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Chapter Text

Loland stands stock still in the hallway and curses herself for not having even the slightest clue what is happening. She was just returning from a mission on Jaku, so she has not unpacked her bags yet - they’re still slung across her back. She has not had the chance to check in with her Master, Depa Billaba, and give her the report Loland has carefully cultivated about the increase in piracy starting in Jaku’s underground that Depa is investigating. She had only managed to dismount her Eta-2 Actis-class Light Interceptor, gather her packs, and start the long trek to her Master’s office. But she had not seen anyone, friend or foe, in the three minutes she’d been walking, and there was obviously a reason for that. The twenty foot wide passage is filled to the brim with Stormtroopers, surrounding her on every side. Her precognition had not even tingled, and she had felt completely safe walking into the Temple. Obviously she was not, because her hand made the slightest twitch towards her lightsaber and the upwards of one hundred Troopers pull their blasters out and point them at her without hesitation.

“What is this?” Loland asks.

“We are executing Order 66,”  one of the Troopers says. “Jedi are traitors to the Empire.”

A wave of confusion washes over her. “For what actions?”

The hallway is silent.

“Where is my Master?” She tries instead. “Where is everyone ?”

The hallway is silent, but this time Loland takes it for the answer it is. As quickly as she can she drops her pack then unhooks her lightsaber and splits it in two, pressing the buttons to activate them and starts twirling them into a shield milliseconds before the Stormtroopers unleash their blasters. The first two rows are easy to take out with a strong PUSH , Troopers flying backwards into the crowds, and then gets to work killing as many as she can, trying to form a pathway back to her ship. The blaster shots are relentless, but Loland feels like she’s making decent progress until a huge stream of heat hits her so hard in the back she falls forward and lands on her chin. The Force blasts out of her because of the horrific pain and freezes the closest Troopers to her. It gives her enough time to get back to her feet, cold air stinging her back and the remains of her robes hanging tattered. A drop of blood rolls down her neck from her split chin, and she’s barely able to blink before the Troopers are on her again. The Incineratortrooper tries to hit her again, but Loland knows he’s there now and is barely able to evade the stream of fire. She jumps off a knee, a back, and a head before landing sideways on the wall and sprinting as fast as she can. Loland can wall run for eight hundred meters if she’s not being shot at by every single Stormtrooper in the base, so she makes it about three hundred meters before she has to dodge an Imperial Heavy Trooper’s electrostaff and it makes her fall to the ground. Loland rolls immediately but she’s not fast enough and the electrostaff hits her in the right shoulder. As she stands up she gathers the strength to hook one of her lightsabers back on her utility belt before she loses the use of her right arm and turns to face the Heavy Trooper but now she only has one lightsaber against over one hundred Troopers and there’s no escape. A blast hits her in the thigh and then the stomach and then the back, and that one hurts the least at first and then makes her drop to one knee from the debilitating pain before she staggers back upright.

Loland takes a deep breath and resolves herself to taking out as many as she can with her. The Force wraps around her like an apology and she feels her hair start to float and her vision turns sharp and everything slows. She fights for what feels like hours, getting more and more injured and killing Troopers until she’s kneeling on the ground in front of the last three Heavy Troopers, panting and coughing up blood. There’s no more Stormtroopers, and Loland can’t tell if they are glaring at her or not. The Trooper closest to her hefts his pistol.

Loland spits out blood and a tooth at the Trooper’s feet, and grins her most terrifying grin up at them, blood in her mouth and dripping into her eyes.

He takes aim, and shoots her in the head.

Chapter Text

The sun beats down on  a clearing covered with tall purple flowers surrounded by a dense forest. It’s a seemingly normal day in Middle Earth for anyone who doesn’t notice the sun shining brighter and brighter until a stream of light focuses on the clearing for a second before the light fades back to normal. The birds are chirping, and the squirrels are running around and collecting acorns.

Loland sits up.

She glances around, confused, and then immediately starts patting herself down. The confusion grows when there are no signs of injury - her robes are intact and there’s no blood. She sticks her hand down the neck of her shirt and feels her back knowing that there should be a huge burn there but she can’t feel anything but a large scar. She sticks her fingers in her mouth and counts all her teeth. Her hands go to her belt next, and to her relief both her lightsabers are still there. She stands to get her bearings and almost falls with the weight of her packs that she had dropped before what she thought was her final battle.

Loland definitely died because she remembers every single detail about her life up until she got shot in the head, and she is definitely not in the Jedi Temple where she was killed. So where is she? The air smells different then anywhere she can think of in the Galaxy, and the Force is different here, stronger and warmer. Curious, Loland unslings her packs and sits down to meditate. She digs Force roots down into the earth and soaks up any knowledge the Force is willing to give her - which, as usual, is not a lot and not a straight answer - and sinks deeper and deeper down into a vision.

She’s staring at someone’s back, everything around her blurred and slowed. The man has broad shoulders and hair the colour of gold reflecting sunlight. Loland knows she doesn’t have long to See, so she focuses on minute details. The intricate silver beads wrapped around complicated braids, the fur on his leather coat, the twin short swords he’s wielding. In slow motion, he spins around to face her, and the urgency on his beautiful face roots her to her spot. Blue eyes and a mustache with two little silver beads swinging near his chin catch her attention, and she watches in fascination as his lips form her name.

Slowly, she opens her eyes. The sun has set and dusk has fallen in the time she had been meditating which she realizes may have been a slight mistake. She’s out in the open in a strange land with no idea if the area she is in is safe or if there’s even people around. Loland sighs heavily. If only she hadn’t been made bantha fodder for the Troopers, and she could have reunited with her Master at least one more time. She already misses Depa - the older woman would have already started making her shelter. Loland sighs again and surveys her surroundings. On one side of the clearing there is a fairly large sheer rock face so she makes her way over there and opens her biggest pack. She had brought a tiny collapsible tent to Jaku that had enough room to sleep one and a half people so it was honestly fairly big for Loland’s small stature. She sets the tent up against the rock and pulls out a collapsible axe that she spends the next forty-five minutes chopping firewood with. After lugging it all back to her tent, she creates a makeshift fireplace with some rocks she finds laying around and her sparker from her belt. She throws her bags in the tent after pulling out one of her (thankfully full) ration boxes and sits down by the fire to pick through her food. The stars are out, so she lays down and gazes upward sadly. She has no idea where she is, and she knows for a fact that her Jedi family is dead. What the dosh happened? It must’ve been the doshing Empire, and it must’ve been brewing for a long time while the Jedi Council was none the wiser. A tear leaks down her cheek, and she spends the rest of the night in her tent mourning her old life and the people she once knew.

Loland dreams of a dragon, huge and fire-red, making it’s way towards her and burning the ground as it comes. It’s eyes bare into her soul, and it roars so loudly she feels it in her chest. Dream Loland activates her lightsaber and screams back as the dragon rushes her, jaws wide open and teeth ready to tear her apart.

The second day in this strange land is just as confusing. Loland decides to start walking in the hopes of finding civilization after packing up her tent and picking through her ration box again. Luckily her amber coloured Jedi robes and her brown cloak adjust well to the weather, otherwise she would’ve been sweltering in the summer (or at least she thinks it’s summer) sun. She wanders and wanders until she comes across a dirt path and stands at the crossroads for a while, conflicted about which way to go. Loland sighs again and starts off to the East, walking at a fairly brisk pace. The path is promising, winding through hills and around what looks like farm fields, but she cannot catch a glimpse of any lodgings so she keeps walking until the path becomes cobblestone and fences frame both sides. She is slightly more calm now, because architecture means people she can try and speak to. Loland picks up her pace to a brisk walk until she rounds the corner and catches sight of a carriage in the near distance carrying one man wearing a large pointy hat.

“Excuse me!” Loland calls, jogging now, and waving one arm. The stranger turns his head and sees her running towards him and slows his horse. Loland keeps her pace up until she catches him and gives the old man a wide smile. “Sorry to bother you, but what star system are we in?”

The old man frowns slightly. “We are on Middle Earth, if that is what you are asking.”

“And… that’s the name of this planet?” Loland asks.

“The name of this land, yes,” the old man says. “Young lady, are you quite alright?”

Loland sighs, suddenly weary. Her precognition is not pinging this man, but it also did not react when the Stormtroopers attacked, so she has been on full alert since she woke up in that strange clearing. “Is there an Elder I can talk to? Someone who has knowledge of inter-Galaxy travel?”

“I am Gandalf the Grey, one of the five Istari. I can think of two others who can help you - the leader of my Order and the King of Rivendell. I happen to be travelling to Rivendell - would you like to accompany me?”

Loland appraises him for a minute. Wisps of the Force are swirling around him in a light blue colour, and she feels calm around him. “My name is Jedi Loland Warski, and I gladly accept your offer.”

Traveling with Gandalf turns out to be the first bit of calm she has had in two days. The wizard, as he calls himself, is happy to answer her burning questions about the land she woke up in, and soon she is filled in on the four main races, plus the smaller ones and the dark forces, things the Jedi Knight is all too familiar with. In return, she tells him a little of her background as a Jedi and the lands she grew up in. Gandalf seems fascinated by flight without wings, and Loland is fascinated by the lore of Middle Earth. On their second day of travel, Gandalf reveals to her the quest he is about to embark upon. He also reveals they’re on the way to meet their traveling companions composed of thirteen dwarves and one hobbit.

Loland stares at him. “Interesting how you didn’t reveal this to me earlier…” 

If she didn’t know any better, she would say Gandalf looks sheepish. “Rivendell is one of our earlier stops.”

Loland laughs out loud good naturedly. “Do not worry wizard, you have not swayed me. I will even lend my help if it is needed.”

“It may be needed sooner than you think.”

Gandalf spends the rest of the afternoon telling Loland about Thorin Oakenshield’s quest for his homeland. There are a few upsides - the main one being that Loland has literally nowhere else to go. The second being that Rivendell is on the way, and if she does not want to continue onwards with them, Gandalf is more than willing to drop her off. Then, Gandalf tells her of the dragon. The fire drake from her dream flashes behind her eyes, and her mind is made up. 

They make it to the first civilization Loland has seen on this new planet, and it is refreshing to see a calm, fresh open land with little homes in hills. Gandalf gives her a little tour on their wagon, and the Jedi relishes in the swirls of the light green Force following the Hobbits around the Shire. This reminds her of her role as Jedi Sentinel and she would go out into the community of the planet she and her Master would be staying on and help people out with their troubles. Interacting with the people of the galaxy was her favourite thing to do besides train and go flying. Now that she's thinking about it, Loland realizes she’s been seeing more wisps of the Force than normal. Usually she can see them very faintly, but ever since waking up here, she can see them more clearly than ever. It’s odd - her meditation yesterday was more fruitful than anything she’s managed to See in years, and a prophetic dream came to her in her sleep last night. This is making Loland curious; obviously this is a very different world than any place she’s ever been - what is she saying, she literally died yesterday, no wonder she’s in a completely different world full of things she does not understand yet.

Gandalf brings her out of her musing by giving her a small bag of coins and turning her loose into the market, telling her they will meet at a hobbit house with a mark on the green door. Loland spends only a little bit of her money on filling her ration boxes since she had fully restocked them before leaving Jaku in case something went wrong. Now, Loland is thankful for Depa’s over-preparedness that she had handed down to Loland and the ration box’s stasis field because she only had to refill a little bit of one box - the food could be better though. Next, Loland buys an extensive sewing kit and thanks the Empress that it seems to be very similar to the one she had back in the Temple. She buys a long length of sturdy but thin rope, a second larger waterskin than the one she has, two soft face cloths to wash her face whenever she comes across a river, a blank journal so she can map her journey, boot polish, and multiple new pairs of thick warm socks. She then wanders over to the stable that Gandalf had shown her earlier and bartered her way into buying a gorgeous gray stallion, along with a few brushes, a blanket, and some feed and treats. This uses up the rest of the money the Wizard gave her and also one of her three sparklers as a barter. Loland spends more time than she should cuddling up to her new horse, who is more than happy to indulge her. She takes the time to brush him and put the maroon blanket on first before the chocolate saddle and bridle. The reins, saddle, and bridle are all embroidered with painted lavender flowers that Loland does not recognize. She names him Oran, and he loves her just as much and as instantly as she loves him.

By the time Loland looks up, she realizes it’s dark outside and that she has absolutely no idea where Gandalf is. She swears, then sighs and takes Oran’s reins. The Force swirls around her, yellow wisps pointing the way forward. Loland tilts her head - that’s new. The Force has never led her anywhere before. Loland is getting more and more suspicious, because good and evil forces are supposed to be balanced out. Just how powerful is the darkness if the Force is this strong in retaliation? And does no one else know about it? Oran trots happily along, going along with her whims with barely a touch. The sun has long set by the time Loland comes upon a hobbit hole with a large green door and many ponies in the front yard. Loland dismounts, ties Oran to a tree with lots of slack, and walks up to the door. She can hear faint voices inside.

Loland knocks on the door.

The voices go silent, and she hides her hands in the sleeves of her robes, twisting her fingers anxiously.

The door swings open to reveal a hobbit and the Wizard that had abandoned her in the Market, and all the nerves she had disappeared at the sight of the one person she knows in this land.

“Ah, Loland!” Gandalf exclaims happily. “I was wondering when you would make it.”

She gives him a playful look. “I would’ve been here sooner if my guide did not leave without warning while I was shopping.” 

“Ah,” Gandalf says again. “My apologies.”

Loland turns her attention to her host, and gives him a slight bow. “My name is Jedi Loland Warski, and it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The hobbit blinks. “Bilbo Baggins… at your service?”

Loland nods, and Gandalf steps aside so she can come in. She stomps her boots off at the entryway matt, and hangs up her pack on one of the only hooks left on the wall. The rest are filled with packs, cloaks with multi-coloured hoods, and even weapons. She heavily debates about hanging up her lightsabers, and decides to put one poking out the top of her pack and moves the second half to the clip on the back of her waist without her hosts noticing. It is just the last time she felt safe, she walked into a deadly trap.

“The leader of our company just arrived,” the Wizard says. “Come, we are just planning.”

Gandalf and Bilbo lead her through the beautiful hobbit hole, and Loland can’t help but look around at the craftsmanship in awe. She follows the men through circular hallways until they come upon a dining room, and Loland is stopped in her tracks by twelve sets of eyes. The men sitting around the table are unlike anything she’s ever seen - she can tell they are about her size or an inch or two shorter, and the extravagant hairstyles catch her attention. There’s one with an updo shaped like a star. There’s one with a half bald head. There’s even one with a mustache with two silver beads swinging by his chin - 

Loland freezes, and slowly makes eye contact with the blond man from her vision. His bright blue eyes are already trained on her, slowly taking her in from the tip of her head to the bottom of her feet. So she does the same, not rushed from her vision anymore. He’s beautiful, just like she thought, and even more beautiful in person.

“Who is this?” The dwarf sitting at the head of the table closest to her asks gruffly. He’s got the least intricate style, with just a close cropped beard and long black and grey hair, but purple and red wisps of the Force swirl around his crown.

Loland does one of her tiny bows. “Jedi Loland Warski. Pleasure to meet everyone.”

“Well met, Jedi,” one of the men said happily.

Loland grins. “My name is Loland, and I am a Jedi. A Jedi Sentinel to be specific.”

“I’ve never heard of a Jedi before,” the first dwarf says, obviously looking for a fight.

Loland is so weirded out by her life right now. Never before had she had to explain her occupation, but she feels like she’ll have to get used to it. “I’ll show you once we get into a fight,” she says. “I’m actually not sure how to explain but in simple terms we’re an Order dedicated to protecting peace and justice.”

The man turns to Gandalf. “We have our thirteen. I am not looking for another.”

Loland opens her mouth, but the Wizard beats her to it. “Loland is just traveling with us until we get close to Rivendell Thorin, then she is departing.”

“I’m more than happy to help in a fight though,” she adds.

The dwarf (Thorin?) appraises her for a moment before turning back to his meal. “Fine. Just until we’re near Rivendell.”

Gandalf and Loland make eye contact, and the Wizard’s eyes twinkle at her. 

Loland has been in this land for two days, and she’s already fed up. Curse the Empire, she misses being somewhere where people know what the hell a Jedi is at the very least. She misses flying so unbelievably much, and her Master, and not being weirded out by the Force.

“What news from the meeting in Ered Luin? Did they all come?” A dwarf with tall white hair asks.

“Aye,” Thorin says. “Envoys from all seven kingdoms.”

The entire table fills with joyous murmurs.

“What do the dwarves of the Iron Hills say?” A half-bald, very tattooed dwarf asks gruffly. “Is Dain with us?”

“They will not come,” Thorin says.

The entire table fills with disappointed murmurs. Loland resists the urge to giggle.

“They say this quest is ours, and ours alone,” Thorin continues, and Loland can feel his frustration in the air.

“You are going on a quest?” The little hobbit asks, big eyes wide as they can be.

Gandalf turns to him. “Bilbo, my dear fellow, let us have a little more light.”

The hobbit goes and grabs a candle while the Wizard pulls his pipe and a folded piece of parchment out of his robe pocket. He carefully spreads it out on the table in front of Thorin.

“Far to the East, over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single solitary peak,” Gandalf says like he’s reciting a story.

“The - Lonely - Mountain,” Bilbo reads off the map.

Loland peers over the hobbit’s shoulder at the map. It’s beautifully drawn, with a depiction of a dragon over the mountain. An impression of runes faintly shimmer silver at the bottom of the page under the words THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG. She cannot read them though, the letters too foreign and the shimmer too light. 

“Aye,” a red-haired dwarf says. “Oin has read the portents, and the portents say it is time.”

“Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold,” a dwarf (who must be Oin) holding a large hearing trumpet up to his ear says. “When the birds of yore return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end.”

Bilbo’s head snaps to look at Oin. “What beast?”

“Well that would be a reference to Smaug the Terrible, chiefest and greatest calamity of our age,” the dwarf with the floppy hat says. “Airborne fire-breather, teeth like razors, claws like meathooks, extremely fond of precious metals -”

“Yes, I know what a dragon is,” Bilbo says sassily.

“I’m not afraid!” A young dwarf yells, standing up passionately. “I’m up for it. I’ll give him a taste of Dwarven iron right up his jacksie!”

This brings about multiple dwarves yelling in encouragement, the dwarf getting aggressively pulled back to his seat, and Loland watching the chaos with a wide grin on her face.

The dwarf with white hair speaks up again. “The task would be difficult enough with an army behind us. But we number just thirteen, and not thirteen of the best, no brightest.”

The table immediately jumps to protesting, the words HEY, WHO ARE YOU CALLING DIM?! standing out the most. Loland stays grinning, the chaos reminding her of meals with her classmates at the Jedi Temple.

“What did he say?” Oin asks.

“We may be few in number,” the blond dwarf speaks up for the first time, and Loland immediately looks at him. His voice is deep and raspy and has a slight accent, and burns heat straight through the Jedi. “But we’re fighters - all of us, to the last dwarf!”

“And you forget, we have a wizard in our company,” the dwarf beside the blond one says. “Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time.”

Instantly, Gandalf’s eyes widen and somehow Loland can just tell he has never even fought a dragon. “Oh, well, now, I-I-I would not say that, I -”

“How many then?” A grey haired dwarf asks aggressively. 

“What?”

“How many dragons have you killed? Go on, give us a number!”

Gandalf starts sputtering and choking on his pipe smoke, and this sets the dwarves off. Almost all of them jump to their feet, yelling and arguing very loudly. Bilbo takes a step back and Loland folds her arms, stepping slightly in front of him.

Thorin stands, slamming his hands on the table and instantly silencing the rabble. “SHAZARA! If we have read these signs, do you not think others will have read them too? Rumours have begun to spread. The dragon Smaug has not been seen for sixty years. Eyes look east to the Mountain, assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lies unprotected. Do we sit back while others claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor? Du Bekâr! Du Bekâr!”

The angry yelling from before morphs into cheers at the encouragement from their leader, and Loland marvels at the quick emotional changes.

“You forget,” the white haired dwarf interrupts wearily. “The front gate is sealed; there’s no way into the mountain.”

“That, my dear Balin, is not entirely true.” Gandalf says and begins twisting his fingers, an ornate key spinning into existence. 

Thorin stares at it in wonder. “How came you by this?”

“It was given to me by your father, by Thrain, for safekeeping,” Gandalf reveals, but decides not to reveal any more information about it, even though Loland can sense how curious Thorin is. “It is yours now.”

The Wizard hands the key over and a hush falls over the room as everyone looks on in wonder. Loland resists the urge to grin - who knew the only thing needed to shut this rowdy bunch up was a stone key?

“If there is a key, there must be a door,” the blond dwarf says, and Loland’s head instantly turns to watch him speak. He notices though, and his eyes flicker over to make contact with hers at the end of his sentence, and Loland promises herself to chill out from then on. She cannot be too obvious about her crush on the dwarf, not when she does not even know his name.

Gandalf takes his pipe out of his mouth and uses the end to point at the map. “These runes speak of a hidden passage to the lower halls.”

“There’s another way in!” The brunet dwarf beside the blond pipes up excitedly.

“Well, if we can find it, but dwarf doors are invisible when closed,” Gandalf quickly dashes those hopes. “The answer lies hidden somewhere in this map, and I do not have the skill to find it. But there are others in Middle-Earth who can. The task I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth, and no small amount of courage. But, if we are careful and clever, I believe it can be done.”

Loland takes note of how Gandalf smoothly skipped over who else can read the runes, and how none of the dwarves noticed.

“That’s why we need a burglar,” the dwarf who was talking about dragon jacksie earlier pipes up.

“Hmm…” Bilbo says, staring at the map with his hands on his hips. “A good one too. An expert, I’d imagine.”

“And are you?” One of the red haired dwarves asks gruffly.

Bilbo looks up. “Am I what?” 

“He says he’s an expert!” Oin drawls happily, missing the mark again. “Hey, hey!”

Several dwarves laugh, and Loland giggles as well. He’s trying his best, but the ear trumpet does not seem to be doing the job very well. Hmm… Loland wonders what kind of technology they have here and maybe she can fashion him some hearing aids. Based on what she had seen in the market it’s very rudimentary… 

Meanwhile, Bilbo is fighting for his life. “M-me? No, no, no, no, no. I’m not a burglar; I’ve never stolen a thing in my life.”

Balin (the white haired dwarf) smiles softly at the hobbit. “I’m afraid I have to agree with Mr. Baggins; he’s hardly burglar material.”

Bilbo nods along vigorously. 

“Aye, the wild is no place for gentlefolk who can neither fight nor fend for themselves.” The bald tattooed dwarf says, arms crossed and a large scowl on his face.

Bilbo has not stopped nodding along in agreement, and now the dwarves have started arguing about whether or not Bilbo would be a good thief. Loland huffs through her nose. Emperor help her if she’s stuck for too long with these idiots. Sure, Bilbo has obviously grown up very sheltered and has not spent a night outside his home, but everyone started out sheltered and the best way to learn is by doing. None of these dwarves are going to teach him - so Loland will. It’ll be like having a Padawan! Loland’s fine with that actually, since she died before having the chance back on Coruscant. 

She also can’t think too hard about that again, lest she cry for another twelve standard hours while curled up in her tent again.

A cold chill travels down her spine, and she turns her head to watch Gandalf grow two feet taller, filling the room with shadows and his presence. “ENOUGH!” He thunders in a voice that splinters her bones, and her right hand instantly goes to the lightsaber on her back. “IF I SAY BILBO BAGGINS IS A BURGLAR… then a burglar he is.”

Gandalf’s presence retreats, and Loland slowly and warily takes her hand off her lightsaber. What was that? She recalls the first conversation they ever had, and the older man introduced himself as an Istari and part of an Order. Did that mean there were more Force users? But Gandalf never brought it up or mentioned anything close to it, and the trick he just did didn’t feel like it was the Force - she didn’t see any wisps or get that sickly feeling in her stomach like she did back on Coruscant whenever someone perverted the Force. She’s a little unnerved she did not know about this sooner… obviously Middle Earth has many secrets.

“Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet,” Gandalf continues in his normal voice like nothing happened. “In fact, they can pass unseen by most if they choose. And while the dragon is accustomed to the smell of dwarf, the scent of hobbit is all but unknown to him, which gives us a distinct advantage. You asked me to find the fourteenth member of this company, and I have chosen Mr. Baggins. There’s a lot more to him than appearances suggest, and he’s got a great deal more to offer than any of you know, including himself. You must trust me on this.”

Everyone is silent, and Thorin narrows his eyes at the Wizard. “Very well, we will do it your way.”

