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Brine felt Fili's moustache tickle her upper lip. His breath warmed her lower one. Fili's hand caressed her cheek gently. Brine closed her eyes as she tried to control her breathing and the shaking in her body. They were so close...
"You two!" Brine opened her eyes wide. Fili walked away and stood up carefully to get a better look at the person who had just interrupted them. Brine approached and saw Bard waiting with his arms in a jar and a face of few friends. "From the part: Don't leave the house, what haven't you understood?" Bard shouted. "You are completely irresponsible. What if someone saw you? Learn to control your damn hormones." Fili helped Brine down gently, hugging her around the waist as he faced Bard.
"Watch what you say. You wouldn't want to get in trouble with a dwarf." Fili said as he pushed Brine into the house. "I'm sorry," Fili whispered in Brine's ear with a tender smile, making the girl blush.
Bard soon entered with a huge lump wrapped in old blankets. He dropped it with a thud on the table. A pile of spears, pickaxes, and shovels came out from underneath it. The dwarves stared in awe at the pile of scrap metal Bard had brought with him.
"Is this some kind of joke?" Thorin asked seriously and stared at the man coldly. "We pay you for weapons."
"And there you have them," Bard replied, defending himself.
"No!" Thorin exclaimed, smashing them to the ground. Brine was startled, taking a few instinctive steps backwards. "We pay you for weapons to fight, not just for scrap metal." Thorin's angry voice echoed from every corner of the house.
"It's the only thing I can get here and now," Bard replied confidently but without further discussion with Thorin.
"Then we will have to manage on our own." Thorin challenged Bard and with a wave of his hand, all the dwarves stood beside him. Brine was the last to join Fili.
"Get out of my house." Finally, Bard said as he opened the door and began to watch the dwarves parade. Brine stopped in front of him and bowed her head as she apologized. "I said get out."
It was night when the dwarves left Bard's house and started wandering around Lake City. The ice blocks were accumulating near the small wooden bridges that connected the different parts of the city. Brine felt the cold seeping into her dress. She was sure that it would not be long before it started to snow.
Thorin began to guide them through the guides and paths, hiding in the darkness of the corners, until they reached a small warehouse. Nori was the one who took the lead then by being the only one able to open the lock on the door. After several minutes of fidgeting, the lock was heard to open and the door was pushed open. Inside they found axes, bows and swords. The weapons Thorin wanted. Dwalin was the one who entered and began to assign one by one a weapon to match.
"Silence." Brine ordered as she noticed a rhythmic sound that was becoming louder and louder. "Are you hearing it?" She asked worriedly. Fili looked at her.
"What's going on?" He asked, not understanding what she was talking about.
"The noise." Brine said, looking out the small window of the warehouse.
"You can't hear anything," Dwalin replied by giving Fili an axe and a sword. "It's all in your mind, princess."
"Fili. It's not my imagination." Brine replied once Dwalin had left. "Someone is coming." Brine's gaze conveyed despair. Fili's face showed the restlessness of the moment. He did not know what to do.
The visitors soon arrived and a lot of soldiers piled up around the warehouse. Brine gave Fili a scolding look and said: "I told you so." The guards ordered the dwarves out one by one as they laid down their arms and led them to the governor's house, where a group of people waited. Brine was surrounded by Filo, Kili and Bilbo. Her eyes briefly examined the people around her and there was one particular look that caught her attention.
"Zirb!" Exclaimed Brine as she broke through the barrier formed by the boys. She heard Fili call out to her and tried to catch her, but Brine was quicker. "Zirb!" Brine called her again and was horrified to find herself face to face with her. Her friend from a few years ago and her confidant looked totally different from the last one she saw in the valley near Rivendell. She looked neglected, her dress was dirty and tatty, though her blue eyes remained intact. Brine melted into an embrace beside her as guilt grew inside her. "Tell me it's not what I think it is." She whispered in her ear.
"Don't worry, Brine," Zirb replied sweetly. "You're not to blame."
"It's because I didn't come back with you, isn't it?" Brine's voice was about to break. Zirb's silence confirmed her suspicions. She could not believe her aunt and uncle had kicked Zirb out.
"I told them I didn't find you." Zirb turned away from Brine and plunged her blue eyes into her green ones. "Brine, sooner or later it was going to happen."
"But it's not fair!" Brine shouted. She noticed the looks in them. Zirb was silent and when she went to speak she was interrupted by the mayor. The dwarves prepared for the worst, but the mayor's words surprised them.
"Citizens!" A round man started shouting from the top of a staircase. People seemed to have respect for him, or was it fear? Brine could not tell. "It seems that someone has believed that he can steal from us." His words attracted the townspeople, who screamed in anger as they tried to push Zirb aside to get closer to the dwarves.
"We thought we could make a deal with Lake City," Thorin replied in an authoritative voice. Brine watched as Zirb's pupils dilated on seeing him. Nobody could tell Thorin looked like a king, but knowing Zirb, Brine knew he was still the king under the mountain she knew.
"A deal?" asked the mayor in an ironic and mocking way. The people around him began to laugh. "And what are simple mountain dwarves supposed to offer us?" he asked with a laugh.
