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Chapter 1: In a Hole in the Ground...

My fingers curled around the spoon sitting beside my steaming bowl of roast. It had been three days that we had been on the road from the forests of Fangorn and I was already tired of the disgusting inns that harbored every sort of creature that inhabited Middle Earth.

"Are we really going to the Shire?" I hissed, my eyes flicking across the crowded inn. It was run by a family of humans who looked like they would sooner put rat poison in the broth than offer a cozy bed to sleep. But the giant wooden tables were all full, the high ceiling offering little escape for the taller creatures that had come to stay the night.

"King's orders," Nori said without a second thought, stew rolling down his chin and into the depth of his beard as he dug into the meal.

My older brother had never been one for following orders. Much less those brought to him by our oldest brother, Dori. I knew it and he knew it. In fact, it would be the easiest for us to refuse the command. We had been scampering across the plains and mountains of Middle Earth for so long that it was astonishing that Dori was even able to get a hold of us. My eyes narrowed on the reddish-brown haired dwarf sitting across from me. The mass of his unruly hair sat up in three different places, spearing out from the sides and top of his head. Breads spiked out from his eyebrows and through his hair, twining through his beard.

There had to be another reason for his eagerness.

"You can't steal from your own kin," I said, my voice low as I saw his fingers slide across the table to deftly nick the pocket watch from the human that had just sat beside us.

"That would be despicable," he agreed, eyeing the scratched surface of the watch. It was ordinary, silver and heavily used. From the inscription on the back, it was from his mother. Hissing out a breath, I snatched it from him and tossed it to the floor. "However, as I see it, we will be going through some very valuable places."

There it was. Sitting back, I glared across the table at him. It was absolutely ridiculous to go on this quest for that small of a reason. But then again, my brother had left home simply because he was bored. And being the foolish, younger sister that I was, I had toddled along right behind him. Now I had lost track of the years that I had been away from the Blue Mountains.

"You drag me along behind you simply because you want to be rich?" I hissed, leaning across the table so that I could shove the food away from him and grab his attention.

His eyes flashed in the lamp light, his lips curling down. "I don't believe I've dragged you anywhere, unna. It was you who decided to come along when I left home-"

"Nori-" I hadn't meant to challenge him.

"You could have stayed with Dori and his coddling and tea times-"

"You like his tea times-"

"And Ori and his obsessive need to document everything that you say and do - getting drawn ten times a day simply because your expression changed-"

"I know," I finally snapped, stopping Nori mid-rant. He was right. It had been my decision to come with him. Even if it seemed to be the wrong one. It had been so long since I had seen the King - I gulped, a pounding starting deep inside my skull. Although, I had been able to stay under the protection of the Blue Mountains, I could always feel the stares. Particularly Thorin's. An elf in his halls, living with the few kin that he still had. He didn't trust me. I bowed my head, rubbing a hand over my face and through the tangled mess of my red curls. I didn't think he would ever trust me.

"It is too late to go back to Fangorn," Nori said, getting up suddenly. We were already less than two hours away from the Shire. It was surprising that we had not run into any of our kin yet. "Just think of the gold, Tori. All that beautiful gold."

Yeah. The gold. I grumbled out a breath, turning around and hopping to the floor.

"Where-?" The human beside us had finally realized that his watch was missing.

"You dropped something," I said blandly, glaring after my brother as he made his way out the front door and into the night air. We were supposed to be there just after sunset and that had already long since gone.

"Th-thank-" I didn't wait for the human to continue, dodging through the many legs and over beer puddles to get to the door.

We were on a time crunch here.

"'Umlam," Nori clicked his tongue, walking briskly down the path so that I had to jog to catch up with him.

"Maybe if you didn't have to eat every five seconds we would already be there," I snapped, my temper worsening with every step. It was like I could feel the whispers all the way from here. All those years of isolation and insults were suddenly so close that it was as if I had returned to the Blue Mountains. My king was not the only one that hated elves and the others had surely been more vocal about it.

Now I was walking right back into that hell of my own free will. Lelkhar.