Bilbo’s eyes go wide as saucers. “No, no, no.”

“Give him the contract,” Thorin says gruffly.

“Please,” Bilbo says, almost begging and Loland kinda feels bad for the guy. Obviously Gandalf has decided on a course of action without getting consent from anyone here. At least it’s amusing.

“We’re off!” The dwarf with the floppy hat cries enthusiastically, taking the contract from Balin and handing it over to Bilbo.

“It’s just the usual summary of out-of-pocket expenses, time required, remuneration, funeral arrangements, so forth,” Balin explains matter-of-factly, and Loland watches the hobbit’s face get paler and paler with each word.

“Funeral arrangements?” Bilbo repeats faintly before taking a few steps back and taking his time to read through the thick pack of parchment. Thorin leans towards Gandalf and whispers something, and the Wizard nods his head before glancing at her - but Loland is already studying them. The dynamics of this company are both simple and difficult to figure out, and Gandalf is connected to each difficult thing. Why is he so adamant about bringing Bilbo along? Why is Gandalf helping the dwarves in the first place? Is the Order he’s a part of like the Jedi, or something more sinister? Loland huffs minutely through her nose at all the questions she has zero answers to.

“... Not limited toooooo lacerations… evisceration… incineration ?” Bilbo’s incredulous tone brings her back into the conversation.

“Oh, aye!” The dwarf with the floppy hat says a bit too enthusiastically. “He’ll melt the flesh off your bones in the blink of an eye.”

Bilbo takes a deep grounding breath and the last of the colour leaves his face. “Huh.”

“You alright laddie?” The same dwarf asks a little bit too cheerfully.

The hobbit bends over and puts his hands on his knees, a complicated look on his face that makes Loland think he might be about to throw up. “Uh, yeah… feel a bit faint.”

“Think furnace,” floppy hat says happily. “With wings!”

“Air, I-I-I need air,” Bilbo gasps.

Loland frowns.

Floppy hat continues on. “Flash of light, searing pain, then poof! You’re nothing more than a pile of ash.”

Bilbo is hyperventilating now, then stands up straight far too quickly. “Hmm. Nope.” Everyone watches with pity as the hobbit crashes to the ground, completely out cold. Loland sighs through her nose - she has much to teach him.

“Ah, very helpful Bofur,” Gandalf admonishes.

Once she is sure Bilbo is set up comfortably in his sitting room with the fire roaring and a steaming mug of tea on the little table beside him for when he wakes, Loland busies herself with finding some food. The pantry has been almost completely picked clean, but she manages to scrounge up some salted meats and these sweet-sour circular red fruits that she eats whole. She tucks herself into a corner in one of the many main rooms, and the dwarves all but forget she is there. This is something she has mastered though, staying still and quiet enough that people’s eyes skip right over her. It’s amusing enough to watch the familial interactions between a new race on a completely new planet. The dwarves are rough and tumble, knocking heads and fond punches. They’re short, but they’re obviously strong and protective of their kin. Even though they are loud and opinionated, Loland does not think she will completely hate travelling with them.

The Jedi spends at least an hour and a half like that, completely still and silent, watching in content as the energy of the room causes wisps of blue Force to dance through the air. Her eyes are stuck watching the blond dwarf she still does not know the name of standing behind Thorin who’s staring broodingly into the fire when a hum starts up through the hobbit hole, rumbling in her chest in a pleasant way. She listens intently as the dwarves sing deeply and passionately about their lost mountain, and Loland’s resolve to help them get their home back only grows stronger.

Chapter Text

The next morning finds Loland rising with the sun, as usual. She heads outside to check on Oran, and gives him breakfast, brushes him while he eats, and tacks him up. She then parks herself under the tree Oran is tied loosely to and settles in to meditate. The sunlight is warm on her face, the grass is soft beneath her legs, and the slight breeze ruffles her hair gently. She carefully digs her Force roots deep into the ground, and opens her mind and heart to whatever the Force is willing to show her. Loland sits still for what feels like ages, floating calmly through space, but does not sink into a vision this time. Still, meditating and connecting to the Force is very important for a Jedi, and Master Depa had drilled that into her in the first year of her training. One set of heavy footsteps interrupts her meditation, the Force shockwaves sending her back up to reality. Loland opens her eyes to the sight of one of the younger dwarves, the dark-haired beardless one walking over to his pony with his pack slung across his shoulder. The dwarf has not noticed her, so Loland takes the time to watch as he saddles up his pony, feeds it a couple of apples, and attaches his saddle bags. Figuring she may as well do her best to form some kind of bond with her companions, Loland stands fluidly - but he startles at the sudden movement, hand comically flying to his chest as he stares at her, wide-eyed.

“Sorry,” she says haltingly, awkwardly. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

He continues to stare. “How long were you there for?”

“Um… a few hours?”

They’re caught in a very awkward staring contest, and Loland realizes at that terrible time that he’s actually very attractive, and if she was not already head over heels for the blond dwarf she has not even spoken to once, she may have fallen for dark and handsome over here.

“That’s talent,” he says after a few moments of weird eye contact. “I’m Kili.”

They get on like a house on fire. Loland figures them to be about the same age, and conversation and banter flows easily. She reveals that she does not know anyone’s names because no one bothered to introduce themselves, and Kili then launches into a long and detailed explanation about what each dwarf’s name is and what he looks like, until Loland is about ninety percent sure she can guess everyone’s names. She also learns that the blond’s name is Fili, and that he’s Kili’s older brother. Thankfully, Kili does not catch the faint blush on Loland’s face at the mention of him, and she quickly asks about the dwarf with elaborate gray braids done tightly to his scalp. Kili has just begun to inquire about her travels before meeting them when the rest of the company comes filtering out the door more quietly than expected. Loland watches the door, but no hobbit joins them, not even when everyone is tacked up and ready to go. She frowns at the Wizard, but he just twinkles his eyes at her until she scrunches her nose and swings up to sit on Oran. She takes her place at the back of the line, happy and more than willing to defend the rear. She has done so many times while travelling with civilians or politicians, so it is kind of a habit. The other reason, Loland muses silently, is that she in fact, has no one to talk to. The dwarves strike up a conversation with one another as soon as they leave Bilbo’s gates, and Loland feels for the first time that she is on the outside looking in. Just how can she fit into this world when she was specifically made to fit perfectly into another? A tiny little pit of insecurity settles in her stomach. Where is she supposed to go after this quest? A big part of the reason that she is traveling with the first person that she spoke to is because she knows literally nobody, literally nothing about this world. Walking into a fight unprepared and totally blind is not what her Master taught her, but how can she be prepared for what she does not fucking know? She has no family, no Master, no home to return to. She completely and totally  died back on Coruscant, and there’s no way around that fact. There is not even anybody who she can talk to about this, because who the fuck is going to understand? Plus, these dwarves don’t seem all that keen to get to know her besides maybe Kili - but he abandoned her for his very attractive brother as soon as he walked outside. Loland sighs through her nose. Loneliness is one of her least favourite feelings. While she might not be the biggest talker on the planet - she is shy before getting to know someone - Loland knows that she feels stir crazy when she has not spoken to anyone in days. Besides Gandalf, who does not seem keen to talk to anyone, Loland has no relationships. Loland has no friends. She feels her eyes start to well up with tears, and she harshly bites her tongue. She cannot cry for seemingly no reason if she is going to get these men to respect her at all. Loland stares resolutely ahead and does not think or speak for at least an hour.

“WAIT! WAAITT!”

The line of ponies pull abruptly to a stop, jerking Loland out of her self pity as Oran takes it upon himself to stop right behind the rump of the pony in front of him. Faint footsteps reach her ears, and she turns around to see the hobbit they visited last night running to catch up to them, looking harried and waving the contract above his head. She smiles slightly as he reaches them and comes to a slow stop right in front of Balin, panting heavily.

“I signed it,” he says proudly, handing over the contract.

Balin raises an eyebrow at him and whips out a monocle before taking his time inspecting the parchment. “Everything seems to be in order. Welcome, Master Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield.”

A resolute cheer rises from the dwarves, and Loland gives a few cursory claps of her hands. It just reminds her that she is not connected to these people at all, not even through a signed piece of paper. That no one wanted her here. So why is she here?

“Give him a pony,” Thorin orders gruffly before turning around and heading off again.

“No, no, no, no, that - that won’t be necessary,” Bilbo says frantically as the rest of the dwarves begin to ride on. I - I - I’ve done my fair share of walking holidays, you see. I even got as far as Frogmorton once - WAAAGH!”

Fili and Kili have ridden up on either side of him during his little speech and hooked their hands under his armpits, lifting him wordlessly up onto the only spare pony they have. The pony meanders on calmly, and Bilbo is gripping the reins so hard his knuckles are turning white. Gandalf takes pity and rides beside him right as Loland was thinking about doing the same thing, so she stays back, only zoning back into the conversation when bags of money start getting thrown around.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Oin cackles as he catches a coin purse thrown by Nori (she thinks? Kili said he had the star-shaped hair…). Some dwarves share his amusement, while some are scowling in the hobbit’s direction. She watches as Bilbo asks Gandalf a question she cannot quite hear, and Gandalf almost smirks as he reaches up and catches a money purse. The Wizard says something, and then Loland is taken off guard by Bilbo’s violent sneeze. He wipes his nose then starts searching his pockets before - 

“No, no, no… STOP! Wait, wait, stop, we have to turn around!”

The party grinds to a halt, dwarves protesting the entire way.

“What on earth is the matter?” Gandalf asks loud enough for Loland to hear.

“I forgot my handkerchief,” Bilbo says dejectedly. 

The dwarves are silent as Bofur (floppy hat, Kili had said) rips off a piece of his thick undershirt and throws it to Bilbo, who catches it and holds it between two fingers. “Here! Use this!”

Bilbo’s disgust is obvious, and all of the dwarves laugh mockingly.

“Move on.” Thorin’s deep voice cuts through the noise, and the horses start moving. Conversations between the dwarves, and between Bilbo and Gandalf, start up again, and Loland spends the next few hours doing her best not to wallow in her own self pity. It’s confusing - she has never felt so isolated before, not even when acting as a guard for horrible politicians, or escorting a family across a war-torn planet out of the goodness of her own heart. Loland finally admits to herself that dying and waking up in a new world had maybe fucked with her just a little bit. It is a good day for travel though, the sun high but not scorching and the skies clear. To distract herself, Loland takes in the scenery, beautiful and untouched by machines. Everything seems cleaner here. The trees are thick and reach towards the sky, somehow seeming more alive then any nature she encountered back home. They stop for a very short lunch, just enough time for everyone to grab rations out of their bags and take a sip of water before moving on. Loland takes her time eating, picking through her ration box as she rides. Oran is a wonderful horse and a very smooth walker, and Loland sees him as one of the very few upsides to waking up here. The afternoon ride is much of the same, Loland trying very hard not to think and nobody speaking to her. Thorin decides to camp a few hours before the sun sets on the edge of a cliff, and the Jedi makes herself camp tucked away into the trees. Her little tent pops up without preamble or sound, but she does catch a few curious looks from the dwarves. Inside she lays out the inflatable bedroll, her tiny pillow, and her thin but warm blanket. Loland tucks all her packs away into the very corner and lays her utility belt down on top of it all. One of her sabers gets clipped onto the sheath on her right thigh, and the other is tucked away. Feeling all set up, Loland quietly wanders back outside and takes up residence leaning on a log. She watches almost mournfully as the dwarves work together to seamlessly set up camp. Multiple men split off then come back a little while later carrying hopefully enough wood for the night, and a large fire is built. She is just on the edge of the warmth, and wraps herself tighter in her robe. Bombur (the dwarf with the brightest red hair, Kili had said) sets up a massive pot over the fire, and gets to work making some sort of stew. The camp buzzes with the sounds of all the dwarves, and Loland decides on a whim to meditate. She rests her forearms on her thighs and closes her eyes as her palms turn to face the sky. She digs her Force roots into the ground, and sinks into the in-between space for the second time today. It’s only flashes of a vision this time, blond hair swinging past her eyes, large but soft fingers stroking her cheek, and a deep rumbly voice speaking words she cannot make sense of.

“... and? Loland?”

The Jedi blinks her eyes open to see Kili standing in front of her holding two wooden bowls. They stare at each other awkwardly for a couple of seconds before the dwarf waves one of the bowls under her nose. The stew smells better than anything Loland has eaten in months, and her stomach grumbles.

“Hungry?” He asks.

“Very,” Loland admits, and happily reaches for the bowl and spoon when he gives it to her. She scoops up a bite and lifts it to her mouth, wiggling a little in happiness at the burst of flavours on her tongue and the tenderness of whatever meat she is eating. She doesn’t care, it’s amazing. “Thank you,” she says sincerely.

Kili plops down beside her unceremoniously. “No problem. Riding all day always makes me hungry.”

“Travel can be draining,” she agrees.

“I’m not complaining though,” Kili clarifies, and she nods sagely as she takes another bite. “Traveling with the company… I grew up with them all, so it’s like travelling with all of my extended family.”

“Where did you grow up?” Loland asks, and this launches them into an extended conversation about the Blue Mountains and the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Their lives were similar but still different, both having trained starting at a very young age, and both having lost a parental figure. Loland makes her first friend over a bowl of stew that night, and her heart feels ever so slightly lighter. She wanders off to her tent once it’s Kili’s turn to take watch with his brother, and tries her best to sleep for the night. The Force is twisting through the air though, almost in pain and almost like it’s trying to warn her of something. It’s this weird red-black-gray colour she’s never seen before, and she gets a slight sickly feeling in her stomach. The camp and the forest around it is quiet, and Loland has almost convinced herself to fall asleep when a piercing shriek cuts through the air and straight to her heart. She sits up ramrod straight like lightning, instantly pulling her lightsaber off her thigh and sliding out of her tent.

“What was that?” She hears Bilbo ask frantically.

“Orcs,” Kili’s voice says, so she wanders over closer to the fire. The dwarf brothers are sitting up against a rock wall, and Loland’s breath hitches at the way Fili’s skin glows in the firelight. He looks over at the sign of movement, and they make direct eye contact, the ill feeling in Loland’s stomach slightly fading. Another shriek reaches their ears, and Fili’s eyes leave hers to scan the horizon. Across the fire, Thorin jerks awake, hand going instantly to his sword. Loland feels much less paranoid now.

“Orcs?” Bilbo repeats two octaves higher.

“Throat-cutters,” Fili speaks up, obviously answering Bilbo but making eye contact with Loland again. “There’ll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them.”

“They strike in the wee small hours,” Kili continues. “While everyone is asleep. Quick and quiet; no screams, just lots of blood.”

Bilbo looks away to where the shrieks come from, but Loland narrows her eyes at the brothers as they glance at each other before breaking into sniggers. 

Thorin stands up angrily. “You think that’s funny? You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?”

Red and purple Force wisps dance through the air, swirling around Thorin’s gruff form. Loland tilts her head, and wonders about the truth about the orcs. It’s the first time she’d seen the Force act like that - usually it swirls like it’s flowing through water. What she saw in the tent was staticky, glitching in and out and it felt… painful.

Kili and Fili lower their heads, properly chastened. “We didn’t mean anything by it.”

“No, you didn’t,” Thorin growls as he stalks past them. “You know nothing of the world.”

The four of them watch as Thorin dramatically walks over to the edge of the cliff and stares into the distance. Loland makes confused eye contact with Bilbo. Balin meanders up to them.

“Don’t mind him laddie,” he says to Kili. “Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thor tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria. But… our enemy had gotten there first. Moria had been taken by legions of orcs led by the most vile of all their race; Azog the Defiler. The giant Gundabad orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began… by beheading the king.”

Loland sits down near Kili and settles in to listen to the story the older dwarf is determined to tell. Regardless, this will definitely give her a better idea of some of the evils inhabiting Middle Earth.

“Thrain, Thorin’s father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing, taken prisoner or killed, we did not know. We were leaderless. Defeat and death were upon us. That is when I saw him; a young dwarf prince facing down the pale orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe, his armour rent… wielding nothing but an oaken branch as a shield. Azog the Defiler learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken. Our forces rallied and drove the orcs back. Our enemy had been defeated. But there was no feast, no song that night, for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived. And I thought to myself then, there is one I could follow. There is one I could call King.”

In the time that Balin had been speaking, the entire company had roused and was standing to watch Thorin stare into the distance close to the cliff’s edge. Loland stays seated, not sure what to do, and the King turns around and starts stalking towards the fire.

“But the pale orc?” Bilbo asks the question lingering on Loland’s mind. “What happened to him?”

“He slunk back into the hole once he came,” Thorin growls. “That filth died of his wounds long ago.”

Loland’s eyes are drawn to Balin, and watches him make quick but meaningful eye contact with Gandalf. One lesson that Loland had to learn quickly as a Jedi is that nothing is dead until you see the body with your own eyes. What Thorin said meant that Azog was still alive the last time he saw the orc, and who knows what happened after that. Everyone manages to sleep that night, but it’s extremely uneasy. Loland’s dreams are filled with a horrendous battle filled with men that look like the dwarves she’s traveling with and… something else, something… other. The disgusting things fill her dreams with a terrible, uneasy feeling, and her sleep is not kind this night.

The next morning brings pouring rain from the moment she wakes up. Packing up the campsite is a miserable affair, but luckily the tree that Loland had tied Oran under was thick enough and he kept close enough to the trunk that he stayed warm and dry. Her tent had kept the rest of her things dry, but that did not stay for long. Breakfast was eaten on the road, Loland munching on her ration box yet again, but she decided to indulge in some dried berries that Bilbo had offered her. Her robe is doing a wonderful job of keeping her warm even though she is not dry, but the rest of the dwarves and the little hobbit look absolutely miserable.

“Here, Mr. Gandalf, can’t you do anything about this deluge?” Dori (intricate silver braids, Kili said) asks.

Water runs off the brim of Gandalf’s hat. “It is raining, Master Dwarf, and it will continue to rain until the rain is done . If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another wizard.”

“Are there any?” Bilbo speaks up, looking a bit too much like a drowned rat. 

“What?” Gandalf asks.

“Other wizards,” Bilbo clarifies. Loland perks up at this, eager to gain any information she can about the Order that Gandalf mentioned once and then hasn’t brought up since.

“There are five of us,” Gandalf indulges the hobbit and seemingly does not notice Loland’s interest. “The greatest of our order is Saruman, the White. Then there are the two Blue Wizards; you know, I’ve quite forgotten their names…” 

“And who is the fifth?” Loland can not resist speaking up, but the only people who look at her are Bilbo, Gandalf, and Kili. The rest of the dwarves are either resolute to ignore her or too miserable to join the conversation. The Jedi does not want to admit it, but their behaviour is pretty disheartening - and it’s embarrassing, but she at least wants Fili to look at her. It is something she has been thinking about all morning. At this point, she’d take a friendly conversation from anybody new. Thorin’s distaste and lack of trust in her seems to reverberate throughout the company, and Loland is too shy and unsteady in this new world to take the initiative. 

“Well, that would be Radagast, the Brown,” Gandalf answers. 

“Is he a great wizard, or is he… more like you?” Bilbo asks, a tinge of sass in his voice and Loland cannot resist the giggle that escapes her lips. She reaches up to tuck an escaped curl back into her hood and catches Fili staring at her mid-laugh. Her giggle fades and her eyes widen before shifting down to look at Oran’s mane and lets her hood fall even further over her eyes. She takes back what she said about wanting Fili to look at her - Loland finds him much too handsome to meet his eyes for too long when she feels this unsteady in a new world.

Gandalf is obviously offended. “I think he is a great wizard, in his own way. He’s a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others. He keeps a watchful eye over the vast lands to the East, and a good thing too, for Evil always looks to find a foothold in this world.”

For the second day in a row, Loland barely speaks. Admittedly, neither does anybody else until the intense thunderstorm lets up a few hours before the sun sets. Even then, everyone is soaking wet and miserable enough that the few conversations that start up end in arguments until the dwarves agree not to converse until dinner time. The sun after the rain is a bright yellow and is warm enough that Loland’s clothes get uncomfortably damp and sticky. The company rides along until they come along the remains of an abandoned cottage. Thorin doesn’t even look around for more than a minute before declaring that they will go no further.

“We’ll camp here for the night,” he says, smoothly sliding off his pony. “Fili, Kili, look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them.”

Gandalf has dismounted already and wandered into the middle of the decrepit house. “A farmer and his family used to live here.”

“Oin, Gloin.” Thorin orders.”

“Aye?”

“Get a fire going.”

“Right you are.”

“I think it would be wiser to move on,” Gandalf says, and Loland proceeds to tune everybody out. She’s sitting frozen astride Oran, knuckles clenching the reins so hard they’re white. Her eyes are stuck on the wisps of Force drifting out of the house, because it’s a colour she has never seen before. It’s an ugly, muddled brown, and a slightly sickly feeling settles into her stomach. She gets off Oran and absentmindedly hands his reins over to Kili without looking at him before following the wisps around to the back of the house.

Fili, who is standing right beside his brother, makes immediate eye contact with him. “Is she alright?”

Kili frowns. “Not sure… never seen her like that before.”

Behind the house lies a stuffed teddy bear, soft grey fur now brown with mud. It’s glowing blue though, and Loland feels like she needs to touch it. She bends down and rests on her knees, slowly reaching out and making contact with her finger tips. 

She’s terrified, running through dark and unfamiliar woods as fast as her little legs can take her. Something is chasing her, something big, she can hear it’s loud footsteps getting closer and closer. Snot is running down her nose and she tastes blood in her mouth - she’s crying, she realizes. Her legs, legs that are too small to out run whatever is chasing her, stumble and she trips and a massive hand wraps around her waist and she is hoisted into the air -

Loland gasps her way out of the memory, sweating profusely and damp clothes even more uncomfortable. What the fuck had she just seen? What is this place? The Jedi stands up abruptly and whirls around to stalk into the abandoned house and insert herself into Thorin and Gandalf’s conversation. Just before she enters, the wizard comes stomping out in a huff and stalks into the forest, yelling about how he’s the only one with any sense.

Still shaken from her vision, Loland resolves to talk to Thorin. She enters the room and Thorin is scowling at a half-collapsed wall.

“I know you don’t trust me,” she starts, and Thorin directs his scowl at her. “But something awful happened here… is there anywhere else we can camp for the night?”

“I will not be given counsel by a girl who is not part of the company!” Thorin thunders at her.

Loland’s barely-there restraint snaps. “And I will not be yelled at by a bitter man!” She whirls around, robe whipping out behind her, and stomps out of the house in an eerily similar way to Gandalf. She does not leave them though, deciding to put her tent up out of direct eye-line and sulks inside of it. Loland does not indulge in a warm meal tonight and no one brings it to her. Instead, she picks at her ration box and changes into one of her two spare sets of clothes. The dry dark teal set does in fact settle something inside of her, especially when she puts on new socks. She takes her hair out of the basic travel braid it had been in, brushes it since it was still wet, then scrunches her curls up and ties it half up, then settles in to meditate. She had lost her temper today, and that does not usually happen. She digs Force roots into the ground beneath her tent, and drifts for a long time. Longer than usual, until she starts to fall deeper and deeper and deeper, until she is getting flashes of emotion - panic, pain, and fear. 

Loland’s eyes snap open. The campsite is eerily quiet. Brown and red wisps of the Force are twisting through the air in front of her and out of her tent, so Loland clips both her lightsabers back onto the sides of her utility belt and silently exits her tent. The campsite is completely empty, with bowls still strewn about and the fire still roaring - where did everyone go? She looks down at the ground and follows the multitude of footsteps leading into the forest in the same direction as the Force wisps. She is as quiet as she can be, and soon she hears yelling and the panicking whinnying of the ponies. Loland tiptoes up to the edge of a clearing and is wildly taken aback by what she sees. Three huge, grotesque creatures are gathered around a bonfire where half of her companions are being slow-roasted and the other half lay in burlap sacks off to the side to be saved for later. The creatures have beady little eyes, thick gray skin, and massive hands -

- she stumbles and she trips and a massive hand wraps around her waist and she is hoisted into the air -

Loland blinks at the sight. Literally what in the world? How did the dwarves get themselves in this predicament? It had sounded like Thorin was talking a big game about how dangerous this quest was back at Bilbo’s house, and they go and get themselves captured within the first week?

