Geir stared at the foaming waters of the river Tungl, his face grim and lips pressed into a thin line. He cursed himself for not paying better attention, perhaps if he had been, this would not have happened. Instead, he was left on the river bank, one arm around Nannulf, and the other clutching the garments Thorin had left behind.
Everything had happened so quickly, Geir hadn't even known anything was wrong; too concerned about watching himself put one foot in front of the other, until a startled wail went up from Nannulf beside him and he turned to see a flash of red hair disappearing beneath the bridge. Thorin had cursed and divested himself of tunic and belt before he could blink and followed a second later.
It had almost been like something from a dream, and now they stood there beside the water, closer to their destination and yet, minus two members of their company. Very important members of their company.
With a sigh, Geir absentmindedly patted the head of the younger dwarf beside him. "They will be alright. Pallando even said as much." he said gruffly, a poor attempt at consolation.
"I know." came Nannulf's calm reply, and Geir looked at his young companion sharply. There was something odd, or in the least, very different about him. Had been for days. He seemed less...innocent in some way.
Geir grunted in reply, "Well then we best be back to the others." One hand on Nannulf's arm, the other on Thorin's clothes, they strode back to the camp of Rhûnions who waited on the Eastern side of the river for the rest of their people. Geir however, was troubled, for he alone knew of what he carried.
Upon retrieving Thorins tunic and belt from the bridge, he alone, felt the stone that lay buried in cloth. He alone had lifted back the cloth to see what lay beneath, and he alone had seen the gem that lay beneath, pulsing with the brightness of a hundred-thousand lives.
Rín's eyes flew open and for a second, all she could see was darkness and a face far above her, before water bubbled up her chest and she rolled to the side, retching as the river Tungl was expelled from her lungs.
A hand crept through the wet tangles of her hair and pushed them from her face. Gasping for air as she finished, Rín pressed a shaky hand to her mouth and wiped away spittle and water alike. The hand on her head continued to push stray hairs from her face and she turned to see her saviour.
"You are alive." Thorin breathed, his face visibly relieved, even in the darkness. Suddenly overcome, Rín leaned over and buried her face in his chest, more than thankful as his arms wrapped around her tightly in reply. She didn't know how long they sat like that, and quite frankly, she didn't care. "Shhhh, I have you, you are safe now." he murmured, lifting her chin to look at him, even as his thumb traced away the tracks of salty wetness from her cheeks. "For a moment there, I thought I had lost you."
"And I thought you said you did not want to fish me out." Rín joked weakly, trying to hold herself together but entirely aware of how warm he felt wrapped around her, compared to the coldness of the night air.
One black brow raised and Thorin's lips twisted wryly downwards, "Obviously, that did not mean I would not fish you out."
Rín blushed and looked down, hastily scrubbing away the water that had collected on her lashes with the back of her hand. "Well then...I believe I owe you now." she said quietly, meeting his eyes once more, "I owe you firstly, my thanks for pulling me out. I also owe you, part in parcel with this thanks, my life and finally, I owe you an apology. I should not have listened the other night. It was not my place and I have no say in whatever you should choose to do. I am sorry."
It was something that cost her a lot to admit, and Rín bit the side of her tongue as she did so, glancing down once more, unable to look him in the eye. She had thought he would let her go, gruffly accept her apology and thanks, and inform her they would begin heading back to the others as soon as the sun rose. But that was not how things were to be.
Rín's eyes flew upwards when she felt the tips of his fingers push one of her dreadlocks back behind her ear. "The thanks and apology should be mine Rín." he replied quietly, and she felt her cheeks burn, right up to the tips of her ears, but she could not look away. "You have done more for me; a stranger to you who was nothing other than rude suspicious, than one would have thought possible. It is I who must apologise. I swore I would protect you and see you to the West of the Misty Mountains, and that is what I shall do."
Rín swallowed, feeling herself shiver, not only at the coldness of her wet clothes, but at the warmth that radiated from the Once-King and the burning touch of his fingers on her skin. Steeling her nerves, she shuffled a little closer to the dark-haired dwarf, and he let her, pulling her tighter to him.
