I hadn't meant to be captured by trolls. I don't think anyone just means to be kidnapped either, though, so I guess that's a weird way of saying 'I walked out into the woods and got grabbed by some nasty looking thing that wants to eat me.' One moment I remember being hit across the head -the best guess that I have is that the troll that grabbed me flicked me (why the hell he decided to do that, I don't know) to knock me unconscious- and then I was waking up with this ugly face only centimeters from mine, claiming that I was a very pretty little person.

You tell me what you would do if that happened to you and you were the one who could somehow freeze things.

The first thing I did was kick my foot up and hit the thing right underneath its left eye. The second that my foot had collided with its face, ice had literally exploded just from contact. All the troll did for minutes was sit there and just sob. I smirked until the one with the apron had decided that he hadn't liked my face and decided to slap me. And good grief did that hurt; my head was already hurting from that other troll and this one made my jaw snap shut it was so hard. My left eye hadn't began to turn colors yet and the side of my face felt a little off. I was probably trying to swell.

What was even worse than that was the fact that they had tied me to a fence post near the fire. They probably hadn't meant too -their conversations made me think that they weren't the brightest of their kind out there- but I was definitely paying for it. I was fine, but whatever caused me to have my ice powers (or whatever) did not like the heat. My arms and legs were practically frozen and underneath my knees was a growing circle of ice. It wasn't thick, more like snow, but the little particles sparkled in the dancing light of the fire.

When Elyse had appeared out of nowhere, I almost felt like singing. I had spent about the last half hour struggling to wiggle my wrists out of the ropes and they felt so raw, I think that I might have scraped off at least half of the skin that had used to be on them. Seeing her had reminded me of Lammy, who I had no clue where he was at the moment. When Bilbo had arrived behind her, I had wanted to give him a hug so badly. He could have gotten us out of there if he hadn't gotten caught. It was even better when the Company came and then Sydnee had managed to get caught -which had resulted Elyse shifting back to her human form because she had gotten so frightened that her emotions had caused her to change- and they had to stop before she was pulled apart. After that, the trolls had stripped the dwarves of all of their clothes but their long johns (that's what my dad used to call them; and, yes, he has a bright red pair) and either shove them into a bag like they did Sydnee or put them on roasting spit.

Did anyone like my recap on the current events? Maybe? Probably not; you probably got bored. I was doing it mostly so I wouldn't have to talk about Thorin.

Because Sydnee had been thrown over into the pile and Thorin was being a stubborn... donkey, he had been the last of the dwarves. And, instead of throwing him far away from me, they had just simply chucked him. And guess where he lands?

Pretty much onto me.

"Oh God, you're heavy!" I grumbled as he managed to finally roll off me and onto the ground, mumbling as well. "Like seriously man, you need to lose some pounds!" I glared at him, returning his icy blue one as he struggled to get out of the path of the excited trolls.

"I'm sure that you're the same way," he grunted in annoyance.

"Did you just call me fat?"

I heard Thorin sigh and he managed to get himself turned so the trolls couldn't step on him. He looked absolutely ridiculous; in every attempt not to touch me, he had hunched his shoulders and was practically straining himself so he could keep his head from off of my leg. I couldn't help but to roll my eyes at him in slight annoyance. He could at least make it a little less noticeable.

"Look, Thorin, I'm not poisonous to the touch. You can lean back on me if you want too if you're tired."

The glare I received caused me to roll my eyes again. "I am not tired."

"Suit yourself then," I said with a shrug, turning my head away from him and snorting. "It's not my fault that you guys got caught and are now being humiliated by three stupid trolls."

"At least I didn't wander off on my own," Thorin snapped back at me. "If you had stayed at the camp, none of this would have happened."

"Oh? So it's my fault now?" I hissed. "Just between me and you, these trolls already knew that we were there! They were already taking ponies by the time that they found me! Besides, if you weren't so-so freakin' ass stubborn then I wouldn't have 'wandered' off, as you put it."

