- Little explanation, the italics are Fili's POV, sorry if it's terrible, I've never done this before. (also, I don't own anyone in this story except Ariana)
I approach the hobbit hole, with the slightest hesitation. Will Thorin allow me to join the company? He never had really approved of me, I will just blame Gandalf if things take a turn for the worse.
5 years earlier – "Climb that one!" Kili encouraged with a grin.
"Are you mad? That tree is much too frail." I exclaim peering up at a tree that had to be a hundred feet tall.
"Oh, I see, well if your too scared.."
I glare at Kili, and then glance at the old, almost bare tree that seemed to touch the clouds.
It would be a good vantage point, I imagine I could see the whole land from the top, perfect hiding place and I could practice my marksmanship from this height.
"Hold this," I unbuckle my sword belt and shove it into Kili's chest as I stride past him.
"Ariana you don't have to do that, don't let him bait you." Fili grabs my arm as I walk past him toward the tree, his face straight, but I can see his eyes full of concern.
"You boy's have no faith in me, I'm a big girl, tie my own shoelaces and everything." I smile at Fili and brush past him flipping my long, curly hair over my shoulder.
I noticed how close to blonde her brown her hair was when the sun hit it, I smell the sweet soap she must use on it when she brushes past me, I need to get it together.
I stand at the bottom of the enormous tree and peer up, trying to work out a plan on how I am going to reach the top without grabbing the wrong branch, the whole tree looked like it was riddled with termites.
I close my eyes and breathe in deeply, I can feel the lightest breeze pushing my hair out of my face, I can smell the stream nearby, the freshness of the clear water, I can hear the birds high above, singing out to me
Starting my climb is easy enough, I can hear Fili chastising Kili for suggesting something so foolish, sometimes I wish he would share more of his younger brothers juvenile antics.
The higher I climb the thinner the branches get, the rational part of me is telling me I should stop here, but the competitive part of me is louder and wants to prove Kili wrong.
"Ariana, come down now. You've proved your point, you're already past half way up!" Fili shouts at me.
"No! You have to go to the top, that's the deal!" Kili argues, Fili shoves him half playfully half frustrated.
I look down and realize I have come much farther than I expected, what would be the point in turning around now?
Kili would never let me forget it if I turned around now, he believes me to be frightened, he has spent most the day searching for daring things for me to do to prove myself worthy.
No, I will not stop now.
As I get higher and higher the birds get louder, and the air fresher, I love to climb trees, and I am good at it.
My mother used to make me climb trees when I was younger, "It builds muscle and character." She would say.
I can feel the branches swaying under my weight and the wind, they are definitely getting weaker the higher I climb, I'm only about 30 feet from the top!
I hear a sickening crack beneath my feet and before I have time to jump the branch gives way.
I hear a scream before realizing its my own.
Twigs claw out at my face as I plummet toward the earth, none of the branches are strong enough to stop my fall, I'm being battered by the larger branches as I frantically reach out for a strong branch to stop myself falling. The the wind get's knocked out of me by a branch hitting my ribs, with another sickening crack I scream out in agony and see black spots dart across my vision.
Clawing out, I try to find anything to grab hold of, with no luck. A few more large branches give me the opportunity to slow myself before making contact with the ground below, I fear the worst, of all the fighting I have done in my life, all the foul creatures I have come across, and a tree will be my undoing.
My head connects with something hard and I see spots again, but this time they do not go away, the last thing I remember is hearing Fili frantically yelling for me, then I feel myself land with a thud.
The first thing I notice is his smell, then the warmth of his breath tickling my face, and the security of his arms around me, how could one persons arms make me feel like nothing bad could ever happen to me?
"Run ahead, tell Uncle what happened!" Fili shouts to Kili.
The noise startles me and I jump, and then let out a moan from the pain spreading across my body.
"Shh, its okay, your okay," he hushes to me soothingly, but I notice that he is panting and can't imagine why, why is he holding me? Why does it feel like he is running? Why do I hurt so much?
I open my eyes and see a blur of trees and a darkening sky, the sight is making me feel dizzy and I'm afraid I might be sick.
Glancing up at Fili I try to concentrate on his face, I notice a line has appeared on his forehead, I have seen it before when he would watch Kili do something dangerous or foolish, a worry line.
My heart beats faster with excitement, is he worried for me? But realizing that if he is worried then I probably should be too, I begin to feel sick again.
"Its okay, we're almost there, you'll be okay."
I'm not sure if he is trying to convince himself or me.
We arrive at a familiar house not long after, and I hear Kili's worried voice replaying what happened, a low gruff voice argues with him in response. I know that voice... but can't place it, I still feel dizzy and am relived when Fili places me on a cleared off table for the stability, but cant deny that I am a little saddened to not have his warm arms around me.
A face appears above me, dark hair curtained around his face, I recognized Thorin, and grimace, it's one thing for Kili to think of me as weak, but for Thorin to see me as weak is torture, the king already was not fond overly fond of me, I have been trying to gain his approval for years.
He looks me over to check my wounds, and his eyes widen when he comes to my stomach.
Curiosity get's the better of me and I look down, only to be greeted by a branch about 6 inches long and 1 inch in diameter sticking out of my stomach just above my hip.
"Oh that is perfect, just goddamned perfect." I growl through gritted teeth, it hurts to speak but there are really no other ways to react, although passing out seems like a nice opportunity right now.
I close my eyes in an attempt relax. Ignore the pain, I've been through worse.
Why, why out of all the Elven traits I inherited from my mother, self-healing isn't one of them?
I can hear Thorin, Fili and Kili muttering across the room about what to do with me, I did inherit the super-elven hearing, but I don't really want to know what is being said.
Blocking every thing out, I glare at the ceiling. My head is throbbing, and every noise seems to send pain shooting through my skull.
My stomach doesn't hurt so much when I lay still, but it does make breathing extremely uncomfortable.
Fili approaches me slowly and explains that Thorin is going to remove the stick so that they can bandage it.
Thorin stands to my left and peers down at me with an apologetic look, Fili is on my right watching anxiously.
"Are you ready?" Thorin asks.
Gritting my teeth I nod.
Thorin nods to Fili who pulls a flask of some sort of alcohol from the bench and unscrews the cap to pour on my wound, but before he can I decide I need some courage, so I grab it from his hand and take a swig, then pass it back.
Fili smirks slightly then grimaces going back to his task.
I feel a cool splash on my stomach then a searing pain, I arched my back and scream just as Thorin pulls the stick from my stomach and Fili holds me down, dots appeared in my vision once again and I let myself be dragged into unconsciousness.
I awake to the sound of arguing, "You can't take care of one girl, how do you expect to be a king to your people?" a sharp voice hissed.
"I didn't even know she had arrived! She is your daughter, not my responsibility." Thorin growls.
I hear the sharp voice offer insult to the king in Elvish
and I decide it is time to stop the nonsense, I moaned loudly as I try to sit up.
Fili and Kili are sitting by my side looking guilty, until they see me awake and relief floods their faces.
"Ariana! Finally your awake, we need to leave, now." The sharp voice hisses, I look over to see my mother towering over the table, the woman clears 6ft, looking oddly out of place in the presence of dwarves.
"But mother, I just got here.. And I'm okay now, couldn't I stay a little longer? I hardly get to spend time with any of Da's kin." I whine.
"That is because your father is dead, Dwarves die, they are foolish folk and clearly not a good influence on you, if you stay with them any longer I can guarantee they'll get you killed too." She hisses back in Elvish.
Thorin looks like he is ready to start shouting again so I reluctantly follow my mother in the hope that too much damage hasn't been done already.
I want to follow her, I step forward to say something to her, anything. But Thorin grabs my arm and shakes his head, I look back to her in despair, willing for her to come back.
I shake my head, trying to rid myself of the memory, the last time I saw Thorin, Kili and Fili.
I regret the way things were left, I was not able to say goodbye to my friends, all I could do was glance back at them as my mother dragged me out of their house, and their lives.