"I am not scared."

Their stay was truly nothing short of pleasant, Nymeria found, a strange sense of precious peace cradled like a babe inside her as the comfort of the large home filled with greenery and life...and there was something about it that reminded her both of the Moors and the Shire. Perhaps that's why she found herself in such good spirits, her face no longer set in a scowl that haunted those who just happened to glance at her ethereal features brimming with dark magic and chaos, no, now there seemed to be a ghost of a smile curling at her lips wherever she went, a rare and rather beautiful sight indeed.

And it seemed like she wasn't the only one reminded of home if Bilbo was any indication, forcing her up to wander around the garden with him in the early hours of the morning, when the sun was high in the sky and brimming them with warmth instead of their usual struggle for heat that would come by every night, his large feet able to trudge on through the squelching mud and spiky grass with ease because of his thick skin while the faè danced over it all with her shoes shimmered with familar hints of crimson red.

He'd even somewhat gotten over his fear of the not so gentle giant that was as tall as he was terrifying, though she had a rather strong suspicion that that had to do with the fact she'd been very close by when he'd brought up some kind of polite conversation about vegetables, and that if Beorn really wanted to taste some amazing potatoes, all he'd have to do was visit the Shire and Bilbo would be more than happy to hand some over, all the while Nymeria smiled watching them, trying not to giggle at the awkward cower the hobbit held himself in as he spoke to the skin-changer, and almost falling over in amusement when Beorn grunted which had her friends legs almost giving out underneath him.

She was proud of her hobbit, watching as he came out of his shell though he hadn't really needed to, perfect as he was, watching as he gained confidence in himself that didn't come from knowing that his faè would always have his back with hands stained with chaos, ready to kill and die for him at a moments notice which made it very hard to fear most things indeed. But looking over him as he wandered up to the dwarves and joined in on their conversations as they all welcomed him with open arms and hearty laughs as they told him whatever they'd been talking about mere moments prior.

But unfortunately, it seemed that their peace obviously wasn't meant to last when Gandalf and Thorin had finally gathered the company to tell them that they had to be moving on and quick, and that they'd long since out stayed their welcome and would have to continue their journey, their quest even though the comforts of home that they'd started getting used to were about to be cruely ripped away from them once more.

And thankfully for the rest of them, Beorn had enough horses for the dwarves and her hobbit and the wizard to sit comfortably, but once more, just like when she first joined them on their journey, they bloody seemed to be one short, meaning Nymeria was truly going to have to put her stamina to the test.

She couldn't exactly say she was excited about the thought of running through the foliage of the forest, but on the other hand, the whole idea of her having to share a horse with one of the others didn't exactly appeal to her either, so she decided that the first option was definitely the lesser of two evils, and then spent the majority of the morning stretching her limbs out, massaging her legs with hands infused with the red heat of her chaos and hoping that she would have an easy journey while the others sat pretty on their bastard ponies which she definitely wasn't jealous about at all.

And yet, when it finally became time to depart from the home that had sheltered them with their bags full of supplies to last them for months, she found herself rather suprised indeed when Beorn stopped her from following after the horses that were beginning to be mounted as the rest of the company argued and cursed among themselves obviously struggling with the rather large height, his hand covering the entirety of her neck and shoulder and even a good portion of her back as she looked up at him with her flickering eyes that glowed like dangerous embers. "You'll ride with me, little faè."

"I was under the impression you'd be parting with you humanity on the journey, my friend." Nymeria said quietly with a slight furrow to her brow, allowing her chaos to wind around her fingers, slithering out of the seams of her skin and dancing across the grass over towards the few that still struggled, wrapping around their bodies and lifting them up as they yelled out in shock only to recognise the familar colour of her strange magic that was more darkness than light, yet used to protect and help them all the same most strangely.

"I am...but I thought you'd like to hunt some orcs alongside me." He grunted, looking down af her with those animalistic amber eyes, always looking more beast than man, more creature than human, just like she was more magic than faè, those two sides of her constantly battling inside her hollowed corpse for the higher ground of power, wanting her to heal and feel things like she once did, and not yet understanding that the chaos that had maimed her had also saved her...and then Nymeria smirked with a gaze that became alight with mischief as she nodded her head because yes, hunting orcs beat running after the company by a long shot.

And she had never felt more alive than with the monstrous bear underneath her as they followed after the galloping of hooves of the company riding to the very far left of them, tearing through the trees with her atop his back with her fingers stained with crimson buried in his thick hide, shooting out dangerous blasts of pure chaos behind her to the scouting and howling wargs that attempted to follow after them while Beorn's dangerous teeth were quick to wrap around yielding throats and tear them out, a vicious duo that even fate itself didn't attempt to cross as they got closer and closer to Mirkwood.

But eventually, they reached the point in which they'd both discussed the moment she'd depart to catch up with the rest and leave Beorn to finish off with the stragglers and lead them away from them, her dark gaze flickering over to the large boulder in the shape of a rather obese frog that the skin-changer had told her about, and with a parting farewell whispered into one of his fluffy ears she threw herself off of his back, her feet lacing with red to give her the extra boost before she crashed onto the ground and followed the pash the dwarves had taken, hearing Beorn's terrible roar as she did so and grinning a grin that was nothing short of feral as she quickly caught up to them.

