Chapter Text
Elenor was reviewing inventory sheets at her desk when the double doors to the infirmary swung open. She looked up to see her husband strolling down the middle of the ward, passing the empty beds. It had been quiet recently, thank Mahal, but paperwork stopped for no woman.
Kíli was holding Víli on his hip, and the pebble had buried his face into the crook of his father’s neck. Holding on to the edge of Kíli’s coat was Tíli, sporting an unusually somber expression.
“Kee? What’s the matter?” Elenor asked, rising to come around the desk. Her family met her before she could take more than a couple steps towards them, and then she heard muffled sniffles from her son. Kíli jostled his shoulder gently, and Víli pulled away. His face, and now Kíli’s shirt, was covered in tears and snot. He had a bright red bump in the centre of his forehead, which was already starting to bruise.
“Oh dear, sweetheart.” She sighed, brushing his bangs aside to take a better look. He flopped forward, and Kíli pitched towards her as well as he tried to keep the little one from tumbling to the ground. Between the two of them they managed to situate the dwarfling securely in his mother’s arms with no sudden drops.
“What happened?” She asked Kíli when their son made no move to actually say anything besides soft hiccups.
“Took a little tumble on the stairs.”
“He fell down the stairs?”
“No, no, he fell up the stairs. Damn steps just keep getting taller, don’t they lad?” Kíli corrected her, and rubbed a large hand over his son’s back. Víli rubbed at his still-damp eyes and nodded.
“Damn steps.” He parroted wetly, and Elenor narrowed her eyes at her husband but didn’t say anything. He offered her a bright smile in return, and winked at her playfully.
“Can you tell me which stairs, my love?” She asked as she turned to sit him on her desk, right on top of her inventory sheets. She sat back down in front of him, and his little boots clunked down on her knees as he squirmed to get comfortable.
“The o-ones by the k-kitchens.” He sniffled around his words, but she was relieved to hear that they weren’t slurred. It was a good sign. She pulled a handkerchief out of her desk drawer and wiped his face clean.
“We were getting a snack.” Tíli interjected helpfully, and Elenor smiled at her briefly before returning her attention to Víli.
“Can you grab my finger please Víli?” She asked, holding a single finger up within his reach. He grasped it without hesitating or wavering. Good, no double vision, she thought, probably no concussion then.
“Good job, my love. I think you’ll live!” She poked at his belly playfully, and he giggled. She pulled him off of her desk and into her lap, hugging him close and dropping a kiss on his head.
“Can you tell him a feel-better story, Mama?” Tíli asked, and Kíli laughed.
“To make Víli feel better, huh bunnanunê?” He teased, picking her up. She beamed at him and tugged at his hair happily.
Elenor stared down at her paperwork. It would be there later, she decided. It’d even still be there tomorrow, if she so choose.
“Oh alright.” She sighed, and their pebbles cheered. She cuddled Víli close as Kíli sat on the nearest cot with their daughter. “Where were we?”
“Rabbits.” Víli reminded her around a slobbery fist, and she gently tugged his fingers out of his mouth before beginning.
“Yes, that’s right, thank you… so, it took many days and nights for the two women and their wizard to find his kin…”
Delores was screaming again.
Elenor knew that her sister hated travelling on the sled, she knew that. She also had to admit that traversing the misty mountains wasn’t comfortable at the best of times, and was downright uncomfortable with speedy rabbits. But they weren’t in the mountains anymore, there were no sudden drops, and her ears were about to fall off. They had set off to find Gandalf as soon as they could, not even stopping at home first. Instead, they took off East- living off of the land where they could before stocking up in Caras Galadhon as they passed through Lothlorien. It was a relief to see trees that weren’t diseased, and Galadriel’s people took good care of their forest. They had not been there long enough to see the esteemed lady herself, but Haldir assured them he would pass on their regards. Galadriel was fickle, but generally kind.
