Chapter Twenty-Six: Hair

There were few things more embarrassing than being caught with your pants down. Normally, it was nothing more than an expression. In Emelia's case it was anything but.

As she was being dragged backwards, through her own urine it should be noted, she was sure she had never experienced anything more equally mortifying and terrifying. She screamed until she realized that all it accomplished was forcing her to eat even more dirt. She began to gag, struggling to stop herself from breathing in too deeply. It was hard, considering she how much she was currently panicking. She didn't know who had her ankles or why they seemed to be hell-bent on ripping her legs out of her hip sockets. She did know, however, that they weren't anybody that she would want to be around, if she were to be given a choice in the matter.

Emelia kicked her legs in a desperate attempt to get the person holding her ankles to let go. It didn't work, not that she expected it to.

When she realized that kicking wasn't working, she switched tactics. She started clawing with her hands to grab a hold on anything substantial enough to hopefully deter the person currently attempting to grab her. She was able to grab hold of a root long enough to flip herself over.

She wished she hadn't.

Two orcs stood over her, snarling their teeth at her and brandishing their weapons. Her leg seemed to move with a mind of its own when she caught sight of them. It flew up, catching one of them square in the mouth. Black blood spurted from its mouth and nose, dripping onto her legs as the orc leaned over her, large knife moving dangerously close to her exposed skin. She was thankful that it was only two of them. Two was manageable, even if it was slightly delusional for her to think so. There was a large one, covered in staples and cuts and scars and other things she was sure weren't supposed to be attached to a body. The smaller one was sickly looking with flaps of skin hanging off its face and arms. She wasn't sure which one scared her more, although neither of them was something she would want to see in the middle of the night while she had her pants down.

Emelia kept kicking while simultaneously struggling to pull her pants up. She couldn't reach all the way down to her ankles, however, resulting in the horrible situation becoming even more unbearably horrible.

"Kili! Fili!" She kicked her legs even more furiously, hoping to catch them hard enough that she might be able to make a run for it. "Ori!"

"Shut 'er up." The larger one snarled at the one holding her legs. The smaller one moved towards her, hand raised up over her face. It growled at her, bearing its black and pointed teeth. She got the fleeting notion that the orc as smiling for a moment, which made her wonder if orcs had the ability to smile, before she pushed that thought aside. She had other things to focus on besides orcs and their ability, or lack thereof, to smile.

"Somebody hel…"

"I noticed you couldn't stop staring at Emmy." Fili broke the silence, fiddling with one of his knives in his hands.

Kili looked up from where he had been staring at the place Emelia and Ori had disappeared to. His arms were crossed over his chest, a thoughtful look on his face. "Neither could you, Fee."

Fili laughed, stepped away from the tree he had been using to lean on. He slipped the knife back into his hood. He moved to stand closer to Kili, a full medley of good natured japes planned. "Ah, but not in the same way."

Kili did not respond. He glanced over at Fili, hoping that he wouldn't be smirking like he usually did when he was making fun of him. Kili was not in luck. His elder brother was smiling like he knew some sort of secret, like he knew something that Kili didn't. Kili had never been very fond of that look. When they were younger it never meant anything good for him. Whenever Fili sported that look Kili was more likely to end up in trouble with their mother than out of trouble.

"Stop looking at me like that." Kili said, turning back to look in the direction Emelia and Ori had gone.

"Like what?"

Kili rolled his eyes. "Like when you thought that I fancied Fwerna. You had the same look then."

"You fancy Emelia, I would think it's appropriate to use the same look."

"I do not." Kili said, a bit louder than he meant to. He immediately looked to see whether or not Emelia could be coming back. He would hear her and Ori moving through the trees before they came back, more so Ori than Emelia, so his paranoia was a bit unfounded. He couldn't seem to stop the sinking feeling in his gut when he thought about Emelia hearing him and Fili talking about her. He could just see her throwing her red hair over shoulder in annoyance, before folding her arms over her chest. He could just see her pursed lips.

"Except, now that I think about, I don't think you ever really fancied Fwerna."

"And why is that?" Kili asked, reluctant curiosity filling him up.

