Chapter Five:

The dwarves moving about smiled and greet Ark as she passed, one dwarven woman commenting how nice the blue of her outfit looked against she skin. The Fae smiled and thanked her and continued moving among the dwarves in her mountain. The past couple of months, Ark had begun to ease her way into the dwarves' lives again, but as a Fae, attire and all. At first, it caused quite a bit of commotion, her attire, that it was too scandalous.

But, Kili had easily adjusted to it when she had explained it was usual Fae attire, especially since she was fairly proud of her coloring, and as their prince had no issue with it and was quite often seen with her, the upset had died down slowly but surely, and now it was just a normal thing, no one said a thing about how much more skin she showed compared to dwarves.

Ark moved as fast as she could, trying not to bump into anyone as she made her way to the main gates. She'd been in the market place when a dwarfling had run up and told her that a guard had seen a hobbit approaching Erebor. That'd caught her attention quickly, not knowing of any other Hobbit willing to travel this far, it had to be Bilbo. And she missed the fellow, the few days she had spent getting to know him, he'd been quite lovely.

Just as the Fae reached the entrance hall, she spotted her two favorite dwarves brothers, and a particularly pointy haired dwarf, talking to not only Bilbo, but a very small little hobbit in his arms. It was quite precious, really. Just as they turned, Ark ran over and hugged the hobbit excitedly, pulling away after a moment as not to squish the tiny child in his arms and greeting him herself, "I'm glad you've returned. It's quite difficult being the only non-dwarf among dwarves. And who is this adorable little hobbit?"

The small child was staring at her, his blue eyes wide. She wasn't sure whether she had frightened him or he was curious, and smiled at him as he asked, "Are you the Fae Uncle Bilbo told me about?"

Smiling brightly, she scooped the small boy up from Bilbo's arms and propped him on her hip, replying, "Well, I certainly hope I am. I quite like to think I'm the only Fae your uncle Bilbo has met. He was the only Hobbit I'd met. Course, now I've met you. I'm Aerchkaleya, but since we're friends, you can call me Ark. And what's your name, sweetheart?"

The small hobbit giggled, his messy black curls falling into his face before he pushed them away and told her, "I'm Frodo. My friends just call me Frodo." Someone cleared their throat and Ark turned, looking at Fili, Kili, Nori, and Bilbo. The latter was turning red most like everyone when they first saw her in her new wardrobe. Ark, of course, paid no mind to it and walked over to them.

Fili grinned while Ark allowed Frodo to curl up in his uncle's arms and suggested, "Why don't you come with us to show our hobbits their new rooms? I think they'd be quite agreeable to a warm bath and dry clothes."

Ark agreed and allowed Frodo back into his uncle's arms and the group began moving towards the royal wing, though Bilbo wasn't aware of that yet. Kili fell back slightly with Ark and bumped her shoulder, mentioning, "You're quite good with children of all kinds apparently. Frodo was scared of us for a bit."

She chuckled and rolled her eyes, retorting, "I lived through seven generations of nieces and nephews, I had to be." Aerchkaleya wouldn't admit it, but she had always been a tad jealous of her sister and her family, having kids. She always had loved children. But back then she hadn't found her One, there was no chance of it. But she had her One now, and that was all that mattered.

It made her chuckle to herself as they walked through Erebor and the brothers kept Frodo occupied, thinking of him. Kili spent nearly a month trying to breach the topic of it. He had apparently read up on Fae, and of course read about Fae's and their One's. It had been quite adorable actually, the prince attempting to bring the matter up without insulting her and trying to not insinuate he was asking for purely selfish reasons.

Quite honestly, she had wondered how he hadn't picked that up from being able to walk across the bridge without her holding onto him for the month. After all, he had read about the light bridges, and knew if he could't see it, he shouldn't have been able to walk across it without her touch as permission. Though, his nerves about the matter might have been it. Unfortunately, he'd also been trying to adhere to his own cultural traditions and rules at the same time, making him even more awkward about it.

But, he had finally managed it, of course it was him blurting it out after almost two minutes worth of him stumbling over words, attempting to make a coherent and polite question. She felt bad about it slightly. Kili had been trying so hard not to offend her, especially after her past outburst about not being a dwarf, and having read about it, she was sure he had assumed that she'd already had her One.

"What about your One?" Instantly, as the words tumbled from his mouth, the younger prince was turning redder than the first time he'd seen her dressed normally. He'd never had to ask anyone that before, anytime a dwarf began courting or was married, they had braids to answer any question. But, the Fae didn't wear braids, and he'd just asked ten minutes ago and learned that. Trying to salvage any friendship he could, Kili tried to apologize, "Sorry, that was- I shouldn't have- It was rude of me to pry!"

His face heated up significantly, and the brunette girl smiled and slid off the protruding emerald she had been perched on, landing gracefully and reassured him, "Kili, it's alright. It wasn't rude at all. And I did tell you that you could ask me anything." Aerchkaleya moved over and sat beside him on the lounge, taking his hand in hers. Kili's eyes focused on that, slightly confused when he heard her finally answer him, "My One isn't a Fae, he's a dwarf, of the line of Durin. He's handsome, brave, and smart, though I'm not sure he knows that yet." Kili felt her heart sinking as she spoke, thinking that she was talking about his brother.

Just his luck, the one time he truly considers pursuing a girl, her One is his- "He's an archer." Kili's head shot up as he looked at her. Ark's pale blue eyes were focused on him, like she was waiting on something. The prince swallowed, knowing that his brother wasn't an archer. So, Thorin? His uncle was actually fairly decent with a bow and arrow. The Fae sighed and finally told him, "It's you Kili, you great dope."

"M-me?" He was shocked. Kili had been really hoping that maybe he could win her over, then he had learned about the Fae only having One. He had honestly just been prepared for his heart to be broken, not be told that for the first time in his life, a girl was interested in him.

Ark smiled kindly and told him, "I knew the moment I saw you. But, it just took you a tad longer, nothing wrong with that." The grin that broke over his face made her smile widen as well. Ark was just glad she had him now, and he was finally the one to get the girl.

Authors Note: Sorry this took so long guys! I had a bunch of chapters ready for all of you, but Evernote lost them all I don't know how or why and I was crushed, trust me. But here's chapter five, let me know what you think.

It'd be really awesome if I could get five reviews before I get the next chapter up too~ reviews feed mah soul~