Elenor could still remember how she had listened to the two of them as they stumbled through their unlikely tale with no hint of derision or disbelief- and she certainly would have been entitled to. Theirs was a crazy story, even to their own ears. Had they not lived it, Elenor wasn’t certain she would believe them either. She had been nineteen, a very young nineteen at that, and Delores twenty two when they crash-landed in the middle of Lorien. One moment, they had been hiking in the Rocky Mountains in Montana, and then they were in the middle of… well, Middle Earth. Galadriel’s guards had found them, and from there she had summoned the White Council. To make a very long meeting short, there had been no easy explanation for their appearance and so far no remedy for their situation. So Radagast, kind, kind Radagast, had taken them under his wing. Elenor would be eternally grateful to her mentor, and as surly and exasperated as her sister could be sometimes, she knew Delores would agree with her.
From Lothlorien, they had passed through the Misty Mountains just west of there, and as soon as they had gotten into the foothills and plains had immediately went north. Elenor had never been able to get a straight answer out of how Radagast always seemed to know where the other wizards were, but it was instances like this that she was grateful for that skill. Whatever had been in that fortress had scared Radagast. Really scared him. He had refused to tell them what it was, and had practically slapped her hand away from the wrapped package he had brought back with them. Whatever it was, it was not good news. Hence, their impromptu hunt for Gandalf.
The road had been long, Elenor was ready for a real rest that didn’t look to be happening anytime soon, and Delores was. Still. Screaming.
They were crashing through rough underbrush when Radagast started yelling as well. Though where Delores’ screaming was one unintelligible sound, Radagast was ranting about thieves and murder and all sorts of other pleasant things that didn’t make him sound like a madman at all. Really, when the sled pulled to an unexpected stop and both of her companions ceased shouting, the silence was nearly deafening.
“Radagast! It’s Radagast the Brown! And Elenor and Delores, how are you girls?” Gandalf cried happily, and Elenor had never been so happy to hear the grey wizard’s voice. She smiled up at him as Delores pushed her way off the sled and passed another person-was that a dwarf?- and dove behind a tree. Elenor cringed at the sound of retching, and turned to address the wizard.
“Apologies, Gandalf, rabbit travel doesn’t really agree with her.” She said, and rose to her feet to step off of the sled. She gathered her skirts in one hand to keep them out of her way, but she stumbled nonetheless. Gandalf grabbed a hold of her elbow to keep her steady, and patted her arm affectionately as he graced her with a fond smile.
“Quite alright my dear. What on earth are you doing here?” He returned, and directed his question to Radagast. Elenor let herself be dismissed, and looked around the clearing they had so abruptly stopped in. As it turned out, she had been correct about the dwarf- there were a dozen of them, roughly, she figured, and they were all armed to some degree or another. Her eyes swept over the assembled group, and she flushed lightly when several were staring in her direction with varying levels of suspicion.
She stepped over the rabbit’s leather harnesses, intending to check on her sister and get herself out of the centre of attention at the same time, when one of the rabbits was startled by a twig under her foot. The harness lead pulled taut in front of her, and she staggered.
An unfamiliar, gloved hand appeared, reaching for her, and she grabbed at it. It held onto her own firmly, a steady anchor as she fought to regain her balance, and didn’t let go until she passed safely over the last of the leather straps. Once she was free of the improvised obstacle course, she felt steady enough to lift her eyes to her rescuer.
It was one of the dwarves, and one of the younger ones by comparison. She noticed, vaguely, that he had more of a scruff than a beard compared to the others she had glanced over. But it was his eyes that took her noticed more than his facial hair. Elenor had never been one for poetry-had hated English Literature class, actually-but his eyes were…something else. They were a pretty shade of brown, sure. But they were also warm, as though he was smiling without moving his lips. She wondered absently if his real smile would light them up even further, and had a sudden desire to find out.
And then reality came crashing back down around her ears and she realized that not only had she been staring at the poor dwarf, but she was also still clutching his hand.
Elenor’s cheeks burned and she pulled her hand away with a blink. Her ears began to warm as well when his eyes danced at her, and a small grin began to curl the corner of his mouth.
“Uh, um…” she faltered for a moment, before gathering herself. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, my lady.” He replied, inclining his head respectfully. His voice was deeper then she had expected- but then again she didn’t know what she would have expected in the first place. She blinked at him for a moment, before spinning on her and marching to the tree in embarrassment.
Delores looked up at her from where she was slumped over. There was a small pile of sick at the base of the tree, and Elenor tried not to look too hard at it.
“So how was second breakfast?” She teased, and Delores threw her the middle finger. Elenor huffed out a laugh, and helped heave Delores to her feet.
