"And the best seat for the lovely Meduianna."

Poppy blushed bright red at the two elves' unison words and had to hold back a laugh, wondering why it was that she was always lovely to everyone. Squeaking with surprise, she soon found both her hands being held tightly in theirs as they lifted her clean off the ground and gently set her upon the rocks that made the end of Rivendell's practice grounds. Her feet swinging below her, she found her eyes level with their dark grey elven ones for the first time.

The dwarves soon all filed down the stairs and spilled out on the flat and grass-covered area that had been placed upon one of the lowest levels of the haven, quite close to the forges and the guest house they had stopped by to get their weapons from. The wall that Poppy sat upon was not so much a wall as the end of the level above them. Though with more trouble and decidedly more panting, Bilbo pulled himself to sit beside his cousin. Ori was soon on her other side.

Turning away from their hobbit with smiles, the brothers strode across the space to stand before their guests. Their bows were drawn from their backs before even their long strides got them there. Looking proud and confident in his own abilities but also decidedly apprehensive and intimidated despite his best intentions, Kili stepped forward at their bidding, his own bow in hand. He sent a light glare toward Poppy that she returned with a grin and wave.

The others all watching him, Kili appeared to take in a deep breath before taking an arrow from the quiver Elladan had stuck into the ground. He forced his hands not to shake as the two tall beings watched him, calm but encouraging smiles on their faces that did not make him feel better. As he drew the arrow back toward his ear and aimed, a little voice in his head said that Poppy was far more adept in the revenge department than he'd expected… Thankfully, the arrow found its way to the center of the target, his brethren cheering him as Elrohir and Elladan clapped.

"It appears that Meduianna was right about your skill, Master Kili," Elrohir said warmly as he strung his own bow. "Shall we continue? Perhaps between the two of us, we can again defeat my brother."

"You only split my arrow once, Elrohir," Elladan shot back with a raised eyebrow, stringing his own bow as the others dispersed, readying themselves for some sparring and leaving the archers to their own devices.

Not understanding the look that had been exchanged between Kili and his cousin but deciding that given it was Kili he was probably better off not knowing, Bilbo asked in a quiet voice as weapons were drawn and anxious smiles appeared on faces, "So what did Thorin have to say? Did he apologize?"

"Yes, in his own way," the girl replied, sending him a small smile through a yawn. She had not gotten enough sleep and the slow, safe aura that Rivendell exuded was making her body scream for more naps.

"Dwarves do not apologize often, Bilbo," Ori offered, his voice also quiet but knowing, as if he had perhaps been on the receiving end of overly harsh criticism before, too. "Especially not warriors like Thorin or Dwalin."

"We made a compromise. He will continue to try his best to get me to go home, but he will never send me away again," Poppy explained, watching as Elladan, Elrohir and Kili began to shoot off arrows at far-away targets, the dwarf holding his own with a smile on his face. For all that Kili would be angry with her, they seemed to be having an enthusiastic conversation.

Closer to the three who chose to sit out, the remaining eleven dwarves had all drawn weapons and, as the warm June sun shone down, begun to strip off layers of armor that had been put on by habit that morning. Absently, Poppy noticed that Bilbo and Ori began talking once again, their words and the clanging of weapons that soon began flying uselessly over her head, completely missing her ears. Instead, fingers mindlessly playing the end of her braid as time passed, she watched with a wonderfully daydreaming kind of fascination as Fili's slate blue tunic found itself upon the ground…

"Poppy... Poppy!"

"Hmmm," she responded distractedly, her mind not quite ready to give up watching the bared and really quite lovely muscles of Fili's arms as he spun his swords in his hands, sparring vigorously with Gloin at his side, Bofur and Balin their friendly adversaries. No, her fuzzy brain was not at all prepared to cease watching his muscles or how he smiled with excitement at the exertion or how his braids swung about after him as he moved swiftly from position to position. The whole heat and sweat part certainly wasn't detracting from the situation either…

Frowning, exchanging a confused glance over her head with Ori, Bilbo said with exasperation likely almost an hour after they arrived, "I've been asking how you're doing."

Again he didn't receive an answer. Raising his voice so that it cut through even the ring of weapons upon weapons and the swift, rhythmic thrum of the three archers' bowstrings, he said, "POPPY!" He succeeded in not only getting her attention but also everyone else's.

Going an incredibly bright red at realizing what exactly she'd been doing for the last who knew how long, she snapped her head to look at her cousin. Neither saw Bifur groan with irritation at their burglar's lack of tact, the axe blade in his forehead shaking reprovingly with the rest of his head.

Poppy suddenly wondered if it was possible to murder her cousin with her own embarrassment, given she now had it in spades. Apparently realizing he had just humiliated all the red into her face by bringing her to the center of attention, he coughed uncomfortably before calling, "Sorry. Carry on."

Various chuckles were heard at the burglar's sometimes odd ways from the dwarves and some of the crowd of elves that had been slowly arriving, a few stepping forward with swords in an effort to test their own skills. A sly, wondering smile appeared on Fili's face as he realized that the shade of Poppy's blush was far beyond was it usually was. What could have distracted her? She did not turn to look at him for him to confirm his suspicions unfortunately.

A sheepish smile on his face as Ori sniggered behind her, Bilbo offered, "I was going to ask you how you were doing with all the elves making you the guest of honor and therefore, center of attention, but…"

"…but you seem to have answered that already, Bilbo," Ori finished with a grin.

Rolling her eyes at them both, Poppy unsuccessfully fought to get her cheeks back to a normal color as she hopped down. Avoiding Fili's gaze with everything she was worth, she said softly, "Come on, I'm to go see Elrond. I'll leave the two of you in his library."

Scurrying down to follow her up the stairs and away from the training area, the two more peacefully inclined of the Company hurried on without any other words, lest she leave them somewhere and they never find the library.

"Don't touch anything breakable, Ori!" Dori called after them, causing the younger dwarf to blush beneath his beard and urge Poppy on faster.

Snorting with laughter still as he swung his iron staff in his hand before turning back to the elf he was sparring with, Oin chuckled, "The lass is going to kill that cousin of hers one of these days."

Seeming to agree, the dark-haired elf before him smiled in response, bringing his sword back to the ready and replying, "It was always said that Meduianna silently endured any teasing given to her, but she had the habit of just as silently getting one back for it later."

"Then your people and mine indeed know the same lass," the old warrior said with a nod before lashing out with his staff.

A/N: Okay, so it's really short, but this chapter made me giggle, so I decided to put it up even if it's only closer to half done. You all had to quit cold turkey for a week, so I feel you deserve it, my lovely readers. :D