I awoke the next morning and lay looking around the antechamber, confused to find myself alone, from the corner in which I had fallen asleep, before I remembered the events of the previous evening. I rose quickly, leaving my pack and cloak, and quickly left the room, heading for the gate.
I had just left the chamber and was securing my sword belt when I heard Thorin bellow, "The Arkenstone is in this mountain!"
My head jerked up and I took off running toward the gate.
"It is a trick!" Thorin continued to yell as I ran into the Gallery of the Kings, my boots slipping and sliding on the golden floor.
"Oh please, please whichever of the Valar are listening, please don't let Bilbo be up on that gate," I desperately prayed, "Please let him have listened to me and stayed in Dale."
Unfortunately, it did not seem that the Valar were in any mood to heed my prayers.
Because, I was half way to the gate when I suddenly heard Thorin yell, "You miserable rat!" and my nightmare was completed by hearing Bilbo's reply of "You are changed Thorin!"
Looking up I could see them facing off atop the gate surrounded by the rest of the company.
"The dwarf I met in Bag End would never have gone back on his word! Would never have doubted the loyalty of his kin!" Bilbo continued to confront Thorin.
Thorin answered Bilbo in a voice too soft for me to hear. However, he then yelled an order that made my blood run cold and had me running faster than before, even though I knew that I was still too far away to do anything.
"Throw him from the ramparts!" he had ordered and my heart sank.
I realized that Bilbo was right, this was not the Thorin we all knew or could be reasoned with. I was relieved to see none of the company doing as ordered and hoped that this could end without bloodshed. However, that proved to be a fool's hope, because when none of the company moved to do as ordered Thorin suddenly advanced on Bilbo, grabbed him by the front of his shirt and forced him back against the ramparts. The rest of the company surged forward, trying to stop him, but it was no use as he push Bilbo partially over the wall.
"Oh No!" I thought, frantically trying to get to the gate, "Please no!"
I had just made it to the bottom of the stairs when I heard Gandalf's booming voice ring out.
"If you don't like my burglar then please don't damage him," Gandalf bellowed, "Return him to me."
Thorin and the rest of the company froze. I used this pause to grab a small stone and start to run up the stairs. I channeled my talent into the stone; I would use it only if I had to. I did not want to hurt Thorin, but I had to get him away from Bilbo. I knew that whenever Thorin came out of this madness, he would sorely regret any harm he had caused his friend. As I made it halfway up the stairs, I saw Thorin glaring down over the wall, presumably at Gandalf.
"You want your burglar back," he shouted down, "Then take him!"
Thorin suddenly turned back to Bilbo and I saw his hand tighten on Bilbo's shirtfront and I knew what he was about to do.
"Thorin, NO!" I yelled and threw the now live coal at him.
It hit his breastplate, throwing sparks up in his face, before bouncing harmlessly over the wall. Thorin gave a loud yell and stumbled back a few steps, releasing Bilbo who slid down and away from him.
"Thorin don't," I pleaded reaching the top of the gate, placing myself between him and Bilbo, "Bilbo is your friend. You don't want to do this."
Thorin, have regained his balance, stared at me with a look of betrayal coming over his face. I could hear the sound of shuffling behind me and the sound of a heavy rope being uncoiled.
"Go lad. Go!" I heard Bofur whisper urgently and I knew he had gotten Bilbo to safety.
"You," Thorin said softy taking a step toward me, "You are in on this?"
"Thorin, it's not like that," I pleaded, "If you would just listen…"
"You would betray me as well?" Thorin growled and I could swear I saw tears forming in his eyes as he continued to walk toward me.
"Thorin please…" I pleaded but was stopped as he suddenly charged me.
Thorin quickly grabbed both of my hands and slammed me up against the wall behind me. He pinned both my hands above my head and placed his arm across my throat. "Thorin, please…" I gasped.
"You would choose him over me?!" he ranted, "What has that Shire rat to offer that I can't?!"
Balin and Nori came up and tried to pry him off me but he roughly shoved them off and faced me again.
"You have been planning this all along haven't you?" he continued to rant, "You…"
Thorin was finally pulled off me by Dori and Dwalin and I slid down the wall coughing and clutching my throat, trying to get air back into my lungs.
"Get off me!" I heard Thorin bellowing and I looked up at him, tears streaming down my face.
"Thorin, it's not like that!" I tried again to get through to him, but he did not listen to me.
"Fine!" he bellowed and Dori and Dwalin let him go, however they stay between us in case he tried to come at me again.
"If you two want to be together, then so be it," he snarled, glaring at me, "You're both banished! If I see either of you again, it will be on your life! Now GET OUT!"
He then turned his back on me and started to walk away.
