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Valadhiel, after having lost all awareness as to where she was or what was going on, looked up just in time to see Thorin being thrown again, this time, his sword flying out of his hand. Reality came rushing back to her mind, and despair flooded her senses again, but she tried to keep it from crushing her like it had only moments ago. When she heard Azog command another orc to bring him the dwarf's head, her eyes widened once more, and her heart pounded so hard that she thought it might burst right out of her chest.

She struggled to her feet, though she ended up falling once more, and even almost fell off of the tree, so she reached up and clung onto a sturdy branch. She glared at the tree, then she used all her might to pull herself out of it. She looked up just in time to see Bilbo stab and kill an orc, standing in front of Thorin now. After the Pale Orc spoke, telling them to kill him, a couple of wargs and riders made their way to him.

All fear left Valadhiel in that moment, and her yellow eyes flashed an angry red before she felt a sudden surge of strength and energy. She shifted into her leopard form again, ran across the tree trunk, and leaped onto one of the wargs with a rider on it, knocking the rider off and causing the warg to yelp.

Fili, Kili, and Dwalin joined Valadhiel, having had managed to get out of the tree. Fili and Kili were not about to let their uncle or their halfling friend die by the hands of these orcs and wargs. They wouldn't let these two die by anyone's hand!

Valadhiel finished off the orc that had been atop the warg, but she was currently struggling with the warg at the moment. She got distracted when Bilbo was flung back and left to Azog's mercy, and her eyes widened. She looked back at the warg on top of her before she kicked it off, then swiped her claws across its face.

The warg drew back, snarling and growling, though it suddenly stopped and cowered back after looking at the sky. Valadhiel looked up and spotted several large eagles. A sense of relief washed over her, and after she watched to make sure they got Bilbo, the dwarves, and Thorin, she shifted into her elven form and allowed one of the eagles to pick her up. The eagles had dragged some wargs off of the cliff and dropped them below, same for some of the orcs.

The eagle let Valadhiel go, startling her, though she relaxed when she realized she was about to land on another eagle below her. Once she was on the other eagle, she relaxed completely and sat there in its feathers, panting a little. Now that the battle was over, she realized how worn out she felt and how much she ached.

"Thorin!"

Valadhiel looked over at Fili when he called worriedly, then she looked over at Thorin and took on a worried expression, a knot forming in the pit of her stomach. "Thorin, please be okay." She whispered. He had been worried about her, but he was now the one unconscious and possibly at the brink of death.

Once they had landed, she got down from the eagle and rushed to where one eagle had set Thorin. She then looked over when Gandalf came running before she made room for him.

"Thorin!" Gandalf said, kneeling next to the unconscious dwarf. "Thorin."

"Can you help him, Gandalf?" Valadhiel asked, looking at the wizard next to her, taking one of Thorin's hands into both of her hands.

Gandalf, in response to Valadhiel's question, placed a hand on Thorin's face and began whispering. He removed his hand after the dwarf gasped for air, his eyes fluttering open.

"The halfling?" Thorin asked weakly. He knew that Valadhiel was safe, but he remembered Bilbo coming to his aid before he had completely passed out.

"It's all right. Bilbo is here." Gandalf answered. "He's quite safe."

Valadhiel stood up after Thorin began speaking, forcing back tears of relief, and she glanced around as the other dwarves began to surround Thorin. She watched as Dwalin and Kili helped him up, but he shrugged them off once he was up and approached Bilbo. She furrowed her brow, hoping the dwarf didn't do anything to make her even angrier with him.

"You!" Thorin said to Bilbo angrily. "What were you doing? You nearly got yourself killed! Did I not say that you would be a burden? That you would not survive in the wild and that you had no place amongst us?"

Everyone remained silent, as if not believing what they were hearing after Thorin had not only nearly gotten himself killed, but also not being able to believe he'd be so harsh to someone who had just saved his skin. Valadhiel was about to get worked up, but she then furrowed her brow. She didn't really sense anger in him. There was something else.

Thorin's expression suddenly softened and he unexpectedly pulled Bilbo into a hug. "I have never been so wrong in all of my life."

Valadhiel smiled widely, Gandalf smiled, and the other dwarves cheered gladly. Finally, Thorin had accepted their halfling.

Thorin pulled back from the hug after a moment and looked at Bilbo. "I am sorry I doubted you."

"No, I would have doubted me, too." Bilbo told him with a small smile. "I'm not a hero or a warrior... or even a burglar."

As the others chuckled, Valadhiel watched as the eagles flew away. She mentally thanked them all and continued to watch until they were all out of sight. A different bird flew over to her after a moment, landed on a rock, and chirped at her.

"I doubt you need to fear any of us." Valadhiel told the little bird, reaching out and gently stroking its feathers with two fingers. "You would be too little to serve as food for us."

The bird chirped again, then leaned into the elf's touch when she began to stroke it, then chirped once more before it backed away and spread its wings.

"See you later, then." Valadhiel called out to the bird as it took off, then she looked at the dwarves when she realized they were giving her funny looks, then she smiled sheepishly. "I... I never mentioned that I am able to communicate with animals, did I?"

"No, lass." Bofur replied, giving her a tone and look of feign disappointment. "You never did."

Valadhiel laughed with the dwarves before she looked out into the distance, seeing a lone mountain. She smiled even more when she saw it. Finally, they were getting somewhere!

"Is that what I think it is?" Bilbo asked, walking forward and standing next to Valadhiel.

