We climb out onto a slab of rock jutting out a bit into the river as Dwalin says, "Come on!" When Kili is on the rocks, he falls to his knees in pain from the arrow wound in his thigh; it has been bound with cloth, but blood is seeping through. Bofur looks at him concernedly.

"I'm fine, it's nothing." Kili says and I roll my eyes as I walk over to him and pull the cloth back to see that it did not look fine. I rip part of my sleeve and say so only Kili can hear, "This will hold for now, but it will need medicine soon." He nods in understanding as I silently pray that on our journey I find some Athelas.

"On your feet." Thorin says as he walks beside us.

"Kili's wounded. His leg needs binding." Fili says and I stand up as Thorin replies, "There's an Orc pack on our tail; we keep moving."

"To where?" Balin says and Bilbo replies with, "To the mountain; we're so close."

"A lake lies between us and that mountain. We have no way to cross it."

"So then we go around."

"The Orcs will run us down, as sure as daylight. We have no weapons to defend ourselves." Dwalin says as he looks to me. "I dropped the Orc bow and Elven sword when I jumped back into my barrel."

"Bind his leg, quickly. You have two minutes." Thorin says to Fili and I lean back down in front of Kili.

"If it hurts too much I will carry you." I say to him as I gently place my hand on his foot. Unbeknownst to us, a man sneaks up over the pile of rocks and aims an arrow at Ori. As we realize a man is there, we jump up, and Dwalin, holding a branch, leaps in front of Ori. He raises the branch and begins to charge the man, but the man shoots his arrow and it embeds itself right in the middle of the branch, between Dwalin's hands. Kili raises a rock to throw, but the man shoots the rock out of his hand too.

"Do it again, and you're dead." The man says as he holds his aim at Kili. I slowly put myself between the two of them. Balin, who is standing near the edge of the group, sees a barge floating in the river behind the man and says as he approaches him slowly with his hands held in the air. "Excuse me, but, uh, you're from Laketown, if I'm not mistaken? That barge over there, it wouldn't be available for hire, by any chance?" The bowman lowers his bow and climbs aboard his barge as we all move closer to him.

"What makes you think I will help you?" The man says as he starts pulling the barrels into his barge.

"Those boots have seen better days." Balin says as he eyes the man's boots. "As has that coat. No doubt you have some hungry mouths to feed. How many bairns?"

"A boy and two girls."

"And your wife, I'd imagine she's a beauty."

"Aye. She was." The man says his eyes filling with sadness.

Balin's smile fades as he says, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" He is interrupted by Dwalin whispering loudly to Thorin. "Oh, come on, come on, enough with the niceties."

"What's your hurry?" The man asks Dwalin.

"What's it to you?"

"I would like to know who you are and what you are doing in these lands."

"We are simple merchants from the Blue Mountains journeying to see our kin in the Iron Hills." Balin says causing the bowman to raise an eyebrow in disbelief as he says, "Simple merchants, you say?"

"We'll need food, supplies, and weapons. Can you help us?" Thorin asks as he moves toward the Barge. The bowman looks at the barrels and examines the various dents and nicks they received during the fight with the Orcs. "I know where these barrels came from." He says and I am about to say something when yet again I am interrupted by Thorin, "What of it?"

"I don't know what business you had with the elves, but I don't think it ended well. No one enters Laketown but by leave of the Master. All his wealth comes from trade with the Woodland Realm. He will see you in irons before risking the wrath of King Thranduil." Bard boards his barge and tosses a rope to Balin. I silently curse Thranduil and his handsome face as Balin says, "I'll wager there are ways to enter that town unseen."

"Aye. But for that, you will need a smuggler."

"For which we will pay double." Bard looks at him suspiciously before agreeing. I sigh as I walk over to Kili and pulling him to his feet, help him onto the barge. After we are all on the barge I turn toward the Bowman and say, "Thank you?"

He eyes me for a moment before he says, "Bard,"

I give him a thankful smile as I say, "Thank you Bard." As Bard paddles us across the lake in his barge; it is very foggy, and the barge pushes aside ice floes.

"If you don't mind me asking what is an Elf doing with a group of Merchant dwarves?" Bard asks and I eye him curiously as I say, "You can tell I'm an Elf?"

"It's not too hard, you have an Elvish bearing."

I smile as I say, "You are one of the only ones who have been able to tell; and to answer your question, they are my family." He looks back and forth between the dwarves and I before giving me a look that says that I am married to one of the dwarves and I instantly shake my head as I say, "Oh no, not like that. They are just really good friends. Such good friends I think of them as family."

He chuckles as he says, "My apologies."

Suddenly, large stone formations appear out of the fog causing Bofur to call out, "Watch out!" Bard expertly poles the barge between the rock formations, which turn out to be ancient ruins.

"What are you trying to do, drown us?" Thorin says angrily and I sigh in annoyance.

"I was born and bred on these waters, Master Dwarf. If I wanted to drown you, I would not do it here." Bard says and I sense the sadness in his voice.

"Oh I have enough of this lippy lakeman. I say we throw him over the side and be done with him." Dwalin says and I cross my arms over my chest angrily while Bilbo says my anger clear in his voice, "Ohh, Bard, his name's Bard."

"How do you know?" Bofur asks curiously and I smirk as Bilbo says, "Uh, Randír asked him." I turn back to Bard and say, "You mentioned you have children, if you don't mind me asking what their names are?"

He smiles as he says, "Bain, Sigrid, and Tilda,"

"I bet they miss their mother, I know it may not mean much but I lost my mother when I was very young. I know a little of what they are going through." He gives me a half hearted smile. I suddenly realize that the rest of my company goes quite and I follow their gaze to see that the fog has thinned just enough to see the Lonely Mountain.