"Thank you." she murmured against his chest as her eyes closed and she relaxed into his embrace. "I did not know how to swim. How did you?"
Rín smiled as she felt, rather than heard Thorin's response rumble up from his chest. "In my age of Erebor, all dwarf children who were able, went to the lake that separated Erebor from Dale." he said, "My father taught me, and upon the death of their father, I taught my nephews-"
Feeling the sudden stop in words, Rín sat up and watched as Thorin searched through the pockets of his now, very bedraggled tunic. "The Arkenstone" he said, almost on the verge of desperation. "It is gone."
Rín blinked at him in disbelief. "Gone?" she asked in horror, and frantically began looking around the silt of the riverbank next to them, only to seat herself once more, moments later when the search proved fruitless.
She had never seen a more defeated expression on the face of Thorin Oakenshield. "The water must have taken it as I swam for you." he said, as he too, returned and sat beside her. Together, they leaned against one of the nearby rocks of the riverbed with the heavy thud of resignation.
"I am so sorry." Rín whispered. If he had forgiven her, and shown any kind of affection towards her before. It would no doubt be a figment of her imagination now.
"It is no matter." Thorin said quietly, so quietly she almost thought it was only said inside her head. That was, until one large weathered hand gently wrapped itself around her own. "Your life is worth ten thousands of that of a simple stone."
Rín felt her heart beat speed up until it was pounding so fast, she thought it would burst. Her cheeks were flaming and in her mortification, was thankful for the dark of the night that shadowed her. Not entirely sure what to say, Rín smiled and jokingly pressed the back of her hand against Thorin's forehead.
"Are you ill Thorin?" she asked teasingly, her eyes bright, "Or did some of that river water get into your head when you jumped in?"
A wry smile in reply. Perhaps she was not as obvious about the fact she had been only two seconds away from kissing him, as she thought she had. "No. I am not ill. Not now in any matter...perhaps I was before however. You have simply reminded me how to be well again." catching her confused expression, Thorin continued, running his thumb absentmindedly over her knuckles (probably with no idea how distracting that actually was). "Have I ever told you of the company that was with me in the lead up to reclaiming Erebor? No? Well perhaps I should. There were eleven dwarves; the brothers Balin and Dwalin, my closest friends; the three brothers Nori, Ori and Dori; the brothers Bofur and Bombur and their cousin Bifur; as well as my two nephews, Fili and Kili, both of whom had only seen no more than seventy years. With us came the wizard, Gandalf, and last but not least, the Hobbit, Bilbo."
"Hobbit?" Rín asked curiously, her nose wrinkling in confusion, "What is a Hobbit?"
Thorin glanced incredulously across at her at the comment, "You do not know what a Hobbit is? One of the Shirefolk? The Halflings?"
Rín frowned and shook her head, "No, but I had heard tales of them." she replied, happy that the conversation helped keep her mind from fogging at how close he actually was, "I had thought them only legend."
"No. Not only legend." Thorin murmured, a frown tracing across his face in the darkness. "In fact, the Hobbit Bilbo was the first to remind me, of what I should, and who I could, be."
Rín nodded, and did not complain when he continued, shifting beside her to a more comfortable position against the stone and essentially pulling her closer to him. She closed her eyes, telling herself it was a move only to keep the cold night air at bay. "I doubted him from the beginning of our journey, for Hobbits loved good food and comfort above all else - they are not made for the hard toils of our life - and yet, at every turn, he proved himself to be greater in spirit than any of us." he said, and Rín took the plunge, gently resting her head against his shoulder (which was actually quite comfortable) and settled in for the lengthy story that this would no doubt be. And she was glad of it, for finally it seemed, he was opening up to her like he never had before. And one by one, it seemed that the parts of her heart of stone that had dulled, began to shine once more.
"It is a burning, and all-consuming thing, hatred. It is something I wish you never have cause to feel. I, in all my infinite wisdom, let my hatred of the Elves and their refusal to help us defend ourselves against the dragon Smaug rule my better senses." he said it with such bitterness that Rín opened her eyes and squeezed his hand lightly in encouragement. "It was my inability to control hatred, and my focus on holding onto it in the first place, that lead to our people nearly being defeated in the Battle of the Five armies, and also lead to my own death, as well as that of my two nephews, whom it was my duty to protect. Not the other way around."
