The mother of that awful boy was called Dis and that awful boy was called Kili. Unfortunately, Thondi and Dis had decided that Ovila and Kili needed to apologise for the very public, very embarrassing, very naughty brawl they'd been involved in and the children were furious about it. Ovila refused to speak to Thondi and Thondi was absolutely livid about her daughter's behaviour. She glared at the back of the child's head as she wrenched a brush through the girl's blonde hair and Ovila stubbornly refused to flinch at the harsh tugs. She'd been forced into her nicest dress (the only one with stains, rips, or holes) and her hair was being roughly twisted into a neat, braided bun on the back of her head.
Calim and Chalrim had taken great delight in teasing Ovila about the bruise she sported on her cheek and Baltil wasn't entirely sure about how to deal with the situation. He was disappointed in his daughter for instigating a fight (she hadn't denied that she'd hit him first, in fact she seemed rather proud of that) and, yet, he was proud that his little girl could hold her own. He thought it best not to voice that opinion in front of his wife, though, and dutifully didn't take his daughter's hopeful hand when they left the house. The boys went to the shop with sympathetic smiles shot at their sister and she stared after them enviously.
A few people turned to glance at the family as they made their way through the streets and Thondi's cheeks turned a light pink beneath the soft hair of her short, blonde beard. It wasn't as though Ovila could hit just any Dwarfling, oh no, it had to be the nephew of Thorin Oakenshield and it had to create such a stir. Baltil didn't seem to mind with a protective hand on Ovila's shoulder and the child kept her head held high with stubborn pride. Her cheeks did turn pink at the sneers that were directed at her parents, the slurs that weren't even whispered, and that was through anger more than anything else. She looked up at her father's kind face and then her mother's embarrassed one and, for the first time, felt a stirring of guilt. She hadn't meant to upset them, to cause her family shame, but that stupid boy had been so…stupid and he deserved to be punched.
"Just curtsey, apologise, and then we'll take our leave," Thondi was saying and Ovila was pulled from her thoughts as they stopped in front of a nice house and Baltil knocked on the door. "Understand?" snapped the Dwarf woman and Ovila scowled, but nodded. "And stop scowling," Thondi hissed as the door was opened and the blonde boy was stood on the other side.
"You're the girl that hit Kili," he stated and Ovila glared at him, but he just grinned back and she snorted. "Mama! Uncle Thorin!" he yelled and his grin grew at the slight flash of worry that shot through Ovila's eyes. "You can come in," he added and stood aside to let the three inside.
"Fili, did you offer to take their cloaks?" Dis asked, striding down the hall towards them, and Fili immediately asked if he could take their cloaks. Thondi and Baltil had to smile at the Dwarfling, so earnest and eager to please, and they obligingly gave him their cloaks to hang up. "I'm sorry we had to meet again under such circumstances," Dis added to Thondi and Thondi just smiled slightly.
"As am I," she answered and laid a hand on Baltil's arm. "This is my husband Baltil," she added and Dis smiled politely at him.
"A pleasure to meet you," Dis said warmly and quickly helped Fili hang the last of the cloaks before he brought the whole stand down on himself. "My brother and Kili are waiting in the kitchen," Dis stated and led everyone down the shiny, wooden corridor.
It was a nice house, Ovila thought, with gleaming wooden floorboards, straight stone walls, and all sorts of ornaments and baubles. Most of the nice vases and statues her house had once had had been broken long ago in her misadventures and Thondi had given up in buying them in the end. It was a pity such a horrible boy had to live in such a nice house and she glared at that horrible boy when she saw him. He glared right back at her, his nose a mottled purple and black from the nasty bruise she'd given him, and his lip was split. She had to bite her lip to stop herself grinning proudly, because she very much doubted that anyone would appreciate that. The hint of a grin vanished, though, at the strong, proud, stern Dwarf man stood behind Kili and his grey eyes swept icily over her. She felt like a little bug when he looked at her and she wanted to squirm at the piercing glare, but she was far too proud to do such a thing and especially in front of him.
