The Prince and The Apprentice Ch 3: Fili x Reader

“We’ll camp here for the night. Fili, Kili tend to the ponies. Make sure to stay with them,” Thorin directed as the company came to a stop at the base of a cliff face.

You hopped down and stretched your legs while taking a look at the area around you. Gandalf had wandered into what appeared to be an old farm house, long demolished by the elements. Even so, you felt uneasy. Something wasn’t right.

“Is everything alright, (Y/N)?” Kili asked looking around as well.

“I’m not sure. There is something about this place that is worrying me, but I think I'm just over thinking things,” you said.

He nodded and began stroking Flidais’ muzzle when Gandalf stormed past you and the others.

“Everything alright? Gandalf, where’re you going?”

“To seek the company of the only one around here who’s got any sense,” he grumbled.

“And who’s that?” Bilbo asked.

“Myself, Mister Baggins!” he bellowed, “I’ve had enough of dwarves for one day”.

Some of the company looked between you and Gandalf with worried expressions. You sighed and shook your head before running after him.

“Gandalf, wait!”

He paused and you could see his shoulders slump before he turned to you.

“What happened back there?”

“Nothing that you need to concern yourself with, (Y/N). I do not think that resting here is a wise choice, and I know you share the feeling. Instead of taking my advice and going to Rivendell to seek help from the elves he remains as stubborn as ever,” 

You felt a spark of anger in your chest at his words. You knew that as a Dwarf Thorin was stubborn, it was in your peoples’ nature to be so, but to risk the company’s safety by refusing to let go of the past and being disrespectful to your mentor pushed a few buttons. You nodded and looked back to the others.

“Would you like for me to come with you, or would you prefer to be alone?” You wanted to stay with Gandalf, but you also didn’t want to stray from your friends.

“I think it would be wise if you stayed with them. They’ll be safer with you around, and I’m sure you’ll keep them out of trouble,” he said cracking a small smile and patting your head. With that he turned and swiftly walked away and you made your way back to the company.

“Is Gandalf not coming back?” Kili asked as you came over the hill.

“No,” you said shaking your head, “He will be back; he just needs some time alone”.

He nodded and walked with Fili to the tree line with the ponies as you walked on to look at the old house. Everything had been either smashed to pieces or demolished by time.

“What on Earth could have done this,” you muttered to yourself as you felt someone come up behind you.

Looking over your shoulder you saw Thorin scowling down at you.

“Don’t tell me you think this place is not safe as well,” he almost growled.

You knew he wouldn’t listen to you, if anything his mood would only worsen if you told him. You stood up and straightened yourself.

“Alright, then I won’t,” you said scornfully and pushed past him to go help Bilbo and Bomber prepare dinner.

He grabbed your arms as you walked past and glared at you.

“Do not test my patience (Y/N),” he growled.

 You yanked your arm from his grasp and made yourself as ridged as possible.

“Thorin, you are my king and my leader so you have my deepest respect, but there is something wrong here. I don’t know what it is, but it might get us killed and had you listened to Gandalf, and myself, then we would be safe in Rivendell. I know you have the best interests of the company at heart, but if you refuse to let go of the past then you might get us all killed. And for you to speak against him and his judgment goes past my levels of patience with our kinds’ stubbornness. He is a father to me and I will not let you speak harshly to him, as you would not let me speak ill of Thror,” you bit back fiercely before storming off away from him and from the company just as Gandalf had.

Your scene caused all eyes to land on you and though Fili and Kili began to go after you Bofur stopped them and followed you himself.

Thorin growled and looked around the remains of the house and wondered if you and Gandalf had been right. The sun was setting quickly so even if he did find a reason for them to find a safer place to rest for the night it was too late to do anything about it.

Bofur found you down the same path Gandalf had traveled sitting atop a boulder that looked over the landscape.

“(Y/N)?” he asked cautiously since he didn’t want to startle you. You jumped and turned quickly, but relaxed when you saw that it was only him

“Hello, Bofur” you said trying to smile, but your temper had yet to completely cool down.

He climbed the boulder and sat next to you watching the sunset.

“Care to explain what happened between you and Thorin?” he asked jutting his thumb towards the campsite.

You wrung your hands and frowned, “Gandalf explained what had gone on between himself and Thorin and it pushed some buttons. Not only was he rude, but he’s putting the company in danger. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something out there and not too far away, something dangerous. Gandalf and I both felt it and still Thorin refuses to listen to either of us.”

“Ya know he’s just doing what he thinks is best. As fer going to Rivendell, well you know his relationship with the Elves, lass. I know he can be hard to deal with at times, but ya just got ta keep a level head and try and reason with him. I believe you and Gandalf when ya say that something isn’t right about this place, but don’t ya worry, we can handle more than you think,” he smiled giving your hand a gentle squeeze. You hung your head and let out a long breath. 

