Author's Note: Firstly, I would like to address the fact that I am melding the book and movie for this story. Secondly, this will not be a "fall over one another fluff happy" relationship. Love may not even be in the vocabulary for these two (unless the end of this story changes drastically). I thought I should give warning to that now, before people begin wondering why there aren't kisses and girly giggles and stammering dwarves by the next three chapters. Or ever, in their case. So if deep respect and a rough idea of a relationship are things you would like to read about, then please do continue (I am a fan of feedback...). If not, turn back now.

The Meal and the Conversation

In which a woman finds strange company and a dwarf asks a question

The dinner was in full swing by the time the tardy pair made their appearance. Then again, dinner was a bit of an understatement for what sat before them. A long trestle table had been laid out, flanked by benches that, though simple, still held the elegance of Elvish craftsmanship. A fire pit had been placed near the center of the large room, and it cracked and popped with unbridled glee, flickering orange light over all those present, and painting the normally pale walls warm shades of red and gold. What appeared to be a deer of some sort was roasting on a spit, and she could only imagine the lengths the dwarves would have been reduced to in order to get such a thing in Rivendell.

Then again, the Elves were accommodating when they wanted to be.

Only a handful of the dwarves noticed their arrival, but as soon as they stopped consuming the mounds of meats and breads spread over the table, their fellow travelers looked up as well, eyes either assessing or welcoming. But the sudden silence gave her the feeling that she was being presented to them, brought for them to judge and weigh on what merits they think she may or may not possess. Even her appearance was being looked over carefully, and as Syloris brought her to the table – when had she allowed him to lead her? - the dark haired bowman flashed her a smile that held no guile, and more than a little mischief.

Tye immediately perked up, and motioned for them both to join the group. He was excited, barely containing his enjoyment of the moment, and she was glad that he, for one, was oblivious to what was actually going on. Rhegda could only nod to him as she pulled free of her swordsman's presence, choosing to take a seat to the end of the table, away from the dwarves and presenting a slight buffer to keep them less inclined to make comments, or try awkward conversation.

She could see the look of disappointment in Tye as she declined his gesture, and instead he was forced to make room as Syloris shoved his taller frame in amongst the group. They all – with the exception of the angry dwarf from that morning and a couple of frowning compatriots – accepted him, and encouraged him to fill his plate with everything the table had to offer.

Rhegda was content to watch them from the corner of her eye, picking at meat and bread, noting the distinct lack of anything green in what was offered. Of course, it only took a moment or two before her green-eyed rider took up the telling of jokes and stories at the expense of their young archer. Laughter quickly filled the space again, and she felt the tug of something good in her, something she rarely felt anymore. There was companionship and excellent food surrounding her, and though she was not a part of it, she could appreciate it for what it was.

Well, she was supposedly not a part of it.

She'd just taken a drink of what she assumed to be mead when a dark figure plopped itself down next to her, dropping its plate onto the table and with even less ceremony, depositing its mug beside. Looking over the top of her glass, she saw it was the dwarf bowman, and his smirk told her he was planning a conversation whether she wanted it or not. Resigning herself to the moment, she finished her sip and replaced the glass, raising an eyebrow in the process.

"I retract what I said about you being quiet."

His grin widened and he brought his elbows to the table, hands hovering over his plate.

"I still think you're peculiar for a woman."

She nodded silently at that, agreeing while choosing to fill her mouth with food instead of words.

Kili had noticed her the instant she'd entered the room with the swordsman. Her clothing was the same as before, all dusky and masculine and entirely fitting for her, but her braid...it had been something to stare at. He knew then that his kin had noticed it as well, and that in itself had been a great cause of their silence to her appearance. The braid was strong and full, starting halfway up her scalp, and the silver threading through the black strands was a statement: it wasn't a braid to be pretty. It was a braid to show strength.

He had wondered then if she'd known what she was wearing.

Kili had some idea how those two had come across Dwarfish braiding styles, but he wondered if they knew what they had done; from the ease of her appearance and the subtle glances Syloris had thrown them all when he'd joined them, they both had been fully aware of their actions. So, that in mind, he selected a roll from his plate and continued the one-sided conversation before biting into the soft bread.

"We couldn't keep from starin' at the braid. It's quite close to one of ours. Where'd you learn it?"

Rhegda swallowed what little was left of her bite and shifted in her seat, crossing one leg over her thigh at the ankle. She reached over a dish or two and pulled free a leg of what seemed to be a pheasant. The woman didn't look at him when she responded, keeping her eyes on her task.

"Are you always so chatty, Master Dwarf?"

He coughed a laugh at that, though he didn't miss a beat with his response.

"My kin would heartily say yes, though I think it's one of my many attractive faults."

