If someone even bothered asking Kalea what she thought about these lessons she'd merely frown.

Kalea considered herself a very patient girl even though she had just reached her twenties and most of her people still saw her as a little girl who still had much to learn. And yes, she had.

Kalea was a pale girl whose almond eyes where characteristic of her family. For a girl whose stature was below average, she always seemed to managed herself when it came to helping her father deliver some errands throughout the kingdom. She wasn't exactly considered pretty and she blamed her freckles and her height for that.

Her auburn hair danced along the mild breeze as she made her way into the training grounds. There was a crowd gathering by the wooden railing and she recognized her 'training' group.

"It is not usual for the king to be late, you know?"

"Well, there must be a good reason. It has only been half an hour," Thrung simply said. He was the older than any of his companions and apparently the only one trying to reason.

Kalea's group consisted of ten young dwarves who had been selected among some noble dwarf families to be a part of some sort of challenge to the king, Thorin Oakenshield. None of them knew much about this from the start. All of them received a letter signed by both the king and his loyal friend Balín and it demanded that they presented themselves alone in the training grounds the next day at midday.

Her mother, as always, immediately said it could be so much talked about search for the king's companion. Nothing would please her mother more than to have one of her 3 daughters marrying the brave and good-looking king under the mountain.

However, her father immediately threw his wife's hopes back to the ground by saying that this was supposed to be some training destined to some noble families younger ones. Kalea being the first child was to represent her family.

Her parents warned her more than once to mind her tongue and to not talk back as she had a bad temper. In fact, Kalea decided to take this advice seriously seeing that she had quite the reputation of defying Thorin's nephews of a daily basis.

She leant against the railing and merely watched in silence as they debated whether or not they should send someone to look for the king. The group was formed by 7 boys and three girls and all of them had promising futures. Well, not all of them, of course. Kalea thought her temper would hardly get her anyway.

Her gaze crossed with Friga's.

Friga was the only noble girl in Erebor whose beauty had been acknowledged even by the king himself and for that she behaved like this was a lame excuse for Thorin to get to gaze upon her. Her eye color was what drew more attention for they were a bright shade of green and some men even said she possessed the ability to read one's thoughts. It was stupid, of course. That long blonde haired girl was as useless as a plank but her beauty allowed her parents to be in the spotlight as the makers of Erebor's finest emerald.

Kalea inwardly sighed as she diverted her eyes from that girl and looked at the lake that flowed beneath the training grounds. She threw a tiny rock at it and watched as ripples began to form where it had landed.

"Maybe he forgot," a rather chubby boy mumbled. "Someone should go check the armory."

"Why the armory?" Thrung inquired raising a furry brow at the tiny boy.

"I saw him get inside on my way here," he shrugged, leaning along the railing next to Kalea. "The king has a lot to do. This might have slipped his mind."

Some heads nodded along his statement. The fact that no one offered to go look for the king didn't surprise her in the slightest.

Suddenly everyone seemed too busy looking at a random tree or at some women who carried some cabbages to the market nearby.

"It is no problem," Kalea grunted as she began walking away.

"I'll go with you," Friga's voice invaded her ears and she rolled her eyes. Of course.

The blonde girl didn't have the courage to actually take the initiative all by herself. Kalea didn't even bother halting her steps. "Don't even think about it, princess. You can stay."

Seeing that Friga did nothing more than to call her idiot, she resumed her pace with no hurries.

It was bot well seen amongst the costumes of her people someone being late and it only made things worse that that someone was the king. As far as she knew, he was a very punctual man and only when in dire need would he choose tardiness.

The armory was a pretty isolated locale and only few had permission to enter it. Kalea reckoned the amount of weapons inside it were far too valuable to be played with. Usually, there were two guards guarding the only entrance, but this time there were none.

She briefly looked around to see if they were nearby, but they were nowhere to be seen. That alone was strange enough even though the door was closed.

The girl approached the large building and wondered for a moment how to approach the king without sounding inappropriate.

The front window was slightly open so Kalea took some steps and was ready to knock on the door until she heard some noises coming from inside.

Her eyes drifted to the window nearby and she paced a bit to the left just enough to allow her to take a look inside. The sound turned into some groans and she immediately thought someone was injured.

Just as she was about to call the king, she froze.

There was no need to call for him as he was right in front of her pretty much naked and with a woman pressed between the wall and his body. It seemed that they were too much involved in what they were doing to actually notice Kalea who was just a few meters away.

Kalea had never seen something so intimate as this in her few years of life and it disturbed her. Love-making was a taboo and most of dwarves only came in touch with it after their wedding and to fulfill the matrimonial duties. Of course, most men had had contact with these intimacies some taverns across Erebor where some women gained their lives offering her body. Some even paid debts doing it.

She didn't consider herself a prude or anything like that and she wasn't scandalized. If anything, she was mesmerized by the act itself.

It was obvious Thorin liked to dominate for he didn't even allow the woman to squirm much against his shape. The way the muscles on his bare back flexed as he kept ramming into her was quite exquisite. Apparently, she was the source of those groans that quickly turned into drawled moans as her face was pressed harshly against the wall. The king's hands were placed on her hips and kept the scarlet skirt from dropping.

