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"The path goes this way." Thorin said, walking down the path as he gestured for the others to follow him.

"This way." Dwalin said.

"Air." Bofur said, panting slightly. "I need air."

"My head, it's spinning." Oin commented, placing a hand on his forehead for a brief moment.

"I really hate this place." Valadhiel murmured, looking around uneasily. Her head pounded, and her ankle throbbed. Her ankle hadn't bothered her at all yesterday, though now, it seemed that the poison had returned and was determined to make her limp.

"I'm sure we all do." Dori said in response to Valadhiel.

Valadhiel stopped abruptly as the dwarves in front of her bumped into each other, causing Kili, Fili, and Bilbo to bump into her. "Sorry." She told them before she looked ahead of her. What had just happened?

"What's happening?" Oin asked.

"Keep moving." Thorin ordered. "Nori, why have we stopped?"

"The path- it's disappeared!"

"Look for the path. All of you; find it!"

Valadhiel inwardly groaned. How could they have possibly lost the path? Then again, she felt as if she were in a daydream of sorts. Things almost felt unreal in this forest. She began searching for the path with the others, though considering what Gandalf had told them, she wasn't expecting to find it. Sure enough, after what seemed to be hours, they still had not found it.

"I don't remember this place before." Balin said. "None of it's familiar."

"It's got to be here." Dori commented.

"What hour is it?" Thorin asked.

"I do not know." Dwalin replied. "I don't even know what day it is!"

Thorin looked over at Valadhiel expectantly. When they had been in the goblin tunnels, she had somehow managed to keep track of what day it was, and she was fairly close to the hour. "Vala?"

Valadhiel looked over at Thorin, then she shook her head. "I'm unable to sense anything in this forest. The only feeling I have is unease, and that's simply because I sense nothing."

Thorin sighed. "Is there no end to this accursed place?"

The dwarves all wandered around, talking to each other, and some of them were starting to even ramble nonsense. Valadhiel sat down on the ground after a moment, and Bilbo joined her. He absentmindedly plucked at a spiderweb.

"Look." Ori said.

Valadhiel and Bilbo both looked over at Ori, wondering if they had perhaps found the path again.

"A tobacco pouch." Dori said. "There's dwarves in these woods."

"Dwarves from the Blue Mountains, no less." Bofur said as he took the pouch from Ori. "This is exactly the same as mine."

Valadhiel blinked when Dori made that statement. "Yes... you are the dwarves! Bofur, that tobacco pouch is yours!" She wasn't sure whether she should be annoyed or if she should be amused.

"You understand?" Bilbo asked in annoyance. "We're going around in circles."

Valadhiel's eyes widened. "We're lost."

Bilbo shot her a look of annoyance mixed with disbelief. "Really, Sherlock? I'm glad you're here to tell us these things. How long did it take you to figure that out?"

"In my defense, this forest messes with your mind." Valadhiel shot back. "It has made me very tired, so I am having trouble thinking or even noticing things, especially with this headache."

Fili and Kili looked over at Valadhiel and gave her a look. "Sure, blame it on the forest." They teased her in unison.

"We're not lost." Dwalin said. "We keep heading east."

"But which way is east?" Oin asked. "We've lost the sun."

Valadhiel and Bilbo looked at each other, and it seemed that both of them had the same thing in mind. Vala shifted into her leopard form and began climbing a tree, and Bilbo began climbing the same tree as well.

"When we were down there, I couldn't help but feel uneasy." Valadhiel commented when they were halfway up. "But the further up we go, the less uneasy I feel, and the less of a headache I have. I also feel more energized."

"As I said before, this forest feels as if there's an illness on it." Bilbo replied, climbing up onto another limb.

"Agreed." Valadhiel looked down after a moment and stopped climbing. She swiveled her ears before furrowing her feline brow, then she looked at Bilbo. "Would you mind if I climb back down? My senses are back, and something dangerous lurks down there. I should probably let the others know."

Bilbo looked at her in slight alarm when she mentioned "dangerous", then he nodded. "The others need to know that something dangerous is near. Climbing a tree to find the sun should be simple enough."

Valadhiel smiled at the hobbit. "Thank you, Bilbo." She told him, then she went about climbing down the tree. Soon, she was at the bottom of the tree, though before she could even look around for the dwarves, she felt something sharp pierce her left shoulder, and everything went black.

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Valadhiel slowly opened her eyes, and she groaned when she felt a pain in her left shoulder. What had happened? Her eyes then widened. Why was she upside down, and why was she so sticky?

After a moment, she felt herself fall to the ground, and she winced a little when her left shoulder hit a root. She then realized that she was covered in spiderweb, and her eyes widened even further before she scrambled to tear it away from her.

Kili and Fili hurried over and helped her out of the web, peeling away as much as they could, before they looked around at the others.

"What happened? Is everyone all right?" Valadhiel asked quietly, then she looked around in alarm once more. "Where's Bilbo?"

"Bilbo!" Bofur called out, and several other dwarves joined in calling for the halfling.

"I'm up here!"

Valadhiel spun around and looked up to see Bilbo in a tree branch, then she gasped when a large spider jumped onto him and pinned him. Before she could do anything, however, the hobbit stabbed his sword into the spider's belly. As the spider fell from the tree branch, Bilbo fell with it.