Thorin grunted, finally giving up. His head fell onto my thigh and he made himself comfortable, refusing to look at me. Something fluttered in my chest and my stomach clenched. "I was not being stubborn. You were the one being stubborn."

"You called me useless, Thorin. I think I have every right to be stubborn in that case."

I turned my head away from him, not interested in anything else that he might have to say to me. For a few minutes, the only noise between us was the other dwarves complaining over the fire or the trolls debating the best way to cook our friends. There was a part of me, a small, much more softer version of me, that was giggling at the fact that Thorin had his head on my leg. And he looked strangely comfortable now too. He looked relaxed almost, like he knew that something was going to happen but he wasn't too worried about it. He was aware of everything -his eyes would flicker over to the trolls whenever they got too close for his liking- but otherwise, he just leaned against me and stayed. If anything, our proximity was almost natural.

"Winifred..." he began and then became silent again. I looked at him and blinked when I found that he had tilted his head up so he could peer at me. He gazed at me for a few seconds before sighing again. "I need to apologize about that. I should not have said it. You... you are not useless."

I sat there for a moment, trying to comprehend what he had just said. "Did you just say that you were sorry?"

The King-in-Exile frowned, grumbling to himself as he shifted closer to me in an attempt to make sure that he wasn't looking at me anymore. His kingly pride wouldn't allow me that much satisfaction. "Yes. I did."

"You apologized," I said in surprise.

His blue eyes rolled and he settled down against me again. "It is not like I never apologize or admit that I'm wrong," he huffed and I couldn't help but to snort in disagreement. "What we need to do is to get out of here before anyone of us gets ate."

"Thank you for stating the obvious," I couldn't help but reply, still slightly annoyed at him. While he snorted and then shifted his shoulders once or twice against me, I suddenly had an idea. I thought about it for a moment before smiling and moving Thorin's head a little to get his attention. "I have an idea," I whispered when he looked back up at me.

"You do?" If I didn't know any better, there was a glint in Thorin's eyes that looked somewhat like respect. "What is it?"

"It's a little hard to explain. You're just going to have to trust me."

Thorin stared at me for a moment. I took a deep breath; would he even believe in me? There really hasn't been anything that I've done that's been that impressive. I've tripped over countless of rocks, I fell once into a thorn bush and Oin had me rub healing lotion on my arms for a few days, I've slipped up near another river and tumbled headfirst in, and I even slipped off the side of a small cliff to land at the bottom unharmed, cursing and spluttering as I picked pieces of brush off me. I don't even think that Fili and Kili were that much trouble and they were the ones who would grab Elyse and Sydnee and pull them up into a tree so they could point out the sunset. If they tried that with me, which they did try at least once, I would fall right out. Thorin knew that I was clumsy and I could see in his eyes that he was debating listening to me.

"Alright. Just don't get any of us killed," he added as an after thought when he saw me beam.

Pushing my back flat against the fence post, I had Thorin move his head and began working myself up until I was on my feet. I was too short to somehow shimmy my arms up and over the fence post -besides, aren't you supposed to like pop your arms out of place when you do that? Licking my lips, I jerked my head at a confused Thorin, who was still on the ground and looking up at me with a frown. "Get yourself over here and I'm going to get that bag off you."

"How do you plan on doing that?" He grunted as managed to wiggle himself up into a sitting position, placing his back against my knees. The trolls had yet to notice and I could tell that he was nervous about them spotting us.

"Shut up, worm," I couldn't help but to grumble and he snorted in response.

I have small feet. Really small feet and small hands to match. The trolls hadn't been smart enough to tie my ankles together. I bit my bottom lip in concentration as I lifted my leg and worked my foot into his bag, accidentally knocking Thorin down at the same time. He cursed in a different language, shooting me a quick glare, and I poked him a little in shoulder with the toe of my boot. I bet this looked so strange if anyone saw us. "Sh. You're gonna tell the trolls what we're doing!"

"I still don't know what you're doing!" he whispered back. He had managed to roll over onto his back and had sat up, allowing my foot to get at least to his roped hands. I moved my foot a little to the side -the one where I knew that his sword was at- and smiled when I felt the handle of it.