Her feet pounding against the floor, leaving red burning imprints in its wake as she kept the pace, smiling up at her hobbit who looked rather queasy indeed at the blood splattered across her cheek which really did paint her in a terrifying light, before they finally reached the forest just as the sun was slowly beginning to set that evening, dipping across the horizon in amber shades as they slowed their horses to a stop, approaching the large looming trees that looked strangely wrong of the destination that was once Greewood...but obviously not anymore, not with that feeling in the air, not with the ominous threat coming off of it in waves.

Nymeria couldn't tear her gaze away as her aching legs came to a stop, her heart still beating quickly in its boned prison and her blood pumping to her ears as the adrenaline took its time to cool, staring out towards the blackened leaves, the decaying wood that left a heavy taste upon her tongue that made her want to spit as she absentmindnessly scrubbed at her cheek, idly hearing Gandalf announce to the rest of the company that they'd reached the Eleven gate and to set the ponies loose back to their master as he strolled up beside her, looking out to the same sight she did, his magic mingling with hers for half a moment before the chaos grew too strong forcing his to linger away.

There was a disease there, she could smell it, feel it and see that death had taken its hold of nature and was patiently moving to claim it, in no rush for its demise as it rot spread and began to take hold completely, leaving the very air around it dark and blistering like the overwhelming feeling of walking past a rotting corpse, staining the earth for years to come with something cruel.

"You feel it too, don't you?" Gandalf finally spoke up quietly, not tearing his own ancient eyes away that had seen far more than the likes of she could comprehend from the sight of the forest in front of them, if you could even call it that, she felt like the term graveyard seemed more appropriate, more accurate with the way it seemed to grey the landscape around it with the heaviness of something festering inside it, the background noises of the dwarves becoming dull and quiet as she was sucked into it's dark depths that just felt unnatural and wrong, like it didn't even belong to the earth in the first place.

"It smells like rot."

"Yes, I know...the forest is dying it seems. But unfortunately for you, my friend...not fast enough." The old wizard said softly, sighing under his breath as she glanced up at him sharply, a question curling over the roof of her mouth that filled her with unease at his unsettled tone, but before she could ask just what he was talking about, he suddenly turned to look over his shoulder, face shifting into suprise and determination as he stalked away from her, as if he hadn't just left her with that rather confusing warning that really did not fill her with any confidence for the journey ahead as she followed after him quickly.

"Leave my horse! I need it!" He shouted, ignoring the company's startled looks as he whispered something towards Thorin that their ears were unable to pick up, his tone grave and serious as the dwarf king gave him a singular nod, before Gandalf climbed abroad his steads back and addressed the rest of them once more. "I'll be waiting for you at the overlook, before the slopes of Erebor. Keep the map and key safe. Do not enter that mountain without me. You must stay on the path; do not leave it. If you do, you will never find it again!"

"Wait- you can't just leave us now, Gandalf. We don't know what's in that forest-"

"Well it's not like we really have much to be alarmed about even without the wizard, Bilbo! Not with Nymeria by our side! Whatever monster that dares to attack us will soon be put back in its place." Kili was surprisingly quick to wave off her hobbits concerns, clapping the unsuspecting halfling on the back who was almost thrown off his feet as he grumbled and cursed, looking over to his faè who hid her grin behind her hand as his misfortune, trying not to audibly laugh as the dark-haired dwarf threw her a wink while the rest of the group cheered in agreement, Bofur even going as far as to jostle her shoulder joyfully as she chuckled.

However, such reassurance was quickly crushed like hope to fire as Gandalf sighed grimly, looking back down to her with something akin to an apology in his eyes that made her blood run cold as her hands clenched into tight firsts by her side that flickered red. "I'm afraid that won't be the case, Kili...there are ancient ruins buried in the forest, placed there by the elves long ago to stop a certain kind of magic, during the great purge in which the Mirkwood elves went to war with the faè...Nymeria's chaos will be rendered useless the moment her foot touches its soil."

Fear gripped a hold of her, maiming her, twisting her inside out as her breath caught in her throat and made it feeling like she was swallowing ash at such an awful thought that threatened to drown her in grief. Her magic had always been a part of her, flowing like the blood of gods in her veins, becoming more and more powerful the more that was taken away from her until it was her only divinity left, and to be stripped away of such defences, her immortal chaos that saved her life instead of leaving her to rot in the dirt of her own damnation was nothing short of a horror story, one it seemed that she was going to have to face, even as her every haunting ghosts began to claw at her feet and mourn.

"But she isn't a faè, so she should be alright, shouldn't she? It's not as though the ruins were catered to stop her."

And yet, for a moment, her fear was forgotten at the absolute stupidity that fell from Kili's lips as she slowly turned to look towards him in indignation, idly aware of her hobbit and the wizard doing the same, their expressions matching her own perfectly as she narrowed her gaze at him, waiting for him to click on but it seemed he was just rather confused himself, and by the looks of it, so were the other dwarves which really made her bewildered because just what in the hells did they actually think she was? Some kind of bloody mutant? "I'm sorry...what? You- you didn't know I was a faè?"