"Ovila," Thondi urged and Ovila kept her lips firmly pressed together.
"Kili," Dis warned and Kili folded his arms over his chest.
"Come on, firecracker," Baltil sighed and Ovila glanced up at him.
A heavy sigh escaped her and she swung her gaze to the ground. "I'm sorry," she bit out and glance up to see a smug smile curving Kili's lips. "That you hit like a sissy little girl," she added and his smile vanished as her smirk formed and Thondi slapped a hand to her forehead.
"I do not!" Kili shouted and Ovila just snorted. "You hit like a sissy little girl because you are a girl!"
"Tell that to your stupid nose!"
"Your nose is stupid!"
"No you're stupid!"
"You haven't got a beard!"
"Neither have you!"
"I just went easy on you because you're a girl!"
"Liar!"
"ENOUGH!" the dark haired, intimidating Dwarf man bellowed and the two children silenced. "Unless you mean an apology, it is worth nothing and neither of you are sorry for your appalling behaviour," he snapped and Ovila just glared at Kili, who glared right back at her.
"Kili, you aren't allowed your bow or your arrows for two weeks," Dis stated sharply and Kili stared at his mother in utter horror. "Fili, I trust that you will keep your little brother in line if I or Thorin aren't around," she added to her eldest son and he nodded, though he did flash his little brother an apologetic glance.
"Ovila, unless you can apologise nicely, you'll be confined to your room for two weeks," Baltil said firmly and Ovila scowled, but stayed silent. "I mean it," he added, giving her one last chance, and she stared at him. She wanted him to understand that she wanted to, but she just couldn't, because that would mean that Kili won and he was the one that'd started everything. "Very well, you will be confined to your room for two weeks and you will only be allowed out to use the bathroom."
"But, Papa-!"
"No, Ovila, you can't behave like this," Baltil interrupted and betrayed hazel eyes stared at him. "I'm very disappointed in you," he said quietly and, for the first time in a long time, tears filled his daughter's eyes, but she just bowed her head and still refused to apologise. "I am extremely sorry for my daughter's behaviour; I had thought she was a better person than this," he added to Dis and Thorin and Ovila flinched slightly, but kept her mouth shut. "I'm sorry we wasted your time, but we should be taking our leave now."
With that, Baltil led his wife and daughter from the house and Ovila waited until Thondi shut her in her room before she let the bitter tears roll down her cheeks. She muffled her sobs in her pillow and couldn't stand the memory of her father's sad voice and disappointed expression. He'd always been the one to laugh at her exploits, ruffle her hair, tell her she was a little firecracker, and now he wasn't even angry with her. She could deal with anger - she just shouted louder - but disappointment was a whole new kettle of fish that she didn't know how to cope with. Perhaps she should've apologised, but Kili wouldn't have meant it either and he'd started it all by making those stupid comments and just being an idiot. It wasn't her fault she hit harder than he did.
The enmity between Ovila and Kili became legendary and, over the years, the two got into more fights than they could keep track of. They found it best to avoid one another whenever possible, because just the sight of his stupid, smug, smiling face made her want to hit him. Fili loved it and always laughed whenever his little brother got into a scrap with the Dwarf girl that despised him so. She was usually found in her father's shop or doing chores with her mother and he was usually found in the training grounds, so it was easy enough to avoid each other. They could go months without seeing each other and then they'd run across one another and, more than likely, it'd all explode. They'd been pulled apart by her brothers, his brother, their mothers, her father, his uncle, his uncle's friends, and even by random passer bys in the past. Thondi and Dis had become friends with the amount of times they'd met up to deal with their brawling children and Baltil usually just gave the family free food as an apology in advance for whatever Ovila did.
