As night descended on the Blue Mountains, Elin sat at the high backed chair by her open window. Vivid sparks of violet and red were soon absorbed by the twilight. Down in the quiet streets of her family's corner of Ered Luin, smithies owned by dwarves and elven shops selling fine carpentry started to hang lanterns at their doors. She could hear her older brother and his wife, pregnant with their first child, settling downstairs by the hearth. After having helped Silia with cleaning up, Elin had complained of a headache and retreated to her room.

Picking up her sewing, she tried to focus on her stitching as her stomach rolled in knots. She breathed deeply in an attempt to calm her nerves. Tossing the stockings she was darning on the seat, Elin stood and paced towards her small fireplace. Running a trembling hand through her mass of light brown curls that brushed just below her shoulders, she paused. Elin stared into the flames, wringing her fingers over her bodice.

She eyed the gown she had saved especially for this evening where it lay on her four poster bed. With a cream colored bodice embroidered with blue cornflowers, she had managed to keep just enough gold cloth from her last commission to make the skirts. Though Elin had sown it months before, she had saved it for a day she would want to remember for years. Approaching the bed, the firelight dancing off the fine fabric, she ran her fingers over the hem gingerly. With a groan, she tossed herself onto her quilt.

The past fortnight had felt like months. Ever since her brother had ordered a new set of horseshoes for their only horse from the smithy on the other side of Ered Luin. Elin had come to the door just as her brother was paying the dwarf his wages. Wiping her hands on her apron, Elin peered out at the street as the dwarf turned toward her.

In grey shirt sleeves pushed up to reveal muscular forearms and simple, homespun trousers, he had turned his dark gaze on her just long enough for their eyes to meet. The moment had struck through her like lightening for reasons she did not understand. He was a younger member of his people, she could tell that from his lack of a full beard. However, she knew he would still be older than her by decades compared to her own human lifespan. Elin had impulsively pulled back into the house, unused to such a rush of attraction. She had liked other young men her age and enjoyed their company, but the moment had stuck her like a hammer to iron.

The moment was still fresh in her mind when she went to the market in the center of town the next day. Silia was almost full term and the baby would be here soon. Though she usually liked to accompany her sister in law to shop for the vegetables they did not grow in their own garden, Elin had left her dozing wearily by the fire.

She paused by a seller of fruit from a distant province. Such delicacies were rarely enjoyed by Elin and her family. They were so expensive, even in their high season. However, Elin could not help eyeing the oranges and pomegranates as she passed them. She reached out a hand compulsively but pulled it back, giving an apologetic smile to the older lady behind the stand. The woman nodded gruffly at her, eyeing her suspiciously.

"You buying today, miss?" She cackled, her voice dripping with mistrust.

Elin felt her cheeks flare up with embarrassment at being mistaken for a thief. Shaking her head and averting her eyes, she quickly made her way from the stand.

"Don't mind the old bat," A voice suddenly came from behind her.

Elin stopped and turned, feeling her breath catch in her throat. The same young dwarf she had seen at her home the evening before stood smirking beside her. He lifted a piece of fruit that she had seen at the stand and took a bite, the juice running over his scruffy, handsomely dipped chin. He grinned and leant back against the side of bakery in front of where they stood. He tossed the fruit to her good naturedly. Elin caught it clumsily, looking back and forth between it and him.

"I didn't steal it!" He suddenly stated, his brows lifting, "Honest. Old Gif at the fruit stand owed me a favor."

As she carefully took a bite of the fruit, his face relaxed into a grin. Her brow furrowed as she stopped trying to fight a smile.

"How did you know?"

"I saw you eyeing Gif's stand." The dwarf stepped forward, holding a hand out, "I thought we could share."

Elin gave him back the fruit, her fingertips grazing his palm. Breaking eye contact, she started to walk away. Silia had warned her to keep her wits about her where men were concerned. Her brother Brom had trusted her in matters of the heart her whole life. There was something about this dwarf that made her feel uneasy and out of control where her feelings were concerned.

"Wait a moment, mistress!" He called, catching up to her as she picked up her pace, "Braving the fury of Gif the fruit seller deserves a little reward."

"Oh!" She chortled, not slowing her pace as she dodged through a crowd, "What kind of reward would that be, Master Dwarf?"

"A name!" He suddenly bolted out in front of her, walking backwards to face her, "Just a name, that's all I ask of you."

His face was earnest as he held in hands in front of him, the purple juice from the fruit now running down his wrist. She did not stop walking but let her gaze dance back to him for a moment.

"Elin." She replied shortly before quickly cutting down a side street and losing him in the crowd.

She turned back just for a moment to see him standing still amidst the crowd, watching her retreat. He grinned as he took another bite of the fruit. Elin could feel a blush spreading up from her neck and onto her cheeks.

It had started the next evening when she had retired to her room on the second floor of her home. Opening the shudders to the warm Spring night, Elin found her thoughts drifting back to the dwarf in the marketplace. Resting against the side of the window, she peered into the horizon beyond the iron riddled Blue Mountains. The stars were starting to appear in the dark blue sky.

"Elin!"

Startled, Elin pulled away from the window.

"Mistress Elin!"

Elin took a deep breath, her eyes scanning the street below. A figure suddenly appeared from behind the carpenter shop next door. Coming into the lamp light, she immediately recognized him. He bowed with a smirk, clearly not caring what the neighbors thought of him. Elin, however, was petrified. Yet the overwhelming emotion that accompanied him whenever she saw him drowned out her fear of judgement.

"What on earth are you doing here?" She whispered fiercely, nearly hiding behind one of her half opened shudders.

"I realized I had forgotten to tell you my name!" He announced proudly, "I should like it if you would call me Kili and often."

Shaking her head, she arched a brow, "You, sir, are too bold."

"Why thank you!" He called, smirking up at her in the dim light, "I should like to see you again."

Elin pursed her lips in thought, wondering how she should react to such self-assurance. She had been brought up to believe those who were romantically interested in her would go to Brom first, being her older brother. Yet there this dwarf named Kili was, disturbing her from her comfortable place of strict societal expectation and laying the choice in her own hands. It was nothing she could have expected.

"Oy!" The rough voice of her dwarf next door neighbor came from their second floor, "Keep it down out there, yah ruffian."

An old, dog eaten boot suddenly sailed out of the window. Kili dodged it just in time, brushing out his fine leather overcoat and grinning up at her once more. Elin shook her head as she started to laugh, despite herself.

"Fine!" She whispered, "You may see me again."

"When?" He insisted.

"Soon," She replied, surprised at herself for being so coy, "I'll leave those details up to you."

With that she shut the shudders on him. Turning to face her room and leaning against the close window, she clasped her hands over her waist and took a breath. She hoped she had not acted foolishly. However with these feelings over Kili racing through her veins, she wondered if such concerns were really relevant.

Ok so yes I jumped on the hot dwarf bandwagon. But hey, it sure is a fun one (: this will most likely be a short little story but full of fluff, I assure you. You have been warned.