Chapter 14: The Exposure Encounter

The weather was getting progressively warmer making their days of travel hot and sweaty. They had made good progress in the last couple of weeks, taking few breaks during their long days of traveling. But with little time to do anything but eat and sleep, hygiene and personal grooming was easily forgotten. So after fourteen days of a grueling pace during an early summer heat wave, Thorin finally announced that they would take a days rest in a small grove that provided shade from the hot sun and cover from prying eyes. As an added bonus, the small grove was located near a small river that ran southward from their camp.

Fili and Kili all but ran towards the river the moment they had finished their duties of securing the perimeter of their camp. Together they quickly grabbed fresh clothes from their bags and began to make a mad dash towards the riverside. Just before they left the main part of the camp, Fili caught sight of Thrade finishing up his duties with Ori and slowed down as he addressed his brother.

"Should we ask Thrade to join us?" Fili inquired of his brother.

Kili glanced back to Thrade, a small frown pulling at his mouth.

"Nah," he said trying to sound casual. "He is still finishing up."

Fili had noticed his brother's odd behavior towards Thrade. He himself had found the man to be quite pleasant and got along quite well.

It was not to say that Kili went out of his way nor was ever rude to Thrade, but Fili did notice that Kili also never went out of his way to be welcoming or his usual overly friendly self. He could easily perceive his brothers reasons, but Fili felt as though he had let things go on long enough. As a prince, he needed to act with more decorum. Especially with the knowledge that while perhaps his mother had forsaken her birthright, Thrade was still of noble blood.

But before he could correct his brother's behavior by saying that Thrade was in fact, at this very moment finishing his duties, his brother clapped him on the shoulder and began to take off in a trot.

"Come on," he called over his shoulder, "last one there is a rotten egg!"

Not one to back down from a challenge, Fili quickly forgot about inviting Thrade and chased after his younger brother.

The path to the river was sparse of trees but there was a large number of rhododendron bushes covering the area. So it was only when Fili rounded around a particularly large shrub that the river came into view. But he was only able to catch a glimpse of the alluring water when he suddenly skidded to a stop as his brother pulled up into his own abrupt stop.

Fili bumped into his dibling, causing him to slightly move forward a half step from the forceful collision. He was about to chastise his brother when he noticed the rigidity of Kili's posture as he stood in a frozen stuper. As Fili cast a glance at his brother's profile, he noticed that Kili's face was colored scarlet all the way to the tips of his ears as he stared forward.

"Kili what theー," his voice was cut off as he followed his brother's line of sight to see the very reason for Kili's flushed stupor.

He instantly felt his cheeks warm as his own flush took over his face.

Before them, both Sigurd and Thyra were in the middle of redressing after having just finished their own bathing. Sigurd stood frozen, her eyes wide and horrified as a blush spread throughout her face. She was covered only by a thin slip as she held her arms across her chest in an attempt to provide a little more modesty than what the transparent cloth had originally provided.

Beside her stood Thyra, a face of indifference as her dark eyes moved lazily back and forth between Fili and Kili. Here arms were crossed in front of her chest but it was in no attempt to secure her modesty as she stood confidently with only her chest bindings and brown leggings to cover her body. As each prince failed to avert their eyes in their shocked state, Thyra's mouth quirked up into a smug smile as her eyes settled on Kili who was in no lesser term, ogling a frozen Sigurd.

"See something you like Kili?" Thyra called out slowly.

Her words seemed to break the other three from their frozen states. Instantly Kili was sputtering incoherent apologies from his mouth as his eyes dashed wildly around. First he averted his eyes up to the sky as he rubbed his head, then looked to Sigurd to apologize, realized he was looking at her half undressed form, then looked away to another point in their surroundings. He continued this pattern until Fili finally grabbed him by the neck and forced him to turn fully around.

The moment Kili was facing away he heard the shuffling of clothing and felt instant gratitude that his brother was able to take action. The shuffling stopped and he noticed Fili chance a glance backwards to make sure each of the maidens where now decent.

Kili slowly turned around when he noticed Fili turning as well. His eyes moved to Sigurd who was still beet red as she stared at the ground between them in embarrassment.

"Siggy I am so sorry," Kili began, "we thought we were the first to finish with our duties. Had I known you two were down here I would not have come anywhere near the river. I promise I had no idea! We were not spying nor will I ever...I just...we thought…"

His rambling apology turned silent as Thyra let out a amushed tsk sound.

