Be warned, this chapter is not pretty and fairly violent toward the end.

After being searched, the company was bound and pushed along toward the elvenking's halls.

"Why did you come back here?" Tauriel asked quietly from beside Agarwaen, who didn't say a word. "I was glad you had escaped that day. And now it's all over. There is nothing anyone can do." Agarwaen still didn't answer. She didn't even spare her old friend a glance. "Unless..." She looked at the redhead through the corner of her eye.

"Tonight is the feast of starlight. Thranduil might think twice about holding an execution on such a night."

"It would only buy me one night. It is pointless." Agarwaen said sharply.

"What happened to your voice?" She asked the same question as Legolas.

"Being crushed by stone giants isn't a pleasant experience." Tauriel looked at her in surprise. Before she could ask anything more, Legolas called Tauriel away.

After crossing a great bridge Agarwaen hadn't seen in 170 years, they were led down the halls to Thranduil's throne room. Upon seeing them, he raised his thick eyebrows, but upon seeing her, they shot back down again as he glared at her. He ordered for the other dwarves to be taken to the cells, but to leave her and Thorin. Another elf came up from behind her, and placed metal bindings on her, locking her hands behind her back. The cuffs were connected to two tight chains, which had a metal neck restraint on one end, and ankle restraints on the other. Thorin watched the elf put it on her with growing rage. Something about seeing her chained up like a dog made his blood boil.

"Some may imagine that a noble quest is at hand." Thranduil began. "A quest to reclaim a homeland and slay a dragon." He glared at Agarwaen as he walked past her. "I myself expect a more prosaic motive. Attempted burglary or something of that ilk." The bent down to look Thorin in the eyes. "You've found a way in. You seek that which would bestow upon you the right to rule. The king's jewel. The arkenstone. It is precious to you beyond measure. I understand that. There are gems in the mountain that I too desire. White gems of pure starlight. I offer you my help." Agarwaen breathed a sigh of relief. Even if she wasn't alive to see it, if Thorin accepted Thranduil's aid in return for the white gems of Lasgalen, then her mission will be a success even after her death.

"I'm listening." Thorin replied to the elven king.

"I will let you go, if you but return what is mine."

"A favor for a favor." Thorin turned and began to pace, choosing his next words carefully.

"You have my word. One king to another."

"And what of her? Will you let her go with us?" Thorin looked over to Agarwaen. Her eyes widened and she looked down at him in fear. Thranduil would not let her go, not again. And if Thorin decided not to take the deal because of it, they would all be doomed. Thranduil smiled.

"Let her go? No, I should think not. She has crimes she must answer for. Which brings me to my next question, for Ballineth, Leithiandes, or whatever you go by these days,"

"Agarwaen." She muttered.

"Ah, Bloodstained, a fitting name for a woman with your history," Thorin looked to her in confusion. She said her name meant powerful. "Now tell me, traitor, why are you in the company of Thorin Oakenshield, and why have you dared to step foot in Mirkwood after what you have done?" She did not answer, and instead just stared ahead. "Always the defiant one. Did you tell the king under the mountain your sob story? Is that why he let you join his ranks? I'm quite surprised really, that he would let a murderer travel among his kin."

"A murderer?" Thorin asked, more to Agarwaen than Thranduil.

"Indeed. Has she really not told you? Why she couldn't come back here? Why she was in the wild in the first place?" He took the silence as his answer and continued.

"She turned her back on her fellow soldiers. The day the dragon attacked, actually. She wanted to lead my men to their deaths in your mountain. She defied my orders, so I sent for her to be brought back and to prison for desertion. But that wasn't enough for her, no." He slowly approached her, but she refused to show any sign of weakness. "She killed one of my captains." He paused and looked to Thorin. "And not only was he a captain, but her betrothed." Thorin's eyes widened, and he looked at her, not sure what to think. "And now she faces the death penalty. Tonight shall be the last time you will see her." Thorin gritted his teeth in anger.

