what they all needed was some fresh air and sunshine, as well as a day of no work or responsibilities. That was all it was. All it was meant to be. It turned into a frightening chase, as an orc pack descended on them. It wasn't an impressive one, less than a dozen in total, including the wargs. The adults made quick work of them, even Dolit and Fili teamed up to take one down. But one warg seized an opportunity and latched onto Kili's leg before running away. Emery immediately bolted after him.

Miraculously, she catches up. As soon as she's close enough, she clenches her jaw over the warg's tail and sits on her haunches, forcing them to stop. What she did not expect was for the warg to drop Kili and turn toward her, teeth bared. She yowls as it sinks its teeth into her side. It doesn't hurt as much as it should, but she attributes that to the adrenaline. She instinctively responds, but her attempts to claw and bite send them both tumbling down a hill. It releases its grip on her side, but all too soon they slow and it regains its footing much more quickly than she's able to. Before she can prepare herself to be mauled, a flying axe embeds itself in the creature's skull and it falls dead, not a foot from her. Breathing heavily, she looks behind her. Dwalin is breathing nearly as heavily, likely from running. He jogs down the hill, holding his other axe.

"Are you alright, lass?" he asks when he reaches her, worry in his eyes. She blinks, unsure how to answer. Her side hurts but she's not concerned about it. She needs to make sure Kili's alright. Instead of answering, she stands, ignoring the screaming of her torn skin. "Emery-" She pushes past him and climbs up the hill. When she reaches the top, she finds Thorin and Dis fretting over Kili, Fili sitting behind him supporting his weight, Dolit standing to the side unsure how to help. Kili himself has his eyes squeezed shut against the pain of his leg, which is dislocated at the knee. She lets out a breath of relief. He's alive. Injured and shaken, but alive. She stumbles toward the group, catching Fili's attention. A grin stretches across his face.

"Kee, look! She's right there, she's alright," he says. Kili opens his eyes and gives her a smile, which turns into a grimace as his leg is moved. She licks the side of his head, earning her a small laugh. Dis says something, but it's muffled. Kili's voice responds, but Emery can't make out the words. She stumbles on shaky legs as her vision begins to swim. She looks at her side, which is bleeding. A lot. Probably...shouldn't have moved... her thoughts are sluggish as she stumbles again. This time, she isn't able to catch herself and she collapses. Multiple voices ring out suddenly, but she can't tell whose. There's a painful pressure on her side, probably someone trying to stop the bleeding, and the world swims in black as she loses consciousness.

"You're reckless, little one," a voice echoes. Emery knows that voice.

"Of course she's reckless, you chose her." She does not know that voice. The first one chuckles.

"Open your eyes, Emery Willows." She obeys. Standing before her in the sky dome are two figures. Aulë stands to the left, a soft smile on his face. To the right is someone she's never seen before. A woman with dark red hair that falls in tight curls to the floor, bright green eyes, rosy cheeks and pointed ears. Her dress doesn't seem to obey the laws of physics. Waterfalls of green fabric drape themselves over her skin, with stitched patterns of vines and birds coming alive in the folds. A wreathe of leaves, flowers, and fireflies adorns the crown of her head. Emery might have thought she created the elves, were it not for her hand holding Aulë's and the adoring look in his eyes, giving her away as Yavanna, creator of the hobbits.

"I'm not so little anymore," says Emery after clearing her throat. Both of the valar in front of her chuckle.

"I'm afraid you will always be little in our eyes, child," says Yavanna with an affectionate smile. A lump forms in Emery's throat. Her mom said something similar once, as has Dis.

"Why am I here?" she asks, not allowing herself to dwell on it. She's heard messages from Aulë and Tulkas now and then, but hasn't had a dream like this in a long time.

"Because your body needs time to heal before your mind can return to it," Aulë answers. "Besides, my wife desired to meet you in person." Yavanna lets go of his hand and walks toward her. She's much shorter than her husband, almost Emery's height. The Lady of Growing Things places her tiny warm hand on Emery's cheek and looks into her eyes. Her face is expressionless, but she seems to be searching. Emery is reminded of the first time Dwalin truly met her. It doesn't take long at all for Yavanna to find whatever she was looking for, and her face breaks into a brilliant grin.

