Dis peered between the bars of her cell. She heard someone coming, a guard probably. She could tell they were carrying or dragging someone else, perhaps a fellow prisoner. Yes. The guard unlocked the empty cell across the walkway from Dis. He then tossed a limp body into the cell.

"That's what you get for being a traitor, enyeg." he spat, and sharply kicked the unfortunate soul in the ribs. There was no reaction from her fellow prisoner. The guard exited the cell and locked it, then strode away.

"Hello?" Dis whispered. She couldn't tell if the person in the other cell was alive or dead. They gave no response. Dis could see that the other prisoner was an Elf, judging by the points of their ears. Dis also assumed that the person was female, and either fat or expecting a child. Dis hoped the first, but feared the latter, based on what the other Elves she had seen looked like. She thought that the Elf was breathing. That meant she was alive, and either unconscious or sleeping. The Elf was probably unconscious, since she appeared to be severely injured, probably by her own kin.

Dis held back a scream of anger and frustration. She was of the line of Durin, fit to be Queen under the Mountain, but instead she was here, stuck in a elven cell, kept from her kingdom and her sons. The letters that she had received said that Thorin was dead, Fili had been unconscious for weeks, and Kili was on the brink of death. Dis was going to see her sons, maybe for the last time, and see the mountain become the prosperous place of her youth. She had been in such a hurry to see her children that she felt it best to risk passing through Mirkwood, rather then trek the hundreds of miles around it. She could not help but think that it was because of her own foolishness that she was trapped here, held for random in the greedy elf king's quest for white gems.

Tauriel was having such a lovely dream. She was with Kili, and they were together, stealing kisses while rebuilding Erebor. Slowly, though, the dream began to fade, and reality set back in. She was stuck in the cells, with no way out and Kili probably dead. Tauriel opened her eyes and tried to catalog the various aches and pains in her body, of which there were many. Her head was spinning and she felt as though her limbs were made of lead. Something in her forced her to sit up and lean her head against the cool stone of the cell.

Tauriel held back a groan. She wondered how long she had been unconscious. Sometimes she would miss entire days after a beating, but she hoped that was not the case. Why she was being hurt, she could not say. Her people, the elves, had started to rot at their cores, much like the trees of the forest, becoming darker and crueler until they no longer resembled the elves of old. The soldiers she used to command now thrived on violence and hatred. More particularly, it seemed, violence and hatred towards her. Thranduil had long despised her, as she was similar in face to his dead wife, and he hated her for it. The only reason that Tauriel had ever been a captain at all was because the Silvan people demanded some sort of representation in the Guard, and she was the best fighter of her kind, though Thranduil loathed to admit it. Tauriel could only think that that was the reason why she was kept in so much pain. That and the baby. She refused to name the father of her child, and that irked Thranduil.

Tauriel had stayed in Dale after the Battle. She wanted to be near Kili, but the Dwarves would not allow any of her kind near him, much to her dismay. She wanted, no, needed, to be with Kili. He should know of the child, know that she survived, and Tauriel needed to know that Kili was healthy. According to the gossips of Dale, Kili was near death's door. Every fiber of her being yearned to be with him. Tauriel could only wonder if he was all right. She feared Kili dead. If that were the case, Tauriel did not know what was keeping her from fading. She had only one connection to Kili: the baby. Tauriel was very much pregnant, and she was a few short weeks from welcoming her child into the world.

Tauriel and Kili had been together before the Battle, the infant in her womb was proof of that. Tauriel had fought in the battle, but had stayed on high ground and shot arrows at enemies from afar. She loathed to fight and risk the baby but she needed to appear normal in the eyes of Thranduil. Once the Battle was over, Tauriel could disappear into the crowns of refugees from Laketown and hide from the elf king. Thranduil's hatred of dwarves had grown by a thousandfold when they refused to give him the white gems that he so coveted, and Tauriel lived in fear that someone would find the parentage of her child.

"Are you all right?" Dis asked, once she realized that the elf was awake.

"I will be, given time." Tauriel said, pain in her voice. One of her ribs was surely fractured, if not broken, for it hurt to breathe. Her head felt as though a herd of wargs had trampled through it, and it ached badly. Tauriel had bruises everywhere, and could barely see though her swollen eyes. She had some cuts, but they were small and not bleeding too badly. She would have to clean them later so they wouldn't get infected, but right now it took all of Tauriel's strength to speak.

"You need a healer." Dis said. She was concerned for the elf in the cell. It was hard enough on a woman's body being pregnant, but harder still in prison and beaten into unconscious.

"I doubt they would send for one." Tauriel said. She had asked for one early on when she was imprisoned, and was given a slap in the face, and a scalding "prisoners don't get healers" from a guard.

"Why? You're obviously pregnant and in a lot of pain." Dis said.

"I already tried." Tauriel said sadly. She could really use a healer now, and a hot meal. Tauriel had eaten nothing but cold gruel for weeks on end.

"They wouldn't get you a healer?!" Dis cried in outrage.

"Yes." Tauriel said.

"What are they, monsters?!" Dis said, even more angry. Tauriel resisted the urge to reply "yes", but did not dare for fear a guard would be listening. She had learned the hard way that the guards were nearly omnipotent.

"What is your name?" Tauriel asked, changing the topic of conversation to a safer subject.

"Dis. And yourself?"

"Tauriel."

"Good to meet you." Dis said. "I wish it were under different circumstances."

"Me as well." Tauriel said. "Why are you in here? I was unaware that King Thranduil was in the habit of imprisoning dwarves."

"Apparently he is." Dis said grimly. "I was crossing through Mirkwood as a shortcut to get to Erebor to see my sons. I am being held for trespassing. The rest of my companions were set free, but I was kept behind, to be freed only for the white gems that that sanich that calls himself a king desires."

"That's awful!" Tauriel said. "What are your sons names?"

"Fili and Kili."

What did you think? Let me know in the reviews! I actually finished this fic before I started posting, so updates should be daily! Remember to review, favorite, and follow! Starship T.A.R.D.I.S. out!