Once an Adventurer

WARNING: This story is full of cuteness because it is fan girl-oriented. If you are allergic to cuteness, don't read it.

"... Story time! Story time!" said the younglings, jumping on bed and beating each other with goose down pillows. Dili and Mili were anxious to hear the exciting tales of their father's early days.

"I want a battle story, da. Tell me about the orcs!" said Dili.

"Again? Always orcs, orcs and more orcs. They are ugly! I want something different. Da, how did you meet ma?" said Mili, fluttering her full eyelashes. Who could deny anything to those large green eyes?

"Very well, tonight's story is about an incident. The very incident that changed my life." Said the mature dwarf, helping himself to a chair. His peg leg tapping on the wooden floor boards, a distinctive sound that amused Dili. To his sister, the tapping was like heartbeats. With a soft grunt, he sat on a beautifully wood carved chair between the twin beds, which were equally carved to match the entire furniture of the tiny room. The dwarf took a deep breath, releasing it slowly with a wide grin.

"An incident? what's that?" Asked Mili to her older brother.

"I don't know, but it sounds boring" Responded Dili.

The dwarf chuckled, looking at them both. "Don't be so hard on me, I promise you will like it. Let's see..." He responded softly, stroking his full beard in deep thought. Mili smiled at him, for there was nothing in this world she enjoyed more than the deep voice of her father, as he told them tales. Dili, on the other hand, seemed more interested in the story behind the battle scars on his father's limbs.

"It all started with an adventure. The first adventure I had, and I was so excited about it. I would finally see things I only knew through tales from my elders. Tales like the one I will tell you now..." He started saying, when Mili interrupted,

"But da, we have heard that introduction a thousand times" She just finished her complaint when a pillow hit her on the back.

"Let da continue, will you?" said Dili impatiently.

"Dili, we do not beat lassies angrily, do we?" Exclaimed the dwarf. "Sorry da, please continue" said Dili in an apologetic way. His expressive green eyes were fixed on his father.

"Agreed, you both know I belonged in a company of thirteen dwarves, a wizard and a hobbit burglar. So I will skip the details. This specific day, we entered an enchanted forest, protected with dark magic. We lost our path at a given moment. We walked in circles for a long while, even saw visions that caused us to bicker and fight each other. Sometimes I still feel dizzy from that journey. Then the spiders attacked us! Not like the ones we squash under the bed at times; these were HUGE spiders, three times my size and ten times stronger. They wrapped us in their threads. We would have become their meal if it wasn't for the hobbit burglar. Bilbo was his name. He found us and freed us from the cobwebs. But then a bigger threat appeared... ELVES!" he said, widening his eyes with mystery.

The younglings made expressions of wonder, craving for more, "Elves? How are elves a threat? are they not good?" asked Mili; too many endless questions, one after another.

"Elves and dwarves did not get along back then. They had been tracking the spiders for a long time and killed them all. Well, all but one. Then they captured us and confiscated our weapons. And that's when I met her... the most beautiful lass my eyes have ever seen. She was captured by the spider that survived. I quickly stole a knife from one of our captors and KILLED IT! I fell in love with her when our eyes met, and I became a prisoner of her beauty. I still am." He was daydreaming.

"Hmm... does ma know?" asked Mili narrowing her eyes.

"She suspects it. But shh.. that's our little secret. Can you keep it for me?" whispered the dwarf with a wink, causing Mili to giggle. He went on, "The elves locked us in cells. Without our weapons, we were as good as useless. But our burglar Bilbo managed to enter the stronghold, steal the keys and free us. We ran silently down the hallways to their cellars, where we hid inside of barrels, and the hobbit pulled a lever that released us into the river. Our great escape was exciting. That's when the elves locked the gates to the waterfalls and we were floating in the middle of nowhere, about to be trapped and locked again."

"Oh no, and how did you escape then, da?" asked Dili.

"ORCS!" responded the dwarf.

