Thanks soooo much for all my reviews! I'm glad you're still with me :P
I started to write in Ori's POV in this chapter and got a little carried away – the relationship between him and his brothers is one of my favourite subplots of The Hobbit – so I hope you don't mind!
Read. Enjoy. Review.
Chapter Thirteen # Of Kittens and Kingsfoil #
Ori's brothers had never really got along; the young scribe could not remember a time before their bitter bickering. On occasion the arguments had become so fierce that Nori had left their little house for months. Two times it was his choice, but the last time it was Dori's.
However, Ori's brothers were always there, if not for each other then definitely for him. Losing either Dori or Nori would be unbearable, but Ori was very aware that one day he may well have to bear it. Ori had thought a lot about his brothers since the discovery of Kíli at Bag End, and Fíli's subsequent revival.
His faint memories of his own mother were littered with scoldings informing his brothers that they would not have each other forever and that one day they would regret the constant fighting. She had died when he was seven years old and he had felt the bite of grief for the first time, but her warning had never rung truer in his ears.
"Get up, Ori."
A gentle kick landed on Ori's chest and he groaned. "I'm awake."
"'Awake' and 'up' are two different things." Nori's vaguely amused voice seemed to be coming from his right, Ori thought as a suspicious clinking sound came from Nori's bag.
His eyes flew open as a candlestick disappeared out of view and he grimaced. "Nori..."
His older brother turned, grinning, though his smile dimmed at the pained look on Ori's face.
Ori could still remember being a small boy fighting against Dori the first time Nori had been arrested, he could still remember screaming as loud as he could that his brother was not a thief, he could still remember the shame burning red on Nori's cheeks, and he told Nori that he remembered with a look of pure disappointment.
"Morning." Nori said gruffly and Ori shook his head, glancing around.
They were not alone, but Óin and Glóin's conversation was growing louder by the second, distracting both Bofur and Bifur.
"We're not starving anymore, Nori." He muttered bitterly, standing up and brushing himself off, the lethargy of sleep leaving his limbs.
Nori sighed. "Brother-"
"Don't worry, I won't tell Dori." Ori interrupted Nori, before walking away calmly to find some breakfast.
Ori had learnt from Nori himself that storming out only caused more tension, but walking away with your head hung dejectedly made for a good guilt trip when you were truly disappointed. Even so, he knew that Nori's thievery would not be changed by a simple guilt trip – he had put his brother through many of those. He almost felt guilty himself, until he reminded himself what it was like for Nori in that dirty little cell the times he was actually caught.
Though Dori could not, or maybe would not, understand, Ori knew that Nori's stealing had become a compulsion that his brother could not, or maybe would not, control. There was something comforting in the consistency nevertheless, and once again Ori found himself wondering what it would be like for his brothers to change as drastically as Kíli had.
Discovering breakfast in a nearby alcove, Ori joined Bombur, Bilbo, Fíli and Kíli around the little table.
"Morning." Fíli and Kíli chorused with identical smiles, nodding their heads at a slight tilt at the exact same time.
Ori froze, a little unnerved as their smiles grew in unison.
Bombur snorted and returned to his porridge and Bilbo rolled his eyes. "Ignore them Ori, they've been doing it all morning. It's completely planned."
"We don't know what you're talking about!" The two brothers widened their eyes and shook their heads and Ori laughed, sitting down and grabbing a plate, filling it up with food.
Bilbo smiled at the young dwarf. "Now, I was about to say-"
"Yes?" Fíli and Kíli interrupted Bilbo, leaning forward and putting their chins on their hands.
"Oh, be quiet both of you!" The hobbit waved a hand dismissively.
"Our sincerest apologies, Bilbo." They chanted.
"This morning, Ori-"
By now that two brothers were all but singing. "And what a lovely morning it is."
"Kíli is afraid of cats." Bilbo informed Ori in a very matter of fact tone and Kíli widened his eyes, Fíli following half a second later.
Ori frowned. "Cats?"
"Well, kittens more specifically." Bilbo nodded knowingly.
"Bilbo…" Kíli and Fíli growled, and Ori barely contained his laughter.
"Kíli is afraid of kittens? Well, that's very sad. They're so cute and fluffy!"
"Indeed, indeed." Bilbo shook his head with a solemn sigh, his face calm while his eyes danced with malice.
"I am not afraid of kittens." Kíli protested, and Ori could swear that Fíli's unison was a fraction of a second too late.
Ignoring Kíli completely, Bilbo continued as he passed Ori another bread roll from his end of the table. "Once he got so scared that he shot up a tree and screamed until I climbed up and got him. The poor little creature was only this big-" Bilbo held his hands apart to the size of a saucer. "-but it licked his finger and he was certain it was going to eat him."
