The next few days were hectic to say the least; everyone was busy with the weddings plans. Fili pulled Frodo and Kili to shops with appropriate clothes for the event, Kili never had clothes like that, and Frodo also needed a new suit.
Slowly the event was approaching and because of the overfill of duties; everyone had to focus hard on everyday issues. Kili was feeling the first pressure of school, his teachers were giving him more difficult tasks, and he was determined not to let Fili nor Thorin down. Thorin was fixed for going to at least two weeks of honeymoon, so he had to set everything up with his business ventures. Bilbo on the other hand was getting stressed. The wedding was one issue, coming out with his sexuality another, but he also had a thought in the back of his head that he had to tell Thorin one more thing about him.
Fili had another problem, and he was determined to deal with it on his own. Just two weeks before the wedding a new transfer student came in. It was a beautiful blond girl from Norway called Svanhilda. She was a predator, and the moment she noticed all the girls' lust over Fili, she made it her goal to get him no matter what. His best friend was cute as well with his chocolate eyes and long brown hair, but the real prize was Fili handsome beyond measure, it didn't even bother her that he was a tad shorter than her. It wasn't like she was in love or anything, she just wanted to play, and gain respect of her new peers. And Fili had the target mark on his head. After several failed attempts at visually provoking him she became obsessed with the idea. Along with all the other girls she went to the martial arts training, only to see the beauty and sheer muscle power under those well chosen expensive clothes. Money was not an issue for her, but she could tell big money from afar. Her problem became his friend, always around him, and the little cute boy Frodo. She asked people about the relation of the three buy she got no definite answers.
"Hey! I'm new here!" She decided to go straight forward as she finally noticed him next to his locker, alone for a change.
"Hi." Fili was polite, but he did not encourage anything, before he could say or do anything her hand landed on his locker and she was much closer than he would like her to be.
"I was thinking, are you free on Friday night?" The girl gently trailed her long red fingernail alone the strong arm.
"I'm not free, and no I'm not interested." Fili was as cold as possible.
"Really?" She pouted skilfully. "I could use a friend, I'm so lonely, especially at night..." her voice became a whisper and her lips were too close for his liking. Kili appeared in the hallway but seeing them he stopped and rushed the other way.
"I'm really not interested." Fili ducked and went the way he saw Kili disappear. She just watched disappointed as he vanished into the men's room, not paying her even one glance.
Fili saw Kili wash his face in the men's room. Making sure they were alone he gently hugged him and pulled him into the closest stand.
"Who was that bitch?" Kili whispered as Fili was holding him tight giving him time to calm down.
"A bitch." Fili replied. "They just can't get it..." He nuzzled his brother's neck and kissed the joining of the shoulder bone and neck.
"I've really had enough of those girls..."Kili whispered back, feeling Fili's hands roam his body.
"Me too." Fili whispered and held Kili closer.
"Not here." Kili mumbled and Fili just nodded. "Go out first." And Kili composed himself and walked out of the bathroom.
The next training Kili was closely watching the girl, but she just smiled at him and tried to provoke him into reacting. She was so surprised both boys didn't respond to her flirting that she was starting to doubt her beauty and abilities. As the team was going to the changing room she followed the handsome brunette into the parking lot. She noticed him lean into a new SUV car, and he was clearly drawing something in a sketchbook.
"Hey! I'm Svanhilda!" She went forward and introduced herself.
He didn't even look up at her, he just continued drawing.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" She was so puzzled with the reaction she tried to get his attention again.
"I'm not talking to you." The boy answered in such a low whispered she almost missed it.
"What are you drawing?" She tried again; she wanted to look at the drawing out of curiously.
The boy didn't answer again, she decided to act, and she stepped much closer and took a look over his shoulder. To her surprise she saw herself, but not as the daring beauty she was, but as a witch on a pyre. Her face was unnaturally twisted and she was ablaze from the flames. Before she could even think about what she was doing she reached and ripped the page from under his fingers. That was the first time he looked up to face her. She saw two burning eyes; with so much anger and hatred she stopped breathing for a moment. "I'll tell the headmaster about this!" She was clearly very irritated and she ran off with the picture.