"Gold," Thorin answered by stepping forward and making the people shut up. Hearing that word, the mayor turned his attention to it. "Tons of gold." Thorin insisted.
"And where do you intend to get that gold?" asked the intrigued mayor.
"From Erebor." Thorin nodded to the mountain. "Help us get our home back and I assure you we will be generous to you." His tone was so convincing that even Brine would have agreed without hesitation.
"Generous?" A worried voice burst into the square. "You will bring us to ruin!" Bard appeared, pushing people aside. He stopped by Zirb, exchanging a worried look. Zirb tried to stop him but Bard kept talking. "You did it once before with Dale's people. I will not allow you to do it again with Lake City."
"Do what?" Thorin climbed the steps enough to be seen by everyone. "Enrich a city? There are thousands of treasures hidden in the mountain chambers. Don't you want them?" The people howled in agreement. Thorin smiled triumphantly and turned his gaze to Bard. His expression hardened. Brine thought he did not like seeing Zirb as he did, let alone so close to Bard. "That man" Thorin pointed to Bard. "He only wants your misery and ruin. Will you allow that?"
"You do not have to listen to him, my lord. He's a simple revolutionary smuggler." The mayor replied. "He does not speak for us."
"I seek to protect my people from the dangers hidden in that mountain! I seek to protect them from the dragon and from you!" Bard replied and the people began to murmur.
"Dragon? Which one of you has seen the dragon?" Thorin asked the people. No one answered. "No one's heard from it for hundreds of years, it's more than dead." Brine turned suddenly. She admired Thorin for his charisma and power of conviction but never thought he would be able to deceive anyone. All the dwarves knew the dragon was not dead, but no one said anything. They all shunned the sight.
"No one has been able to do it!" Bard protested.
"Enough!" protested the mayor. "Guards, lock him up!" He exclaimed and a small group of guards came down the stairs. Brine feared Thorin had gone too far but was surprised to see the guards pass him and approach Bard. Zirb began to protest but her words were silenced with a slap. Brine protested as she bowed and helped her up. "Citizens of Lake. Welcome our friends: Thorin Oakenshield and his company." Brine felt her skin crawl at the man's words. She did not have a good feeling.
Brine leaned back in her seat with a full stomach. The governor had insisted on giving a dinner in honour of the company, regaling them with gifts and food.
"Brine!" Zirb exclaimed at the sight of her attitude. Brine had managed to convince Zirb to come with her to the dinner the mayor had organized. That way they could catch up.
"I think I've spent too much time with the dwarves." Brine replied by blushing and looking down.
"What about Philli?" asked Zirb, taking advantage of the fact that the atmosphere was more relaxed and she did not feel the pressure from anyone in them. "He hasn't taken his eyes off you."
"Well, you could say that at first, he wasn't very happy with my presence, but" Brine looked up and unconsciously fixed her eyes on Fili. His blue eyes searched for her with a strange glow so far. "You can say we've come to a good end." Brine smiled. Fili averted his eyes from her for a thousandth of a second, but then he looked back at her. Brine felt the need to go to him, but on what pretext? She could not interrupt Thorin for no reason while he was giving instructions to his nephew. Brine sighed in frustration but something magical happened then. Thorin rose from his seat with his ale jar and circled around the room to finally approach Brine and Zirb.
"Excuse me, my ladies." He said, bowing his head.
Up close, Brine could see a shade of pink on his cheeks. Brine knew that it was not with her that he wanted to be, so she got up and walked out of the room, down a corridor until she ended up on a large balcony from which the whole city and the silhouette of the mountain could be seen. She knew that someone was following her, and from the curses he was saying, she knew it was Fili. Brine waited for him on the balcony with a small smile.
"Damn it." Said Fili as he carried a potted plant ahead of him. Brine looked at him funny. "I've been wanting to be with you all night." Fili's look was tender and sweet. Brine noticed that his cheeks were also flushed, like Thorin's, although his were a more intense colour. Fili approached Brine, grabbing her by the waist and drawing her towards him. Brine noticed the smell of alcohol that Fili was giving off. "I think we were interrupted earlier." His voice was a whisper. "But I know where to go next." He said, taking Brine's face in his hands and smashing his lips against hers.
Brine felt a new confusing sensation. That same night on the roof she had felt the desire and need to kiss Fili, but then... Something had changed. Fili's sweetness and delicacy had completely disappeared. Brine's lips complained of pain. Brine tried to separate herself from him, but Fili was holding her tightly.
"Fili'' She murmured against his lips.
"That's it, princess." He answered with a funny tone as he went back to get Brine's lips. His hands began to unscrupulously devour Brine's body, which made the girl even more nervous.
"No. Stop." She asked but Fili kept ignoring her. Brine pulled out all her strength and managed to push him hard enough to get him away from her. "I said stop!" Some of the fabric of Brine's dress had torn and hung so that it almost exposed her entire chest. Fili's eyes were fixed on something other than Brine's half-naked chest.
"What is this?" he asked with a serious, hard look at Brine's pendant.
"It's a gift." She answered quickly as she took the watch out of his hands.
"It's an elf gift." Brine turned to look at him and saw in Fili the same cold look he had given her a few weeks earlier when he discovered who she really was.
