The Truth Beneath the Rose


A/N- Hello everyone. I hope you're all ready for the journey to finally start. I know a certain hobbit that is jumping with excitement for it to begin.

I hope you all will enjoy this chapter as well.

Disclaimer- I do not own the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings, but I do own my OC's and this storyline.

'Thoughts'

And now it starts...

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Chapter 3:

It Begins


Year 2941 -Early Spring-

*Pre-Dawn in Bag End*

The morning came far too early for Thorin's liking. He'd never admit it out loud but he'd found it rather comforting sleeping inside the hobbit hole. He'd felt more at home than he had in years. Not since before Smaug and the fall of Erebor. Not to mention the slaughter at the battle of Azanulbizar.

His mood darkening even further with those thoughts, he forced himself up and was about to begin waking the others when a loud banging resounded throughout the hobbit hole. Thoroughly waking all the dwarrow in the house, as well as the wizard whom had mysteriously reappeared sometime in the night.

A hobbit awoke as well, but forced himself to ignore the noise until a more respectable time. He'd had enough excitement for a lifetime.

Curious, Thorin and all the company made their way to the dining hall. As they drew closer they smelled something mouth watering and quickened their pace. It seemed someone had made them all breakfast.

Unable to sleep anymore and having already been packed, Thalia had tidied herself up. She'd put on a spare pair of her brothers old trousers, ones that she'd been patching up and secured her sword and dagger in place. Thalia peeked out the window and was semi-disappointed to see that it wasn't even dawn yet.

Sighing she was about to go back and sit upon her mattress when an idea suddenly struck her. She grabbed her things, hurried from her room, placed her note upon the side table her brother always checked and went to the kitchen. Leaving her bag and bow outside the door she scoured the kitchen until she found some bread, a few eggs, a haunch of smoked ham, and some cinnamon.

The next half hour was pleasantly spent as she cooked the eggs and ham, while making a batch of French toast. She knew how important the first day of a journey could be and wanted to ensure everyone got a good start with a full belly. Once she was certain everything was cooked and prepared, she pulled out a cast iron skillet and struck her ladle against it repeatedly.

As expected it didn't take long for her guests to reach the kitchen. She smiled brightly when Thorin was the first to enter; she waited though until everyone was in the dining area before she spoke. "Enjoy everyone, I hope it's alright. I used what little we had left in the house to make a passable meal."

She then took up a plate and began serving the meal, each of the dwarves took turns and after blushing at the wink Fili gave her she turned away to grab another plate. When she turned back there stood Thorin, she felt her heart jerk once more in her chest even as that pain returned. Her face had already begun heating up as she held out the plate with a soft smile.

Thorin took it with a small nod and moved to sit down at the head of the table once more. Thalia felt a full body shudder pass through her as he walked away and she was very glad to see Gandalf was the last in line. She hurriedly gathered him a plate.

"Gandalf, may I ask you something? I do not know who else to turn to about this." Blinking, Gandalf looked about at the room full of dwarves before he nodded his head and motioned for her to follow him. He walked out into the hall and far enough from the dining hall to be out of earshot. Turning he looked at her with a raised brow, "whatever is the matter Thalia?"

Feeling extremely nervous she fished the piece of vellum out of her pocket and held it out to the wizard with shaking hands. "Do you know what this symbol means?"

Gandalf took the vellum and took a good long look at the symbol written upon it. His eyes grew wide in surprise and he looked down at Thalia, "where did you see this?" Blushing heavily, Thalia placed her hand over her heart and shook as she replied. "It's burned into my skin, right here over my heart. I first felt the pain when I looked into Thorin Oakenshield's eyes. Gandalf...what does that mean? What does any of this mean?"

Gandalf sighed heavily as he reached down and gripped Thalia's shoulder, "do you truly wish to know? It is not an easy subject to discuss. It might be better to wait for a far more skilled hand than mine." Thalia took a deep breath and shook her head. "No Gandalf. If I am going on this quest, with...him...I need to know what is going on. I can handle it, I must."

Nodding his head at that, Gandalf took a bite of his breakfast, knowing the dwarves would soon finish theirs. "It is a dwarven rune. It is a personal one, not one of a family line. Do you understand so far?" Thalia nodded her head, she'd read up on this subject before. "Each child born is given their own personal rune to symbolize them; they get this rune along with their family one."

"Correct. Well, that particular rune, I have only seen it once before and that was by mere happenstance. Dwarves do not let their personal rune be widely known; only specific few are allowed the privilege. The family one is used widely though." Gandalf savored the pork as he took a bite of it, knowing that soon they would be without such a luxury.

"Your cooking is divine my dear, I do hope you assist Bombur during the quest. It would be a shame not to use a talent such as yours." Thalia blushed at his compliment. Quickly he ate the rest and with a barely held in burp, he brushed at his beard to get rid of any remaining particles of food.

