Two Young Hearts - (The Hobbit)

Five: brothers

Only weeks had passed and Neisa was as happy as ever. She had seen Bain when able to and had tried to spend as much time with him as possible. Her brothers had wanted to see her soon but also wanted her to stay put, life with her.

Her and Bain were together in the light of the woods. He was chasing after her, laughing wildly. He put his arms around her and she laughed. She kissed his cheek dearly. "I love you." They would tell each other, even as children.

"Look at our sister." Her twin, Aiken spoke. 

"Indeed. I remember when we would chase her in the forest, her laugh being wild as he ran with her. She was a free girl, now she is not. She is a girl who follows orders and does as others may say to do. She used to run wild in the night with us, tripping on her dress often. She never seemed delicate." Bron, the oldest said.

"Delicate? It is Neisa, she is but a mere young girl. Not a lady, and not a woman, but a girl. She is fierce and unafraid. She still has dragon fire burns on her, that will never leave her." Aiken said. 

"Of course, but there is also the fact that she is not the same as she once was. She is colder. Ever since we left. You knew what she told us, we were the only ones in the family whom she loved, now we are gone." Her younger brother said, who was only 9 months younger than her. 

"Maybe so, Beowolf, but now she has Bain." The eldest said.

"It is Neisa, she is full of wonder. No one knew where things would go. She was kind and caring, but adventurous and bold." Famon, the second oldest said. 

"Really?" Bron said. 

"I always thought of her as a lady of curiosity. If you must notice, the boys our age fancied her. She was rather... different than other girls. But they saw her as a lady to cook and who could clean, much as Neisa would not look forward to in life." He stated.

"Aiken knew her best, as her twin," Beowolf said. 

"Nay, I was, but I knew her just as well as you all did," Aiken replied.

"We taught her many things. Bron taught her to read. I, Famon taught her that being a lady doesn't mean you are weak, Aiken taught her archery, and Beowolf showed beauty in everyone. We were all close in age. Bron was one whenever I was born, and I was only two when Aiken and Neisa arrived, and she was only nine months when Beowolf came. She was nine or eight when the youngest came." Famon said to his brothers.

"We never seemed to get along with him," Bron said sadly. "Yes, we know. He was an arse, always rude to Neisa. He still gives her snide remarks about being a woman." Beowolf replied.

The months had passed and Neisa was alone. She had grown stronger and braver. She was almost 16. She was a brave soul, much more than other women. It was dead night, and Dale was quite. She was an amazing young lady, stronger than most had been at her age.

She found a black substance that she knew. If you placed it on your skin, it would make a mark to forever stay unless you took it off a minute after placed. She took it on the tips of her fingers and wrote her brother's names. "Famon, Bron, Aiken, Beowolf, my brothers." She said as she wrote. Most girls could not read or write, but she knew the entire alphabet and knew the order, which many boys did not know.

"Long lost love." She mumbled as she wrote on her forearm. 'They shall be proud' she thought to herself, smiling.

"She is a woman now," Famon said about Neisa. 

"I want to see her," Beowolf said thinking. 

"We can," Aiken replied. 

"Would she like it?" Famon asked.