Author's Note:
Hello all! This is a bit of a set-up chapter for my fic, which will eventually be a Fili/OC fic, even if it seems at first to be a bit Thorin/OC-ish. Anyway, this stars my OC, Revel Willow, an orphaned human girl who has been brought up by the elves in Rivendell. She currently resides with the great elf physician, Lady Lorienna, along with several other young girls who wish to pursue an apprenticeship in medicine. When Thorin Oakenshield and Company become injured and ill on their quest to the Lonely Mountain, they seek rest, refuge and treatment from Rivendell. And that is where the story starts! Hope you enjoy the first chapter; reviews are greatly enjoyed!
"Careful Revel!" snapped Lady Lorienna, as I nearly dropped the bag of elvish medicines for the third time.
"I'm sorry!" I said, hoisting the bulging bag further up my shoulder and scampering down the path after her. "I'm just a bit nervous, you see, and-
"Why ever would you be nervous?" the elderly physician turned round and stared at me with her piercing elf eyes.
"Well, we're going to treat a king, aren't we? A dwarf king? And I mean, how should I address him? 'My Lord'? Or is that wrong? I don't-
Lady Lorienna held up a hand to stop my rambling mid-flow.
"Revel," she said. "You do not need to know how to address Thorin Oakenshield, as you are not to address him all at! Why on earth should the great dwarf king be concerned with you?"
"Oh right, yes, of course!" I said quickly, with a wave of my hand that dismissed any idea I'd had that Thorin Oakenshield would wish to speak to me.
"You are not to speak to him unless I say otherwise, is that clear?"
I nodded. Lady Lorienna was always clear.
I had known of the elderly elf my whole life, though it had only been recently that we had gotten to know each other personally. For as long as I could remember, Lady Lorienna had been renowned as the best physician in Rivendell, and she was famous for her skills and her medicines. She was even personal physician to the great Master Elrond. But while Lady Lorienna had always been known of to me, I had only met the physician a few months ago, when she opened up her famous workshop for young, skilled, female elves to work with her as apprentices.
Though I was neither skilled, nor an elf, old Cenielora at the orphanage thought it would be a good opportunity for me to progress in the world. I had lived at the orphanage for most of my life; my parents had both died when a vicious influenza had swept through our village of Borgon. My father had died first, and then my mother had lived just long enough after him to take me over the border to the elvish village of Rivendell, where I had been brought up and protected by the elves ever since. I myself was a mere mortal; possessing no elven skill or power, and making me a constant source for taunts from my peers.
But, since coming to live and work at the physician's with a small group of other young women, I had obviously shown some sort of skill, for Lady Lorienna had chosen me to accompany her to visit some injured dwarves who had sought rest and treatment from Rivendell. Amongst the group of dwarves, and the reason for my agitation and clumsiness with the bag, was Thorin Oakenshield; the dwarf king. I had grown up with stories of the world outside the idyllic Rivendell, and none more exciting or thrilling than the tale of Thorin Oakenshield and his battle with Azog, the pale orc. Not even in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I would be treating the same dwarf who had bravely battled with a beast and claimed justice for his father. Surely no one could blame me for feeling nervous!
"Revel! Hurry up!"
Hugging the heavy bag to myself in nervous anticipation, I hurried along to catch up with Lady Lorienna.
"Right," she said as we reached the small cluster of houses that Master Elrond had given to the dwarves to stay in. "You are to wait here while I go and have a word with Gandalf-
"Gandalf is here?" I interrupted excitedly. "Gandalf the Grey? The wizard?"
"Yes," said Lady Lorienna, sounding exasperated. "And that is not a reason to lose our heads, Revel," she added sternly. "You mustn't let excitement get in the way of doing your job. Excitement is one thing that has no place in the world of medicine, you understand."
I nodded, attempting to appear suddenly like the least excited person Lady Lorienna had ever seen.
"Now," she continued. "As I was saying. You will wait right here while I go and speak with Gandalf, and I shall come back and collect you before going in to Thorin Oakenshield. You are not to move from this spot, do I make myself clear?"
"Yes," I said, nodding. Once again, Lady Lorienna was quite clear.
She swept away, long blue cloak rippling behind her. Though old, the physician was very elegant, with her tall stature and fine clothes. I wished I could be more like her, but my human nature had made me smaller than my elvish peers, and my blouse and woollen skirt were a long way from Lady Lorienna's velvets and silks.
I felt a jittery sense of excitement again. Gandalf was here! Gandalf the Grey; the great wizard. Maybe I could get to speak to him myself at some point? Ask him about all his great adventures? Perhaps he could perform some magic for me or-
In my excitement, a small glass phial had slipped from the bulging bag of medicines, and rolled away through a door that stood slightly ajar nearby. Forgetting Lady Lorienna's words entirely in my haste to retrieve the phial, I darted after it, throwing open the door and clattering inside.
The room was brightly lit; sunlight pouring in through the windows. Though it was a warm day outside, a roaring fire stood in the grate; enveloping the whole room in a blaze of heat. I dropped to the floor and began looking around underneath cupboards for the glass phial. I did not notice the presence of anyone else in the room until-
"Ugh,"
A groan came from over on the other side of the room, where a bed lay that I had previously thought to be merely unmade. But now it was apparent that the bundle of blankets on it had, in fact, been living.
"Ugh," came the moan again. "Coming in without invitation...where were you when we really needed you, eh? You elves are all the same..."
"I'm not an elf," I piped up immediately, not thinking. Curse my runaway mouth! I sprung up from where I had been crouched on the floor, and turned round to see who I had intruded upon. My heart stopped dead when I laid eyes on the figure in the bed. It was none other than Thorin Oakenshield.
Of course I could recognise him from the illustrations of his famous battle stories. Though the years had added age to his profile, the dark hair and sturdy nose were clearly recognisable.
"Oh gosh!" I cried. "Mister Oakenshield, I mean My Lord, errm, Your Highness, I'm so sorry, I don't-
What was I even saying? All the while I was blathering away, Thorin Oakenshield was staring at me with a look of mingled surprise, and disgust. I grew hot under his scrutinising gaze.
"Revel!" came an icy cry from the doorway, stopping my stuttering words immediately. "What on earth do you mean by blundering in here and disturbing Mr Oakenshield in this way?"
I turned. Lady Lorienna looked livid.
"I'm s-sorry," I said, turning my stuttering tongue on the physician instead. "I just-I didn't-I'm sorry I..."
"Stop wittering," she snapped. "Mr Oakenshield," she turned to the dwarf king. "Please accept my most sincere apologies for disturbing you in this way. It's my apprentice, you see, she can be a little...excitable, and-
"I haven't got time for silly, excitable girls!" It was Lady Lorienna's turn to be interrupted. "If it were up to me, we wouldn't have stopped here at all, but a lot of my company were injured, and Gandalf thought it were for the best."
"And Gandalf was right!" said Lady Lorienna, not nearly so pleasant to the dwarf king now. I knew Lady Lorienna hated to be interrupted. "A lot of your men have sustained some very nasty injuries, not to mention yourself! Now, let's take a look..."
She peeled back Thorin Oakenshield's sleeve, where a blood soaked bandage covered his arm., I could not help but feel a weird sort of excitement inside me as I looked at the arm. What sort of thrilling tale could be told by that injury? What terrible enemies did it behold?
"Orc arrows I presume?" Lady Lorienna said, snapping her fingers at me to bring the bag of medicines. I hurried over.
Thorin Oakenshield nodded.
"Orc arrows?" I cried, forgetting myself once more.
Lady Lorienna turned to glare at me. Thorin Oakenshield rolled his eyes exasperatedly.
I murmured an apology, and Lady Lorienna turned back to her patient.
"I'll just attend to the wound with essence of rookwood," she told Thorin Oakenshield. "And then dress it. For some of your company, it might not be so simple..."
I drifted away from the bed as Lady Lorienna was speaking. Laid out on a cabinet nearby was a sword, with a jewel encrusted hilt and fine leather cover. It was a beautiful creation. I looked back at the bed. Thorin seemed to be engrossed with Lady Lorienna. I reached out a hand to touch the wonderful weapon-
"Don't touch that!"
Startled, I jumped, knocking into the cabinet with my bulging sack of medicines. The sword fell with a crash to the floor, where it bounced slightly, clattering but thankfully unharmed.
"For goodness sake, Revel!" cried Lady Lorienna. "How many times do I-
"Lady Lorienna," interrupted Thorin. Lady Lorienna's lips went thin. "Can you please do away with this troublesome character you've brought here? I did not come here to be ridiculed."
"Of course," said Lady Lorienna, with forced dignity. She turned to me, glaring once more. "Revel, leave me that essence of rookwood. Take the bag back to the House. I shall deal with you later."
Meekly, I handed Lady Lorienna a phial from the bag, and turned to leave. I tried to throw Thorin Oakenshield an apologetic look that also conveyed how much I admired him and how much of an honour it had been to meet him, etc, but the dwarf was not looking at me. His attentions were turned back to Lady Lorienna, and both elf and dwarf, I noted, looked rather put out.
I swiftly left the room, and was just thinking over what a disaster the morning had been, when I collided, headlong, into somebody. The overfilled bag fell to the floor with a crash, sending bottles and leather pouches flying everywhere.
