They walked to the woodland palace in silence, Cheyenne was walking at the front with Legolas, who kept eyeing her suspiciously. She didn't dare glance at the company behind her but she could feel their eyes boring into her back. She knew that they must be confused, that they must feel betrayed and probably hated her. That feeling threatened to make her cry but she knew she couldn't, the story had changed and she had to change with it. She wasn't sure what was going to happen once they met with the king, she honestly didn't even know what she was going to say to him. There was still a good chance that he would decide to kill them all including her. She figured the best she could hope for was to convince the king to take them as prisoners like in the story and that Bilbo would still be able to help them walk there was beautiful, more beautiful than she thought, her breath catching in her throat when she saw the doors to the palace. It really was better than anything she could have ever imagined, she shook the thought out of her head as they entered.

"Take the dwarves to their cages and the leader to our king" Legolas ordered, Cheyenne started following the dwarves, hoping she would be able to explain herself. "Not you" she grabbed her arm a little more forcefully than she expected causing her to lose her balance for a moment.

"Let go of her" Fili yelled, turning around like he was going to try something. The elves grabbed him, shoving him forward, forcing him to follow the rest of the group.

"I'm okay" Cheyenne called to him, not sure why, she was surprised at his reaction. She thought he probably hated her right about now, she hadn't told him she knew elvish and for all he knew she was a spy.

Legolas and a few other elves marched Thorin and Cheyenne through many passages and over a beautiful bridge. In the center of a massive tree was a platform and sitting upon the throne there was the most ethereal being Cheyenne has ever seen. He radiated beauty, elegance, power, and something a little darker. She glanced at Thorin as they approached, but he did not look at her, she didn't blame him.

Thranduil stood up and began to walk around them slowly "some may imagine that a noble quest is at hand. A quest to reclaim a homeland and slay a dragon. I myself suspect a more prosaic motive. Attempted burglary or something of that nature." He moved like a snake closer to them, eyeing them both with disdain and suspicion.

Cheyenne's head was spinning as Thranduil spoke to Thorin about the mountain and the Arkenstone. She was trying to figure out what he was going to say to her and what she was going to say to him. She was in the middle of thought when she heard Thorin say something in dwarvish, something very rude. Thranduil's face contorted with rage and his gaze moved to her, the aura he gave off made her want to cower.

"Then there is you" he directed at her "a young woman travelling with a group of dwarves, but you are not a dwarf, and you claim to be human but you do not appear as any human I have ever seen." He walked around her now, "Legolas tells me that you speak Sindarin, a language only known to our kind, yet you are not one of us either. So tell me who are you and why have you come here."

Cheyenne was expecting this, she could feel everyone's eyes on her including Thorin. "My name is Cheyenne, I am not from Middle Earth, I was sent here by the Valar to assist the dwarves on their quest." She wanted to tell the truth but just enough not to give anything important away, she had a feeling if she lied he would know.

Thranduil raised an eyebrow and moved closer to her face, his gaze was unnerving "sent by the Valar? That is a foolish lie" he could tell she was about to retort so he continued "but if that is true you should have no trouble proving it." This is what she was afraid of, how did he expect her to prove it, "if you cannot we will assume you are a spy and kill all of you."

Cheyenne's heart raced, she wasn't sure what to do, her mind was racing, just when she thought for sure that this was going to be the end a light started to flood the room. Everyone in the room stopped, no one moved as a cascade of light began to envelop Cheyenne. It appeared out of nowhere and was gone almost as fast, once it disappeared the person in front of them had changed.

Cheyenne barely had time to panic at the random light before it disappeared, the first thing she noticed was everyone staring at her. She looked around before noticing that Thorin was looking up at her, normally he was at eye level. She looked down, she looked like she had before only taller, this confused her she wasn't sure what was going on. She felt different though, like she was moving normal but the world was moving slower. She went to scratch a spot behind her ear that she normally did when she was nervous, it was like a tick. Her hand brushed her ear and she froze, she touched it again, the normally round top was pointed now. It felt elf ears, she looked around more frantically now before her eyes landed on Thranduil who was looking at her curiously.

"Well there is my proof I suppose" he said cooley, "the Valar have decided to bless you with the gift of eternal life, you are an elf."

Cheyenne was beyond confused now "how is that possible?"

Thranduil looked into her eyes and she could hear him speak, but he wasn't moving his lips, he was speaking into her mind. "You are favored by the Valar, they have made you into an elf, it is clear you are meant to aid us and not the dwarves any longer."

Cheyenne's face scowled and she spoke back "I don't know why they turned me into an elf but I know that I am meant to aid the dwarves."

Thranduil did not look amused "have it your way, but you will not be leaving, your dwarven friends are no longer my problem, the only good dwarf is a dead one."

Her heart sank "wait! What do you want from me?"

He smirked "you are favored by the Valor whether you like it or not, I could use that in my kingdom. You will marry my son, that will cement our favor with the Valor, I am not an unreasonable king." He started pacing around her again "in exchange I will let your dwarven friends live, they will stay here as my prisoners for the rest of their days but they won't be killed."

Cheyenne clenched her teeth, she knew this was the only way to keep them alive and give them a chance for Bilbo to show up and rescue them. If that meant that this was the end of her journey with the dwarves, she would have to accept that. She took a moment before speaking out loud this time "fine."

Thranduil smiled triumphantly "it's settled then, we shall have a wedding between prince Legolas and-" he paused not knowing her name.

"Cheyenne" she grumbled

"Right" waved his hand, "take the mountain king away, lock him up with the rest of his people, we have a wedding to prepare for."

The guards started dragging Thorin away, "can I say goodbye to them" Cheyenne asked quickly. She needed to explain at least to say goodbye, to give them some sort of warning, she wasn't sure. She just knew she needed to tell Fili that she was sorry. Thranduil nodded and turned away from them.

She followed the guards back to the cells with Thorin, once he was thrown into his cell, she turned to focus on them. They were looking at her with a mix of confusion and suspicion. "What happened to you lass?" Balin asked, concerned.

"She's an elf" Thorin spat "she was lying to us the whole time."

Cheyenne felt her chest tighten, her heart felt like it was being squeezed "I didn't lie, I don't know why this happened." She gestured to her body "I wasn't an elf until like 10 minutes ago, there was light and then this. I didn't ask for this and I didn't lie!" she tried not to yell.

"Cheyenne are you okay?" Fili asked "what is going on?"

She took a deep breath, she couldn't meet his eyes "this is as far as we go, as far I go with you anyway." No one spoke, she forced herself to meet his eyes, she moved down a few steps to get closer to his cell. "Fili listen to me" she whispered "you're going to get out of here, your going to reclaim that mountain and your going to live a long life."

Fili reached out his hand toward her but the guards started to step forward "what are you saying?"

"She's saying that she is going to marry the king's son and let us rot here in these cells" Thorin's words were like venom.

Fili looked at her, his eyes looked filled with sadness "is that true?"

"Yes" she turned away trying not to cry, she could hear him calling behind her but she didn't turn back she couldn't bear it.