"I can't believe we're doing this."

"Sydnee, come on, live a little," Elyse said with a roll of her eyes, nudging Sydnee in her ribs. "It's not like we are going to kill anyone."

"We might as well be. I can't believe we're doing this. That we're going too in the first place."

Elyse said nothing this time, instead just rolling her eyes and continuing to lean against the castle wall with her arms crossed. The skin-changed could see how her friend's hands were shaking and couldn't help but to roll her eyes again. There should be no reason for her to be nervous. Well, besides from the prank that they were going to do.

Surprisingly enough, it was Winifred who came up with it. The Ice Queen, a nickname that Elyse had only just began to refer to her friend as, was someone all up for fun and games, but she was also a cautious person, one who made sure that no one would be intentionally hurt. Besides, when Winifred did prank someone, it was normally very crude. She thought that lighting your farts on fire was funny still. So Elyse was somewhat shocked to hear about her wounded friend's little mischievous prank that she wanted to play on the dwarves of the Company. And Elyse was even more curious how Winifred even knew of their future designations for the evening.

By mistake, Winifred had found a certain herb in the kitchens after Thorin had left her -she had been searching for dessert- that had made her itch from head to toe and only seemed to effect dwarves. One of the elven maids had explained to her what it was; she had said the name but clearly Winifred hadn't paid that much attention. Apparently an earlier conversation with Thorin had led to the prank that she had told Elyse and Sydnee about. Even then, Elyse was still slightly confused on why Winifred wanted to do this. Sydnee was commenting every fifteen seconds on how she didn't like this prank and it was, maybe just a little, beginning to get on Elyse's nerves.

Winifred wanted to sneak into the male elf's bathing chambers and literally fill the shampoos with the itchy herb.

"Why does she even want to go into a men's bathroom and put stuff in something that makes them itch from head to toe? We're going to see something that's going to scar us for the rest of our lives."

"You can back out any time, you know," Elyse commented drily. While Sydnee shot her a small glare, the skin-changed shrugged her shoulders, looking around for Winifred. "I'm sure that Winifred would understand if you told her that you were too scared to do it."

Elyse sensed the flash of annoyance that went through Sydnee and snorted. Winifred needed to come, quick. Never had Sydnee felt much anger toward Elyse before -and Elyse was a stubborn person sometimes- and she knew that, at least with Winifred around, the situation would calm down. The Ice Queen knew how to compromise; being the eldest of four siblings had helped her develop the trait. She knew both Elyse and Sydnee enough to realize when they were getting angry and always tried to calm them both. When had Elyse and Sydnee even began fighting with each other?

"Nope. I'm staying put." Sydnee turned her head away from Elyse, making the skin-changer huffed.

"Sure you are."

"Hey!" Winifred's voice called out, beating Sydnee to a reply, and soon she was limping out behind a wall, beaming and holding up a bag. Her face fell for a moment when she saw them. "Is something wrong?"

Elyse turned away from the Ice Queen while Sydnee ignored the question, instead asking how she was feeling. Their friend stared at them questioningly, causing a small pool of guilt to settle into Elyse's stomach. She looked different now with her black hair not in its usual braid and falling down her shoulders and back in dark, loose curls. A fiery red dress that clung to her curves made Elyse look twice; she had gotten used to seeing Winifred in the other dress that she had when they were traveling before. The Queen was limping from her wound but she did nothing that suggested that she felt any pain. Elyse could just sense Winifred's discomfort walking but it must not have hurt her too much if she didn't say anything about it.

But, then again, they all looked different cleaned up. Sydnee had spent almost an hour wiping away grime and trying to look presentable for the elven Lord Elrond. Of course, Fili had absolutely loved her new dress; it was almost sickening the way that he has drooled over her. It was a lavender in color, the sleeves long and loose, the white blending gorgeously with the lavender. Elyse was in a white dress that had a brown corset decorated with small designs that she had found in her wardrobe when she woke up that morning; she look strangely tall with it on and almost like a pirate. Unlike Sydnee, her shoulder length brown hair was able to be decorated with and a small braid on the right side of her face fell while the rest of her hair had been pulled back into a ponytail. Kili had done several double takes along with most of the Company, but none of them had approached her like Fili had Kili.

The dwarves had also done the same. All had been given clean clothes and had been given time to bathe, though Thorin must have thought that they stank way too much if they were going to visit the bathing chambers once again with the elven scented shampoos and soaps. Which, apparently, where Winifred's little plan had came from.

"Nothing's wrong. We're just tired," Sydnee spoke carefully.

