Familial Bonds

I'm Not Crying!

The first two lines of dialogue have been haunting me for the last three days so I kind of just threw the down here and look where it went! Please read and review!

Thanks Knowing Grace for your endless support!

~ ( ) ~ ( ) ~ ( ) ~

"What are you doing?"

"What do you mean what am I doing? What does it look like I'm doing?" Soren said taking another swing at the wooden post with the stick.

"You're being destructive." Thorin said with arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

"That about sums it up." This time the swing was powerful and the sound it made echoed. Soren shook on of her hands free of the reverberations.

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Soren…" he growled. "Just tell me."

"Why should I?" She sassed back.

"Why not?" Thorin played along with a higher pitched voice.

"Yeah… don't do that. It's weird."

"Stop stalling," Soren turned around and faced him, leaning on the long, heavy stick. "You know I'll drag it out of you eventually."

The sigh that she exhaled was far too heavy and deep for one of her age, and her eyes took on a kind of old sadness. He imagined that it was a look he himself had worn many times before.

"People were making comments about my mother," Soren admitted at last. Thorin took in a hasty gulp of breath and blinked his eyes quickly several times.

"And…"

"They weren't nice comments," Soren cast her head down but not before her father got a glimpse of the heavy tear drops the welled within her eyes. "And there was nothing I could say to defend her because I never knew her."

Thorin moved to her in silence and folded the young dwarrowdam into his warm embrace, resting his chin on top of her – though nowadays it was quite a stretch to do so.

"Don't cry little fox; you're mother never could abide by tears," he hummed into her hair in a soothing way, feeling her relax into his body.

"'not crying," she grumbled, though there was a definite hitch in her voice. After another long moment she pulled away, though she remained standing close beside her father, seeking comfort from the closeness. "Why'd she have to go Da?"

Soren gazed up at him with those silver eyes that were just like hers, only his daughter's were filled with tears that wavered on the very edge of falling. She drew close again and laid her head on his chest. She sniffed once, twice, but no tears fell.

"Because she loved you so much that she was willing to die for you before she even met you," Thorin said gently, running a hand through her mop of black hair, his fingers deftly untangling the knots that seemingly always present.

"That's silly," Soren mumbled and she felt a brief rumble off laughter well within her father's chest.

"Perhaps one day you'll understand." Was his response, to which Soren wrinkled her nose before she sighed heavily once again.

"How can I miss someone so much, when I never knew them?" It was a plaintive plea that almost broke his heart all over again.

"In the same way she loved you so much without knowing you," His thumb crept in and wiped a traitorous tear from the corner of her eye. "Mothers and their children have an incredible bond, one that can never truly be severed."

"Does it ever get easier?" He knew that Soren was referring to his own losses; his grandparents, parents, brother. All of them gone before their time.

"No," He told her gently. "But you learn to handle it."

"How?"

"That, little fox, you have to discover for yourself."

"You just went from sage-like to annoying in two sentences. Congratulations." Soren pulled away with a wry look on her face.

Thorin just smiled in response.

~ ( ) ~ ( ) ~ ( ) ~

A/N

I'm becoming obsessed with one-shots haha. I hope you like this one, it's a bit on the doom and gloom side but hey, I did say this was going to be a mixed bag didn't I?

Still looking for prompts!

Please read and review! Seriously, just do it, for once. I reply and everything XD

Oh hey, I posted a new one-shot simply titled BIFUR. That should pretty much tell you everything you need to know. Go read *makes shooing gestures*