The Truth Beneath the Rose


A/N- Welcome back to my story. Thank you to those of you whom reviewed. I really appreciate your opinions. I am also very sorry that I've taken this long to update, I hope this chapter was worth the wait.

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

'Thoughts'

Khuzdul

Now onto the story.

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Chapter 7:

A Not So Merry Chase


Year 2941 -Early Morning-

Trolls had always been foul smelling but Thalia found she couldn't even abide to enter the cave; there was more than a mere bodily stench about the place. To her nose it clearly smelt of death.

It seemed that Kili was of the same mind as herself, as was her brother. He'd taken one look at the cave entrance and had turned to join herself and the youngest Durin by a large rock. "That place smells foul." Thalia just flashed her brother a slight smile at that, she was still thinking about her moment of undress.

She wasn't sure if Thorin had caught sight of her mark and had been thinking about how he'd been acting since. Distant and preoccupied.

"So...just what is that tattoo you have?" Blinking in dumbfounded shock, Thalia looked at Kili who looked nonchalant but genuinely curious. Before she could respond though, let alone think of a reply Bilbo jumped in. "Tattoo? What tattoo?"

Kili looked between the two of them before something seemed to click in his mind, a slow smile crossed his lips and Thalia felt her heart sink at the very sight of it. Kili it seemed was feeling mischievous and she would be the one to get the brunt of it.

"Why, it's right here. Above her heart, rather large and from what I could see, it had dwarven runes." Kili pointed to the same spot he'd described, using himself as an example. Bilbo looked contemplative for a long moment before he turned to look at his sister, his eyes weary but focused. "Thalia? Does Kili speak the truth; do you have such a mark upon your person?"

From his tone alone, Thalia knew he longed to also ask why she hadn't spoken to him of the mark but she wasn't sure he truly needed to know that reason. For now all she could do was tell them part of the truth and hope it would be enough to appease both parties.

Taking a deep breath she began, "yes brother I do have such a mark. I am not sure of what it is or how I got it. Just that it is there. Gandalf told me that there were some wiser peoples out there that might be able to explain what it is to me. I hope he is right."

Both Kili and Bilbo gave her a look that clearly said that they knew she was hiding something but Thalia didn't let that get to her. Instead she looked at the cave nearby and wondered aloud, "what do you think they will find in there? Whatever it is must be worth it, because that smell must be making them sick by now."

"Treasure." Kili spoke the word as if it explained everything and Thalia supposed it did. She knew from her memories of her other life just how much gold had meant to Thorin's grandfather, Thror. Shaking her head at that she looked away, "I wish them all the luck then, just so long as they don't drag me into the mess."

"Remember what mother used to tell us?" Looking towards her brother, Thalia couldn't help but smile. "Not all treasure is silver and gold. Sometimes the greatest treasures are right before our very eyes, we only need to take a closer look to see it." Nodding her head in agreement at Bilbo's words, Thalia felt her eyes mist as she remembered one of the times her mother had spoken said words.

-Flashback-

'I hate boys!'

Feeling her tears join the snot that already was streaming down her face, Thalia raced through the house. She was determined to make her brother pay for taking her treasure, a small stone from an ocean far to the north. A peddler had given it to her as a gift and she was so excited about it she had crowed about it to everyone she knew. Even Lobelia.

But being jealous because that's what it had to be, her brother had snatched the stone from her and when she tried to get it back he'd accidentally dropped it into the Brandywine River. She had called him a toad and had begun running back home.

She could think of only one thing to do to get him back and that was to find his treasure and throw it into the river as well. She was rifling through her brother's things when her mother had called to her, having heard the commotion from the kitchen. Seeing the mess that Thalia was in, Belladonna had pulled her close and asked her to tell her what was wrong.

Of course Thalia did so and to her youthful mind she just knew her mother would take her side. To her surprise though, when she heard Thalia's plans of revenge on her brother, Belladonna slapped her. It wasn't hard and didn't even really hurt. It had just stung a little.

She sat there gaping at her mother, whom never raised her hand against her children unless it was necessary. Belladonna then told her that holding a grudge wasn't right, especially if the cause of the rift wasn't on purpose or of the other parties making. She then asked Thalia if she wanted to hurt her brother, if she wanted him to never play with her or speak with her again. If she wanted him to hate her.

