Many thanks to my readers and for the review ;) Here's another chapter.
I forgot the disclaimer : I own nothing. Everything belongs to Tolkien's genius.
Chapter 2 : Nocturne
I recommend listening to Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2 by Frédéric Chopin for this chapter.
A couple of weeks later, the Company of Thorin Oakenshield was on its way to the East, towards the Misty Mountains.
The thirteen dwarves were now accompanied by a wizard and a hobbit. The days were growing warmer as spring went on. They did not stop for long breaks during the day, and in the evenings, everyone was famished and tired.
Thorin had established a night watch: they were to take shifts alternately in order to protect the encampment during the night.
All the members of the Company slept close to each other, around the fire, most of them snoring under their blankets.
Since their first meeting, Fili had told no one about his strange encounter in the hills next to Ered Luin. In fact, he often wondered if it had not been just a dream. Maybe he had fallen asleep and Kili had woken him from this strange dream.
And at other times, when he was riding his pony, the wind would rush in his hair, and into his clothes; and he would feel again the delicious warmth from the air that had seemed so real that day. And when he did, he cherished the hope that Selis had not been a dream, and that he would see her once more.
It had rained heavily for most of the day, and the air was still filled dampness. The night air was not cold, but it was comforting nonetheless to stand close to the fire.
It was Fili's shift and he sat on the ground close to the fire, his eyes lost in the glowing embers. The weather was changing. The strong wind up in the sky was chasing the clouds away. It would not rain tomorrow and that was good news.
Fili was the only one awake. Even Thorin had managed to fall asleep, when usually he did not sleep much and was often too restless or troubled to relax.
All was quiet, except for the regular gusts of wind that would occasionally make the clothes and hairs quiver.
A huge cloud disappeared, and the moonlight now bathed the Company in a cold light.
There was another gust of wind. That one felt warmer and it made Fili feel strangely lonely.
Then, he heard soft footsteps to his right, and instinctively stood up and reached for his daggers, one in each hand.
His body relaxed immediately when he saw Selis walking to him, appearing once again from nowhere. Her small feet avoiding the snoring bodies of the dwarves, in complete silence.
At the same time, his entire being was filled with excitement to see her again. She was as lovely as he remembered her. Her smile was warm as her eyes did not leave his own, not until she sat next to him.
He sheathed his daggers, sat back and smiled at her. She folded her feet beneath her and put her hands in her lap.
"Good evening Fili" she said in her sweet singing voice. She was whispering, careful to wake no one so that they could speak together undisturbed.
"Hello" he whispered back, keeping his voice down as well, his heart still beating madly in his chest. He couldn't think of anything else to say and stared at her, his eyes happy. There was a long silence between, each content of seeing each other again.
She was wearing the same white shirt as last time and did not seem to mind the chill of the night air on her bare arms.
"Aren't you cold?" he asked, concerned.
"No. I'm rarely cold or hot" she answered. "I missed you" she added sincerely.
"I missed you too" Fili said automatically, not even bothering to stop the words coming from his mouth. They felt so natural and so true: he had missed her.
She smiled wider and seemed happy at his statement because her eyes were shining.
"So what are you doing here?" she asked looking around them at the sleeping forms of his companions.
"We're on a Quest" he told her "to reclaim our homeland from a dragon."
She seemed to be interested by this revelation, but asked curious:
"I thought your home was in the Blue Mountains?"
"It is, for now. But my people have been forced into exile, drawn from their home by a dragon, a long time ago. We are the dwarves of Erebor, the Lonely Mountain that stands far away in the East beyond the Misty Mountains" he explained seriously, in a tone that betrayed the weight of the Quest upon his shoulders and everyone else's.
Selis listened but frowned for the first time. It was funny to see her beautiful face troubled as she voiced her next question to him.
"But… why do you need a home if you already have one?"
Fili hesitated.
"Isn't your home a nice one?" she asked, her face concerned for his welfare.
Fili thought about her question during a few seconds, before answering:
"Ered Luin is very nice, but it's not our historic homeland. My uncle and the other exiled dwarves settled there after the Dragon took Erebor, and we had always wanted to go back since. And now, we're accompanying my uncle: me, my brother, our kin and friends."
Fili gestured around him at the sleeping dwarves.
"Is your brother the young dark haired one?" she asked pointing at the sleeping form of Kili.
"Yes, that's Kili."
"He's very handsome as well" she stated innocently.
Something cold crept into Fili's heart that looked very much like jealousy. He did not want Selis to admire any other dwarf. He wanted to keep her existence for himself, so that only he could enjoy her lovely presence.
For once in his life, he was happy to experience a relationship, a strange and unique one, that was entirely his own. That was a secret that he needn't share with anybody, even with his brother with whom he had been used to share everything. Fili was feeling older than Kili sometimes, so much older, the weight of his position as heir so heavy on his still young shoulders.
Selis turned back to face him, her small smile still clinging to her lovely face.
She leaned a bit closer to him and whispered in confession: "I had this weird feeling a few days ago. I was rushing to chase away a warm rain and then suddenly, I saw your face in a cloud. You were there, smiling at me. So, I thought I had to find you."
Fili found her confession the sweetest thing in the world, almost poetic, until something hit him.
"Wait. You were "chasing the rain"? How is that possible?" he asked her, his eyes suspicious.
"Well, the land was wet enough for the wheat to start growing, so I pushed the rain to another place" she said, as if it was the most logical thing in the world.
