Chapter Twenty-One

We only stayed at Beorn's for another five days. Staying longer would have been nice, but now we were so close to Erebor, everyone wanted to get there as soon as possible. It seemed they had all forgotten about the fire-breathing dragon that was there. All except me and Bilbo. He seemed to get fidgety every time conversation turned towards the Lonely Mountain, but I admired him. He put on a brave face nonetheless. Meanwhile every time I thought about it, I felt like running back in the other direction. But I'd promised to the others I would help, and I couldn't leave them all now. I don't think I would have been able to see the crushed look on Fili's face (or any of their face's for that matter) if we didn't reclaim the mountain. And it was to be home to me too (hopefully). I had as much to gain as the others, or so I tried to tell myself.

And (something good that I had done here), I had finally managed to make a pizza! I had had to hunt around a fair bit to try and find the right ingredients, but thankfully I managed to find them all in the end. I don't think I could have handled the disappointment in not making one after my heart had been set on it after I'd come up with the idea. Bombur had asked me if he could sit in on what I was making seeing as it sounded 'interesting'. I wasn't sure how watching me cook was interesting, but whatever floats your boat, I suppose.

I only managed to make about four fairly large pizzas by the time they had all come in from yet more training. It seemed that's all they seemed to do in their spare time lately. I joined them occasionally, but I really didn't have the attention span to do it all day.

"So, how are we supposed to eat it?" Gloin had asked, looking at one of the margarita pizzas with a small amount of confusion.

"I need to cut it!" I'd said, grabbing a knife and cutting each pizza into eight pieces. "And then you just pick it up by the crust and eat it. This was one of my favourites back home. We used to have it once a month at the care home for a treat." To cut the story short, everyone loved it, but none more so than me. It was like a small piece of home that I vowed to make as often as I could. Nothing could beat pizza. Except more pizza.

Beorn had also returned a couple of days after he'd disappeared. He'd come back little after breakfast, smiling at the company as we were currently lounging around his house.

"I see you're all still here!" he said, walking through the front door. I was sat on the floor with Fili leaning between my legs. He was teaching me how to braid hair better than I already could, and since I was not particularly skilled at the craft, it was taking me a while just to get a basic Dwarven braid done. It seemed a fishtail braid was all I was going to be able to manage. "Not been eaten by any Wargs, Orcs, or Goblins yet, I see."

Beorn seemed happier than I had seem him yet, and while this was a good sight for us, I was a little weary for the reason why. We didn't have to wait long before he told us. It turns out that he had been over the river and right back up into the mountains (how fast he must have been running I dread to think). From the burnt cliff-top where we had been stranded in the trees, he had discovered at least that that part of Gandalf's story was true, but it turns out that he had done better than that. He had caught a stray Orc on his warg, and from that, he had discovered that the Goblins were incredibly angry about the death of their king, and that it wouldn't be too long before the Orc pack found us again. A fact that made me shiver and accidentally pull part of Fili's hair too hard.

"Sorry." I muttered, now running my fingers through his hair to avoid it knotting where I'd braided.

"It was a good story, that of yours!" he said. "But I like it still better now I am sure it is true. You must forgive my not taking your word. If you lived near the edge of Mirkwood, you would take the word of no one that you did not know as well as your brother or better. As it is, I can only say that I have hurried home as fast as I could to see that you were safe, and to offer you any help I can." I gave a silent 'awwww' in my head. This guy was totally a softie at heart. "I shall think more kindly of dwarves after this." I could see the dwarves trying to see whether this was a compliment or not. "Killed the Great Goblin, killed the Great Goblin!" he muttered to himself.

"What did you do to the Orc and the Warg?" asked Bilbo.

"Come and see." I stood up hesitantly. The slight smirk that Beorn was wearing didn't look like I would be seeing something pleasant. But nonetheless, I followed the others around the house, past where we'd trained previously, and on to the gate. I grimaced at the site that greeted us. An Orc's head was stuck just outside the gate, black blood dripping down the wood, and a Warg's skin was nailed to a tree not far behind.

Trying to keep my breakfast down, I turned away and went to stroke one of Beorn's horses nearby, letting the dwarves have their fun over there. There was a particular horse that was always nearby; it had a caramel coloured coat with a slightly lighter colour hair. It was smaller than any other horse I'd seen around here, and was incredibly friendly.