Thorin's face was becoming darker and darker as he spoke, so much so, that he looked almost like he had when she had first seen him, there in the tomb beneath Erebor. On a whim, Rín reached up and pressed a gentle kiss (it was more of a peck really) to his cheek-bone, near where the top of his beard, met skin; seemingly startling him from his dark thoughts. It was something she used to do with Nannulf, when he was hardly more than a child, and had night fears, or had attracted the attention of one of the nastier guards during the day. With Nannulf, it was usually followed with a cuddle and a whispering that everything would be alright, but she thought perhaps that those were not the words needed here. "It is done now." Rín said calmly, more calmly than she felt in any matter. "You were telling me of the Hobbit Bilbo, remember?"
Thorin stared at her for a moment, as if he did not fully understand what it was she was saying. "Yes, I do believe I was." he cleared his throat before continuing, and Rín rested her head back on his shoulder, feigning ignorance, although part of her could not entirely believe what she had just done. "In the end. It was he, who brought things to a head between the elves and my people, when I became overwhelmed by a gold-lust that even the strongest could have succumbed to. Such was the hoard of Erebor.
As I lay dying after the battle, I realised just the extent of the folly that had been mine. I had sold my soul, as it was, for the love of a single gem, and the gold of my forefathers. The last words I spoke to Bilbo I still remember clear as if it were yesterday, 'If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, this would be a better world', for that I believe wholeheartedly to be true. But I learned that too late, and now, what I have learned is no use to me, as I have no power to shape that which I do not know."
They were both silent for a moment and Rín felt the weight of his words like a shroud around her, "What is it like?" she asked suddenly, with a yawn. It seemed perhaps, that the events of the day had finally caught up with her.
"What is what like?" he replied with a touch of humor.
"The other side." Rín answered with a wistfulness she had not even known she possessed.
Thorin was quiet then, but Rín knew he would respond. They had long since passed the boundaries of silence. "From what I remember, and even now, my memories grow hazier;" he said slowly, "All I knew was darkness. For me, it was only the black of sleep. I was in a healing tent, breathing my last one moment, and the next, awakened to find myself being robbed of my Arkenstone by an odd, red-haired dwarf-"
"If I were not so tired, Master Oakenshield," Rín yawned, mumbling against his shoulder, "You would receive a smack for such discourtesy. King or no king."
To her surprise, and tired delight, she felt Thorin rumble in laughter at her not entirely well-thought-out, comment. "Perhaps, Hlífhrím, it is time for you to sleep," he murmured against her hair, "You are entirely too silly when you are tired."
One un-lady-like, unamused grunt later, and Rín was fast asleep. Thorin watched her for a few moments, holding back a smile at the way the middle of her forehead creased in sleep, and her eyelashes became framed against the pale white of her cheeks. A stray tendril of hair had escaped her mane and curled around the corner of her face. With a silent laugh, he carefully returned it to the mass of hair at the nape of her neck. She always seemed to have hair going everywhere, Thorin mused, the corner of his eyes crinkling. No braids to be seen - no dwarf-woman from his age would be caught dead with hair like she had...although...it was a lovely colour.
Thorin shook his head, not entirely sure just how she had managed to worm her way into his head, and with a heavy sigh as he rested his head on hers and drifted off to sleep, he admitted the more important fact, his heart.
A/N: Phew. Talk about a hair raising chapter to write. Hopefully all that dialogue was chewable and it was alright. :)
Now, what did you all think?
MASSIVE thanks to the fabulously brilliant Artemis Faery, The Penned Tekrid, Fellowship of Avengers, Kay1104, ArkenstoneBeauty, LadyDunla, xBelekinax, IceheartsChill, UKReader, TolkienGirl052, Suheyla, DeadheadDaisy, whatcatydidnext, EscapingTheirReality, harrylee94, Gaia-drea and my two guest reviewers DD and Marie. To those of you who have simply followed and/or favourited, your support is not forgotten, and is appreciated - I just hope you are enjoying this story too! :)