Thalia had blinked as she thought on this, her mind conjuring all sorts of scenarios. She had felt a fresh wave of tears as she shook her head, she told her mother she loved her brother and didn't wish to hurt him. Belladonna had just smiled and said that she should forgive him then, else he grow to dislike her.

Worried that such a thing might just happen she was about to run from the house to find and apologize to her brother when he walked in. She took in the saddened look on his face as he approached and felt her heart break. He then held out a coin pouch and told her that he was sorry he'd lost her stone but he would buy her a new one when the peddler returned.

She leapt at him at this point and had held tight to him as she apologized for calling him a toad. He returned her hug and seeing this their mother came over and embraced them both. She kissed them both on the forehead and had said the line about the true value of treasure.

From that day on Thalia had been determined to never take her true treasures for granted again, her family was the dearest thing she'd ever had.

-Flashback End-

'I miss mother so much, I wish I had gotten to learn more from her. I wish I had gotten to do more with her.' Her thoughts had her so occupied that when the rest of the company emerged from the hoard, she didn't even notice.

Thorin looked at the small jeweled dagger in his hand, he had taken the blade like Gandalf had suggested, but the dagger had been on a whim. He'd seen it sparkle with the emerald and ruby dragon on its hilt, it had drawn him near. He couldn't help but think of Rhean and how it would look in her hands, and then his mind leapt to how it would look with Thalia.

Before he'd realized it he'd picked it up. Looking up and around the clearing he saw his nephew, Bilbo and Thalia. They were all standing together and seemed to be talking about something. But Thalia looked sad and before he could halt his movements he made his way across the clearing to stand before her.

She didn't seem to notice him though. Feeling rather annoyed by this, not to mention wanting to know why she was saddened, he reached out and touched a lock of her hair. Thalia jumped at this, her hands moving faster than he could predict. In mere moments she had him on the ground and was kneeling on his chest, one hand at his throat and the other poised to deliver a punch.

Thorin just blinked in utter surprise, even as a memory tickled at his thoughts. Rhean had done this almost exactly to him once, the only thing different was that Thalia didn't have a knife or dagger of some sort in her hand. As if realizing what she'd done, Thalia's cheeks turned red even as she leapt off of him, backing up and away.

Thorin sat up but didn't get up all the way as he stared at her, almost seeing two instead of one. Shaking his head at this, Thorin was almost about to speak when sudden loud crashing noises sounded and a sleigh pulled by rabbits burst into the clearing. At its head was a man, not as tall as Gandalf but not small either. He was dressed all in brown and ignored everyone in the clearing as he began shouting gibberish.

Gandalf seemed pleased and perplexed to see the other as he approached him, saying his name. "Radagast, Radagast my dear fellow. Why are you here?" As the two men began to converse, Thorin remembered what he'd been about before this Radagast's appearance. Sliding his sword back into its sheathe he moved with sure steps the small distance to Thalia's side, her eyes had strayed briefly to the wizards but mostly had remained on him, as if gauging what he was going to do.

He stopped a mere couple inches from her and held out the dagger with a grunt. She blinked as she looked at it then at him, "this is for you. It looked like it would suit you." Her cheeks went red again at his words but a soft smile crossed her lips as she gently took the dagger, her eyes sparkled with something that made Thorin's gut twist.

Feeling his own face heating at this, he cleared his throat only to freeze when a loud howl sounded nearby. "What is that? A wolf?" Bilbo's voice broke the charged silence, "no, no it's not." Bofur's voice was low but it carried across the clearing. Everyone quickly became alert at that point, Thorin moved closer to Thalia whom had taken up a battle stance.

It was something else that quirked his interest but he filed it away for later as he motioned for Kili to prepare to shoot anything that approached. This was a good thing as a warg and rider suddenly burst into the clearing, Kili's shot was true and it took the rider out, his second only brought the warg down. The problem was swiftly taken care of by Dwalin.

Gandalf approached Thorin, demanding to know who all knew of their quest. Thalia moved closer to Thorin's side, unable to stand aside when he was being accused like that. