The next morning, I was up before Thorin and everyone else, so I just went outside.

After about an hour, Thorin came out and told me that we were leaving soon.

I went back inside to pack.

Kili, again, came to make sure I was ok.

"I'm fine, but the moment I'm not, you'll be the first to know." I told him.

"Ok." he said uncertainly.

Thorin kept eyeing me with disapproval and hatred, so I pretended not to exist.

Kili was the only one who paid any attention to me. The others hated me.

When we set up camp that night, and it was a pretty uneventful night.

The next day, while we were traveling, Gandalf disappeared.

One of the few people that don't doubt me, and he left.

Thorin told us all to set up camp by a bunch of smoldering ruins.

"I think it would be wiser to move on. There is most likely trolls in the area." I suggested.

"Don't tell me what to do!" he snapped.

"I wasn't, I was merely following your orders to tell you if I had any suggestions to help the quest. By remaining silent, I would've disobeyed a direct order. "

"Do not talk back to me!"

"I'm not! are talking back to yourself! You're snapping at me simply because this quest is frustrating you, and you're taking it out on me because you don't want me to be here."

That's when he swung, hitting me in the right eye. That's it. All sense of self control out the window.

I punched him harder, breaking his nose, and knocking him back several feet.

Everyone had stopped to watch but Kili, who was watching the ponies.

"Out." His tone was low, but the message was clear.

"Make me." He didn't like my response.

He stood and took a few paces towards me, swinging again. I grabbed his wrist and flipped him over.

"I will take the criticism, I will take the rejection, I will take the dirty looks and death glares. I will take being hit." I told them all.

Then I grabbed my bags and left, like he told me to.

I found three trolls near by and taking the ponies, so I snooped around a little bit.

I got caught though. I kept them distracted, buying time til the sun comes up, turning them to stone.

Before that though, they stabbed my leg, side, and arm. There was a good bit of blood.

When they were finally turned to stone, I limped back to where I put my bags, sat down, and began to clean the wounds.

"You should come back to camp so we can get those cleaned and wrapped properly." It was Thorin, and I jumped, causing blood to ooze out of the wound in my leg.

"That would be disobeying a direct order to get out." I replied, not looking up from my work.

"Well then, I order you to get back to camp so we can get those cleaned and wrapped properly." He gave me a crooked grin for a second, but then it was gone.

For some reason, it stirred memories that I couldn't reach.

He helped me stand, and he carried my bags back to camp.

We got back to camp, and I was perfectly fine cleaning and binding the wounds myself.

"Let me help." Thorin had not gone to bed.

I gave him a sideways glance, and he sighed.

"Come on. Just trust me for this one time."

"Fine."

He worked slower than I would have because he was trying to earn my trust, and he didn't want to cause me any more pain.

Twenty minutes later, he was finishing the bandage on my side.

"How's that?" he asked quietly.

"Good, thanks." I replied.

"I shouldn't have hit you earlier. I apoplogize for my actions."

"I have a four word response to that."

"And what would that be?"

"I told you so."

"Alright, you did warn me about the trolls."

"Yes, I did."

"I still doubt you, and I always will."

"Uh-huh."