"Oh yes, darling, I think you chose well," she says.

"Do I not always?" Aulë jokes to his wife.

"Well, there have been a few times I've wondered," Yavanna retorts, an amused glint in her eye. Emery is confused. She was chosen to save the sons of Durin...has this happened before?

"I wouldn't worry about it, my dear," Yavanna tells her and pats her shoulder. "The past is the past and the future holds the answers you desire. All you need do is wait for them to reveal themselves." In no way is her curiosity sated, but she's gotten used to vague replies that give her little in the way of answers. Speaking of answers, there is one she hasn't yet gotten.

"You brought me here to save this family," she begins, and Aulë's amusement falls away into sadness. She struggles not to become angry. "Did she not count? Was she somehow less important?" he closes his eyes and shakes his head.

"You cannot imagine the grief and even guilt every one of us feels when one of our children enters the Halls of Waiting under such miserable circumstances. She was my daughter as much as you are, though she did not know me as you do. Would that I could interfere with every such death, and save all from such grief."

"But you did interfere," she interjects, tears threatening to spill, "you sent me."

"I sent you to right a wrong committed by one of our own," he corrects. "Had Mandos taken Azog into death as he should have done, Thorin, Fili, and Kili would have survived the Battle of the Five Armies. But his actions had no bearing on the life and death of the princess, I'm afraid." Anger and grief overwhelm her.

"She wasn't just a princess! She was more than that," she sobs. Aulë makes to say something else, but Yavanna holds up her hand in a gentle direction to stop. He nods and bows his head. She turns towards Emery and rubs her arm.

"Flika was more than your charge, more than your friend. She was your sister," she says. "The pain of grief will fade with time, but you must not allow the guilt to remain and fester. Her death was not your fault, and neither was Dolin's. There was nothing you could've done." Emery sobs harder, and Yavanna pulls her into her arms. After a moment, Aulë wraps his arms around them both, and the three of them stand there together as Emery cries.

Emery wakes to the smell of the Healing Halls and the sounds of voices talking. As well as the stinging of the wound on her side. That sensation causes her to groan in discomfort. The voices stop, and two very happy young voices begin babbling as they come closer to her. She opens her eyes and sees her boys sitting beside her.

"Finally!" says Kili. "You've been out for two whole days!"

"You had us worried there," says Fili, "We almost thought you'd never wake." She huffs at them, but her tail wags all the same. She's glad to see them. But oh, her side stings. She groans and shifts a bit.

"Sorry about the sting, Lassie," Kram speaks up from where the adults are standing. "That salve is right nasty to feel, but it'll keep away any disgusting things that might've come from that warg's mouth." At that thought, the sting becomes far easier to tolerate. Being careful not to make herself dizzy by moving too fast, she lifts her head towards Kili. She licks the side of his head once, then bends over to sniff his leg, which is in a splint. It's also dressed with the same salve that's on her side, if her nose is right.

"The beast dislocated his knee and pierced his skin," Dis says, walking towards her, "but he will heal." She crouches beside Emery to look her in the eye, and pets the top of her head. She looks like she's trying (successfully) to keep herself from crying. "This is not the first time you have protected my children. Nor, I suspect, will it be the last. I do not know how you came to be with us, whether it was by chance or by divine intervention. All I know is that I am grateful beyond measure." Emery doesn't know what to say - not that she can say anything. She briefly remembers Yavanna's words, and an unwelcome tear slips from her eye.

Now

"All of you, come on, come on, quick!" Gandalf's whisper urges the company forward.

"Where are you leading us?" Thorin asks from beside him, but the wizard doesn't answer. They run and come to a stop beside a large boulder. Emery tries to keep her panting as quiet as possible, but it's difficult. Not from the exertion-she's physically in better shape for running than most if not all of the dwarves, a side effect of being unable to ride a pony for sixty years-but from the pain. Her rib is screaming at her, made worse with every step. She shuts her eyes against the pain, knowing she only has a few moments to do so. Sure enough, the dying screams of the orc call the attention of the rest of its pack, despite the efforts of Dwalin, Bifur, and Thorin. Howls fill the air as Gandalf yells at them to run. She grits her teeth and shoves herself off the boulder, keeping step with the rest of the company.

