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When you saw him, your breath caught in your throat. He looked nothing like how you had remembered him. He had been majestic and terrifying at your first meeting, but now he looked fragile and defeated. You lept off the horse and ran towards him, ignoring Eomer's cries for you to stop. You threw yourself against his neck and began to sob.

"Y/n?"

The depth of his voice hadn't changed any with time. "Yes, Smaug. It's me. What happened to you?"

He turned his head until the large, yellow eye closest to you had you in its line of vision. "It is a long story. One I'd prefer to tell in private."

With that, both of you turned your attention to the approaching Eomer. "My lady, my men and I must continue onward. I don't feel comfortable leaving you here with..." nodding towards Smaug, "but it is not in me to slaughter an injured beast that you obviously care so much about."

"Please don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I wish you and your men the best. And thank you for everything."

As the soldiers left, Smaug turned his gaze back to you. "I've missed you, y/n. More than you'll ever know." He then proceeded to tell you about his connection to you and how he came to look for you. Then you shared your story with him, everything that had happened since that day in the Lonely Mountain, particularly focusing on the last few months. He listened intently as you spoke, enjoying the feeling of you resting against his neck.

Luckily, Smaug had not received any life-threatening or permanent injuries from his fall out of the sky, but he was very weak from lacking food for a week. You desperately wanted to help him, but you didn't know how to even begin getting enough food for a dragon. All you had in your bag were a few pieces of elven bread. Hardly enough to make any difference, or so you thought.

"That will provide a nice start."

"You've got to be joking. These are the crumbs of crumbs compared to you."

"In this body you are correct. But in my other form it will provide me with enough strength to hunt."

For the second time in your life, you were wrapped in a dark smoke, from which emerged the same beautiful man you had met decades earlier. He insisted on offering some of the bread to you before he would begin eating. You could tell he wanted to devour it, but he tried to maintain manners in front of you. That made you smile to yourself.

When he finished his meal, the two of you got up from the ground and began to head back in the direction that you had come from. "We will look for your friends and I will hunt at the same time. Two birds with one stone. That's the human expression, correct?"

Laughing softly you answered, "Yes. Not bad, Smaug."

It didn't take him long to find prey, and after changing back into his true form, the entire killing and consumption process only took a few moments. You had a soft spot when it came to animals, so you preferred not to see or know what he had eaten.

"Well now that I am feeling much better it should not long to find your companions. Climb aboard my head my dear."

You did as requested, expecting him to launch you both into the sky, but he stayed on the ground for some time. The constant flaring of his nostrils told you that he was tracking them by their scent.

"They must be going to the nearby kingdom of Men. They are headed in that direction."

Happiness surged inside of you. "That means they found Merry and Pippin alive! They wouldn't have changed course like that if they hadn't!"

A large smile spread across Smaug's lips. There weren't words in any language to describe how wonderful it was to not only feel your happiness, but to see and hear it for the first time as well.