"What was that all about?" Fili asked seeing her run away.
"She just ripped my picture of her..." Kili was hesitant, which normally never happed ever since they got together.
"Was it a good picture?" Fili's voice was full of concern.
"A bad one." Kili mumbled.
"How bad?" Fili was really curious.
"I drew her as a witch..." Kili admitted. "And she said she's going to tell Gandalf about it."
"So what it's just a picture." Fili told him.
"She sounded very mad..." Kili noticed.
"Did you say anything bad to her?" Fili asked as they were sitting in the car waiting for Frodo to come from the library.
"I practically didn't talk with her at all." Kili added.
"Good, uncle will understand even if Gandalf calls him to come over." Fili told him gently and played with his fingers.
"I wouldn't be so sure about it..." Kili was still hesitant. Soon Frodo came over and they left for home.
Kili was right, the next day the girl caused a huge fuss in the headmaster's office. Her father was there clearly very irritated with the drawing, and he demanded that they person who draw it was punished. Gandalf at first glance knew it was one of Kili's works, so with a heavy heart he asked the boy into the neighbouring room to listen to his explanation, and he called Thorin to come over.
"I demand this boy be punished!" The tall blond man spoke with spitefulness in his voice. His daughter had told him a teary story about a boy rejected her and he drew a horrible picture of her.
"I've already called him over and his guardian as well." Gandalf was trying to calm the man down. Gandalf knew Kili enough to know something in this story was not right, but he couldn't deny he knew the one who drew the picture.
The teacher must have misunderstood his instruction, instead of bringing Kili to the next room she brought him into the main office, straight into the way of the enraged father. Gandalf told the boy to sit down, and had to focus on the man trying to attack the boy. Kili had him really worried, instead of looking up he just sat on a chair along the wall; he put his feet on the seat and hugged his legs tightly. Gandalf didn't even have the heart to scold him for sitting like that, he just called his assistant to get Fili and call Mr. Baggins.
Thorin came over within minutes, the man was clearly surprised such a known person joined them, he met Thorin only once before but he knew this was the highest league.
"Mr. Linde." Thorin greeted the man politely.
"Mr. Durin." The man replied confidently.
"Kili what happened?" He asked but the boy wasn't looking at him. Thorin's face became cross. The girl's father immediately saw his chance.
"Mr. Durin, this boy insulted my girl." The man started speaking, and he repeated all the things his daughter told him and showed the picture and complained about how no well behaved boy should make such insults and drawings, and that his daughter cried a lot because of it.
"Kili!" Thorin's voice was full of anger. "Is it all true?" His voice was cold as ice. Kili didn't look up to him, which puzzled Thorin. Instead of replying he started shaking, but at least he wasn't crying Thorin noticed. "Show me your sketchbook." He suddenly demanded. They boy reached to his bag without even looking at anyone in the room. He held the sketchbook in his hand and Thorin took it from him.
As Thorin was browsing the book, he immediately saw more pictures he didn't like, apart from normal pictures of friends, there were three more drawings of the girl and none of them were acceptable. He didn't show the book to the father of the girl, who was very interested, but he wasn't willing to give them more ammunition. "Talk to me." He demanded in a firm voice not really knowing what to do next. And to his terror he watched the boy close down even more.
"Could you call Fili to join us?" Thorin spoke to Gandalf very worried.
"Instead of calling more people, you must agree we have to punish the boy..." The man was demanding and firm.
"He should be here any minute now." Gandalf replied ignoring the man.
"Listen here boy! You can't hurt my daughter like that!" The man clearly had enough.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves; we still haven't heard his side of the story." Gandalf tried to defend the boy, but his voice was meek in comparison to the firm man.