Eyeing them both for a moment, Winifred studied them before running up as quickly as she could, glanced around for people, and then shoved both of them back into the wall they had been standing beside. Elyse made a small noise of surprise when, instead of falling onto a hard stone wall, they fell through the vines that were growing on the walls. The skin-changer was on her feet instantly, glancing around in the dark tunnel. Only one torch looked lit along the halls, one that Winifred grabbed once she had walked in. There was no furniture and no decorations; it was just stone walls that had been built to withstand the weight of a castle. The stone was dry and rough, like it was never used.

"It smells like wet dog," Elyse complained as she dusted herself off, nose crinkling.

"You are the only dog-like creature between the three of us so..." Sydnee instantly said, causing the skin-changer to give her a glare. What was her problem this morning?

"Guys," Winifred spoke up, shooting them a suspicious look. "Forget about that. Do you want to prank the dwarves or not?"

While Sydnee grumbled under her breath and began to stand, Elyse looked around again and then said, "How did you even find this place? I wasn't even able to sense it."

"The elf maid who told me about the herb showed me it." Winifred lifted her hand holding the bag to point at one of the hallways that branched off to the left. "That one leads to the barracks and the storage room." She pointed to the right one. "This one will take you to the upper levels and this one," she began, gesturing toward the hallway that tilted downward, "leads you to the bathing chambers."

"Why are they even here?" Sydnee grumbled, brushing away some annoying pebbles.

"The elf said that they're escape routes."

"And we're using them to prank the dwarves? Wait a second. Why would the elf tell you in the first place where they are?" Elyse chimed in curiously as she took the bag in Winifred's hand. It was light, but Elyse could feel weight of the herb in it.

An evil smile grew on Winifred's face as she started walking down the tunnel. "Because I told her about the prank."

Elyse rolled her eyes and was the first to follow the Ice Queen into the pitch black tunnel. The siren thought for a few minutes before following herself, her footsteps echoing throughout the tunnel with the rest of them. The tunnel narrowed out and the dampness that had been absent before suddenly appeared; droplets of water began to fall upon Elyse's head once she estimated that they were maybe a few feet underground. The only light was the torch that Winifred was carrying.

It was worrisome, watching Winifred struggle as they moved through the tunnel. When the tunnel finally leveled off, Winifred had heaved a sigh of relief before continuing to hobble forward, though excitement was in her actions as she placed a hand on the wall to balance herself. Even though they were disagreeing, Elyse shot a look at Sydnee. The discomfort that Elyse had sensed earlier had turned to a small burn of pain from what she could tell through the stonework of the tunnel. Sighing, Sydnee grabbed Winifred's arm and pulled it over her shoulders to help her.

"We're almost there!" Winifred said excitedly, her fingers playing along the dark gray stones.

Again, Sydnee and Elyse exchanged a look. "How do you know that?" Elyse asked softly, throwing the bag over her shoulder to walk more comfortably.

"Uh... I don't."

"So we're walking down here blind next to the men's bathing chambers? Winifred, did you think any of this out?" Surprised filtered through Elyse. She shook her head when Winifred castes her an apologetic smile, brown eyes sparkling with mischief. Maybe she shouldn't be so surprised. Winifred didn't normally thing anything through.

"Do you want the truthful answer or the one that will make you feel better?"

"How about feel better?"

Sydnee sighed again and Elyse watched with concern as Winifred moved away from the siren, falling against the side of the wall. Both the skin-changer and siren stood as they watched the Queen struggle to move down the wall, muttered under her breath. "What is she doing?" Sydnee sighed, glancing at Elyse out of the corner of her eyes.

"I have no idea. I was hoping that you knew." Elyse placed her free hand into the wall and froze, her eyes widening slightly.

She couldn't sense much through the walls -it was almost like trying to walk through molten lava. The beings of people moving she could sense and she could just hear their voices when she pressed her ear against the cold stone wall. It took her a moment to distinguish the voices to be male or female and she cringed slightly. A warm blush began to grow along her cheeks. Man, she really did not want to be hear listening to guys bathe. That was just... stalking.

"Something wrong?" Sydnee piped up, pulling Elyse away from the wall.

The skin-changed shrugged her shoulders. "Well, not really. I can just sense the people on the other side of this wall... bathing."

"Oh. Oh. Please tell me why we're here again," Sydnee pleaded.

"You guys didn't have to follow me," Winifred whispered in front of them, motioning for them to lower their voices. Elyse lifted an eyebrow in confusion until she saw Winifred peek around the wall, only realizing a few seconds later that it was just a curtain made to look like the wall. "I could do it by myself anyways. Wrong chamber though, guys."

"Why are you doing this?"