"Now...this rune is burned into your skin and above your heart of all places. This is an omen, a promise. I have heard of two other times when such a thing has occurred and if this is one of those times, I have a fairly good idea what this all means." Gandalf set the plate down and leant down to a more even level with Thalia. She looked so nervous and scared; he knew he couldn't hide this truth from her any longer.

"It means you are the bride of Thorin Oakenshield. That is his rune. The only reason it would appear over your heart like that is because you love him, or have loved him once before. You are his 'One' and he is yours." Thalia's eyes grew wide as she sank into the nearest chair, her head beginning to spin. "Yo...you're sure about this Gandalf?"

He just nodded his head, knowing how much of an impact this could possibly have on her. Let alone the company. After a moment or so, Thalia took another deep breath and stood. "Should I tell him Gandalf?" Gandalf lit his pipe as he turned to watch the dwarves as they slowly filed out of the dining hall and back to the den. They had to pack their things before leaving. "That my dear is up to you. Just know this...Mahal himself has blessed your union to Thorin, or else that mark wouldn't be there. This has a much deeper meaning, although what, I haven't a clue. Maybe Lord Elrond will know."

Perking up at that Thalia momentarily forgot her woes and rushed to Gandalf's side. "Are we to go to the elves then?" Gandalf raised a brow before winking at her, "We just may happen to end up there, but that is entirely up to fate." With that Gandalf left her standing there.

Knowing she needed to get moving as well, she took up the plate Gandalf had left and took it to the kitchen. Bifur and Bofur were in there and were washing the dishes the company had used. When they saw her both motioned her over and took the plate from her. She smiled and signed a thank you. At which Bifur responded with 'my pleasure.'

Happy at that she went and took up her pack and bow and made her way to the front door. It was already open and the crisp morning air was slowly blowing inside. Taking a deep breath of it, Thalia stepped over the threshold and outside. Thorin whom was leaning against the house and smoking straightened up when he saw her. He was about to speak when he sighted her blade, he pointed at it and immediately she unsheathed it and held it out to him.

Thorin took the blade almost reverently and examined it closely. "Well balanced, of dwarven manufacture and has seen battle. Where did you get this and do you know how to use it?" Thalia smiled at that, "I got it on one of my many escapades to Bree, one of the dwarves whom lives there made it for me. I taught myself how to use it and yes...it has seen what small amount of battle it could around these parts. It kept me safe when in Bree from more than one ruffian."

Nodding his head, Thorin returned the blade to her. "It will serve you well on the journey then. I expect to see your 'skills' as soon as we have left the shire lands." Thalia understood his need to see her fight and didn't argue, turning she looked out over the shire and made sure to memorize every detail she possibly could.

She didn't know when she would return after all.

Thorin felt his body warm once more as he stood next to the hobbit female. He had yet to understand how she was able to garner such a reaction from him and wondered once more on her accompanying them. Turning his head he took a long look at the woman and after a moment or so of observation something she did struck a chord deep inside his heart.

Thalia had reached up and was twirling her hair about her left pinky finger, while biting her lower lip on the right side. This was a habit he'd only seen once before in his long life, only one person who had ever done such a thing when she was nervous or thinking. 'Rhean.'

His heart clenched in his chest and he reached over and took her hand, stopping her hair twirling and drawing her attention. She turned towards him, unknowingly stepping closer as he did towards her. Her fingers curled about his hand as it remained close to her cheek, he began to bend towards her, drawing even closer to her.

"Ah Ha! There you are! I was about to start yelling for you, are you all packed up then?" Jerking apart at the sudden appearance of Kili, Thalia felt her face go beet red. While Thorin growled and whirled, stomping back inside the house. Kili looked completely clueless as he came to stand at her side, "did you say something to make Thorin mad?"

Thalia shivered with awareness of what had almost happened there. She had been on the receiving end of kisses before and although most had been rather unpleasant, she knew from those experiences that Thorin had almost kissed her. She tried to force down the sweet ache that thought caused in her chest as she looked at Kili with a small smile. "I don't know, maybe he's just wanting to get a move on. It is almost dawn after all."

Shrugging, Kili noticed her bow and brightened once more, "do you shoot?" Thalia smiled and nodded her head, "I do often. Although I have to travel pretty far to practice. None of the families around here wish their children exposed to my weird behavior."

Kili laughed at that and clasped her shoulder, giving it a rather hard squeeze. "Well, you won't have to worry with us. It will be nice to not be the only one watching our backs, how good is your aim?" Thalia raised an eyebrow at that, "you'll find out soon enough. So...are we walking all the way to Erebor?" A loud snort sounded behind them as Fili walked out to join them; he stretched and popped his back in a couple places.

"Not hardly. We bought mounts and left then at the edge of...what was his name again Kili?" "Farmer Maggot." Kili shook his head as he replied. Fili nodded at that and smiled at Thalia, "we will walk to Farmer Maggot's to collect them. Then we will be on our way, although...we may be one pony short."

