A/N: Finals are finally almost over. Send me some good thoughts because pushing through this is going to be a major pain and I need all the good vibes I can get! Thank you guys for all the comments and support :)

Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Hobbit. I write this work of fanfiction solely for my own amusement and that of others.

"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death."

- Robert Fulghum

Rathlob was having a bad week.

Scratch that, she was having a bad month. It had started when her mate had to be a fool and get himself killed in a fight trying to prove himself.

She'd barely had time to grieve and since she had joined his clan, nobody had been sympathetic to her. She had her own status as a healer. That had saved her from being tossed out when he died. But the group had been having a horrible run of luck lately. Tensions were high at the best of times.

Then her best herbal medicine had got mouldy. One she absolutely relied upon for keeping the common ills of the group in check. She'd had to go get more, and it was scarce this time of year. Then when she'd gotten back she'd found more trouble.

Zâzkkü had been sniffing after her, not that she wanted the bugger, but he'd managed to alienate the rest of their small group against her when she'd refused him after her mate had died. They'd driven her out and she'd barely managed to escape with her skin, and many of her medicines and tools had been left behind.

Bad enough to be driven out. Then she'd run into trouble with some men, who'd caught her trail and had tracked her closely for weeks.

She'd just lost them, when she heard wind that the Goblin King under the mountains was dead from another orc traveler.

She knew in the chaos she might be able to snag herself a job. Though she loathed goblins, they'd take her right enough, not having many healers of their own.

Then things took a downturn again when she found the old path had collapsed. She'd been forced to detour out into the open and had gotten caught in this terrific storm.

Finding shelter had been tough. There just wasn't any. Even with her night gifted eyes she couldn't see much and there was flooding and lightning everywhere. This crevasse had been a lucky break.

Then the tark showed up.

At first Rathlob had frozen in her spot. She hadn't heard or smelt anything over the rain and mud. She hadn't even seen anything before the women flung herself into the small space.

Men had never meant anything but pain and horror to her. Messing with their women always got them up in arms, and generally the women never travelled alone.

She expected a whole group to descend any moment, and when they didn't, she pulled herself together and reached for her knife.

She didn't know or care why the woman was alone, she just wanted her gone. But she still hesitated to kill her. The female didn't even struggle when she held the blade to her throat.

But killing her could be a massive mistake. Maybe she'd just gotten separated from her people...and Rathlob was too tired to run from men again. And...she shuddered. If she were caught, well it didn't bear thinking about.

Never again. She'd never be caught again.

Instead she took the chance and shoved her out.

Bad enough the woman had stumbled on her. But then the crazy bitch had to see right through her and force her way back in.

At first Rathlob was on her guard. To her incredulous eyes, the woman stripped and actually changed her fucking clothes in front of her. She looked at how beat up she was with interest. Her body was a patchwork of bruises, scrapes, and cuts. There were mottled yellow and purple bruises around her throat that clearly showed someone had tried to choke her to death recently.

In spite of herself, Rathlob felt a stab of pity. This child seemed like she had no survival instincts, but she was obviously tougher than she looked. Maybe running from something bad.

And she was young. At least to Rathlob's eyes. Didn't look like no peasant farmer she'd ever seen either. Rathlob had never seen cloth of such richness.

She rethought killing the wench. She was certainly carrying enough on her to make Rathlob's life easier. But she reminded herself that it was probably unwise. No way was this slip of a girl all on her own. She never would have survived this far away from men's villages and cities otherwise.

Rathlob would just wait for the chit to sleep and the storm to die down and she'd be gone again.

Only the woman didn't go to sleep and the storm raged on as fierce as ever.

She was awfully tired too but she didn't dare sleep herself. The woman could just as easily turn that blade she wore on Rathlob. Her hand never strayed far from it, and she kept giving Rathlob unsettling looks.

But she also had a glazed look in her eye. Rathlob didn't have any experience healing humans, but this one was starting to look quite ill. She hadn't stopped shivering since she'd invaded Rathlob's spot.

She'd been pale when she ducked into her hideout, but she looked milky white now. Another hour and her hand had slid away from that knife and she kept nodding off only to try and jerk herself awake. She started listing sideways until she leaned back quite heavily.

Her breathing started sounding laboured and her eyes closed wearily. Another half hour passed where she didn't move at all.

Rathlob knew this was her chance. The woman wouldn't be able to stop her from leaving. She could probably rob her blind too. This is what she should do.

But fuck. She wasn't a healer for nothing. And the chance to treat somebody unusual….it was enough to peak her professional interest. Would her medicines work on humans? She knew that humans and orcs weren't that different physically, no matter what either race claimed.

"Argh. Fuck it." She grumbled, shuffling closer. She didn't have to treat the bitch. She could just look at her. See if she knew what was wrong.