"His name is Arondel." I heard Beorn say from behind me. "And it looks like he likes you."

"I don't know why." I replied, turning to the side so I could see both him and the horse. My voice shook a little. I was still slightly nervous when talking to Beorn, although I knew I had nothing to fear. "I've never been an animal person."

"You just have to understand them." Said Beorn, muttering something into Arondel's ear, no doubt in that weird language he used the first night we were here. I wasn't particularly sure what Beorn meant by what he's said to me, so I had just agreed with a smile and headed back indoors a while after he'd left me.

It was now our last day here, and I'd been informed that Beorn had allowed us to borrow his ponies (or horse in Gandalf's case) for our journey to the forest of Mirkwood (as if the name didn't seem depressing enough). He'd also given us each enough food that would last us for a number of weeks if we ate with care. It didn't look entirely appetizing; it was mostly food that would keep, such as dried fruits, nuts, flour, jars of honey and twice-baked cakes which didn't take much to fill your stomach.

Beorn had warned us about the forest as well. He said that it was dark and dangerous (although I'd already guessed that by the name), that water was not easy to find, and nor was food.

"The time is not yet come for nuts." He said. "Though it may be past and gone by the time you reach the other side. And nuts are about all that grows there fit for food; in there the wild things are dark, queer and savage. I will provide you with skins for carrying water, and I will give you some bows and arrows. But I doubt very much whether anything you find in Mirkwood will be wholesome to eat or to drink." I sighed. Wasn't there anyway we could just…not go in there, I thought to myself. Anywhere sounded better than this place. "There is one stream there, I know, black and strong which crosses the path. That you should neither drink of, nor bathe in; for I have heard that it carries enchantment and a great drowsiness and forgetfulness. And in the dim shadows of that place I don't think you will shoot anything, wholesome or unwholesome, without straying from the path. That you must not do." I shivered at his warning. I vowed to myself I would not be the awkward person that inevitably falls in. "That is all the advice I can do. Beyond the edge of the forest I cannot help you much; you must depend on your luck and your courage and the food I send with you. At the gate of the forest I must ask you to send back my horse and my ponies. But I wish you all the speed, and my house is open to you, if you ever come back this way again."

Thinking intently of Beorn's warning, we all headed back to what we were doing previously. I had been lounging in my bed, savouring the feeling of…well, the feeling of a bed. Spending what I was beginning to think would be many weeks in a dark, dreary forest meant that there would be no such luxuries in there. It would probably be either very cold, or very warm, with lots of bugs, which I was not one bit happy about. I hated bugs. A lot. With a passion.

"What are you frowning about?" I heard a voice ask from above. Snapping out of my thoughts, I looked up.

"I was just…thinking." I replied, standing up so I was more level with Kili. Not that I was really level. He was one of the tallest dwarves here, taller than his brother at least, which made me feel even smaller than I already did.

"And what had you thinking so hard, Blondie? You'll strain yourself."

"Rude!" I glared, hitting him on the arm. "But it's not important. How can I help you?"

"Help me?" he grinned, knowing full well what I meant. Christ, this dwarf was annoying. Giving him a dead-pan look, he held up his hands. "Okay, okay. If you must know, my brother is looking for you. He's waiting in 'the glade', or so he said. I'm presuming you know what that means." I nodded. A couple of days ago, we'd found a little glade a few minutes away from the house. It was where I spent a lot of my time here. Well, there and my bed. "He seemed rather eager too, if you ask me." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Kili, I hate you."

"You love me really!" he shouted as I walked away.

"Yeah, sure. Believe what you want!"

-8-

It was only a short walk to the glade, five minutes at the most. Like most places in Beorn's lands, the glade was extremely pretty. Flowers lined some of the edges, and the trees were all in their final stages of growing all their leaves so they were insanely green. Fili was sat just to the side with what looked to me like a medium-sized thatched basket.

"What's all this about?" I asked him as he stood up.

"Well…" he put his arms around my waist, drawing me closer. "We're leaving early tomorrow morning. So I figured this is the last time we're going to be properly alone for quite a long time." I giggled as he leaned forward and pecked my nose. "And can't I treat you every now and then?"

"Well," I replied, pulling him down. "I won't argue with that, but I really don't expect anything like this on this journey." I watched him open the basket. "But when we're finished, I expect to be showered with gifts." I joked. "You are a prince, after all."