Thorin grunted when he realized what I was doing. I yanked my foot upward, popping most of the sword out with a small noise. The King tilted his head back, mumbling for me to stop, and I watched him get his hands about his sword as I pulled my leg out of his bag, smiling a little as I turned my head toward the rest of the Company that were in bags. Out of the pile of dwarves, I could see a miserable Sydnee in the center of them, her head sticking out as she grumbled. Oin, Gloin, and Bombur at least looked somewhat okay; Fili was laying on his stomach on the ground and was grumbling under his breath as he moved the arm that he must have injured earlier. Kili was giving us a strange look and, the second our eyes met, he wiggled his eyebrows and smiled brightly, his eyes flickering between Thorin and I as the dwarf King worked the rest of his sword out of its scabbard. "You say anything," I mouthed at the brunette dwarf prince with a frown as he smirked. "Get Bilbo for me."

Kili nodded and then nudged the hobbit, gesturing with his head toward Thorin and I. When the hobbit looked at us, completely frightened, I jerked my head toward the trolls. "Distract them," I hissed.

"What? Me?" He seemed surprise.

"Yes! Anything works, just do something!" When he continued to give me a blank look, I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Talk to them!"

Bilbo's nose twitched and he sat there for a few minutes. I didn't think that he was going to do anything, but then he managed to stand to his feet, looking up at the three trolls and squeaked out, "Wait!"

The three trolls turned to him, giving him strange looks. The one that was spinning the spit literally froze, staring at him. I felt Thorin nudge me in the knee; when he had scooted back close to me, I wasn't sure of. "Is this going to work?" he asked.

"I trust Bilbo."

He obviously didn't miss how I skipped his question and grunted. I bit my lip, praying that Bilbo would come up with something. He shook for a moment, clearly scared, before clearing his throat and standing slightly straighter. "You are making a terrible mistake," he said finally, voice shaking.

"You can't reason with them!" Dori called out from the spit, sweat on his face. "They're half-wits!"

"Half-wits? What does that make us?" Bofur called out. It was hard to even look at them; they had been literally tied up with they're hands holding onto the dwarf's feet in front of them and arm to arm with one besides them. I would definitely have to think about teasing them later on about that.

"I-I...." Bilbo trailed off, glancing back at me. I nodded encouragingly. "I meant with the, uh, with the seasoning."

"What about the seasoning?" the troll with the apron asked.

I toned out of the conversation as Thorin nudged me again, this time with having managed to get the handle to the sword and his hands out of his bag. His head titled and we exchanged eye contact. I took my foot and placed it on the edge of the bag, pulling down the rest of it, to free his hands and the sword. A calloused hand found my foot and he pulled himself up even closer to me, me helping him slightly. Once he was close enough, he turned his head again to us. "Sit down so I can get to your hands," he murmured.

Plopping down, I turned as far as I could go to expose my hands. Thorin felt around for the closest of my hands for a moment before grasping it, pulling it as close as he could toward him. While he worked on bringing his sword around, I turned back to where Bilbo was doing his best to distract the trolls. Of course I arrived to the part where the little hobbit yelled out about skinning them.

Elyse made a strange noise from the spit in anger, like a roar almost. The other dwarves were spatting out curse words and threats from their positions. Fili looked like a squirming snake by the way that he was throwing himself around on the ground. At that point even the trolls start bickering amongst themselves about eating dwarves with clothes and skin on. My nose crinkled in disgust as I listened to them fight. A sharp pain, almost like someone had pinched me, shot up through me and I kicked at Thorin.

"What did you do that for?" he grumped, shooting me a glare. I didn't realize how close that we were until now. Our shoulders were rubbing up against each other and only a few inches separated our faces.

"You poked me in the butt with your sword!" I hissed.

"Oh." Thorin's face flushed a little and he looked away, leaning a bit more into the fence post as he angled his sword to cut through the ropes on my hands. The pressure on my wrists disappeared and I immediately pulled them around as I sighed in relief and yanked off the ropes dangling on them. "Your wrists look awful. Are you alright?" he muttered almost against my ear as I rubbed at them, biting my bottom lip as I examined the torn skin.

