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3: Why Does Everything Rhyme

3: Why Does Everything Rhyme

I smiled as Kili and I held hands; he led me around the small house to meet everyone else who had arrived. Bombur really liked cheese and had red hair. Bifur had an axe in his head, and Bofur had a strong accent with a funny hat. Ori was too cute with brown doe eyes, and Nori had unique hair. Dori was like an overprotective mother hen who kept asking everyone if they wanted wine or tea. Oin couldn't hear a thing, even through the metal pipe he used; and finally Gloin was an angry fellow who always had a scowl on his face. Kili explained his older brother, Fili, was the one I met earlier. Fili was nice and polite; he didn't ask anything about my scars too.

"Hey Kili," I asked, "Why do their names all rhyme?"

He replied, "I don't know really. It's sort of a dwarvish custom." I dropped the subject after that.

Literally, where the hell am I? And why am I surrounded by four foot tall people who look like they belong to a gang? I thought.

"Who else is left?" I asked him politely.

"Gandalf!" Kili looked up at an old man in a grey robe.

I had to crane my neck just to look at him. The guy must've been at least six to seven feet tall. He kept murmuring and counting his fingers, trying not to get in the way of the dwarves taking food from a frustrated Bilbo. The sight was almost amusing.

"We appear to be one dwarf short," Gandalf muttered.

"He is late is all," Dwalin replied, "He traveled north to a meeting of our kin. He will come." Dwalin assured the gray-cloaked man as he sipped a drink from his mug.

"Kili, who is this?" Gandalf finally addressed us.

I introduced myself, "I'm Andiel. Nice to meet you." I tried to be polite as possible, since I wasn't familiar with anyone here.

He smiled warmly at me, and I couldn't help but smile back.

"Are you assisting us on this quest?" He asked me.

"Quest? What quest?" I asked him confused. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked up at him. He raised his eyebrows and whistled away. I turned to Kili who was still holding my hand. "Kili, what's he talking about?" I asked.

"You'll find out soon," his smile widened as I stared at him. He seemed excited, but for what? And no one used the word "quest" anymore; it was too medieval.

I saw the dining table and felt a sharp pain in my head. I gently held it as images of my abuse flashed through my mind. I had had too many bad incidents with dining room tables. I squeezed my eyes shut and I stumbled a bit. Kili supported me.

"Are you okay?" he whispered and searched my face.

I nodded and scratched my head. My blue shirt had three rips in it and my gray sweats had blood on it - they were torn too. It was hot, so I decided to put my hair up in a ponytail to keep myself cool. All the dwarves had placed the food along the middle of the table and everyone grabbed what they wanted. I smiled and decided to take some meat and other things I found good. They all ate like savages and I sat quietly and laughed occasionally. I didn't wanna put myself too much out there. And why wasn't there a single woman in here? Nonetheless, the people around me seemed to be a really close group. I wish I had a group like that. I continued eating and everyone had ale in their hands. What was ale? Fili handed me a drink and I took a gulp.

I coughed and my eyes watered. "Fuck! What is that?!"

Everyone laughed and Kili smiled at me. There was a whole burping contest, and everyone laughed again. I waved around my eyes and tried to get the bitter taste out. Was this beer?! No wonder I hated it.