I'm once again sorry for the long break, but I had a lot of personal and family stuff to deal with, but things keep getting a little better =) I own nothing except Rose, the rest goes to Tolkien and Peter Jackson =) Have fun reading and as always, I'm always happy about comments ;)

Getting sleep this night was hard, for the only thing that seemed to be on my mind was that strange dream with the faceless woman sitting on her throne next to Thorin and how I had merely ended up being a servant which even Fili and Kili had made fun of. But when I thought about it, even if we made it to Erebor and somehow managed to slay that dragon, what would happen to me?

The dwarves all had their families and their status and their work, but I had none of that. I had nothing here, no relatives, no home, only my name which was worth nothing. I was only a human and a bloody short one at that, so I wouldn't be surprised if I would even be cast out of a town of men. The thoughts sent my head spinning and kept me from getting even a minute of rest that night.

I simply laid on my bedroll, counting the cracks in the ceiling and waited for the morning to come. Once the dawn was breaking, I walked over to the balustrade to watch how the sunrise coloured the sky in bright pink and orange. Everything here, even simple things like the sun rising and setting had something so magical, almost unnaturally beautiful and I had yet to figure out why.

The dwarves were still snoring behind me and as I cracked my aching back I suddenly regretted refusing the room and the comfortable bed that came with it just to do my friends a favour. I simply stood there, waiting for the company to wake up and for the day to begin.

With everything that was running through my head, I had forgotten that training was still very high on Thorins bucket list and I was accordingly thrilled once he swooped down to our balcony to wake everybody up and get them to the training grounds.

My mood reached a new level of low once he came into my view but I simply kept my distance from him to avoid saying something stupid and even found a way out of having breakfast for my appetite still had not returned. "We walked past a kitchen yesterday and since everybody was still asleep when I woke up I walked there and got myself something to eat."

They seemed happy with that explanation and didn't press on any further. I stayed at my spot leaning against the balustrade and watched my friends before Thorin declared that it was time for us to head down.

I had thought that fighting Thorin well rested and fed was hard, but fighting him when my eyes were burning and threatening to close at any second from lack of sleep and when my head was beginning to swim from not having eaten anything, sure as hell was impossible.

I spent more time on the floor than on my feet just from stumbling around and after one failed maneuver the elbow Thorin had aimed at my stomach had landed in my face, knocking me back and making my nose bleed. "Concentrate Rose! What happened?!" Thorin was seemingly more pissed than he was worried and quickly yanked me to my feet only to attack me again, not even giving me time to do something against the stream of coppery blood that was now dripping into my mouth.

I barely had the time to move out of the way and stumbled over my own feet a few moments later, hitting the floor with a groan. I had turned around on my way down and landed on my chest, knocking the breath out of me. I coughed as I tried to take in some air, but the pain and tightness in my chest from before, that had grown a little more bearable after my accident with the tree, suddenly returned with such an intensity that I found myself lying on the back, panting but not able to draw a breath.

I felt panic begin to rise inside me as I reached out my arms, grabbing for thin air, scratching the dry dirt under my body. My vision began to get blurry and my heartbeat pounded painfully against my skull. "Rose!" There were some panicked voices reaching my ears, but all I saw was a colourful blob around me, getting blurrier before the darkness began to surround me completely.

I didn't die, obviously. I had never been properly unconscious before, so I couldn't tell if what I was experiencing was normal or just another quirk of being sent to a different world by a God.

For a moment I was startled as I saw pictures of past memories pass by, me playing with my precious orphans, the nights I had spent fixing clothing, preparing cooking ingredients for the next day or simply reading to the younger children when they had trouble sleeping.

Only thinking about it made my heart ache. Who had taken my place? Were they happy and looked after like they should be? A cool and numb feeling in my chest made me frown. What had actually happened to me?

I still remembered going down but everything after that was lost to me. Who had taken care of me? How was I still alive and kicking after choking like this? My ears were filled with voices that almost blended together in a rather loud humming and a bright light was blinding me slowly but surely, making me squeeze my eyes shut.

"Look! I think she's waking up!" It was obviously Kili's voice piping up, louder than the rest of the people in whatever room I was lying in.

I felt my hands being squeezed a little tighter from where they stuck out from under a blanket and somebody ran a gentle hand down my cheeks, making me flinch and open my eyes. They widened instantly as I saw the whole company surrounding the bed I was lying in, plus three elves, two of them being Lord Elrond and his sidekick Lindir.

"Rose...we thought we lost you!" I realized that it was Thorin who was holding one of my hands and who also had carressed my cheek a few seconds ago and noticed my cheeks getting warm. "What happened? I only remember choking all of a sudden..." My voice was a little hoarse and my windpipe still hurt a little from coughing, but other than that I felt rather fine. Lord Elrond decided to step up at this moment, trying to diffuse my confusion. "It seems like your ribcage had taken some damage during your journey and had been bruised quite badly. Do you remember what could've caused such an injury?"