She did look at him then, and was abruptly taken aback by the look on his face. There was his half grin, as what she assumed to be usual, but those brown eyes of his flickered with firelight and devilry, and his presence suddenly took more space than she remembered of the dwarf the night before. He was confident in himself, and she wondered if it wasn't an emotion washed over from the tiny tournament; regardless, he seemed older, and that sadness she'd seen in him before was manifest in the swagger in him now.

"And how many Dwarf women would agree?"

He snickered, but she could see the question had struck him slightly; he had a practiced front, and she respected his ability to play the fool when he was wounded.

"Of the ones I've known?"

He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully for a moment.

"None, although I'd have to say you'd be a first in general."

Kili's broad smile and cheeky nature should have put her off; she was never keen on men who fell to cheap comments and silly airs. However, for some inexplicable reason, the dwarf was getting under her skin, and she felt a quick smile form on the edges of her lips as her eyes roamed the dwarfish gathering.

She was quick to note the hobbit, the irascible King,and the polite, genial dwarf from the contest were missing.

Shaking her head at his comment, she peeled a portion of the pheasant thigh off and brought it to her lips.

"Master Dwarf, I feel that would be one of many firsts from me."

Her eyes cut to him, and he laughed with such humor that is made her wonder if life had ever been that easy before. He rounded up another mouthful of supper, eating with that same grin while she thoughtfully chewed on the roasted bird. She could tell he was staring at her as he ate, which prompted her to turn her eyes back to him as well, matching his stare.

"Am I truly so entertaining, Master Dwarf? I feel as though your mind has lost all sense, from the way you stare."

Kili shook his head at that, swallowing roughly. He would readily admit she was something he wanted to understand, moreso than his kin, and she was more accessible than the night before; they had spoken then in quiet tones, and she'd shared something beautiful and dark, but now, she was trapped by the dinner and the rest of his company, their presence preventing her from making any sudden disappearances without tarnishing what little reputation Syloris, Tye, and himself had tried to garner throughout the day.

And he was of the mind that she knew exactly what she was in.

"Stop calling me "Master Dwarf". I've a name, and you know it."

She didn't know why, but she returned his volley.

"Very well, then, Kili. Question still stands."

The dwarf looked rather pleased with himself, and he slung one leg over the bench, straddling it so that he could look at her fully. For her part, Rhegda continued her meal, awaiting his response. She could see the smile of his still ghosting his lips, and suddenly she no longer thought of him just like Tye. There was something below that smile that wasn't childishness or nice; Tye had killed men, but he didn't have the gravity to his presence that the dwarf did. It was something she took note of, but thought nothing more of when his voice broke through her pensive moment.

"I'm fully aware of myself, thank you, and I wouldn't call you entertaining. I would call you fascinating."

That stopped her in her tracks, and she nearly choked on the mead she'd been drinking. Wiping away the wet on her lips and chin, she regarded him only momentarily.

"Fascinating? You certainly have lost your senses, dwarf."

She narrowed her eyes.

"And didn't your king set down a rule against you and your lot fraternizing with me?"

He wagged a finger in her direction as he leaned around to pick up his mug; he knew that would be a part of the conversation, he just didn't think it would be brought up so soon.

"Thorin has loosened his decree. As long as we are all together, you are deemed safe enough to be around."

"Safe. I must have a mighty reputation indeed for him to take such precautions."

Rhegda shifted a bit to look at him, her glass in her hand as she considered the young dwarf; he looked...pleased by the turn of conversation.

"That's why you're fascinating. To me, at least. And I'm convinced you are t'my brother, but he'll never admit it. Thinks he's fine not knowing more, but he's always terrible at hidin' something like that. When we were younger-"

"You do like to hear yourself speak, don't you?"

Her interruption broke him off mid-sentence, but that just made him smile and shake his head, more to himself than her. Kili opened his mouth to say something witty but she cut him off again.

"Don't worry. Syloris could natter away to no one but himself for hours."

A rumbling, cheerful laughter met her words, the dwarf obviously not unacquainted to her swordsman's unique ability to just converse with anything and everything. It was good to know that her men had so easily ensconced themselves within the dwarf company, that the two entirely different men had found friends in such an unlikely place.

"He's surely told us more than a few details. About the group, about the adventures. About you."

At that, she raised an eyebrow his way, a scoff sitting on her lips as she picked off another bit of meat from the pheasant.

"If he's told you all that, then there's no reason for you to be nettling me, now is there?"

To his credit, the dwarf didn't back down. Instead, he leaned in a bit further, that same confident, knowing smirk tugging his lips.

"Does this mean you find me an annoyance? Should I retire to my kin, and leave you with no company but your own?"

She was about to answer when she noticed something else in his eyes, something not made from the fire or confidence.

"You are drunk, Master Kili."

With that, the bowman sat back a bit, a frustrated sigh escaping him as he brushed back a bit of his hair. His eyes, however, never left her face.

"I may have taken in my fair share of drink tonight, but I am in no manner drunk. I am simply...interested."

