I notice my shirt has begun to smell from the orc blood so I decide its time to find that river Kili was talking about, I cant fine Kili to ask him but Bilbo points me in the right direction and offers to come with me but I politely decline, I'd prefer not take my clothes of in front of him.
Its still light out and should be for another hour or so, the weather has been unseasonably warm the past few days so I expect the water will be too.
Once I arrive I notice that the water is steaming, which is strange, the weather hasn't been THAT warm, but then I realize it must mean that the lake connects to some sort of natural hot springs, in a sudden burst of excitement I decide I'm long over due for a bath, I haven't been swimming in such a long time and I deeply miss the freedom that open water provides.
I strip off my vest, shirt and pants, leaving my underwear and bra firmly in place, just encase.
As I wash the orc blood out of my clothes the best I can I suddenly become panicked, what if orcs or something else comes by while I'm swimming unprotected? Maybe I should have let Bilbo come with me, I'm not sure how much use he would be though… I strap my thigh sheath back on and place the knife inside, better safe that sorry.
I hang my clothes on a near by branch in the hopes that they will be dry by the time I am finished.
I walk into the water slowly at first, debating on wether this is a good idea, but once the water hits my thighs and the warmth of the water laps against my skin I toss aside all worries and dive in. I swim under water for a while, embracing the peace.
When I surface for air I rub my hands down my neck and chest to try and clean off the blood, it comes off easily in the warm water, I run my hands through my hair to try and detangle the wild mess it has turned into, and clear it of any muck it may have picked up.
Once I feel clean again I float on my back for a while staring at the sky, not thinking, just concentrating on the steady movements of my arms as I push myself around in circles, I let the blissfulness take over, as I close my eyes.
After a while I hear something that doesn't fit in to this peaceful scenery, crunching, why can I hear crunching? Was I clenching my jaw without noticing? Then laughter, nope, that was not me. The distraction causes me to start sinking as I spin around to investigate, with only my head now out of the water I see two figures standing on the shore, but the sun is directly above their heads so I cant make out who or what they are. I sink into the water and dive down and swim to the side in the hopes that when I surface the sun wont be directly in my eyes and I can see who the figures on the shore are.
I almost call out to her as she dives back under the water, is she mad? Does she want to be killed? How could she be so stupid to come out here on her own and start swimming like nothing could happen to her?
I glare at the water, as Kili laughs again, at me this time not her "Relax brother, she's clearly okay maybe a little bit crazy, but nonetheless okay. Actually she might be onto something. The water does look pretty damn good, I'm going to join her." He says as he kicks off his boots. I want to stop him, I want to be the one swimming with her, but I don't know how to act on the situation in front of him.
When I resurface again, I can finally see properly, a mess of brown hair who seems to be struggling with his boots, and a tidier blonde with his arms firmly crossed in front of him, I can't help but to laugh out loud, of course its Kili and Fili, who else would it be? Those two always manage to find me.
I see Fili gesturing with his hands, pointing out to me then back to the woods behind them, and hear Kili laugh and slap Fili on the shoulder before stripping off his own shirt and making his way to the water, I start to paddle towards them to see what the problem is.
As I watch Fili standing on the shore looking a little pissed off, I start to worry, did I do something wrong?
Something erupts from the water right in front of me and splashes water in my face, I let out a yelp and kick out only to realize it was Kili "Damn you! You scared me half to death." I accuse splashing him back.
He laughs and splashes me back before disappearing under the water again, I squeal and try to swim away but he catches my foot and pulls me under the water for a second before swimming underneath me and standing up with my legs placed on his shoulders, I almost loose balance as I am suddenly out of the water and Kili is laughing his head off below me, I cant help but to laugh with him as he walks around in the shallows, shallows for dwarves anyway, the water came up to his shoulders.
"Fili! Come in the water is amazing!" I shout to his rigid figure.
"Good luck with that." Kili mutters.
"What do you mean?"
"He wont come in, he was mad that you came here on your own and I probably just made it worse by following you."
"Oh… but I brought a knife with me, I can protect myself."
"I can see that, its right next to my face" he laughs.
"Ops, sorry, I'll just fix that" I lean down to adjust the knife causing Kili to lose his balance and send us both flying forwards.
We come up coughing and spiting out water then start laughing so hard that I tear open my wound again, Kili's eyes widen when he sees blood trailing down my arm.
"Eh, its fine, water makes blood look more dramatic than it is." I assure him. But he's not looking at my arm any more, his gaze sweeps over my body and I realize that I'm not really wearing clothes, trying to break his gaze I laugh, a little more hysterically than I would have liked, and duck under the water again. I swim a little way away from him and resurface and start floating again, I see him do the same and we start slowly paddling back toward the shore, our arms bump together and I shove him playfully.
Once the water becomes to shallow to swim any longer we stand up and start walking toward Fili, it is then that I regret my decision, now that I'm out of the water I'm freezing and I'll bet my clothes are still damp.
I go to where my clothes are hanging as Kili makes his way in the other direction to where he kicked off his clothes.
Upon inspecting my clothes my fears are confirmed, they are still wet, and I've begun to shake. I rub my arm to stop the goose bumps from rising.
"Damn… what the hell do I do now?" I mutter.
"Here, take this." I jump in surprise and turn around to see Fili holding out a shirt to me.
"Where'd you get this?" I ask as I take it off him, and pull it over my head, it comes down to my mid thigh and is still warm.
"Its mine, I told you I wore more layers than you do." He says gruffly while he picks my clothes off the branch and starts to walk back toward camp, I pull on my boots, grab my weapons and follow him "Uhhh, what are you doing?"
"Going to hang these near the fire."
"Oh, uh okay, thanks."
He only grunts in response, I slow my pace and watch him stomp off.
"I think we're in trouble." Kili says as he walks up beside me.
"I think I'd prefer him yell at us. I don't like the silent treatment crap from him. Makes me feel like a child."
"Well I suppose we are in his eyes sometimes," Kili admits "Don't worry, he could never stay mad at us for long."