Winifred huffed as Elyse lifted a hand to count off reasons and they had began moving again, though this time they kept their voices down. A smile was growing on her face as she thought of answers. "I have a few guesses. One; to get back at Fili and Kili for pranking her earlier with the saddle -remember that?- and she flipped off the side of her pony." Winifred grunted at that. "Two; she's still mad at Thorin for the millions of arguments that they get into. Three; he said something to her recently. Or four; she just wants to see some hairy dwarf chests and backends."

Elyse couldn't help it; she and Sydnee both burst out into laughter and had to slap a hand over Sydnee mouth to try and still quiet. The Ice Queen paused, her mouth pulling into a frown, and placed her hands on her hips. "You guys are sooooo funny. At least they muscles unlike the elves."

"True, but, uh, I have a small question." Elyse and Winifred both stopped to look at the short siren. "How are we going to tell if we're in the men or women's bathing chambers with the elves? I can't tell much of a difference between the men and women elves."

"Don't worry. When they stand up, you'll know then."

Again, all three of the women dissolved into laughter after Sydnee almost squealed. Elyse was the first to recover from the outburst, wiping tears from her eyes, and chuckled again. "Good one, Winifred."

Winifred giggled again and stopped at another spot when her hand pushed through a curtain again. She cautiously peeked out, looking for something specific that she hadn't told them. After a minute studying the bathing chamber, Winifred pulled away with a large smile, already pulling away the curtain. A spark of worry flashed through Elyse until Winifred disappeared behind the curtain. Assuming no one was there, Elyse followed her first.

The first thing she noticed was that she was in another tunnel. It was just tall enough for her to be able to duck her head with a small walkway that she was just able to walk along -the tunnel that they had been walking down seconds earlier was high enough for an elf to walk through. The tunnel wasn't long; she took three steps before she was suddenly standing before a white bathing chamber.

The men's bathing chamber wasn't that much different than the female one that Elyse and Sydnee had visited that morning. The ceiling was high, capturing and keeping heat, and a mist from the heated waters rolled in calmly. Elyse had been told by Lord Elrond that a spell had been placed upon the water to keep it warm; otherwise they wouldn't be so lukewarm as they were now. The pools were wide; one big circle was in the center of the room, small bottles of the scented shampoos and soaps on one side, and the tunnel that they had just slipped through filtered the water in and out, causing a soft noise to echo in the room. Their footsteps were loud and Winifred gestured in front of them to be quiet as she waved them forward.

When Elyse was close enough, Winifred took the bag, motioning for them to follow her. "We need to do this quickly! If the dwarves aren't in here yet, then they will be soon!"

"Okay, I have to ask this because now I'm getting worried." Sydnee looked at Winifred with worry as the Ice Queen opened the bag carefully as Elyse gathered the vases and bowls full of the shampoo and soap. "How in the world do you know which chamber they were even going to be in?"

Winifred's hands faltered in lifting a small amount of the powdery herb into one of the bowls as Elyse froze in pushing the last few over. It did sound awfully suspicious, Elyse thought to herself as she waited for the answer. "I overheard the dwarves talking earlier about how Lord Elrond had given them a bathing chamber to themselves and then one of the maids were complaining this morning when I walked by."

"Uh-huh."

"Oh, shut up."

Elyse giggled at Winifred's response, pushing the last of the bases closer to her. The ones that had already been filled Elyse began to move back to their original places. They were moving fast.

"So, another question," Sydnee began, crossing her arms and frowning. "Why are you using your hands if these herbs make you itch so much?"

"I forgot to bring something with me to scoop it up." Elyse rolled her eyes and coughed a little at Winifred's mistake. Her hands were already turning red from the powdery herb and they looked extremely painful. "But it's so going to be the right price to watch the Company get all itchy and everything!"

Sydnee shook her head in disbelief as she glanced around for anyone. "Alright, whatever you say."

Scoffing, Elyse fixated one of the bowls into one of the groves designed in the stone to keep everything in its correct place. "You know, you could help us with something."

"Like what? It would seem that you and Winifred have everything under control."

"Your help would still be much appreciated," Elyse growled back, trying not to be as vicious as she knew that she was being.

Sydnee snorted and was about to say something when Elyse's hand shot up, her senses tingling with a couple of new presences. The siren tried to speak again even as Elyse waved at her to be quiet but then the skin-changer heard deep voices, voices too deep to belong to any elf.

Shooting Winifred a quick look, Elyse quickly placed the rest of soaps and shampoos in their correct places. Sydnee helped Winifred to her feet and was slowly making their way toward the tunnel they had snuck in through until Elyse arrived. She practically scooped up half of Winifred and then tossed her behind the curtain. She turned back, hand holding up the curtain to allow Sydnee to duck under it, and cursed colorfully when she found that the small bag that Winifred had brought to carry the herb had been left behind.

