It was time to start eating and not stop until something ruptured.

"You lot eat like pigs!" I cried, stuffing more sausages on my plate, probably more than I could eat but with these guys around, you had to either eat fast or not eat at all.

Bombur grabbed the last sausage and tossed it in his mouth, "That's mean." I squinted.

"And you don't make much sense!" He spat back, spitting half of that delicious sausage with it, just as Kili shuffled beside me, kicking his boots off and massaging his feet.

"My dear Bombur," I spoke as I speared a sausage, "apparently hyperbole is all we have. We should make the most of it." Dramatically I bit into the sausage with a rather loud chomp, just as Fili sat down on the other side of me.

My eyes cast down to what he was carrying in his lap, it was green, and looked to be folded neatly and tied with silk ribbon in a bow. Oddly, it looked a little bit like a dress if I squinted.

"Fee," I began, waving my fork over the parcel in his lap, "Why are you carrying that dress? It's not your size, and to be fair, you're a man." Throwing his head back like a child he let out a booming laugh and placed it in my lap.

"It's from Lord Elrond," He started, nicking a sausage from my plate when he thought I wasn't looking. "Said that 'a lady should always have a change of clothes.' He gave it to me to give to you at the council session." He offered me a cup of some sort of fruity drink as I gave him the rest of my sausages.

"It's gorgeous..." I frowned, "Much too nice to get dirty on our travels. And besides," Sipping out of the cup I laughed as Bombur collapsed off of a table, "I much prefer your clothes you gave me."

Shrugging he carried on shoving as many sausages in his mouth as he could. Kili had retired long ago to a bench at the back of the room, sketch book and pencil in hand, while many of the other dwarves were quite happy just relaxing.

I was just glad that I didn't have to sleep on twigs and rocks.

"How was council?" I asked, yawning a little as I stretched my arms in front of me.

Fili nodded, his mouth still full of food. "Good." He swallowed, "Uncle said that we shall stay here one more night before setting off, which is better than me and Dwalin hoped for. But," Stretching out he slid his plate across the floor and leaned on a hand to face me. "you yawned. You're tired, you should really get some sleep Rory, we can talk about council tomorrow." With a grin and lightening reflexes he easily caught a blanket that was thrown by Dori.

"Sleep." He ordered, watching as the other dwarves began to spread out.

Huffing out a yawn I grabbed the blanket from Fili and looked around. Everyone had begun to settle down, most opting for sleeping on just their coats while a few seemed to have acquired blankets from the Elves.

"Shall we move then?"

He raised a blonde brow, "We?"

I snapped my attention back to his face, which at that moment was dusted a lovely shade of pink. A grin grew on my face in excitement, "You're blushing." I whispered.

Snapping his head around to see if anyway heard, he opened his mouth to say something before quickly shutting it again. "Aww, fair and charming Fili is blushing." I giggled as I scooted over towards the wall and away from the fire.

Kneeling, I placed the blanket on the floor and sat down. It wasn't much, but it was better than the stone cold floor. I was really thankful to Balin for the boots that he'd given me, but it still didn't change the fact that it felt like heaven to get them off and let my feet breath. Crossing my legs I began to rub them as I glanced back over to where Fili was moments before; he'd moved.

Great. You just had to go and say something stupid didn't you Rory? Why-

"I grabbed these," Fili dropped various blankets and throws onto the blanket before shooing me off, "I thought they'd be more comfortable and a bit more uh, padded." His moustache twitched into a toothy grin as we lay down on the blankets stiffly; "You really think I'm fair and charming?"

Then it was my turn to blush.

"I think you're bloody amazing for finding these blankets; they're so squishy I could die!" I cried happily as I bundled some of them up under my arm to use as a pillow.

He smiled over sleepily, "Comfortable?"

I hummed a happy yes and grabbed a little bit more blanket. "You know for a fact that my dad will probably collar you tomorrow for this. I don't think you'd still be breathing right now if it wasn't for the fact that he was already asleep." I giggled, just as Bofur let off an almighty snore.

I knew that he knew, and I was rather glad that the majority of the other dwarves were asleep; we were quite thankful for the privacy. Fili chuckled and threw an arm under his head, "True...but I think it might just be worth it." I'll never forget the way he winked and his grin made his eyes crinkle in the corners, making his blue eyes twinkle just that little bit more.