“Do you feel at least a little better, though?” She asked, and Delores nodded tiredly as she pinched her brow.
“Much. God damn rabbits.”
When they re-entered the clearing, it was just in time for the delightful sight of Radagast pulling a bug out of his mouth. Elenor winced on reflex, and beside her Delores made a sound of disgust.
“Oh, Radagast, that’s really gross.”
“Nonsense, it’s just a stick insect dear.” The brown wizard brushed her off, stooping to release the bug onto a leaf. Delores just shook her head- sticking odd things in his mouth wasn’t new for Radagast, and they while they hadn’t quite gotten used to it, it wasn’t jarring anymore either.
“Come, Radagast, let’s figure this out old friend.” Gandalf interrupted the exchange, and the two wizards tramped a little further into the forest, leaving the two women behind with the unfamiliar company.
Silence. Just slightly awkward silence.
Delores seemed unbothered by it, but Elenor’s hands itched to fumble with her skirts, twist her fingers, do something to relieve the nervous energy. And then a hobbit stepped forward. Or what Elenor thought was a hobbit- he resembled very much the illustrations in some of Radagast’s books on the history of Middle Earth.
“Bilbo Baggins, at your service.” He bowed slightly.
“Oh! Um, I’m Elenor Campbell. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” She said quickly, and Delores chimed in a second later with “Delores Campbell. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mister Baggins.” Then, in a move they had practiced more times than either of them cared to admit, they curtsied together. It was just a shallow curtsy, any deeper and Delores would have looked quite silly as she was wearing trousers, but Bilbo smiled.
“We, I mean, I wasn’t really expecting to see anyone this far into the forest! What brings you three this far out?” He asked politely.
“Well, um, you see…” Elenor drew up short. How does one explain giant spiders, bats, and poisonous forest-tar without seeming… unstable? Thankfully, Delores cut in smoothly.
“Radagast needed to discuss a forest sickness with Gandalf. We’re just along for the ride.”
Elenor smiled gently at the polite hobbit as he nodded despite his obvious confusion.
“Oh, well…that sounds problematic?” He replied. Elenor was just beginning to answer when she stuttered silent. The hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up. A howl, in the distance but…there was crunching in the undergrowth. Whatever that howl belonged to was still on its way, but there was already something here.
“Was that a wolf? Ar- are there wolves out there?” Bilbo whirled around, looking in the opposite direction. Towards the howl.
“Wolves? No, that is not a wolf.” One of the dwarves replied, clutching a mattock. Delores’ hand gripped at Elenor’s wrist tightly, but before anyone could correct Bilbo properly a larger snap came from behind the two women. Their hands broke apart as they whirled around.
Elenor bit back a scream as a massive warg charged down the hill, crashing through the underbrush as though it didn’t exist. Elenor pushed Delores back roughly before diving in the opposite direction to get out of the path of the roaring beast as it leapt into the clearing. It had barely landed before a black-haired dwarf dressed in fur and armour drove a sword between its eyes. That sight alone would have been horrifying, but it was compounded with the fact that there was a second warg coming in behind said dwarf.
This one was brought down almost as quickly by a joint effort between the brown-eyed dwarf from earlier, and a tattooed dwarf. She tried not to look to closely at the now bashed-in skull of the warg, and luckily, Gandalf and Radagast rejoined them before she could get too wound up.
“Warg scouts! Which means an orc pack is not too far behind.” The dark haired, fur wearing dwarf warned.
“Orc pack?!” Bilbo cried, and his indignant incredulousness would have been funny in any other situation. Elenor wished desperately that this were any other situation as she rushed to Radagast’s elbow, Delores on her heels.
“Radagast, are you alright?” She asked, and he turned to her.
“Yes, of course,” as if something as simply as a couple stray wargs was not a danger to him, “Are you? Delores? You didn’t get snagged?” His eyes bounced from her to Delores once again, inspecting each of them as though such ‘snags’ would appear under his eyes.
“No, Radagast, we’re fine- but how-“ And then Gandalf and the fur-dwarf were arguing, “How are we going to get out of this? All I’ve got is my staff!” Delores protested, leaning closer so he would hear her over the din. And then another young dwarf was claiming their ponies had bolted, and Elenor was filled with dread. They couldn’t fit thirteen dwarves on the sled, and they couldn’t leave these dwarves to fend for themselves. Not against a warg pack, that would practically be murder, and she said as such to Radagast. He looked at her for a moment, a wild glint in his eye.
