Chapter Twenty-One: Oin

T.A. 2868 Ered Luin

Oin knows before he even reaches the mine that this cave-in has been a bad one. The entire mountain had shaken and the tired old whisper that part of the old town had gone with it is already making the rounds. It's utter nonsense, of course, the town is fine, no dwarf with any sense would build directly on top of mine workings. Sadly, it would appear that the same cannot be said for the dwarves who were in the mine at the time.

All dwarves know how to deal with the collapse of a mine and no matter how strong their Stone Sense no dwarf has ever been able to predict every cave-in. Sometimes it is simply all in the hands of Mahal. A nearby warehouse has already been converted into a make-shift infirmary, the crates of ore moved aside and cots that are kept stored there set up in an orderly manner that has to be used far too often. Three other healers are already there, and already hard at work. Since he is the youngest present Oin is sent to assess every miner brought in. The walking wounded (who can wait), moderate injuries, serious injuries and the dying. There are far too many of the latter coming in and Oin hates it every time he has to send another dwarf to wait to die alone. There simply aren't enough healers, or even those in a position to help, to ease the passing of every fading life. It's a senseless tragedy that so many lives are being taken by the very stone that created them.

That thought is only proven more true in the form of the sandy haired young dwarf brought to him roughly an hour after the collapse, a time when he knows that the chances of finding anyone still alive are decreasing with terrifying rapidity. His eyes fall on Vili, son of Arli and husband of Princess Dis, and he feels despair coil in his stomach. Vili's left leg is crushed beyond repair, it will have to be amputated, as will his left hand which was likely caught under the same crushing weight. He doesn't want to send this dwarf to a corner to die, although (by Mahal's mercy) he is unconscious. He perhaps should. The amputations will be taxing on his already heavily damaged body and a death during surgery won't be any better a way to go. He hesitates, Vili's injuries are worse than others he has seen kill a number of miners already this day, but, in the end, he sends him on for treatment. Princess Dis should at least be told that they tried.

Vili dies with a single scream as they begin to hack off his ruined leg.

Oin later hears King Thorin demanding to know what his brother-by-law was doing in the mine in the first place. Vili had a strong Stone Sense, he should have been able to detect the fault that caused the collapse. And he had. He had been in the mine attempting to convince the foreman to shut it all down and get everyone else out. The body of the dwarf in question is the last one recovered, his head the only part of him not crushed beyond recognition.

T.A. 2941 The Carrock

Oin has seen a great many terrible things in his long life. Too many in some respects and it makes him feel far older than he truly is. His failing hearing, the result of an injury in his youth, doesn't help with that. He has seen all manners of injury, all manners of death. He has seen it happen instantly and he has seen it linger for weeks and months and even years. He has seen more than one dwarf suffer the kind of injury Frerin did, crushed under a great weight (although Oin suspects Azog falling on Frerin simply worsened an already existing hurt from their time in the goblin caves, Frerin took a lot of the weight of the fallen body of the goblin's vile king after all) until their insides began to bleed. What Oin has never seen is anyone recover from such an injury. He has certainly never seen anything like the healing magic that this tiny creature has, although he has wished for it more than once.

What use is he, really, in the face of such power?

What he fails to factor in, as so many of the others obviously have, is that such a gift must have some kind of shortcoming. The fact is, the girl has performed two miracles today and returned two of their Company to them when they had been feared lost. She's obviously going to be exhausted, particularly after little sleep and no food. To think that some of them had feared the hobbits would be useless for the most part.

He grunts as he kneels to examine the girl, the attention of most of the rest of the Company caught by their distant glimpse of Erebor. Oin was little more than a babe when they fled the dragon, he hardly remembers it, and as much as he would like to take a look now he has a patient to care for (more than one if some of the mutters and careful movements of the others are anything to go by) so he stoops to examine the girl and sends Fili along to take a look at the mountain he will one day rule with a stern glare.

Bofur and Bifur are the first to break from looking at their destination, the first to turn to the problem of getting down from this pile of rock. It comes as a surprise when it is Thorin of all of them who turns to Oin for confirmation of the wizard's assessment. Then again, Oin would rather trust his own healer's eyes than any amount of magical trickery. Which is why he will be pinning Fili and Frerin down as soon as they are on the ground and giving them a good once over. Just because the girl thinks she has managed to heal them fully doesn't mean she didn't miss something. Better to be safe than lose one of their party because too much faith was put in strange magics.

"Aye, Thorin," he says in answer to his king. "The lass is exhausted, and far thinner than I would like given what we know of her kind, but she will wake in her own time. Likely enough to be ravenous as well."

"I think we all are," Thorin replies. "Which brings us to the problem of getting down. Bofur, have you found a path?"

"Aye," the miner says it slowly. "But it's steep and uneven. We'd be alright if we were all moving under our own power, but with injured-"

"We'll make do," Frerin says. "I'll carry Bluebell."

"You will not!" To Oin's great surprise it is Dori who pipes up before he can. "I will carry her, I'm stronger than you are and haven't just nearly died."

Oin doesn't hear most of the rest of the conversation, sees Fili step up to argue his case for taking the girl down to safety and sees the moment that Thorin declares he will not. At this point it doesn't much matter who does what, only that they do. They are too exposed up here, though the day is a fine one, and the hobbits are not as hardy as the dwarves. They will need the shelter, and Oin would rather try to look at the various members of the Company not fortunate enough to have all their ills tended to by this girl somewhere that they can all get clean.

A.N: I'm sorry it's short, I found Oin's head really difficult to get into. I'm following up with Frerin's in a few minutes though so that sort of makes up for it.