The Hobbit: A Mistaken Home

Chapter 11: Questions

        "Look! There's a stairway down here." said Bofur, pointing to a stairway on the side of the cliff.

   "Let us follow it then." said Gandalf.

Maya picked up her sweater and dusted it as the Company started to walk down the stairs.

"Maya?" said Thorin softly.

        "Hm?" she hummed with a smile.

"I just wanted to thank you. For coming back, even when I told you to stay put."

        "You're welcome. But I did not do it alone. Kili, Fili, and Dwalin helped."

"You did?" he looked to them. They just grinned.

"Then I give thanks to you as well." Thorin told them. They nodded in respect and walked down the stone stairs. Kili and Maya were the last ones. Maya stood on the stone and took one last look at the Lonely Mountain before she joined the Company. "I just walked into the forest." she thought to herself. "And now I'm staring at a legend."

   "Hi." Kili said, breaking her thoughts.

        "Hey." she said with a smile.

   "It's beautiful, isn't it?" he said, walking next to her and looking to the Lonely Mountain.

        "Very. What's it like?"

   "I do not know, I wasn't born yet when Smaug attacked Erebor. In fact, my mum was only a little girl when it happened, being only about nine or ten years old."

        "That's awful. To experience something like that must be terrible, especially at a young age."

   "Yes, but she grew to be a good woman, caring, sweet, and smart, but quite the opposite of all those if you get on her bad side. You're a lot like her, come to think of it." He grinned and she smiled.

"Kili! Maya!" Thorin called.

   "Yes, we're coming!" Kili replied. He glanced at Maya. They locked eyes for what seemed like hours.

      "Today, please!" Dwalin called.

   "Okay, okay." Kili said, not leaving Maya's stare. Until she cleared her throat, "We should get going." she said and put on her sweater.

   "Right." Kili said disappointingly. "I'll go first." he said and walked to the stairway.

        "Really? What ever happened to ladies first?" she said jokingly and followed.

   "Ah, yes well, ladies first when it's safe." he stated, "In this case, if a stone is loose I will fall, not you."

        Maya could not argue with that. She felt touched by what he said but she felt uncomfortable at the same time, and she didn't know why. They did not say anything to each other on the way down, for it was a bit awkward at the moment.

"Finally!" groaned Oin. "What took you two so long?"

      "They were smooching." teased Fili.

   "We were not!" Kili argued.

      "Sure, what ever you say brother." Fili grinned and there were chuckles coming from the Company.

"Come now, let them be." said Gandalf, "Love is no less of an adventure or a journey than the one we have been traveling on."

   "Thank y- wait... who ever said we were in love?!"

"Oh, please. It has been in both of your eyes, ever since we left the Shire!" Gandalf laughed.

        Maya and Kili blushed in embarrassment. "Alright, alright, lets get back to business matters." said Gandalf.