Been away for quite a while!

I do apologize about that... I really do... . I ended up getting a job and I'm not sure if it's just me or what but whenever I have a job, I just can't write. Like, all the energy that I normally use for writing ends up going to the job and I get home and am just exhausted.

So yeah, A LOT ended up happening in my life but yeah... nevermind all that. New chapters!

There was something about being outdoors that was still refreshing even while up so high and surrounded by the cold wind that gusted past us at the most interesting of times. Between skirts having to be managed every so often and Fili trying to cop a feel, I was actually happy to note that I was having a pretty good day. While we didn't talk much after our morning, Fili teased me along the trek and just in general fawned over me whenever we took a moment to break. Even if we didn't really talk much considering that the climb up was strenuous and it would put us both out of breath, I felt that his want to be close to me was what he wanted most.

Throughout the day after we started again on our long journey up the steep mountains, I tried to ask Fili about the matter of the braiding and why it was so important but every time I tried to do so, he would just give me the simplest of answers that didn't even really answer anything.

Up and up we went, the landscape morphing slowly from the rocky beds back to fields of tall grass that tickled against the calves of my legs. While the mountains were something to be anxious about in terms of their ever constant sense of danger, there was a beauty there that was hard to deny. In the distance, mountain peaks loomed that I knew by the late afternoon we would be scaling along, one step at a time.

As we pressed on through the tall grass fields, I figured that there was something to be said about how far these dwarves were willing to travel to recapture their home. At the moment though, I was a bit hard pressed to find anything amazing about it. It was becoming quite cold and it was rather uncomfortable.

Every minute we traveled upwards, it grew colder and every moment, I wished for some heavier jacket to stave off the bitter chill that I hadn't exactly planned for. Though the silence of the adventure kept most of the dwarves quiet, there were still some conversations to be had as we walked. Single file along the paths, we followed Thorin and every so often, I would get the courage I needed to ask Fili again about the braiding.

I also wanted to know more about why Kili was still avoiding us, going out of his way to stay close to Thorin, who seemed to have calmed down a little since Fili's grooming.

"Why did you braid my hair?"

I asked when we had finally settled in for a lunch. Fili was somewhat distracted by that time, absentmindedly biting into one of his beloved apples, which I learned was his favorite food, before he turned his eyes back to me.

"Already told you: because I love you."

I rolled my eyes while my lips turned up into a small smile, happy that he said such a thing so casually but also a bit annoyed that he answered my question so simply. After a whole morning of such answers, with very little elaboration, I had to concede that the dwarves were masters at keeping their secrets. Or just masters at teasing hobbits.

"What do braids mean for dwarves?"

I tried again, reaching for his apple so that he would look at me for once since the conversation started and not stare at his brother, who still looked like he was moping about moodily.

"I already told you that too: that we love you."

His answers were quick, his attention divided between his brother and I but his words curled along my skin playfully. I tried again.

"Is it really alright for me to braid your hair?"

"Of course it is. You love me, right?"

"You are impossible!"

I laughed at how evasive and casual Fili was being, wanting to throw the apple straight at his head. A moment later, I tried a question that was harder and would hopefully provide more of an answer to the dilemma that I found myself wondering about.

"Would Thorin or Kili let me braid their hair?"

I already knew the answer to that question in particular but after having seen both Fili and Kili braid their Uncle's hair and think nothing of it, I wondered what it meant that they were allowed to do it and not I. Was it a family thing? No, it couldn't have been since I was sure that I had seen Dwalin do it once at the very beginning of the adventure.

Fili grinned at me, "Ah, now that is a bit more complicated!"

I waited eagerly for him to expand on his line of thought about the braiding but not even a moment later, he was standing up and pointing over the way like he had seen something. It wasn't until he was sure that I was thoroughly distracted before he snatched the apple back from my hands and laughed.

"Bilbo, I'm going to make amends with my brother. Don't get into too much trouble."

