Alive - Fili Durin

19 || A gentle giant

Leo began to stir from her sleep. The last thing she remembered before falling asleep was feeling excruciating pain in her ankle, hearing Fili's voice, a grip on her hand, a squeeze on her shoulder, and gentle strokes across her forehead. She finally opened her eyes and looked at the dark, wood ceiling above her. She could tell just based on the lighting in the room that it was still night, yet she suddenly felt wide awake. Leo went to sit up when she felt pressure on her arm - Fili. He had fallen asleep on her arm after refusing to actually lay out his own bed and leave her. Leo smiled and gently kissed his forehead before wiggling out from under him. Fili did not wake up. Leo rose to her feet and found herself to be extremely wobbly from the soreness of her ankle, but it wasn't anything unbearable.

Looking through the cracks in the house, she could see the twinkle of stars shining through and felt the urge to see as many as she could. Making her way to the tall door, she realized she could not reach the latch to get out. Huffing, she gently kicked on the boards around the border of the house out of sheer boredom. When she got to the corner of the house, she noticed one of the boards she kicked was loose. She hummed to herself before bending over to assess it. Wiggling it around, she managed to slide it out of the way, giving her a way outside.

Leo crawled through the opening and into the fresh air. "Should I be doing this?" She questioned herself. "Probably not." Despite her thoughtful, and wise, answer to herself she ventured further away from the house.

Kicking some rocks and picking some mushrooms, Leo explored the grounds inside of the giant hedge protecting the house. In the rush of trying to get inside, she realized she did not get to see what the pasture outside of the hedge looked like. Leo slowly made her way to the opening of the fence while twirling a small yellow flower between her fingers. Peaking outside to assess for any danger, she came to the conclusion that it was all clear, so she wandered out.

The pasture was not completely flat with the presence of a few hills and dips. The grass was a yellow-green color and came up to Leo's waist. She ran her fingers of the soft grass as she trekked further and further from the fence.

Eventually remembering why she had come outside in the first place, Leo let her eyes drift up to the deep blue, almost black, sky. Twinkling, white stars lined the blanket of darkness. A few stars shot through the sky.

Leo smiled with wide eyes to take in the vast sky. A breeze suddenly hit the back of her head with a bit of force. She thought little about it until it happened again but this time, the breeze was hot and came with a grunt. Leo felt her heart stop and the pit in her stomach explode. Her breathing began to heave and catch in her throat. She felt tears well in her eyes as she reminisced on her stupidity.

She knew she was going to die, but she did not want to die like a coward. Deciding to look the creature in the eyes before it killed her, she slowly spun around to be face to face with the beast. Its yellow eyes bore into her green ones as they two stared each other down. His grunts caused his scarred nose to flare and sent a gust of air that blew Leo's hair away from her face. It took her by surprise when he did not immediately attack her, but instead, he lowered his head a bit as if to get a better look at her.

Leo decided to test her fate a bit more and reach out to him. The creature flinched a bit and snarled before returning to his still face. With her hand out, Leo stepped forward and touched his wet nose. The creature grunted but did not move or snarl. Leo began to lightly stroke his nose, feeling the bumps and scars in awe.

A screech in the forest caused Leo to quickly retract her hand and spin around to look for the source. The creature lifted his head to sniff the air. Now more alert with the disturbance in the forest, the creature used his nose to nudge Leo behind him and toward the house. He continually nudged her until she was close to the hedges. Leo saw a figure running to the fence and she soon recognized Fili. Even though she could not see his face, she could see his sword in hand and knew he was probably furious under his panic of seeing the creature behind her.

The creature began to snarl behind her once Fili approached. Leo spun around to Fili and held up her hand. "Stop! Stay there." He listened. Leo looked at the creature who was still on his guard. She reached up towards his, but he sat up too high. Noticing her struggling, he lowered his head to her tiny hand and allowed her to stroke his nose one more time. She looked into his eyes. "Thank you for not eating me." The creature blinked slowly at her before giving her a strong nudge away from him.

Leo took off in a sprint towards Fili. Once she reached him inside the fence, he pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. She could hear his heart beating out of his chest. He pulled away with his hands on her upper arms and kneeled in front of her. "What were you thinking? Leaving like that! You're supposed to be resting you're injured and that thing is out here! I woke up and you weren't there and I - "

"Fili..." she spoke softly to calm him. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. He didn't hurt me. I just needed some fresh air is all. I did not intend to worry you."

Fili just stared at her as he rose to his feet. He moved his hands to the sides of her face. In the dim light of the moon and stars, her eyes appeared to glow - they were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. He brushed his thumbs across her pink cheeks that felt cold from the chilly breeze. He felt his heart skip a beat when she smiled at him. Her small hand reached up to move a stray hair out of his face, running across his forehead and down his cheek in the process. Fili closed his eyes and leaned into her soft touch, taking in every second he could. He opened his eyes again to see that her gaze and hand has moved to one of the braids in his mustache as she fiddled with one of the beads curiously. Her eyes snapped back to his as he moved his hand to the back of her head. Fili leaned down and pulled her toward him as Leo stood on her toes her meet him halfway.

He kissed her.

Leo wrapped her arms around his neck as he moved his other hand around her back to steady her. Leo could only describe what she felt as...fireworks. Not just any fireworks, no no, the extraordinary, magical fireworks she had seen as a child. Despite not being a child now, she felt the same joy and excitement in her as she did those many years ago.

The two pulled away from each other completely breathless as they still stood nose-to-nose. "Well, I think nows as good a time as any...not like it'll change anytime soon." Leo tilted her head at him. Fili smiled. "I love you, Leona Baggins."

Leo gasped lightly in surprise and joy. "I love you too, Fili Durin."

Fili grinned the biggest she had ever seen before she was swept off her feet and spun around. She had to suppress a squeal as to not alarm the others. He stopped spinning to kiss her one more time.

"Now, let's go to sleep, hm? After this oh so eventful night."

"I won't leave you again. Ever."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Fili carried her to the doors of Beorn's house where the two slept hand in hand the rest of the night.