By the next day, Rosie had stored the gems of pure starlight away someplace safe and was on the hunt to track down Bilbo and the Arkenstone. If she was correct, Bilbo would be sneaking out tonight to take the Arkenstone to Thranduil and Bard, and she needed to go with him.
She had searched high and low but it seemed that the little hobbit did not want to be found. He didn't come to eat lunch or dinner with the company, in fact, no one had seen him since yesterday. Rosie was just about to give up hope when after lunch, she went outside for a breath of fresh air and saw a small scruff of brown hair poking out from behind some stones.
"Bilbo?" She asked softly, no response, "Bilbo I know your there, I can see you," She sighed as she moved forward and around the stones where she was met with Bilbo's soft blue eyes. "Why are you hiding?" She asked softly as she too lowered herself onto the floor.
"I'm not hiding," Bilbo said quickly, clearly lying.
"Yes, you are," Rosie said leaning forward, "Your hiding from your problems, our problems, or problem," She said sadly, Bilbo looked away.
"What else can I do?" He said, his voice unsteady.
"Face them," Rosie said simply, "Deal with them,"
"We can't, I can't- "He said before stopping himself abruptly and looking away.
"But we can," Rosie grinned, "I think it's time I tell you a few of your courageous deeds from the story," Rosie smiled, leaning back into the stone. So Rosie told him, she told him of how Bilbo took the Arkenstone (yes she knew he had the Arkenstone) to Bard and Thranduil and chose to exchange it in the hopes that Thorin would let Bard's people inside Erebor. She also told him that though his plan was brilliant, Thorin was too sick.
"Did I really do all that?" Bilbo asked with starry eyes.
"Yes," Rosie smiled as if it were obvious, "That Bilbo is no different from the one I see before me, strong, courageous, brave...basically a Gryffindor,"
"A what?"
"Never mind," Rosie said turning her head and smiling to herself, "Look, Bilbo, I know you have the Arkenstone," She said seriously after a moment, Bilbo too turned serious, "And you are still going to take it to Bard,"
"But it doesn't work," Bilbo sighed as he dug his hand deep into his coat pocket where, Rosie could only guess, the Arkenstone lay.
"No, maybe not," Rosie smiled, "But you see, I'm coming with you, and we're going to do things, well...a little differently,"
Legolas stood with Tauriel as they watched Bard ride back on his horse, an angry look on his face.
"I'm guessing it did not go well," Tauriel sighed dejectedly as they watched Bard exchange a few words with Thranduil.
"No," Legolas replied, eyes fixed on his father. "Rosie mentioned something about Thorin being ill in the mind,"
"What do you mean?" Tauriel asked turning to face him.
"A sickness runs through his blood, a dragon sickness," Legolas explained, "His grandfather was corrupted by it and it appears, so is Thorin," Tauriel didn't say anything, simply looked away a sadness running through her features.
"It is sad," Tauriel whispered after a moment, "Their family has suffered so greatly. Then they eventually reclaim their homeland and are now faced with a mentally distorted leader," She sighed and turned away from the mountain, walking through the stone ruin of Dale.
"I believe that everything shall be okay," Legolas reassured Tauriel, falling into step with her.
"How can you be so certain? She sighed as she once again glanced towards to mountain, Legolas frowned.
"I do not know myself," He said simply, "Something about the three women brings a sense of...hope," He said thoughtfully, Tauriel peered up at her friend with contemplative eyes.
"Do you...care, for the women?" She asked staring at him intensely.
"Care?" He asked, eyes not on Tauriel.
"As in..." She trailed off hoping he would get her drift, he did.
"Yes, but I see them as no more than friends," He said curtly, standing a little taller.
"What about the brunette, the one who you always seem to be talking to," Tauriel smiled up at him.
"She is... strong and courageous, yes, but I believe that even if I did love her, she would not return my feelings," Legolas brushed off, but this only caused the curiosity in Tauriel to grow.
"What do you mean?" She asked, leaning forward, Legolas paused for a moment before answering.
