I wanted to put more in this chapter...but oh well, next time :P Please review :)
They all ambled over to where Bilbo was clinging onto the edge of the rocky cliff, fear, panic and alarm very clearly evident in his frightened eyes. Poppy and Emily went forward to help but Ori and Bofur reached the struggling hobbit first. However, instead of helping him, the incompetent dwarves only made him slip and fall further down the cliff face.
"Holy crap!" Emily shouted, "What do we do?!"
As the dwarves tried to pull him up unsuccessfully, Thorin swung down to where Bilbo was hanging onto the cliff in one swift movement. He grabbed the terrified hobbit and pulled him up to where the other dwarves dragged him to safety.
"Phew, I'm glad that's over" Emily mused.
However, to Emily's shock, it was not over. From where he was hanging onto the cliff, Thorin suddenly slipped. Luckily, Dwalin grasped him and dragged him up onto the cliff with all his strength, while (to Poppy and Emily's surprise) the other dwarves did not help in any way.
"I thought we had lost our burglar!" Dwalin exclaimed, his words being muffled by the rain. Bilbo looked up at him, still shaking, and Poppy and Emily attempted to smile at the startled hobbit in comfort.
As the girls were smiling manically at Bilbo, Thorin's deep voice bellowed through the rain.
"He has been lost ever since he left home" he stated coldly. "He should never have come. He has no place amongst us."
Em saw the hurt that Thorin's words ensued on Bilbo's face as the poor hobbit looked ashamedly down at the floor. Thorin called to Dwalin and the company began to disappear into a cave in the rock.
Poppy, on the other hand, was glaring at the dwarf icily. It seemed that all these weeks of his constant insults, prejudices and just general rudeness had finally culminated.
When they had all entered the cave, Poppy broke away from Emily before her friend could stop her and stormed up to Thorin.
"Search the back; caves in mountains are seldom unoccupied" he muttered to Dwalin before he turned around to see Poppy standing in front of him, anger blazing in her eyes.
In the background, Emily watched on in fear. More fear for Thorin than for her friend.
"What's going on?" Kili asked as he came to sit down next to her.
"Your uncle is about to get in a lot of trouble" the blonde stated, "I don't think I have ever seen Amavel so angry before"
"Really?" Kili said, surprised, "Amavel looks to dainty and fragile to get angry with anyone"
Emily laughed a bit too loudly, "You have no idea!"
Poppy glared up at the dwarf king, who subsequently glared back at her with an air of scorn.
"Thorin" she began, attempting to subdue her anger for a few extra seconds, "Could I please have a brief word with you?"
Thorin proceeded to scowl at her, "As you can see, I am busy and have no time for your foolish questions"
He then turned around to face Dwalin, only for Poppy to grab him by the arm.
"Fine." She stated calmly, "If you wish for me to say this in front of the whole company that is your own fault"
By now, everyone was listening. Thorin seemed to realise that whatever this girl had to say, he did not want the rest of the company to hear it, lest it was insulting towards him.
"Fine" he muttered, "We will go to the back of the cave"
"Do you honestly have no sense of remorse?" Poppy began, gesturing wildly with her bow. "Did you see the look on Bilbo's face? It wasn't HIS fault he almost tumbled into the bloody abyss! It could have just as easily been you!"
"No" Thorin growled back at her, "It couldn't have"
"Oh really? Well what if it had been Fili, or Kili or Dwalin? Would you have shouted at them?"
"No. They would never have been stupid enough to be that close to the edge. Like I said before, the Halfling should never have come"
Poppy could feel weeks' worth of anger building up inside of her. She was sure that the rest of the company could hear their now quite rowdy 'discussion'.
"Do you not see how arrogant you sound?!" she exclaimed, "Bilbo is risking his life to help you in your quest!"
Thorin crossed his arms and glared down at her icily. "I never asked for him to. Nor did I ask for him to come! I should never have listened to Gandalf. Letting the Halfling come was a mistake, as was bringing you"
Back in the middle of the cave, Bilbo was looking down at the floor awkwardly and Emily was attempting to make conversation with the rest of the dwarves. Nevertheless, they seemed more interested in hearing their leader being told off.
"That's not the point" Poppy shouted at him, exasperated by his ignorance, "He gave up everything to help you on YOUR quest. A quest which you could not do without him. He is just as much a part of this company as you are"
"No he is not. This is MY quest and I am its leader!"
"Well, I can tell you this, every leader needs someone to help them, and you are not an exception!"
"I do not recall asking for your opinion"
"Well maybe you should, Thorin. I mean, do you seriously think you can do this quest alone?! How are you expecting to fight a freaking dragon without help?"
