Author's Note: I own nothing.

7 Time With Elves

Bella was delighted to find that the room she'd chosen did in fact have a bath, it overlooked a beautiful garden. She took her time washing off the dust of the road off and scrubbing her hair to rid herself of the troll stench. She pulled her last set of clean clothes from her bag and frowned. They would at least be here for the night so she set about washing her other clothes as well. She hung them up to dry and shook out her hair. It was nearly past her shoulders, curling slightly since it was still damp. It would take ages to dry, especially if she put it up so she shook her head again deciding to leave it down for now. Instead she straightened her corset and turned to her new sword. It still smelled of troll so she took a rag and some soap to it. Soon it was gleaming and clean. It had taken a bit of extra time to get the leather of the scabbard and belt clean but she managed it. There was a sharp rap on the door. Bella rolled her eyes and frowned before strapping on the belt and walking to the door. She opened it and found herself looking up at Thorin. He was a full foot taller than her, standing as he did at almost five feet in height. He was quite tall for a dwarf.

"Yes?" She asked and he nodded.

"We've been invited to dinner." He said glancing at the sword at her side. His look turned approving seeing the gleam of silver and clean leather. She grinned and slipped out of the room and joined the company. Bofur grinned at her as she joined him and Ori to walk down to the dining hall.

"She cleans up well." Bifur commented with a sly grin. Thorin rolled his eyes.

"Stop it." He bit back. Bifur wasn't wrong though. She'd swapped her travel worn green skirt for a simple brown skirt. She'd also swapped her red vest for a cream colored corset style vest embroidered with small purple flowers. Her honey brown curls were still damp and glinted slightly in the light of the evening sun, mirroring the color of old gold. Thorin would admit the burglar was attractive, but there were other things to worry about. The last thing he needed was for anyone to get distracted by that. They were led to a large dining room where most of the dwarves sat at a small table. Bella sat next to Balin as Gandalf and Thorin were escorted to the high table.

The dinner was delicious though the dwarves seemed unimpressed with the widely vegetarian options. Thorin kept a watchful eye on the company as he Gandalf and Lord Elrond spoke. It seemed that the elf made weapons Thorin and Gandalf now wielded were named blades, with old and illustrious histories behind them. It made Bella wonder. But she wasn't given long to ponder. She shook her head at the dwarves as the throwing of food began. She was beginning to wonder if this was something they only did in polite company. Kili kept glancing around and Bella was resisting rolling her eyes at him. For someone so scared of his secret getting out he wasn't quite subtle. Thorin seemed to have lost his appetite and left the high table vanishing back towards their given rooms when Bofur, apparently deciding the music wasn't up to his standards, stood up on the table and began to sing. Bella buried her head in her hands in embarrassment as the others joined in. But as she was contemplating how best to slip away for the rowdy bunch of dwarves she realized something. All the dwarves present were singing, but she could not her her Tuning inside her head. Glancing around she confirmed it, only one dwarf was missing.

Bella slipped away unnoticed and slipped off into an alcove to ponder her luck. Her Tuning, her One was none other than Thorin Oakenshield. She swore burring her head in her hands.

"Are you quite well?" A melodious voice asked and Bella looked up to find Arwen standing there.

"Yes." The lie was a quick one, almost too quick but the elf maid was too kind to say anything about it. "Yes, I'm fine, a bit embarrassed I suppose." Bella admitted with a small laugh. Arwen smiled beatifically at her.

"No need to be embarrassed. I assure you it's not something we haven't seen before. If I recall correctly though your mother had a favorite room here, would you like to see it?" She asked and Bella perked back up.

"You knew my mother too?" She asked and Arwen nodded.

"I did, though only in passing. I only met her once. I was living in Lothlórien for many of the years she came to visit." Arwen led Bella off down the halls of Rivendell.

Thorin frowned from his spot in the shadows. He watched as the elf maid led Bella off. It didn't sit well with him how well she fit into Rivendell. Her mother had apparently been a friend of the elves, something Gandalf had neglected to mention when he'd told Thorin he'd found a burglar. He was beginning to wonder what else had been left out of the story. Their burglar wasn't fit to the task. She was from a peaceful people, a peaceful land. She was wasn't fit for the months of hard road and danger ahead of them. He nearly jumped when a hand came down on his shoulder. It was Dwalin.

"You alright?" He asked in the gruff tongue of the dwarves. Thorin nodded.

"I'm fine. Making sure the elves aren't stealing the burglar." He said pointing after Bella and Arwen. He could hear Bella telling Arwen about the small library she had back in Bag End. He shook his head. "Not sure we should have brought her to begin with."

"She's cut from a different stone, that's certain." Dwalin said then shook his head. "But she's been useful so far, or most of us would have been troll shit by now. The young ones like her well enough." He pointed out.

"Ori likes anyone who teaches him things, not the best judge of character." Thorin pointed out. Fili and Kili had taken a shine to her too though and that was rare enough. Though still young they both belonged to the line of Durin and held the lines mistrust of most strangers, or at least Fili did. Kili was flirtatious at best most times but he seemed merely genuinely friendly with the burglar. Thorin shook his head. "My sisters sons are young yet. They'll learn the way the world is sooner or later." He hoped for later but he still wasn't sure about this burglar. She had already proved fickle, nearly backing out before the agreement was even signed. He shook his head again and nodded to Dwalin. "Go back to the others, I'll see the burglar makes it back to the rooms."

Dwalin nodded and headed off, Thorin following the sound of Bella's chatter through the halls of Rivendell.