Agarwaen woke to sunlight filtering in through the windows. Several dwarves still laid snoring around her, but some were missing. She sat up and looked around, but the house was otherwise empty. After rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she got up and checked out on the veranda. Thorin, Balin, Dwalin, Dori, Gloin, and Bifur all sat around the table out there, helping themselves to breakfast.

"Where's Beorn?" She asked.

"Ah, good morning lass. We were just wondering about that actually. Gandalf doesn't seem to be around either. We just found a rather large set of food out here when we were looking for them." Balin explained.

"Oh." She was confused. Why were neither Gandalf nor Beorn there? She figured she'd have to learn the answer to that question later.

Her stomach grumbled at the sight of the breads, honey, jams, milk, and pastries on the table, but she wasn't sure if she should go and sit. Neither Fili, Kili, Bofur, or Bilbo was there to invite her over, and she felt an overwhelming sense of awkwardness around the older dwarves, who were now silent and looked at her. Even if she was now a member of the company, she didn't want to overstep any boundaries. She was about to go back inside, but Balin called after her.

"Are you not hungry, lass? There's plenty here for everyone."

"I just...I wasn't sure if you, well, if you wanted me out here with you." She answered.

"Of course we do. We need to go over our travel plans for the rest of the journey as well, if you don't mind." Balin said, patting the bench beside him. She nervously walked over and sat down across from Thorin. She swept some hair out of her face, before filling a plate with some bread and jam. Everyone else was silent as they ate. Nori broke the silence as he shuffled out onto the veranda, asking where Gandalf was. He was given the same explanation as her, and he ended up taking a seat beside her.

"So," Thorin laid out his map of the northern half of Middle Earth. "How long should it take us to reach the mountain?"

"Well," Agarwaen began, "My advice is to take the old forest road. It will bring us a little farther away, and we'll have to travel through the marshes at the end, but the road itself will take about a fortnight, the marshes might add about three days, and then another fortnight to travel from the edge of the forest to the mountain."

"We have thirty six days to reach the mountain, and we have to prepare for delays. That's cutting it a little close. What about the old elven path?" Thorin pointed further up the map.

"It's overgrown and takes us dangerously close to Thranduil's kingdom." Agarwaen shook her head.

"Alright, but how long would it take, assuming we don't run into elves?"

"Still about 17 days or so."

"So we're looking at 33 days or what, about 25?"

"That little bit could make all the difference." Dwalin said.

"Not if we have arrows in our skulls." Agarwaen countered.

"Is the path guarded? Or even visible from his kingdom?" Thorin asked.

"No. But I still think it's too close. Not to mention we would have to cross the enchanted river."

"The enchanted river?" Balin asked.

"Yes, anything that falls in or touches the water falls into a deep sleep for Eru knows how long. I remember there being a bridge at one point, but I'm not sure about now. The river branches out from the forest river, and ends near the mountains over here. Going around it either way would add an extra week."

"Then we find a way to cross it."

"Thorin, maybe the Old Forest Road is the best choice," Balin spoke up. "Agarwaen is our guide after all."

"I am aware. But if something happens, and we arrive too late to the mountain, what then?" Thorin argued. "In the mountains, you had us take the more dangerous path for the sake of time, what makes this any different? You know these paths, don't you? You know when we will near the elvenking's halls. We'll just be quiet as we pass them." He was right about taking the faster paths to save time. When all they had was until the last day of Autumn, it was a necessary danger. But her fear of being caught overruled that. While the dwarves might be held as prisoners, she would face death.

"The elves are different from stone giants and goblins." She tried to explain without revealing her past. "Thranduil is a jealous and merciless king who is not so easily slain as the goblin king. I wouldn't doubt that things have changed since last I was in the forest. The road could, in fact, be guarded for all I know."

"We are a mighty group, filled with fearless warriors. Whatever happens, we will survive it."

"Not the woodland elves, Thorin. They are not like the others, believe me. You may have met them back when Erebor stood, but they are not the same behind closed doors."

"And how would you know? It doesn't sound like they welcome visitors, so for all I know, you've never even been to their kingdom."

"I was born there!" Agarwaen finally lost her temper, and stood up. "I am kin to the ones who betrayed you and left your kind to die. I know the woodland elves because I spent four hundred and forty years as one of them!" At the sight of the dwarves' now wide eyes, she sat back down and stared into her lap. "Their blood is my own, and I have no right to be in your presence." The table was quiet for quite some time, before Thorin spoke again.

"You've already earned your right to be in our presence, no matter who your kin is. And if they are your kin, wouldn't they let you by?"

"I left them. I am no longer welcome and are to be treated as any outsider." She still didn't look up.

"We will be safe. I know we will. We are well protected as a group, and have the best guide we could ever hope for to bring us safely to the mountain. Trust me, Agarwaen." Thorin said. She wanted to yell at him, ask him when he became the guide. She wanted to tell him why she couldn't go near the woodland elves. But she couldn't.

"Then that is the path we must take. Excuse me." She stood up and stepped over the bench, walking inside only to bump into Fili and Kili who apparently were standing at the door, eavesdropping. She spooked the brothers, but didn't say a word to them. The fear of facing her past weighed heavily on her, and she just continued on, through the front door of the house. She sat on the front steps and held her head in her hands, thinking about what lay ahead of her.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh, there you are." said Bilbo, quite glad to see Agarwaen sitting on the front steps of Beorn's house. It was now late morning, and locusts buzzed in the trees "I couldn't find you, and when I asked around, no one knew where you were and I got worried."

"What is there to be worried about, Bilbo?" She asked, not taking her eyes off the fields of flowers before her.

"Typically when you can't find someone, you worry." He awkwardly sat down beside her.

"I suppose." She said, sounding far off and distant.

"Did something happen? Did one of them say something bad about you?"

"No." She shook her head, finally looking at the hobbit. "Just a bit of a disagreement on what roads we should take."

"Well, you're our guide, so you should get to choose, right?"

"That would make sense, now wouldn't it? If we all get hunted down by elves, you can blame Thorin."

"Oh dear."

"Indeed. How is everything inside?"

"Quite normal, I suppose. I take it you haven't seen Gandalf or Beorn at all?"

"No, I'm afraid I haven't. I don't think we should move on until they come back though. If they're not back soon however, we may have to."

"Thorin has decided that we stay for the remainder of the day and stay the night again, anyway. He thinks the same as you do, I think." Agarwaen nodded. At least he was being reasonable about that.

"Can I ask you something, Bilbo?" She looked at him, pain in her eyes.

"Well of course, what is it?" He responded with concern.

"If you chose to do the right thing in a certain situation, but doing that right thing cost you everything near and dear to you, would you regret doing what was right?" Bilbo sat upright, not sure how to answer. It was a difficult question, and he began to think that maybe there wasn't a right answer at all.

"I...I think, yes...maybe...I don't know." He finally answered. "This...isn't about something you're...going to do, is it?"

"No, Bilbo. It's something that happened a long time ago." She pondered his answer, it didn't really help her at all, but yet, she hadn't expected it to. "How about we head back inside? It's getting rather boring out here." She said, getting up from where she sat. Bilbo hummed in agreement, and followed her inside, wondering what exactly prompted such a question.