I do not own any of the characters or The Hobbit (Just the AU storyline and my OC). Those are the work of the esteemed and brilliant John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, and without his genius, this and many other fanfics would not be in existence.
I apologize profusely for such long delays between updates! I do intend on seeing this story series through, but real life is crazy, and has been since the pandemic started. I just can't keep my brain in this part of the story to save my life! Perhaps Mirkwood is as wearying for me as it is for our little company... but, alas, the company is still here, therefore I must try to be here with them, too. It's been REALLY hard, though! My ADHD makes it to where I have a really hard time focusing on one part of the story, if I'm hyper-focused in my mind on another part (pretty much constantly for the past two years).
The GOOD news is that I've at least been writing ahead, since that's where my brain is right now, so when we finally get to Thranduil's Halls, updates should be able to come more frequently! :D
As always, please review, favorite, and follow -it is really encouraging :D
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The company had just finished eating breakfast, having awakened to yet another dark, dank and dreary day. Fili yawned as he began to tie up his bedroll, when he heard heavy boots approach from behind.
"Fili." The young prince looked up into the face of his uncle. Thorin glanced at Kili, then back at him.
"Take your brother, and scout ahead," he instructed. "Dwalin got some cinders in his eyes last night tending the fire, and he will be unable to scout for a few days." Fili nodded. It had happened to him once before, too, when a log suddenly burst open as he was adding more fuel to a hunting fire in Ered Luin. He knew how painful it could be.
"Aye, Thorin," he replied, rising to his feet. He went to get Kili, when Thorin's hand on his arm stopped him. The elder leaned close.
"I also need you to watch for elves," he instructed quietly. "You and Kili have the sharpest eyes of anyone in the company, because of your youth. I've sent Dwalin to scout ahead up until now because he knows these lands, and you do not.
"However," he continued, locking eyes with the young heir. His tone was dead serious. "We must be very close to the borders of the Woodland Realm now. Elves have sight far beyond any of us, and, if there are border guards, they may see us before we see them. They will capture us, or kill us. This cursed forest is cloying, and the trees are close, but that gives us an advantage. Even the most skilled elven archers will have difficulty getting a clear shot at us, especially if we know they are there. Understand?" Fili nodded.
"Aye," he confirmed. Thorin turned to leave, and Fili reached out and grasped his arm.
"What do we do if we see an elf?" he asked quietly, mindful of the others around him. Their eyes met once more, and he knew Thorin understood his question perfectly.
Do you want us to capture him, or…kill him?
Killing someone without a proper challenge is something that went against everything Fili believed in. It was dishonorable, and abhorrent for him to even think about. Self-defense was another matter entirely, and defense of his king and people. Still, he hoped and prayed that he would not have a reason to slay an elf, especially unawares. Fili had never met King Thranduil, but he knew enough from tales to know that the elvenking would take the elf's death while guarding his borders as an act of war, and respond accordingly. He also knew that there was no way in all of Middle-earth that the fourteen of them would stand a chance against an elven army! He knew Thorin knew it, too.
"If you see an elven patrol guard," the dwarf king said after an awkward pause, "…do not shoot, unless he shoots at you. Just sign it back to us, so that we may take cover, and hide until he passes. With any luck, they won't see us, and we won't cross paths with them. But if we do…" He paused, and Fili saw his eyes flash as he looked east.
"No one speaks to them except me."
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Kili followed his brother as quietly as he could, taking care to keep low. They moved slowly, and his eyes constantly scanned their surroundings, with no small amount of trepidation. He had his bow at the ready, the arrow on the string. He knew Fili had a throwing-knife in each hand, with many more hidden on his person.
Fili had apprised him of Thorin's instructions after they'd left the group, and his own heart grew very worried. What if an elf did shoot at them? He could shoot back, he could fight back…but would he win? He knew how keen elf-eyes were. He also knew that their eyesight far surpassed his own. He did not want to admit it to anyone, out of dwarven pride, but he was afraid to fight an elf. Fightings orcs were nothing. They were stupid, save for a few captains amongst them, and unskilled. Reckless, and unquestionably evil.
Elves, however…Kili didn't like them very much, though he greatly appreciated Lord Elrond's efforts to heal Cirashala, after she was badly wounded saving his life outside Rivendell. He didn't like them…but he didn't hate them, either. Not like Thorin did! He also knew that they would be far more formidable warriors than orcs were. Orcs had an advantage in sheer numbers. Elves had an advantage in agility and speed.
Two things that dwarves do not have as much of, he thought to himself with chagrin. Even he, slightly more lithe and agile than most, could not match elven agility. He'd even heard, from travelers in Bree, that elves could run across rope! Rope! As though it were a mere stone bridge two dwarves wide! His limit was a log at least two foot-widths wider than his own foot!