Thorin gently approached Kili and put a hand on the boy's harm, but immediately the boy shivered under his touch so he took back his hand. He knew oversensitivity to touch was a symptom of an attack, so he gave the boy a bit more space. He was slowly realising that in this condition Kili would never answer any question, and a breakdown was just around the corner.
There was a knock on the door, and Fili confidently came in. He took in the scene in front of him, the girl with a smirk pretending to be shy, her father clearly very irritated, uncle Thorin clearly also very irritated and Gandalf on the verge of panic. But his real worry was sitting in a foetal position, hugging his legs tightly, shaking clearly under huge stress. Then he saw the book lying on the chair right next to Kili, and he reached for it. He suspected what he would see, more pictures of the girl and it was evident uncle saw them as well.
"Who is this?" The man demanded, his daughter had a panic look in her eyes, she wasn't expecting Fili to join them of all people.
"What do you want from Kili?" Fili's eyes were cold and firm and he was looking at the girl.
"What does she want? He's the one who insulted her and draw that horrid picture..." The man started speaking but Fili looked at him with so much strength that the man stopped mid sentence.
"I was asking Svanhilda what she wants from Kili." Fili repeated his request.
She pouted hearing him say it. "He must be punished for insulting me!" Her voice was firm.
"If you demand that, then I will also demand that you be punished for harassing me." Fili's voice was cold as ice.
"How dare you say something like that about my daughter!" The man clearly reached his limit. "My daughter is a good girl, and she would never harass a boy!" He started yelling and clearly he was very angry.
"Kili just made a drawing she accidentally saw." Fili summed up. "He never insulted her, because he never even talked to her!" Fili when angry looked more like Thorin than ever.
"How can you know that?" Gandalf asked gently.
"We talked about it yesterday." Fili told them. "She approached him after my training, and she ripped the drawing out of his sketchbook. He never talked to her, or never insulted her in any way."
"I have no idea who you think you are, but my daughter never lies and you better apologise to her immediately!" The man made a mistake of insulting Fili.
"If Fili says that's how it was that means that is what happened." Thorin's voice was ice cold.
"How dare you say my daughter harassed you?!" The man insulted the person in front of him directly. "That pervert drew her as a witch, and now another of your student's says my daughter harassed him! This school is a dump!" The man was going a bit overboard.
"I object." A calm voice from the doorway told the irritated man. "I suggest we leave the children out of this and sit down and talk calmly." Bilbo stepped in and approached the agitated man.
"Who are you?" The man asked surprised one more person would join them; his eyes were narrow and angry.
"I'm this boy's therapist and this man's fiancée." Bilbo spoke with confidence. "Fili will you please take Kili out of this room."
Fili gently sat next to Kili and gently touched his arm, only to feel the boy shiver. He looked up to Bilbo, and Bilbo nodded to him. Fili reached and pulled the boy into his arms, but Kili didn't stop shaking, it was more like the safe arms of his brother caused an ever bigger break down and Kili started crying and shaking violently. Fili made a decision swiftly; he pulled Kili into his arms and simply lifted him and took him out of the room. The assistant in the office just glare at him and showed him the empty next door office.
"Now please let's sit around the table. I would like to talk to your daughter." Bilbo was as calm as possible; he was a very talented psychologist so he knew how to manage this difficult situation.
"What's your name darling?" Bilbo asked gently.
"Svanhilda Linde." The girl replied hesitantly.
"Dear Svanhilda, you just transferred to this school?" Bilbo gently asked trying to ease the situation.
"Last week." She replied.
"So it's safe to say you don't know our boys well." Bilbo replied calmly.
"Yes." She admitted.
"You see the younger Kili is a very fragile boy." Bilbo spoke slowly. "I've been counselling Kili for a while now, and the breakdown you just saw is one of many symptoms of the syndrome he suffers from." Bilbo slowly explained.
"What does that have to do with all this?" The man asked surprised and not really willing to talk about the problems of the boy.
