Edlothia swirled herself into the door of a merry inn in Dale. After a long, tiresome journey, a delicious meal would be most helpful. Though Edlothia considered herself too young to take any wine, and she was momma's good girl, so she shouted towards the bartender in a joyful fashion, "I want your cheapest best alcohol-free meal!" which only earned her some strange looks. Edlothia got herself some water and sat down in a corner comfortably, giving a relaxed sigh and slamming her backpack towards the space beside her. Just for fun, she put her hood up and pretended to be a powerful, hidden person in the corner.

Nearly two weeks ago, Edlothia set out from the borders of Mirkwood towards Esgaroth. Her aim of this journey was to taste the food of Men and make some friends. This was not her first journey, and at first she was confident that she was going to make it in only a couple of days. So with the help of her job she rented a horse from the training grounds, and set out with Lothriel's blessings. But, as a matter of fact, things always get awkward with Edlothia.

She got lost half way through because of a peculiar mushroom laying not far from the main road, and lost her horse too fairly soon. At this point Edlothia still had sight of the main road, but freaked out because of the payment she was about to give for losing this pretty, purebred horse. So she wandered around all day seeking for the beast, holding up a torch at night without resting. Luck was on her side, she found the horse. Edlothia bursted out in tears the moment she saw the horse. But, it did not took her long to realize that she had no idea of where to go next, for the main path was nowhere to be found.

Fortunately, after some screams and tears, Edlothia managed to look around for the road and finally got back to it. She called it a bump, an obstacle to the paradise of relaxation, refreshments in Dale. But that was not Edlothia's only task. Lothriel also asked her to take some crafts she made and sell them to a reliable merchant that usually wanders there. It seemed that Edlothia had dumped the package on the beginning of the journey. The adamant elleth won't give up, so she went back and retrieved the craft pocket. So, as the meaningless trivias and troubles kept popping up and down, it took her two weeks to get here. And now, Edlothia was looking for true rest.

The waitress served Edlothia with a spectacular dish of roasted meat and dry fruit, cooked in manly fashion. She gave Edlothia a curious look and Edlothia nodded back. It seems that these people don't see elven folks often. Edlothia thought as she chewed attentively, Mmmmmm. Yummy.

She waited for someone to join her, but it seemed that folks in this inn was reluctant to embrace others. So Edlothia stood up and payed for her meal, and got herself another beverage made of lemon. She pre-ordered a room for her stay, and went back to her small area hooded, her gleaming eyes looking out curiously.

Oh how the evening rush in Dale manages to slow a Dwarf' down... Fíli thought to himself wearily as he only just managed to break away from a crowd dragging him in the opposite direction to where he was currently headed, which was indeed the warm, comforting fireplace in the Common Hall buried miles under the ground with a drink of ale in his hand to warm himself up after the rather lonesome and cold journey back to Erebor.

He didn't frequently travel to Dale all that often unless his duties brought him there to speak to merchant's or even on occasion the King of Dale himself, Bard the Bowman and his three children. And whilst he had never had an unpleasant encounter in Dale, being surrounded by beings far taller than he was that were dragging him to random areas of the city in large currents meant that a solitary Dwarf had to be exceedingly assertive to get himself anywhere. And honestly, after a long day of wandering to and from various trading posts and shops and speaking to what felt like over one thousand Dwarves, he really didn't think he had it in him to push himself another league east to get himself to the Eastern gate.

And so, having given up on the idea of leaving Dale presently, he decided to see where exactly it was that he had been brought. Across the street, he managed to identify the grand majority of the buildings to be residential, to his left he caught sight of a few stalls selling all sorts and a jewellery store set up- all of this of course being of little to no use to Fíli who currently more than anything needed a place to sit down and rest himself.

Though to his right however, he eyed what was surely a tavern of sorts. Perfect. Fíli's lips spread into a satisfied smile as he entered the small, tavern and was immediately greeted by the mouth-watering smell of roasted meat and potatoes bathed in a tub of gravy, the merry chants and babbling of the customers sat at the bar and the well-welcomed warmth of a tavern.