"You need not apologize," Thyra began, "It is not as if we have not seen you two in even less dress. So think of it as getting even."

Fili who at this point had yet to say anything looked closely at Thyra. He was not impressed with how casually she was handling the situation. In his opinion a young woman should have more propriety. But it was not the lack of decorum that had him confused, but instead, it was her last comments.

"What do you mean you have seen us in less dress?" he demanded. "We would never expose ourselves to the eyes of young ladies."

Thyra rolled her eyes at his posh tone.

"Perhaps you should be more tactic when swimming in the fountains of Rivendell. Any person could walk by and see," she announced as she examined a small healing wound on her knuckles, the last evidence of her fight with Dwalin.

Her mouth curled into a smirk as her eyes flashed up at the sounds of Kili's embarrassed sputtering. Her smirk turned more cynical as she noticed the faint redness in Fili's cheeks but then moved back to Kili, whose face was consumed with scarlet discoloration.

"No need to be embarrassed Kili," she continued with a grin as she nodded towards Sigurd. "Your physic was more than impressive…even Siggy say so." Her attention then moved to Fili. "You…" she looked him up and down, "not so much."

Seeming content with reestablishing an awkward and discomforting atmosphere, Thyra began to walk away without another word, leaving the small group alone in her wake, each with varying reactions to her words.

A flustered and crimsoned Sigurd was left to hurriedly follow after her as she avoided all eye contact with either of the young princes. She walked around them, giving Kili an especially wide berth as she did so.

Fili was left with his hands in clenched fists as an anger rose within him at the low blow to his manhood. His mind raced with a flurry of curses and preposterous urges to follow after her to demand that she take back her claims.

All the while, Kili was left with confliction as he wavered between embarrassment and a sense of pride. He knew better than to assume Thrya was really telling the truth. But the small voice in the back of his mind stopped him as it reminded him that Sigurd had not disagreed with Thyra's statement. He heard Fili begin muttering under his breath but he paid no attention to his words as a small smile spread across his lips and his chest swelled with a bit more pride. Sigurd had been impressed.

"Kili," called Thorin. "Take Sigurd and fetch some water for supper. While you're down there, see if you can collect some water chestnuts as well. Thyra said she saw some at on the far bank when she swept the perimeter."

As he spoke he handed Kili three pots to be filled with water. Kili took two of them then looked towards Sigurd to see a panic stricken expression on her face. She frantically avoided eye contact with him as she approached Thorin and took the third pot from his uncle's hand.

It was silent as they walked together and Kili hated every moment of it. Ever since the exposure incident that morning, Sigurd had been avoiding him. Never meeting his eye or staying around long enough for him to even try and talk to her.

At the moment she was walking quickly in front of him, her eyes pinned straight ahead keeping her face hidden from him and making it impossible to read.

By the time they reached the water side and had traveled downstream to where a fallen tree provided a natural bridge to cross over, Kili had decided he had enough. He could not possibly go any longer with things being awkward between them.

Reaching out a hand he lightly grabbed her shoulder. She startled at the physical contact but he was happy to see that she did not pull away. She came to a stop as he spoke.

"Listen Siggy, I am truly sorry about this morning. I know I cannot take back what happened but I cannot stand this awkwardness between us. If it would help we can even pretend that it never happened and I promise I will never bring it up again. I will do anything you ask of me I just can't stand us not being able to even look at each other, let alone speak a single word. I have come to value our interaction too much to let things change."

She turned around and he could see her face turning red the moment she looked up at him. Her eyes wandered around, never quite meeting his eye as she spoke.

"It's quite alright Kili," she said as her eyes danced around to their surroundings. "I know you are not that kind of a person and would have never intruded if you had known we were down there. And I am sorry for avoiding you. I guess...I was just embarrassed."

Kili felt himself relax as her azure eyes finally managed to meet his and hold his gaze for longer than a second. He gave her a relieved smile.

"So we are good then?"

Sigurd gave him a shy nod.

"Yes."

She turned to continue on but paused for a moment. Turning back to him, her face took on another tinged blush.

"And just so you know, Thyra took my words out of context. I promise as soon as I realized your...your undressed state...I turned away immediately. I saw nothing. I never said anything about your...um…I had just mentioned to Thyra that I thought you handsome that night. Not that I do not doubt that you are well…" she began to quickly amend but then flushed. "I mean, not that I think about一what I mean to say is that I am sure you…."

