A Melody for Thorin
CHAPTER ONE
Melody shifted her weight from one foot to the other; having been stood for hours on end, working in the dim lit grubby bar in a town of men. Being a short, and rather well sculpted dwarrowdam, she attracted a rather lot of unsavoury attention from the rowdy patrons of Bree.
Dragging a murky old cloth over the slightly splinted bar counter, a few polite hobbits approached her. It wasn't uncommon to receive hobbits this south of Bree.
"Elo' Miss Mel-"slurred a wee drunken hobbit.
"why hello Fredrick, I think you've had one too many" she said light-heartedly " off home now to your missus" Mel then took the tankard off the stumbling hobbit and guided him to the door.
Where his missus was already waiting tapping her foot impatiently.
"Ah thank you again Melody" chimed the female hobbit as she dragged her husband by the ear away off home, making melody chuckle at the sight.
Grimacing into the muddied street she saw lighting crackle down upon the distant hills of the shire and the heavens poured down onto the dirt lined street.
Then she saw a smaller, yet broader figure approach the entranced of the bar, he was covered in rich furs and had a certain air about him. Dwarf she assumed delighted another of her kind was passing through. She gave him a polite smile, and was given a nod in response, looking into his piercing icy blue pools she gasped and blushed. Earning a small smile instead, he went and sat at the far end booth, she approached him hesitantly seeing the customer's usual rowdiness quiet down into a small mutter here and there, stealing glances at the unwelcomed dwarf man.
Changing her direction she head to the front of the bar and got everyone's attention
"Here I thought you lads were used to dwarfs after me serving y'all for two years" she mused filling up a tankard and then placing it on Thorin's table.
"Take off you hood lad, they won't do you no harm whilst I'm here trust me, now is there anything you would like to eat?" she said heartily as he hesitantly took off his hood.
"Meat" he responded "I'm waiting for someone"
"Oh aye? "she mused raising her eyebrows "Mutton and bread it is then" She said bouncing off lightly. Thorin raised his eyebrows at the young dwarrowdam before him wondering what a little treasure like her is doing in a place as grim and corrupted as this, she belongs in the blue mountains.
Thorin picks up his pipe and starts to smoke it, noticing that the queer men are still watching his every move, the tension broke when the dwarven maid placed a meagre meal on his table, she gave a small shy smile and tottered away to serve some men by the bar. Watching the leer at her Thorin puts down his pipe, which he had been smoking. He tears apart his slightly stale bread and begins to eat it. As he eats, he looks around at all the activities going on in the pub. Sensing something, he looks to the right and sees a bald, suspicious-looking man watching him. He looks to his left and sees another shady character watching him, then he looked towards the bar and watched how the dwarrow maid fend off the drunks, but his attention panned back to the two shady characters watching him. Thorin puts his bread back on his plate and, as the two tall men stand up and move toward him like wargs closing in on prey, slowly wraps his hand around the handle of his sword, which is strapped to his pack next to him as a precaution. Suddenly, a figure appears at the table in front of him. It is Gandalf, and he sits across from Thorin.
Melody watched the queer transaction take place, between the handsome dwarf and Gandalf, her curiosity got the best of her and she served a table beside theirs and listened into what Gandalf said.
"No, it is not. The Lonely Mountain troubles me, Thorin. That dragon has sat there long enough. Sooner or later, darker minds will turn toward Erebor. I ran into some unsavoury characters whilst traveling along the Greenway. They mistook me for a vagabond." Gandalf said grimly.
"I imagine they regretted that." Replied the handsome dwarf who took note of her she smiled and took their tankards.
"One of them was carrying a message." She heard Gandalf say before she noticed Gandalf lay a dirty piece of cloth with a message and a picture of the Lonely Mountain drawn on it on the table and pushes it toward the handsome dwarf.
"Its black speech" she said instantly regretting it embarrassed she went to run off, but the wizard caught her arm and sat her in the sea beside him.
"S-sorry I didn't mean to pry I just-" she stuttered
"Hush child it's okay this is Thorin oakensheild"
She blinked innocently and unknowingly at the handsome dwarf and shyly said "I'm melody"
"Do you not know to whom you speak? What is your last name?" Thorin said
"She is my ward " Gandalf said "I found her as a babe and paid for the innkeepers to take care of her here, as I was unable to get entrance to Ered Luin" Gandalf looked down at the confused girl "She knows nothing properly of the ways of dwarfs other than the few books they have in Bree" Thorin noted the look on the girls face until he noticed she came to some form of epiphany "Your Thorin son of Thrain, son of Thror king under the mountain" She squealed.