I am slowly, obviously slowly, bringing this towards its conclusion. I do have ideas for writing another story in this line of thought detailing more of the outlying characters, like Sigrid and Fili and Alyse and Thorin, though it has not been hinted at in this story but in its counterpart "What May Turn Ice into Fire." Life has a way of getting away with you so patience and encouragement are both equally appreciated. Thank you for your support. Cheers!

The moans from the wounded and dying would have been deafening had her hearing been fully recovered. But, as it was, Katun could only see the thrashing of their bodies in pain and see their mouths moving as they called out for their loved ones-both those already gone or those still unaccounted for. She blinked as another cloud of acrid smoke wafted through the long corridor of the ruined castle. When it had passed, she opened her eyes again and looked down the rows and rows of human bodies, the low light of the overcast day, giving the illusion that the rows were endless. They'd turned this area of the old castle into a nursing ward and still, even hours after the battle had ended, the survivors were dragging in more wounded. Katun turned when she felt someone tugging on her sleeve. It was Tilda. Katun's heart hurt that one so young, one who had had so much innocence, was now having it robbed from her with each death that occurred before her eyes.

"Sigrid was wondering where she could find more herbs for the dressings?" From the expression on the young girl's face it seemed that she'd been asking the question of Katun for some time before but, due to Katun's loss of hearing, had resorted to physical touch and face-to-face communication.

Katun looked past Tilda to the area she'd left Sigrid with the dwarf brothers. In the fray, they'd fought beside Katun, Bain, Tauriel, and Edwin and for their efforts, Fili and Kili had both been grossly wounded. Fili was missing his sword hand; an orc hammer had rent it a mush of bloody flesh and cracked bones; Sigrid had assisted Katun in amputating the ruined bits so that Fili could at least keep the rest of his arm. The trick, now, was to keep infection at bay. Kili was less permanently maimed but the deep slice across his abdomen and thigh-he'd received it when he'd bodily leaped between an orc blade and Tilda's fleeing figure-was going to keep him from moving far or fast for some time to come.

"The stores are low, but there should be some left in the buttery down that hall," she pointed to a small corridor to her right, "tell the supply masters that I sent you and that I will also go collect more." Tilda looked ready to do her bidding when Katun reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder, "once you have finished, go with your sister back to the house. You both need a proper meal and a rest." Tilda looked ready to argue, but Katun shook her head. "You will make more errors that could prove deadly to the patient unless you are fully in your right mind. Neither of you has slept or eaten since yesterday evening. Once I finish collecting the herbs, I will join you as well." Only a moment more of resistance fired in Tilda's eyes before her shoulders slumped and she nodded.

Katun left the corridor and the thick air of pain and death. She picked up two sacks lying by the entrance, the two she'd found some time earlier and had already made use of over a dozen times in herb collection, and wove her way through the leftover carnage towards the city walls. It was strange to say that an already ruined city looked even more ruined, but Dale had managed to go from a dilapidated, abandoned mess to a battle-torn destroyed mess. It was already going to take years to rebuild the city to a passable excuse but now...Katun stepped over an orc corpse then ducked under a broken beam of a destroyed house. They were still working on getting all the dead sorted. Elf here. Human here. Orc here.

At least the wounded had been properly sorted, or mostly so. Katun swallowed a sudden ball in her throat at the memory of Edwin's last moments alive. He'd thrown himself atop Tauriel's dying body, taking direct hits to his stomach and chest from the two attacking orcs. Katun and Bain had been the ones to deliver the death blow to the orcs, and once they'd fallen, it had been her and Bard's son who'd seen the tragic beauty that the two doomed lovers had made together in their death. Tauriel had roused herself enough to wrap her arms around Edwin's chest and had pulled his head into the crook of her neck while Edwin had brought his hands up to cover her own. An embrace at the entrance of death. Though she would miss her friends and mourned their loss, she felt that they had died well, and especially so since they'd died together.

Katun stopped just outside the city walls. Standing on the road in front of her a few paces away was Bard and a few others speaking together with the wizened old man she'd seen glimpses of earlier. She approached when Bard and the others began towards the city, and it looked like the old man was heading towards what was left of Erebor. Bard raised his eyebrows at Katun when she hurriedly walked past him to catch up with the old man.

"Excuse me," she waited until the old man turned towards her before she continued, "you are going to Erebor, are you not?"

"I am."

"Please," Katun looked across the equally ruined valley towards the mountain, "I have some friends there. Human friends. One is a warrior named Jaq, and the other is a woman named Alyse. They have been helping the dwarves."

The old man nodded, "I have seen them. And you are?"

"They know me as Cha'risa."

The old man raised one eyebrow, "But you do not know yourself by that name?"

"Well," Katun gave a soft smile, "I lost Cha'risa in a river and found Katun in Laketown." The old man, surprisingly, seemed to follow her words and offered a nod of understanding. "Please, if it is not too much trouble, deliver news of our mutual friends to them. I am needed here and do not think myself able to travel to Erebor any time soon." The old man nodded and waited until she'd delivered the grave news before he offered her a low bow of the head and continued on his way.

