The company stood on the other side of the completed barricade, sifting through their collection of weapons and choosing which ones they preferred and arranging the unwanted ones into placeholders to keep them safe and organised.
"Come on!" Thorin called to the others as he strode past them, heading towards the ladder that would take them to stand on a balcony situated above the blocked doorway.
Athena looked over at Fili with a questioning stare, him shrugging in response as he was just as confused as she was. Everybody followed after him, taking it in turns to climb up the ladder after gathering a weapon from the table. She grasped onto the hilt of a sword and kept it clutched in her hand while she ascended the ladder, unable to put it anywhere else as she hadn't had the time to collect or search for a scabbard.
When she reached the top her eyes widened at the sight before her. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Elves stood staring at them from the ruined city of Dale—clad from head to toe in golden armour with bows clasped in their hands. They were Elves of Mirkwood and they were prepared to fight.
The thumping of hooves directed her attention to a white horse that darted towards the Lonely Mountain with a rider saddled on its back. Despite the army that was waiting on the doorstep she was grateful it was only Bard who had approached, she'd always thought that he was an honourable and reasonable man and hoped that they'd be able to avoid any bloodshed by having a discussion with him, if it was Thranduil who had approached them then there would have been no hope at having peace.
"Hail Thorin, son of Thrain! We are glad to find you alive beyond hope," he called out to the king as he came to a stop before the set of stairs that lead up to the entrance.
"Why do you come to the gates of the King under the Mountain armed for war?" He asked in response.
"Why does the King under the Mountain fence himself in like a robber in his hole?"
"Perhaps it is because I am expecting to be robbed."
"My lord, we have not come to rob you but to seek fair settlement. Will you not speak with me?"
Thorin looked at the man for a few moments before nodding at him and turning away to descend down to the only gap that lay in the barricade which would allow them to speak more freely on the ground as equals. Bard dismounted his horse and approached the entrance to meet up with him, a raven squawking and flying out from the mountain in the process.
From where they stood at the top they could still hear both sides of the conversation, all of them listening intently to the discussion that was happening below them.
"I'm listening," Thorin quietly said when he met up with Bard.
"On behalf of the people of Lake-town, I ask that you honor your pledge. A share of the treasure so that they might rebuild their lives."
"I will not treat with any man while an armed host lies before my door."
"That armed host will attack this mountain if we do not come to terms."
Athena looked back over at the army that watched them from across the land, they were easily outnumbered and it would be less of a battle than it would be a slaughter. The company had endured many hardships in their travels and been outnumbered by foes almost every turn that they took, but this time they didn't have an escape and it would only be a matter of time before Erebor was infiltrated and their blood coated the ground that they walked on. Even the hidden entrance wouldn't serve them an escape. She felt a hand on her arm, turning to see Dwalin gesturing with his head for them to go back into the mountain for protection in case the exchange didn't end in their favour.
"Your threats do not sway me."
"What of your conscience? Does it not tell you our cause is just? My people offered you help, and in return you brought upon them only ruin and death."
"When did the Men of Lake-town come to our aid, but for the promise of rich reward?"
"A bargain was struck!"
"A bargain? What choice did we have but to barter our birthright for blankets and food? To ransom our future in exchange for our freedom? You call that a fair trade? Tell me, Bard the Dragonslayer, why should I honour such terms?"
"Because you gave us your word. Does that mean nothing?"
Thorin didn't respond immediately, instead he slunk away from the hole and turned to rest against the torn pieces of stone that stood between him and the army. His eyes lifted to see the rest of the company staring at him, unreadable expressions on their faces.
"Please don't do this Thorin," she whispered while staring at him in desperation for him not to cause a war over such a petty issue.
"Be gone, ere our arrows fly!" He yelled, much to the disappointment of everybody standing in front of him.
The crunching of Bard's retreating footsteps against the thin layer of snow consolidated that the bargaining had come to an end. They made their way back to the outlook, watching as the bowman rode his horse away from the mountain and back to his people.
"What are you doing? You cannot go to war," Bilbo attempted to reason with the sickened Dwarf.
"This does not concern you."
"Excuse me but in case you haven't noticed there is an army of Elves out there, and not to mention several hundred angry fishermen! We are in fact outnumbered."
"Not for much longer."
"What does that mean?"
"It means, Master Baggins," he began while stepping to stand in front of the Hobbit, "you should never underestimate Dwarves. We have reclaimed Erebor. Now we defend it."
