Enya and her family approached the revelry with guarded excitement. They had never been to the Equinox party before, truthfully they had never been invited. Well her father always was, but he never went to parties without her mother. He claimed that he didn't care to dance with anyone but her, in reality he knew it would hurt her feelings to be left behind.

This year however an invitation had been extended to not only her mother, but Enya and her brothers too. One of Bard's messengers had come to their door with a message shortly after the tournament. In a flurry of excitement they had all readied in their finest. The revelry was by no means a high class ball, but it was a party with the very highest of Dale and Erebor. Naturally Enya felt horribly out of place, this was the first party she had been invited to and she was very unsure on what to do. It did not help that she had made practically every dress at the party.

But here she was, watching a swirl of dancers circle the large courtyard.

Her mother and father quickly joined the group and Enya watched them curiously. She had never seen her parents dance together before, but they were quite good. Better than most actually. Her mother was so light on her feet that it astounded Enya. She was certain she would never dance that well even with her mother's lessons.

She watched the dancing continue for a while content on hiding in the back. She thought that she was away from the sight of most until she saw her brother Marcus heading towards her, she automatically went in the other direction. From experience Enya knew better than to be cornered by one of her brothers. She couldn't flee very far though before she felt Marcus's hand clamp down on her elbow.

"You have been hiding for too long Enya, it is time to be social." He laughed as he pulled her along. She shot him a dirty look which he ignored. He pulled her along side a group of men and dwarves laughing jovially. They largely ignored Enya as Marcus jumped right into the conversation. One of the men offered Enya a drink which she accepted, but drank from cautiously. She was pleased to find that instead of an ale she had been given a sweet wine. She sipped it slowly as she let the conversation surround her, they were talking about job a that widely bored Enya. She had little interest in swords and such.

"Marcus, perhaps I could dance with your sister?" One of his friends asked. "We must be boring company for a woman." He explained to Marcus who nodded, albeit reluctantly.

"Of course." Enya said before joining the young man in a quick paced dance. The pair flew through the crowd eagerly dancing instead of talking. Enya had to admit it was much more fun dancing than standing around. By the end of the dance she was out of breath, but laughing happily. Her dance partner seemed as equally pleased as he guided her to the edge of the crowd.

It was slightly quieter here.

"Would you like to-" The young man started but stopped. He was turned looking at a figure standing shortly behind Enya. She turned to view a small dark haired dwarf, she automatically recognized her as Mili, Fili and Kili's sister.

"Lady Enya." The girl addressed. She paused as she looked at Enya's dancing partner, dislike clouded the dwarf girls eyes. Her eyes flickered uncertainly between the pair before rolling her shoulders back. "I would appreciate your assistance if you are not otherwise occupied." She stated boring her eyes into Enya's much taller dance partner. Obviously signaling for him to leave.

"Oh, um, I guess so." Enya said looking at her dance partner apologetically, perhaps they could dance after she had finished helping Mili. She had rather hoped he would ask her to dance again, but alas he was already disappearing into the crowd with little more than a polite nod of his head. Enya scowled internally. With his hasty retreat Mili grabbed the sleeve of Enya's dress and pulled her away from the dancing.

"Where are we going?" Enya asked as Mili lead her farther and farther from the celebration. It was dark and quiet away from the raucous group of party goers, which made Enya increasingly nervous. She could see they were approaching one of the small training fields, but in her wildest dreams she could not guess why they would go there.

And then she saw it. Hanging limply from the target was a sorry looking tapestry. The tapestry she had seen Lady Dis working on only days prior. It did not take Enya long to work out why she might be here. She sighed quietly as Mili yanked out the arrows that were still pierced through the decorative cloth. She turned to Enya looking sheepish as she held out the fabric.

"Is there any way you can fix this." She said looking hopeful. "I can pay you for your services." She added quickly seeing the look on Enya's face. Her fingers probed the shredded fabric in disbelief.

"What exactly happened to it?" She asked wondering how in middle earth she could fix something so destroyed.