With every broken off sentence she turned a shade darker. After her last failed attempt of ramblings she cleared her throat and clasped her hands in front of her and she shifted from side to side.

"What I mean to say is that I find you a very respectable and handsome man Kili," she said as she flickered her attention from his chin to his eyes. "And I value our friendship greatly as well. If you would be willing, I would appreciate it if we could just possibly forget about this morning's incident and act as if nothing happened."

As she finished she held his gaze as she smiled shyly up at him. Kili returned the smile, his chest swelling with joy by her words of praise.

"What incident?" He asked innocently.

Understanding his meaning, she gave him a grateful smile as she grabbed his sleeve and began to tug him along in search of the water chestnuts they had been sent to gather. Kili let himself be dragged along as he relearned the softness of her skin where her hand grazed his inner wrist as she clung to the fabric of his clothing.

For the first time in many weeks, the entire company was having a late night that was not due to traveling long into the day. Instead they were finally taking the time to relax and enjoy the few cultured pleasantries they could while out in the wilderness with no civilization in sight.

They had just finished a refreshing meal of delicious fish, fresh water chestnuts, and a well seasoned broth that Thyra had made using select parts of the fish and herbs from the eastern lands she had stowed away in her bags. With full stomachs and for the first time in a long while, feeling refreshed from a duly needed bath and fresh clothes, the company gathered around the fire. They talked together as they brought out their pipes and sipped on a soothing tea that Dori had prepared.

With no signs of danger in the past weeks, Thorin felt it safe enough to call out for some music for their entertainment for the night. And it was not a command that needed to be repeated as Bofur pulled out his fiddle, Bombur fetched a small drum, and Ori retrieved his flute.

With a few tuning adjustments to his fiddle, a request was made by Dori and the first chords of a familiar tune began to sing through the air. Immediately the group began to clap along while several sang along to the well known song.

Fili sang along as he looked around at those around him. A small distance away, Thyra was sitting next to Sigurd quietly drawing as she ignored the group around her. Not surprised by her lack of involvement, he moved on to the next person beside her.

Thrade was happily clapping along as he sang along with the rest of the group on the chorus. Beside him Sigurd sat next to him, her feet tapping in rhythm as she hummed along. As the next song began its prelude, Fili watched Sigurd excitedly look to Thrade.

"Want to dance?" she asked.

Thrade cast a quick glance to Thyra who seemed to be only focussed on her drawing. It was only a small peek before Thrade was back to focussing his attention on Sigurd as he gave her a polite smile.

"Sorry Sigurd, maybe next time," he said in a gentle tone. "I am a bit tired tonight."

Sigurd's shoulders sank and while she did well to hide the disappointment in her face as she gave an understanding nod of her head, Fili could see the rejected hurt in her eyes when she turned away. He immediately felt pity for the poor girl. While he understood that Thrade was going out of his way to not give any encouragement to Sigurd's feelings, he could not help but think that he could at least humor the girl with an innocent dance.

His inner musings were cut off when his brother spoke up next to him.

"I will dance with you Siggy!" He exclaimed a little too eagerly.

Fili could not help but chuckle at his brothers enthusiasm to step in and be a hero. But that small bit of humor died when he saw Sigurd offer his brother a similar smile to one she had just received herself.

"No, thank you Kili," she said in a soft tone. "Thrade is right, it's been a long day and perhaps it is a little too late for dancing."

It had been his chance, been his opportunity to shine and be the valiant savior for Sigurd. But it was all dashed aside with that beautiful, but sad smile and polite words.

Kili had not even been thinking about what it would be like to hold her in his arms when he offered. All he wanted to do was grant her wish to dance. But it seemed her wish was not simply to dance. It was a wish to dance with Thrade.

He let out a small sigh but before he could slouch in complete defeat, the sharp snap of a book being shut startled him and he looked over just in time to see Thyra place her drawing book to the side and stand up.

Thinking she was about to make a quick routine check of their surroundings, he thought nothing more of it. Instead he looked down at his feet as he began to wish for the night to be over so that they could go to sleep and continue on their journey in the morning. It was easier to ignore the pains in his chest when they were forced beyond exhaustion as they traveled the countryside.

