Washed up - A Hobbit story

XXII

I am so sorry that this took this long! I had massive writer's block and a mountain of schoolwork. But here it is! 

I do not own any of the dialogue from the movies.

Also, search the song Touch the sky from the movie Brave ready if you want to listen to it while reading out a scene that contains the song. There will be a notion of when to start the song when you do have to do so.

Bea's POV

Bard, Bain and I entered the small house, and Bard's youngest, Tilda, ran straight to his father's embrace, followed by her older sister, Sigrid. 
"Da! Where have you been?"
"Father, there you are! I was worried." 
After hugging her father, Sigrid turned to me.
"Da, who is this?" She didn't sound hostile, she was eyeing me up and down and her sister joined her shortly after. 
"Is she our maid?" I lifted an eyebrow at that question. It was clear that Tilda wasn't completely up to speed on the money issues the family was having and I didn't intend to do anything to change that, I just turned to Bard, who hurried to explain. 
"No, darling, she is a visitor." Bard paused for a moment and handed his bag to Sigrid and closed the windows, so it was impossible for anyone to see inside the house.
"Bain, get them in." The sisters didn't have any idea what was going on when their brother went downstairs and soon, wet and annoyed dwarves started to climb up the stairs. First, very annoyed Dwalin came up and after him a wet and shivering Bilbo who looked miserable. 

The rest of the dwarves climbed up, and Sigrid and Tilda followed their father's orders and walked among them handing around blankets. I was still in my wet clothes even though the dwarves had gotten dry clothing from the dwarves, the only thing keeping me warm was Fili's jacket and I wrapped around me tighter, trying to stop the shivering. I felt a light tap on my shoulder and I turned around to see Sigrid. 
"I have some dry clothes for you. You seem like you need them." I smiled at her and got up, peeling the jacket off of me. As I walked past Fili, I slowed down and placed it on his shoulders. He turned around slightly and smiled at me before returning to his conversation with Kili and Bofur. The family gave me weird looks but I didn't care. 

"Here, they might not fit you very well but at least they are dry and warm." Sigrid handed me a blouse and a long skirt, similar to the one she was wearing. 
"Thank you. I can't tell you enough, I have been freezing forever and I was really close to snapping at the dwarves." I smile and she walks away, behind the curtain that separates the space that I am standing now from the rest of the house and blocks the view of the dwarves to me while I'm changing. I pull the clothes on quickly. Sigrid is quite much taller than me, so the skirt that goes up to her knees goes nearly to my ankles. Not exactly what I'm used to, but it's dry and warm. I cringe at the wound on my leg, it's sending light pulses of pain to my body. They are nothing that I can't handle, but I'm worried that the wound might have poison in it. Now, it looks and feels quite fine, but I still peek my head to the other side of the curtain. 
"Is it possible to get something to bind the would on my leg, it's not serious but it bleeds a little?" Bard nods and nods his head to Bain, who disappears for a moment and reappears with a small roll of white bandage. He hands it to me.
"Thank you." I smile and pull my head back behind the curtain, wrapping them around my leg tightly. I gather up my wet clothes along with my weapons, and walk out behind the curtain, straightening the dress as I walk.

"It's a little too long." Sigrid points out, a faint smile on her lips and I turn to her, smiling as well.
"Yeah, well, I'm used to clothes not fitting me very well. That's what I get from being short." I let out a small laugh and we walk back to the dwarves, who stare at me as they have never seen me before. Sigrid throws me with a questioning look, to which I wave my hand in the air.
"Pay no attention to them, they have rarely seen me in a dress. The last time was in Rivendell, I think." She looks at me in shock and I smile wider, placing my weapons on a table and stretching my aching muscles that have gotten stiff from all the cold. The stiffness doesn't go away easily, and it takes a while before they start hurting and I have a full range of movement in them again. Sigrid is sitting on a bench and I sink next to her, glancing at the dwarves. They are talking among themselves. Tilda appears with a mug and she hands it to me. I hold it tightly and wrap my both hands around it to warm them while I drink the tea. It's a little bitter, but I don't care, it warms me up from the inside. I notice Fili throwing glances at me and they cause Sigrid to lift her eyebrow at me. 
"Is there a romantic relationship between you and one of the dwarves?" I choked on my tea and I couched while Sigrid was staring at me.
"What? No. What makes you think that?" I finally get all the tea out of my lungs and I take a deep breath in while I wipe my eyes that started to water from all the coughing. 
"It's just. I can't think of any other reason that you would travel with them." I straighten myself and let a smile take over my features yet again. "Okay, how the hell I'm going to explain this?"
"It's a long story, but to put it shortly... I was lost and a wizard found me and the next thing I knew I was part of this lot." Sigrid is about to answer but she is cut off by Bain.
"Nice sword. Who's is it?" I notice Bain with my unsheathed sword. His face is turned to the dwarves as he holds the blade to them. Most of them don't pay any attention to him, but Fili and Kili glance at the sword and they look at me while I walk so I am standing behind him and I hold out my hand.