It was nearly one o'clock before Ana returned to the stables, and by that time she was done with the day.
The morning had gone awfully, having been stopped multiple times by dwarves she didn't know asking about her eye. She politely told every one of them – she lost count after the seventh one – that it had been an accident in the stables and that she was perfectly fine. She'd skipped looking in the mirror that morning in fear that the bruise would look even worse, which she knew it did.
Ogri was another pain. She had hoped after yesterday he might've been a little more...humbling towards her. So she took him out into the fields and tried to take him on a ride. That ended with a very frustrated Ana, clad with scratches and dirt stains, and an extremely proud horse. She quickly put him back in his stall and moved on to the next horse before he could wreck any more havoc on her.
Lunch was only slightly better. Word had gotten around to many of the families of her black eye – really, was it that big of a deal? – and she was only stopped three times. Planning on dropping by the bakery where Stala worked and hearing how dinner went last night, she was shooed off before she could even ask. Her sister had greeted her, but a moment later her eyes went wide.
"You've got to go, Ana. Faril's at the next shop and he thinks you're sick in bed."
Ana opened her mouth to protest, but Stala shoved a pastry in her hand and sent her off. "Go, please!"
Unamused, the younger Hillins huffed and turned around, praying that she could meet her brothers for lunch. That's if they didn't refuse her like her sister had.
They didn't, and so – thankfully – she returned to the stables in a remotely better mood, but she was still ready to retire to her home and not emerge until the next day. She could feel the oversensitive muscles around her left eye begin to throb out of annoyance as she grabbed her bucket of supplies. And somewhere in the back of her mind, she could tell that the afternoon wasn't going to be much better.
She was graced with an hour of peace before the next disturbance. She was grooming a young and shy mare, named Kvinn, with blacks spots all over her white body, personally one of Ana's favorites because this one never did anything strange or out of the ordinary. She was softly combing the mares mane when she heard him.
"Oh Miss Ana!"
Her heart stopped and she inwardly groaned. Mahal, she had forgotten about the prince! With everything bad that had happened already it just slipped her mind. And now he was here, and she looked like a fool. Again. She had skipped braiding her hair that day, so it was a mess of sweaty and dirty curls. Her tunic and trousers were stained with mud. And her eye looked absolutely terrible. Great.
She whipped around in time to see him appear from the corner. The first thing her eyes were drawn to was that blasted green cloak around him, and if it was at all possible, it was even more dirty. Her fingers itched to take it off him – no, not like that – and take it home. Really, how could a prince be able to escape his uncle looking like that?
He held his common smirk on his face as he sauntered over to the stall she had just come out of. But the smile disappeared instantly when he looked at her eye, and she couldn't help but notice how out of place his frowns were.
Quickly curtseying before he could say anything, she greeted him. "My Prince, I'm surprised to see you here again."
He only shook his head at her, skipping his own greeting. "I knew I should've taken you to see Oin."
"I can assure you, your majesty, that it's not as painful as it looks." Ana had her eyes downcast as she kicked at the floor.
"That doesn't matter," he told her. "I'm sure people have been asking you left and right if you've been mauled by a bear or whatnot." She looked up at him, surprised that he knew of her struggles this morning. He simply pointed a finger at her. "Word gets around much faster than you think, Miss Ana."
"It's nothing a few days rest won't fix, my lord. Besides," she managed a small laugh, "I am not dead, like you've come to check."
He swiftly lifted himself up onto the stall railing separating themselves from Kvinn. He looked down at her, eyebrows raised. "Do you really think the only reason I came was to make sure you weren't dead?"
"Well, that was what you told me yesterday, your majesty."
"Okay, first off," he held up one finger in front of her, "you really must stop with the 'your majesty' nonsense. We're practically the same age, and that makes me feel around a hundred years older than I actually am. Plus, like I also said yesterday, we're in the stables. No one's around to report you for being inconsiderate to me. And if some one did, I'd take the blame." He took a big breath. "And second of all, I came back to make sure that you weren't suffering any more from yesterday because of your eye. And by the way I can see it twitching, I can tell that it's much worse."
Her cheeks were blazing. She could practically feel the fire eating away at her chest and up her neck. Her hand flew up to cover her left eye out of embarrassment of his comment. Was it really...twitching? Oh, Mahal, this was awful. This was something out of a nightmare, surely. Why would he even say that to her? Didn't he have the slightest idea of what she'd think when his choice of words flew out of his mouth?
He seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. "I'm not going to sugarcoat something serious, lass. You know, you actually might come to appreciate it. I can think of multiple times where my bluntness has gotten others out of trouble. Some say it's a curse, I think it's a gift."
Ana opened and closed her mouth multiple time, just trying to rally up any words to speak with. Finally, she mustered up, "Well, I...I thank you for your concern. Again, actually. But I'm sure it will be healed soon. My eye likes to do things on it's own accord."
"Can I bring you some medicine? Something like at, at least. It would make me feel better."
Oh, no. He was not doing that, not to her. His eyes widened with a touch of self-pity and his mouth settled into a pout. Oh, he was good. She could tell he had perfected his puppy face, and this was just a small taste of it. And she couldn't resist anything of the sort – it made her feel simply awful.
"Ugh. Fine. If it'll make you feel better, then I suppose. But I really don't need it," she told him.
His face broke and he returned to his large smile. "Good." He paused a moment, looking around the stables. "How's Ogri treating you today? Hopefully no more bruises."
She crossed her arms under her chest. "Well, I tried to take him out for a ride, but," she gestured down to her dirt stained attire with a nervous chuckle, "you can see how well that turned out."
"Is he really that bad? I've never had problems with him."
"Yes, well, you're lucky. Every one else refused him, so I'm stuck with him, now."
He had his chin in his hand, his hair a dark curtain framing his face. "How long have you been working here?"
"A year, your – " She stopped short, forgetting about what he said earlier.
The extremely not majestic prince before her cocked an eyebrow. "Caught yourself, didn't you?"
"Forgive me," she said, cheeks pink, "it's just that I find it hard to see you as an equal."
"You'll learn, Miss Ana." He didn't offer any more elaboration on the matter, even though she was now curious. "You said a year. Does the rest of your family work with you?"
She shook her head. "No. My father and three brothers work in the mines and my sister in a bakery in the market. She – "
He really liked to interrupt her. "Wait, wait, wait. Three brothers? And a sister? How do your parents survive that?"
She looked down at the ground. He had no way of knowing about her mother, and she didn't blame him for his words. But it didn't stop her heart from painfully squeezing.
"Well, um, my mother actually died. Around fifty years ago."
An awkward silence filled the room. She didn't dare look up from her shoes because she knew the prince's gaze was on her; she could practically feel it burning a hole where a bruise graced her eye. A painfully long moment passed before he cleared his throat. "I'm very sorry. I didn't know."
Looking up, she offered him a soft, closed smile. "It's quite all right. You had no way of knowing. It doesn't bother me much anymore." She lied.
They lapsed into another silence before he startled her with the clap of his large hands. "I figured it out, Miss Ana."
"What in Mahal's name are you talking about?"
"About how to repay you for, well, that," he pointed to her eye. "I've been trying to think of a way for me to regain your trust because what happened yesterday was completely crazy. And I've just thought of something brilliant."
She held out her hands, stopping him. "Please, stop. In no way are you indebted to me. My prince, it was an accident, I assure you. There's nothing – "
"Ana? Everything okay in there?"
Basil's low voice rang out through her wing of the stable, and it send shudders through her. The older, and much heavier, dwarrowdam was nice enough, but extremely strict when it came to stable rules. And the prince in front of her was breaking a major one: no visits unless approved by the master. Of course, every one was approved, but one still had to ask for permission first.
Kili was a prince, surely Basil wouldn't throw him out. But it still made her uneasy thinking about what Basil would say about the visit. Especially considering his relaxed position perched on the railing. Oh, she would be in so much trouble; she just knew it. By the way Basil gossiped about things she knew she'd be what the talk was about in the dining hall this evening. Did you hear about Ana Hillins? Being visited by Prince Kili himself! With no escort, as well. Mahal knows what they're up to.
No. No, no, no, no. That was not going to happen. She'd spent her whole life trying to blend in and she was going to continue doing just that. She didn't need a prince's random kindness and interest to mess it up, either.
She knew that with Basil's waddle she had less than a minute to get rid of the cheeky dwarf. She looked up at him, no amusement on her face. "Hide," she whispered.
"What?" he asked with furrowed brows.
"I need you to hide. Right now. I'm sorry, really. But please."
"I'm not going to do anything until you tell me what's going – "
"Ana?" Basil's voice was louder. She only had a few seconds left.
"Oh, please forgive for this," she told the prince in a quiet voice. Mahal, she couldn't believe she was actually going to do this.
"What – "
With both her hands, she ran forward and pushed the Durin brother off the rail and onto the dirt below with a loud thud. He didn't even have time to say anything before she scampered over the railing after him, this time landing on her own two feet. Ana looked down at him, regret and shame all over her face.