The woman was quite out of it at that point, and shaking badly. Rathlob reaches out a cautious hand and found that the white skin of the woman's cheek burned against her own.

She took a cautious sniff. Definitely an infection. The girl moaned when she tilted her head and opened her mouth. She couldn't smell any infection from the lungs, but that breathing sounded off…

She listened closely, noting the whistle and wheeze. Not rumble or wetness. She had asthma then most likely. Unusual. She had only met and treated one orc with it and he hadn't lived long.

She pulled up the woman's leggings on one side and found the mark she'd thought looked red earlier when she was changing. Claws. Nasty. Some poor fucker had really tried their best to do the girl in. Two guesses who won that fight, and the first didn't count. The cuts were oozing slightly and inflamed. She peeled back an eyelid but there was no response. Girl would probably die if left on her own.

Without consciously thinking about it, Rathlob was already reaching for her medicine bag. This wasn't the ideal place or situation to do her work but beggars couldn't be choosers.

First thing she did was strip the girl. She was strong enough to easily maneuver the girl into lying down and she pulled out her own sleeping fur to cover her. Silly chit had many more injuries, including some nasty gashes on her hands and limbs. None had been cleansed properly.

But it was the fever that was likely to kill her first. She rolled back the furs to expose her to the cold hair, and let the cold rain soak a rag which she applied to her forehead.

She rummaged in her bag. Most of the medicine she had were best when used in a tea or cooked in some way. She dumped them out in frustration, sorting through packets with different colored strings or bits of bone attached for identification.

She passed over one almost without thought, then paused and went back. Well it was a poison to her people. It's why she carried it. But she had heard that for men and elves it was a powerful remedy.

She wasn't sure how to apply it. But decided to crush it up and release it's aromatic properties. She used a rock and a bit of water to grind it into a paste. She wrinkled her nose at the smell, but smeared it on the woman's chest, neck, and temples.

Her hands were burning slightly so she quickly washed them in the rain.

She watched with interest as the shivering mostly stopped and the woman's breathing evened out immensely.

Then she turned her attention to the cuts and bruises. She used a solution she carried in a special flask for just this purpose. It made the woman's brow furrows and she muttered in pain, but it would prevent the infection from turning worse. She had a general salve that deadened the pain as well as helped encourage healing and she applied this liberally wherever the woman had a cut, bruise, or scrape. She bandaged the worst of the injuries, but most would be fine open to the air.

By the time she'd finished, the rain had died down. Though it was still dark. By her reckoning it was midway through the night. The woman's fever broke and finally she slept peacefully rather than fitfully.

She'd gone and used up most of her medicine on the woman. Rathlob sighed and then scowled.

For lack of anything else to do now that her patient was improving, she reached for the woman's strange bag. There were many things in it. No food, hardly any water. The strange flask looked like glass, something Rathlob had seen very little of in her life, but it wasn't. It wasn't metal either. It was some light but sturdy material, but her claws scratched it when she ran one along it.

She quickly discovered how to open it. Quite handy that, and she placed it outside to let the rain fill it.

She found a few medicines in jars and pouches. Some honey. Probably to sweeten what she recognized as a painkiller. She found a little white bottle with an odd cap she couldn't open. It depicted tiny pink things on the front and there was lettering but Rathlob couldn't read. It rattled when she shook it. The rest was mostly clothes, and a few other odd items she didn't recognize or had no use for.

She found some coins at the bottom. But they were unlike any she'd ever seen before. So uniform! Various strange looking men and buildings were writ in miniature along with more writing on either side. She pocketed them, even though they didn't seem to be made of any metal that was that valuable.

The rest she didn't care for, or didn't think had much value besides being interesting and so she put it all back. The cloth her clothing was made from was quite fine but she had very little of it and most seemed worn anyway.

Rathlob could have left then, but instead she retrieved the now full bottle and reluctantly put it back in the bag it had come from. Water was important. She could swap it for her own water bag but she mistrusted that strange material.

Instead of fleeing, she checked her patient again and covered her up to keep warm, then sat and watched the rain.

She was an old fool. But she had revised her opinion on the girl. Nobody who took a beating like that and survived deserved to be knifed at a low moment.

She only intended to stick around a little longer but before long exhaustion caught up with her and she too fell sound asleep.

Thorin felt a stab of worry when Dwalin caught up with them and he was alone. Ori and Dori were also quite worried but the gruff Dwarrow quickly explained that Nori was fine and he'd come to see what had become of the company. The two had seen some of the battle and were worried about the company. Nori was better at scouting than Dwalin anyhow, and he quietly admitted to Thorin and Balin that the hills were still swarming with Goblins and wolves.

They were still low on provisions after being rescued by the Eagles, but they'd lingered for awhile longer with the majestic birds. Ostensibly because Thorin was still recovering from his wounds in the battle, though if it weren't for the missing woman he would have pushed on sooner.