Even worse, they were not underground. Dwarves loved stone. They were born within it, lived within it, and were entombed within it. If he were to face an elf on a dwarven stone bridge, he had no doubt he'd win the fight. If elves had entered Thorin's Halls in Ered Luin, he would have fought valiantly, and could have emerged victorious over their enemy. Stone was a dwarf's element.
But the trees and forest are an elf's.
His brown eyes scanned the dense boughs above. The fall foliage was still very, very thick upon the great oaks and beeches, blocking out much of the sunlight, and all of the sky. Black branches and thick vines wound their way through thick pockets of leaves, disappearing and reappearing again. If an elf dressed in the same colors as the red and yellow leaves, it would be nearly impossible to see him, especially if he were deliberately trying to hide. Kili had never seen a wood-elf before, but he strongly suspected that they wouldn't be patrolling in the trees dressed in the lavish, colorful attire Lord Elrond's household wore!
His grip tightened on the nock of his arrow. Every single hair on his body was standing on end, and all of his dwarf muscles were tense. He was as the lynx that attacked him, coiled to spring the moment he needed to pounce. He could feel the same readiness for battle in his brother, lurking in front of him. Kili had always been worried that Fili's golden hair would be too visible to an enemy, and he was especially worried about that now. This forest was dark, dim, and grim. His brother's hair stood out like a fire in a dark night. One wouldn't need to have elven-sight to spot him amongst the forest floor!
"Fee," he whispered, his voice seeming to barely ghost past his lips. His brother didn't respond, and he gently reached out and tapped him on the shoulder. Fili stopped, and looked back at him. His own eyes were filled with worry, and he knew his elder brother was just as nervous as he was.
Put your hood up, Kili signed in Igleshmek. You need to hide your hair. Fili's eyes widened, and he nodded. Carefully setting his throwing knives down on the cobblestone, he quickly reached into his coat collar, and pulled up his rusty red hood over his hair, taking care to make sure every last tendril was tucked away.
Better? He signed. Kili nodded. It was perfect- his head was now the same color as the fallen leaves that littered the forest floor. Fili nodded in recognition, and took up his knives once more.
A mangy black squirrel suddenly skittered above, and the young dwarf almost jumped out of his skin. It continued on its way, seemingly oblivious of the pair below as it chittered above. Kili reasoned that it was a damn lucky one, because it very nearly got shot in his startle! He took a couple of slow, deep breaths to try and quell his racing heart, when a nasty stench entered his nostrils. It was even worse than his own smell, worse even than the rotting, festering forest around them. Wrinkling his nose, he tapped his brother's shoulder again.
What is that stench? He asked. Fili's own nose wrinkled as he shrugged. The pair creeped forward, practically on their stomachs, and peered through the bushes. The blackest, ugliest, and most definitely smelliest stream he'd ever seen lay below them. Glancing around, he saw the end of what used to be a stone bridge spanning the stream, its center long-lost to the effects of time and neglect. There was no sign of anyone anywhere, save themselves, and he looked at his brother.
"Well," he said, keeping his voice low. "I think we found that stream Gandalf told us about."
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A response to guest reviewer Sulwen:
Thank you! :D I am committed to seeing the series through. With the house building, working, running a farmer's market business, and just my brain, etc I'm super busy right now O.o But I work on it as I have time (and as the brain cooperates).
Actually, while she did worry a little about the Rivendell delay, they actually did stay for a few days, not just one (my apologies if this wasn't clear). I have seen the films- many times :D And read the books, and everything else I could get my hands on regarding Middle-earth! She's FAR more worried about the two-week delay from when she and Kili were separated from the group in the mountains, and the rest of them were at Beorn's for a couple of unexpected weeks. They WERE only at Beorn's for a day or two in the book. Hope that clarifies :D
Awww (blush) thanks! Good luck on it! Best advice I can give you- keep the "bones" of the story intact. There are specific rules that make Tolkien's Middle-earth what it is, and not a "Disney-fied facsimile copycat" (like elves are immortal, dwarves are stubborn and secretive and distrusting of outsiders, neither of those two races have intimate relations outside of marriage, elves marry for life AND 'death' (as Valinor's existence means that they are, unless evil, or they reject the call of Mandos, re-embodied and alive again, just in a different physical location. If an elf rejects the call, they cannot be re-embodied, so that can prove to be an exception, as was the case with Finwe and Miriel in the Silmarillion when Miriel died post-childbirth and refused to be re-embodied, and, heartbroken and wanting more children than just one, he finally went to the Valar, who granted permission to remarry because he didn't have a 'living' spouse, as she refused to accept re-embodiment. Basically, she abandoned her marriage through death).
