Chapter 6
They both sat down at the shore of the lake. Kíli removed his boots and, after placing them aside, putted his feet in the water.
"Now, why don't you start telling me? I want to know what you did today." Fíli said.
"Well, first I went to town. There were a lot of people there. And the merchants had placed their wares outside, so I took a look around. After a while I spotted Bofur, so I went to talk with him. Eventually he asked me to help him at his shop, wich I did. When we were finished it was already around noun, so I grew hungry. Since I didn't take something to eat with me, he gave me some money to buy something. He also told me I had to share it with you. And that's how I get the food." Kíli told him.
"You shouldn't have taken the money." Fíli replied.
"I know." Kíli said, looking a bit ashamed. "But he didn't take no for an answer. Please, don't tell uncle. He will only scold at me."
"If you don't want uncle to know, then I won't tell. But why do you think he will scold you for this?" Fíli asked.
"Uncle always taught us not to accept any money without doing something for it in return."
"But you did something for it in return, Kíli. You helped Bofur, didn't you?"
Kíli nodded.
"And besides, uncle will notice anyway. There will most likely be some of the food remaining after we are done eating, for I brought my own food with me. And I don't think we will eat all that just with the two of us."
"oh…" Kíli muttered, looking a bit distressed.
"Don't worry, Brother. Uncle won't scold at you for this." Fíli said, softly patting his brothers shoulder. "Now why don't we go eat something in the shadow of the trees? For it is much to warm to do it here."
"Okay." Kíli said. Putting on his boots again, he took the food and followed his brother to the trees.
When they reached the trees, Fíli grabbed his bag. Sitting in the grass, Fíli opened his bag and started taking the bread, cheese and apples he brought out of it. As they wanted to start eating, Lóni and Náli walked over to them and picked up their own bags. Fíli looked up at them and smiled.
"Finally made it out of the water?" Fíli asked at them with a wide grin on his face.
"Yes. It became a bit boring with just the two of us", Lóni replied. "And who's that?"
"This is Kíli. He's my younger brother", Kíli said. "And they are Lóni and Náli."
"Hello." Kíli said a bit shyly.
Both Náli and Lóni nodded their heads at him.
"Last time I saw you two, you were having a lot of fun." Fíli said, still smiling.
Well, in the beginning we had. But, like I said, it soon became very boring." Lóni answered.
"You wanted to leave it because you couldn't win of me." Náli remarked.
Lóni glared at him.
"Couldn't win with what?" Kíli piped in.
"Wrestling." Náli said.
"Can I try? Maybe I can." Kíli replied.
Lóni and Náli looked at each other in surprise and then started laughing.
"Maybe when you grow a little and have a bit more muscles, pipsqueak." Náli said.
"Don't call him like that!" Fíli retorted.
Fíli's words weren't heard however, for Náli and Lóni had started laughing again.
"How old or you pipsqueak? Eleven?" Lóni asked, joining in with Náli.
"I'm… I'm thirteen." Kíli replied, stuttering.
"Oh, thirteen… You certainly don't look like it. You're so small." Lóni said.
"Well, we're going to see where Bódin is hanging around. See ya!" Náli said.
Fíli glared at them as they walked away, still laughing.
He looked at Kíli, who had clenched his fist. Fíli could clearly see the pained expression on his brother's face.
"Kíli, I'm sorry."
"They hate me…" Kíli said. Pulling up his knees, he wrapped his arms around them and buried his face in his arms.
Fíli sighed and sat closer to Kíli.
"No, they don't!" Fíli said while laying an arm around his brother's shoulders. "They always say things like that, certainly when they learn to know someone new. They did that with me too the first time we met."
Kíli didn't look at him. That made him realise how much those words had hurted him. He needed to talk with his friends about this later.
"Come on, let's eat and then we can go home. At this, Kíli slowly looked up and nodded. After they had eaten a bit, Fíli putted the remaining food in his bag. When he was done with this, he hung his bag on his back and motioned to Kíli to follow him. Walking over to the buckets, he picked up the lightest bucket and gave it to Kíli. He took it without saying anything. Fíli picked up the other one. It was then that Bódin, Náli and Lóni returned.
"Are you going already?" Bódin asked to Fíli.