"She was too hairy for you." Fili said simply, reaching up a hand to tug at one of his mustache braids. "I will admit, she did have a fair amount more chest hair than most dwarf women, but still, she was beautiful."

"What does that have to do with Emelia?" Kili asked, entirely apprehensive as to what Fili was going to say next.

"Do you recall when we were first in Rivendell? You were talking about how elf women weren't really your preference. I believe it was 'all high cheek bones and creamy skin.' At the time, I almost believed you." Fili looked proud of himself. He moved closer to Kili, the smirk on his face getting wider.

"What are you on about?"

"I saw you, when you were looking at the harp player. Dwalin did too, although I think he probably thought you were merely thinking with your trousers." Fili paused, moving so that he was standing right next to Kili. He clapped his hand on Kili's shoulder, leaning in to speak to him conspiratorially. "I know you better though. I know you well enough to know when you're lying."

"So?" Kili did not like what Fili was hinting at.

"There was something else that stood out to me during that dinner. Do you remember what you said to Emelia?"

"Probably something nasty. I didn't exactly like her at the time. But I'm sure I don't need to remind you of that." Kili said, slightly annoyed with how persistent his brother was being.

"You said she looked like a miniature elf. She probably thought you were insulting her, but I think you were saying something else entirely."

Kili felt slightly idiotic for not understanding what Fili was trying to say to him from the beginning. Kili refused to meet his gaze, suddenly and insincerely becoming extremely interested in the tree line. He normally didn't consider himself one that was prone to blushing. That was something he generally considered to be more in the female domain. Emelia was always blushing. She seemed to be blushing every time he was around her, but he sometimes thought he was imagining things. He might be over flattering himself to think that he was causing all of her blushes. His general attitude toward blushing aside, he could feel his cheeks heating up as his brother continued to pester him and bother him about Emelia.

"It seems a little quiet to you, doesn't it?"

"You're deflecting." Fili said, dismissing the look on Kili's face.

"I'm being serious."

"Kili! Fili!"

Kili felt his blood run cold at the scream reverberating through the trees. He knew Emelia's voice when she was scared. He had heard her screaming more times that he cared to admit or think about. The difference in all those times was that she was in a situation that would cause her to be screaming. Last he was aware relieving one's self did not usually involve screaming. He knew that Emelia would not have wanted him to escort her to do her business, but in hindsight he thought one of them probably should have gone with her besides Ori.

"Ori!"

Fili and Kili took off into the trees, both drawing their weapons. Fili pulled out two of the knives that he kept on his person at all times. Fili had always favored knives more than Kili. All the same, knives were the only thing that Kili had. They both moved faster when they heard Emelia scream again, much louder than all of the times before. All of the joking between the two of them was completely forgotten as they quickly made their way towards where they thought the noise was coming from.

They heard the sounds of muffled screaming bouncing off the trees, breaking the once peaceful silence.

Kili didn't even bother to fight the guilt. She was only supposed to relieving herself. This night was supposed to be them giving her a gift, to say thank you for all of the terrible things she had been through.

Nothing was supposed to happen to her.

Emelia was certain she was never going to go anywhere without being armed ever again. If she had a knife she might have been able to do something about the orc currently holding her. While she knew she wasn't the best as using sharp objects, as the incident with goblins would indicate, she would have felt much better if she had been able to at least attempt to defend herself. She could have at least hacked until she hit something. All she was able to do was kick and claw at the orc in the most pathetic and feeble way imaginable.

She normally didn't have negative feelings towards her own bladder. In fact, she didn't really have feelings towards it at all. She fully hated it currently. If she had only been able to hold it, she wouldn't be in the mess she was in. Emelia's vision was slightly blurry from the punch she had received when she had kept trying to call for help. She felt her eyelid and the skin around her eye beginning to swell and pulse painfully. She thought she felt blood dripping down the side of her face, but she couldn't be sure. It might have been her own urine, knowing her luck.

The larger orc had left Emelia and the smaller orc alone some time ago. He had his paw of a hand covering her mouth, gagging her with the force. His other hand, if they could even be called that with all the metal and scars, grabbed a knife to hold against her neck. The ragged edge of the blade pressed into her skin, cutting her ever so slightly. The cut stung, but it seemed so small compared to the one on her chest. Her neck muscles tensed up involuntarily. She could feel her body beginning to slip into full on panic mode when the orc dug its fingers into her cheek, leaving behind what she knew would be finger shaped bruises. There was nothing she could do about it. There was nothing she could do at all.

