Eliniel stood away from the others waiting for Bilbo to return with news of whether their company was being followed, and she wondered just what it was she had agreed to. She wished to leave them now, feeling Thorin's anger from beside her as he stood waiting – though she had ceased yearning for her trees the day Thorin had taken her hand in Erebor. She longed for cold unforgiving stone, patches of sunlight creeping through cracks in the ceiling; she yearned for him, though he did his best now to hurt her.
"What were you doing to have come this way?" Thorin asked of her, his voice hard and demanding – the accusation that she had tried to come across him heavy in his eyes.
She looked down at him surprised at the unkindness in his voice, seeing in his eyes he did not trust her fully. "Avoiding you," she answered harshly, hating herself for the sliver of guilt that wedged itself in her heart when he had shown her no kindness to speak of the moment he saw her in Imladris.
He stared after her astonished as she moved nearer to Gandalf, further from him. Unkindness was unknown in relation to her; she had never been anything but the sweetest being he'd ever met – it's what he'd loved about her, how she had seen the good in all things in the earth. Her naïve wish to live in a world where elves and dwarves could live in peace, where they could be wed and not have to hide. It was a world he used to wish for as well, one they had dreamed of together. He turned to his right feeling someone's gaze upon him.
"You have upset her," Balin commented, knowing he must have for such a crude tone to ever etch itself in her voice. "I remember a time when you feared to."
Thorin turned away from him nearly growling unhappily. "That time has long passed."
"Aye," Balin agreed sternly, seeing Thorin's stubbornness rearing its head. "You are not the same dwarf who loved her enough to wed her all those years ago." He knew he was speaking out of turn, that Thorin could order him silent – but there was apart of him, a small one, that would never stop loving her. And it was this part of him that looked back at Balin almost wounded.
He looked to his wife to see her head turned their way, her brows knitted in concentration, and he was instantly on his guard and straining to hear as she did. It was a few moments before he did, her elven ears much sharper than his, but the sound of howls was clear in the air as they moved closer.
But there was something else she heard, that the others had yet to – the sounds of a large animal with large feet running even closer; and then Bilbo's smaller feet racing back to the Company to warn them. The dwarves swarmed together as they fought the panic that the wargs and orcs were coming upon them once more. But Bilbo had different news, one Eliniel had been awaiting for they were in his territory. And so when the company ran to escape the large bear, she did little more than stare after them unamused and entirely impatient with them. At the sound of deep panting and a rumbling growl she turned uninterested toward the large bear now standing over her.
…
The bear chased them all the way into the home Gandalf had spoken of, the dwarves just barely managing to close the door on the giant bear – his jaws gaping and slathering as it tried to catch one of them. It wasn't until Thorin and Dwalin placed a beam to bar the door that he realized they were missing someone. His panic was noticed immediately as he pushed through the others to find her.
"What are you doing?" many cried when Thorin tore the beam from the door and opened it, charging out with his sword in hand to find Eliniel walking calmly to the door.
She looked down at his wide eyes and fearful face. "Is something wrong?" she asked.
He stared up at her appalled by the casual way in which she did not understand he'd been afraid for her. "Get in the house," he ordered her in a quiet growl, reaching for her and nearly throwing her inside before slamming the doors closed once more and barring them.
It was upon seeing her face that the others realized she hadn't been with them, though not many truly cared for her well being, they saw upon looking at their king's face that he did. He cared for her greatly, more than they had realized.
She looked around the home, built for a man much larger than normal, one she had only been invited in to the sparest of few times. Beorn was not one for company, not even with the princess of Mirkwood though he was more agreeable to her once she gave word for her kin to stay clear of his land. He knew her, as a man and a bear, it was why she had been without fear – though Thorin had no way of knowing that, and so his heart had stilled in his chest at the thought of her outside with the beast.
"You should have run," he told her harshly, pulling her aside after Gandalf told them all to rest.
She sighed heavily trying to move away from him, not caring for the way her body wished to fold against his own. "I held the belief you no longer cared for me," she said knowing those words would pain him.
Nor was she wrong. "How dare you say that to me?" he demanded, his voice no more than a whisper. Her answer was a long hard look before she left him, and he stared after her incredulous that she could ever think he did not care for her. She was his wife, the woman he had sworn to love til the end of his days – they had not always been this way, hurting each other for the sake of protecting themselves, dancing around one another for it hurt too much to stand still. He had loved her more than anything, needed her more than the air that quenched his starving lungs. He still did, not a day had gone by she had not haunted his thoughts; for months his dreams had betrayed him, allowing him to imagine retaking Erebor and calling for her after two centuries to rule beside him as his queen.
He visited as often as he could, telling his father and grandfather he wished to stay in Dale for he wished them to believe he'd make a just king when his time came. It was what he should be doing, but he was young and foolish enough not to care. Not when every other month he snuck away to see her, finding her barely a day after he sent her a message.
"What excuse did you give your brother?" he would ask after they'd properly greeted each other.
More often than not she was lying naked over his chest, their clothes strewn on the floor of their small home, and them laying on the bed catching their breath as they finally said hello. "I told him I was visiting a friend," she answered; her friend was Beorn, whom his brother had met once and never wished to again – he was rude and wild, and she liked him. It was the perfect reason, staying with Beorn where her brother would not follow, which allowed her to spend as many days as she wished with Thorin.
He smiled as he tightened his arm around her. "How long can you stay?"
She sat up to look down at him, her face happy and carefree. "How long can you?" she asked instead of answering, watching as he realized what she meant. Her laughter bubbled around them as he grabbed her and rolled on top of her, his own laughter muffled as he kissed her.
The longest they had stayed together was two months, Eliniel having told her brother and father she desired to travel to Rivendell; biding her guards wait – Tauriel being one of them, convincing the others to wait on the western edge until their lady joined them. It was Tauriel who allowed Eliniel such absence, "joining" her on her hunts to appease Legolas. Though she never once asked where it was Eliniel went, she had a very strong idea it was to see the dwarf prince. And in turn Balin allowed Thorin his own absence, staying in Dale while Thorin was gone. Sometimes Eliniel ventured to Dale, hiding her ears behind her hair so she looked no more than a woman – though Thorin had told her in the privacy of their room that she could never pass for an average woman, her beauty far surpassed average. To which she had smiled and thanked him by pulling the dress from her shoulders and letting it fall to the floor, giving him everything she had to offer.
She stayed with him those two months, those two months showing them how complete happiness would be once he was king; though his duty as a prince called him back to his kingdom, and Balin saw her back to her woods so that she could return to her guards and quickly make their way to Rivendell.
As happy as they were, as quickly as they fell out of their lives and into the wonders of marriage – the moment they parted they took up their duties as prince and princess of a different race. And they longed for the days to pass so that they could return to their home, return to each other for they were never complete unless together. Dreaming of a life they would never come to have.
I have yet to see the new movie, which is now where I am in the story - so unfortunately I probably won't update again until I do, that way I at least have more of an idea of what happens. I did my best with what I was told happened in this particular scene, and from what I saw on youtube videos of production - but when I see the movie I'll come back and fix stuff and add in dialogue from the scene. Thank you all so much, again, for reading.
