your things, after the map has been read we will set out. The wizard bids us leave before the White Council meets." Thorin's voice was gruff with emotion. Arethusa nodded and gathered her mended traveling clothes from the settee where they had been folded. The fairy sat on the edge of her bed, bringing her ankle up to unbind the bandages and trade them out for a thinner material so it would fit in her boots. When her bag was packed and weapons sat near on the bed's coverlet she ventured out to the open courtyard where the clash of metal on metal filled the air.

Fili had parried Dwalin's strike, ducking away. The other dwarves watched, arms crossed and gaze pensively. On the balcony above Bilbo was speaking to Elrond. The sparring match ended when a blade was at each of the dwarves' necks. Kili was the next to stand for his round, he looked over the dwarves, choosing none. "Arethusa." He grinned at her. She would not be able to say no. The company grumbled under their breath but she knew she could not back down, they had yet to see her abilities, proving herself now would mean further acceptance.

"Very well, Kili, but I hope you are ready to lose." She smirked and strode over to pick up two wooden staffs, tossing one of them to the young dwarf prince. Kili was still grinning as he tested the staff in hand, balancing it on his palm, spinning it once only the coordination was not there and the blunt weapon clattered on the stone ground.

His cheeks burned with embarrassment after picking up the staff again but he thwarted it by taunting Arethusa. "Afraid you might get hurt if we use real metal, fairy?" She glanced over to where the dwarves watched, they were completely engrossed and the match had not even begun. Thorin had his arms crossed, his chin tilted up, she could not tell if he wanted his nephew to win or her.

"No, dwarf, I fear you may get hurt." Their staffs touched with the dull sound of wood striking wood, the blow had jarred her once again. He was holding back, she almost frowned at the revelation, else that first encounter would have had her sprawled on the ground from the force. Arethusa jumped to the left to slap Kíli's side, but he parried the strike and followed up with one of his own, not missing a beat. She avoided being struck on the thigh by a margin of no more than a hair.

A shadow of a smirk tugged at his lips when he thought he had landed a blow and then a look of concentration reappeared on his young face. Arethusa's method of evasion to wear down her opponent was not effective against the young dwarf. After each of her feints, he responded, Arethusa felt the light slap of wood against her arm. She moved in a fury after that, so quick and light on her feet it appeared that she was flying with no wings.

Expecting to defend against another blow Kili did not react quickly enough before she had flicked the staff from his hands and crouched to the ground, kicking out in a sweeping arc that tripped the young dwarf. The fairy held the point of her staff to his neck and the point of his to his own gut. Fili was laughing at his brother. "Do you know what you do in times like this?" She questioned, a ghost of a smile on her lips. Kili remained on his back, breathing heavily. He shook his head and she moved away from the staffs, extending her hand. The young dwarf stood. "You rise and rise again. Until lambs become lions."

Heavy footsteps interrupted her response as they approached her from behind. Arethusa turned, and when she did it was Thorin who she looked up at.

⌘⌘⌘

Bilbo had spent most of his morning with Arethusa, sharing in her breakfast tea. When she spoke of distant memories the hobbit realized that he truly knew little about his friend. She was a complexity of mysteries that he was determined to solve. He had stumbled upon Lord Elrond in his exploring of Rivendell, the elf lord sat on the balcony of the highest building a book in hand. The conversation had been quaint, short at best, and slightly awkward until Bilbo finally ousted the question he wished to know the answer to. "How did you come by knowing Arthie?"

Elrond lifted his gaze to the Halfling. He knew fairies to be more secretive than dwarves. "It was many years ago. Her home had been returned to the sea," he had visited Númenórë only thrice and it had been while Elros, his own twin, was the High King of the island. The clash of swords stopped and was replaced with the clacking of wood on wood. Bilbo peered over the banister railing curiously. Arethusa was sparring with Kili and gone was the gentle soul, in her stead, was something akin to a warrior. "She traveled with the Men that had survived but parted when they reached shore. In the plains to the east, my guard found her, thinking her an elf-child. She stayed for perhaps a century and left to wander."

The fairy had come and gone as she pleased, her longest stay had been after Celebrían had been returned to Rivendell. The healers had mended her broken body but there was nothing to bring back her mind, Arethusa had even tried soul healing to save the fair lady. She had known what life was like with no mother and sought to save the twins and Arwen's mother but in the end, Celebrían had chosen to part from Middle Earth and sail to the Undying Lands. After that, she stayed for two centuries. Still, Bilbo watched the fairy dance around her opponent but the marking on her wrist and arm was clearly visible when the sleeve of her tunic would rise. "Wait –wha –what is that? That marking on her arm?" He had never seen it before.