"You know you mentioned before that dwarves have their own language?" He frowned at the quick change of subject, "What does it sound like? My mum used to talk me to sleep when I was little so I guess-"

Fili nodded quickly before placing two fingers over my eyelids, closing them silently as he began to talk in a low, sharp language. His hand travelled from my eyelids to my hair, it sounded vagely swedish with a mix of german which reminded me of home. I told him this, but I just got a chuckle and told off in Khuzdul.

Grabbing Fili's hand sleepily, I pulled it away from my hair and held it gently as stories of the dwarves and dragons lulled me into sleep.


We awoke, or rather I awoke rather early. You see, I needed to pee. As is usual for me nowadays since drinking copious amounts of energy drink all through my teenage years, that meant I'd been left with the bladder of a fifty year old woman. I know, lucky me.

Anyway, I woke up rather early, not too long after the sun had began to rise with the horrible urge to pee. The only thing stopping me from tip toeing off to the bathroom was the fact that a large, warm arm was slung rather tightly around my waist.

Oh God, I need to pee. I need to pee but I really don't want to move.

Trying to wiggle out without waking him I gently pried his arm off and scuttled off towards the bathroom down the hall.

Oh God, sweet relief.

Creeping back into the room, I had to step over Oin and Dori before I reached Fili again. Glancing out over at the balcony I debated on staying awake and exploring more of the gardens, after all, I was awake now and I could get a head start on the day.

Kneeling down I crawled alongside Fili and lay myself down awkwardly once again. He looked so different when he was asleep, more boyish than roguish, and his braids fanned away from his face which showed off just how much facial hair he really had. A sleepy blue eye blinked open, a blush flushed across my face as I realised that I'd been caught staring. A lazy, sleepy grin appeared across his face as an arm shot out to pull me in again.

I lay there stiffly with his arm around me for a beat or two, the only real sounds, the ones that mattered, was the light breaths that fell on my face, the sound of a steady heartbeat not inches from my own, and the feeling of his nose pressed against my cheek.


I awoke the next morning to an empty room.

"You seemed tired, so they left you to sleep." Eless appeared in the doorway with a plate of bread and cheese. "They're bathing, and rather loudly and rather publicly without any clothes. So if I were you," Smiling a little he placed the plate down on the floor as he sat down next to me, "I would avoid going outside for a couple of hours at all cost."

"Joy." I chirped.

"So we're here for another day, what is there to do here in Rivendell? What do you like to do for fun?" Even the cheese tasted better here; but then again they probably had some magical cows.

"I like to read in my spare time. But that's beside the point, my duties are to serve as a healer here and assist in any way that I can." I prayed to whatever God was listening that he wasn't being serious, but from the look on his face, he really was.

"So..." I passed him a slice of bread and cheese, "you don't get like, a day off or anything? At my old job we got the weekend off which was a pretty good deal really. My friend, she always said that she was jealous because her boss always made her work Sundays which she hated-"

"You like to talk, don't you Miss Rory?" He hummed.

"Funnily enough you're not the first person to say that...And you probably won't be the last." Eless brushed the crumbs off his lap and stood up, pulling me up with him.

"Would you like me to take you on a tour of Rivendell? I'm sure you've explored a little, but only an Elf knows the best places to go." Of course, I jumped at the opportunity.

"We'll talk in here laddy," I'm still not too sure to this day as to why I pulled Eless behind a tapestry to hide when I heard my fathers voice, just that I did. It was rather large, and rather thick, but if you pressed your face to it gently you could just make out the shapes of two figures in the room.

"Now, explain to me just what happened last night that ended with you and my daughter so tangled up together? Then you're going to tell me why I shouldn't take my axe to your-"

I cringed at the words, "She's slept on me before, and on Kili."

Fili. He was defending himself with his hands pulled tightly around his back, his chest puffed out slightly.

There was a pause.

"Dwalin you know that I would never-" Pause. "I simply fetched some comfortable blankets, and talked her to sleep. What you are thinking didn't-"

The larger shape grunted and paced, "Have you spoke to Thorin? About what you spoke to me about?"

Eless glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, "No, not yet. Talking to him about such matters is...difficult, to say the least." What? What are those dolts talking about?

Dwalin replied to this with a simple nod.

"Talk to Thorin. Then talk to me."

And with that, he stormed out, leaving Fili alone and me and Eless growing rather impatient behind the tapestry.

He looked stubbornly down at the floor before stomping out the room.