"No, Thorin. Please no," I whispered as each word he said felt like a dagger in my heart.
I staggered back, feeling as if the world had just fallen out from underneath me.
"Thorin, please don't do this," I begged.
He whipped back around; anger and madness alight in his eyes.
"I said get out!" he bellowed, "Before I finish what my father started with your foul kind!"
It would have been far kinder if he had struck me. I staggered back once again, my knees giving out. It took me a few minutes to realize that Balin was supporting most of my weight, keeping me from falling into a heap.
"Please lass," he pleaded in my ear, "Come on."
I looked over at him in an absolute daze.
"Come on, lass," Balin whispered and lead me over to a rope that was thrown over the ramparts and I lowered myself down.
When I reached the bottom, I stumbled and fell to my knees. I did not even attempt to get up until a pair of wrinkled hands came into view, grasping my arms, and pulled me back to my feet.
"Farren, my dear girl, what happened…" Gandalf faltered as I looked up at him.
"Oh my dear girl, I am so sorry," he whispered.
"I have been rejected, Gandalf," I whispered with a shudder, feeling pain and fire started to build inside of me as the realization struck home.
It felt as if I had been run through, but the blade did not only pierce my heart but my soul as well. I remember as child hearing about the soul deep wound but never thought that I would experience it. Feeling the fire building inside of me, I staggered away from Gandalf. I instinctively knew that this was something that I would not be able to control and I did not want anyone else hurt. As I moved away from the mountain, from everyone, I barely registered only Thranduil and Bard, sitting on their mounts, at the base of the gate.
"We will give you until tomorrow to think on our offer," Bard's voice seemed so far away, as I staggered farther out on the plain.
I finally fell to my knees as the pain and the fire overwhelmed me. However, I did not care; I wanted the fire to consume me, to burn me to nothing but ash, so I would not have to deal with this pain. I could feel the fire creeping up over my shoulders and down my back. Suddenly, just as I was about to lose control, I felt a cool hand rest on the top of my head, heard unfamiliar words murmured over me, and I slipped away into a deep, black, oblivion.
***Gandalf POV***
Gandalf breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Farren descend the rope. You would have had to of been deaf to not hear Thorin's insane yelling after Bilbo had left. Gandalf had been terrified that Thorin would hurt Farren, thinking that she would have betrayed him by protecting Bilbo. So when he saw her come over the wall he felt relieved. However, that relief did not last long as when Farren reached the bottom she collapsed on the ground and made no move to get up. He hurried over to help her up; worried that Thorin had indeed injured her.
"Farren, my dear girl, what happened…" Gandalf faltered as Farren looked up at him.
Her face was a mask of absolute pain, tears rolling quietly down her cheeks, but her eyes were what scared him, they were completely blank, void of the life that usually burned so bright.
"Oh my dear girl, I am so sorry," he whispered, sure he knew what had happened. Farren's next words confirmed his fears.
"I have been rejected, Gandalf," she whispered back and Gandalf winced, knowing that being rejected would mean she was in immeasurable pain, as Thorin was, undoubtedly, the other half of her soul.
Gandalf felt Farren shudder and looked down, eyes widening at the sight of fire trickling unchecked from her hands and up her arms. He knew that Farren was about to lose control and there was nothing he could do about it. Farren, on the other hand seemed to realize this, staggered away from him, and farther out on the plain. Gandalf glanced back at Thranduil and Bard as they told Thorin they would return in the morning, and then followed Farren until she collapsed down to her knees.
"Farren," Bilbo called softly and Gandalf quickly grabbed his arm to keep the hobbit from running to the elemental and getting himself hurt.
Unknown to both of them Thranduil had followed and was watching in concerned interest. When Farren fell to her knees, he dismounted his elk and pushed past the wizard and hobbit, approaching Farren.
"My lord Thranduil…" Gandalf called out only to be waved off as the elf placed a hand on Farren's head and murmured a few words.
Farren then slumped forward, all but a few low flames put out, in a deep slumber. Bilbo rushed forward and rolled Farren onto her back.
"What did you do to her!" he exclaimed, cradling her head in his lap.
"She was out of control and a danger to all of us," Thranduil replied calmly, "She needs peace for the moment and is simply sleeping. When she wakes she will hopefully be back in control of herself."
With this said the Elven King swept past the wizard.
"What could have warranted this unprecedented show of mercy from you, King Thranduil?" Gandalf asked.
"I know the pain she is in," The Elven King replied, a centuries old pain showing deep in in his eyes, "I only wish someone had had the same compassion on me."
Ok just to clarify there is NO love triangle. It is all in Thorin's head. I hate love triangles. This is just to show his complete paranoia and devolution into madness.
