daughter-of-arda

[daughter-of-arda]

why is it so hard

why is it so hard to balance college and internships and jobs and sleep and eating and socializing and having time for a shower and writing fanfic like please I just want to put my characters through some shit

or, hi everyone i'm still alive and (mostly) well but i've had no time for any fanfic writing or reposting

[daughter-of-arda]

WM2022: Day 31--Rainbow

Summary: Ingrid tells stories.

Word Count: 100

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: back to masterlist HERE. That's all for this year's writer's month!

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“Look!” Bilbo says one afternoon, peeking at the sky from under his rain hood. “A rainbow!”

“Better watch out for red-haired sprites,” Ingrid grins. “They’ll turn your hair red.”

“Wait, what?” Fili says. “A red-haired sprite?”

“You don’t have those in the Blue Mountains? Well, we don’t either. They’re just stories for children. The sprites live at the end of rainbows and turn people’s hair red. They get lonely seeing all the brown- and black-haired people of Bree-land, so they creep in during—” Ingrid blinks. “Why are you smiling at me like that?”

“I like hearing your stories,” Fili says.

[daughter-of-arda]

WM2022: Day 30--Loud

Summary: Ingrid is shouting.

Word Count: 100

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: back to masterlist HERE. Move to day 31 HERE.

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“You’re shouting again.”

“What?”

“You’re shouting!”

“I’m not pouting. I’m fine.”

Fili comes closer. “You’re shouting.”

“Oh.” Hot tears creep up. She’s been weeping intermittently for days now, since the Dragon Smaug was slain but everyone survived. “Sorry.”

“Hey, Thorin says we should—” Kili stops short. “Ingrid, why’re you crying?”

“My ears hurt and I can’t hear anyone because that awful Dragon popped my eardrums, and everyone keeps saying I’m shouting when this is a normal volume for me!”

Bofur walks past, stalling at the doorway. “Why’re you shouting, lass?”

And Ingrid dissolves into tears of frustration, relief, and laughter.

[daughter-of-arda]

WM2022: Day 29--Bond

Summary: Ingrid misses an important date.

Word Count: 100

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: back to masterlist HERE. Move to day 30 HERE.

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“October fifteenth?” Ingrid yelps, and a few of the Company look at her strangely.

“Yes,” says the Man named Bard. “What about it?”

“Nothing,” she lies. “Nothing.”

Later, Fili and Kili question her. “My birthday is October third,” she admits.

The following morning, the brothers reveal a little cake from Bombur and a few presents. Branna patched her coat and Kili sharpened her arrowheads, and Bofur, Bifur, Gloin, Bilbo, and some others did her little favors or made trinkets.

But her favorite gift is the carven bead on a cord that now hangs around her neck, from Fili’s own collection.

[daughter-of-arda]

WM2022: Day 28--Sugar

Summary: Ingrid cooks for the Company.

Word Count: 100

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: back to masterlist HERE. Move to day 29 HERE.

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Someone finds wild strawberries, and someone else convinces Thorin to stop there for the night. Ingrid collects the cheery red berries with a grin and a plan.

After dinner, she borrows Bombur’s cast iron pan. She heats the chopped berries until they’re bubbling, then adds a splash of Dwalin’s brandy and two of the sugar cubes Bilbo packed before rushing out his door. Then she pulls it off the heat, adds some of Nori’s breakfast granola, and serves warm strawberry compote to the Company.

“Sweeter than sugar, lass,” Bofur compliments, and Fili raises his bowl to hers for a cheers.

[daughter-of-arda]

WM2022: Day 27--Silk

Summary: Ingrid trips.

Word Count: 100

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: back to masterlist HERE. Move to day 28 HERE.

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With the massive, full skirt of her Elvish dress, she’s stranded atop the high stairs of the receiving hall, but there’s Dwarves behind her, ready to descend. Four steps later, she catches the skirt and falls, but strong arms catch her. He grunts with the impact and stumbles down a step, but quickly gains his footing and brushes the hair from her eyes.

“Are you hurt, Ingrid?” Fili asks.

“No,” she squeaks. “Thank you.” She tries to slide out of his grasp.

“I’ll carry you the rest of the way,” he says, tightening his grip. “Wouldn’t want you to fall.”

[daughter-of-arda]

WM2022: Day 26--Scream

Summary: Orcs are nearby.

Word Count: 100

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: back to masterlist HERE. Move to day 27 HERE.

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On watch with Branna, Ingrid is startled by a wild scream from the plains of the Wilderland. It’s silenced, as if muffled by something else, and though it sounds like a wolverine she knows Azog’s scouts are close behind. After a lengthy silence, however, she’s ready to write off her reaction as paranoia.

But then little dots of light spring to life, forming a line that moves their direction. No Orc, not even those of Gundabad, can see well in the dark. They need torches.

“Get up!” Ingrid whisper-shouts, shaking the nearest lump awake. Branna does the same. “They’re coming!”

[daughter-of-arda]

WM2022: Day 25--Lips

Summary: Ingrid's lips are dry.

