Beta; Anarithilen. Thank you as always for your patience and generosity.

Reviewers:

OCs:

Miriel: a young woman of Mirkwood. Legolas' contemporary

Theliel: a woman of Mirkwood. Laersul's contemporary.

Tauriel: PJ's OC

Laersul: Thranduil's oldest son - away in the South

Thalos: Thranduil's middle son. Recently returned from the East Bite

This is just a silly interlude really posted for Encairion's birthday.

Chapter 7: In the Halls of the Elvenking.

Voices reached them from a narrow corridor and two women appeared with trays of food and pitchers of water, for the elves were still good folk and the King had ordered they be given food. Bilbo quickly stuffed his ring on again and hid amongst a load of small casks and barrels stacked up outside the dungeons. Another woman followed them. In Rivendell, the women were all clad in long dresses and he could not imagine a single one of them carrying any sort of weapon, whereas here, everyone he saw was armed to the teeth. These women each had two knives crossed on their backs in a sort of elegant harness, which Bilbo could not help but notice accentuated their breasts. Certainly Fili and Kili, faces still pressed against the grill, noticed and were almost leering. He could see that they were nudging each other and jostling to be at the grille. Bilbo tutted and determinedly looked at the first woman's face, which was very lovely, but rather fierce.

'Wait while I open the door,' said the fierce woman to the other two elves. She fished in her pocket for a key while the other two looked on. Her hair was chestnut borwn, almost red and her tunic did not reach her feet but seemed useful, cut to open at the front and beneath she wore some sort of deep green hose and well made soft suede boots like the other warriors seemed to wear. One of the other women put down the tray and pushed her blonde hair out of her pretty face. All three women were dressed in a similar way; useful, practical;. Beautiful.

'Are they really dwarves of Erebor?' the third one asked as they waited. She tilted her head a little and her long very dark hair fell down her back. She wore a blue tunic and soft brown boots. 'Thalos said he thought they were more than just merchants.' She smiled at the first. 'Thalos is so handsome, don't you think, Tauriel?' They spoke in their own language but after a moment, Bilbo again found he could easily understand what they said although the dwarves would not.

'He is,' agree the fierce girl. She was Tauriel, Bilbo nodded, making sure he remembered. 'But he is our captain,' she continued,' and I could never think of him in that way, Theliel.'

The dark-haired girl grinned. 'I could.' That is Theliel, Bilbo thought.

''What about Legolas then?' the blonde girl asked teasingly of Tauriel. She threw a conspiratiroal glance at Theliel. 'He was trying to dance with you at the feast but you went off with Filion. Did you see his face? Crestfallen.'

'I don't know how you saw anything at all, Miriel,' said Theliel. 'Your face was plastered to Lossar's.'

But Tauriel, the fierce one, Bilbo reminded himself, looked anxious. 'I have done nothing to give Legolas reason to pursue me. I have not encouraged him.' She looked genuinely concerned and Bilbo found himself rather liking her for her kindness. She had taken a large key from a chain at her waist and fitted it to the lock of Dwalin's dungeon.

Bilbo chewed his lip; this was their chance. Three girls. Even armed they would never be so poorly guarded again...But he thought how much trouble they would be in should the dwarves escape under their watch and so he hesitated.

Dwalin did not.

The moment the key turned, he threw himself against the door and barged through, followed immediately by Balin and Ori.

It was brief and, for the dwarves, humiliating.

The three girls pulled the knives from from their harnesses. Not just pocket knives. Long handled knives which they wielded with deadly accuracy and so fast Bilbo did not even see it before each dwarf had a knife at his throat. They stood, hands up, eyes shifting and anxious. The trays were even placed carefully out of the way as if the girls had had all the time in the world and not a drop spilled.

'Do not move dwarf or I will cut your throat,' Tauriel said dangerously. Her Westron was accented, softened consonants gave her speech a lilt.

There was an audible sigh of admiration from Kili's dungeon and a muffled thump.

'Did you think we were just little girls you could overpower and escape?' Miriel said sweetly, a dangerous glint in her eye. She tossed back her long blonde hair. 'As if we would be sent with a key if we were not the Rondwen?'

The third girl, Theliel, laughed and Bilbo saw that she was in fact older, her long almost black hair gleamed in the torchlight and but her dark eyes held the light of the stars and he thought she was beautiful. There was wisdom in her eyes and she regarded Dwalin, whom she held, with amusement. 'Back in the cupboard, dwarf,' she nudged him with her foot. 'We will still feed you in spite of your bad manners.'