There was not much of his face that Kalea could see and she was thankful for that. She preferred looking at that scene not having the image of the king in her mind. Next thing she knew, the woman was crying "My king!" so loud that she was forced to hide her head afraid that he might see her peeking through the window.

Honestly, if Kalea had a shred of self-respect she would just go back and tell everyone she didn't find him. She knew she should leave, but now was too late for her to move. A beam of sunlight entered the room and gave her vision of what was hidden in the shadows.

His face held an expression that was a mixture of pleasure and concentration. Thorin was now pounding faster and faster as he placed a hand in her mouth to prevent her from bursting.

Kalea shook her head slightly and realized she had lingered for too long.

Just as she was ready to take a step back, her right foot knocked some hammers that had been resting beside her. The sharp noise was enough for him to notice her.

His dark blue eyes shot in her direction and Kalea just froze in place.

If she thought this would make him stop what he doing she was wrong. This only made him speed up his movements as his hand fell back into the woman's hip keeping her in place and it only made her cry out even more.

She felt her cheeks grow red with shame and took a last look at the king before turning away as quickly as a hawk.

Even though it wasn't a hot day at all, sweat came out from every pore and the sudden realization that she had just caught the king under the mountain doing it with some random woman…

Kalea considered the hypothesis of just go back home and say that she was done for the day, but she knew her father would soon know the truth. The most humiliating thing was that he had seen her. His eyes had been locked onto hers even if only for a few seconds. She wasn't able to tell if he was angry, but she guessed he didn't even bother.

She forced herself to stop for a moment as she tried to brush those images away from her mind. A few moments ago she had just caught the king in such a vulnerable position that every effort she made to remind herself all those tales and wonders people spoke of him was in vain.

The almighty Thorin, son of Thrain, was a legend to live up to. Every young man wanted to be like him and every young woman wanted to be with him. He had a lion heart and an unbreakable spirit that had won him Erebor back. The glory days were far from over for danger would find a way to torment them.

"I'm a dead woman," Kalea spoke vaguely as she placed a hand on her burning cheeks and hoped it would fade away before she reached the training grounds.

On the way, she almost tripped twice and almost knocked an old man who threatened to tell off her parents.

She only realized she had arrived to spot when Thrung's hand grabbed her arm roughly. "Well?"

Kalea looked at the faces staring at her with curiosity. She really hoped her blush had faded. "The king is on his away."

The other girl, Fenna, looked highly suspicious. "Why are you all flushed?"

"I tripped," Kalea said, not inviting the girl to continue the conversation.

"What held him?" Some boy, whose name she couldn't remember, asked plainly.

She took some time to figure out some decent answer. What if the king told them a different justification? "He was just taking care of some things."

Rather someone.

"Welcome, young ones!"

No one seemed to have noticed Thorin approaching, but has soon as he spoke everyone bowed slightly as respect. Kalea's bow was more accentuated than the others'. This way there was no way he'd recognize her just yet. When all of them regained their poses, she made an effort to stay just behind the tallest boy, Orek.

"I must apologize for my tardiness," he went on cheerfully. "Some matters had to be taken care of."

Kalea couldn't even see his face and hoped to maintain that for as long as possible. However, her weird attitude was noticed by Friga, who stood next to her. "What are you doing? It is a disrespect not to look at our king's face when he is addressing us."

Right now, Kalea couldn't care less about etiquette. But… "What is the matter back there?"

So much for discretion. Friga immediately seized it as an opportunity to make an impression on him. "My king, I am sorry for the disrespect. It is very usual when it comes to Kalea."

"Who might that be?"

Well, at least he didn't know her. However, she knew that she had to stop hiding. She took long steps until she was side by side with Friga. "It is me, my king."

Unfortunately, she couldn't help but to feel her face burning hot with humiliation as she saw his eyes wide slightly at the sight of her. Kalea still hoped he hadn't quite seen her face, but she acknowledged by his expression that he had not forgotten the person who had just momentarily seen him naked. Well, from the waist up, at least.

She expected his face to twist into hanger or amusement. But no, he simply smiled lightly at her and it made her feel uncomfortable. "I do know your father, yes. Good man. However, I must admit your face is not totally unfamiliar to me."

The innuendo was there. Kalea decided to ignore that. "He is a good man, yes. Thank you, king Thorin."

Every single face was fixed on hers. To an outsider it might seem that she had made quite an impression on the king and that was good. Above all, Thorin was a very hard man to please and Kalea wondered if that woman had been able to do so.

"King Thorin, will you tell us what we are doing here?" Someone asked, his voice trembling a bit. Yes, Thorin demanded respect above all.

"Yes, young Brond," he quickly answered and then pointed at a forest just behind them. "Shall we move closer to the forest?"

Everyone nodded and promptly began walking to where the king had pointed. Kalea saw that he stood still and was waiting for her. "Are you coming, young Kalea?"

Oh…