Kili quickly rushed out to help Bane, grunting as he struggled to lift Serena off the ground. "Come on...Serena...move...!" with Bane's help they barely managed to drag the mage through the door opening in time as Dwalin and Thorin pushed the door shut behind them, Beorn's muzzle slamming through the small gap.
"PUSH!" Dwalin hollered as Gloin and Balin got behind them as well, the four managing to put enough force behind the door to push it shut and put the beam across it to keep it in place.

With one final roar, the bear turned away and went in pursuit of the orc pack.
"It's leaving..." Fili gasped, turning to look at Gandalf.
"What...is that?" Ori added.
"And what were you thinking?!" Thorin rounded on Serena, clearly very angry. "You could have been killed! You could have gotten Bane and Kili killed, too!"

Gandalf sighed and said "a shifter...nothing to worry about now.."

Serena was panting, holding her side as she muttered "I was trying to give you time...what is one life to save the lives of many..." Gandalf frowned and said "so that's what you have in your mind...trying to get yourself killed on this quest?" Serena looked up at him and said "why would you think that?" Gandalf looked at her and said "everything you e done has been to help the company...but you forget your own life...why?" Serena got up shakily and said "because how can I ask for aid if I don't risk myself first!"

Bane cursed suddenly and said "your still on this?! Those creatures are not your fault! They never were. And neither was my village being lost to them" Serena turned to him and said "if I had been there sooner, you would still have a home, a family, a life! But I failed and your cursed, stuck between man and beast...and now I can help them get their home back and I...I..." She lowered her head, fighting back tears. Bane sighed and shook his head. Gandalf said "you don't want anyone else to lose what you have lost...so you are willing to die to protect them..."

"Well you've been a fool!" Thorin snapped at her. "You've risked yourself, and in doing so you put others at risk too! And if you're going to continue being so reckless then I'm sorry Serena but you are too dangerous to have in our company, I will not risk the lives of my kin because of your reckless behaviour." the dwarf said to her as he looked at her sternly. "You have nothing left to prove, and yet you continue to throw yourself carelessly into danger! If it carries on we would be better, safer, if you stayed out of it and didn't help us. As much as I appreciate your assistance, I have the lives of many others to consider as well as my own." Thorin's expression softened slightly as he finished explaining, as angry as he was at what she had done he couldn't hold it against her permanently.

Serena stood there then just turned and walked out the back door, shutting it behind her. Bane sighed and said "if I had known what weighed on her heart...I would have spoken sooner" Bilbo looked at Bane and asked "why does she blame herself like this?" Bane leaned against the table and said "my village was wiped out in a night by the creatures we hunt. Serena has been tracking them but lost them the day before. She found them again right as they attacked the village and she got there just when I was bitten. She was able to save me and the few villagers left...but only a handful. She has blamed herself for not saving my home...and then I learned how she first met those things. She once lived outside a small village in the mountains. She watched ovrt it but the one day she hadn't been there, the village was wiped out in a night. She came back to the village in flames and the people who she cares for dearly were gone. She has been on the road since, trying to repent of what she thinks was her doing for not stopping them when they were small."

Bilbo listened quietly then he looked at Thorin. "I hate to say this and forgive me if I'm wrong...but it's a lot like what happened to your home and Dale is it not?" Gandalf nodded and said "she is a lost soul in the dark who can't find her way out in her grief...I think of all people, you all can understand that pain" bane looked at Thorin and said "I know she didn't mean to add risk to your mission...and I'm sorry for all of the trouble we have caused you..."

Serena sat just outside the door, looking at her hands as she tried to rewrap her wound but her hands were shaking so badly she couldn't do it right.

Thorin shook his head slightly. "And I am sorry for snapping at her, but it needed to be said." the dwarf admitted. "I will talk to her." he added, nodding slightly to Gandalf before he followed Serena out of the back door, sitting down silently beside the mage.

Gandalf nodded to him, telling the others to rest. Serena didn't looked up as he sat by her. "I'm sorry Thorin...I really am...I got to lost in my own pain I forgot why I was here...who I'm fighting for" she was still trying to fix her wrappings on her wound but she was shaking too badly.

Thorin shook his head slightly as he glanced at her, gingerly trying to help her with her bandages. "I understand." he told her. "But, we cannot be lost in our grief, because if we do then it will consume us. And we will not be able to achieve our end goals." the dwarf reasoned as he took hold of Serena's wrists gently to try and stop her hands from shaking. "We have to remember that if we give in to it, then our enemies have won."

