Elrond was lost in thought.

After having previously departed from the hobbit's side on the balcony viewing from the Hall of Fire, he came across the hidden garden where some of the High Elves, including one of his oldest friends Glorfindel, were occupied in the peaceful square of the seasoned flowers and flute harmony.

He briefly smiled when seeing the golden-haired warrior sitting casually on one of the archways supported by pillars while the little human girl, Lori, sat in the grass, looking up at him with wide-eyed admiration.

Dandelions dangled like ragged fluff between her tiny fingers, her black hair drifting in soft ripples down her slim back like a curtain of night. Elrond stared at the tiny form in awed silence, while Glorfindel started telling her about the nature of the elves.

Arwen.

It was like he was looking at his daughter as a small elfling again, who sat in a similar position before Glorfindel so long ago-ages ago-that it lifted Elrond heart twice as high and clenched at the same time. Nostalgic memories of his little elleth next to her twin elder brothers came to surface.

Looking back now, it was hard to believe that the little elleth was now fully grown, beautiful and wise. The Evenstar of her people. She who was on her way back from her long stay in Lothlorien with her mother's mother, who had been summoned to Rivendell weeks prior.

Gandalf had sent him a message long before the Company had arrived, to ensure their possible visit. It was definitely determined when they were coming just days ago, and without their knowing, the wizard led them straight into the safety of Imladris.

But it was those human siblings that truly sparked his curiosity.

Though mortal, their very presence gave away a vibrating signature nearly as powerful as his own, his children's, Estel's, and the wizard's.

His suspicions were confirmed the first time he had seen their eyes flash gold when their awareness sparked, as if seeing the light of their soul though their gaze.

For all had the blood of the Maiar.

There were few others that Elrond had seen that descended from such a bloodline, himself included, but there were even fewer humans that existed with such.

He personally had met one of them with his wife and young son, Aravìr (named after one of the past kings of Gondor), who had last visited Rivendell about two hundred years ago when the Rangers led under Elohir and Elladan had sanctioned.

The boy...the boy who had disappeared during the Battle of the Green Fields when his parents and the other Dunedain ranks had fallen, though he had been eight years old at the time, some resemblance matched that of Kyle Dainson.

Elrond was sure of it now, although as he recalled, Aravìr had a more quiet and gentle soul, being rather antisocial and observant to many others (intelligent for his age), in opposition to Dainson's feisty, forward attitude. They share the same stubbornness, though...but it seems that it was Maia's personality next to Kyle's that made him wonder.

Young Aravìr had been presumed dead...but his body was never found. Never seen again.

There had been no real proof of whether he was alive or not. By now, as a Dunedain descendant of the Maiar, he would have been over two hundred years old...and still young. His father, Ragnòr, son of Egnòr, had been nearing three hundred when he was slain, and has only lived through half his lifespan.

Could it be that these children were...?

" My lord, Elrond."

"Lindir." Elrond greeted as his head servant caught up by his side while walking through the lower courtyards. "You approach with haste. What news do you bring?"

" The Lady Galadriel has sent word that she and Lady Arwen will be arriving in due time. No more than two days, if certain. Perhaps in the morning."

"I am pleased to hear of it." Knowing his wife's mother, the Lady of Light would probably show up this evening, when least expected. She always loved a dramatic entrance. Elrond inwardly smirked. "I would very much like to see my daughter again and how she fares of late. It is a pity her brothers won't be for some time. There is so much to be discussed about Thorin Oakenshield and his followers. Are they being treated well?"

Though he kept a straight face, Lindir looked uncomfortable. "Too well, I should say. The kitchen's under enormous strain, we are almost out of wine. Some of the rooms are left with damaged furniture and the old tapestries used as targets for knife throwing. How long do you think they will be with us?"

Elrond sighed. "That has yet to be decided." When they looked up, both elves froze and stared at the strange scene before them.

