Chapter 26

Flight

The eagles were like a gift from heaven. I would be the last person to deny such a thing. Still, there was something rather unnerving about seeing those enormous birds come down into the clearing, taking out our attackers as if it was something they were doing every day and had no problems with whatsoever.

And I of course knew what was coming after that. The eagles would deal with the orcs first and then come for us to get us out of this smoky, bloody and altogether horrible place. So far, so good. I even knew that they were not here to harm me. Still, I don't think there are very many people who would not want to wet themselves with fear when they see an enormous eagle come down to them, picking them up to take them away to Mahal only knows where. Part of me even wished to remain here, opting on walking away rather than flying.

Naturally that was not one of the options and so I had to settle for closing my eyes and suppressing the urge to scream when I felt one huge claw roughly the size of my entire torso – if not bigger – encircle my waist, lifting me up from the ground and carrying me away.

Now I am almost certain that most of you would think this an interesting experience. But I think that even you would think again when you made the mistake of actually looking down from such a height, realising exactly how far away that safe and steady ground is, realising also that said ground will not be safe and steady at all if you were to fall that very second. I had never been afraid of height, but taking a trip by eagle definitely swayed my mind on that account…

Kate

Kate thought she might throw up. She had just made the very bad mistake of looking down. The eagle that was holding her within its grasp was flying at great height and they had just passed some gorge or other, making Kate realise that the ground was indeed very far below her now.

She had never been a great fan of flying. The mere thought of boarding a plane had caused waves of nausea. She blamed those sodding shows that analysed plane crashes in detail for her fear of everything to do with flying. Jacko had loved those programs a few years back and consequently Kate had seen her fair share of them as well. It had completely destroyed her confidence in the whole flying business.

Now of course the eagle was not a plane and would not drop out of the air because of engine failure or, heaven forbid, some kind of terrorist attack, but that did nothing to soothe her stomach or her fear. It was cold up here, but Kate's hands felt sweaty. She could not reach the eagle's claw with the way she was being held, so she settled for clinging to Thorin's shield for dear life, conveniently banishing the thought that this would do nothing whatsoever to save her life if she were to fall to the back of her mind.

She tried to distract herself from this very unpleasant situation by looking at Thorin, who was being held in the eagle's other claw. The dwarf king seemed to have passed out. It was a small wonder after all he had been through, Kate supposed. She had not seen him getting injured, since she herself had been rather preoccupied at the time, but if he had even suffered half as much as he had in the movie then it surprised her that he had remained conscious for so long in the first place.

And he looked altogether pitiful right now. The dwarf was most definitely far paler than was healthy and he was sporting several bleeding wounds that made Kate cringe inside. Her common sense immediately told her that this was a very foolish thing to be doing, because it would be rather stupid of her to start caring about someone she would have to leave behind at the end of the quest. It was foolish to form attachments in this world. All it would leave her with was a desire to see people she could never meet again once she was back in her own world.

But in that regard it might already be far too late, because if she was really honest with herself, she would have to admit that she was already caring for her companions. Some were just friends, like Thorin, others were siblings, like the Ri brothers. And that was perhaps the strangest thing she had ever experienced. Kate had always had a brother, and had been rather close with him as well, and the dwarf brothers had effortlessly come to fall in the very same category. They were providing her with both a family and ties to this world she still was a foreigner in.

And yet it also made her feel like she was being torn in two, each half being pulled in another direction. One part of her desperately wanted to go home and see her family again, while another part was starting to feel at ease – too much so probably – with the current company. And she was one hundred percent convinced that returning to her own world would not magically cure her from the bonds she had formed here. Oh, she had no doubt whatsoever that she would love to see her family again – even if she could never tell them where she had been for fear they would think her insane – she would surely miss her new family as well.