Her fate weighed heavily on his mind and he often found his thoughts preoccupied with her. With Holly. He hadn't truly seen her since that night in the cave, and her nervousness had caused her to look pale and to shake, though she'd tried to hide it. He could still picture her wan face surrounded by a cloud of brown hair.

He had been relieved when she had been mistaken for a man at first. The goblins had roughed them all up considerably during their captivity but the dangers for a woman were different.

But she had been lost somewhere in the tunnels. Nobody could remember seeing her, as she had been at the back of the group to the best of their knowledge. For all he knew she'd been captured by goblins and now face a fate worse than death. Death would be kinder.

But a small part of him hoped. She did seem to have luck on her side. A strange sort of luck. She had managed to avoid the trolls, and she had won over some of the surlier of their group. Even her fall on the mountain, which could have ended in her death, had done no more than shaken her up and leave her with minor hurts.

Certainly Bilbo also had some strange sort of luck as well. He had made it out of the mountain too. Hardly the worse for wear. So Thorin hoped, although he knew better than to place his trust solely in it. Nori was very sneaky, and a decent tracker.

Their best bet was in Nori finding some trace of her. He'd given them three days, of which two were already used up.

He looked to clouds gathering on the horizon. A storm was blowing up. Perhaps as bad a one as the night on the mountain. Luckily they were far enough away to be on the fringes of it.

Nori had made significant progress when the storm came upon him. He had snuck around to the north, having heard whispers and rumors of goblins coming from that direction and a road that had been shut. A shut passage didn't always mean impassable, as well he knew. And where there was one, there was likely more. He had left most of the dark creatures behind now, and he was searching for any sign a traveler might have gone this way.

Then he stumbled upon the remains of a fire, quite by accident. Not more than two days old. Some effort had been made to hide it, but he had recognized a piece of paper unburnt caught in a tangle of brush and then stumbled across the remains of ashes mixed with dirt. He'd only seen paper of the like once before, in the hands of Holly.

So she had made it out! Furthermore he picked up her tracks. She had a very distinctive boot print, with strange ridges and divots, unlike anything he'd seen before, and she wasn't trying to hide her passage. He started following them eagerly, though he quickly found that she had doubled back by the river, and he followed it to where she must have crossed.

That was when the rain had halted his progress as the conditions of the ground became perilous. He found shelter amongst a corpse of sturdy trees and hunkered down in his cloak.

The lightning flashes lit up the sky even as the clouds blotted out the sun. He scanned the landscape. He had a feeling he needed to keep an eye out. He wasn't that far behind her now. But if she had any sense she'd sought safety.

Concern filled him when he saw that there wasn't any sort of shelter for quite a distance. He could only hope Holly had found safe refuge as the storm continued to tear through the night.

Holly dreamed.

She walked alone mostly. Occasionally she was accompanied by...something else. Through trees she travelled, under mountains, and once among the stars. She walked almost unaware of her surroundings. She got the feeling she was looking for something, but what she could not decide.

She couldn't have told you much about who it was that accompanied her. There was ageless beauty and an otherworldliness to them. Gender and no gender. Tall yes, and hard to look upon.

"Why am I here?" She asked, feeling as if she had been walking in a trance and been awakened with a jolt.

"Because you were meant to be here, young one." The being replied, eyes full of knowledge and compassion. She shuddered. Glancing directly at them was unsettling.

"Why didn't I remember this? I couldn't remember, but I know I've had this dream before." Holly asked, frustrated.

"You were not ready to." The being replied.

"Who are you?" Holly asked.

The being smiled, and the smile was sharp and soft.

"That isn't the real question you wish to ask."

No it wasn't. Holly knew this being was a God. That was obvious. There was so much she wanted to know. So much she had to know.

"How will I know if I'm doing the right thing?" She whispered, tears running down her face.

The being tilted their head curiously at her and replied, "Things work out how they should, young one. There are some events that no matter how hard you try will not be moved, and others that you can affect. What was meant to be will be. So it was at the beginning of all things, and so it shall be."

"But why me?!" Holly cried.

"Why not you?" Was the reply.

And then she was falling.

Falling.

And then she woke up.

A few notes on the chapter:

I totally made up Athelas being poison to orcs. No idea if it's true or not. But it seems to me that something so healing for elves, humans, hobbits, etc would probably be quite detrimental to orcs, goblins, etc.

Realized I had somewhat abandoned Thorin's perspective over the last few chapters so I brought him back for a bit. He's really in over his head where Holly is concerned ;) he just doesn't know it yet!

Holly has been ill for a while actually, if you caught the hints. I doubt most people wouldn't be sick after pushing themselves through food deprivation, dehydration, and after being scraped and banged up quite a bit without access to modern medicines. Especially when one already has asthma. Poor girl. I've really put her through the wringer!