Happy Sunday! Finally testing season has come to a close, and surprisingly I'm still alive! Hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a bit fluffy but hey. They needed a break from all the questing.
Chapter 20
"Must be nearly suppertime. Is there any food around here?" Bofur asked, after a brief silence.
"Ah, yes. Take what you will, but don't touch the animals. I have a feeling that our host would not respond kindly to the knowledge that we'd milked his cows," said Gandalf before taking a seat at Beorn's great table, and producing a pipe from somewhere beneath his robes.
"That's good enough for me!" said Bofur.
"Bombur, Aria, would you two help me rustle up some food?" he finished.
The rest of the company let out a resounding "No!" as soon as the kindly dwarf made this statement.
"Ouch," I said, folding my arms across my chest.
"Nothing against you, I just like being alive," said Kili from across the room.
"Oh, very funny," I retorted, nearly choking at the implications of his words.
I decided to change the subject. "Shouldn't we close the outer gate now that the beast is gone?" I asked the silent room. I received nothing but stares until Thorin spoke up.
"That we should. Fili, Kili, go with her. Close the gate and report back on the surrounding area," Thorin ordered. I was surprised to see him give me a nod of approval.
Fili and Kili were quick to follow me back to Beorn's great door, where they lifted the bolt and placed it on the floor. I pushed at the doors, and they swung open without much protest. The three of us strolled out passed the skin changer's many bee hives, taking in the late afternoon sun, and the lazy buzzing of insects in the flowering groves around us. We walked to the gate in a weary companionable silence, all three of us exhausted from the exertions of that day.
We reached the main doors and ventured forth only just exceeding their borders. After ascertaining that the area was indeed clear, we retreated back into the safety of the walls.
Fili and Kili each swung a huge gate shut, and (after reaching up on tiptoes) I grabbed the bolt and pulled it down into place.
As soon as the door was securely closed, I turned and slumped to the ground, my back against its cool wood surface. Fili, who had followed Kili back towards the house, paused.
"Aren't you coming?" he asked.
"No. I'll be in shortly, I just need a moment to think," I smiled tiredly.
"Do you need company?" Fili asked, presumably volunteering himself and his brother.
I wanted them to stay, of course I wanted them to stay, but Fili was just as hungry as I was, and I didn't want to be selfish.
"Go inside and get something to eat, I'm just going to take a bit of a walk," I said, pushing myself to my feet.
"Have fun! We're going to go eat," said Kili, throwing his arm over his brother's shoulder.
"Join us when you're ready," said Fili, as he threw his arm over Kili's shoulder. I watched the two march into the house, Kili chuckling about something as they went. The doors closed quietly behind them, and though they were not bolted, I felt a separation from the company that I hadn't even felt in Azog's capture.
I was able to take a step back from recent events, and truly think about what had happened to me.
As I thought, I shrugged my pack off of my shoulders and took out my careworn copy of Romeo and Juliet.
This stressful situation called for a familiar remedy. I crossed to the double doors of the house and set my bag down, before beginning a strole, book in hand, through Beorn's beautiful gardens. Blooming flowers in rich hues sprung up from the ground each way I looked. I didn't remember seeing this part of the house in the films, so I enjoyed it all the more. The rose brackets, the vegetable patch, and a huge slab of rock that stood out in the midst of it all. This particular landmark immediately appealed to me, so I carefully picked my way through the garden towards it. The slab was flat on top, and was only a little higher than my hip, making it easy for me to hoist myself up with just my right arm.
Once on top of the slab, I stretched out, lying on my stomach, one elbow supporting my chin, the other arm opening the book.
I let the words, written in old Shakespearean tongue, calm my nerves. I flipped through the pages, reading as the two star-crossed lovers met and promised themselves to each other. I read as Tybalt was murdered, and Romeo was forced into exile. Juliet was to be married to Paris, though she had already been married to Romeo. I was deep into the book when it occurred to me that I was squinting to see the words before me.
I looked up to see that nothing lighted my page but the moon and stars. I had lost track of time within myself, and as I realized this, I smiled. It was one of my favorite things about reading.
