The group then set out on the thin mountain pass after a few more days. Agarwaen led the group with Thorin directly behind her, and the rest of the company falling behind him.

Wind blew between the peaks, making an eerie whistling noise, and the sounds of rocks crumbling and falling in the distance made the air tense around them. Agarwaen wanted to get out of these mountains as fast as she could, especially with the path Gandalf was having them take.

"Are you sure this was the best path?" Thorin asked, very displeased from behind her.

"This is the fastest path. The safer one would add six days to our journey, and I assumed that would not bode well due to being pressed for time." Thorin did not answer her. She was correct in assuming that. He'd rather face the rocky cliffs than arrive too late at the door and have to wait another year to reclaim his kingdom.

When they finally reached a larger stretch of path, Thorin called for everyone to break for a few minutes. Nerves ran wild when travelling on the edge of cliffs like that, and everyone needed a few minutes to breathe.

"I thought she said she'd get us there safely." Agarwaen heard Dwalin mutter to Thorin.

"The only other path would add six days to the journey." Thorin responded, earning a sharp nod from the other dwarf. At least she could sleep at night knowing he respected her choice of paths. That meant he trusted she knew what she was doing.

"I don't know if I've ever been somewhere so scary." Bilbo said as he approached her.

"I'm sorry, Bilbo. I wouldn't have brought you all on this path unless I had to. I've had bad experiences myself here."

"What kind of bad experiences?" Ori's quiet voice asked. He was as pale as a ghost and refused to look over the edge of the cliff. He just sat, clutching his journal to his chest. She knew telling him would make his nerves even worse.

"Almost falling off, that's all." She said shortly. "Are you doing alright, Ori?" He shook his head 'no'. She was about to call Dori to see if he could help his brother, but Ori stopped her before she could.

"Dori will call me a baby." He said. "I grew up in the mountains, I shouldn't be afraid." Agarwaen pitied the dwarf. Living in the mountains yet afraid of heights.

"I'm afraid of water." She said in attempts to distract him from his fear.

"What?"

"When I was a child, my friend was nearly swept away by strong river currents, so now I'm afraid of water."

"That must've been scary." His voice was a little bit less shaky.

"It was. But she was alright in the end. Neither of us went near the river again. But it's okay to be scared. More times than not, it keeps you from danger."

"Yes, I suppose it does." He said timidly. "So even after all these years, you're still afraid of water?"

"Not as much as I used to be, and I do what I have to do, but yes."

"Nori says he thinks you're a thousand years old."

"Not quite. I'm just over seven hundred." She smiled at him. So there were, in fact, rumors going around about her. That's just swell.

"May I ask..." He began, wondering if he should go on, "Why is your voice so different?" Fili overheard the question, and turned to face the two.

"Yeah, what's the story behind your voice?" His louder voice captured the attention of a few other dwarves. There was no going back now, she supposed.

"Have you...Have you heard the legends of the stone giants?" She asked, earning nods and mumbled 'yes's. "It was about a hundred and.."She stopped herself from giving them the exact date so as not to let them make assumptions, "...twenty years or so ago, I was in these same mountains and got caught in the middle of a battle between two giants. One of them leaned into the path I was on, and crushed me. Any harder and I would have died. It broke a few of my ribs, dislocated my shoulder, and broke my jaw and collarbone, amongst a few other things. I managed to pull my way down the path, but collapsed at the foot of the mountains. Around the spot where we camped last night, actually. I woke up in Rivendell two weeks later. An elven scouting party had found me and brought me to their healers. They did the best they could, and were it not for magic, I probably wouldn't be able to even move my arms. But they never could fix my voice after my throat was crushed. It hurts to yell now, but I manage." The memories were still fresh in her head, and though the nightmares had become less common, they still plagued her sleeping mind every once in a while.

"Do the stone giants still come to life?" Kili asked, looking at the mountains around them.

"I don't know. all I know is the faster we get out of these mountains, the better."

"Alright, let's move." Thorin called, taking up his things and shouldering them. Agarwaen slung her bag across her back and resumed her place in the front of the group. She wondered if the king had been listening to her story, but doubted that he even cared enough to lend an ear for one of her tales.