'Bugger those dwarves!' she muttered under her breath. She had not quite intended to speak those words out loud, but she meant them. Why, oh why had Dori even wanted to practically adopt her into his family in the first place anyway? Surely it could not be just because of the whole she-saved-my-little-brother-from-the-big-bad-warg- business? That would be taking gratitude a bit too far in Kate's opinion. And quite frankly it was just ridiculous, this. She was not a dwarf. She was not even a halfway decent fighter and there hadn't been too much saving going on when she had knocked Ori out of the way. It had just been her tripping and falling, something Dori had not seemed to understand at all yet.

All of this did make her realise though that things got only more complicated the longer she stayed with this company. And these new friendships, they frightened her. She had been fighting to be accepted from the moment she had signed that blasted contract, but now that she was, it scared her more than fighting orcs, or flying with an eagle. Their faith in her abilities was something Kate could never have predicted, but it already felt like she was suffocating under the weight of their expectations and hopes. And she found she could not handle that.

I need to get out of here. The thought settled in her head and refused to go away again. But she agreed with it. Both these expectations that she would never be able to live up to and these friendships that bound her to a world she did not want to be bound to made her wish for home. It made her wish for life to be simple, predictable, like it had always been. Novels about adventures were all very nice, but right now she came to the conclusion that she did not want to be in them. But how do I get out of here?

There was no answer to that question now, but at least it had distracted her for a while and that had to be worth something. The eagle was still flying. Somewhere in the distance the sky was starting to colour a much lighter shade of blue than it had been previously. Dawn could not be that far off anymore. Unfortunately this also meant that she could see the ground much better than she had before and that was not too good for her stomach, that had been calming down a bit when her mind had been on other topics. It made her wish that this journey would soon be over, because this might just induce another round of vomiting.

And things only got worse when the eagle suddenly dropped quite a few metres before flying in the right direction again. Kate's stomach felt like it had remained on their previous height though and she had to swallow hard to keep herself from forgetting all about her intention not to throw up.

But the anger now replaced the nausea. 'Do that again, you big feather ball, and I swear to God I'll make a pillow out of you!' That might not be the wisest thing to shout at an enormous bird who could just decide to drop her the moment he had enough of her, but the words were out before she could stop herself. The exhaustion seemed to have robbed her of the ability to think first and act later.

Oh, how she wished for an opportunity to lie down and sleep to her heart's content. Most of the adrenaline had gone by now and the only a weariness remained. She felt tired to her bones. If Gandalf's assessment of the situation was right they had been inside the mountains for at least two days and she hadn't slept in there. The effects of that were all too obvious now. For a moment she even envied Thorin, who had remained blessedly unconscious throughout the entire flight. How he did it was entirely beyond her, but she envied him for it all the same.

But at least this journey appeared to be nearing its end. In the distance she could see something that looked like the eagles' nests, spread out over the mountainside. So, that means we're not getting straight to the Carrock, Kate thought. Following the book again, are we? Sometimes she found herself hating the fact that those two were both true. Her job would be so much easier if the real events just followed one of the two. But life wasn't meant to be easy, she supposed. The last few days were proof enough of that.

The eagle had gone into a descend for real now, slowly circling down before reaching his nest. For a moment the company advisor foolishly wondered if the beast would forget about her and Thorin and put his full weight on them, but fortunately he dropped them softly and hopped a small distance away from them to give them some space.

Thorin was still sleeping, something Kate wished she could do as well, but there was still an eagle standing there and she supposed she might need to thank him for coming to the rescue when they needed it most.

'Thank you,' she forced herself to say, looking up to meet the bird's huge eyes. 'You really helped us out there.' It was probably not the polite way of expressing thanks in Middle Earth, but Kate wasn't really educated in eagle etiquette, so this would have to do. 'We are in your debt.'

The eagle in question fixed her with an intense stare. 'We are always glad to cheat the goblins and orcs of their sport,' he replied. The creature looked like a very dignified one, making Kate believe that this one must be pretty high up in the ranks of its kind.

And here you are, conversing with a talking bird, her brain commented. Middle Earth meets Narnia.

