"You need to know something," said Fili, taking her face in his large warm hands. "You will always have me. Even if the Valar take you away tomorrow, I will always be your brother. I want you. I'm going to fight Thorin for you, but even if I lose, y...
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In which the company enters lake town.
The boards squeaked and groaned beneath Sara's butt as the barge crested the manager waves of the lake on its way towards the town to the north. The soft murmurs of dwarvish from the front of the barge mingled with the whipping and snapping of the sail above her head. Kili sat beside her. He was having a difficult time with the rocking of the waves and with his injured leg bothering him as well Sara had helped him to sit with his back against the mast. His head was lean back, his eyes closed. To their left Thorin, Fili, and Balin were conversing quietly; Thorin's eyes occasionally glancing over to her and Kili. On Kili's other side huddled a sniffling Bilbo and a bit further off Dwalin sat quietly on a crate, his hand clenching and relaxing as he held his newly injured shoulder.
Sara glanced behind them to where the bargeman, Ranson, stood with the elves near the back of the boat. She was a bit surprised to see Airidan operating the rudder rather than the man. Ranson's eyes caught and held her gaze and for a moment and Sara was taken aback by his face. The last truly human face that she had seen had been little Estel's and he was only 10 years old. Ranson's face stood out among the pointed features of the elves, clashed with Bilbo's round little face and seemed soft next to that of the dwarves. His face seemed bare in comparison save for the neat mustache and a small patch of hair beneath his lower lip lip and short stubble on his chin and jawline. She had almost forgotten what a human face could look like, that she was in fact not just another dwarf in the company. Despite her more delicate features and frame, her short height fit her well amongst the others, especially when draped in Thorin's over large coat.
"He seems friendly enough," said Bilbo, his head swiveled to see what had caught her attention. With a jolt and a wash of embarrassment Sara realized she had been staring, and Ranson was now walking towards them.
"I suppose so," she said turning away. Thorin met her gaze and raised his eyebrows pointedly, jerking his head in the direction of Ranson. Sara pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. Shaking her head she turned to look at Kili. His face was pale and there was a sheen of sweat on his brow despite the chill breeze whipping past them. She squeezed his fingers and felt him return it weakly.
"Your friend doesn't look so well," said Ranson coming around to face them.
"It's nothing the lad won't recover from," said Dwalin gruffly, making as though to get to his feet. Ranson glanced at the burley dwarf as his fatigue got the best of him and Dwalin collapsed back onto his crate. Apparently the days earlier exertions had caught up to the warrior.
"You don't look so good yourself," said Ranson, stepping a bit closer to Sara and Kili and away from the dwarf.
"Mr. Dwalin was bitten by a giant spider in the forest," said Bilbo, fighting his chattering teeth.
"I heard stories of such creatures, but I had thought them not but tall tales."
"No such luck," mitered Sara. "They are very real and very dangerous. In fact their venom is one of the few things that dwarves do not recover from without aid."