"Tonight is the feast of starlight." Agarwaen spoke for the first time. She needed to be able to convince Thorin to take the offer. "You would hold an execution on such a night?" Thranduil's glare darkened.

"Fine. Spend the night in a cell, it will do you little good anyway. Tomorrow morning at sunrise your head will be in a basket, traitor." He motioned for her to be taken away. Two elves seized her and dragged her down to the prisons. She listened to Thorin yell at Thranduil on her way down, until she could hear him no longer. The elves led her past the occupied cells of the other dwarves, who all jumped up from their cots to watch her go by.

"Agarwaen, what happened?"

"Where's Thorin?"

"Why are you in chains?" She didn't answer, and was thrown into a cell on the end.

"Agarwaen?" The sound of more elves coming down the prison stairs made them all try to see who was coming now. These elves brought Thorin, and threw him in another cell, directly across from Agarwaen.

"Did he offer you a deal?" Balin asked.

"He did." Thorin relplied. "I told him he can go Ishkh khakfe andu null. Him and all his kin!" His voice echoed through the hall. Agarwaen grimaced. That probably applied to her too.

"Well, that's that then." Balin was less than pleased with this. "A deal was our only hope."

"It can still be. Thranduil wants his gems back, very badly. I do not know if you remember, but they were kept from him unfairly."

"And what if we take the deal, what of you?" Thorin looked at her through his cage.

"Surely he would let you go with us if we promise him these gems?" Balin said.

"No. I've merely bought myself time to try and convince you to take this deal. You're lucky I could do that."

"Bought yourself time? What are you talking about?" Balin asked.

"I face execution in the morning. If you agree to take his deal and make it to the mountain on time, then I will die knowing that I've done my job. Please, you don't want to spend the rest of your lives in here."

"Execution for desertion?" Fili yelled. "That's absurd!"

"Why did he say that you were a murderer?" Thorin asked. "And you were there when the dragon attacked?" The prison grew silent as the dwarves tried to process this new information.

"Yes...I was there. When Thranduil ordered we retreat, I just...I couldn't leave. I tried to rally a few elves to go in there and rescue who we could, but because I was directly defying orders, Thranduil ordered my capture. So I ran toward the mountain. I was fine going to prison, but not until I at least did what I could. Belegurion...my betrothed...he turned on me and chased me down. Everything happened so fast, and...and it was a mistake. I didn't want to hurt him, but he grabbed me and when I turned around, I-I...It's all my fault. I am a murderer. He's dead and I'm the one that killed him."

"Your nightmares..." Thorin looked sadly at her. She nodded, the chains on her clinking.

"That's why you didn't want to come near here." Balin said.

"I should have listened to you." Thorin began to pace in his cell. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Why didn't I tell you? Tell you that I'm a murderer? That I killed the man I was supposed to marry? That I regret even trying to save the dwarves in the first place? How could I?" Thorin stared at her sadly. "Yes, I regret trying to save your people. I regret doing the right thing because it cost me everything. If I could go back in time and change one thing, it would be that. And I am ashamed because of it. I should not regret it, but I do. I should be proud of my rebellion to do what was right, but because I do not, because I hate it, I am ashamed." She sat down on her cot and bowed her head as much as she could without choking herself.

"Don't be ashamed of it." Thorin said. "Anyone would regret a choice that cost them everything. That cost them the one they love. I do not think any less of you for wishing that." Muttered agreements echoed throughout the prison. Agarwaen felt tears welling up.

"You should."

"But I don't. Because anyone would do the same in that situation. Yet, when faced with it, you didn't. You did do the right thing. It's not about what you wish you would have done, it's about what you have done. And you have done more than prove yourself better than every one of these damned elves. Regardless of what you wish you could change." He gripped the bars in front of him, and looked her in the eyes. "We will get out of here. With you. Bilbo, he⁠—" The sound of footsteps cut him off, and everyone tried to see what was going on now. A male elf, with dark hair strode by, looking into every cell as if he was looking for someone. His face was stone cold and angry, his fists balled.