"I'm fine," I spluttered, my tongue heavy. They were bleeding badly and stung when my fingers even brushed near the skin.

"Those do not look 'fine,'" he growled. "Now get these ropes off of me."

As the sword was placed into my hands, I happened to look up with a soft sigh in time to see a blue wizard hat disappearing into some bushes over a ridge near us. I smiled, grabbing at the sleeves to Thorin's long johns and pulling on them. "Gandalf's here!" I exclaimed softly.

"It's about time."

Suddenly, William, the troll with the vest, scooped Bombur up to hold him in the air like he was about to eat him. A soft cry uttered from my lips in surprise and Sydnee shouted out something. It was Bilbo's quick thinking, however, that saved Bombur. "No! Not that one! He's infected!" the little hobbit shouted out, causing William to give him a shocked look.

"You what?" called out the burlier of the trolls, Tom, from the spit.

"He's got worms in his..." Bilbo paused, struggling to come up with something that sounded at least somewhat correct. "Tubes," he finished, giving a small smile afterwards.

William jumped a little, dropping Bombur back onto the pile. For a moment, I thought that he had crushed Sydnee and instead giggled when I saw that it was Oin and Kili that the fat dwarf had landed on, both of them complaining and kicking at Bombur as he settled into place between them. Sydnee's head was sticking up, her face twisted in concern.

"In fact," Bilbo stated with a matter-of-fact tone. "They all have it. They're all infested with parasites. It's a terrible business; I wouldn't risk it. I really wouldn't."

The dwarves once again burst out into threats and disagreement. Bilbo rolled his eyes dramatically, hoping that the dwarves would understand as the trolls gazed at them in confusion. Sydnee must have known what was going on; what I was guessing as her foot came flying in the air to kick Kili across the back of the head. The brunette Prince stared at her. He then seemed to pick up on Bilbo's plan about the same time that Sydnee nailed Oin between his shoulder blades. The healer and Kili exchanged a glance.

Somewhat unsure, Oin began first as I tried not to laugh. "I've got parasites as big as my arm."

While the rest of the dwarves began rabbling about their own imaginary (hopefully) parasites, I couldn't help but to giggle after I had heard Kili roar out about huge his parasites were. Leaning back against Thorin's shoulder and firmly gripping his hands to get his attention, I couldn't but to ask, "So, do you have parasites?"

He huffed. "Of course not."

I grunted as I finally managed to cut through the ropes on his hands. He grunted as he yanked the broken ropes into his lap, rubbing the feeling back into his wrists before he took his sword from me. His eyes narrowed at the trolls, his hand wrapping about my forearm as I felt his breath near my ear. My breath caught against my will. "Should we proceed or should we wait for Gandalf?"

A small part of me, the part that still whispered that I was not a leader, wanted to know why Thorin wanted my opinion. My word shouldn't matter to him. He had definitely let me know of what he thought of my opinion; below his feet in value and a person who should listen to him. So why was he asking me now? It didn't make sense. The other part of me squirmed with delight; Thorin was acknowledging me. He was talking to me. That part of me was acting like a little school girl in comparison to the other, seemly more matured side. I couldn't act like this -Gandalf had been right about me aging some when we had traveled over from Earth to Middle-Earth in some way. The aches and pains that I had when I was younger were normally always sore and, when I injured myself now, the new wounds seemed to hurt just a little bit more. I was older and that meant that I was supposed to be more grown up. I should be able to make my own choices, know my own feelings. Thorin seemed to always throw them out of whack though. I never seem to know what I'm thinking now, never exactly positive on what my heart and my mind spoke. He was confusing me. And I wasn't sure if I liked that.

"Waiting for Gandalf seems to be a little safer than the trolls seeing us, I suppose," I whisper back toward him, glancing at the trolls. "I think if we tried anything that they-"

"'Ey! Watacha you two doin' over there?"