"Bilbo!" Kíli whined as Fíli gave up and burst into laughter. "That's not fair, nor are you telling the entire story."
"Oh, please do elaborate for us, my dear boy." Bilbo grinned, and Kíli glowered at him.
"Saradoc told me that the thing had rabies."
"Rabies?" Ori snorted.
"Aye…" Kíli glared darkly, and Bilbo winked at him.
"It was last year."
Kíli groaned, dropping his head onto his arms as his companions dissolved into fits of uncontrollable, borderline hysterical laughter.
"What on earth is going on in here?"
Ori looked up at his oldest brother's voice, gathering himself together again to answer. "Kíli's scared of kittens!"
"Kittens? Really?" Dori frowned.
"No!" Kíli's reply was muffled by the fact that he was still hiding his face on the table.
"It's quite alright lad, we all have irrational fears." Dori's grin was amused but comforting – a look Ori knew well – as he patted Kíli on the shoulder, causing the dwarf to moan again and his friends to fall back into laughter.
"Ah, dear, that was far too much fun." Bilbo sighed happily, and Kíli raised his head, sending Bilbo a look that should have fried him where he sat.
"You are a cruel hobbit."
"So you tell me whenever you misbehave."
"I wasn't misbehaving!" Kíli replied indignantly. "And I'm not a child anymore!"
"Of course not."
Kíli rolled his eyes and stood up. "Come on, Fíli."
"Alright…" Fíli chuckled, and Kíli shoved him with exasperation. "Kittens…"
"I'm not afraid of kittens!"
"Kíli the Kitten-fearer!"
"Fíli the fool…"
"Kíli's scared of kittens!"
"Keep your voice down!"
As the two brother's taunts slowly faded away, Bilbo shook his head. "Fools, the both of them…"
Ori gave another little laugh, and asked curiously. "What were you going to say?"
"What? Oh, yes…I was planning on exploring the library today, and I was wondering if you would like to join me."
Instantly, Ori grinned. He had only been able to bring two books, excluding his journal, and he had already re-read them both. "Yes, please!"
"Excellent." The hobbit smiled, taking one last bread roll from the table.
"Master Baggins, whereabouts is this library?" Dori asked, and Ori held back a sigh. Dori's mothering stemmed from genuine concern and some terrible past experiences, so much so that Ori would rarely complain, but Durin's beard was it irritating…
"In the Eastern Wing of Rivendell. I've been given an explicit set of directions; apparently the company have already developed a habit of getting lost. Would you like to come, too?"
"No thank you, Master Baggins." Dori smiled, shaking his head and reaching for an apple.
Soon enough, Ori was accompanying the hobbit through the admittedly beautiful corridors of Rivendell. None of the others had been interested by the prospect of books and tomes, preferring instead to train like Fíli, Kíli, Thorin and Dwalin were doing, or even to start working on new figures and toys to sell like Bifur and Bofur. The only dwarf Ori was unsure of was Nori, and quite frankly he did not want to know what the troublemaker was up to.
"Wow…" he breathed upon entering the library.
The biggest room Ori had seen so far in Rivendell was not as open to the elements as the others, but nevertheless natural light poured in through the windows, creating ideal conditions for some good comfortable reading. Bookshelves lined the walls and jutted out from them at graceful angles, and the entire room was filled with books that all looked entirely in place. In the corner was a pair of long chairs intended for reading the books, and both Ori and Bilbo fell in love with the place at first sight.
For hours, Ori immersed himself so many books and took so many notes that he did not even notice when Bilbo disappeared until he felt his stomach rumble.
"Bilbo?" he called softly, unable to disrespect a library, even if it did belong to elves. Slowly, the young dwarf stood and began to look down the numerous aisles of bookshelves. "Bilbo?"
The seed of worry in Ori's stomach was not a fear for the hobbits safety, nor was it a fear for his own safety. However, without the hobbit Ori felt very out of place in Rivendell, and the last thing he wanted was to be discovered by an elf. That would make for a very awkward conversation.
"Bilbo?"
Ori paused as he reached the door of the library and peered through the archway. At the end of the long corridor before him was Bilbo, talking to a woman with the most incredible blonde hair that Ori had ever seen. As he watched, the woman smiled at Bilbo and bowed her head, before gliding away.
The hobbit paused a moment, before turning and walking back to the room in a daze. He was so distracted that he did not seem to notice Ori until the dwarf called out his name again.
"Bilbo?"
Bilbo jumped. "Oh, I'm sorry, Ori I didn't see you there…What's wrong?"
"Nothing…" Ori frowned slightly. "I was wondering where you were. Who was that?"
Bilbo just shook his head, sending a strange look down the corridor where the elf lady had disappeared, a little smile on his face.
