Chapter 8 Memory in Thorin's POV
"My guard, Master Vorin has asked to bring his son along to Rivendell," King Thror said to the family as they ate dinner a few days before he was supposed to head out to meet with the elves. Thorin couldn't help but to scowl at his plate. Dis and Frerin had been quick to tell his whole family about how he had Rejected his Intended and the family had since been talking nonstop about Haran, reminding him about how amazing Haran was and how well-respected his family was. It was annoying and he just wanted to stop talking about it. It's not like he disliked Haran anyway. He actually quite liked other, from what he had seen of him, but he just didn't think that Haran would be good as a prince of Erebor. Surely there were others who would be much better for the position that Mahal could have put him with, but instead he got the one who was certainly not suitable for it. Haran would forget about him soon enough and he was just fine living his life on his own for the people of his kingdom.
"Which one?" Dis asked even though it was so obvious who it would be.
"His youngest," Thror replied as though he didn't know exactly what that meant to the eldest of his grandsons. "Haran, I believe. Master Vorin mentioned that he was eager to learn the bow and thought that he would find better tutelage in Rivendell then he would here."
Thorin scowled at the thought of his Intended actually wanting to learn an elven weapon. It was well known that a weapon like that was weak and cowardly since you never saw the enemies' face close up. The fact that the Valar would even think to put him with such a dwarf was laughable. Haran should be with someone who was a lot more able to care than Thorin, and a lot kinder too. It must have been a mistake.
"That's Thorin's intended," Dis grinned. Thorin just scowled at her. He would have been much angrier at her if he didn't know that it was Frerin who originally gave out the news of his so-called intended.
"Indeed," Thror nodded calmly, "which is why I would like you, Thorin, to accompany me."
"What?!" Thorin practically jumped from his chair in his anger. It was only the glare from his father that had him sitting back down.
"It will be very good for you," his grandfather continued as though he hadn't said anything, "to see what's it's like in these meetings. The earlier you gain the experience, the earlier you can improve your skills."
"Fine," Thorin growled, "but don't expect me to spend all that time with that guard's son."
King Thror nodded, but Thorin had the sinking feeling that he wouldn't heed those words at all.
The day of their departure came around much too quickly for Thorin's liking. His father woke him early to help him pack, but the whole time the only thing that he would talk about was how he expected Thorin to act very well-behaved while he was visiting the elven city. The whole thing just got on his nerves. He wasn't a child anymore and the fact that his father was treating him as such really irked him. Even moreso when he brought up Haran. "Make sure to treat him well," he said. "Maybe you could even spend some time getting to know him." Thorin doubted it, though. He had every intention of avoiding the guard's son for as much of the journey as he could.
As Thorin stood by his grandfather glaring at everything that moved and waiting for the guard and his son to arrive, he was surprised to see both dwarves falter at the sight of him. So they didn't even know that he was coming along then. Thorin felt himself relax as the suspicion that he didn't even know he had about the guard's family planning this with his own was eased. Vorin quickly looked to his son, but Haran simply stood taller and marched on as though he was heading into some sort of a war. That hurt a little. Sure, Thorin hadn't been treating his so-called intended well, but he didn't think he had been that cruel.
"My grandson has decided to join us on this expedition," Thorin's grandfather smiled, but Thorin only scowled at the comment. He hadn't decided to do anything. He was being forced to go just so that he would be forced to spend time with the guard's son. He really didn't know why his family was so insistent that he get along with Haran. They clearly didn't belong together. "It will be good for him to interact with the elves." Which was another thing that he really wasn't looking forward to.
Vorin agreed with the king, as expected, but he also added on the fact that Haran wanted to speak with the elves himself. That just made Thorin scowl even more. Some dwarves, he knew, had to learn the bow, but they were usually the ones who couldn't afford the metal for axes and swords. The fact that a well-off son of a high-guard wanted to learn such a cheap weapon was not one Thorin liked, especially since he was his supposed Intended. And then he even wanted to ask the elves for help. What help could those tree-shaggers actually be anyway?
"Why would anyone want to learn an elven weapon like that?" He hadn't really meant to say the words out loud, but he had and he refused to take back his words even though his grandfather's glare promised some punishment later.
Haran, though, seemed completely unaffected by his rude remark. "To protect those we love," he replied calmly before turning and walking toward the ponies that they would ride to their destination.