Suddenly, one is picking up Bombur and holding him over his wide open mouth. Bilbo is talking and all three of the massive things’ eyes are on him, and then Bombur is tossed carelessly back down onto the pile. Then the dwarves are yelling protests about how none of them have worms, then suddenly all of them have ‘ worms in their tubes ’ and all of the dwarves are screaming about how they are riddled with parasites. It’s honestly a bit embarrassing for them, and Loland would laugh if she wasn’t so worried. Ready for a fight, she unclips both her lightsabers and attaches them into one long hilt but does not activate it yet. The weight in her left hand is a comfort she hasn’t felt in a week, and it settles what little anxiety she had.

The biggest thing turns to Bilbo with a sneer on it’s face. “So what would you have us do then, let ‘em all go?”

Bilbo grimaces. “Well…”

“You think I don’t know what you’re doing?” The biggest thing asks loudly, reaching down to poke at Bilbo, who shuffles backwards with the weight. “This little ferret is taking us for fools!”

“Ferret?” Bilbo repeats incredulously. 

“Fools?” The second biggest thing repeats stupidly.

The biggest thing reaches out with it’s disgustingly big hand, obviously intent on picking up Bilbo and either eating him raw or tossing him into the fire. Loland strides out into the clearing and throws her right arm out, and with a strong HOLD , the thing is completely trapped in place. It’s head turns to look at her though, and the other two things and all of the dwarves follow it’s line of sight.

“Loland!” Kili cries happily.

“What’s this?” The smallest thing squeals. “Another snack?”

“I’m so sorry,” Loland says slowly, still very confused. “But I think I would be quite upset if you ate me and my companions.”

“It never ‘urt to try!” The second biggest thing growls and takes off towards her with thundering footsteps. The dwarves start yelling in warning, but they do not realize that Loland is completely fine. With a PUSH , she breaks the hold and sends the biggest thing flying up into the air then crashing down into the smallest thing. The earth shakes slightly as they fall, but Loland is already running straight towards the second largest thing. It stumbles backwards in shock then recovers and reaches out to grab her, but Loland gestures with her right arm again and with SLOW , the creature looks as if it’s moving through molasses. Loland activates her lightsaber, the yellow plasma blades appearing within milliseconds, then ducks into a roll to dodge the thing’s swiping arm. She pops up into a kneel and cuts off it’s leg at the knee, popping up to her feet and dancing away as it slow-motion falls towards her. She stops slowing the creature and it’s shriek of pain cuts through the night just before it slams to the ground. She twirls her lightsaber quickly and takes off it’s head. 

“BERT!” The smallest thing shrieks, and Loland turns around to see that they have barely detangled themselves, the largest one using the smallest one to stand up. 

“I’ll get you,” the biggest thing growls loudly, and Loland spreads her legs to get into a ready stance and holds her lightsaber up just behind her, then grins her most feral grin. Her lightsaber hums menacingly. A shadow falls across the clearing, giving everything pause for just a moment. It’s a tall shadow, with a very pointy hat.

“THE DAWN WILL TAKE YOU ALL!” Gandalf’s voice yells, and the two things turn and stare at him dumbfoundedly, momentarily forgetting about Loland.

“Who’s that?” The smallest one squeaks.

“No idea,” the bigger one answers.

“Can we eat ‘im too?” The smallest one asks.

As if in answer, Gandalf lifts his staff and brings in down on the rock, completely splitting it in two. The half he’s not standing on falls away and sunlight pours into the clearing, illuminating the creatures, Loland, and all of the dwarves. As soon as the light hits the skin of the things, they slowly begin to turn to stone. It’s a horrific affair, the two alive creatures shrieking and howling in pain, then choking as their lungs turn to stone. The corpse of the dead creature also turns to stone, and Loland watches in shock. The ordeal is over in a few minutes, and the sun has risen higher in the sky. The threat is obviously gone, so Loland deactivates her lightsaber and splits it in half, then clips it back onto her belt. The dwarves start cheering happily, and Gandalf hops down off the rock to make his way towards her.

“What in the stars were those?” Loland asks, still wildly confused as to what just happened.

“Mountain trolls,” Gandalf says in answer. “Thank you for taking care of it in my absence.”

Loland hums. The dwarves have stopped cheering and are now trying their best to get out of their sacks. The dwarves on the spit are red-faced now, and wiggle around uncomfortably.

“Get your foot outta my back!” Dwalin (bald and tattoos, Kili had said) protests loudly.

Loland gestures towards the spit with her right hand, and with a LIFT , the wooden pole and the dwarves on it are floating gently through the air. She moves them upright and takes hold of each one individually with the Force so they don’t knock into each other, then moves them away from the fire.

“Gandalf, can you deal with the ropes?” She asks. Happily, the Wizard moves and unties each dwarf, the thick ropes and knots made by mountain troll fingers make rescue even more difficult. After everyone is untied (the dwarves in awe at how they are held safely in the air), she floats everyone down gently onto the ground. Before the interrogation she knows is coming begins, she wanders over to the dwarves still stuck in the sacks. Gandalf and Dwalin follow behind her to help. She’s most comfortable with Kili, so she starts with him.

He’s staring up at her with pitiful eyes as she bends down beside him. “Oh Loland, my hero! Release me from this burlap cage!”

Grateful he’s not asking yet, Loland grins at him. “Of course Kili. Here, let me rescue you!” She works at the ropes around his neck, spending her fingers on them since they’re too close to his skin to comfortably use her lightsaber. She’s successful after a few moments, and he happily wiggles out of the sack. She steps out of the way giggling, and turns to the dwarf beside him, who just happens to be Fili. He’s already staring at her, mouth slack and eyes filled with something she cannot read, and her laughter dies. Carefully, she kneels down beside him and his eyes don’t leave her face once. Silently, she reaches out and spends the next few minutes untying the ropes and feeling the heat of his neck on her knuckles. 

“That was…” Fili seems at a loss for words, and Loland swallows thickly, unsure what he’s going to say. “... Amazing. How did you… ?”

She stands up and lets him wiggle out of the sack ungracefully. “I said I would show you all what a Jedi is when we get into a fight, didn’t I?”

“It was amazing,” Fili repeats earnestly, staring deep into her eyes. “I mean it. I’ve never seen anything like it… like you.”

Loland’s face immediately erupts into flames. She can’t look at him while he’s looking at her like that anymore, so she turns around - only to be stopped short at the sight of the rest of the dwarves staring at her expectantly. Thorin is at the front, somehow still looking dignified in just his small clothes. His arms are crossed and he’s frowning at her.

“Explain,” he says shortly.

Loland sighs. “It’s a lot.”

The dwarves stay silent, and Thorin raises an eyebrow.

Loland sighs again. “Long story short is I’m not from this planet.”

There’s an instant uproar, which she had expected. The dwarves are confused as to what she means, how she got there, and what she is doing here. Just like back at Bilbo’s house, everyone is yelling over each other, but somehow, she meets Fili’s eyes. He’s moved to stand slightly behind Thorin, and he’s staring at her but it’s less cold than Thorin’s feels. Fili’s feels warm and understanding, like he’s ready to listen to every single word she has to say. It gives her the strength to continue once the dwarves have quieted down.

“I was born in another star system, on a planet called Coruscant. We have something there, it’s called the Force, and the simplest way to explain it is it’s an energy field created by life that binds the galaxy together. Jedi can harness that Force and use it to do things other people can’t. I lived in a Jedi Temple from a young age once my Force powers manifested, and trained nonstop until two years ago when I became a Jedi Knight. In short, Jedi are a noble order of protectors that are unified by our ability to tap into the Force, and are the guardians of peace and justice in the Republic. Or at least, we were… We had made allies of this group called the Clones - a large army made from the DNA of one bounty hunter, and they turned on us without warning. I had just gotten back from an off-world mission when I was ambushed in the middle of the Temple, and… I died. What felt like seconds later, I woke up in the middle of a field, and walked until I ran into Gandalf. I’ve been with you all for the rest.”

“This… Force,” Thorin says after a few seconds of processing. “That is how you threw the troll?”

“Yes,” Loland answers. “However, my connection to the Force is… strong here. Stronger than it was back at home. My visions are clearer, I can see more in my dreams, and I can actually see the Force. I could never see it before I died.”

“Visions?” Balin asks. “Dreams?”

Loland nods. “Whenever I meditate, my Force connection grows stronger and sometimes it shows me visions of things that haven’t happened yet. Back home, they were much harder to See. Here, while I may not understand yet, they are much clearer. As for dreams, the same sort of thing happens in my sleep, but the connection is weaker. I have less control in dreams, and I don’t know if they’re happening in the past, present, or future.”

“Clones? DNA?” Kili asks. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know the science of it,” Loland says. “But basically this one soldier who finds and kills people for money was the perfect human, the perfect follower, so people made copies of him until there was an entire army of hundreds of one man.”

Everyone is silent after that, and Loland shifts awkwardly.

“And,” Fili says, breaking the awkward silence. “Your weapon… it’s beautiful. How does it work?”

Loland reaches down and unclips one of her sabers. “It’s called a lightsaber. It’s the staple weapon of a Jedi, and the colour of the blade depends on the person. It takes Force power to wield, and I can do many different things with it. Do not touch the plasma blade though - it will burn you beyond repair. It’s powered by a kyber crystal and my connection to the Force.”

This vein of questioning goes on for a long while, Loland explaining Jedi training and how she got ‘off-world’, and just like Gandalf, the dwarves are very interested in flight without wings. Soon, the sun has risen high in the sky, and Thorin sends half the dwarves off to pack up camp and bring everything back. The other half set about finding and sorting everyone’s clothes and weapons. Loland wanders off back to camp and puts her robe back on before packing up her bags and her tent, then heading over to give Oran breakfast, brush him, and tack him up. She has an odd feeling just before she ties her bags onto Oran’s saddle, and decides against putting her lighter bag on him, instead clipping it onto her utility belt so it hangs just above her ass. She leads Oran over to the rest of the ponies and leaves him to graze before heading back to the rest of the dwarves. Gandalf and Thorin are talking over by the troll statues, and the rest of the dwarves are coming up from a cave underground she did not see before.

“Loland,” someone says behind her, and she turns around to see Fili smiling softly at her.

Her face instantly bursts into flames. “Fili.”

“Because you saved us,” he says, holding out a bundle of metal towards her. “I wish it was dwarven make, but this’ll do for now.”

Loland reaches out and takes it, unfurling it to reveal a chainmail shirt she could easily fit underneath her overtunics. 

“I realized you have no armour,” Fili keeps talking, and now there’s a slight blush on the bridge of his nose. “Hopefully it fits. I can make you a much finer one when we reach Erebor.”

Loland’s face reaches fever-like temperatures. “Thank you Fili. I - can you hold this?”

She reaches out and hands him the chainmail back, and he takes it with confusion. She shrugs off her robe and hands it to him as well, then does the same with her overtunic, brown sash, and utility belt. Fili’s blush is easier to see now, but Loland decides to ignore it and grabs the chainmail again, slipping it over her head. It goes over her head with ease, and fits comfortably against her white undertunic. She grins at the fit, then proceeds to put her clothes back on.

“It fits well,” she remarks, and turns her smile to Fili. “Thank you so much!”

“I, uh -” Fili stutters. “You’re welcome.”

He abruptly turns on his heel and walks away, but honestly, Loland is glad for the reprieve. Just this morning she wanted his attention, and now it’s almost too much. He had gone out of his way to talk to her many times today, even though it was all after she fought the trolls. Everyone is talking to her after fighting the trolls, and while she is kind of down about that, she will not look a gift horse in the mouth. She had longed for meaningful companionship ever since she had woken up here, and she will be damned if she lets an opportunity for it pass her by.

Chapter Text

The dwarves spend longer than they probably should in the troll hoard, but Loland can hear them yelling about burying gold and comparing weapons they have found, so at least they are having fun. She can smell it from here though, so she opts out of going inside. Instead she takes the time to regain some strength and energy from her fight with the trolls by meditating. It’s a simple affair this time, the dwarves making far too much noise to allow her to sink down deep enough. But she floats happily and can feel herself getting stronger by the moment. Once all the dwarves’ footsteps are back above ground, Loland slowly opens her eyes to come back to reality. The sun has reached it’s highest point in the sky, and the wind is warm against her face. She feels oddly calm with the troll statues at her back… too calm. Instantly she’s on her feet and alert - the birds are silent, and the trees are casting darker shadows than before. The Force is glitching around her again, that sickly red-black-gray colour twisting through the air and leading into the trees. Instead of following it, she walks over to where Kili and Fili are standing close to Thorin and Gandalf.

“Something is wrong,” she says, and just as she finishes speaking, the sound of something crashing through the trees without abandon can be heard. It’s an odd sound, silent except for how it’s moving through the underbrush. She cannot hear the huffing of a large animal, and nobody is yelling. It’s coming from a completely different direction of the Force though.

“SOMETHING’S COMING,” Thorin announces, and the company instantly jumps into action. They were spread out among the clearing but within seconds all the dwarves have gathered around Thorin, weapons at the ready. Loland grabs her lightsabers and keeps them separate and off, just in case. Beside her, Kili readies an arrow and Fili brandishes his twin swords. Bilbo is tucked away into the center.

“THIEVES!” A voice yells, and a disheveled man riding a sled being pulled by the biggest rabbits she has ever seen comes crashing through the trees. “FIRE! MURDER!” He comes to a very abrupt stop and makes direct eye contact with Loland.

She tilts her head. He looks human, and slightly shorter than Gandalf, wearing thick brown robes and a tall, dirty hat. One singular tooth is poking out of his lips, and his eyes are crazed. However, his skin is clean and green and orange wisps of the Force swirl happily around him, so Loland relaxes ever so slightly.

“Radagast!” Gandalf exclaims, leaning heavily on his staff. “Radagast the Brown. Ah… what on earth are you doing here?”

“I was looking for you, Gandalf,” the man - Radagast - says, entire body trembling. “Something’s wrong. Something’s terribly wrong.”

Loland and Kili make eye contact.

That’s what I just said, she mouths.

I know, he mouths, nodding.

Fili glances back and forth between them.

“Yes?” Gandalf asks, worried.

Radagast opens his mouth to speak, then shuts it. He opens his mouth again, freezes, frowns, then closes it again. “Oh, just give me a minute! Um, oh, I had a thought and I lost it. It was right there, on the tip of my tongue!” He curls up his tongue, then sticks it out. “Oh! It’s not a thought at all! It’s a silly old…”

Gandalf reaches out and pulls something off of Radagast’s tongue. 

“Stick insect!” He finishes, reaching out to carefully take the bug and place it gently on his hat.

Loland and Kili make disgusted eye contact.

The Wizards walk a few paces away to have some privacy, and Loland can see Gandalf sharing a hit of his pipe with the frazzled man. Loland cannot hear what they are saying, but the Force distracts her by glitching in front of her eyes and twisting away into the forest. She follows it with her eyes and squints into the trees.

“What’s the matter?” Kili asks, both the brothers having turned to follow her line of sight.

“Besides the fact that guy had an entire bug in his mouth and almost didn’t realize it?” Loland smirks and Kili laughs loudly. “The Force… it looks wrong. It looks like it did that night when we heard the orcs.”

“How so?” Fili asks.

“Usually, it dances through the air like it’s in water,” Loland explains. “Right now though… it’s twisting, glitching in and out like it’s in pain… it’s warning me about something.”

The Force grows more wild, frantic, and Loland can’t look away from it. She can faintly hear Fili speaking, but she can’t make out the words. A sickly feeling grows in her stomach, stronger and stronger, and the Force twists around her. Her ears start ringing, and saliva wells up in her mouth. A loud, other-worldly howl cuts through the air and the Force spikes like the sound hurt it. Fili gently places his hand on Loland’s shoulder, and she comes back to reality and normal sound returns with a snap . They stare at each other, and the sight of Fili’s warm blue eyes eases the ill feeling, but only slightly. But suddenly, there’s a crashing noise coming from the forest, exactly where the Force is leading. Loland turns away from Fili and grabs both her lightsabers, keeping them in both hands. There’s the sound of rocks falling, then suddenly a wolf that is more the size of her horse appears on top of a crag. Before Loland can react, it leaps down into the middle of the company and knocks Gloin down, but Loland freezes it with a quick STOP before the wolf can tear into Gloin’s throat. Taking advantage of the moment, Thorin cleaves through it’s neck and kills it instantly. Instantly, another wolf-horse bursts through the bushes and Loland whirls around, hitting it with a SLOW right as Kili’s arrow tears through it’s eye. Dwalin crushes it’s skull with one of his war-hammers for good measure.

“Warg-scouts!” Thorin growls, swinging around to look at the company. “Which means an orc-pack is not far behind.”

“Orc pack?” Bilbo repeats, and Loland feels much the same. She feels like she should’ve asked Gandalf for more information on what exactly is hunting them, but it’s too late now. She will just endure for now, and make do, and then ask questions later. Fili and Kili place themselves on either side of Loland, and something settles in her.

Gandalf turns on Thorin. “Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin.”

Thorin scowls. “No one.”

“Who did you tell?!” Gandalf repeats harshly.

“No one, I swear,” Thorin says. “What in Durin’s name is going on?”

Gandalf squishes his lips together. “You are being hunted.”

“We have to get out of here,” Dwalin says, voice gruff with panic.

Ori comes crashing back through the trees, a distressed look on his face. “We can’t! We have no ponies - they bolted!”

Loland’s heart drops into her stomach, and she closes her eyes. That means the first friend she made in this strange land is gone. She hopes Oran finds somewhere safe - but he also has almost all of her worldly possessions. As a Jedi, she used to having little attachments, but that was literally everything she owned and the last of her things from her home world. This is something she can mourn later, as they are in great danger right now. She has been doing a lot of that lately, mourning.

“ I’ll draw them off,” Radagast says, stepping forward purposely.

“These are Gundabad Wargs,” Gandalf says. “They will outrun you.”

“These are Rhosgobel Rabbits,” Radagast smirks. “I’d like to see them try.”

He leaves no room for arguments. Within seconds, everybody is moving. Radagast moves to check his sleigh one more time, and all the dwarves make sure their clothes and weapons are secure. Loland clips her sabers back on her belt and takes a deep breath. The sickly feeling is still there, nausea wreaking havoc in her body. Soon, Radagast is boarding his sleigh and taking off through the trees with the only warning being Gandalf keeping a very close eye on him from behind a large rock. Kili and Fili have placed themselves in front and behind her respectively, and all of them have a weapon in one hand, prepared for anything.

“Come on!” Gandalf says loudly, and the company takes off. They burst through the trees and onto the rocky plain, staying as close to a line as possible as Radagast does his best to keep the orcs (Loland still has no idea what these things are, but everyone is wary about them and the trolls were bad enough) distracted. His driving is erratic though, and neither he nor the company has a set path. Multiple times, Radagast comes too close for comfort, and Loland gets her first glimpse at the orcs. They’re disgusting looking things, gray slimy skin and mouths filled with bloody teeth. The Force looks the most concentrated and full of static near them, the red-black-gray twisting around them like it’s trying to escape. They’re screeching and brandishing crude looking swords and spears, chasing after the Brown Wizard with abandon. The first time she gets a good look she stops dead in her tracks, and Fili has to gently push her along before he has to full body slam her. She starts running again, mind racing. The orcs are so evil the Force around them has warped and perverted, and Loland fears the day she meets the Force User responsible for their creation.

Suddenly, Thorin comes to a dead stop as Radagast rides right in front of them in the clearing. Without thinking, Loland reaches out and wraps her fingers around Kili’s quiver strap, pulling him to a stop. Luckily, Fili reacts just as fast and they’re all turned around and sprinting as the orcs chase behind the Wizard. The company all manages to turn around, and Thorin leads them around an absolutely massive rock but again he instantly stops running, but this time not everyone is fast enough.

Thorin reaches out and grabs Ori’s hood as his feet carry him past, moving too quickly to stop. “ORI, NO!” He drags him back behind the rock and Loland can hear the snarling of the wargs. They are far too close. Her heart is beating so loudly she can hear it, and she can’t stop looking at the Force. More than once Fili has to reach around her waist and guide her back on track because the Force keeps leading her away from the company and straight into the path of the orcs.

“Loland, what’s happening?” He asks, panicked, after the third time he has to grab her hips and pull her into him before she steps out from behind the rock they’re using to hide.

She squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head, trying to clear the cobwebs out of her brain. “I don’t know, I… the Force wants me to go over there but it’s all wrong , it shouldn’t feel like this. Like I have no choice.”

Loland opens her eyes, and instantly makes eye contact with Fili. He’s still holding her hips with both hands, and they’re big and warm and then she realizes she’s pressed against him from chest to toe. The dwarf is just barely taller than her, and she has the odd thought that she used to be taller before she died. He’s staring at her with something in his eyes that she can’t quite read, and worry.

“You have a choice,” he says adamantly. “Stay here, with me - with us.”

The buzzing in her ears gets louder and louder as they stare at each other before it just - stops. The cobwebs clear like someone had taken a broom to the corners of her mind, and she stops feeling like she’s going to throw up. She blinks and Fili must see something in her eyes, because he slowly lets her go, fingertips trailing over her waist.

“Okay,” she says. “I’m okay.”

They don’t have time to speak more than that, the company taking off once again. Loland’s heartbeat is thundering in her ears, and the company’s footfalls makes the ground shake ever so slightly. Kili runs steadily in front of her, never wavering, and she paces herself to his speed. Gandalf leads them underneath a rock overcropping, ushering them all to stop and be silent. The red-black-gray Force twists upwards , and suddenly everyone can hear the harsh sniffing of a warg that is far too close. Thorin turns and makes meaningful eye contact with Kili, who inhales deeply and grabs an arrow. Loland readies one of her sabers, just in case. With one more deep breath, Kili steps out and shoots the warg in the throat. There’s a screech of pain, and suddenly the warg and it’s rider are tumbling off the overcrop and directly in front of the company, still screaming. Panicked, Loland, Dwalin and Thorin leap forward. Loland silences the orc with a lightsaber to it’s neck, and Thorin and Dwalin bash the warg’s head in. Once the screaming dies down, everybody looks at each other with wide eyes. That was far too loud.

“Move,” Gandalf says. “RUN!”

The company takes off. They’re no longer running in a straight line, more like a group of gazelles. It’s almost like every man for themselves, if Thorin and Dwalin were not doing their best to corral everybody in at least the same direction. The orcs have completely forgotten about Radagast and are now advancing upon them from every side. Soon enough, the orcs have herded them all into a large circle with a massive rock reaching up towards the sky at their backs. Loland pulls out her other saber and connects them, ready for a fight. There’s a riderless warg getting slightly too close for comfort, so Loland gathers her strength and flings her lightsaber. Like a boomerang, it spins in circles before colliding with the warg’s neck and cleaving straight through. It continues it’s circle until Loland catches it. Nearby, Kili is loosing arrows without abandon, and Fili has pulled out his throwing knives. 

“We’re surrounded!” Fili announces.

Loland picks up a warg and rider with a LIFT , then PUSH es them towards a group of three heading straight for Ori. They go down in a heap of snarling teeth and flailing claws, and Ori takes the time to shoot two of them in the forehead with rocks from his slingshot.

“Where is Gandalf?” Kili yells, panicked.

“He’s abandoned us!” Dwalin growls.

“How?” Loland yells. “He was just here!”

Everybody has gathered tighter together in front of the large rock so no attack comes from behind. Loland stays sharp, keeping the orcs and wargs away from them with well placed PUSH es, and Kili keeps shooting orcs in the head. It feels like not enough though, and that soon it will come to an all out war. Suddenly, Gandalf’s large pointy hat pops up from a crack in the rock.

“This way, you fools!” He says urgently, and the company members closest turn around and sprint to where he is, disappearing into the rock. A warg jumps at Thorin and he cuts it down. Soon, all the company but Kili, Thorin and Loland have gone through the passage. Loland’s still PUSH ing wargs away from them, and Kili is lost in his shooting. But the orcs are pissed that everyone has disappeared before their eyes, and have started rushing them.

“KILI!” Thorin yells, slightly panicked. “LOLAND! RUN!”

Startled at the fact that Thorin actually said her name, Loland turns around and absolutely books it towards the rock. She beats Kili by a millisecond, throwing herself down the rockslide and tumbling to the bottom ungracefully. She pops up, ready as ever, and comes nose-to-nose with Bilbo. She steps back and awkwardly pats him on the shoulder and he gives her a grin in return. Suddenly, a musical but still threatening horn sounds, and all they can hear is the thundering of hoof beats and the death screams of orcs before one comes falling down the rockslide and lands dead at the bottom.

Thorin leans down and pulls an arrow out of it’s neck before throwing it away in disgust. “Elves.”