Suddenly, two small feet came into view and he looked up to see Thyra looking down at him with her hand outstretched. A thin eyebrow moved upwards when he made no move. When confusion flashed across his face, Thyra rolled her eyes.

"You, me, dance." she more demanded than asked in succinct words.

Her accent had come out thickly with her annoyance of being forced to verbalize her intentions.

It was not that Kili was one to decline a lady asking for a dance. In fact, had it been any other person of the opposite gender he would have been more than happy to oblige such a request.

But Thyra was not just another girl, she was Thyra. And if he were completely honest, he had still yet to recover from the nightmare inducing incident of when he tried to wake her up. Even now he still struggled to look her directly in the eye. The thought of dancing with her, forced to fully face her, terrified him.

Swallowing deeply, he forced himself to look up at her. Her dark irises bore into him and he was struck with a slight tremor of fear as his suspicions of her being a demon resurfaced.

"Uhh…," he began. "Well you seeー"

His attempt and only hope of talking his way out of the situation was completely halted when her hand shot out and caught onto his forearm. Before he could brace himself, he was pulled up with ease as Thyra pulled him towards the small area of space in the semicircle formed by the rest of the company. With out a word she placed his hand on her waist while his other hand was secured by one of her own.

"Thyra," Kili began again. "Really, you don't have to...I was just…"

He was cut off when Thyra shot him a stern look.

"You want to dance with Siggy?" she asked quietly.

Kili was slightly confused by her question. What did his desire to dance with Sigurd have to do with him currently holding Thyra in his arms.

Automatically he assumed that perhaps she had worded her sentence incorrectly. While she spoke quite well, Kili did notice that she still struggled with Westron on occasion. Despite his assumption that it was perhaps a misphrasing on her part, he found himself answering her question anyways.

"Well yes, but…"

"Then dance," she commanded.

Kili sprung into instant obedience as he began to lead her in the familiar jig that was often paired with the song that Bofur had just struck up with his fiddle.

Fili had not taken his eyes off of Thyra from the moment she approached Kili and took him away.

He had read the panic in his brothers face and tried to think of a way to save him. But the only alternative her could think of, would be to offer himself in his brothers place. Something that no amount of brotherly love could persuade him to do.

So instead he watched carefully as he looked for the ulterior motive of Thyra's action, because he failed to believe that Thyra would request such a thing as an innocent dance. He could not picture Thyra doing hardly anything that would be considered laid back or fun. The water fight back when they were still with the guild was an anomaly. An anomaly that he believed would never repeat itself.

As Kili began to lead his partner in the light steps, Fili could not help but notice the grace in which Thyra moved. She moved with the leth movements that any maiden born of good breeding would possess. It was mesmerizing to watch her footwork but his attention was torn away when he heard Thrade speaking up off to his right.

He glanced over just in time to see Thrade extend and open hand out to Sigurd.

"You know what, perhaps I will take you up on that dance, Sigurd. Shall we?" he asked with an inviting smile.

Any trace of her earlier rejection was erased as she happily stood and accepted his offered hand. Together they walked over and after a few moments of counting out Thyra and Kili's steps, they easily began their own partnered jig that was in perfect synchronization with the other pair. Cheers and whistles sounded encouragement from the spectators as each dancing pair weaved around each other.

Despite his earlier hesitation, Kili could not help but smile as he and Thyra skipped around in circles together.

She moved evenly and with perfection. But what had truly put him at ease was the small smile that graced her lips as they moved together. He could not help but admit that while she was not his first choice in a partner, he was having fun. It was almost enough that he hardly noticed that Thrade and Sigurd had joined them.

But when it came time that partners broke apart and the female dancers moved to join each other in the middle, while the males stood to the side and kept rhythm with their hands, all his focus moved to Sigurd.

She looked radiant and happy as she bounced around in a circle with her arm linked with Thyra's. Her blue eyes glimmered as she caught his eye and sent him a smile that caused his stomach to churn with each time she faced him.

The song progressed and it came time for partners to rejoin and Kili forced himself to focus back on Thyra as he prepared for her to turn to him. Two more rotations of the girls linked arms and the tune reached its point in which they would return to their male partner. But then the unthinkable happened.

Thyra stumbled.

One single step was miscounted and instead of returning to him she moved towards Thrade, her arms unlinking with Sigurd, sending the latter hurtling forward in the opposite direction of her original partner.