"Oh!" I cried, flinging myself on the floor in an attempt to salvage the medicines.
"I'm sosorry!" said the voice of my collider. "Would you like some help?"
"No," I said, miserably, looking around at the mess surrounding me.
"Please, let me help." The collider knelt down beside me and began gathering up bottles. I looked at them. It was not somebody I recognised, and taking in his dwarfish stature, I assumed that he must be one of Thorin Oakenshield's company. Considering the morning so far, probably the less time I spent with these dwarves, the better.
"No, please, seriously," I said, taking the bottles from him and shoving them in the bag along with the last of the leather pouches. We stood up.
I had been correct in assuming that this person was a dwarf. For when we stood up, I noted that I was good few inches taller than him, though this made a pleasant change from constantly being looked down on by the elves.
"Well, thank you," I mumbled.
"Not a problem," said the dwarf, giving a rather wild grin. "How is he?"
"How is...who?"
"My uncle. Thorin,"
Uncle? Thorin's nephew? I had just collided with Thorin Oakenshield's nephew? Could this day possibly get any worse?
"Oh, sorry," said the dwarf, looking uncomfortable. "I assumed you were the physician."
Despite the circumstances, I couldn't help but feel slightly proud that someone would think me to be the great Rivendell physician. Part of me very much wanted to puff out my chest importantly and say "Oh yes, that's me," but I decided that that would probably be a very foolish thing to do, so instead said;
"No! Not me. I'm just the, uh, apprentice. Yes, that's right. To Lady Lorienna. The physician."
"Oh, right."
We both stood in silence for a few moments before our subject herself appeared, bustling out of Thorin's room and looking put out. When she saw me still stood there, she sighed loudly and impatiently.
"Revel, will you please take your troublesome self away from these parts? I've had enough trouble already trying to convince Thorin Oakenshield that you weren't some sort of elven joke, sent in to set him up, and I really don't want to deal with you anymore!"
I looked down at the floor. I knew I deserved this scolding, but it didn't make it any easier to take. Particularly with Thorin's nephew of all people stood right there!
"So are you the physician?" asked the dwarf, looking to Lady Lorienna.
"Yes," said Lady Lorienna, curtly. It seemed that Thorin Oakenshield had rather lowered her opinions of dwarves.
"So how's Thorin?" he asked. "And if you're finished with him, could you maybe come and take a look at my brother? He's being stubborn, but I'm sure-
"Yes," interrupted Lady Lorienna. "I know you dwarves seem to think that we elves are good for nothing, but I'll have you know that without us, you lot would all most likely be dead, or worse!"
Lady Lorienna was evidently in a bad mood, and the young dwarf looked rather shocked by her angry outburst.
"Give me that blasted bag, Revel," Lady Lorienna snapped. "And get back to the House, before you can cause any more damage."
And so I handed the bag over, and miserably began the walk back through Rivendell, leaving Lady Lorienna with the still stunned dwarf, and pondering over what could possibly be worse than that afternoon.
x-x-x
"I knew you shouldn't have taken Revel with you, Lady Lorienna," Tahadrial said, as we took supper in the parlour that evening. "You ought to have taken me. I wouldn't have brought shame on your name."
Tahadrial shot me a nasty look. Ever since I had met the elf, at the beginning of Lady Lorienna's apprentice programme, we had not gotten on. Furiously competitive, and annoying skilled, Tahadrial was matched perfectly to my average skills and clumsy nature. At every available opportunity, she would attempt to humiliate me, and make my life miserable. But the years of being bullied for my non-elvish ways had toughened me up against such behaviour, and I usually took little notice of Tahadrial's taunts. But tonight it felt different.
"Don't take any notice of her, Revel," my best friend, Anneli Rose, said as she braided my hair later that evening before we retired to bed.
"But she's right though," I moaned. "I did bring shame on Lady Lorienna. I let her down! And I so wanted things to go well. I was so pleased she thought I was good enough to take with her!"
"And she was right," soothed Anneli. "First impressions don't always count, remember. You'll get your chance to prove yourself, I know you will."
"Hmph," I grunted. "Not any time soon I won't. I just know Lady Lorienna's going to take Tahadrial with her to visit the dwarves tomorrow. She practically said so this evening!"
"And so what if she does?" said Anneli as she finished my braid, obviously growing slightly tired of this topic, despite her great patience. "Forget about Tahadrial, Revel. And tell me more about Thorin Oakenshield! Is he really as fierce as he looks in those illustrations?"
Keen to indulge my friend in one of her favourite topics of conversation, Thorin Oakenshield, I described in great detail our meeting. Though I may have used a touch of artistic licence; adding in several conversations between me and the great Dwarf King that had never actually occurred, and glossing over being called a 'troublesome character'.