"Orcs? I thought they were bad!" said Mili inquisitively.

"And they are. But they attacked the elves. And while they were distracted, I opened the gates and we were free. We could see elves and orcs fighting on land, while the river moved our barrels away. And then I saw her again fighting orcs; she was a dream come true, but I knew she was not for me." He sighed deeply as his lips curled in an idle smile. He was brought back to reality by a poke from Dili, with such an aim he sunk his slender finger in the dwarf's old leg injury, an injury that left a deep scared hole.

"Da! what happened next?" he demanded.

"OUCH! Don't you do that again, little rascal!" said the dwarf, grabbing Dili by the arm and carrying him back to bed. His eyes widened menacingly towards Dili for a moment. Mili giggled uncontrollably.

"How did that wound happen, da?" asked Dili, fully intrigued.

"Well, I was so distracted with thoughts of the fairest of all maidens, that I did not realize I was injured by orcs, until we arrived to Lake Town. A man named Bard took us there. The wound got infected and I got sick. In my deliriums, I saw the object of my affection once more... I could never tell if I dreamed her, or if she was really there. All I can remember is a blinding light and waking up to clean bandages and um.. some other things that I.. um.. will tell you when you are older." He blushed.

Both younglings narrowed their eyes at their father, arms crossed on their chests in a silent protest.

The peer pressure made him stutter for a moment, "Where was I? Um.. AHA! the dragon! A fire breathing dragon attacked the town we were at, burning everything. We were lucky to survive" That was a nice get away.

"A... dra...gon?" Asked Mili, eyes wide in terror and gulping.

"Yes, he was enormous, with flapping wings, sharp claws, teeth like swords and scales like iron. One of those scales was missing. The man named Bard shot the dragon there, on the missing scale with a black arrow, killing him almost instantly. The ground shook like an earthquake at his fall." Explained the dwarf with exaggerated gestures.

Both kids exclaimed "WOW" in unison. Their expressive eyes gleamed with a deep craving to know more.

"The dragon was murdered, but the destruction he caused was massive. Everywhere was death. We helped the inhabitants remove debris, ruins and pile up corpses. And then I saw her again. She was sad with the desolation, but to see me recovered brought a smile to her face. Her sadness was deeply moving, so I comforted her. We kissed lovingly..."

"Da, that's so romantic!" said Mili, curling her lips in a mischievous smile, with puppy eyes.

"EWWWWW? That's gross, da! Can you please skip that part?" said Dili, contorting with disgust.

The dwarf laughed heartily, remembering how disgusted he was to demonstrations of affection at Dili's age, "When you get to be as old as I am, you will think otherwise" he winked at Dili and continued the story, "Half of our company was already in the lonely mountain of Erebor, which was our destination. So the rest of us traveled there. My beautiful healer came with us. Each time, we faced a danger worse than the previous. We arrived to Erebor, to learn our king had declared war to the elves and to the men that came with them. I was sad, but I had to follow orders. Then the wizard arrived and said a set of words. We were going to be attacked by orcs, thousands of them. An entire army was headed our way. So we united; elves, men and dwarves, to fight our common enemy. It was the only way if we wanted to survive."

"Tell me more! Tell me more! What happened next, da?" asked Dili all thrilled and jumping on the bed. His blonde hair bouncing up and down.

"No fair! I'm tired of hearing about orcs! Da?" protested Mili. Her light brown curls made her look like a doll. Both kids had thick sideburns, big ears that stuck out of their shoulder length hair and porcelain looking skins.

"I am sorry, sweetheart, but they are part of my story, sadly" He answered.

Mili felt bad. She grabbed her father's face gently with her feathery soft palms, gazing directly into his eyes, "Please da, continue".

He smiled at her and resumed his story.

