There is a hand, calloused but gentle, tapping at her cheek, and Sephira's eyes squint against the sudden earthly feeling. The last Sephira remembered, she was sleeping soundly against Fili and Kili, listening to one (she could not remember who she used as a pillow) of their steady heart beats. And now someone was waking her up. Rather rudely, if you asked her opinion.
"Come on Seph, wake up. Please?" the voice of Kili asked, his voice pathetically helpless. As the tapping on her cheek grew more insistent, she let out a groan, twisting her head and trying to twist her body away from the feeling. Hands grabbed her arms though, preventing her from moving anywhere, and her eyes flew open. Kneeling by her side were Fili and Kili, as she should have known, staring down at her with relieved eyes.
"Are you alright Sephira?" Fili asked hopefully, eye brows raised. Sephira's brows furrowed, her mind flicking through the past events to figure out what exactly had happened. Figure out why she was laying on the ground in the middle of the woods. Why would she have any reason to be anything but ok? They were in cam- Images rushed back at Sephira, making her eyes widen.
A large bear- far larger than normal- running at her. Knocking her to the ground. Said bear transforming into a large man who was completely and utterly stark naked.
"Sephira?" Kili asked hesitantly, noticing the pale color of her skin. She just blinked at him with doe eyes, looking absolutely endearing and very uncertain. Then, she lifted her head only slightly, where she could not see over their shoulders yet still get close enough to speak to them in private.
"Is he clothed?" she whispered pathetically, eyes hopeful. Surprised relief flooded him, and he found that a chuckle was escaping his lips, being joined shortly by his older brother. The two laughed, their grip on Sephira's arms disappearing as they held their stomachs. Sephira glared at them.
"Do not laugh at me, you bloody dwarves. You were not the ones being pinned down by a man three times your size."
"With a part the same size as you!" Fili howled around his laughter, collapsing into his brother's side.
It was just too funny. Sure, they felt bad for Sephira. She'd only ever seen a naked man once- by accident, as you'd remember- when Fili forgot his towel. And, while he was not small, he certainly was not that large. That was not the case with the skin changer. And Sephira had just been attacked by him in bear form seconds before hand. But her reaction to this, the look on her pale, beautiful face, was priceless.
"Shut up." Sephira growled, scrambling back so she was sitting on her backside. Kili opened his mouth, preparing to say something- undoubtedly witty- when his mouth snapped shut quickly and he elbowed Fili in the side. The blonde dwarf shut up rather quickly when he looked behind Sephira, an apologetic light to his eyes. Before Sephira even had a chance to guess who was behind her, hands grabbed her arms and lifted her to her feet.
"You two would do well to mind your manors around a maiden. Especially one that has just awoken from ill passing." Thorin growled. His grip was like a vice around Sephira's tiny arms, but she did not mind so much. At least he wasnt making fun of her. She didnt want to see any naked man like that. Well...perhaps Fili and Kili would not be bad. But that was besides the point.
"Is he?" she demanded, looking up at Thorin with round eyes. She was not going to turn around, or even cast her eyes around, if she did not know if he was dressed or not. Thorin scowled, a disgusted look getting thrown over his shoulder to where she suspected the skin changer named Beorn was. No doubt with Gandalf and Bilbo.
"No." Sephira's insides squirmed. She would admit, she was not the best child. Still she was not.
Always getting into trouble, discussing things she should not be with the wrong people. She sword faught with the boy dwarves at the age of ten and up (much to the elder dwarves' dismay). She had a very large roll in the plan to get some ale from the kitchens. Sephira, Fili and Kili had gotten so drunk that night, that they began trapezing around the halls of the moutain singing and dancing and "Disturbing the Peace". Thankfully, it was marked up as classic antics by all other dwarves. All other dwarves save for Thorin and his sister Dis. They knew the difference, and the three of them had gotten an ear full, and then forced to go hunting in the hot, swelting afternoon sun with hangovers the very next day.
But that did not mean she wished to see any naked men. Or women, for that matter. She'd seen Fili once, and that was because she was not even supposed to be at the house. How was Fili to know that Sephira had caught Kili kissing a dwarf girl and had run home crying? Dis knew, because Sephira had spoken with her when she first showed up. She's the one that told Sephira to sit on the chair and then gave her a honey cake. She'd just finished it when a stark naked Fili walked out searching for a towel.
