Erebor was even larger up close. The mighty carved stone of it's gates soaring up into the sky almost to the point that you couldn't see the top when close enough. Tahlaia could understand why the Lonely Mountain had been known as the greatest trading kingdom to have ever been or will be. Even at this moment traders with their horses and carts where flooding to the gates, there seemed to be a queue to get into the mountain never mind be able to sell wares inside of the mighty fortress of the now proclaimed King Thorin Oakenshield. The title was longer, or so she'd been told but she couldn't honestly remember it all.

As she got closer to the gates she realised that the trading carts where entering to one side, the side with the queue the size of the blue mountains, and then simple travellers like herself to the other, once she actually got up to the gates she was told that to enter her weapons needed to be taken from her and she needed to sign in, security reasons... Tahlaia unwillingly parted with them and signed her name. Luckily they hadn't noticed the dagger in her boot, so she had something at least. She was given one or two questioning looks but was eventually free to enter the mountain. The halls where just as spectacular, the halls where taller than giants and carved all the way to the roof, scriptures in the Dwarrow's language. Gold and Jewels where in ever direction, whether engraved into the rock itself or wrapped around a Dwarrowdam's neck, you couldn't get away from them in this hall.

Tahl followed the crowd to some rather busy market stalls that spanned rooms upon rooms, most of course had gems and jewels dripping from the tables, necklaces and bracelets and even to the extreme of armour crafted with the precious metals. The most expensive things in life never really attracted Tahlaia, of course they where nice, and shiny, but not needed. She strolled from stall to stall, glancing but not interested, one however made her smile, alike to the wooden carving she had seen in Dale, a stall selling stone carvings of the same group of dwarrow's caught her eye, she quickly moved in it's direction, it was a lot quieter than the other stalls, perhaps because it wasn't stocked with shiny things. She noticed the statue the blonde dwarf she had met in Dale had picked out, what was his name... Bomlur, Bombur? Then she noticed one that actually resembled that said blonde dwarf and picked it up,

"Could you tell me who this is?" She asked the Stallman, he laughed heartily "That's the wee young Prince Fili! Heir to this 'ere Kingdom." He explained "The lad should be comin' to inspect thee' goods like these in a matter of moments lovvie!" The older dwarf added, Tahlaia raised her eyebrow to this. Suddenly there seemed to be a flurry of commotion from the other side of the hall where she had entered, she quickly turned to look at what was going on.

"Now remember master Fíli that we are not here on a shopping spree-"

"Lóni, you do realise you tell me this every time we go to evaluate the goods in the Halls?" Fíli chuckled slightly as he interrupted his tutor. Erebor might have been twice as rich as it was currently if Fíli received a copper coin every time Lóni had repeated that phrase at him. 

"Yet it seems to me young master that even so, I still catch you reaching for your pouch of coins every time we come down here!" Lóni huffed, clearly not pleased at being interrupted when he was speaking and still not entirely trusting Fíli to carry out the job properly- even though the crowned prince had now spent two years under his tutor's wing. 

At his tutor's accusations, Fíli raised his hands in defence. "That's only so I can estimate how much money I have to spend later on in the day." Fíli replied innocently, to which Lóni could only roll his eyes and carry on faster towards the halls faster.

As the young Prince and his entourage made their way down the vast corridors, Fíli returned the cheerful greetings he received from friends and companions as he made his way down. He was in a cheery mood this morning and not only because he was to spend the days in the markets with merchants and craftsman but due to a family birthday, Fíli would be free of duties a lot earlier than usual. And hopefully that free time could be well-spent with his younger brother having a little bit of harmless fun...

Fíli was suddenly drawn from his thoughts as the doors to the market hall opened and Fíli was greeted by the warm and welcome smell of freshly brewing broth, mead and wine as well as a multitude of fruit and vegetables (of which Fee really hoped there'd be very few apples...) and was almost dazzled by the sight of such rich and intricate jewellery, weaponry, carpentry and tapestry- the lengths to which merchants would go to make their merchandise that bit more appealing never failed to astound him and it was certainly a sight to behold.

And with barely a minute to take in the atmosphere, Fíli had already been moved to the first stall to his left where he started conversing to a very pleasant woman who had dedicated herself to making beautiful charms an trinkets from precious stones mined from Erebor itself. And Fíli listened eagerly as he carefully looked over what she was selling, displaying genuine interest in the wonderful items she had created.

Going around the halls was never a quick job, but it certainly was always one of the most interesting tasks Fíli carried out.

Tahlaia kept her head down and instead kept to looking at the cold stone carving that was warming in her hands. The more she looked at the little thing the more it began to look like the Dwarf she had met in Dale. But a Prince, a future King wouldn't go strolling around cheap market stalls in Dale. She didn't want to be involved in any of the crowd that was slowly making it's way toward her area of the hall. She'd rather avoid any sort of attention at all cost because usually it ended up badly for her. She heard a woman make a sound of flustered jog and expected that it was something to do with the Prince that had apparently just entered the market hall. The stall owner chuckled and she looked up,

"He be quite the looker young Prince Fili. An quite available if yah gets my meaning, lotta women here after a lad like that." He said with some strange form of proud huff. Tahlaia merely shook her head and rolled her eyes at the whole idea. They probably didn't even know the dwarf let alone actually have feelings for him. The things people will do to marry a dwarf with a title. Abet a decent title like one Prince of Erebor had.

"Ah! There be him!" The older Dwarf pointed in the direction of the crowd. When Tahlaia looked all she could see was a mop of golden hair that could have belonged to anybody. And yet the silver breads that where precisely combed into the hair seemed oddly familiar to her. She out it down as them being common accessories for the Dwarrows of Erebor. The Dwarf on the stall seemed to be getting increasingly excited as the posse of Dwarrows and dams alike got extremely close. They where barely three stalls away now and there was already a mass of people around the stall trying to get a good look. Tahl contemplated just moving out of the way and letting them trip over the dwarf like fools but it was only when she turned to get a last glance that she realised who it was. She knew him. Well. As well as one could with one meeting. He had been the Dwarf she met in the markets at Dale. Her face paled slightly and she didn't know if to be angry or a little upset at the fact he had lied to her. The Dwelf's head fell and she put the stone statue back on the stall with a little more force than needed "Yah alright love?" The elder dwarf asked somewhat affectionately.