He walked away from the company and back into the safety of the mountain, but nobody cheered at his words or even appeared to agree with them. Instead a cloud of distress hovered over them for what was to come next.
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Throughout the rest of the day the company had been preparing themselves for battle, none with the hope of surviving to see the end of it. They were donning themselves in armour, passing shields to one another and weighing higher quality weapons in their arms—if they were going to go down then they were going to do so fighting.
Athena had never been in a battle against other people before. She'd fought against Goblins, Orcs, wargs, spiders, and anything else that lurked in the darkness but fighting against other people was a different story. They all had families, emotions, and they were only following the orders of their superiors. The last thing that she wanted to do was take someone's brother, father, or son from them but if it meant she had to do so to protect the people that she loved then she would not hold back.
The commotion had settled down when night fell, the Dwarves spreading out in the mountain while they thought about what the dawn would bring for them. But she had noticed a certain Hobbit was missing from the smaller groups and she couldn't find him anywhere. She made her way up the steps to the outlook as it was the only accessible area that she hadn't checked yet, to her surprise it was completely empty. Bombur should be on watch by now but nobody had bothered to wake him up.
Her eyes landed on a piece of rope hooked to one of the walls, raising an eyebrow before she placed her hands on the top of the wall and leaned over it, inspecting the area below but there was still no visible sign of her friend. She racked her brain to try and remember who was on watch last before she headed back down into Erebor and traversed the halls until she saw a Dwarf with a distinguishable hat atop his head.
"Have you seen Bilbo?" She asked him as she jogged to where he sat beside a makeshift fire.
"Aye. You just missed him," he responded, figuring that he could trust her with Bilbo's actions.
"So he did use the rope," she whispered to herself before taking a seat beside Bofur, her arms crossed to preserve as much of her body heat as she could.
"I can't say I blame him. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about following him for a moment."
"He'll be back. I don't think he left for that reason," she reassured with a small smile.
Bofur noticed how Athena had begun to shake from the biting cold that nipped at her through her clothing, they were towards the front of the mountain so had little protection against the freezing climate outside. "Here, take this," he told her while draping a blanket that was beside him over her shoulders and wrapping it around her shaking form.
"Thank you," she voiced her gratitude while she clung onto the thin material and held it tightly to herself, curling up into it as much as she could from her sitting position.
"There's something else bothering you," he observed the distant look in her eyes and how she had been so desperate to find the Hobbit, "I know I'm not Bilbo but you can always talk to me."
She turned her head to look at him with a small smile on her lips that matched Bofur's inviting and warm one. His sincere expression was enough to compel her to confess about what was eating away at her.
"I thought... I thought that when we reclaimed Erebor everything would be different you know? I guess I was under the impression that this place would become my home, but I realise now that I've just adopted the thoughts of the others. I look at these walls and none of it feels familiar or welcoming, at least not for me. The only thing that's stopped me from running off is everybody else, I don't want to leave anyone behind because you've all had such an impact on my life. But these halls, that ceiling, this stone that we're on—none of it feels like home. None of this will matter tomorrow when we're all dead, but I guess I just feel like I don't belong anywhere," she finished, her eyes studying the floor beneath her as she twirled a loose thread of fabric from the blanket between her fingers.
"I see. Well, from my own observations I can confidently say that you belong here," he stated while he patted the stone they sat on, Athena looking up and over at him as he spoke, "but you also belong there," he added as he pointed towards the blockade and the outside world. "I myself have never believed that home was limited to just one place, or a place at all. You see, I hadn't ever visited Erebor before this quest but it still feels like home to me, not because of these halls, that ceiling, or this stone that we're on, but because of the people who walk amongst it. You are one of us, but you are also one of them—and oh how wonderful it is to have more than one place that you can call home," he explained to her, the smile never leaving his face as he sent an affectionate pat to her shoulder.
The entire time she had been torn between where her home truly lies, feeling as if she had to choose between the Dwarves, the Elves, and the Dúnedain but she had never stopped to consider that she didn't need to choose at all. Her heart lay in more than one place and with more than one person, a certain person that she had not seen for far too long. She had felt just as peaceful when she was camping underneath the stars with the others, the warmth of the fire not nearly as comforting as the warmth of the people around her. Bofur had shown her that she was too busy reflecting on the buildings around her and the materialistic meaning of home that she had failed to open her eyes to the sentiment of the word and what home truly meant. Home was not a place, it was a people. And the company of Thorin Oakenshield wasn't the only group of people that had a place in her heart.