"Aria! Are you out here?" called Kili's voice from near the house.
"I'm over here!" I called back to him.
I heard footsteps approaching, and soon I could see Kili, emerging out of the relative darkness.
"Were you planning on joining us anytime soon, your highness?" he asked in a jovial tone.
This made me simultaneously embarrassed and furious with him. I shushed him loudly.
Kili's only response to this was a lighthearted laugh.
"You've got to stop saying things like that aloud," I told him sincerely.
"There's no one else out here, you don't have a thing to worry about. Speaking of which, uh, why are you still out here?" Kili finished by asking.
"I was reading," I said, sitting up straight.
By this time, Kili had reached me and had no trouble hoisting himself up to sit beside me.
"Reading? Reading what?" he asked.
"Oh, just this old story about this incredible feud between two neighboring families," I began to explain, but Kili interjected.
"Sounds like Erebor and the Woodland Realm. From what Thorin says about those elves, they've been feuding since Smaug laid waste to the mountain."
"It's exactly like that!" I exclaimed.
"Doesn't sound like much of a story though," mused Kili.
"That's not the whole of it. The story's about a lad and a lass, one from each family, who fall in love against their parent's wishes," I said.
"What happens to them?" Kili asked, and I sensed a spark of interest in his voice as he did so.
"Well, the two end their own lives because they believe the other is dead. That action ends up unifying their families. They see the love of their fallen young ones, and they put their hate behind them," I told him frankly.
There was a long pause of silence before Kili spoke.
"And you know the terrible end, but you spend all evening re-reading it?" he queried.
"Yes. I suppose I just love the language. Well, and when I read it, there's always the hope that the end will be different. Always the hope that love might prevail over death," I said, smiling sadly.
Kili thought for a moment before answering.
"Makes me the libraries back home," he said simply.
My jaw dropped. I had never, never in a million years, taken Kili for the type of dwarrow who would spend time reading or studying.
"You what?!" I asked, flabbergasted.
Even in the dim light, Kili could see the surprise on my face, and this made him laugh that infectious laugh of his.
"If you must know, I was always trying to avoid my studies, especially as a youngster. My mother or Thorin would always be finding me off in corners reading about great heroes and adventures. Well, either I was reading about them, or training with weapons to be like them. When we got older, Fili and I would visit the villages of men, and read their legends. For some reason, I always loved the stories about the great deeds and sacrifices of the elves. They're so different from us, yet we share the same beliefs and hopes for the world," Kili trailed off into silence.
"How does Thorin feel about those visits?" I asked.
Kili gave a wry laugh. "Oh, Fili and I never dared to tell him. He never would've approved."
"And your mother?" I asked, wanting to know more about Fili and Kili's family.
"Oh, ammâ was the one who advised us not to tell Thorin. She said that we needed to have our own opinions and that we couldn't let the ideas of authority change our convictions in any way," Said Kili, a smile touching his words.
"Well, that explains it then," I said as if the puzzle of the universe had just been solved.
"What explains what?" Kili asked.
"Fili," I laughed. "He's the most stubborn person I know. Sounds like he gets it from your ammâd."
"That's my elder brother. He takes after addâd in looks, but ammâd in character. Just the opposite of me, or so I'm told," Kili shrugged, grinning.
There was a long and satisfied pause before Kili asked a sore question.
"What's your family like?" he asked.
I paused before telling him a little. "Complicated. My mother and father are little more than my legal guardians. They stopped acting like good parents years ago," I said. Now it was my turn to shrug.
"Are they your only family?" Kili asked, trying to remedy the subject.
"Well, my parents were both only children, and I was too, so no aunts uncles, cousins, or siblings. My mother's parents died in a car acc-I mean a sled crash when I was seven," I said, catching myself at the near mention of a car accident.
"And your addâd's parents?" asked Kili.
This question caused me to break into a grin. Apart from falling into middle earth, my grandparents on my father's side represented both the best part of my life, and the part that made the least sense.