A foot landed only feet in front of me, causing a startled gasp out of me. I spluttered, unsure of what to do, but the hand that Thorin had on my arm tightened as he suddenly yanked me to my feet. The troll released a roar, lunging forward to catch us and I instinctively raised my hands as Thorin's sword lifted out of the corner of my vision. Ice, blue and bright, shot from my fingers almost instantly. Bert, the troll I think that was attacking us, screeched as the spike of ice that I had suddenly created slammed into the side of his face, shattering on contact and spraying the fire and the dwarves on the spit with its remains. Thorin was still pulling me along into safety as I stumbled back, only causing me to land in his arms as he spun me around behind him. As the other two trolls caught wind of what was happening, Gandalf was shouting something and light was filtering into the little area.

Screams from the trolls came as the sun rises' light landed on them. Their movements became slower, more bulkier, and their skin turned from the already ugly shade that it was to a darker hue. Stone-like characteristics lingered upon the trolls as their movements finally slowed and froze. Their mouths were opened wide, two of them with their eyes screwed shut as their hands lifted to cover their faces. The one that I had accidentally shot with my ice was in mid-fall, his arm reaching out to catch himself.

Still petrified, I slowly leaned out from behind Thorin, biting my bottom lip as he relaxed in front of me. My eyes drifted from the trolls to the wizard that was standing proudly upon his rock as he gazed down to make sure that we were okay. When he saw me, Gandalf's aged face stretched into a grin. He waved at us, by which Thorin respond with a relieved sigh and I returned the gesture with a tiny flick of my wrist. Sydnee giggled in the background; Oin had just tripped and managed to fall flat upon his face. I allowed my gaze to look further and I saw a pure white wolf struggling to get free of her ropes. The other dwarves were shouting and squealing as the spit swayed -right above the fire too that was still blazing- and eventually they crashed into a pile on the side. Thorin and I both remained where we were, watching as a Elyse's white head popped clean of the wreckage of dwarves, her ears pinning flat back against her head.

So... I thought that would work. She gave us a wolfish grin and Thorin face-palmed.

oOoOoOo

"I say," I commented as I collected Balin's empty bowl, "is that we stay here for at least a day and rest up."

Thorin's face scowled along with Dwalin's as Gandalf, who was sitting nearby on a log, nodded. "A day of rest would give us time to recollect ourselves and give the rest of us time to prepare for the journey ahead," the wizard said as he bowed his head. "Let us hunt for more game and allow Winifred, Sydnee, and Elyse to practice with their weapons."

"Staying would only keep us longer from Erebor," Thorin commented with a growl.

We were arguing over staying for the night or leaving. With the trolls having been eliminated from the situation and Lammy having been found after searching for only an hour, the area was pretty safe besides from a few wolves that Elyse had scared off with a huge howl. From the way that the other dwarves were acting, they were more than pleased by staying the few hours that we already had here. As it was, Bofur was teaching Sydnee a song while Fili shot jealous glances at them and Kili had Elyse up with him, showing her some traditional dwarven dance. The others that weren't engaged with our debate -pretty much everyone but Balin, Thorin, Dwalin, Gandalf, and me- were clapping a beat to the song that Bofur and Sydnee were perfectly singing with harmonized voices, part of which was the siren's part since Gandalf said that, when singing, she could create different pitches and once she had based her voice off of Bofur's, she could perfectly harmonize with his voice. Even Bilbo was over there, clapping and cheering Elyse on as Kili swirled her a few times, making her laugh uproariously when he commented on something.

"However, an unrested group would only take us longer to get there, Thorin," Balin spoke up, frowning as his head tilted to the side. "As much as I would like to get there as quickly as possible, some of us are not fit to travel such distances."

"He's sayin' that he's gotten old," Dwalin smirked.

Thorin sighed, running his hands through his black hair, and I placed a hand on his shoulder as I walked by to try and comfort him. He seemed to relax and I didn't miss the exchanged glances and silly little grins that the three older men that were with us shared. "If we must rest, then we shall. There is no point exhausting ourselves when we are not even merely halfway there," the dwarf King sighed.

"Just how far do we have to go?" I asked quietly.