Word Count: 100

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: back to masterlist HERE. Move to day 26 HERE.

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It’s the curse of the eldest child, Ingrid decides one afternoon, worrying after younger siblings. In Combe it didn’t matter that she chewed her lower lip fretting about her brothers. Never was winter cold enough to make her lips bleed because of her nibbling. But here, near the zenith of the Misty Mountains, the harsh winds strike her abused lips. They’re constantly dry, cracked, and bleeding. Her two hats offer no protection. Every word hurts.

“They don’t realize what they do to us,” Fili grumbles through his scarf. He glares at his brother and wipes blood off his lower lip.

[daughter-of-arda]

WM2022: Day 24--Bow

Summary: Ingrid's longbow cracks.

Word Count: 100

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: back to masterlist HERE. Move to day 25 HERE.

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Fili doesn’t want her alone with the Elves but he also doesn’t know what to do, so he sits and provides a lookout as Ingrid fixes the little horizontal crack on the upper limb of her longbow.

She soaks a strip of rawhide in water and unstrings her bow with slow precision. Then she trims and stitches it to make a cuff, and adds some collagen glue to extra strength.

And when the sleeve is dry a few hours later, Fili reveals her quiver with a proud grin and suggests they head to the shooting range to test her work.

[daughter-of-arda]

WM2022: Day 23--Lodge

Summary: The Company reaches the Trollshaws.

Word Count: 100

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: back to masterlist HERE. Move to day 24 HERE.

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“A farmer and his family lived here,” Gandalf says, surveying the little house that lies ruined atop the highest point of the clearing. Ingrid, the only one within earshot, is hit with a sudden ache in her stomach. The ache lingers into the night, and when the Dwarves rip up the dining table for firewood without a care for the family that used to gather around its worn surface, she wordlessly passes her stew to Bifur and curls into her quilt, away from their merrymaking. No one notices her discomfort, and she finds herself wishing Fili were next to her.

[daughter-of-arda]

WM2022: Day 22--Forest

Summary: Mirkwood is dark.

Word Count: 100

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: back to masterlist HERE. Move to day 23 HERE.

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“I take it back,” Ingrid says, and although she speaks loudly her words fall flat in the miserable gloom of Mirkwood. “This is nothing like the Chetwood.”

“Yeah?” Kili grumbles, and he curses when the branch Dwalin had bent away snaps back and whacks his face. Ingrid cannot muster the energy to laugh, nor smile. She stoops under the branch and follows Kili’s footsteps.

“Tell us about the Chetwood,” Fili says from behind.

“Well, there was noise,” she begins, fully aware that she is complaining rather than reminiscing.

Later, she realizes that she feels less irritable, all thanks to Fili.

[daughter-of-arda]

WM2022: Day 21--Pain

Summary: Ingrid gives up, and meets an unlikely ally.

Word Count: 700

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: back to masterlist HERE. Move to day 22 HERE. Also, 700 words. Couldn't stop myself.

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Fili says no. He is the champion of their people, but he fears them. They are as prideful as they are secretive, and their admiration would quickly turn to disgust if he was to pursue her with anything more than acquaintance-like interest. They would never accept the love between a Dwarf and a woman of Men as true. 

The looks of pity she receives for the next weeks from he and the Company is unbearable, and the hour the frost breaks and the Misty Mountains are again passable, Ingrid packs her worn shoulder bag and redons her traveling clothes.

And thus the seventh evening of Thorin’s coronation celebration finds Ingrid outside the main gate of Erebor. While the frost broke, the chill lingered, and a violent shiver wracks her frame as she steps out from the warmth of the Mountain and shuts the little guard’s entrance that opens out on the far right of the gate. No one stops her. All are in attendance for the final day of celebration.

“It’s a cold night for a woman of Men,” a voice says, and from the shadows emerges Branna. Ingrid’s jaw tightens, and Branna’s gaze remains stern. She knows what she said, and she knows why she is leaving.

Branna is dressed similarly, and she looks remarkably Dwarvish with her hair tied back in multiple braids and the shadow of the Mountain across her naked jaw.

“You’re also leaving?” Ingrid asks, voice low.

“The contract is void. I’ve nothing to tie me to this place.” Branna’s voice is flat, emotionless.

“But Thorin—”

“Has no idea I’m leaving. None of them do.”

“He doesn’t return your affections?” Surprise colors her words. The quiet friendship between Branna and Thorin has been a constant during the Quest. Ingrid felt it was only some time before their friendship evolved to romance.

“He doesn’t know of them. He wouldn’t…I’m not what he needs.”

Despite hating the pity that came from others when her admission of love went unreciprocated, Ingrid finds herself pitying Branna. Having spent her entire life believing herself to be an unlovable, wretched half-breed, she’s decided it’s better to never know the King’s feelings than risk revealing her love and having her self-hatred confirmed.

“I am truly sorry,” Ingrid says.

“There’s nothing to apologize for. I’ve made my choices.” Branna gestures to Ingrid’s bag with a nod. “As have you.”

“I have. I—I cannot stay here.”

