"What's up, kiddo?" He queried curiously. She smiled slightly, shaking her head in reply.
"Nothing. Just thinking about this week's assignments." She answered honestly. He arched a brow.
"Which ones?" He inquired curiously. She opened her mouth briefly to answer before suddenly gasping, making a startled expression appear on her face. Her brother frowned slightly, tilting his head to the side in curiosity. "What? What's wrong?" He asked worriedly. Miriya shook her head slightly.
"I think we got lucky today. I mean…who could ever possibly guess that Gandalf's going to visit tomorrow?" She said. Fíli grinned widely, chuckling humorously. He leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table as he regarded her amusedly.
"Really? You thought that?" He inquired with a slight grin.
"Of course! There has never been a chance like this before. This means he is officially visiting the Shire!" She exclaimed excitedly. Fíli stared for a moment as he processed that information.
"Wow. That sounds like the best thing possible for us." He stated simply.
"I know right!?" Miriya replied, nodding furiously. Fíli nodded slowly.
"Yeah, that is kind of awesome. Maybe we can finally stop being stuck in this miserable little hole of a country." He mentioned casually.
"Oh no, I don't see myself living forever here." Miriya murmured. Fíli snorted lightly.
"Me neither. I don't think either of us wants to be here for that long." He commented. His sister raised her eyebrows slightly as she looked at him, a somewhat puzzled expression on her face.
"How can you think otherwise? If not for our parents and grandparents, we probably wouldn't even exist right now." Miriya pointed out, staring at him incredulously. Fíli blinked a few times, before raising a questioning eyebrow.
"Well yeah, but I didn't think you would actually consider that option. Not with the circumstances. Especially after everything that happened between you and Dori. I figured you would be fine with staying here, especially if we were forced to stay in that miserable town." He said, furrowing his brow slightly in confusion.
Miriya sighed and shook her head.
"Fíli…what are you talking about? Do you remember how my Grandma died?" She questioned. Fíli furrowed his brows slightly.
"Yeah. Why? Don't tell me you're still hung up on that stupid argument that happened years ago?" He questioned, sounding annoyed at the fact that Miriya remembered something that hadn't really bothered anyone but him. But Miriya remained unfazed.
"No. It's not that. I don't care about that. The point is I couldn't leave Bag End because of what happened. My grandfather wasn't ready to let me live away from him. So…even with all the trouble that caused him, he was willing to sacrifice my life just to keep our family together," She explained. Fíli raised both of his eyebrows, looking slightly shocked by the revelation.
"Wait, that whole time?" He asked incredulously. Miriya nodded slightly, smiling slightly.
"Yep." She affirmed. Fíli let out a short laugh, shaking his head slightly as he stared blankly ahead.
"Damn…that is weird. To think that he would willingly risk his life to protect yours." He remarked. Miriya shrugged.
"I wouldn't say that it's exactly worth risking your life. After all, he did have some pretty great relatives around and if I remember correctly, they didn't want anything to do with him until he finally got divorced." She pointed out. Fíli raised a curious eyebrow.
"You never told me that he was married before. Is that why you always went along with him when he invited them over? I didn't even realize you guys knew them." He commented. Miriya hummed quietly before speaking.
"Yeah…I met one of them. I don't remember who though. He's kind of forgettable. We weren't very close friends anyway. I think that was because I refused to get closer to his daughter or anything, which was kind of hypocritical considering he had his daughters and granddaughters involved in the same situation. But that doesn't matter anymore. I'm glad that he came into my life even though that meant I had to spend more than a year here." She confessed. Fíli smiled.
"That's true. I'm also happy about you getting to meet another relative. And since I know Uncle Thorin, I'm sure he'll approve of whatever you choose to do for the future. I mean, I don't know much about him, but he seems like the type of person to love and accept anything that you decide to do." He commented.
"So do you." Miriya pointed out. Fíli chuckled softly, shrugging slightly.
"Maybe, but I've known you almost forever. I know you too well to be surprised at what you end up doing. You might be an idiot sometimes, but you always end up doing good, you know." He informed her. Miriya rolled her eyes fondly at him.
