Chapter Nine: Troll Truffles
All of the adrenaline that Emelia had felt coursing through her from her trip into the cave dissipated so quickly and so thoroughly as soon as she was out and in the fresh air, she felt more drained and wary than before she had gone in. She looked around at the group of dwarves in the clearing, still clutching her boots to her chest, trying to decided how exactly to occupy her time. From what she had seen of the dwarves in the cave, they were fascinated and enthralled by treasure, giving her ample time while they explored the contents in the troll horde to occupy herself.
She had gotten what she needed out of the troll cave. She would not even venture back in there if she was being held at gunpoint. She was done with that cave for good.
The first thing she wanted to do was change out of Ori's clothes. He liked knitted things too much for her liking, leaving her itchy and red all over from the mixture of sweat and the less than ideal fabric.
The second thing she wanted to do was to give every dwarf back his stockings. She did not like the bloated, thick feeling her feet had taken on and was more than eager to rectify it as soon as possible.
The third thing she wanted to do was to find something to eat. The bread that Bombur had so kindly given her had long ago disappeared from her system, leaving her stomach growling loudly and uncomfortably.
Emelia immediately set to work on her first task. She glanced around at all of the dwarves, making sure that none of them were looking before she dropped herself down behind one of thicker bushes. She immediately started the process by peeling off the multiple layers of socks, making sure to keep them mated, before setting them carefully onto the forest floor. She moved to Ori's massively huge pants next. She imagined he wouldn't want them back, considering she had worn them without her underwear, but she folded them up neatly after she slipped them off all the same.
She looked down at her legs, feeling her chest clench up slightly at the grotesque sight. She had never been hurt as bad as she had been by the trolls, leaving her with the question of if her legs and the rest of her body would ever look normal again. Her mother would have been appalled at the sight of her pale legs at the moment. Her father probably would have hit something. Eddy probably would have poked them, a sly little grin plastered onto his freckly face.
Emelia shook her head, forcing her thoughts away from her family as she pulled on her thick black leggings, hissing slightly as her finger scrapped against a raw part of her leg, before she sat down onto the forest floor completely.
She missed them too much to even fathom. They were probably planning her funeral, having given up hope that she would emerge from her watery grave. Her mother would be crying, making her slender face puffy and red. She imagined her making soup every night, just to convince herself that Emelia was coming back. She would go to bed every single night crying, begging and pleading, just hoping to wake up and see Emelia drooling on her pillow and demanding five more minutes of sleep.
Her father, bless him, would have been left with Hannah. He would have to deal with her crying and sobbing. He would have to deal with all of the stares around town that his wife was too sad to notice. He would have to deal with a moody and emotional son. He would have to be the one to plan the funeral that his wife couldn't bring herself to even imagine.
Emelia pulled her knees to her chest, trying to stifle her morbid and depressing thoughts. Thinking about her family only made her situation worse. She wanted to go home, and she had come to the sad realization that that wasn't exactly possible.
The only people she had met were dwarves who had never even heard of Alaska. What hope did she have for finding a way home if she wasn't even sure there was still a home left?
She clenched her hands up for a moment before she moved her hands to paw at Ori's shirt until she felt it slide up over her head. She was thankful for the fact that she still had her bra. Her mother would have been mortified to think about her flitting about with a group of strange men without a bra or underwear. Of course, she would probably be even more appalled at the thought of dwarves; considering some of them were only chest height after all.
She quickly discarded the woolen shirt before slipping on the soft cotton shirt she had been wearing when she had fallen through the ice over her head.
The familiarity of the fabric brought a reluctant smile to her face as she hauled herself up into a standing position, scooping up her boots and the numerous pairs of socks into her now bright blue clad arms.
She did not miss the mutters amongst the company of dwarves that followed her whenever she emerged from the bushes. Their eyes followed her as she went about to each dwarf, trying her best to remember which socks belonged to them, before moving onto the next.
