C4: Accosted

As Rana walked along the now familiar corridor that led to the royal library, she stopped for a moment when she thought she was alone and quickly ran her hands over her dress, smoothing out the wrinkles and trying to calm her nerves.

'Oh, stop it!' She scolded herself and stilled her hands, 'It's just tea! He might not even be there!'

Rana and Thorin's little meeting had actually been rather enjoyable. Whilst neither said much, tea and company with a good book was blissful. No words really needed to be said when they occasionally made eye contact and smiled before getting back to their stories.

Or, documents, in Thorin's case. Rana had seen him read only one book that seemed to be fictional, the rest, heavy tomes about Erebor's history and doctrines that she shouldn't have been peaking at, but curiosity got the better of her.

"Oi, you."

So here she was, on her way to the library, not trying TOO hard to impress him. Just…well, look nice. Proper. She took a few more steps, intent on getting there in time for their meeting that wasn't really a meeting, but-

"Oi!"

Rana heard the word yelled at her and looked about, but only saw a guard. Surely, he wasn't talking to her?

He began to walk towards her with a surly look in his eyes and she arched one fine brow at him.

She waited until he stood in front of her and glowered.

"Didn't you hear me call?" He was an inch or two shorter than her and she looked back at him with the same amount of disdain as he was looking at her.

"I'm sorry. I did not realise you were addressing me. I thought you were looking for someone called 'oi'," she replied sarkily, not caring for his manner or the way he approached her.

He glared up at her and threateningly placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, as though trying to intimidate her.

"What are you doing here? This place is private and for the royal family only! I don't know where you think you're going-"

"I'm going to the library. I have permission."

He scoffed at her.

"Oh yeah. From who?"

Rana did NOT feel like explaining herself (or anything) to him.

"From my friend. The Lady Dis," she jutted her chin out and had to add a little smugly, "and the King."

"Oh yeah? And what makes you so special? Friends with the King?"

Rana rolled her eyes and forced herself not to fold her arms.

"No. With his granddaughter. As I said," she sighed and turned away from him, "now, if you don't mind, I actually have someone waiting for me-"

A hand suddenly appeared on her arm, not painful but firm.

"Oh, no you don't!"

She turned back and pulled her arm away violently, feeling her anger rise.

"DO NOT. Touch me again!" She growled and tried to calm herself, but he stepped closer to her, and she had to step back, afraid he was going to grab her again. Sure enough, his hand came out to touch her again and he raised his voice loudly.

"You aren't going anywhere until-"

"What is happening here?!"

Both the guard and Rana jumped at the voice and swiveled around to see the eldest prince marching towards them. His brow was furrowed and his face taut and angry and his robes flowed behind him.

For a moment, Rana was mesmerized by the side of Thorin she hadn't seen. He looked like a wild animal and it terrified her slightly, but whilst he was heading towards her, his eyes were on the guard.

The man immediately stood to attention and bowed low before Thorin as the Prince came to stand by Rana's side.

"Apologies for disturbing you, your highness," he straightened again and gestured with a nod of his head at Rana, "I caught this female walking alone in the royal sector. I'll escort her away and-"

"They'll be no need for that," Thorin's voice was level and he didn't shout, but there was a tone that meant he was not to be argued with, "she's been invited and has permission. Are you new?"

"A-Aye', your highness."

"Then you've obviously not been made away of who is and who is not allowed in the royal sectors. That is dangerous. Anyone could have come up here in royal robes and you would have let them through I suppose?" He didn't allow the guard to answer and shook his head, "Report to your Captain. You'll find another place to work. I do not wish to see you up here again."

The guard, whilst obviously disgruntled and embarrassed, knew he could not ignore a direct order from the prince. He bowed again to Thorin and seeing that he would be punished if he didn't acknowledge her, gave Rana another bow, this one tenser.

He turned and marched away, but Rana still felt the hot prickly anger bubbling away, tingling her skin.

"Are you alright?" Thorin asked her.

"If I am honest, your highness, no," she felt herself shaking and tried to take deep breaths to calm herself, "I-I can't quite put into words how I feel right now, so I apologies if I say anything inappropriate in my anger."

A hand landed on her arm, but she did not notice it, nor flinch away.

"Come, this way to the library. There's tea and-"

"I can't believe that bloody pillock!" Rana didn't even realise she was moving, her anger finally spilling out as she began to articulate her anger, "How bloody dare he?!"

Words spilled out from Rana that she wouldn't quite remember later, but she did know that Thorin was by her side and listening to her. She didn't look at his face though, or she would have seen his slightly crooked and amused smile.

"Why do men think it's ok to do that?! That they can get away with making comments and just-just touching people?! It makes my bloody blood boil!"

"I think that's the first time I heard you swear," Thorin's voice must have been rather amused because Rana finally turned to look at him.

And her anger almost left her completely at his devastating smile. He wasn't making fun of her, he was just amused at her behavior and that's when she realised just how she sounded.

And, how close they were.

She actually gasped and took a step away, Thorin's hand slipping away from her.

"I-I am so sorry!" She blustered and looked down at her dress, "I shouldn't have said that about one of your guards! I-"

"Rana."

She looked back at him, worried she'd overstepped the line, but he just kept smiling and shook his head.

"He was, what my sister would say, 'a great lummox' and deserved it after that treatment. I thought you handled yourself rather well, from what I saw, and you kept it polite," he tilted his head, as though observing her and there was a twinkle in his eye, "I find that extremely admirable."

"Yes," she laughed, thinking that was exactly how Dis would have reacted, "I think great lummox is perfectly accurate. And…thank you. I'm not usually one to fly off the handle and I'm glad I kept my head in that situation."

"Me too. Although I dare say, I think I'd like to see what would happen if you did 'fly off the handle'…as long as I'm not on the receiving end of your ire," he turned back the way they had been walking and offered his arm, "now, shall we adjourn to the library?"

"Yes," Rana slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow and smiled, "I think I could do with a good book and a nice cup of tea. If it is still on offer?"

"Always," they walked together and for a moment, she thought he wasn't going to add anything else until he cleared his throat and said with a slightly nervous voice, "by the way…you look rather well, today."

She tried not to smirk and continued to walk.

"Well?"

"As in nice…you look, rather nice."

Whilst it was sorely tempting to tease him, she resisted, pleased that her effort had paid off. Not that she'd admit it was an effort.

'Oh, heck.'

Ok, so she'd made an effort.

And, upon entering the library, she realised that they were alone.

'We're alone. Completely alone. Unchaperoned.'

How many times had they actually been completely alone before and she never realised it?

With any other male, she would never have permitted such a thing but…it was ok. Because she trusted him. She knew Thorin wouldn't try anything untoward.

Dare she say, they were fast becoming friends. Perhaps he wasn't such a beast after all?