"Oh, sorry... I didn't mean to. Just um, nothing. I've just seem the Prince once before." She left it at that for lack of a better explanation of how he'd lied to her face about who he was. What his name was. He'd probably been laughing at her stupidity when he made his way back to Erebor. She was stuck in the crowd now and couldn't escape so kept her head down and hoped that he didn't remember who she was and that they'd met. Otherwise he'd have a piece of her mind.

The crowd that Fili had initially thought to be composed of  harmless consumers and merchants had slowly but surely gathered around the young Prince and his small entourage and presently they had successfully organised themselves so they had now blocked all escape routes for Fili... The young prince was not afraid to admit that the feeling of being surrounded on all fronts by highly critical Dwarrowdams was amongst the most unnerving of experiences.

And he felt like kicking himself as well for forgetting what time of year it was coming up to; The Time of Choosing as Loni liked to refer to it, though the majority of Dwarrow knew it as courting season. 

At the very least, Fili felt a little more prepared this year than he had the last. The very thought of which made him shudder in fear as glimpses of that the traumatic experience flashed before his eyes. Last year had been the first year that he had felt the full brunt of the forcefulness of Dwarrowdams and he remembered being too terrified to wander anywhere about the city for fear of being chased down the streets by swarms of them. But he couldn't hide forever in the wardrobe with his brother and wish away all the terrifying dames that wanted to catch his eye and to get around the Mountain, Fili had been forced to use the smaller and lesser known corridors and halls. This had left him relatively undisturbed for a few days. But he had been wrong to underestimate the ladies within the Mountain and all too quickly they began to catch on and began forming blockades that the Dwarven prince could not avoid. Fili now knew to never take those small, narrow passageways at this time for there was no escape from them there if they caught him.

He would have to discuss with Kili about means to avoid the crowds of women hunting for Dwarves that would make ideal husband material. The two of them surely could come up with something better than Fili's temporary solution to the problem which was hiding behind Loni and using him to scare away the crowds.

Though this one did not seem to be wanting to go anywhere. Even with the elderly dwarf asking them to step back a little. Fili, in turn, pretended not to notice them and kept his attention on the stall owners he was talking to. Though the dames were no fools and one would have to be completely blind not to see them all gathered around oneself and so they did not move unless forced to by Fili's small squadron of councillors who had been charged with clearing paths for the Prince to travel a few yards to the adjacent stall. 

Fili smiled as he arrived at the next stall which sold carvings, this stall being one of his personal favourites for he knew Frar, the owner of the carvings, very well and the old Dwarf never seemed to lack in gaiety or cheer. In fact Fili had often met with him in the taverns and spoken to him within the Feasting hall on many occasions. And Frar had now made it a little tradition every time Fili inspected his goods, to give the Prince a small pocket-sized carving he'd make which would always be depict himself in some ridiculous situation (this one happened to be Fili waging war against the King of all apples). The two of them exchanged pleasantries and Frar wished him good luck with the horde of predators waiting for his councillors to drop their guard.

And with that, Fili was about to move onto the next stall when in an initial moment of panic, he saw one of the Dwarrowdams just beside him. But his fear was quickly replaced with confusion as this one did not look at him nor even acknowledge his presence as instead she stood transfixed at the floor. Fili wondered briefly if the dame was all quite there as she came across as a bit odd just standing there, seemingly hypnotised by the floor. 

And he wasn't sure whether it was the unusually slim physique or the Dwarven traits that seemed almost out of place on the dame, but there was something about the women that struck him as familiar. And he wasn't sure if this was luck or fate, but looking down at the small carving Frar had given him, he remembered her. She had been the Dwarrowdam he had met in Dale looking at Thorin's carving. Tahlaia was it?

A shove from Loni drew him from his thoughts as his tutor tried to move him forwards before the Dwarrowdams tried to overwhelm the councillors. And both Loni and Fili wouldn't have given the councillors a minute when faced with the army of females around them.

And with but a few seconds to react, Fili handed the Dwarrowdam the small carving Frar had given him and put it in her hands. "Now there's something that'd look much better on your mantelpiece." He said quietly, trying to be as discrete as possible so none of the other Dwarrowdams got it in their heads that he was handing out presents.  

Those few minutes where the crowned Prince and the elder stall-owning Dwarf where the longest that Tahlaia could ever remember, staring at the floor like she was some sort of insane person that found the dull stone beneath her feet the most interesting thing in the world of Middle Earth. She was surprised that she had not been shifted aside like the rest of the crowd by the Princes entourage, however she soon realised that she was the only person that was actually interested in the stall, rather than the blonde haired Dwarf.

Some of the comments that she was listening into where extreme to say the least, there where of course the comments said louder than they needed to be in order to try and flatter the Prince who seemed to be doing his best to ignore all of the attention being given to him. Other comments where a little more extravagant and Tahlaia had to stop herself from pulling all sorts of faces after overhearing them

'Doesn't the Prince look stunning!'

'Why yes he does, oh do I hope he see's me today.'

'The other week I managed to catch his eye you know!'

'Oh how lucky you are!'

She felt a little sorry for Fili, having to deal with all of this, obviously love sick maidens that though a simple glance was a monologue portraying true love, Tahlaia didn't think she'd be able to handle all of the faces looking at her and all the comments. She wasn't a crowd person, even now she was having a minor freak out at being surrounded but kept herself calm enough on the outside. She'd much rather be somewhere quiet, alone with a good view of the world outside these walls than in the company of these Dwarrows.

She had expected him to just move on and not notice her, he nearly did, she was quickly caught off guard when he stopped and stared for a moment, her eyes jumped up from the floor to look at him and what he'd do next. She was still irritated he'd lied to her, but she wasn't stupid enough to punch the Dwarf in the face with this many of his adoring fans so close. She was a little flustered when he placed the small statuette in her hands, she wrapped her fingers around it and glanced down to the little figurine of himself, she couldn't help but chuckle "Well I hear yours is full anyway." She replies quickly before he is dragged away to the next stall and all of his admirers follow.

