I do not own any of the characters or The Hobbit (just the AU storyline and my OC) Those are the work of the esteemed and brilliant John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, and without his genius, this and many other fan fics would not be in existence.

Please review, favorite and follow- I love them! They keep me encouraged :D

Kili stirred as sunlight shone in his eyes, yawning. The faint sound of birds chirping and horses neighing in the distance reached his ears just before a loud growl emanated from his stomach.

Shifting slightly, the young prince groaned as his wounds and the effects of the desperate chase the day before suddenly made themselves known. A shuffling sounded next to him just before a heavy hand gently rested upon his bruised shoulder.

"Kili?" Cracking his eyes open, the young dwarf blinked as bright sunlight assaulted his bleary eyes.

"Too bright," he groaned, scrunching his eyes shut as he coughed. His head swam a bit, and Kili immediately recognized the after effects of one of Oin's potent pain draughts. He vaguely remembered the healer encouraging the herbs down his throat the night before so he could set his ribs, but much of his mind was still foggy with sleep.

A shadow quickly passed over his face, and he opened his eyes again. Fili hovered over him, worry mingling with relief in the wide blue orbs as he blocked the sunlight from his brother's face.

"You're awake," he said, smiling. "How are you feeling, nadadith?" Kili groaned again.

"Like I fell off a horse," he murmured, and the elder chuckled.

"You did," Fili replied. "Bilbo said that Beorn spooked your horse and it threw you both to the ground. That's when he realized who was trying to get into the house before we shut the door."

Images of the wargs chasing himself and Cira the day before ran through the young dwarf's mind, and he remembered a very strange, very large growling beast rushing past Deloth just before they were thrown. The rain had been blowing in his face and water dripped from his bangs, but he could almost swear that the creature looked like he was half man-half bear.

"What was that?" he asked, confusion in his face.

"That was Beorn," Fili replied. "Bilbo told me that he heard the wargs howling, and charged out the door. He is a very large man who, erm, turns into a...very large bear, especially when he is angry."

Kili's eyes widened considerably in disbelief, and Fili chuckled at the expression on his face.

"I don't think any of us would have believed it either if we hadn't seen it for ourselves," he responded, shaking his own head in disbelief. "But Gandalf assured us that it was by his own will, and no dark spell."

Kili's mind went to the young woman, memories of her badly infected wounds surfacing. Glancing around the stall, he quickly noticed that his brother and himself were the only two present. The distant rattle of dishes and low chatter told him where the rest of their company was, but the young dwarf knew that it was unlikely Cira had joined them if his own wounds deemed him unable to go to breakfast as well.

"Where is Cira?" he asked, turning towards Fili. The elder had resumed his own breakfast, a wooden tray housing the warm bread, butter, mashed squash and berries situated on his lap. Pausing in between bites as the question was asked, Fili glanced toward the stall opposite theirs as a grim shadow fell over his face.

"Over there," he said quietly. "There was not enough room for all of us in this stall, so Bifur and Nori made a bed for her across the way."

Kili turned his head, gaze landing on the makeshift bed. Some hay had been gathered together and stuffed into two large woven blankets tied together, creating a straw tick on the floor. Several blankets lay across the top of it, and a few pillows had been placed behind her to protect the young woman from accidentally rolling into storage barrels situated behind the bed. Twine had been strung across the poles in the front of the stall with a brightly dyed blanket draped over them. The woven fabric was drawn back for now, but Kili knew it would only be that way until privacy was needed.

Cirashala's face was very pale as she lay on her side, except for the red hue on her cheeks. Her now loose hair was damp, both from the rags used to cool her and the effects of her fever. Bilbo was tending her this time, reading one of Beorn's large books aloud while sitting on a crate beside her bed. As the words gently flowed from his mouth, he dipped a rag into the bowl of water beside him and bathed her forehead, deep concern in his gaze. Kili felt a lump in his throat as he remembered that her infection was his fault.

"How is she?" he asked, looking back up at his brother. Worry swirled in his eyes. "Was she hurt in the fall?" Fili nodded.

"Her hand was broken," he replied. "Oin set the break, though the old bruise on it surprised him. He figured she must have gotten it from the fall in the mountains. Other than the infected wounds and bruises she got in Goblin Town, and one set of scratches on her arm that match the ones on your chest, her hand seems to be her only injury." Kili shook his head.

"Her hand was already broken," he said quietly, guilt pooling in his stomach as he coughed again. "It happened before we fell off the horse." The younger's gaze fixed on his brother.

"Fili, is she going to be all right?" he asked, eyes misting. Fili's expression looked unsure as he glanced over at her, before his gaze returned to Kili's. The elder immediately saw deep worry and concern in the dark orbs, and sighed.

