Archive of Our Own ^beta

“It’s getting worse!”

Kili laughed as he ran through the forest, Ori hot on his heels, holding her scarf over her head to try and keep her hair at least a little dry. Which was in vain, as the rain began to beat down on them harder.

“I told you it was going to rain today, but, no! You wanted to drag me out hunting with you,” Ori huffed, scowling a bit as Kili grabbed her arm and tugged her in a new direction.

The prince simply laughed in response, shooting her a sharp grin over his shoulder. “Sorry! The clouds didn’t look that bad, I thought it’d only be a light drizzle and we’d be fine!”

“You’re just lucky I didn’t bring my sketchbook with me, or I’d have to smack you,” the red head grumped, giving up on trying to keep her head dry and dropping her scarf, letting Kili pull her along to Mahal only knew where.

“There!” Kili shouted through the din of the rain, Ori squinting through the rain to see what the prince was pointing out as they approached. It was an old cave, big enough for at least four or five dwarrows to fit into comfortably, and plenty dry. Ori let out a relieved sigh as they finally came to a stop just inside the entrance to the cave, wringing her scarf out a bit.

“It’s coming down in buckets,” she muttered, staring out into the downpour, Kili still giggling beside her.

“Yeah,” he hummed when his laughter finally subsided, shooting Ori a wide grin, “Sorry I didn’t listen. Really.”

Ori rolled her eyes fondly, finally allowing a smile to grace her features. “I know you were just excited to try out your new bow, it’s fine,” she conceded moving further into the cave, and noticing a little bundle of wood to one side, along with a few old molding wooden toys and a dusty old blanket. She frowned slightly, turning to look back at Kili, who was still staring out at the rain. “Did you plan this?”

The prince finally looked away from the rain to give Ori a questioning look, moving to stand next to her, looking down at the small pile of things against the cave wall. He blinked in surprise, before smiling brightly and bending to scoop one of the old toys up from the ground. “Of course not. I didn’t even realize where we were when we were running, I just saw shelter. Turns out, though, Fili and I used to come out here to play when we were little. I guess we left some stuff behind.”

Ori nodded a little at the explanation, moving to pick up the dusty blanket and shaking it out, letting out a noise of satisfaction when the blanket didn’t fall to pieces, and was revealed to be made of a thick wool.

“I’m going to get out of my clothes,” she stated, Kili turning wide eyes on her, dropping the toy he’d been inspecting in surprise. Ori rolled her eyes, shooting the prince a sarcastic smile, “Not like that. I’m soaking straight through, and unlike you, I’m wearing wool and knitting, not leather. My clothes need to dry, or I’m going to get sick.” She began to peel off her scarf and gloves, glancing up to spot Kili’s face turning red, before he turned to face the cave wall, making Ori snort in quiet laughter.

“Why don’t you try to start a fire with the dry wood?” she offered, moving further into the cave while Kili nodded quickly, moving mechanically to gather the wood and work on making a small fire. Ori watched him work for a moment, before struggling out of the rest of her sopping clothes, wrapping herself in the blanket once she was down to her underclothes. She gathered the wet clothing and moved over to where Kili was crouched in front of the small fire he’d managed to get started, gently laying her clothing out to dry, before settling down next to the prince.

“Your hair won’t dry properly in braids,” the prince murmured quietly, glancing at Ori out of the corner of his eye, the scribe startling slightly at his words.

“Oh. I suppose it won’t, will it?” she sighed, frowning lightly as she began to pull the small leather ties from her braids, running her fingers through them to undo the tight plaits. “There,” she hummed once her task was complete, setting the ties on top of one of her wet gloves, turning to find Kili staring at her hair. “What? Does it look bad?!”

Kili smiled softly at Ori’s sudden panic, her fingers moving to the wavy chunks of red hair as her cheeks lit up. “Not at all,” he whispered, lifting a hand to touch her frantic fingers, gently pulling them away from her head. “I’ve just never seen your hair without plaits in it.”

Ori swallowed thickly, a wobbly smile on her face as she shrugged, tugging her blanket tighter around her shoulders. “No, I suppose not. It’s not really proper…Not that this situation is proper at all,” she said with a light laugh, bringing her knees to her chest so she could rest her chin atop them.

The two sat in silence for some time, before Kili spoke up. “Do either of our brothers know of my intentions?”

Ori blinked, tilting her head so she could regard Kili through wavy strands of her hair, biting her lower lip. “Nori knows, mostly because he always knows everything. He hasn’t said anything to me about it, but I can tell he knows. I think he’s waiting until I say something to Dori to do anything, so Dori doesn’t get the idea that I was talking to Nori before him.”

Kili sighed and nodded slightly, staring into the fire. “I…Can we, that is to say,” the young prince stumbled over his words, swallowing thickly, “Can we not make it official? Do you want me to continue to court you? I thought, perhaps, you would have told your brothers by now.”

Ori shrunk into her blanket at the disappointed tone in Kili’s voice, hurrying to take up his hand as he finished speaking. “Of course I do! Of course. I just…It’s hard. With Dori and Nori. They make such a fuss, and you, being a prince,” she trailed off, watching Kili, who simply stared into the fire. She bit her lip, glancing around briefly, before quickly murmuring, “Braid my hair.”

Kili blinked in surprise, turning wide eyes on Ori. “Pardon?”

“Braid my hair. Give me one of your clips. It’ll give me courage to tell Dori and Nori, if I know some part of you is with me, that some part of us is already official, past their disapproval.”

The prince gave her a shaky smile, nodding quickly as he dug into his pocket and pulled a tiny silver hair bead out of his pocket. Ori frowned at it lightly, glancing between it and the prince’s nervous face. “I made it, intending to give it to you, for your courting braid a few weeks ago, after I’d told Thorin my intentions. I was waiting for you to let me know you’d told your brothers.”

“Oh, Kili,” Ori murmured, cupping her hands around the hand which held the bead, “I am sorry, to make you doubt. Please,” she settled and turned her head so Kili could work, “Put it in.”

Kili hummed happily, moving to settle on his knees next to Ori, weaving his fingers through her still damp hair, plaiting a quick courting braid just in front of her ear, clipping the little bead at the end with a satisfied smile. “There.”

Ori lifted a hand to brush over the braid and bead, smiling softly, before snatching one of her leather ties and turning to Kili. She shoved him lightly to get him to move, a giddy, nervous grin on his face as she set to work plaiting a braid of her own in Kili’s hair and tying it off. “I promise to make you a proper courting bead, once I’ve told my brothers.”

The prince shook his head slightly, reaching up to feel the plait, grinning wildly at Ori. “I rather like the leather. It suits us both better,” he said happily, eagerly tugging Ori in by her shoulders to kiss her deeply.

The red head whined, kissing the prince back for a moment, before shoving him away and blushing, her cheeks fiery red. “Kili! Please, the impropriety of you. And, the leather will come undone. I’ll make you a proper bead, later.”

Kili smirked, licking his lips, before shrugging, running his fingers over the braid he’d placed in Ori’s hair. “If you insist,” he hummed, shifting to sit closer to Ori, nuzzling lightly into her blanket covered shoulder, much like an over-sized cat.

Ori sighed, rolling her eyes at the ridiculousness of her intended, scritching her fingers through his hair as they relaxing in front of the fire, waiting for the rain to let up.