"A fair ways, I am afraid," Gandalf spoke up. "This is no small journey. On horseback, it shall take possibly two months, without counting the possibilities of the conditions that we might encounter."

"Which makes even more sense that we leave now," Dwalin scowled as I rolled my eyes and placed the dishes into the slowly growing pile. "If we sit here, it'll take us even longer ta get there. I don't want to be on my deathbed by the time we get just to the Misty Mountains."

Balin snorted. "Patience brother."

"In the mean time," I said with a smile. "We could at least sleep. Napping all day doesn't sound that bad, if you ask me."

Dwalin scowled again as Gandalf left us, joining the others as they clapped and cheered. Elyse and Kili had stopped dancing as soon as Bofur and Sydnee had stopped singing. It looked like they were going to possibly start singing another song as Bofur and Sydnee had their heads together, Bofur tapping a small beat on his hand as Sydnee nodded all serious-like. I wasn't itching to join them; my eye was swollen from where the troll had slapped me earlier and I was having some trouble seeing through it so I wasn't sure if I could even dance besides from not knowing how to in the first place. Oin had given me a lotion to rub on it, but so far I hadn't noticed a difference yet.

I couldn't help but to feel Thorin's gaze on me as lowered myself carefully onto space beside him on the log. "Are you alright?" he asked me, eyes narrowed accusingly as they flickered to my newly bandaged wrists.

"I'm just wonderful," I muttered under my breath, catching the smirking gazes of both Balin and Dwalin. Scrunching my nose up at them, I stuck my tongue out and then crossed my arms across my chest, snuggling into the softness of my jacket. "Just a tad bit stiff."

"Stiff? Why would you be stiff?"

Biting my lower lip, I avoided his intense gaze. "I'm just weird like this. I get used to a certain thing for a few days, like walking a lot and things, and the last few days have just been catching up with me is all. I can just sleep it off or jerk it out on the dance floor later," I joked, gesturing to where Kili and Elyse were now holding hands, doing some dance. "I'm fine though. It happens all the time." I didn't mention to him that it was because I was older here than when I was back on Earth.

A frown was pulling at Thorin's face and Dwalin suddenly snickered. When he locked eyes with me and his face literally just grew with this huge grin, I couldn't help but to frown at him. What was that dwarf planning? I had learned quickly that for a big, old, burly warrior dwarf, Dwalin was pretty good at catching onto things and spinning them into neat, little plans that succeeded more than half of the time. Basically they were quick and cunning lies; half the time I couldn't tell when he was teasing me or being serious. This time though, I could tell that he had something shoved up his sleeves. There was a small sparkle in his eye.

"If ya want to loosen up on the dance floor, I'll gladly 'elp ya," he said rather loudly, reaching a hand out toward me as he stood. When I just simply stared at his hand, raising an eyebrow and giving him an are-you-serious look, he smiled evilly. "Lads! The Queen's comin' ta dance wit' ya!"

"You are such an-!" I started to say.

A cheer rose up from the other dwarves, calling out for me to join them. Elyse and Sydnee both waved me over, Kili adding in his best puppy face that caused me to roll my eyes. I looked back up at Dwalin and he just gave me another huge grin. "I'm such a handsome dwarf, aye, I know," he finished for me, smirking as I rolled my eyes yet again.

"Fine. If that's the way you want to play it..." By now I could practically feel the hole that Thorin was burning into the side of my head. I couldn't help but to play along with Dwalin; with an answering smirk, I shrugged off my coat and laid it onto the log that I had been sitting on. Rolling back my shoulders and flicking back my braided hair over my shoulder, I dramatically pushed up the sleeves of my dress with another smile.

Dwalin threw his head back and laughed loudly as I took his hand. The others cheered from the little circle that they had made for Kili and Elyse to dance in. They parted as we came through, Dwalin practically dragging me, and they cheered again as we finally got into it.

"Bofur!" roared the huge dwarf. "Sing us somethin'!"

"Nay! Let Sydnee sing something!" Fili called out above the other dwarves. The siren's face turned bright red as the other dwarves also agreed with the blond dwarf Prince.