Dwalin, who has wandered further away, turns around. “I cannae see where the pathway leads - do we follow it or no?”

“Follow it of course!” Bofur says excitedly, already walking towards him.

“Yes,” Gandalf muses, and Loland gives him a side-eye. “I think that would be wise.”

Loland takes up her place at the rear again as everyone begins moving. The passageway they have found themselves in is long and extremely narrow, and more than once multiple dwarves have to shove Bombur through. The air seems to become lighter and more clear as they walk, each breath Loland takes filling her lungs in a satisfying way.

“Oh, Bilbo,” she says to the hobbit walking in front of her. “Here - as a handkerchief -” She digs around in her waist bag before pulling out one of the two face cloths she had bought in Hobbiton and holds it out to him. “I know it’s not the softest, but I figured it’s better than a piece of Bofur’s shirt?”

Bilbo takes it with reverence. “Thank you Loland, thank you so much. You’re right, this is much better than Bofur’s stinky shirt.”

They both have a little giggle about that while glancing at the mentioned dwarf to see if he heard - he hasn’t. This makes them giggle more.

“What are elves like?” Loland asks after they both calm down. “Thorin seemed to hate them…”

Bilbo frowns a little. “I’ve never met an elf personally, but all the stories I grew up with describe them as benevolent other-worldly creatures. They are immortal though, so I believe sometimes our mortal affairs seem… inconsequential?” 

“Ah,” Loland nods. “That usually happens with beings who live much longer than everyone else.”

“I think they are fascinating,” Bilbo says like it’s a secret. “I would very much like to meet one.”

“I think you all are fascinating,” Loland muses. “This place… it’s different from anywhere I traveled to before I died. Middle Earth seems richer of life than anywhere in my Galaxy.”

“I have many questions,” Bilbo admits. 

“And we have time!” Loland says happily. They walk the passageway for hours, chatting about Loland’s homeworld and she does her very best to explain the concepts of multiple worlds within multiple star systems and intergalactic travel. It’s lucky Bilbo is as smart as he turns out to be, because they are not simple concepts. In return, Bilbo does his best to explain some of the lore of every race - men, dwarves, elves, hobbits, but also the orcs and goblins and necromancers and a being called Sauron. He also promises to show her maps when they make it back to the Shire, and Loland is very happy about this.

It’s nearing mid-afternoon by the time they come across the end of the passage. The rock opens up to reveal a white city, seemingly made out of marble and softly reflecting the sun. Something inside of Loland she didn’t know was agitated settles at the sight. All the dwarves take a moment to gaze upon the city, and Gandalf leans heavily on his staff.

“The Valley of Imladris. In the common tongue, it’s known by another name…”

“Rivendell,” Bilbo breathes.

Thorin starts arguing with Gandalf, but Loland tunes him out and turns to Bilbo. “Rivendell? But that means…”

Bilbo beams at her. “I’m going to meet an elf!”

And I might get some answers, Loland thinks. But this is also where the dwarves may make her leave - and honestly, she doesn’t want to do that. Nevermind the fact that she dreamed of a dragon the very first night she was here, but the dwarves are growing on her. Gandalf leads them down a narrow path then over an even more narrow bridge crossing over a wide rushing river. They filter into a circular entryway surrounded on every side by weeping trees and mountains. The Force floats happily through the air in white wisps, and a sense of peace fills Loland. A weight she did not know was on her shoulders lifts slowly, like the wind had gently lifted it away from her. She stands just a little taller, and breathes just a little easier. The company stands confused in the… Loland decides to call it the foyer for a few minutes, muttering quietly and looking around. Loland looks over at the resident Wizard, and he is calmly leaning on his staff and moving his lips in a way that feels… smug. Thorin is still obviously pissed, but he and everyone else would rather be here instead of still facing the orcs. The Force suddenly flits in front of her eyes and directs her attention to the stairs, where a dark haired elf is floating down towards them. Loland takes a closer look, and he’s not floating - just walking so smoothly it appears that way. 

“Mithrandir,” he says.

At the word, Gandalf turns around. “Ah, Lindir!”

The elf floats over to stand in front of Gandalf. The dwarves stop talking and eye him warily. “Lastannem i athrannedh i Vruinen.”

“I must speak with Lord Elrond,” Gandalf says in answer, and Lindir tilts his head at him.

“My Lord Elrond is not here,” the elf says apologetically. 

“Not here?” Gandalf frowns. “Where is he?”

The same musical but threatening horn that Loland heard while standing at the bottom of the rock passageway rings through the air again. The dwarves instantly start looking around, but the Jedi keeps looking at the elf and Gandalf - who just nod minutely at each other. The sound of thundering hoofbeats approach from the stone bridge they had crossed earlier, and everyone turns around to see a large company of heavily armed horsemen approaching. 

“Ifridî bekâr!” Thorin bellows. “Close ranks!”

Instantly, the dwarves form a tight circle, Bofur reaching out and pulling Bilbo into the middle. Kilil grabs Loland around the bicep and pulls her into ranks as well, between her and Fili. Every single dwarf has their weapon pointed outward to ward people from getting too close, but Gandalf has not reacted, so Loland keeps her lightsabers hidden. In response, the riders quickly circle up around the dwarves and keep moving, the horses snorting with anticipation and long spears glinting in the sunlight. A single rider breaks away and steers his horse towards the Wizard.. 

“Gandalf,” the elf says fondly and spreads his arms in welcome. 

“Lord Elrond,” Gandalf’s happy voice responds. “Mellonen! Mo evínedh?”

“Farannem ‘lamhoth i udul o charad. Dagannem rim na Iant Vedui.” Elrond responds as he dismounts his horse, and Loland can barely see him step towards Gandalf and sweep him into a hug through the legs of the horses circling the company. At the sight of their Lord’s ease, the riders cease their circling and slowly filter off towards what Loland assumes is the stables. Another elf wearing a long copper dress steps forward and takes the reins of Lord Elrond’s horse - who was just patiently waiting where he was left. “Strange, for orcs to come so close to our borders,” Elrond continues, eyeing Gandalf like he knows something everyone else doesn’t. “Something, or some one , has drawn them near.” The elf lord pulls a crude sword wrapped in brown cloth out of his robes and shows it to everyone before handing it off to Lindir.

Gandalf looks sheepish under his gaze. “Ah, that… may have been us.”

Thorin chooses that moment to step forward out of the huddle of dwarves, staring up at Elrond from beneath bushy but imposing eyebrows. Elrond looks upon him with surprised recognition.

“Welcome Thorin, son of Thrain.”

Thorin frowns even deeper, which Loland did not think was possible. “I do not believe we have met.”

“You have your grandfather’s bearing,” Elrond explains graciously. “I knew Thror when he ruled under the Mountain.”

“Indeed,” Thorin growls. “He made no mention of you.”

The elf lord lets the insult slide off his back and turns to face the huddle of wary dwarves instead. “Nartho i noer, toltho i viruvor. Boe i annam vann a nethail vin.” As he speaks, Elrond’s eyes flit towards Loland’s and they make eye contact. He just so slightly tilts his head at the sight of her, like he’s confused as to why she is there. But he moves on as the suspicious dwarves start rumbling.

“What is he saying?” Gloin asks gruffly. “Does he offer us insult?!”

At the idea, the dwarves grip their weapons tighter, and Ori loads his slingshot nervously. Loland sighs through her nose.

“No, master Gloin,” Gandalf says, sounding exasperated. “He is offering you food.”

The dwarves shuffle about awkwardly and take a moment to put their heads together and whisper obnoxiously loud. In unison, they all turn around.

“Ah, well, in that case…” Gloin says, looking excited now. “Lead on.”

Lindir, still holding the crude sword, floats forward. “Follow me, please.”

He leads them up the stairs he came down from and Loland follows everyone through the winding halls of Rivendell. The stonework is beautiful, intricate carvings in the white rock catching the Jedi’s attention everywhere she looks. The large trees that the city was built around are larger than anything Loland’s seen besides the trees on Endor where the Ewoks live, but that is a dark and dense forest, this one is full of light and magic. Streams break off the one large river they crossed earlier and carve their way through the landscape of the city - many times the company has to jump across stepping stones as rushing water cuts through their path. Lindir leads them through multiple small buildings that Loland can’t gleam a use for, before up another large winding staircase and into what seems to be the main castle of Rivendell. The open concept and glasswork used with the white stone gives Loland pause before Bilbo tugs her along. Lindir keeps leading them up staircases and down hallways until in front of a hallway that looks the same as all the others save for two large gray stone pillars on either side of it. The elf turns around and faces them all.

“This is where the delegations from dwarven kingdoms used to stay,” Lindir explains. “Please, split yourselves into the six rooms available. I will return in a short time to take you to the bathing houses if you wish, and there are clean clothes in the wardrobes. The kitchens are preparing dinner.”

Balin steps forward and bows slightly. “Thank you, Lindir.”

The elf smiles at him and bows in return. “Eithel govannen,” he says and floats away.

“Balin, go look at the rooms,” Thorin orders. “Then return and split us up as you see fit.”

While the white haired dwarf is gone, Loland takes the time to peek her head down the hallway. The elves had made an obvious effort to build this part of the castle in a different way, one that might make dwarves feel at home. The stone, while the same as the rest, is stained to be a charcoal gray instead of the clean white, and the lights are a muted blue and set into the wall with golden metal frames. Soon enough, Balin returned. He directs Thorin into the room in the middle on the left, which appears to be the royal suite anyways. Fili and Kili get placed at the end of the hallway on the left side, while Loland gets her own room directly across from them. On Thorin’s other side and closest to the exit is Dwalin, Balin, Oin, and Gloin. Then beside Loland is the room that Dori, Ori, Nori, and Bilbo are given, and Bifur, Bofur and Bombur go closest to the door on the right. Everyone goes into their room with little protest and little fanfare, and Loland happily closes the door behind her.

The tiny apartment is just that - very tiny. This is obviously a one-person suite, and Loland decides to be very grateful she is not rooming with any of the dwarves. Directly facing her is a decent sized four-poster bed that looks extremely comfortable, the sheets a lovely light blue and the curtains a sheer version of the same colour. The door on the left wall leads to a small bathroom with a carved sink and a stone toilet that Loland decided not to look too closely at. Instead, she looked at the small washbasin that she would have to bring water up for, and then turned around and discovered the closet on the other side of the bed. The small double doors open to a closet she can take two steps into, and Loland grins happily at all the clothes. There’s a multitude of different sizes to accommodate not just one singular person staying here, and the Jedi takes the next few minutes browsing through all the dresses. The fact that it’s only feminine clothes in the closet make Loland believe this room was meant for a lady traveler, and she decides to like Rivendell just that little bit more. A bunch of the dresses end up being far too wide for her, but she finds a silver dress with a corset that she thinks will manage to fit her. She hangs it up on the door of the closet, takes off her robes and boots, and plops face first down on the bed. It’s just as comfortable as she originally thought, and the soft blankets and squishy pillows drag her deeper and deeper into slumber.

Chapter Text

Loland sleeps peacefully for what feels like ages, uninterrupted by the Force. She sleeps off all the aches and pains she has gained from her extended period of sleeping on solid ground, and wakes up to loud banging on her door feeling confused, groggy, and also refreshed. In her slumber, Loland had managed to bury herself under the cloud-like comforter and her hair had come out of the half-up style it was in - she was sure it looked like she had just been electrocuted. The same banging that woke her up comes again, the door rattling on it’s hinges.

She blinks and sits up, still covered in blankets. “Hello?”

“Loland!” Kili’s cheerful voice reaches her ears. “May I open the door?”

She blinks again and the props herself tiredly up on one elbow. “ ‘Course.”

Within seconds, Kili has swung the door open to reveal both him and Fili in the doorway, both of them going wide-eyed when they see that she is still in bed. Loland, not sure why this is a problem, smacks her lips. Her mouth is very dry, she realizes. After a few seconds of staring at her in silence, Fili grows a blush on his cheeks before spinning around so fast he almost falls over. Kili claps a hand over his eyes and a very large grin spreads across his face.

“By Mahal, woman!” Fili curses, voice more gruff than usual.

“What?” Loland asks, genuinely confused. She had meant it when she said they could open the door. “I’m fully dressed. I just… had an impromptu nap.”

Kili’s still grinning, though she has no idea why. “Lindir is here to take us to the baths.”

Before she can answer, Fili is blindly reaching for the door handle, and after he finds it, swiftly pulls the door closed. She can hear Kili say something in a language she doesn’t understand then burst into laughter while Fili yells something back. Too tired to wonder what it all means, Loland reluctantly gets out of bed and heads over to the closet one more time. She’s wondering if there are shoes she can wear until she can wash her socks, and to her luck she finds some blush pink slippers. At the last moment, she also manages to locate some undergarments that will work with the dress she wants to wear. She gathers those and the dress she found earlier in her arms then catches sight of her lightsabers. She thinks about it for a moment before deciding she feels safe enough to leave them here, and makes her way out of the room. The sun has moved further down in the sky, and all the dwarves plus one hobbit are waiting for her in the entryway. At the sight of her, Lindir turns around and floats away, leaving Loland to jog to fall into step with Bilbo. He smiles at the sight of her tired appearance.

“How long did I sleep for?” She asks him.

“The rest of the morning and most of the afternoon,” Bilbo replies, then laughs at her surprised face. “I tried the same, except I am far too hungry to fall asleep.”

“Don’t talk to me about food right now,” Loland says jokingly. “We didn’t eat breakfast. Or lunch.”

Bilbo looks at her very seriously. “I know.”

The bathhouse is all the way back down on the same level as the river, and it is absolutely gorgeous. Tucked away on the edge of the city right on the edge of the forest, and it sits right underneath a waterfall. The water hits the roof and runs off the walls of the house, pooling at different levels. Loland can see the steam rising from the water on the house. Lindir stops and explains to them that once they go through the entrance - separated by gender, they will go into the secluded powder rooms and then can either use the private pools in the back or the ones in the front. He bids them a goodbye after reminding them he will be back later to collect everyone for dinner. Loland waves to the men and heads off through the waterfall to the thankfully empty ladies powder room. She takes her time undressing and puts on one of the many silky white robes sitting folded on a shelf. It falls to her ankles and feels very soft against her skin. Her dirty clothes get folded and put on a bench, and Loland decides to ask Lindir about getting them washed when he returns. The fresh clothes get placed beside them for easy access when she comes back, and Loland sets about hunting for a towel.

The door creaks open and Loland turns around and makes eye contact with an elf. She’s tall and beautiful, with long dark brown hair and a shimmery blue dress. Loland meets her dark gray eyes with surprise.

“Sorry,” Loland says, deciding to take advantage of the appearance of a local. “But do you know where the towels are?”

A smile spreads across the elf’s face, and she nods gracefully. “I do. And do you need those clothes washed by chance?”

Loland turns around to follow her line of sight and grimaces at the sight of her dirty robes. “Yes, but I’m not sure how I’m gonna do that.”

The elf’s eyebrows tilt at her choice of words, but she decides to ignore it and walks over to a cabinet Loland couldn’t open. She presses inwards on the wood with her long fingers and the cabinet unlatches to reveal a multitude of towels. She picks one up then walks over to Loland and hands it to her. “Here. And I can get those cleaned for you.”

Relief floods the Jedi. “Thank you…?”

“Himelil,” she responds, smiling.

“Thank you Himelil!” 

“Do you need something to wash your hair with and a brush?” Himelil asks.

Loland squints at her. “What are you trying to say?” She asks good naturedly, knowing just how insane her curls look.

Luckily, the elf picks up on her quip. “Your hair is beautiful, I only wish to see it more so. I will return.” Himelil gathers her dirty robes (and socks!) and leaves with a slight bow. Happily, Loland makes her way out the winding stone path to the private pool. No way is she taking her chances out in the pools in the front. When she reaches it, she stops in her tracks. It’s a large pool cut into the side of a mountain and muted gold lights are floating gently in the air just above the water. Steam is rising from the surface, and a large stone wall separates the pool into genders. Grass and flowers surround the pool so Loland steps out onto a very soft ground. There’s a hanging rack for her robe, so she slips it off and heads into the water. It’s lucky that no one else is around at the moment, because Loland moans loudly at the heat of the water, muscles instantly relaxing. She dips underneath to get her unruly curls wet, then decides to float for a little bit until Himelil returns with shampoo and conditioner. Loland has stopped floating around and is standing directly underneath the waterfall when the female elf returns. The Jedi does not realize she is there, hair and water in her face, until the elf calls her name. Sputtering and wiping curls out of her eyes, Loland steps forward and grins at the sight of the woven basket Himelil is carrying in her arms.

“Suilad,” Himelil says softly and lifts the basket to show her. “I brought you some bath things.”

Loland grins happily and swims over to the edge closest to her. She props herself up on her arms and lays her chin down while Himelil sets down the basket and kneels beside her. First, she shows Loland the different soaps - one with a cinnamon colour with berry seeds for exfoliating and a smooth pearl one for washing, and a glass bottle with shimmery lavender liquid in it for post bath, Himelil instructs. It does wonders for skin smoothness and tightening apparently. Next are two large pink bars, one a pastel pink and the other more of a dark rose colour, that are for her hair. The lighter pink goes first, like shampoo would, then the darker. Himelil also brought Loland two soft cloths for lathering, a bone tooth comb, a wooden hairbrush, and a large fluffy towel.

“I cannot thank you enough for this,” Loland says genuinely.  

The elf smiles at her. “I was happy to help. Please, come and find me if you need anything.”

“Oh, I definitely will,” Loland says. “You were nice to me - I’m coming to you with my questions about this beautiful place.”

“I look forward to it,” Himelil says genuinely, standing up and gently dusting off her knees. She bows to Loland before gliding away.

Loland turns towards the basket with glee. The bath she proceeds to have is the best one of her entire life, and she does not think anything will compare. The water stays heated the entire time, and all the products Himelil brought her feel enjoyable against her skin. The shampoo and conditioner actually make her hair less knotted before she takes the comb to it, and brushing her hair, which is usually a twenty standard minute ordeal, it only takes her about five this time. The steam and humidity keeps her warm when she gets out to towel off and apply the shimmery lavender liquid, paying extra attention to the tattoos on her arms and legs. It absorbs into her skin quickly, and while Loland can’t quite place the smell, it’s very pleasant. She heads back inside the powder room to put on her undergarments, then fights with the dress for longer than she would like to admit. The corset is the only solid part, the rest being thin layers of what Loland would describe as a super soft tulle. Once she gets it on, the fabric falls to the perfect height, just brushing the floor. She ties the corset on both sides, and the sleeves fall off her shoulders to hang from the corset. The silver material shimmers ever so slightly when she moves, and Loland smiles gleefully. As a Jedi, she never gets to wear pretty dresses like this, and she had always had a hidden desire to do so. This is another plus of dying, she decides. Pretty dresses and Oran. Loland slides the shoes on, finger-curls her hair (she resolves to ask Himelil if there is anything she can use to hold her curls here) and dries it to the best of her ability, and picks up the basket and heads out to the front. Only Lindir and Bilbo are waiting for her, and Bilbo has managed to find clothes suitable for a hobbit - including a corduroy jacket. He looks very pleased with himself, standing a little taller and shoulders squared.

“Loland!” He greets happily at the sight of her. “You look beautiful.”

She smiles at him. “Thank you Bilbo. You look very dashing.”

He pulls at his jacket, the most smug she’s ever seen him. Lindir is watching them with a small smile, and eventually they decide to head down to the dinner area since the dwarves are taking too long. They walk through the castle, only going up one set of stairs and staying on the main floor of the building. Then Lindir leads them outside and up a single twisting flight of stairs to a balcony where a long table is set out and then a smaller one sits near it on a ledge. The elf bows to them and offers to bring the basket to Loland’s quarters before going to fetch the dwarves, while Bilbo and Loland stand awkwardly by the wall, not sure where to sit. Loland strikes up a conversation about how lovely the bath was, and Bilbo reveals he had the fastest wash he could because the dwarves started a naked water fight almost instantly. He plans to return tomorrow for a more peaceful time, and Loland bursts out laughing. She’s still giggling when Gandalf and Elrond stroll in, conversation halting at the sight of them.

“Ah, Bilbo, Loland!” Gandalf says happily, and Loland finds herself happy to see the Wizard as well. She smiles at him, and meets Elrond’s eyes - who’s already looking at her.

“Eithel govannen,” Elrond greets, and she curties clumsily. “Do you own a gray stallion with a bridle that has azuradan flowers painted on the bridle?”

Loland perks up. “Oran is here?”

“Is that his name?” Elrond asks, smiling. “He arrived here this morning still carrying his saddlebags, leading a few ponies. We gave him a stable and some food, and he has been very cordial.”

“He’s the best horse ever,” Loland says seriously, heart very happy that her friend is safe. “May I see him after dinner?”

“Of course,” Elrond says. “I can take you to him, if you wish.”

Loland thanks him vigorously, and Elrond directs Bilbo and her to sit at the end of the table. Loland sits at the very edge and Bilbo at her left, and Loland gets to take in the mountain scenery. Soon enough, Lindir returns with the dwarves, and they all filter in to sit at the large table, Thorin heading off to sit at the smaller table with Gandalf and Elrond. Fili sits down directly across from her with Kili beside him, and Balin sits beside Bilbo. Once everyone has gathered, elves start bringing in food and pitchers of water to set on the tables, and a few elves bring out instruments and start playing soft music. At the sight of vegetables, Bilbo happily digs in, and Loland remembers just how dry her mouth is at the sight of the water. She pours herself a glass filled to the brim, then carefully brings it to her lips and chugs it down. It’s cool and refreshing, much better than the sun-warmed water from her waterskins on the road. She finishes the glass and puts it on the table, then begins to pour another one when she feels eyes on her. Loland looks up only to make direct eye contact with Fili.

He’s smiling softly. “Thirsty?”

She blushes. “Uh - yes. I haven’t drank anything all day.”

“Too busy running,” Fili sighs, then reaches out to take the pitcher from her and pour himself a glass. “We haven’t eaten either - what do you like?”

Confused, but not willing to pass up on conversation, Loland turns and glances at the spread. “Not sure, but I am not picky.” Feeling her face starting to heat up when he doesn’t take his eyes off of her, Loland resolutely does not look at him when she reaches out and starts filling her plate. There’s some potatoes covered in herbs, which she is very happy about, some type of bean salad, which she tries a small spoonful of and likes very much. She notices the small red circular fruits she had at Bilbo’s house and grabs some of those, and also has some leafy green salad with dressing that tastes like balsamic vinaigrette and two dinner rolls with butter. Once her plate is full, she turns back and picks up her fork - only to freeze when she notices Fili hasn’t moved.

“Are you going to eat?” Loland asks.

This seems to jolt him back into action, and a small blush dusts his face as he starts filling his plate. Loland watches him curiously as she digs in, munching on a dinner roll as Fili avoids the salad. She glances around the table and notices all the dwarves have done the same, the dinner rolls and all forms of protein gone first and most of the vegetables avoided except for her and Bilbo - and surprisingly Balin and Dori. The silver haired dwarf is sitting beside his youngest brother whose plate is almost empty, and Ori is grimacing at a head of lettuce.

“Just try it,” Dori urges.

Ori eyes him suspiciously. “I don’t like green food.”

Dwalin, who wasn’t fast enough to grab more than three dinner rolls, has hungrily picked up a bowl of salad and is sifting through it with his bare hands. “Where’s the meat?”

Loland eats a potato whole and watches with glee. Then she gets heartburn and starts coughing, and Kili points at her and laughs. She glares at him while chugging her second glass of water. Fili pours her another.

Ori has stabbed what may be an onion through a knife and is looking at it skeptically. “Have they got any chips?”

“Probably not,” Nori says sadly.

Loland continues to eat merrily, now digging into her beans. She quickly glances over at Fili, who is still looking at her. Suddenly, she cannot take it anymore. “Do I have something on my face?”

Fili’s eyes jerk to meet her’s again. “I - no - sorry. It’s just - your tattoos. I did not know you had any.”

Loland realizes the golden art on her arms is exposed by the dress she is wearing, and she has been covered from the neck down in every other circumstance. “They are the markings of my tribe,” Loland explains. “I’m just glad I didn’t have to get any face tattoos.”

Dwalin eyes her. “Aye, painful but worth it.”

“I’m just saying, these hurt enough!” Loland laughs, and while Dwalin’s face stays unmoved, his eyes shine. 