It felt very surreal to the company advisor. But that might also be the natural result of being so exhausted. Her brain was hazy and she felt slightly unbalanced. Come to think of it, this would have to the longest she had ever gone without sleep and she found she didn't like it at all. It wasn't an experience she was anxious to repeat anytime soon. And really she was hoping that this overgrown eagle – since when were they so huge anyway? Were all the animals in Middle Earth so much larger than at home? – would leave her alone so she could catch some hours sleep as she by now was very desperate to get. Her gaze strayed to where Thorin was lying, obviously completely unaware of everything that was going on around him. He looked more asleep than unconscious despite his injuries. Lucky guy.

'Well, I am thanking you all the same.' Kate supposed that was only fair. Without the eagles' interfering all of them would be dog's food by now, or worse. 'And I apologise for insulting you,' she added as an afterthought, knowing that was quite possibly required of her. And she should really not have insulted this eagle. He had rescued her after all and giving back insult was a very poor repayment indeed. And no matter what had caused her to threaten her rescuer to turn him into a pillow, it was still inexcusable.

The eagle accepted that apology with a graceful nod of the head. 'You need to sleep, little fledgling,' he told her. 'Rest here.'

That had Kate looking at him in suspicion. 'And what will you be doing, if I may be so bold to ask?' She trusted this bird, really. After all, he had taken her out of that living nightmare and he hadn't dropped her during the flight either, not even when she had shouted insult at him. But it was quite another thing to go to sleep in what obviously was his nest, where she had no business being really. Besides, it didn't seem big enough to accommodate all three of them.

'There are still goblins out making mischief,' the eagle replied. 'We must deal with them.' Dealing with them here obviously having the meaning of finishing them off, an arrangement Kate found herself absolute in favour of. She didn't consider herself a violent person – the fiasco in the caves of Goblin-town had made that all too clear to her – but that didn't mean that she wanted those nasty creatures to get away with the crimes they had doubtlessly committed. And if the eagles managed to get their hands, or rather talons, on Azog while they were at it, all the better it would be for them. But why on earth eagles would describe the goblins' and orcs' behaviour as mischief, as if they were naughty boys who had been caught doing something they were not supposed to do, that was entirely beyond her. But Tolkien had used the same words in the book, so she supposed she should not really have been that surprised.

'Well, then I am wishing you good luck,' Kate replied a bit hesitantly, because she had no idea if that was even considered the appropriate response. Next time she saw Balin she really had to ask him to teach her something about the etiquette of this world. Her experiences so far had taught her one important thing: her knowledge on that particular subject was severely lacking. And it would seem she was stuck in this place for a while yet – unless of course she was able to come up with a good plan to get home – so she might as well try and learn some of their ways. It would help her enormously in not making a complete fool out of herself.

The eagle inclined his head again and took off, leaving her to her own devices. The exhaustion had settled in for real now, but Thorin was still lying there, looking positively bad. He was still unconscious, still bleeding from some rather serious looking wounds and still far too still to be healthy. She had never seen anyone lying so still before. If she had not seen his chest rise and fall with his breathing, she would have believed him dead.

But she did not think Thorin was in mortal danger. He had a lot of wounds, true, but none of them were looking like they were fatal. And dwarves, Kate had learned with time, were the most hardy creatures in the world. They were made to endure. Thank Mahal for being in the possession of some common sense, her brain commented. If dwarves were so prone to get into trouble, they had at least been provided with strong bones and the stubbornness to fight against their injuries. A human being would have died instantly if he had received such wounds. Thorin was still out cold, but in no danger of dying yet. Kate wouldn't put it past him to be just too stubborn to die either. He had his heart set on this quest and no one and nothing was going to stop him from achieving his goal.

And thinking of that she found it hard to believe that someone like him would ever succumb to the gold sickness. He just didn't seem the type. It would destroy everything he was now fighting for, would undo all of the good work he had ever done.

Could that be one of the things Gandalf wanted her to change? Kate supposed so, but there was no way to be certain. So far the wizard had not been sharing any of his motivations with any of them and it certainly was annoying some of them to no end, Thorin of course being one of them.

