Lilia's Journey

Chapter 12 - It's the Small Things

Vanáezae had woken up smiling softly. That was possibly the best night's sleep since she came here. Her right arm was tucked underneath her head facing towards the Lonely Mountain. It wasn't even dawn yet, probably an hour before. Oddly enough, she was pressed up against something and there was a weight on her waist.

Cautiously she looked down and saw her left hand intertwined with someone else's. She froze and slowly turned her head to find out who was with her. Vanáezae relaxed only a little to find it was Kili. She turned around fully and faced him. Her eyes weren't deceiving her; it truly was Kili.

Vanáezae's eyes widened and she sprang from Kili's bed roll and onto the stone beneath. Vanadessë looked up from staring into the fire and grinned at her. Gandalf was smiling along and he shared a knowing look with her friend.

"Have a nice sleep?" Vanadessë teased.

"Shut up," Vanáezae mumbled, face turning redder than a tomato. "I'm gonna go and, well I'm just gonna go."

She got of the ground and walked towards the cliff. Gandalf and Vanadessë weren't worried. Just before she walked off the edge Vanáezae shifted into a dragon. She glided to a river not too far away and sat. Her thoughts went wild.

If she could have, Vanáezae's face would have been beet red. She mentally facepalmed and sighed. Not getting attracted to Kili was going to be harder than she originally thought. But now, all of the company knew what she was.

A freak, her thoughts taunted. No body likes you.

She shook her head. What was going on with her lately? Her feelings where out of whack and her powers were dimming. Galadriel said this would happen but she didn't think it would happen so quickly. Although she could still shape shift, Vanáezae doubted she could still use her telepathy anymore. Sure she had used it on her friends just yesterday but it was as if her telepathy was dwindling. And wasn't as if she actually practiced it.

Looking to the sky she could see that it was almost dawn. The dwarves would be waking soon. She cast her gaze down to the river in front of her and watched as the salmon swam by. An idea struck her like lighting. Dawn appeared and light shined on the company who roused tiredly. Yesterday came back to them and some, like Dwalin, scowled at the thought of that traitor. She had no right...

Kili looked a little saddened at not waking with Vanáezae but he steeled himself. He, along with the rest of the company, started packing. Vanadessë and Gandalf didn't need to. Their rolls were still packed and clean as Gandalf seemed to never sleep and she had helped keep watch. Although Vanadessë did nod off sometime during the night, resting against a rock.

By the time the dwarves had packed almost half and hour had passed. Gandalf had to point out the stairs that they had to take to get to the ground. Bofur asked for another way and Vanadessë replied with a question of how far he wanted to fall. Bofur took the hint and followed his kin down the narrow path.

To say that Vanadessë was worried was an understatement. Her friend had been gone for almost half of the day. Even Gandalf was worried about Vanáezae. She hadn't yet returned from wherever she was. Thorin's thoughts only said good riddance.

The dwarves were starving by the time they got to rest. It was only about three o'clock and Bombur was the worst of them all. Saying that he could see the light and that he was nearing his end. No one took him seriously of course.

"I don't know if it will help," Bilbo called from where he was. "But there are some berry bushes over here."

Bombur was the first to get up and the first to make it towards the berry bushes Bilbo had spoken about. The rest of the company wasn't far behind. Bilbo, Vanadessë and Gandalf stayed, as they weren't very interested in the berries.