The birds were chirping loudly in the bright sunlight when I woke up- and realization slapped me across the face. I had fallen asleep on my watch!

Frantically, I sprung up as fast as my stiff legs would let me. I couldn't suppress a sigh of relief when I counted all 13 dwarves. But I suddenly became aware of raised voices, one of which I recognized as Ithilwen.

"Well, we wouldn't have locked you up if you hadn't come here in the first place!" She shouted, putting more bitterness in her voice than I had thought to be possible.

When I reached the scene, one of the dwarves- Thorin, their leader, as Kili had told me- was apparently trying to murder Ithilwen with his glare, a favor that she was quite effectively returning.

I grimaced inwardly. Ithilwen was going to be in the same area as a large group of dwarves for a while... There was no possible way that this could end well.

She lifted a hand in greeting as I walked by, not dropping her glare for an instant. Her eyes were blazing, yet at the same time were colder than ice.

"Thilla, please try not to murder too many of them..." I begged.

"Ha! Hear that, elf? She says not to kill us!" Thorin said with a hint of triumph.

"She said not to kill too many of you." Ithilwen smirked. "That means I have the right to kill some of you. I think you'd be a good one to start with, I'm sure Thranduil wouldn't mind" The look in her eyes was a mix of satisfaction and victory.

"Go easy on that one over there" I quickly said in Elvish, motioning to Kili. The dwarves, much to Ithilwen's amusement, seemed quite angry at their inability to understand me.

"Trying to confuse us, elf?" Thorin spat, before muttering something that I couldn't make out.

However, Ithilwen fell to the ground, laughing.

"And exactly what do you find so funny?" Thorin asked, clearly not amused.

"I...I was taught...a few...Dwarvish curses...when I was younger..." Ithilwen said between breaths. She proceeded to casually reply to Thorin in Dwarvish. A hint of shock passed across Thorin's face before it was replaced with his usual glare.

Ithilwen gave me a huge, almost childish grin, giving me the feeling that I probably didn't want her to translate the conversation for me. I sighed inwardly, knowing that I would have to leave Ithilwen alone with the dwarves. But before I left, I walked over to Kili's cell.

"Make sure she doesn't kill anyone" I told him, while Ithilwen gave me her seemingly innocent would-I-do-something-like-that look.

"I'll try, she looks like a feisty one" Kili smiled. I smiled back, trying desperately to stop the blush that had decided to intrude upon my cheeks.

***

As soon as I was out of the dungeons, an idea hit me. I rushed to my room, grabbing a piece of paper. I quickly scribbled down a few things, and ran back out.

But before I could reach my destination, Tauriel came up to me, her eyes ablaze. Grabbing ahold of my arm, she dragged me into the forest.

Finally, she came to a stop. "Meriel, I need to tell you something." Her voice was more serious than I had ever heard it.

But I was in no way prepared for what she said next.