"My father thought that they were crazier than a flock of bats. He left home as soon as he was legally allowed to. Never had contact with them again," I said.
"How do you know?" Kili asked suspiciously.
"Oh, I said that my father never had contact with them, not that I never did. As soon as I was old enough, I got into contact with them. They're different than most people. I mean they live in this really remote part of the southern alps in New Zealand, and they go missing quite often, but when I've been able to find their house they're amazing," I said.
"Right, I never have to meet your family, do I? Ever?" Kili asked.
"No, never. Oh, we should be getting in, shouldn't we?" I asked him.
"Yes, on that note, I'm ready for bed," said Kili, and I followed him back through the garden and into the house, picking up my backpack on the way.
When we entered, the house was quiet, and everyone else seemed to have drifted off to sleep.
Kili took a blanket from the stack that had been set near the great carven table. I followed suit, but when Kili made to lie down amidst the hay, I put my foot down. If I slept anywhere near that hay, I would still be pulling little bits of it out of my overly dense, overly curly hair come Durin's Day!
I decided simply to lie down where I stood. This plan worked very well, and I slipped into a quiet and uninterrupted sleep.
Correction: I slipped into a sleep that was neither quiet nor uninterrupted. I woke scarcely hours later, in the dead of night, to a cacophony of snoring.
You see, confined spaces tend to enhance volume. In this case, the volume that had existed as little more than a hum while outside was now my own personal indoor thunderstorm!
"Ugh, men," I said quietly. "I mean dwarrows. I mean...I'm going to sleep on that rock!" I said, maybe a little louder than I had intended.
No one seemed to notice.
The rock slab was chillier than I had expected, but I preferred the cold to the noise, so I shivered and waited for sleep to overtake me.
Soon, the shivers were mixed with a light humming. The tune of a lullaby that I hardly remembered.
Before long, I quietly began to sing the lyrics.
"Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby
Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay
And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow…"
As I sang the next lines, I couldn't help thethoughts of Fili that came to push at the back of my mind.
"Bless you with love for the road that you go
May you sail fair to the far fields of fortune
With diamonds and pearls at your head and your feet
And may you need never to banish misfortune
May you find kindness in all that you meet
May there always be angels to watch over you
To guide you each step of the way
To guard you and keep you safe from all harm
Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay"
I hummed the melody for a bit longer, waiting for its conclusion to sing the second (and my favorite) verse. I was just about to start, when I heard quiet footsteps approaching me. I stopped humming, and a lump began to form in my throat. I sat up, squinting to make out who it could be. I recognized Fili's self-assured strides immediately and relaxed ever so slightly. I was startled, but he'd heard me sing before and this was nothing new.
"You're up late!" I called to him by way of a greeting.
"I could say the same about you!" he called back.
He reached my rock slab. "So what brings you out here so late at night?" I asked.
"I saw you leaving, and thought you might be cold," he said nonchalantly, offering me an extra blanket that he had brought out of the house.
"You're right. Thanks." I said, taking the blanket.
"Would you mind me joining you up there?" he asked tiredly.
"Of course not," I said, yawning as I did so.
When Fili was seated comfortably beside me, he posed a question.
"So, why are we out here?"
"I couldn't sleep. It was just too loud!" I said, massaging my temples.
"What do you mean, too loud? Everybody in there was out cold when I woke up," Fili said in confusion.
"Exactly," I said tiredly.
"I'm not sure I follow you," he said, in a voice just as worn out as mine.
"You snore," I said bluntly.
"I most certainly do not snore!" Fili said in exhausted outrage.
"You do so. Not as badly as Bombur or Gloin, but you do snore," I persisted.
"I do not. I think I would know if I snored," said Fili, as if this was the argument to end all others.
"How? You're asleep the whole time," I said, my words punctuated by a yawn.
"Alright, you have a point," he said tiredly.
"I know, that's why I said it," I told him, before realizing how absurd my words sounded and breaking out into laughter.
"That wasn't funny you know, you laugh at the strangest things," Fili said, looking at me as if he was trying hard to figure me out.
