"Now, on with the festivities! We have another king in our halls. Let us show him our hospitality." The goblin king ended with a vile grin. As giant menacing devices were being carried to the wooden platform the company was gathered on, the goblin king began to sing of horrible deeds and torture. Agarwaen kept eyeing the pile of weapons, waiting for the time to make a move. She watched a goblin picked up Thorin's sword, it was elven and she hadn't given much thought to it until now. The goblin unsheathed it slightly before hissing and throwing it to the ground. Shrieking and yelling erupted among their ranks, and the goblin king climbed up back to his throne in fear.

"I know that sword!" He cried. "It is the goblin cleaver, the biter! The blade that slit a thousand necks!" Well that sure made everything a bit more interesting, the elf thought. The king then ordered his followers to kill the company. This was the window she was waiting for. As the goblins holding her began to attack her, she pushed them away and dove for the weapons. She grabbed a sword and slashed, slicing the stomachs of two goblins who were about to jump on her. The dwarves struggled without weapons, and just as she was about to run and help them, another creature tackled her to the ground. She decapitated it, and then moved on to try and help them.

Ori curled in on himself as a goblin raised his whip, but the strike never came. Instead, a headless body flopped on the ground in front of him. He looked up to see Agarwaen making quick work of the goblins, too focused with the dwarves to notice her approaching. One was on top of Thorin, a knife to his throat, but was not there for long. Agarwaen rammed into him, knocking the goblin on his back. She straddled the creature and plunged the sword she was carrying, which Ori recognized as Fili's, into his chest, and stood back up to slit the throat of another that came at her. Her being on the ground after the kill made it difficult to fight the new onslaught of goblins, and soon they had her pinned down as well. They turned Fili's sword against her, and were about to stick it through her stomach when a blinding white light exploded all around them, sending goblins flying. Agarwaen laughed. She knew who's spell that was.

"Take up arms," came Gandalf's voice. "Fight. Fight!" She sprang into action alongside her companions and resumed the slaughter. Blades were being tossed around between the dwarves, and she finally looked to see who's she'd grabbed.

"Agarwaen!" She heard Fili call. He impaled a goblin with her glowing blue sword as he made his way to her.

"I believe this is yours then?" She said, hacking into two other enemies.

"Care to trade?" He said, pausing between each word to slash at a goblin. She then threw him his sword, and he threw her hers. Both were used immediately, and the two took to fighting back to back for a few moments.

"Good balance on yours." She said amidst the fight.

"I know. Nice color on yours." He replied when he could. Thorin knocked the goblin king over the edge of the platform, and the company soon had the upper hand in the fight.

"Follow me!" Gandalf instructed, and everyone fell in line behind him. The tunnels had changed slightly since Agarwaen had been there, but she knew vaguely where the exit was.

"Here," Bofur said, frantically handing her daggers, bow, and quiver to her.

"Thank you." She said as she continued to run with everyone. She sheathed her sword and daggers, keeping her bow out. Being in the middle of the group, archery was the way she'd do the most effective damage. Thorin and Dwalin in the front of the group took care of any oncoming threats, so Agarwaen took to looking after the rear of the group, shooting goblins that tried to jump down on the company from above. As her quiver began to empty, she put her bow away and took her sword back, saving what arrows she had left in case she needed them later.

They hacked and slashed as they went, improvising and displaying a wide range of attacks. As the group became more split up, it opened more opportunities for Agarwaen to use her blade. Her and Bofur fought a group of about fifteen goblins and moved on, catching up to the rest. When they reached what they thought was a dead end, someone cut something, and the platform began to swing across to another, held up by ropes connecting to a beam higher up. Thorin yelled to jump off on the other side of the cavern to another wooden walkway, and some did, but Agarwaen and others didn't make it in time, and the platform swung back where the goblins waited. She kept her balance steady and quickly knocked the goblins off that tried to climb on. When the platform finally swung back, she jumped off with the others, after which Fili cut the rope on the platform, causing it to fall to the bottom of the cave.

They then continued on as they had before. Once it seemed like they were in the clear for a moment, the goblin king burst through the bridge beneath them. Now blocked from the front, goblins quickly swarmed behind them. Agarwaen pushed a few dwarves behind her and stood between them and the mass of goblins, after which, realizing that Thorin did the same beside her. Their king taunted Gandalf, who was on the other end of the group, and asked what he was going to do now. She couldn't see what happened, but heard the king's cries of pain and smirked. She wished she could have ended his miserable life, but death was death.