Shouts, yelps, and laughter followed, its owner the dwarves themselves...splashing around the large, golden immortal fountain, naked as the day they were born.

There were around five of them piled up like a tower on each other, two of them sliding down the flowing stream from the giant grail until landing with a loud splash, and one whipping another with other with a rolled bundle of cloth, receiving a high-pitched yelp in return. Their clothes and weapons were scattered all over the ground, soaked from the puddles.

At the far side, standing out from the shorter, bearded, and naked men, was Kyle Dainson, who was all soaked from the splashing while wearing nothing but his trousers. His chest with slim and skinny, but slightly toned enough with muscle to show that he was a growing athlete.

He looked to be hesitating, his hands gripping the belt of his trousers as he stared at his naked friends splashing around in a public area.

Of all the mischief and trouble he had ever done in his life (tagging, firecrackers, food fights, ect.,), this by far surpassed all of them with one terrifying look at his dwarven companions.

He felt thoroughly embarrassed seeing them all naked, especially the older ones (or Bomber, who had so much fat that he bobbed in the fountain water like a float...Kyle shuddered).

Even worse was that they were all hairy and naked.

At least most of them had a lot of impressive muscle to display, from past battles and hard labour, no doubt. But Kyle had never seen so many...things...his entire life! If Bilbo were here, he would have for sure fainted at the sight.

Now he was afraid of showing his own 'thing.' In this situation, the only thing he was thankful for was that Thorin was absent, having decided to bathe in privacy as expected.

"Come on in, young Kyle!" Bofur cheered from the middle of the tower pileup, which was still wobbling with balance. It was really weird seeing him without his floppy hat on. "Strip down now! Don't be shy!"

"Ye won't feel it unless it is all off!" called Nori, who was still swinging the tight bundled cloth after having whipped his little brother Ori, who was still rubbing his stinging ass with a glare before jumping in the water.

"You guys are crazy, ya know?" exclaimed Kyle. His face was bright red with mortification. "What if somebody sees? Elf-girls, or worse...my sisters!"

"Not as if ye have much to show anyway!" retorted Dwalin from the bottom of the dwarf tower. "What's the matter, lad? Scared to show yer tiny tail?" The dwarves all burst out laughing at the boy's shocked face, which was now red as a tomato.

Kyle steamed, fire blazing in his eyes. "Jerk!" Swift as lighting, he pulled down the rest of his clothes, kicked them aside before charging, leaping over the fountain's rail, and then shoving the tower of dwarves with all his might. With a startled yell, not having the time to regain balance, the tower of five dwarves wobbled and with a shout, tipped over and splashed heavily in the water.

Kyle stood over them, hands on his bare hips with more confidence and evil smirk plastered on his face.

"F.Y.I: my dick is fabulous!" he announced loudly, as the dwarves came up to the surface, spluttering and coughing. "I was just thinking about whether or not you're worthy of viewing my manly stuff!" He held a fist forward as if it were a threat. "Get the picture?"

"BRAT!" hollered Dwalin, while all the dwarves just burst of laughing. Balin was just shaking his head.

After staring at this crude water display, Elrond and Lindir exchanged a glance before quickly leaving the scene.

While both of their patience was stretched with twelve butt-naked dwarves swimming in the sacred fountain, Elrond could not help a teeny, tiny thought for his own amusement: There certainly has not been this much mischief here in such a long time. It is a shame Elohir and Elladan are not here to see this.

When passing through the gardens, Maia heard the sound of laughing males, Kyle protesting, and water splashing, so she headed in that direction. She figured that after such a hot day today on the training field, the boys must have found some place to take a dip and are clearly getting carried away.

She snorted. If there was one thing she learned about these guys while traveling with them for nearly five weeks, they were never boring.

Always found a way to cause commotion, whether for merriment or for heated disclosure. They could be like little kids sometimes, even Thorin with his attitude. It was little wonder how Kyle and Lori adapted to the dwarves so quickly.