Not one to pry despite his ever growing lust for information, Ori just smiled softly, and wordlessly the pair returned to the books, but apparently Bilbo's mind was wandering.
"Ori, I was wondering if you could answer a question for me?"
"I can try." Ori smiled, and the hobbit nodded.
"Dwarves and their braids…what do they mean?"
"Various things…" Ori started slowly, wondering how best to explain the complexities that were dwarven hairstyles. "Some braids mean very specific things, which is usually defined by the clasp they use…the more detailed the clasp the higher the braid's importance. So Thorin's braids show his status as king because of their placement and the silver clasps, and Fíli's show his status as Thorin's heir. It's more of a sign for other dwarves than it is for outsiders I suppose… Anyway most of us braid our hair by preference. Dori and Nori, for example - symbolically, their braids mean nothing, but I think you can tell as much about a dwarf from his hair as you can from his clothes."
Bilbo nodded thoughtfully. "I see… It's an insult to cut a dwarf's hair or beard, is it not?"
"It is." Ori replied. "Although in some circumstances a dwarf will wear his hair or beard short…"
"Like Thorin." Bilbo confirmed. "In remembrance of the dwarves who lost their beards and lives to Smaug?"
"Exactly." Ori said sombrely.
"That was one of the few things I knew about dwarves before Kíli came along…" Bilbo murmured absently. "A few of my neighbours wondered why I never cut his hair…"
"I think that it's good that you tried to keep him in touch with his dwarven nature." Ori offered, a little unused to giving his serious opinion to anyone other than his brothers but comfortable in the hobbit's company. "It was a decent thing to do."
"I'm glad you think so." Bilbo laughed slightly.
Ori nodded and the pair returned to reading, though it did not escape the young dwarf's notice that Bilbo's eyes kept flickering to the door, and Ori began to wonder exactly who the elf talking to Bilbo had been…
On the other side of Rivendell, Dwalin thrust his sword to the ground by his bedroll and gave a deep laugh as Thorin shook his head. A small smile was gracing the king's face and for that Dwalin was gratefully, though it had taken six hours of solid sparring to coax anything other than a snarl from Thorin's face.
Though it was a little hypocritical of him, Dwalin knew that it was not good to be scowling all of the time, even when around elves.
"That was a good match, my friend." Thorin breathed, glancing up at the blushing sky. "I cannot wait to leave this place."
"Aye…" Dwalin agreed wholeheartedly, looking around the dwarven courtyard. Bilbo and Ori were missing, as were Fíli and Kíli, but the other dwarves all appeared to be present, with one glaring exception.
"Where is Balin?" Thorin asked him, and Dwalin raised an eyebrow at his king.
"How would I know, I've been with you all day."
Thorin inclined his head and sighed, sitting himself down regally by his bedding roll and removing a whetstone from his bag.
Mirroring his friend's actions, Dwalin began to sharped his own knives, feeling their familiar weight in his hands. Perhaps he would loan a knife to Kíli…
The boy had been quick to worm his way back into Dwalin's hardened heart, though none but Balin and possibly Thorin could tell, and Dwalin still felt uncomfortable about Kíli's lack of weaponry, though he had more than proved his skill with a bow.
Even as Dwalin thought of his best friend's younger nephew, familiar laughter met his ears, and Fíli and Kíli strode back into the room, shoving each other playfully as they crossed over to the far corner.
"What on earth happened to you two?" Dori questioned, and Dwalin seconded the inquiry internally, taking in the numerous scrapes the boys bore, as well as the blossoming bruise on Fíli's cheek.
"Kíli has some interesting sparring techniques."
"Oh, that's just typical…Blaming the poor dwarf with no training for the fact that you, my dear brother, fell out of a tree."
Dwalin narrowed his eyes, sensing a humorous story coming quickly closer. "What were you doing in a tree?"
"Wrestling." The brothers stated in unison, and Fíli rolled his eyes.
"Like I said, Kíli's techniques are questionable."
"They were not my techniques." The young dwarf protested. "You and Dwalin both taught me to play on my strengths and use what I already know… I can climb trees. I knew you were a clumsy climber, but honestly… a ten year old could have stayed in that tree."
"You took a wrestling match into a tree?" Dwalin confirmed, wondering about the boy's sanity. At Kíli's nod, he rubbed a hand over his beard. "I suppose you have a point, lad. I take it you lost, Fíli?"
"I did." Fíli nodded with a proud smile. "Kíli beat me, fair and square in the end."
Dwalin did not miss the pride igniting Kíli's own smile, but he missed the lad's response for at that moment Balin returned, looking very lost in thought.
"Brother…"
"Good evening…" Balin murmured, sitting next to Dwalin and retrieving his pipe without so much as looking at his brother.
Confused, Dwalin studied his brother's face. "Where have you been?"