“I am surprised that ya had the courage to confront him like that. He carries himself in a way that can scare any creature should he need to,” he said sincerely.

”Bofur, the stubbornness of our own people makes my temper flare to the point of boiling.” You said grimly.

“I’m not going to deny that. Well, when you’re ready to join us, you can help Bomber and I fix dinner,” he offered, hopping off the boulder.

 You nodded and watched as he walked back to the campfire where the others were and took a few minutes to breathe and enjoy the quiet aside from the muffled sounds of laughter in the distance. When you felt ready you walked back to camp cautiously. You were greeted with a warm smile from Bofur and Bilbo when they noticed your return.

“Now that yer back time ta put ya ta work, lass,” Bofur said cheekily, still trying to improve your mood and it was working. He handed you a bowl and nodded towards the edge of the old house where Thorin was sitting.

“I understand if ya don’t want to go over to him yet, but it’ll be better to get it over sooner rather than later. He might be a bit softer since yer bringing him food,” he said placing a hand on your shoulder and winking at the end.

You nodded and took a deep breath before walking over to Thorin. He looked up when you held out the bowl to him and hung your head.

“I… wanted to apologize about before. I went out of line and I shouldn’t have spoken to you that way. I was rude and disrespectful towards you, I let my temper get the best of me,” you said sincerely, bracing yourself for the worst. His gaze softened a bit and he nodded.

“I am also partly at fault. I will admit that I spoke to Gandalf, and yourself, sharply, but I will stand by my statement. We do not need to go to the Elves for help. I refuse to do so and no amount of convincing will sway my opinion,” he said firmly never breaking eye contact with you.

You felt like you could breathe properly once again now that the two of you were once again on somewhat even ground with each other. With that he took the bowl from you and nodded once more and you went back to the camp fire.

You helped Bofur and Bombur serve food and took your own portion and sat with the others to eat. It was nice to connect with the others, but you looked to the tree line where you knew Fili and Kili were and pouted. Looking around you noticed that no one was looking at you so you slunk away and headed for the trees.

Creeping as quietly as possible through the underbrush you spotted the two of them sitting beside each other on a low branch watching the ponies and chatting. You were about to announce yourself when you thought of a better idea. About four feet above their heads was a sturdy branch that could easily support your weight.

 You were about to begin scaling the tree when you accidentally stepped on a twig alerting them of your presence. You stood as still as possible as they scanned the area around them.

“You hear that?” Fili asked.

“Probably just an animal,” Kili replied, returning his attention to the ponies as his brother kept looking around.

Once Fili turned around again you quickly and quietly leapt into the tree behind them, wincing as it creaked under your weight. They didn't seem to notice and continued talking. Looking around you noticed a pine tree within arm’s reach that had a limb with plenty of pine cones. You grabbed four pine cones from the tree and took aim. You dropped them on their heads and had to hold back your laughter at their reaction. They both leapt up and looked around wildly, ready to grab their weapons. You threw the last two pine cones at their heads and they whipped around and looked up, their eyes landing on you.

“(Y/N)?”

“Hello,” you smiled down at them a waved.

“What’re you doing up there, and why are you throwing pine cones?” Fili asked, picking one up and tossing it his hands.

“Just wanted to have some fun,” you shrugged trying to keep the smile off your face but you were failing.

“Fun, eh?” Kili raised an eyebrow and exchanged a look with his brother as they grabbed the remaining pine cones you had thrown at them.

Your eyes widened when you realized what they were planning. Looking back to the pine tree you ripped three more off with haste and readied yourself.

Kili just smirked and threw the first one. You turned and it missed your head by a mere few inches. Glaring at his smiling face you threw one down that hit him dead in the chest. You grinned at your hit, not noticing Fili pulling his arm back to pitch one your way. You saw it flying towards your face and ducked just in time, hearing it smash the bark right above your head. You wound your arm back and threw one in Fili’s direction. It hit the middle of his forehead and you covered your mouth, praying that you hadn’t actually hurt him. He scrunched his face a few times, making Kili laugh.

“Alright lass, you asked for it,” he growled pointing at you playfully.

“If you want me then you’ll have to catch me,” you smiled down at them before quickly hoisting yourself up higher into the branches.

“Is that a challenge?” Fili craned his neck as you climbed higher.

You stopped for a moment to look back down at him.

“Maybe,” you called, giving him a coy smile, “Well, are you coming?”

Kili grinned and leapt into the tree first, turning back for a moment to wink at his brother and nod in your direction. Fili just shook his head, but followed Kili on his heels. You had climbed until you were about thirty feet above the ground straddling a sturdy branch. Fili sat next to you while Kili opted to stand on the branch below with his arms propped on your branch to rest his head on them. The three of you sat quietly for a while gazing at the stars before Kili broke the silence.