She wondered if her kid brother and sister were swimming with them now.

"Hey, guys?" She started to turn a corner. "Guys, is that-OH!" Her eyes popped and her face heated as she quickly turned away with one hand blocking the scene of the fountain full of naked dwarves and a naked little brother. "GOD!"

"GAH! MAIA!" Kyle screeched, who had been standing confidently in the center before, and then fell deeper into the water with a splash to cover himself when spotting his sister walking in. "WHAT THE HELL?!"

Most of the dwarves instantly did the same, keeping their lower parts of their bodies hidden. Ori had to have the reddest shade of all, sinking so low in the water that he was up to his bearded chin.

"Sorry! Sorry!" squeaked Maia, still looking away with her hands up. One brief glimpse was all it too, and Maia just couldn't get the image out of her head. The image of nude dwarves in a giant fountain. Her hot face could explode with mortification.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" screamed Kyle.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Maia screamed back defensively.

"I ASKED YOU FIRST!"

"I WAS LOOKING FOR YOU GUYS, AND NOW I WISH I DIDN'T! WHAT ARE Y'ALL DOING IN THE FOUNTAIN? IN OUR HOST'S BACKYARD AND IN PUBLIC?!"

"WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE? WE'RE HAVING A BATH," shouted Kyle before any dwarf would answer, although clearly most of them would rather not, "AND YOU'RE NOT INVITED, WOMAN! TALK ABOUT PERVERTED!"

"Kyle," an uneasy warning from Fili spoke up, though it went unheeded.

Maia's face heated even more, but this time in angered annoyance. "OH, PLEASE! IT'S NOT LIKE I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU NAKED BEOFRE, KYLE!" When he was still in diapers.

Still, some of the dwarves sniggered at this and even with her vision covered, she could see Kyle's tomato-red, mortified face steaming up the fountain water.

"WHY DID YOU HAVE SAY THAT?! C'MON, MAIA! IN FACT, WHY ARE YOU EVEN STILL HERE? YOU'RE SO EMBARRASSING!"

Oh, and swimming nude in someone's public fountain isn't? Maia scoffed loudly. "WELL, MAKE IT FAST, 'CAUSE UNLESS Y'ALL WANT LORI TO PASS BY AND SEE THE SHOW, YOU BETTER GET YOUR ASSES OUT OF THAT FOUNTAIN AND FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO TAKE A DUNK!"

After that, Maia didn't stick around to see the males' response as she darted out of there.

She figured that she couldn't use the excuse of any decency towards the elves who were currently and kindly sheltering them while the dwarves and Kyle's current behavior was just plain humiliating, at least in her mind (the dwarves would have gladly used this kind of mischief in the presence of the elves, no matter the generosity), so using Lori as an excuse instead would have definitely motivated the dwarves to stop what their doing. She hated to be the one to spoil their fun, and even winced at thinking that her words might have been a little harsh, but she had been to mortified, awkward, and fueled by Kyle's shouts to care.

"Another thing to apologize for," she grumbled to herself as she stomped through the gardens and the beautiful courtyards. "This day just keeps getting freaking better!"

Although a small, guilty part of her wished that her eyes would have accidentally landed on Fili first...she allowed herself to imagine the hidden muscle beneath his armed clothing would have looked like...and blushed when she remembered feeling it whenever he held her...

"So I see you had the unfortunate circumstance of finding them less than modest."

Maia jumped a little when she saw Thorin sitting on a nearby bench in between an archway surrounded by vines and flowers, studying the map that was spread carefully into his lap with furrowed brows.

"If that is the case, then I hope you enjoyed what you've seen," continued Thorin, still not looking up.

Maia blushed, flustered that Thorin was speaking to her right when she had been thinking about this dwarf's nephew in the "less than modest" way. "Why-Why aren't you with them?" she asked, ignoring how face heated up more from the question.

Thorin grunted. "I am never one for such public displays," he muttered, "less so in the presence of elves."

