Fili clutched at his chest desperately. His legs were swung over the edge of his bed and his hair fell limply into his face. He breathed heavily, the wounds on the back of his shoulder and leg twitching as an unhealthy, unwanted reminder; as if the dream had not been bad enough.
"Thorin," he repeated in a small whisper, and then he closed his eyes tightly to fight back any tears forcing their way out. He would not cry, not again.
He stood from his bed slowly and carefully, the back of his leg where he had been struck with an arrow tearing painfully.
Fili looked around his bed chamber, suddenly feeling very alone.
The fire that had been light hours before burnt a dim, fiery orange colour, hissing ever so gently as it slowly died.
Fili stared at the fire momentarily, his dream and past haunting him still. He shook his head and let out a sharp breath, an attempt to bring himself back to reality.
He swallowed hard and looked around the quiet bed chamber, still feeling horribly alone.
He had to get out of here.
He walked out of his bed chamber and towards the hallway, clutching at the walls for support in his tired, weak state. The halls outside his bed chambers were eerily as daunting. The soft hum of air from the mines rang through the hall; Fili could not help but also hear the faint sound of snoring from behind a few of the stone doors, leading undoubtedly to other bed chambers.
Fili took slow and steady steps left of his bed chamber door, heading down the dimly light hallway. He did not know what direction he was heading; he just allowed his feet to carry him in whatever direction they went.
After minutes of walking through the large stone halls of Erebor, passing the large corridor of bed chambers, crossing the kitchens and dining hall, Fili soon found himself heading towards an open guarded door that lead outside.
"King Fili," the three dwarves who were guarding the door, fully dressed in the finest armour, nodded their head respectfully.
Fili nodded back at them as best he could, however his head felt so preoccupied he was not sure if he had even acknowledged them. The three dwarfs on guard turned to each other questioningly, watching curiously after their king who stumbled outside, dressed in only his long night shirt and boots.
Fili walked along a narrow pathway, high up on the mountain edge, with the wind brushing calmly across his cheeks. He grasped the side of the mountain and continued to walk, further and faster with each step. Eventually, an opening of the pathway gradually grew larger and revealed a fairly large edge, big enough for another guard post to comfortably sit with a great view of the eastern horizon.
Fili continued to walk with his right hand brushing against the cold stone of the mountain. As he approached the center of the larger ledge, he stopped. He pressed his back against the rocky wall and let out a heavy sigh, a sigh he had not realised he had built up in his chest.
The sun was rising in the far distance, creating a flawless orange and red glow along the horizon. It was a gorgeous view; so gorgeous, Fili had completely forgotten about the horrible dream of his past. He swallowed hard, his conscious suddenly feeling oddly at peace.
His thoughts soon became distracted at the sound of a collection of stones falling from the mountain slope beside him, and a small breath of a curse. He frowned and pulled his back from the wall, turning just in time to see a foot disappear sharply from what appeared to be another ridge a few feet above where he stood.
Was somebody else here?
"Hello?" he called out, only to be met by silence.
He frowned and studied the ridge where the foot had disappeared. He knew he was not alone.
He walked to the slope of the mountain he had previously rested upon, and clutched at whatever parts stuck out, pulling himself upwards. He climbed the mountain side, grimacing as his leg and shoulder pulled tightly at his wounds. Thankfully, the ridge was not too far to climb and Fili soon found himself grasping the edges of it before his leg gave way.
He had only just reached the top of the ledge, resting both his hands upon the top to pull himself up, before two hands grabbed his forearms and pulled him up.
Fili climbed over the edge, with the assistance of the hands that had grabbed him, and crawled onto it, before sitting down with his legs hanging back down over the ridge. He was breathing heavily, his body aching.
"Strange for someone to climb this side of the mountain at this hour," a voice spoke from beside him, "even stranger for it to be the King of Erebor."
Fili turned his head to the person who had hoisted him onto the ledge, curious at the tone of a woman's voice.
"I could not sleep," he said through heavy breaths, cursing silently at how unfit he had become.
The woman dwarf before him grinned, her arms folded with one eyebrow raised curiously.
"It is unusual for a woman to be out here," Fili finally retorted. "How did you slip past the guards?"
It was very unnatural for woman dwarves to travel out of the halls of Dwarven Mountains alone.
"Please," she snorted. "Those idiots –"
She paused upon receiving a warning looking from the king.
"Well, let's just say you may need to rethink the training of some of your guards," she said innocently.
Fili failed in suppressing his grin at the woman's honesty.
"What are you doing up here?" Fili finally asked.
"How can I trust that if I tell you, you won't have me under strict watch so that I do not come out here again on my own?" the lady retorted.
"You can't," Fili shrugged lamely.
The lady dwarf frowned at him.
"You can however use the knowledge that you saw your king out on the high side of the eastern mountain, early in the morning in nothing more than his night shirt," he then bargained.
"I can't imagine that would do great for your reputation," she smirked eagerly.
"Exactly," Fili laughed lightly.
The young lady dwarf grinned at Fili with her arms folded, still standing a few feet from him. The wind gently blew her auburn hair partly into her face, shining softly in the reflection of the rising sun.
"I come up here most mornings to watch the sun rise," she explained, a warm smile crossed her lips. "It's the few minutes in the day that I get to escape reality...The few moments where everything becomes so simple."
Fili curiously peered at the young lady dwarf. She was looking out over the gorgeous landscape beyond Erebor, the sun that slowly rose bounced softly on her pale cheeks, glowing them a healthy pink.