Emelia wondered where Ori was. He shouldn't have been too far away from her. She hadn't moved that far away from him when she had gone to do her business. He should have been right there, right where she needed him. Morbid scenarios began to race through her mind the longer she was forced to wait. He could have been right there and they could have killed him. He could have been coming to help her when she called for him and they could have grabbed him the same way they grabbed her and killed him without so much as a second thought.

"Where're yer dwarves?"

Emelia uttered a muffled response, struggling to move her face back from the orc's hand and knife.

"Nothing to say?" The orc laughed out loud.

There was a sudden rustling through the trees in front of them. Emelia hoped that it would be Ori, or Kili, or Fili, or somebody. She wouldn't have minded if it was Thorin or Dwalin. She wasn't wearing pants, but she wouldn't have minded. They wouldn't say anything. They would help her. The rustling grew louder, intermixed with the sounds of struggle, until the larger orc stepped into the clearing, pulling a very confused and frightened looking Ori along behind him by the hair.

"Would you look at tha'." The orc holding Emelia lifted her up even higher, bending his head to speak directly into her ear. She could feel his rancid breath on her. Bile rose up involuntarily when she got a whiff of it. She squirmed even more, trying desperately to get away. "One of yer filthy dwarves heard you scream."

"Let her go." Ori managed to splutter. He was looking at her with the worst possible face of regret she had ever seen. She almost lost what little nerve she had left right then and there. To think that Ori would think that this was his fault made Emelia instantly feel even worse.

The larger orc laughed loudly, delivering a solid punch to the back of Ori's head. "I'd keep quiet if I were you."

Emelia could not tear her gaze away from Ori. He looked so scared it made fresh hot tears spring up, threatening to spill over. She moved her head back, arms coming up to claw at the hands of the orc holding her. Neither she nor Ori deserved to die because a pair of dingy, dirty, good for nothing pieces of cow dung decided it would be fun to grab a girl while she was peeing. She had come too far to let herself, or anyone else for that matter, be killed over something so small, so unimportant.

"Shut 'er up." The larger one snarled. "We don't wan' more of 'em coming."

The orc hissed at her as she began to struggle even more. It moved its knife away from her neck, wrenching her body down so that her head was level with its chest. She wasn't sure what he was doing until she heard the undeniable sound of his knife hacking through her massive amounts of hair. Red ringlets fell to the ground, shinning in the moonlight. She was finally able to reach her hands down to pull up her pants, so she wasn't that upset about all of her hair falling around her face.

"I thought dwarf women had more hair."

"Stop it!" Ori sounded more appalled by them cutting her hair than he should have been.

"Shut it you li…" The orc trailed off with a strangled gurgle emitting deep from within its throat.

The orc cutting Emelia's hair, which she still didn't understand why that was supposed to be so terrible, growled only for a moment before it too was silenced. She felt something warm spray over the back of neck. The grip on her hair slacked so suddenly Emelia fell down into her own pile of chopped off hair face first. She had never used her own hair as a pillow before, but she found it was oddly soothing, in a weird way. Before she could ponder her hair pillow even further, a weight that was heavier than a rock landed in an ungraceful heap on top of her. She struggled to breathe as her face was shoved forcefully into the ground. Her hands shot out, swiping at the weight in an attempt to get it off.

"Oh Mahal, Emmy!"

The weight was lifted off her. She sat up, not sure what she expected to find when she looked around the clearing. She could find Ori dead, or the orcs could have doubled in number, or the other dwarves might have spontaneously decided to go for a moonlight walk and happened upon her and Ori.

Or Fili and Kili, as she discovered when she sat up.

"You're bleeding." Kili shoved the orc body, which Emelia now saw was the weight previously on top of her, away from them. He gave it a particularly disdainful look before he turned his dark eyes back on her. "Why are you always bleeding?"

"Is Ori alright?" Emelia asked, completely ignoring his comment about who she was, in fact, bleeding once again. Her entire body was shaking. She looked around the clearing, bring her hands up to her neck. The cut on her neck stung when she touched it.

