Insanity | A Hobbit Fanfiction

Chapter 8

Kili laughed. "No offence, but I think that's a really good idea."

She laughed softly. "I am rather dirty, aren't I?"

"Yes," The brothers said at the same time.

"I should wash my clothes, too."

"We can take them." Fili offered. "We were all gonna wash ours, anyways."

"Okay," She said. "Thanks."

She went into her bathroom, stripped off her dirt-coated clothes, and threw them out to the dwarves.

"Have you got extras?" Kili asked.

"I'll find something." She called out.

The bothers left, and she ran herself a warm, deep bath. She lowered herself in, and scrubbed herself until her skin was raw. Then she washed her hair, and brushed it.

When she got out, the water was black. She looked at it with disgust. She dried herself off and found that someone had lain out clothes on her bed.

She put them on, just a large, light white shirt and brown leggings, and combed her hair again. She dried it with a cloth she found, and braided sections of it, pulling the rest back with a clip.

When she deemed herself presentable, she went to go find the dwarves .

They had made a small campfire and found some sausages, so they decided to roast them while waiting for their clothes to dry.

Bofur plucked a sausage off the stick he was cooking it on, and raised it too his lips. Before he took a bite, he saw Bombur sitting on a table that was barely holding his weight. "Bombur!" He called, and tossed the meat to him. Bombur caught it, and the table groaned.

He looked down, and the table collapsed. He fell right on his ass, and the dwarves broke down in laughter. Bofur laughed so hard he fell over.

Zephira had just walked in then, and laughed along with the dwarves. She walked in and sat down, leaving the dwarves staring at her.

"What?" She asked.

"You... You're /clean/!" Bofur exclaimed.

"Gee, thanks."

"No no no! I mean, it suits you."

She smiled and started roasting a sausage. The dwarves continued to stare. She looked so different! Her hair was lighter, /way/ lighter, nearly blonde, her skin was pale and smooth, and her face seemed more delicate. Even, some of them thought, beautiful.

"Where's Thorin and Bilbo and Balin and Gandalf?" She asked.

"They're with Elrond." Nori called.

"Doing what?"

"Dunno. Figuring out the map."

"And they didn't invite me?" She asked teasingly.

"Well," Bofur said. "You did run off earlier."

"Oh yes. Right, forgot."

She sat with her back against the wall, knees bent, and had (out of habit) left the top three buttons of her shirt undone. While there was no one there she particularly wanted to flirt with, she made sure enough cleavage was showing.

Nori was the first to take notice of her clothes. "Where'd you get those, lass?"

"Found em on my bed. Why?"

"Well, the shirts about three sizes too big for you, and I've never seen you in pants before, so..."

"Oh, well, they aren't mine."

Ori whispered to his brother. "The shirt looks like Thorins."

"What was that?" Zephira asked.

"Oh. Um, nothing, Miss Zephira."

"Don't call me Miss. Now, what did you say?"

"I, uh, only that...well, that shirt looks a bit like... Thorins..."

"Oh," She said, surprised. "Oh."

"It could be anyone's, though." Ori continued hastily.

"Right. It's probably not Thorins..."

"What's probably not mine?" Came a voice behind them.

Zephira turned to see Thorin, Balin and Bilbo standing behind her.

"Nothing," She said at the same time Ori said, "The shirt."

Thorin raised an eyebrow. "It /is/ my shirt, but I fail to see why it is so important."

Zephira blushed deep red, and there were many raised eyebrows.

Kili broke the silence: "Where is Gandalf?"

"He was summoned."

"By?"

"The White Council. He gave us instructions. We are to leave tonight, make for the mountains, and wait for him there."

"Leave?" Fili exclaimed. "We've only just gotten here!"

"Yes, and now we're leaving." Thorin snapped. "Come on everyone, get your clothes, gather food and water."

Zephira frowned. "What happened?"

He looked over at her. "We... You're clean!"

"Yes, thank you, I think we've all established that I look quite different right now. /What happened/?"

"We figured out the map."

"And?"

"They were Moon Runes."

"Ahh, of course."

"They said, 'stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole.'"

"Um...so-"

"We have to be standing at exactly the right place at exactly the right time." Bilbo said, quoting Balin.

"That'll be difficult. When is Durins Day?"

"Soon. Far too soon." Thorin said with a shake of his head.

"Then we must go at once." Kili said.

"Yes. Now hurry up everyone. You won't want to be walking through the mountains in your underwear."

~~~

Sorry this is so short :/ I'll make up for it, pinky promise!!

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