A/N: Thorin pondering the world.
No beta.
Sitting still in his cell was an endurance test for Thorin. He was alone in his cell while others were put in there in pairs. It was always like that in his life, his solitude. That's why there were thirteen of them, and not fourteen because he was alone and not in a pair. They drafted Master Baggins to fill that place, the empty place beside him. He wondered would Master Baggins end up in a cell with Thorin if he was caught and what would that be like, to share this little space with him.
Strange, surely. Thorin was adjusted to solitude, to empty space, to silence. Although it couldn't be really called silence since his dwarves talked and cursed, sung and yelled as they weren't captured. It was their way, besides, it would be strange for them to fear of being closed up underground. These cells were made for skittish elves who craved light, for dwarves it was like they are at their home waiting for an especially long winter to calm down.
Only times they were quiet was when the guards would make their rounds, especially when that elvish woman who captured them would pass by. The only one who would talk then was Kili. Everyone listened to them speak hoping his charm will grant them some favor with her, but she stayed cold as elves are, not reacting even to Kili's charms which were too much to handle for any dwarfish woman since he started to walk.
But as time passed that turned into something real and Thorin could hear the sorrow in Kili's voice and he understood it all too well. To look at something beautiful just outside of your grasp can be maddening even if you think you're in control of yourself.
Kili even mentioned the promise he made to Thorin's sister before they went on their first venture. He didn't mention how she died and how all of them could reunite with her only in death but that wasn't any of her business anyway.
Thorin felt his eyes filling with tears but he chased them away, this wasn't the time to be weak, Master Baggins will come in at any moment now with his plan and they'll be on their way. They didn't get through all this trouble to be stopped now. Their ancestors are watching over them. Besides, Thorin could feel the scent of their Hobbit every once in a while, it calmed him, making him stone like, just like his grandfather, not moving, just observing.
But still, as days passed by he felt the lack of contact, the lack of company. Even though he kept himself isolated and didn't reach for others, others reached for him often enough. He didn't even notice how often other dwarves would reach out and clasp his back, embrace him or just brush off on him in passing. It was strange how he missed the contact, how it became harder and harder for him to stood still like a stone.
He avoided looking at the entrance because waiting was too hard to bear. His soft insides betrayed him and he didn't want for Master Baggins to see him weak, to read his face from his hiding place.
"You should go to apologize to that vain elvish king, honor," said Balin one day. "We all know you have to, there is no shame in it, we honor that forced deal anyway; we have just a day or two to be here, we'll be way behind our schedule if we wait for much longer. I think you satisfied elder's pride by now, they'll understand."
"We'll get out soon" was all that Thorin said not willing to use his voice further, he feared it would betray him like Kili's voice betrayed him.
"You're the one we follow," said Balin heavily and let the subject go.
Thorin thought of his belief in Master Baggins, in his surety that Bilbo will deliver them to freedom. But he couldn't force himself to doubt him. The flash of his face underneath the tree all covered in moving shadows crossed Thorin's mind but he chased it away. That was a mistake he won't repeat, a weakness unbecoming of a king, a shameful reminder of how weak he was inside.
In that moment there was a clank of keys and there Bilbo stood with his smiling face like it was the most common thing for him to appear out of thin air and deliver a rescue. Thorin surged forward but the door stood between them. Bilbo smiled at him with a sigh and Thorin thought how the bars were in the right place receiving his fierce grip that would crush bones.
Master Baggins looked at him for a moment and got serious diverting his gaze. Thorin steadied himself as Master Baggins unlocked the door. All the weakness he felt while closed in must stay inside, it was time to move. Master Baggins looked at him as he opened the door and it seemed he understands that too.
There was a sense of urgency but he instructed his dwarves to close the doors to buy them some time, guards would see from afar of the doors stayed open.
Instead of up Master Baggins led them down and Thorin followed him without a word of complaint. He didn't doubt him, he was just curious about what uncommon solution he thought of now. They found themselves faced with a stack of barrels and Thorin watched Master Baggins as he tried to explain himself to doubting dwarves forgetting that he has any role in this but to follow his hobbit.
After a futile attempt to communicate his intention to distrustful dwarves, Bilbo turned to Thorin with his pleading face and Thorin remembered that his job was to command his dwarves so he ordered them to listen to Master Baggins. They murmured but got in and Thorin found himself in the barrel not knowing what will happen next, not even question it. Master Baggins surely thought it through even if he doesn't know how to explain it.
"Hold your breath," Bilbo said and Thorin held his breath as other dwarves complained.
Their barrels rolled down and as he fell Thorin wondered how his world spun around so wildly that he had someone he trusted completely.
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