On the day we now learn of, the weather was cold, the wind biting at the exposed skin of those outside, and Ovila was one of those. She was wrapped up warmly, face mostly hidden by a thick, dark green, woollen hood, and she strode through the streets with purpose. Strands of blonde hair fluttered free from the hood, but those were ignored as the female Dwarf slipped from the city and made her way towards the forest. No one glanced twice at her, as her gender was indistinguishable with how thick and baggy her clothing was and she was left to enter the forest with no trouble. A slight smirk tugged one corner of her lips upwards as the familiar thrill shivered through her and she moved quickly and confidently. She only had one or two hours before her mother would start asking questions and Thondi was already getting suspicious over how Ovila was spending her time. She was supposed to be apprenticing with a seamstress, but, after the disastrous first meeting, she hadn't gone back and had spent the past three months practicing in the woods.
A small laugh escaped Ovila at the thought of how furious Thondi would be if she knew what Ovila was up to and the twenty-one-year-old made her way to a familiar clearing. She dug out the equipment she'd hidden in the bases of hollow trees and set up the targets quickly. All of them had quite a lot of damage from her previous practice time and she drew her roughly made bow and quiver of arrows. She'd copied Calim's design after watching him making a new bow six months ago and had nearly taken her hand off. Thondi had gone mad when she'd found Ovila attempting to wrap a gushing wound without letting anyone find out and Ovila hadn't been able to use her hand for three weeks. The memory made her wince and flex her scarred hand, but she shook her head and she turned to the targets. The bow was familiar in her hands, the wood a little rougher than it should be, and the arrows were stolen from Calim.
More often than not, the stolen arrows went flying into the woods, no matter how carefully Ovila aimed, and she glared in frustration. If stupid Kili could fire a stupid arrow into a stupid bulls-eye, then so could she. Still, patience had never been one of her strong suits and she very much doubted that she had any at all. She stomped into the forest to snatch up the lost arrows, because Calim would definitely get suspicious if too many disappeared, and gathered up as many as she could find. Making her own was a risk she didn't want to take, as her hand still ached sometimes, not that she'd ever admit that. If Thondi found out that her hand still hurt, she would never live down the lecture of 'if you hadn't been such a fool, then you wouldn't have hurt your hand and it wouldn't be aching now, would it?' and she hated her mother's lectures.
With a swift shake of her head, Ovila removed her mother's loud, echoing, stern voice from her head and desperately tried to ignore the mental image of her father's disappointed face. Lately, he'd been showing that expression more often when it came to his daughter's temper and misdoings. Gone were the fond smiles, hair ruffles, and soft chuckles and everyone was waiting for her to start acting…like a girl. She didn't want to be a seamstress, besides, she wasn't even any good at it and her stitches always came out crooked and her last creation had looked like an oversized boot when it was supposed to be a dress. No one listened to her, though, just insisted she try, but she did and she wasn't good at the things she was expected to be good at. Instead, she was good at…hitting people, namely Kili, and breaking things, namely Kili, but she could make a living of that, so she had to get good at archery.
"Deep breath in," Ovila instructed herself in a murmur as she put another arrow on her bow and pulled the string taut, eyes on the target. "And release," she stated and released the string too sharply with a jarring movement and sent the arrow sailing into the trees. "Durin's beard!" she swore and threw her bow onto the ground. "If that idiot can do it then so can I!" she shouted at herself and glared lividly at the axe beaten target. None of them, she realised, had arrow marks in the arm and it made her curse again with such vigour and colour her mother would stuff soap into her mouth if she ever heard. "Three months, three freaking months, and not one has hit the -" she stopped herself with a frustrated scream and kicked her roughly hewn bow across the clearing.
There was a sharp crack and Ovila winced. She risked a glance at the bow and saw it snapped in two at the base of a tree. It laid there forlornly, even causing a bit of guilt to pang in her heart, and she sighed heavily. She removed her borrowed axe from her waist, this one Chalrim's, and he was far more likely to notice it missing than Calim was. It was heavy in her small, calloused hands and the weight had taken some getting used to, but she could lift it easily now and found it familiar and almost comforting. Her swings were wild, though, untrained and sloppy and, in all likelihood, if she ever fought against a real enemy, she would die. She knew that and was frustrated by it, but she worked at controlling the swing of the axe and the precision in which she hit her shapeless targets. Her arm muscles needed building up in order to properly control her hits and, a very small part of her, admitted that she might need some help, but she also knew that no one would teach her.
