"Poppy, where are we going?!" Fili asked as he nearly tripped over a fallen log.
"To answer your question." Sending a bright smile back at him in the dawn light, she urged, "Come on!" Though he didn't have much choice with the hold she had on his hand—though he definitely wasn't complaining—he hurried his pace to match hers.
They had been running for nearly ten minutes and the foliage had begun to thin ever so slightly, when she came to a halt before an enormous tree. Its branches stretched high and Fili could easily see sunlight reflecting off the topmost. Finally releasing his hand, leaving an uncomfortably cool feeling she disliked, Poppy asked, "Can you climb?"
His narrowed eyes and cocked eyebrow answered her easily enough. Chuckling, she stepped up to the tree's lowest branches and began pulling herself up and toward the sky. Deciding not to question her, Fili followed.
Ten minutes of climbing later, Poppy held out a hand to help Fili up to the branch she currently sat on. Before them, the sun beamed down with its first light of the day upon the land for miles, lighting up the fog-ridden Downs, the fields, the forest, the earth as far as the eye could see.
It was no mountain, but the view took the dwarf's breath away, "Wow…"
Smiling happily, Poppy commented, "This is why I lived here."
Hazel eyes narrowing without looking over at her, he accused playfully, "That's not quite what I meant. Poppy, what made you move here?"
Even she was surprised by the lack of weighty sadness in her voice when she replied with a smile at him, "Fili…ask me that some other night."
Grinning back as he swung his feet in the open air, he asked in a voice dripping with teasing, "Does that mean I get to wake you up every time I'm on watch, Poppy?" His laughter had begun before her glare had time to fully materialize and he barely felt her playful push to his arm.
Only Gandalf was awake by the time the pair returned, though he'd been awake for some time. He'd heard his little Anna sing for Fili and then reveal that she had lived in that very forest. The dwarf prince had taken it better than he'd expected. Stretching his old limbs when they strode back into camp in content, smiling silence, Gandalf nodded to them both. The girl gave him a smile incredibly reminiscent of those she'd given him as a small child.
Wary glance in the wizard's direction, Fili retook his place on the edge of camp and strapped on his double-sword scabbard. Both men watched as she quietly crept over to where Bilbo and Kili still slept, Kili's hand having flung out to hit the hobbit's face at some point. Kneeling silently down, she began gently rummaging through the young dwarf's pockets, looking for something in particular. Grinning in triumph, she pulled out his pipe a moment later. Chuckling heartily, Gandalf took out his own pipe for a morning smoke. That was the Anna he remembered.
At the torn look on Fili's face, she made her way back over and whispered, "You both scared Bilbo for no reason. I made you climb a tree. Kili will just have to deal with the squirrels stealing his pipe for a few hours."
Snorting in laughter, Fili grinned, "I definitely got the better end of that punishment."
Tucking the possession into her pocket, Poppy returned the expression before leaving for the clearing, "Tell him where it is whenever you want. You don't have to keep it from him."
When she had gone and there were some excited whickers that reached their ears, Gandalf asked nonchalantly, "Did your turn at watch prove interesting, Master Fili?"
Fili turned his Thorin-reminiscent glare upon the wizard, though the old man just continued smiling as he puffed away. Sighing with irritation, the dwarf plopped onto the ground and began packing his things. Causing him pause, Fili looked up when Gandalf added weightily, "That is how Anna used to be. …And Fili, her trust is no longer given easily, nor is it an empty gift."
His smoke rings continuing to rise, the wizard appeared disinclined to say anything else. Fili rather felt like he'd just been given warning by a girl's father that he wasn't even courting. Looking once more at the wizard but gleaning nothing from his face, Fili shook his head with a confused sigh.
Poppy was Poppy: shy, sad, confusing, complex, really very lovely despite not having a beard Poppy. With a knowledge as deep and profound as the love he had for his brother, Fili knew that he counted her as a friend and she returned the feeling. He'd focus on the simplicity of that.