"I was talking to an elf Lady." Balin said quietly, his words for Dwalin's ears only. Luckily the others had all begun sniggering at Kíli about a kitten or the like, and Dwalin was the only one to hear.
"Aye?"
"She told me some very strange things…" Balin mused, shaking his head.
"And that's all you'll tell me?" Dwalin realised grumpily.
An amused smile poked at the corners of Balin's mouth. "Until later, yes. I have a lot to think about…"
Thoroughly confused, but certain that answers would come in time, Dwalin nodded and reluctantly let the matter drop.
Bofur had been with his cousin all day, so when Bifur's intended trip to the bathroom lasted for over half an hour, he started to silently worry a little. Since the axe incident, Bifur's tolerance level for elves was dangerously high, but his inability to communicate could easily make him appear as a threat to a paranoid elf and Bofur knew it.
Bilbo and Ori returned before Bifur did, and Bofur found himself talking to the hobbit over a dinner of stew that had been brought in by a pair of elven stewards. Bofur liked Bilbo a lot, he was a good person and a good friend, and in the month or so that Bofur had known him, he had made a far better impression on the amiable toymaker than some of the other dwarves when he first met them.
"How was your day, lads?" he asked Bilbo and Ori easily, and the pair poured into a description of how marvellous Elrond's library was.
Eventually they both had to pause for breath and Bofur laughed. "How did you ever get out of there?"
"Lord Elrond entered and informed us that we were in danger of missing dinner." The hobbit's tone told Bofur just how dangerous that was for the hobbit and he laughed again.
"I'm glad to see your priorities are still right, Bilbo!"
Even as he spoke, Bifur walked in through the doorway and Bofur grinned at his cousin, a little confused by the peaceful look of thoughtfulness on his cousin's face. Bifur's content had become too rare a sight of late.
"Where were you?"
Grunting softly, Bifur made an Iglishmêk symbol for 'talking'.
"To who?" Bofur asked, very surprised.
Bifur's hands fluttered so quickly that Bofur almost lost some of the gestures. 'Elven lady', 'on return', 'knew me'.
"How do you mean?" Bofur frowned, and Bifur shrugged evasively, leaning back against a nearby table and closing his eyes.
Concern passed across Bofur's heart, but he knew better than anyone that Bifur was a little odd, and that he would be alright. Bofur would just keep more of an eye out; that was the only thing of consequence to come out of that evening.
He had no idea that Bifur had held a conversation with one of the most powerful elves in Middle Earth, and he had no idea how deeply her words had struck his cousin to the core.
Óin could not sleep straight away that night. Ori and Bilbo had brought him back several books that he could borrow from the library with medicines and potions that he had never even heard of before, and he spent the first few hours of the night pouring over the notes and making notes both in his head and in his own old medicinal journal. He was still writing when the rest of the company all settled down to sleep, his candle the only source of light in the room.
However a faint scuffling caught his eye and he looked up to see Kíli whispering something in Fíli's ear. The blond nodded sleepily and Kíli stood up, straightened out his clothes and crept out of the room. Wondering where on earth the boy was going, Óin opened his mouth, but he quickly closed it again. No need to embarrass the boy if he was experiencing weakness of the bladder…
Paying no further heed to the heirs of Durin, Óin continued to thumb through the old books.
Athelas, the book read, or Kingsfoil is thought to be a weed to the peoples of Middle Earth, however, the healing qualities it possess are surpassed by few other herbs…
Óin read and read until suddenly his light spluttered and died, and he realised that his candle had burnt out. With a sigh, he decided that it was time for bed, and he lay down beside his brother, his head bursting with the glorious new information that could save lives someday.
Sleep took Óin quickly, and he did not notice Kíli's return shortly afterwards. Even if he had, without the candle he would not have seen the look of tranquil wonder that lingered on Kíli's face after meeting with the mysterious elf lady that had borrowed members of the company throughout the day.
It was a very contented young dwarf who slipped under his blanket that night, the name that he had been given by the Lady Galadriel swimming around his head.
Kíli Baggins, son of Durin.
Sooo, all of the conversations with Galadriel have occurred, but they will all come in flashbacks! Mwhahaha!
I would love to hear any guesses as to why Galadriel spoke to Bilbo, Bifur, Balin, and Kíli (not because their names all start with B, lol!) and any theories as to what she actually said.
Next chapter we shall probably read some runes and leave Rivendell and it shall be back to the action.
Note – this chapter name was a little odd seeing as how kittens and kingsfoil don't seem that important, but I have my reasons :P
Note 2 - the tiny little bit in Ori's memories where he screamed that his brother is not a thief was inspired by the picture 'My Brother Is Not a Thief' by Tenshi-Inverse on deviantart :)
Hope you enjoyed it :)
