An Even Fifteen (Fili x reader)

(6) At Your Service

As soon as you could tear yourself from the sleeping pile of Rhosgobels, you slipped into the kitchen to help Sigrid with dinner. She smiled appreciatively at your offer, and put you to work quickly.

While you chopped the potatoes and scraps of salted pork, you cast surreptitious glances at the dwarves. They were remarkably quiet, each apparently in their own little world. The sickly one with dark hair was curled up on himself, brooding at the table. The blond dwarf sat next to him, but faced out and away from the table, his blue eyes fixed on the window that framed the lake and parts of the mountain. The other two dwarves sat near the fire. The gray one stared at the fire, his ear-trumpet on his lap, and the other had his hat over his eyes, and was beginning to make snoring noises.

As you dumped the last of the pork in the pot, you realized the dwarves had not introduced themselves to you. Rolling your eyes at yourself, you wiped your hands on your robes and excused yourself from the kitchen for a moment. You made your way to the blond dwarf and stood to the side of the window, catching his eyes. "I just realized," you said, "that you all know my name, but I don't know yours."

The blond dwarf smiled amiably, and the one next to him twisted around to look at you with a humorous twinkle in his eye. "Fili," the blond one said.

"And Kili," said the other, "At your service," they finished together, Fili winking at you. You smiled and inclined your head, feeling your cheeks flush.

"That's Oin," Fili pointed to the gray dwarf, "and Bombur," he pointed to the sleeping dwarf.

"Thanks." You stood there awkwardly, fiddling with the sleeve of your robe. "I don't think-- Bren!" You broke off, hearing the ominous sound of rabbit teeth on wood, and looked over to see Bren chewing on the leg of Bombur's chair. You rushed over and scooped up the Rhosgobel, holding him under his ribs with one hand and supporting his massive rump with the other. "We can't chew the furniture, silly thing. We're guests." You sighed and carried the huge rabbit to the bench to sit next to Fili. He looked on with merriment in his eyes as you settled yourself and let the Rhosgobel curl up on your lap as best he could.

"Do all of these creatures have names?" Fili asked, smiling. Kili looked at you curiously.

You nodded. "This one's Bren. They're all troublemakers, but he's the worst." You ruffled the rabbit's giant ears affectionately before securing your arm around him. "The others are Briar, Twig, Tilly, Cedar, Cricket, Ivy, Iris, Ash, and Archer." You hitched your head to the floor in front of the fire.

Tilda hurried over to you after listening to the list. "My Da sometimes calls me Tilly," she said. You smiled.

"Then I bet you and Tilly will be good friends. See her there," you said, pointing to the Rhosgobel across the room, "cleaning her ears?" Tilda giggled and went back to the rabbits. You smiled after the child.

"These are Rhosgobel rabbits, are they not, Y/N?" Fili asked, absently playing with one of the beads at the end of his mustache.

You nodded, perplexed. "How did you know? Not many outside of Greenwood have heard of them."

Fili smiled, and your heart stuttered. "Radagast paid us a visit early in our journey. He rode a sled hitched to them, and happened to mention what they were."

You grinned. "He has always taken great pride in them. He doesn't often miss an opportunity to brag on their many virtues."

"What's there to brag about?" Kili grumbled, his greasy black hair swinging in front of his face. "They're just oversized rodents with big ears."

Fili glanced at Kili in surprise, and you sat up straighter, indignant. "They are not rodents. They are lagomorphs," you protested.

Fili laughed aloud, and so did Oin. Bofur snorted awake, and the Rhosgobels perked their ears in alertness at the noise. Kili mumbled something like "same thing" under his breath and rolled his eyes at you, but the others' laughs made you feel better.

"So," Fili said, "you know Radagast?"

You smiled fondly. "I do, indeed. He raised me after my family was killed in an orc raid."

Fili's blue eyes grew wide. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

You waved a hand flippantly. "It's all right. I don't remember much of it, but I do have a lingering hatred for orcs." You grinned.

"That'll come in right handy, lass," Oin said from his place on the couch, adjusting the listening trumpet pressed to his ear. "We're no friends of the orcs, and they know it."

"I see." Gandalf had told you of their troubles with Azog and the Warg scouts. "Sigrid, do you need any more help?" You called into the kitchen.

She turned and smiled at you, wiping a loose strand of hair out of her face. "No, I'm almost done. I'm just waiting for Bain to come back with the rest of the food."

Just then, Bard and Bain came in through the front door, shutting it behind them with a slam. Bard was silent as he moved into the kitchen and peeked into the pot over the fire. Sigrid patted her father's shoulder before taking the handful of vegetables Bain handed her. "They're all I could find," the boy apologized. Sigrid merely shrugged before chopping them and tossing them into the pot. You stood to help gather bowls and spoons for everyone, then took the unusable parts of the vegetables and made your way to the Rhosgobels. You clucked your tongue at them, and they swarmed around you, recognizing their cue for dinner. Laughing, you handed morsels to each of them until there was nothing left, and by that time, the meal was ready.

The dwarves gathered around the table as you and Sigrid served the stew. Bard sat at the head of the table, the children and you on the bench to his right, and the dwarves to his left. As soon as Sigrid was seated, everyone dug into their meal with vigor.

Except Kili. The dark dwarf merely stared at his food. He seemed to even lack the energy to hold his spoon and pretend to eat. You studied him, noting that his face had gone paler, the shadows under his eyes a more vivid purple. You swallowed your bite of stew. "Kili, are you all right?"

He glared at you and grunted. Concerned, you looked to Fili, whose expression held a mix of frustration and sadness. "He was hit by an orc's arrow when we escaped Mirkwood," he said solemnly.

You looked to Oin, confused. "They've got Morgul poison, lass."

"I'm fine," Kili growled, his face turning suddenly white as he fell forward onto the table.

"Kee!" Fili shouted, standing and trying to rouse the poor dwarf.

Bard's children murmured in concern as Oin told the other two dwarves to move Kili to the bed on the other side of the room. You rushed to help, forgetting your meal. Kili was out cold, his body limp as Fili made quick work of raising the poor dwarf's pant leg to reveal a blackened wound with dark streaks running from it. You winced.

"What can we do?" You asked, looking from dwarf to dwarf in panic.

"Very little, I'm afraid," Oin murmured as he set to cleaning the wound.

A/N: You finally got a little Fili action! I'm taking it a little slow on that front, but don't worry. Romance is blossoming even as we speak (Write? Read?). As always, I'd love to read your comments, and if you enjoyed this chapter please give it a vote (and a HUGE thank you to those who have already voted for this story)! Thanks for reading, and hope you're enjoying it!
--RA