“They are beautiful,” Fili says, and Loland thanks him kindly. The rest of the dinner passes happily, Kili accidentally flirting with a male elf and Dwalin absolutely busting his balls for it. Bofur stands up on the table after hearing enough of the soft flute and harp the elves are playing, and starts boisterously singing while Bombur pulls a fiddle from thin air and plays a jig. It then devolves into a food fight where Loland cheats and uses the Force as a shield for her and Bilbo. Soon after, Thorin corrals everybody and Kili whispers to Loland that they’re going to procure some alcohol. She laughs and promises to meet everybody after they all change out of their food covered clothes. She then turns around and heads over to Elrond.

“Can I please see my horse now?”

He smiles kindly and inclines his head. “Please, follow me.”

Loland follows after the elf lord as he leads them towards the back of the castle and then down a flight of stairs. They silently walk through gardens, Elrond allowing Loland to take her time and marvel at all of the beautiful plants that she has never seen before. Soon enough, the elf is leading Loland to the stables and she spots Oran instantly because he heard her coming and excitedly poked his head out of his stall. She speeds up and he neighs loudly, pressing his head into her chest when she reaches him. She unlatches the door and instantly wraps her arms around her neck.

“It is so good to see you my friend,” she whispers into his mane, and he nuzzles her dress. Loland turns to look at Elrond. “Thank you for taking care of him.”

“It was my pleasure,” he says. “On another note… Gandalf mentioned you wanted to speak to me?”

Suddenly, Loland is glad to have Oran beside her. She nods, then launches into the story of the day of her death and subsequent waking up in Middle Earth near Hobbiton. Elrond asks many questions about that day, and she ends up remembering more than she thought - something she knows will catch up to her later. It’s not a very pleasant conversation, and Elrond’s face at the end of it does not give her hope.

“I am sorry,” Elrond says. “I have not encountered anything like this before. Perhaps this Force you speak of has more of a role than we can understand.”

Loland sighs. “It’s alright, I was hoping against hope anyways. Do you think I will be able to return?”

The way Elrond looks at her makes her think she had known the answer all along, and just had not accepted it yet. “Loland… the body you had in your homeworld has died. I do not believe there is any returning.”

Loland’s heart drops, and she bows her head. She had not wanted to believe it, even though logic told her that she had truly died back on Coruscant. She just… wanted to see everybody at least once more. “Thank you for your help.”

Sensing that the Jedi wants to be alone, Elrond bows gracefully and leaves her be. She spends the next few standard hours with Oran, carefully brushing him and then crying into his mane. They end up on the ground, Oran lying down and curling around her as she sobs, mourning the loss of her life for the second time. The sun has fallen by the time Loland sits up and wipes her eyes. Oran snuffles at her wet cheeks, kindly trying his best to clean her up. She presses a fond kiss on his nose. They both stand up and Loland quickly brushes him again to get the hay off of his coat, refills his oat bucket, and gives him one more hug before heading off. She wanders Rivendell for a while, searching for the dwarves until yellow wisps of the Force start appearing and leading her down to a garden she hasn’t been in yet where the company has gathered in the small stone courtyard. They have ripped apart a table to make a fire, and Kili has obviously gone hunting because they are roasting a few rabbits over the flame. Multiple bottles of wine are cracked open, and more empty bottles have been discarded to the end of the stone courtyard.

“Loland!” Kili cheers at the sight of her, spreading his arms so wide he almost fell off his chair. “Hurry, come join us before Bombur drinks all the wine!”

The forlorn Jedi does her very best to muster up a genuine smile. “That sounds perfect right now.” She makes her way to them through the plants, the peace of Rivendell helping to calm her anguished heart. “Are there any full bottles?”

She spends the next few hours drinking with the dwarves, trying her best not to think of her home world or her painful death. It’s a lovely distraction, and it’s almost like the company can tell she needs them to be louder than her thoughts. Once the rabbits are eaten, Bofur busts out a little clarinet and they spend the rest of the night drinking and dancing. Loland spends time twirling around with Gloin, then jerks around hilariously with Kili for a few minutes. Balin invites her to something like a waltz, him being very patient with her drunken balance and forgives her for stepping on his toes multiple times. Sweating, she stumbles back to one of the cushions laying strewn about, and grabs the nearest bottle. She’s just bringing it to her lips when someone sits down beside her. Loland starts drinking and eyes Fili as he leans back so he’s half laying down and propped up on one elbow.

He smirks at her. “Share?”

Loland easily hands over the bottle. “Of course,” she slurs.

Fili takes a hearty swig. “I don’t like elves much, but they make great wine.”

“Yesss,” Loland says, laying back so she’s looking up at the stars. “Better than any booze back home.”

“Do you miss it?” Fili asks.

Loland’s silent for what feels like a long time, too drunk and emotional to answer. Tears start to form in her eyes, but she fights them with everything she has. She squeezes her eyes shut, then opens them - only to be confronted by Fili staring at her. She’s caught in his gaze, and the way he is looking at her starts a small fire deep in her core. Mouth suddenly very dry, she licks her lips - and Fili’s eyes immediately flicker down to stare at them. Heat spreads across her face, and he’s close, too close, and she can’t handle it -

“I - I -” she stutters, completely thrown off by the dwarf’s beauty. “Yes, I - so much I cannot breathe sometimes. But being here, with you all, has helped.”

A genuine smile forms on Fili’s face. “I am happy you are here,” Fili says, his moustache braids swinging with every word. Loland is entranced. “I’m sorry for what you had to go through to get here.”

“Thank you,” Loland whispers, and they stare at each other in silence until Kili throws himself down between them and demands they dance with him. The rest of the night passes in a blur of drinking fruity red wine, dancing to clarinet music, and catching Fili’s eyes. 

The next morning finds Loland with a raging headache. She’d managed to drunkenly untie her corset last night, but only one side so she had spent all of her energy wrestling out of the dress and passed out face first on the bed in her small clothes. A loud knock on the door that shook her brain had woken her up and she grunted in answer from underneath her pile of blankets.

“Loland,” Bilbo’s soft voice says. “I brought you some breakfast. May I come in?”

She grunts in acceptance and the little hobbit gently opens the door and pads up to her bedside carrying a tray loaded with food. He sets it down on her little bedside table and Loland sees what looks like oatmeal with brown sugar, some toast with a little jar of berry jam, some red, pink, and black berries, and a large glass of water.

“Bilbo,” she croaks, sitting up and clutching her head. “I could kiss you.”

“Please do not,” Bilbo says good-naturedly. “Some of the dwarves were too hungover to get to breakfast, and when I did not see you - I figured the same?”

Loland chugs half the water glass and starts spreading the jam on the toast. “You are correct,” she admits. “But this will be very healing. Thank you Bilbo!”

“There are no plans for today,” the hobbit says. “Elrond wants to have a meeting with Thorin and Gandalf tonight, but other than that, your job is to rest and recover!”

Loland nods. “A day off will be nice. Thank you again.”

“I’m going to go explore,” Bilbo is bouncing on the balls of his feet. “See you around!”

He waves at her before dashing out the door, careful to close it all the way as he goes. Loland sits up and absolutely feasts on the meal Bilbo was so kind to bring her. The jam and oatmeal settle her stomach, and the berries help her headache go away. She polishes off the glass of water and settles back into the covers again. The bed is the most comfortable thing she’s slept in in a very long time, and it does not take her long to drift off. 

She dreams of a cave in the mountains, and the floor she’s standing on opens up beneath her like a trapdoor, and she falls down, down, down, down until she can see a crude cage approaching, and she’s about to fall through the open roof and hit the floor - 

Loland’s second awakening is not as peaceful. She jolts into a seated position, heart in her stomach. She’s panting, and there’s a sheen of sweat on her skin. It’s been a minute since she had a prophetic dream - not since the first night she arrived in Middle Earth. Unsure but wary as to what it means, Loland decides her headache has receded enough to get up for the day. Remembering she has options for clothes in the closet, she perks up a little and heads into the bathroom to wash up. Once her face and teeth are clean, she excitedly begins her search for a dress. In the end, she finds a soft pink dress with a square neckline and a golden rope belt. There’s white lace to cover her breasts and matching white lace in armbands that lead into the flowing sleeves. She puts on the same blush pink slippers as yesterday, and ties her hair back into a very loose ponytail with a blue ribbon, a few wayward curls escaping and framing her cheeks. While she gets ready, Loland decides on a couple of goals during their limited time in Rivendell. First order of business - she wants to learn healing, yes, as a way to appeal herself to the company, but she’s also thinking about how to make a living after the job is done. If she can settle in a small town as the resident healer, she does not think that would be too bad at all. Second order of business is to learn as much about the flora in Middle Earth, along with the lore about the darkness. She wants to learn more about it, since the Force seems to be so powerful here, there must be something it needs to counter. Loland heads out of her room on a mission to find the hospital here and basically beg someone to teach her. She was very adept at field medicine before her death, but the technology and knowledge she had access to there is very different from what she has here. Feeling good about her goal, Loland sets out with her chin held high.

Chapter Text

Rivendell is even larger than she imagined. She wanders for what feels like hours, unsure where to go. Each of the hallways look the same, and all the elves are speaking in that beautiful, melodic language that Loland cannot understand. She is starting to work up the courage to speak to one of them when a familiar face rounds a corner far ahead of her. Himelil is in a shimmery red dress this time, and her dark hair is free to fall to her hips. Loland perks up when she sees her, and quickens her footsteps.

“Himelil!” She calls, waving minutely when the elf looks up. Her eyes light up at the sight of the Jedi, and they walk towards each other quickly. “How are you?” Loland asks warmly. “I’m glad to see you!”

“I am glad to see you as well,” Himelil smiles. “Where are you heading?”

“I’m trying to find the hospital to ask if I can be taught Middle Earth healing,” Loland explains. “But… I have no idea where to go.”

“I can take you to the Halls of Healing,” Himelil offers. “Walk with me?”

“Please,” Loland beams and falls into step. “Also, what would you recommend for taming my unruly curls?”

Himelil laughs and promises to drop some things off at her room later.

The Halls of Healing are located on the ground floor of the castle, tucked away in the very middle for safety. Himelil drops her off at the front doors, then heads off to complete her duties for the day. On the way over, Loland found out that Himelil works as a lady in waiting for the Lady of Rivendell, Elrond’s daughter, and this had sparked a lovely conversation about the royal family. Apparently, Elrond has one daughter and two twin sons with his late wife, and Loland is very interested to learn more about her host and her new friend. Now, Loland is standing in front of the large double doors and staring at them awkwardly. How is she supposed to do this? She was so confident about her plan this morning, but honestly she is sick of knowing nobody . Her social battery is almost fully depleted, and if she walks in there and no one is speaking English, she might have a full mental breakdown. But, there’s only one way to find out. Taking a deep breath, Loland slowly pushes open one of the huge doors and pokes her head inside. She’s greeted by a creamy white room with rows of soft looking beds on either side and many nurse stations. There’s only a few elves here, each of them wearing the same white robes. She quietly steps inside and the door closes behind her. At the sound of the latch, the elf closest to her looks up and they make direct eye contact. She’s beautiful, bright blue eyes and silvery hair falling to her elbows. She glides up to Loland and regards her warmly.

“Welcome to the Healing Halls,” she greets. “I am Silevrenthel. How may I be of assistance?”

“My name is Loland,” the Jedi says in return. “I was wondering if I could get some teachings on the way of medicine? I know some, but I would like to further my knowledge.”

The elf’s eyes light up. “A pupil!”

Silevrenthel turns out to be an enthusiastic teacher with a wealth of knowledge. They spend the entire day together, the elf educating Loland on how to take her already acquired field medicine skills and apply them in Middle Earth. She learns new wound stitching techniques, multiple different ways to do splints, and so much more. At the end of the day, Silevrenthel sends her off with homework - she’s to go to the library and start reading about flora used in healing, and come back tomorrow with the books she found. She reassured Loland that every book in the library has the Westron (Loland was confused by this word, but context clues lead her to believe it is Middle Earth’s word for English) translation. Silevrenthel also gives her directions to the library, so Loland sets out confidently. Up four flights of stairs, down the long hallway with stained glass windows, and across the indoor bridge, Loland comes across the library, just as her new elf friend said she would. She walks inside with more confidence than this morning, and heads over to the main desk where a tall, burly, dark haired elf is standing.

“Ah… hello,” she says. “I was looking for books on medicinal herbs in Westron, please.”

The elf nods. “Follow me,” he says, and leads her through the maze of shelves. Eventually he stops in front of a random shelf and gestures. “This entire bookshelf has what you’re looking for.” He then turns around and walks away.

Loland stares at the shelf and sighs. Might as well start from the bottom. She spends the next few hours buried in books, reading a few chapters and looking at the appendices of each before deciding to either put it back or put it in her pile. Once she has gone through the entire thing top to bottom, she has a collection of eight thick books. She stacks them all in her arms and staggers back to the desk. When the burly elf catches sight of her, he hurries around the desk and takes five of the books out of her arms.

“Thank you,” Loland sighs, heaving books up onto the desk. “Do I have to check these out?”

The burly elf nods. “Yes, I need a record of who has them. First name and mother’s name?”

Loland blinks. “What? Why do you need my mother’s name?”

The elf blinks back. “That is how we keep all our records. Female’s have their mother’s names, and son’s have their father’s names. For example, I am Thadhrion, son of Khadhrion.”

Loland shrugs. “Alright, I’m Loland, daughter of Mariell.”

Thadhrion scribbles in the large leather book laying open on the desk. “Wonderful. There is no rush to return them, we just ask that you bring them back as you finish them, and do not take them out of Rivendell.”

“Sounds like a deal,” Loland says, and the elf gives her an odd look but decides to ignore it. “Thank you so much.”

“Would you like some help carrying them back to your room?”

Loland eyes all the books. “Ah… yes please actually. I would really appreciate that.”

Thadhrion takes five books again, and he and Loland have a pleasant walk back to her temporary apartments. He inquires as to why she’s in Rivendell, so she reveals she’s travelling with some dwarves and a hobbit as the hobbit’s guard. She has an odd feeling that Thorin would want their actual intentions to be under wraps. Luckily, Thadhrion does not pry too much, and happily reveals he’s been working as one of Rivendell’s historians since he was very young. They part ways at her door, Thadhrion opening it for her then piling the books into her already full arms. He invites her to come find him at the library if she has any questions, then he glides away. Loland staggers into her apartment and deposits the books onto her bed. She picks up her first find ( A Comprehensive Guide to Forest Herbs Used In Wound Care ) and settles onto her bed. It’s a slower go than usual, the english words more swooping and connected in odd ways that takes her some time to figure out. Himelil knocks on her door about a standard hour later and drops off a small basket with hair products in it, and Loland catches her in a conversation to procrastinate her readings. Eventually, Himelil must return to her duties and Loland goes back to the books. She’s about a quarter of the way through when her stomach rumbles very loudly, and she realizes she has not eaten since Bilbo brought her brunch. Suddenly starving, Loland heads out to the balcony with her book, and is happy to see a couple of dwarves. Gloin is stuffing his face with the stew set out, Bofur is chatting animatedly, Ori and Dori are eating quietly, and Balin is indulging Bofur - who notices her first.

“Loland!” Bofur says happily, waving vigorously. “We missed you today!”

She takes the seat beside him and grins at everyone. “I was in the Healing Halls, getting some instruction.”

Balin looks at her. “That is a very useful skill, and a wonderful way to spend the time while we are here.”

Gloin hands her a bowl, and she nods at him gratefully before beginning to fill her bowl with the stew. “Thank you,” she says kindly. “I want to be more helpful to you all, plus I was thinking beyond the quest.”

“What do you mean?” Ori asks, tilting his head.

Loland tries the stew. It’s delicious, thick and warm, with chunks of meat this time, obviously added for the dwarves’ comfort. “I have no home here,” she explains. “I wanted to gain a skill that would be valuable no matter where I end up settling down.”

“That is very smart lassie,” Balin says.

The rest of dinner passes eventfully. Balin leaves early to go meet Thorin and Gandalf for a meeting, and the rest of the dwarves trickle in, so the meal turns into a rowdy affair since the only supervision is Dwalin. Loland has finished eating and reading another chapter by the time Fili and Kili arrive, and runs into them on her way out.

“Loooland!” Kili says happily. “How are you?”

She smiles at both of them, blushing slightly at the sight of the warmth in Fili’s eyes. “I’m good! How are you two?”

“We explored the training grounds today,” Kili says. “You should come with us next time. It is extensive, and you could even find a way to train with your - lightswords?”

“Lightsabers.”

“Those!”

“I will come eventually,” Loland says. “I promise. I have some learning to do in the Healing Halls though that I started today, so I must finish that task.”

Fili nods. “Of course, that is very noble. I look forward to you training with us.”

Loland’s walk back to her apartment is spent buried in the book she brought with her and trying to will her blush away. She spends the rest of the night reading a few chapters from every book, picking three to bring with her tomorrow, and then passing out very late. She doesn’t sink deeply this time, too tired to See anything, and the Force lets her sleep. She rises with the sun the next morning, and gathers her wash basket that Himelil brought her last time before heading into the closet to pick a dress for the day. She picks a simple light blue dress with silver embellishes and long sleeves, gets dressed, and heads down to the bath house. Her morning is spent peacefully, floating in the water as the sun climbs in the sky. Once she is fully washed and dried, she heads up for breakfast. Bilbo, Thorin, and Balin are the only ones there this morning, and she perks up when she sees the hobbit. Thorin is sitting at the table with the rest of them, and actually greets her this morning. She sits down beside Bilbo, who nudges her happily, and begins filling her plate with the shredded potatoes and boiled eggs.

“Loland,” Thorin says once her plate is full and before she starts eating.

She looks up at him. “Yes?”

“The company spoke last night,” Thorin begins. “And we have agreed that you are an asset that we would like to have on our side.”

“More than that,” Balin says. “You have proven yourself trustworthy, and willing to fight with us.”

Loland blinks. “Where are you going with this?”

“I would like you to formally join the company,” Thorin says resolutely. “Say the word, and Balin will begin drafting you a contract.”

She puts her fork down and stares into Thorin’s eyes. “I would love to help you reclaim your homeland.”

A very small smile spreads across the king’s face, and Balin claps happily. “Wonderful! I will get started after breakfast.”

“Thank you,” she whispers to Thorin, and he nods at her. Loland floats happily through breakfast, and all the way back up to her apartment to grab her books. She manages to pull herself back down to earth halfway to the Healing Halls, and spends the rest of the day with Silevrenthel, going more in depth about each herb, flower, and paste and their uses. She is sent back to her apartments to continue reading, and this process rinses and repeats for the next week until Loland has finished and returned all eight of the books she took out and gotten five new ones. Silevrenthel starts teaching her about morgul wounds, and Loland gets her first clue about the darkness in Middle Earth. It’s a horrible poison that buries into the person’s soul and perverts them, turning them into a servant of evil. It’s at this point that Loland asks Silevrenthel about the Force, and while the elf is very confused, when Loland demonstrates she is in awe. This moves them onto healing wounds with lifeforce, and Loland’s Force healing powers grow exponentially. Near the end of their lessons, Silevrenthel takes Loland out into the forest and they have multiple herb-gathering lessons, the elf teaching Loland how to identify each plant and how to collect them. She practises Force healing on some of Silevrenthel’s patients, watching in awe as small non-life threatening wounds close up under her watchful eye. On what Silevrenthel declares their last day, the elf gifts Loland with a leather single strap bag.

“It has everything you will need for your travels,” Silevrenthel says. “Continue to fill it as you go.”

Loland takes it reverently, and inspects it. The bag is heavy, and she can feel some jars against her hand. There are tiny marigolds burned into the leather, and a thick rope tie dyed green. She looks back up at the elf gratefully. “Thank you for everything, Silevrenthel. I cannot express how much this means to me.”

The elf smiles softly. “Thank you for being such a wonderful first pupil.”

They share a long embrace, Silevrenthel making her promise to come visit. Loland goes to eat dinner with the company, and hurries back to her apartment to look inside the bag. She jumps onto her bed, instantly undoing the tie and upending the bag onto her covers. Two leather bound books come tumbling out, along with many rolls of fabric, three thick glass flasks, and many small jars.

Loland grins evilly. She loves getting gifts!

The first leather book she opens is filled with hand drawn pictures of every plant Silevrenthel taught her about, plus their key identifying features and their uses. The second leather book is all the recipes for all the potions, pastes, powders, and draughts that she learned about. There’s empty pages at the back of each book, obviously meant for Loland to fill up. The fabric rolls are an abundance of all seventeen plants she learned about, some dried and some not, and there’s extra athelas, which Silevrenthel taught her helps combat morgul poison. Some of the jars have powders, some have pastes, some have honeys, but all of them have been labeled. She unscrews each of the flasks and takes a whiff, recoiling at the scent of strong alcohol. There’s a clear alcohol for disinfecting and a dark one for pain, but the third flask confuses her. It’s smaller than the other two and more intricate, more like a vial than anything. The glass tinkles when she taps it, making her think it actually might be crystal. The liquid is an iridescent gold, and shimmers when she moves it. Loland looks in the bag again and notices a small piece of parchment.

Loland,

The vial is a small amount of Miruvor - I taught you about it. Lord Elrond gave me this to put in your bag. Only use it in dire need.

- Silevrenthel

The Jedi blinks in shock. Lord Elrond gave her Miruvor ? From everything that her mentor taught her, it’s a sweet revitalizing mead, poured during the festivals in Valinor (where the gods reside, Silevrenthel had explained. Loland had decided that Middle Earth history is confusing as fuck). She resolves to keep this only for emergencies, and hopefully she never has to use it. She looks in the bag again and finds bandages stuffed in the sides, so stuffed in there that they did not fall out when she turned over her bag. Loland spends the next hour trying to fit everything back in exactly how it was, and actually ends up dumping it all out a second time and starting over. She goes to sleep happily that night after reading some more about the battle of Sauron. She doesn’t have any visions again, and wakes calmly. She’s starting to think maybe Rivendell is causing it, but she had that falling dream last week. Maybe it’s because they’re stagnant? Loland decides to train with the brother’s today, so she pulls out both her pairs of sleeveless Jedi robes and waffles between chocolate brown and smoke gray, before deciding on the gray. It’s nice to be in pants and boots again, she decides while she puts her hair in war braids for the first time in a while. 

As she walks towards her belt, the saddle bags that were on Oran catch her eye from their pile in the corner of the room. After a slight hesitation, Loland grabs the biggest bag and hauls it up onto the bed. She opens the flap and digs through it, awkwardly holding the tent off to the side and sticking her arms where her eyes cannot see until her left hand wraps around a leather bound roll. She pulls it out and drops it carefully on the bed before putting the bag back in the corner. Loland grabs her lightsaber before hopping up on the bed and sitting cross-legged. She unrolls the thick light brown leather that looks like it’s seen better days to reveal the few lightsaber tools, mods, extra pommels, and handle wraps she’s collected over the years of being a Jedi. She spreads everything out then carefully picks up two identical bronze pieces. Loland stares at it for a while, hesitant to use it. She had gotten this cross guard on one of her last missions as a Padawan, after narrowly defeating a Sith Apprentice while her Master fought the Sith Lord. He had struck her with lightning before she killed him by dropping half the roof on his head. Her Master had taken the crossguard off his lightsaber and given it to her, but Loland hadn’t felt the need to put it on before. But now… the enemies here are different, and the more options she has in a fight, the better. The thing that turns her off about cross guards though, is the plasma condenses and thickens, causing it to actually become heavier. Loland does not know exactly how though… but regardless, she’ll make more damage, but she’ll be slower. Loland shrugs and picks up her tools and takes the next twenty standard minutes attaching the cross guard to one of her sabers, and then doing some general maintenance. After packing up her tools and rolling everything back up, Loland clips her utility belt on and grabs her sabers before heading out for breakfast. Balin and Thorin are waiting with the contract, and the entire company is grinning at her as she walks across the balcony. Well, Dwalin is still scowling, but Loland thinks that’s his default face. She sits in her usual spot beside Bilbo, and Balin slides the contract across the table. A small pot of ink and a quill appears in front of her, and Dori smiles slightly. Loland dutifully unravels the contract and reads through it all, the dwarvish letters different from the elvish lettering, more square and block-like than swooping. It is a whole new experience to read, and Loland takes the time to carefully go through it all while she eats her breakfast, occasionally asking Balin for clarification on a word. Eventually, once the small remains of her oatmeal are cold, Loland has read through everything and signs her name and title with a flourish before handing it back to Balin with a grin. The older dwarf pulls out his monocle and dutifully goes over every line Loland had to sign to make sure nothing was missed.