“I’ll draw them off.” He exclaimed, and matching shouts of dismay echoed from Elenor and Delores.
“These are Gundabad wargs! They’ll outrun you!” Gandalf tried to brush the idea off, and for a split second Elenor had hope that Radagast would listen to the grey wizard. Just a split second.
“These are Rhosgobel rabbits,” Radagast countered mischievously, “I’d like to see them try.”
And that was all it took for Gandalf to crumble. Delores rounded on their mentor furiously.
“Radagast, no! You can’t- you’ll be eaten!” She cried, and Elenor stared helplessly as the brown wizard shook his head.
“Stay with Gandalf, my dears. I will see you soon.” He patted Delores’ arm, smiling at her encouragingly. When he turned to Elenor, he cupped her chin.
“Be brave, Elenor Campbell.” He whispered, and then he was disappearing through the trees on the back of the sled.
They waited a couple heartbeats, giving him a head start before they followed. In the distance, many, many warg howls erupted. Underneath the cacophony they could hear Radagast yelling incoherently.
And then they ran. Gandalf pushed Elenor and Delores in front of him, where they did their best to keep up with the dwarves. Once they cleared the tree line, they could see their insane mentor weaving in and around the boulders that littered the field- angry wargs and orcs on his trail.
There are so many of them! Elenor thought desperately, more than once, as the troupe hid tried to cover ground quickly and unseen.
“What on earth is he doing?” Delores exclaimed under her breath, as Radagast and his pursuers cut across their path for the second or third time. “Has he forgotten he’s meant to draw them away, not closer?”
Elenor and Delores had ended up near the front this time, behind Gandalf and the fur-wearing dwarf she was beginning to suspect was the dwarves’ leader. Instead of answering her sister’s frustrated remark, she reached out to yank one of the younger dwarves back behind the boulder as he raced too far forward.
“Ori, no!” The dwarf leader yelled, and together they had him out of sight again before the orcs saw. She twitched a smile at the dwarf leader, who barely glanced at her. They waited for one heartbeat, then two, and then Gandalf gave the signal and they took off again.
Their next stop was not as lucky. Elenor pressed back into the boulder as far as she was able, scarcely daring to breath as she listened to the scratching of warg claws on stone. There was one…right…above them. She found Delores’ hand and clutched it tightly, heartbeat thundering in her ears. She didn’t want to have her eyes open, but she didn’t want to close them either. If this was her last moment, she didn’t want the inside of her eyelids to be the last thing she saw. So Elenor kept them open, and she wasn’t sure if she regretted or appreciated that decision when Brown-Eyes stepped away from the rock to loose one arrow, and then two, at the creature. She bit down on her fist to stifle a scream as warg and rider tumbled down the rock to land in front of them, where the dwarves descended on it with their weapons drawn. She did close her eyes this time, torn between dread and embarrassment- it was not a clean kill, not even slightly. The warg and its rider screeched loudly as they were defeated, and she knew that it wouldn’t go unnoticed. It was so loud, there was no way the rest of its pack wouldn’t hear it.
She hated being right.
“MOVE! RUN!” Gandalf yelled. Elenor and Delores ran side by side, clutching each other’s hand. In the nearly-barren plain, she was sure they made an easy target.
“Kíli, shoot them!”
“We’re surrounded!”
They were trapped. The beasts and their riders closed in from every side, and slowly but surely Elenor, her sister, and the dwarves were being grouped closer and closer together.
“God damnit,” Delores growled, clenching her fists over and over, “My staff is on the fucking sled!”
Desperately, Elenor looked around. There were no sticks, there was nothing but dirt and grass and rocks.
Rocks.
Elenor scooped a couple decent sized ones up and thrust one at her sister. Delores gave her a vaguely disgusted look.
“Better than nothing, Delly!” Elenor snapped.
They fell back alongside the rest of the dwarves, being curled tighter and tighter together. Elenor ended up shoulder to shoulder with the young dwarf she had pulled minutes earlier- he was armed with a slingshot and nothing else. Well, neither was she, so there was no room for judgement she guessed.
