Curse of the East (Fili/The Hobbit Fanfiction)

Chapter 7 - Bedtime Stories

"So when do we leave?" I asked, breaking the silence as we moved through the front gate of Bag End. I stepped out from under Fili's arm so I could precede them, pausing as we reached the large door. I looked to Thorin for an answer, and his stormy eyes met mine. I felt bad when I noticed the carefree gleam I had seen in them earlier had all but faded, replaced by his usual cool facade.

"At dawn, or slightly after Saria." He said formally, his voice all business again. That certainly surprised me; though I knew I would not have to pack much, I hadn't been expecting to have such a short deadline. Of course I didn't say any of this aloud. I simply pushed the door open, and walked slowly into the living room. I moved in the direction of my chair, but Fili suddenly picked up the pace and beat me to it; plopping down and making himself quite comfortable. I rolled my eyes, and picked my book up off of the small table at his feet; moving past him to sit in Bilbo's chair.

I was very surprised when his hand snaked out and caught my wrist as I tried to slip past him, pulling me down into the chair with him; I felt my cheeks grow hot when I realized I was sitting half on his lap. The others were slowly filing in after us and I began to feel very uncomfortable with the entire situation.

"Fili this is ridiculous," I complained, struggling to get back to my feet; but he simply wouldn't have it. Though he shifted over just enough that I was sitting beside him; as opposed to on top of him. Kili looked between us, and I wanted nothing more than to slap the little smirk I saw right off of his face. He walked toward us, and placed one of Bilbo's dining chairs right beside me, making himself comfortable. I reached over to him with my free arm, and did my best to mess up his hair before he finally managed to push me away.

"Hey!" He snapped, doing his best to tame his hair, and I giggled.

"No, leave it Kili, you look better like that." I teased, and I heard Fili laugh loudly from beside me; I heard a few chuckles from the others, and I smiled at how natural this felt. Kili opened his mouth to say something, but apparently thought the better of it and turned instead to stare silently out the window; and though he tried to hide it I could see the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. I turned back to the book in my lap, and started reading the all to familiar lines again.

We sat in silence for quite a while, several of the dwarves lit their pipes, and I overheard a few snippets of casual conversations scattered across the room. Nothing major, everyone just seemed to be relaxing for a while before they tried to get some sleep.

I was reading through one of my all time favorite scenes, when I was startled out of the world between the pages because someone had started singing; I looked up from my book, shocked to see Thorin standing right by the fire, pipe in hand, and singing a song I had only ever known the words to. I'd never actually heard them sung to any sort of tune before.

"Far over, the Misty Mountains cold. To dungeons deep, and caverns old..."

The song continued, more voices joining in, each making it sound even more beautiful than it had before. Something I thought impossible each time it happened. I was humming along quietly, the familiar words running quickly through my head when Fili looked down at me, his eyes alight with surprise and wonder.

"Do you know the words?" He whispered, so softly even I could barely hear him. I nodded slowly, and his smile became so bright I was certain I would go blind. He tugged lightly on my book, pulling it out of my hands and closing it, setting it to the side. "Sing the last lines with me," He said, his mustache tickling my ear. I shook my head, this song seemed so important to them. "Please," He said, linking his fingers with mine. I sighed, my heart racing as I ran through the words in my mind one last time. The next thing I knew, my voice was joining the rest, and several pairs of disbelieving eyes turned to look at me. None looked very angry however, so despite my fears I kept singing.