A Better Place - The Hobbit Fanfiction

Alternate Entry Twenty-One - Ladylike

I was incredibly hesitant to do so, but Fraeg insisted on giving me a pair of silver combs embedded with modest orange gemstones to slide into my hair for the wedding. "I'll lose them," I insisted.

"Not unless you're twirling your hair all over the place or you take them out and leave them somewhere! Come on, they'll set off lovely with your darker hair."

"Does orange even match with green and magenta?"

"They're complementary colors. More or less. But they make you look a bit more autumn and a bit less winter. Now hold still." The dress the women had ordered for me was of a slightly different cut at the top than my other dresses, drawing a little more attention to the smoother lines I was beginning to develop. Bofur said when he saw me in it that finally I'd lost most of my bony angles at last, not that I'd put on enough padding yet for his complete comfort. I had laughed.

Fraeg's fingers continued to twist through my hair and use a combination of pins and stitches to hold it up at the back of my head, half of the hair left to curl down my spine. At last she finished flipping and tugging and slid the combs in toward the font of each side, did a little stitching more then snipped her thread. "There you go. I've stitched them in. It would take effort to remove them, so do take care not to start any hair-pulling brawls, would you?"

"I will put forth my utmost effort."

"I'll believe it when I see it. Up and twirl; got to make sure you haven't gone and torn something already."

"That happened once!" I stood and did as asked. "It was a bad day. It's not my fault everything happened to tear and break at once."

"Indeed. So what is it you've gotten her for her wedding?"

I unwrapped the cloth on the round package and showed her the glass sphere-just like the one I'd made for Elrond-filled with dirt and late-season growing things. I'd had to make it the very day after receiving her invitation, before all the mosses and grasses could fall asleep on me with the frost growing each night. "See? You hang it in your window. Not actually useful, but more like a houseplant you don't have to do anything for. I asked Lord Elrond to tell me when his died and it hasn't yet so either he's sparing my tender feelings or it's carrying on still."

Bofur was grinning at me when I stepped ostentatiously from Fraeg's room, chin lifted and hand extended as though I expected everyone before me to kneel and kiss it. "Well don't you look like the little lady."

I snorted and dropped my haughty posture. "Emphasis on the 'little'."

"Oh come now," disagreed Gimli from where he sat with a short pipe by the window. "You're of average size these days."

"In height at least," said Gloin.

"Nobody's perfect."

I chuckled. "Well I'm glad to have your approval at least, Gimli, since we all know how much you value it." They laughed.

Bofur put his hands on my shoulders. "You do look quite fine, Mabyn," he assured me, smiling. "Looks like you'll grow up after all."

And none of us had thought I would. I smiled at him, then stood on my toes-wearing proper calfskin, white-embroidered boots this time-and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Da." I winked at him to hopefully make the surprise of my use of the moniker slightly less dramatic. "I don't know if I'll be able to make it back before dark but I'm taking Villy with me, and you know she's as useful as a guard dog, so I hope you won't worry too much."

Bofur shrugged, recovering gradually. "Well I will worry a bit, it's my job. But I've never known you to be a complete fool. You know where the aviary is if you need to send a bird to ask for me to come get you. Or to send word that you'll be staying the night."