A/N: Helooo! I know this is a little later than usual, but my uncle and aunt are visiting, so I've been quite busy (this on top of my usual college days, of course). Anyway, I hope you enjoy the second part of the mine scene. :)

Big thanks to the following people for following/favouriting: TwilightMelodic, Forruin, LunaVersipellis, AnimeNut47 and kurayamitenshi25.

Review Response(s):

silverhawk88: No, of course they wouldn't. If they were going to, it probably would have been done under Thror's rule. I figured the dwarves would have enough appreciation for such a raw sight that they wouldn't just dig it up. :)

ro781727: Ah, sorry :/ To be totally honest thought, I personally didn't think of it as much of a cliff-hangar. You're not the only one that seems to disagree with me though.

Guest: 'Need' and 'want' are two very different words. No, they don't need an heir, and my current plan is to keep Fili as Thorin's heir regardless of whether or not they have any children. Honestly, haven't planned that far ahead yet, in detail. We'll see, I suppose.

StarAvengerWho: Haha, sorry. Honestly wasn't intentional XD Glad to hear you enjoyed it, though :)

CheekyLittleFoxy: 'Squishiness' XD Something tells me, were he to hear you say that, Thorin wouldn't be very impressed. Glad you enjoyed it so much, though :)

Sparky She-Demon: Yup, should do... ;)

Dreamer4life16: Yeah, I sometimes think I don't write enough descriptive scenes, so when I do, I really try to get it perfect. And hey, don't worry, they'll be some more Thorin/Alana fluff in this one, and I have some special plans for the start of the next one ;) You'll be meeting the council soon enough, so the mystery will be gone then. As much as I like the idea of Thorin doing some royal ass-kicking, I think I prefer the thought of Alana standing up and challenging them to a duel, or something (probably won't happen, but it makes for an interesting image...) XD


'Curing the sick and saving lives, no matter where, are the kind of inter-people activities that cannot be matched or measured by money or anything in kind.' ~ Zhang Yong


Chapter 4:

Progress at the source of the collapse was slower than Thorin would have liked. It had been almost two hours since Alana had disappeared over the top of it, and they had heard no sign of anyone on the other side ever since. She hadn't returned, nor had anyone else, and - while he was trying to hold on to the overwhelming confidence he felt in her abilities to look after not just herself, but others as well - Thorin could feel the edge of panic creeping over him.

They had been incredibly careful moving away the rocks at the source of the collapse, taking Alana's cautionary words to heart. The size of many of the rocks was what made their progress so slow - the sheer weight of each boulder would require multiple dwarves to dislodge, and doing so meant potentially shaking the foundation rock enough to weaken it further. In order to avoid this, Thorin had ordered that the boulders be broken into smaller pieces, so they could be moved more safely. Unfortunately, this meant each boulder took around twenty minutes to completely move, and his nerves were beginning to fray at the edges.

He glanced over to the right when Dwalin put a heavy hand on his shoulder. "She'll be okay, Thorin," his friend assured him for the fifth time, but Thorin could not bring himself to completely believe it. "We both know what she's been through. This, by comparison, is nothing."

Thorin sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I know," he admitted. "But I cannot stop myself from worrying. She is in an unfamiliar place. The mine is enormous - she could very easily get lost down there."

Dwalin scoffed. "Somehow I find that unlikely - that woman's sense of direction is truly something to behold."

"Dwalin-"

"My Lord!"

Both dwarves looked up to see one of the miners who had taken to making the gap bigger grinning down at them. "Survivors, my Lord. Five of them are headed this way."

Thorin perked up. "And Alana?"

The miner's face fell, and Thorin knew what was coming before he'd even spoken a word. "There's no sign of her, my Lord."

With a heavy sigh, Thorin nodded. "Keep going. We need to make sure everyone gets out safely." The miner's face became determined, and he and his helpers began chipping away at the boulders with renewed vigour. Thorin sighed again, facing Dwalin with fresh worry curling in the pit of his stomach. "What do you think she's doing?"

Dwalin shrugged. "Maybe checking for others down there." He huffed, patting Thorin's shoulder again. "She'll be okay, Thorin. Just be patient."

"Patience was never one of my greatest strengths," the dwarf grumbled, and Dwalin grinned.

"Something tells me it's something you'll have to master very soon," came the teasing reply, and while the bald dwarf chuckled to himself, Thorin just sent him a stony glare.