“Where’s Gandalf?”
“He’s abandoned us!”
A shot of fear ran down her spine when she looked around and saw that Gandalf was, indeed, nowhere to be seen. The dwarf shot a stone at one of the approaching wargs, and it barely flinched. Elenor curled her arm back, took aim, and flung her larger rock. It hit the warg’s eye, and it snarled. Delores’ throw glanced the rider’s shoulder, which just made it smirk mockingly at her. Elenor scooped up a couple more rocks, tossing them as best she could while moving backwards but it did very little.
Someone called for them to hold their ground, and Delores scoffed, continuing to drag Elenor backwards. Easy for someone with a sword to say.
“This way, you fools!” Gandalf was scolding them, beckoning them into what appeared to be a hole in the ground.
Elenor, Delores, and Slingshot were among the last to get to the hole. Elenor paused at the mouth, waiting for Slingshot to slide down. Delores wasn’t paying attention, keeping an eye on the ever-advancing orcs.
“Delly, move!” Elenor barked, and shoved roughly at the other woman.
“No, you first!” Delores tried to insist, but Elenor shoved her again.
“No time!” And then Delores tripped over a rock, rolling down into the cave-hole. Elenor was perched on the side, waiting for her sister to roll just a little farther away so she could slide down as well when the Dwarf Leader hollered. He had moved closer to her, and she jumped at the sudden yell.
“Kíli, RUN!” There were still two dwarves out in the field. A blond one, and Brown Eyes. She stared, frozen, as she watched Brown Eyes run towards them. He was the furthest out, and her heart leapt into her throat as she watched the wargs were gaining on him.
“Elenor, get down here!” Delores was yelling behind her, but she couldn’t move. The blond dwarf came to a stop beside her, dual swords still drawn. He was perfectly still beside her, and even without looking at him she could easily guess that he was watching Brown Eyes just as closely as she was.
“Come on, Kíli!” He yelled, and she realized with a sudden, inappropriately timed jolt that ‘Kíli’ was Brown-Eyes’ name. His real name. She had no time to absorb this realization before Brown Ey- Kíli was right in front of her, grabbing onto her arm.
“Come on!” And he jumped, pulling her with him. Jagged rock knocked the breath out of her as they fell, and then more hands were pulling on her. She recognized Delores’ voice chewing her out for not coming down immediately, but she tuned her sister out in favour of rubbing a sore lump on the back of her head. When she opened her eyes again, the blond dwarf and the Leader were also in the hole. Or tunnel, as she quickly realized.
A hunting horn sounded somewhere above them, and the furious snarling kicked back up a notch. She wasn’t the only one staring at the entrance above them as screams and howls rang out, and she certainly wasn’t the only one to scurry backwards as an orc suddenly tumbled down the slide.
The Dwarves’ Leader tugged an arrow out of the corpse, inspecting it for a second before scowling.
“Elves.” he spat, and threw it down roughly. Some of the dwarves around them were also scowling at the proclamation, though Elenor couldn’t guess what their ire was for- but she also decided she couldn’t care less. Those elves had just saved their lives, and while she wasn’t exactly sure where they were she knew that there was only one Elven settlement left this side of the Misty Mountains.
It had been a long time since they had last seen Rivendell.
Víli’s stomach growled, and Elenor chuckled.
“Are you hungry, little love?” She asked, bouncing the toddler on her knee and gently tugging his fingers out of his mouth again.
“Is it suppertime, Mama?” He asked and she stood, placing him on her hip.
“I do believe it is.” She replied. Kíli stood as well, turning back to scoop Tíli up off the cot. He tossed her up into the air and she shrieked with laughter, giggling when he caught her again and tucked her onto his own hip.
“I hope Uncle Bilbo made pie for des’rt…” Víli wished aloud, and Elenor exchanged a look with her husband. It was an apprehensive look. Pie meant sugar, and Bilbo meant Thorin. And Thorin, as much as she respected and even loved her husband’s uncle, had a bad habit of sneaking extra sweets to their children.
“Do you think there’ll be pie, Adad?” Víli asked, and Kíli shrugged.
His voice said “I’m not sure, lad. Perhaps.”, but his eyes said ‘Sweet Mahal please no.’