"Lassie, what in the name of Durin are you wearing?" A voice called out to her as she moved towards Bifur to hand him his less than clean socks. She did her best to avoid staring at the axe head imbedding into his skull. She imagined he didn't like people staring at it. He glanced up at her briefly, offering her a stoic expression, before turning his attention back to Kili, who was currently trying his best to understand what the old dwarf was gesturing wildly about. He shoved a rusty shovel at Kili, looking as if it was very important, before he ripped off his boots to slip on the socks Emelia had just returned to him over his other ones.
Emelia shook her head. Bifur was certainly an odd one.
"Clothes." She said simply, not bothering to look around.
Kili looked at her with an even look on his face as she sorted through the numerous pairs of socks on her hands. He didn't miss the proud smile that ghosted across her features when she found his deep blue stockings without prompting. She shoved them into his hands with a quick hand before moving on towards the next dwarf, not even bothering to look him in the eyes. While it did not bother him, he did have to admit he had brought that sort of cold reaction on himself.
"We can all see that." Dwalin said dryly. "They don't, however, look like the most appropriate clothes to be trekking about in the wilderness in."
She looked down at her outfit, a slight blush peppering her face ever so slightly for a moment before she shook her head. Kili could see her shoulders rolling out of annoyance underneath the obnoxiously colored blue shirt she wore as she moved toward Ori. "I didn't plan on going trekking through the wilderness when I got out of my comfy bed four days ago."
Kili had to agree with Dwalin about her choice in attire. She was wearing black leggings that appeared like they went underneath more sturdy pants and were not meant to be worn as the only layer. They were a bit too tight and form fitting to be considered proper for a woman to be wearing without something over them. The shirt, while slightly looser than her pants, wasn't much better. It clung to her body in the ways that the clothes the women in brothels wore. He could see every inch of her outline as she moved throughout the small clearing. And he was certain he wasn't the only one who had noticed.
He didn't miss the way Ori made even less eye contact with her, if that was possible, and he didn't miss the flirtatious smirk Fili shot at her whenever she playfully threw his bright red socks at him.
"What exactly were you planning on doing when she woke up lassie?" Dwalin pushed, voicing every member of the company's curiosity. Kili looked over at her, despite his mental promise to ignore her completely.
Emelia looked up from giving Ori his clothes and socks, turning around to face the dwarf who had spoken to her. Dwalin was staring her down with his massive arms cross over his chest, waiting for her to answer his question with an expectant look on his face. Thorin was still in the cave with Gandalf, giving the most intimidating member of their company time to interrogate the woman about why exactly she was there and where she came from. Kili glanced around at the rest of them company, taking note of the fact that they moved closer to her in an attempt to fulfill their curiosity about her.
"I was planning on going fishing with my family." She said simply, sitting herself down onto one of the rocks, pulling her boots onto her dirty feet with a little more force than Kili imagined was necessary. "What were you planning on doing?"
Dwalin clenched his hands slightly at the tone of her voice.
"That is none of your concern, miss." He said slowly, warning lacing every word he spoke.
"Then what I was doing and am currently doing is none of yours."
Kili had seen men twice Emelia's size cower in fear in front of Dwalin. He had to admit that she had spunk, talking back to the tattooed member of their company like she had. She was so tiny and unintimidating making it almost impossible for Kili to take her seriously as she attempted to appear smart and brave in front of him. Almost. He could feel a begrudging respect begin to creep into his mind as he saw her stand up and move towards Balin and Fili, completely oblivious to the murderous look on Dwalin's face.
That is, until she turned around.
"I'm sorry." She looked embarrassingly sheepish as she backtracked from her words almost instantly. "I just don't want to talk about it."
Dwalin took two large steps towards her, making her step back slightly in her spot. "Why are you here? Why were you anywhere where trolls could nab you? Where are you from?"
She looked slightly alarmed as Dwalin fired rapid questions at her, making her shrink in on herself. It seemed, to Kili, that she wasn't capable of any sort of lasting bravery. Just sparks of quick wit before she retreated in on herself, becoming nothing more than a blubbering, crying mess that required constant attention and watching.