Tearing him from his annoyingly deep thoughts for so early in the morning, Kili blinked himself awake beside him. Yawning, he sat up and commented while rubbing his face, "It's so strange. I swear I had a dream that Poppy was standing above me."
Fili turned his amused snort into a strong cough.
"Oi, don't tell Bilbo that, lad," Bofur offered sleepily from nearby.
"Don't tell Bilbo what?" The hobbit in question had sat straight up, looking about in confusion. "Don't tell Bilbo what?!" Fili remained decidedly silent and hid his grin as the company awoke and proceeded to eat breakfast. When Bifur walked into camp and sat down to eat, none failed to notice he took a second biscuit and tucked it into his pocket.
When they had gathered their things, the ponies were again all saddled and ready to go. Feet swinging in the open air and staff strapped to her back, Poppy was perched upon a low branch waiting for them. Once they had all mounted, situating themselves in various states of comfort, she hopped down.
While the day before she had led Gandalf's horse, that time she went hesitantly up to Thorin's chestnut-colored pony. Whickering with delight, the male steed nudged her shoulder in an attempt to get her to give him a scratch. While the pony was excited by her proximity, his rider seemed distinctly pained.
"Can I do something for you, girl?"
She visibly flinched at his tone, though did not back down. Her small voice sounded more like a ten-year-old's than her own when she replied, "I was going to take you out first. You're the king."
Glaring down at her, Thorin ground out, "If this is an attempt to win me over, girl, it will not work."
He thought he saw the slightest bit of a smirk in her eyes when she replied lightly but more strongly into the silence, "You're not married, are you?"
When his eyes narrowed to the point where she thought she might be struck down on the spot, Balin cut in in his gently moderate way, "He is not, lass. Although I'm sure he's interested in his own diplomaticway to know why you ask."
"Children win people over, master dwarf; women wait them out."
The clear sound of Gandalf chuckling reverberated through the glade as she scratched the pony once more and started walking with two clucks of her tongue, trusting he and his fellow steeds to follow her. All of which did without even waiting for their riders to allow them.
Myrtle being in a particularly active frame of mind that morning, Bilbo soon found himself ducking tree branches beside his cousin. Despite the little interlude she'd just had with Thorin, she seemed in an incredibly light humor. Wondering briefly if it had something to do with what the dwarves wouldn't tell him, he decided to let it go and be happy with the fact that he could actually tell she was happy.
"So, how far do you think we'll get today?" he asked her after the normal amount of chatter had begun.
Shrugging, doing her level best to ignore the dark, brooding presence of Thorin at her left shoulder, she replied, "I'm not sure. I've never gone past the Downs. Though, we'll have passed them by this afternoon. Yes, good morning, Myrtle." She laughed as the pony nudged her hand, not unlike a cat wanting to be petted.
"Do you suppose Hildifons did this?"
Glancing back at her cousin, she smiled, "I daresay we're the first hobbits to do anything quite like this, Bilbo."
Sighing, his voice caught between regret and amusement, Baggins and Took, he added, "We'll never be respectable again."
Quite unexpectedly, a peal of laughter tore from her mouth, echoing about them and making the riding hobbit jump. "Bilbo, I was never respectable to begin with." Despite the smile she sent back at him, they remained as silent as Thorin until the trees thinned and the bright morning light beat down upon the company.
While the ponies had been in bright spirits ever since setting off, their riders only caught up when the sound of hooves on hardened dirt instead of grass met their ears. Poppy soon was passed on either side by two columns of ponies, all of them hurrying to catch up to Thorin who had struck forward with a brisk trot. One held back to walk with her and she soon found a biscuit being held out to her.
Taking it with a smile, she was greeted for the morning with a huff from Bifur. Readjusting her pack, she picked up her own walking pace and began the silent, comfortable journey of the day with Bifur.
A/N: Hello again. So, here's the next bit. Thank you guys bunches for the reviews. Also, thanks to all you lurkers who have decided to follow this. It's just great to know people are reading. So, thanks for reading, please review if you could, and I hope you enjoyed. I'll see you all Tuesday. :)