"I am well." Ori called from behind Emelia. "They didn't do any lasting damage." Ori glanced at the pile of Emelia's hair, eyes widening considerably when he saw the amount that had been cut off. He looked back at her, face taking on the same regretful look he had sported earlier when the orcs had still been alive.

"We should go back before more of them come." Fili pulled one of his knives out of the skull of the orc nearest to Ori, wiping it clean on the underside of his shirt. Fili glanced at Emelia and Kili, an odd look on his face when he caught Emelia's gaze. He too looked at the huge pile of hair for the briefest of moments before he turned back to make sure everything was alright with Ori. "Kili, carry Emelia."

"What? No I'm fine."

Emelia wasn't sure why, but the incident with the orcs didn't bother her as much as it probably should have. While she was being held she had thought mostly about Ori. There was something about orcs that seemed almost tame. The Goblin King was three times their size and three times as creepy. To her the worst was over. The orcs couldn't really do worse to her than the Goblin King. She might be naïve to think so, but she couldn't bring herself to feel as much fear about the orcs.

"You're not." Fili said without explanation. Emelia didn't quite understand why he was telling her how she was supposed to be feeling, but she didn't say anything in the hopes that she wouldn't make Fili mad. For all she knew he could be blaming her for getting them in trouble.

"Oin isn't going to be happy with me." Emelia said, breaking the silence that had fallen over all of them. She smiled cheekily at them until she realized that no one was smiling back. Kili merely nodded at her. "He just got finished sewing me up."

None of them said anything. Kili placed his hand on her lower back, leading her back towards the clearing that they had come from without a word. Fili threw an arm around the shaking Ori, supporting him. Emelia had the distinct impression he might be experiencing shock, but she kept quiet in that regard. Ori was already dealing with the incident without her throwing in her own misguided opinions. "Come on, lighten up. Me and Ori are okay, no harm, no foul."

"Wrong." Kili said simply. Emelia waited for him to elaborate. He didn't. He pushed back a branch, refusing to make eye contact with her.

They walked, or rather ran, back to Beorn's house in silence. Kili refused to meet her gaze despite the fact that she was looking at him with such intensity she thought he might combust at any moment. Normally, she would pester him into submission until he talked to her. She couldn't bring herself to do that this time around, however. There was something about the way Kili looked at her and the scenery around them that gave her pause. His hand was clenched around the knife, while the other was tensed against her back. There was something bothering them that she got the feeling she shouldn't mention. He didn't remove his hand from her back, however, so she didn't think what was bothering him had anything to do with her.

Emelia did not expect all of the dwarves to be waiting for them when they made it back inside Beorn's house. They were accosted the second they came in. A myriad of voices, all ranging in level of panic and anxiety, rang out at them. Emelia was immediately grabbed and pulled into an extremely tight hug by Bofur. He patted her on the back, lifting her off the ground. Nori and Dori grabbed the still very shell-shocked Ori and wrapped him in a three-way hug that looked simultaneously comforting and bone-crushing.

"Emelia, why are you bleeding again?" Bombur asked, drawing the rest of the company's attention to the blood trailing down the side of her face and the tiny bit coming from the ever so slight wound on her neck. Oin immediately moved towards her. He forced her to look up into the light from the candles, eyes narrowing when he looked at her swollen eye. He made a noise in the back of his throat, bringing up one of his thick fingers to feel around for any below the surface damage. He seemed pleased that she wasn't suffering any brain damage or otherwise and moved his attention to his neck. He pulled out a small handkerchief, pressing it to the small cut to wipe away the trickle of blood.

"Oh, just a little kerfuffle with a pair of orcs…"

"Emmy!" Fili looked at her like she had just told his darkest secret.

"What? It's not like it's some state secret."

"It wasn't actually supposed to be public." Kili hissed at her through the side of his mouth.

He turned to say something further to her, only to be stopped by the look that Thorin was giving them all. Emelia had never seen him look so murderous. When Ori had first let it slip about where they were going, the look Thorin had given her was puppies compared to the look he was currently throwing at them, and by them it was mostly her. The veins on his forehead were popping out and the skin of his neck was becoming redder and redder with each awkward moment that passed.