One of her two friends made a squeaking noise when she darted forward, changing into her pure white wolf so she would be quicker. It backfired though; her paws slipped out from underneath her because of the polished stone surface and she landed hard on her chest, knocking out any air in her lungs. Shifting back to her dwarf form, Elyse scrambled to grab the bag, missing it a few times before she finally succeeded. By this time the dwarves were closer and she could pick out parts of their conversation of the quality of the forged weapons that some of them had created. Without waiting, Elyse sprinted back to the tunnel, literally leaping across the little sidewalk to the other side and just missing her head being taken off by the top of the tunnel. Sydnee and Winifred scrambled to get the curtain lying flat before the dwarves could see it.

They must not have because they were still laughing and talking when they walked into the bathing chamber, already undressing by the sounds of thuds randomly clinging about. Sydnee was already biting on her nails nervously, Winifred seemed surprised that her prank was actually going to work, and Elyse closed her eyes, counting how many dwarves were in the chamber so far. Thirteen.

"They're all there," Elyse whispered.

Winifred did a fist pump. "It would awesome if we get all of them with this prank! I can't wait to hear Dwalin scream like a little girl!"

"I feel like we're going to see something that's going to scar us for the rest of our lives," Sydnee whimpered, one hand digging through her short hair and the other in her mouth as she nibbled on her fingernails.

"Wimp."

"Well excuse me for not wanting to see a dwarf's hairy-"

"You two stop fighting!" Winifred hissed, shooting a glare at Elyse and Sydnee. "What's gotten into you two anyways? You guys have been at each other's throats this entire time. Was something said?"

"Why don't you stay out of our problems? It's not like it effects you any!" Sydnee snapped.

The Ice Queen's eyes narrowed and Sydnee spluttered a quick apology. "Look, we can't act like this. We're on a journey, remember? Not exactly the best time to be mad at each other, okay? So let's just put everything behind us and forget about everything that's happened so far." The other two nodded and Winifred peeked behind the curtain, pulling away a split second later with a face redder than a tomato. "I think I just scarred myself."

Elyse giggled before shushing the other two women that had began giggling as well. "We're not going to be able to hear them when they find the herbs if we keep talking."

"I think we will," Sydnee giggled. "Do you remember when that bee chased Nori? I didn't think he could ever get his voice that high pitch until then. I bet that he'll be the loudest."

Elyse smirked, smirking. "I bet the loudest will be... Bofur."

Winifred smiled brightly, a hand over her mouth to keep her loud laugh from bursting free. "Really, I just hope that Dwalin screams. But, I'll hit like four birds with one stone like this! Fili, Kili, Dwalin, and Thorin. One stone, guys."

There was a small scream and all three of them shushed, listening intently to the dwarves that had obviously just found out about the herb in the shampoos and soaps. Apparently the first one to use it had been Ori; he had been the one to scream and was currently whimpering as Dori panicked beside him, asking him what was wrong.

"I itch everywhere," he whined.

The three women behind the curtain shared a snicker between themselves.

"Me too!" exclaimed Bofur, a grunt following as he probably tried to itch somewhere. "Bombur! Scratch me back! I'm dyin'!"

"Huh? Hatch a crack? Wot he'd say?"

A few others agreed before Dwalin released a mighty roar that literally made Elyse throw her hands over her sensitive ears. Winifred snickered and she peeked out through the curtain. "He's figured out that it's the shampoos," she said between her fit of quiet laughter.

It seemed like more than half of the dwarves had fallen for the prank; their complaints filled the room as the ones that hadn't kicked away the bowls of the 'infected' shampoos and soaps as Balin put it. All of the bets that they had placed were wrong. The loudest of the dwarves was Bifur; he had apparently gotten the itchy herb in some place that he couldn't reach and was basically screeching. The three women were still busy laughing and giggling when Bombur's voice suddenly rang out.

"Who would do this to us?"

"'Who would do this to us?'" Elyse mocked, causing Winifred and Sydnee to giggle a little more.

"I bet it was those elves!" Dwalin growled, a large splash sounding somewhere from the center of the pool. The large warrior dwarf must be throwing a tantrum. "Let me get my hands on 'em..."

"No." Silence drifted around for a moment, the only noise being the unsettled water splashing on the sides of the pool and then the dwarves frantically scratching. "This was no work of the elves. This was someone else."

"But who?"

"Wot shoe? Wot he talkin' 'bout?"

"Oin, please shuttup."

Thorin suddenly growled. "It was Winifred. Winifred!"

"Ah shit! He's on to us! Run!"

And that was how Elyse, Sydnee, and Winifred pranked Thorin Oakenshield and Company. And how Winifred almost wounded herself, again. And how Lord Elrond got the complaint of his life.