Chapter 7 - Boredom

With Tauriel lacking energy, and Kili fainted, they would not go far. So the Ent lifted them both gently in its bark hands, along with the fruit, and took them back home. Kili woke up a few minutes later...

"I had the weirdest dream; We could not find fruit and you were ill, I climbed a tree to get some. Then I fell and this tree giant caught me. It was enormous, Tauriel. Its eyes stared at me." whispered Kili, impressed.
"Actually, that was not a dream. The tree giant is an Ent. It is friendly! It brought us back home. And there is more of them." Said Tauriel smiling.

Kili rose up from the floor a bit numb. He opened one of the windows to breathe some fresh air, when an avalanche of apricots, pears, apples and pomegranate pushed him back. They crowded half of the room he was at.

"What the... " He was quickly interrupted by Tauriel, "Oh yes, I forgot to tell you; The Ents made sure we will be well fed. So they replenished us with fruit."
Kili was dumbfounded. "Right" is all he could say while still looking at his crowded surroundings.

The boards were aligned on a tabletop in Aulë's workshop, probably for maintenance. Manwë removed the respective domes of each, including Yavanna's project, sprinkling them with ice glitters, and blowing gently all over each board to make sure the glitters would disperse evenly. As Lord of winds, air and clouds, he was responsible for the coming winter. Manwë then replaced the domes to each board and turned to Ilúvatar...

"It is done." Manwë said.
"Yes, it is done." responded Ilúvatar.

They headed out of the workshop for the day...

There was not much that could be done outdoors; the river was frozen, the trees had no leaves, and the cold would chill their very bones. Not even a single bird would sing for them. The only sound was the paces of Ents all over the place. Occasionally a noise of piled up branches would be heard atop of their cabin roof, as the Ents would help keep them warm. The indoors were so boring... Tauriel found a way to entertain herself, by braiding and weaving cotton threads, twigs and old roots to make themselves coats. Kili, on the other hand, decided to collect the pits of every fruit they ate for no particular purpose other than mere boredom. He would classify them by size order, making a line of them along the table.

The cabin was equipped with a stone fireplace, as part of the man-made materials Yavanna added for them. Tauriel finished altering her gown to add the cotton threads to it, and would soon finish the throw she was making for Kili. She smiled while trying hers on. Kili turned to look at his beloved. His lips curled into a mischievous smile as he gazed at her with love. He contemplated her from afar, with a better idea in mind; He abandoned his organization of pits to approach her. Kili embraced her from behind while she was siting, trying to finish weaving his throw. He slid his hand under her gown to brush her nether region gently with his fingers while kissing her neck with desire...

"Let me feel your warmth" He moaned to her ear with need of her.
"Please not now. I don't feel well" She responded softly.
"Come on, I promise to be gentle..." He said, sucking her earlobe with desire.
"Kili, no! At least not this day, melleth nin!" She said with determination.
"Very well!" He let go of her, totally upset with her refusal.

So he grabbed his spear and a random fruit from the pile, and returned to the table to discharge his frustration on it. The fruit he randomly picked was not soft at all. In fact, it seemed like wooden. He could not open it easily, so he decided to grab the spear with both hands, rubbing it between his palms. He used all of his concentration in trying to open the strange fruit as he believed he could drill through it with his spear. The longer it took, the bigger his frustration was. Tauriel was almost finishing the throw she made for Kili, when the scent of smoke filled her nostrils.

"Kili, what are you doing?" She asked demandingly.
"What does it look like? I'm trying to open this fruit, but it is very stubborn" he responded with frustration.
"Melleth nin, that's a pine cone." She responded softly.
"Oh I knew that! I'm almost there!" He said, not wanting to admit he didn't know. But he did not stop drilling through it.
"Kili, I think you should stop. Whatever it is you are doing is filling the house with smoke." She said, coughing, but he did not listen, stubborn as a mule and determined.
"KILI?!" She yelled at him.
"What now?!" he said, interrupting his foolish entertainment to glare at her, when the pine cone was set on fire. With a loud yelp, he let go of it.

As an impulse, Tauriel yanked the spear from Kili's hands and hit the pine cone in flames with it. It fell into the stone fireplace, as the smoke rose through it. They looked at each other with astonishment and back into the flames. The cabin felt warm immediately. Kili then discovered a smart way to entertain himself, and it was collecting as many pine cones as he could find from the pile. He learned that day how to make fire.

To be continued...