Honestly she'd hoped they were joking, hoped it was one of their strange sense of humour that she could never quite understand, possibly in an effort to make her feel better about the thought of the loss of her chaos, for how ever long their journey into the ominous forest might be...but that hope was quickly extinguished when instead of breaking out into hearty laughter like she'd been expecting, they only looked even more suprised to the point it was almost comical as they began to shout over one another with almost offended attitudes like she'd purposely kept them out of a secret.

"I'm sorry, was the magic not an indicator of my heritage? Or the fact that I specifically told you I wasn't a witch? What on earth did you think I was?" She snapped at them all, waving her hand around laced with her blistering chaos, feeling the devastating pull of rage as it began to clash with fear, mouting inside her like a natural disaster ready to blow and take no prisoners, even going as far as to shove Fili alway when he tried to place a calming hand upon her wrist, not wanting his serenity to bless her skin, not craving him embrace as she found herself doing lately as she threw herself back into the argument.

"But you don't have the wings-"

"And you barely have a beard and yet you don't see me bringing it up at every moment." Nymeria was quick to snarl at the gasping Kili who'd already began to touch his less than adequate beard in an insecure fashion which Bofur was quick to comfort him, their voices rising above each others as they all continued to shout and scream about all sorts of things that very quickly lost sense of the actual argument at hand which was the fact that they'd all been together for a rather long time now and apparantly none of them were wise enough to actually question what she was which had made her strangely offended.

"Calm yourselves!" Gandalf suddenly roared over them, patience forgotten and voice nothing short of deafening as he looked them all over in something akin to disappointment like a tired grandfather sick of listening to children arguing as silence reclaimed the air once more, before his blue eyes of cloudy skies drifted over to Nymeria, focusing on only her as he brought his horse a few steps closer, just to make sure he was heard when he spoke again. "You mustn't allow your fear to overwhelm you, young faè, not here, not in that forest."

"I am not scared." Terrified seemed more an appropriate answer as it clawed at her stomach, leaving her insides to bleed out of her like an unstitched wound until she'd eventually succumb to deaths awaiting hand. What was she meant to do without her magic? What was she meant to do about her one constant? Her survival? Her weapon? The only thing she had to remind herself that she hadn't completely fallen into ruin? That she still had some semblance of power inside her that she was so sure would never be taken away again.

"Of course not, I didn't mean to impy you were." The old wizard smiled, but they both knew what lay ahead for her, and they both knew that she was close to tears at the thought of such horror though she tried to hide it desperately lest she lose herself completely. "But your magic will be blocked inside the forest depths, all of it, even your enhancements, which means that you will have to be more careful than the others...it will play tricks on you, it will enter your mind and lead you astray, but you must remember that your chaos hasn't left you...and that you past is exactly that, your past."

She swallowed thickly at his words, her hands clenching by her side once more in swirls of red before she nodded tightly, forcing her gaze away as she heard the galloping of hooves echo off into the distance, his parting words pressing down upon her shoulders like an anchored weight that would damn her to drown in the tides of her own grief and misery. She couldn't protect the company, couldn't protect her hobbit, and now she could no longer protect herself, the moment her foot would touch the earth she'd be torn apart from her haunting reminder of strength and left to rot like she should of all those years ago.

But before she could lose herself to those thoughts, those memories and insecurities, she heard the sound of softened footsteps coming behind her, and then the feeling of warmth spreading through her skin as Fili pressed his hand against her shoulder and squeezed comfortingly, he, himself trying not to gasp as her own limb reached up to curl around his fingers loosely, unable to tear her eyes away from the Elven gate which could very well either break her or let her best it, and she couldn't say she was all that excited to find out which truth it would be.

"Don't worry yourself, Nyneria, the others and I won't let anything happen to you, I swear it." Fili told her gently, staring up at her like she was the moon, awed and full of glorious light that bathed the lands in her glowing aura...and purposely ignoring Thorin's sharp look as he did so as he grunted at them while he walked past with the rest of the company, obviously displeased by the display happening in front of him, but just because the blonde wasn't allowed to have her, to hold her close, to braid her hair with shaking fingers or touch her skin with brushing lips, it didn't mean he wouldn't keep her safe to the point of ruin.

"Thankyou dwarf, perhaps it'll be nice if you to finally return the favour." She tried to joke but even she could hear the catch in her voice, the way it trembled as she allowed her fingers to linger over his own before she finally began to move, hovering towards the end of the group, not wanting to rush her final embrace with her chaos before it would be torn away from her like her wings had been, watching as one by one they stepped into the looming forest of old with the scent of rot and the taste of disease getting bolder as she reached the outskirts of it, listening to the dwarves gentle encouragement, feeling her hobbits reassurance through their bond as she finally allowed her foot to touch the Elven soil.

And she had never felt a pain more vicious than the cost of her magic being ripped from her mortal corpse and leaving her without its warmth...and having no other choice but to let the loss of her wings that it had protected her from for so long finally overwhelm her as she fell to her knees and screamed...and not even the forest was prepared for how the world seemed to shake.