Thalia tilted her head at that, "why do you say that?" Fili waggled his eyebrows at her, earning himself a burst of laughter from the hobbit at how silly he looked. Feeling proud of himself Fili crossed his arms, "if your brother decides to join us that will make our party fifteen. We only have fourteen ponies."

Thalia's eyes widened and the first thought she had was maybe she could ride with one of the dwarves and let Bilbo have the mount. This conjured an image that had her almost gone blush coming back tenfold. 'What if I ride with Thorin?'

Kili patted her back, "not to worry, Fili and I wouldn't mind sharing, right Fee?" The blonde nodded his head and smiled as Bombur, Oin, Gloin, and Ori walked outside. "What's all this talk about sharing?" At this Fili and Kili started laughing and Thalia snuck away while she had the moment. She smiled fondly at the dwarrow around her and knew that this journey would be one that would forever change her life.

*Outskirts of the shire*

An hour an a half or so later Thalia found herself atop a rather gentle pony and was doing her best to stay balanced. She'd figured out rather quickly that she'd be riding on the pack pony, considering she was the lightest and smallest of the group, it made sense. Behind her was a proverbial mountain of supplies and whatnot. But there was something rather annoying that was poking her in the back and frankly it was starting to make her angry.

Of course the fact that the dwarves were all betting on whether her brother would join them or not wasn't helping her mood any. Fili and Kili seemed to have a keen interest in what she thought the outcome would be. They had been pestering her about it for the last half hour at least and she was slowly but surely running out of patience.

"For the last time, I do not know. Now that's enough, if my brother shows up then he shows up. Now leave me alone about it." She hissed her words at the two whom exchanged a glance, one that had her narrowing her eyes even more. These two were definitely up to something and she didn't want to be around when they revealed that something.

So without another word to the two of them she spurred the pony forward but it barely quickened its pace. Sighing in defeat she held the reigns loosely as the brothers started arguing again about her brother. Then a sudden shout from behind them caused everyone to stop and look that way.

Thalia's eyes widened at seeing her brother, Bilbo running their way, his contract trailed out behind him. 'He'd come after all! That's my brother!' She beamed at him as he held out the contract for Balin to inspect. He panted a little as he caught his breath and she couldn't help but wonder if he'd run the whole way.

"All looks in order, welcome to the Company of Thorin Oakenshield, Mister Baggins." Balin winked at her as he spoke and she just felt her smile deepening, then she saw Thorin look from her to her brother and back. Her heart sped up and she blushed involuntarily. "Get him on a pony." He then bowed his head to her and her eyes went wide, Thorin turned away quickly and spurred his mount onward. But Thalia was almost certain she'd seen pinkness to his cheeks, 'had Thorin been blushing?'

She absentmindedly heard her brother talk of walking instead of riding and jerked in surprise when Fili and Kili lifted Bilbo and placed him before her on the pony. Thus pressing her back against that object and the sudden flush of pain had her cursing. To her great surprise as well as that of all the others around her, it came out in kudzel.

Thorin froze when he heard the word, which meant something akin to 'Shit' in the common tongue. He as well as the whole of the company turned to look at the clearly shocked hobbit, even her brother looked surprised.

Her face was red and her eyes wide, unable to stop himself, Thorin rode over and sidled up to the pack pony. Reaching over he gripped Thalia by the waist and lifted her off the pack pony, he then set her before him upon his own pony. "Let's move."

Thorin then spurred his pony back to the front of the pack, he heard the other hobbit call out for his sister, but Thorin ignored him in favor of continuing on their journey. Thalia was warm and soft, when he'd lifted her she'd been very light, something that made him wish to pull her even closer.

"Th...Thorin?" Her voice had him looking down at her, where he could see she'd gotten even redder in the face. Curious as to what she would do, Thorin remained silent. "I...I umm, thank you. There was something poking me on the pony. It really was hurting." Thorin raised a brow at that even as he continued to listen, "I've no clue how I knew that word, but it was exactly what I felt in that moment."

Thorin spoke so only Thalia could hear him, "It seems you know far more of Dwarrow culture than even you thought, I cannot help but wonder what else you will say or do in the days to come." He paused as he leant down far enough to speak into her ear, "I look forward to it."

He felt her stiffen a bit and there was a sudden pain through his chest, but he pushed it aside. There were more things to worry about, like when or if they would stop for the night. There was only so much time before winter began to fall and they needed to get to the lonely mountain before the first snows fell.

As he was thinking he unconsciously slid an arm around Thalia's waist and was rubbing his thumb against her lower belly.


A/N- Alright, this is where I am ending this chapter. I am sorry for the cliffhanger, but I have my reasons.

I do hope I did alright with Thorin; I want to keep him in character as best I can.

Thanks to everyone for their support and reviews.

May the Fluff be with you!

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