"Haha, okay guys, you're really funny," she said, just audible above the dwarves. "Bofur-"

"Come on lass!"

"Sing us a song!"

She laughed as she threw her hands up as Dwalin was trying to get my feet and hands in the correct positions as he mumbled something about me being the first Royal he had ever known who couldn't dance. "Alright, alright! I'll do it! Let me come up with something first!" She paused for a moment as the dwarves cheered and then smiled brightly at me, her eyes sparkling. Her voice started out loudly, catching the others' attention, and she brought out the first word of the song for several beats.

"Oooooh don't you dare you look back,
Just keep your eyes on me,
I said you're holding back,
She said shut up and dance with me!"

I couldn't help but to giggle as she quickly got into the song -Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon- and the dwarves gave her confused looks since they obviously didn't know it. Dwalin had succeeded so far in getting my feet into the correct starting spot and was struggling to get me to take the first step right. It was pitiful, but six-year-olds could dance better than me when I was fifteen; the proof was back at home on video. The dwarf was already running into the same problem that many others had already had with me.

"Mahal, ya can't dance to save your life," he muttered under his breath.

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" I asked with a smug smile as I purposely stepped on his foot.

He grunted, shooting me a look, before glancing over my shoulder and meeting my gaze with one of his large smiles. "Doesn't really matter anyways," he snickered. "My plan is already workin'."

Dwalin managed to get me into a spin and I spotted Thorin, who looked like he was going to blow a vein he was glaring so hard at Dwalin. I clicked my tongue, shaking my head at the old warrior dwarf. "You really don't want me to put flowers in your beard, do you?"

"'Course not." He paused before giving me another smirk. "That and Gloin promised me seven gold coins that I couldn't get Thorin out here dancin' if I danced wit' ya."

"Shoulda known," I muttered under my breath as Kili and Elyse swirled by us gracefully, both laughing.

I was partially surprised when someone managed to wiggle between me and Dwalin, instantly replacing the warrior dwarf as he stumbled in the opposite direction that the dwarf who had replaced him was now leading me. As I followed, struggling to keep up with the footwork that had just increased in speed, I turned to look at the dwarf who had taken Dwalin's place. Thorin was there, a light frown touching his face as he easily settled into the form much more gracefully than what Dwalin had been with me. But this should be easy for Thorin. He's probably danced with millions of princesses... hopefully not anyways.

"We were victims of the night,
The chemical, physical, kryptonite,
Helpless to the bass and faded light,
Oh we were born to get together,
Born to get together!"

"Your friend has a lovely singing voice," Thorin commented, surprising me.

I blinked up at him, pretending not to notice how Nori and Ori were both snickering at Gloin as he tossed some money in Dwalin's direction. I struggled to say something; Thorin was a much better dancer than me and was making me feel rather guilty for never learning at less something with these dances. It was strangely intimidating and I couldn't help but to gulp uneasily. "I would guess so," I said softly. "She is only a siren."

A tiny smile flickered at the corners of his mouth. "And your other friend seems to be enjoying herself."

I was about to agree when both her and Kili darted past us, literally spinning so quickly that they had to stop after a few seconds to regain their balance, leaning on each other as they laughed happily. I looked away from them to look back at Thorin and our eyes met. "That's a good thing, though," I smiled. Struggling to get the words together, I took a deep breath before asking, "What about you?"

"I really do not matter that-"

"Yes you do, Thorin. You having fun is just as important as it is for anyone else in the Company," I told him with a frown.

"She took my arm,
I don't know how it happened,
We took the floor and she said,
Oh don't you dare look back,
Just keep your eyes on me,
I said you're holding back,
She said shut up and dance with me! This woman is my destiny,
She said oooh oh oooh,
Shut up and dance with me!"

Thorin lead me through another little spin and I couldn't help but to smile proudly. Unlike the other times, I hadn't stepped on his foot this time. This time, Thorin chuckled a little and I almost fell over in shock. Thorin had just laughed. What the heck? "Dwalin was right. You really are a bad dancer."