"I laughed because this entire conversation has been the most ridiculous interaction I've had in a long time," I said in an amused tone.
"That's saying something, considering you were out here with Kili half the evening," said Fili, now chuckling himself. Turning to me, he asked a question.
"So, were you singing because you liked the words, or was it to drown out my snoring?"
I laughed at this. "I had only just remembered the words, and I wanted to sing them. And I did say you weren't as bad a snorer as some of the others," I said, nudging his shoulder as I finished.
"So you did...were you finished when you saw me coming?" he asked.
"No, I had one more verse left," I said, not exactly sure why he was asking.
"Would you finish?" Fili asked quietly.
"You want me to sing?" I queried nervously. I wasn't used to singing for other people. Not on purpose anyway.
"You have a captivating voice. It's almost unearthly," Fili told me in earnest.
"Alright," I whispered. A lump was forming in my throat. The one thing that I knew I could do well, and I was nervous to do it.
I took a deep breath, and began. My voice was clear, and I hoped dearly that my nerves didn't show. I looked over the garden, my gaze searching to land on anything besides Fili's face.
"May you bring love and may you bring happiness
Be loved in return to the end of your days
Now fall off to sleep, I'm not meaning to keep you
I'll just sit for a while and sing loo-li, lai-lay.
May there always be angels to watch over you
To guide you each step of the way
To guard you and keep you safe from all harm
Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay."
As I finished, I noticed that I had begun to shiver violently...this had nothing to do with the cold.
"That was…," Fili breathed in awe.
He then noticed my shaking. "Aria, are you alright? You aren't cold, are you?" he asked, his voice wrought with concern.
"I'm not used to singing like that. Not with an audience anyways. I was only nervous. W-what did you think?"
Fili considered for a moment before answering me "I think that your parents must be out of their mind not to want to hear that."
"Thank you," I said, my shivering becoming calm complacency once more. I couldn't help but smile because Fili had said something I had unknowingly wanted to hear for years.
"Speaking of family, I don't recall you saying anything about grandparents," he said.
"Ah, you've been talking to Kili," I observed.
"Yes, but all he did was ask me what New Zealand was," Fili mused.
This made me laugh to no end.
"What's so funny?" Fili asked.
"Oh, nothing. I-I just keep forgetting that you don't know any earthen places," I said, catching my breath.
"My grandparents are, um, well they're different. They live in the mountains of New Zealand," I paused at the look of confusion outlining his face.
"Just think misty mountains without the goblins," I explained before continuing. "My father never wanted anything to do with them. He said they were both crazy, and that I was better off not knowing them. When I was fourteen I found out where they lived, hopped on a plane, and drove half way into the southern alps to meet them. They live in this huge old house that's surrounded by gardens in full bloom, no matter what time of the year it is. They actually introduced me to middle earth. They took me he films when they were first released, and they always talked about the characters like they were real," I mused, thinking about my grandparents.
"Aria?" Fili asked.
"What?"
"Two words. Plane. Films." he answered.
"Oh. Planes are like covered wagons that carry you through the sky, and films are like moving drawings of people acting out stories," I explained, hoping my words made sense.
"Somebody acted out our story?" Fili asked in awe.
"Oh ya. And may I just say that they were spot on with the casting. You look almost exactly like the person who played you in the films. Only difference is, they got your accent wrong. It's just a tad too heavy in the films," I said, grinning.
"That is the strangest thing you have ever said to me," Fili told me simply.
"As well it should be," I laughed.
"On the subject of strange, I don't see why your grandparents are so out of the ordinary," he said slowly.
"Oh, that's easy. They're always going away, traveling to places that aren't on any map. Heck, sometimes their address doesn't even show up on GP-" I stopped abruptly.
"What is is it?" Fili asked in concern.
I repeated what I had been saying, and as I did so, my hand clutched the almost forgotten pendant around my neck. The rune that had brought me here. The neckless sent from an address that didn't exist.
Why would her grandparents send her that pendant?*Connects dots in head* Who would have known that Kili liked stories about elves as a young dwarf...*connects more dots in head*