"Stay quiet," she hissed at him before turning around to face the mare, acting as though she'd been doing it the whole time.
She was truly shocked at herself. She never thought that she had it in her to, firstly, be blunt to a noble, and, secondly, to touch one uninvited. But, right now, her reputation more so than her morals came first, and sometimes unwanted things occurred.
"Ana? What's all this noise about?" Basil's condescending voice was now at the beginning of the small wing. Ana twisted her head to see the old dwarrowdam with her hands on her wide hips and glaring at her. She swallowed hard, daring to take the smallest glace at the prince at her feet. He was backed up against the wall, hands over his chest, and glaring at her. But his glare was as harmless as a rabbit's, and she had to choke on her laughter to contain it.
She quickly composed herself. "Sorry, what was that?"
Basil didn't seem amused. "I said, what was all that racket about? I could hear you clear down on my end of the wing. You hiding anyone in here?"
"Now who would I be hiding in here? It's me, Basil. Did you try the main room? Maybe a group's coming in." She was surprised at how easy she was able to lie to the woman.
She spared another glance at the prince, and her eyes went wide again. He was balanced on his feet and crouched down, looking at her expectantly. It was almost as though he was ready to spring up and announce himself.
Nope, couldn't have that. Ana took a step forward, seeming as if she was going to get out of the stall. As she approached the locked gate, she gave a swift kick to the prince's leg; strong enough to make him stop, but definitely not hard enough to do any damage. This was Prince Kili, after all. A small maiden's leg wouldn't cause him a scratch.
It didn't stop him from speaking to her, though. "Hey," he hissed with closed teeth, being as quiet as possible.
Ana paid him no mind. She exited the stall and walked over to where Basil stood. "Want me to go with you to see Gleer? He'll know what all the commotion was about, I'm sure." Gleer ran the stables.
Basil looked her up and down with squinted eyes. "No, no," she finally spoke. "I'm sure it's nothing. I just wanted to make sure you weren't causing any trouble."
Ana waved her off. "It's me, Basil. When's the last time I got in trouble?"
"Looks like yesterday with your eye, lass. I heard one of yours caused you some pain."
"It was just Ogri. Nothing that I can't handle, anyways."
"If you're sure," Basil spoke slowly, still not believing that she was completely innocent. "I'll let you be, now. Just try to keep it down in here, I'm training one of mine today."
She nodded hastily. "Will do. Good luck!"
The minute Basil waddled out of view, Ana bolted back to Kvinn's stall, once again flailing over the rail and into the pin, ignoring the gate right next to her. Looking around the stall, she found no prince.
"What in the world?"
"Over here, Miss Ana."
She spun around, almost tripping at the motion. Sitting on the opposite side of the wing sat the prince, perched on Ogri's rail as if nothing had happened. He was stroking his horse's head and grinning at her.
"How...how did you get over there so fast? And without Basil seeing?" She took a mental note to keep her voice down.
He shrugged at her. "It's a talent, I guess," his smile widened, eyes sparkling with mischief. "But I didn't fail to notice that you have a knack for getting yourself out of trouble. You're lying is a hidden gem of yours, Miss Ana."
"It's one that I don't like to use," she told him seriously. "But I won't deny that it comes in handy every once in a while, especially when I have troublesome prince hiding in my stable."
His eyebrows shot up. "Maybe if you would've told me what was going on I would have complied a bit easier, yeah? And you didn't have to kick me, either."
"Sorry, I thought I saw a rat."
"Not nice."
She walked over to where he was, leaning against the gate. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause any harm." She scanned him over and zoned in on his dirt soaked cloak, even more so now because of her doings. "If you don't mind my asking, when's the last time you had that washed?" She pointed to his cloak, not wanting to touch him again without consent.
"Oh, this old thing? Not for a couple of weeks, why?"
Her fingers twitched. "Nothing, really. It just...looks like it could use some attention."
"I'm surprised you're the first one who's noticed it. My uncle usually would, but now he – " He stopped sharply for a moment. "Well, he's not himself, right now," he eventually admitted with dulling eyes. He turned his attention almost completely to his horse.
She could tell he didn't want to speak more of the issue; and Ana was too much of a stranger and too much of a push over to inquire more. So, she put on a smile and braved past the uncomfortable air to ask him, "Would you like to me take it home? I could wash it for you."
To be honest with herself, she had no idea what his reaction was going to be. If anything, she expected a hesitant yes, but that was just a guess. What she didn't account for was a complete refusal.
