Chapter Text
Elves, much like the dwarves, place great stock in their hair. Their hair is a symbol of their status as the eldar, the immortal beings. Gold, brown, black and even red, no matter the color their hair shone with a glossiness and light to it that no other race had.
Fili had always looked at elves in a similar way his uncle had, not quite as much disdain but definitely never friendly. Unlike his uncle Thorin however, he couldn’t help but shake the bit of respect he held for them. Looking at their perfect hair and tall slim figures. They were strong and graceful and no matter how much he hated what they had done to his kin he couldn’t shake that bit of respect.
As he was pushed through the winding halls of the Mirkwood dungeon however, their perfect grace and hairless faces only aggravated him further. They were strong dwarrow warriors! Just how many times in this journey were they to be imprisoned? The trolls were embarrassing, the goblins terrifying, the spiders humiliating and now this? This felt like a new low for the young prince.
“Aren’t you going to search me? I could have anything down my trousers.”
Of course Kili wasn’t feeling nearly as low as the rest of them. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes and shake his head at his younger brother’s flirting. The she elf seemed largely unaffected and closed the cell door before walking away. Although not unaffected enough to hide the small blush rising on her cheeks.
She looked over to the elf that was pushing Fili forward, suddenly becoming aware of where he was being leaded. The last cell in the dungeon.
“Is it wise to place him in there?” She asked in their language.
Sindarin, Fili’s mind supplied, for while he was not the biggest fan of the elves he was an heir of Durin and had to learn much in his studies. “An heir must be educated” his mother had always said.
The elf pushing him forward had said something, replying in that same musical language before checking him over one last time.
Fili cursed as the elf found the last of his precious daggers.
He was unceremoniously pushed forward and hear the clanging of the cell door behind him. He slowly took in the small cramped jail he’d been thrown into. Everything was made of a deep brown stone, the dungeons itself seemed to be carved deep into the earth and he carefully let his eyes assess the room around him. No windows, and only the one door behind him meant he had little to no chance of escape. He observed the small cot made of wood along the right side of the wall.
Shifting his gaze to the left, he nearly startled when he realized he was not alone in his cell.
Sitting in the far left corner, buried deep in the shadows, appeared to be an elf maiden. Or at least, what he believed to be an elf maiden. She was surely too feminine and too petite to be a man, but he had yet to meet an elf that was bald before. Every elf he had ever met, man or woman, had long flowing hair, and he couldn’t help but stare at this small hairless woman.
Despite her dirty clothes and bald head there was no denying the woman was ethereal, she carried the same light and beauty that all the other elves carried if not more so. She had a long sharp nose, brown brows arched perfectly above two moss green eyes, plush pink lips and a strong yet feminine jawline. Her ears were pointed and long, longer than most elves he had seen though that may have seemed as such due to her lack of hair. As the dwarf continued to observe her he noticed her curl into herself more, her chin resting on the knees wrapped tightly to her chest as she stared back.
Taking a deep breath, Fili shook himself out of his stupor, “looks like we’re stuck in here together.” A playful lilt in his voice.
She hummed lightly in response, before speaking in a low soft voice. “and what did you do to deserve King Thranduil’s wrath?”
Fili couldn’t help but scoff at that. What exactly did they do? All they had done was try to venture through the accursed forest, and he told her as such. Hearing this, the woman seemed to relax. Fili wondered briefly if she feared being stuck with a more violent and dangerous cell mate, but quickly blinked away the thought.
“What did you do?” He asked quietly.
She shifted, her eyes breaking the staring contest between them while one hand went up to rub her shaved head. A nervous habit perhaps, Fili mused.
“I disobeyed my king.” It was clear that was all she was willing to say, so Fili pushed no further.
They sat in silence for what could’ve been hours but may have been only a few minutes, time in a cell with no sunlight stretched agonizingly long afterall. Fili felt himself shift in place awkwardly. He didn’t think he would’ve minded the quiet as much had he been alone, but something about this woman’s presence set him on edge. He found himself unable to stop glancing in her direction and had an urge to keep talking to her.
“What is your name?” He whispered quietly, almost as if he were worried the dwarrow in the other cells would hear.
Her shoulders jumped slightly, as though she hadn’t expected him to speak to her again.
She hesitated before answering, “Aylanya is my name, and yours?”
He sent her a small and genuine smile with a flirty wink, “Fili at your service, my lady.”
She bit her lower lip to stop from smiling back, but he could clearly see the light pink dusting her cheeks and felt satisfied. Her eyes wouldn’t meet his and although she was blushing she had a self deprecating look in her eye.
“I am lady to nothing, now. Merely a foolish guard who cannot follow orders.”
He found he didn’t have a response to that, and so the silence returned.
They ended up sitting in silence the rest of the night. He slept on the hard stone floor, having given her the wooden cot. Although from the way she grimaced and stretched in the morning he doubted it was much comfier.
She was slow to wake in a way that allowed him more time to observe her. He watched the way she sleepily rubbed her eyes, blinking them open slowly before a large yawn brought them closed again. The longer he stared the more like a creep he felt but he couldn’t stop thinking there was something about this woman. He felt deep in his soul he just had to get to know her.
Once she was awake and sitting up, he felt the urge to talk to her. “How old are you? I hear elves live for an awfully long time.”
Her gaze snapped to his as though she had forgotten he was there. She stared at him for a while, and he allowed her the moment to observe him as he had done the same. She replied in the same soft voice he’d already come to associate with her, “I am 437, which isn’t particularly old for an elf.”
He let out a low whistle and grinned, “well damn you’ve got me beat! I’m only 82. Us dwarrow reach our majority at 70 so I’m still relatively young as well.”
She smiled, it was merely a small uptick of her lips but he couldn’t help but stare. “I’ve never met a dwarrow before, I’ve been stuck in this forest most of my life.”
He nodded with a contemplative look on his face, he couldn’t help but think that sounded awfully miserable. He had grown up in Ered Luin, but ever since he reached adulthood he had been traveling all over arda. The shire, the iron hills, over the misty mountains and more. To see the world was a treasure and he felt pity that she had never experienced it before.
She continued speaking before he could reply, “King Thranduil believes that only in isolation can we thrive.”
He paused, quickly picking up on the way she worded her sentence. “And what do you believe, my lady?”
She blushed again and he couldn’t help the small smirk making its way on his face. She picked at her fingers for a minute, contemplating.
“I believe this way of life is suffocating, and that our isolation will be not only our doom, but the doom of other races as well.”
His smirk turned to a genuine smile. He knew from the start she was different than the elves he’d been told stories of growing up, but to hear it from her mouth and confirm his gut feeling brought him joy. She smiled back, brighter and bigger than last time, as if his happiness was infectious.
By the time food was brought to them, they had already continued talking for hours. Fili told her about his brother, his uncle and his mother back home. While Aylanya spoke of her former life as a guard to Prince Legolas, and her own mother who she hadn’t seen since her imprisonment 3 years prior.
That detail nearly made Fili emotional, he couldn’t imagine being cut off from his Amad and his life for so long. To be all alone in this tiny cell wasting away and counting the days. Even though he didn’t know the details of her crimes, he knew in his gut that she didn’t deserve this. He knew this was an unreasonable sentence given out to her by an unjust king.
He shared with her his rune stone, the ones his mother had given to him and Kili before they left. He told her about the promise he and his brother made to return to her and when Aylanya smiled warmly at him, he felt his heart beat a little faster and knew he was in trouble.