Chapter 7 - Breaking up

When they reached Malithrá's home, her mother was just returning from her grocery shopping. In the dim light of the street lantern Malithrá could see her features. She was crying.

"Mother!"

The woman looked up and gasped, eyes widened by surprise.

"Lithrá! Eru be praised... is that really you, dear?!"

She dropped her basket and ran towards the girl who freed herself from Fíli's supportive arm and took some careful steps alone before she met her mother and got pulled into a tight hug. Èthra laughed while tears ran down her cheeks, being too relieved to notice the two figures in the shade. Her daughter was back! She only let go when the girl protested slightly. "Mother... mother, you're hurting me..."

"Oh my, I'm sorry, dear! What happened to you? Where have you been? I've been sick with sorrow, finding your bed empty and no sign of where you had gone to left." She paused and looked Malithrá over. "Are you... are you injured?!"

The girl nodded. "Yes. But didn't you get word about my whereabouts?" She frowned as her mother shook her head. "... but then... you didn't get the warning either?" Now it was Èthra frowning. "No. What warning are you talking about?"

"Does that mean the message didn't reach this town?" Èthra twitched when she heard Kíli's voice and mustered the two dwarves as they stepped into the light. "I... I don't know what message you are talking about... Who are you?"

"Fíli.", said the blonde dwarf. "And Kíli.", added his brother, then they bowed in perfect unison: "At your service." Èthra was obviously startled. "These brothers helped me a lot, mother. They saved my life", Malithrá explained. The woman nodded. "I see." She rose and gestured towards the house. "Please, come inside. It is no good, talking in the streets."

Èthra bid them all into the kitchen and set her basket aside. Fíli and Kíli seemed a little uneasy until Malithrá offered them their seats. Silence fell upon the room while Èthra was setting the kettle to boil some water for tea and put four cups onto the table. Then she sat down and looked at the dwarves. "Now, please let me hear what happened and what warning you spoke about."

"Well, erm", Fíli cleared his throat. "To make it short: Your daughter was attacked by a warg. We found her by the riverside and took her to the next physician. Then we waited for her recovery so that she could travel back here. The doctor was very busy and couldn't take care of her as long as needed, so we made sure she'd get enough rest and treatment." He glanced over to Malithrá. "Then an incident made us hit the road sooner than expected."

"What incident?", Èthra asked, having a bad feeling.

Malithrá gazed at her mother. "Father showed up. He must have found me through the physician's tales."

Èthra's features grew hard. "Was that the warning?"

Fíli shook his head. "No. The warning was about the warg. And apparently we had all right to send a message out – the beast is still around. And wargs usually don't roam alone. Besides, there haven't been sightings of wargs for a very long time in this area. It might be a scout. It tried to kill your daughter as soon as she had seen it. Twice. Maybe it even took out the messenger – though I can't think of a way it would have learned about him."

"Where did you sent the messenger to?", Èthra wanted to know.

"The head of this town", Kíli replied. "I assumed he would be as wise as to take precautions for the town and warn its citizens. But maybe I was wrong."

For a while everyone went quiet, then the kettle started whistling and Èthra stood up to finish the tea. While adding herbal leaves to the boiling water she glanced at the dwarves. "Of course you are very welcome to stay here for the night. I am much indebted to you... ", and she looked at the girl at the other side of the table for a moment, "... for helping my daughter and taking care of her. Thank you." A slight smile graced her lips at those words, leaving no one in the room the slightest hint of the fight inside herself.

It was agreed that the brothers would stay for the night and leave the next morning. Èthra would go and see the head of town as soon as possible while Malithrá was to recover from the straining journey and help her wounds heal better. Slowly exhaustion made its way into everyone's limbs and thoughts. The brothers were sitting beside the fire while Malithrá rested at the table, the tea pot and cup beside her steaming. Èthra had left the kitchen to prepare the guest beds and planned on retreating right after. Silence covered the house, only broken by the crackling fire.

After a while Fíli got up, handed his brother another cup of tea and left the kitchen. Outsiders wouldn't realize, but he could see that his brother was very tired. Better go and see if any help was needed to speed things up, for Kíli and him apparently yearned for a good sleep. Listening for shuffling sounds he went to search for Malithrá's mother.

BANG!

A loud smash made Malithrá jump in her seat and her eyes flew over to where the sound had come from.

Beside the fire pieces of pottery lay scattered and a surprised expression lay over the dwarf's face.

He had broken it. He had broken the cup. The delicately decorated cup her mother had given her for her birthday. The first present she could remember. Now it was down on the floor, smashed to pieces, never to be used again.