"Lovely." she grumbled, looking down.
"You are not the only one uncomfortable. Alot of the men are uncomfortable with him being unclothed as he is." Thorin said. Sephira let loose a very unlady like snort, crossing her arms firmly over her chest.
"That is because his size makes them selfconscious." she said. That comment was greeted by a slap to the back of the head and a harsh glare by Thorin, though a small gleam of amusement could be seen in his steel gray eyes.
"That is nothing you need to be concerning yourself with, Sephira. Let alone be speaking about." he added sternly, in what Sephira liked to call his "father voice". He'd used it on her an awful lot, and on Fili and Kili even more. Sephira's response was a roll of her eyes before she huffed and sent a sideways glance at Beorn. He was a very large man indeed. Almost three times her size. Even Gandalf looked tiny compaired to the skin-changer. And he appeared rough around the edges. But not a serious threat.
"What are him and Gandalf speaking about?" she asked. She could see the two conversing, in tones quiet enough that she could not hear. And to her surprise, she also noticed that Bilbo was not next to the wizard's side. Which is where he usually was, if he was not beside Fili, Kili and herself or Bofur.
"No idea." Thorin gruffed out. "They've been speaking since you fainted."
Sephira flushed at the mention of it, a feeling of utter embarrassment filling her to the core. Never had Sephira shown such weakness before. Not even when she was being cornered by a group of mean dwarflings, or when she had slid out onto a thin piece of ice and it broke. Or when she was sleeping on her own during a storm. But fainting? All because of a man/bear that happened to be naked had attacked her? It was resonable, but Sephira could not manage to feel alright with it.
"Perhaps he is trying to talk him into letting us stay at his place for a few days?" Sephira offered helpfully. It was a good guess, but something about the impressed and intrueged expression on Beorn's face told her otherwise.
"Gandalf is telling him about our adventure so far, and what has happened." Bilbo's voice said from Sephira's right. She looked over at him with furrowed brows, a question of "why" written all over her face. Bilbo gave a smile.
"He is a fan of stories, from what Gandalf explained to me." the hobbit answered her unspoken question, motioning to Beorn with a twitch of his curly haired head. Sephira nodded as if it made perfect sence, even though it was a bit confusing. So what if the man enjoyed stories? They needed supplies and a place to regroup and catch up on sleep. A place to eat. Somewhere to bath once more and get weapons, seeming as how Sephira lost all but her sword.
"Sounds ideal." Sephira muttered.
Thorin sent a sideways glance at her to see a very unnoticable look of confusion on her pale, flawless face. He also happened to notice the small courting braide that had been done by Fili on the side of her head, near her temple, poking out from underneath all of her curls. How the boys had managed to braide her unruly hair was beyond him. Thorin had a hard enough time tying her hair up when she was little.
"The wizard believes Beorn will let us stay with him, help us with supplies, if our story is good enough. So he is telling of our journey so far." he explained patiently, in a voice far gentler than the hobbit had ever heard him use. Bilbo suspected he had a soft spot for the Fae woman, one that he did not have for his nephews. But then again, she was a girl. And, though Bilbo would never say it outloud, damaged.
She stopped spending the proper time with her parents once she met the Durin family line. She was practically raised around a species that were not her own until the age of twelve, when she was actually raised with them. Her parents were brutally murdered, right before her eyes. She had seen as her parents were torn to shreds. She'd told Bilbo as much while they were travelling. And he'd heard the whispers of the others after a night were Sephira slept poorly. When she tossed or whimpered in her sleep. The fae grew up with two rowdey (spl?) dwarves that knew nothing of boundaries and joked around with everything. They didnt even take her parents deaths seriously for Aule's sake! Oh yes, Sephira was definitly damaged. But Bilbo thought nothing less of her. She was sweet and kind hearted. Had a great sense of humor and was very helpful when other's were being unneccissarily rude towards him.
"And if he does not like it? What then? We continue on our journey with no food or supplies? We will die before we reach Mirkwood Thorin!" Sephira said, voice rising just the smallest amount. Thorin nodded, face going cold as stone as his eyes rooved back towards the skin changer and the wizard.
"I am aware of that." he growned out. It grew silent between the two, one lost in a stoney anger and the other deep in thought. A scowl grew across Sephira's face, her arms crossing, but she spoke anyways.