Tahl opens her fingers to look at the little figure more closely, what she doesn't realise is that Frar is also watching eagle eyed and lets out a gasp which draws her attention "The wee Prince musta liked yah missy! Nevar seen him give out a gift before, and me own handy-work at that!" Tahl flushes and tries to quiet him however she's sure one or two of the Dwarrowdam's have already heard him. He isn't exactly quiet after all.

The little Dwelf decides that it's probably best should she escape the hall while there is room to do so, she gives a quick goodbye to the Dwarf before slipping toward the exit she believes she came in through, however truthfully she's gotten a little turned around by the extent of the tall stone halls. Eventually she finds a quiet pathway, she isn't sure exactly where it goes but she can't see anybody to ask at the moment so continues to walk, all the while admiring the little statuette that's still in her hands.

Kíli’s beard was itching and, for what seemed like the hundredth time that afternoon, he had to fight the urge to rip it from his face. Honestly, he couldn’t see why everyone made such a fuss about beards or why he had ever thought that he wanted one. Nasty, itchy things they were and, for perhaps the first time in his life, Kíli was glad that he was unable to grow one that looked anywhere near the right side of respectable. If the itching had been the only problem with beard it might have been manageable, or at least he would have been able to get used to it and ignore it, but unfortunately, the itching wasn’t wasn’t the only problem: a stray hair had somehow escaped from the tight braids that hung here and there to decorate the bushy beard (and keep it somewhat under control) and it was now making a valiant attempt to escape even further by going up the young prince’s nose. Another hair, having also escaped from its braid, had managed to catch in one of his buckles and, every time Kíli moved, it gave an insistent little tug which forced him jerk his head slightly to the side relieve the pressure. Another hair was poking him persistently in the eye and another one- but no, no need to go through all the individual hairs which had seemed to have made it their goal to torture the poor prince. All that needs to be said is that the beard was prickly, itchy, irritating, and evil and Kíli was not enjoying the experience.

Of course, all this irritation might have been due to the fact that it wasn’t really his beard and therefore had less control over it than most dwarves. Certainly, he’d made it (it was a product of much labour and love and had taken him all morning) and it was stuck to his face as securely as it could be stuck but he hadn’t actually grown it.
Kíli was wearing a fake beard.

Normally Kíli wouldn’t have even dreamed of wearing a fake beard, would have been extremely insulted had anyone even dared to suggest it to him but, alas, it wasn’t “normally”. No, it wasn’t “normally” at all.

It was the courting season (“The- the- the T-t-t-time of Choosing” a blushing Pód stuttered somewhere in the depths of Kíli’s mind) and it was therefore the most terrifying period to ever have occurred in Kíli’s short life. Desperate times (otherwise known as the hordes of dwarrowdams who watched him in the same was he watched the doe he’d chosen to take down) called for desperate measures (otherwise known as a cunning disguise or, as Pód put it when Kíli told him his idea, “dressing up”). In times gone by Kíli hadn’t had to worry about the courting season, he’d either been too young or hadn’t been considered a particularly good catch; the younger nephew of a King without a Kingdom and with no great deeds to his name. He’d spent those seasons with his brother, laughing at the dwarrows attempts to either evade the dwarrowdams’ notice or catch their attention. Neither of them were laughing anymore; after the quest everything had changed and they found that they had suddenly become desirable commodities that many a dwarrowdam was interested in catching and keeping as their prize. The title they would gain from such a match was not something to be sniffed at although… Kee wondered if anything would change when- no he wasn’t going off on another tangent, he was going to stay on track for once…. Anyway, there was no use thinking about such things, it might not even happen and it certainly hadn’t happened yet.

To say it had been quite a shock the first year it had happened would be like saying it had only been a slight surprise when the floor had open up beneath him and sent him and his friends tumbling down in to the halls of the goblin king. Kíli had ended up hiding in his wardrobe with Fee until the ordeal was over.

This year though, as much as he would have liked to go and hide in his wardrobe again, he couldn’t. Instead he had to roam the corridors and halls of Erebor, going from place to place and making his way through the throngs so that he might fulfil duties, go to lessons, and do other princely things that princes did. Rather than use the lesser known corridors, as his brother had planned to do when they parted ways in the morning, Kíli had come up with an ingenious solution which allowed him to use the corridors he would usually take but without attracting any unwanted attention. It had taken him most of his morning lesson with Pód to make the necessary preparations in order to carry out the plan but, despite the discomfort, it seemed to have been worth it. He emerged from the study a different dwarf, one wearing a fake beard, a hood that hung halfway down his face, and clothes stuffed with linen and a stray pillow here and there. One which leaned heavily on a stick and limped his way down the corridors.

He could safely say he looked nothing like himself.

Kíli had spent most of the day disguised in this manner and, so far, only 5 dwarrowdams had shown the least bit of interest in him. It was, Kíli had to say, quite the strike of genius and he doubted that Fíli, with his plan to try and avoid the crowds, had been having quite so much success which was why, now that all his duties were completed, he was heading towards the main market hall clutching a bottle containing some nasty looking brown liquid in one hand and a walking stick in the other with Pód, who was lugging a huge canvas bag over his shoulder and also in disguise, on his tail. He’d had to force Pód to disguise himself as well once he’d realised that so many people had grown used to the sight of Pód traipsing along behind the youngest prince that they’d know it was him if they spotted Pód anywhere in his vicinity. Kíli would have preferred it if Pód had just left him to his own devices once their lessons had concluded but Pód had point blank refused to leave his side and, because he’d been in a very bad mood all day (Kíli could have sworn his tutor had almost bitten a dwarrowdam who’d approached them before the young prince had got his disguise on), the young prince had decided not to waste his breath arguing.

So there they were, disguised as an old dwarrow and his son, making their way towards the main market hall.

As soon as they entered the market hall Kíli could easily spot his brother, or rather he could easily spot the crowd which no doubt had his brother at its centre. On seeing the seething mass of dwarrowdams, all of whom were trying to get close enough to catch his brother’s eye, Kíli couldn’t help but chuckle, turning to Pód (who was staring in horror at the knot of dwarrowdams and slowly moving closer to his charge’s side) to mutter:

“I told you my idea was better than Fee’s. Look at that crowd! I won’t be surprised if my brother wasn’t hiding under the table to get away from them.” He threw another look at the crowd. “I wouldn’t blame him either.”

Pód stared at him with a strange look in his eye and said nothing.

