Where She Went

What is Love?

She tried to ignore the whispers as she passed. Talia was walking through the halls of Erebor...something she thought she would never do again. Only this time, the halls were crowded with Dwarves from Dain's army. No one was giving her any dirty looks, but she managed to catch a few whispers about the Arkenstone. They knew. They knew it was Talia, they knew what she did. The question was, what were they thinking about her because of it?

None of the Dwarves attempted to approach her, but she did receive multiple stares as Gandalf led her down the halls. Talia breathed a sigh of relief when she escaped the sight of unfamiliar faces. She and Gandalf were in what looked like the Royal's Wing. It didn't appear to suffer from when Smaug attacked.

Talia heard footsteps coming from a nearby room, and she broke into a smile at who it was that came out. "Talia!" he exclaimed, and Bofur did not hesitate to run and engulf Talia into a hug. The young woman laughed in joy and relief at seeing him. "You're in one piece!" he exclaimed, bringing a laugh from Talia.

"Yeah, I mean, if anything, I gained an extra piece!" she joked, holding up her wooden crutch.

All the laughing and shouting had caught the attention of the rest of the company. They all came and greeted Talia with embraces and pats on the shoulder. She apologized profusely to Bofur and Bombur for the loss of Bifur, and to Dori and Ori for the loss of Nori. They shared a couple of tears together, but rubbed it off shortly after. They had already mourned, now all they could do was live for them like they would've wanted.

However, the smiles of her Dwarves were short-lived. Talia frowned. "How are they?" she dared to ask.

"Fili and Kili will recover with time. Fili suffered a severe concussion, while Kili may or may not be stuck with a lame leg for the rest of his life." Bofur said.

The Terran nodded. "Ok. So you're saying they'll recover. But that can't be why you boys are still frowning at me."

The Dwarves looked at each other. "Kili hasn't spoken since he was brought into the mountain. Apparently, some Elf maid died in front of him. We're all worried about him...Fili the most." Bofur elaborated. Talia felt a pang in her heart at that. Poor Kili. She knew that Tauriel meant...something special to him.

The young woman sighed. "Ok, let me try talking to them."

"You're sure?" Dori asked.

Talia gave a reassuring smile. "Yeah. I wanna see them." she said, and with that, Gandalf was left to dogsit as Bofur led her into the next bedroom.

Immediately, Fili's eyes were on the doorway, looking to see who was there. His eyes widened when he saw Talia's face. Fili was adjusted so he was sitting upright on the bed, while Kili was lying flat on his back with his eyes sealed shut on the other side. Talia gave a slight smile. "Hey." she whispered, not wanting to disturb Kili if he was sleeping.

Talia went towards Fili, who was smiling from ear to ear. Her smile widened. She should have known that it would take more than a concussion to keep the blonde prince from showing his cheerfulness. The young woman reached out to take his hand, and was pulled into Fili's chest the minute she touched him.

Fili held Talia tight. "I'm so glad you're here." he whispered, kissing her temple.

Talia chuckled. "So am I." she muffled into his chest. When Fili finally let go of her, Talia glanced at his brother on the other side of the bed. "Is he awake?" she had to ask.

Fili nodded. "I can't get him to talk. No one can." he said worriedly. The young woman went around the bed to Kili's side. She hoped that she could do something to help. She didn't want to see the two boys who had practically become her brothers completely lose themselves over the horrors of war.