Warmed over by how he fawned over me for two days and the way his voice played along my skin seductively, I was not at all upset by the fact that he was leaving me to my own devices for however long it took to make amends with Kili. Not that I knew that he even needed to make amends with the younger brother.

Then again, I hadn't even known that they were fighting. Were they even fighting?

Fili was lucky that I had already had an impossibly decent morning with him and Thorin or else I wouldn't have so easily waved him off with a slight chuckle and a good natured, "Good luck!"

When we finally began our trek again, I ended up walking in front of Bifur and behind Bofur, every so often looking up to where the brothers were. They walked closely one after another, close enough so that they could talk freely and also close enough that they wouldn't be easily overheard if they whispered. Whatever it was that they talked about felt important when I earlier watched Fili drag Kili away from Thorin, a light protest being pulled from the younger brother. Thorin obviously had been tired of dealing with Kili because it was amusing to see that he was waved off in much the same way that I waved Fili of.

As we traveled though, there was something about Kili's stiffness that made me wonder if Fili's presence was wanted. He didn't really look to want to talk to his brother, casting nervous glances around the company but if it were because of the nature of their relationship or just because he didn't want to talk, I wouldn't have known. Things like that weren't talked over with me and if I asked Thorin right now, he would probably just grunt at me and leave it at that.

I sighed at the realization that whom I had decided to take as lovers used grunts as our most basic form of communication. Mum really would have been over the moon about such a thing, finding that the hardest love proved to be the best one. Never mind that not even the most difficult of Hobbits communicated in a manner similar to animals.

Maybe when Thorin calmed down, I would tell him about how my parents met? Something told me he would have liked to hear about my wild Mum.

I shivered slightly at the feel of cold against my feet, stopping in my place from the shock. When I looked down and saw the bright sight of glaringly white snow, I almost had to hold myself back from giving a loud cheer. I loved snow. It was really beautiful and to see so much of it around was amazing. A quick look around and it seemed that the rest of the company enjoyed the sight of it as well.

When I caught the sight of the brothers up ahead of me, I was happy to see that finally the two were laughing and making jokes like normal. It seemed the snow was good for everyone. Or maybe it was just convenient timing?

Before I lagged too far behind, I jogged back up into the place I had taken before I stopped and reached down to roll a clump of snow into a ball.

Now it was time to show the dwarves just what we hobbits were fantastic at!

A great whooping howl of laughter from Bifur and I ruined any sense of quiet stoicism in the company after I launched a snowball at the back of Bofur's head. With a giant splat on the back of his hat, the snowball landed so perfectly where I intended it and he turned around in shock, wondering what had exactly happened.

The laughter of Bifur was sharp in my ears and his voice triggered my own bout of laughter, a sharp tickling sensation rushing under my armpits that literally made me shriek away from the line of dwarves. I caught myself on his arm, still laughing with him when we both heard Thorin's voice call out from the front with a harsh slap on my back, "Enough horsing around back there!"

Bifur and I straightened back up instantly, still giggling a little at each other before we carried on again behind Bofur. After a minute, Bifur looked at me and signed with his hands something that I didn't understand. Just as he had done before, he caught Bofur by the back of the head with a quick smack and had him pay us enough attention to tell me what Bifur said.

"He said that it was a great shot."

Bofur chuckled out, eyeing me with a look that promised some sort of pay back. If his voice hadn't reduced me down to laughter again from the tickle of my feet, I would have been worried about it. I couldn't even think about anything at all after that because Bofur started to make random noises, loud enough that I could hear and certainly sharp enough that my feet tickled.

Once again, I was clutching Bifur's arm as he practically dragged me up the mountain, I being quite unable to carry myself up on my own two feet that tickled me relentlessly.

"Stop! Bofur!"

"I said enough back there!"

Again, all of us straightened up, a snigger coming from my lips when I saw how Fili and Kili were trying to suppress their own laughter...

