Shattered (The Hobbit AU)

Chapter Four

Kíli was firing his arrows randomly at the targets that stood in front of him, not caring whether or not he shot it to its mark. He would get even more frustrated if the bow didn't shoot the arrow properly. He clenched his teeth as he pulled out another arrow and attempted to shoot it. Kíli pulled too hard on the bowstring and snapped with a loud sound. He threw the now useless bow on the ground with a loud smack. He put his head in between his hands and let out an exasperated sigh.
As he bent down to pick up the bow, a crash was heard behind him. Turning around, he saw a young girl and an even younger Dwarf, which he noticed to be Harden from his archery lessons. The girl though, was about the same age as he was and she was frantically picking up the rack of bows she knocked into. Kíli ran quickly to help the both of them.

"I'm sorry, your majesty, we did not mean to interrupt. I didn't think the room was being occupied at the moment." The girl said, not looking up from the fallen bows.

"No worries. I only needed to...do some things. Hello Harden." Kíli greeted the dwarfling.

"Hello Mister Kíli." He smiled.

"We're the both of you going to practice here?" Kíli asked, his gaze drifting to the girl.

"Well, w-we were but we can come back later, if that's what your majesty wishes." She said as she picked up the last bow and positioned it upright, along with the others.
"No, not at all. I was about to leave, actually. The room is all yours." He smiled, taking a step back and bowing to her.

Kíli was in the middle of exiting the room before he stopped to turn back around. Spinning around with one heel, he pointed a finger at her with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"You seem familiar. Have we met before?"

The girl tucked her long black hair behind her ear and smiled shyly. "Yes, we used to talk a lot when we were children."
Kíli brought his hand up over his chin, a skeptical look washing over his features.

"Tell me more."

"When your mother and uncle had to run errands, she would bring you and Prince Fíli to my mother and I's dwelling. And once, we baked apple pies. Even though I remember how much your brother hated apples, generally speaking. Both of you though, used to joke around and call me Raven Maven because of the color of my hair."

"Raven Maven... Oh that's right! You're Maven Destain! I remember you. It's been so long!" Kíli exclaimed as Maven's hazel eyes lit up.

"Yes, it's lovely to see you again Kí- I mean, your majesty." Maven quickly corrected herself. All the years she's known Kíli, it's always been by his own name and rarely ever your majesty or your highness.
"Oh please, enough with the formalities. It's just Kíli."

"Well, Just Kíli, it's great to see you again." She kidded, smiling at her own joke.
"Amazing. After all these years, I know you haven't lost your same sense of humor." A genuine, deep laugh escaped from his lips. "And speaking of all these years, since when did you learn how to use a bow and arrow?"

She crossed her arms before answering. "Well, I figured I needed to learn how to defend myself one way or another. I picked up a bow and it sort of came naturally to me. And why teach my brother when there's an excellent archer willing to do it himself." Maven shrugged.

Kíli grinned. "Well, that's very good. Wise choice in weapon. Just know, if you ever need help, I can show you a thing or two." Kíli winked cheekily. Before walking out of the room, Kíli whispered in Harden's ear. "Hey, tell your sister about me, yeah?"
Harden chuckled before Kíli finally left and headed straight for the Royal Wing.
After a somewhat eventful day, Kíli was going to take up on Thorin's offer and just rest for the remainder of the day.
For once, Kíli had a nice, warm feeling inside of him. He enjoyed the meeting he had with one of his childhood friends, even if it wasn't exactly how he'd want it to happen. Rarely did he ever see someone from the Blue Mountains. Maven would be the first he has seen so far. And he was grateful for that. Talking to her again made him feel he was back in Ered Luin. No worries, no responsibilities, just kids who wanted to have fun and who were in search of adventures. He hoped he would still keep in touch with her though.