She looked at him and said "when I learned who you really were...I felt a connection to you. Having to watch those around you die or give into madness...it's too much for anyone to bare. My old home...before the monsters came, there were children who would come to my house and I would teach them and they would play in my yard...when I found the village burning...those children dead and gone from the world...I lost myself." She looked at her shaking hands and said "I can't bare to see that happen ever again...but you and Gandalf are right. I can't give my life for those who are gone...I have to live for them..." She looked at Thorin, looking tired and hurting for the first time without her trying to put on a brave face. "I think I need just as much help as you do, Thorin Oakenshield..."

Thorin couldn't help but let the small smile touch his features as he nodded at her. "Yes, perhaps in that you are correct. But right now in this moment, you need sleep and rest-just like the rest of us-or we will not be able to go any further. And you will not get that out here in the cold." he let go of her hands and stood again, turning to go back inside, though he waited for her to come with him.

Serena nodded and stood, then smiled at Thorin and leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Thorin...for reminding why I'm doing all of this..." She went to open the door and walked inside, Bane looking up at her and jumping up. Bane went to her and said "Serena...are you.." Serena smiled and hugged Bane, a couple years running down her cheek. "I will be...I will be.." Bane hugged her back then looked at her. "Serena? Your body can't move can it" Serena laughed weakly and said "no...I'm completely numb...if you could..." Bane looked at Kili and said "give me a hand, lad...she's drained completely. She can't move now"

Kili grinned as he got up and went to Serena's other side, supporting her by putting one of her arms around his shoulders while he held her around the waist. "I'm not surprised, tackling a bear that big the way she did! What were you thinking?!" the young dwarf tried not to laugh as he looked at the mage.
"It doesn't matter now, Kili." Thorin told his nephew with a hint of sternness in his voice, to tell him not to mention it again.

Serena smiled as they laid her down and she leaned against the wall saying "to be honest...I thought it would be like riding one of the Wargs...I was very wrong with that kind of thinking..." Bilbo amiled and said "I think I will make some dinner, how does that sound to everyone?" Serena leaned her head back, closing her eyes.

The dwarves all mumbled their agreement as Bilbo mentioned cooking, quite eager to have a good meal and knowing that the hobbit was more than capable of providing one.

Bilbo started cooking as Bane sat at the table, keeping a close eye on Serena. Gandalf said "she will be alright with some rest and a good meal. No need to worry master Bane" bane nodded, still looking worried. "She really over did it this time..."

Serena was leaning against the wall, her hood up so they couldn't tell if she was asleep or not

"With any luck it has taught her a lesson and she won't make the same mistake again." Thorin concluded as he glanced back in the mage's direction. He didn't show worry all that much but he was clearly concerned for Serena as it was unusual to see someone get that exhausted that they couldn't move.

"Well, I think we had better get some food into her quick, in that case." grinned Kili nervously as he and a few of the other dwarves crowded around Bilbo as he cooked.

Bane nodded and said "she told me once that elves or people like her are tied to the life energies, and when they burn so much of it off in their body they have to take time to recover that lost power from the world around them..." Gandalf nodded, lighting his pipe as he looked over at Serena.

Serena smiled slightly, partly awake enough to listen to them. Bilbo smiled and said "dinner is ready"

"Really?" Kili looked interested at that bit of information. "That's a little strange...do they all do that?"
"Does it matter?" Thorin smirked, he still wasn't too fond of the elven race and he didn't care for Kili to be showing so much interest in their ways.

Bofur stepped forward and got a bowl of the food Bilbo had cooked together, taking it across to Serena. "Here you go, Lady Serena." the dwarf murmured, holding it out to her.

Bane said "only those with the gift. Humans and Elves and other creatures that can use magic it's common. Though don't remind Serena of that fact. She isn't a huge fan of her Elf family and would rather not think about it"

Serena looked up and smiled, taking the bowl gently. "Thank you bofur...that's very sweet of you"

"Unsurprisingly." grunted Thorin. "Why trust an Elf? They are all the same."

Bofur nodded and chuckled softly. "Yes, I thought that I should make sure you get some before Bombur gets into it and eats it all." he shrugged.

Bane looked at him and said "I wouldn't say all of them are...Serena's family wasn't keen on her father being with her mother...a elf father with a human woman...but Serena was alright with it until her mothers village was attacked and the elves came to save just Serena...not her mother or the other people. It broke Serena's heart. She went to live with your friend on the council, Gandalf. I forgot her name..." Gandalf nodded and said "it explains a few things..."

Serena giggled and said "I thank you for thinking of me..." She flinched slightly as she moved to sit up better to eat.