And she could only guess at what Gandalf wanted with her. They had established almost immediately that Kate was no fighter, which made her highly unsuitable to join the quest. And the fact remained that there were people who could fight and survive in the wild, and who also knew the book very well. Yet Gandalf had chosen her. And since this was not a fanfiction, Kate thought it highly unlikely that he had only brought her to this place to pair her up with some member of the company. The wizard was a scheming man, playing kingmaker and using other people to achieve his goals – which admittedly were noble even if he means were a little less so from time to time – but he was not a matchmaker. And thank goodness for that.

Her gaze wandered back to the wounded dwarf. No, none of his wounds would be fatal, but things might easily get rather nasty if said wounds would infect. And of course there was no telling where Óin was at this particular moment, but it would probably be a fair bet to say that he would not be able to pop in for a while.

'Charming,' Kate commented under her breath. She had some basic First Aid knowledge, even if it was a bit sketchy, and she had some supplies in her rucksack, but all in all she was not the healer material. And really, all she wanted to do was close her eyes and sleep until she was fully rested again. But she had agreed to be friends with this dwarf, even if that agreement had been made less than a day ago, and that was something friends never did.

'Bloody dwarf,' she growled. 'Making me lose sleep over him as well. Whatever bloody next?'

At least her resolve not to like him was crumbling for real now. Kate still wasn't sure if she really did like this man, because he could still be as grumpy and unsociable as he had ever been. But he had also made her receptive to seeing some of his more admirable qualities. That blasted loyalty of his was a good example of that. He had proven time and again that he would do anything to protect the people he believed himself to be responsible for. And yes, he did so by snapping and barking orders left, right and centre, but Kate found she could no longer fault him for that when he was doing it for all the right reasons. Ugh, why does he have to be so bloody noble all of the time?

But it was a useless question. Even if Thorin had been awake, she was convinced she could never bring herself to ask it. Ten to one she would get an answer along the lines of how he believed it to be nothing more than his duty anyway. It would be pointless to ask, yet she still found it hard to believe that all his actions were guided by some sense of duty. Could anyone really do all this for such a reason? But she could not really know, could she? Their worlds and societies were just too different.

She took out the First Aid kit and started cleaning the wounds on Thorin's face and neck, hoping that he would stay unconscious as long as she was busy. This was after all a bit of a compromising situation and Thorin getting the wrong impression was something she could really do without. It was bad enough with the elves, orcs and goblins already believing them married.

Most of the wounds were not too deep and fortunately easily cleaned. But the sleeves of his tunic were stained with blood and that might be where the real damage was. The advisor hesitated for a moment. 'You had better not wake up right now,' she warned him, before she took off the vambraces and pushed the fabric back so she could tend to the injuries there as well. Those wounds were deeper and looked a lot more serious and Thorin cringed away from her touch, even while he remained blessedly unconscious throughout the treatment.

'Really, someone ought to have told you not to pick fights with wolves,' Kate muttered as she worked. 'Or orcs for that matter. You're entirely too self-sacrificing for your own good.' She dressed the wounds and then let her eyes wander to his torso. If the movie was right then Azog's ugly pet would have tried to use Thorin for a chewing toy, which would mean he had wounds there as well, but taking off the rest of his armour was just a step too far for her, even if she had known how to do it. 'Óin can clear that up,' she decided. It was none of her concern.

She covered the king up with the blanket she had tied to the rucksack and then curled herself up under her own cloak. Sleep came easily now and Kate was out before the first rays of sunlight crept over the horizon.

Thorin

Thorin was disorientated when he finally regained consciousness, not in the last place because he had no idea where he was. The last thing he remembered was the burning battlefield on the mountainside. Kate had been there, calling Azog's warg a nice doggy, but things got hazy and blurry after then.

He strained his mind, trying to recall more details. There had been birds, eagles. Kate had told him they would come, but Thorin had been sceptical. He had not understood why eagles would come to their rescue and to be quite honest, when he had been in the middle of the fight he had all but forgotten about them until one had come and had ended the warg once and for all.

