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every opportunity will come again

It was an odd thing, this land.

Fili had learned not to trust all doorways, cautious though he must be. Now that they had settled in Erebor, with Smaug's corpse lying on the field of battle outside, Fili believed himself to have bigger things to concern himself with. It had led him to being lazy in his checks, which in turn had led him to that cursed inn, but when he tried to get back, he found himself not in the mountain, but in another land all-together and with a steady companion at his side.

He had never seen her before, this elegant lioness, and yet he felt as though he knew her. She stared at him as though she understood each and every one of his secrets, as though she had always been a part of him. "I am a part of you," she replied, padding along his side as they wandered through this strange landscape of buildings and people, all with an animal at their side, though different from the rest.

They had begun their quest to return to the hotel hours ago, her constant presence with him. "Ushlun," he spoke, finally, when her name came to him. He had not discovered her only now, but found that he had known her forever. "Where is the door?"

"I think it's this way," she replied, never straying too far from Fili's reach. They were tethered together and he began to realise that when he had set foot into this odd world, it had split him into two, but he was as whole as ever. Unfortunately, the both of them were entirely lost and he wasn't sure whether she and he could find their way back.

[Fili is in the Oxford section of the Golden Compass 'verse, having earned himself a daemon]

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It seems they have a habit of meeting in worlds apart from the strange inn, though he had never counted on a world being able to split something from himself. "I must tell you that I found my kin," he informed her. "We have made a home for ourselves within the mountain, now that the dragon is slain." He did not think the peril was shed, given how Thorin's demeanor grew worse by the day, but was happy to share in good news.

Zelda brightened, glad to know that he had found his home once again and his kinfolk along with it.

"Oh, Fili, that is wonderful! I am so glad that things worked out even though we were too late to lend aid the last time we went through your door. Did you see your brother, then? Is that how you know?"

"I managed to find them in Esgaroth and I joined them on the journey," he explained, for it had been a perilous one. "A great deal of time has passed, but Durin's Day has come and gone, the dragon is defeated by an arrow, and we have the mountain." He wished that he seemed happier, but he did not. Ushlun herself looked positively rife with despair.

"But what is wrong? Is this not what you have dreamed of?" Zelda asked, tilting her head a bit in a questioning manner. The idea of losing one's home and finding it again should be joyous and yet Fili did not seem pleased.

"Were there many casualties?"

"While there were some lives lost, it was not as many as it might have been thanks to Bard's quick thinking," Fili said, in praise of the man. "No, I am afraid the peril that affects us is much closer to home and is a sickness of the mind rather than the wounds of battle." Ushlun stared at him accusingly, as though he was avoiding the truth. "It plagues my uncle and I worry it might take me, as well."

Zelda frowned a bit deeper. "Is there no cure for this sickness? Sometimes a sickness of the mind plagues my people too but we pray to the goddesses to alleviate it. Do you have no such relief available to you?"

"If we were to remove ourselves from the gold of our home, I believe it would stop afflicting Thorin. I, myself, have shown no such signs."

"Kili, either," Ushlun piped up, as if she did not wish to be excluded from the conversation. Fili nodded to agree that Kili had not seemed swayed by the gold in such a manner. "He only liked the harp, like you," she said proudly.

"I do not know if Thorin would leave willingly and to do so against his will would be treason. He is King," Fili said dutifully, and Fili was a good heir, a dutiful heir, and would never do anything to oppose the king, even if he weren't his uncle.

"But a sick ruler cannot be allowed to rule," Zelda said, earning wholehearted agreement from her daemon.

"But to usurp him would be seen as treason against both crown and family. Have you tried talking to him? Convincing him to give up the mantle?"

"We are dwarves. Lust and greed for gold is acceptable. Expected, even," Fili felt compelled to point out, seeing as the others had noticed Thorin acting somewhat strangely, but had merely said it was a result of the gold being returned to its rightful owner. "I believe if I spoke to him, he would accuse me of wanting the throne. I am next in line."

Fili did not wish for such power, not while Thorin lived. "I seem to have doured the conversation. Apologies, my lady."