Alana was walking in circles. She'd come to the same bridge three times now, and she'd still had no progress finding the missing boy. With a heaving sigh, Alana headed down yet another new tunnel, having had to grab a fresh torch once her first one had begun to flicker and fade. This tunnel had no branching pathways - something she was endlessly grateful for - and it was some time before it came to an end. By her reckoning she had walked at least a mile from the bridge, and when she came back to the deep ravine she couldn't even see it.

Glancing around her, Alana was about to turn back and try another route when her ears picked up the sound of soft sniffles. She froze, tilting her head up to follow the sound, and her mouth fell slack at what she saw. There, at least thirty feet above her head, clinging to the side of a cliff, was a red haired dwarfling who was no bigger than Aragorn had been when he was two.

"By Mahal," she breathed, before quickly discarding her medical pack and placing her torch carefully on the ground, where it would hopefully remain burning without catching on anything else. She walked onto the pathway that hugged the sheer cliff until she was almost directly below the boy. "Are you alright?" she called up, and the boy loudly sobbed at the sound of her voice.

"Ihsi! (Help!)" he shouted down to her, tears thick in his voice. "I can't get down!"

Alana swallowed, glancing at the rock and mentally working out her route up, before she grasped the rock and began the ascent up the cliff. She was slow and careful, though she sped up a little when she was close enough to notice the dwarfling's thin arms were shaking from the effort of having to hold on for so long.

It wasn't long before she drew alongside him, clinging to a jagged rock with each hand, her feet precariously perched on another one that jutted from the cliff. She looked over at him, noting the dirt smudges on his face, and the obvious tear tracks that ran down his cheeks. His eyes were dark - she couldn't tell their exact colour in the darkness - and were filled with tears. "I've got you," she murmured softly, readjusting her hold on the cliff. "Can you climb onto my back?"

Slowly, the young dwarf nodded. He began shuffling closer to her, then quick as a flash he all but leapt on her, arms circling her neck while his legs wrapped like vices around her waist. She huffed at the sudden addition of weight - he was heavier than he looked, though she supposed it was probably just a dwarf thing - but kept her grasp on the cliff.

"Thank you," the dwarf whispered, burying his face in the space between her shoulders. He was still trembling, but his tears had subsided now.

Alana began slowly retracing her route back down, being a lot more careful now she had another life in her hands. In an attempt to stop him thinking about the rather intimidating drop below them, Alana began talking to him. "What's your name?"

"Lokir, son of Hothir," he told her. He hiccuped. "At your ser-bus."

Alana smiled at his adorable mispronunciation of 'service', but nonetheless responded, "Alana, daughter of Arathorn, at yours and your family's."

"I know you," the boy told her. "You're King Thorin's new Queen."

Alana chuckled. "Not just yet, little one, but I will be."

"Is he nice?" Lokir asked curiously, then hiccuped again. "Adad says he's good and nice person, but I think he looks scary."

Her smile still on her face, Alana paused before answering, lowering herself onto a rather small platform that she almost immediately slipped off of again. She managed to regain her footing though, and was grateful that Lokir seemed none the wiser. "He is a nice man, yes," she told him, "and he's a very, very good person. But he can also be quite scary when he wants to be - only when he's really angry though, and that doesn't happen a lot."

"And are you a nice person?"

Laughing again, Alana careful lowered herself further. "Well, I like to think so. What do you think, Lokir? Do you think I'm a nice person?"

Lokir giggled. "You saved me," he pointed out. "You have to be nice to save me."

"Well, thank you, Master Lokir," she said with a hint of a tease in her voice that he probably didn't notice. "What were you doing all the way up there, anyway?"

"I saw a pretty stone; I'll show you when we get down. I wanted to get it for ama. She likes red jewels."

Alana hummed thoughtfully. "Well, perhaps next time you should try getting it from somewhere else, hmm? I'm sure your amad would much rather you were safe and sound than have another pretty jewel, don't you?"

"Uh-huh," he agreed, nodding against her back. "Lady Alana?"

"Yes, Lokir?"

"Do you have any food? I'm hungry."

Alana chuckled, glancing down and noting there was only about another ten feet to go. "I should have a little bit in my pack," she told him. "I imagine you haven't eaten for a while."

"Not since the earthquake."

Alana grinned to herself again, not bothering to correct the young dwarfling. To him, it had probably felt exactly like an earthquake might, and he'd have been terrified up there on his own. She was glad to have found him when she had - she wasn't sure how much longer the little lad could have held on to that rock. "I'd imagine you're quite tired too," she murmured, and Lokir nodded again.

