Chapter one : An Unexpected Meeting
"Go on then, you already waited until all the good ones were taken." Elrohir nudged his brother down the stone steps leading down to the training grounds.
Elladan looked at his brother wistfully. "I think I'd rather go alone than to have to accompany her to the ball, quite honestly. She prefers the company of that raccoon that is always following her around than to any of her kind. How can I possibly compete?" Elrohir continued to nudge his brother towards the grounds until she came into view. She, of course being Laúriel, the only elleth left in Rivendell that had yet to receive an invitation to the Midsummer ball that would take place later that night.
It wasn't that she wasn't lovely, as most elves are. But Laúriel was... different. She was the only elleth in all of Rivendell that looked as she did. Laúriel had long, coppery, red hair that hung in flowing waves down to her lower back, and glowing green eyes. Her skin was fair, but freckles spread across her cheeks lightly. There were none in Rivendell that looked like she, which made her very self-conscious. It didn't help that for an elleth she was also very short. She could barely be more than three or so inches taller than even the tallest dwarf! Not to mention, she did indeed spend the majority of her days with her pet raccoon, whom she lovingly called Daeron. She rescued him from a warg pack when he was but a baby, and since then he has been extremely protective of her. She saved his life, so he saw fit to protect her faithfully.
Elladan trudged over to Laúriel and in one swift movement grabbed her bow from her hands and held it behind his back. Elrohir smiled smugly at his brothers arrogance, eager to see how he was going to fare against the stubborn elleth.
"Good eve, my lady." Elladan reached for Laúriel's empty hand and slowly brought it to his lips to boldly leave a kiss atop her hand.
Laúriel snatched her hand back quickly and scowled at him. "That it is, Elladan. How may I be of service to the son of Lord Elrond?" She finished her statement with an elaborate curtsy and looked up at him almost maliciously. She knew there had to be some sort of mischief about to take place if these two were involved.
Daeron took it upon himself in that moment to protectively situate himself between Elladan and Laúriel, not letting his eyes leave the son of Elrond.
Elladan looked to his brother, who standing at the edge of the grounds, giving him a reassuring look. "I simply came to ask if you, my lady, would accompany me to the ball tonight? I know you have no date... and I dare say that it would be unbefitting for a young elleth to miss out on what will be most definitely an evening to remember."
"Great," Laúriel thought bitterly to herself. "By the Valar! Lord Elrond has seen fit to take pity on me and sent his own son to try take me to the ball tonight! HIS OWN SON!"
Laúriel's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a horn near the entrance to the hidden pass. Her eyes followed the line of white horses trotting gracefully down the pathway.
Elrohir chose that moment to join them, looking at Laúriel's bewildered gaze. "Father received word of orcs near the hidden pass. He and his men went out to slay them. It would seem that they were successful."
Elladan looked at his brother bitterly. "Shame we weren't part of the hunting party. At this rate it would be the highlight of our day."
The two brothers were too involved in their own conversation to miss the fact that Laúriel had slipped away from them and was running as quickly as she could up the steps to meet Lord Elrond.
"I will not be pitied by the lord of the elves himself. I will give him a piece of my…" Her thoughts stopped there, at the top of the stone stairs. In front of her were fifteen people she had never seen before: a wizard, a hobbit and... dwarves? Her eyes discreetly scanned over the company, noticing their apparent discomfort at such close proximity to so many elves.
Laúriel had never seen a dwarf in person before; from what the legends said they were not too fond of her kind. But the legends didn't say anything about how… handsome a dwarf could be. Her eyes lingered on what had to be one of the youngest in the company. He was tall, for a dwarf, one of the taller in the company, but still shorter than the one that she heard Lord Elrond call Thorin. He had blonde hair that hung to his shoulder, decorated almost ornately with braids, as was his mustache. Almost as if he felt her eyes on him – or perhaps it was due to the fact that the other young dwarf with brown hair nudged him and nodded in her direction, with a arrogant smirk – his blue eyes met her green ones.
Laúriel looked away as quickly as she could, the skin under her freckles flushing with embarrassment. Fili however, which was of course the young, blonde dwarfs name, let his eyes linger a little longer than he would have liked, until his brother jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow, snapping him out of it.
Lord Elrond took that moment to notice her lingering in the pathway. "Laúriel, pen tithen, what may I do for you?" He looked at her kindly, his eyes warm.
The wizard turned and looked at her with great kindness in his eyes, and perhaps a sparkle of mischief, which she didn't quite understand. The leader of the company however, when he turned to look, looked at her so coldly she thought surely she would turn to stone under his gaze. Most of the dwarves were looking at her in a similar fashion, but there were those that kept their gazes kindly.
She looked back to Lord Elrond, nervous under the gaze of so many unfamiliar eyes upon her. Upon seeing the new arrivals, she had almost forgot her purpose.
"Did you send one of your sons to ask me to the ball this afternoon my lord? I appreciate the sentiment, but I have no desire to attend."
Lord Elrond smiled at her knowingly and looked to the ground with a kind smile. "I have nothing to do with the wills of my kin. If one of my sons asked you to the ball tonight he did it under his own pretenses. Though I do think it would be good for you to attend, pen tithen."