Thorin was somewhat surprised by Haran's answer. He hadn't really known what he was expecting, but whatever it was he had expected it to be a lie. There was still a possibility that it was a lie, Thorin knew, but he had been getting better at knowing when people were lying to him and he didn't think Haran was. But it was not merely that, which surprised him. Anyone else, especially someone who was trying to seduce Thorin into marriage, would have waited until they were absolutely certain that Thorin was done with them before walking away, but Haran had instead turned away just as things started to get interesting.
His intended was actually more interesting than he thought than he originally thought he was.
The arrival at Rivendell was nothing to Thorin, he had seen much better splendor in his own room then he saw here, but it annoyed him more than he thought it should that Haran seemed to enjoy the view so much. He stared at the smallest and stupidest of things in Thorin's opinion and the prince found himself wanting more and more to pull out something of his own creation to show Haran what true splendor was. He didn't, of course, because the only things that he had on him of his own creation were his beads and the showing of beads in that manner was a very intimate thing to do. He did not want to give the other dwarf false hoped.
"King Thror," an elf came to greet them with open and welcoming arms, "it is good to see you again." For a moment Thorin wondered if the elf actually wanted to hug his grandfather as that was a very common motion amongst men, but Thror only bowed in response and the elf did not look offended at all. It must have just been the way that elves greet then.
"Very good indeed Lord Elrond," King Thror replied and their conversation continued for some time. It was a long and boring conversation about how their trip had been and the fact that they had run into a band of thieves on their way, but had easily dispatched of them. That had been the most fun that Thorin had as of yet, but Haran hadn't even participated; choosing instead to stay with the ponies and keep them calm.
Then, finally, Lord Elrond said something in Elvish and Thrain agreed. Thorin had no clue what was said and he cursed he lack of knowledge on the Elvish language. Balin had been teaching him, but he found that foreign languages were not something he excelled at and it was taking him much longer to learn that he would like to need to on anything to do with elves.
"Lord Elrond," Vorin spoke up as he bowed slightly, "my son would like to beg a favor of you." Thorin scowled. Were they really going to do this now? He had hoped that he might have persuaded Haran not to learn the bow during their travel, but it was hard to do when the other practically avoided him or simply walked away when he began saying something Haran didn't like.
Lord Elrond looked over to Haran curiously and he bowed just as his father had. "I was hoping to ask some of your people to teach me how to use the bow if it is okay with you."
"Of course," Lord Elrond smiled. "My sons, Elladan and Elrohir, will be happy to teach you." The two twin siblings that stood just behind Lord Elrond smiled. "Perhaps after dinner you three can go into the gardens to practice." So soon? Thorin's scowl deepened. They should at least get a feel of the place before trusting these strange elves to weapons training.
"Thank you so much!" Haran grinned, bowing again in his gratitude. Then he turned to the twins and bowed to them. "I shall be ready to learn whenever the two of you will teach me." And Thorin would have to follow them to make sure that those twins didn't try anything.
Over the entirety of their journey to Rivendell Haran had shown himself to be a slow eater compared to the rest of the dwarves. He was never truly eager to finish quickly. Not even when the others were having practice battles and his father asked if he wanted to join in, which he never did. In fact, Haran had even chosen to stay with the ponies to keep them calm when they were attacked by bandits, though he did manage to take out two of their attackers without Thorin even seeing, which annoyed him greatly because he still hadn't seen the other fight and Haran's claim that he could beat him was something that he still wasn't able to get over.
All of that is the very reason that Thorin was even more annoyed when Haran all but scarfed his food down to finish as quickly as possible and go train with the elvish twins. Thorin just didn't understand why Mahal would put him with a dwarf that loved elves more than his own people.
The twins ate eagerly despite the disappointed look from their father and jumped out of their seats the moment that Haran was done. At least his Intended had manners enough to bow to both the King and the Lord of Rivendell before he followed them away from the dining room. There was no way that Thorin would let those elves be alone with his Intended, however, so he followed behind Haran without even finishing his own meal. Who wanted to eat so many greens anyway?
The twins took them to a clearing in a garden that had targets set up a distance too far for throwing knives. Thorin scowled at the distance. It was too far and they were probably planning on making a fool of Haran.
"How much do you know?" one of the twins asked. Thorin didn't care to tell them apart.
