A/N: I'm going on vacation for the next few days, so I will sadly be unable to update while I'm gone. But here is the next chapter so you have something new to read in that time. I know it's short, but it's what I have, so sorry if ou were hoping for a long one. believe me, that's coming. Once again, I do not own anyone or anything (besides Linnor) from the Hobbit.
I would like to thank Horseyperson224 for her kind reviews so far. They really make me smile! So thank you!
"She reminds me of you, you know." Fili whispered to his brother in the dark.
It was their turn to take watch while the company slept in the cave, and the two brothers had set up towards the back. Thorin had said no fires, so they had to make do with what little pipeweed they could salvage to keep warm. Linnor had just finished the end of her traveling song and drifted off to sleep, but the sound of her voice still chillingly echoed in the hollow opening. Kili blew a small ring of smoke and looked oddly at his elder brother before glancing over to Linnor's sleeping form.
"Really? She reminds you of me? How?"
Fili thought about that. "I don't know. It's hard to explain, Kee. It's the way her eyes light up when she's happy or excited. How she's so exuberant and excited about every new thing. Her laugh is like you. I see you in her. It's what makes me like her more. Though she does have a much nicer singing voice than you!"
Kili had to stifle a laugh. He had never really noticed his own similarities to their new companion, but his brother certainly had. He paused before sharing his own thoughts.
"She's a bit like you, too, Fee. She's kind, and determined, and gutsy to boot. But not only that." Kili took a breath. "It's like she...I mean, I see us. All of us. Our family. Dis, you, Thorin. It's like I'm looking at our family in her. She is kind and loving and open like our mother, and she is goddamn stubborn like Thorin, that's for sure. She belongs here. She's one of us, for a human girl."
Fili clapped Kili on his shoulder, a small smile spreading across his face. As loud and rambunctious as his brother could be, he really was sweet and thoughtful. He was right, and now that he had pointed it out, Fili could see it all too. Except...
"She's not human."
Kili nearly choked on his pipe. "W-What?"
"Look at her. I mean, maybe, but I don't think so. She's been living with ELVES for her entire life. When have the elves ever extended that kind of curtesy to any Men? There's something special about her or Elrond wouldn't have been keeping her. Maybe she's elvish, or part, at least. But there's more. "
Kili took a good hard look at the young girl sleeping halfway across the cavern floor. For the first time, he noticed her flawless skin, her agelesness that she seemed to carry weightlessly, her short body stature, similar to...
"A dwarf."
Fili looked at Kili in surprise. Linnor, a dwarf? Kili saw the confusion in the blond dwarf's eyes. Carefully checking the rest of the company was still asleep, he leaned in closer.
"I don't know for sure. After all, we are just guessing, right? But her body stature is short. We all notice how young she looks, but have we actually asked her her age? For all we know, she could be human, she could not be. She could be elvish, dwarvish, a mix, who knows. I have a strange feeling that besides Linnor herself, the only one who can give us answers is Gandalf."
Fili sighed. He hated when his little brother got all insightful on him. It looks like they wouldn't get their answers until the wizard met up with them, and Mahal only knows when that could be, with Thorin's impatient pushing to move on.
Kili stretched.
"Time to wake Bofur."
~
Thorin listened to his nephews. They were right about everything. There was something special about this girl from Rivendell, who so resembled his long dead brother, Frerin. Her laugh, her face, her voice, how she was so open and carefree when she burst into song. It was him. But it was also Fili. And Kili. And his little sister, Dis. And himself. It was like looking at his entire family held in one person, one body.
It didn't surprise him to hear that it might be possible that she wasn't human. He had known that right from the start. But dwarvish or elvish (Mahal forbid) was beyond him. Kili was right. Thorin closed his eyes and slipped into a light, uneasy doze.
They would have to wait for the wizard.