“Welcome, Jedi Loland Warski, to the Company of Thorin Oakenshield,” Balin says happily as he tucks the contract into his overcoat. The rest of the dwarves start cheering and clapping, since they can never do anything quietly, and Loland blushes before bowing her head a few times. Gloin reaches over and claps her on the back so hard her face almost goes into her bowl. Breakfast finishes up quickly, and Loland catches the brother by the stairs, Kili catching sight of her and a large smile grew on his face.

“Ahh, new company member! Are you going to train with us?”

Loland grins and nods. “I upgraded my lightsaber, and I am excited to try it out.”

They start walking, and Loland follows them. Fili turns his head to look at her. “Upgrade?”

Loland smirks. “I’ll show you.”

The walk to the training grounds is long, one of the longest ones. It’s tucked away at the very back, opening up into the forest. It’s huge, and Loland sees much potential.

Kili putters off towards the archery targets, and Fili wanders off to the throwing knives. She decides to take a lesson from each of them, because you never know… more weapons are never a bad thing. Her Master did look down upon using blasters, but these aren’t blasters. Loophole! Kili fits her with a recurve bow, and they spend the next few hours going over the proper stance and practising drawing back the bowstring. It takes more strength than Loland anticipated, but luckily her training gives her some inherent strength. They move on to actual shooting, and Loland struggles until she cheats and uses the Force and Kili comically lectures her for five standard minutes while Fili chuckles. Once she gets ten natural bullseyes, Kili allows her to move on. She walks over to Fili after sending a jokingly rude gesture Kili’s way and dodging the clump of grass he throws at her.

“Welcome,” Fili says kindly, grinning at her.

“Hi,” she says shyly.

Fili starts by slowly demonstrating his stance, how he moves his arm, and how he holds the knives. Loland watches carefully, absorbing every piece of information he tells her. Once they move on to Loland actually throwing, Fili takes the time to show her exactly how to do it, standing directly behind her and putting his hands directly on her bare arms. It’s not nefarious, but Loland’s hidden feelings make her some type of way about it. Luckily, she’s decidedly better at throwing knives then archery, and hits her ten bullseyes much quicker. After that, the brothers encourage her to show off her new lightsaber, and she excitedly unclips it from her belt.

“Okay, are you guys ready?” Loland grins, and they both nod. She holds the connected lightsabers up in front of her chest, the new crossguard on display.

“Looks menacing,” Kili says.

“Just you wait,” Loland grins even wider, and then activates her lightsaber. The thick yellow plasma dramatically extends towards the sky almost the height of her body, ending in a pointed cylinder, and then spreads out onto the crossguard like flames. Fili and Kili are staring in awe, and Loland turns away and takes a few practice swings, her saber humming with every movement.

“That’s amazing,” Fili gasps.

“Is it heavier?” Kili asks, and Loland nods.

“I wish I could fight you guys, but I would cut your weapons in half. Help me figure out some new stances and moves though? I’ve never fought with this before.”

They spend the rest of the day figuring out new ways for Loland to use her lightsaber, and even pull out some huge wooden practice swords to simulate fighting with it. By the end of it, they are all flushed and sweaty. They chug some water before walking back to their quarters together.

“That was amazing, Loland,” Fili says genuinely. “Thank you for coming with us.”

“Thank you for teaching me and helping me with my lightsaber,” Loland said in return, grinning at both of them. 

“Of course,” Kili says. “I still think it’s the deadliest weapon ever .”

They part ways, and once back in the room, Loland takes a second to press her hands against her cheeks, reveling in the heat. The brothers and her had trained hard, and Loland can still feel Fili’s hands against her bare arms. Her blush intensifies, and she shakes her head aggressively, actively pushing the blond dwarf out of her head. To distract herself, Loland gathers up her little shower basket and takes almost too much time picking out a soft golden yellow dress, not wanting any chance of running into the dwarves on her way to wash. The walk down to the waterfall is lovely, as usual, and Loland breathes in the fresh air deeply. She reaches the change room without incident, and slips into a silk robe again and takes out her braids before gathering her basket to head out. She spends at least an hour in the water, relaxing her sore muscles and taking her time washing her sweaty curls. She decides then that no other bath will surpass this one, and washing has been ruined for her. Once she is fully clean and her hair is untangled, Loland spends her last half an hour in the empty pool floating around. Fili had been flirting with her intensely today, or that had been the vibe she picked up. She’s having a bit of a moral dilemma… Jedi are not supposed to have worldly attachments, and that includes lovers. However, from the moment she died and arrived in Middle Earth, the Force has been pushing her towards the blond dwarf. It had been fine for a while, her one-sided crush, but now it’s looking a little bit less one-sided. What does she do? Master Depa is not here to lecture her about the proper way of the Jedi, and Loland is in an unfamiliar land with a Force that, while the same, is foreign to her. It seems to want her to form deep connections, always leading her towards the Company - Fili, specifically. And, if he outright asks to be with her… she does not think she’s strong enough to say no.

Loland sighs out loud and exits the pool. She takes her time dressing and doing her hair, utilizing the products that Himelil brought her the other day. Her curls soak up the moisture, becoming the most tightly defined and frizz-free they’ve ever been. Loland fluffs her hair happily, and skips out the door, curls bouncing along with her. The sun is starting to set, the light more golden than it was before, and a few wispy clouds have appeared in the sky. Her basket is stuffed to the brim with her sweaty clothes and all her washing materials, and it’s very precarious to carry. As she rounds the corner, a sock falls from the pile, and she carefully and awkwardly bends down to pick it up. She tucks it back in and starts moving again - only to freeze at the sight in front of her. The object of her affections is rising out of the outside bath water, almost in slow motion, and Loland can feel her jaw dropping of it’s own accord. Fili raises his muscular, golden arms to wipe his hair out of his face, and Loland actually watches a water droplet trail between his pecs and down his abs. He slowly puts his arms down and raises his head to look into the setting sun, and Loland’s heart skips a beat.

She drops the basket.

The Jedi turns away from the naked dwarf instantly, dropping down into a crouch and starting to gather everything that fell, letting her curls fall into a curtain to cover her face.

“Loland?” She hears Fili ask, surprise obvious in his tone.

“I’m sorry!” She almost wails, scrambling to pick up the hairbrush that bounced slightly too far away. She has to look up then, on her hands and knees reaching for the hairbrush, blushing so hard her cheeks are burning, curls falling around her shoulders. 

They make eye contact, and Loland freezes in her spot. He’s shameless, facing straight towards her, naked chest on full display. His wet hair falls around his crown like a mane, and his mustache braids are swinging. But Loland cannot move because of the way his eyes are burning straight through her soul.

“Loland…” He says again, voice so deep it’s almost a growl, and Loland’s stomach zings .

She drops the hairbrush into her basket and starts hurrying away. “I’m so sorry!” She cries over her shoulder, almost crashing into the doorway in her haste. Loland keeps a death grip on the basket, clutching it to her chest while she sprints to her room, rushing through the door and slamming it behind her. She lets out a little screech of embarrassment before gently setting the basket down and clapping her hands over her face. Loland cannot believe that happened! How is she supposed to face him now? The fact that she stared at him for so long and he didn’t realize and when he did see her, she was on her knees! By the empire, Loland might as well end her life. 

Bilbo interrupts her anxious pacing when he knocks on her door an undetermined amount of time later to remind her about dinner. Loland walks out of the room and instantly makes eye contact with Fili in the middle of the Company, and sticks to the hobbit’s side like glue all the way to the meal. She makes him sit at the very end, with her on the edge and Bilbo beside her. He gives her only one odd look and does not protest, and she is suddenly very thankful of the friendship they seem to have fallen into the past couple of days. But much to her chagrin, Fili drops into the seat directly in front of her and Kili plops down beside him. Panicked, she looks to see if there’s any free seats she can flee too, but everyone has settled. Loland must obviously deflate, because Fili smirks at her. Dinner is an awkward affair for Loland, trying her best not to look at the dwarf directly in front of her while Fili stares and Kili keeps trying to draw her into conversation. Once her plate is empty, she gets up to flee, and Fili actually chuckles at the sight. Loland’s cheeks are burning, and she has almost made it off the balcony when a voice calling her name gives her pause.

Elrond is gliding towards her, robes billowing behind him.

She pushes her fists together and bows slightly. “How can I help you, my Lord?”

“Let us walk together,” The elf king says, and Loland cannot protest. “From our talk, I have gathered that you have no permanent place to stay.”

Loland blinks at his bluntness. “Ah… you are correct.”

“I would like to extend an invitation to you,” Elrond says as they begin ascending the stairs. “Silevrenthel has told me that you were an exceptional student, so if you end up not staying with these dwarves or finding a town you would like to build a life in, I would like to extend a job offer in the Healing Halls and a small apartment to you. You shall always have a home in Rivendell, if you want it.”

“I… I cannot thank you enough, my Lord,” Loland says. “I was worried about where I was going to live once this trip was over, so some security is much appreciated.”

“Do you feel slightly more settled now?”

Loland grins as they near her room. “I do, thank you.”

Elrond smiles at her like he knows something she doesn’t. “It was lovely to meet you Loland.” And glides away before she can answer. 

She tilts her head in his direction before shrugging and heading into her room. Loland makes herself comfy on her bed and reads a couple of chapters of one of the herbology books she still has from the library, before getting the odd urge to start packing. Moving almost on autopilot, and pulls all of her bags from the corner and dumps everything on her bed. She starts sorting things into one of her travel backpacks into essentials she can carry with her, and things she wants to keep in Rivendell. The sun has set by the time she has come out of her trance, and she blinks at the newly sorted and packed bags. Unsure as to why she did that, Loland shrugs before putting all the bags back in the corner. Loland’s just about to change into some comfier clothes than this dress and meditate before going to sleep when there’s a knock on her door.

She crosses the room and opens it to Kili grinning evilly at her. “Evening…” She says suspiciously.

“Thoring, Balin and Bilbo went to meet with Gandalf and Elrond to read the runes,” Kili instantly jumps into his explanation. “The rest of us have gathered that elven wine and firewood and plan to get drunk again, because who knows when we’re leaving. Come with us?”

Loland contemplates it for only a moment, but the call of the wine is too strong and overpowers her earlier embarrassment. “Of course.”

She steps out to join the company, and they all cheer at the sight of her. She grins and slow twirls, and they all start clapping. Loland laughs loudly, and everyone makes their way back down to the same garden they got drunk in the last time. They all work together to start the fire, gather some cushions from ambiguous places, and Loland uses the Force to pull the corks out of the bottles. Like before, Bofur and Nori pull instruments from out of nowhere, and the drinking and dancing around the fire begins. Loland dances with Kili, both of them with a bottle in their hands, the game to take a shot every time they step on the other’s feet. Four dances in, Loland stumbles away from the dwarf and collapses on a cushion, face flushed and the ceiling spinning.

A shadow looms over her face, and Fili’s handsome grin swims into her vision. “How are you doing?”

“Dizzy,” she grins.

“I can see that,” Fili says slowly, almost fondly. “Are all Jedi this bad at holding their liquor?”

“Hey,” Loland protests, pointing a finger at him. “No matter how much I drink, I never throw up. I’m a cheap date and great at holding my liquor.”

Fili’s grin widens. “I guess I cannot argue with you. Are you recovered enough to dance with me?”

He holds out his hand, and Loland takes it without hesitation.

Fili monopolizes her attention for the rest of the night. If they’re not dancing with his warm hands planted firmly on her hips, they’re getting some water or more wine with him so close she can feel his body heat. Light pink whips of the Force start swirling around them at some point of the night, and Loland can’t stop looking at them. It’s dancing the happiest she’s ever seen it, and she’s never seen the Force around herself before, just other people.

Fili twirls them gently and dips her so she briefly sees the stars before carefully pulling her upright. “What’re you looking at?”

Loland blinks at him, and watches as a smile spreads across his face. “The Force is around us.”

That’s all she says, and Fili is visibly confused but doesn’t stop moving them. “Is that good?”

Loland smiles softly. “It’s amazing.”

Fili gets visibly happier, and twirls them. Eventually, Kili draws them both into some more shots, and the three of them stumble back to the room together at the end of the night, the fire only embers behind them. Loland and Kili are leaning heavily on each other, while Fili has a death grip on both of their clothes from the back to keep them on the correct path. At the end of the hallway, Kili gives Loland a huge hug before stumbling off into his room. Fili guides Loland carefully to her doorway, making sure she is steady before backing a few steps away.

Loland smiles fondly at him. “Thank you for being so wonderful, Fili.”

Fili blinks drunkenly. “It’s easy to be wonderful to you.”

They stare at each other in silence for a moment too long, before Loland turns and fumbles to open the door. “Ah - goodnight!”

Just before she slams the door shut, she hears Fili answer. “Sleep well, abnâm.”

Chapter Text

Again, Loland wakes up the next morning with a raging headache and only half out of her dress. Somehow, drunken Loland had managed to put her hair up in the Bardottan silk bonnet she had found in the depths of her bag yesterday morning. Confused as to the logistics, Loland tiredly wrestles the rest of the way out of her dress and lazily puts on her dark teal set of long-sleeved Jedi robes, and takes the bonnet off after cleaning her teeth and using the toilet. She silently thanks Himelil for the hair products she brought her, because her hair remains exactly the same as it was yesterday, which never happens with curly hair. Loland zombie walks out of her room, planning to head down to breakfast and absolutely feast on some brown sugar oatmeal, but she is stopped in her tracks by the sight of the company huddled in the middle of the hallway. Thorin looks up and catches sight of her.

“Loland,” he waves his arm at her. “Come over here.”

She carefully makes her way over and tucks herself between Bilbo and Gloin. “What’s going on?”

“Gandalf has warned us that Elrond has learned of the true goal of our quest, and means to stop us,” Thorin almost growls. “We are to sneak out of Rivendell on foot after breakfast. Everyone, we are going to eat then you have one hour to pack up. We will meet back here. Understood?”

There’s a chorus of agreement, and the walk down to breakfast is purposefully rowdy. Loland does her best to wake up and have a conversation with Bilbo, who is already lamenting the comfortable beds and three square meals a day. Everyone absolutely stuffs themselves for the last time in who knows how long, and Loland and Bilbo leave the table clutching their stomachs while the dwarves continue to eat like it’ll be their last meal. Loland goes into her room and realizes she has already packed in that weird trance yesterday, but she decides to go through the bag one more time to make sure she grabbed everything she wants to bring. Luckily, the Force trance she was in did her well, and Loland only added her shower gear and hair products for when she has the chance to stop at a river. Plus, this way she can wash her clothes too! She still has fifty standard minutes, so Loland heads down to the stables to say goodbye to Oran. She’d been visiting and riding him daily, and Elrond already said he had a home here, but Loland decides to come back for him once the quest is done no matter how long the journey. They go for a half hour bareback ride, and it seems like Oran knows she is going to leave for while. Once he’s back in the stable, they cuddle for a while and Loland cries a little.

“I will come back for you,” she whispers with her head pressed against his nose. “I will.”

Oran huffs and sniffs her face.

On the way back (after she has stopped crying), Loland makes a quick stop at the practise grounds and asks the elf there if there is a recurve bow and some arrows she could please take. She figures it’d be easier to carry that since she has no knife sheaths, and the elf happily gives her a used but good quality dark brown set. She bows in thanks and hurries back to her room, the company slowly gathering as she barrels back through the door. Loland takes a deep breath and says a mental goodbye to her bed and most of her belongings. Loland puts on her outer robe, then she straps on her utility belt and lightsaber, then the bow and quiver to her back before grabbing the healing bag that Silevrenthel gave her and slings it across her chest. The last thing she grabs is her biggest pack and puts that on her shoulders on her way out the door. 

The company is gathered and ready to leave, talking in hushed whispers as Thorin and Dwalin stand watch. Once everyone has gathered, the two burly dwarves lead everyone out of the castle as quietly as twelve dwarves can be. They make it outside and are crossing the bridge when a wave of power washes over her and freezes her in her tracks. Not knowing why, she turns and looks up, back at Rivendell where she can see a small white gazebo standing on the edge of the cliffside. Dawn is breaking and she squints at it, curious about the power. It’s strong, but also the cleanest thing she has felt here. It almost feels like the Force? But the user does not know it’s the Force, so they haven’t fully harnessed it. But if this is their power level without that knowledge… Loland wants to meet this person. Something starts to gently prod at the edges of her mind, but she instantly throws up a strong mental barrier that the person on the other end cannot get through, and Loland pushes them away.

“What’s wrong, Jedi?” Thorin rumbles from the front. 

She turns to see everyone has stopped to stare at her. “I believe it is good we left when we did.”

Thorin nods, and turns to continue walking. The company is completely silent as they finish crossing the bridge and walking through the forest until they come across barren grasslands, full of hills and the occasional dark stone. 

Thorin stops. “Be on your guard; we are about to step over the edge of the Wild. Balin, you know these paths - lead on.”

“Aye,” Balin agrees and steps forward.

Loland begins walking, but quickly notices that Bilbo, who’d been walking beside her, had stopped and was staring longingly back at Rivendell. She starts heading back to grab him, but unfortunately, Thorin had noticed before she got there.

“Master Baggins,” he says angrily. “I suggest you keep up.”

Bilbo turns around and instantly they make eye contact, Loland giving him a sympathetic look before they start walking together. “I’m gonna miss it too,” Loland whispers. “That bed was so comfortable, and that bath? Don’t get me started.”

The hobbit snickers. “I was so glad for the food,” he reveals. “And the gardens. And the sunsets there were the most beautiful. It reminded me of the sunsets at my hobbit hole that I would watch on my porch with a nice cup of tea.”

They spend the majority of the travel day like that, making idle conversation as they cross the grassland, slowly the terrain getting more rocky and treacherous as they go deeper into what Bilbo tells her are the Misty Mountains. The weather gets worse and worse, starting with a small sun shower, then the clouds come and it devolves into a total downpour for the second time on this quest. The path slowly narrows more and more until they are walking single file with the mountain on the left side and a sheer drop into an abyss on the right. Loland was not afraid of heights in her homeworld, but staring into the darkness below them with absolutely no tech to help her out? Yeah, Loland’s feeling a little nervous. Especially in these weather conditions, the rain making the rock beneath their feet slick and little streams pouring down the mountain. Over an hour ago the downpour turned into an aggressive thunderstorm, with huge bolts of lightning getting a little bit too close for comfort. Bilbo had gone up a few dwarves to stand behind Dwalin to hopefully get some relief from the wind, it was that harsh.

“HOLD ON!” Thorin bellows.

A few dwarves in front of her, Bilbo takes a step and the path crumbles beneath his foot, his foot slipping and Loland watches him start to fall in slow motion. Dwalin reaches out to grab his jacket, and panicked, Loland throws her arm out and Force PUSHES him against the mountain. Bilbo’s chest is heaving, and he makes terrified but thankful eye contact with her. Dwalin nods at her, and Loland slowly lowers her arm. Once the Force lets up, Dwalin pulls Bilbo a few steps forward onto safety.

“WE MUST FIND SHELTER,” Thorin bellows again.

Loland sees Dwalin’s eyes suddenly widen. “LOOK OUT!”

She follows his line of sight to see a boulder the size of a ship hurtling through the air, and she does not react in time so it crashes against the mountain above them and crumbles into boulders the size of houses instead. Everyone screams and ducks as they fall directly toward the ledge the company stands on, but Loland plants her feet and throws her arms up. With tremendous effort, she Force STOPS all of the boulders and with a scream, throws them away from the company and down the chasm. She’s panting afterwards, and everyone stares at her in awe. Behind her, Kili pats her on the back. 

“This is no thunderstorm,” Balin yells. “It’s a thunder battle! LOOK!” He points, and everyone turns towards the other mountain to watch as a giant made out of rock slowly rises into view, lightning flashing around it’s head as it rips a massive chunk of the mountain off with it’s bare hands. 

“Bless me, the legends are true,” Bofur gasps. “GIANTS! STONE GIANTS!”

“TAKE COVER!” Thorin screams.

“What’s happening?” Kili cries.

Loland watches with wide eyes as the giant rears back and throws the rock with all it’s power directly beside them. Her jaw unhinges as a second stone giant rises up, only to be hit in the head and totally beheaded. The rock head falls into the chasm, and the second giant slowly falls backwards. 

“BRACE!” Dwalin growls, grabbing Bilbo again.

Suddenly, the mountain they are standing on starts rumbling, and Loland scrambles to grab onto the shear wall behind her, fingernails scraping against the rock. Small rocks from above them fall on their heads and into the chasm, and the ledge they are on starts to slowly crumble. Loland goes mute with fear, and watches with growing panic as the rock splits beneath her feet. Kili grabs her backpack and pulls her into him with all his strength and they stumble back a few feet. 

“KILI, LOLAND!” Fili screams from the other side of the rock, and Loland stares as he slowly gets further away. “KILI, GRAB MY HAND! LO -”

The sound of his shouting gets cut off by the mountain they are standing on totally splitting, and Loland suddenly realizes that they are standing on a third giant.

“Oh fuck ,” she says emphatically, and in unison, Kili and her clutch onto the other one. The first stone giant steps up and throws a punch that the giant the company is on dodges, and Kili and Loland scream together as they’re rocked sideways. It steps forward with the leg the other half of the dwarves are on and throws a punch, only to be hit in the face by the other giant and falls backward slightly. Loland Force HOLDS everyone on her leg against the wall as they’re flung outwards, but the leg the other half is on crashes against another mountain, and they all scramble off onto solid ground. But the headless giant from before rises again, massive boulder in hand, and Loland watches as it rears back and throws the boulder towards the head of their giant. She throws her hand out and PUSHES it with all of her might, but the boulder just explodes and the pieces still connect with the head and chest of their giant. Everyone screeches as the leg they’re standing on hurdles directly towards the mountainside with no signs of stopping.

“LOLAND, PLEASE!” Kili screams directly in her ear. 

“FUCK!” She yells, throwing both her arms out at the last second and PUSHING the mountain with all her might. But she cannot move a mountain, so all that happens is the leg stops moving momentarily. But it’s all they need, the dwarves taking initiative and jumping off into a pile of limbs on the ledge. Loland yells with effort, then PUSHES again, and this time the leg starts falling away - with her still on it. 

“LOLAND!” Kili screams again from where he’s stuck on the ledge.

She gathers all the power she can into her legs and jumps, Jedi flipping in the air at the last second and stumbling onto the ledge, falling on top of Kili and Oin. Kili grabs her, breathing hard, and presses their foreheads together. Loland closes her eyes, glad everyone is safe. 

“You saved us lass,” Oin says breathlessly. “You saved us.”

“NO!” She can hear Thorin yell faintly through the thunder. “NO! KILI !”

The other group comes rushing around the corner, Thorin’s eyes wild. Fili is right behind him, eyes desperately searching for his brother, and when his eyes lay on the two of them still fearfully clutching each other, he visibly relaxes.

“We’re alright!” Balin’s voice comes from somewhere in the pile. “We’re alive!”

Thorin rushes forward and pulls Kili off the pile, clutching the back of his head and aggressively pushing their foreheads together. With shaky arms, Loland pushes herself off of Gloin’s legs and to standing, and she watches as Fili starts towards her, but the words that Bofur yells sends chills down her spine. 

“Where’s Bilbo?! Where’s the hobbit?!”

“There!” Ori cries from his spot standing beside the pile, and Loland follows his arm to see only Bilbo’s fingers clutching the ledge. Before she can move, he dives for Bilbo but the rain makes him slide too far and he knocks Bilbo’s hand off. Dori grabs his foot, and Loland hears Bilbo yelp. Thorin goes next, completely throwing himself off the cliff, and Loland is almost too shocked to move but Dwalin isn’t. He’s right behind Thorin, and lucky too, because Thorin’s fingers instantly begin to slip. Dwalin slams his axe into the ground and throws himself off the cliff after Thorin. Finally, Loland unfreezes and grabs HOLD of all of them with the Force, carefully levitating them back up. If it wasn’t so terrifying, it would almost be comical, the way they came back up. Dwalin with a death grip on Thorin’s wrist and Thorin clutching a half-drowned Bilbo’s backpack. Loland puts them back on the ground as close to the mountain as possible, and they all collapse to the ground. Loland stumbles over and bends down to put a hand on Bilbo’s back, who’s staring at the ground with brown wisps of the Force swirling panicked around him, but Loland does not need that to tell her he’s terrified.

“I thought we lost our burglar,” Dwalin pants from his spot on the ground. “Thank mahal for our Jedi.”