Maia smiled a little, despite herself. "Ditto," she agreed. When Thorin glanced up, raising an eyebrow, she quickly answered, "Same here. Thank God Lori wasn't here to see that. So, um...have you seen her and Bilbo yet?"

"I have not." That was all he said before looking back down at the map as though pointedly dismissing Maia.

She frowned, further put-off by his indifference towards her. It reminded her that it was not only Fili that she had been out here looking for, but Thorin. After a brief hesitation, she decided that she might as well come out and say it. "Why did you agree to spar with me?" she asked.

"I wanted to see what you were capable of. Obviously, there was not much to expect."

Maia placed her hands on her hips. "You didn't have to be so negative about it," she said stiffly, recalling Thorin's insults toward her this afternoon. "I'm very well aware that I'm not an experienced fighter, but I can-"

Thorin scoffed. "Too proud to admit weakness, girl?"

"Excuse me?"

Rolling up the map, he stood up to face her, seeming much taller despite his slightly shorter height. His blue eyes blazed unwaveringly. "Why not just accept that you are not made to be placed in the field of battle? That you are not meant to hold a sword, or worthy to be deemed a protector? What makes you believe that you are capable of such goals that are so far out of your reach?" Thorin said harshly.

Her hands were clenched into fists so tight that she could feel her nails draw blood. Her eyes even misted with unshed tears, but she refused to cry in front of the Dwarf King who just continued to bully her once again with his prejudice and loathsome words.

She knew what he was trying to do. And she refused to be moved by it. Not this time.

But then he added, "What makes you think that you are more than a foolish young female filled with fantasies of earning the honor and respect of a dwarf?"

"You know what: screw you!" she spat out before she could stop herself. "I don't know what the hell your problem is with me, whether it's because I'm a girl or because you still don't trust me and my siblings, but I have been putting up with this crap for weeks now. And hey, guess what? I had enough! I don't care if you're the King of Dwarves or the freaking god of thunder! I'll admit that I don't meet your standards in a lot of things, but I will not be treated this way, and I would at least demand a little respect from you to acknowledge the fact that I'm trying! Is that too much to ask?" Her voice cracked a little at the end.

While on the outside she was still seething with hurt and anger, the other part of her on the inside was suddenly panicking.

Did she just insult a king? Oh, God, did she just insult Fili's uncle, whom he seemed to respect highly like a father?

Thorin kept staring coldly at her, and Maia felt the blood drain from her face, her stomach clenching nervously. His glare was powerful enough to freeze her the spot.

In the minute of silence, her thoughts spun around like a twister, seeming as though her life flashed before her eyes in the process.

Oh God, oh God! What did I just do? Oh, hell, what now? You finally grow a spine and then lose it again?! Way to go, Maia! Way to fucking go! You really blew it! What is he thinking? Why isn't he saying anything? Where's Kyle when I need him? He's better at this than me! Should I run? No, that would make it worse! Well, I'm not gonna apologize either! DAMN IT, WHY WON'T HE SAY SOMETHING?

What shocked Maia even more was Thorin's small smirk, an eyebrow slightly raised. "So," he said, "the quiet soul carries some flame after all."

Maia blinked. "H-Huh?"

Thorin turned and clasped his hands behind his back as he paced in front of her. "Of all the weeks I have known you Dainsons, I have noticed that you carry specific traits that differ you from the other. As the elders, you and Master Kyle are like my nephews in a sense. Like the sun and moon: equal the ferocity, yet opposite in flaws."

He turned to face her, as though listing out his criteria. "You hold back far too much, while your brother has trouble holding back at all. If you both wish to learn how to fight, to survive on your own, neither of these will help you alone. I would say the same for little Lori, but she is far too early to tell."

"So...wait," Maia frowned, feeling lost. She felt like she had just got caught in some trap. "Where're you heading with this?"