"We don't know," he said truthfully. "Her fever is very high, and she hasn't awakened yet so she hasn't-" Kili cut him off as his eyes widened.

"What?" he cried, panic in his voice. "She's still unconscious?" Fili immediately put his hand back down on his brother's shoulder as Kili attempted to sit up.

"Kili, it's all right!" he said, locking eyes with the younger. "Gandalf put a spell on her so she'd sleep through the worst of the pain." Kili nodded as his expression filled with guilt.

"It's all my fault," he whispered, sinking back into the hay beneath him. "If I hadn't...if I'd only checked her wounds after wrapping them the first time-" Fili cut him off.

"It's not your fault, nadadith," he said gently in Khuzdul before switching back to Westron, knowing Kili would be more likely to respond to it. "You aren't a healer, and you were hurt too." Kili shook his head.

"It is my fault," he argued quietly. "I should have thought to check her wounds. I was responsible for her." Fili's gaze softened.

"Aye," he said quietly. "It is our duty to protect those under our charge. It has been our duty to protect our people and be leaders since the day we were born." His eyes fixed on his brother.

"But Kili- you did not have any medicine. And we all lost our packs, including you. Those goblin whips were filthy- her wounds probably would have become infected regardless of what you could have done." Kili nodded, swallowing heavily.

"We had nothing," he said quietly. "No food, no medicine- noth-" The dark haired dwarf coughed again and the elder's brow furrowed.

And Goblin Town is almost twenty leagues from here, Fili thought to himself. Memories of his younger brother falling in the tunnels surfaced, and the elder found his eyes misting at what he believed to have happened.

"Kee, what happened out there?" the elder asked quietly, his throat visibly catching. "I-I thought...I thought you were...when you fell, I..." Kili's own eyes misted, knowing his brother was not referring to the fall off the horse.

"I thought I was too," he admitted. "I thought for sure I was going to die in those tunnels."

"How did you survive?" Fili whispered, his breakfast all but forgotten now. Kili shrugged, wincing as the movement tugged at his wounds and pained his shoulder.

"I don't know,"he replied. "Cira- I was afraid she was going to hit her head, so I wrapped my arms around her. We hit a ledge almost right away and kept bouncing from one side to the other until we landed in an underground stream." Fili's eyes widened.

"But how did you get out of the mountain?" he asked, surprise in his eyes. "The goblins- they were everywhere!" Kili shook his head.

"The stream washed us out," he replied, coughing again. "We came out at the eastern base of the mountain, I think."

Fili nodded, familiar with the rushing power of underground rivers and streams. There were a few near Thorin's Halls where they had lived in Ered Luin, and they stemmed from underground springs and would often exit the mountainside to join other bodies of water in Eriador, or on the western side of the mountains they would flow into the sea. And the stories Thorin had told the lads growing up spoke of the River Running, which flowed out of Erebor in similar fashion to empty into the Long Lake.

"How did you know where we were?" Fili asked, confusion in his gaze. "I honestly barely remember coming here myself, but as far as I know Thorin hadn't even known about Beorn until Gandalf said something after the eagles dropped us off on the Carrock." Kili's brow furrowed, until Cirashala's words in the mountain valley came to him.

I overheard Gandalf and Elrond talking about it when they thought I was asleep.

"Cira heard Gandalf say something to Lord Elrond about Beorn back in Rivendell," he replied, and Fili nodded. "And she heard that he lived near the Anduin. We knew that if you all had survived Goblin Town you would likely head east, so I decided to head east as well and try to find his house. But to be honest, I think the horse found it on his own- once we finally crossed the river, he bolted and she lost all control-" his words were interrupted with another loud cough as Fili's eyes widened.

"Mahal must have guided him," he said, the worried expression on his face growing. "Bilbo said the horse ran straight to the front gate and looked utterly mad." Kili smiled slightly, though it did not reach his eyes.

"It was a miracle we stayed on him at all," he replied, another cough interrupting him. "The wargs had been chasing us since dawn, and he was so skittish by the time we reached the Anduin that I was sure we weren't going to get him in the river at all." Fili frowned as his coughs began to reverberate through his chest.

"Kili, are you sure you feel all right?" he asked quietly, hand moving toward the younger's forehead. "You're coughing far too much for my liking." Kili's gaze left his, the young dwarf poking at a piece of hay sticking out of his blanket.

"I hit my head in the stream in the goblin tunnels just before we came out of them," he said quietly after a moment, avoiding Fili's gaze. "That water- it was filthy. There were dead goblins in it, and...I must have breathed in some of that water. Cira...my hand would turn black and green when I would cough, and she thinks I got pneumonia from it." Fili's eyes widened.