"There you are." He snarled upon seeing Agarwaen.

"Saeron..." Her voice cracked and her skin turned pale. "I'm sorry. It was not my intention to come back here."

"Do you know what it's like to have soldiers come home, and be told there was only one death. One death! And then be told that it was your brother. And the best part. He wasn't killed by a dragon, no. He was supposed to retreat with everybody else. He was supposed to come home!" He slammed his hands on the bars of her cage, letting out the anger that has been building up for almost two centuries. Shouting the lines he'd rehearsed in his head a million times and perfected. "And then I was told that you! You killed him!" He took a key from his pocket and held it up. "You killed my brother. Your own betrothed. I have dreamt of revenge for a hundred and seventy years! And now it's finally within my reach."

"Stop!" Thorin yelled from his cell. Saeron barely spared him a glance.

"Always with the dwarves. The petty little disgusting things that stand so low they eat the dust of the earth. Why? Why did you throw it all away for them? Why did you kill my brother OVER THEM?"

"It was an accident." Tears freely spilled down her cheeks as she looked up at the elf.

"An accident." He laughed.

"I'm to be killed in the morning anyway. Just leave it be." She pleaded.

"Leave my fantasies that have been stewing for all these years behind? I don't think so." He put the key into the lock and opened the cell door.

"If you lay one hand on her, I will tear your limbs off!" Thorin yelled, but was ignored. The other dwarves began to yell as well, sticking their arms out of their cells and trying to break out.

The first punch sent her to the ground, making her head slam on the cold stone floor. With her hands chained, she could do nothing to protect herself.

"Stop, please!" She pleaded. Thorin attacked his cage like a dog trying to get at an invader, yelling dwarvish curses and profanities at Saeron. The prison echoed with shouts from the other dwarves, all doing the same.

Saeron pulled her back to her feet by the neck of her tunic, and slammed her against the back wall where he punched her again. Thorin felt like he couldn't breathe. He tried again and again to break the door down, swearing that he would crush the elf's skull for touching her.

Agarwaen eventually stopped pleading, and just stood there, retreating to the back of her mind. Everything seemed to slow down, and every hit hurt more by the second. She felt him break a rib, and knew the back of her head was bleeding from how many times he slammed it against the wall. Her left eye was almost swollen shut, and she feared he broke her nose as well. Her temple dripped blood into her ears, and her lungs stung from trying to breathe. Everything seemed to fade in and out. She vaguely heard the dwarves shouting and banging on their doors before he punched her again and she fell limp to the ground.

Saeron rubbed his bloody reddened knuckles and kicked her once more for good measure, before stepping out from her cell and locking the door again. He muttered a curse at her unconscious body before grinning over at the dwarf king who had seen everything. He was pressed against the bars of his cage, hand outstretched and his teeth bared.

"I'm going to kill you and mount your head on a pike!" Thorin yelled among many other curses.

"You'll never get out of there until we haul your bones away, dwarf." Saeron started walking back up to the stairs, but Fili's hand flew out from his cell and grabbed him. He used his other fist to land a heavy punch to the elf's nose, before Searon ripped himself free from the dwarf's grasp.

"When we get out of here, you'll be dead in more ways than one!" Fili growled as the elf smoothed down his clothes and stood tall again.

"Antolle ulua sulrim." Saeron sneered as he continued on his way, avoiding the hands that grabbed at him and the spit that flew from several dwarves mouths.

"I call dibs on his hands. I'm going to crush every one of his fingers with my hammer!" Dwalin shouted. The commotion didn't die down until a few minutes after the elf had left. Thorin just slumped down in the front of his cell, praying to Mahal with all his might that Agarwaen wasn't dead. His eyes stung with tears at the feeling of being helpless. He couldn't do anything to stop the elf, and it broke him inside.

Ishkh khakfe andu null- dump excrement on your head

Antolle ulua sulrim- much wind pours from your mouth