"I will continue to have you and Master Kyle trained, as requested, though I would have you keep in mind with how you handle a weapon. There will be no need for you to hold back, for I will continue to come at you with enough force that will threaten to overcome," warned Thorin. "If you have come here and expected me to go easy on you, like I would some small child taking its first steps, then you will find yourself disappointed. My tactics are harsh, I will admit...but if not for them, my kin would not have such of the promised skills they have today. I will allow you and your brother to spar with my nephews for practice, but knowing them, they will hold back on you, so then I will train you myself, and Dwalin your brother. If you cannot handle this in due time, then you might as well give up."

Maia shook her head. "I'm not giving up," she said, repeating what she told him earlier. "I have my brother and sister to look after."

Thorin nodded, before turning to leave. Then he paused. "Oh, and another thing I ought to ask," he said, his voice low as he peered back at her. "Where did you and Fili go last night?"

The question caught her off-guard, but for some reason, she knew he might eventually bring it up. Maia hugged her arms across her chest. "We went down to the river below," she answered.

"To do what?"

"To hang out. We talked." And kissed, her thoughts also mentioned.

"Then why did my nephew come back all wet to the bone? He even looked upset."

Maia bit her lip guiltily. She shrugged, but didn't meet his accusing eyes. "We fell in the water. We were just messing around a bit and got a little carried away."

"That does not explain why he was upset," Thorin pressed. "Would you care to enlighten me?"

Fili was upset because he probably felt rejected, Maia thought miserably. It also reminded her that she still had to sort her feelings out and find a way to approach Fili. To apologize again and tell him that he wasn't the only one who was hurting. That she loved him, too, which was why it was hard.

Didn't he know that? Didn't she tell him that last night?

Well, she certainly wasn't going to tell Thorin any of this, nor was she going to show how much her heart ached whenever she recalled her closeness to Fili last night.

Instead, she shrugged. "We were cold," she said lamely, although that was partly the truth. It did feel like a cold world when not being in Fili's arms.

Thorin's eyes narrowed and Maia winced, feeling her cheeks heat up and hoped they weren't too pink, so that nothing would be given away.

"My nephew is the heir to the throne after me, the Crowned Prince of the very kingdom we have set off to reclaim," said Thorin calmly. "His duty is to his people. His life has been groomed for his future as King Under the Mountain."

Maia tensed, looking up. Suddenly she was aware of why Thorin was being so harsh with her, and felt utterly exposed.

"Whatever relationship you have with my sister-son, whatever infatuation you have placed over him..." Maia's eyes widened when Thorin placed more distaste behind the word, "It ends now. I will not have some common human lass attempting to steal his heart."

Maia blazed in offense. Thorin might as well have accused her to be some coal-digging harlot. "So, what, I can't be friends with him now?" she said, her arms dropping so that her hands clenched into fists. "Look, I care about Fili a lot, but I am not trying to interfere with your nephew's future, or steal his heart! I'm trying to go back to my home, too! Isn't that why we tagged along to begin with?"

"Based on strange dreams you claimed to have," Thorin said tightly. "By theory alone, you claim that there is a portal in the Lonely Mountain that will lead you three back to your world, but what if you are wrong? You will remain stuck in this world with nothing and no one but Master Baggins, or Gandalf, to take care of you. Perhaps I could make arrangements, but I will not allow you to pursue my sister-son-" Maia opened her mouth to deny it, before Thorin continued, "-for it is the law that a Dwarf, let alone one of the royal family, to be not wed to any other than that of his or her own race."

Maia froze. "T-The law?" she said softly. "What are you talking about?"

"I am merely stating a fact," said Thorin gravely. "Just as it is forbidden for our language to be shared, it is also unlawful for a Dwarf to mate with that of another race, whether it be human or, Mahal forbid, an elf. Keep in mind that those who double-cross such rules will be faced with consequences, Maia Dainson, if you truly care about Fili."

When Maia had no response, Thorin finally departed without another word, leaving her in more emotional turmoil.