Author's Note: LalaithElerrina, thank you so much for your sweet reviews! I'm so glad you've been enjoying the story. And I agree! Beorn is the best dad ever. I hope you enjoy Cub and Fili's first meeting!
Fili ventured out into the quiet yard. Dawn had broken across the eastern sky, the larks and thrushes beckoning in the new day as they flickered across the wood. Throwing the sides of his coat aside, he hitched his thumbs in his belt casually. The area was deserted except for Beorn's sheep that were venturing towards the pastures beyond the lodges to graze for the day.
Perhaps the delirium of the past few days had been playing tricks on his mind.
Deciding to take one last look to make sure, Fili followed the lowing herd of shaggy animals out towards the broad meadow before the oak forest. A sun shower abruptly broke the peace of the morning as he surveyed the pasture. A few errant raindrops caught the sunlight as they scattered across the few fat hives. The large bees danced in the tall grass. Unlike the few others in the party, Fili had never been wary of honey bees. He strode across the pasture, curious to see how Beorn had constructed the hives.
He blinked and paused in his tracks.
Through the bright sunlight and misty raindrops, a girl popped up from the high grass where she had been crouching. Fili stood stock still. He felt as though he had come upon a doe or vixen and the slightest movement would send her disappearing into the ancient wood. He studied her, her back half turned towards him. She held a hare in one arm. A bee flitted between the fingers of her other uplifted hand. A smile played at her mouth.
She lifted the tip of her slightly upturned nose into the air as she caught a scent in the air. Fili suddenly realized that he was standing upwind. The nymph had sensed him like a hart in the forest. The girl turned her eyes toward the lodge where he stood.
Her eyes widened as she studied him in the broad light. He lifted his hands and nodded tentatively, barely risking to breathe. Fili dared take a step forward, not breaking eye contact with her. She slowly turned her body towards him.
Fili took her in as he approached gingerly. Messy curls of red gold hair fell to her shoulders and bordered her forehead in a rough bang. She wore a strange tunic of the same ruddy material as the one Beorn possessed with the sleeves cut off to reveal thin, sun browned arms. At her waist was a thick, cloth belt from which hung two different hunting knives. Her full lips parted slightly, revealing prominent front teeth. He guessed she was human.
She looked poised to race away but something seemed to hold her there as she watched him draw closer. Her eyes were as inquisitive as those of a child.
"Hullo…" He spoke gently, "What are you then?"
He stopped a few feet away. The grey hare in her arms squirmed. She let it loose to the ground, her eyes never leaving him as she did. He held as his breath once more as she walked towards him through the tall grass, the bees lazily drifting around her head in the morning light. Fili was surprised as she stopped within arm's length of him. She would not be considered beautiful in the society of men, but her countenance held a wildly intriguing element of its own. She was ethereal, as though she had lived her whole life under a spell.
"Beorn calls me Cub." She spoke quietly, her wide grey green eyes taking in the whole frame of him, "What are you?"
"Fili," He replied.
"A Fili?" She repeated, smirking slightly.
"Fili is my name." He replied patiently, "I am a dwarf."
A strange look passed over her face as he spoke those words. Her eyes grew distant and her mouth pursed into a line. She reached out. He didn't move as she took the ends of one of his braids in her fingers, looking at the intricately designed metal clasp that held it.
"Dwarf." She whispered.
A loud bellow broke across the pasture, causing the birds in the trees to scatter and the sheep to race out of the way. Beorn came marching across the pasture, his giant arms stiff at his sides and hands clasped into fists.
"Cub!" He roared, approaching them where they stood.
Fili felt his pulse quicken as he swiftly pulled away from the girl's touch. Though Beorn seemed to be calling the girl, his deadly gaze was fixed on him. Fili held out his hands as though to protest his innocence.
"There is breakfast readied at the lodge, master dwarf." Beorn growled as he came closer.
Beorn protectively took his place between Fili and Cub, towering over the dwarf and glaring down at him. Fili backed away slowly, bowing his head in submission.
"I thank you, good sir." He groveled, praying the second skin simmering beneath the giant's human one would remain out of sight, "At your service."
Beorn kept his eyes on Fili as he retreated. Fili never turned his back on the skin changer until he was a good distance away. Before he did, Fili glanced up once more to see the girl named Cub peeking at him from behind Beorn, studying him with her entrancing doe eyes.
I watched the stranger leave the pasture from behind Beorn's wide girth. My heart beat hard, blood pounding in my ears. I blinked, the memory of a time ago retreating as quickly as it had come like the earlier sun shower. A dwarf. The word held so much and still meant so little to me. I was loathe to let him out of my sight as the memory went with him.
However, I could sense the displeasure radiating off of Beorn. Even the bees had hid in their hives.
"Cub, what was he doing here?" Beorn demanded turning towards me.
I looked up into his face, "He followed me."
Beorn grimaced, "Don't be fraternizing with these guests unless I'm present. Dwarves are not my favorite of creatures."
"What is wrong with them?"
"Greedy, grasping beasts that dig into mountains deeper than they should." Beorn growled.
"He reminded me of something."
Beorn paused, his expression changing as I spoke, "A memory?"
"Yes," My eyes trained themselves on the horizon as I struggled to conjure the recollection, "A dwarf."
Beorn shifted his weight and laid a hand on my shoulder, "Still the same, Cub. Keep your wits about you best you can. You know nothing of the outside world. It would be best if you saw as little as possible of these travelers that you could."
"May I come to breakfast at the lodge?"
Beorn grimaced, "I suppose. But remember what I said."
I nodded, patting his hand with a smile, "I will."
Beorn's face broke into a rare smile, "Dear one, I only fear for your well-being."
"I know, Beorn."