But what happened after then was unclear. He supposed he must have passed out, but there was no real telling what had occurred after that moment. Thorin supposed that he had been rescued in some way, because if the goblins or orcs had gotten their filthy hands on him, he doubted he would have been left so comfortable as he was now. Someone had even taken the time to cover him up with a blanket, he felt.

He cracked one eye open, finding himself staring at what appeared to be the fading light of day. The sky was painted in orange, red and purple, and the first stars had already come out. He had at least slept an entire day, if not longer and he sincerely hoped that that was not the case.

Thorin tried to push himself into a sitting position, regretting that action almost immediately as the pain, that had been blessedly dormant as long as he had been lying still, returned in full force. But he could handle that. He was the king and not some baby crying at the smallest injury. He could deal with this. But he could not quite escape the groan of pain that crossed his lips before he had the chance to bite it back.

He appeared to be in some kind of bird's nest, but an awfully big one, on a mountainside. That could only mean that his guess about the eagles taking them out of the battle had been right. They had even gone as far as to take them to their own homes, but there wasn't an eagle in sight right now and Thorin wondered where they had gone off to. Without their help it was unlikely that he would ever make it down to the ground again.

It appeared that someone had seen to his wounds while he was out. There were bandages on his arms and the wounds on his face, while stinging unpleasantly, appeared to have been taken care of as well. Some salve stuck to his fingers when he touched his face and there was a bandage wrapped around his head as well. That would be something he'd have to get rid of before he met up with the company again, because Thorin seriously doubted his companions would be able to hold back their laughter at that sight, no matter how much respect they had for him. Óin should have had more sense than to make him look that ridiculous.

But it had not been Óin who had fixed him up. There was no trace of his companions in this nest. There was however a mass of red messy curls almost hidden entirely under the warm grey cloak of the company advisor. The owner of said hair and cloak appeared to be asleep, having curled up under the garment entirely, which Thorin considered quite a feat. She must have been exhausted long before they got here and the dwarf king wondered why she had even taken the time to see to his wounds before she had gone to sleep herself. And he recognised the blanket he had been under as well. The thing had been tied to her backpack for the duration of the journey. It had come with her from her home in that other world and had remained with her ever since. The same thing could be said about the bag itself. Kate didn't go anywhere without it.

And true to expectations Thorin located it half a metre away from him, next to both their swords, his shield and some kind of box with a red cross painted on it. Ten to one that this box had come from the bag as well. Sometimes he did wonder how she managed to stuff all her belongings in that bag.

'You should not be up,' a sleepy voice commented.

That had Thorin turn around, finding a bleary-eyed Kate looking back at him. Her braid had come undone sometime during the fight and the already messy hair was now sticking in every direction. It was looking rather funny, although Thorin knew better than to comment on that. He did value his head and he had not gone to such troubles to keep Azog from separating it from the rest of his body only to have it ripped off by his new friend in a fit of temper.

'Did I wake you?' he inquired instead. He could not for the life of him figure out how, since he had been very quiet, but it was always possible, he imagined.

'It's fine,' Kate said dismissively, confirming it as well as a standard yes might have done. 'I'm awake now. And you should still be lying down. You're injured.'

As if he could forget about that. Thorin sent her a glare. 'And you are certain you are not related to Dori by blood?'

That earned him one of her disapproving glowers. This was promising. Hardly awake and already landing themselves into the next argument. It must be a record of some kind. 'Doesn't change the fact that you have been rather badly injured,' she insisted, ignoring his remark. 'Have you seen yourself recently? You look as if you've been on the wrong end of a butcher's knife.'

Thorin took her word for that. He had no ambition to see it for himself. As long as he had not seen it, he could pretend it wasn't there and he could act as normal. 'Where are the eagles?' he asked.

Kate stifled a yawn and sat up as well, wrapping the cloak around her tightly against the cool mountain's air. 'Out hunting goblins and orcs,' she replied. 'The one that took us here said something about "dealing with goblins making mischief" out there somewhere.' She snorted. 'Making mischief. Understatement of the century.'