Perhaps this wasn't going to be all that bad- Fíli thought as he found himself an empty table and managed to get himself a plate of steaming hot food accompanied with a pint of Ale. And not only that but it would seem that this was one of the few places you could get served with an actual smile! Could a Dwarf really ask for any more? Fíli surely didn't think so.

As he began to tuck into his meal, he quickly surveyed the people inside the taverns. Most of them seemed fairly harmless, a couple of them had a fairly odd look about them and there were definitely several Men near the bar whom Fíli thought it would be best to avoid as they seemed to have been drinking a little bit too much. And there was one other person who caught his attention: A hooded character who honestly looked a little creepy in their corner watching everyone. Fíli avoided too much eye contact but he presumed that whoever it was had caught him turn around once- he certainly hoped he hadn't attracted any unwanted company...

It did not took Edlothia long enough to see that she was noticed by many people in the bar. They must mistook her for some great ranger of sorts, thinking that she has power or is a ruffian or some sorts of stuff. Edlothia giggled for a bit secretly, but had remained solemn and silent so that no one should disrespect her. She made a masculine cough, which attracted many attention. Now they shall mistake me for a Man! Edlothia thought excitingly, I don't know how these people skill in weaponries, but I will certainly fight one if it come to it! Might as well die in joy. Her young heart thumped exhilaratingly.

Edlothia's attention was soon drew to one special person in the tavern. From this individual's height she could roughly tell that he, or she was a dwarf (there's not much difference between these two anyway). This person seemed to be very much scared of her, and Edlothia loved this fact. So she made another couple of coughs, secretly making sure that she sound enough like a man, and then stood up with a huge thud.

She carried her baggage with her to the dwarf's table, still covering her face with the hood. Edlothia threw the baggage on a spare chair while herself sat down on the other one. She banged her beverage on the table, and said in a deep, commanding voice in common tongue: "Well met, brother! I am sure that you are not acquainted to me, nor have I encountered you before, but I shall be your drinking buddy for tonight." Edlothia secretly hoped that she sound native enough and has no accents in her speech, for she had practiced the common tongue for a few good years now. Edlothia was now quite enjoying herself, and she intents to draw one of her daggers into the wooden table. She soon decided to not do that, for it was not wise enough. Any people with knowledge on weaponry could tell that her knife was in elven fashion, therefore revealing who she was. Edlothia wants to be mysterious! Peculiar! Improbable! And that action would certainly not drive her to her goal.

She stayed silent and waited for an answer.

Fíli had a right mind to turn around and ask the bloody traveller behind him if he would mind dying in a manner perhaps a little more discrete so as not to irk any of the other customers in the bar. And as the traveller bellowed out an exaggerated cough, once more Fíli noticed that whoever this person was had become a little bit careless- obviously from their enjoyment of disrupting other people eat, and had let their cough trail off a bit at the end, giving to what Fíli's ears sounded to be a distinctly feminine touch to the voice.

Fíli's soup almost spilt onto the dwarf himself as the thud shook the table and Fíli was about to go and ask the bloody traveller for just a little respect until the person in question sat down opposite and in a cock-sure manner announced that he would be Fíli's drinking buddy for the evening. And sitting but a mere couple of feet in front of her, the hood did little to conceal her identity.

Fíli raised a brow and took another sip of his soup before looking over the person sat opposite him. "Did you know that of all the races, it is the Dwarrowdam who sounds virtually identical to her male counterpart?" Fíli said in a nonchalant tone, "I suppose it makes it vastly easier for us to tell when we're actually speaking to a female." He raised a questioning brow as if to ask the traveller honestly whether she really thought she still had the better hand up to this point.

"And I see you Elves have not lost any of your charm since last we met, I gather you must be from Mirkwood?" He teased as a joke, not entirely sure if she was or even what other Elves said or thought of the Mirkwood Elves. But she seemed to have a good humour so he didn't think he'd be single-handedly re-starting the war between Elves and Dwarves.