"Why were you out at night in the first place?" Thorin moved to stand in front of Fili and Kili, fixing them with the darkest look Emelia had ever seen. "You knew what was out there. You knew the orcs were following us and yet you went for a midnight walk. I brought you on this quest under the assumption that you were going to conduct yourself like the men you so adamantly professed to be."

"Uncle…" Fili sounded like he had been kicked repeatedly.

"We will discuss this further in private."

"If it makes you feel any better, the orcs are dead." Emelia should have probably known better than to open her mouth. Thorin turned his steely glare on her. He glared at her for a moment longer before he nodded his head at Dwalin. She took an involuntary step backwards, hands folding in front of her stomach. They both grabbed their weapons and moved towards the door, leaving every other dwarf standing awkwardly. She imagined they were going to check for any lingering orcs.

"All of you get some sleep. We are leaving in the morning." He gave one more acidic look to his nephews before stomping out of the door. She turned her head to the side, looking around Beorn's house in a painfully awkward way, waiting for the dwarves to decide that they had hovered around her enough for one night.

"Lassie!"

Emelia jumped at the sudden exclamation from Gloin. "What?"

"What happened to your hair?"

Emelia lifted her hand up to feel how much damage had been done when the orc had decided to become her impromptu hairdresser. It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. When she had seen all of her hair on the ground she had thought she would be lucky if she had enough hair to not be mistaken for an unshapely boy. She ended up more fortunate than she had originally anticipated. Her hair now brushed just above her shoulders. She ran her fingers through it, taking note of how choppy and uneven the ends were. She forced herself to see the bright side of the situation. She had been wanting to cut off some of her hair for a while. It had become overly long and cumbersome. It had gotten caught on one too many branches for her to consider it to be nonhazardous.

"The orc cut it off."

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say.

"They cut your hair?" Emelia did not understand why Gloin's voice had become angry.

"Yea, needless to say I won't be going back for when I need a trim. You say an inch, they always cut six." She giggled to herself until she realized that no one was laughing with her.

"How are you laughing about this?" Bofur asked, placing a tentative hand on her shoulder.

"It's just hair." Emelia said, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm more concerned about being grabbed in the middle of minding my own business, doing my business, by a pair of orcs that obviously missed the lesson on treating women with respect. I mean, who grabs somebody while their pants are down?"

"What?"

Emelia rolled her eyes at the reaction of the dwarves.

"You weren't wearing pants?" Kili had a look of disbelief and horror on his face. His eyes trailed over her body, checking for what she assumed he thought would be hidden signs of more injuries on her that she wasn't sharing with him. He moved closer to her, hands coming up to grab a hold of her shoulders. She had never seen him look so alarmed in her entire life.

"They cut her hair." Bofur seemed to be having trouble processing her newest hair style.

"Yea, they did." Emelia spoke a little slower, hoping to move on from her hair. "Look, its fine."

"They didn't, you know, touch you…" Kili eyes kept glancing down to her legs. His face was horrified, although Emelia couldn't exactly figure out why. Her brain was beginning to hurt from all the different conversations and questions that were floating around her.

"No, gross. I'm fine." Emelia felt her frustration building. "Look, my eye is starting to pulsate. Can we call it a night?"

"Emelia, they cut your hair." Emelia had never thought Bofur was one to fixate on things, but there he was, obsessing over her hair.

"Yes, we established that. My hair was cut. Can we move on?"

"They dishonored you." Gloin said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the entire world. Emelia felt her face scrunch up in confusion. She wished she hadn't made that face almost instantly. Her eye and neck stung horribly, causing her to wince, which caused more pain.

"I already said they didn't touch me. Well, beyond being a bit handsy with my face and neck."

"They dishonored you by cutting your hair."

Emelia rolled her eyes. She was able to ignore most of the odd things about the dwarves. She was able to ignore the way they ate most of their meals like it was their last. She ignored that most of them were a bit rasher than they needed to be. She ignored some of their obvious anger issues, although that was mostly Thorin and Dwalin. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to go along with the idea that hair was so important that it getting cut was somehow shameful, however.

"To a dwarf hair is how honor is shown. To have it cut off by something as foul as an orc is one of the worst things imaginable."