"Yes. We're going home." Fíli replied coldly.
"Okay then. See you next time."
Fíli merely nodded and started walking, closely followed by Kíli.
They walked on the path back home without saying a word to each other. When they reached the house, Fíli pushed the door open and let Kíli go inside first. Walking in himself, he closed the door behind him. They walked in the kitchen and placed the buckets and Fíli's bag in a corner of the room. At that moment Dís walked into the kitchen.
"Hello, my boys." She said with a smile. "What have you been doing today?"
Not even taking the time to answer his mother's question, Kíli ran out of the kitchen and through the hallway until he reached his bedroom. Slamming the door shut he threw himself on his bed.
Dís looked confused at Fíli. All traces of the smile that had graced her face only a moment before, had disappeared.
"What happened?" She asked to her oldest son.
"My friends teased him a bit and he took that the wrong way." Fíli said.
"And how come that he's with you? I tought he was going to the town."
"He did. But he joined me at the lake in the afternoun. I guess he had done everything he wanted to do in town." Fíli replied.
"Oh, so that's why", Dís said.
Fíli nodded. They kept silent for a moment, until Fíli spoke again.
"I think I should talk to him."
"Maybe you better should." Dís said.
"I'm sorry, mom." Fíli softly said.
"What for?"
"I never ment for them to hurt Kíli."
"Oh, sweetheart. It's not your fault." Dís replied.
"It feels like it is." Fíli said, with a guilty look on his face.
"I'm sure you tried to stop them teasing your brother, didn't you?"
"Yes, mom", Fíli replied. "But still, he must be so angry with me now."
"I don't think he is. I'm sure he knows that this isn't your fault. So he's not going to blame you for what happened", she said with a reassuring smile. "Now go talk to him."
Fíli nodded once and left the room.
Fíli knocked on his brother's door. Getting no reaction from within the room, he slowly opened the door. Kíli was lying on his bed, facing away from the door. He walked towards the bed and sat down on the other side of it, a little bit away from Kíli. He knew his brother didn't like it much at times if someone came to close when he was upset.
"Kíli?" Fíli whispered.
He received no answer. Standing up from the bed, Fíli walked around it and looked at Kíli. His brother's eyes were closed. Fíli smiled a little as he realised Kíli was fast asleep. He carefully pulled the covers over his brother. Walking out of the room, he softly closed the door behind him.
When he returned in the kitchen, Dís had already started preparing dinner. Fíli seated himself on a chair at the table.
"You're back fast. Didn't he want to talk?" Dís asked, briefly looking to him over her shoulder.
"Kíli was asleep, so I left him alone."
"Oh, well then let him sleep. Maybe he will feel a bit better again at diner." Dís said.
"I hope so." Fíli muttered.
He stood up from the table again and walked to his room. He laid himself down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, brooding about what happened today.
So this was chapter 6. I really hope you guys liked it!
Many thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favored or followed Hunted! I really appreciate it!
Stay tuned for updates ;)
~Alicia~
Guest reviews:
To Shreeg: Yeah, it really was a sweet chapter. And I couldn't get it over my heart to let Fíli reject Kíli. And I think I will never be able to do that to Kíli, unless if I maybe push me to my limits. But we will see about that later, shall we?
Haha, no they never do stop making a mess out of everything. You only have to look at the place where they ate dinner in Rivendell. Food was lying around the entire place. Even sticking to some of the statues (certainly as Kíli throwes food right next to Lindir's face. Lindir's expression was such a great one after that).
That was really so good! First time I watched this scene I was trying to imagine the faces of Lindir, Elrond, Gandalf and other elves in the room, when that piece of food actually would've hit Lindir's face (I know, I'm cruel ;p). I also wondered how the dwarves would react at that. Probably they would congratulate Kíli and clap him on the shoulder. Okay, my imagination is taking a run with me again ;)
Thanks for reviewing and reading my story!
Alicia
To 101olive4u: Thanks, darling. I'm really glad you like it that much ;)
It indeed is. I like to look deeper into their relationship. Can't help myself :p
You're very welcome! I can only return the favor. So I hope you liked chapter 6.
Let me know what you think about it ;)
Alicia
:-*