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Ori nearly squealed as she was yanked backwards by her scarf, stumbling over her boots as she tried to regain her footing while simultaneously shifting to face whoever had nearly pulled her off her feet. She swallowed down the scathing remark she’d had ready on the tip of her tongue when she found Dori staring her down and Nori sighing heavily next to their brother.
“What can I do for you, Dori?” Ori asked innocently, lacing her fingers together behind her back while giving Dori the most innocent of smiles she could muster up, given the circumstances.
“Don’t you ‘What can I do for you, Dori’, me! You know exactly what you can do for me,” Dori harrumphed, folding his arms angrily over his chest.
“Aw, c’mon Dori, leave her be,” Nori grumbled, rolling his eyes at Dori’s tendency towards over dramatics.
“Stay out of this, Nori! It’s for her own good!” Dori snapped at the middle Ri sibling, before turning his glare at his sister. “Now, you, miss!”
Ori shrunk into her scarf, pulling her shoulders up around her ears. “I’m quite sure I don’t know what you’re on about,” she muttered into the wool, flicking her gaze to the ground while shrinking away from Dori’s looming figure.
“I’m quite sure you know perfectly well what I’m on about!” Dori hissed, tugging on one of Ori’s braid’s enough to make her squeak and extract herself from her scarf. “Don’t think I didn’t see you give that boy a scarf! Is he even aware of your intentions?”
Ori blushed darkly, twisting her fingers into her tunic in annoyed embarrassment. “It was just a scarf,” she snapped, looking away from her disapproving brother once more, “It’s getting colder out, so I thought he might need one.”
“Oh, yes, because you haven’t spent the last three weeks knitting it with one of the most complicated patterns you’ve tried, yet. Not to mention making it in his colour. Ori,” Dori finally deflated a little, “I know you mean well, but that boy is so daft…And! He’s a prince, no less! Honestly.”
Ori let out a frustrated noise, burying her nose back into her scarf, even as Nori wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Enough of that,” the middle Ri sibling hissed at Dori, “You think she hasn’t realized those things on her own? If she wants to pursue, and take the risk, why not let her? If she falls on her face, she knows we’re here to help her back onto her feet.”
“Thanks,” Ori whispered to her brother, offering his a tiny smile, which he returned in full, much to Dori’s great annoyance. He threw his arms into the air with a great noise of disdain, before glaring at his siblings.
“Don’t you say I didn’t warn you,” he snapped, before moving to pull Ori out of Nori’s grasp and hugging her tightly. “I will not hesitate to wring his neck if he hurts you, though.”
Ori couldn’t help but giggle into her eldest brother’s shoulder at his protectiveness, giving him a quick hug back, before pulling away. “Thank you, really. I know you just worry for me. But, I’ll be fine. Whether he notices or not, I’m just happy to see him happy.”
Dori stared at his sister for a long minute, a watery, sappy sort of look on his face, before he wiped it from his face and let out an airy huff. “You just remember that he’s an idiot, so don’t hold your breath.”
Ori laughed as Nori over exaggerated rolling his eyes, patting her kindly on the back, before the brothers wandered away from her. She let out a contented sigh, watching her brothers walk away, before turning to head to the library to sort through a pile of books she had been saving to read, only to find herself running smack into another dwarf.
“Oh my goodness!” she gasped, stumbling a step as an arm shot out to steady her. “I am so sorry about that, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”
“Honestly, the fault was entirely mine. And, I’ll admit, I made you run into me on purpose.”
Ori blinked at the owner of the voice, her eyes widening when she realized just who she had run into. “Kili! How-how long have you been standing there?!”
Kili chuckled, absently scratching at his stubble as he shrugged. “Uhm, perhaps longer than you would have liked me to be,” he admitted, smirking at the fierce red blush that settled itself on Ori’s cheeks the admission caused.
“I-I-I completely understand if you want me to stop,” she rushed, ducking her head, hiding in her scarf and taking a quick step back. “I mean, you’re a prince, and I’m not exactly the prime example of a dwarrowdam…”
Kili took two quick steps forward, taking hold of Ori’s shirt sleeves to keep her from running away, a light smile on his lips. “You really are far too harsh on yourself,” he hummed, “I’ll be honest, however, your brothers were right. I hadn’t noticed you had given me the scarf as a courting gift.”
Ori shifted to try and get away again, but Kili just held fast and tightened his grip. “Hey, wait a minute. When I got home and Fili saw it, he nearly took my ear off, calling me a moron for not seeing what was right in front of my face. I think your brothers had full rights to call me a moron.”
Ori stopped her struggles, blinking up at Kili curiously. “What are you getting at?”
Kili sighed, letting his fingers slip from Ori’s tunic, shrugging a little as his own cheeks turned scarlet. “I mean to say, well, that I am not opposed in the least for us to, y’know, start courting…”
Ori stared at the young prince for a good long minute, mouth slightly agape, before speaking. “You’re not pulling a prank, are you?”
Kili gaped at her, before scowling, his blush migrating to even his ears. “Of course not! I wouldn’t joke about such a thing!”
“Good,” Ori hummed with a gleeful grin as she threw her arms around Kili’s shoulders, and proceeded to kiss some sense into the boy. Or rather, out of him, as he happily wrapped his arms around her waist, and proceeded to twirl them both around in a circle.