The bridge shook when the goblin fell, and she heard the wooden boards snapping and breaking beneath them. She gripped a wobbly wooden rail, and down they went, the screams of the dwarves filling her ears. Maybe they'd survive the fall, and maybe they wouldn't. She clenched her teeth and tried not to focus on what the falling sensation was doing to her insides. They eventually hit a slope, and slid down, crashing into other walkways and bridges, each thankfully slowing them down a little, before the walls of the cave became thinner and thinner, and the edges of the broken bridge started scraping the side, effectively breaking their fall. When they hit the ground, it sent up a plume of dust, and Agarwaen began trying to wriggle herself out from under the wood.

"Well that could've been worse." Bofur quipped before the limp body of the goblin king crashed down on top of the rubble, making Agarwaen gasp for air. Luckily there wasn't too much pressure dumped on her top half. The dwarves all groaned and started pulling themselves out. That was when a sea of goblins came charging across the cave floor toward them.

"There's too many. We can't fight them!" Dwalin announced, and Agarwaen agreed.

"There's only one thing that can save us now." Gandalf said. "Daylight."

"There's a tunnel that way that leads outside. It's how I got out last time." The elf wheezed out while trying to free her legs. A hand grabbed hers and helped pull her out. After standing up, she looked to see who it was, and was surprised to see Thorin. As soon as she was free, he moved onto others, and she followed suit, helping to make sure that everyone made it out of the wreck.

They all then fell in line behind her as she ran down a tunnel.

"Just around this bend." She assured them, and breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of sunlight. They all ran out and down the hill, eventually stopping to catch their breath.

Now that was invigorating, and just the type of adventure Agarwaen had been looking for. Forget the payment, this was more than enough.

Gandalf then began counting heads, and then said something that made Agarwaen freeze.

"Where is Bilbo? Where is our hobbit?" Everyone then started arguing and dumping the blame on each other.

"I think I saw him slip away when they first collard us." Nori spoke up.

"What do we do? We can't just leave him in there." Agarwaen said, now frantically worried. She would go back in alone if she had to.

"No." Thorin spoke. "Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it. He is no longer our problem. He has thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth ever since he stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing our hobbit again. He is long gone."

"But what if he's not?" Agarwaen stepped forward, angry with herself for not keeping track of him. "What if he's trapped down there, praying to any god who will listen to send us back for him? Scared and alone!"

"And you would waste precious time to find him either dead or gone as I say he is?" Thorin asked, furious at this challenge of authority.

"And you would waste a life because of an assumption?" She fired back. "I will not leave him like you left me! Forgotten on the face of a cliff, more alone in the universe than I ever had been. I wished myself dead, and I will not allow that to happen to Bilbo." Thorin clenched his jaw and did his very best to remain civil and not curse the elf's name to the winds. He knew she spoke the truth, and that his decision in the mountains was unjust, but he would not stand to be called out like that.

Now learning that the dwarves had abandoned Agarwaen, Gandalf was growing angry and had a few choice words planned for the king under the mountain.

"Then you can go back and back and find him yourself. I will not expect to see you again, elf. But I promise you this: The hobbit is gone." Agarwaen took a deep breath and stared down her nose at the dwarf. He infuriated her, and all she wanted to do was beat some sense into him. She was just about to turn around and march back toward the goblin tunnels, when Bilbo stepped out from around a tree.

"No he isn't." He announced. Agarwaen nearly cried to see that he was safe. Sighs of relief filled the air at his appearance, and everyone began asking him how he made it out. Glancing back, Agarwaen noticed a look of regret on Thorin's face. It made her just a tiny bit happier to know that he was at least capable of feeling remorse. Hopefully she could give him some more to chew on soon.

Bilbo evaded the dwarves' questions with a nervous laugh, and then Gandalf spoke up.

"Well what does it matter? He is back."

"No, it matters." Thorin cut in. "I want to know. Why did you come back?"

"Look, I know you doubt me. I know you always have." Bilbo started. "And you're right, I often think of Bag End. I miss my books, and my armchair, my garden. 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." Agarwaen smiled slightly. His speech made her reason for coming back feel selfish in comparison. He was risking everything to help these dwarves he barely knew get their home back. His only reason why, was because he wanted them to belong somewhere just as he did. She admired the hobbit, and how strong willed he was turning out to be. It was inspiring to her, and made her think about why she was here. Did she really care about the dwarves home, or simply about war strategy? The question troubled her. The dwarves hated her, so why should she do this for them? They left her for dead and treated her like scum. Could she even bring herself to do this for more than just preparation for war?

Before she could think more on the subject, the sound of wargs howling nearby made her instinctively unsheathe her sword.

"Out of the frying pan," Thorin started,

"And into the fire." Gandalf finished. "Run!"