Thorin cleared his throat loudly, as if Lord Elrond had simply could have forgotten they were there in the first place. The bald warrior dwarf beside him could not help but to stifle a grin at their leader's boldness.
Lord Elrond turned his attention back to the company of dwarves. "Forgive me, Thorin son of Thráin, you all have travelled far. You must desire to clean up before dinner."
Fili turned to his brother. "Does he offer us insult? Is he saying we are not fit to be amongst the elves in our current state?"
The Hobbit, who would become known later to Laúriel as Bilbo Baggins, turned to look at the brothers. "Well, have you smelled yourselves? Honestly, the stench of all us is enough to even put a stopper on Bombur's appetite. I can't say I blame them: we reek of troll… and… and orc blood!" Bilbo wrinkled his nose with distaste.
Kili smirked down at the hobbit and ruffled his hair. "Speak for yourself, hobbit. I'm as majestic as I always am. I'll have to beat the elven women off with my bow." Fili rolled his eyes at his brother and with a small chuckle he let his eyes trail back to the elleth standing in front of Lord Elrond.
Fili narrowed his eyes in thought. "She's quite lovely, for an elleth. I certainly haven't seen very many of them, but I've never seen an elleth that looked as she does." He felt a strange sort of warmth flow through him whenever he looked at her. He couldn't explain it, nor did he wish to. He couldn't afford to let his eyes linger as long as he might have liked. His eyes might betray him to his uncle, and then he would never hear the end of it.
Kili looked over at his brother, who was obviously deep in thought over something, his gaze leading to the elleth in front of him. He nudged him gently. "Something on your mind, brother?"
Fili snapped out of it quickly and returned his brothers gaze with a smirk. "It's nothing, just pondering on how we are going to keep ourselves from losing you amongst all the elves. There are hardly any differences between you and them. You could pass for Lord Elrond's son! All you need is some pointed ears and…"
Kili stomped on his brothers foot and leaned forward to whisper to him as Fili was buckled over in pain. "You're going to regret that, sooner rather than later, big brother!"
"Laúriel, would you kindly show our guests to the guest rooms, so that they may get cleaned up?" Lord Elrond looked at her with what would appear to be a smug, knowing smile.
Laúriel bit her lip and walked to the head of the company. "Of course, my lord. It would be an honor. Master dwarves, if you will please follow me."
She turned around and gave them what she hoped was a kind smile, only to be met with cold stares and began to lead them to the guest rooms.
Daeron had taken to walking next to the younger dwarves and was watching them with the utmost suspicion.
Kili looked down at the raccoon following along beside them, and nudged his brother.
"If I didn't know any better I would think this raccoon doesn't like us," he said with a smirk.
The raccoon chortled loudly in agreement and nipped at Kili's ankle to prove his point, leading the youngest dwarf to swear lowly under his breath.
"We have travelled far, and I for one have no desire to clean up before my men have full stomachs. They are weak and weary and need sustenance. You bring us here, but the elves offer no aid, imagine that... and elf being unwilling to help a dwarf," Thorin muttered to Gandalf bitterly.
Gandalf looked down at the leader of the company with weary eyes that told Laúriel this was not the dwarf leader's first tantrum about elves.
"Save me from the stubbornness of dwarves! Thorin Oakenshield, have patience! Or I shall abandon you all and you can take your task and keep it as your own!" Gandalf hissed lowly. He then turned to look at Laúriel. "My dear, could you possibly dig up some sort of rations from the kitchens for our company here, to tide them over until the feast tonight?"
Thorin turned to glare at the wizard with malice. "We will be fine, as always, on our own, Gandalf. Surely Fili and Kili can catch something of sustenance to eat in these woods. We require no help. Especially that of a…"
Gandalf cut him off swiftly, and with a smack to the back of the head with his walking stick. Thorin looked so stunned that Laúriel actually had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing.
"I will go to the kitchens to gather some snacks for your men, though I do not know if I will be able to carry very much on my own." Laúriel looked at the wizard kindly.
A rather large dwarf, Bombur was his name, decided to put his input out there at that moment. "Be sure to bring back lots of salted pork! Oh! What I would do for a honey cake... Do you have honey ca…?" This statement was also met with a smack to the back of the head by Gandalf's walking stick.
"You look as if you NEED salted pork, Bombur! Laúriel, why don't you take Fili and Kili with you? They can help you carry the food."
Fili and Kili exchanged a glance, before walking up to the front of the company where Laúriel was standing.
"Fili…" Fili began.
"And Kili, "Kili muttered.
"At your service," they said to her in unison before bowing.
Laúriel looked to the two dwarves before her and nodded as politely as she could manage.
"Laúriel... at... yours, master dwarves. Please follow me to the kitchens, and keep as quiet as you can; we aren't exactly supposed to be ravaging the kitchens before dinner. Best to try to remain unnoticed."
Fili and Kili exchanged looks once more. They were professionals when it came to doing things that one not ought to be doing. Clearly a trip to the kitchens of Rivendell couldn't end up in pure chaos, could it?
This is my first fan-fiction in a loooong time, So I hope it is to your liking.
There are far too few Fili x OC fanfic's out there for my taste. I would be
really honored if you would review and follow, I will be updating fairly
often, so you won't have to wait long between chapters! My eternal thanks
to LadyDunla, who has been an absolute angel in my endeavors to write. 3