“Care to explain what happened earlier?” Kili asked looking up at you.

 “So you did see that,” you grimaced.

“Everyone saw, lass. We were worried about you, and we were going to make sure you were okay, but Bofur stopped us before we could,” Fili said. Both of their faces were concerned and serious, but Fili’s more so.

“I don’t think it’s safe here, and neither does Gandalf. I don’t know what it is, but something dangerous lies in these hills. Despite both mine and Gandalf’s insistence of moving on to go to Rivendell to seek council and shelter your uncle retains the title of most stubborn dwarf I have ever met, refusing to listen and possibly putting us all in jeopardy,” you vented, cringing before letting your head hang, “and he made Gandalf storm off so that just pushed it a bit too far for me”.

 “I for one don’t doubt you, but we’re only going to be here for a single night. We should be safe,” Kili said patting your knee.

“He’s right. How are you fairing? You seemed pretty angry before,” Fili asked wrapping his arm around your shoulder.

“Better. I apologized to him and he did the same, well what counts as an apology from him so we’re on good terms with each other once more,” you said giving the two of them a small smile as reassurance.

 “Good. I know Uncle can be harsh, but his heart is in the right place,” Fili assured you and gave you a warm smile.

You nodded and leaned into his side, and you felt his arm pull you closer to him.

“There is one thing I am curious about,” Kili asked looking up at you.

“And what would that be?”

“Why do you trust the elves so much? Fili and I grew up around Dwarves who scowl at the mere mention of them, while you on the other hand seem almost eager to go to them for help. It just seems a bit odd for one of our kind to trust them so willingly”

You wanted to tell them, you really did, but you couldn’t muster up the courage, not at that moment.

“I-I have my reasons. How about we keep climbing and see who gets to the top first,” you said quickly, trying to divert the subject from the topic of Elves back to their competitive nature.

Kili and Fili looked at the branches above them and thought it over. You on the other hand were already on your feet, about to go for a branch a few feet up and away from you.

“(Y/N), I don’t think that’s a good idea. Those branches don’t look strong enough to hold a lot of weight,” Kili warned, but you just brushed him off.

“I’ll be fine. I’m lighter than the two of you anyway,” you said turning your head to smile at them while grabbing the branch above your head for balance.

You safely landed on the branch and were about to climb to the next one, when a sickening snapping sounded beneath you. Before you could register what was happening and jump to safety, the branch you were standing on snapped and plummeted to the ground thirty feet below.

  “(Y/N)!”  

You could feel the limb you were holding onto beginning to creak and bend under your weight and knew that there wasn’t much time before it snapped as well.

“(Y/N), give me your hand,” Fili pleaded, trying to stay calm as he reached out for you as far as he could.

You shook your head, fearing that if you let go only for a second to grab him you would lose your grip and fall to your death.

“Listen to me, (Y/N), you have to let go. There’s no other way for us to get to you. Take my hand, you have my word, I won’t let you fall,” Fili pleaded.  

You looked at his outstretched hand and took a deep, shaky breath before letting one hand go to grab his. He wrapped his arm around your wrist to keep his hold on you and Kili held onto his coat tightly to keep him from falling.

“There you go. Now swing and reach, you can do this,” he said, his voice shaking a bit.

You let go just as the branch gave way and held back a scream as you fell, but like he promised, Fili didn’t let you fall. He tugged you to safety before you fell too far and held you tightly to his chest with both arms and slid down the trunk of the tree so that you were both sitting on the strong branch once again. You clutched onto his coat as you tried to calm your heartbeat which felt like it was still going to explode out of your chest.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice was still shaking like it had been before.

You tried to speak, but found that you still had yet to find your voice so you only nodded against his chest.

“Good. See, I told you I wouldn’t let you fall,” he said, letting out the breath he had been holding.

As you calmed down you loosened your grip on his coat, but Fili continued to hold you to him as if he thought that if he let go you would fall again, this time permanently. While you and Fili were preoccupied, Kili looked around the forest below when he heard heavy footsteps.

“Hey, listen,” he hushed.

You pulled away from Fili and the three of you looked around, remaining silent. Your ears perked up when you heard the same footsteps that Kili had. When you heard the ponies neighing, and trees being ripped up the three of you looked between each other and began to descend the tree as fast as your feet would let you without falling. When you reached ground level you ran to where the ponies had been grazing and saw the ripped up trees and shrubbery your thoughts turned to the worst.

“Take a head count, quickly,” Fili ordered and the three of you rapidly checked to see if any ponies had gone missing.

“I only count fourteen,” Kili panted as he ran back.

The three of you stood there looking between each other, looking like idiots as you did nothing, not hearing Bilbo come up from behind.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

What the matter was that the three of you had dropped your guard and had lost two ponies. What was an even bigger problem was that you already had an idea of who did it.

Trolls.