"But concerning your offer, I'll take you up on that." Fíli extended his hand, "You can call me Fíli." He introduced himself. She might have had a strange idea of fun, but at least she seemed out to have fun and Fíli supposed that was good enough for him at the present moment.

Edlothia fell into a slightly awkward situation. Her face flashed red. I'm too stupid to do this sort of thing often, next time I shall ask Etteleame for a workshop - she is most talented at this field! Seeing that there was no chance of hiding her identity now, she took her hood off and gave a rather bashful smile: "I'm sorry. Just want to have fun. Dwarrowdam --" She stopped and pondered about it by some seconds and figured that it must be a name to call female dwarves, What a cute name! She continued to speak, "Ah, I get it now. I'm not exactly bright." She smiled shyly again before she raised her jug to take another sip of her lemonade.

The comment on her origin made her choke. Edlothia was very much surprised at the dwarf's ability of shooting out an excellent guess. She wiped her mouth before she gasped towards the dwarf: "Wow. You are smart! I am indeed from Mirkwood." Not realizing that it may be unwise to reveal her origin, but now Edlothia was totally fascinated by the dwarven race. She swished her hair and spoke wittily with no small amount of pride:

"We elves are always charming. At least charming-ish." She winked.

Seeing that the dwarf has offered her a handshake, Edlothia reached and shook the hand firmly. "Fíli, that's an interesting name... Hmm. You shall call me Edlothia. And you are from..." She squinted and thought very hard for the names of the dwarven realms. She failed to remember Erebor even right after the Battle of the Five Armies. Speaking of that war, Edlothia felt that she had seen this dwarf somewhere. But she can't remember it. "You must from Erebor, I reckon?" She asked while leaning forward with no small amount of curiousness.

Edlothia raised her lemonade high and swallowed before she take another drink, "Ai! To peace." She finished her jug and went to the bar table to get a refill. She had indeed had a lot of fun, and she find it slightly funny to befriend dwarves. She went back to the table and sat down, "So, what's your job in your country?"

Edlothia's eyes gleamed as she shoot the question. She was very interested in this dwarf's occupation through his well-crafted clothing and a strange hairstyle.

Fíli shook his head as the Elf realised the futility of the wearing the hood when she was but a few feet in front of the Dwarf and he could not help himself but chuckle lightly at the clearly embarrassed look that he had provoked in the Elf. "From one who had approached me with such a cocksure and confident manner, I had not expected such a humble apology. I am indeed sorry to have ruined your intentions to have had a little fun with me." Fíli said in an even voice, leaving it to the Elf to decide whether or not he spoke with sincerity or not.

Now that she had pulled the hood down, he managed to take a good look at the Elf- he could not decide if she was tall for an Elf or not, for all that he had to compare her to was himself. And as all Elves towered over him, that didn't put anything into perspective for the Dwarf. Nor could he tell how you would manage to distinguish a young Elf from an old Elf since they all looked the same. So all in all, he had gathered nothing from his attempt to gain information from the Elf except that she had russet hair and blue eyes. But what good did that information get him?

Fíli got a little caught up in his thoughts that he missed what the Elleth said until she almost seemed to choke and Fíli jumped slightly at her reaction. Fíli relaxed again as she spoke of why she had reacted as so. He was not certain whether he should have been surprised that he had guessed her origins correctly- not certain that assuming where others were from based on their level of charm was a good thing. But he shook that thought aside and gave the Elf a shrug of his shoulders. "What can I say? I've heard all that drinking you get up to makes you sound a little croaky." He replied with a smile.

As she spoke of charm, Fíli raised a brow and leaned a little as he looked to her with a confused look on his face. "I need you to explain this to me; what do you Elves consider to be charming? Is it reading boring poetry and playing really slow songs to send everyone asleep or is it shoving arrows in the faces of everyone you meet as another way of saying hello?" Fíli asked in a teasing voice, though a hint of actual curiosity lined his voice.