Sigurd slingshotted forward and landed directly into Kili's unexpecting but prepared arms.

For several seconds they each froze. Kili felt her heaving chest pushing up against his with each of her labored breaths as his arms held tightly to her waist. Her own arms where gripping his shoulders tightly as she finally moved her attention up to look at him.

Kili stared down, too nervous to move and too awed to speak. Then suddenly he caught movement just above his head and he managed to move his attention to slightly above Sigurd's hairline.

From over her head he caught sight of Thrade and Thyra moving together in the dance steps. Thyra turned towards him, her eyes catching his and glinting knowingly before one of them closed in an unmistakable wink.

It was then he realized, Thyra's misstep was not a mistake.

As KIli danced the final half of the song with Sigurd tightly held in his arms he beamed brightly as his cheeks stretched to their full capacity, Fili could recall only four other moments when he saw his brother so equally happy as he was in this moment.

Three of those times had been caused by his own actions, the fourth had been by Thorin when he had told them he would be taking them on the journey to reclaim Erebor. And then there was now. In addition to those four now came the fifth time, and it was caused by none other than the dancing Régínn before him.

For one blissful moment, Fili truly believed that Thyra had missed a step in the dance. He had relished the feeling that for once, Thyra had messed up.

But then he caught the unmistakable wink she had sent to Kili and it all made sense. She had not made a mistake, she had done it on purpose.

A bout of annoyance flowed through him at the realization. He hated that she seemed flawless. Even her "mistakes" were done so well that only those who had been truly watching closely would have really known the truth. And watch closely he had. He was always watching her when she was around and he hated it. Yet he could not stop.

Purposely forcing his eyes away from her he focused on his brothers face in hopes to improve his mood. Apart from being the best candidate for Durin's next heir, there was one other thing that Fili prioritized over everything else in his life. And that was his brother's happiness.

Fili lived and breathed to make sure that his younger brother was as happy as he could be. He had seen Kili fall in and out of love with many maidens, but never in his life had he ever witnessed his brother to be so besotted by a single woman. Nor had he ever seen his brothers eyes light up with so much delight as he spun Sigurd around in his arms.

The song came to a pause and another began.

Immediately, Sigurd and Kili took up the dance while Thyra moved away from Thrade who, as Fili noticed, looked hesitant to let her go. But before he could make any move to stop her or follow, Bofur had passed off his fiddle to Dwalin as he bound out to join the dancers. His enthusiasm taking over Thrade as he was pulled away to join Bofur in a lined step dance as a few others joined in as well.

Not long after, Fili found Thyra settling back down to the ground with her drawing book in her lap.

He watched her for a moment as she sat with the book open and her head bowed down. However, instead of focusing on her drawing, he noticed her dark eyes peeking up at the dancers before them. Without realizing it, Fili found himself moving over to where she sat.

"Thanks for that," Fili quietly said as he settled down a few feet from her as he kept his eyes on his brother and dance partner.

"For what?" Thyra asked, her tone casual as Fili picked up the sound of graphite against parchment.

He looked over to see her concentrated on drawing her lines and no longer watching the dancers.

"That mistep was no mistake," Fili stated bluntly. "You did it on purpose."

Thyra's hand stilled as she continued to look down at her drawing. Then after a few moments, she continued her slow methodical movements as she responded.

"Believe it or not Feelig, but even I make mistakes."

At the sound of the name that he was truly beginning to loathe, Fili rose to his feet and walked off without even attempting to correct her.

He could not understand the infernal girl. She was obviously not as heartless as she seemed yet she still refused to take credit where it was warranted.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

A/N The song they dance to in this chapter would be to the tune of Misty Morning by David Arkenstone

A/N Had a question about their ages and so here is a small break down of the ages of the younger characters in dwarf years and then in parenthesis is what would be their equivalent age (or age rage) in human years to put their ages into perspective.

Thrade 101 (Early 30's) Fili 82 (Mid/Late 20's) Kili 77 (Early 20's) Sigurd 77 (Early 20's) Thyra 66 (19)

In this story I have kind of decided that Khazad come of age at the human age of 21 so around the age of 70 in dwarf years. For the Reginn they come of age at 16 in human years so around 55 in dwarf years. The math is a bit off on the ratio's but its within a few years so we can over look that :) Anyways hope some of you found this interesting.