The sky had developed an amber tinge by the time the two Guardians deemed it safe to descend from the clouds. They had followed the barge all day to the very centre of the lake, until at last it came to rest on the edge of the floating settlement Sîor had named Laketown. The flight had been a long one. Their wings could have borne them from the river to the town in a few short hours, but they had to follow the boat's tediously slow progress instead.
The journey was made worse by the fact that no matter how high Nema flew, no matter how many times she circled back to check on the barge, she could not escape Sîor's glare. His eyes followed her for every moment of their flight, and he never once let her alone to her thoughts.
She had given up counting how many times he had called her a fool.
"Death would have been kinder," he chastised her. "You have doomed the dwarf," he warned her. "You are not worthy of the name Guardian," he screamed at her. On and on he went, each word piercing through the wall she had thrown up between them until her heart felt heavier than her sore wings.
It came as a relief to Nema when she saw the sun bid them farewell that evening. She dipped below the clouds, no longer delighting in their cold caress but despising it. The heavens had lost their appeal for the day and Nema was looking forward to a much deserved rest. Come the morning she would be glancing skyward once more, waiting for the chance to soar above the world, but for now, all she wanted was to sleep.
On the descent she picked out the barge, now docked within the confines of the town. The dwarves had long since disembarked and disappeared, but the Guardians had had to wait until night fell to come down, lest any man be watching the skies. It was a rarity - the men of Laketown were to busy watching each other to spare a glance for the heavens - but Thorin had not wanted to take any chances.
It was on her third circuit of the town that Nema finally spotted the candle flickering in the upstairs window of one of the houses. She landed on its roof, taking care to go lightly so as not to alert those within to her presence, just in case she had the wrong house. With gritted teeth, Nema plucked a feather from her wings and dropped it down the chimney.
***
From the faint light of the candle in the window, Fili could see all eight of the dwarves hiding up in the attic; his uncle and his brother, Balin, Oin, Ori, Bifur, Bombur, and Dori. Bilbo and the other four dwarves were hiding in some unknown location in the lower part of the house. Bard, the man who had smuggled them in on the barge, had been very accommodating. He had provided blankets, threadbare as they were, for the company to keep them warm, as well as a two whole loaves of hardbread and cheese, though he parted with the food reluctantly.
"I should have held on to some of the fish," Bard had said before leaving.
In order to smuggle them past the gate guards, Bard had hidden them in the barrels, along with several hundred fish which he had later sold on to a man in the docks. In Fili's opinion, parting ways with the fish had been a good idea. The smell of it still clung to their clothes and hung heavy in the air. He wasn't sure whether he'd be able to eat a fish again because of it.
The sight of something white landing in the hearth beside him distracted Fili from his thoughts, and he immediately hissed at Ori to extinguish the candle before reaching into the grate and retrieving the feather. He shook off the worst of the soot and nodded to Thorin.
Nema was back.
The thought warmed his heart and sowed the seeds of a smile upon his lips. He ripped a strip of cloth from his blanket and set it ablaze, dropping it into the hearth before it could burn his fingers. It was only a small fire and lasted no longer than a few moments, but it gave off a little smoke that wafted up the chimney.
When it had died down, Fili sat back and lay what remained of the blanket over his shivering brother. "Shall I take another look at it?" He offered in a whisper, gesturing to Kili's leg.
"No. I can hardly feel it now," was the reply.
Fili looked over at his uncle, but in the dimmed light he could not work out the expression on Thorin's face. Nor did he have the time to ask what he was thinking, for as he opened his mouth to speak, footsteps began to sound up the stairs. He tensed, but it was only Bard's son, Bain, come to call them down.
"Da's getting the weapons," he told them as he led them from the attic and down to the main room where they found the rest of the company around the table.
"What a way to treat guests!" Dwalin grumbled. When he saw Thorin he strode over and said loudly, "Do you know where that bargeman hid us? Do you? Down a stinking-"
"Keep your voice down," Thorin warned him, moving away to peer out of the window. "Remember, this house is being watched."
Bard returned then, holding the poorest weapons Fili had ever seen. He was not even sure if he could call them weapons. When Bard dropped his burden on the table, Fili moved forward and picked up something that could have been a spear if the tip had been an arrow head rather than a hook. The shaft was too long and the weapon felt very cumbersome in his hands.
"We paid for weapons," Thorin growled, and threw down the hammer he had been inspecting. "These would not even serve for a peasants' rebellion."
"Thorin," Balin said quietly, "We need these weapons. They're better than nothing."
"We cannot fight with these," Thorin hissed. Turning back to Bard he said, "Where are the real weapons? Swords? Axes? There must be something."
But Bard did not seem to be listening. He was looking at Thorin with a peculiar expression on his face, as though he had seen a ghost. "Weapons..." he said slowly. "All the forged weapons are kept in the armory under lock and key. You'll never get to them. I need to...I should..." His voice trailed off, but his eyes were still fixed on Thorin's. Then he abruptly looked away and strode to the door with a whisper to his son before he disappeared through it.
"Where has he gone?" Ori asked.
"I don't know," replied Dwalin, "But I don't like this one bit."
"We need weapons and we need them now," Thorin said, and rounded on Bain. "Boy, where is the armory?"
***
When the smoke floated up from the chimney, Nema felt herself begin to relax. It was the right house. A slight breeze tickled her feathers and she turned in time to see Sîor land on the roof. The brief respite he had allowed her was clearly at an end, and sure enough, before his wings had fully settled, he said the four words she had been dreading hearing all day.
"We need to talk."
Nema looked away and perched on the corner of the chimney. "Why now?"
"Because we have the time and because your irresponsible behaviour cannot be allowed to continue."
"I have not been irresponsible. I knew exactly what I was doing and I would do it all over again if I needed to."
"You cannot do it again. That is the point. Your anasé dura is only to be used when Thorin is dying. Fili is nothing to you. If he dies you will not suffer."
There was a time when Sîor's words would have been true, but that time was long passed and Nema knew it. To say she did not care for the dwarf would be a lie she could no longer tell, not even to Sîor.
"But of course," said the other Guardian, "you would suffer. You have allowed your heart to grow to warm, Nemaiza. Guardians cannot love those of inferior race."
"Dwarves are not our inferiors," Nema spat back. "And I do not love him. Love is for the race of men. Love is for elves and dwarves and birds and beasts. Love is not for Guardians."
"I thought you never listened to me."
"Of course I listened to you!" Nema said, rising and lifting her eyes to meet his. "You are my kin! Do you know how many years I wandered these lands searching for people of my own? I was lost until I met Amun and Ilmari. They were the first Guardians I ever knew and they showed me the world as I had never seen it before. But I had to leave them when I felt my time was near. It hurt to be apart from my kin, but the dwarves made the pain bearable. So what if I care for them? They were all I had! But when you told me you would join us I was overjoyed! Once more I would by with my own kind. And so I listened to you. I learned from you. I was on the verge of choosing you as my mate! But now? I do not know you and I have realised I never did. You are not who I thought you were. You can leave for all I care but I am staying with those who I can call family. Perhaps I do love the dwarf, but that is for me to discover. I want you to go."