Emelia did not like where this conversation was going. She had just done this with Thorin not an hour before and she was still trying to wrap her mind around it. She couldn't exactly tell them about Alaska, considering the reaction she got the last time she did. She wished, more than anything, that the topic of her home would just disappear. She was stuck with these dwarves, she gathered, and wanted nothing more than for them to be able to talk to her without immediately throwing paranoid accusations about. She wanted the conversation to be done with. She didn't know why she was there, and unless some sort of message appeared out of thin air, they wouldn't either if she told them the truth.
"The trolls grabbed me from the river I had fallen into." She said simply, wishing more than anything that Dwalin would uncross his arms. She wasn't exactly fond of how big his muscles were. "And about where I'm from, you wouldn't believe me."
"Can were trust you?"
Every dwarf looked over at her, eyebrows raised as they waited for her reply. She nodded slowly. She knew she should be asking them that question, but she didn't bother. She imagined they would scoff at the accusation. They had been offended by just about everything else she had said, and that would probably be the worst.
"Look, I don't know why I am here and I don't know how," She paused, scuffing her thick boots on the forest floor. "But I have come to the very depressing conclusion that I'm not making any of this up in my head. I'm awake, this is real, and you all are very real. I fell into a river and ended up with some trolls. They kept me for four days and then you came along. You are the only good thing, relatively speaking, that has happened." She paused looking down at her boots, an embarrassed redness creeping across her face. "I am alone and as much as it weirds me out to say, I need you all. I would be troll truffle by this point without you so I'm not about to go and push you off a cliff or something. I don't have a phone, or a map, or any way of contacting anyone I know. I don't want to be here just as much as you don't want me here," None of the dwarves missed the derisive look she shot at Kili. "And I know that that isn't likely to change anytime soon. I suppose the reason to all of this rambling is simple. You can trust me because I have to trust you."
When she stopped speaking all of the dwarves simply looked at her. Dwalin surveyed her for a moment, taking in her answer. She spoke of things that none of them knew anything about and she was alarmingly casual in her way of speaking, but other than that none of them sensed any form of malcontent or deception. Of course, that didn't mean they were about to tell her about their quest for Erebor. It was awkwardly silent for what felt like ages before Bofur finally had to guts to speak up.
"I think that settles that. Lassie, why don't you come and get a cloak to cover your shoulders with, you'll catch a cold in so little." She looked slightly alarmed for the briefest of moments before allowed him to pull her over to where he kept his spare cloak. He slipped it over her shoulders with ease, before giving her a cheeky smile.
Emelia felt better. Much better than she ever thought she would. She did not like the way the dwarves had been regarding her. She felt more like herself, in her clothes and boots. She felt like the old Emelia, despite the fact she was miles and miles away from home. Her clothes still smelled like her home, underneath the ghosting smell of troll. The dwarves weren't going to kill her for thought of her being a traitor. She wasn't covered in filth. She was herself. And that made her smile to herself for the first time in days.
"That was a wonderful speech Emelia." Fili called from his spot next to Ori, a sly smirk on his face. "Really moving. I think I saw Ori here wiping away tears at the middle."
"I was not." Ori cried out, avoiding eye contact with Emelia.
Kili couldn't help but roll his eyes. He really wondered sometimes how he was still considered the youngest and least mature with bumbling, blushing Ori with them.
"If Ori was tearing up, then you must have been crying." She shot back, an almost full smile on her face. All of the dwarves seemed slightly surprised to see her almost smiling. They had yet to see her show any emotion besides panic and fear in the time short time that they had known her.
"I would never cry in the presence of a lady." Fili said, sitting himself down on a rock.
"It is manly to cry Fili, surely you would know that by now. It is how I woo all of those dwarf women back in the Blue Mountains. Shed a few and the women come flocking." Nori said loudly, earning a shove from Bombur on his left.
"By women, you mean the old bitter ones that somehow, despite the lack of available dwarf women, managed not to find a husband." Fili said, stroking his braided mustache good naturedly.
"I am sure my crying would impress you, Miss Emelia." Nori said simply, crossing his arms over his chest.
Emelia looked up from messing with Bofur's cloak, a full smile now gracing her pale face. "I bet Nori."
"In that case, then I will shed a thousand tears." Fili said, earning an even broader smile from the young woman.
"I didn't say your tears would impress me."
