"It's not fair!"

The plaintive whine came from a small, Dwarvish girl with thick, blonde hair and big, angry, glittering hazel eyes. She glared up at her father and brothers as they left and her mother gripped her arm in a tight, firm grip. There were no tears, just fury at the sheer injustice of it all (or so the ten-year-old Dwarf girl believed) and she folded her arms over her chest angrily. Baltil smiled fondly at his only daughter and bent to drop a soft kiss to her temple, but she just stared enviously at the axes, bows, and arrows hanging from her two brothers. Calim and Chalrim just grinned cheekily at their baby sister and Ovila glared back from the safe grip of Thondi. Thondi shooed her husband and sons from the door before Ovila lost her temper altogether and Ovila was scowling all over her round face. She was definitely sulking about being left behind to do the womanly duties while the boys got to go hunting, much to the males' amusement and Thondi's disapproval.

Before any work was done, Thondi decided that Ovila's hair needed to be braided and spent half an hour combing out her daughter's thick, blonde hair out and braiding it. Two, thick braids were soon hanging down Ovila's back and she was still sulking when she was shoved out of the house to help with the shopping. Her face was drawn into a scowl, her hazel eyes glittered angrily, and she glared at anyone that drifted too close to her. Thondi just led her daughter through the bustling crowds of Belegost and ignored the sulking child. She was incredibly stubborn and extremely like her father when it came to what she wanted. She wanted to learn how to fight with an axe, with a sword, with anything, instead of learning how to bake, how to cook, how to clean, how to be a good little Dwarf girl.

Thondi hoped that, one day, Ovila would find the one person she would forever love and marry him as she had with Baltil, but Ovila, of course, fought her every step of the way. It wasn't that Ovila wasn't an attractive Dwarf girl (Thondi was sure the girl's beard would grow out eventually), but she just didn't bother with her appearance and usually wandered around in her brothers' hand-me-downs with her hair falling carelessly down her back. Thondi always made sure the thick hair was braided before they went out together, though, and made sure that the girl, at least, looked vaguely presentable. She was sure Ovila looked nice now, though (even without a beard) and proudly patted her daughter's shoulder. Ovila just glared, tugging uncomfortably at the skirts of her dress, and reluctantly trudged after Thondi down the street.

"Ovila, keep up," Thondi snapped impatiently as Ovila began to fall behind and Ovila scowled deeper, but quickened her step and ignored her mother's sharp, warning look. "You're acting like a foolish child," Thondi scolded and Ovila just made a face at the Dwarf woman's back. "I saw that."

"Did not!" Ovila threw back childishly and Thondi let out a sigh that belonged to the long suffering. "Why couldn't I go with Father and Calim and Chalrim?" she demanded for the umpteenth time and Thondi finally swung around to glare furiously at her daughter

"Because you are a girl, because you are a child, because you don't do as you are told, because you are infuriating, and because of a million other reasons that I don't have the time to go into right now," Thondi all but snarled and Ovila glared lividly. "So, shut up and help me with the shopping, else you'll not see daylight again for a year," Thondi threatened and stormed away.

"It's not fair," Ovila whinged again, dragging her feet, and Thondi groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes for patience. "You're just being mean," Ovila accused and Thondi repressed the urge to shake her daughter until the girl's teeth rattled. Calim and Chalrim had never given her this much trouble and those two were twins and troublesome in their own right, but Ovila was in a whole class of her own for stubbornness, pigheadedness, and sheer whining power. "Mama," Ovila insisted and Thondi swung round to glare at the child.

"I said no!" Thondi barked and hazel eyes burned with all the indignant anger an eight-year-old can muster. "And I'll continue to say no until you learn some manners, which I might be tempted to beat into your stupid little head!" Thondi very nearly shouted and Ovila just glared sulkily. "Now, quickly," the Dwarf woman snapped and grabbed her daughter's small hand.