"When someone fears for another, it is obvious in their eyes whether they are fearing for them as a friend or as a lover," Legolas began to explain, "Fear reveals our priorities,"
"What does this have to do with- "
"I'm getting there. I saw this in my father, a long time ago of course, back when mother was still alive. The three of us one day went deep into the woods, this was back when it wasn't...Anyways, we were exploring and educating, I was still young and needed my teachings," Legolas began his story and Tauriel settled against the crumbling stone behind her, letting the soft voice of her friend wash over her, "She was teaching me the names of the flowers which she liked the most when we were ambushed by spiders. My father was too far away, and we were divided. My mother protected me and began to fight the spiders with the weapons she had on her, but, she could not hold them all off, so she grabbed hold of me and ran back to the palace.
"Meanwhile, my father was trying to reach us, but couldn't. This was one of the first spider attacks we had experienced and we were not so used to having such foul creatures around us. Back then, spider attacks were a much larger problem, something which the whole palace needed to be aware of and as a king, it was my father's duty to warn them. But he did not.
"He spent the time that he should have been alerting his people of the attack, on trying to save me and my mum. We, of course, were safe back in the palace walls but, he did not know this. As a young elleth, it was then that I realized how much my father valued my mother and me, he would abandon his duties as a king just to ensure that we were safe. But sadly, the day I realized this, was one week before my mother's death," Legolas finished, his eyes stony as he looked towards the mountain. Tauriel looked at him with a tender expression, Legolas rarely showed this side of himself, he rarely talked about his past and he rarely talked about his mother. Tauriel felt honored.
She got up and sat next to him, making sure that he knew that she was there for him. You see, even though Tauriel did not love him in the way he...used to her, she still loved him, and she would still stand there by his side whenever things got rough or too unpleasant to handle. There was something in the air recently, a certain sense of tension, like the calm sky before a stormy night. And before the clouds turned dark and the night was filled with rain and thunder, it was sweet that they could share this moment of tranquillity, and for that, they were both blessed.
Fili, Kili, Frankie and Cece all stood once again in the chamber, but this time, there was a plan that was about to be put in action.
"Okay, so basically we will track him down and just do it then and there, okay?" Frankie asked and she received and nod from everybody in return.
"And remember guys, harsh, unloving, unforgiving," Cece nodded as she moved towards the door, Fili, Kili and Frankie following. Together they wondered down the stone hallways, a tense silence blanketing them, each of them lost in their own world of thoughts. However, this silence was broken once they reached the familiar door to the halls, they held their breath.
"I can't believe we're doing this without Rosie," Cece breathed sadly.
"It's for the best, she's unreliable," Frankie said with a game face on except her eyes deceived her.
"We can do this," Fili said confidently, "He's just a dwarf after all,"
"Yes Fili," Cece breathed as she put her hand on the doorknob, "That's the spirit," The door opened and the pulsing glow of the gold once again greeted them with an evil tone. Slowly, the small group edged their way into the room until a familiar robe could be seen, hanging off the tall structure of their 'friend'. Thorin.
"Thorin?" Cece called out in a shaky voice, he didn't turn around or show any sign of hearing her, "Thorin, it's us," She said a little louder, still no response, "We've come to talk," Cece said, now just behind Thorin as they stood on the mountain of gold. Slowly, she reached out and placed her hand on Thorin's shoulder, he jumped as if he had just been touched with a red flame and clawed around only to come face to face with a rather scared Cece.
"Oh, Cece," He said before removing his hand from her arm, "What do you want?"
"I've come to talk Thorin," Cece said slowly as if she was talking to an unreliable child, "We all have,"
"We?" Thorin asked confused.
"Yes, we," Cece said once again gesturing to where the others stood but inches behind her.
"Oh!" Thorin called out in surprise as if he had just noticed their presence, "Fili, Kili! You have all come to bask in the glory of your great grandfather I see," Thorin nodded at them with a grin, not even glancing at Frankie.
"Not quite..." Fili trailed off.
"Not quite!" Thorin called out in surprise, "Look around you, my nephews! Look at all this gold, our gold!" Thorin said throwing his arms out.