Her observation seemed to take a margin of wind out of him, and he drug his leg back over the bench, sitting hunched slightly over his plate. Rhegda felt as though she should answer something of his, but he had said he'd found her fascinating. Fascinating, as though she were a subject to be studied, or a puzzle to be solved. Either way, she wasn't so certain she wanted the young, eager dwarf to know anything more than he already knew - which wasn't much - and if she had her way, that's how it would stay.

However, a small part of her prodded her along to give hims a slight something for his efforts; of all the dwarves, he and his companion Balin had been the only pair to treat her with some degree of respect and civility, and of that pair, Kili was the one wanting to know her the most. That in mind, she dropped the pheasant leg and wiped clean her fingers as she cleared her throat.

"Alright. What is it you are so keen to know?"

His brown eyes darted back to her, and he turned his attention away from the food he'd been rolling about on his plate to Rhegda's unreadable expression. That smile of his hadn't really faded, not yet, but as he heard her words, it brightened. He shook his head suddenly, almost to himself, and his smile widened.

"Your braid. Why did you wear it like that?"

His words were softer than before, but no less interest was held in them. Rhegda couldn't help the curiosity that flashed over her features at his query; she knew he'd seen it as well, and she was quick to still her presence. Of all the things he could have asked, of all the many, many facets about her, he chose that, a thing seemingly innocuous. Then again, it wasn't really. She had made a blatant statement with it, and he was wanting to know why.

He was too intelligent for his own good.

"It told you and your kin, from the moment I walked in, that I was not just a woman, that I was more than how I was perceived."

She paused for a moment, studying him, before she smirked back at him, the first real show of emotion she'd allowed.

"But you knew this already."

Kili shrugged through a light laugh, as though he'd been caught stealing a biscuit from her plate.

"I knew from the tales that you'd spent time in various dwarfish communities. Syloris told us you'd both enjoyed familiar company while there, and he seems like a cunning man. I couldn't imagine him not learning a few things."

His eyes roamed her face for a breath of time, and he flashed his grin at her, though it was gentler.

"Besides, it suits you. Strength looks good on you."

That finally roused a laugh from her, though she had to admit, it was one of the better lines she'd ever heard. Rhegda broke their held gazes first, the chuckle of merriment that she'd not known for some time no longer held back by clenched lips. She grinned, though immediately tried to tame the act, and reached for her glass, raising it to her lips once her calloused fingers curled around the container.

"Words like that, Master Kili, could be considered flattery. Are you trying to flatter me?"

When she turned back to look at him, the lightness to his smile had been replaced with something else, something that reminded her of an old man smiling at a child unknowing of its worth. It unsettled her for a moment, to think that young dwarf could understand anything about her, even the superficial braid. But it hadn't been superficial, had it? She and Syloris had made the decision to put her on display, and while she'd expected comment, she'd never thought a conversation like the current one would occur.

Abruptly, his ghostly smile was replaced by one much more to his nature, and he took up his own mug, raising it in her direction.

"Trust me, my Lady. When I flatter you, you will know."

He took a deep pull from his mead, and she couldn't hide the smirk that tugged her lips. He was indeed, slightly drunk, and flush from the favorable wins of the day, but she could tell his personality was that of a good dwarf, a good man regardless of his race. His brother had a bit of that inside him as well; she'd seen the way they looked at one another, they way they interacted. She was willing to bet solid coin that they were normally quite inseparable, but that Kili's curiosity ran much deeper than his brother's ever would. The dark bowman was showing a bit more of himself than she would assume was normal, then again, he had been presented with something he was told to stay away from, to ignore while being fed wild tales about it; honestly, she may have been the same in his position.

Rhegda followed his move and drank as well, but before she could finish her first swallow, an elf appeared by her side; nothing new to her, yet it caused many at the table to quiet their conversation. Kili had dropped his mug back to the table, and was glancing between Rhegda and the familiar elf.

The woman looked up and beside her to see Lindir patiently waiting for her to finish. She did just that, and settled the glass near her mostly-consumed meal. He nodded once to her and spoke.

"Mithrandir has requested I find you. He would like you to join him in council."

With an agreeing gesture of her head, Rhegda swept both legs over the bench, standing without word to the brunet elf. Her eyes caught Syloris', and he sent her a look that spoke volumes. Before she turned to leave, the woman cast her gaze down to the dwarf next to her.

"Many thanks for the conversation, Master Kili."

His head jerked up to catch her raised eyebrow and soft smirk, finding them both odd on her, but still fitting. Perhaps he had been a touch drunk, and perhaps he had stated a few things he oughtn't have, but she had opened to him enough for him to see the stories about the darkness in her race were exaggerated; she wasn't an evil woman. He sat with that idea on his mind as he watched both the elf and Rhegda leave the room, his brown eyes following them until he could no longer see their forms in the dim light.

Author's End Note: I hated writing this chapter. I may rewrite it sometime in the future. Any suggestions, please leave a PM or review.