Sulky silence fell as Ovila was pulled along and Thondi was feeling thoroughly annoyed. She was sure her boys hadn't been this much trouble and she'd been warned girls were more trouble than boys. She'd dismissed the warnings of her friends, because how much trouble could the little, blonde, adorable bundle be? Now, she wished she'd paid attention to those warnings, because Ovila was the most troublesome thing she'd ever come across and sometimes wanted nothing more than to just lock her in her room and leave her there. It didn't help that Ovila had so few friends with so few female Dwarves and there were only three born in the past ten years that Thondi personally knew. The boys Ovila's age were at the stage where girls were things to be firmly avoided and she only really interacted with her brothers, but they were ten years older than she was. They loved her, certainly, but she couldn't be tagging around after them constantly and they humoured her sometimes, but she didn't understand that, sometimes, big brothers needed to be left alone.

Eventually, the mother and daughter reached the butcher's shop owned by Baltil and Thondi set about opening up. With her husband and sons out hunting, it fell to her and Ovila to mind the shop for the day and Thondi wasn't looking forward to it. She ordered Ovila start cleaning the countertop and the child had to stand on a stool to reach, but she got on with the work and Thondi was safe in the knowledge her daughter wasn't anywhere near the knives. Thondi arranged the meats in the window and hung some on display for the customers to inspect. Thondi very much doubted they would get many customers with the thunderous expression that filled Ovila's face and the dark rain cloud that it seemed to bring to the shop.

The day was a slow one, but Thondi hadn't expected anything else on a Tuesday and most of the customers were women and the elderly that could no longer work. Most politely ignored the dark expression on Ovila's face and Thondi cut the child a warning glare every fifteen minutes. Ovila just sulked in the corner, glaring at the paper her mother had given her to draw on as though she were no more than a silly child. 'If you didn't act like a silly child, perhaps I wouldn't have to treat you as such,' Thondi's voice resonated through Ovila's head and she took great pleasure in making a few biting remarks at the mental Thondi. It wouldn't do to say those things aloud, because it would just earn her a clip around the ear and her ear still stung from the slap she'd received the previous night. She rubbed her ear absently with a slight frown and shot Thondi a scowl.

Just before closing, Baltil, Calim and Chalrim walked in with their kills over their shoulders and proud grins lighting their faces. Ovila's sulks immediately vanished as she leapt up to question her father and brothers about the hunt and inspected the kills. Thondi rolled her hazel eyes expressively at the bright smile that now curved Ovila's face and Calim laughed fondly at his younger sister. He chucked her under the chin with a kind smile directed at his sister and Ovila stuck close to her brothers. Chalrim pretended to inspect her for meat to make her giggle and the smiles vanished the second Thondi insisted on the pair of them going home to leave the males to take care of the kills. Ovila shot a longing look over her shoulder and was dragged from the shop firmly by her mother. Her scowl settled back into place, irritation ebbing from her in waves, and she taken into the bakery, because apparently they needed bread and cake, though Ovila very much doubted she would be getting any goodies after her interaction with Thondi for the day.

There were three other patrons in the bakery when Thondi and Ovila walked in and Ovila was still scowling. The other patrons were a strong, proud, dark haired Dwarf woman that Ovila remembered seeing before and her two sons. The women nodded politely to one another as Thondi stood back and waited for the other woman to finish being served. Ovila sulked, of course, and refused to hold her mother's hand. Thondi couldn't remember Ovila ever clinging to her hands or her skirts as her boys ever did and Ovila had always held her father's or one of her brothers' hands. She'd always been such a little tomboy, but had been cast aside by the boys her own age because of her gender and Thondi knew that her daughter was angry and bitter already. She was teased for not having a beard, for being a girl, for wanting to use a sword, an axe, a bow, for wanting to be a boy, and Thondi sighed at the thought. She glanced down at her daughter and also knew that, deep down, Ovila was lonely.

"Mama," one of the boys was saying and Thondi glanced at them. The smallest one was speaking, his dark hair a mass of messy braids, his eyes big and brown and all too pleading, and his elder brother was his opposite with dark blonde hair, blue eyes, and an amused smile. "Can I have a cookie?" the youngest begged and his mother glanced at him.