The elf created a ball of healing fire, had it crawl up her arm to her injured shoulder, and once it had sealed, she began to make her way towards the last place she'd seen Bilbo. However, a spider suddenly landed in front of her, causing her to scream and jump back.

"Grab a leg!" Dwalin shouted before he grabbed onto the spider's leg. Once every dwarf had a leg, they began pulling until all that was left was a legless spider.

Valadhiel quickly shifted into her dragon form and breathed a stream of fire onto the legless spider. Best to kill it rather than leave it defenseless, though she doubted these giant beasts had any predators to worry about other than the Woodland Elves.

"Kili!" Fili shouted from behind Valadhiel.

The dragon whirled around, spotted a spider that had begun to drag Kili away, and bolted toward him before whacking the spider with her tail. She then breathed a stream of fire into its face, causing it to shriek and back away. After she extended spines on her tail and killed it, she looked up when she heard movement, and she spotted several elves.

Valadhiel quickly shifted back into her elvish form, and she looked around for other spiders. The spiders remaining were killed by the elves, who had slid down their silk threads, landed on them, then shot them in the head using their bows and arrows.

One blonde elf, who was familiar, slid under a spider making its way to Thorin and slashed its underbelly, killing it quickly. Then, in a lightning quick movement, he sheathed his sword, grabbed his bow, knocked in an arrow, then pointed it at Thorin.

"What are a group of dwarves doing in our territory?" He asked harshly.

The dwarves all looked around. They were surrounded by Wood Elves, and they all had bows and arrows aimed at them.

"Help!"

"Kili!" Fili shouted. He tried to make his way to his brother, though he was stopped by an elf.

Valadhiel, who was standing further back, was about to go and help Kili before a fellow red-haired elf came to Kili's aid. She killed the spider with an arrow, then attacked two other spiders coming at her. When two more came after Kili, Valadhiel rushed forward, unsheathed her sword, and stabbed it in the eye. Once it screamed and reared up, she stabbed it in the belly before moving to the side so as to not get crushed by the dead spider.

Another spider was still coming at Kili, so he looked over at the red-headed elleth. "Throw me your dagger! Quick!"

"If you think I'm giving you a weapon, dwarf, you are greatly mistaken!" She replied before throwing a dagger at the spider in front of Kili.

Kili looked at her in amazement when she hit her target and killed the spider with one single dagger. He followed the female elf back to his group and immediately made his way to Fili. Once by his side, they shared a quick brotherly embrace before they looked around at the elves.

"Search them."

Valadhiel looked at the elf who had spoken, then she stepped forward and bowed before him. "Hir nin Legolas. We haven't come to cause any harm. Please, if you would just show us back to the path, we will leave in peace."

Legolas looked at the short elleth that bowed before him, and he seemed startled when he realized who she was. "Valadhiel?" He questioned, his tone now soft rather than harsh. His eyes seemed to fill with sadness before he regained composure, returning to an emotionless mask. He did, however, lower his bow. "I'm sorry, but you know what I must do."

Valadhiel sighed softly before she nodded. "I know what you must do. To the dwarves, and to me." She murmured.

"You never should have entered the forest." Legolas told her, then he looked over as the elves with him began disarming the dwarves. He looked at her again. "Must we search you as well, or will you willingly hand over your weapons?"

Valadhiel was about to speak before an elf brought Orcrist over to Legolas. Legolas examined the blade before he walked over to Thorin. "Where did you get this?"

"It was given to me." Thorin answered.

Legolas looked at him doubtfully, and he was about to speak before Valadhiel beat him to it.

"He speaks the truth, Legolas." Valadhiel said, then she crossed her arms with a slight frown. "Not every dwarf is a liar, just as not every Wood Elf is an unwise savage."

Legolas gave her a look, but he then nodded. "Very well. You may be many things, but you are no liar." He finally said, then he gestured for the elves to bring the dwarves forward. "I must still bring you to the Elvenking, however. I suggest that we get moving."

Valadhiel walked over to the dwarves once more, then she bit her lower lip when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Yes, Legolas?"

"Your weapons. I have not forgotten so soon, Vala. I'm not as blonde as you may think."

Valadhiel sighed softly before she turned and began disarming herself. Oh, how she hated giving up her weapons, even though she was herself a weapon. "Will I eventually get them back?" She questioned.

"Perhaps. Though I don't know why it matters, considering you are a weapon and have no need of swords and arrows." Legolas replied, gesturing for her to follow the others once he was sure she was completely disarmed.

"Because I don't wish to shift all the time, as it takes energy, which I do not have when injured. You should know that by now." Valadhiel replied, finding herself walking ahead of the dwarves and with Legolas and the fellow red-haired elleth. She looked down after a moment before she continued speaking. "It has been a long time, Tauriel. How are you doing?"

"As well as one can do when their forest is being taken by darkness." Tauriel replied, though in a calm manner.

"As I am sure you have noticed, much has changed here." Legolas told Valadhiel, sighing nearly inaudibly.

Valadhiel nodded softly. "I always hoped to return to Greenwood one day, despite being banished, and despite everything that happened in the past. However, the Greenwood I once knew is gone. All that remains is Mirkwood."

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