"That's why we've come to talk to you," Kili said seriously, his voice firm. "About the gold," Thorin's face lit up.
"We've come to tell you that...it's not doing any good for you Thorin," Cece began, Thorin's eyes went dark, "We think that we should give some of it to Bard, only what he rightfully deserves,"
"Rightfully...deserves?" Thorin asked as if he didn't understand but yet there was a bitterness in his voice. "Rightfully deserves?" He said again, but firmer, his anger evidently growing, "Rightfully deserves!" He then cried, moving dangerously close to Cece's face, his cloak billowing out behind him causing some of the gold pieces to fall and pitter-patter away into the shadows. Fili moved closer as well, close enough that if Thorin dared to do anything, Fili could wipe him out. "Do not talk to me about what those wretched humans do and don't deserve!" He spat.
"Wretched humans?" Frankie asked. Thorin snapped his gaze to her, "Are you forgetting that Bard is the reason that you have Erebor? That it was, in fact, Bard who killed Smaug? And therefore, we owe Bard Erebor,"
"Owe him!" Thorin cried tipping his head back, "Please, spare me the necessities," Thorin then growled moving as if he was walking away.
"Thorin stop!" Kili cried angrily, "They're right! Do you not see? Can you not grasp the image of what you have become?" His voice rang out throughout the hall. "You are sick Thorin! Do not even try and deny it! You have fallen prisoner to the one thing you promised you never would!" Kili cried, Cece watched as Kili's passion infected Fili.
"When we were growing up, you told us the stories of Thror, of how you saw him turn and twist down that dark hole," Fili said, he was not shouting like Kili but his voice was no less angry, "You told us of how when you became king, you would make sure that no dwarf or dwarrow would ever have to suffer at the hands of the dragon sickness again. Yet here you stand, a hypocritical waste,"
"But Thorin," Cece now spoke up, her voice the softest of them all, "There's still time. Time to turn it all around, time to save everyone in and out of this mountain from the orcs. Time to-" Stop yourself from dying.
"Argh!" Thorin cried turning around and glaring at the group with fiery eyes, "How dare you," He breathed the words which thrummed off the walls and echoed around them, filling their ears, "How...dare you. You come here, to my kingdom, in a room of my gold, to tell me that I'm corrupted. How dare you? What in your incorrect state of mind says that this is okay? That you have any right to say those things! To accuse me of such wicked lies! Am I not the king!" The group remained silent yet a new fire blazed in their eyes. Thorin then stared at them with such a harsh burning...hatred. "Get out of my kingdom," He said, his voice low and rumbling from within his chest. The group sank back in horror as they realized that Thorin only used that voice when he talked to his enemies.
Slowly, they began moving back towards the doors and away from Thorin watching as he returned to staring in silence at the piles and pile of useless valuables which surrounded him, he returned to being lost. When they were outside, each of them let out a breath that they did not know they had been holding.
"That was..." Kili sighed, lost for words.
"Not good," Frankie winced as she leaned against the stone wall behind her. There was a pause.
"What now?" Fili asked as he looked between his friends.
"Now," Cece sighed standing up straight and turning to the hallways, "We go back to the drawing board, and we try again tomorrow,"
"If I am not mistaken, this is the hobbit which stole the keys for my dungeons right under the nose of my guards," Thranduil said as he swept around the tent and sat down on a tall wooden chair. Bilbo paused before answering.
"Yesh...sorry about that," Rosie found herself grinning.
"And you," Thranduil said turning to you, "You are the human who broke her promise,"
"What promise?" Rosie gasped.
"The one about staying at my palace until Thorin had apologized," It was now Rosie's turn to pause.
"Oh yeah, that promise," She said trying to avoid the gaze of Gandalf, "But, you must understand, time was against us! And anyway the main part of the promise has been completed," Thranduil stared at her with wide eyes.