"When we get home, Kili," the woman promised tiredly and Thondi knew that expression all too well. It was the one she wore when Ovila badgered her and badgered her and badgered her for something until she eventually just gave in and let the girl have what she wanted, unless, of course, it involved hunting, weapons, or fighting. "Fili, wait outside with your brother, hm?" the woman suggested and the blonde immediately took the dark haired boy's arm to take him outside with all the pride and duty of an elder brother. "Do you have any sons or only a daughter?" the woman suddenly shot at Thondi with a slight smile, glancing at Ovila, and Ovila was still scowling.

"I have two boys, but they're ten years older than Ovila," Thondi answered with her own, small smile and the other woman nodded. "I miss them being that age, though," Thondi stated when a gesture at the other woman's two, small boys and Ovila sighed slightly.

The women started that irritating grown-up talk about children and the trials of raising children and just how annoying children were. Ovila glanced up at Thondi to find her mother not paying attention to her and the girl silently slipped out of the bakery. Everyone seemed so big without Thondi, or Baltil, or one of her brothers at her side and she had to steel her courage to stop herself rushing back inside to Thondi. She was stubborn, far too stubborn, to admit she was frightened of getting lost, of losing herself in the crowd, of not being found, and she just wanted to get back to her brothers and her father. Her teeth worried her bottom lip, just for a moment, hazel eyes flickering back to Thondi and the other woman, and she saw the woman's sons. They were stood near the wall and the dark haired one looked bored, while the blonde kept his blue eyes moving from his little brother to the people roaming the streets.

"Are you lost?" the littlest Dwarf boy suddenly asked and Ovila jumped when he appeared directly in front of her.

"No," Ovila snapped, insulted, and he seemed a little older than her, just by a few years, though he didn't look it when he pouted at her.

"You look lost," he accused.

"Well, I'm not, so leave me alone," she retorted and the blonde just watched the interaction with obvious humour glittering in his blue eyes.

"You're a girl, you shouldn't be wandering about alone," the smallest boy stated and put Ovila's back up.

"Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't take care of myself!" she argued, cheeks flaring red with anger, and the boy snorted.

"Does so," he insisted. "Uncle Thorin says that girls have to be taken care of and protected, so you shouldn't be wandering around without a man with you, 'specially 'cause you're so little."

"I am not little!"

"You are! You're smaller than I am and you're a girl!"

Ovila lunged with a battle cry, slammed into the boy, and her fist collided with his nose. Blood gushed from the boy's face as he screamed in protest and tried to shove the furious girl off of him. He managed to roll them over so he could attempt to pin her hands down, but she hit him in the stomach and he yelped at the pain. For such a tiny girl, she sure hit hard and she hit with precision too. They rolled over and over in the dust, scrapping like a pair of wild dogs, and the blonde uselessly tried to pull them apart. The children wrenched on one another's hair, punched, kicked, scratched, and Ovila even bit the boy on the arm when he tried to twist her arm. People even stopped to stare at the brawling pair and, soon enough, the mothers heard and rushed out of the bakery.

"OVILA!"

"KILI!"

Thondi managed to grasp the back of Ovila's dress and hauled her up, while the other woman wrenched her son away from the girl. The children shrieked at each other and fought against their mothers' holds to try and grab hold of one another once more. Both had blood on them, both of them were covered in dirt, and their hair was ruffled, rumpled mess with braids swirling free. The mothers apologised profusely to each other, to everyone, and then proceeded to drag their children home, all the while hissing threats and scolds at the children. Both children sulked as they were cleaned up and sent to bed, vowing to hate the other for as long as they lived.

My first Hobbit story! I'm just a little tired of all the inserts into the movie (don't get me wrong, I love them, have about ten on alert) and I wanted to try something a little different. Hopefully, Ovila won't be a Mary-Sue and, please, warn me if she seems like she's becoming one. It's just that most paint Kili as falling head-over-heels for the girl instantly and I wanted to insert a little more tension to the story, if that makes any sense. So, headstrong, stubborn, pigheaded Ovila was born.

Sorry for the long A/N, but please R&R, no matter what you have to say.

Merciless Princess.