Miriya nodded, smiling weakly.
"I won't." She promised. Amariel smiled at her warmly before turning back to her drawing. A few minutes later, Miriya heard a soft knock at her door. She looked up and found Fíli standing there, looking somewhat nervous.
"Hi," he greeted her awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. Miriya rose from her chair and walked over to him.
"Hello, Fíli." She responded warmly, walking past him and going back to where she had been sitting previously. Fíli watched her walk away for a moment before walking back into the room. He sat down opposite her.
"Sorry I was gone for so long." He apologized softly. Miriya shook her head, waving her hand dismissively.
"Don't apologize." She reassured him quickly. "How have you been?" Fíli blinked owlishly.
"Fine. Fine. Why wouldn't I be?" He asked, raising his eyebrows slightly. Miriya simply shrugged, not willing to push him any further on the subject.
"Are you guys done with that book yet?" Kíli questioned suddenly from across the room. They both turned to see him staring at one of his textbooks intently.
"Yes, we are. Want to finish it with me?" Fíli offered. Kíli nodded enthusiastically, jumping up from the floor excitedly and running over to join them. Miriya smiled slightly to herself. Things were getting better already.
Chapter 3
Fíli
"So, what are the odds that Thorin and Bilbo are gonna start dating now?" Kíli questioned as he flopped down onto Fíli's bed with a happy grin, holding up another book for Fíli to grab. The twins had decided to spend their lunch break in the library reading books (much to their mother's dismay). Apparently Kíli wasn't nearly as interested in the books he had read as Fíli seemed to be, so he had taken it upon himself to entertain him during his lunch break.
"Possibly less than five percent. Maybe less than five-hundred." Fíli mused, pulling a face as he grabbed one of Kíli's books. Kíli snickered, leaning back so that he was lying down fully across the bed with his feet resting on Fíli's stomach. Fíli rolled his eyes but didn't comment on it, choosing instead to open the book.
"Maybe less than that." His brother agreed after a moment, chuckling quietly.
"What're you guys talking about?" Kíli's attention was then drawn away as Tauriel approached them, sitting down beside Kíli on the bed while putting her own books aside. Kíli grinned at her, placing a bookmark between the pages of his book before laying it carefully onto his blanket.
"Nothing important." He assured her with a wink. Tauriel raised her brow amusedly, glancing at Fíli with a smirk.
"Sure…it definitely doesn't involve our future king." She replied pointedly. Both Kíli and Fíli immediately reddened slightly and looked away uncomfortably. After a minute or so, Fíli cleared his throat.
"Well anyway…what brings you here, Tauriel? I assumed you were doing something with Ori." He commented, changing the topic slightly. Tauriel glanced at him for a brief second before averting her gaze once more, her cheeks tinting slightly pink.
"Ah, no actually. I came to ask you something." She informed him hesitantly. Fíli furrowed his brow slightly, his interest clearly peaked by Tauriel's unusually bold tone.
"Alright, shoot." He prompted.
"Have you seen Ori lately? He hasn't come by in quite a while." Tauriel inquired timidly. Fíli frowned.
"Not since Saturday." He said after a while. Tauriel sighed slightly.
"That was two days ago." She noted. Fíli shrugged slightly.
"It's hard to say exactly when they last met each other." He said, shrugging indifferently. Tauriel pursed her lips slightly.
"Oh well…thanks anyway." She uttered, her cheeks flushing slightly. Fíli narrowed his eyes slightly suspiciously.
"Is there anything else you want me to add?" He inquired, watching her carefully. Tauriel hesitated for a moment.
"Er…no, nothing. Sorry…" She stuttered.
"No problem." Fíli shrugged. "Now excuse me, I haven't finished that sentence yet. It's really fascinating." He remarked dryly. The next hour or so consisted of them reading for several hours. Once they were finished, they spent a short while chatting and joking around before leaving the library. The pair parted ways without much fanfare, exchanging numbers as they made their way to their respective classrooms.
Once she reached the classroom, Miriya paused briefly outside the door before knocking twice softly, stepping inside when she received no response. She found her teacher sitting at his desk, gazing absently out through the window before spotting her enter the classroom. She walked over to her usual seat and sat down, smiling slightly as she waited for the teacher to look at her.
When Professor Bifur noticed her approaching, he looked up and gave her a friendly smile before gesturing to the empty seat beside him. Smiling politely, Miriya made her way to his desk, sitting down and waiting patiently as Professor Bifur picked up a stack of papers from his desk and placed them gently on top of hers. He then proceeded to take a pencil and begin writing, occasionally peering over his glasses at the paper he was currently working on. For some time, neither spoke, and after Miriya began shifting her weight nervously, Professor Bifur paused for a moment before setting his pencil aside and taking off his spectacles. He rubbed his forehead momentarily and exhaled loudly.
"Tough day at the bookstore." He mumbled in a slightly exasperated voice. Miriya tilted her head curiously.
"The bookstore?" She inquired curiously.
"Yes. Some customers don't like me too well, because I have the reputation of being a bit gruff. And some of them get mad sometimes because I don't let them borrow any books they want." He explained seriously. Miriya chuckled quietly and nodded. She could understand that feeling. She knew what it felt like to have people constantly wanting things from your store and even bothering to call your staff member when there was a perfectly good book sitting right in front of them. But then again, it was probably worse for a professor with a reputation like his since he was the one most likely to try to give these kids free books if he found out they weren't paying for the ones they used. Professor Bifur chuckled as well.
"Exactly." He nodded in agreement. "They get upset when I refuse to lend any of my books to them because of my 'grumpy' attitude towards them. And they do not like that either, so they tend to leave a lot of books behind when they go to pick them up. And usually the only reason why they don't just leave a big pile of books is because they'd be afraid someone else would steal them." Professor Bifur explained, shaking his head slightly. Miriya laughed slightly, biting back an amused remark that was itching to come out.
"So, who'd you end up giving all those books to today?" She asked, still trying to hold back the chuckle that was threatening to escape her mouth. Professor Bifur smirked slightly.
"Two kids." He answered nonchalantly. Miriya looked over at him, surprised.
"Seriously? Did you manage to convince them to pay?" She questioned excitedly. Professor Bifur shook his head no.
"Nope. They wanted the entire stock. Said it was unfair for me to charge them full price for every book they tried to buy. I told them they should be grateful I even took them anywhere near half price at all." He answered. Miriya burst out laughing, earning a frown from Professor Bifur. She wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye quickly, composing herself.
"Sorry, sorry." She assured him quickly, grinning widely. He huffed in amusement at that.
"Why did they think they needed that many books anyways?" He wondered aloud. Miriya thought back to the children that had been running through the library earlier and realized that apparently everyone else thought so as well. A few minutes later the bell rang, signaling the beginning of class.
~0~
After classes that evening, Miriya made her way into the common room. Her brothers were already there, playing cards as Dwalin was explaining what the rules of the game would look like. Bilbo and Thorin were sitting on the floor nearby, both of them having their backs to the large table, while Balin, Nori, and Gloin where standing against the wall nearby. They seemed to be in heated conversation though it was difficult to make out what they were saying. Fíli and Kíli were sitting together on one of the couches, a book in each of their hands as they discussed various topics.
Miriya smiled lightly before slipping over to Kíli, taking one of the seats next to him, and grabbing a book of her own off of the coffee table. She sat silently for a moment as she continued to flip through the pages, listening attentively to Fíli's discussion with his brother. Finally, she closed the book gently, setting it on her knee before turning to look at Fíli. She noticed him frowning slightly before looking up at her questioningly.