"Oh no, I'm sorry." Dumbfounded the brown haired dwarf looked down to the mess he had caused. Malithrá couldn't tell if he was really sorry. "You... you broke it!" Aghast she stared at him. "Uhm... yes. I said I'm sorry. I'm gonna replace it, kay?" - "Huff... just leave it be." - "Hey, I said, I'm sorry!" The girl only raised her hands in a blocking gesture. A little annoyed, Kíli turned a bit, facing her. "Hey, what's the matter?" - "Nothing. Nothing. Just leave it be, okay? I'm quite worn out, you know?" Her voice was snappy. A slight laugh came from the dwarf. "Worn out? And you think I'm not?" Malithrá looked at him and now it was her turn to laugh. "Well, maybe you are. But certainly not as worn out as I am." - "Oh? And how would you know?" - "Cause maybe I am the one who is still a little 'scratched' here?!" Kíli made a noise sounding like a bitter laugh and a snort, followed by a mumbled "Wimp."

"... excuse me?" She stared at him dumbfounded. "Did you just call me 'wimp'?!" The dwarf returned her stare, raised from his seat and walked over to the table, leaning forward. Instinctively she drew back. A slight feeling of timidity rose inside her, making her eyes waver slightly under Kíli's gaze and eventually she looked away.

He couldn't but notice that. A hint of pity crept into his expression and voice as he spoke. Then he turned and walked away.

She looked up. „Sorry?" was the only thing she was able to utter. "... what did you just say?!" The young dwarf stopped in his tracks and came over again. But this time she didn't back away. Her just awakened anger kept her where she was, glaring back into the other's eyes as he raised his voice to repeat his statement: „I said, if you had just a LITTLE part of real dwarven blood inside your veins, you wouldn't be that timid and pitiful. … and you would NOT be such a drama queen and bother to the people around you... you undersized mixed blood."

That was too much. In one swift movement she rose from her seat, eyes locked with the dwarf in front of her. Her gaze burned with enkindled fury. "How dare you..." she hissed, teeth clenched. "I would LOVE it, if I hadn't got a single drop of your rotten dwarven blood inside my veins!" She couldn't see any reaction in his expression as she spoke those words. But she didn't care anymore. "How could I ever... how could I EVER have thought that maybe... maybe my mother was wrong...?!" She stared at him in disbelief. There was a growing anger shimmering in the dwarf's eyes. A hurt pride. Just like her father's eyes. Slowly, she shook her head, with a bitter, disillusioned smile. "No... she was right. You're just like him."

For a long moment they faced each other. Staring into each others eyes. Disappointment, anger, frustration and hard feelings reflecting in their gazes. No one spoke. No one shouted. Just stared for a moment that felt like an unbearable eternity.

Then Kíli broke the contact and turned around, heading directly for the front door. "Fíli! We're leaving! Now!" His startled brother appeared in the door frame. "What?" - "We're leaving. We're done here." He glanced back at Malithrá. "We've wasted enough time already. So let's get going." He took up his backpack and opened the door, obviously eager to get out. Fíli only looked helplessly from his brother to the girl and back to his brother. What on middle-earth had just happened between those two? He had never seen Malithrá's gaze as cold as it was now. Nor heard her speak in such a hard voice. "I will tell my mother that you had to leave in a hurry. She needs to rest now. Thank you for all your help and efforts... " she was rather addressing Fíli alone by now "... if possible, I will pay you back one day. Until then, may our paths not cross again. Have a safe journey."

As the door slammed shut, the blonde girl sank to the floor and cried bitterly.

It took Fíli quite some speed to catch up with his brother – eventually he reached him shortly before the gates. "Kíli! Kíli, wait up!" But his brother was stubbornly walking on. "Ey, what's the matter all of a sudden?" They reached the gates and since the night had fallen already, they had to wait for the porter to let them through. "I'm done here. I'll rather camp outside than share one more moment with that woman under the same roof!" Fíli stared at him in disbelief. "What?"

A small door in the gates opened and again he had to hurry after Kíli. "Don't mind visiting that town again, eh?", he scoffed silently. "What happened?" he wanted to know. "Nothing. I broke a cup. I apologized. And she completely freaked out about it." "That's all?" Fíli followed his stubbornly marching onward brother into the dark forest. "And now you're planning to walk on the whole way to the next town or what? I'm tired you know?!" He could only hear Kíli snorting and a mumble. "Hey, did you just call me 'another wimp'? What's wrong with you? I know you're tired but that's a little hard-uff!" He bumped into his sibling as the other one suddenly halted and turned. Kíli's eyes were glowing in the dark around them. "She insulted me. I can take a lot, but there's a limit, too, you know?" He swirled around, took a few steps and stopped again. A short pause, then he added quietly: "Sorry for calling you wimp, bro. Didn't mean it."

Fíli caught up and smiled slightly, slapping Kíli's shoulder. "It's alright. I'll forgive you if you find us a nice place to stay for the night."

This will be the last chapter for a while – I don't get to writing as much as I used to and am a little stuck in some parts as well. I won't give up the story, don't worry, but it'll take a while till the next chapter. So until then, take care and God bless you :)