Mountain Blooms by StarSpray

Mountain Blooms

"Oh, what a beautiful day!" Belladonna skipped out into the sunshine, breathing in deeply. The Dwarven cities beneath the Blue Mountains were wonderful, but it was always a relief to emerge into the world again, to see the sky and the grass and the flowers and trees that grew on the mountainside. "Dís, look at all the flowers!"

Dís followed her more slowly as Belladonna darted off the road to one of the sloping meadows on either side where wildflowers grew in abundance. Butterflies fluttered up and around her as she moved through the tall grass. The ground was ever so slightly damp—it had rained recently, though it was difficult to tell those sorts of things when you were inside a mountain. "I thought you were eager to return home," Dís remarked as she watched Belladonna gather flowers.

"Oh, there's plenty of time," Belladonna said. "Dad's birthday isn't for another month." She had thought about visiting the Elf Havens first, but those could wait until after the party—most likely Gandalf would be going that way, and anyway it was terribly easy to stay with elves much longer than one intended. But she made her way down the mountain, though she walked beside the road and not on it so she could pick all the prettiest flowers she found.

Dís remained on the road, but kept pace with Belladonna, muttering about the point of perfectly good roads when silly hobbits refused to use them. But Belladonna could tell she was smiling under her beard. And she did use the road, once she had all the flowers she could carry. "What are you going to do with all of those?" Dís asked.

"Oh, I don't know yet. Probably some of them I'll press…"

Dís snorted. "You have far too many flowers to press."

When they stopped for lunch, Belladonna had decided what to do with all her flowers. As Dís set out the food and pulled out a bottle of wine, she settled down in the soft grass and started weaving the flowers together. It didn't take long to make a garland for each of them to wear. "There!" Belladonna said as she set Dís's on her head. "Pretty as any jeweled diadem!" She donned her own flower crown. "Oh! I could braid some into our hair! Or your beard—"

"Oh no, thank you very much!" Dís protested, shying away and laughing. Her flower crown slipped down over one eye, and she pushed it back up hastily. "You leave my braids just as they are! I lost too many beads last time I let you play."

"That reminds me—I found most of them, I think. I have them in box at home." The others were probably lost in dusty corners, unfortunately. Belladonna left off her flower weaving and hair braiding in favor of lunch, after which she placed a few flowers between the pages of her travel diary. "Dís, how far are you going with me this time?"

"I thought to accompany you home," Dís said. "For your father's birthday—and to get my beads back! But after that I told Thorin I'd meet some of our folk headed to Bree. They'll be passing through the Shire around that time. You could come with us," she added, getting to her feet and holding out her hands.

"Oh, that would be fun. I haven't been out to Bree in ages." Belladonna allowed herself to be pulled to her feet, and once she was there she leaned up to give Dís a kiss. The Havens could wait a few months, or a few years—visiting the Prancing Pony with Dís sounded a great deal more exciting just now.