"Well it's a good thing I'm not a dwarf." She had never seen them look so hurt by anything she had ever said before. "I mean, oh god, I didn't mean that it would be a bad thing to be a dwarf. I just meant that I'm human and therefore cut my hair on a biannual schedule. The orcs just helped out with that."

"They thought she was a dwarf." Ori said suddenly, moving away from his two brothers. "They cut her hair thinking she was a dwarf."

The dwarves made noises of anger. Some of them clenched up their fists, others folded their thick arms over their chests. Fili refused to look at Emelia still, but at least she now had a reason for why he, and his brother, had been acting so weird in the forest. She felt an odd affection for the dwarves welling up in her chest. It made her feel warm to think that they were so offended on her behalf about something so small, small to her at least, as her long red hair. She had thought they viewed her as being separate from them, different in most ways imaginable. Throughout the duration of their time together she had felt like an outsider, what with her slight stature and out of place culture.

"When a warrior has their braids cut it represents shame." Gloin said. She imagined he valued braids more than most average dwarves. He had the most fabulous beard she had ever seen.

"I'm not a warrior." Emelia said quietly, affection for the dwarves swelling at the same rate as her eye with each moment she spent with them.

"Do not be silly, lass." Bofur spoke loudly, throwing an arm around her shoulder. "You're fiercer than a Goblin King and scarier than orcs in the middle of the night."

"I think you're over embellishing just a bit." The dwarves laughed, shaking their heads. "But thank you."

"Thorin advised us to get some sleep and I think we would be wise to heed his words. We are all very happy you are relatively unharmed, Miss Emelia." Balin smiled warmly at Emelia, before turning to address the rest of the dwarves. "To bed, all of you."

The dwarves began to disperse, leaving Emelia with half sympathetic half happy looks. Ori looked at her the longest. He still looked at her with the same amount of regret that he had displayed earlier. She made a mental note to talk to him in private. She moved her hand up to her hair, feeling the ends with an entirely new perspective as she watched all the dwarves move to their respective sleeping places. The choppy ends made her much sadder than they had earlier when she thought about it from the dwarves' perspective. The ends poked her palms like knives, adding the sudden feeling of embarrassment that washed over her. The dwarves were shamed by her hair and she couldn't stop the sudden feeling that they weren't going to be able to look at her the same.

"Come on, Emmy. You should get some sleep. We are leaving early in the morning." Kili placed his hand on her shoulder, attempting to move her towards where she had slept the last couple of nights.

"Do I look shameful?" Emelia asked suddenly, stopping him from helping her to her spot.

Kili looked at her, dark eyes fixating on the ends of her hair. "No. I think it suits you."

"But Gloin…"

"Gloin shouldn't have said all that in front of you." Kili leaned down so as not to be overheard by the dwarves as they pulled their blankets over themselves. Some of them were eyeing the two of them suspiciously. "It wasn't your fault."

"My hair is shorter than yours now." She pointed to the ends of his hair.

"Does that bother you?"

"No. Well, yes, but I think only because it bothers all of you."

"I don't mind the change. I wish it hadn't been done the way it was, but like I said, it suits you." He played with the ends of her hair with his fingers, curling one of the loose curls around his thumb.

"Go to bed, Kili." Balin folded his arms over his chest. He eyed Kili, rolling his eyes when he saw the cheeky look the younger dwarf gave him. "The poor girl has been through enough without you harassing her more."

"I'm sure she doesn't mind." Kili called back to Balin. He winked over at Emelia, earning a chuckle and a blush.

"Keep complimenting my hair and you can harass me any time." Emelia immediately threw her hand up to cover her mouth relaxing what she had just said. She should probably start thinking about what she said before she blurted it out. "No. Never mind. Please forget anything I've ever said ever."

"Go to bed, Emelia."

She nodded her head, moving towards her straw pile without a second glance at Kili. Yet again she had embarrassed herself in front of him. It seemed it was going to become a pattern between them if she didn't learn to stop being such an undeniable embarrassment in everything she said and did.

They get on the road again next chapter! The amount of reviews on last chapter was mind boggling. Keep it up! Thank you to everyone who read. This chapter was one of the longest so far, so I hope that makes up for the cliff hanger.