✓ | Forget-Me-Not ~ Fili FanFiction / Hobbit FanFiction / Fili FF

「 Chapter 1 」

"This is a joke, right?", Ilèyn sternly looked down at the pile of coins that just was pushed in front of her.

She quickly counted.

"You promised me twice as much!", with one hand she suddenly shoved the money off the sticky tavern table.

The jingling of the coins, followed by the wooden rumble of the chair which tipped over when the man hastily stumbled up on his feet against her indignantly, silenced the laughter, singing and shouting around them for a moment.

The two were stared at with drunken, empty eyes.

"What?", the man growled to the surrounding people, "Dedicate yourself to your beer and leave us in peace."

The tavern noises slowly returned. The many pairs of eyes turned back to their conversation partners and their food and drinks.

Slowly the man trudged up to Ilèyn and leaned, one hand on the table, closely over her.

"I don't negotiate with... someone like you, little one.", he slurred, grinning broadly, "Take what you can get and stop thinking you're better than anyone."

He reached for his beer mug and took a sip so big it ran down his beard. Ilèyn's eyes followed every single movement from him.

"You are nothing more than an ugly dwarf nobody wants."

At least he was right on that point.

The man put his beer down with a loud thud right in front of Ilèyn's nose. She looked up at him provocatively.

"Pay me what I asked for.", she said, "Or this will be the last beer you ever drink."

The man laughed out loud. He slapped the table with his hand, almost choking on his coughing laugh.

Ilèyn grinned mischievously.

"You...", the man was still laughing, "You think..."

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down and not choking on his beer again.

"You really think I'm afraid of you, do you?", he wiped the saliva from his lips and glared at Ilèyn.

"Listen up everyone!", he shouted into the tavern.

Again everyone fell silent.

Hobbits, humans, a few dwarfs from all corners of Middle Earth. They all heard what the man shouted next.

"This little maggot actually thinks she could be dangerous for me!", he laughed again and the bystanders got in maliciously.

"Dream on, dwarf!", someone shouted from the crowd while the beefy gentleman continued to celebrate his joke.

In not even a blink of an eye, Ilèyn drew her freshly sharpened dagger and rammed it into the man's large hand on the table with such force that the knife got stuck in the table top.

For a long second it was completely silent.

Then a cry of pain with tremendous proportions erupted from the bearded man's throat.

His horrified gaze flickered back and forth between Ilèyn and the knife stuck in his hand, while Ilèyn let herself slide down the chair she sat on, to pick up the coins from the dusty floor.

The tavern guests watched, some in shock, some in total amusement, occasionally whispering things to each other.

When Ilèyn had stowed the coins in a small leather pouch, she fished for the bag in the man's robe, he was still whimpering in pain. She pulled out another pouch filled with coins. Without hesitation, she tucked it in the bag around her shoulder.