Kíli wondered why he’d expect any other kind of response.

With a sigh he turned away from his tutor and started making his way towards his brother (behind him there was a squeak of some kind but Kíli ignored it). Once he reached the crowded he realised that some force would have to be used if he was going to get anywhere near his poor trapped brother. He wouldn't usually revert to such rude and violent ways to make his way through a crowd, he was a well brought up dwarf after all, but, as he’d said before, desperate times call for desperate measures. Dropping his stick to the floor, and earning a surprised look form the dwarrowdam nearest to him, he started elbowing his way through the crowd until, finally, he reached his brother. All it took then was a kick to someone shins and he was free of the crowd and falling directly on to his brother. Grasping Fíli’s elbow to regain his balance, and to maintain the illusion that he was an elderly dwarrow who needed assistance, Kíli drew himself close enough to his brother’s side in order to whisper in his ear.


“I know we can’t hide in the wardrobe like we did last year but I’ve got something that might work just as well. Get your men to distract the lovely
ladies and follow me.”

With that and a wave a Loní, he hobbled away, leaning heavily on a rather bedraggled Pód’s arm and pushing through the crowd to what looked like a relatively deserted corridor.

"Right, this is just ridiculous. Is it too much to ask to just get a little work done?!" Loni snarled, his tone angrier than anything Fili had ever heard him use. Turning to look to his tutor, he saw that the elderly dwarrow had gone a deep shade of red and the glare he shot one of the maids would have been frightening enough to make Azog himself flee in terror. Seeing his tutor so upset by their inability to get on with their plans for the day made Fili forget about all the ladies for a second and he placed a steadying hand on Loni's shoulder to calm his elder before Loni couldn't reign in his anger. Loni seemed to calm down slightly at Fili's touch, though Fili could have sworn that as his tutor tottered off ahead he had heard Loni muttering something about getting his hammer.

Though before Fili could act on Loni's words and make sure the old dwarf wasn't about to murder any of the dwarrowdams, he felt someone grab onto his arm and hang on it to support themselves. Fearing it to be one of the dwarrowdams, he was about to tear away his arm before realising that it was just Kili by his side.

...

Except Kili didn't really look like himself... He was wearing a beard... And he was pretending to be fat...

Why in Mahal's name was he dressed like that? Had Kili gone completely out of his mind?! Was he really trying to get the attention of all the dames by pretending to grow a beard and put on weight?

Fili just stared at Kili as his younger brother in confusion, his mouth hanging slightly open as Kili said something about wardrobes and following him. But Fili wasn't really paying attention to what was being said because he just couldn't get his head around what it was his brother was trying to do. Fili knew that Kili often wished he had a beard that Mahal would be proud of, but Fili hadn't thought he'd go to such lengths to pretend he had one. And why would he want added attention from the dwarrowdams?

And before Fili managed to get a word in, Kili was gone as quickly as he had come.

Wh- .... Oh!

It was only as Fili remarked how none of the women had formed a separate little bubble around his younger brother that he realised Kili was wearing a disguise. Fili felt himself visibly relax, now reassured that Kili was not going through some form of identity crisis. The older brother was about to set about deciphering what it was that Kee had told him, when it turned he didn't need to... because captain Loni was already acting on it.

"Fili, we can't hold them off any longer, we're going to have to get out of here. Your councillors have agreed to give us as much time as they can buy us so we can escape. We'll meet up with your brother and Pod." Loni said in a hushed voice as he hurried Fili along to the next stall, one selling all kinds of fabric and materials. As they reached the stall, his councillors began forming a rather uncomfortably small circle around Fili and Loni- Fili presumed this was their way of distracting the dwarrowdams whilst he and Loni 'escaped'? Though the councillors were neither great performers and failed in all respects to hide the fact that they were obviously up to something and nor were they anywhere near as intimidating as guardsmen and Fili doubted that his elderly, polite and socially awkward councillors would hold off any crowd for longer than five seconds. But that didn't seem to bother them at all and they stood their ground as ladies tried to peer over the top of them to get a view of Fili. A couple of the shorter councillors even stretched out their arms to stop the dwarrowdams from getting a view of Fili and Loni... Talk about inconspicuous. 

Then keeping in character, Loni didn't say a word but pointed under the table and mouthed the word escape.

Really? This was Loni's genius plan? The dwarrowdams weren't all that stupid! Of course they would know where Loni and Fili were if they had somehow 'disappeared' at this stall. But Loni didn't seem to be taking any nonsense from anyone and so Fili reluctantly crawled under the stall and remained crouched under the counter on the other side. Fili was handed him a piece of cloth to use to disguise himself with by the stall owner. This escape plan of Loni's was so ridiculous that Fili supposed it wouldn't hurt to go along with this part as well.

Loni soon emerged from under the table as well and crouched beside Fili. He looked a little embarrassed- Fili presumed that he had a little difficulty crawling under the table but that look was quickly replaced by one of the most excited, child-like smiles he had ever seen Loni give as he too used a piece of cloth as a makeshift hood.  Maybe Fili should recommend that Loni get a position as a master spy, since he seemed to be enjoying this so much. 

And then as though this couldn't get any worse, he heard shuffling as his councillors awkwardly waddled to the next stall keeping the same circular formation. Presumably they were trying to lead the dwarrowdams away from the fabric stall by pretending that Fili and Loni were still with them.

This was going to be very embarrassing when they were caught. Fili thought to himself and he prepared himself for the cries of shock as the dames finally caught on (in fact, Fili was surprised that they hadn't noticed anything suspicious for this long). But he didn't hear any shouts or gasps from the crowd of women mere feet away from him. In fact, the only thing he heard was more shuffling as they followed the councillors to the next stall.

Were they falling for this?! 

Fili had trouble believing what he was hearing. He and Kili had come up with more well-designed plans and ideas when they were dwarflings and even some of their most genius plans hadn't worked as well as this!

After paying the stall owner a few coins, Loni gave Fili a thumbs up and he stood up and made his way over to the corridor where Kili and Pod were. You could see the look of pride and delight on Loni's face as his plan worked flawlessly. Fili himself had to look back just to be sure that the dwarrowdams really had fallen for Loni's plan and were he not overcome with shock, he would have laughed at his councillors shuffling along with their hands in the air being followed by a long line of women.

