Endotherm {Thorin/Hobbit}

||Chapter 11||

||Chapter 11||

<|Third Age 2974|>

    Endor Baggins's biggest critic is herself (at least nowadays), something she'd easily admit to.  In times like these, where she was left in a place of questioning herself, the training of her parents' came in full force upon her character.  Always flee from the fights.  Do not express anything but happiness.  Stay away from strangers.  And to Endor Baggins, her encounters with Thorin Oakenshield broke every one of these rules.

    His ways of action and speech are infuriating to the mere hobbit, and often-a-times, she finds herself expressing an emotion in response to his pigheadedness.  Then there is his ability to draw her into both verbal and physical fights, hindering her every sense of training and intelligence.  But more than anything else, the man is a stranger that she can never flee from, not that she wants to. 

Her infatuation with the king is at an all-time high, not that anyone can blame her.  With hours spent in his company these past two nights, it is only natural that she finds herself succumbing to those bright blue orbs and midnight hair.  To Endor, the king is like a treat she can never have, blocked by the wall of propriety and race.

    So by the time that the woman stands at the threshold of the dining hall, Endor is in a serious huff.  As much as she despises being the messenger girl for Thorin Oakenshield, she must speak with Kili about Tauriel for business and personal reasons.  And it is no surprise to find him in this room, playing a wicked round of chess with his only brother.  Endor has come to find that this is their very favorite past time, Kili always winning despite Fili's every attempt.  Truly, it is a humorous notion that the older brother, who succeeds in most anything, cannot beat the younger for the life of him.

    As Endor approaches, she covers her face in a warm smile, waving to the dwarves she knows.  Bifur sits a small-ways away from the princes, eating his fifth meal in solitude.  Other than Thorin, Bifur is the only dwarf who knows of her ability to speak Khuzdul, seeing as they speak often in downtimes such as now.  Ori and Dori sit in the other area of the room, the latter dwarf fixing the hair of the former like the good mother he is.  Little do they know that Endor gets a kick out of their adopted rolls.

    Walking up to the two brothers, who sit at the end of a long table, she analyzes their playing board with a grin.  As usual, Kili seems set up to win with five more pawns still in the running.  Fili is in his usual huff, wishing to win the game just once against his brother.  Of course, he's asked Endor to help him, but she denies his requests under her dislike of the game.  She may be smart, but chess is a whole different matter.

"Hey, Kee, can I talk to you?" Endor asks, looking at the younger dwarf who is contemplating his next move.  Rather, Fili looks up at Endor with questioning eyes, wondering what she needs of Kili rather than himself.  But Endor has good reasons for her choices, that he knows, so he goes back to contemplating his strategy.

"Sure, Dora," Kili says, slowly getting up as he moves his rook forward, taking out Fili's bishop and prompting a growl from the older brother.  The younger prince looks down the table to Bifur, knowing that his brother will be liable to cheat if he is to leave the room.  "Don't you dare think of cheating, brother!  Bifur, please watch him and cut off his hand if he tries anything."

Endor holds back a laugh as the two of them leave from the room, never failing to be humoured by the two princes.  She always wondered why Kili and Fili were still single in their young, yet adult, age.  Of course she knew of dwarvish Ones, but thought that at least one of them would have found theirs.  It was not until today that she recognized that she was right in this assumption.