"Aren't you just Prince Charming tonight?" I muttered under my breath, my face flushing red when I remembered that he had no clue what that meant. "Uh, I mean, you're not too bad either, I guess."

A sudden smirk crossed his features. While I stared, half stunned at the fact that he had another expression other than a frown and how handsome it made him look, he exclaimed, "Why don't we try another dance besides from the ballroom?" He barked something in dwarven to Kili, who had been busy twirling Elyse in delicate little circles. The prince beamed, grabbing Elyse's hand and dragging her over besides us.

"A backless dress and some beat up sneaks,
My discotheque Juliet teenage dream,
I felt it in my chest as she looked at me,
I knew were born to be together,
Born to be together."

Thorin was snickering as he gave Elyse and me a brief explanation of the dance that he had in mind, leaving me confused as Elyse bounced over to my side as I stood there blankly, still not exactly comprehending everything that Thorin had just told me. "Now what's happening at the end again?" I asked Elyse in a panic. She just smiled, telling me not to worry and dramatically putting a foot out toward Kili as she lifted her hands up in the air, posed as gracefully as a predator could as she smirked at the prince and he returned it playfully. Nervously, I tried to copy her gracefulness as Thorin, who was across from me, lifted an arm up to his chest, smirking at me.

My mind was racing pathetically. I shouldn't be scared to dance but I was so sure that I was going to mess up. I took a shaky breath just as Thorin stepped toward me. I'm just to let this all happen, I told myself. Don't worry, everything will be fine.

"She took my arm,
I don't know how it happened,
We took the floor and she said,
Oh don't you dare look back,
Just keep your eyes on me,
I said you're holding back,
She said shut up and dance with me!
This woman is my destiny,
She said oooh oh oooh,
Shut up and dance with me!"

I linked my arm through Thorin's, spinning a complete circle once before I held out my other arm, instantly being grabbed by Kili and making another circle with him. Both Kili and Elyse were laughing; in the background underneath Sydnee's voice I could hear the Company cheering us on. Thorin and I made another circle before we stepped back into the positions that we had been in before, the King and the prince bowing and Elyse and I curtseying. Thorin approached me once more, smirking, and I rolled my eyes as we pressed our hands together. I was about to step back when Thorin grabbed me, shaking his head with a smile on his face as he slipped an arm around my waist and grabbed my other hand.

"Wrong move," he smirked as we made a figure eight with Elyse and Kili near us and then moved on to some dance with some complicated footwork. Several times I stepped on his feet. I muttered something under my breath during this time that made Thorin laugh, causing a small smile in response to grow across my face.

He surprised me again when he suddenly released my hands and moved them onto my waist, lifting me up in the air easily. In shock, I reached out and grasped his wide shoulders, my eyes meeting with his smiling ice blue ones. I could just hear Elyse squealing when Kili did the same to her, the prince spinning her around several times just to make her scream a little louder as his laughter chorused with hers. Thorin did his spins with me slower to make me more comfortable. He set me down, closing his eyes and leaning forward to place his forehead against mine. Too scared to move, I felt my heart pound heavily in my chest. Without realizing it, I hook my arm around his neck, eyes wide. My breath choked in my throat as I felt his hand cup my cheek gently with his calloused palms. My fingers swirled around a strand of his dark hair and, when he pulled away, I forgot to unlace my finger. He was confused until he realized what had happened and laughed, wrapping his big hand around my small one gently.

"Deep in her eyes,
I think I see the future,
I realize this is my last chance."

"Your hands are cold." My response was lost on my tongue as he lifted our hands up to his mouth and kissed my knuckles.

"And yours are warm."

"And you have a strong grip." My face flushed bright red against my will, though I felt a smile grow on my face as I leant forward and connected foreheads again.

"She took my arm,
I don't know how it happened,
We took the floor and she said,
Oh don't you dare look back,
Just keep your eyes on me,
I said you're holding back,
She said shut up and dance with me! This woman is my destiny,
She said oooh oh oooh,
Shut up and dance with me!"