"What?" He breathed. Rosie simply smiled and walked over to the chest which she had placed on the small table in the centre, opening it and letting the lid fall back the white gems of starlight glowed from within, lighting up the entire tent. Rosie watched as Thranduil slowly arose from his chair, his eyes fixated on the gems, she couldn't help but notice an almost painful look in his eyes as he reached out to touch it. But before his slender fingers could meet the gems, his hand was slapped away by Rosie's own.
"I've brought you your gems, and now I need you to make a vow," She said staring deep into his icy blue eyes, "You will not turn your blade against Erebor, no matter how prickish Thorin is being, you will not call for war," Rosie said sternly, Thranduil paused before pulling himself to his full height.
"You have my word," He said after a few tense seconds and Rosie visibly let out a sigh of relief.
"We still have a problem," Bard spoke up and all turned to him, "My people still need their share of the gold from the mountain,"
"Ah," Rosie nodded, "That's why Bilbo is here," Bilbo nodded before taking a deep breath and walking over to the table, carefully he pulled out a lump of something wrapped in a browning cloth which he placed on the table before peeling away the material to reveal the Arkenstone. Rosie stared at the stone in awe. It was a pearly stone with glimmers of blue, purple and red. There was something magical about that stone it glimmered and shone in a way like no other, it pulsed an aura of something powerful something...addicting.
"The heart of the mountain, the king's jewel," Thranduil said softly staring down and the glowing stone. Bard and Gandalf moved in closer staring down at the glowing stone.
"And worth a king's ransom," Bard said softly his fingertips fluttering by his side as if he wanted to reach out and touch it. "How is this yours to give?" Bard then turned to Bilbo.
"Like Rosie gave the gems, I'm taking it as my share of the treasure," Bilbo said calmly.
"Why would you do this?" Bard continued, "You owe us no loyalty,"
"I'm not doing it for you," Bilbo said smiling and Rosie too found herself grinning down at the courageous hobbit. "I know that dwarves can be obstinate, and pig-headed and difficult, suspicious and secretive, with the worst manners you can possibly imagine, but they are also brave, and king, and loyal to a fault.
"I've grown very fond of them and I would save them if I can. Now Thorin values this stone above all else, in exchange for its return I believe he will give you what you are owed. There will be no need for war," Bilbo finished his little speech holding a hand out to the stone on the table. There was a pause as Gandalf, Thranduil and Bard all looked at each other, a debate taking place within their expressions. Meanwhile, Rosie and Bilbo stood to the side, anxiously awaiting their response.
"Very well," Bard spoke up, "But if this should fail,"
"Then I will beat Thorin with a bat and let you into the halls of Erebor myself," Rosie said coolly. "A legion of orcs are heading our way," Rosie said looking at the three of them, "There is not enough for any of our armies to fight individually, but together..." Rosie trailed off, the hope evident in her voice.
"She is correct," Gandalf said wisely smiling down at the girl who returned the grin.
"But I'm telling you right now, tomorrow when you ride out to the gate of Erebor and ask for the gold, Thorin will be stubborn, he will be strict...but he will be sick. And all I'm asking for is a little patience," Rosie said up to them who all paused before nodding back.
"Well good," Bilbo spoke up, "Now that that's sorted, I believe we best be heading back," He smiled up at Rosie.
"Yeah..." She said dreamily, "One thing, Thranduil, where's Legolas?"
"I'm telling you I can kill three orcs with one arrow!" Tauriel laughed as she ran her blade over her arrow's end, sharpening it.
"I'll believe it when I see it," Legolas laughed as he took a bite off some Lembas bread.
"You know what? You will and then I will be the one laughing," Tauriel smiled as she moved onto a new arrow. Legolas simply shook his head as he looked out into the starry night. They were currently in Dale, awaiting the orders of their king. Legolas smiled to himself as he relaxed into the moment, then the distant pitter-patter of footsteps could be heard.
"Someone's coming," Legolas said to Tauriel who already knew this. Without moving they both looked at the set of stairs where whoever was heading towards them would appear. What Legolas probably didn't expect was for Rosie and Bilbo to burst up and over the stairs. "Rosie?"
"Hey Leggy," Rosie said cooly before pulling her friend into a quick hug.