"I am." He smirked. "And I would shower you with only the best." Giggling again, I leaned across to kiss him, although I pulled away when he tried to deepen it to pull the basket towards me.

"Now what have you put in here?" Pouting, Fili moved forward again to open the lid.

"I gathered a bit of food from Beorn's. I remember you saying that you liked to go on picnics when you were younger. So I made you one. As best as I could, anyway."

"You. Are. The. Best." I told him in between kisses. He'd packed only a few sandwiches, put together rather roughly it seemed, but they tasted nice. He'd also gathered various pieces of fruit, cheese and some honey that I poured on my bread. I was never keen on honey, but this one was especially yummy. It didn't take long to eat it all between us. "So," I said, once we'd finished eating. "What else did you have planned, if anything?"

"I thought we could just sit here and enjoy the lovely sun-set. What do you think?" Scrunching my face up in annoyance as he laid down on his back, I crawled over on my knees until my body was hovering over his chest. That was definitely not what I'd had planned. "I don't think that's the most productive way we can be spending our time." I said, instead.

"O-oh?" stuttered Fili, as I angled my hips down.

"Uh huh." I smirked, leaning down so my lips hovered just out of reach.

"So w-what do you su-suggest?"

"Why don't you tell me?" I squealed when he sat up suddenly, and I had to remember to move my head back so we didn't head butt. That would be a mood-killer. My legs were now either side of his waist and I was finding it hard to breathe as his face was so close. He didn't move for a few minutes, but I could see his eyes roaming my face, as if he was trying to remember every detail of it. I smiled softly as his hand came up to stroke my face, and I leant into his touch, making the most of this moment. Who knew when we were going to get an opportunity like this again?

"I love you, miz sanâzyung." He said, although I had to strain my ears to hear him. I don't think I could ever forget the expression he had on his face when he said it. Like he wanted it engrained in my memory.

"I love you, too." I replied, leaning my forehead against his. I moved my face further forward to kiss him, taking no notice of anything else around us. I could never actually believe how gentle he could be. His hands were rough, his beard felt scratchy against my skin and the beads on his moustache left cold trails down my neck as he moved lower. Yet he still felt soft, somehow. I gasped when he bit down on my collar bone and I could feel him smirk against my skin as I craned my neck away to give him better access. "Fili…"

Instead of responding, he began to lay me down. Unfortunately, he didn't count for the fact that the basket was still behind us, and I giggled at his apologetic look as my head hit the handle. Moving to the side and shoving it out of the way, he soon resumed his task of trying to kiss every inch of me he could reach. Or at least that was what it felt like. I found it hard to focus on much, and I almost lost it when I felt –ahem- a certain part of him prod against my thigh. I tried to get back to my senses. Fili had told me about things like this. In his tradition, it was customary to wait until marriage (particularly the wedding night, obviously). That, and I'd never done 'the deed' before, and was quite nervous about it. This type of thing was fine, but I knew if we didn't stop soon, it would escalate.

Sitting up again, I directed his mouth back onto mine again, though this time, the kiss was gentle. Pulling away, we were both taking deep breaths, and I gave him a toothy grin. "Phew." I said. "That was…er…" I cleared my throat. "Well done."

"Well done?"

"Uh…yeah." Fili raised an eyebrow at me. "I get awkward, don't look at me like that."

"I know you get awkward." Chuckled Fili. "It's quite amusing, if you ask me."

Sliding off of his lap (with him giving a strained grunt as I created a bit of friction against…well, you know… A bit of pay back for his comment), I stood up and held out my hand. "We should probably be getting back." The sun was just starting to set, so it would be quite a while until it was dark, but it would still be best to go back now.

Walking back into Beorn's, it was incredibly hard to ignore Kili's smug grins and comments. Of course he would know what we'd been up to. But thinking back to a few minutes ago, I found myself really not caring less.

-8-

A/N: and there we go! Update! This first year back of college has been incredibly hectic! I literally hate A-Levels so obviously that's taking a priority at the moment, but I'm trying incredibly hard to make at least one update a week.

I hope this chapter was okay. Quite honestly, I hate no idea what to put. Mirkwood next and all the spooky going's on in the forest. And the wood-elves! Legolas! Thranduil! Spiders! (And cue the shivers)