Kaia: it is about Thorin, she just doesn't know it yet. For the part "across the river" it's symbolic for her being in the river and him being outside of it. For Pearl, as a mermaid, it was natural for not to think of it cause she never had before. Thorin has no excuse; but then again dwarves were never known to be smart. :)

Guest: I would welcome a review from you anytime, thank you so much for taking the time to leave them. I'm glad you liked how I ended up doing their separate journeys, I got the idea while writing the last chapter. This is my third hobbit story where I've written this part of the journey so it was great to write something different.

Ali: they certainly do, at least when she's not with them.

Pearl had swum for an hour, passing a fork of a river that also came down from the Mountains, before she finally curled up at the bottom of the river and slept, waking at midday to a hungry belly. She was happy for the river being downstream as she could swim faster without much strain, and it was easier to catch fish. She swam slowly, not knowing the exact place in which they would descend the Mountains. It was a few hours of swimming at her leisure before the river began to shallow. She laid in the water on her belly as she looked around, the sun warm on her back, her fin flicking in the water. She saw a strange looking hill that had steps carved in it and she wondered if that was where they would come down from. Thorin had showed her a ford, which he told her would be too shallow for her to swim through and she assumed she was close to it, and told her she should go no further. And so she sat for the remainder of the day, which was not long, and she moved to where she could lay beneath the surface and sleep.

She caught another fish when she woke before sitting herself on a rock, her fin resting in the water. She thought of the song she had sung while in the gap, most mermaids songs were influenced by words heard from above the surface, but she did not know where hers had come from. She ran her fingers through her hair, feeling the water leave it as it dried. She opened her mouth and sang, the words leaving her as they had two nights before without a thought.

There's a boy across the river with black curly hair
He wants to be my lover and I want to be his peer
There's a boy across the river but alas, I cannot swim
And I never will get to put my arms around him

There's a life across the river that was meant for me
Instead I live my life in constant misery
There's a life across the river but I do not see
Why I should please those that will never be pleased

She sighed contentedly as she twisted her hair in her hands high over her head, it always being a wondrous relief to sing. She turned when she heard a great group of noise to see Thorin coming down from the steps on the hill, behind him she saw Bilbo's smiling face and then Gandalf's more stern one.
Her voice had drifted up towards the Company as they walked down the steps, wearied from being chased by the goblins and then Azog, who in fact was not dead, Thorin almost dying in the process. The ache and pain of Thorin's wounds left him when her voice invaded his mind, and he was once more drifting in the sea as Pearl swam around him, this time he felt her gentle touch caress his face. His dream stopped all too soon as the song ended, his pain returning to him as he walked down the steps of what Gandalf had called the Carrock.

"Pearl," Bilbo called upon seeing her and he smiled when she returned his wave.

"Pearl?" Ori said delightedly, the others not yet seeing her. The dwarves all cried a greeting when they saw her and she smiled and waved at each of them when they hailed her.

"I see you made it safe and well, lassie," Balin said when they made it down to her.

Thorin walked straight to her and took her small shoulders in his large hands and turned her to him. "You are well?" he asked, having spent many days and and nights thinking harm would befall her. He glanced over the shape of her breasts beneath her hair and continued searching for any harm; though he found none.

"A mermaid," Gloin exclaimed as they all stared at her blue scaled tail. It was a lovely sight to behold as the water glittered on it in the sunlight.

"A bath does not seem like a bad idea," Bofur said at the thought of water, and the dwarves heartily agreed wanting to rid themselves of the filth of Goblin Town.

Thorin lifted her from the rock, holding her much like he had in Rivendell, and set her in the grass covering her with his fur-lined coat. He took a breath at the feel of her fingers on his face, realizing he was still bruised and hurt. He took her small hand in his and kissed her fingers gently, knowing she did not fully know its meaning though he could tell it affected her all the same.

Pearl sat breathing unassuredly as Thorin walked away from her, not understanding what he had done or why her heart was racing. She stared at the others as they began to undress, something that was noted by several of them.
"Like what you see, las?" Gloin jested though Pearl did not laugh for she did not understand.
"Is something the matter?" Bilbo asked recognizing her face to be one of unknowing.
"I thought we were not supposed be undressed in front of others," she said, repeating what Bilbo told her the first time she asked why she needed clothes.

"Oh," Bilbo said nearly jumping, "speaking of that." He went to the bundle he had left behind and pulled out the dress he had given her a few weeks ago in Hobbiton. "For when you dry off," he said handing it to her. She looked so small beneath Thorin's large coat, he was not only taller than her he was also almost doubled her width.

Gandalf stood behind while the others went in the water. "You should probably not sing in front of them again," he told her quietly having seen the way the others had fallen under her spell; having felt the tendrils of her enchantment reaching for him. It worried him how affected Thorin was from her song, seeing his heart was easily taken by things of beauty – by treasure. And Gandalf had worried from the moment he saw Pearl that Thorin would think of her a treasure beyond compare

The dwarves finished bathing, many of them had begun to splash each other, and they left the river to lay in the sun. They pulled on their long johns and bathed in the sunlight feeling warm and glad to be out of the Mountains, though they were hungry for they had no food.
Thorin had sat near Pearl to find her curled beneath his coat in her dress fast asleep, he knew in order to have met them on this day she must have swum without much rest. Her song had ended an hour ago but he could still hear it ringing in his ears, and he was frustrated to no end that he could not remember the sound of her voice. His limbs felt as though they were still swimming, not quite as sore as they had been before; laying beside her he did not think he had fully woken from his dream, or if he ever wanted to.