My eyes widened a little in realization. "I guess I do...a small tree fell on me shortly before we came here and I was trapped under it for a while, but I didn't thought that it did that much damage. I mean I knew that something was wrong but I thought it was nothing serious..." I peeked under the blanket covering me and cringed as I saw my bare chest covered in pretty bruises. How did I not notice that before?

A moment passed with most of the dwarves turning away awkwardly when I let the blanket fall off my bare arms, still covering up my upper body as I tried to sit up a little bit. Fili, who had been holding my other hand had already backed away, standing with his brother, but my other hand was still caged in Thorins tight grasp even as he helped me sit up, making butterflies flutter in my stomach.

"I can assure you that your dignity had not been damaged. Your friends remained behind the curtains surrounding your sickbed while I healed you." I raised my eyebrows at that. "Uh, thanks I guess...thank you for taking care of me, too." Lord Elrond tilted his head and made place as another elf, smaller than the ones I had seen so far, came into the room with a tray filled with food in his hands.

I dared to cast a short glance at Thorin who had turned from the elf boy to me and I can tell you one thing, whoever had once been on the receiving end of Thorins glowering, clearly had my deepest sympathies.

But this time he was glowering at me and suddenly the thought of a dragon and probably a load of orcs ahead of us was almost a welcome one compared to what would probably await me once the company had cleared the room. And they did, being the traitors they were. I had never seen them move so quickly besides the one time when we had been chased by an orc pack and that had to stand for at least something.

The troup of elves abandoned me soon after, leaving me alone with the angry king. I tried to avoid his gaze, still feeling him slowly but surely crushing my hand with his. "Why didn't you tell me what happened? And why did you lie about having eaten this morning?" I stared at my free hand, thinking about how I would respond to that without making him even angrier. "I told Dwalin and your nephews...I thought that they would tell you anyway."

He gripped my hand even tighter, making me grimace. "And I simply didn't want you to worry just because I wasn't hungry. I didn't think that something like that might happen and I'm sorry for causing such trouble." It probably wasn't the best apology but I probably couldn't get any more honest than that.

Thorin let out a heavy sigh and released my hand only to grab the tray and place it on the bed between my body and where he was sitting on a chair next to me. "Will you eat yourself or do I have to force it down your throat?"

I scrunched up my nose and reluctantly reached for the bowl of soup only for Thorin to stuff a breadroll in my hand. "You need to eat something more filling than soup. I do not know why you lost your appetite but when you keep collapsing, you will only turn into a liability and I don't think the company would take it lightly if we had to leave you behind."

I chewed on the dry bread and decided not to comment on that. "I have noticed that they have taken quite a liking to you, all of them I might add." That was actually nothing new, but I was happy to hear that anyway. "Sounds like you exclude yourself." I stated, brushing the crumbs off the bed and on the floor. He pushed a bowl with grapes in my hands next.

"Are you okay?" I furrowed my brows, staring at his slightly reddened cheeks and ears. I carefully placed my hand on his forehead and then on his cheek, suspecting that he might have overstrained himself as well and was now beginning to develop a fever, but his skin felt cool under my touch, concerning me even more. He cleared his throat and moved away to lean against the windowsill opposite of my bed.

"I am. You should eat at least half of what had been brought to you and rest some more. Lord Elrond informed me that his bard will always be in close proximity from now on while you reside here if you should need something." His voice was laced with venom as he talked about the elves and I couldn't help but laugh when the grape I threw in his direction hit his forehead with a satisfying smack.

He had closed his eyes to shield them from the flying fruit, but he had not moved an inch from where he stood. For a moment he just remained there, eyes closed and arms crossed with his nostrils flaring slightly as he tried to calm himself down to keep himself from shouting at me for ignoring his status again and the fact that a king was supposed to be respected.

"You don't have to be so rude. I don't paticularly like them that much, but Lord Elrond probably safed my life and that has to stand for something." I grinned to myself as I thought about aiming the next one at his nose, just to annoy him a little more, when he suddenly opened his eyes again and let his arms fall to his side.

"You may not fully comprehend why we distrust these elves, but be assured that we are merely concerned for your safety and well-being. I have the feeling that you can give our company more than you might expect." As he walked out of the door my necklace suddenly seemed a hundred times heavier, pressing down on my bruised chest like an icy boulder.

My fingers slowly curled around the bottle, the once again colourless content slopping around inside like water. "As do I...but I have the feeling that I won't be strong enough to go through with it once the time comes..."