"Erebor is most certainly where I live now, but I am of the Blue Mountains in origin." Fíli gave her the victory of guessing correctly his origins- not that it was particularly hard to come to that conclusion as Erebor was only a few leagues from Dale, but the Dwarven Prince thought of himself much more as a Dwarf of the Blue Mountains rather than of Erebor.

Fíli downed his pint as they toasted and finished off what remained of his soup while Edlothia went to fetch some refills. He thought briefly on what Uncle Thorin would have to say about this- drinking with an Elf- but Fíli pushed that thought away... He's likely not see the Elf again after the evening was done anyway. He had to say he didn't expect that when she said 'drinking partner' that she meant drinks without alcohol. He wondered indeed at that stage how strange an Elven feast or celebration must be if they considered that to be drinking...

When she asked him for his occupation, Fíli honestly thought that she was joking and so replied as such, "I'm a professional stalkee, so I allow others to follow me around all day. But when I'm not doing that, I'm most likely trying to get my brother out of doing so hideously boring duties. What about yourself?" He asked in return.

Edlothia chuckled to hear the lovable yet decent apology from the dwarf. Now she had learnt a bit more about this curious race, she would not make those silly, ignorant comments when some other elves asks her to 'Define the term, "Dwarves".' In the past she usually swishes her hair before answering 'Large potatoes that can talk and has hairs.' Edlothia blushed slightly as she thought of that, unsure of if she was a racist or not. This was the first time she ever made face to face acquaintance with dwarves, or at least familiarization from her point of view. Previously she had just saw them in books of old, and it wasn't until recent years that the books were popularized again, because of the renewal of the relationship between the dwarves of Erebor and the elves of Mirkwood.

Smart, has manners, talkative, inquisitive. All those words flowed through Edlothia's mind as the dwarf asked a question. Immediately she began to laugh, and in fact she giggled so hard that her face became red, raspberry red. As Edlothia gathered herself back again, she shook her head and gave the response.

"No, no, no, no, no! But seriously, how much do you people know about elves? We value the likings of the spirits, the lofty things! We value art, and the union of the spirits!" It did took her sometime to realized that the dwarf was partly right, but Edlothia was determined that she was going to make humour and other things that attracted the elves sound more... Grand. She continued to blab, "Of course we admire poetries, but only the good ones. We are patient and kind-hearted, noble yet gracious, and we also value skills and faithfulness. And I think we need to get to know each other's origins more... You know I used to know dwarves as potatoes that talked... no offense though... you look more like an sweet one... or a white murphy..." And there it was. Edlothia can never held to some thoughts for long.

The elleth gasped as she heard that the dwarf as a brother. She felt so connected with people who also has siblings, especially the loving ones. Edlothia always share the bond between her and Lothriel to everyone, and she was very glad at this point. "You have a brother? What's he like? Is he younger than you? Isn't that sweet! I have an older sister too, and she's the best person in the world. But seriously, what's your job, I mean, occupation? And you brothers? She actually meant to be serious as from the dwarf's clothes and things, he did not look ordinary, "I'm a guard." She replied proudly.

Time went on, and Edlothia could not help but to stare at the dwarf's hair. They were tied in fine braids in a strange custom, and yet they looked soft and fluffy in the color of ginger. Edlothia's face went red again as she pushed the temptation of touching it down, down to the bottom. But at last she cannot do that anymore. Edlothia leaned forwards, letting out a breath, and asked very politely (or in her own term of 'polite'):

"Um... Fíli... Can I touch your hair?"

Fíli listened with interest as she talked about the Elves of Mirkwood- it certainly differed from everything he had experienced during his brief stay within the Elvenking's halls. And from arrows trained on him from all sides in the forest and the hostility of the patrol they had run into to having to step over Elves passed out from alcohol and wine- it had seemed that there was very little of the extraordinarily boring songs and poetry- that they had been subject to in Rivendell- in Mirkwood. 

And then the Elf had to go on one of their long-winded talks of how multi-faceted and how far superior the Elves were in comparison to all other species. It seemed a fairly common thing for them to do, and had Thorin been here with Fíli he would have likely started a second War with a grunt of disregard in response. But Fíli merely listened with a little less interest than before. He could at least be thankful that she didn't dwell on the subject long.