Fili gaped at her for a few seconds, and then wondered how she could have walked with her bare feet all the way from the hills of Ered Luin to where they were camping near the Misty Mountains. She had nothing but the shirt on her back. And she looked so frail.
He shook his head, and then asked her the question he should have asked her from the beginning.
"What are you Selis?"
His heart was beating hard inside his chest, like if he were about to wake up at any moment from a very thrilling dream.
Selis took a long time before answering him. She was not to share the secret of her existence with anyone. Her life had been one of loneliness, Fili being the first creature she had ever conversed with, besides wizards and elves. But, now, she felt something new appear inside her chest: longing. She had missed him, never having missed anyone before in her existence.
"I'm the Nymph of the Wind" she whispered to him quietly.
Of course. Fili realized he should have guessed she was different. She was not a dwarf, not human, not a hobbit, not an elf. She was unique, that he already knew. He had never met anyone like her, someone that made his heart happy and thumping harder.
The blond dwarf got really curious, and he started asking her questions.
"And what do you do with your days?"
"I shape the wind wherever I go, to meet Nature's needs" she said. "That's what I've always done. It's my purpose."
"How old are you?"
"I don't know exactly. I've been here for quite a while" she said her face thoughtful "But maybe we can ask Gandalf. He knows lots of things." She added, pointing at the sleeping wizard.
"I'll ask him in the morrow" said Fili quickly, not wanting to wake up the wizard and break this perfect moment with Selis.
"And how old are you?" she asked in return.
"I'm 81 years old"
"I don't know if that's old or not, but you're still very handsome to me" she said, her eyes sparkling with interest.
When she said things like that in her innocent voice, Fili did not know if she was flirting with him, or not realising what she was saying. Maybe it was not important. He liked when she said things like that.
"Of any of the living beings I've met, none was so handsome as you. Isn't that weird?" she remarked, grinning "It's the first-time anything like this ever happened to me. I feel very … light."
"I think you are the most beautiful person I've ever met as well" Fili rushed to tell her, before he could stop himself. He had to tell her how enchanting she was to him.
"Oh that's nice! It makes me feel warm inside!" she said, obviously unused this new feeling. She put a hand on her belly and smiled wider at him as she felt the strange warm sensation spread through her.
Selis giggled softly, and then she thought back about this Quest Fili was on.
"This Quest… it's going to be dangerous; you know. The Misty Mountains are filled with nasty Goblins lurking in their caves." Her face was concerned as she reached a small hand and grabbed one of his larger one.
"I know, but we're all fighters. We are able to defend ourselves" he reassured her proudly.
"Just be careful" she told him frowning, not liking the idea of him under the mountains, unreachable, "And of the dragon as well."
"You've seen the dragon?" he asked eagerly.
"Yes, but it's been a long time since he last came out of the Mountain. I don't know how long, but many, many years." Selis did not seem able to estimate exactly the number of years, as if the passing of time was not a very fixed and established concept to her.
"He's terrible" Selis told him in a barely audible whisper "I've seen him destroy the fields, the crops and burning villages and people. And he burned the beautiful city in front of the Mountain."
Fili was listening to her intently, not realizing that he was stroking her small fingers with his larger ones. Selis was older than him if she has witnessed the destruction of Dale, him that had never seen Erebor.
"Promise you'll be careful" she pleaded, and it was heart-breaking to see her lovely eyes filled with worry.
"I promise" he whispered; his face close to hers.
She smiled and took their entwined hands to press them against her chest. Fili's eyes widened and he had trouble breathing as he could feel the warmth of her skin through the fabric of her thin shirt.
"My heart is beating like mad" she explained her gesture, seeming worried and delighted at the same time. She put their entwined hands away from her chest, but her eyes were still locked on his. She apparently had not realized how her physical actions affected him as well.
"Must you go on this Quest?" she asked him, not truly understanding the dwarves' motivation. She had never needed a home. Nature was her home, so the concept of conquering a mountain to live inside it was very alien to her.
"My uncle Thorin is the Exiled King" he said, "We're from the line of Durin and I'm his heir". A part of him was hoping for her to be impressed that he was royalty and could become a King someday.
But these worldly matters were not important to Selis. She did not care about his social status. She just liked being near him.
"I don't understand exactly…" she confessed "But I feel that you're going on this Quest because you love your uncle and you want to be with your brother, and that's a good reason enough I think."
She smiled, satisfied at her own statement. Fili smiled back and there was a silence where they just sat staring at each other. He realised that maybe she was right. He was on this quest to be with his kin, but did Erebor truly mattered to him?
"I have to go" she said, "I'm needed in the South."
"Aye" he sighed "When will I see you again?"
"Soon" she said her eyes twinkling "I can't stay away from you for a long time." she confessed shyly.
Her smile was shining as Fili raised their entwined hands to his lips and kissed the back of her hand. The feeling was amazing, hot and exciting, like nothing she had ever experienced before. Oh no, she knew that she could not stay away from him.
For Fili, her skin was as soft as it looked under his lips, and he had to stop himself kissing his way up her arm.
She stood up reluctantly and stepped away from him.
When she reached the hem of the bushes, she gazed back one last time at him. Her shape was dark in the night, and it gradually blurred into nothing as her body transformed in a swirling gust of wind.
Fili remained fascinated for some minutes, staring blankly at the spot where she just had disappeared.