The three dwarves shuffled grudgingly into the cell and stood back while the blonde one. Miriel, placed bread, cheese, fruit and a pitcher of water in their cell. When Theliel closed the door with a heavy clang, she looked through the grille with a wry smile and raised eyebrow.

'You thought because we are women we have no strength. But this is the Wood. Here we all fight.'

'I think you need to come and subdue me,' Kili said, his eyes wide and ardent as Tauriel entered his cell and stood back for Theliel to place the same rations before him and Fili. 'You don't know what I might have in my trousers.'

'Not much,' Tauriel replied with a dismissive look. But Kili sighed and clutched his hand over his heart.

'More than I had before I saw you!'

The other two girls laughed and shook their heads. 'You have a smooth tongue for a dwarf,' Theliel said, her dark eyes bright with mirth.

'I certainly do,' Kili waggled his eyebrows leeringly and Fili shoved him out of the way and bowed low.

'So do I,' he said.

'You two want to watch yourselves, you're so sharp you might cut yourselves,' Theliel replied. She took a pitcher of water and set it down in their cell and Miriel placed the same food in their cell as she had in Dwalin's.

'I am already wounded!' Kili sighed and clutched at his heart in an exagerrated manner but his eyes lingered on Tauriel and she did not look away. Fili was grinning away at Miriel and then Theliel but both tossed their heads and laughed.

'Come,' Tauriel said, suddenly turning on her heel.' These dwarves 'These dwarves think they are going to persuade us somehow to give up the key.' She slammed the door shut and glared through the grill. 'With their irresistible charm.'

'The only key I want is the one to your heart.' This time it was Fili and there was a collective groan from the other dwarves and the girls rolled their eyes at each other, but they shared a smile too. It united them in a strange moment and Bilbo paused, watched. He thought that maybe if he could find Thorin, or they told the elves what their quest was, that perhaps they might actually help them. They were not so different.

The girls left then, but Tauriel looked back over her shoulder and she did not glare when her eyes caught Kili's.

0o0o

Listening to the dwarves tearing at their food hungrily made Bilbo realise how empty was his own stomach and although each dwarf pushed some food through the bars of their grilles to Bilbo, they could not get a pitcher of water through and so Bilbo said that he was going to explore and would come back later.

He began by following the passage the women had taken, thinking it might lead him to the kitchens. Soon he could smell baking bread and all manner of good things. Though he was a hobbit, he had not been eating like one for a very long time. Now his stomach growled most grumpily and he clutched his belly to try to still it.

The light coming from the kitchen was warm and golden, firelight and torchlight, for evening had fallen outside in the Wood. There was a happy sound of clattering plates and the slamming of oven doors and cupboards.

Bilbo's mouth watered and his tummy growled again. He clutched his hands over it again, hoping no one would hear.

There were two elves in the kitchen.

One was banging pots around in a loud and bad tempered manner and the other, much younger than the first, was seated on a wide bench at the long wooden table. His elbows were resting on the table and he was grinning brightly, his eyes merry and his handsome face bright with mischief. Bilbo thought he had seen the young elf at the feast, running past him and bursting into the glade. He had looked upset at the time. Now he was grinning mischeviously.

'...you are a rascal!' the older elf was saying but though he seemed bad tempered, Bilbo saw a slight smile pull the corners of his mouth. His sleeves were rolled up and he was pounding dough on the floured surface of the table. 'You'll be found out and in trouble if the King hears how you have been spoiling him. He was most insistent you did not see this one as a pet. It is lucky for you I am making my rabbit pie.'

'Legolas' favourite,' the younger said with a wicked gleam in his eye. 'He loves it more. Talks about it all the time in the Bite.'

Bilbo had no idea what the Bite was and did not realise that if he had only remembered the maps he loved, he would know that the Bite was the East Bite, a part of Mirkwood far in the South. He did not either how very dangerous it was and that the younger elf and his friend had just returned from a long stint defending it from the Shadow.

The cook slammed a rolling pin down on the pastry in an alarming way and pressed it into a thick crust. Then he flipped it expertly over the top of an unappetising grey meat paste that poor Bilbo would have eaten raw. 'Well this one is for him then,' said the cook generously.

Suddenly there was a flurry of noise and doors banging, footsteps and loud voices calling, singing. Other elves bustled into the kitchen, aprons were flapped and cupboards thrown open, plates and bowls were banged on tables.