"Oh come on. I don't need you defending my honor. I know that there's nothing bad that can happen to me, no matter what." She argued teasingly.
"Not entirely, but if you were to get arrested for some illegal activity that you may or may not have participated in or something like that, then yes I believe you would find yourself in some deep trouble." Fíli countered with a smirk. Miriya scoffed lightly.
"You sound like you've done some serious jail time yourself." She accused.
"Yes…but I managed to avoid the worst of it by running off when I was sixteen. When my older cousin took me back home, he ended up throwing me behind bars, so that was the start of my troubles." Fíli replied. Miriya let out a quiet chuckle.
"I can see it now. Your uncle yelling at you over and over again as he tried to drag you back home…and trying to get your cousin and your cousins to agree to go along with it." She mused teasingly, causing Fíli to shake his head and roll his eyes slightly.
"And yet he would continue to try and convince all five of them at once to give me a ride whenever he could." He remarked jokingly. "But seriously, it's better that he isn't here right now. I'd rather have an insane amount of troublemakers around." He added as a small smile appeared on his face.
"Yeah, me too…I would hate to deal with him and Dwalin's shenanigans right now. It's hard enough to keep track of them when they're behaving themselves." Miriya said sarcastically. They both laughed quietly for a few moments before they lapsed back into a comfortable silence.
Both of them had been laughing silently and grinning brightly, enjoying each other's company without saying anything else. It was the first time they were able to enjoy one another's presence in a relaxed way.
Their silence only lasted for a few moments longer before they heard someone clearing their throat, drawing everyone's attention towards the entrance of the dining room. A couple of seconds later Kíli entered the kitchen while carrying several bowls of food on a tray. He set one down in front of Miriya and then gave the rest to Fíli, who thanked him quietly, before placing the last bowl on his lap.
"Are you hungry? I can bring you some more if you want. I know your father will complain if you don't eat more. Or at least make some sort of excuse." Kíli offered. Miriya raised a single brow before giving him an inquisitive look.
"Why would my father complain if I eat?" She inquired curiously. Kíli smirked slightly, shaking his head slightly.
"Just because he's your dad, doesn't mean he won't worry if you skip meals or something. You are my sister so I am responsible for you, after all." He explained. Miriya blinked, before rolling her eyes and huffing slightly.
"It's not like I haven't already skipped meals before." Miriya stated. Kíli raised both of his eyebrows, glancing over at his father before turning to Miriya and nodding slowly. He seemed quite satisfied with the answer, as if he had been expecting that answer.
Kíli turned around to leave, muttering something about being unable to sit still due to the lack of proper sleep he had gotten last night before leaving through the doorway leading outside.
The three of them continued to sit in silence as they finished eating, not wanting to interrupt the peaceful atmosphere that enveloped the entire house. They sat quietly as they thought about different topics to discuss during dinner.
"Hey, I heard that Bilbo brought you a letter earlier. What does he have to say?" Miriya asked, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled between the three of them. Fíli furrowed his eyebrows slightly at the question before realizing that the letter must have gone missing sometime this morning.
He let out a sigh as he ran a hand through his hair, before responding.
"Yeah…he wrote us a letter, asking us for help again. It was the first thing I read after I woke up." He replied.
"What did you two write back to him?" She wondered. Fíli let out a quiet sigh before replying, knowing that he should probably tell her everything that has happened to Bilbo so that she could decide if she wants to help him or not.
"We told him to leave it at that, but he insisted. Then we started talking about the future, and it's going to seem like we're avoiding discussing it. So we decided not to answer him and to put the letter out of our minds. Hopefully, that'll work for now." He explained.
Miriya nodded slowly, letting out a small hum before speaking once more, "How many letters have you gotten from him?" She asked curiously.
Fíli glanced at his younger brother briefly before answering.
"A total of twelve." He answered honestly.
Chapter 8
After finishing their meal, Fíli stood up, grabbing his glass and draining it quickly. As soon as he placed the glass back down, he felt a pair of hands gently resting on his shoulders, causing him to turn around and frown upon seeing Miriya. Her gaze immediately softened as she noticed that he looked upset.
"Are you alright?" She asked worriedly.