Returning Home: A Hobbit Fanfiction

Chapter 70 - A Promise Made

~~ Celia ~~

Celia awoke early the next morning to a gentle touch on her shoulder. Blearily opening her eyes, she found Kíli bending over her, already wide awake. She wrinkled her nose in disgust, trying to hide deeper in her cocoon of blankets, warmer than she'd felt since the night before.

"I forgot you were a morning person," she grumbled, reluctantly sitting up and pulling the blankets tighter around her. "I actually didn't have any dreams for once. Please tell me you have a good reason for waking me up - and I do mean good. It's barely even light out."

Kíli grimaced. "Define good," he whispered, glancing around at their sleeping companions. "Today's the day. Bilbo went out last night."

"He did?" Celia sat up straighter, all thoughts of returning to sleep forgotten. 

Kíli nodded somberly. "The mission seemed to be a success; he came back in good enough spirits, if somewhat damp."

Celia sucked in a breath, casting a glance over at the still-sleeping Thorin. "So what happens when he wakes up and checks for the Arkenstone?"

Kíli grimaced again. "Distracting him until Thranduil shows up seems to be our best bet. Although he'll hopefully be distracted enough by the presence of Bard and Thranduil's armies practically on our doorstep. Only time will tell."

Celia nodded slowly, trying to process it all. "Okay. So... this is it, then." She forced a shaky smile on her face and looked up at him. "You ready?"

He snorted. "Not in the slightest. That's not the whole reason I woke you up, though."

She peered up at him suspiciously, trying to figure out if he had more bad news to tell. "What's the other reason, then?"

He waved a hand in the air. "More like two reasons... that are sort of connected, so maybe they're one reason after all, but I'm counting it as two. Anyways, the first reason is that I wanted to show you something, especially if it might be our last chance for a good while."

"Well, that's not ominous at all," she grumbled, accepting his hand up anyway. Unfortunately, the movement dislodged the cozy cocoon she'd built around herself, and even the slight draft from her movement underneath the blankets was enough to send goosebumps all along her skin. Shivering, she rubbed at her arms, trying to warm up as best as she could without waking up the others.

Kíli frowned, grabbing his blankets off the floor and offering them to her. 

She took them gratefully, wrapping them around herself in addition to the others, stopping when she realized that she already had more than normal - was that Bilbo's blanket? She spotted the hobbit curled up on the floor, his coat and one blanket wrapped up around himself, missing his thickest blanket and shivering slightly in the cool winter morning. Making a mental note to thank the hobbit later, she - with only the slightest bit of reluctance - pulled off his blanket from her pile and draped it over him, smiling when he curled up even tighter under it, his shivers easing. 

 Taking one last glance at her sister to make sure she was all right - she was, she was safely nestled within her blankets so deep that only the tip of her head was visible - she set off after Kíli, tugging her own blankets tighter around her and resolutely pretending that she didn't notice that Kíli's blanket smelled like him.

Or that she felt warmer with his blankets surrounding her than she had with anything else so far. 

"Are you feeling better, Celia?" Kíli asked once they were outside the guardroom and leading their way through the halls with a torch in hand. "You were pale when you woke up, but you seem to have a lot of your coloring back now."