Loland glances up, and he’s staring at her with obvious thankfulness in his eyes. They share a slight nod.

Thorin heaves himself off the ground, still breathing deeply. “He’s been lost ever since he left home. He should never have come. He has no place amongst us. Dwalin!”

Loland stands up, angry, but Thorin is already stomping away. 

Gloin steps up. “Thank mahal for our Jedi. You saved us lassie, multiple times.”

“And myself,” Loland admits, and he claps her on the back. The dwarves start to follow Thorin, all of them stopping to thank her as they pass. Only Fili and Kili stay behind as she bends down beside Bilbo again.

“Come, hobbit,” she says calmly, and he looks up at her. “Let’s get out of the rain.”

Silently, Bilbo stands and walks beside Loland as they follow the rest of the company, the brothers close behind them. No one speaks as Dwalin and Gloin scout ahead, eventually making their way back and leading the rest of them to a crevice in the rock. Loland stands with her arm around Bilbo as Dwalin and Thorin peer inside. 

“It looks safe enough,” Dwalin says hesitantly.

Thorin frowns. “Search to the back; caves in the mountains are seldom unoccupied.”

Dwalin pulls an unlight lantern off of his belt and starts digging around in his pockets for a match, but Loland carefully hands Bilbo off to Fili and steps up, pulling one of her lightsabers off her belt.

“Don’t waste a match,” she says. “Let me help.”

Dwalin nods, and she follows him into the cave, activating the saber and letting the warm yellow light flood the opening in the rock. She stands in the middle and moves as Dwalin needs, letting him search to the edges with ease. Once the burly dwarf deems it safe, Dwalin beckons everyone in.

“There’s nothing here.”

Gloin pulls firewood out of seemingly thin air and drops it on the ground, rubbing his hands together. “Right then! Let’s get a fire going.”

“No,” Thorin says harshly, quickly. “No fires, not in this place. Get some sleep. We start at first light.”

Balin steps forward, elaborate hairdo completely gone. “We were to wait in the mountains until Gandalf joined us. That was the plan.”

Thorin scowls. “Plans change. Bofur, take the first watch.”

Bofur deflates, and nods before heading to the mouth of the cave. With only slight mumblings, the company begins making themselves comfortable. Loland heads over to a corner far away from the rain and sets her pack down beside her, not bothering to unpack. This place is giving her a very odd feeling, almost like she’s seen it before…

Kili dumps his bag down beside her and starts digging for his bedroll and blankets, Fili on her other side. She can feel him staring at her cheek, so she turns to look at him.

“Thank you for saving my brother,” Fili says, the most serious she’s ever seen him. “And… also yourself.”

She blinks. “Of course. You both have become wonderful friends to me, and I wish no one in this company ill.”

“I know,” Fili rushes to assure her. “That’s not what I meant. I just meant… I am truly glad you are both alive.”

Loland grins slowly. “Well, alright then. Me too. I’m going to meditate now, hope that’s alright.”

“What you did on the mountain took a lot of power,” Kili chimes in. “We could all tell. Rest.”

Loland smiles kindly at her friends, glad of them, and settles in. She sits on her ankles and lays her hands on her knees, closing her eyes and sinking down, down, down into the Force. She floats for a while, obviously needing to regenerate some energy and replenish her connection. The Force roots she has dug are deep by the time a vision starts to flash before her eyes, and it’s an eerily familiar one.

She’s in the cave in the mountains, the dwarves sleeping peacefully beside her. Bilbo and Bofur are standing at the mouth of the cave, and when she turns her head, Fili is sleeping to her right, one of his hands on the floor beside her leg. She slowly turns to look at Bilbo again, who has pulled out his sword, which is glowing an ominous blue. There’s a horrible rumbling, and Thorin bolts upright. He looks around wildly before staring at the floor. Loland can tell he starts yelling, but she cannot hear what he says. Suddenly, the floor she’s standing on swings open beneath her like a trapdoor, and the company falls down, down, down, down, until she can see a crude cage approaching, and she’s about to fall through the open roof and hit the floor - 

“No, you’re right,” Bofur is saying. “We don’t belong anywhere. I wish you all the luck in the world. I really do.”

Loland opens her eyes, panicked. She knew the cave looked familiar! She looks around, and everyone is sleeping. She glances to her right and Fili is asleep, one of his hands on the floor beside her leg. 

“What’s that?” Bofur asks.

A horrible feeling grows in her stomach as she looks to the mouth of the cave, where Bofur and Bilbo are standing, just like the Force vision, and Bilbo has his glowing blue sword halfway drawn, both of them staring at it in horror. The Force is dancing through the air erratically, brown and red wisps flowing down through the floor. 

Loland grabs her backpack and jumps to her feet. “GET UP, IT’S A TRAP!”

Thorin is the first to bolt upright, this time not even questioning her. “WAKE UP. WAKE UP!”

A few of the dwarves stir, and then the floor starts to rumble. Thorin and Loland have enough time to make panicked eye contact before the floor she’s standing on swings open, her stomach staying in the cave as her body falls. The company is awake now, everyone screaming as they fall towards a chute, sliding down it with abandon, slamming into the occasional rock. The chute lets out into thin air, and they fall down, down, down, down until she can see a crude cage approaching, and terror runs through her blood. Loland has a death grip on her backpack as she falls, and at the last second HOLDS herself inches from the floor. But in her panic, she forgot about the twelve dwarves and one hobbit falling around her, and one of them crashes into her back, breaking her HOLD and she smashes into the rock, head bouncing off the floor before whipping back and slamming into it again. There’s a crunch , and Loland feels blood trickle down her face and into her mouth, and then her ears start ringing. Everyone is yelling, and there’s people on top of her, heavy boots stomping on her hair and limbs. Pain blossoms from her forehead, spreading like a helmet down to her neck. Black dots appear in her vision, and the ringing in her ears gets louder and louder until she can’t see or hear anything anymore.

Loland lays on the floor, panting, and her Master stands above her. It feels like her Master is fighting more vicious than usual today, and the bruises already blossoming on her arms are proof.

“Push through,” her Master says, the Togruta standing above her. “Stand up.”

“I cannot,” Loland groans. 

Depa Billaba bends down beside her. “You must. You think the Sith will give you as long as you need to recover? I’m sorry I’m being harsher on you than usual, but there is a reason.”

Loland gathers all her strength and bunches her arms underneath her to push herself up, Padawan braid swinging beneath her right ear. “Why?”

Depa stares off into space. “You are getting older now, and reaching the end of your training. The Council has seen fit to give us a mission.”

Loland tilts her head. “That’s normal.”

“The nature of the mission is not. We must defeat a Sith Lord and his apprentice. We must fight them one-on-one. I will not be around forever, but I will not lose you to this.”

Loland blinks in surprise, then nods. She activates her lightsaber and gets into a ready stance. “So… we go again?”

Depa Billaba grins.

When Loland comes to, her ears are still ringing, but the black dots are gone from her vision. She’s laying on her back, staring at the ceiling, and when she rolls her head to the side, she sees she still has the death grip on her backpack. The boots of the members of the company are around her, even though none of them are looking at her. Her Master is nowhere to be found, and this brings a feeling of profound sadness. Fili glances down at her, then does a double take when he realizes her eyes are open, and even though his mouth is moving, she cannot hear what he is saying. She starts to sit up but he hurriedly throws his hand out, indicating that she should stay down, and the pain in her head makes it difficult to argue. She lays back down, and slowly her hearing starts to return, but she does not like what she hears. Something that is not the dwarves is screeching , and it sounds like there’s hundreds of them. And then horrifically, one voice breaks through the commotion.

“ - you don’t have a mountain. And you’re not a king. Which makes you nobody, really. I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head. Just the head, nothing attached. Perhaps you know of whom I speak; an old enemy of yours. A Pale Orc astride a White Warg.” The voice sounds like it’s been smoking for fifty years, had throat surgery, and then continued smoking. It grates against her eardrums.

“Azog the Defiler was destroyed,” Thorin’s rumbly voice is a relief. “He was slain in battle long ago.”

“You think his defiling days are done, do you?” The other voice sneers. It laughs then, like nails on a chalkboard. “Send word to the Pale Orc. Tell him I have found his prize .”

The screeching and cackling starts up again, and then the horrible voice starts singing. Loland actually reaches up to cover her ears as the terrible sound rattles against her brain.

“Bones will be shattered, necks will be wrung! You’ll be beaten and battered, from racks you’ll be hung. You will lie down here and never be found, down in the deep of Goblin-town.”

There’s laughing, screeching, and even eerie music, until the sounds turn less taunting and more angry. “I know that sword!” The horrific voice yells fearfully. “It is the Goblin-Cleaver, the Biter, the blade that sliced a thousand necks! Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all!”

Fili suddenly throws himself over Loland, his arms reaching to cover her head and she watches in confusion as his face starts contorting in pain. The commotion drones into one high-pitched noise, and Loland stares into Fili’s eyes.

“What’s happening?” She slurs.

“This is a really bad time for you to be injured,” Fili groans. 

“Sorry,” she whispers.

“It’s - it’s Dwalin’s fault, he fell on you,” Fili gasps. 

“He was really heavy,” Loland admits, before closing her eyes for just a second. It’s nice, the pressure of Fili’s sturdy body on hers and the shadow he’s casting on her face. Suddenly, Fili’s blown off of her, and she opens her eyes to a blinding white light that sends a zing of pain through her head. But slowly, the light fades and Loland is able to see the absolutely terrible situation they are in. They’re surrounded by… these things , barely coming up to her chest, slimy skin covered in warts and boils, huge eyes almost popping out of their skulls. Like Loland thought, there’s hundreds, and she’s sure if she turned her head, there would be hundreds more. But what catches her eyes is the absolutely massive thing laying sprawled over a throne made of bones. Beside it stands Gandalf, the white light slowly fading back into the stone on his staff and brandishing his sword.

“Take up arms,” he urges them strongly. “Fight. FIGHT!”

Around where she’s sprawled on the floor, the dwarves roll onto their feet and rally, launching themselves towards the grotesque creatures and starting to beat them with their bare hands. The creatures rush Gandalf, but he cuts them down as they come. 

The massive thing has recovered using it’s subjects to stand, leaning heavily on the throne as it points at Gandalf, fear obvious in it’s eyes. “He wields the Foe-Hammer, the Beater, bright as daylight!”

Some of the dwarves have made it to the pile of weapons Loland just notices and starts throwing steel around in a way that looks careless at first, but each weapon makes it to the exact dwarf. But while everyone is focused on that, the massive thing has regained it’s balance, and Loland rolls over so she’s facedown on the floor. Pain zings through her skull, and she groans before gathering her arms underneath her and pushing herself upright, curls swinging down past her right shoulder. 

Nori stumbles and rolls on the floor right into the path of the massive thing. It grins evilly and raises the bone mace in it’s hand, aiming directly for the dwarf with the mangled star hair.

“NORI!” Dwalin bellows, but he’s too far away to do anything.

Push through, Depa Billaba says from behind Loland, and she takes a deep breath before stretching her arms out on either side of her before slamming her hands together. The Force reverberates from her palms, and a huge shockwave pulses out, passing over the company peacefully but catching all of the creatures in the chest and throwing them off the platform. The massive thing stumbles backwards away from Nori, trips over the throne, and falls, screeching, down into the depths.

Blood runs down her nose and into her mouth, and fire shoots up her neck and behind her eyes. She clutches her head with both hands, crying out in agony.

Fili appears beside her instantly. “Loland, I know you’re in pain, but we must get out of here. Can you run?”

Oin materializes at her other side, squinting at her and poking at her neck and nose a few times. “Your nose is not broken, but you definitely have a head injury.”

“We must get out of here,” Fili repeats, more urgently this time.

“I can run,” Loland says, but doesn’t let go of her head. “What are those things?”

“Goblins,” Oin answers grimly.

“Follow me,” Gandalf yells. “Quick! RUN!”

“Stay near me,” Fili says, almost begging as they begin to sprint. Loland nods, but instantly regrets it, stopping for a second to lean over the edge of the crude railing and pukes into the abyss. She stands up, wipes her mouth, and keeps running. Fili is staring at her in concern, but Loland keeps moving forward and fighting the dizziness. Gandalf leads them through the mountain, the dwarves working together to kill the goblins that get a little too close. Loland is in too close quarters to feel comfortable activating her lightsaber, but well placed PUSHES keep her and the company more than safe enough. Soon though, they turn a corner and a horde of goblins is running down the pathway at them. 

“POST!” Dwalin bellows, and him, Kili, and Gloin grab a guardrail and hold it in front of them like a massive spear. “CHARGE!” Dwalin yells, and with a battle cry, they sprint forward, skewering a few goblins and slamming the rest off the edge. But once past the first horde, they approach a dead end and more goblins drop down from the levels above them. Reluctantly, Loland activates her lightsaber and takes the head off one goblin with ease, and the rest cower away from her weapon. It buys them a few precious seconds. 

“Cut the ropes!” Thorin orders. The dwarf king follows his own orders, and a few of the company rush to follow. Loland stays brandishing her lightsaber, sneering at the cowering goblins. There’s a rumbling sound behind her, and out of the corner of her eye she can see the end platform not connected to the ropes swinging across the chasm, and the remaining creatures around them get their feet tangled in the extra rope and go flying when it goes taunt. The dwarves start running again, and Fili grabs her backpack - when did she put that on? She doesn’t remember - and pulls her after them.

“What are those things?!” Loland yells, terrified. “They don’t look like orcs!”

“They’re goblins!” Fili yells back, pushing her in front of him and right behind Gloin. “Keep moving!”

Loland turns her head forward slightly too fast and blacks out, vision coming back right before she runs across a ladder laying flat between two paths and over a chasm. What the fuck is happening? The last thing she remembers is settling down in that cave to meditate, and now they’re running for their lives from horrible, slimy creatures that are covered in warts.

“Curse the empire!” Loland wails out loud, and Fili spares her a glance but obviously decides running is more important than asking what she means.

They approach yet another chasm, and the dwarves rush forward to cut ropes down without prompting. A few jump across, limbs flailing as they let go of the ropes and land in a heap on the other side. 

“Quickly!” Gandalf urges, and Fili pulls her forward. She stands on the edge and marvels for a second that this is her life now. She gathers her strength and jumps, reaching out and PULLING the rope towards her and grabbing it at the last second. Loland swings for three stomach-churning seconds, then lets go and rolls when she lands on the other side. The swinging and spinning was too much for her though, and she rushes over to lean over the edge and throw up. A warm hand settles on her back.

“Will you let me take a look at you when we get out of here?” Oin asks, and Loland nods carefully. “Good. Now we must move on!”

Time blurs into a maze of crude tunnels, killing - what are these creatures? They look nothing like orcs. Loland resolves to ask later and just keeps using the Force to send them into the depths. Loland’s head is spinning and her vision is slowly tunneling, and she stumbles a couple of times. Fili ends up grabbing one of her arms and draping it around his shoulders.

“You’re doing wonderful,” he says breathlessly, his arm swinging up to stab a creature through the chest.

“What are those things?”

Fili slashes another out of their way. “That’s the third time you’ve asked me that. I’ll tell you when we’re safe, okay?”

“Okay.”

Kili appears beside her, sweat and dirt making hair cling to his face. “How is she doing?”

Fili says something to his brother in a Khuzdul so she cannot understand, but honestly that’s fine. She does not have the energy to run and keep up a conversation. Her vision is slowly getting blurry, and when Fili picks her up to jump onto a swinging bridge, her stomach lurches dangerously again. He jumps off onto solid ground and Loland claps her hand over her mouth and tries to breath through the nausea. Fili notices and grips her tighter, but keeps sprinting. The company is moving quickly, everyone staying together well and brandishing their weapons. Gandalf, who’s at the lead, thrusts his staff at the ceiling as they come out a passage, and a massive boulder breaks off, slamming into the ground in front of them and rolling down the path, squishing the horde of creatures that were running straight at them. The dwarves run over them without thinking, and Loland has to resist the urge to look down. Through her blurry vision, Loland can see they are approaching the biggest bridge yet, spawning an absolutely massive chasm. The dwarves do not slow down as the boulder keeps rolling straight and falls off a cliff, and the company hinges right to start crossing. Wood panels start flying towards the sky, and Gandalf skids to a stop, leaning on the dwarves as they slide to a halt behind him. A creature at least three times the size of the ones chasing them breaks through from underneath the bridge, climbing up slowly (and ungracefully) while grinning at them menacingly. Loland’s heart rate picks up, and ugly brown-red-gray wisps of the Force are spiking outwardly from around it, twisting and writhing like it’s trying to get away.

Fili gently sets Loland down, keeping one arm around her waist to make sure she’s steady. Kili steps up in front of her slightly, grabbing an arrow from his quiver.

“You thought you could escape me ?!” The grotesque thing snarls, it’s weird accent only making it’s words more creepy. It lifts it’s massive bone mace and swings twice at Gandalf’s belly, who narrowly dodges by leaping backwards and falling on top of the dwarves. “What are you going to do now, Wizard?”

Gandalf carefully stands, then lunges forward and jabs the point of his staff into it’s bulging eye. It wails and claps both it’s hands over it’s face, mace bouncing off the bridge and falling into the depths.

“Ow, ow, ow!” It squeals. Gandalf gathers his strength and slashes it across it’s beer belly. It falls to it’s knees and takes one hand off it’s face and lays it over it’s stomach. It looks up at the Wizard and nods once. “That’ll do it.”

Gandalf slashes again, this time across it’s neck. It slowly falls forward, slamming down onto the bridge. It’s weight makes the bridge shake ominously, and then with a horrible splintering noise, the section the company is standing on breaks off, falls for a few terrifying seconds, then slams into the edge wall of the cavern and slides, building speed with every second. Loland grabs the brothers and drops to the floor, grabbing the edge of the bridge and clinging on. Fili is laying half on top of her and gripping Kili with the hand laying over top of Loland’s backpack, and Kili is clinging right back. There’s a ringing noise in her ears, but she soon realizes that this time, it’s the sound of everyone screaming at the top of their lungs. The walls are narrowing on either side of them, until the bridge section is scraping both walls, then it scrapes to a stop, hovering for a second, before breaking again and slamming onto the ground. Somehow, Gandalf extracts himself and leans on his staff, staring at the wreckage in front of him. Loland leans her forehead on Fili’s shoulder, panting from terror. She’s scared of heights now, she decides. She barely got through the thunder battle without dying, and that fall was the needle on the haystack.

Kili pulls her and Fili into a relieved hug, laughing loudly. The sound echoes through her skull, and she squeezes her eyes shut.

“Well,” Bofur’s voice comes from somewhere below her. “That could’ve been worse.”

There’s a rumbling, then a BOOM, and a terrible weight falls onto the wreckage, squishing Loland and the company at least a foot closer together. Loland groans loudly, echoing what everyone else does. It’s hard to breathe.

“YOU’VE GOT TO BE JOKING,” Dwalin growls loudly. Gandalf bends down and pulls him out of the wreckage.

“Loland,” Gandalf says, and she gathers the energy to look up at him. “If we get you out of there, can you help?”

She swallows down her nausea. “Of course.”

Dwalin and Gandalf work together to dig Loland out, Fili and Kili helping by pushing her out of the wood pile. She stumbles once she’s on her feet, and can feel a drop of blood run down over her lips. She wipes it off and plants her feet. It turns out the horrible creature that destroyed the bridge fell on top of them, so she raises her left arm and LIFTS it with the Force. Then she raises her right arm and LIFTS all the wood into the air, the dwarves gently tumbling onto the ground as they get released. They all stumble or crawl over to her, helping each other stand. But there’s a growing rumbling, and Kili turns around.

“... GANDALF!” He yells. 

Loland follows his line of sight to see an army of the creatures coming down the chasm at them, crawling over the walls and falling over each other; there's so many. It’s a truly disgusting sight, and the Force is spiking through the air, full of pain. Loland’s brain pulses, and she almost loses her hold on the Force. She regains it quickly, and then PUSHES the biggest creature and all the wood towards the army.

“There’s too many!” Dwalin says, holding Bofur up. “We cannae fight them!”

“Only one thing will save us; daylight!” Gandalf announces, urgency clear in his tone. “Come on! On your feet!”

“What are those things?” Loland shrieks, but no one answers her.

He picks Gloin up, and Fili appears right beside Loland again. She starts to run but stumbles, and he wraps a hand around her bicep. They sprint like that, Loland using her own strength but Fili making sure she stays on the correct path. The path they’re running on narrows until they’re running in pairs, the army screeching and wailing behind them, slowly getting closer. The darkness is slowly lightning though, until they can see the faintest of sunbeams.

“We’re almost there!” Ori yells, and everyone speeds up. They burst through the opening to a large forest, sunlight beating down on them. The pine trees stretch up towards the blue sky, the sparse clouds not enough to cast any shade. So thankful to be safe, Loland heads over to a tree trunk and collapses against it, head absolutely pounding. She rests her head on her knees and closes her eyes, the darkness helpful.

“Loland,” Oin’s voice says beside her. “Can I look at your head?”

She hums and raises her head, keeping her eyes closed. In the background, she can faintly hear the rest of the dwarves panting heavily, and the ground slightly shakes like a few of them threw themselves onto the grass. Someone’s armour jingles, and a warm hand gets placed on her back. Something cold and wet trickles down from her nose, and she reaches her fingers up to touch it, squinting her eyes. At the sight of her own blood, her eyes widened. 

“I have a nosebleed,” Loland observes.

“You do,” Fili says from right beside her, placating. “Oin, what’s the prognosis?”

Oin directs Fili to pinch the bridge of Loland’s nose and completely ignores his question. “Lass, how would you treat me if I had a head injury like this?”

Loland stops weakly trying to push Fili’s hand away and grabs his wrist while she thinks. It’s hard, and it feels like the thoughts are slipping away. She digs deep, and pulls them up to the surface. “Um… rest in a dark room for a couple of days… dried feverfew leaves for the pain, butterbur powder in my stew… could chew some willow bark… maybe some rosemary tea?”

“Wonderful job,” Oin smiles at her, and she weakly smiles back before closing her eyes again. He spends the next few moments asking her a bunch of different but pretty simple questions, and also asks her to try and recall questions she had already answered. She does not do the greatest with that, but there’s a slight improvement from the caves, according to Fili. “A concussion,” Oin concludes eventually. “But not one to worry about, I believe.”

“She was repeating the same question multiple times,” Fili brings up. “Kept forgetting what the goblins were.”

“A common symptom,” Oin says. “Keep an eye on it, and tell me if it does not go away within the next day. Pinch that nose for at least five minutes, then see if the blood has stopped.”

“Will do,” Fili says as Loland groans in annoyance.

“Hush,” Oin says sternly. “We are still so close to the danger, I do not need you getting weak from blood loss.”

“Okay,” she hums, and stops fighting Fili. Oin stands to leave, and the two of them sit in silence for a few moments, Fili pinching the bridge of her nose quite hard. It’s alright though, because the pain is pushing her sleepiness away.

“Fili,” she says, and he makes a questioning noise. “What were those things?”

He barks out a laugh. “Well, we are safe now. They were goblins. They come from the same family as orcs, but are smaller and generally weaker… however they usually travel in massive numbers.”

“They were creepy,” she notes, and Fili laughs again. They wait a few more minutes before Fili carefully stops pinching her nose, and he makes a happy noise when no blood trickles out.

“... Five, six, seven, eight… Bifur, Bofur, that’s ten… Fili, Kili, Loland, that’s thirteen… and Bombur, that makes fourteen. Where is Bilbo? Where is our hobbit? Where is our hobbit?”

Worry zings through Loland’s heart at those words, and she gently pushes Fili away - but he stays close, reaching out to steady her elbow when she wobbles slightly. She opens her eyes and meets Gandalf’s worried ones. “I haven’t seen him since right before he fell.”

Dwalin stomps forward. “Curse the halfling! Now he’s lost?”

“It was chaos down there,” Loland defends. “What if he’s injured and alone?”

“I thought he was with Nori!” Gloin huffs.

“Don’t blame me!” Nori cries.

“What happened exactly?” Gandalf rages, taking a few menacing steps forwards, robes billowing around him.

Suddenly, a terribly evil feeling washes over Loland, almost bowling her over. Fili steadies her like she was just swaying again, but an ill feeling gathers in her stomach, and beads of sweat roll down her temples. But as quick as it came, a cloyingly sweet feeling crashes into her like a wave, almost like it was trying to distract her from the evil. It hits her directly in the chest and she stumbles again, this time directly into Fili’s quickly outstretched arms. He says something, but her ears are ringing and her vision is blurring, so she cannot hear. She claps her hands over her ears and squeezes her eyes shut, shaking her head against the feeling and ignoring that pain it brings. But something tells her to open her eyes, and green wisps of the Force are gently dancing in front of her now clear vision. Hands slowly falling from her ears, she straightens up and follows the Force as it dances to a spot between two trees. She squints at it, but there’s nothing special. 