When we stopped for a break sometime in the late afternoon, high atop a mountain peak that was covered with snow that even Ori took to playing with, I was happy to see that Fili and Kili were both back to their usual ways. Every so often, the elder brother waved to me to let me know that he still thought of me and I waved back happy that he thought enough to actually acknowledge me.

Even when Kili looked over and waved a small wave at me, I grinned back widely and blew him a kiss that he chuckled at before going back to the conversation with his brother. Finally, I was in a good mood again and finally the company really seemed to lighten back up. Everyone was having a good time while they rested, talking joyfully or playing in the snow while they could.

Bofur throwing a snow ball at me pulled me from my quick snack and with a wet smack on the side of my face, I was shocked into action. With a sly smirk on my face, I stood from my spot and popped the piece of bread in my mouth only long enough to roll a ball of snow and chuck it back at the friendly dwarf. Unfortunately for his older cousin, Bofur used Bifur as a shield and what should have landed on Bofur's side ended up finding its home with Bifur. It landed with painful accuracy right in his big nose and within the second, I was running away in terror from him charging at me with the intentions to throw another snowball at me.

"Get him, Bilbo!"

I squeaked at the sound of Kili's voice cheering me on with a naughty pinch, bending down over for another snowball that I rolled up and tossed at Bifur and promptly dodged the one coming at me. By then, I was quite ganged up on, having to fend off both Bifur and Bofur. Ori eventually joined my team and the two of us made quite the compatible team considering that we both were quite good at the use of snow as projectiles.

I wanted to call Fili and Kili over to join us but for once, I was happy that I was getting along with the other dwarves without them or Thorin also involved. I was content with the fact that they didn't need to be playing for the game to be enjoyed by either myself or the other members of the company.

Snowballs being thrown left and right, over our heads and just narrowly avoiding each other, the match was quite extraordinarily the most fun I had since beginning this adventure months ago. My hands were red from having to roll up snowballs without the proper wear for it and my clothes were getting soaked with every snowball that I failed to dodge.

I found that Bifur was actually really quite good at the game, giving me a run for my money more than once and eventually, Ori gave up on the idea of teams and just started to randomly throw the cold little balls at any one of us foolish enough to get close.

Eventually after a very long, intense match between the four of us (and when Ori decided to honor that he was in a team), it was decided that Ori and I were just too much for the older cousins. Gloin was happy to announce the winners after carefully inspecting each of us for just how soaked our clothes were from the melted snow and how red our hands had become. Once it was announced to the company as a whole, Ori and I bounced around hand in hand, both of us sure that the other probably hadn't won much of anything in our lives.

When I finally pulled away from Ori and his brothers, wanting to go back to my bag to get another piece of bread for a snack (because now that I had been running around, I was more starved than ever), I noticed that as I did so, I was being watched. I figured it to be Fili or Kili watching over me as they often did but when I turned back in the direction of the company, I found Thorin's eyes were darkened and hard, staring at me intently.

"Miss Bilbo, good game there, lass!"

The next thing I knew, I was being hoisted into the air and spun around by an excited Bifur, the voice of Bofur making me laugh loudly and hold on tightly. Once I was back down on the ground safely, I smiled up at him and thanked them both, "You guys gave Ori and I a run for our money, that's for sure!"

Playfully, I punched Bofur in the shoulder, more teasing than anything else, and went back to lean over for something to eat from my bag. Since I was already reaching in for something to eat, I grabbed two more little morsels and offered them to the brothers, smiling when they hesitated only for a brief moment before accepting. We stayed together talking about where I learned how to throw so well, my story becoming more animated as I went into impressions of my Mum when she initially showed me how to skip stones across the pond surface.

Maybe it was the fact that I was talking about my Mum or even just as something as childish as learning how to skip stones, but at one point in my story Bifur ruffled my hair affectionately and I giggled at his display of almost brotherly kindness. Their voices were as close to my Mum as I could get given that they each could tickle me, with Bofur himself being the closest to how my Mum used to make me laugh. I was reminded so much of her in them that I almost felt myself tear up again from the thought of her.