They reached the corridor unnoticed and Fili followed Loni until they had caught up with his bearded brother and Pod. 

"I see master Kili was little more prepared than we were today" Loni smiled at the pair (dismissing the possibility of the disguises as being Pod's idea immediately) and keeping his voice low in case a stray dwarrowdam overheard him using the name Kili.

Fili, on the other hand, couldn't really find anything to say and so he just stood behind Loni in his make-do hood.

Maybe he'd wake up any second now and this will all have been just some strange dream...

Tahlaia is brought from her silent admiration by the sound of scuffling and voices coming from a hall just ahead of her, the walkway turns so she can't yet see whoever is in front of her. She doesn't know if she should turn around, walk back the way she came from so that she didn't interrupt whoever was there. Then again it would have her probably more lost than she already was, couldn't see just sit and wait for them to leave in one direction or the other so she could continue without getting in the way, then again, she didn't know how long they would stay there, they seemed to be chatting, it could go on for hours should they really want to.

She let out a huff and stopped her foot once, irritated that she was stuck in this predicament. She had forgotten she had the little statue in her hand, and upon looking down a small smile reclaimed her features, she then coughed awkwardly and slipped in back into a small pocket in her pack, turning back to the situation she found herself in.

The little Dwelf could always peak couldn't she? It wasn't like they'd be waiting for a strange little being to peak her head around the corner and see if they where going to go anytime soon. She wanted to laugh at herself for coming up with elaborate plans about going around hallway corners. So, she did as she had 'planned' and moved to poke her head around the corner to see who or what was around it.

That... Was a rather odd sight. Three dwarrows she couldn't name or recognise, other than one that might have been with Bomb-Fili, Prince Fili, in the craft hall, and the Prince himself wearing a hood that looked as though it had been made in a minute. She pulled her head back around the corner and looked up at the ceiling "How can you possibly throw that Dwarf in front of me twice in a day?!" She hissed quietly to herself more than anybody, there wasn't anyone listening to her, there wasn't anybody around to listen to her.

She felt somewhat better knowing at least who one of them was, the one Dwarf she actually knew in Erebor. The one she currently wanted to hit for lying to her about who he was, which she was still angry about. She decided that they weren't going to move soon, so with a deep breath, spun herself around and turned the corner to face them all, clearly in view of those looking in her direction as well, she slowly started walking toward them, one of them looked a little, strange, or at least his beard did,

"It looks like I found you again." She spoke, the comment directed at Fili.

Kíli (with Pód at his side) waited patiently for his brother come up with a plan to escape the crowd of dwarrowdams and join him in the corridor. Obviously, what with his brother being hidden in the middle of a dense gathering of females, Kíli couldn’t actually see what the plan was when Fíli finally put it in to action but, luckily, he’d spent long enough keeping track of his brother’s movements without actually looking at him to know that he wasn’t in the middle of said crowd when it moved away from the stall they’d recently been surrounding. Still, it was a surprise when, a few moments later, his brother and his tutor emerged from under a table, his brother disguised with a makeshift hood. Hiding under the table wasn’t really Fílli’s style and he’d expected more flare… given the utter lack of finesse and creativity Kíli guessed it had been Loní and not Fíli to whom the plan belonged. It wasn’t a bad plan, as such, but full marks for effectiveness did nothing to make up for less than pleasing marks when it came to creativity, originality and evidence of a back-up plan should things to awry.

This train of thought managed to last the young prince until Fíli joined him in the corridor. At that point all trains of thought (and there were quite a few) stopped unless they were linked in some way to his plan. It was only natural, after all; he’d spent a good part of his morning coming up with the plan and was eager to share his success with his brother.

“Did you forget the past few courting seasons, brother? You must have because that is really the only reason I can think of that could explain your lack of planning.” He laughed, teasing and care-free, and tugged lightly on his brother’s hood. “I have to say, you really are very lucky that I certainly didn’t forget the terror of hiding in a wardrobe for a day and, as such, made sure I was prepared for any occasion.” Here he paused to stroke his own makeshift beard. “Although today has made me think. I’m not sure I want to grow a beard anymore; all it seems to do is get in the way and make your face itch. Quite frankly I don’t see the appeal. I suppose your beard is okay, at least it’s short so it shouldn’t get in your way but it must still itch….” He trailed off, realising he’d gone off on a little tangent, as he was prone to do whenever in the presence of his brother. Things tended to just spill from his brain to his mouth in an attempt to share every single thought that might interest Fíli.

“Anyway, I thought you might not be prepared so I decided that I’d be prepared for you... which I suppose makes a change. Here, take this.” Kíli took the sack Pód had been carrying around for half the day and shoved it at Fíli. “It’s some padding, to make you look slightly fatter. You shove it under your clothes and it gives you a bit of extra bulk. There’s a change of clothes in there too but that can be done when we’re not in public so for now I’ve got the cloak I use when I go hunting. I know your disguise won’t be as good as mine but it took me and Pód all morning to make this beard and I wasn’t going to spend the rest of the day making a second one. It’s not as though giving you a fake beard would help all that much anyway; everyone already knows what you look like when you have a beard. Pód suggested we shave it off but I thought that that might be a little too drastic.”

Kíli felt a light touch on his shoulder. Pód was at his said once more, this time holding another bag, this one far smaller than the other. He must have taken it from Kíli’s belt which was… strange but the young prince decided not to spare it much thought. He quickly took the bag and held it out to Fíli.

“Thank you, Pód, I was just getting to that. Anyway, as I was saying, I didn’t think you’d want to shave your beard so I found an alternative. It’s a dye that’ll turn your hair brown. Nothing permanent, I promise! It’ll come out as soon as you wash your hair so don’t go shoving your head in any buckets today.”

The young prince would have most likely continued talking had it not been for the fact that someone, standing directly behind him, spoke.

There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that they were talking to him.

Slowly, he turned to face the dwarrowdam.

“I’m sorry. I.. I don’t think we’ve met before…” He trailed off uncertainly, eyes flitting over the face in an attempt to place the face in front of him. No, he definitely hadn’t met her, he would have remembered such a distinctive features. “No, we definitely have met before! I think you have the wrong dwarf!” He grinned nervously, the only other explanation was that she was one of the dwarrowdams who had seen Kíli before he’d put on his disguise and she’d been following him ever since. He certainly hoped that wasn’t the case. “Definitely haven’t met you before! Definitely! Absolutely certain! Sorry for your confusion, goodbye and have a nice day and sorry again.”