"Aaaand breath." I held a hand out to Eless as we clambered out from behind.

Eless smiled, "That sounded..."

"Confusing?" I offered, straightening my dress.

"Hmmm..." The sound of the other dwarves grew nearer as Eless picked up the plate.

I sputtered, "I know what you're thinking. Now shut up."

He turned at the doorway, "Actually, I was thinking that perhaps they were discussing you staying here." That caught my attention. "Out of harms way."

And with that he was gone. Bloody Elf.

Sighing, I began to put my boots on as his words echoed around my head. 'Perhaps they were discussing you staying here. Out of harms way.' Bitterly I tied the laces in a bow before stalking over to the door, intent on finding something to do that didn't count as eavesdropping.


"Take a bow. Now get lost."

I hastily stepped away from the youngest Durin brother, but not before I landed a light slap on his stomach.

I cast the bow a worried glance, "What the hell am I even supposed to do with it?" I whined to Kili. "I mean, I get that the pointy end points at the bad guy, but what if I accidentally shoot someone in the butt?"

Dori snorted.

Kili rolled his eyes and sauntered over, "Why would you shoot someone in the butt?" I shrugged my shoulders as I watched him load the bow.

"I dunno, that's usually what happens in films when the girl tries to do this sort of stuff. Which I think is really sexist because women can do everything men can do but better and in high heels." He passed the bow over. "Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did except backwards and in high heels." Pointing the arrow at a tree, I pulled the string back and release, just like I'd been shown.

It bounced right off.

"Ugh you're doing it wrong." He complained as he grabbed the bow and began to show me for the hundredth time how to shoot an arrow. He pulled his arm back, "Pull back, breath and..." The arrow shot perfectly into the centre of the tree. "Release." He grinned.

I shot him a sour look and snatched the bow, "Whatever, Katniss." Shoving the bow back into his confused arms I wandered over to Thorin who was sparring with his other nephew.

"Push more with your legs, Fili." He grunted as Fili tackled him to the floor.

"I am pushing with my legs-Omph!" Thorin rolled them over, just as Bofur called it time. Thorin pulled Fili up from the floor as they both began to dust themselves off. "You should push with your legs!"

Thorin sent him an icy glare, as he noticed me approaching.

"Rory," He grunted, rolling his neck into a click.

Rocking on my feet I pulled a face of disgust at the sound of bones clicking, "That's disgusting. And can I learn to fight?"

"Another day, eh Lass?" Dwalin clamped a large hand down on my shoulder, "You're probably tired from shooting with Kili." Steering me away from the royals I was led over to a small, stone bench with a rather peaceful looking Ori on it.

I dug my heels in and glance up with a raised brow, "I knew that when I saw the knitting needles something bad was going to happen." I spoke roughly, "You want me to be a good little woman and knit with Ori don't you?"

Ori mumbled a defeated 'hey' from behind.

"Sorry Ori." I shot back over my shoulder before looking back up into Dwalin's stern face. "Why can't I learn to fight? That way I might actually be able to defend myself instead of flailing about like a bloody Magikarp using Splash..."

Yes, I compared myself to a Magikarp. Yes, I know it's lame.

"You're my-"

Rolling my eyes I sat down and grabbed a pair of needles, "Your little girl...I know." I finished softly. "But one day soon, I'm going to have to learn how to fight." He shot me an unhappy glare before patting my head and wandering back over to the fighting.

I turned to Ori and sighed, "So, knit one pearl two?"


Strangely enough I was rather glad that Dwalin made me sit out with Ori; the lad was actually rather fun. We'd spent the hours knitting and talking; I learnt that his favourite food was chips and back home he was a scribe, which was why he had taken it upon himself to document our journey in an ornate book. He'd even taken up drawing, with a few lessons from Balin, to capture important moments.

Now that I look back I think that this was how my story started, in a way. If it wasn't for Ori, I don't think I would have fallen in love with stories as much as I have; he promised to give me a few writing lessons when we were back home in Erebor. He had such skill, his words would flow beautifully off the page and conjure up images in your head with a simple sentence...It was truly inspiring the way he wrote. It was Ori and Bilbo who suggested that I write all of this down.

I really wanted to write something inspiring and uplifting, but every time I tried this stuff came out instead.

"How's the knitting going Rory? Ori?" I mentally cringed at the rhyming, knowing coming Kili was probably intentional.