Lord Elrond had come to stand beside the hobbit and he too saw the marking. "She has not told you?" he mused aloud, watching as the fairy had managed to knock the young dwarf to his back. Bilbo shook his head and the elf lord was left to wonder if it was his place to speak of such things. "Fairies are quick to anger and equally as quick to laugh. The one thing that sets them apart from all other races is how quickly they love. The people of Valinor saw how corruptible hearts could be when fairies would barter for their lover's life. That is why, when Númenórë was lifted from the sea the race was cursed to be guardians and oath-takers, never to return to the Undying Lands. For so sworn good or evil, an oath may not be broken and it shall pursue oathkeeper and oathbreaker to the world's end. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife nor husband, nor love anything but my duty. I shall live and die at the will of the Citadel." It was a cruel fate for creatures like them.

"Númenóreans were soon corrupted by Melkor and Sauron. To prevent the spread of the darkness, the sea reclaimed the island. Arethusa had two brothers and her father living when it happened, they had already taken their vows and to leave the mountain would be their death. She was young, the last fairy child. She was able to flee." The dark mark was woven into a knot, a trinity. Bilbo could not take his eyes from it, even while she and Thorin sparred.

Lord Elrond knew, somehow the elf always knew, he had looked into her heart and felt the bond. "It is a strong type of magic, Master Baggins. She has taken an oath, and if the bead in her hair is not enough to know whom she has given her word to then you should look at how they look at each other." The elf lord returned to his chair and reopened his book, the enchanting sound of a harp filled the air as Arwen practiced.

"She's the last fairy. She never told me. That means if she dies," the hobbit watched on and muttered the words in disbelief. "If she dies there won't be any more fairies." Bilbo had grown disheartened, when she spoke of her home and kin he imagined the land to look much like the Shire, gentle, rolling hills, green plains and wildflowers with fairies frolicking in the sun. But things are seldom what they seem.

⌘⌘⌘

Arethusa almost wished not to fight Thorin, for her ankle was beginning to ache and her heart was making a fool of itself. She had been trained to fight, only the skills of the elves rivaled that of the fairies, but this was Thorin Oakenshield, the dwarf that had slain Azog with nothing more than a branch for a shield.

Thorin sensed her trepidation, his expression softened, and he lowered his staff. She smiled; his consideration of her feelings had sparked a flood of affection towards him but she would not back down. She raised her staff. His lips twitched in appreciation of the effort and then he was upon her. Arethusa blocked the first blow, pushing back with all her strength but Thorin was stone and he could not be moved.

The beginnings of a smile formed on his lips at her aggressive approach, something that was uncharacteristic of her. They broke apart and circled each other, ice-blue gaze meeting violet. A tension slowly built in the courtyard. Some of the dwarves shifted uncomfortably though Kili and Fili were grinning as they each noticed the flash of something silver in her hair. A hair bead, but not any hair bead, it was Thorin's.

Thorin strode forward, changing the direction of his strike mid-swing. Arethusa barely managed to jump out of the way. He was on her nearly as quickly as Kili had been, but he also was holding back less, giving her no time to counter his thrusts. She was forced to duck and evade until her chest was heaving.

He flashed her a smug smirk after anticipating one of her dodges, filling her with irritation. She gauged him for a moment before moving to strike low, he had been expecting such a move so when she raised up and swung the wooden staff at full strength it caught Thorin by surprise as it struck his side. It was an odd dance, a precarious type of movement between each other and the way they swung the staffs.

In a final parry, the end of Thorin's staff was poking into her stomach, her own was poised at his neck. "Your ankle?" He breathed quietly, they had yet to stand down and the dwarves looked on transfixed. She wanted to laugh at his concern but all she could manage was to lightly shake her head. Her whisper was drowned out by the cheering of the company's hoots of excitement.

Alas, Thorin parted from the fairy with a gleam in his eye that she had never noticed before. Fili and Kili were by her side in an instant, asking her how she had learned to fight with such grace. Ori was laughing heartily at something Balin had said and with no warning, she was lifted into the air by Bofur. Had she looked back at Thorin at the moment she would have seen him smiling, a type of smile she had never seen before, "Okay, that's quite enough celebration."