With that he turned back round to face Fíli, hoping that his panicked blabbering would be enough to get the stranger to leave them alone.

“I do not think I could forget anything as traumatic as our first courting seasons brother, I must have forgotten how quickly the year goes by when one has actual duties to attend rather than arts and craft sessions.” He jested in return. He was almost grateful that he had not realised what day it was- by the look of things, it appeared he would be able to spend the day with his brother. After all, Lóni seemed to have had his fill of excitement for the day and likely would not risk running into another crowd of dames by trying to resume Fíli's duties.

Though whilst he teased his brother- now that Fíli got a better view of his brother's disguise, he could not help but remark just how realistic and well-crafted the disguise his brother wore actually was. "Though I have to say, you seem to have been graced with a talent for creating false beards and guises. Perhaps you should tell Dwalin that you have found a new calling in life?"

At his side, Lóni eyed Pód as he handed Kíli the bag. The elder clearly not particularly impressed with Pód as Kíli gave his account of what they had been doing that morning. “Pód, were you and Kíli not meant to be going over Erebor’s revenues and expenses over the past few months this morning?” The elderly dwarf asked. The young tutor had been so promising, organised and impressive when Lóni had first interviewed him for the post as master Kíli's personal tutor... but now he seemed to be at Kíli’s command instead of the other way around! Lóni could only imagine what he and the young Prince had been getting up to when Lóni was not there to keep everything in order. “Remind me to have a word with you later.” Lóni added.

Fíli looked at the bag slightly suspiciously as his brother mentioned a dye. Of course he believed that Kíli had his best interest at heart but Fíli was a little worried how long it would take for the dye to wash out. He had a few council meetings later this week and he prefer to not have to turn up with patches of brown staining his hair... Then again... The two of them had changed their appearance more drastically a few months back and had been quite content not knowing for sure that the effects were reversible.

Fíli shivered slightly as he pictured trying to explain to his Uncle and mother why he and Kíli were- well… why they were-

Never mind. Fíli quickly shook away the image and took the bags that Kíli had brought along with him. He looked to Lóni as he did so, as his tutor did not seem to be opposed to the action, Fíli assumed that Lóni thought it was a good idea too. "Well we had better get started then- do you know where I can get dressed up?" He asked Kee-

Though he was quickly distracted as a familiar face showed up again behind the group. Fíli offered an awkward smile as he closed both bags so the dame couldn't see their contents- he wasn't really certain what to say to the dame seeing as she had walked up on him and his brother whilst they were in the middle of putting Kíli's plan together. She had seemed like a friendly dwarrow when they had met but the prince didn't think they had reached the stage in their relationship in which he'd invite her to watch him getting changed into a fat suit.

But it appeared he didn't have to say anything for Kíli had already turned to face the dwarrow and quickly gave her a rushed apology of sorts before trying to ignore her. Not that she should take it personally, the two of them had to be very careful around the dwarrowdams at this time- but it didn't seem right to completely ignore her since he remembered her telling him that she had never been to Erebor before, so Fíli decided to speak up.

"Actually, this is the dwarf I told you about who I met in Dale several weeks back-" Fíli explained, hoping Kee would remember which one he meant. He didn't want to say 'you know the beardless one who seemed to have a bit of a thing for Thorin' as the dwarrow would likely take offence but hopefully Kee would be able to figure out that this was her. After all, few dwarves fit her description.

He hadn't known that she had been searching for him and felt a little bad that she had 'found' him at such an awkward period since Fíli doubted that he'd have much longer to linger and chat before someone realised that he wasn't in the crafts halls and the horde of dames would leave the hall in his pursuit.

"It's uh- great to see you again as well" Fíli smiled politely as he looked to the Dwarf. "I apologise that now is not really the best of time for me to talk, today hasn't gone entirely to plan-"

"But if you require an audience with the Prince, I can schedule a meeting at a later date provided that you have an actual reason for seeking such an audience. And courting is not a valid reason for disrupting the Prince's schedule." Lóni very quickly interjected before Fíli even had a chance to finish. Lóni gave her one of his disapproving glances as he looked over her- clearly not very impressed by the dame and her interruption.

From what she could tell from the conversation she had half walked in on. They where speaking about disguises? Was that how they thought that they where going to get through the crowd of Dwarrowdams that had probably realised the Prince was nowhere to be seen in the hall anymore and was off to find where he had gone. She doubted that whatever they where trying to do would work, why not tell the silly women they weren't interested and to leave. He was a PRINCE after all.

The other Dwarrow, the younger who had immediately began to talk to her seemed a little odd, and not simply because he wanted to get rid of her as soon as he possibly could. At yet at the same time had quite the likeness of Fili, his younger brother perhaps? Wearing a horrendous beard? The strangeness of Dwarrows continued to amaze her,
"You must be Kili... Out of curiosity where you dropped on the head as a babe?"

The two beside them she had no idea. Both where smaller Dwarrows that seemed older. The one that was closer to the youngest brother seemed almost panicked. The one closer to Fili simply irritated with the series of events, she decided she should probably stay way from that one.

"Prince Fili," she bowed mockingly
"It's good to see you've regained knowledge on your own name." Oh yeah. She was still pissed about that and he needed to know about it. Even if nobody else understood the comment but him. She was somewhat startled when the angry looking older Dwarrow spoke suddenly and in her direction. She watched sceptically as he direction his conversation at her. She nearly laughed at his comment on courting,
"Excuse me? If the Prince thinks I intend on courting him, he should probably get over himself. I have half a head unlike the others, apparently."

Kili had always enjoyed exchanging light-hearted jabs with his brother, there was just something about needling his brother and being needled in return that made him smile until cheeks were sore. As such, when Fíli insinuated that Kíli had nothing better to do with his time other than stick individual hairs on to a beard shaped piece of material Kíli happily rose to the occasion and sent a jab right back.