As the hours went by, the sky grew darker. Agarwaen's heart clenched at the thought of a storm. It was raining when she first ran into the giants, and she felt a phantom pain enclosing around her throat and crushing the air out of her. But she had to press on. It was too late to turn back now.

It started as a drizzle, ice cold rain sending a shiver down her spine, before turning into a complete downpour without any warning. Scared shouts of dwarves and a hobbit we're drowned out by the sound of rain crashing against rock. The first lightning strike made them all jump, blinding them for a second before the thunder shook the ground and split through the air, deafening them as well.

"We must find shelter!" Thorin yelled over the rage of the storm.

"Look out!" Dwalin shouted as a boulder came flying through the air. Agarwaen's blood froze. This was it. The boulder smashed into the cliff face above the group. Sending a shower of rock cascading down. She hugged the cold stone behind her, and squeezed her eyes shut. They had to make it through this. She had to get them through this.

There were now two giants, hurling stone at each other, and the path beneath the company's feet began to crumble before breaking in half. That's when she realized they were on the knees of a third giant. Silent tears of fear trickled down her face, mixing with the raindrops. She couldn't breathe. Her mind wouldn't let her breathe.

The group, now split in two, watched in horror as their giant was fought by another. It was knocked down, aligning the knee Agarwaen and Thorin stood on with the ledge they were meant to travel on. They, and the other dwarves with them climbed off one at a time as fast as they could. Agarwaen was knocked to the ground by a panicked Gloin, and frantically searched for something to hold onto before she slipped. As she tried to stand back up, Oin bumped into Gloin, who then kicked Agarwaen in her side, causing her bottom half to spin over the side of the cliff. Her fingers grasped and clawed at the wet rock, tearing pieces of fingernail and skin off, but she could not find anything to grab hold of and fell. Her body slid down the slope of the cliff, hitting pieces of rock that jutted out, but she couldn't grab onto them. The adrenaline coursing through her seemed to slow time as she fell, and she was eventually able to grab hold of and stand on a tiny ledge. She felt lightheaded, and realized she hadn't breathed in quite some time. Sucking in a huge breath of cold air burned her lungs, but she forced herself to ignore it.

Those who were still on the giant's knee plummeted toward the wall of the cliff as the giant had been defeated, a ways to her right.

"No!" She screamed. It burned her throat even more, but she couldn't help the fright welling up in her. She desperately climbed as far as she could to get to them, but quickly ran out of footholds. That's when she noticed Bilbo hanging by his fingers far above her. She felt helpless and useless standing down there, as the poor hobbit feared for his life. That's when Thorin jumped down to help him, and the rest of the dwarves pulled both of them up safely. What about Fili, Ori, Bofur, and everyone else that crashed into the mountain? Were they all even still alive? Her question was answered when Fili noticed her down there, and pointed her out to everyone else. All fourteen of them. She sighed in relief, but still didn't know what they could do about her predicament.

"Stupid elf had to go and fall to her death." Thorin voiced his anger to the group.

"What are we going to do? We can't just leave her." Fili asked.

"And why not?"

"Because it's not her fault she fell." Gloin said shamefully. "I accidentally pushed her off when Oin bumped into me. I couldn't grab the lass in time." Thorin pushed a few loose strands of soaked hair behind his head and cursed in Khuzdul. He went and leaned over the edge of the cliff, and shouted down to her.

"If you really are a true wanderer, you will find a path and catch up!" His strong voice carried all the way down to her. She tried to reply, but her small voice wouldn't carry like his.

"What's she saying?" Dwalin asked.

"I can't hear her." Thorin replied. "All we can do is hope she heard me. Let's go." He then began walking away along the ledge.

"You'll catch up!" Bilbo said, on his knees, his hands around his mouth in attempts to amplify his voice. "We'll wait up for yo--" He was cut off by Dwalin lifting him back up by the straps of his backpack and pushing him along.

"Stop wasting time, burglar." He said gruffly, making Bilbo clench his teeth in anger.

"Dwalin!" Thorin called as he entered a cave they'd found. Everyone filed in behind them, thankful to be out of the rain.

"Search to the back. Caves in the mountains are seldom unoccupied."