Perhaps, Ovila asked as she clumsily spun the axe in her two hands, I could trick someone into showing me how to fight. It wasn't a thought she liked, as she was a forthright person and would rather be blunt and honest than dodge around things and lie to make a person feel better. She didn't want to lie and fool someone, as it went against the very core of who she was and, despite her temper and her impulsive behaviour, she never lied. To even consider it, just to get what she wanted, made her feel uncomfortable and she lowered her axe. Maybe she could ask Chalrim, because he'd always been far more understanding of her desire to know how to fight and how use weapons and often teased she should've been born a boy. Calim had always been sterner, as the eldest brother, though there were only sixteen minutes between him and Chalrim, and she knew that Chalrim also hated lying, especially to Calim and their parents.
A heavy sigh pushed past Ovila's lips and all desire to practice with her stolen axe vanished. She latched it to her belt, hiding it with her cloak, as she did with the arrows, and flipped her hood back up. The bounce had disappeared from her step and she entered Belegost with her head held low. She felt ashamed for hiding her dismissal from the seamstress, for stealing her brothers' hard earned weapons, for sneaking into the woods, and she steeled her courage. The only thing to do was own up and allow her parents and her brothers to bestow whatever punishment they deemed necessary on her head. She curled her hands into fists at the thought and made her way to her father's butcher's shop with quick, determined steps. Her mind was made up now and dillydallying was only going to delay the inevitable, so it was best to just get things over and done with.
"Ovila? What are you doing her, firecracker?" Baltil asked as his daughter strode into the shop and Calim and Chalrim looked up from dividing the latest slaughter. "You're supposed to be at old Greta's place," Baltil stated slowly and Ovila slid her hood back.
"Is Mama here?" Ovila asked and Baltil raised his eyebrows, but called for his wife and Thondi bustled in from the backroom where she'd been going over the items that Calim would need to deliver later. "Greta threw me out of the apprenticeship after I called her a withered old hag," Ovila stated bluntly and her brothers snorted with laughter, but hastily silenced at Thondi's livid expression. "On my first day," the girl added and Thondi's eyes darkened. "I stole some of Calim's arrows and took one of Chalrim's axes today and I've been trying to learn how to use a bow and the axe in the woods."
"You've been - what in the name - are you out of your mind?!" Thondi bellowed and Ovila just set the stolen axe and arrows on the counter.
"I'm sorry for deceiving you all for all this time and for stealing," Ovila stated and her brothers stared at her with shock obvious on their faces. "I want to know how to fight, though, I'm awful at sewing and embroidering, and it's not fair that I should have to keep doing something I'm awful at just because you tell me to."
"Ovila," Baltil sighed and ran a hand through his greying hair. He was certain that she, above all else, even the destruction of Erebor, had put the grey in his hair and Thondi glared at him. "It was very good and very brave of you to admit what you've done and own up, but you shouldn't have done this in the first place."
"I know, but I knew you'd never agree to let me learn, so I thought I'd teach myself and that didn't go very well either, so I started to think I could trick someone into teaching me and I realised what I was doing was wrong and were the deeds of a person I don't want to be," Ovila answered firmly and met her father's gaze. "I'm sorry, Papa, and I'll take whatever punishment you decide."
"Go home, Ovila, and we'll discuss this later," Baltil ordered quietly and Ovila nodded and left. "What are we going to do with that girl?"
"Lock her in the cellar?" Thondi grumbled and Baltil just smiled slightly at his wife.
Thanks to everyone that reviewed, followed, and added this story to their favourites, means so much! I originally wasn't going to include the apology scene, but it slammed into me and kept jumping on my head until I wrote it down, so I hope you enjoy.