Chapter 8
Wow! O_o I got a collective 56 reviews for chappies 6&7! The biggest haul yet, you guys seem to really like Fili and Kili. Well, I am not one to disappoint so without further delays! Here's the next chapter.
Note: I'm thinking Thorin showed up around late June, stayed until the end of summer, and journeyed back by end of September. So a few month after that would make this around the end of November, beginning of December, and just about to start snowing in Shire. And as we know it does snow there, even though not too hard.
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Kili woke up in the softest bed he had ever felt in his life. It was most certainly not his own bed at the Blue Mountains, for that one was hard, and filled with straw, long pressed together from extensive use. It was ever more certainly not his bedroll used when traveling, as that was lumpy and often time did nothing to stop rocks and the unevenness of the ground from jarring into his back and sides. And it wasn't even the beds at the taverns and inns he had stayed at, as they were narrow and hard as well. No. This bed…oh this bed…Kili moaned as he spread his arms, feeling the side of a body next to him and recognizing it as Fili. Oh this wonderful bed felt like what Kili imagined a cloud to feel. Soft and springy, warm to the touch, and enveloping him in its embrace. The young dwarf rubbed his face in the pillow smelling faintly of lavender and stroked its stitching. The closer he pressed his nose into the corner of it the more pronounced the smell became. Kili smiled a wide grin as he snuggled deep into the comfort of the feather blankets and curled into as little ball as he could. Oh, he could live in a bed like that!
Awoken by his someone's movements and rubbing at his eyes with a fist, Fili lifted his face off the pillow and looked at whatever disturbed his sleep. His brother was sprouting a grin, tightly closed eyes, and was attempting to burrow into the cushions and coverlets. Fili smiled as he saw that and then relaxed back into the bed. That's when he felt it. Oh! The richly goodness and fluffiness of the material surrounding him finally leaked into the other's mind as he sighed in appreciation and spread his arms and legs, letting his bodyweight sink him into the mattress. Feeling it cuddle his back and sides, smelling the herbs from the pillows, Fili's eyes drifted lazily around the room. He saw that the bed took most of the space in it, and that sunlight was already seeping into the space from the half-drawn curtains, covering two little round windows on one of the walls. There was a dresser against the wall opposite of the bed with a few knick knacks on it, including and not limited to a ball of yarn, some knitting needles, a statuette of a cat, and a big bronze tray, leaned against the wall to display it.
Intrigued by the metal contraption Fili lifted his head and looked at it closer. The sides were a little bend, and dinged, a simple etching of a flower sat at the center, and the color seemed dim even in the bright sunlight. Fili's hands started to itch. As he got up from the fluffy heaven and went towards the packs placed neatly by the door, his brother's eyes followed him with curiosity.
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Bilbo was bustling around the kitchen, busy preparing breakfast with foods he remembered Thorin favoring when he heard the repetitive dings echoing all over the house. Intrigued he tried to follow the sound, and to his surprise was led to the guest room that the brothers were deposited to on the previous night. Carefully opening the door Bilbo was greeted with a sight of a ball of blankets on one side of the bed, all of the coverings hogged together to make a little hill. Craning his neck the hobbit was able to see past it and saw the older of two brothers, Fili if he remembered correctly sitting on the mattress, sunken almost to his waist, with his aunt Mirabel's old bronze tray on his lap, and an array of wooden instruments with fat blunt handles all around him. He seemed in a good mood, whistling slightly under his breath as he hammered away with a little mallet on the top of his tools, moving them all around the metal. So lost in his work did he appear that the hobbit did not have the heart to pull him away. And he never liked aunt Mirabel's tray anyways, it was bend, and ugly, and fell on his head at one point. If Fili wanted to do something to it he was more than welcome to it.
Slinking silently out of the room, and closing the door behind him, Bilbo went back into the kitchen. He would not bother the dwarfs for a bit more, as he still had a few more things to do, and they were clearly preoccupied. Well at least one of them was. With that in mind the hobbit went on cooking. If his memory served him well, and it usually did, Thorin was partial to his chicken clove pie. Well if Thorin liked then so should his nephews reasoned he inside his mind. After all there was not a time when he had served it when it had not gotten praise. And cooking for hobbits meant showing affection for those to whom it was intended. While Bilbo did not know Fili and Kili he liked the buggers and wanted to do something nice for them.
