Wayfarer of dawn

In which the board is shuffled

By the time Eleniel got back to the large townhall the company had partied in, it was empty. Tables were still overturned, and there was a foul smell of piss and mead in the air, but it was empty. A sigh left Eleniel's lips as she realised she ran late. And as Thorin had been rather agitated these past days, progressively so even, she doubted the Dwarves would be waiting around for her to catch up. Rushing back down the steps leading into the hall, Eleniel decided to make for the docks.

Pushing past person after person, Eleniel slowly made her way to the front of the rows and rows of people waiting in the harbour. The cheers and chants around her were deafening, causing her to put both hands over her sensitive ears. When the boat got into view, Eleniel could tell she was in trouble. Having already pushed off, the Dwarves in the boat were too enamoured by the people chanting their name to notice their Elven friend stranded on the docks. Mumbling some Elven curse words under her breath, Eleniel started moving her way along the wooden edge parallel to the boat's route.

"Dwalin!" Eleniel called out while dropping her hands to her mouth, hoping to add volume and direction to her shout.

"Dwalin, don't you dare leave me!" she called out again, pushing past the final group of people as she reached the edge of the platform she was running across. Again, getting no response from the gruff Dwarf, Eleniel cursed under her breath. She had called on him because he was the least likely to get his head stuck with the crowd, but even he seemed distracted. Accepting her fate, Eleniel started closing her quiver with the piece of fabric she treated to keep her arrows dry. And just as she was about to jump in, a hand landed on her shoulder.

"Eleniel," Fili's voice cut through the madness around them.

Whirling around, Eleniel faced the prince. "Fili, what are you doing here? Were you late too?"

"No," he replied as he looked back into the dispersing crowd. "Uncle denied Kili the journey, so I stayed with him. He's not right, the hit he took must've been worse than I thought..." he trailed off as his eyes flitted across the people.

"Where is he? And what hit?"

"He took a black arrow to the shoulder." Motioning for her to follow him, Fili started walking. "Just before we lost sight o' you actually."

"How bad is it?"

"See for yourself, he's right there."

Eleniel followed the direction of Fili's pointed finger and saw Kili, held up awkwardly by Oin. Eleniel gasped, seeing how pale Kili had become overnight. He looked, respectfully, like a dead Dwarf walking.

"Kili," she whispered as she stepped up to his left, "lean on me too. Let's get you back to Bard's place, you need medicine." The young Dwarf croaked out a response, though it was jumbled and hard to make sense of. "Oin, what do you think?" Eleniel asked the healer, opting to ignore Kili's croaks for now.

"Poison no doubt," Oin replied, "probably got pumped around overnight. But until I see the wound I can't know for sure what poison, or how to treat it."

"Well," Eleniel started as she sped up, "the Orcs here tend to use poison found in the Greenwood. I should be able to recognise it fairly easily. And considering we were in the heart of the forest when it happened..." she trailed off as she ran the possibilities through her head. "I'd bet we can slow it down with Athelas, regardless of the poison."

"Aye, Kingsfoil," Oin nodded and stopped as they got to the stairs in front of Bard's house. "I'll try to find some, get him inside." As Oin rushed back down the docks, Fili took his spot. Together, he and Eleniel lifted Kili up the stairs and to the front door.

"Take him," Eleniel said to Fili as she raised her hand to the door. Then, she knocked three times, rapidly. But there was no response. Fili balanced Kili against the wall, moving to Eleniel's side and knocking loudly. And again. And as he raised his hand again Eleniel caught the smallest movement of the curtain on their right.

"Bard! Let us in!"

"Da' says he's had enough dealings with Dwarves!" a young voice called back from the inside.

As Fili opened his mouth to shout back, Eleniel raised her hand. "Don't, Fili, let me handle this." Turning her attention back to the door, she spoke, "tell your father Kili is going to die on his doorstep if he doesn't let us in! And it will be his mess to deal with when Thorin becomes King!"

Not two minutes later, the door creaked open. "Well, get in then," the Bowman said harshly.

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On the boat, Bilbo sat awkwardly between Dwalin and Balin. The two Dwarves were locked in a hushed discussion, since Dwalin was of the opinion they left one of their strongest fighters behind.

"Mahal brother, I don't like the situation either, but keep your voice down," Balin whisper-yelled at Dwalin.

"Leaving the Elf is goin' to bite us in the arse, we need her skill."

"Leaving Fili and Kili behind is no better," Bilbo quipped in softly, unable to shut himself up in time. Both Dwarves looked down at him immediately, one glaring and one in understanding.

"And Oin," Balin added.

"Aye, Fili and Oin would have been nice to have here too, but Kili couldn't have helped us in the state he was in." Balin nodded at his brother's words, before looking back down at Bilbo.

"We shouldn't have left anyone behind."

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On the borders of Mirkwood, Legolas slowly approached Tauriel. Having followed her from the gates, his heart was troubled with what her coming here might mean for them both. Knowing that the red-headed guard had a streak of rebellion when it came to his father's orders did nothing to ease his panic either.

"Tauriel," he spoke as he stepped onto the rock.

"Legolas," she replied softly, staring ahead still.

"Why are you here, at the border of our kingdom?"

"We cannot stay inside the forest and watch the world around us suffer while we do nothing. It is not right."

"And what will you do? You are but one Elf."

"I will do what I can, what we should all do."

"Funny, I knew someone that thought like you. She was a guard here too, for a long time."

"What happened to her?"

"The same type of thinking got her banished. But she found her way back, with some of the Dwarves she believed we should have aided, like she tried to do that day."

"The Elf girl that your father had locked away with the Dwarves?"

"Yes, Eleniel and you are much alike."

"Will you stop me then? Or will you let me go, like you let her go when they escaped?"

"I have let people go too often."

"Legolas -" Tauriel turned to argue with the Elven prince.

"I will join you. I will do my share in this world."

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I finally got around to updating this story again. Due to COVID, I decided to get back into writing. However, I have been mostly focused on writing my book. I'll try to keep a more steady upload schedule for this story from now on, but I wouldn't go as far as to say that you can expect an upload every few days. It'll be more in the trend of weekly updates, or maybe bi-weekly. However, this story is fast approaching it's end! What do you think will happen? Who do you think will be a part of the story going forward? Let me know what you think in the comments please, and thank you for reading!