"There they are!" shouts Gloin, pointing ahead of them. They halt in their tracks.

"This way!" Gandalf yells. "Quickly!" They turn and follow the wizard. Emery grabs the arm of Bilbo, who froze for a second at the sight of the wargs coming their way. She pulls him along, ignoring the ache in her side. They run, coming to another halt when more wargs and orcs appear in front of them.

"There's more coming!" Kili calls from behind them.

"Kili!" Thorin shouts to his nephew. "Shoot them!"

"We're surrounded!" yells Fili. Kili pulls an arrow and releases it into the throat of an orc, knocking it from the back of its mount.

"Where's Gandalf?!" Dori says. Emery's head swivels, realizing the wizard has indeed vanished from sight. She nearly cries in relief. The chase will soon be over, then.

"He's abandoned us," Dwalin growls. She shakes her head.

"He hasn't abandoned us," she pants, "he's looking for the way out." Dwalin and Thorin both give her confused looks, but say nothing. They're a bit distracted by the laughter of an orc Ori fired his slingshot at.

"Hold your ground!" Thorin shouts to his people. The creatures of Mordor close in, and blessedly, Gandalf's voice calls to them.

"This way, you fools!" Their heads swivel toward the voice of the wizard, and they see him standing behind a small boulder, then watch as he disappears behind it.

"Come on, move!" Thorin's order calls the dwarves to the hole in the ground. "Quickly! All of you!" Emery follows the group and shoves Bilbo into the hole, but doesn't go down herself, not yet. She stands beside the opening, mentally counting every dwarf as they run past her.

"Kili! Run!" Thorin's voice causes her to look behind, where Kili is still a fair distance away and still shooting.

"Kili!" she shouts to him. He's wasting his arrows and his time, time he needs to get away from the warg that is now focused on him after he shot down the rider. He looks toward them and finally runs in their direction, but it's too late. The warg is charging and it'll reach him long before he reaches safety. Time slows down and suddenly all she can see is another field, another warg, a younger Kili.

Without thinking, Emery rushes forward. She vaguely registers him waving his arm, shouting at her to go back, and she ignores it. The warg is too close. She drags to mind the feel of the form she's used most these past six decades and jumps. Her skin grows fur and her face grows a snout as she soars over Kili. More importantly, she grows claws and fangs, which she puts to good use as she lands on top of the warg, sinking her teeth into its jugular. It yowls and swipes at her with its claws, but she's gotten pretty good at dodging those swipes in the many years she's been fighting these creatures. How could she not? With as many times as she and her boys have acted as security escorts for travelers, or gone hunting orc packs and goblins, she's had plenty of practice.

She tears her mouth away, teeth still clenched, and the warg falls dead. She drops the revolting chunk of meat and turns just as another warg lunges. She manages to dodge and keep her throat out of its jaws, but it lands a bite on her side, right over her broken rib. The impact shoves it out of place, puncturing her lung. The shock of it freezes her in place, and she barely registers anything else. The warg claws and bites at her. She feels it, but it doesn't hurt. Neither does her rib. All she can focus on is her breathing, which with every breath feels less like breathing and more like drowning, as blood slowly fills her lungs. The world goes quiet, but for the sounds in her chest.

An arrow flies over her head and embeds itself in the warg's eye, and it drops dead on top of her. She lies there and watches, arrows flying and swords swinging as the orcs are overwhelmed by tall figures mounted on horses. Elves. After some time-she couldn't say how much-one of them dismounts from his horse and walks toward her. She looks up at him. He crouches down and they make eye contact. His lips move, seemingly in response to something said to him, but she doesn't hear what he's saying. I need help...I need help...she closes her eyes and concentrates as best she can, summoning to mind her dwarrowdam form. Her fur disappears and her body shrinks, and when she opens her eyes she sees surprise on the face of the elf in front of her.

"Help," she says, or at least hopes she says. The force of air being used for talking pushes the blood up her airway. She coughs, and with it comes a spray of blood that stains the ground by her head. She sees the elf shout for someone over her head, and moments later, a familiar elf enters her vision. As Elrond kneels beside her, the heaviness in her eyes becomes too much for her to overcome and she loses consciousness.