Do You Wanna Be My Friend?
Chapter 1: A Child
A/N: I do not own the Hobbit or any characters of the series past Alyss or any characters not recognized from the series. Alyss is my original character and therefore my property, you steal I kill. Enjoy!
Thorin heard a soft whimper of a child, the sound he heard many of times while watching his nephews that even with his aging hearing he could still catch wind of. He had not once confused the sound like his young nephews did and urgently he followed its trace. The whimper was of pain and he knew it would strike him guilty if he let the suffering of anyone continue, even more so a child whom is defenseless.
"What is it Uncle?" Fili and Kili had joined Thorin on a trip to a human village to buy their mother a special gift for her birthday, two moons from now. They all were happily returning some pretty jewels they planned on using to make her a necklace when Kili heard an odd sound that was remotely familiar.
Thorin did not answer, for fear they would scare whom they were hearing. He did ask them to wait for him though. "Just in case." He answered before they could voice their confusion and displeasure.
Thorin slowly entered the bush where the sound originated from, the whimper grew slightly louder. "Come out little one." he cooed softly, "We will not hurt you."
He heard a small rustle of leave, "Pwomise?"
He felt a small smile tug at his lips, "Promise."
There was more rustling and a few snaps of sticks and twigs before a small child appeared before him. Small and covered in dirt, Thorin almost could not tell what kind of being it was or what sex either. He did assume that it was a girl, for she had look innocence that even a male child could not posses.
"What is your name little one?" he asked softly, afraid he may still scare the young child despite gaining her trust. She opened her mouth to answer but a fit of coughs came out instead. She grabbed at her ribs as she heaved for air. Thorin recognized what was wrong with the girl and felt fear run through him. Thorin quickly picked the girl up and carried her back to where Fili and Kili still stood, though they were probably close to deciding on following Thorin. Thorin knew that he could not wait for Oin to arrive once they reached the settlement, so he sent the boys out ahead of him.
"Go fetch Oin!" he ordered, "Take him back to your mother and have him ready to treat a small girl."
Fili, recognizing the urgency in his uncle's voice, grabbed Kili's arm and they hurried back home to do as they were told.
"Brother." Kili called from behind his brother, "Let me go home to mother."
"What?" Fili responded over his shoulder, "Uncle wants us to get Mister Oin,"
"But Mum will panic with all this if she is unprepared and I can help clear a working space for Mister Oin." Kili reasoned, despite being his twenties Kili could occasionally be wiser than Fili, "You fetch Mister Oin, let me go to Mum."
Fili quickly took in his brother's word and nodded, "Go."
Kili darted to where their small house stood while his brother took another path that led to where Oin lived. Kili could definitely feel his little legs throb slightly under the speed he was setting but he payed no mind.
"Mum!" Kili slightly threw himself into the house, something Dis was use to when the brothers were chasing each other. "Mum, we need to clear the table!"
Dis, having just settled by the fire to await her kins' return, was confused at her panting child. "What is the matter Kili?"
"Uncle found a hurt little girl and he wants Mister Oin to look at her here!" Kili panted, "We need to clear the table for Mister Oin."
Dis quickly did so, if Thorin took pity on another being to the point he would bring them here and demand Oin, then this must have been serious. Luckily, all she had on the table was her kettle from when she made tea early.
"Kili," Dis knelt down to her youngest, "I need you fetch me some blankets just in case."
Kili nodded and headed to the back of house to search for some extra blankets they kept for cold nights. As Kili searched for blankets, Fili arrived with Oin.
"Where is this child Fili told me about." Oin asked, grateful to find that the table was cleared for him.
Dis shrugged, "With Thorin still, I'm sure. He has not come here yet."
"Then let me take this opportunity to prepare." He quickly set about herbs and small leather bags all about the table as Dis prepare both cold and warm water in two basins. Kili had also returned with some blankets as Dis asked.
"Fili, help Kili spread them on the floor." Oin said over his shoulder, "That way our little sickling has a place to be."
The brother set to work, managing to get three warm blankets spread when Thorin finally arrived, with Dwalin and Balin in tow.
"Thank Durin you're ready!" Thorin sighed as he laid the girl down, her coughs were now coming with some blood. "I think she's caught a rather nasty cold."
Oin hurried to her, placing her hand on her sweating forehead. She was burning. "I need some water to make the tea with." Oin turned to Thorin, "She will live but she will be weak for awhile."
Thorin nodded as Dis poured the hot water she had into another kettle. Under Oin's orders, the brother lightly bathed her face with the cold water to remove all the dirt and now visible dried blood on her fair face.
"How long could she have been ill?" Balin asked as he and Dwalin seated themselves beside the kneeling King. "Days?"