“Where will you go?”

“Home. To Combe.”

“Yes. Your family is waiting.” Branna casts a final look at the Mountain. Her eyes rake up the twin guardian statues that flank the main gate, soaking in her last chance of a proper home.

Ingrid wonders where Branna will settle. She will not want to be in Dale, nor Lake-town. Both are too close. Dain Ironfoot of the Iron Hills is not fond of her, nor is she of him, so there is no option to flee east. The north is uninhabited and the south hosts only those of the race of Men, although Brana could pass for a stocky woman of Men if she shaved what little beard she possesses. To the west there is Rivendell, Bree-land, the Shire, and the Dwarvish settlements in the Blue Mountains. But only the latter is suitable for a Dwarf, even a half of one.

“Where will you go?” Ingrid asks.

“To Rockfells, most likely,” Branna says. “Or anywhere where I can live unbothered by the past.”

Her face suddenly crumples. She lets the pain of 150 years carve itself into her face, and Ingrid can only watch as stoic Branna weeps without pause, sagging against the Mountain she helped reclaim. After the worst has passed, Ingrid offers her handkerchief, and the other woman utters a barely-audible thanks.

“You can come with me, to Combe,” Ingrid suggests. “There’s no space in the farmhouse, but there’s plenty of good trees in the Chetwood and there’s always work to be done.”

“You would invite a half-Dwarf into your home?”

“I would invite a friend into my home.” Ingrid extends her hand into the open space between them. “Let’s go on another adventure.”

Branna nods and accepts her hand.

And together, they begin their journey westward.

[daughter-of-arda]

WM2022: Day 20--Jealous

Summary: Ingrid mentions an old suitor.

Word Count: 100

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: back to masterlist HERE. Move to day 21 HERE.

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Ingrid’s quilt is stained with dirt and grass but still she invites her friends to sit, and he, Kili, and some others listen as she explains farm life. After a lifetime in the confines of forges and smithing shops, they’re eager to hear of life in the open.

But then she mentions Tobias Colborn, the man who wanted her as his wife. Fili’s brow furrows into a glare, and it lingers to the point that Ingrid pauses and asks if anything is wrong.

“No, please continue,” he says, smiling at her and reminding himself that Tobias is many leagues away.

[daughter-of-arda]

WM2022: Day 19--Bubble

Summary: Fili is distracting.

Word Count: 100

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: back to masterlist HERE. Move to day 20 HERE.

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Finished bathing, Branna sits at camp, scrubbing a bloodstain out of the shoulder of Thorin’s leather coat. Next to her, Ingrid mends a tear on the knee of her spare pants, methodically working the thread across the tear. And then Fili walks past, hair darkest gold and curling around his shoulders, heavy and wet and dripping with bubbles. Branna makes a comment that she doesn’t hear, and Fili grumbles something about his brother and a prank and scoops up the remaining laundry, walking back to the river.

And when Branna comments about her reddened cheeks, she blames the afternoon sun.

[daughter-of-arda]

WM2022: Day 18--Bridge

Summary: Ingrid watches ants.

Word Count: 100

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: back to masterlist HERE. Move to day 19 HERE.

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The ants walk along the edge of her quilt, picking up the stale breadcrumbs from supper.

“What are you doing?”

She starts, sitting up and crumpling the crisp quilt edge. “Watching the ants,” she admits.

“Interesting,” Fili says, indulging her whims. He sits close to her on the blanket. “I don’t see any.”

They squint at the grass. In the background, Branna teaches Bilbo new sword drills.

“There,” Fili says near her ear. Carefully, he snaps the stem of a dandelion to create a bridge between two mounds of dirt, and together they watch the eager ants continue their mission.

[daughter-of-arda]

WM2022: Day 17--Ice

Summary: Ravenhill is fatally iced over.

Word Count: 100

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: back to masterlist HERE. Move to day 18 HERE.

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In the blooming season, Raven Hill has the potential for beauty, but now it is iced over and the intricacies of the stone watch tower and its many balconies has been erased under an impenetrable layer of snow and ice.Ingrid is light enough that her boots don’t break through the frozen top layer of hard snow, and she skids under an arch and down a flight of stairs. Slumped against the wall is Fili, injured and bleeding but alive. Ingrid sinks to her knees and gathers him in her embrace, and slowly the snow melts around their warm bodies.

[daughter-of-arda]

WM2022: Day 16--Shadow

Summary: The caves of the Misty Mountains are intimidating.

Word Count: 100

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: back to masterlist HERE. Move to day 17 HERE.

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Thorin’s orders at the Misty Mountains are strict: no one travels alone, and do not go deeper into the caves than absolutely necessary. The cave systems in the mountains are complex, and oftentimes fatal.

The first few caves the Company overnights in are shallow, like a massive hand had taken a spoon to the side of the mountain. But as the Company climbs higher, the caves grow deeper, darker, and more dangerous. Ingrid takes Thorin’s warning to heart and remains within arm’s reach of Fili indefinitely.

“She’s like your shadow!” Kili teases, to which Fili nods and takes her hand.