The Navigator

The Braid

Vistial was seriously starting to hate Fili now.

"Just one moment more..." Oin finishes the brace. Pulling a prank, Fili had stuck out his foot as Vistial walked by, tripping her, and the girl had sprained her wrist as she fell. Kili had tried to catch her, but it was no good. And it was her string-drawing wrist, so say goodbye to archery for a while.

"Keep pressure of it for a couple days and I'll check it again. Let me know if it hurts at all." Oin says.

"Thanks, Oin." Vistial replies. She looks over to see Fili being scolded by Thorin. The young dwarf had his head hung, nodding every couple seconds as Thorin scolded him. Kili sat next to her, watching the exchange between his brother and uncle.

"Are you alright?" He asks, realizing that Oin had finished.

"I think so." Vistial replies, looking at her wrist. "Looks like I won't be able to joining you to hunt for a while, though."

"That's alright. Just be careful so you can join me sooner." Kili says with a smile. Vistial blushes, nodding.

"I'll try."

~~~

"Ow!" Vistial's hair was starting to annoy her as it fell out of the braid. Unconsciously, Vistial had gone to fix her hair and had forgotten about her wrist. Now it was throbbing in protest of being bent.

"Vistial, are you alright?" Kili suddenly appears at her side. She nods, grimacing at the pain. "Do you want me to get Oin?"

"No, I'm fine. It'll wear off." Vistial responds, blowing a strand of brown hair out of her eyes. "Just wish I could fix my hair."

"Do you want me to help you?" Kili immediately asks. Vistial raises an eyebrow at the dwarf.

"You can braid?" Kili nods.

"All dwarves know how. We kinda have to." He says, gesturing to the other dwarves' hair and beards. Vistial then nods, moving to sit in front of Kili. Shivers run up her spin as Kili undid her hair and started to braid. Kili expertly weaved the braid, finishing far quicker than she would've expected.

"Done." Kili says. Vistial runs her hand over the braid. It was definitely a lot better than she could've done.

"Thanks, Kili." Vistial smiles.

"Anything for you, Amralime." Kili responds.

"You do know I don't know what that means, right?" Vistial chuckles.

"Maybe one day I'll be able to tell you." Kili says. Just then, Bofur cuts in, holding two bowls of stew.

"Hey, laddie, leave the lass alone for a moment so she can digest." Bofur says, shoving one of the bowls into Kili's hands. Vistial laughs as Kili grumpily gets up.

"Thank you, Bofur." Vistial says gratefully as the dwarf hands her the other bowl.

"Lassie, did you have Kili braid your hair?" Bofur asks. Vistial looks at the dwarf in confusion.

"Yes, why?" Bofur looks at the girl.

"That's a courting braid."