Land of Loss and Love; Thranduil Love Story (On Hold)

Unforgotten

     I sighed. My stomach grumbled, my feet ached and god did I smell bad. It felt good to distract myself with normal problems. After all, tomorrow people will die. Well, I would hope not. Twelve dwarves, one hobbit and a lost girl... there was no hope. If Thorin had any mind left he would surrender. But I knew that wouldn't happen.

     The only time I could feel peace was standing out on top of the ramparts, where I could look up at the clear sky. It was nothing like back home. Here, there was no electricity to blur out the stars, and although I knew they were not my stars that I had grown used to, they shined and glistened like dimonds upon a blanket of black sky, welcoming me and awaiting me.

     I jumped at a scattering and found a small red jacketed figure furiously moving on the edge. "Bilbo?" My voice was a whisper.

     The little man jumped, and almost bolted but peered at me, and his shoulders slumped. "Oh, it's just you."

     "What are you doing?" A rope was slung over the ramparts, trailing down to the other side. "Bilbo... Are you leaving us?" The hurt in my voice was evident.

     "No, no it's not like that..." He sighed. "Thorin..."

     "Is nuts, I know. But running away from him won't change it."

     "I'm not running away." He paused, clearly not knowing how to phrase what he wanted to say next. "I have a plan." He fidgeted, looking around for prying eyes. Finding none he reached into his jacket and pulled out a cloth-wrapped item. I came closer and he unwrapped it slowly, revealing a small section no bigger than a quarter. The strange item blinded me, a stone pure white with swirling blues and reds. It was the stone I had seen before. He must have snitched it while Smaug wasn't looking.

     "The stone? Is that what we have been searching for?" I had to ask, although I felt I already knew the answer. He quickly wrapped it up again and tucked it back into his jacket. His silence was all the confirmation I needed. "You were right not to give it to him. But what do you plan on doing then?" He stuttered for a few moments looking around nervously. "Well then don't bother telling me. But we better get moving before anyone spots us."

     "We?" Finally he spoke.

     "Well I'm definitely not letting you go alone. Now, hurry up." I didn't let him argue, but grabbed the roughly tied twine and before I could think too much I scrambled down the rope, feeling it burn my palms and the cold air hit my face. It was a long walk to Dale.

***^_^***

     And a long walk it was. The stretch of space amazed me, and pissed off my legs. The few days of searching for a mystical stone in piles of gold seemed like heaven compared to having to run across fields, again.

     When we finally reached the city, there was a lot of sneaking around. Bilbo led while I tried to keep up with him. Thankfully, he seemed to know where we were going, helping with dodging people and soldiers alike. Unthankfully, I started to realize that I had forgotten something.

     Thranduil.

     It was stupid of me to be thinking about dreading to see him, and even stupider to think that I bothered to feel anything for him. I didn't know him, he had kept me hostage, he didn't deserve my thoughts. And yet my palms only became sweatier, my heart beat faster, and I found myself trying to calm my tangle of hair that hadn't been cared for in days. My stylist would kill me, but I wanted to kill myself. I shouldn't have come.

     Shut up! Concentrate!

     I focused on what I was doing, and bumped straight into Bilbo, apologizing immediately. He stood for a bit longer, staring at something around the corner. Glancing over I saw a yellow tent lit up like a beacon in this dark night. I couldn't help but notice the elf guards... obviously there to guard-