"What are you doing here?" He smiled down at her.
"Just running errands," She said, brushing off his question. "Tauriel!" She called before pulling the amber-haired elf into a tight embrace, Tauriel laughed.
"Hello again young Rosie," Tauriel smiled down at her.
"Ah, it's so good to see you again," Rosie smiled at the two.
"Will you be staying?" Legolas asked.
"Unfortunately, not, we need to get back to Erebor before dawn," She smiled softly.
"On foot?" Tauriel raised an eyebrow.
"Well...yes," Rosie said slowly as if it were obvious.
"You'll never make it in time," Legolas said simply.
"Well, we must try," Rosie replied confidently. The small gathering stayed silent for a moment.
"Use my horse," Legolas then said moving past Rosie and Bilbo and towards the stairs.
"Pardon?" Bilbo spoke up.
"Use my horse, he will have you there hours before dawn," He said moving down the first few steps.
"What will we do with the horse?" Rosie raised an eyebrow.
"He is loyal to me, he will return once you are at the mountain," Legolas reassured them. Rosie and Bilbo looked at each other with questioning looks.
"Fine," Rosie agreed, "But you want to actually chat first?"
A few minutes later and Rosie and Bilbo were sitting atop a white horse, the same white horse Rosie and Legolas had ridden into the woods surrounding the lake on the night of Smaug's death.
"Thank you, again," Rosie smiled down at Legolas.
"And again, your welcome," He replied as he ran his hand down the nose of the beautiful horse. "Just promise me one thing," Legolas then said quietly leaning towards her.
"What?" She replied in a low voice.
"Do not get hurt by Thorin," He said in a way that Rosie thought had more meaning. "He is sick and there is no knowing what he can do,"
"Legolas..." Rosie trailed off almost as if she pitied the elf, "I'm a big girl, I can handle myself," She smiled, "Besides, there is nothing Thorin can do which can hurt me that bad," Legolas simply gave her pitiful look. Legolas and Tauriel led the horse to the exit of Dale before they heard a familiar voice call out.
"Leaving so soon are we?" Gandalf called as he walked along a crumbling path.
"We must, time is against us," Bilbo called back down from where he sat in front of Rosie.
"Besides Gandalf," Rosie then called, "We will see you tomorrow," Gandalf paused before looking a little lost in his own thoughts.
"Yes...yes...tomorrow," He nodded up at them before turning around muttering a string of words to himself.
"Same goes for you," Rosie nodded down at Tauriel and Legolas. "Tomorrow,"
"Tomorrow," Legolas smiled before he whispered something in elvish to the horse and Rosie and Bilbo lurched forward, dale behind them, Erebor ahead.
Legolas' horse was beyond fast. Rosie, now wishing she had brought a coat, the wind whipped against her cheeks as they plummeted through the rocky lands of the mountain. It took minutes maybe, for them to reach the base of Erebor and only a few more to reach where they had left their rope. Carefully, they dismounted from the horse and Bilbo actually got on all fours and pressed his lips to the ground.
"Too quick for you Baggins," Rosie sighed down at her friend.
"Not...that," Bilbo panted as he turned on his back and leant against a stone. Rosie laughed at her friend before turning back to the glimmering white horse.
"Thank you," She whispered. It felt weird to talk to a horse as if it were her equal but recently, she realized that he was her equal, that he had just as many rights as she did. She placed a soft kiss on his nose before taking a step back. He then, to the shock of Rosie, bowed lowly before snorting and turning away, galloping back into the darkness. "Well I never," She hummed.
"Damn horse," Bilbo muttered as he stood next to Rosie, watching as well as the horse left them.
"Come on Bilbo," Rosie smiled down. "We must get back to bed," Rosie said, taking the firm rope in her hands.
"To bed?" Bilbo asked following her.
"Well of course," She said turning around, "We need to be well rested if we are to face the likes of tomorrow," She said before wrapping her hand in the rope and pulling herself up but not before she heard Bilbo muttering.
"Every day you're sounding more and more like Gandalf." Rosie smiled.