A Place to Belong

Chapter 20: Lessons

Braerka woke with a start; it was still dark. Moonlight dotted the room and produced an eerie ambiance. She rubbed her eyes and groaned quietly, then finally remembered where she was and why she had woken. The wild flames had once again consumed her mind and had forced her to wake. Why wouldn't it just go away? And why was it always the same?

She allowed herself to fully come to her senses before trying to sit up. When she did she found herself held back by something or in this case someone. She looked down to see an arm wrapped loosely around her waist. She followed its length to its owner. She smiled upon seeing Kili's head buried deep into her back, the rest of him splayed out in a mess.

She silently sniggered to herself, and not wanting to wake him lay her head back down on the soft feather pillow.

She rolled over to go back to sleep when it sounded, a deep growling snarl, from outside. She lay there unsure of what to do. Beorn had told them to stay put and she had planned to but this... this was too intriguing to pass up.

She gently removed Kili's arm and got up, not bothering to put on her boots, and tiptoed over to the door. She nudged it open slowly and it creaked loudly as it did, she cringed looking back to see if anyone had stirred. Kili groaned slightly and then rolled over to his other side. Thankfully he, and no-one else, had woken. She squeezed through the crack in the door and breathed a little lighter.

She regarded the whole length of the hall. In the deep glow of the candle's that lit the walls she could see they too bore tapestries, much like those in his main room. They depicted ancient battles of what looked to be wild animals, a large bear at the heart of each. She looked past them towards the windows on the opposite wall on hearing the growling again.

She slouched over and quickly darted down the hall back the way Beorn had led them.

When she reached the door she tried to open it, shaking the handle roughly.

'Locked!' She silently remarked, still trying to pry it open.

Beorn had clearly done it as a precaution not really trusting them to heed his word and stay put and he had good reason to, Braerka was up trying to do exactly what he'd told them not to.

She then heard the door she had left open creak. She reflexively pressed herself against the wall, knowing full well it was one of the company, but not wanting to be caught out of bed or trying to leave; she relaxed when his voice echo down the hall.

"Braerka?" Kili questioned the dark. He rubbed his eyes as they focused in the dim candle light and slowly made his way up to her. She kept quiet and silently snuck up the hall to his side, keeping as flat as she could to the wall. She easily slipped behind him in his tired state and then moved to blindfold him with her hands in a 'guess who' manner.

Surprisingly he was somehow ready for it. He countered her action and had her floored in seconds. She really hadn't expected this, but now she was on the floor, with him hovering over her, it all looked a little bit more exciting than she had intended.

He was breathing roughly from the sudden motion and looked a little guilt-ridden too, "Sorry... it's kind of a reflex..." he said, letting her down level onto the floor.

"Don't be." she replied, now knowing that she shouldn't have really tried it. She played with the strings that dangled down from his shirt. Their ends were worn and frayed small indications of the things it had been through with its owner.

She simply smiled at him then looked up the hall from her position on the floor. She saw a large shadow begin moving its way up the hall. It was coming from outside.

She speedily pushed him up and slammed him against the windowed wall.

"What are you....?" He said surprised, clearly assuming something else was going to happen before she told him to 'Shhh'.