Chapter three - Kili
Thorin started to scold the both of them saying they were late, that they should have meet them at the farm, while Fili tried to defend them saying they encounter trouble on their way, meanwhile Winter didnt even notice how she was staring at Kili, she just thought him to be handsome, and didn't notice he watched her doing it, she bit her lip looking at his lips, and when she suddenly looked into his eyes he winked at her, making her wake up from her gaze, looking down and smiling to herself embarrassed she was caught.
Their uncle was tempted to leave them to walk on foot, a punishment for not meeting them on time, but Winter disproved thinking it was cruel.
"If I am to be the healer of the grup, I don't want to waste my time putting ointments in foot injuries caused by pride." She said.
"Then they will ride with us for now, but in the next chance they get, they must get their own no matter the price." Their uncle declared.
Kili being the tallest, stayed with Winter to balance because she was smaller, she insisted staying in the front, even though the dwarfs strongly disagreed, because if didn't seem proper with only one saddle, she wanted to be useful and look for plants and herbs, she was sure after they completed their mission, she could ask Gandalf to go back home, Kili seemed unsettled with her choice, nervously sitting as far as he could in the settle, their legs not even touching.
She observed plants and trees on the way, quickly picking up things she thought might be useful, until dawn when she felt quite tired and hungry, and wished she had a book to read, she didn't know how tired she was until she felt Kili's chest in her back and pulled herself back from his chest startled.
"We should probably find a place to stay soon." Said Kili softly to Winter.
He gave her an apple, and she eated half asleep, noticing how her back was hurting without any support and after sleeping on the ground, she tried to move her legs and neck trying to comfort her pain, something Kili noticed, he place his hands delicately on her shoulders, and pulled her to his chest again, at first she was tense, and though of going back to her original position, but he put his legs forward so she was completely leaning on him, and her back stopped hurting.
She fell asleep like that until Kili woke her up, because it was dark and they stopped to make camp, she blushed when she felt him against her while waking up.
They ate bread the brothers had brought with them, and a bowl of soup she wasn't sure what was made of, but it reminded her of her mother's chicken soup, she made Winter when she was sick as a child.
After the meal, Winter emptied her gloss, and water containers making tea and ointments with the plants she found, using bowls and food utensils to cut leaves, impressing the dwarfs with her knowledge, with Throrin promising to get her recipients to put more healing potions in.
She fell fast asleep, sleeping with Thorin's blanket, the one she slept with the first day they met, and Throin let his nephews know the next day they could get their ponies in another place nearby.
"But she can´t ride properly, maybe we just need one more." Said Kili quietly, afraid he would wake her up.
"You are mistaken if you think I didn't see you two suggled up back there in the road, this isn't proper Kili, and you forget she is not one of us." Said Thorin harshly.
"She was just in pain from riding all day." Replied Kili looking down.
"I don't want to stand in the way of your happiness, if you want to court her, do it properly after all this is over." Said Thorin concerned with how quickly their relationship was growing.
It was the middle of the night when Winter woke up, again, forgetting her new situation and disappointed she wasn't at her comfortable bed, but home wasn't always made of bliss and happiness either, lately when she was in her world she had been feeling quite lonely, she dreamed of being a writer, but her notebooks were filled with empty pages, and abandoned progresses, inspirations that would come as quickly as they faded, but now she felt like she could fill hundreds of books with her new adventure.
It was very dark when she was awake, they were in a forest with immense pine trees and you could hear whatever animal was up at that hour, very differently from the mountains she was previously on, where the silence could almost make her hear her own heartbeat.
The sky looked as beautiful as ever, Winter admired the stars sitting on the floor, her arms around her legs, until she saw a shooting star, she was amazed, the white light crossing the sky, she had never seen one before, she though what she could wish for, and involuntarily looked at Kili and Thorin lying on the floor sleeping, she blushed but decided to wish everyone were safe in their journey.
The star seemed to fall on the earth nearby, she pondered if it was possible it could have landed on the ground, in her world she would have never dared to wander alone in a forest in search for something like that, but she was far from home.
She got up, and went in the direction she thought she saw the star landing, the woods seemed to close around her, and it was getting harder to walk without tripping on branches and bushes, her heart was beating fast, the air seemed to get colder by the second, she saw something shining near.
"It's still shining ?" She wondered.
She suddenly found a stone, a shining white gem, had fallen into a branch in one of the pine trees, she jumped trying to reached it, but it was too high up, she turned around to try to find a branch so she could reach it, but found a dark silhouette of a man shining by the moonlight, she was going to scream but he puts his hands over her mouth.
"Winter it's me." She recognized that voice to be the voice of Kili.
"Don't scream." he said, letting her go slowly.
"Why are you awake?" She whispered.
"I had a strange dream." He said delicately touching the ends of her hair.
"Can you help me reach that?" She asked, pointing at the star.
"Sure, but what is that?" He whispered confused.
"I am not sure yet."
He surprised her by kneeling on the ground, hugging her knees and lifting her up, she gasped at his sudden movements, and blushed at the warmth feeling on his face on her legs, he stumbled holding her awkwardly, and stepping slowly closer to the tree, she reached for the gem, grabbing it with both hands.
The gem was smaller than she imagined, it felt light, like holding a feather, it was cold, and it was still shining bright, almost blinding.
Kili placed her in the ground, she was now in front of him, staring at the beauty of the stone, until a glimpse of the sun appeared in the sky, making the forest seem warmer, they walked back to camp finding everyone awake, Thorin and Fili were making breakfast.
"Where were you two." Said Thorin in a disapproving tone.
"I found something and Kili helped me reach it." Said winter feeling the smell of oats being prepared
She was happy Thorin did not ask any questions, she wanted to keep that star as a secret, to bring it home once her adventure was over.
"Where are we off to now?" Asked Winter.
"Bag End." The three dwarfs replied.