"Adad was s'posed to take me home when the earthquake happened," he told her. "Ama will be scared for us, won't she?"

Alana pursed her lips as she descended the last few feet, before she stepped onto the bridge. With a brief sigh of relief, she lowered Lokir onto the floor before she smiled down at him and answered. "She probably was quite frightened," she agreed, "but you and your adad are strong, brave dwarves, and you're both okay. I'm sure she'll just be glad to see you again."

Lokir nodded, looking around. "Do you know the way back? Because I don't."

Chuckling, Alana crouched beside her pack and began rifling through its contents. "Yes, I know the way back. See that tunnel there?" She pointed ahead of her, and Lokir followed her finger with his eyes, nodding. "All those torches were lit by me. They'll lead us right back to the surface." She then hummed and pulled out a wrapped up piece of bread from her pack. "Here you go," she said, handing it to him. "Don't eat it too fast, though. I gave away my water to the others, so you'll have nothing to wash it down with."

Already chewing on his first eager bite, all Lokir did was nod. Curling her lips upwards, Alana pulled the strap of her medical pack over her head, and then picked up her torch, before she began leading the way through the tunnel. Every now and then she glanced behind her to check that Lokir hadn't wandered off, but he remained a stalwart presence by her side. Still, his tiredness was clearly getting to him, and Alana kept having to slow her pace down to make sure he was able to keep up with her.

At long last they came to the bridge across the ravine, and as soon as he saw it Lokir let out a rather undignified squeak, jumping forward and clutching her empty hand hard. She paused and glanced at him, but he refused to meet her eyes, as if ashamed by his fear. Hiding another smile, Alana gently pulled him across the bridge, glad that he had the common sense not to look down. She was a little surprised that he remained clinging to her fingers even after they'd entered the covered tunnels, but didn't complain.

"You know," she started, causing Lokir to look up at her from his position beside her, "you were really brave up there."

He beamed at her, puffing up his little chest with pride. "You think so?" he asked eagerly.

Alana nodded. "Definitely."

Lokir frowned. "But... but I was so scared," he admitted quietly.

Alana paused in her walk, turning to the boy and crouching on front of him. His eyes - which were a deep brown with golden flecks, she could see now - bore into hers, alight with curiosity as he waited for her to speak. "One thing you must understand is that bravery does not mean you're not scared," she told him. "Being brave often comes from being afraid. The two go hand-in-hand. You see, bravery, and courage, are simply the result your determination not to be ruled by fear. There's nothing wrong with being afraid - everyone is afraid at some point. The trick is to use it to feed your bravery. And that is what you did today."

Lokir was grinning almost shyly at this point, but his curiosity remained. "What about you?" he asked.

"What about me?"

"Do you feel fear?"

Alana scoffed. "Of course I do!"

"Are you sure? You don't look like you do."

Chuckling, Alana gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "Believe me, Lokir, I feel fear just as much as you do. Maybe more. It's all about controlling your fear, and not letting it control you." Her face fell slightly. "I had to learn that very young, and so did you." She shook her head, then smiled at him again. "Now," she stated with finality, straightening, "let's get you back to your ama and adad, yes?"

Nodding eagerly, Lokir grabbed her hand again and started off, dragging her along behind him. Alana laughed at his enthusiasm, letting him pull her along. When they reached the end of the tunnel, the pathway meeting the main mine shaft, Alana gave him a gentle nudge in the right direction after noting that the rockfall blocking the miners had been cleared enough for a dwarf to fit through the gap, and the two then continued on side-by-side.

"Oh!" The young dwarf paused again, making Alana tilt her head down curiously. He grinned and then dug around in his little boot, before pulling out a stone the colour of blood. "Here," he said, holding his hand up and offering the gem. "I promised I'd show you."

Alana took the stone that had caught his eye, examining it curiously. It was beautiful, with little black crystals amongst the red, and was almost impossibly smooth for a natural stone. It wasn't very large, being maybe two inches long and half an inch wide and deep. She smiled. "It's stunning," she told him, handing it back. "Your ama is a lucky dwarrowdam for you to find this for her."

Beaming, Lokir returned the stone to its hiding place, before taking her hand again. Alana wasn't really sure why he did this, but if it helped him, then she was hardly going to stop him.

They continued their journey in silence, until they heard a shout up ahead. "Lady Alana!"