“I’ll have you know that, thanks to my ‘arts and crafts’,” here Kili made sure to put on the worst imitation of his brother’s voice he could muster. “I have achieve more this morning than you could possibly hope to achieve in a day. For example, have you gone to check that hole we’re supposed to be watching? No, I don’t think you have. I, on the other hand, have spent already spent a good five minutes staring at it today and fully intend to go back again this evening for a further five minutes of staring.” He turned up his nose and puffed out his chest, knowing all the while that he looked absolutely ridiculous. “You should be grateful, really, that I came to save you from the rampaging hoards. Without me you’d have probably ended up cowering in the cupboard again rather than completing you actual duties.”

Kíli knew he might been a little too enthusiastic in his overacting but after having spent an entire morning with Pód he felt he was allowed a little fun however stupid it might look and sound. Pód was never good company and had the habit of agreeing with everything Kíli said (within reason) and that rather took the fun out of saying things that were clearly ridiculous. There was also only so much stuttering Kíli could put up with before he started thinking that maybe there was something wrong with his hearing.

So yes, Kíli was definitely allowed to act like a bit of an idiot in front of his brother.


“And thank you,” the young prince said, stroking his moustache (a little gingerly so as to make sure he didn’t accidentally rip it off his face) and pretending to preen. “Although I can’t take all the credit, Pód did a lot of the work and his braiding is truly amazing. If I had anything for him to braid I’d consider letting him do them for me but alas, his skill must go unused.”

Here he paused, an idea having struck him suddenly. He straightened up quickly and, throwing a surreptitious glance in Loní’s direction, turned earnestly to face Pód.
“Unless of course Pód wants to tell us that he’s found a new calling in life and wishes to leave his post as my tutor.”

As if prompted by the young prince’s suggestion, Loní turned his attention to Pód.

As the older dwarf spoke sternly to Kíli’s tutor he couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him. The poor dwarf was flushing a brighter red than usual and stuttering so badly that he couldn’t even form a complete word. Kíli knew what it was like to be on the wrong end of Loní’s gaze. Anyway, it really wasn’t Pód’s fault that they’d spent a good part of the morning, as Fíli had termed it, ‘arts and crafts’. He’d been as insistent (or at least had kept on suggesting) that they complete their morning duties but Kíli had refused to even consider doing anything until he was safely hidden behind a beard and some extra padding. He’d only really given in to the prince’s demands when Kíli had reminded him of the dwarrowdams who were no doubt skulking around looking for him and who would keep from completing their duties if Pód didn’t let Kíli ‘dress up’.

Kíli, in an act of self-sacrifice he hoped would be remember long after he premature death, had made up his mind to take the blame from his tutor and was just about to open his mouth to say as much when he was distracted by the dwarrowdam.

---

Time skip because Kee ended up awkwardly straddling two different moments in time in this reply and his legs were really not meant to stretch that far.

---

Kíli found himself flushing at the dwarrowdam’s question and fought the instinctive urge to duck his face and hide from view behind a curtain of hair. He knew the dwarrowdam probably didn’t realise just quite what she was saying, that she had no way of knowing what it meant. He knew that such things shouldn’t affect him anymore, that he should have grown thick-skinned with age and that hurtful comments, meaningful or no, should simply bounce of him. He knew that the normal reaction to such a comment would either be indignation or startled laughter.

He knew all that and yet ….. and yet “were you dropped on the head as a babe” stung like a slap in the face.

Kíli wouldn’t go so far to say that his childhood had been a difficult one; he’d been allowed to run wild and do nearly anything he pleased, he had a family who doted on him and took great pains to keep him safe and happy, and he had the perfect companion and confidant in his brother. Indeed, most of his childhood memories were pleasant ones which made him smile whenever he thought of them and Kíli would be the first person to admit that there were plenty of people who were far worse off than he had ever been.

Even so, there were still some parts of his childhood Kíli would rather have forgotten.

Children, as Kíli had found out at a young age, could be incredibly cruel. It wasn’t that they enjoyed other people’s pain but rather than they just couldn’t understand things that weren’t like them; if something was different to them in some then they couldn’t understand it, if they couldn’t understand it then it it was a potential threat, and, if it was a potential threat, then it should be driven away with its tail in between its legs. It was only logic really, but logic in a child’s hands could be more hurtful than an axe in the hands of a full grown adult. And more deadly too.

“Dropped on his head” had been one of the many reasons given for why Kíli (skinny, beardless, and surprisingly small for a dwarf his age) looked so different. Along with “half-elf” it had probably been the other young dwarves’ favourite taunt and, over a certain period of Kíli’s life, it had been thrown at him relentlessly. The taunt hadn’t hurt because he thought it was true, his mother had assured him on that account multiple times, but rather because it had made him aware that everyone else thought it was true. The other children had come to the conclusion that the only way Kíli could possibly look like he did was if there was something severely wrong with him and the hurt. It had made him feel ashamed of his looks, made him avoid looking at his reflection in the mirror and shy away from Fíli’s hand when he reached out to play with his tangled hair and wonder how anyone could even bear to look at him.

Of course now he knew that, whilst he was never going to be the most attractive dwarf in the mountain and Fíli would forever be the better looking brother, he wasn’t so repulsive that he couldn’t attract a few admirers if he smiled at them but it had taken years for the insecurities to fade.

And then of course there had been the incident.

Even Kíli was willing to admit it had started out as a joke, perhaps not a light-hearted joke but a joke all the same. One minute he’d been nervously laughing alongside a group of his friends as one of them made a comment that included the words “dropped on his head”, the next he was being dragged backwards towards the edge of a ledge.
It had been a very low ledge, barely above head height for the average dwarrow, and all dwarves involved later claimed it had been a joke and they weren’t actually going to throw the young prince of the ledge to see if being dropped on his head again would fix him but Kili had been terrified.

He’d kicked and bit and struggled and tried to yank his hair out of their grip until his muscles ached. He’d screamed and cried and wailed until his throat was raw and his eyes were swollen. He’d fought for his life.

And then Fíli had come.

Kili couldn’t actually remember much about what had happen as he lay by the lip of the ledge gasping for the breath through his tears but the next thing he knew he was in his brother’s arms and there was a soothing voice whispering comforting words in his ear. He’d been taken home and smothered in hugs and wrapped in warm blankets and fed warm broth until he’d finally stopped shaking.

He’d refused to leave his room for a week. It had taken a further month for him to willingly leave his brother’s side.