Getting the ingredients, and setting up the space in the table Bilbo began creating. Smash the cloves, mix the batter, lightly roast the chicken… Herbs and additional ingredients went in to the mixture, fresh and dried both. Soon the hobbit made the crust of the pie, filled it with a mixture of roasted garlic chicken and cloves, covered it in a layer of paste made from nuts and cheese and settled it into the oven. Nearly immediately delicious smells began whiffing through the kitchen and the hallways, filling the air of Bag End with aromas, and impressions one would get when stepping foot into a beloved grandmother's house on a holiday. Bilbo opened the oven door and poured a cup-full of melted butter and spices all over the pie, making it sizzle and give off a big cloud of enchanting scents that enveloped his face.
The hobbit took a deep breath and smiled, straightening up. He was met with the sight of two dwarfs crowding at the kitchen doorway, Kili still bundled in one of the smaller blankets, and Fili trying to wipe his mouth with the sleeve of his too big tunic as he swallowed the drool that threatened to escape it. Both brothers' eyes were chained to the oven, and they seemed to be stopping themselves from running to it and eating whatever gave off the heavenly aromas.
Smiling at the two Bilbo said "Well don't just stand there. Sit down; I'll get you started on breakfast. It's still early, and the weather has gotten ever colder. In fact I would not be surprised if it started to snow soon". As he said all of these things Fili and Kili went to the same chairs they occupied last night and sat down, Kili pulling his legs up on the chair, in order to wrap the blanket around himself, looking for all intent and purpose like a fuzzy egg with a face. The warm off-white color of the throw did nothing to change that impression, and Bilbo, in a fit of happy, placed a big plate of fluffy scrambled eggs in front of him first, giving Fili the second plate, also filled to the brim, and finally settling the plate of lightly honeyed cut ham in the middle.
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When Fili spotted the deliciousness put in front of him and tore his mind from the heavy smells whiffing through the kitchen he thought to himself that perhaps Kili's comment about calling the hobbit "Auntie" was not misplaced. He had never in his life smelled something like that, and even his mother had never given them an occasion of food like such. They had grown up mostly on the roads, and camps. Settling into the Blue Mountains did not predispose one's self to luxuries of a full meal too often, as money was always tight, and it made spreads like the one in front of him ever rarer. Dwarfs loved to eat, and knew good food when they saw it. And what Fili was observing in front of him was undoubtedly good food.
With a smile and a cheerful "Good morning Auntie Bilbo!" Kili was already stuffing his cheeks with the eggs, having sneaked one hand out of his wooly shell. Fili's head snapped towards him at that, and his cheeks reddened, as he snagged a look at their host, seated across from them at his own chair. "Kili!" he whispered in a harsh tone "Don't call him that! Master Bilbo is not our auntie!" and to Bilbo "I'm sorry for that Master Bilbo! He just gets excited by food, and you have provided an excellent breakfast. We do not mean any offence" He bowed his head expecting a reprisal and showed Kili's head down too with a quick snug of his arm.
To Fili's surprise his ears were met with the sound of a roaring laughter and a pounding of a palm on the table top. Pulling his head up with curiosity Fili dared a look at the hobbit. Who at the moment had tears streaming down his face, as one of his hand clutched his stomach, and the other was thumping at the table, making plates clink. Not understanding the source of Bilbo's merry Fili's eyes followed the direction of a finger outstretched somewhere in the direction of his brother. Following the digit Fili was not able to hold his own laughter, as it spilled from his mouth.
To Fili's left, still wrapped snuggly in a warm and fluffy white wooly blanket and for all intent and purpose looking like a fuzzy egg sat Kili. With one hand outstretched towards the fork, and another clutching the throw under his chin. His eyes looked sad and his mouth was turned down as he mournfully stared at the remains of his delicious scrambled eggs. The remains that were thrown around the edge of the plate, that had a bid indent in the middle of it. An indent in the shape of a miserable face. Everything that was supposed to be where the hole now was, was clinging desperately to the young dwarf's face and budding whiskers, dripped down his hair, and a piece of egg was sticking out of one nostril. After a second of hesitation, and frantically trying to hold on, the piece swung out and landed on the table with a sad little splat where it laid and contemplated the cruelty of fates.
Unable to hold in his remorse at the face of his defiled breakfast, Kili gave a sniffle. Unable to hold in their merry Fili and Bilbo gave a guffaw and slid under the wooden tabletop while clutching their sides and whimpering from laughter.
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Chapter 8 ladies and gents! Ask me questions, follow me, favorite me, PLEASE review me as those make me really really happy and motivated to write more!