Smiling, Alana waved jovially towards the dwarf perched at the top of the rock fall, before placing her torch back in its place on the wall. The she turned to Lokir and crouched down to place her hands under his arms. "Big jump, okay?" she murmured, and Lokir nodded, before springing up. She helped lift him as high as she could reach, made sure he had a strong grasp on the rock, before climbing up beside him. She settled on the rock and helped him climb higher again, until the little dwarfling was in reach of the dwarf miner, who took him from Alana's hands and gently pulled him through the gap. Then he disappeared and Alana began to climb up, thankful that she didn't have such a small hole to climb back through. On the other side of the rock fall she glanced at the floor, noted that the ground was clear, and let herself fall the rest of the way. Her feet and legs juddered on impact, but she didn't have long to think on that.

Before she could blink Thorin was in front of her, yanking her into a quick but intense kiss, before pulling back and checking her over. "You're alright?" he asked, and Alana smiled.

She placed her hand on his cheek, her eyes warm. "I'm okay," she promised. "I'm unhurt. Everything went fine."

"Adad!"

Her head snapped up at the young voice, and she watched with a smile as Lokir launched himself at a larger dwarf with equally red hair, who swept him up into a bone-crushing hug. "Lokir, you little tyke!" the dwarf murmured with relief. "Don't you scare me like that again, you hear? Never again."

"Sorry, adad," Lokir murmured, burying his face in his father's hair. "I won't scare you again, I promise."

Hothir laughed almost breathlessly. "Well, that's a promise I know you won't keep, gultalut (tiny boar). But I'm glad you're okay." He turned to Alana and smiled with gratitude. "Âkminrûk zu, melhekhinhul. (Thank you, my Queen.)" He readjusted his hold on Lokir when the boy pulled away slightly, turning his head to grin at Alana, who in return offered a quick wink. "I will never be able to repay you for this."

Alana waved him off. "It was no trouble, Master Hothir. I'm just happy your son is safe and well."

Hothir nodded, and after Lokir waved goodbye to her (and she waved back with a smile), father and son turned away with the intention of heading home, a few others following in their wake.

After exhaling heavily, Thorin caught her attention again. He smiled. "Now that everyone is safely free from the mines, we can all rest a little. No doubt you're exhausted."

Alana huffed, nodding. "You have no idea. I was just about to go to bed when Bofur found me and told me about the collapse. Not to mention having to hunt for a very elusive dwarfling."

With a chuckle and a smile, Thorin offered his elbow to her. "Then allow me to escort you back to your chambers, my Lady."

Snorting in a rather un-ladylike way, Alana accepted his elbow. "Why, thank you, my Lord!"

The two shared grins, before leaving the mine together, uncaring of the surreptitious glances that were shot their way. The whole mountain knew they were going to be married one day, and while they had been relatively careful in public, just this once they allowed themselves to show more of their love for one another; talking and laughing together, and pausing every now and then to share a kiss or two.

When at last they came to the royal quarters, Thorin paused by his door. He hesitated, then glanced up at her. "Will you come in?" he asked. "After what happened... I have no wish to part with you again, if I can avoid it."

"Thorin..."

"Please, Alana. Just this once."

With a gentle sigh, Alana's face softened, and she nodded. "Alright. Let me go and get ready for bed, and I shall join you after."

Smiling, Thorin pressed his lips to hers once more, and the two parted ways. It didn't take long for Alana to change out of her clothes and into her nightdress, and after pulling her hair out of its messy hold she left her room and silently slipped into Thorin's. He was stood by his fireplace, the fire crackling merrily, and turned to face her with a smile. His nightshirt was unbuttoned at the top, showing off some of the dark hair that grew on her chest, and Alana felt a pleasant shiver run down her spine at the sight of it.

Thorin smiled and offered a hand - which she took, of course - and led her to his bed. Alana pulled back the thick covers and crawled under them, while Thorin moved to the other side of the bed and did the same. The two met in the middle of the bed, their hands grasping onto each other in the space between them, and for a moment they simply stared at one another.

Then Thorin exhaled heavily, and he smiled. "I'm glad you're okay," he murmured. "I was worried."

Alana chuckled and leaned forward to peck the end of his nose. "Well, you shouldn't have been."

"I know," he admitted. "But I couldn't help myself." He tugged her hand to his lips, pressing a sweet kiss onto the back of her fingers. "I love you, atamanel."

Alana's eyes softened, and her smile could have melted all the ice atop the Misty Mountains. "I love you too, Thorin." The two shared another soft look, before they settled in to sleep, relishing in the warmth they shared with one another, and both secretly hoping that the day they became unified in marriage arrived very, very quickly.