Three days…three whole days and there was still no sign of him, not a single sign. After receiving word his father had been seen in the wilderness of Dunland, he knew he couldn't just sit by and not look for him. Right now, his hope at finding his father was starting to falter as doubts of the information began to creep into his mind. Thorin Oakenshield sat by the fire of the small camp he had built for the night, eating some venison from a deer he had killed the day before. He had some more terrain to cover and to retrace his steps again before he felt he had done enough in looking for his father. Thorin still did not know what became of his father after that battle at Moria, he only could hope that Thrain was alive somewhere or his death was not torturous. But if he fell into the hands of the orcs, he knew that a quick death would not be granted to him. So many questions about his father still went around in circles in his mind to this day, unanswered and sometimes more questions just add onto what he already asks himself about. And right now, all those questions were going around in his head as the night wind gently moved through his hair, beard and clothes.
He was only brought out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of a wolf's howl. Thorin was startled and picked up his sword, pausing to see if there were any nearby. However, he couldn't hear the patter of paws or growls wolves usually makes when they are near their prey. That was odd, and Thorin noticed that the howl was…different. It was very hard for his describe, the sound of the howl seemed melodic compared normal wolves and that made Thorin wonder if it was just a person making that sound. But it was unlikely, as mimicking a wolf's howl was not as simple as one might think. Thorin relaxed and decide to go to bed. He throws some dust onto the fire to make it go down a bit so it wouldn't give off as much light and crawls under his wooden shelter that he had built to pull his leather blanket over his body to fall asleep. His ears tuned into the howling though as it was surprisingly calming and helped his mind to relax. He silently thanked the wolf for making a natural lullaby for him, and as he slowly fell asleep the howling stopped and he thought he saw a pair of white paws standing in the shadows of a bush nearby before his mind drifted off. And it would drift off into an unexpected, yet mysterious and beautiful dream.
Thorin looked around his new surroundings, the sun was bright and the air was cool, yet he felt very warm. All around his looked like snow had fallen, but it was soft and delicate like a flower petal that had just fallen from it's stem. Thorin knelt down and scooped some of the snow, and gasps at the soft, warm feeling of the snow. He knew it was just in his dream, and yet he was in awe of what he was seeing. Standing up slowly, he looked up to find pink, flower petals floating by from a breeze he could feel upon his face. He followed the trail of flower petals to a large, rose garden that was also covered in snow. Normally, Thorin wouldn't be fascinated by nature as it wasn't his forte, however this garden mesmerized him. It was delicate, fragile and well maintained by the gardener, his hands gently brushed along the petals and leaves of the flowers, almost believing a woman had touched his mind. Even if he had not fallen in love his entire life.
Thorin spun around in surprise when he heard the same howling he had heard before falling asleep. It sounded exactly the same, and it was so beautiful. The howling fades away and Thorin turned back around to walk around the garden some more, when he noticed a white dress blowing from behind a dress. There were golden petals decorating the bottom of the dress, just as delicate as the flowers before him. His fingers gently gripped a rose and he pulled it gently from the bush before slowly approaching the woman behind the tree. Thorin saw her hand move to the side of the tree, wear a long, silver lace, diamond patterned sleeve with sapphires and pink rubies on the soft, delicate lines of the lace. The skin on the hand was pale, and he could see her nails were well maintained as they were smooth and filed, Thorin had no idea why he had this urge to approach this woman in his dream. He could see strands of her hair blowing from behind the tree as well, the tips were metallic blue with silvery blue highlights, making the silver haired woman look like she had come from the moon. Thorin wanted to see her face and his wish was partially granted as she peered around the corner. Her face was almost elf-like to him, and yet it was soft and more innocent, her lips were like the pink rubies on her lace sleeve, her eyes were sparkling like sapphires and her eyelashes were long and silver blue like the highlights of her hair. He could see more of the beautiful white dress, the lace was covered by the white fabric from the elbow up, and there were more golden petal designs on the shoulder sleeves and collar.
"Who are you?" Thorin asked in a gentle voice he never knew he could say.
The woman just smiled gently, showing her beautiful clean, white teeth and disappeared behind the tree. Thorin ran to the tree, and she was not there. The wolf howled again and he looked around.
"Who are you?" He asked again.
Thorin woke up with a start, sitting up straight and breathing heavily. He glanced around with a slight frown, remembering the dream he just had. He sighed deeply and wiped his head, surprised to find sweet on his forehead. He did not expect that dream to affect him the way it had. It could be that he might meet his one soon, but he wasn't sure. Thorin pulled back his blanket and noticed that the crotch of his pants was tight.
"Oh…well that's just what I needed," Thorin grumbled as he grabbed his water cannister to walk to the nearby stream to fill up and take care of himself.
Once at the stream he splashed water on his face and drank the cool liquid from the clear stream before dealing with his sudden need. He had not felt this way since he was just a young dwarf, so it was a bit embarrassing even if he was alone. Once he was done, he took sometime to have some more water and fill the cannister before he heard the snap of a branch, making him freeze. He didn't hear heavy footsteps, which meant it might be an elf nearby. But an elf would have no reason to attack a dwarf unless they were rogue. He gripped the hilt of his sword and began pulling it out slowly just as he was looking up. His eyes widened with surprise and his hand faltered slightly from his weapon when he saw her. Standing several feet from his were the sapphire eyes from the woman he saw in his dream, she indeed had silver hair with blue silver highlights and metallic blue tips, but not human hair. It was a wolf, a huge wolf. This wolf was nearly as big as a warg, or perhaps slightly bigger, her body seemed a little slimmer and perhaps…in his mind, feminine…compared to the wolves he has seen before despite her size. Wolf paws were usually large due to the need to cross terrain without losing balance, but this wolf's paws seemed to be smaller then one would expect from a wolf of the size Thorin was seeing right now. The wolf's ears, muzzle and tail tip had more silver blue fur than the rest of her body. And those blue eyes…those blue eyes were looking at Thorin with such gentleness that he had not seen before in anyone or anything.
Thorin pushed the sword back into its pouch and relaxed his body. He felt like he was stupid thinking this wolf could be the woman he had seen in his dream. It was just impossible; shape shifters were nothing more then a mere myth. And yet, that thought had indeed crossed his mind.
"Who are you?" Thorin asked curiously.
The wolf didn't respond, she only looked at him before huffing softly and turning around, trotting away down the river bank.
"Wait!" Thorin called, and the wolf stopped to look back at him. "You can stay…if you wish."
What was he saying? Thorin almost bit his lip, but the wolf just stared at him before turning her head away and continuing along her way, leaving Thorin watching the most beautiful creature he had ever seen alone. It was a story he wasn't sure to tell to his brethren, as he felt like he might still be dreaming. But at least he knew who owned the howl he has heard so many times. Thorin breathed deeply and stood up to go back to his camp, half expecting to see the wolf there. She wasn't. Thorin slid back under his blanket and there it was, the howl. The most beautiful howl he ever heard was singing again through the night.
"I hope this is just a dream," Thorin muttered, before closing his eyes and falling into a dreamless sleep for the rest of the night.