"I shot arrows at it when mother said I couldn't compete in the tournament." Mili said simply with a shrug. "But the trouble is that my uncle said he would get me a sword for Durins Day if I didn't aggravate mother. I can reasonably say that this would aggravate her." Mili grimaced.

"Well I might just be able to save it, although I can't be sure until I start sewing." Enya said while gently folding the fabric.

"Excellent! I will come to your shop in a few days to see how your progressing. With any luck Mother will not notice it's gone until then." She said with a hopeful expression, her face faltered slightly after a moment. "We should return though, I have no doubt that one of us will be missed shortly." Mili said before leading the way back to the crowd. Enya quickly followed not wanting to be left in the stone quiet field. Perhaps the silence was disconcerting for Mili too, who far from eager to linger.

Enya watched her and her tiny braids bounce around her shoulders, the girl was incredibly short it was hard to imagine her being any older than a child. And yet, she spoke as well as any adult she had met.

"If you don't mind me asking how old are you?" Enya finally voiced. She could see the lights of the party quickly approaching. Mili laughed slightly.

"Much older than you would think for the way my family treats me. I'll be 53 in the spring." She said with a laugh. "But I suppose the youngest of any family feels as I do." She mused. They were now at the edge of the throng of people.

"Well Master Seamstress I should depart now, we shall meet again soon though." Mili said with a happy nod. It didn't take long for the crowd to swallow her out of Enya's sight. Enya huffed quietly, since when bad her life become so exciting? Exciting on her standards anyways.

Enya quickly made a beeline for her leather satchel which she had placed on a wooden bench. She wanted to hide the tapestry in it so that she could avoid the awkward explanation of how she came across it. She also had every intention of dancing more which would difficult with fabric in hand. She quickly darted around the edge of the dancers in an attempt at being discreet yet swift.

Her progress was stopped however as someone stepped into her path. She was prepared to side step them and move along when she recognized the person as Thorin. She quickly hid the fabric behind her back and into the folds of her skirt. She bobbed a quick curtsy and hoped he wouldn't keep her long.

"Lady Enya. I am pleased to see you, I thought perhaps you had not come." He commented in his low baritone. Enya was cowed for a moment as she tried to react to Thorin Oakenshield trying to exchange pleasantries.

"I could not miss such an event, it is the first of its kind I have been invited to." Enya replied trying to sound enthusiastic. Thorin gave the barest of nods in return.

"Aye. You shall grow used to such spectacles as you go to more. Are you enjoying yourself thus far?" He asked grimly obviously giving his opinion of such parties.

"Yes, it is quite interesting. I'm not sure I will ever get used to be around this many people though." She answered honestly.

"Aye." He replied while watching the crowd move about them. Every now and then a person would bow or nod politely to him. "Perhaps you would accompany me with the next dance Lady Enya, the crowds are greatly thinned among the dancers." He asked in a rumbling deep tone. In horror Enya twisted the fabric behind her back until it risked being torn even more. She dropped a quick curtsy.

"My apologies I cannot." Enya's face grew hot as she thought of a story. "I fell poorly on my foot in an earlier jig, and now I can't dance without discomfort." She lied. She was very grateful for the darkness now to cover her surely tomato red face. Thorin merely furrowed his brow in response.

"You must promise to dance with me at another time then Lady Enya." He said as his frown turned to a pleasant sort of smile.

"Oh um well of course." Enya stuttered. "I did not realize you danced My King." She said in confusion. Why on middle earth would the King under the mountain want to dance with her.

"I rarely do so." He responded simply. Confounding Enya even more. "I will leave you to rest your injury Lady Enya, until next time." He said with a courteous nod which Enya returned. He watched her go with a lack of a limp into back into the crowd.

Many many apologies readers I lost all of my muse these past few months and it was impossible to write. I promise this story is not dead it is simply difficult for me to write on it for some reason. Most of my stories come naturally but this one make me wrestle with it. Thank you for everyone who has reviewed and followed this story, I treat you far too terribly with my slow updates!