A Better Place - The Hobbit Fanfiction

Twenty-Fourth Entry - Waiting

"Then of course he got the idea of using my apparent comfort with his presence to endear the humans to him, among likely other things," I said with a grimace and a sigh. "If I hadn't been so willing to go along with it he likely wouldn't have brought me. It takes two to pretend we're a happy little family."

"How does his son feel about your 'family'?" Thorin asked from where he was standing leaned against a pillar, a mug of something else steaming in his hand. He was only absently listening to us, but he did speak up with questions every now and again.

My lips puckered as though to say 'who' before I remembered the lineage. I so rarely saw Legolas and Thranduil together, even here. "Legolas? He.... I don't know. He doesn't talk much. Maybe he's antisocial? But he....seems wary of it. I think his father views people as tools first, and Legolas sees them as people first. I think he's worried I think his father is truly attached to me. We hardly ever spoke though so he doesn't know me well enough to know I'm secretly antisocial and mistrustful too so in truth I'm using Thranduil almost as much as he's using me." I shrugged. "I was bored, and going to talk to Thranduil in the afternoons was a sort of game we played with each other. He tried to get me to talk about you or myself and I found ways to pretend I'd mistaken his question or I wasn't ever at all avoiding it of course." They chortled.

"Oh come now," I said back to them, appealing. "You know I'm much too polite to avoid an honest question."

"How old are you?" they shouted as one.

"Shut up."

We all laughed at that one. At least some of my old spice was coming back now that I was with the feistier fellows who had let me show it and given it in return.

Soon after that we heard a distant voice calling my name and, guessing they wanted me to come back, I shed my layers and went to the wall. Tauriel and Legolas stood together on the far bank of the stream again. I waved, and Bifur handed me the loop of rope. I eased over the ledge and the dwarves lowered me down.

Tauriel ran across the river to meet me this time and lifted me in her arms. When we reached the other side she let me walk since I hadn't felt the need to take my boots off, and the three of us walked back to the camp. Bard turned away from the outcropping where he stood when he saw us safely back. I didn't understand his interest but he has every right to it. Maybe he would find me later and I'd get it out of him. He was as reticent as any other non-dwarf man I'd met in the last few months but a girl could always try.

"Are the dwarves entertaining?" Tauriel wondered on the way. Legolas left as soon as I was within the ring of the sentries but she lingered.

"They are. They're a lighthearted folk for the most part. They showed me a game with tiles. I lost spectacularly since I couldn't read them. They tried to help me but none of it was sticking in my head."

She frowned. "Are you having memory problems?"

I shook my head, "No, not necessarily, I'm just distracted. I'm worried."

"Distracted by what?" she wanted to know. "You have no responsibilities here."

I lifted a skeptical brow at her. "You don't believe that and you know it. I have what I suppose you'll call 'confused loyalties'. They hurt, even if I love the people they're tied to."

"You love your dwarves?" She lightly smiled, though I could see a film of worry in her eyes.

"They're like my brothers."

"What are we?"

"Aunts and uncles," I decidedly said. "Certainly not siblings, you all know too much. Granted I don't really know what siblings are like since I've never had any."