"So in reality the Elves of Mirkwood are as dull as the Elves of Rivendell? Even with that exceedingly potent wine of yours?" Fíli summed up for the Elf, with a teasing smile.

In response to how Fíli knew ever so much on the topic of Elves, he merely shrugged- having never regarded himself as someone who was well-educated on the topic. "One might regard me as a well-travelled Dwarf I suppose." He replied, and upon hearing what the Elf had previously thought about Dwarves- suddenly his knowledge on Elves seemed like a vast library of information in comparison to what this Elf knew. Fíli was not certain if she was representative of what all Elves knew about Dwarves- he certainly hoped she wasn't.

Fíli raised a brow as she gasped at his mention of Kee. As she fired a set of questions at him, he smiled and replied patiently "I do indeed, he goes by-" Fíli paused a second before he gave Kíli's name. The Elf clearly had no idea who he was- but she might very well know who Kíli was due to his ties with Tauriel. The young Prince began to doubt whether to reveal that his brother was the Dwarf who had been cause of much trouble in Mirkwood- perhaps he ought to give her a false name. "he goes by Gimli, a well-known warrior in Erebor, perhaps you might have heard of him?" Fíli continued, giving the first name that sprung to mind. "He is 5 years my younger and the only thing that I truly need in this life."Fíli described Kee very briefly for Edlothia.

When she persisted for his occupation, he sighed. Now that he had given Kíli another name for his own sake, he might as well give her another occupation. "I've become an apprentice to a Council member in Erebor." Fíli said- which was strictly speaking true, just removing the small detail of him being royalty.

Fíli was enjoying himself until came the very strange request to touch his hair. He looked to the Elf with nothing but confusion written on his face. "My dear Edlothia, when you are well and truly drunk and I am too, then you can ask me again and I might change my mind." He said as evenly as he could manage.

He ordered a new drink and looked to the Elf. "But tell me true, is that really all you Elves know about Dwarves? Surely there must be some among you from the Age when Dwarves and Elves lived together? Surely you've at least heard stories from then?" Fíli questioned, genuinely curious about what the Elves knew.

"Nooo!" Edlothia stomped on the ground. Edlothia actually is not very much knowledgable about this subject, as she only had a few visits to Rivendell and had failed to see anything that really differs. Differing elves from elves? Elves are elves in her opinion, how could they be different? Though she was able to say that Rivendell elves were much elegant and somehow wiser, while Mirkwood elves concentrated themselves on wineries and using weapons - in short, having fun. She decided to end this subject about differences in elves, as she wholeheartedly agreed with the dwarf that Rivendell elves are somehow dull. During her last visit to the Valley of Imladris, when she was still a kid, she was utterly bored by the sound of harps and the way they were advised and treated. Plus, Edlothia is not at all good at literary matters of this sort. "Our wine makes us more motivated... Lively... Energetic... or something like that. Indeed I do think that Rivendell elves are more lofty than us... She coughed, hoping that she was not offending anyone, "But still, we have more fun over here."

As Fíli gave the statement about traveling, Edlothia praised him. She was never reluctant at giving compliments, and plus she was now fully aware that the dwarf was much wiser and much considerate than her, she could do nothing but to marvel at the sight of him. Fíli was sure an eye-opener, as by only meeting him Edlothia was able to get a better idea of what dwarves are like and how they behave. "Wow, then you must be a really experienced person... Speaking of which, how old are you? I am curious, because your beard somehow hides the details that your face can tell me... Anyways." She finished her drink and called on the waitress and ordered a mixed platter.

Edlothia was very happy as Fíli started to mention about his brother. However, the tiny gap when he gave his brother's name made her even more interested in this matter than before. She imagined a long, hard-to-pronounce name. Hearing the name 'Gimli' with funny syllables jumping around, Edlothia gave some laughs, "I have not heard of him, but I shall picture him as some one with a great sense of humour! I would be indeed honoured to meet him, if I can at some stage..." Someone short and stout with a strange temper and big beard was what Edlothia was thinking of now, and could not help at all but to giggle. She was sure that someday in the future she will have an encounter with lovely Gimli, who hopefully would be having the same physique as this dwarf who was standing before her. "Aw, how sweet is that! I'm sure you two have some loving connections."

