Fili grasped my free hand.
"Tell me more," He said while dancing us around. I assumed he meant about my world. It seemed to enthrall everyone in the company when I talked about it.
"Well, I think I've told you guys almost everything interesting…" He shook his head.
"No, I want to hear more about you. You are such a strange woman and I think you've charmed everyone in the company to some degree, yet, we still know nothing about you or, at least, what has made you who you are." I stared back at him in awe. He was… charmed… by… me? I didn't remember hearing a lot of chatter among the company about family life or what they did in their free time. This made me feel kind of… special. I smiled sheepishly, feeling a blush on my cheeks, and floundered for what to say.
"I don't really know where to start… there is… well, where to begin…"
"Who were your parents?" He helped. What a beautiful way to start! They had definitely shaped who I was today and they were so wonderful. I could go on for awhile about them.
"My mother, she is so brave, and one of the kindest people on the planet, I'm not exaggerating. She raised my sister and I all by herself for six years!" I explained proudly. Fili's face fell.
"What of your father?" He seemed worried.
"Well, my parents got a divorce, they married and separated when I was one. They weren't good for each other… But don't worry, things got better!" I tried to assure him, though the thought of my parents separating seemed to disturb him, "My dad remarried and wonderful woman and I gained three half siblings who are so sweet and funny! My mother remarried as well so there is another half sibling on that side. They are all much younger than me except my full sister. We were only about a year apart, we were very close." I could feel a slight quiver in my voice as I thought of my family, very far away. Fili seemed to notice.
"I would be very distressed if Kili was taken away from me, I am sorry." I waved his words away.
"Thoughts for another time," I was going to try to keep the night joyful, not mourn what couldn't be saved, "Anyways, besides that, my families always took care of me and I've been able to see two beautiful groups of people learn and grow up together and I have been so blessed!" Fili's face lit up at that.
"I see where your kindness and joy come from," I nodded happily, almost breathless after the story and the twirling.
"Well, I'm honestly exhausted so I need to sit before I fall over," I laughed and Fili took me over to a pair of cushiony chairs covered in furs. We both sat and he looked back to me expectantly, "… You want to hear more?" He nodded, "ok, just don't let me bore you!" I went on to tell him about skiing, moving, working, and all of my small adventures.
Once I'd started on adventures I began to notice a small group forming around me. I told them about racing buggies across dunes, hunting with rifles (to which a couple dwarves nodded knowingly to one another realizing why I was a good shot). I told them about how lonely I had been after moving so many times and how man friends had been lost, how it made me hesitate to make more. I think they understood well enough since loosing their home and trying to find good work. I told them I used to paint, huge paintings around ten foot tall. They were so impressed they said I should paint a mural in Erabor. I laughed. No way was I going to mark the walls of that incredible fortress.
"Did you have anyone there, Lass? A boy hankering for your hand?" It was Dori, he was asking honestly but I had to laugh.
"No, I didn't have anyone, but there were a lot of guys after me. I'm honestly too young to get married or anything yet sooo…" I got a few confused looks.
"You look marrying age." Nori said bluntly.
"Maybe older than marrying, you'd have been long married if you'd been living here." Bofur replied. My goodness, how young did people get married here? I was only twenty-two.
"Well, in my world I would be a very young married person. People usually marry around twenty-six to thirty. There were a few gasps.
"You'd practically be an old bag!" Dori stated matter of factly, "That's around half your life… gone!" I had to laugh again.
"Well, we live a bit longer than the humans here. We have medicines and all the food we need. We can live up to one hundred years if we are lucky. They seemed kind of boggled at the idea.
"Still," mumbled Dori.
"People also mature a lot slower where I'm from. We live easy lives, we don't really have to work hard to get food or keep alive. Anyways, all of the people who were after me were still so childish so I didn't consider dating any of them. There was one guy who just wouldn't leave me alone after I'd told him time after time that I wasn't interested. He found my house and it was very strange and scary. People don't just show up unannounced to a house they weren't given the address to," I had started raving a little bit, "Well… not that any of that's making much sense to you guys. Maybe it isn't so much that I felt too young to get married but the people persuing me felt too young." I mused for a moment in my thoughts, "Okay, besides my love life what should I tell you guys? Ah! I play an instrument called a cello. It's about my size, has strings and looks like the guitar that was playing earlier." Everyone got WAY too excited about that.
"You can play?" Asked Balin.
"Does that mean you can sing too? And not just that gibberish you were shouting and dancing to when we first met," Dori inquired, making me slightly embarrassed. I glanced at Thorin. His eyes were resting on mine intently.
"No, I only ever sang for fun so I don't' have a trained voice," Which wasn't exactly true. I had a very nice singing voice. I couldn't belt out high notes or anything but a ballad or folk tune would be pleasant to listen to. I didn't exactly want to sing in front of all of them though. Thorin looked back into the fire.
"Well, if you see an instrument similar in Erabor you pick it up and try it out!" Bifur told me, "And the more singing along the better," He winked. I shot him a grin. How were all of these souls so sweet? I think the dwarves knew I was tired of talking and broke off into their own conversations. I glanced toward Kili, now grinning at Tauriel. That seemed rather quick.
"I ought to go to bed. I've not more training in the morning." I told Fili, who was comfortably lounging in his chair.
"Yes, and it's with me," He grinned into nowhere.
"What?! I thought you didn't work with a bow?"
"Hmm, we won't be working with bows, you're back to the sword with me. Also, what makes you think I can't use a bow?" I ignored him.
"I thought we'd established I was no good at that!" I countered.
"Nooo, you were pleanty good at it, you were just hesitant at sparring. You'll get over that." He smiled. Oh butts, "Plus, with all the skills you seem to have learned where you are from I have no doubt you can learn all you need to of the sword without problem." My mouth nearly dropped open. Now he was just being cheeky, "You should just be grateful to be getting private lessons from a prince of Erabor," I punched him in the arm at his joking cockiness. We both laughed. Then I sighed.
"Ok, I'll try my best tomorrow," I got up to leave. Thorin's eyes were on me once again. He looked away as soon as I noticed.
I got to my room and lay on my bed thinking about how I had just discussed my love life with a large group of men. How strange, they could somehow get me so comfortable around them. I then remembered Thorin casing glances my direction. Well, mostly comfortable around them I guess.