#bard; threads

[menelvagor]

❛  i can stay and help you finish this if you want.  ❜ ( @elenor-elenis for Bard)

The elves of Mirkwood had been preparing to leave ahead of the swiftly approaching winter, to reach the warmth of their own caves before travel would be treacherous, even for them. Yet, not all was done nor wholly prepared in Dale, for their own winter. One of them, who seemed young, even for her kind, had offered Bard her help, for longer.

Bard smiled genuinely at Elenor when he looked up from repairing the roof they were currently perched up on top of. He set aside the hammer he had been using and wiped his sleeve across his sweating brow, even with the cool breeze blowing through the town.

"I would not ask you to stay for longer than is safe for you," he said. "You must send my sincere thanks to King Thranduil for his continued efforts to aid us. I appreciate your offer but I doubt that you would wish to suffer a winter here. We would welcome you as well as we could, but the winters are always the hardest."

[menelvagor]

On one of the colder days of the month, Skiâ was curled up near the fire with her sketchbook in hand. But she hadn't managed to finish a drawing, due to Tilda falling asleep against her. Not wanting to disturb the younger girl, she pulled a book out and started reading instead with a small smile. -✧- @rangers-arecool

Bard returned home from another long day out on his barge, and unfortunately it was also a very cold one. He entered quietly and as soon as the door was shut, he rubbed his hands together and breathed warmly on them. He removed his over coat and then noticed Skiâ reading while Tilda was curled up beside her. He smiled at them both and approached, sitting down tiredly next to Skiâ and the fire.

"Did my young ones behave for you today?" he asked softly.

[menelvagor]

[ OFFER. ]  after noticing the receiver hasn’t fed in a few days / weeks, the sender offers to let the receiver feed from them. (Bard & Skiâ) -✧- @rangers-arecool

Bard's eyes flickered with a reddening light as the young woman offered her own blood for him to drink, to stave off the painful hunger he had forced on himself. While he was tempted, he hastily shook his head and backed away from her, wrenching his gaze away even as he itched to draw nearer.

He was sprawled on the leaf-covered forest floor where Skiâ had found him, at first in the form of a bat, and now as a human again. For sight alone. The bargeman was so far from home now due to the aforementioned hunger, needing a break away from the people-infested Lake-town and from his own worrying children. They could afford no accidents nor rumors.

"Skiâ. . ." he started, his pointed teeth glinting in the low light. "Offer not yourself to me," he growled, pulling further away, even as he could sense the pulsing warmth of blood beneath her skin, enticing him to accept. "I do not wish to harm you. Do you not know what you are doing?"

[menelvagor]

Your muse rescues mine from the cold. (Bard saving Kili) -✧- @promisesofstone

The tall man stared down at the dwarf he had found, all covered in ice and snow outside the walls of Dale. Dale, the majority of the people of Lake-town's new city he would be in charge of and helping to rebuild. However, winter was proving to be rough for them all.

He had grabbed onto the furred hood of the traveler, dragging them up from the snow which was drifting into tall mounds, his own hair becoming stiff with the freezing weather. "Come on, we'll get you out of this cold," Bard yelled over the howling winds, leading the dwarf along with him roughly, quickly.

When they reached the interior of the city, Bard pulled the dwarf to a small make-shift market where a fire blazed in the center. He brushed some of the snow off of himself and the other's head. When some of the precipitation thawed on the dwarf's hair, Bard finally recognized him.

"Prince Kíli!?" he exclaimed, looking more closely at his features for a moment. "What are you doing here, in this weather?"

[menelvagor]

❝ This could be our last night together. I’m going to make it count. ❞ [Mirkwood Queen to King Bard] -✧- @shewrittheewithlove

Bard smiled at Malhlas, while in one hand he held onto a glass of the strong wine brought by the Queen of Mirkwood for them to enjoy on a quiet evening. He was already starting to feel like he would merely float away on a cloud, and the beautiful elf-maiden was like a vision come before him. If his alertness and assistance were needed, though, he could be ready - but for now he would allow the queen to make him rest. He sighed, brushing some of her golden curls away from her face, content in her comfortable presence before him.

Since the dreadful day that Smaug had descended upon Lake-town and forced the people to abscond to Dale, the Mirkwood Queen had been generous and friendly to Bard the Dragon-slayer. Together they forged a strong alliance, and friendship, which perhaps could have become something more. If only one of them were bold enough to make a move. Malhlas would perhaps claim victory.

"You are always most dramatic, Queen Malhlas," Bard replied with a soft chuckle. "I know that not always are we so safe in these lands, but I plan not for this to be the last night I see you." Though he did have his worries, he was calmed by Malhlas and the wine.

"Can not every night be made to count? Perhaps as a mortal, I find this to be so. While you have many more years, and days."

[menelvagor]

Closed starter for @fulltimeforestcryptid. Muses: Elsa & Bard.

Bard had heard the dragon before he had seen it, Smaug's mighty roars echoing off the sides of the mountain. He was on the hunt this day, and had evidently been disturbed by something, to draw him outside of his lair. The bowman reached for an arrow from his quiver out of habit when a threat was near, but then slowly moved his hand away without one, knowing no strength he possessed alone now would do anything were Smaug to pose a real danger.

As he walked near the edge of the lake, ready to head toward home, he heard someone cry out from nearby. He whirled around, eyes passing over the hills, until they landed on a woman with a shock of white-blonde hair, and the dragon turning his head in their direction as he flew about. She stood out quite a bit from the landscape.

"Oi!" Bard called out to her, rushing closer. "Do you want to draw the dragon to us?" he asked in frustration, keeping an eye out for him. Smaug wheeled around and without waiting for proper response, Bard wrapped his hand around her wrist and pulled her with him over and underneath an overhanging of rock. Smaug roared loudly again and unleashed another torrent of fire over the earth above where they now hid.

[menelvagor]

Continued from here. -✧- @rangers-arecool

Bard looked closely at her under a rather scrutinating eye.

"You are going to be out in the cold this night?" he asked after a moment. "I did not think you had somewhere else you were staying, unless I am mistaken. We are not bothered by your presence. Tilda pointed out you were leaving."

[menelvagor]

"Da? Someone keeps leaving Skiâ courting gifts." The silent 'and it's not you' went unsaid. /Bard x Skiâ | + Bain - post battle -✧- @rangers-arecool

Bard's grim facial expression turned into a deeper frown. "Someone?" he asked, looking at his son questioningly. A wave of anxiety thundered through his mind, unwittingly, for he had been so taken up by his new duties to aid his people after the horrid events as of late. He had been unable to lend proper care to his interest in Skiâ, nor offer her much in the way of a courting gift. He had held her, and kissed her, and had not lost interest indeed, but he was busy.

"Who?" he continued, distracted between his previous task and the pointed words. "How do you know this, Bain?"