The sun was beginning to lower in the sky and while Thorin and Balin had disappeared, for the time being, Fili pulled Arethusa aside, Kili was following behind his brother. They each held her by the arms and carried her away from the rest of the company. "What are you two menaces doing?" She was teasing and taunting them like she had once done with her own brothers.

Kili looked at his brother with raised brows, "Answer our questions," the younger stated, "And then we'll answer yours." Fili finished. Arethusa sighed but silently agreed. Kili reached forward, lifting the braid that Thorin's bead hung on. "When did our uncle give you his bead?" She was shocked at the question, more so with the reproaching tone Fili had used.

She crossed her arms in indignation. "Last night, why?" The brothers exchanged a look with one another and Arethusa hated that she could not know what they were thinking.

"Jus' curious." The blond dwarf shrugged.

The fairy laughed, "I'll believe that lie when I can fly." Kili and Fili were looking at her differently, why she could not say, but there was something in their eyes that had not been there before.

"What'd he tell you when he gave it to you?" This time, it was Kili who asked the question.

Arethusa sighed, her fingers running over the small adornment in her hair. She hadn't noticed it at first but inlaid between the etchings was small sapphires the gleamed in the sunlight, "That it was a token of this journey, something to remember it by." Her mind was a muddled mess as the brothers looked at each other again, they turned away from her and murmured something even her attuned ears could not pick up. "What aren't you boys telling me?" She almost sounded like a mother, they hadn't had a mother in many years.

"It's just, giving away your bead to someone else is a symbol of love. Dwarves don't give away their beads lightly, Miss Arethusa." She understood what Kili was saying. Dwarves did not love easily and when they did it was not to be taken lightly. The bead symbolized their hearts.

She shook her head as if the action could convince herself of what she was about to speak. "Don't be ridiculous. Thorin does not love me. He tolerates my stay so that he has an extra pair of eyes on you two." Arethusa could almost feel the mark of the binding energy burning and mindlessly she rubbed the mark through her tunic sleeve.

"Will you believe that lie when you can fly?" Fili retorted, his smile was nothing less than rascally. Kili looked at her and in the moment, she saw a resemblance to Thorin that made it appear as if the young dwarf could truly be his son. "Uncle Thorin raised us, Arethusa. We know him better than most, he may have said it was only a simple token but it means more than that." Her heart thudded in her chest at the thought but her face gave way to nothing that she was feeling.

This time, her chuckle seemed more forced, "We shall see." She was glad that the matter had ended, the fairy truly disliked speaking of things that dealt with the heart.

The brothers walked by her side as she ventured back up to her room to rewrap her ankle and check over to see that everything has been packed. "So how old are you?" Kili asked Fili scowled at his brother.

"Much too old to be dealing with the likes of you two." She laughed and they both frowned, she knew it was not the answer they had hoped for. It took her a moment to remember her age, after so many years it was easy to forget, one year melded into the next. "I am over five thousand years old, is that enough to slake your curiosity?" They each looked at her with an equal amount of shock and disbelief. Shut your mouths before you swallow a fly, despite her unspoken thought she smiled and pulled out a smooth stone from her pocket. "Kili, thank you for this but it is time that you carried it once more."

A setting sun marked the end of the day and onset of night. She ushered the two dwarves off to prepare themselves for the journey ahead. As soon as the moon was high enough the map would be read and the company would part. "Arthie!" She turned at the deviation of her name, only one person had ever called her that, Bilbo. The hobbit stood beside, awkwardly shifting on his feet.

"You are troubled, Bilbo." She looked to her side at the hobbit, his bushy curls were more tame than usual. His nose twitched, a quirk she had noticed long ago.

He nodded, accepting that she was right. "Yes, it's just that, we don't know what lies ahead and here, here is so peaceful." Bilbo missed home, he missed his books, his garden, his armchair, and perhaps even he missed some of the less desirable hobbits like Sackville-Bagginses. Arethusa stepped forward and embraced her friend, at first, he did not respond but when his arms wrapped around her shoulders his body relaxed and he sighed. He couldn't abandon the company, not now. "Has Thorin asked you to be present when the map is read?"

The fairy peered up at her friend, she and Thorin had exchanged little words that day. She shook her head, "No, I will be aiding the company in preparations for our departure." The hobbit shifted on his feet almost uncomfortably, she knew he was second-guessing his choice. "Everything's going to be alright, Bilbo." He wanted to believe her but some part deep down inside him said that this quest would not end well. I hope you are right, Arthie.