"No, no, I always welcome the chance to counsel a friend," Zelda assured him. "It is part of my duty to the goddess and part of bearing the triforce of wisdom. I often mediated disputes in my homeland and puzzling these things out is no burden to me. I only wish I knew the proper path for you to take."

"I wish I did, as well. Both here and at home," Fili confessed, for while they had wandered, there were only buildings with other people and their creatures accompanying them, but none of the open doors appeared to be the inn. "I fear where we will be led," he admitted. "And more, what will happen to my kin."

"Well, I will do anything in my power to aid you," Zelda promised. "I swear you my allegiance, such as it is, and all the magic at my disposal."

Magic was a powerful card to play and hopefully held as much weight in this world as it did in her own.

"Perhaps if the time grows dire, I will try and summon you," he said, happy to know that he had made an ally. He often felt wary that he would not be as great a leader as Thorin or not a diplomat as Balin, but he needed to prove to himself that he could. "I do not know how, given that I am very lost here, but I will try."

"Yes, do summon me. I will come to your aid as quickly as I am able," she assured him. "How are other things in the kingdom? Are your treasuries full and your people content? There are no external threats, are there?"

"There are many external threats, I am afraid." He did not like to think too much about them, but they loomed ever present. "Now that the gold is ours, but we do not have an army to defend it, all are coming towards Erebor to make their claim for the land and its treasure."

"Can you muster an army of your own in defense? The odds of defending a mountain against those in the valley would be good, strategically speaking. Geography works in your favor," Zelda said, working out just how she would defend such a place.

"They are on their way, but I do not think Thorin trusts them overly much," Fili said, opening a door beside them when no one was looking. Rather than finding the inn, it was simply the inside of a book shop. While he searched, Ushlun weaved her way in to speak.

She kept a safe distance, but her attention remained on Zelda. "The other dwarves did not want to help in the quest for Erebor. It stands to think they would not be trusted with the gold. At least, that it how some would see it."

"No, I would not entrust them in preserving the line of kings," Zelda said. This was a complicated bit of politics and something she wished she could be of more help with. Meirion settled on her shoulder and spoke in a low, melodious voice.

"You need an army not invested in ruling themselves. Someone neutral. Is there any you could muster?"

"If we were willing to give up the treasure, yes." If they were willing to abandon the Arkenstone, as Fili would to save his family, he was sure they would have the elves upon their side. Treasure would bring the men and surely that could fight the forces of darkness. "Do you see? Our troubles always circle back to the gold," Fili said, frustrated as he continued to search for a door.

"Gold is a fickle thing," Zelda mused. "And holds no loyalties except to whoever has the strength to seize it. I apologize, Fili, that I am no greater help but perhaps I can assist in finding a door if nothing else."

"I had hoped that Thorin would not be affected by such a sickness," he said, for he had not shown a sign of it for so very long and now he seemed as sick as Thror had been, diseased and riddled with it. He wondered if the same thing could sneak upon him and happen without noticing.

"Do all dwarves get it? It might be something we could make a potion against, something we might be able to cure." Zelda had never been much for alchemy but she thought surely that there must be dwarven healers who had knowledge of how to cure such things.

Then again, wouldn't Thorin had already sought that out if it were an option? It was all too convoluted.

He shook his head. It was not every dwarf and certainly it was not even every royal one, for his mother and Frerin had never been said to possess such a sickness. "No. Thorin seems to be affected, but neither Kili nor myself has shown any signs, and we have been near the gold long enough that I believe we would," he insisted. "Perhaps it is doomed to simply be."

"Still, I worry for the state of your country even if there is nothing to be done. I believe there must be something, we simply haven't stumbled upon it yet," Zelda said confidently.

"I will meditate on the matter and see if the goddess inspires me."

Fili worried for the state of Erebor more than he could say, for it was a home that he had only known for a matter of days, but he had already grown quite possessive of its beauty and the history that came with such a place. "In this matter, your help is appreciated," he said solemnly, with a slow nod of his head.

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every opportunity will come again

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