"Awwww, don't tear up now, lass. Bifur's only teasing."

A playful push to my shoulder caught me off guard and I was slipping on the slippery snow. Instinctively, I reached out to grab the nearest thing possible but in this case as I wasn't clearly thinking, the nearest thing possible was another dwarf and with the snow being as it was, we both went down.

In a mess of limbs, we tumbled down the side of the mountain hill that we were resting on, rolling on the ground in such a close bundle that when we finally stopped some fifteen feet away, I couldn't help but notice that Bofur was on top of me. I blinked in surprise just because of how we had fallen down the hill in the first place and again, just because I had Bofur on top of me.

I flushed at the solid weight of him even as he lifted himself up to regain his own footing. I didn't think anything of it since moments before we had been roughhousing and it was my fault that we had fallen. I found it amusing, actually given that only a month before, anything like this would have made me sputter in a disbelief over being so close to a male.

As suddenly as Bofur and I had tumbled down the side of a mountain, my arm was being grabbed so tightly it hurt and I was being dragged up and away from Bofur. I know I squeaked in shock and surprise, my voice coming out a moment later like a yelp before I looked up and noticed that it was Thorin. His eyes were furious, darkened with a fury that I hadn't seen before but they weren't looking at me like I thought they would be. They were trained on Bofur, a clear warning to stay back, before he was turning away from the miner and pulling me back to camp.

"What were you thinking!?"

His voice clawed at my arms painfully, making me wince quicker than I could stop it and just as quickly as he had come to collect me from Bofur's side, he stopped and looked at me. Or rather, he looked at where his hand was on my arm and then my face. His eyes were still furious but there was something else there in those blue depths that I couldn't place.

He looked again at how hard he gripped my arm. I could tell by the way his eyes lingered and his cheeks flushed in mild embarrassment that he didn't like his own outburst; a moment later, he removed his hand so that he could direct me back to the camp with his hand on my lower back. I followed where he directed me, silent and unable to protest because of how shocking the situation was. Still upset at something, he glanced back in the direction of Bofur and Bifur. He then deposited me right next to Balin, sitting down with an angry huff next to me and pulling out from his own bag something to eat.

Offering me a piece of his salted pork, I hesitated only a moment before I accepted it and chewed it softly.

"Good job, laddie."

I looked over at Balin, surprised to find that he had commented on what had happened, but before I could even inquire as to what indeed had happened, Thorin answered with a grunt that signaled the end of any conversation.

After the awkward rest that remained silent even after we continued back up the mountain side, I wasn't any closer to discovering what that entire thing had been about. It felt all very possessive and very dwarfish but at the same time, whatever it was was acceptable because no one seemed to bat an eyelash at Thorin's behavior.

Despite all that, I wasn't any closer to discovering what it was all about and when I attempted to ask, Thorin had grunted and asked for Dwalin to keep an eye on me as we climbed up the rocky ledges that spelled certain doom should we be too hasty.

If all that weren't enough, Fili merely chuckled at me and told me about how easily I got into trouble. What made the evening even worse was that sometime when the sun began to set, a rain started up and the next thing we knew, a giant storm had started to rage overhead.

There was an energy in the air though that wasn't familiar and the sounds that I heard all around didn't sound or feel at all like a normal storm. At some point while I gripped onto the wall of rock, I leaned over and asked Dwalin, "Is this normal? It sounds awful!"

It really did sound awful. Thunderstorms were usually just a myriad of sensations against my lower back but this one had something in it that wasn't recognizable. I had never felt something like it before...

Balin's voice echoed behind me as he pointed to something in the distance, "This isn't a thunderstorm! It's a thunder battle!"

Balin was scared. I hadn't ever felt his voice so shaky on my cheek before.

I hadn't heard of such a phrasing and when I turned to see what Balin had pointed out, I almost wished I hadn't. Something was moving in the distance, something that was very large and very, very much what I heard earlier.

"A Stone Giant."