"You see, I'm sure he didn't insult your daughter." Bilbo was very confident. "If he really wanted to insult her, it would have been a very dramatic scene probably full of violence. And since no such thing happened, I dare say the boy was in control of himself. Drawing people who irritate him is his standard method of therapy. So the more he was irritated the more he drew."
"So you say he made the drawing for venting off stress and irritation, and not to insult the girl?" Gandalf made a conclusion.
"Did he show you the drawing, or did you take it from him violently?" Bilbo asked the girl gently.
"I took it..." She whispered feeling the intensive deep glare on her.
"Did he react violently to your ripping the drawing from the sketchbook?" Bilbo continued asking.
"No, he just looked at me." She admitted finally.
"You said he insulted you!" Her father was even more irritated this time at her.
"Let's just focus on the facts, shall we?" Bilbo was guiding the conversation. "Did any harm come to you darling Svanhilda?"
"Not really, just seeing the drawing hurt me a lot." She answered after a moment.
"I apologise in his name." Thorin told her. "As soon as he's able to talk to you, he'll try to explain it to you, but he never meant to insult you."
"Tell me dear Svanhilda; you probably don't have any friends here yet?" Bilbo's voice was full of warmth and comfort.
"It's her second week here." Her father answered.
"So you approached Fili trying to make some new friends?" Bilbo noticed immediately. "But no one probably told you the attention he gets from girl usually gets on his nerves, and by just walking up and trying to flirt with him, you caused the opposite reaction."
The girl looked at him curiously, looking at everything from a different point of view.
"Kili on the other hand is very obsessive, since Fili is his only real friend here, so anyone means a danger for his relation with Fili." Bilbo explained. "Kili is a very special boy, he had a difficult life and finding his family was a big change for him and deep inside he still fears of losing their attention and acceptance. He will defend Fili at all cost."
"I'm sorry, but I didn't know." The girl mumbled shyly.
"I can assure you he never intended to show the picture to anyone, he draws many things as a way of venting frustration, but I'm the only person who sees them all." Bilbo was speaking calmly, he was more and more aware his conversation with the girl was slowly heading towards therapy, and so were Gandalf and Thorin. "If you'd like I could find some time for you after we come back from our honeymoon, I know how lonely someone might feel after changing location, and how difficult it is to fit in." Bilbo proposed without hesitation.
"I would really like that." The girl spoke gently, and she glanced at her father who was still a bit irritated.
"I wouldn't want to brother you, but clearly my daughter is having some issues and blowing things out of proportion. I hope we can put this event behind us." The man spoke reasonably for a change.
"For sure we can." Gandalf smiled and turned to Thorin. "Let's hope the boy will come back to normal, he's very fragile."
"Fili will handle it." Thorin spoke with confidence.
"Maybe you could come over with your wife and daughter for dinner on Friday evening?" Bilbo suddenly proposed. "We're testing dishes for our wedding, so we're planning a big feast."
"I'll talk to my wife and call you by tomorrow." The man was friendly for a change.
"Let me talk to your daughter alone for a moment." Bilbo looked at them. "If you don't mind."
"No I don't." The man stood up clearly relived he can get out. Thorin and Gandalf followed him.
"My dear let me be honest with you." Bilbo told her gently. "If you need anyone to talk to don't hesitate to call me, I sense you had a lot of problems in the past, and I'm willing to help you."
The girl looked down and avoided his eyes.
"Fili and Kili are proud and not really open to new people and being a girl and trying flirting you irritated both of them. But if you just stop the flirting and be yourself, I'm sure they will give you a chance to become friends. I suggest you talk to Kili when you come over with your family, you both transferred here recently, and you both have problems adapting. With time I'm sure you will have a chance to become friends." Bilbo's voice was warm and friendly. Svanhilda looked up to him and finally smiled. He gave her his card and wrote the address on the back. "Call me anytime you need." She nodded her head and finally they could leave the office.