"It is very…" I sniffed at the air, smelling none of the familiar tones of rock or water but sweeter scents like apples and sweet peas.

"Boring," Nori said flatly, trudging along beside me. He was right.

As the road grew narrower and more winding and the trees puffed into a great forest and then shrunk back down, the only thing that could be said was that it was. Very. Boring. There were no mountains to climb nor caves to explore. What did these hobbits do for fun? Simple hills with trim grass and neat roads ran along the landscape. Few trees could be seen the nearer we got to the Shire.

"There's no one to speak of," I said, eyeing the empty roads and the dark windows of the houses that we past.

"How can they go to sleep so early?" Nori wondered.

"They must have nothing much to do," I muttered, my fingers playing along the thick belt at my waist that held my twin daggers.

In my time with Nori, we had explored more caves and rivers than I could count. We had faced the Ent and survived the goblin tunnels that infected the mountains. I had felt most alive while I was running or fighting. That was why it was so hard to understand this. Maybe we were simply seeing one side. I shouldn't judge before I had even met the hobbit.

"There is a town nearby," Nori suddenly said, stopping as we came to a fork in the road to stare down the one to our right. Distantly, the glow of torches dotted the darkness. A wooden sign beside it said Engrid's Inn in crude letters. The other paths were dark, the signs barely discernible in the light.

"Which way do you want to go?" I asked, switching over to our native Khuzdul after a glance around to make sure that no one was near.

"You must get to the Shire," Nori said after a brief pause, nodding down the path to our left with a hard stare. "If one of us doesn't get there soon, Dori will bust a blood vessel. Come howling down the roads like a bloody banshee. I have to get some supplies before we go any further."

My lips thinned, the ticking of my nerves running through my body in incessant clicks. I wasn't a child anymore but I felt like I was being forced to sit with kids that I didn't really like. But there was no way that I could show Nori this. With a stiff nod and a pat to his arm, I began the long trudge to the Shire.

"Bring back some cinnamon buns!" I called into the night, switching back to the standard tongue. A grunt was the only reply I received.

As the path grew more overgrown, the houses tinkered off into nothingness and I was left with only the plains to keep me company. Being objective was becoming harder and harder. The grass was so nice and neat and green even in the night that it had to be cut rather often. Hills took over the horizon, dipping and reaching lazily to the sky in a series of shrugs.

Instead of houses, hobbits seemed to like to live in the ground, their front doors round and clean as they peeked from the gentle curves of the hills. Everything was organized, even the way that their shrubs and wildflowers seemed to be unruly, the sides curling around the door frames and gates. Even through my thick boots I could feel the softness of the moss covered cobblestone beneath my feet. How was someone that lived in this gentleness ever going to survive on a quest such as this?

"Majalakhashul mahalu-me-" I stopped, sending the beads adorning my hair clinking against each other as I looked around wildly. Sweat dampened my neck and face as I huffed out a breath, searching across the horizon. The letter that Dori had sent had said that we would found the hobbit hole that we were looking for simply by looking for a blue mark on the door.

My packs were starting to weigh down on me. Irritated, I unbuckled the belt that held my twin axes to my back and shed my pack. The thick leggings lined with fur fit tightly to my legs, my gray skirt poofing out even more as I cinched up my belt. Ori liked to dress me and this was one of the few outfits that I had left from him. Tugging up my fingerless mittens, I tucked in the reddish brown material of my sleeves so that the fur-lined edge could reach nearly to my elbow.

The only thing that I could do to relieve some of the discomfort was to take off my cloak and shove it into my bag leaving me with my light gray vest, shirt, skirt, and leggings. At least I wouldn't be as hot now. With that, I settled myself in to walk again.

"Is this it?" I blinked, winding around a corner. I hadn't come across one other being since the inn.

"I'm sure it's here. Don't you see the mark?"

It was them. Cotton filled my mouth as I stared at their backs, their gate strong and sure even in stillness. They stood just at the circular door, the gate winding through with vines and honeysuckle, ajar. They had to stand a few inches if not a foot taller than me, hair the color of chocolate and fresh, golden wheat contrasting beside each other.