"But Oin has said that only humans and hobbits get it," he replied, confusion in his gaze, and Kili shook his head.

"I was very feverish until two days ago," he replied quietly, his cheeks reddening with embarrassment. "I-I think that's why the lynx knocked my knife out of my hand- I could barely stand, and must have been too slow to react properly." The elder pulled his hand away from the younger's forehead, sighing in relief.

"You aren't feverish now," he replied, and Kili nodded.

"Cira found some peppermint outside of the woodsmen's village," he said quietly. "She...she put it on my chest, and it seemed to help me breathe better." The elder started at the mention of the woodsmen's village.

"The woodsmen?" he asked in surprise, and Kili nodded.

"Aye," he replied. "A woodswoman killed the lynx after it chased us and her granddaughter up a tree. The child happened along while Cira was trying to fight off the lynx, and it charged her. I managed to get her and myself in the tree while Cira kept it away. She couldn't fight it off anymore after we did because of her hand, so she threw the branch at it and ran to the tree as well. If it hadn't been for the woodswoman's arrow, all three of us would likely be dead." Fili's eyes widened considerably.

"Aren't the woodsmen the people who turned our kin away after Erebor fell?" he asked, and Kili nodded.

"Aye," he said quietly. Glancing around, he was relieved to note that Bilbo was still engrossed in his tale, and turned to his brother.

"The old woman almost didn't help us after the lynx was killed," he said quietly, coughing again. Fili waited patiently for his coughs to subside, and Kili continued.

"Cira told her I was her brother so she would help," he whispered, causing Fili's eyes to widen considerably. "She finally took us back to her home, and helped Cira tend my wounds."

"She said you were a human?" Fili replied, his fist clenching tightly beside his knee. Kili's eyes widened and he shook his head, knowing that his elder brother despised the insinuation just as much as he did.

"No," he replied. "She told the woodswoman she was a dwarf." Fili's jaw went slack for a moment as he gaped at the younger dwarf.

"She said she was a dwarf?" he asked slowly, glancing up at the young woman with astonishment. Kili nodded.

"She thought that if she claimed kinship to me, the woodswoman would help me," he replied. "I don't know exactly what she said, but whatever it was, it worked."

The elder glanced down at his brother as Kili looked back at the young woman, the younger's gaze full of worry and concern. He had known Kili his entire life, and had been with his brother through many trials and tribulations of growing up. Words did not have to be said between the pair- he could read his brother like a book.

The realization he'd come to back on the knees of the stone giants came back to him as he looked at his brother, and concern settled in the pit of his stomach. The emotions he saw flitting through the dark orbs might not be discernible to others, but Fili could see them plain as day, and it worried him. The elder sighed, wondering how best to bring up the subject that has been concerning him since that day.

He carries a torch for her.

"Kili," he said quietly, but before the blond dwarf could continue, heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway and came to rest at the entrance of their stall.

"So, the lost members of your company are alive."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

*nadadith- little brother

A response to guest reviewer ladyzee- Oh goodness- where do I start? And how do I answer these without being completely spoilery for other readers? I'll attempt to answer your questions as succinctly yet vaguely as possible, but I would suggest private messaging me for more thorough answers if you wish for them:) 1. Yes. 2. Yes, but not for the reasons you mention. 3. Yes. 4. A mix of the two, as always ;) 5. Yes, but in no way the same capacity as in the movies. I prefer DOS version over BO5A version immensely (I think BO5A ruined an otherwise excellent character), and the nature of such things would be friendship only. 6. Separate, but close together. Far enough away for private conversations to happen, though ;) 7. Absolutely not. In fact, that location will hold some surprises for both readers and our characters ;) For the second part of that, no he will not do the first part, but yes he will be the second part :) I hope that helps answer your questions without being too vague, though you'll probably have to reference your review to know what was in answer to what :)

A response to guest reviewer Ari- I'm glad you aren't getting bored with this! What did you mean by "special fund" though? Typo? And maybe, maybe not ;) You'll just have to wait and see :P

A response to guest reviewer Ri-chan- I'm glad I made your day better :) I'm still struggling with whatever respiratory illness I came down with :( But some days are better than others. It's just annoying being ill and not knowing what is causing it nor do I know what to do to fix it and make it go away...but doing all right :)

A response to guest reviewer Kaia- thanks :)

Thanks to all who review, favorite, and follow- you guys are so amazing! In less than 24 hours since posting the last chapter, I got ten reviews, with 35 reviews for part 2 chapter 1 as an all time record! I couldn't do this without your encouragement and loyalty! :D :D :D