Ayvlan and Malli (Tasar_Took_Nualda)
Ayvlan moved to the Lonely Mountain when he was quite young after it was first reclaimed. He enjoys travel and has made it a habit to go to Rohan as amongst men they are his favorite lot. Not that he cares for horses but their grasp of life is something he appreciates. On one journey back from the land of horsemen is when he came upon Malli.
He and his companions were on the road home, and though they avoided any woods they could along the way Ayvlan will always be glad they cut through the south eastern corner of the Mirkwood this time. There were small settlements of brave men who took on the forest around there and made their living by cutting down the trees and making them good for something. But in one such camp the dogs that had been meant to watch their masters and protect them from the wolves and other dangers of the area turned feral and by some dark twist joined those they were supposed to have fought.
The turned dogs and Wolves attacked and in the flurry and confusion one young girl escaped carrying a precious bundle only to take a misstep and fall down a steep incline onto the road below. When Ayvlan and his group came by it seemed to all of them a shame to see such a young thing dead upon the road. There was an obvious break in her leg and it was likely she had died of shock, or infection and fever from such a nasty injury.
They had just about been ready to move on when a sound came from behind the rotted piece of tree the girl had fallen onto. It was then that Ayvlan first saw Malli. This little chubby legged thing with a mess of wild gold curls came toddling out.
She came up to him and took his hand and tried to tell him as she could that her Mama was hurt. And though he might never admit it aloud to anyone but Malli the dwarf had already decided just upon that first glimpse of her that he would keep and care for the little girl. To his eyes she was the sort of beautiful he thought elves to be before he met one. With that golden halo of ringlets and those honest blue eyes clear as a midsummer sky over a desert.
And so without a word to the others in his group he lifted the girl and took her with him. He named her Malli because he felt she needed a name and one of usual Dwarven construction seemed ill fitting the bright and bubbling little girl who seemed unable to keep her little hands untangled from his beard.
He had heard the word Elves used for gold… and yet he was loath to use one of their words entirely for such a precious little creature. So Malli she became and they have been entirely inseperable since.