"Fili and Kili," I breathed, barely registering that I had even spoken as they both whipped around to stare at me.

They had grown since I had last seen them. I gulped, feeling a sudden heat roll up my spine and over my neck and face. They had grown a lot. Although Kili still kept his puppy dog charm with wide chocolate eyes and a scruffy splatter of hair darkening his chin, he had grown stronger, his muscles lean. When we were little he had always had an inclination towards speed and distance combat. That was why he had always tried to pair up with me for games like catch the rock and tag. Because of my only half dwarven blood, I didn't lumber like the rest of our kin did.

But it was Fili that made my palms sweat and my throat clog up like someone had just punched me in the throat. He had never really paid attention to me when we were little - not like his brother had. In fact, it was rare that he seemed to pay attention to anything but his uncle, most of his focus put into becoming the next heir to the throne of Durin. Unlike Kili, his eyes shown bright and arctic through the darkness. They were so focused and unyielding that it made me a bit uncomfortable, my eyes searching for anywhere else to look.

Although his coat was thick and lined with fur, there was no mistaking the defined curve of very strong arms and a broad chest and shoulders. Honey hair tipped through with darker browns and lighter shades of blonde that ranged even more into white, tangled through with thick breads and beads. A short beard roughed his jaw. He had grown a lot. My eyes watered, my hands growing unsteady as my bags slipped from my fingers clumsily.

"Oh mahalu-me turg," I hissed, anger rolling through me along with a mixture of confusion and something that was a lot more embarrassing to face than the fact that I thought that the next king of Erebor was-

I shut that down, reaching to yanking my bags back into place.

"I'm sorry…" Fili started and I glanced up to see that his eyes had crinkled up, his lips tipped into a smile. My heart skipped a beat. "But…"

My ears perked up as I stepped forward, making my way toward the door as it there was a rope pulling me closer.

"Do we know you?" The question hit me like a ton of bricks, my feet tripping over each other as I came to a halt in front of them. Words stalled inside my throat, sending me into spluttered incoherence. They didn't know me? I stared up into Fili's questioning eyes, barely registering it as he gently took the bag from my hands. He didn't know me. My eyes snapped to Kili, his face tipped into the same polite curiosity. They both didn't know me. Bitterness rolled through me coated heavily in anger. Here I was fawning over them like a bloody lelkhar and they didn't even know me!

"No, my princes," I snapped, shoving my way past them angrily so that I could be closer to the door. "Of course you don't."

My fist slammed against the door, the wood shaking unsteadily beneath the force. These stupid, handsome princes with their stupid, handsome faces. I was sure they had seen many dwarf maidens. Who would remember something as utterly and completely common as a dwarf lady with elven blood that used to live and play with them.

"E manuna," Fili started, his voice low and his breath blowing hot against my ear as he leaned closer. "Surely-"

"I'm not your lady," I snapped, plastering on a smile as the front door swung open to reveal a bewildered looking hobbit, his blonde curled unruly. Apparently we had caught him at a bad time, his night robes already on and his eyes dazed. My eyes flicked to the coat rack just beside the door. There were already two placed there. Maybe the dazed look wasn't from a need for sleep afterall.

Behind me, I felt both brothers shift as they straightened. All of those princely lessons had to pay off somewhere, I supposed.

"Fili." A tick went off in my jaw as I felt his hand ghost across my waist. Stupid-

"And Kili," the younger one proclaimed, his voice barely hiding the laughter that was threatening to break through. And then they were both dipping into bows, their big, stupid dwarf bodies bumping either side of me as they continued on in one voice: "At your service."

Wow. Did they do everything in unison or was this just a special occasion? Reigning in my violent temper, I ignored both of them (or I tried to) and focused all of my attention on the hobbit in front of me, his eyes still wide with bewilderment.

"Tori," I said, dipping into a deep curtsy. "At your disposal, master hobbit."