There was silence for a moment before Thorin replied, "I suspect that we will never reach the Lonely Mountain. With the hobbit and you and your friend slowing us down"
"Fine then!" Poppy snapped, "Tomorrow morning Emily and I will leave. Would that make you happy?"
And with that, Poppy gave him one more furious glare before storming off back to her friend. The whole company stared at her in awe, it was obvious that not many people had ever dared to question the great Thorin Oakenshield.
"Poppy…" Emily began , whispering to her friend.
"I don't really want to talk right now." She said coldly, before she lay down on her bedroll (which Emily had prepared for her) and pretended to be asleep. She did not see Thorin walking back.
MEANWHILE
While Poppy was busy shouting at Thorin, Emily was staring forlornly at the dark cave wall. Seeing all the dwarves together, as a rather dysfunctional family, she thought she felt tears well up in her eyes. For the first time since she had joined the company, Emily began to feel like she missed her home. Not the abysmal bunker in the ground, but her really home, hidden in the English countryside. She lifted her hand to her eyes and tried to discreetly wipe away the tears that had begun to fall down her pallid face. The blonde had never really cried in her life before, as she had always seen it as weak and ridiculously damsel-like behaviour. She continued to blink away her tears, in an attempt to reduce the horribly burning in her throat. For she did not want the company to think her as a weak pathetic female, to be protected. That misogynous idiot Thorin already did.
Emily sniffed very loudly, and gave a startled yelp as someone touched her shoulder. She whipped her head around, trying to hide her tear stained face behind her hair, only to see Kili staring back at her, concern evident in his eyes.
"Leiress?" he asked softly, crouching down in front of her. "Are you…crying?"
Emily's cheeks blushed in embarrassment and she hastily wiped her damp face.
"Of course not!" she defended in a choked voice
Kili gently cupped her chin in his hands, forcing her to look him in the eye. . His eyes studied her face, obviously at a loss. He could tell that she had been crying, it was obvious to anyone. He felt a sadness in his heart as he looked into her glittering eyes. He wanted to make her happy again; he wanted to see her beautiful, if slightly awkward, smile, but he just did not know how. Kili had little experience with anything female beyond his mother.
Kili slowing exhaled and looked into her stormy grey eyes, which still brimmed with tears, barely supressed by her strong will. "Leiress…" he began uneasily. He really was terrible with words. "Please tell me what is wrong. Maybe I can help"
Emily stared back into his bottomless brown eyes, and for a moment, she was speechless, heralding an awkward silence that ensued Kili's question.
The young girl realised that she had to reply. Nonetheless, she had never really been one to share emotion with anyone, except maybe Poppy.
Emily felt her eyes well up with fresh tears as she thought of her friend. She pinched the skin of her palm between two nails in an attempt to stem them, and regain self control.
"Not even Poppy cares! She's angry with me for some stupid reason!" Emily clapped her hand over her mouth as she realised that she had voiced that complaint out loud.
"Who is angry with you?" Kili asked, for he thought Poppy was called Amavel.
"Amavel I mean… she is angry with me and I don't know why! And I need to talk to her because I am really missing home, and I just don't know what to do!"
More tears spilled down Emily's cheeks and Kili felt as if his heart would explode. He took her face in his hands and looked deeply into her eyes.
"I feel homesick too… I miss my mother and my home. And Fili can neglect me sometimes… but we just have to be strong. You are an amazing person, Leiress, Please, please don't cry"
"I'm sorry…" Emily sniffed; she was now beginning to feel incredibly embarrassed. "I don't think I have ever cried in front of anyone before. It's ridiculous. What it the point of crying anyway. It doesn't aid survival. It is stupid and weak and despicable. "
Kili smiled at the worry this ensued on her face. "It's fine to cry sometimes… everyone does. Probably even uncle!"
Emily laughed at the thought of Thorin crying. She was sure that it would be a miraculous sight indeed.
"Okay… thank you…" Emily whispered as looked away from his face to stare fixedly at the rocky wall behind him. However, she began to panic as the young dwarf began to lean in closer to her. At that very moment, as the fighting at the opposite end of the cave reached a climatic end, with both combatants storming away from each other. Thankful of the excuse to avoid any physical contact she muttered some rather rabbled excuses and scuttled away. Leaving Kili staring rather bewilderedly into thin, rather musty, air. Very little experience with women indeed.
Yes, well that was a rather interesting chapter... I wanted to upload a bit more because what happens next ties in with this chapter, but then it would have been too long... So tell me, are these chapters good lengths? Because I was unsure whether to add more... THANK YOU AND PLEASE REVIEW :D ~DarkBrooks