The Hope of a Dwarf

3 - Bree

I woke with a start.

"Ulf?"

" 'Sstooearly..." I groaned. I forced my groggy eyes open, squinting in the light streaming through Bilbo's window.

"Ulf!"

"Hmm? Oh." The light haired dwarf that I'd followed last night was standing in front of me. In the light of the cozy hobbit hole, I could see that his hair was a darkish blonde, like mine, but his eyes were a stormy mix of grey and blue.

"We're going now."

I sat bolt upright on Bilbo's couch.

"We're what?!" I replied. I stretched, wincing when something in my shoulder cracked. The dwarf put out a hand.

"I'm Fili."

I took it and he pulled me roughly to my feet.

"Pleased to meet you," I said with a grin. I ran a hand through my messy blonde locks and bent down next to my boots. I pulled out my sword, sheath, bow and quiver. My two daggers stayed in my shoes. As I tightened the sheath belt around my waist, I asked," So, tell me why I seem to have more beard than your friend?" Fili laughed and glanced behind him, where dwarves were getting ready and trailing around the house.

"Who, Kili?" Fii asked. I shrugged. "Dark hair, stubble?" I nodded. Fili laughed. I slipped my sword into its sheath. "Firstly, he's my brother. Kili, Fili, see? As for his beard, well, he just doesn't like it long. We all believe it's because he is too young to actually grow a beard, but I think he could if he wanted to." I smiled and ran a hand over the scraggly bits of blonde hair on my jaw. I was ridiculously proud of the tiny beard I had growing.

"You should cut that," Fili stated bluntly.

I turned to him, frowning.

"Why would I do that?" I asked warily.

He smiled.

"Cut it short, so it's not all straggly and getting everywhere, keep it nice and even and then see if you can grow it out."

I grinned, heaving my quiver up and over my broad shoulders.

"I have an feeling that you've given that advice before.."

He smiled. I slipped my unstrung bow over my shoulder and hopped into my boots. "Okay, let's go."

***

"Hey, Ulf?" We were on the road to Bree, where we were going to wait for Bilbo and get ponies.

"Mm?" I turned to Kili, who was walking beside me. In the bright light of the sunny day, I could see that he had long, dark brown hair, and dark hazel eyes that were practically the same shade as mine.

"Can I see your bow?"

Fili groaned.

"Oh, no. Are you two going to talk about bows now?" We both nodded. He grimaced, muttering something about elves and stopped walking, waiting for Nori to catch up to him. Kili and I kept walking. I shrugged off my bow and handed it to Kili. Durzo had made it himself with the wood of an elm tree. It was very basic, with no sigils or symbols on it. It was reasonably short and compact. Kili turned it in his hands and balanced it on one finger.

"Hm."

"It's not the best. It really needs some adjustments. And I can't really use it." Kili, who clearly wasn't taking in a word I was saying, strung the bow and pulled the now-taught string back to his shoulder. He lowered it and handed it to me.

"Well, it could certainly use some adjustments."

I smiled.

"Really," I stated.