A Tale of Time

Chapter 15: Hard Water

Chapter 15:

Days of travelling soon turn into weeks of travelling. Kili's foot heals well enough; both Gailien and Fili ready to scold him if he even attempts to use it. That did mean that more duties fell onto them, but their youngest obviously tried to make it up to them, taking the longest watches.

They passed through the Misty Mountains without too many issues and they even made it through with their ponies. Now they are at the edge of the Carrock, the mountain range well in view behind them.

Though it was never spoken allowed, all three are awfully aware of Gailien's slowing pace. She tires easily, becoming the first to fall asleep. The brothers silently agreed to remove her from watch duties and she didn't say anything – either too tired to notice, or too tired to care.

It is almost like she is disconnected at times, tuning out of their conversations and even walking straight into a river once. Neither know exactly what is going on with her.

Gailien tries not to show it on her face but her fear grows every day; there is a chance that she might not make it back to Erebor at all. Her strength fades – her life force. She has lived nearly five hundred years, a respectable life span but one that she wishes would push on a little more.

She doesn't want to die out in the wild. That had been what she had settled on for most of her life but now she has a chance to live the rest of it surrounded by a family and it seems to be moving out of her reach more every single day.

"We aren't going to be able to ride the ponies through that," she states. The three of them stand, the said ponies tied a nearby tree, eating away at the grass. In front of them is a large field of rocks that once belonged to the mountains but over thousands of years, crumbled away. They are jagged and uneven, and it would be an effort for them to cross, let alone the ponies.

"We didn't come through this on the way to the Shire," Kili notes.

"We took the path up north," Fili answers.

"How far away is that?"

Fili twists his lips, looking in a northerly direction. "At least another week. Then we would need to travel another week back down south to get to the Mirkwood entrance." Gailien bites the inner of her cheek, looking over her shoulder at the ponies. Would the extra two weeks be worth the extra ground the ponies give them? "It's up to you," Fili adds, nudging her side.

"What about the path we took on the quest?"

"You mean the goose-chase you led us on?" he snorts. "I had no idea where we were then, let alone how to get back there."

"That goose-chase was away from the Orcs on our tail, thank you," she quips back, jutting her chin out. "I think we should leave the ponies. We are close to Beorn's and I'm sure we can rest there before we reach Mirkwood and we couldn't take them through there anyways. I'm not sure Thranduil will give us a particularly welcoming greeting but he wouldn't dare do anything against Thorin."

"Do you want to see Legolas again?" Kili questions.

"I would," she admits. "But we won't find him in Mirkwood. He left to travel the same day Bilbo and I did. Asked me to come along with him."

"He asked you to leave us?" Kili presses, his forehead creasing. "Knew I hated him for a good reason."

"Not like that," she tries to fix. "He's just not fond of Dwarves in general, probably thought I was delusional for sticking with you lot. Which I probably am."

Kili sniffs hard, kicking a stone. "I'd love to stick my arrow up his arse," he grumbles. Gailien smirks, rocking on her feet. "But first I need a bath."