Eve stood there panting at the bank of the stream she had followed through the woods. Running in the wilderness had always helped to clear her mind and lately she felt like all she had been doing was running. Running away from work. Running away from home. Running away from herself.

Turning she started to walk back the way she came. Since the first moment she stepped into Erebor four days ago she felt a calmness wash over her the likes of which she'd only felt when she had lived with her grandmother. It was when she died two years ago that everything started going tits up. Shaking the thoughts from her head, Eve turned up the music on her iPod and started her jog back to her new house.

Her new home was rather big for a cottage, it had been unused for nearly ten years, meaning that it had needed many repairs before she had moved into it. Her new job had given her the week to settle in, Dis joking that she'd need at least six days to clean and unpack, and one day of rest.

It took thirty minutes to exit the woods and another twenty before she could make out the outline of the cottage. As she got to the small iron gate at the back of the house, she paused to once again take in the subtle beauty of the building. The roof was crafted with white stone, a slightly darker shade than the whitewash walls of the exterior. The windows were framed by dark rich brown wood with flower boxes at the base of each. Someone had planted herbs in the box by her kitchen window, and multipurpose flowers in the one by her bedroom. The back garden itself was designed so that the fruit and vegetables were boxed off by more flowers, a safe way to ward off any pesky insects or animals. Taking a deep breath Eve could smell the honeysuckle that was growing at the left side of the house, its vines and flowers slowly creeping around the back and above the bedroom window. To the right, the chimney could be seen and Eve already looked forward to the colder months when she could relax in front of the fire with a nice glass of wine and a good book. A nostalgic smile appeared on her face as she once again thought about how much her grandmother would have loved it here.

Moving forward, Eve opened the dark green wooden door between the two windows and let herself in. Empty boxes littered the hall floor and she had to manoeuvre around to get into the kitchen where she put water in the kettle and set it to boil. Getting from one side of the house to the next was tricky but she finally made it to the bathroom. She stripped off her running clothes and placed them in the laundry basket before taking a look at herself in the mirror. Her pale skin was slowly getting a nice colour to it, the pink tint to her cheeks and lips made her look healthier than she had done in nearly a year. As she tried to pull her hair out of the messy bun her green eyes flashed with annoyance, as her hair had once again gotten caught on the hair tie before she was finally able to pull the two apart and her fiery red hair floated about her in curls. Hearing the kettle click, signifying that the water had been boiled, Eve jumped into the shower knowing that by the time she finished the water would be the best temperature for her tea.

A few hours later Eve, dressed in jeans, blank ankle boots and evergreen knitted sweater, pulled into the parking lot of the local supermarket. Swinging out of the driver's seat, she moved to the boot to remove the flattened boxes and place them in the recycling bin just south of the entrance. Popping her earphones in she started humming along to the tune playing as she entered the building. Grabbing a basket, she looped her arm through before getting her phone out and opening up her shopping list. She was not oblivious to the stares of the locals, she was the only "outsider", so she simply put on her brave face and smiled and nodded to them all as she continued on her way.

Eve was on her last item, and coincidentally it was also the last box of two dozen eggs. Just as she placed her hand on it, so too did another. Briefly startled, she looked up into mischievous brown eyes.

"I do believe you've got my eggs Miss."

She could barely make out the sound of his voice over her music, but she could read his lips well enough and snorted as she tried to restrain her laughter as she pulled the earphones out.

"I'd say you have mine, but that could lead to a fairly complicated conversation."

The brunette let out a hearty laugh and Eve could feel her lips twitch as she tried to contain her smile. When he finally stopped laughing he wiped the tears from his eyes, and smiled while he continued to chuckle lightly.

"The name's Kili. At your service," finishing with a little nod of his head. Something she was guessing to be part of a cultural introduction in these parts.

"Eve."

"Well Eve, it seems we're at a bit of an impasse for you see I was sent on a shopping errand by my mother and she would be most upset if I came home without completing my task."

He had leaned his hip against the countertop and gave her a cheeky smile. He made sure to never take his hand from the carton of eggs.

"Well Kili, that is a very difficult situation for you see your hand is on MY eggs," her smile growing as he began to chuckle again, "but I have an idea on how to solve this problem."

Smirking Kili took the bait, "Oh? And how do we solve this?"

"A game of riddles!"

Kili let out another hearty laugh, slapping his knee and slightly bending over. When he stood up straight again Eve could see that part of his hair that had been tied up was coming loose and it gave him a rugged look.

"Oh you're on! What are the rules?"

"Best out of three, winner takes all."

"Deal. Ladies first."

"I can fly but I have no wings. I can cry but I have no eyes. Wherever I go, darkness follows me. What am I?"

Chuckling again, "You're certainly not holding back are you?"

"All's fair in love and riddles."

"Too bad I know the answer, it's clouds."

It was Eve's turn to laugh, "Ok, it's your turn now."

Kili pretended to look like he was thinking, squinting his eyes, a mischievous glint to them, before smirking and looking at her.

"What's the difference between light and hard?"

"Oh Kili, that's just too easy. You can sleep with the light on but not a hard on."

"I half expected you to blush even a little at that." He brought his left hand to scratch at the back of his head as he gave a sheepish smile, a light blush dusting his cheeks.

"Well now that you've started this, what goes in dry and hard but comes out wet and soft?"

Smirking Eve watched as his eyes widened a little before a devious grin split his face.

"Ha! Chewing gum!"

Chuckling, Eve nodded and used her hand to indicate it was his turn again.

"Look at me. I can bring a smile to you face, a tear to your eye, or even a thought to your mind. But, I can't be seen. What am I?"

Eve smirked, "Trying to go back on the straight and narrow so you stop blushing as much? The answer is memories. Ok, now for my last one. A woman is sitting in her hotel room when there is a knock on the door. She opened the door to see a man whom she had never seen before. He said, Oh I'm sorry I have made a mistake, I thought this was my room. He then went down the corridor and in the elevator. The woman went back into her room and phoned security. What made the woman so suspicious of the man?"

At that Kili's smile dropped and his eyebrows furrowed while he thought of an answer. Eve then began to lightly tap the carton of eggs, counting the number of seconds he was taking.

Thirty seconds later, he simply chuckled, shaking his head and admitted defeat.

"That was a good one. Aye, you won fair and square, but tell me what was the answer?"

"Would you knock on your own hotel door?"

Eve found that watching the realisation wash over his face was very amusing.

"As a thanks for playing along, and because I wouldn't want your Mum to go through not having eggs, how about you purchase the eggs and we split them? I don't need all twelve anyway."

"That sounds like a mighty good idea, you wouldn't believe it but she can be terrifying and I would like to keep my skin for a while yet."

Eve chuckled as she placed the eggs in her basket as she and Kili walked to the cashier before splitting the eggs and going their separate ways.