Speaking of Fíli, his brother’s voice tickled at the edge of his consciousness and with an effort Kili dragged himself out of the past and in to the present.
He was surprised to find his vision was slightly blurry and that his eyes stung slightly as though he was holding back tears. His throat was oddly raw too. Vaguely he heard what sounded like a conversation going on around him but he couldn’t seem to focus enough to make out any actual sense behind the words… something about Fili “getting over himself” but he couldn’t be sure.

---

So that's quite a long reply With  badly written childhood trauma because I've read too many childhood trauma fics

"I hardly call that actual work master Kíli," Lóni looked sternly at Kíli, clearly not overly impressed with the Prince's idea of 'work'. Mahal knows what their Uncle would think if he could see the two of them now- still talking about these ridiculous holes around the Mountain that apparently held the secret of life. It sometimes made Lóni cringe to know that it might not be all that far from the day that Fíli is crowned and yet they were both still disturbingly ignorant when it came to the mechanics of... that kind of thing (Dúrin have mercy on their wives should either brother ever wed).

"And useless as he may be, Pód is not leaving his post- that is unless I find someone else to take his place." Lóni huffed at Kíli. Out of the corner of his eye, Lóni caught Pód looking rather embarrassed at the floor.

Though Lóni's bickering was soon brought to an end by the presence of a dwarrowdam. Beside him, Pód held his breath as he anticipated the worst.. all it would take was a scream and all the dwarrowdam in the hall would know where they were... Lóni prepared himself to try and fend off the dwarrowdam horde for as long as possible and let the other three escape-

Or at least he was preparing for that until master Fíli started to talk to her. At which point it became obvious that she wasn't one of the crazed dames ready to kill for the attention of the two princes. And with that, the two tutors immediately tried to shift into a more casual stance before Fíli's friend noticed something odd about them.

----

As she replied to Fíli- the Prince couldn't help but think that that she sounded- well, a little more arrogant than he remembered and to be perfectly honest with himself, he wasn't quite sure what she was hoping to achieve with her tone. He assumed that she meant no harm- but given that he felt he didn't particularly know her that well, his assumption didn't make the comments any less insulting.

As she looked to Kíli, Fíli was rather surprised that she actually recognised his brother- given that he looked nothing like himself. Well- she was observant if anything else. At least he could not see much wrong with Kíli's disguise to put either him or Pód at fault...

But Fíli was quick to push aside the details as the words 'dropped on his head as a babe' rung in his ears. He turned to look at his brother and whilst Kíli looked relatively unchanged, Fíli could see painful memories rushing back to him. Fíli himself remembered all too well, the anger- no, the fear- he had felt when he had seen his brother hanging from a ledge with that very taunt echoing as the other dwarrow teased him.

And now, just like then, Fíli felt a protective instinct kick in and the Prince shifted slightly in front of his brother so he could deal with the dwarrowdam. And as he did so, he reached for Kíli's hand and gave a small, reassuring squeeze. Behind them, Lóni wore an expression of utter outrage with the manner in which the dwarrowdam had addressed the group.

"Aye, I am indeed Fíli and this is my brother Kíli." Fíli said, pausing slightly as he struggled with how to phrase his thoughts. "Though may I suggest perhaps a little more respect when introducing yourself to my brother? I'm not certain about where you come from, but rather rude jests aren't exactly regarded as the best ways to introduce yourself to a Prince of Erebor around here." Fíli said, his tone stern but he was not angry. After all, he didn't think she had intentionally meant to cause harm, but that didn't excuse her entirely of upsetting his little brother.

As Fíli finished, a not-particularly-impressed tutor of his decided that he also had his own thoughts to share. "And as though you're one to talk dear," he grumbled in reference to Tahlaia's comment about Kíli, taking a moment to eye the dwarrowdam. "By Mahal, having spent nearly two centuries getting to where I am now, I will not be talked to as such and neither do I think any of the others find your comments amusing. Now, do you have anything important you wish to share or can we carry on with our own agenda?" The way he spoke to her reminded Fíli of the way Lóni addressed him as a child when he was angry.

((Sorry this took soo long and isn't particularly outstanding, but here it is nonetheless!!))

Well now he'd just irritated the woman further.

He could have probably saved himself if he had apologised for faking a name when he spoke to her the first time, instead he comments on how she was rude? Clearly there where different rules for the beloved royal family that lived within Erebor. Perhaps it was just that the Dwarf was in Erebor that made him change his attitude toward her. It was all well and good when she was being pulled around like a practical joke, she wondered how many people in this mountain knew about how the beloved future King made a mockery of an uneducated girl in Dale. How many people had already laughed at her before they found her horrifying secret, one which she didn't intend on revealing right now either, least she be beheaded then and there.

Her fury was only reignited when he breached the subject of respect, she was finding it very hard to keep from exploding in the smug blonde Dwarrow's face,

"You talk to me about respect?! Should I show your brother the respect you had for me when we first met? When you spent the entire time lying to me, what? Just because you could?!" She comes close to cursing out in Elfish to finish her sentence but figures it's not a good idea and just barely manages to contain the words between locked teeth. She was surprised at how much resolve she could muster, but this was the royal family she was arguing with, a snap of a finger and she'd be in jail for the rest of her life. This is the exact reason she disliked the higher classes, too much power with too little of a brain to use it correctly.

Her anger almost turned to amusement at the tiny Dwarrow's outburst beside Fili. He was quite tiny, even for Dwarf standards, and there wasn't really an ounce of intimidation that she felt come from him. If only her anger had depleted completely, she might have even been able to come out with something witty and sarcastic to say, however, it had not. The little one was not the target of her anger, she had to remind herself of that, no matter how irritating he seemed to be.

"Don't worry I'll let you get on with your oh so important costume making as soon as your dear Prince," Her eyes flick from the short one to Fili but her words do not falter "knows that I will no longer be his source of entertainment. I'm sure you can find some other stupid fool to have your sick fun with, perhaps you can even order one of your beloved subjects to play dumb for you." She doesn't give any of them time to reply really, instead she turns and walks, at a rather fast pace, in the direction that she came from. She's still completely lost, but the further away she is from FIli and his posse the better mood she's going to be in.

{{ Yeah and my posts just look like Sh*t compared to both of yours so don't mind me XD }}