"Oh, no. You don't have to do that," he told her quite quickly.
"Well, are you going to wash it? Because really, it needs to be."
"I didn't have plans to."
She sighed at him. "Do you know how?"
He gave her another threatless glare. "Of course I do. I'm just...not the best at it. And I don't have the patience for it."
"Then why won't you let me? I'm just offering."
"It's not your job, Ana. I can take care of myself."
She felt as though she was arguing with a child trying to be older than he really was. "I know you can. You're a prince, after all. Consider it a...friendly favor."
He still looked uncertain. So, she went even further. "How about this. If you let me wash your cloak, consider what happened yesterday settled. Not that it already wasn't, but you're set on repaying me in some way."
The prince shook his head. "No. I already was going to repay you with something else. And I think you have this switched around," he laughed, "I'm supposed to do something nice for you. Not the other way around."
"It'd make me feel better. Please?" Mahal, they were arguing about washing a cloak. That was downright ridiculous.
He sighed, and she knew it was in defeat. "Fine."
Ana couldn't help the triumphant smile from breaking out on her face. "Good," she told him. "Now it's settled."
"Not even close, Miss Ana," the prince said, hopping down from the rail. "I still have to repay you."
She shook her head. "No, you don't. It was an accident, K – " she stopped herself from using his name. It just felt...too casual. For right now, at least.
"Please, just listen." His face was pulled forward into another small pout. He was catching on to her weaknesses too quickly. He continued when she fell silent. "I know it must get boring, being cooped up in this place all day, day after day. Especially when you're so young. I even feel that way and I can run around the whole mountain. So, I was thinking that I could take you out to Dale for the day. It would be fun, I promise you."
She didn't know how to respond to that. At all. She'd only been to the human city twice before, and she never really cared for it. The hustle and bustle life was certainly not for her, and that was all Dale was. She didn't care for the humans, either; they intimidated her. Already a very small dwarf, she hated being compared to a small child when a human spoke about or to her. Thankfully, she went with her siblings each time and her brothers kept her and her sister safe, but it still made her uneasy thinking about those humans.
"Thank you for the offer, truly. And I would love to accept, but the fact of the matter is that I don't care for Dale. It rather...sets me on edge." She hoped he wouldn't take offense.
He didn't, but he also didn't give up. "You'd be with me, and possible even Fili, all day. Also with guards following us because they always do that when we go out to the city. You'll be absolutely safe."
"I'm not doubting my safety." I'm questioning your reputation. And mine. "But won't it be seen as...questionable when they see me with you?"
"I'm allowed to have friends, Miss Ana. And if you're truly that worried about what people think, we can put a bag over your head and smuggle you out of the mountain." It was only because of his twitching – ugh, she hated using that word again – mouth that she knew he wasn't serious. But it still made her eyes widen.
"I am no noble, Prince Kili. I can imagine what people would say about this journey together."
He groaned. "It's for one day. Others should not care who I spend it with. I will never be king, my life shouldn't be the gossip around the mountain."
"And I am a stable hand; the only people who should care about my life is my family, never the entirety of the dwarves of Erebor."
He still wouldn't give up. "How about this. We leave early in the morning. I'll tell my uncle and Fili why the trip is being made and only they will know. No one will see anything and we'll return after dark. Problem solved."
After dark. The words echoed in her head. She never like the night – the things that lurked in it frightened her too much. Trying not to seem too worried by this she answered, "I still do not think..."
Mahal curse his face. He was doing it again, giving her that look. And she hated him for it. It was absolutely ridiculous. Here was a dwarf prince her own age, pouting like a child so he could get his way in things. Had no one ever told him how to act like an adult?
Apparently not, because he deepened the look, and she groaned in defeat. "Fine, you win. I'll come along."
His face broke out into his signature grin, and he practically jumped out of joy. "You won't regret it, Miss Ana. I give you my word."
"Yes, yes, of course you do," she told him. "But don't forget that I'm washing that cloak before you get it even more filthy."
He nodded. "The cloak for the day?" She noticed that he stuck out his hand, asking for an agreement. Taking in a breath, she gripped his hand and squeezed. She ignored the little tingles that ignited in the tips of her fingers when he squeezed back.
"Deal," she complied. She had absolutely no idea how she was going to explain this one to her family.
Woohoo! Another chapter. Hope you all like it. Leave a review and tell me what you think! Also, I've been considering taking a beta for the story, I could always use input. Tell me your opinion!
GD