Bree
The Company had been in Bree for approximately a week before anyone considered getting on the move again. Axell had shaken the worst of her problems and has been in perfect travelling health, but the stubbornness of a number of dwarves kept them tied in place for a day or two more.
It was dark outside of the large window, night having fallen long ago, though no one was asleep. Thorin, Kili, Bilbo, Ori, and Gandalf were the only ones in the room, the others had managed to find the tavern to enjoy themselves and any drinks they could find. Axell could tell from the way Thorin's eyes were trained on her as he conversed with Gandalf, and that he would make his way over to her within the next few moments. Though, she was mostly distracted by Bilbo as he sat on the end of the bed, Ori who somehow was balanced on the edge of the bed, and Kili who was cuddled up as close as he could be near her head. All of them were playful, teasing each other with gentle comments, and Kili flirting gently with the female.
After a few short moments had passed from the time that Axell had noticed Thorin to the time he took the initiative to chase everyone from the room. His pale eyes marked Axell's oceanic ones, daring her to argue against him.
"You've caused a lot of trouble," his voice slowly unraveled, his displeasure evident with a stony anger.
"My apologies," The girl's tone was tired but an honest attempt to keep up with mood.
"You've wasted plenty of good supplies." His anger started to ignite.
"My apologies," her voice shook in the slightest but held the panic and worry to herself.
"We've wasted valuable time," and it was then that his anger went up flames, his sight blinded by red.
"My apologies," It was such a silent apology that the girl believed he hadn't heard it, although, in the anger he had himself in, he might not have heard anything that was said to him.
"And yet I still worry about you, and I don't know why." the tension seemed to dissipate as if someone had dumped a barrel of ice over his aggravated self.
The stunned silence that held between the two was tense and emotionless, and Axell had no emotional response to his newfound concern. Her fingers and tongue had gone numb with confusion as her thoughts froze to a standstill in curiosity. Thorin took the silence as an opportunity to continue.
"What in Middle Earth made you think that it would be okay to risk your life like that?" His concern dripped like an overflowing bucket.
"It was either Ori or me." Her stunned self could finally able make a comprehensive sentence.
"What?" And it was that fact which seemed to piss him off, whether it be from concern or anger was beyond knowledge to anyone who entered the room or witnessed their conversation.
"It was either Ori got killed, or I got killed. I thought I was more expendable." Axell explained more thoroughly.
In the awkward silence of the admission, the woman had begun to understand the answers to a couple of private questions that she had left open to herself. She refused to make eye contact with the man as his brows furrowed together while thinking.
"Seriously?" His anger was reignited, though for a completely different reason.
"My apologies?" Axell was not sure if she was meant to apologize for her answer, or rather if she should just prepare to pack up her things and consider her time with the Company finished.
"Don't apologize." The apologies only served as kindling for the anger that surged beneath his skin, but unbeknownst to him, she knew little else to say to people of authority.
"My apolo-" Axell could feel a fire explode from the man before it released.
"What did I just say?!" He bellowed, and Axell could practically see the smoke pouring out from his ears for a fraction of a second.
It took every muscle in her body to not repeat the words that had caused him to respond in this way.
"Thank you. Now I want to know what made you think that any of us would prefer you dead than Ori," he was confused and he stood as if it was that feeling alone that displeased him.
"Ori is family to all of you," the woman shrugged helplessly at the thought, "I was brought along to be made useful."
"And that had made you think that we did not care about your well-being?" Never mind, everything and anything the woman said appeared to displease him.
"Hardly any of you make an effort to talk to me," that was the truth; very few of them made the effort to know the woman who had been signed to their sides since the beginning.
"That does not mean that we do not care," and now Axell was the confused one of the conversation.
"Then it means what exactly?" She attempted to ask without the snap behind her words but any efforts were futile.
Her hair was pushed in front of her, concealing everything but her eyes from the other as the two stared each other down. Axell analyzing his stance and aggression, waiting for a fight that she had yet to understand whether or not it was to come. Blue fought against blue in a fight for dominance, and she made the decision to not back down first. It was Thorin who turned away first, more in annoyance than in a willingness to submit, but he had done it nonetheless.
"We've all learned to not trust so easily; some of us the hard way." The man held a wolfish grin to his words as he appeared to snarl in disgust.
"You don't think I have?" Now it was Axell who was pissed beyond words.
"Have you?" The man tilted his head in interest at what she may have to say.
"Yes," it was one simple word, but it was the bite behind it that kept the dwarf from daring to talk any more about the subject.
"It appears that I now know, and therefore, we now have one thing in common." It was not what she had been trying to say to the man, but it was as close as she was going to get and accepted it as the finale of his discussion. "You are not to put yourself in harm's way for any of us again, that will be my job only. Is that understood?"
His sudden harshness was surprising, nonetheless, his protective leader instincts were understandable.
"Understood," Both were silent at the moment, Thorin's thoughts were spinning like a firework.
Axell allowed herself the moment to bask in the silence that filled the room. Her eyes soaked up the cool glow of the moonlight and counted the stars that shone overhead from her position on the bed. The girl knew that, as this man has some need for filling the silence, her moment would not last long. The lamps flickered carelessly as Thorin sat on the bed opposite of her own. A broken shutter could be heard squealing outward just before it thudded against the building as the wind toyed with it. Out in the hall, mice could be heard in the rafters as it was drenched in an eerie silence. Half of the room was swept with the moonlight as it shone through the murky glass while the other half of the room was given a peaceful glow. It was simple for the woman to focus on the physical aspects of the room rather than addressing the foreign stare of Thorin.
"Tell me, why do you not trust?" Not a single emotion was visible through the question as he leaned to see her face better.
Axell turned her head back towards him at the question, allowing him to catch some of her thought patterns before she blocked him with her hair.
"I have held many close to heart than I should have," she was careful to give him the facts, "most of which have tried to kill me and those who had not, vanished."
"You need to find yourself some better friends, my dear, that is considered almost inhumane, even for dwarves." He attempted to create a joke from the words she had said. "Why in all of Middle-Earth would you want to be associated with that?"
"Kill or be killed. It is how I was raised, I didn't have much of a decision." And while she told the truth, she avoided saying any more.
He hummed aloud, his mind processing what had just been admitted. Then he finally seemed to notice how late it truly was, especially after the large yawn the girl had expelled.
"Get some rest, you need it. We will be traveling again soon." With that he left the room, and she was soaked in night sounds and lamp lighting.
Axell slept soundly. Not a thing had woken her for the first time in about eight years.