"I've got two knitting needles here, and coincidentally, you've got two eyes." Placing the now too-long scarf beside me, I crossed my legs and looked up to the snickering faces of the Durin brothers. "We've had a good time haven't we Ori?"

He smiled and cast off his fresh pair of mittens. "Oh yes, Rory's quite good at making uh...Scarfs..." He glanced down to the pile of scarfs at our feet.

"Yes well, you can teach me how to make mittens next time." Casting off the mustard scarf I hugged it lightly, rather proud of my little creation. "I quite fancy myself a pair, my favourite colour's yellow if you wanted to know." With a hint and a wink I thanked him for helping me and followed the pair of brothers into the gardens.

"How was fighting?" I teased just as Kili shoved me in-between the two.

Fili shrugged, "S'alright. Uncle was as unforgiving as ever."

"Yeah but that's because you're golden child; you're next in line to the throne. You know he hates the fact that my 'childish ways' rub off on you." I couldn't help but snort out a laugh at Kili's impression of Thorin, it was practically uncanny.

"All joking aside though," Grabbing their sleeves I pulled them to a stop and smirked, "you two stink. And I don't know about you but I want to make the most of warm water while I can so how about-"

"Are you asking us to bathe with you Rory?" Fili acted shocked, his hand placed dramatically over his heart. "Is she asking us-"

Kili nodded solemnly, "I think she just might brother, I know I thought she was classier too-Ow!" Hitting him in the arm harshly we began walking again, "Why is it always me you hit? Why don't you ever hit him; he's bigger than me!"

I tutted, "Oh stop being a big baby!" The bath houses were just ahead of us, "Now I don't really care if you two don't wash, even though I really do because chances have it I'll end up falling asleep on one of you later-"

Kili coughed. "*Cough*Fili!*Cough*" The aforementioned brother just hit him upside the head.

"In other words, you two go wash and then come back out here and keep watch so I can go wash without any prying eyes. Deal?"

"Deal." They spoke together before darting off to the bath houses, stripping as they went.

Sitting down on the grass I wrapped my mustard scarf around my neck and waited for them to come back. It was no lie that I'd grown attached to the two, to all of the dwarves; even Thorin. But Eless' words kept replaying over in my head, 'Stay here. Out of harms way.' Could I? Surely they would have been better off with me here instead of causing more drama later on. I couldn't tend to the wounded like Bifur, I could only make holey scarfs while Ori could make pretty much anything out of wool, I couldn't fight or shoot a bow.

Feeling deflated I threw my legs out in front of me and leant back into the grass. "Maybe I should just stay here..." I mumbled to myself, "I could get to know Eless a bit more...Maybe grow some pointy ears..."

But I'd miss them. All of them. I'd miss how right it felt to belong to something, how good it felt to be apart of something meaningful and important. I'd miss my friends; I'd miss Fili and Kili.

I'd miss them so much that it hurt to think about not seeing them everyday, not setting up camp and purposely sitting next to the fairer dwarf because I liked the way he let me share his coat and blanket when we slept.

"Oi! You haven't fell asleep have-"

"Shh! She's probably tired!" I rolled onto my stomach to see them walking over with dripping wet hair, lightly shoving each other as they argued.

"Tired from what? Extreme Knitting? I'm sure that's very tiring!" Kili laughed out loud.

"Like you would know!" I laughed as I rolled to my feet, picking up my scarf as I went. "Look after this for me." Wrapping the scarf around Fili's neck I skipped towards the bath houses, "And no peaking Kili!" With a groan and a nod they sat themselves down where I'd been just moments before.

No, I don't think I could have stayed behind even if I wanted to. Somehow I knew that greater things awaited me, and I knew that after all the pain and heartache was over, it would all be worth it.


Woo! Longer chapter after a shorter one. Quite happy with this, I'd just like to point out that a lovely reviewer, who wasn't logged in unfortunately, mentioned that the story feels different now since it's been so long since I last updated. I completely, whole heartedly agree, and I'm so sorry if this has made it any less enjoyable for any of you but I'm trying my best to get back into how this story was; hopefully I'm not doing too terribly.

Little bit of Dwalin and Fili interaction in this one, more to come later on; does anyone want to guess what they were talking about? What could Fili possibly want to talk to Thorin about?! Thank you all for your suggestions and don't forget to keep them coming in as well as reviewing; my email's been blowing up over the last two days so I can only say a massive thank you!

Review, enjoy, and follow my tumblr, okidokibucky

Thanks!