Edlothia nodded and took into account when Fíli stated his occupation. Had previously considered him wise, this was not a surprise to Edlothia. However, she did not choose to dwell on that subject long, for she was still considerably curious about the beard matter. She gave warm laughs when she was told to ask later, and said in a crisp matter, "Then I shall inebriate you until my wish is fulfilled!" without considering that it may offend people slightly.

"Ah, thank you. You people really serve food at lightspeed." Edlothia feasted on the platter as soon as she was presented to it, and for a short time she was busy eating. After receiving the question about what she knew about dwarves, she raised a finger to signal Fíli to let her finish this bite first. Edlothia swallowed the food and began talking at once. "You've asked the wrong person! There are people in my realm who really knows a lot about dwarves, and there are a good many of them. But unfortunately I am so dumb that I only knows how to fight. Two years ago a bunch of dwarves came through our realm and were caged, and that's not long before the war happened, but then I wasn't a guard yet. So potatoes and stuff is really all I knew about you people... But now I certainly know more!" She gave a bashful smile, somewhat apologizing for her ignorance.

More like bloody mad.. Fíli could not help but think as she spoke of Mirkwood Elves being more 'fun'. Obviously the entertainment arranged for the Dwarves by the Elves of Rivendell had been boring beyond words and had been in dire need of a few Dwarven shanties to lighten the mood. But in comparison to being thrown into a cell, Fili suddenly found very little to complain about evening entertainment in Rivendell. But Fili decided not to bring that up- after all, there was no need to bring up past sores.

As she asked for his age, Fíli paused a little before giving it to her, "How old would you guess I am? Go on, I'm curious to know.." Fíli asked her instead, wanting to know how she'd try and judge how old he was. "For instance, based off personality and general knowledge, I'd say you're probably near the age of sixty? Maybe seventy?" Fíli guessed at her age, hoping he didn't offend her with his answer. Though again, he could only base his guess off Dwarven standards and as Dwarves mature at eighty, he could only imagine her as younger than that- but he had not a clue how to Elves aged or matured.

At the mention of his meeting his brother, Fili smiled."He is certainly not easily forgotten- he isn't what one would describe as a typical Dwarf but he has qualities greater than a hundred Dwarves. Perhaps someday you might have the pleasure of meeting him." Fili smiled to himself as thoughts of his brother flooded his mind. "And what of your sister? The two of you seem very close." Fili asked her and knew that no matter what she told him, he could not believe that any siblings shared a bond stronger than that which Kili and Fili shared.

Fili waited until Edlothia had finished her mouthful and listened intently to what she had to say once she had downed a large forkful of food. He chuckled lightly as how she could not have stressed more how unqualified she was to answer his question. "Well, I'm glad to be of service!" He smiled at her- though in honesty, he wasn't particularly surprised at how little she knew on Dwarves. After all, Dwarves were very careful about who they shared information with- even other Dwarves! Even Fili himself was being quite careful how much he said to her.

"So what has brought you to Dale then?" Fili asked Edlothia.

Edlothia did not realize at all that Fíli's natural expressions seemed rather unnatural when she talked about their fun, but her mind was soon focused on another subject. It actually took Edlothia a while to realize that this dwarf seemed to have a lot knowledge on elves - and had mentioned Mirkwood in comparison to Rivendell for several amount of times. She became rather curious about this, and was wondering if this was a subject that the dwarf had previously studied. But if so, while excluding the elven realm of Lothlorien? Edlothia was even more intrigued on this matter, but could not ask straightforwardly 'Why don't you talk about Lorien?' for she considered it awkward. So Edlothia decided to ask a normal question which fits to her will: "My dear Fíli, have you been to Mirkwood or Rivendell?"