Thorin chuckled, regretting that immediately when it caused a stinging pain in his chest. He tried to hide his reaction, but Mahal, was that woman observant when she put her mind to it.

'It still hurts?' she asked. 'I have not been able to look at it, but it didn't seem to be too serious anyway…' Her voice trailed off, a bit hesitant.

And it probably wasn't too serious. Nothing was broken – he hoped – and his armour had not been pierced by the warg's teeth, Mahal be praised. He did however feel as if he had been placed between hammer and anvil, but that was only to be expected after having been used as a warg's chewing toy.

'It is nothing of importance,' he told the advisor.

She raised her eyebrow in a quizzical manner, telling Thorin that she did not believe a single word of that speech, but she let it pass. Instead she crawled over to the backpack. 'I should have some supplies left. We could share them?' It came out as a question.

Thorin just gave her a curt nod. 'That would be acceptable.'

This had her laughing. 'Do you always get that formal when you're just awake?'

'Is that a problem?' he inquired, not quite sure what it was that she was even commenting on. In his opinion he had done nothing out of the ordinary.

Kate still chuckled as she retrieved some of her supplies, making Thorin wonder how she even fit all these things into this bag. 'That proves my point,' she remarked. 'And no, it's not a problem. It's just a thing that you're doing when you appear not to know what to say.' She shrugged. 'A friend can notice such things, right?'

He supposed so and so he nodded, accepting the food with a curt nod. It wasn't much and it certainly would not be enough to fill his stomach, but it would help. Kate had given herself a similar portion and was eating of it as if she had not seen food in days, which was not too far beside the truth.

'Where are the others?' he demanded of Kate when they had both finished eating. Thorin was not in a hurry to admit just how hungry he had been before then, but he had been. The food had forced other concerns from his mind for a while, but they were back in full force now that he had eaten and had gotten some rest. His wounds were stinging and itching, but that he could deal with.

'Other nests, I think.' She swallowed the last of her meal. 'The real events are deviating from the book at this point. Again, I might add. We're not supposed to remain separated for the others for this long.' A deep frown appeared on her forehead. 'But both book and movie agree that the eagles will all drop us off on some kind of rock at some point in time.' Kate seemed to have resigned herself to that already.

Thorin however had not. They had wasted more than enough time already and he wanted to get moving again. 'And you are content with waiting here?' he demanded, feeling his temper rising.

'Well, unless you've got a better idea!' she countered. 'You're perfectly welcome to go and climb down all by yourself. Just don't come running to me when you fall and break your neck.' For a moment she very much reminded the dwarf of a certain wizard he knew well.

There was some logic in her reasoning, much as Thorin hated to admit it. Even in normal conditions it would be foolish to climb down on his own from the high place they were in, but in his current condition it would be suicide. Dwarves had strong bones and thick skulls – as Kate never grew tired of saying – but they weren't thick enough to survive a fall on the rocks below and Thorin didn't feel the need to try and find out for himself. There was however no reason why he should tell the advisor that she was right. She would only favour him with that smug expression she tended to have whenever she was proven right about something and Thorin was quite sure he could not handle that at the moment. Friends they might be, but it was still early days. And he wondered if they would ever stop fighting anyway. It seemed to be a defining thing for them.

Kate had turned her back towards him and was now going through her belongings, digging up a comb with which she practically attacked her hair, a clear sign that she was mad about Thorin questioning her actions again. For a woman who kept insisting that others' opinions did not matter to her, she reacted rather hurt when someone verbally attacked her or even as much as questioned her actions. Women could be impossible to deal with from time to time. Thorin could testify to that himself, having had to deal with a younger sister who had as much of a temper as the company advisor when she was younger.

If his experience with Dís was anything to go on, then he should do something to make it up to Kate before she would talk to him again. A few days ago he would not have bothered to go to the trouble, but they had agreed to be friends now and the fact remained that Kate had defended him during the fight and had tended to his wounds before they had the chance to infect. Thorin owed her, much as he detested the thought of being in anyone's debt.