"Tori?" I heard Fili whisper and suddenly he was leaning around me to stare at my face, his fingers coming to grasp my chin as he turned me so that he could get a better look. Sizzling heat ran down my spine at his invasive gaze and touch. "It can't be-"

"Tori - Tori?" Kili whispered excitedly, wiggling in beside his brother so that they were both staring down at me. Why did they have to be so tall? "The Tori?"

What did that mean? Giving them my best glare, I yanked away from Fili's hold to curtsy again to the hobbit. "I'm sorry that I've made it so late."

"You must be mister Boggins," Kili chimed in good naturedly as I straightened, catching the tail end of horror that flashed across the hobbits face.

"I heard his name was Bungens," I said blandly, starting to step forward to make my way into the house.

"Nope! You can't come in. You've come to the wrong house." I blinked, stumbling back as a finger curled into my collar and yanked me out of the way of the quickly closing door.

"What?" Kili exclaimed forcing the door back open with an easy push of his hand, sending the hobbit stumbling back. "Has it been canceled?"

That was news to me. If it had been canceled then why were two dwarves already here?

"No one told us," Fili murmured, stepping forward so that I was squashed between the two brothers, a warm hand now firmly on my waist. Fili's deep blue eyes met mine as he leaned down to speak to me. "Did anyone tell you?"

Heat seared my cheeks, fueling the anger that was rolling through my chest and I deftly slapped away his hand from my waist, straightening to my full height so that I could glare up at him.

"If I had gotten that word, why would I be here?" I snapped, turning away with a huff. It was annoying enough that my outburst only seemed to fuel is growing amusement, his straight, white teeth flashing in a wicked smile.

"Can-? No. Nothing's been canceled," the hobbit blurted out, his brows furrowing in on themselves.

"If it hasn't been canceled then why are you playing such games?" I muttered, leaning around Kili to stare at the hobbit.

"Well, that's a relief," Kili chirped, just as chipper as always as he shoved the door open the rest of the way and strode in. I quickly followed after him, hating the reacting tingle that was traveling up and down my spine from having Fili so close to my back.

Peeling off my mittens, I straightened the cuffs of my sleeves and collar. Master Bungen's home was rather nice if a little. Circular halls crisscrossed all around us, leading into a variety of different rooms. Carpets were spread out over the polished wood floor. It was very...comfortable would be the right word.

"Careful with these." I glanced to my side as I forced the tangled mess of my hair out of my face, groaning when it immediately went back to the chaotic mess that it had been before. Fili was shoving twin blades into Master Bungen's hands, reaching into his coat to pull out a series of daggers. "I've just had them sharpened."

He voice sounded like it was made from gravel, the words rough and calloused like his hands. My nose scrunched up. "All those rocks that he used to eat when we were kids must have gone somewhere else than to his stomach."

"What?" Woah. Fili had really good hearing.

"Nothing," I replied sweetly, setting down my pack. In his defense, I had only seen him eat two rocks when we were kids. And both were because someone had dared him to.

"Let me." Fili was suddenly in front of me, his hands working deftly at the belt of my twin battle axes as he undid them. Who knew that such big fingers could be so gentle?

"I can do it," I snapped but I wasn't fighting him. My eyes roamed over the smooth planes of his face. When we were younger, I had said that I was going to marry him. All the silly girls wanted to marry the fair-haired prince. I was no different. His eyes met mine as he peeled the belt away from my shoulders.

"I know you can," he whispered. What was he talking about? I blinked. He was only a couple inches away from my face. Too close. I yanked myself away, stumbling back.

"I'm hungry," I blurted out, backing away until I hit a wall. Why did he make me so unsteady? Fili just kept staring at me, his eyes soft and sparkling and his lips tipped into a secretive smile. Stupid dwarf prince. Quickly, I dodged around a corner, raising in the general direction of the noise.

This was going to be the longest night of my life.


Khuzdul:

Unna: Sister

'Umlam: Quickly

Lelkhar: Idiot/oaf/fool

Majalakhashul mahalu-me: For Aule's-

Oh mahalu-me turg: Oh Aule's beard

E manuna: My lady