But if an elf is married, and their spouse has died, but is alive in Valinor, then they're still married. And elves don't commit adultery, except in extremely rare cases (like Maeglin lusting after his cousin, Idril, who was married to Tuor- he was a VERY bad apple, but his dad, Eol, was no picnic either, and murdered his wife when she protected Maeglin from being murdered by his father)- and that's considered a very evil act, and only done by an evil elf (a very, very common mistake in fan fiction is shipping a character with a married elf whose spouse has died (without any sort of allowable exemption), or having relations outside of marriage, as for elves, sex=marriage (dwarves aren't loose and fast, either. Men are (as in the race of Men), so that's permissible, but again- not necessarily done by a GOOD Man, like Aragorn wouldn't hook up with a tavern wench, if you catch my drift. But a random dude from a tavern with looser morals might). You have sex (elves), you're married, plain and simple, so they don't unless they decide with their partner to get married).
Honor is also huge, so good characters have morals that they abide by. There is also unspoken morals in ME that are cross-cultural as well, like keeping one's word, etc. That's why Thorin still refuses to let Cira into the company proper (though he allowed her to travel with them for safety). Good males in that world won't risk the life of a woman needlessly, even if she's perfectly capable of defending herself, out of respect for women- with exception that elvish society is egalitarian (genders are equal), so if a woman is a warrior, he'll still protect her at need, BUT he'd allow her to do her job just the same. But they still respect and value women (and children) highly, and won't allow harm to come to them, if they can avoid it.
One last word of advice- keep the "modern slang" out of Middle-earth characters' speech. Someone from Middle-earth won't say, "Hey. I thought you were kidding!" They'd say, "I thought you were trying to make a fool out of me." Instead of "You're crazy!", they'd say, "You're completely mad!" Instead of saying, "That was stupid!", they'd say, "That was incredibly foolish." It's ok in a character-from-our-world speaking that way (though you may want other characters to misunderstand the slang, and get confused, like Bilbo often does with what Cira says sometimes). But not the ME characters. Very different, older English type speech. More archaic use of terms, etc.
Also, it's "I'm so and so, son/daughter of so and so"- no last names, except with Hobbits (I cringe SO badly when I see someone call Kili "Kili Durin"- Durin is NOT his last name, and he would be properly referred to as "Kili son of Dis" in introduction (mostly because I have no clue what his father's name was. The only reason that would be said (due to dwarves being secretive of their women) is when he needs to establish his royal lineage, as Dis is Thorin's sister, and she is what makes him Thorin's heir, and a prince. So "Kili, son of Dis, daughter of Thrain". Otherwise, he'd be "Kili, son of [insert choice of father's name here]". And it's not "relatives", it's "kin", which can either be used for immediate and extended family "Thorin is my kin", OR for one's race "A Gondolin blade, forged by my kin (elves)." (when Legolas looks at Orcrist in the films).
Anyway, just some advice to help you along in your fan fiction journey :D You gotta keep those bones intact- the flesh you can manipulate some (keep Tolkien characters in-character, too, or provide a good, long arc to show why they begin to act differently, as a maturation (or devolution) of their original characterizations. Bilbo will never hate the Shire and Bag End, for example, but the journey allowed him to be more open to traveling sometimes, as opposed to the homebody he was before). But keep the bones intact (and the word choice! Name choice, too. Hobbits are often named after flowers (females) and the guys you can maybe get away with archaic OLD English names, like Meriadoc (Merry), Peregrin (Pippin), Samwise (Sam)-all names that can be found in archaic OLD English, elf names you can easily come up with by using David Salo's "Introduction to Sindarin"- use the dictionaries in the back for prefixes and suffixes, like "iel" is often a girl's name suffix, and "ion" a boy's. Tauriel- "daughter of the forest" Taurion- "Son of the forest", etc. Try to keep elven names as an element of their personality. Pick a trait, like hair (Gil-galad. Radiant star), Galadriel (Maiden crowned with golden radiance, in reference to her exceptional hair) and that will help with elves. For dwarves, I suggest looking up obscure dwarf names, and using their structure as reference), and remember to include historical events organically into the story, like Tolkien does when Aragorn sings about Luthien, and you'll do very, very well with your writing :D
Keep the bones intact, keep the Middle-earth "rules" intact, keep your character's names in line with their race names, include Middle-earth history where it makes sense to do so, avoid modern slang, and READ EVERYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT TOLKIEN'S MIDDLE-EARTH so you know what you're writing about :D Do those things, and you'll do well :D
Good luck! May the blessings of elves, Men, and all free folk go with you :D