"For a mere cold to get this bad?" Oin answered, "I'd say she's been ill for maybe a week, who knows how long she could have been out there by herself."
"Her clothes suggest longer than a week." Dwalin noted, having known what it felt like to be out in the wilderness just like Thorin. "She must not have family if she's alone."
Thorin nodded, "She will need us. She is far to skinny and light to be alone, even more so she is too young."
Fili listened intently on the three older dwarrow's conversation, he wasn't sure why but he truly felt fear for the young girl. He did not like to see anyone suffer, his brother especially, but this girl was just so tiny and weak that he felt like she was their responsibility. Kili seemed to feel the same way as he almost looked heartbroken.
"Why is she couching up blood?" Kili asked softly to Oin, "Does it mean she's gonna die?"
The older dwarf shook his head, "No laddie. It means she's been coughing too much and her body cannot handle it."
Kili accepted the answer but still feared for the girl. "There are lots of dried blood on her," he mumbled loudly enough for everyone to hear, "Could someone have hurt her?"
No one considered that possibility, not even Thorin. Thorin made his way to the girl, for this whole time she had finally fallen asleep. Lifting her crusted shirt, he found small cuts and bruises in the shape of fingers. Someone had handled her rather roughly.
"Perhaps she is a runaway?" Balin suggested.
"Maybe..." Thorin thought back to how cautious and yet still trusting she was. She could not have been attacked by any men so maybe it wasn't abuse. But then what could have happened?
"We should ask her when she wakes up." Dis said, "In the meantime, boys why don't get ready for bed."
Fili and Kili looked down at the small girl and nodded lowly, "She'll be okay right?" Kili asked hesitantly, afraid that they may say no.
"Trust me boys." Oin grinned, "She's in good hands."
Both brothers glanced at each other, knowing that she would be okay they finally left the adults to tend to the sleeping child. Once certain that the brothers were gone, Thorin asked, "How in Durin's name did she survive?"
"Such a small thing would have died." Dis added, "She must be a special little girl."
Dwalin glanced over the small girl, "Where did you find her?"
Thorin glanced at his cousin and answered, "Along the main road, she was hiding in a bush." He added how Kili was the one to hear her first, therefore stating the young dwarf deserved credit for finding her as well.
Dwalin and Balin nodded and made mental notes to visit her hiding spot in the morning, until then they needed some sleep. "We'll come back tomorrow to check on her." They promised before finally leaving.
Oin also planned on retiring for the evening. "She may need someone to watch her for the night." he said as he packed away his things, leaving only what the royal siblings would need to care for the girl.
Dis volunteered for that, "She'll be more comfortable with me since I'm a female like her."
Thorin nodded in agreement, "I'll prepare her a bed while you clean her off then?"
Dis nodded and, after waving off the dwarf medic, tended to their work. Knowing that she could not get the child in the bath, Dis decided to merely wipe away the dirt and blood and switch the girl's clothes with a night shirt that would cover her until Dis could either clean her clothes or get new ones.
Kili tugged off his sweaty tunic and replaced it with a nightshirt after cleaning himself of his sweat. Fili did the same but he added pants to his attire. Kili use to do the same but he eventually found it easier to sleep when he only had a long shirt.
"Do you think she'll be okay?" Kili asked softly, he did not doubt Mister Oin's skill but sometimes...
Fili hugged his brother, "She will make it and I'm sure she'll be talking tomorrow." he pulled away a bit, leaving his arm around Kili's shoulder.
Kili forced a small smile, "Okay if you say so."
Fili knew Kili was still worried but didn't push further. "Let's go to sleep, we have much to do tomorrow."
Kili groaned at that reminder, they were excused from lessons today but now they had a day's work to catch up on plus their regular lessons. "I don't wanna learn about politics, just let me shoot arrows."
Fili chuckled at his little brother's disgust at learning about their place as heirs to the throne. It wasn't so much that he hated being a prince, the royal treatment was okay, but the dark haired dwarf did not like all the lessons that came with it and how completely serious he had to be. Kili was always the fun-loving dwarf, he lived for thrills and jokes not responsibility. That was the only thing that separated the brothers really.
"Sleep tight brother." Fili ruffled the younger dwarf's hair before settling into his blankets, it was not cold enough for him to need the furs Thorin had given them.
"You too." Kili curled under his blankets, snuggling himself in hopes of falling to sleep so that he would wake in the morning and see that their guest was truly alive still.
However, sleep had not come to young Kili. His fear for the girl was overpowering, each time he closed his eye he saw her. He saw her suffering from the illness that plagues her. Haunted by the visions, Kili decided that he did not do enough for her. Quietly, he made his way to where he last saw the girl only to find that everything of her, her blankets, her being, were gone.