Katun turned and saw Bard still waiting for her on the roadside. At the sight of him, Katun felt her stomach stir, and her heart beat faster. Her lips still remembered the kiss he'd given her when he'd returned to the city, frantic to see that his family was still alive. He'd found them together, his children and Katun, as they'd been carrying Fili and Kili towards the nursing ward. He'd first taken his daughters into his arms, then Bain, and then he'd done what Katun had only dreamt about-though she'd not admitted it aloud even to herself-and he'd pulled her into his arms and kissed her. The kiss had been brief but potent, more of an embrace of relief shared at having survived a great ordeal. Katun could not remember ever sharing such a kiss with anyone before-and she did remember various skirmishes she'd been in her old life-but though she had no recollection of ever sharing such a kiss before she had welcomed it and had felt a knot of anxiety dissipate at his touch.

"Do you have time to help me collect herbs?" Katun held one of the two sacks towards him and felt relief when he nodded and took the sack from her hand. She didn't have time to say or do anything else before he took her now empty hand in his own and walked away from the city. Katun inwardly sighed as a sense of peace pulsated up her arm and throughout her entire body at the simple touch.

They walked silently for a time, but then Katun remembered that Bard hadn't had time to see much of his family in the aftermath. He'd been too busy speaking with their elf "allies" and the other appointed leaders of make-shift Dale. Battles were a bloody business but cleaning up and surviving after battles were equally as painful. Katun took the opportunity to fill Bard in on the whereabouts and health of his children, as well as updating him on the progression of Fili and Kili. Tauriel's body had been delivered back to Thranduil, and Edwin's body had been set aside for Katun to dispose of once she could administer the burial rites she remembered her people honored in her old life. She had not yet burned Edwin's body as she wanted to know of Jaq and Alyse; wanted to see if they would join her for those rites-or, worse yet, if she would have to administer those rites to them as well.

"Katun," Bard stopped walking, and his hold on her hand had her stopping as well, "may we sit for a moment?"

The day was wearing long, and within only a few hours it would be night but looking at the fatigue gnawing at Bard's eyes had Katun nodded and together they sat on a rock that peeked its head just above the low lying shrubs in this area of the valley. He had not yet let go of her hand, and Katun was not about to pull her hand away. She relished the warmth his body shared with her with his shoulder, hips, and thigh pressed against hers, their joined hands resting lightly atop his leg. His thumb had taken to rubbing back and forth over the back of her hand, and Katun returned the gesture in kind. It was a peaceful moment shared between them, as they sat staring at the ruined remains of Laketown with the ruined remains of Dale at their backs.

"I have never been good at timing with women," Bard broke the silence not long after they'd sat down, "as you know it was a miracle my wife ever agreed to marry me." Katun chuckled and bumped her shoulder against his in response to his self-deprecating humor. Bard seemed to gain strength from her movements and smiled as well, but his smile seemed to hold an apology, and that had Katun sobering. "I fear the other night when we spoke of the future; I fear that I spoke in haste and that I, without intending, made you feel unwelcome in the future of my family." Katun's eyes widened but kept silent, knowing that Bard was not finished. "After the fight was over, and we heard the signal of our victory, I was overcome with desperation. I had to see if my family was alive," Bard's grip strengthened but not uncomfortably so, "and when I thought of my family, I did not think of you as a separate entity."

"Oh." Katun hadn't meant to say anything, but his confession had her brain shutting down and her heart speeding up.

Bard reached up and tucked some of her unruly hair behind her ear, "It surprised me as well but not unpleasantly so. We have not been long acquainted, and you still do not know much of your past, thereby making it even more unprecedented that I would feel such an affinity for you in such a short time." Katun was reminded that yes, Bard did tend to blunder in his wording with women, but she kept herself from misreading his words and instead allowed her mind to remain open, to hear him on all the levels he was seeking to speak to her with. "I do not want you to feel that you own my family or me anything. If you choose to return with your friends to your own place in the world, I will readily honor that and support your endeavors." Bard shifted to face her more directly and bowed his head as if to collect his thoughts. When he looked up again, Katun felt as if she could see through his eyes to his very heart. "I hope you understand, that you feel, how welcome you are in my family's future." He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers. "In my future."

Katun reached up her free hand and wrapped it around the back of Bard's neck. She closed her eyes and breathed in the moment. Bard did not stir and seemed just as content to be close and joined as they were as she. Knowing that the herb stores were lessening with each passing moment, however, had Katun straightening and waiting until Bard did as well before she spoke.

"Thank you," she leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss on his lips, "I feel welcome." She squeezed his hand tightly then let go and picked up her sack again. "As much as I want to linger..."

Bard nodded and stood, helping Katun to her feet, before turning his attention to the ground around them. Katun paused but a moment to watch Bard and felt her heart swell-if that was possible. She was welcome in his future. Even though she didn't know her past, she was welcome in his future. In the aftermath of so much pain and devastation, that hope was just the thing she needed to cling to.