'Give that to me,' he ordered, taking the comb out of the advisor's hands before she had the chance to give it to him, which Thorin suspected she would never ever have done of her own volition.

He was proven right. 'What the hell do you think you're doing?' Kate tried to turn around, but Thorin's hands held her in place and her struggle was useless.

'Making sure you do not pull all your hair out,' he retorted.

Kate growled in frustration, but gave up on her fighting when she realised it wasn't doing her any good. 'You're so bloody bossy!' she complained. 'I am perfectly capable of brushing my own hair, you know!' She seemed more uncomfortable now than really angry, if the way she kept shifting and moving was any indication, although Thorin could not for the life of him figure out what made her this jumpy. This had always the way to make amends to Dís and she had never been this nervous. Something about this must mean something else in that wretched world Kate was coming from.

'Is this in any way inappropriate to you?' he asked.

He couldn't see her face now, but he could hear the frustrated sigh. 'Not inappropriate. Just…' She seemed to be looking for the right word. 'Unusual,' she decided in the end.

'Your brother never did this for you?' If anything, this confirmed what Thorin already thought about Kate's brother. He didn't seem to be standing up for his sister or helping her in any way from what he had heard. Thorin failed to see why she was so attached to him in spite of that.

But she did not seem saddened by his question, quite the opposite. The advisor let out a bark of laughter. 'Jacko? Combing my hair? Please!' The entire notion seemed ridiculous to her. 'He wouldn't know one end of the comb from the other. I very much doubt he even knows what it is.' She thought for a moment. 'But I am guessing that in your culture this is normal?'

'Among family and friends, it is,' Thorin confirmed. And they had agreed to be friends, so he was perfectly well allowed to do this, although he would readily admit – if only to himself and not to anyone else – that he might better have picked another way to make it up to her. But then, he could not have known about her dislike of this treatment, could he?

Kate sighed. 'Different worlds, different customs, I suppose.' She relaxed a little. 'But if you start pulling my hair out, I'll make meeting Azog look like a walk in the park to you.'

Thorin suppressed the urge to chuckle. That notion was as ridiculous as the notion of her making him sing soprano for the rest of his life, but he suspected this was just her way of giving in without making it appear like giving in. Nevertheless, he had vexed her quite enough for one day and he could do without another argument, so he was as careful as he could be.

'You know, you really should not be doing this,' Kate commented after a lengthy silence. 'You're still injured.'

Thorin bit back a snappy reply along the lines how he knew how to deal with injuries like that. He wasn't some kind of fragile human who winced at the smallest wound. He was a dwarf and a king. It wasn't in his nature to show weakness, especially not when the injuries were not as serious as Kate seemed to believe. The fact that his muscles still ached with every movement and that his breathing wasn't as easy as normal either he conveniently ignored. That would heal in time.

'I am perfectly capable of brushing your hair, Miss Andrews.' The words still came out a little harsher than he had intended them.

'Kate,' she instantly corrected. 'And fine, have it your way. You're the leader after all. You are used to getting what you want.' The tone was a little mocking. 'I really think you should start telling that to Azog. It must have passed him by somehow.'

Some people would have bitten her head off for making fun of the situation like that, but Thorin suspected that this was some peace offering from her side, even if it was hard to tell for sure. He put the comb aside and started braiding her hair back into place. His hands were used to the task and it didn't require any thinking at all. He took some liberties though and he didn't do it quite in the fashion she had worn so far, instead opting on a more dwarvish style. After all, she had been adopted by Dori and his brothers. In a way she belonged to them now, even if she was not quite aware of that herself. But he would gladly leave it to her new siblings to explain that to her. Thorin predicted more violent outbursts when eventually someone would explain and he had decided he had no ambition to be on the receiving end of Kate's temper again.