"When I look out to the sun and out to the horizon, I realise that everything I had bottled up, all of my problems –" she paused and looked at Fili, the same soft smile stuck to her lips, "- I realise that they are so insignificant. There are much bigger problems out there. This world is much bigger than any of my tiny problems."
Silence filled the air between the two dwarves who looked on at the view in awe.
"And then," she spoke slowly, "I let it all go."
"That's nice," Fili said honestly, taking in her words. "I should take a leaf from your book."
The lady dwarf flashed Fili a quick grin as he turn his attention back to the rising sun. Admittedly, all of his problems and terrors seemed to have left him temporarily and began to feel very distant.
"Sometimes, I come out here at night," she admitted, sitting down on the ledge beside him, "and I look up at the night sky, where I attempt to read the stars. I could lie looking up at them all night if it were possible."
"Do you not?" Fili asked, earning another grin from the lady dwarf.
"I would, however, at night time it appears that your guards seem to double; some nights even triple!" she admitted. "There is no way I could sneak in and out unseen."
Fili chuckled lightly, remembering that the patrol at night had recently been increased. Fili had always been paranoid the goblins would soon turn their attention back to Erebor after the grief Thorin's company had caused them, and night time would be their prime time to strike if they were to.
"Does your husband not worry where you are?" Fili then questioned the lady beside him.
"No husband," she smiled, it did not take Fili a second to realise she lacked any sort of courting beads.
"Your father?" Fili frowned.
"Admittedly, he has caught me a few times," she nodded. "He would kill me if he knew I was here. However luckily for me, he sleeps. I have a good hour until I need to worry about him waking."
Fili grinned at the lady next to him, admiring her curiosity and rebellion. It was very unusual for women to come outside the halls of the mountain. It was even more unusual to find a lady who yearned to come outside the safe halls of the mountain.
"Can I ask you something?" she asked quietly from beside him, drawing him from his thoughts.
"Of course," Fili nodded.
"What is it like out there?" she questioned.
Fili paused; he had not expected such a question and he was unsure of how to answer it.
"It is magnificent," he said honestly. "It is beautiful, exciting and full of adventure."
He hesitated when his face shortly fell to a grave frown.
"And yet, it is the most deadly, disturbing, unkind thing I have ever known," he added.
The lady dwarf continued to look out at the sunrise, her eyes twinkling with excitement; something Fili had not seen since his Uncle first spoke of reclaiming their home from the dragon Smaug.
"I want to see it," she whispered in such a way Fili was unsure she had meant to speak it aloud.
"It is a dark world out there," Fili spoke honestly, hoping not to excite her in such a way she would flee from Erebor to go travelling. "Full of danger."
"And wonder," she said over him, looking at him with wild anticipation. "I have read of such magnificent things. It seems unfair I have to stay locked up in these stone walls when there is a whole world out there."
"It is for your own good," Fili pressed sternly and a little warningly.
The lady dwarf sighed and nodded her head in defeat. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew he was right.
"I know," she said quietly. "I just grow tired of being locked up in Erebor. I do not know how the other women dwarves do not go mad with boredom."
Fili could not help chuckle lightly.
"Because they fear the outside world. They understand that they are very sacred and important within our civilisation," Fili shrugged.
The lady dwarf snorted.
Fili made to speak, when a call from below the ledge they sat upon filled the air.
"Who goes there?" the thick voice yelled.
The lady dwarf looked at Fili in horror, realising she would be in terrible trouble for sitting out at such a late hour, unsupervised.
"Hello?" the voice called again. "We will come up there!"
"There's no need," Fili called back, leaning over the edge so the guards calling up could see his face, and that he could see down on them.
"My Lord, Fili," the dwarf guard said quickly. "I'm sorry, we thought you were a couple of children dwarves up to no good."
"Are you OK, m'lord?" the second guard asked. "Why do you sit upon that ledge?"
"I am fine, we were simply admiring the view," Fili explained. "I promise to show my lady here a sunrise from a high point of the mountain."
"Your lady?" one of the guards frowned.
"Not his lady," the dwarf woman called quickly with a sheepish and nervous smile.
"Oh, OK," the dwarf guard nodded, looking confusedly at the other guard, who responded with a small shrug.
"We shall be returning inside now, thank you for checking on us," Fili said politely.
"M'lord, should we escort the lady back to her bed chamber for you?" one of the guards asked.
"Not necessary," Fili smiled. "I shall be returning to my own bed chambers also, I shall make sure she returns safely."
"As you wish," the guards said, before bowing lowly and disappearing around the side of the mountain along the narrow pathway.
"We're not really heading back inside, are we?" the lady dwarf finally asked after a moment of silence; and after she was confident the guards were out of earshot.
"Yes, we are," Fili grinned with a raised eyebrow. "I do not want your father to have my head for not returning you inside to safety."
"Because it's so dangerous out here," she said as she stood up begrudgingly.
She had only just stood up straight when her right foot slipped on a jagged edge of the ridge they sat upon. She stumbled backwards clumsily, Fili only just managed to grab her in time before she slid completely off the edge on her behind.
Fili pulled her from where her body would have slipped completely off the side and back onto the ledge side with her legs hanging over the edge as they previously had been.
She turned to Fili with horrified, wide eyes. Small, sharp breaths escaped her mouth, and Fili could not help but look at her and grin.
"You were saying?"