Dwarven Denouement

14

The company decided to make camp on the top of a hill, looking out over the Wild.

Neana was sitting by Fili, who was leaning up against a rock, and Kili was cleaning his shoe. Bilbo was eating the rest of his stew when a hair-raising scream filled the air making bilbo almost drop his cup. "What was that?", he asked, his voice shaking. Neana closed her eyes trying to calm down. She knew what that was. "Orcs...",she heard Kili say. "Orcs?!" Kili nodded,"Throst cutters. They prefer to attack at night, no screams. Just a lot of blood." Bilbo looked as though he was going to pass out again. Neana could hear Kili and Fili start to snicker. Thorin walked over,"You think a night raid from orcs is a joke?" Neana opened her eyes to see Thorin glaring at Fili and Kili. "We didn't mean anything by it...", Kili said hanging his head. "Of course not, you know nothing of the world.", Thorin said. He walked to the edge of the little cliff and put his for on a rock and faced opposite of us.

Balin spoke up,"You'll have to forgive him lads. Thorin has more reason than most to hate Orcs." "He's not the only one.", Neana mumbled so no one could hear her. Only, someone did. Bilbo. But before he could ask, Balin began telling the story of Moria. Bilbo was terrified as Balin spoke of how Azog the Defiler beheaded the king. And he grew a new found respect when he heard Thorin had faced the pale Orc head on with nothing but a piece of wood. "And I thought to myself, that is a dwarf who I could call king.", Balin finished. Thorin turned around,"We should get some sleep. Neana, you're on first watch."

Fili glanced over at Neana as she got up. He noticed her hands were shaking, but he decided not to say anything because he thought it was from the story. He and Kili both rolled out their bedrolls, and went to sleep. Bilbo however, did not feel tired at all. He kept thinking about what Neana had said. Had she been hurt by the orcs to? Feeling brave, Bilbo got up and walked over to the rock Neana was sitting on and tapped on her shoulder.

"Oh, hello Bilbo.", she said as she turned around. She moved over so he could sit with her,"Trouble sleeping?" Bilbo just nodded. They sat in silence for a few moments before Bilbo asked her,"When Balin said Thorin had more reason than most to hate orcs, what did you mean when you said 'he's not the only one'?" Bilbo felt Neana stiffen. Neana didn't know what to do. She decided not to lie to him, but also not exactly tell him the truth. "I just meant that I've had my share of orcs. Nothing more." Bilbo curiously asked,"You mean like Thorin?" Neana shook her head. Not wanting to pry, Bilbo opened the comfortable silence.

A voice cleared behind them,"Neana, go ahead and rest. It's my shift." Neana smiled and gave Nori a hug,"Sleep well." She then turned to Bilbo and did the same. "Sleep well Master Baggins." And with that she turned and climbed down to her bedroll, strange she didn't put it there. She looked around and saw Kili had taken the place where she was going to sleep and put hers in his place.

Nori looked at Bilbo,"I would watch it if I were you." Bilbo tilted his head confused. "That's Fili's girl, I am not joking when I say he'll kill for her.", Nori said with a wink and sitting down on the rock. Bilbo was astounded. He made his way swiftly down back by the fire, and went to sleep.

She could not move the bedroll without waking anybody, so Neana just decided to lay down. Neana was laying on her bedroll facing Fili. Certain he was asleep, she started playing with his hair. She ran her fingers through it, and twiddled with the braids. When she noticed he was stirring, she quickly removed her hand and closed her eyes, controlling her breathing so she appeared asleep.

Fili looked over at her. She truly was beautiful. Her semi-wavy hair spread out in a halo behind her and her face was illuminated by the fire. Without thinking Fili reached forward and cupped her cheek, then leaned forward and kissed her forehead for a long moment. He leaned back and looked at her for a moment and closed his own eyes and went back to sleep, not seeing the smile on Neana's lips.

The next morning, Neana woke up to Kili shaking her. "Sleep well?", he smirked.

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"Gandalf? Can you do something about this rain?" It had been raining ever since they set out that day. Neana was the only one who wasn't complaining. She quite enjoyed the rain and did not have her hood up. "You'll catch a cold like that." Neana smirked,"Well then, Fili, if I do then would you aid me?" Fili chuckled,"So cheeky."

"It is raining master dwarf and it will continue to rain until the rain is done. If you wanted to control the weather you should have sought out another wizard." "Are there any?" Bilbo asked curiously. "Are there what?", Gandalf asked. "Other wizards." Gandalf thought for a moment,"There are 5 of us. Saruman the White is the leader of use. Then there are 2 blues but I can't seem to recall their names." "And the fifth?" "Ah that would be Radagast, the brown." Bilbo asked,"Is he a great wizard, or is he more like you?" Neana tried her absolute best to not smile, but she failed miserably. "I think he is a great wizard, in his own way.", Gandalf said ignoring Bilbo's comment. "He's a gentle soul who prefers to be in the presence of animals."

Neana listened intently to the conversation between the wizard and hobbit. So intently in fact, that she didn't notice Kili was calling her. "Neana!" She jumped,"What?" Kili smirked,"I was saying that I see you still wear the necklace?", he said loud

D enough for his brother to hear. She nodded. In front of them Fili listened closely, not giving any signs that he heard them. "May I asked why?" Neana couldn't help but get a little defensive. "Because I promised him, no matter what I wouldn't take it off!" Kili laughed,"Calm down Neana I was only asking. So you like the necklace?" Neana vigorously nodded,"I absolutely love it!" Kili smiled and rode up past his brother, sending him a smug look.

They came upon this little run down farm house. "We'll make camp here.", Thorin said. Gandalf seemed to think otherwise,"I think it would be far better if we moved on. We could make for the hidden valley, we would be safe there."

Neana quit listening after that. She busied herself with helping Bombur prepare dinner and thinking about the night before. Why had Fili kissed her head? She was sure it was just a friendly gesture. Why would he like her right? He's probably got loads of female dwarves wanting him. All with desirable beards. Beards that Neana did not have.

Fili looked over at Neana. She was helping Bombur cook but her mind seemed elsewhere. He wanted to go talk to her, but Thorin ordered them to put the ponies in an old pen and watch them.

Once Neana finished handing out everyone's bowl and ate her own. Neana went to get two more bowls. She filled them up and walked over to Bilbo, "Will you help me take these to Fili and Kili?" Bilbo nodded and grabbed a bowl.

They found Fili and Kili staring at the ponies in the pen. They did not move or blink. Neana laughed,"You two sure take watching the ponies very seriously." Her and Bilbo reached forwards with the bowls, only the boys didn't take them. "What is it?", asked Bilbo. Kili cleared his throat,"We were supposed to be watching the ponies-", Fili interjected,"Only we've run into a slight problem. There used to be 16 ponies, now there's 14."