"Erebor. The Lonely Mountain." Gandalf replied to confirm what Bilbo had already guessed. "The last of the great Dwarf Kingdoms of Middle-Earth."

"Our home." Thorin said, gazing at the mountain.

Valadhiel smiled at Thorin after he spoke, able to detect the emotion in his voice. She looked ahead at it, then her smile faded somewhat. She wondered what she would do after an adventure such as this. Sure, she'd always been on the move, and she'd always been doing quests, and she'd been on dangerous, life threatening missions before. But this quest felt different, somehow. This time, she wasn't alone. The entire quest had been spent with these dwarves and Bilbo. After this, how could things ever go back to the way they were before? There was only one answer that rang true in her mind: it couldn't.

"A raven!" Oin exclaimed as a bird flew by, heading for the mountain. "The birds are returning to the mountain."

"That, my dear Oin, is a thrush." Gandalf corrected him, beating Valadhiel, who had just opened her mouth to speak.

"But we'll take that as a sign. A good omen." Thorin said.

"You're right." Bilbo said, still gazing out at the mountain. "I do believe the worst is behind us."

Valadhiel looked at Bilbo, then out at the mountain once more. Despite what Bilbo had just said, she had a feeling that the worst hadn't even come yet, and she couldn't shake the feeling away. Hopefully she was only being paranoid about what they could face when they reached the mountain.

~<3~<3~<3~

It was now dark. The Company and Gandalf had chosen to stay at the Carrock where the eagles had left them for the night before they continued to move on, especially so Valadhiel and all others who were injured could heal. Gandalf hadn't yet told them, but he planned to take them to the house of one named Beorn. He had a feeling that Valadhiel would be very interested in this individual when she learned a few things about him.

Most of the others were asleep by this time, though some of the others were still awake. some with eyes closed, some with eyes open. Valadhiel stared off into the distance as she sat by a fire, leaning against a wall of rock, no longer a bloody mess. They had all managed to find a stream to clean up at, so had gotten as clean as they could manage. She gave a small sigh after a moment before she looked down at her feet, then she looked up when she heard someone approach her, and she smiled when she saw Thorin.

"How are you feeling?" Thorin asked, shedding his coat and draping it over Valadhiel's shoulders. Her shirt had only gotten ripped up more since the battle, most of it being torn on her back and, of course, where it had been torn so the cloth could be used for a bandage. The missing part of the shirt exposed her toned, slender, smooth belly, the torn cloth just above the bellybutton.

"A little better thanks to Gandalf." Valadhiel replied with a smile. "My foot doesn't hurt anymore, the pain in my leg only feels like a bruise, and I can already feel my wing on the mend. Gandalf drove the poison out of me, so all I need to do is rest, eat, and drink to build some energy back up. How are you feeling?"

"Tired." Thorin replied, taking a seat next to Valadhiel as he watched the crackling flames.

Valadhiel chuckled in amusement. "Then why aren't you sleeping?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

Valadhiel looked at Thorin, then she looked at the fire once more when she felt herself blushing. She then smiled. "Well, I can't say that I mind that."

Thorin looked at her, and after a moment, his attention was directed to her scars. After she noticed and reached up to touch one, hiding it with her hand, he gently took her hand and pulled it away from her scar. "I hope you aren't ashamed of those."

Valadhiel bit her lower lip, glanced down, then looked at Thorin again. "I used to be, though I have pretty much accepted them as a part of me now. They are reminders that I am a survivor, I suppose."

"That's good." Thorin replied, then he hesitated before he continued. "Because... I think they make you look even stronger, and... even more beautiful. You're the perfect image of a warrior."

Valadhiel's heart skipped a beat when he called her beautiful, and she looked at him once more, gazing into his blue eyes. "You... you think so?" She asked, partially because it was all she could think of to say.

Thorin smiled at her. "I do."

Balin, Bofur, Bilbo, Kili, and Fili, who were all lying not too far from each other, all looked around at each other with smirks and grins before they all subtly looked back at Valadhiel and Thorin, watching to see what would happen next.

Valadhiel bit her lower lip when he smiled before giving him an almost shy smile of her own. "Has anyone ever told you that you have a very handsome smile?"

Thorin rolled his eyes upward in thought before he shook his head, looking at her again. "Not really."

Valadhiel blinked. "Seriously? Are dwarf women blind?"

Thorin chuckled. "Not at all. They simply like the dwarves with manly beards, not feminine beards."

Valadhiel raised a brow, then she shook her head and, before she even knew it, she had reached her hand out and gently stroked Thorin's cheek. "I still say that dwarf women are blind, Master Thorin."

Thorin felt himself blush, and he smiled at her before placing his hand over hers. "I could say the same about elvish men."

Valadhiel chuckled, though not in an amused sort of way. "I don't think any man would appreciate a female warrior, no matter the race."

"No one in the Company dislikes you for being a female warrior." Thorin told her, then he scooted just a little closer to her. "I think being a warrior suits you. Don't let anyone tell you it's unattractive for a woman, because it is just the opposite."

Valadhiel smiled at him, then she looked up at the starlight sky again before she spoke once more. "Thorin. Please promise me that you won't rush out to fight Azog like that again. Promise me that you won't get yourself killed." After she spoke in that whisper, she looked at him again, her eyes filled with fear. It was an emotion she didn't often show. Not even when she was alone.

Thorin looked into Valadhiel's eyes when she spoke in a whisper, and he gently squeezed her hand when he saw the fear in her eyes. Even he had to admit that what he'd done had been foolish. "I won't get myself killed, Vala. I promise."

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