"If this does not work out, we could go to Frenthrial." Sephira said. Her voice was nothing but distaste, her face screwed up in annoyance. But she kept speaking as Thorin turned to look at her, her eyes straight ahead.
"It is only a full day's travel by foot. We would get there as the sun rose the next day. They would give us supplies, a place to rest, ponies." but even as she said it, Bilbo could tell she did not want that to happen. It seemed she would rather go on without supplies than go to her home land.
"They are not fond of our kind." Balin said, hearing their discussion. Sephira glanced over at him, an almost challanging light entering her gray eyes as her shoulders straightened just an inch.
"They will do as the rightful queen of Frenthrial asks them to do, with no arguements." she said in a very queenly voice. Then she went back to herself, giving a sly grin. "How else do you think i got those swords made last year?" she questioned. Balin gave her a stern look, one that says you should not abuse your power, but Thorin smirked. Bilbo could read his expression clearly. She must take after him. Bilbo thought to himself, unsure if that was good or bad.
"Little Fae." a deep voice said, startling Sephira so bad that she jumped before spinning around. Standing before her was the skin changer, bare skinned and looking down at her with a small frown on his face. Her face flushed as she trained her eyes on his face. Two hands gripped either of her arms, and Sephira didnt have to look to know that it was Fili and Kili. She could smell them. Sense them.
"I apologize for our earlier meeting." he said. Sephira was silent, waiting for more with her arms crossed. But the silence grew, and as the silence grew, Beorn looked more annoyed as he stared down at her, and Sephira grew more angery as she looked the large man in the eyes. The silence lasted until finally, Sephira broke it. Loudly.
"That's it?" she demanded, an incredulous expression on her face. "You attack me, pinn me to the ground, and it turns out you are naked, and all I get is a simple "I apologise for our earlier meeting"?" she practically shrieked, an angry flush coloring her cheeks. All the dwarves gathered around watched on in silence as she placed her hands on her tiny hips instead, glaring up at the skin - changer with challanging eyes. Fili couldnt help but smirk, arms crossing his chest as he watched with a proud expression. She was a firey little fae, one that he was proud to be courting now.
"What more do you want?" Beorn asked, sounding disbelieving, if not a little challanging as well. Sephira's glare narrowed.
"I want a long winded apology for why you are sorry, saying what you did was wrong and how you deserve to be struck over the head with a large boulder!" she shouted now, her voice loud and angry. Birds in the nearbye trees fly off, chirping sharply as they went. Beorn continued to look down at Sephira with narrowed eyes before he burst into a full bellied laugh that echoed around them. Sephira's shoulders slumped slightly in confusion, her glare turning to a furrowed brow and a frown as she glanced sideways at Kili with questioning eyes. He shrugged, brows furrowed as well.
"You are a feisty little Fae! A true queen if i've ever seen one!" Beorn managed to shout around his laughter. Sephira balked, staring at him with her mouth agape as he kept laughing. How did he know she was a the rightful queen? Did everyone know that? Even the bloody Goblin King had known who she was! At her look, Beorn stopped laughing, but his smile stayed on his face.
"Gandalf has told me who you are, little one. And of your journey so far. You all are welcome at my home. You will find food, and places to rest there, and I will get you supplies as well. If you will all just follow me." And just like that, the man turned and began to walk off. The company watched as Gandalf trailed after him, while the rest just exchanged glances. It wasnt until Sephira, who never stuck on one topic for long, spoke up with innocent curiosity.
"I wonder if he had a bow my size." she mused, a thoughtful expression on her face before she took both Fili and Kili's hands, enterlacing their fingers togther, and began to follow Beorn and Gandalf. The other's all stared after them before slowly, they began to trail after them as well.
Sorry it's taken so long for this update, and thank you all who commented!
Guest: Thank you so much for your review! I'm glad you like it so much. And congradulations! I'm happy you caught that referance, it made my night! And i agree completely, who has time for spelling when you have a story that needs to be told? Plus, I'm working on word pad, which does not have auto correct when you miss spell a word. Oh well!
Madeline: thank you for the reviews as well! Yes, Thranduil will make an appearance in this story, though i have not yet decided how big of a part he will play in it. And another yes, there will be some possessiveness and protectiveness, especially when they get into the town after escaping Mirkwood.