'Galion! What are you doing in the kitchen?' a tall elf demanded. He cast a quick look over his shoulder. 'If Úroch finds you in here he won't be happy. Are you making rabbit pie?'

'Someone has to make sure the King and his sons have proper food in their bellies,' Galion said defiantly, slamming pastry onto the table for emphasis. Bilbo, who enjoyed baking, winced at how heavy-handed he was, and especially for an elf! That pastry was going to be hard.

'Good thing they are not swimming in the river then with that in their bellies!' said the tall elf. 'They'd sink like a stone.'

'It'll break their teeth though,' laughed a second elf. He had dark hair tied back into a single braid as did most of the cooks, and bright green eyes.

At that the young elf who had been with Galion stood up, and retorted quickly. 'I'll break your teeth, Malchir, if you talk like that again to Galion!'

At that, some of the other elves paused to glance at them but most merely smiled and carried on with their work. Vegatables were brought out from a storeroom and water pumped into basins and sinks. Baking trays and bowls and huge saucepans carried by slender girls and plonked on the huge range on one side of the kitchen.

Malchir, who was the dark-haired elf with the braid, laughed and held up his hands appeasingly.

Galion grinned wolfishly and said, 'Now Anglach, I appreciate your concern but I am quite capable of breaking this one's teeth on my own.'

'Just give him your pie!' the tall elf said and there was a smatter of laughter, but it was not unkind and most of the elves did not stop what they were doing. Anglach stood up again, his face angry but Galion patted him kindly on the arm and looked indulgently at the kitchen elves.

'I know it is hard for you that the King prefers my rabbit pie to any of your delicacies and dainty treats but there you are,' he declared loudly enough for them all to hear above the noise of the kitchen. 'Hearty wholesome food. And Laersul will be home soon and all the family be together. You have the Feast of Starlight to look forward to so I will forgive you your jealous jibes. ' He bowed courteously at first the dark elf and then the tall one, 'Malchir. Damroch.'

'Peace then, Galion,' Damroch, the tall elf, said. 'Here. Let me put it in the over for you.'

He took the pie dish from Galion and spun the dish lightly on his hand, studying it appraisingly. Then he turned towards the huge hearth and stepped carefully past the fire pit. There was a small iron door in the wall of the chimney and when Damroch opened the door, Bilbo saw that it was a large bread oven set into the chimney, the chamber glowing red-gold and it was filled with fresh rising loaves, golden crusted pies and tarts, crumbles and pastries, and all manner of good things were spread out within.

Damroch carefully placed the pie dish amongst the good things within and then turned, wiping his hands on his apron and smiling. 'I will make sure that your pie is served at the top table, Galion and no other.' He grinned at Anglach. 'Then you can be sure that Anglach and Legolas get their favourite. Although I think we had best make sure the King has some of these other dishes; you are not the only one who wishes to cook for the King. But Anglach, we will make sure you have as much rabbit pie as you can eat.'

There was another smatter of light laughter and some of the women glanced sympathetically at Anglach.

Anglach was too busy glaring at Malchir to notice. He folded his arms aggressively. 'Good. Make sure you do,' he said.

'Oh, I will,' replied Malchir, clearly enjoying himself. He stood in a mirror pose to Anglach, folding his arms over his chest and leaning back slightly on his heels.

'Good.' Anglach repeated. He pressed his lips together. 'Although it is Legolas' favourite and we must make sure he has enough,' he added as an afterthought.

'Oh, there is half a pie each!' declared Damroch. He turned innocently to one of the girls hovering behind and laughing shyly. 'Lhachwen, make sure that Anglach has half this pie and that Legolas has the other. Oh, and the King has a little too,' he added. 'But the King has said he wanted roast boar tonight with cranberries and roasted roots, turnip mashed with cream and butter and flavoured with a little parsley, those venison pastries you like so much, Anglach, and then caramelised shallots. There are all the usual roasted potatoes and fresh peas, beans and carrots of course.' He grinned widely. 'Once you have eaten the pie we will bring anything else you want but I think half a whole pie will probably keep you busy most of the time.'

'Thank you.' Anglach bared his teeth. Bilbo's tummy growled again, this time quite loudly although none of the elves looked around for there was quite a lot of noise in the kitchen.

'And if there's any left,' Malchir said, 'that dwarf of yours can have it.'

Dwarves, thought Bilbo pedantically. There are thirteen of them. ..No, he thought sadly. Twelve. For Thorin's whereabouts was still unknown and he hoped that Thorin had not been eaten by the spiders. And then he had a thought. Perhaps Thorin was here too?

0o0o