"Bless my beard. Take it. Take all of it." Gloin says as he hands Balin a sack of coins he had secretly withheld before. Bilbo coughs and gestures his head toward Bard, who is approaching the dwarves on their end of the barge.

"The money, quick, give it to me." Bard says as he holds his hand out to them.

"We'll pay you when we get our provisions, but not before." Thorin says puffing his chest.

"If you value your freedom, you'll do as I say. There are guards ahead." Bard says and we all turn to see the rooftops of Laketown in the distance. "Hide in the barrels." He says as and we all jump back into the barrels. A few minutes later Bard's barge is stopped at a dock just outside the city; Bard hops off and speaks to a man. "Shh, what's he doing?" Dwalin asks and I hear Bilbo reply, "He's talking to someone; and he's...pointing right at us!"

I feel my heart start to race and I wrap my arms around myself. "Now they're shaking hands." Bilbo says and I hear Thorin say, "What?"

"That villain! He's selling us out." Dwalin yells out and I start to feel claustrophobic. All the dwarves in their individual barrels listen anxiously; suddenly, dead fish are poured into the barrels. As the fish fall into my barrel I cover my mouth to keep from throwing up. Bard poles his barge toward the gate of the city; on deck are the 15 barrels all full of fish, with a dwarf, hobbit, or myself inside as well.

"Oh god." One of the dwarves says but Bard kicks the barrel closest to him and says, "Quiet! We're approaching the toll gate." I try to breathe but the putrid smell of fish fills my lungs making me once again dry heave and cover my mouth. "Halt! Goods inspection. Papers, please. Oh, it's you, Bard." Someone I take as the gatekeeper says. Bard brings his boat up to the gatekeeper's office, and the gatekeeper steps out to see him. "Morning, Percy." Bard says and I instantly hope that they hurry up.

"Anything to declare?" Percy says as he takes Bard's papers from him.

"Nothing, but that I am cold and tired, and ready for home."

"You and me both." As the gatekeeper takes the papers and goes into his office to stamp them, Bard looks around warily. "Here we are. All in order." I let out a sigh of relief and instantly wish I hadn't. Percy holds out Bard's papers, but a man, suddenly steps out of the shadows and grabs the papers saying, "Not so fast."

The man reads Bard's papers, then looks at his load. "Consignment of empty barrels from the Woodland Realm. Only, they're not empty, are they, Bard?" The man tosses Bard's papers to the wind and approaches him, with some of Laketown's soldiers behind him. "If I recall correctly, you're licensed as a bargeman, not a fisherman." As he says this, he picks up one of the fish from a barrel and holds it up to Bard. He doesn't see Bombur's eyes looking up from the gap where the fish had been.

"That's none of your business." Bard says causing the other man to say, "Wrong. It's the Master's business, which makes it my business."

"Oh come on, Alfrid, have a heart. People need to eat!" Alfrid? So that was this little man's name. I made a mental note to remember that.

"These fish are illegal." Alfrid throws the fish he was holding into the water, and then commands the soldiers to empty the barrels over the side. I tense in my barrel. The soldiers, lead by their captain, move to comply. "You heard him. Into the canal. Come on, get a move on." The captain says and I clench my fist ready to bust out and defend my friends. The soldiers begin tipping the barrels over and letting the fish fall into the canal.

"Folk in this town are struggling. Times are hard. Food is scarce." Bard yells out and the weasel known as Alfrid replies, "That's not my problem." "And when the people hear the Master is dumping fish back in the lake, when the rioting starts, will it be your problem then?" Bard and Alfrid stare at each other intensely for a few seconds, and then finally Alfrid raises his hand to the soldiers.

"Stop." The soldiers stop tipping the barrels over and return to the buildings. "Ever the people's champion, eh, Bard? Protector of the common folk? You might have their favor now, bargeman, but it won't last." Alfrid walks away and Percy yells out, "Raise the gate!" A large portcullis blocking the channel is raised, and Bard begins to pole his barge through. As he passes, Alfrid turns around and shouts to him, "The Master has his eye on you; you'd do well to remember. We know where you live." "It's a small town, Alfrid; everyone knows where everyone lives."

Suddenly, Bard docks his barge. After looking around, he knocks over one of the barrels, and a dwarf falls out along with a pile of fish. Bard continues knocking over barrels. He reaches for Dwalin's barrel, but Dwalin pokes his head up through the fish. "Get your hands off me." Dwalin yells and I burst through my barrel and make a beeline for the side of the barge where I throw up over the side into the freezing water. "I hate fish!" I say as I heave over the side. The remaining dwarves and Bilbo struggle out of their barrels, looking greasy and slimy from the fish. The dock keeper looks on in shock. Bard approaches him and slips him a coin. "You didn't see them, they were never here. The fish you can have for nothing."

He turns back to us and tells us to follow him. I wipe my mouth on my sleeve before following after them. As we stride through Laketown, a boy runs up to Bard. "Da! Our house, it's being watched." The boy says and I instantly remember this boy's name is Bain. Bard looks at Thorin and hatches a plan. I wince at the thought of jumping into the cold waters where I had moments ago lost my lunch. Suddenly I realize that I can pass for a human and smirk as I say, "Wait, do you think it would be inconspicuous for me to follow you and Bain back to your home?"

They all turn toward me confused for a moment then realizing my uncomfortableness to go back in the water Thorin turns to Bard an says, "Is it possible?" Bard thinks for a moment before nodding as he says, "It might be." I sigh as I turn toward Thorin and mouth the words thank you to which he simply nods. As the dwarves hop into the water Bard turns toward me and pulling my hood up from my back says, "You will still need to hide your face, people here are exceptionally good at recognizing Elves." I nod as I pull my hood down over my face and follow closely after him and Bain.