Where'd she go?! He panicked slightly, she was there just not five minutes ago, she surely did not leave on her own. She could not have left on her own, she was asleep and possibly too tired to awake during the night. Did mum and uncle take her to bed?
Tip-toeing into Thorin's room, Kili found that the girl was not with the dwarf king. Making his way to Dis' room, he saw the girl curled on the floor beside Dis' bed. The only large bed in the house was Fili and Kili's, seeing as the duo could never sleep apart from each other, so it made sense that the girl would be sleeping on the floor. And that was good news to him cause he planned on sleeping with her for a bit before he began to miss Fili.
Kili silently made his way over to the sleeping girl, his mother was fast asleep so he did not fear her seeing him though he did fear waking her. She would definitely get mad at him for bothering the girl but he couldn't help it; he had to be sure she was alright.
"I remember you.." a soft voice whispered as Kili came closer. "You're..that man's...little boy..."
Kili knelled beside her, she must have woken up while he was busy trying to not bother his mother. "Thorin is my uncle." he whispered back, "and we are not men, we are dwarrow."
"Dwarrow...?" she asked, she had never heard of the word dwarrow before.
"Dwarves." he corrected, remembering that some people did not know other plural of their kind. "We are dwarves."
"Oh..." she smiled, "Are dwarves always this nice?"
He returned the smile, "To each other but not as much as other races. We are not always looked upon fondly by others."
"That's..sad.."she took in a deep breath and winced, "You...your family...saved me...?"
Kili did not miss the flash of pain on her face but did not question it, instead he curled beside her and snuggled with her. "I guess so, I was afraid you'd die in our care."
"Mama..once told me," she mumbled softly, finding Kili's warmth to be soothing and greatly welcomed, "that you always heal...in the arms of...angels..."
Kili blushed at the compliment she had given his family. "What's your name?"
"Alyss." she spoke so softly that Kili almost didn't hear her.
"I'm Kili." he told her, also now finding the same warmth in her presence as she did in his. "Sleep Alyss, I'll see you in the morning."
Alyss smiled and nodded her head before falling into a deep slumber. She felt something about Kili, something that separated him from the others and she truly wanted to know what it was.
Dis had awoken the next morning to the sleeping children, shocked to see that Kili was, for once, away from Fili. It wasn't something the younger child did, in fact Dis could not recall a time where Fili and Kili were separated from one another once the latter had entered this world. It was very different to see her youngest curled so protectively around another who was not Fili. Then again, she did see the fear and almost hurt he displayed at watching the young girl suffer, all the commotion must have worried him so much that he felt the need to be reassured. Not wishing to awake the two, Dis quietly made her way to check on Fili and Thorin.
Thorin sat in the kitchen of the small house he shared with Dis, he did not want to eat just yet for there was something that continued to nag at him. The girl he found had been plaguing his thoughts, she was not a dwarf for one and that would lead to some dispute among their people but he could easily handle that. Another issue would be her family, if they are alive then they must be looking for her if not then he and his family would become her caretakers. Finally, what was she? It did not sit well with him when he thought her of the Elf kind but then again, he knew she could not even be a half breed. She was, as already stated, not a dwarf so what could she be? Man?
"Morning Thorin." Dis greeted, having just check on the still sleeping Fili. "You don't look like you got much sleep brother."
Thorin nodded in agreement, "Aye, I did not."
"The girl?" she guessed, knowing that he too was bothered by their new charge.
"I'm trying to piece together what we should do but it is hard since we know so little of her." he sighed, resting his forehead in his hand. "If she has family then we must find them and return her."
"But you saw her condition." Dis argued softly, not wanting to wake the children, "She had to have been beaten and forced to live alone, whom ever she was with prior to us cannot have her again."
Thorin looked up at his sister, she had a point and he would feel horrible about returning her to where she was unloved and neglected. "Do you wish for her to stay my sister?"
Dis hummed at the thought, she truly had always wanted a daughter and while she was blessed with two wonderful boys she did not mind another child in her care. "I believe I do Thorin and she needs us."
Thorin sighed, he would not fight against his sister and he wasn't too sure he wanted to. The girl was a child and children needed to be loved and cared for, it mattered not that she was not a dwarf for she needed them. She needed a family. "Then she shall stay."
New Story! And For The Hobbit! Yea! I really need to stop with all these story ideas... Anywho, I came up with the concept for a kid of our time and world to enter that of Middle-Earth only to find out that someone else had used the idea first! So no, I did not copy from her/him (though i figured that author was a girl) and I will do my best to not appear identical to her's/his. If there is someone else before me who had this idea and their story is remarkably similar to mine, just know I do not know of this and it is completely coincidental.