LOTR/Hobbit Imagines

Ori - The Love Poem

Written for my 2022 followers celebration on Tumblr - Gossip with Tullaina (my OC)

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THE LOVE POEM

This was the life, wasn't it?

Sitting in the grass with your friends, legs stretched out in front of you, a drink within reach and all that during a hot and sunny day?

Tullaina sat next to you, completely immersed in the game the boys were playing. You didn't understand a thing about the rules of the ball game so you'd given up cheering altogether, and decided to simply relax and enjoy the view.

Thank Mahal for the burning sun, it didn't take long for the boys to shed their tunics and heavy boots, so now you and Tullaina were staring watching Fíli, Kíli, Gimli and some of the other younger Dwarves play in only their breeches and barefoot.

A very nice sight indeed.

"Why isn't Ori playing with them?" you asked when you noticed the scribe sitting under one of the trees. He was busy sketching and wasn't paying attention to the game, or to you for that matter.

"Why? Do you want to see him shed his shirt and boots as well?" Tullaina smirked, knowing all too well why you asked about him.

Before you could try and come up with a witty answer, some of the boys cheered and Tullaina followed their example.

You chuckled. "Tulls, you're cheering with every point made. You have to pick a team, you can't support both sides."

She shrugged her shoulders. "I have to, one team has my future husband in it and the other team my best friend."

The team that had Fíli and Gimli playing for scored again and Kíli jogged towards the both of you, taking his water bottle out of the ice box. Instead of drinking he poured the content over his head in an attempt to cool down a bit.

"It's not going well, is it," Tullaina said to him, her amusement clearly visible on her face.

"Shut up. It's that stupid husband of yours," Kíli grumbled.

"He's not my husband yet, Kíli."

"But he will be, and that makes me your brother-in-law. So as your future brother-in-law and best friend I'm asking you to do something about this."

"Like what?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "You'll think of something, I'm sure."

His teammates called him back on the field and the game resumed.

"So," you broke the silence, "what are you going to do about it?"

"Easy enough, watch this," Tulls said and she followed Kíli's example by pouring one of the water bottles over her chest, spreading the drops with her hand over her collarbones and the back of her neck in an agonizingly slow motion. Sure enough, Fíli slowed down as soon as he noticed and you could swear you heard him gulp all the way from your place on the grass. He kept staring with a dreamy look in his eyes until the other team made good use of his distraction and scored, their loud cheering breaking him out of his trance.

"Tullaina, you sly minx," you laughed, clapping your hands.

"Why don't you try it with your man?" she suggested, tilting her head in Ori's direction.

"I don't know what you're talking about," you mumbled, suddenly very interested in the grass. Your fingers pulled at the little blades of grass until there was barely any left.

"Clearly," Tullaina chuckled before she sighed. "If you ask me, you should go over there and talk to him. He'll be happy to see you."

"But that's it, I'm not asking you. And you're the one to talk, how long did it take again for you and Fíli to get together?"

She scoffed at that. "That's not the point!"

"Please just leave it alone Tullaina, he's not interested. At least not in me I think."

"That's not what I heard," she mumbled, but you caught it.

You grabbed her arms and she yelped, which attracted the attention of Fíli and Kíli. They asked her if she was alright, which you answered for her. "Oi! She's perfectly fine and she can take care of herself, you nitwits. Keep playing!"

You turned back to Tullaina. "What did you mean by that?"

"What?"

"What you just said! You clearly said 'that's not what I heard', so what did you hear?"

"I-it really isn't my place to tell," she stammered.

"Oh no no no, you can't say something like that and then not explain what you mean! Come on, out with it!"

She sighed. "Fine... A few days ago I was in the library and I heard him read one of his poems out loud. He obviously thought he was alone so I didn't want to disturb him."

"That's not so strange, it's Ori, he likes to write poems?"

"It was a love poem," she admitted, and her hand disappeared in her pocket to fiddle with her parent's beads, a telltale sign she was nervous.

"Oh..."

"But that's not all," she continued. "He-he wrote it for you."

"Oh."

Tullaina nodded.

"So what you are trying to say is..."

"That he is just as nervous about all this as you are. Just go over there and talk to him. I bet he has learned the poem by heart now with how many times he recited it in the library."

She took your hands in hers.

"But please don't tell him that I heard him," she begged you. "I hate to gossip about him, he's always been so kind to me."

"Don't tell him what?" a voice asked.

Fíli and Kíli let themselves drop on the ground in front of you, and eyed the both of you curiously. You were both so immersed in your gossiping that you didn't notice the game had ended.

"Who are we gossiping about?" Fíli asked Tullaina.

"Ori," she finally admitted after a while. Such a weakling, you thought. One look at the golden prince's blue eyes and she was putty in his hands. Pathetic.

"Oh, yes, we heard the latest gossip about our dear scribe!" Kíli said enthusiastically, before he leaned in closer. "I heard that he finally got himself a tattoo. Took him long enough."

Fíli looked at him and huffed. "That's not what I heard. You know the famous red covered book? The one on the top shelf at the back of the library, filled with tips and tricks for a healthy...you know... marriage?" He wiggled his eyebrows for good measure. "The author didn't sign it but listen to this, I heard that Ori was the one who wrote it."

Tullaina looked at them with wide eyes and she clearly wanted to say something but couldn't find the words. You knew what book she was talking about and judging from her reaction, so did she. You suppressed the urge to close her mouth for her.

"How interesting," you muttered.

"Yes, interesting indeed," she said, before she turned to you. "Why don't you go over there and find out which of the three of us is right?"

She stared at you with a meaningful look, as if to say that obviously she was the one you should believe.

After thoroughly considering your options, deciding you had nothing to lose, you gave in and started walking towards the tree where Ori was sitting, silently hoping all three of them were right...