Kili had to admit, despite himself, he found her to be entertaining when she wasn't cracking his nose or running away from him. It was not often that someone would talk to his brother in a way that got him to step back and think for a moment. Most dwarf women couldn't even manage to hold a conversation with Fili without becoming a blushing, bumbling mess. Emelia didn't even seem to notice his brothers horribly veiled attempts at flirting. Or if she noticed, she just didn't care. For some reason, that brought a large amount of secret joy to Kili. That didn't mean he didn't still dislike her, however funny and unimpressed by his brother she was. Emelia Montgomery was still an undeniable distraction that Kili wasn't sure how to deal with.
He did his best to be subtle about his observing's of her as she joked around with the company of dwarves. She was still guarded, but it was only noticeable when she wasn't speaking. She avoided eye contact with Dwalin and Bifur, which Kili did not fault her for, and stayed close to Balin whenever she could, but other than that, she looked much less alarmed than she had over the past day. She still ran her hands over her wrists, and favored her shoulder whenever no one was really looking at her, but she no longer clutched her cloak so tightly around her shoulders it looked like she would suffocate herself.
She looked much the same as she did when they had first come across her. Her red hair, which Kili found to be slightly obnoxious, still curled wildly down her back, and her green eyes still calculated and took in everything around her. She was still small and slight. She was still everything that she was then, but for some reason, she seemed different to Kili.
He wasn't sure if it was because she was slowly, and annoyingly, chipping away at him and earning his begrudging respect, or if it was because he could no longer feel the pain in his nose.
He hadn't been realizing he had been staring at her until she was directly in front of him, looking awkward.
"I'm sorry about your nose." She said simply, sitting herself down next to him. "I was kind of reflex."
He could feel the eyes of the rest of the company on him as she spoke to him. It seemed during his watching of her, he had missed something. He could see Fili smirking at him, and Balin smiling at the woman, and Bofur laughing with Bombur as they spoke conspiratorially between the two of them. All in all, he did not like the looks he was getting in the slightest.
"Did I miss something?"
She shook her head simply. "No, but I figured we should start out fresh, considering I was kind of a menace when we first met."
"Fili made you."
He did not miss the blush that spread across her cheeks when he said that. It seemed like she was always blushing. She scrunched up her face for a moment before she spoke softly, leaning towards him slightly. "Of course he did. You were downright nasty to me. Why would I want to apologize?"
"Because it is the decent thing to do." Kili said simply.
"Then why don't you give me a lesson in decency and apologize to me?" She leaned back, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"I have nothing to apologize for." Kili said simply. In truth, he probably should have apologized to be polite, but he was his Uncle's nephew and he couldn't really bring himself to do it.
"Fili said you would be stubborn." Emelia did not look annoyed, much as he would expect her to appear.
Kili looked over at her, not entirely fond of how close she was. He could see her freckles. He would have much preferred her to be far away from him, or not in their company at all. But then again, that seemed less and less likely to happen with each passing moment. Her hands were on her hips, revealing her inappropriate attire once again, making Kili roll his eyes. She was going to be the death of the company with her silliness and ineptitude.
"Look Kili, I'm sorry I hit you. I panicked and it just happened."
She was blushing again. She blushed too much.
He opened his mouth to respond, only to be cut off by a loud shout coming from behind Emelia.
He didn't know why he did it, nor would he ever admit he had, but he grabbed her and pushed her behind him, before pulling out his bow and arrow in a quick movement. He pushed her back farther as the noise got closer and closer to them before a large figure crashed into the clearing that they were in. He could feel her slipping back farther from him as the figure rounded on the company of dwarves, forcing him to step back with her in order to keep her shielded.
Kili was quite sure Fili would be having a field day if he could see him, which only served to make the already guarded and moody dwarf even moodier.
Yay Radagast. Also A little bit of Kili and Emelia interaction. Please review. As some of you may have noticed I legit listen to what you say and your opinions and incorporate them into my writing. I want every reader to enjoy this. PM's are also totally welcome and appreciated. As always, don't be a lurker. ;)
Three guesses as to who lets it slip where the dwarves are going to Emelia. :)
Anyway, all suggestions are welcome and I hope you enjoyed that.