Haran replied that he had been teaching himself, but that he wasn't sure how much he actually knew and how much he got wrong. That somewhat surprised Thorin. Sure, he knew that there weren't many archers in Erebor, but there had to be at least someone who knew well enough to teach Haran. Although, perhaps not as most dwarves only took up archery as a secondary method for hunting or being part of the guard. Even Master Vorin never took up archery as he, and most other guards, only needed to fight in close combat. There wasn't much use for very long distance weapons inside closed spaces like a mountain.
The twins asked Haran to take his position and he did so willingly. They agreed that he was doing well, though Thorin scowled at the way they worded it, but they claimed his bow was wrong. The prince had seen only a few bows in his time and that was only because he was required as one of the royals to learn a bit about each of the weapons that he could use, but the bow Haran held looked just like any that he had seen.
"My people don't really use bows," Haran said eyeing the weapon in his hand, "so I made this one myself."
The twins immediately went about criticizing Haran's weapon and that just made Thorin scowl even more. How dare they criticize a weapon of dwarvish make? It wasn't like it was really Haran's fault that his tensioning was wrong when he hadn't even gotten a proper bow to compare it to and insulting a weapon was a great insult to its maker. Yet, the twins picked up another bow that was obviously meant for one of their children and Thorin clenched his fists. They really were making fun of Haran.
Haran pulled the string back only to immediately loosen the strain with wide eyes. Even Thorin could tell that Haran had almost broken the bow by the way it strained with his grip and he smirked. Let that show those elves that a dwarve's strength wasn't to be messed with.
When Haran asked for his own bow back, however, Thorin's scowl returned as the elves held it above their heads as though taunting a younger sibling with something they couldn't reach. It was not something that Thorin had witnessed himself, but he had often heard other dwarves complain about how the men sometimes put things on higher shelves that they knew a dwarf wanted so that they couldn't reach it. Those tall folk just loved to make fun of their shorter stature. That is, until they found out how much stronger the dwarves were compared to them. Haran, at least, didn't lower himself to even attempting to get his bow back. He only raised a brow like a disappointed parent to his kids. With a look like that, he could probably calm a lot of nobles. Perhaps he had misjudged the other in that regard.
Suddenly, the twins moved forward and reached out to touch Haran and Thorin reacted without even thinking. "Don't touch him," he growled. Haran had been avoiding any sort of touch the entirety of their journey. He even jerked away when there was incidental touching. Thorin didn't know much about this sort of thing, but he had seen dwarves who would sometimes go into panic attacks just from being touched and he would not let that happen to Haran in front of these elves. He stepped between the elves who stared wide-eyed at him and Haran as a shield. They would have to get through him before they even thought about touching his Intended.
"What do you think you're doing?" Haran hissed.
"They were going to touch you," Thorin scowled. Surely Haran knew about his own aversion to touch and that this would be the only explanation necessary. Besides, he could not say anymore in front of the elves for fear of embarrassing Haran.
"Yes," Haran scowled right back at him, which shocked Thorin. Why was Haran angry at him for protecting him? "That's generally how people teach weaponry."
Before he could stop himself, Thorin's frustration got the better of him. "How would you know? You've never learned any weapon besides the bow." And even that he had taught himself. He didn't understand how much skin contact could be involved in teaching weapons, so he may think that he could last through a little bit, but would soon be overwhelmed.
"First of all," Haran hissed. "You don't even know me. just because I choose not to use my weapons, doesn't mean I don't know how. My father has trained me well. And second of all, you have no right to demand that people don't touch me."
"I am your Intended," Thorin replied, trying to get Haran to understand that he was just trying to protect him as any soul mate should.
"And you have Rejected me," Haran replied, glaring at Thorin, "so I'm going to go back to my lessons where Elladan and Elrohir will teach me how to use the bow whether they have to touch me or not and you are either going to go somewhere else or sit there and not interfere with my business."
Thorin watched wide-eyed as Haran calmly stepped around him, making sure that they did not make contact and talked once more to the elves as though nothing had happened. Suddenly, Thorin remembered that, though the contact had been minimal, Haran had never shied away from any touches other than his own. He scowled. Well, if Haran didn't want him around then he certainly wouldn't stay.
Whew! That chapter was much longer than I was really expecting it to be.