Thorin sighed heavily as he opened his eyes knowing full well that there was a space near the dim camp fire when there shouldn't have been.
He stood quietly as not to disturb the others who slept soundly, a hard day lay ahead of everyone plus the last thing he needed was to be teased over his growing fondness for the hobbit.
Glancing around it took him a few moments to spot Bilbo Baggins, sat nestled between some rocks, even with the distance between them Thorin could see that Bilbo was the picture of loneliness
Walking over nonchalantly he nodded to the hobbit and gave a stretch.
"You cannot sleep either Bilbo?" Thorin ventured
Bilbo went to speak but just shrugged and pulled his clothes tighter to his near freezing frame as he puffed on his long stemmed pipe.
"It is far warmer near the fire you know" Thorin said with a smile
"I know, it's just I feel strange of late"
Thorin Oakenshield sat himself opposite the young hobbit and pulled out his own pipe
"Tell me"
"I can't, you wouldn't understand"
Thorin at first said nothing just stared up at the sky then he let his gaze fall onto the far horizon and the single peak that stood alone, the mountain was still so far away and yet always so close. It burned deep within him all consuming, this was it, either he succeeded or he would die trying.
"You miss the Shire, your own hearth, your family and your friends" Thorin said in a low voice full of his own underlying melancholy.
Bilbo looked at the dwarf and gave a nod
"You are right on all the but the family and friends part"
"You do not miss your family?" Thorin was surprised by this.
"Not really, most of them especially the Sackville-Baggins's are a nuisance of the worst kind"
Thorin gave a chuckle as he watched Bilbo's distaste for the Sackville-Baggins's cross his face only to vanish as quickly as it came. That was something Thorin had come to treasure how gentle a being the hobbit was, how he never let anger or sorrow cloud his mind for too long, something in truth Thorin envied.
"What about your friends" he asked Bilbo.
Bilbo gulped, then looked so very sad and distant.
"I thought I knew friendship but it was a lie really, though I know what it is now and it took 13 dwarves to teach me"
Thorin looked down at the earth and kicked at a rock
"I was unfair to you Bilbo, we all were. You risked your life to save mine, you have given up everything that is precious to you to help us…I lack the words to thank you enough"
"You just did Thorin" Bilbo grinned. "And you did after Gandalf tended to you, and you thanked me over dinner"
"I'm not usually so wrong and trusting someone who isn't a dwarf is hard for me to do"
"You trust Gandalf"
Thorin Oakenshield nodded and smoked his pipe a while before speaking
"There are not many in this world that are not dwarf that I would trust with my life, Gandalf is one and you Bilbo Baggins are the other"
"What of the elves?" Bilbo asked already knowing the response.
"I would never harm them but I will never ask for their aid either" Thorin's voice was lifeless as he spoke, their betrayal still haunted him.
Bilbo walked over to the would be King of the Lonely Mountain and placed a hand upon his shoulder
"We will get it back Thorin, Erebor will once more be yours to rule and home to your kin"
"Aye, I'm starting to believe that Mr Baggins"
Somewhere near the campfire shrouded by darkness a crafty smile crossed the face of a not so sleeping wizard
"Just as I predicted" Gandalf mumbled to himself as he finally allowed his eyes to close as he grabbed a few hours of rest.