Chapter Three
"What exactly am I supposed to do?" Bellarina asked Beorn.
"Just think about changing… That's what I did. And then I just changed…" he replied.
The moonlight shone off the water of the river they were swimming in.
"Tell me again why we're in water?" she hissed. She was cold.
Beorn chuckled. "What if you're a fish?" he said, Bellarina cursing in Khuzdul.
Slowly but surely, Bellarina began to feel a change, and she wasn't all too excited about it.
"I have fur!" she hissed, and began to get out of the water.
"Wait!" he said, pulling her back, "You could be an otter."
Bellarina rolled her eyes and sat back in, hating every minute of it.
Her face began to get longer, her eyelashes extending forward rapidly.
Suddenly she was on all fours, with hooves.
"I'm. A. Deer!" She cried, "I wanted something cool!"
Beorn was just laughing, splashing in the water rapidly. Bellarina kicked him in the chest and ran out of the water, shaking the water off her coat. Had she gotten the hooves down already? She didn't know, she just ran in circles happily. Her white fur complemented her sea foam colored eyes, the ones that scared the other kids. She slipped on her hooves, toppling to the side.
"Shut up!" she hissed to Beorn, who was still laughing.
"How am I ever going to explain this to my father?" she cried, sitting down awkwardly, "Thorin and Fili know about my powers just as much as he does…"
"Just tell him. It shouldn't be hard." Said Beorn, now a man, taking out his pipe.
"Yes, of course it won't be hard. I just go up and say 'Hey Da, you know how I have creepy powers? Well I can turn into a deer now too!' Are you nuts?" she hissed.
"Well I'm sure he'll understand. You must tell him what you are, though, Miss Ithildin Randir." He retorted, smoking from his pipe.
"If we are what you say, then shouldn't we have stars that represent our hearts?" she asked, changing back to normal and sitting down near him.
"Oh yes. My star is a normal one; even I do not know which one it is. But yours, little one," he tapped her nose, "Is Earendil, the elves most sacred star."
"Don't ever touch my nose again." She said, a bit of edge in her voice.
Beorn laughed, as usual, waiting for her to continue the conversation.
"That's impossible. Earendil is such a bright and powerful star-" she began.
"You took the least bit of time for your first change that I've ever seen. And you have more of a spiritual connection. I really do not doubt it is your star." Beorn said, cutting her off.
Bellarina sighed, seeing the sky turn grey with the hint of dawn.
"I have to go now, wish me luck!" she said, and she was gone before he got a reply.
"I am so confused." Kili admitted, speaking for Fili and Thorin.
"I can shapeshift into a deer every night. Simple." Bellarina replied.
She had told them everything.
"So you're an ithildin randir…" Thorin said slowly, putting the pieces together, "Good for you!" he picked up his plate and went to the kitchen, putting it in the sink.
Fili hadn't said much; he was focused on his pot roast.
"Well that's fine with us, and if you need any help with anything just tell us." Kili said, doing the same with his plate.
"Um, Da, can I have some money to go get something from the market?" she asked, cheeks turning red.
"What do you need?" he called from the kitchen.
"I- errrr… ummm… I need stuff." She replied looking down.
"What kind of stuff?" he pestered her.
She knew she had to be very careful with her choice of words, and then remembered her father was the only one who knew elvish, like her.
"In path ithil erha in pener nad to brago pen Orith" she told him. "The full moon isn't the only thing that happens once a month."
Kili blushed, wishing he hadn't pestered her so.
"Oh. Um. Here." He said, handing her some money.
The only thing that Bellarina couldn't stand with living with her family is that they were all men. She had only one living female relative- Lady Galadriel of Lothlorien, who was her aunt. All the rest were male. She walked to the market smugly, getting her female products and walking back to her house. She hid them under her coat and ran into her room, hoping to be unseen. At last she went to bed, undisturbed by her family, and she knew that Kili had probably told them.
Bellarina put her head in her hands while in her bed. She hated it when he did that. Her life was always like this, she had to learn from her father all about the dragons and the spiders, and about how being a female she had different things she had to go through. Not a day went by where she wished her mother were still there, and while looking at her picture one last time, she turned off the light.
Bellarina opened an eye. Today was Saturday, the weekend, and she could do what she wanted today.
She hoisted herself out of bed, getting straight to work. She made breakfast and cleaned the house, as she did every Saturday morning.
She left a note for her family, running outside to the woods with her bow. She loved spending her days in the woods, shooting arrows at her old targets and sometimes swimming in the river.
She hadn't noticed she had followers. It was three of her classmates, all boys, and she ignored them, shooting the trees with perfect precision and grace.
"Hey Bellarina!" one called to her, sounding malicious.
She ignored him.
"C'mon Bellarina, archery is stupid! Let's go have some real fun. We were going to go get some cakes from Bombur's bakery!" said the same boy, grabbing her arm.
"Let go of me." She snapped at him, "How on earth did you get enough money for a cake?"
"Who said we were going to pay for it?" he replied, grinning. Bellarina's face darkened.
"No. I'll tell Thorin and then you'll be in big trouble." She hissed, turning back to her archery.
The boy snatched her bow right out of her hands, running to the river.
"Come with us, or I'll drop it in."
The swift waters would take the bow before she could get it for sure, and that bow belonged to her mother Kalya.
Bellarina felt a heat in her palms.
"Give it back." She hissed, her palms heating up and igniting into flames, "Or I will burn you."
The boy's eyes widened. He immediately returned it.
"C'mon guys let's go!" he ordered to his friends. As they ran off Bellarina sent a wave hurdling at them, drenching them from head to toe. She smiled, returning to her archery.
Kili appeared out of the woods an hour later.
"They gave us time off today." He said, answering the question she was going to ask.
"You're so much like your mother…" he told her, watching how she shot the bow with precision.
Bellarina smiled back at him happily. She did love her family dearly.
"I need to ask you something." Kili confided, sitting down near her.
"Sure, what is it?" Bellarina replied, hoping it wasn't a personal question.
"Your 30th birthday is coming up, and Thorin, Fili, and I have decided it's almost time to go home." Kili admitted.
"Home? You mean Erebor?" she questioned. She was not expecting this.
"Yes." He sucked in a sharp breath.
She grinned mischievously.
"I can't wait."
