Chapter 2: The Unexpected Guest

What Thorin had expected, he was not quite sure. However, he knew that it was not having the young woman suddenly step back out through his doorway as he approached and empty her stomach into the churned mud outside his workshop. His insides twisted in displeasure and he quickened his pace to the other side of his workshop. She was just straightening out when he poked his head out of his door.

He watched as she wiped at the corners of her mouth with the ends of her drenched sleeves. Her face was pale and bloodless and Thorin wondered where she had come from. "Are you still coming in?" he asked her. When she wordlessly nodded he motioned her into his leaking workshop and went to pull to of the chairs from the corner of the room closer to the fire.

"Here," he grunted as he positioned on of the chairs as close to the fires of the forge as he could without it catching on fire itself. "Warm yourself."

"Thank you," she murmured and she dropped herself into the chair, her entire body sagging into it with relief. He watched as her eyes surveyed her surroundings. She took in the tools and workbenches, and the small living space tiredly until finally her eyes landed back on the fire. She herself was something of an oddity. She was dressed in a manner that Thorin had never encountered within the men-folk before. She wore long dark robes of a forest green over black pants and a white blouse, all made of fabric that would have rivaled the soft texture of that made by the elves. He wondered if she were from lands far to the east where he had never traveled before. There was a rather ominous crash of thunder from outside and they both startled and looked out the door.

As the sound faded Thorin spoke, "What were you doing outside in this weather?"

The woman looked up at him, startled out of whatever thoughts had occupied her mind. Her mouth opened up as if to speak before she quickly closed it again. Her cheeks seemed to flush slightly and she looked back out the door from where she had come. "Do you know where we are?" she asked, avoiding his question.

Thorin frowned at this. While there certainly was not as much danger as there could be during an ongoing war, the roads were not safe for a woman to travel alone. "Piralith," Thorin said simply. "Are you feeling better?" he asked cautiously as he examined her pale face and then looked back out towards the doorway.

The woman nodded, seeming somewhat distracted. "Better than I was before. I am not familiar with Piralith. Where is it?" she asked as she looked up into his face.

"We are north of the Shire and far west from the forest of Mirkwood, but still some leagues from the Blue Mountains. Does this help orient you?" Thorin replied stiffly, still somewhat puzzled that this woman had little inkling of where she was.

He watched as the woman brought a tired hand to her forehead and moved to rub away a headache. "Not much," she sighed. "You will have to forgive me. I do not clearly remember how I got here, and I am afraid that I am many miles from home. When I came around, yours was the first shelter I saw from the rain." If possible, Thorin's frown deepened even more. Soundlessly he stood from the table and moved to the doorway, peering out into the rain.

"Were you traveling with anyone?" He asked, trying to see if there were any clues to how she had come to be left out in the rain.

Her voice floated softly back to him. "No." Well, at least he knew there would be no other companions that he would need to venture out to look for, but then how had she managed to unknowingly come to be outside of his workshop. There were other houses she would have been able to seek shelter in towards the outskirts of the town. He turned to look back at her. Maybe she had been kidnapped and her captures had knocked her out before dumping her body once they had no more use of her? It would explain her weak stomach, but why would a captor abandon her here? Thorin sighed internally to himself. He could feel a headache coming on.

Striding back towards the fire, he sat in the chair opposite of hers. She was still dripping water onto the floor and if he looked closely he could see that her arms were trembling slightly. "Unfortunately, I only have some long undershirts that I can offer you as dry clothing for now. I know it is not a proper garment for a lady such as yourself, but it would be better than sitting in your own wet clothing. I will leave it up to you as to whether or not you would like to change," he said bluntly as he watched her ringing some of the water from her hair.

The woman nodded, her hands falling from her wet curls. "I would appreciate it," she said as she looked up with him with her dark honey colored eyes. Thorin found himself nodding stiffly and turning quickly away towards the back corner of the workshop where he kept most of his personal belongings. Rummaging through a stack of clothing he quickly pulled out his cleanest undershirt and made his way back to the fire. While he was gone the woman had discarded her outer robes and was now standing with it, looking unsure as to where to put it.

"Here," he said as he pushed the undershirt into her hands and took the soaked garment. He stepped back and examined the woman quickly. She was shorter than he had initially thought, as he had to look down just ever so slightly to look into her face. The undershirt should cover her adequately then, he thought to himself with a small self-satisfied nod. Turning away quickly as to not be accused for staring at her in an inappropriate fashion, he began to walk back towards the entrance of his workshop.

"I will be here while you change," he said over his shoulder as he leaned up again the doorframe and stared back out into the sheets of rain that were coming down. He could barely see across the road to his neighbors and the road itself had turned into a river of mud. His ears strained as he listened to the sounds of the wet clothing being peeled from the body of his unexpected guest. There was a rustle of cloth as his own undershirt was put on, and only a few moments later he heard her calling him back.

"I am done. Thank you," she said, her soft voice partially drowned out by the sound of the rain on the roof. He turned around and nodded back to her, carefully keeping his gaze from lingering on her too long. The nightshirt was indeed long enough to cover all of her womanly bits, but it stopped at her mid-thigh and left a tantalizing view of her legs available to him. Shaking his head clear, Thorin walked back to where she stood with the remains of her wet clothing in her hands. He looked back down at his own hands and realized he was still holding onto her outer garment.

"We will need to hang these to dry," he said decisively. Looking around the benches of his workshop, he quickly found a ball of twine he kept on hand, and strung it between two nails he had already sunk into the walls of his workshop for this very purpose. The twine created a line near the fire and Thorin quickly maneuvered the wet clothing over the line so that it hung near the fire. It blocked quite a bit of the light, and cast long shadows about the room, but at least her clothing would begin to dry.

Sitting back down in his own chair, he found himself staring back at his companion once more. "Are you feeling better after," he paused and trailed off as he motioned his head back towards his open doorway.

He watched as a faint blush seemed to creep onto the woman's pale face. "Yes, much. I am sorry about that," she replied meekly. Thorin could not help but feel slightly relieved at that. There would be no sick guest in his workshop. "Thank you again for letting me in and helping me," she said then, her pale lips pulling into a small smile.

Thorin just nodded at that, unsure as to what to say. He couldn't have just left her to catch a cold in the rain, despite not being very overly fond of men-folk.

"My name is Hermione," she said as she reached out her hand. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Thorin Oakenshield, at your service," he replied as he took her hand and shook it, feeling that this was to be the beginnings of a very peculiar encounter.

a.n. I hope you enjoyed this second chapter. This is still without a beta. If anyone is interested in helping with beta-ing, please let me know.