Kate wasn't completely oblivious to what he was doing though. 'One simple braid would have sufficed, you know.' She sounded a little irritable. 'It's only hair, not a work of art. Even if someone really should tell that to Dori and Nori some time.'

One corner of Thorin's mouth curled up. Even for dwarves their hairstyles were rather elaborate. 'It makes you fit well within that family then,' he commented. This once again reminded him of the banter they had kept up in Rivendell and several other times when there had not been a crisis. It was almost too easy to do this. One moment they'd be fighting and the next they'd be teasing and it confused Thorin as much as her. And at the same time it seemed like something that was entirely natural, even if neither of them seemed to understand why they were doing it.

'Ha!' Kate let out a bark of laughter. 'I should hope not. I could do without the braids-all-over-the-place-look Dori keeps up, or the hair-sticking-out-in-every-direction-style Nori has.'

'It would not suit you,' Thorin agreed. They were silent for a while again. 'What says your book that will happen next?' It was hardly a conscious choice to ask this question out loud. It sprang from the desire to know he had experienced while holed up in that tree, a desire to know what she knew, to use that knowledge to help the quest along. He could not fathom what had changed his mind, but he at least strongly suspected that it had something to do with the idea that knowledge had indeed the power to change, not only to predict. It had gradually taken root and it had been fed by the frustration of not being able to do anything while the company was in danger.

He had been tying up the end of the braid with the leather strip he had thrown at her that morning in Bag End, but the hair was almost yanked out of his hands when Kate swivelled her head around. 'Are you telling me that you want to know what is in the book?' There was disbelief in both her voice and eyes.

Even when Thorin knew that she had a good reason to react like this – because he had not been approving of her presence and the book she carried with her in the past few months – it still vexed him. It was almost as if Kate didn't believe him capable of changing his views when the situation asked for it. He felt his face twist in an angry scowl before he had even given himself permission to do so. 'You question my words?' he demanded. Thorin met her eyes, finding that Kate did not avert them. She was one of the few he knew that did not seem to be bothered at all by the king's most disapproving stare. She met it with a determined look of her own. There was a spark there, telling the dwarf that she was not backing down.

'I think Azog has hit you on the head too hard,' the advisor countered. 'Because I cannot honestly come up with any other reason why you would suddenly be interested in my book.' In Kate's own strange way this was almost diplomatic. She wasn't outright doubting his actions – because that would have annoyed Thorin – so instead she tried to deflect it with a quip.

Thorin sent her an icy stare that told her that he did not believe this to be some kind of joke.

She sighed. 'Why don't you just read the bloody book if you want to know?' she exclaimed. 'I'm not some walking encyclopaedia. You can read yourself, can't you?'

Her mouth seemed to have been faster than her brain again, for when their eyes met again, she seemed as shocked as Thorin himself. For a long while neither of them spoke. Thorin tried to keep his face as blank and stern as possible and he thought he succeeded. The inside was another matter entirely. There was some small part of him that still shied away from this. The larger part of him had already accepted the fact that Kate's knowledge could be useful, but reading it for himself was something else altogether. And he had never believed that there would be any need for him to do so. Kate had been brought here to advise him.

But there had also been that desire to know, to see and understand it himself. Thorin was the kind of person who wanted to do things himself. He hated to rely on anyone for anything. And maybe it was that attitude that eventually made him rise to the challenge. 'Very well,' he told the advisor. 'We will do this your way.'

From Thorin's notes: What in Durin's name have I just agreed to?

Yes, there's progress here. I hope you liked this latest development. Next time they will be reunited with the rest of the company. I swear this story is getting away from me. I had never planned for them to spend an entire chapter in an eagle's nest, but there you have it.

And once again a huge thank you for the guest reviews. They are really appreciated. Although, kaia, I would like to add that while I appreciate that you take the time to review and point out what you didn't like, I would ask you to do so a little more polite in future. We're all entitled to our opinions and I asked for it, but your last review was bordering on rude and I don't think there is any need for that.

Anyways, I hope you all liked this chapter and as always, I love to hear your thoughts about it. Till Sunday!