Edlothia tilted her head before answering the age question. This was hard for her, for Edlothia often determines age by looking at wrinkles and patterns on one's faces. Now she did not get to practice this too much among elves, for they stop aging at a certain point, making it almost impossible to guess their ages. But Edlothia was still somehow able to tell one's age by one's spirit... However she was not very good at that. "Hold on..." Edlothia squinted to see Fíli's face and eyes, hoping to get a glimpse of his age, and she finally gave up. For instance, Edlothia ruled this person into her own age group, and probably a tiny bit older than her judging by her feelings. She had no idea how dwarves age, and she bet the dwarf had no idea how elves age as well, but the dwarf had a fair guess. "Your guess is very close! I am seventy-six years old. And guessing from how my own people age, I'd say that you are a bit older than me... Seventy-eight? Eighty? I am not sure..."

As Fili asked of her sister Edlothia fell into sweet memories of Lothriel and her spending time together. She first nodded towards the mention of Gimli, as Edlothia was more than eager to meet another dwarf -- "I cannot wait to meet him! He sounds like a splendid person, and I'm sure he looks like you! Maybe I will extend my journey to some dwarven realms, if someone only points me where they are." Edlothia soon started to describe about her loving relationship with her sister, "My sister's name is Lothriel, and she is a healer. She is such a nice and compassionate person that she is loved by everyone. Perhaps you should also come to the Woodland Realm and visit her! She is an absolutely amazing person. We have literally the strongest bonds in the world. I'm a fighter, she's a healer, I protect her, and she heals me if I get hurt." Using body languages, Edlothia passionately gave a description.

Upon hearing the question of the purpose of her journey, Edlothia was prepared to tell Fíli. After all, her purpose was neither secretive or epic. So Edlothia answered straight away: "I'm here to play, to learn a bit about the world. Also I am selling off something that my sister made to a merchant. She's also a crafter. What about you?" She felt it too embarrassing to reveal the information about her curiosity of the food of Men towards a stranger, so she left that out.

Her question about the Elven realms did not take him by surprise, after all he had shown her that he knew the workings of such realms well and it would have only been natural to guess at how he was aware of all that. "Aye, my travels have taken me many places and those two Elven realms included. Perhaps I did not leave an impression as lasting as I had hoped if you do not recall when you sheltered Dwarves in your Halls." He smiled lightly, as a guard of Mirkwood he had been a little surprised that she had not instinctively made the parallel between a Dwarf visiting Mirkwood and Thorin's company, given that Fili didn't think the Elvenking often catered for his own kind.

Though he was drawn from such thought as they returned to the subject of age. And Fili gave a pleased smile to find out that he had not been all too far from guessing her actual age. Even if it had all been down to luck in the end. As she made her own attempts to ask about his own age, he wondered eagerly what she might say. For Fili was coming to the age when the Dwarves changed very little for the next century until he would age and his skin wrinkled and hair whitened. But he gave her an impressed look as she guessed he was but a few years younger than he was, whether it was because she had just guessed an age similar to the one he had given her he didn't really care. "Very close indeed, you'll be leaving this tavern an expert in all subjects concerning Dwarves. That is if you don't forget it all in the morning..." He smiled as he took it upon himself to order an ale for the Elf as well as himself. 

"I'm sure the two of you would get on well." Fili smiled more politely now than genuinely. He had no great desire to introduce Kili to Elves of Mirkwood again, unsure how the Elves would take to his brother should they recognise him. But more than that, he did not think that she would be shown all that much of Erebor if she did travel to his homeland. For many of the Dwarves were still loath to share with others the secrets of their dwellings and she'd possibly be restricted to be allowing to wander the market hall and little more.

As she spoke of her sister, all he could do was hum in feigned agreement as she spoke... strongest bonds in the world.. He thought about how she described their relationship, but still remained confident that he and Kili were much closer than she and her sister. 

But he let such thoughts slip aside when they talked of their purposes. "An honest purpose if ever I heard any. I came here on business, but decided to wait a while before headed back home."