"The war was horrible. Each of us fought like heroes. We took many orcs down, but they also took many of our people down. I fought side by side with my brother, our armors were stained with the blood of our foes. I was distracted fighting a large orc, when a warg grabbed me by the leg and would not let go of it. Large nasty animals they are, like wolves, but bigger! The more my uncle stabbed the warg, the angrier it became, swinging me to the sides like a rag doll. Finally the warg was dead. I was tossed away as my leg was severed from my knee, remaining in the jaws of the warg. That was the end of the battle for me. I screamed loudly, the pain of my severed leg would not go away, and I bled profusely." He said, followed up by silence. His face became sad as he rubbed his peg legged knee.

"Is that how you lost your leg, da?" Asked Dili, with a serious expression.

"Yes my lad. I still remember the pain..." he responded.

"Does it hurt you much, da? Will a kiss make it better?" asked Mili sweetly.

The dwarf smiled to Mili, "Only my soul hurts, sweetheart. I no longer feel pain in my leg. I was removed from the battle field shortly after, and taken to a healing tent. My severed knee was infected. My fever was high and the pain was unbearable. The maiden I fell in love with was there with me, telling others to hold me down as she healed my infection. The pain was so strong I fainted. I could hear voices around me, like a far echo. I woke up when I heard my name. It was our burglar. He brought good and bad news; The good news were that we won the war. The bad news were that both my brother and uncle were dead, a high price to pay for our victory."

"Did you cry, da?" asked Mili pouting, her green eyes fixed on his.

"Yes sweetheart, I did. I loved my brother and uncle more than anything. They are gone to Mahal now. They can no longer suffer, but I miss them terribly." He said, misty eyed and faking a smile to not worry his children.

"I did not want to live, I wanted to go with them. That's when your grandmother entered the tent, pushing everybody out of her way to get to me. She embraced me tight, humming a lullaby in my ear. I fell asleep in her arms, but I could still hear her arguing with the lady that saved my life, all because she was an elf. Your grandma was not happy to know an elf was taking care of me, her only surviving son. Especially because I was next in line to the throne of Erebor as the rightful King. Finally she consented to let me come to the undying lands with the she-elf. Every mother wants the best for their children and she knew I would have died if I stayed in Erebor. But there was still a detail, and it is that no dwarf was allowed in the undying lands. So the wizard sent written word to make sure I would be allowed in. I gave up the throne, knowing that ride would be my last adventure from which I would not return, and Dain Ironfoot of the Iron Hills was crowned in my stead."

"Da?" Asked Mili.

"Yes sweetheart?" He responded.

"You will always be a King to me" said Mili, kissing his cheek sweetly.

He smiled to her.

"Da? what happened to the burglar?" asked Dili.

"He returned home to the shire" said the dwarf.

"And to the she-elf?" asked Mili, suspiciously.

"I married her as soon as we arrived here, to the undying lands..." He said, with his characteristic wide grin.

"I KNEW IT!" exclaimed Mili, narrowing her eyes and attacking him with her pillow.

He laughed heartily.

"Kili, I think that's enough..." Said Tauriel, entering the room to cover her kids with their blankets. She remained exactly the same in appearance, "...and both of you will sleep now. Da is tired and needs some rest. I will take him with me"

"Good night, ma!" said them both in unison. Tauriel kissed their foreheads and turned off the lantern. She helped Kili rise from his chair, so his peg leg would not tap too loudly. They headed to their bedroom as silent as they could to not wake the dwelflings.

"So you saved me from the spiders, eh?" Asked Tauriel, giving Kili THE stare.

"Well, every good story deserves some embellishment, love..." he grinned sheepishly to his unchanging wife, scratching the back of his head as an awkward reaction of his "... truth is I would not have survived all that madness without you. I love you!" He said, gazing dreamily at her with his brown eyes.

Tauriel smiled at him, caressing his now full beard, "I love you still the same, ever since you only had a stubble for a beard" She kissed him sweetly, making him melt. They gave each other a naughty stare and locked up in their bedroom until next day.

The End