“I’ll tell you what happened,” Thorin is almost yelling, scowling heavily at Gandalf. “Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it! He’s thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door! We will not be seeing our Hobbit again. He is long gone.”

But Loland has blocked him out, staring at the spot between the trees. The air seems to shimmer, like a mirage in the desert. The Force wisps keep flowing towards the spot, dancing around a pillar of air. But as she squints, it seems to disappear behind a tree, and then a few seconds later, out steps Bilbo Baggins.

Loland blinks. What?

“No,” Bilbo says, putting his hands in the pockets of his waistcoat. “He isn’t.”

The company whips around to look in the direction Loland is already looking in, and she can hear Thorin’s sharp inhale from here.

Gandalf’s happy laugh breaks the silence as he walks towards the hobbit and gathers him into a hug. “Bilbo Baggins! I’ve never been so happy to see anyone in my life.”

They step apart, then Loland sets forward for her own hug, and Bilbo meets her in the middle, crashing into her chest and almost knocking her backwards. The force he hugs her with takes her by surprise, and his arms are trembling. She squeezes him tighter.

“You okay?” She whispers, and he just nods and exhales shakily.

Loland lets him go when her head starts to hurt, and he picks her hand up and gives it a squeeze before going to greet Balin and the rest of the dwarves.

“Bilbo!” Kili says happily. “We’d given you up!”

“How on earth did you get past the goblins?” Fili asks.

“How indeed,” Dwalin grumbles, and Bilbo clears his throat. An awkward silence settles over the company as no one knows what to say, and then, for the first time in ages, Loland’s precognition activates. Her head whips around towards the top of the mountain, and the Force starts glitching in the trees, slowly turning a horrible grey-red-black colour. A pit settles in her stomach.

“Well, what does it matter?” Gandalf asks. “He’s back!”

“It matters!” Thorin half-yells suddenly, taking a few halting steps forward. “I want to know. Why did you come back?”

“Look,” Bilbo says after a few seconds. “I know you doubt me, I know you always have. And you’re right, I often think of Bag End. I miss my books. And my armchair. And my garden. See, that’s where I belong. That’s home. And that’s why I came back, cause you don’t have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can.”

It sounds like they’re talking in water, and alarm bells are going off in Loland brains. Something is barreling down the mountain, and it’s gunning straight for them.

Loland whips around to look at everyone, and the company is obviously taken aback by the urgency in her face. “This is adorable, but something is coming. We need to go - now.”

Everyone stares at her for a horribly long time, then a terrible sounding howl breaks the silence. Another follows, then another, then another, until what sounds like a whole pack of wolves are ripping their way down the mountain with the intent to kill them.

There’s a deep tiredness on Thorin’s face. “Out of the frying pan…”

“... And into the fire,” Gandalf finishes. “Run. RUN!”

Chapter Text

Just for a single second, Loland wishes she’s back in the baths in Rivendell, floating under the stars in the warm water. She would get out, calmly do her hair and get dressed, then head to dinner without a care in the world. She would stuff herself, hang out with the company if they offered, then read before falling asleep in a comfortable bed.

But reality is much different. As soon as the words are out of Gandalf’s mouth, the company is turning around and taking off into a dead sprint. Pain whooshes through Loland’s head again, but her precognition is tingling too wildly for her to care at the moment. She’s more terrified than she was in the goblin tunnels for some reason, her heart beating so loudly she can feel it in her throat. Each step sends a shockwave through the ground, and she can almost feel the company through her feet.

The menacing howls continue behind them, slowly getting closer and closer. Loland picks up the pace. The sun is rapidly setting, casting large shadows through the same trees the company felt safe in not even five standard minutes ago. In a similar way to the goblin tunnels, the dwarves stay in a slightly spread-out group, the weakest in the middle, but this is even more desperate than the tunnels. 

“Irz ul ghaamul,” A terrifying voice booms in Loland’s ears. “Gâshul nûg az-ûk!”

The howls of the wolves get closer and closer no matter how fast they run, until there’s a terrible snarl and one jumps out at Bilbo. He ducks behind a rock before Loland can react and the wolf lands in front of him, drool dripping from it’s massive teeth. As Loland is unsheathing her lightsaber, the warg charges at Bilbo, who, with his eyebrows raised in surprise, draws his sword and holds it in front of him. Loland throws her lightsaber, but the warg impales itself on Bilbo’s blade, so Loland cutting off one of it’s legs was fruitless. She catches it and pulls out her second one, blades glowing in the darkness. More wargs are right behind, so she charges forward and slides under one, lightsaber tearing through it’s belly. The wolf is dead before it can react. Loland’s on her feet before she stops sliding and notices Kili’s arrows in the skull of the second. She turns to keep running, but instantly notices the cliff edge the rest of the company are staring at with dismay and stops with her heart in her throat.

“Up into the trees, all of you!” Gandalf yells, panic clear in his voice. “Come on, climb! Bilbo, climb!”

Bofur throws a massive axe directly into a warg’s forehead.

Without hesitation, the dwarves start climbing up the pine trees far more agile than one would expect. Bofur takes a few thundering steps off a jagged rock and launches himself off, stomping his foot onto Dwalin’s head and propelling himself up into the trees. Loland twirls on the balls of her feet and sprints up the tree closest to her, Jedi flipping once to get halfway up and her head ZINGS with pain. She is breathing quick and shallow, still not having fully recovered from the massive concussion she sustained in the tunnels. A hand lays gently on her shoulder, and she turns to see Bofur and Gloin staring at her in worry.

“They’re coming!” Thorin warns, just barely concealing the rising panic in his voice.

Loland watches in slow motion as Gandalf peeks his head out the top of the tallest tree, as Dwalin gives Balin a boost upwards. As Bombur struggles to pull his legs up far enough. As Bilbo struggles to remove his sword from the warg’s skull.

There’s a loud snarl, and Loland’s head whips up to see a whole host of wargs crest over the hill, far too close to Bilbo. Panicked, Loland throws her arm out and PULLS Bilbo towards her as fast as she can. The hobbit jerks backwards, and luckily he had such a tight grip on his sword because it comes out of the skull with an audible ripping sound. Bilbo flies into Loland, his toes just barely escaping a warg’s snapping teeth, and they collide, her arms wrapping around him. They pant together for a second, terrified, before Loland uses the Force to gently lift him off of her and onto a thick tree branch.

“Thank you,” Bilbo breathes. Loland nods in response, before her attention is taken by a brown Force wisp drifting in front of her eyes. It flows downwards, and Loland audibly gasps when she sees it.

The host of wargs have gathered, and there are far too many of them for the Company. Only a few have riders, the rest being lone wolves with dripping maws. The Force has turned into the horrible black-gray-red and is glitching and twisting all around the wolves. They mill about underneath the trees, staring up at the Company with bloodlust in their eyes.

But slowly, the wolves turn and look back at the top of the biggest rock jutting out of the hill. The Company follows their vision and watches with trepidation as a white warg steps slowly into view. The orc on top of it is the most terrifying one Loland has seen yet, and the Force reacts as such. It’s trying to get away from him, but is trapped in the metal claw he calls a hand. It’s skin and eyes are pale, and it’s body is covered with deep criss-crossing scars.

Thorin looks upon it with shock. “... Azog?!”

The warg snarls in response, and the orc strokes it slowly while turning to look directly at the King. “Nuzdigid? Nuzdi gast?” It’s face splits into a horrible grin, sharp teeth on display. “Ganzilig-i unarug obod nauzdanish, Torin undag Train-ob.”

Loland has no idea what is being said, but she recognizes the names. She turns to gauge Thorin’s reaction, who just looks overwhelmingly sad.

“It cannot be,” he whispers.

“Kod, Toragid biriz,” Azog says to his riders, before swinging his huge mace and pointing at Thorin, the threat clear. “Worori-da!”

As if commanded, the wargs turn and start jumping up the tree trunks, tearing the bark with their claws and snapping at the branches closest to the Company’s feet, taking them with them as they fall. The trees shake violently and Loland struggles to hold on while pine needles fall down around her.

“SHO GAD ADOL!” Azog yells, and the wargs renew their energy, jumping up so high that the Company has to start climbing higher. But the weight of the dwarves at the very top and the wargs jumping on them from the bottom are too much for the trees to bear, and the one Loland is sitting on starts to tip. She stands, grabs the collar of Bilbo’s jacket (ignoring his yelp) and launches them into the next tree. But the weight of one Jedi, one hobbit, and two extra dwarves make the next tree trip, and it turns into a domino effect until all 13 dwarves, one hobbit, one wizard, and one Jedi are sitting perched on the very last tree, almost dangling over the edge.

Loland’s mind finally kicks into gear and starts looking for a plan. They are backed into a corner, one of the worst corners she’s ever been in. She takes a chance at peering behind her, but the trees are just a concept at the bottom of the cavern. Saliva pools in her mouth from the fear, and she swallows harshly. The only plan her scrambled mind can come up with is jumping down there and Force blasting everything off the cliff, but that truly means everything and she does not want to kill the dwarves. She does not think she can control it like she did down in the tunnels, not this terrified and injured. Her head is continuously pounding and she can feel her dizziness slowly coming back.

Azog is laughing.

Suddenly, a flaming pine cone is launched from the tree, hitting a warg in the head and bouncing off to start a fire in the dry grass. Azog abruptly stops cackling and snarls in confusion while the wargs retreat slightly.

“Fili!” Gandalf’s voice calls suddenly, and she turns to look at him - only to see him holding a flaming pine cone. The wizard tosses it right above Loland to where the blond dwarf is sitting, who catches it with ease. He turns to Kili, who has grabbed another pine cone, and they light it one fire while trying not to burn their fingers off. The dwarves get the idea and start gathering pine cones, Loland holding multiple up in front of Gandalf with the Force before launching them down into the mass of wargs. She PUSHES and PULLS the fire and it grows and grows until it’s raging, the flames multiple feet high and crackling with such force all the riderless wargs have run.

Azog roars in frustration, and the dwarves begin to cheer, jumping up and down and shaking their fists. But that is the last straw for the tree, and the roots keeping it upright start to give way. Loland’s stomach drops out of her ass as the tree tilts until it is parallel with the ground, the entire Company just barely holding on as the ground is hundreds of feet below them. Loland dangles straight down, hands gripping the branch so tightly her palms have splinters in them. With a loud grunt of pain, she hauls herself up so her armpits are hooked around the branch. She’s shaking, she realizes. And, she blinks, and her ears are ringing. Loland swallows loudly to unplug her ears, and is met with the sound of screaming.

“MISTER GANDALF!”

Loland turns her head in time to see Gandalf reach his staff out to a falling Dori and Ori, who manage to grab the staff and Dori’s legs respectively. With all her energy, she reaches her hand out and LIFTS the two of them back onto the trunk. Out of the corner of her eye, Thorin is rising, balancing on top of the tree trunk. With wide eyes, she watches as he gathers speed until he’s full-out sprinting, unsheathing his sword and holding his oaken branch shield in front of his chest. He’s aiming for the white warg, Loland realizes, who just crouches and jumps at the rushing dwarf, ignoring the swinging sword and bowling him over with a paw to the chest. Thorin smashes to the ground, shield bouncing away.

He rises though, blood dripping onto the ground and hair swinging wildly. Azog is wheeling his warg around, pulling his mace back and connecting with Thorin’s face before anyone can react. The dwarves hanging on desperately start screaming, and when Loland glances around, she’s met with the sight of both Fili and Kili trying their hardest to climb up, but almost slipping off and falling to their deaths.

“NOOOOO!” Balin howls, and the sound of it tears through Loland’s chest.

She tries to haul herself up again, tree bark digging into her underarms, but a horrific ZING! of pain bounces around her brain and she freezes, suddenly taken over by a horrific wave of nausea so strong black dots appear in her vision. Thorin starts screaming again, and it makes Loland vomit down into the abyss. It’s so strong and lasts so long that Loland is gasping for air at the end, tears in her eyes and arms almost slipping off the tree branch.

“Loland!” Fili’s voice breaks through the commotion, and she tiredly lifts her head to make blurry eye contact with him. “Hold on a little longer!”

The world around her starts spinning, and Loland starts manual breathing, fighting the intense urge to pass out. She blinks hard, the faint close when she closes her eyes but the world is far too stimulating when she opens them. She can feel the sweat dripping down her neck and back, curls clinging to her forehead. Everything is too blurry to see, but suddenly dark shapes that Loland assumes are the dwarves suddenly start zipping past her on the branches, the faint sound of war cries reaching her ears. Loland kicks her feet a little, trying in vain to one more time pull herself up - she’s way too close to passing out for comfort. Suddenly, hands grab the fabric on her shoulders and she’s hauled abruptly upright then sideways, limbs bumping along wood bark. But the sudden movement is too much for the Jedi, and Loland loses the battle to stay awake.

Fili’s got a death grip on Loland’s robes, hauling her up onto the tree then onto the flat ground after him and Kili had managed to get themselves up with the rest of the dwarves after seeing Bilbo run to protect Thorin without hesitation. They’ve just made it back onto the grass when he feels her go limp in his arms. While the rest of the Company goes charging to help, Fili takes a second to bend down and gently rest Loland’s head on the ground, caressing her cheek softly before drawing his other twin sword and running into the fray. Too late, Fili realizes that only Dwalin, Kili, Bifur, and himself made it off the tree to save Bilbo and are fighting for their lives in numbers and strength that far outrank their own. But Fili, not being a Jedi, does not notice the amassing of the Force behind him, seeping into Loland’s slumped body. He does not notice golden wisps of the Force slowly lifting up Loland’s still unconscious body, he does not notice until there’s an obvious soft glow behind them, and every living thing on the battlefield pauses for a second to turn around and see what is causing it.

The object of Fili’s affections is floating a couple of inches above the ground, tattoos and eyes glowing a piercing gold that washes over him and warms his heart. Her ringlets and robes are floating all around her like gravity and the wind cannot touch her, and thin golden clouds are swirling around her body. Her skin looks like she’s glowing from the inside-out, and Fili has never seen anything so beautiful in his entire life.

“... Loland …?” He gasps, but it’s like she cannot hear him. She moves her arms, and all around them the wargs start turning on each other, attacking with claws and teeth, howling in confusion and pain. Loland moves her arms again, and the orcs that were riding the wargs go flying up into the air and then down into the abyss. The wind picks up, and the fire roars even stronger. The wargs are still fighting each other, completely ignoring the Company. Fili almost drops his swords in awe.

Azog screams in anger, and Loland’s empty eyes turn on him. Before she can make a move, there’s a SCREECH of a bird, and the biggest eagle that he has ever seen swoops down into the fray, grabs three wargs, and tosses them off the cliff. It then grabs a couple of dwarves off the downed tree, and tosses them. Fili gasps, but a second eagle flies up and he can see a terrified Gloin, Bombur, and Balin safe on it’s back. Loland and Azog are locked in a stare down as more and more eagles swoop down and throw almost every single warg off the cliff. Too late, Fili notices a bird coming straight at him, talons outstretched. He yelps and tenses, unable to do anything but let the eagle grab him and his brother and then toss them, screaming, onto the back of another.

Hurried, he scrambles to turn around. She’s still standing there, glowing brightly, while the remaining wargs are fleeing, still lashing out at each other. Azog is nowhere to be found.

“ LOLAND!” He screams, and he watches as she slowly turns around, hair floating gorgeously and she tilts her head at him. The eagle he’s riding on swoops downward, and Fili’s met with the sight of his uncle’s torn up body dangling loosely in an eagle’s talons.

“Thorin!” Kili cries, and Fili is frozen with indecision. Their Jedi is still back there, on that cliff, and they are getting further and further away. But his uncle is bleeding out before his eyes. Fili is forced to watch while the eagles fly a great distance and over many landscapes until they come upon a single massive rock structure shaped like a bear in the middle of a flat plain. The eagles gently deposit their riders before flying away without any preamble, and everyone rushes to Thorin. Fili drops to his knees at his uncle’s side, his brother right in front of him. 

“Thorin!” Gandalf urges. “Thorin!”

Fili clutches his shoulder while Gandalf bends down and passes his hand over Thorin’s face, mumbling in a strange language all the while. They wait a moment, but nothing happens except his breathing seems to get a little easier. Fili looks up to meet Gandalf’s eyes, only to be met with confusion.

“I cannot do anymore,” the wizard says solemnly. 

Fili falls back on his ass, eyes downcast and arms loose. First, they left Loland behind, and now his uncle won’t wake up. There’s a horrible pit in his stomach, like a burning rock got dropped down his throat.

“Uh,” Bofur says. “Not to ruin the mood, but is the sun coming towards us?”

Suddenly hopeful, Fili jerks his head upwards. The Company watches in awe as a glowing Loland descends from the sky on another eagle, sliding gently down the wing and giving it a grateful pat before it leans down to rest it’s head on top of hers, then turns and flies away. Her blank eyes go directly to Fili, who has leaned back in his shock. Everyone is silent except for Thorin’s slight wheezing as she floats over to him and leans down until their faces are inches apart.

“Hello Fili, son of Vili.” Loland smiles softly, but it’s different than her usual. It’s a closed-mouth smile, and her dimples don’t appear. Her voice is different too, more melodic and her accent is gone.

Fili blinks, not sure what to say, but he cannot take his eyes off of her. “Um - hello?”

Even though she’s not moving, her hair is still floating calmly. One curl brushes Fili’s cheek, and the blush he’s been fighting rises until he can feel his face burning. The Company is still silent, no one knowing how to respond.

“Loland’s will aligns with mine,” Not-Loland sings. “I will heal him for you.”

She leans over and kisses his cheek in the same spot the curl touched, lips ever-so soft. He’s frozen in his spot. She leans back and smiles that closed-lip smile at him, but his chest still warms and his heart still beats a little quicker. Absent-minded, he reaches up and presses his fingers in the spot her lips just where. Her eyes are only golden light, but he swears they shine a little brighter at him. Then she turns and floats slowly, calmly, over to Thorin. Not-Loland presses two fingers into Thorin’s forehead, and then lays her other hand over his heart. The Company continues to watch in awe and silence as she glows brighter and brighter until all the light is concentrated into Thorin, dimming slowly. He’s still covered in blood, but all his wounds have closed and he is breathing without any issues. 

Not-Loland turns around again and floats over to Fili, and he’s still frozen in awe as she slowly lays down and rests her head on his lap. She smiles once more and reaches up to softly caress the angle of his jaw. Then, her arm falls back down and her eyes close, the glow gets dimmer and dimmer until Loland is back to normal and completely limp in Fili’s arms, her hair no longer floating and her tattoos no longer glowing.

Fili instantly wraps her up in his arms even tighter and leans down to press his ear against her chest, instantly relaxing at the sound of it beating strongly. “She’s alive,” he breathes, and the Company is suddenly in an uproar.

“What in Durin’s name was that?!”

“Oin, check on the king!”

“Oin, check on the Jedi!”

“WHY WAS SHE GLOWING?”

Thorin coughs. Loudly. 

Everyone freezes and slowly turns to look at him. He’s still unconscious, but obviously fighting to wake up. He coughs again, and takes a deep breath before his eyes flutter open. Gandalf, who’s still beside him, helps him sit up in an instant. He starts looking around tiredly, before his eyes meet the wizard’s.

“The halfling?” He asks weakly.

Gandalf smiles. “It’s alright, Bilbo is here, he is quite safe. Our Jedi took care of that.”

Thorin starts moving to stand, and Dwalin and Kili instantly help him. Everyone parts to show Bilbo standing, frozen in shock, near the edge of the rock. Thorin starts towards him, obviously limping. “You,” he starts, growling. “What were you doing? You nearly got yourself killed! Did I not say you would be a burden? That you would not survive in the wild and that you had no place amongst us?!”

The king advances until Bilbo is forced to look at him, shock and fear obvious on his face. Until suddenly, Thorin relaxes, throwing his arms around the hobbit. “I’ve never been so wrong in all my life!” The embrace the king gives him is deep, deeper than anything Fili has seen from him before. Around him, the Company breaks into cheers, jumping around and clapping each other on the back. Fili watches as Bilbo wraps his arms around his uncle and buries his face into Thorin’s furry cloak, and he smiles.

They continue speaking to each other, but Fili blocks them out, looking down at the beautiful but injured woman in his lap. Her hair is spread out across his legs, one of her arms is above her head and wrapped around his waist while the other lays limp at her side, and her face is turned upward and lit by the setting sun. It makes her tiny freckles appear and her tattoos sparkle, and Fili would not be able to take his eyes away if not for the blood coming out of her nose and ears, and then he realizes he can see her freckles because she’s paler than she should be. He looks up to call for Oin, only to freeze at the sight of all the dwarves gathered at the edge and gazing upon something.

“Is that… what I think it is?” Bilbo asks.

“Erebor - the Lonely Mountain,” Gandalf says. “The last of the great dwarf kingdoms of Middle-Earth.”

“Our home,” Thorin says softly.

A small bird sings as it flies over their heads, drawing everyone’s attention. 

“A raven!” Oin exclaims. “The birds are returning to the mountain.”

“That, my dear Oin, is a thrush,” Gandalf corrects.

“But we’ll take it as a good sign,” Thorin interrupts. “A good omen.”

Bilbo nods. “You’re right. I do believe the worst is behind us.”

The sun is setting, and Fili takes that time to call for Oin. He hurries over, and everyone takes the time to explain to Thorin what Loland did, all of them talking over each other until Thorin yells at them all of them to be quiet and directs Balin to be the only speaker. Fili stays seated with Loland on his lap while Oin does a full assessment, diagnosing her with a terrible concussion and what he believes is a power overload. Kili starts hovering over his shoulder while Fili gently cleans the blood off her face and Oin tells Thorin they need to make camp for the night, and quietly. Thorin decides they’ll all move down the rock structure into a more protected area and set up. They walk about halfway down, Fili carrying Loland carefully in his arms, her nose tucked against his neck, until Thorin deems a half-cave suitable. He approves a fire for Loland’s sake, and Fili sits with her close to keep her warm. She does not wake, not even when Oin directs Fili to put droplets of water and soup on her lips for her to swallow without waking. She does not wake, not even when Fili moves her into his tent to keep watch over her with Kili and Oin, Fili laying down and wrapping her in his arms again while Kili stands guard and Oin lays damp cloths on her forehead and drips different teas onto her lips. She does not wake the next morning, when they pack up camp and continue down the rock structure. She does not wake when they rinse and repeat for the next three nights, making and taking down camp, walking far with Fili reluctantly handing her limp body off to Kili or Dwalin, getting fed only tiny amounts of water or tea and broth.

She does not wake until the fifth night, so late in the evening that Oin has returned to his own tent and Kili has moved to keep watch with Gloin closer to the campfire. It’s a cold night, temperatures dropping quickly once the sun went down. Bilbo had carefully changed Loland into her dark teal set of robes, making sure as much skin is covered from the chilly air. Fili has her wrapped in both her own cloak and his jacket, plus all the blankets the company donated. Fili cannot sleep, has not been able to sleep much at all, and probably won’t until she opens her eyes. Loland’s laying on her side, Fili making sure to rotate her regularly per Oin’s instructions so she does not get sores, and Fili is pressed close to her back, arms wrapped around her stomach and hand pressed on her heart, if only to reassure himself it’s still beating. He’s been focusing on her heartbeat and staring at the glow of the campfire on her hair when she starts shifting slightly, feet wiggling, and long eyelashes fluttering.

Fili’s heart picks up, and he watches carefully and patiently as Loland’s eyes open slowly. She’s obviously quite groggy, but too tired and weak to do anything about it.

“You’re safe, I promise,” he whispers, brushing her hair out of her face gently. “It’s me.”

She moans slightly, head tilting into the pressure of his fingers. “Mmm… Fili?”

He shudders. “Yes, amrâlimê,” he whispers, voice shaky with relief and something he can’t name, not now when she is so injured. “You’re safe, everyone is safe. You made sure of that. My strong kurdu’uslukh.” Fili’s fingers are trembling as Loland sighs melodically and snuggles into the arm he had placed under her head earlier.

“Fili …” she sighs again, and he audibly gulps.

“Yes?” He asks, when she does not say anything for a few moments, breath starting to even out.

“You’re warm …”