The Desolation of Smaug (Editing)

Inside Information

(Caleniel's POV)

Bard smiled at me as he sat next to his window. I returned his smile as I asked his daughter, Sigrid, to grab three carrots for me.

"Let me prepare dinner," Sigrid grinned as placed the carrots at my side. "It's my job every other night anyway, and you're a guest."

I let out a small laugh. "I have to you repay you for everything the Dwarves and I were welcomed to while we were all here."

Bard lowered his eyes. "They have already paid for what they asked of me."

I chopped an union. "I should at least pay my way in. I didn't hand over any money. Not one coin."

"That is true." Bard walked toward me. "I never learned about why you were with them. How does an Elf get stuck with fourteen dwarves and a halfling?"

"Thirteen dwarves, a halfling, and a girl." I began cutting off the skin of the carrots.

"I'm sure there was fourteen."

"The female is actually of men. She comes from another world." I began cutting the carrots. "I only met her when I arrived in Rivendell. Since then, we fought Orcs and rode giant eagles."

"Giant eagles," Tilda smiled at me.

"You rode them," Bain asked.

I nodded and continued peeling potatoes.

"What else have you done?" Bard grinned as he grabbed a potato and began chopping it. "Encountered the Elves no doubt."

"We fought off giant... spiders." I let out a small laugh of my phobia. "We fought more Orcs and ran into a bargeman." I looked at Bard. "A bargeman named Bard."

Tilda smiled. "That's you, Da! You're part of a story now." She turned to me. "Will there be songs about him?"

Bard and I laughed.

"I suppose so," Bard said. "However, how did you get stuck with them? No Elf I know would even think of doing what you have."

I put our cut ingredients into a boiling pot. "The girl was my reason. I felt like she and I met before, but more than that, it's my fault that she came here."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a tale as old as that of the Ents." I grabbed the potatoes and cut them up more. "There was a fountain, which seems more like a waterfall, that connects to another world, and I threw a necklace into that fountain. In fear of it landing in the wrong hands, I jumped into the fountain, but that fountain did not allow me to pass as the necklace had. It has not allowed anything to pass after that necklace."

"Are you sure the necklace went to another world," Bain asked. "Did you check the bottom of the fountain for it?"

I nodded as I stirred the soup. "And then Bre came along. She misses home. I can tell, and it's my fault she cannot return."

Bard's brows furrowed. "How do you know?"

"If she could, she would be there already. All she'd have to do is wish to return home, and I'm sure she has wished it many times. The necklace must not have enough power to do so."

Bard lowered his eyes. "She has wished to return to her family."

I nodded. "I only hope that I will find a way for her to return home."

There was a knock on the door, and Bard raised a brow, walking to the door. His brows crashed together. "No. I'm done with Dwarves for today," Bard said as he tried to slam the door closed. "Go away."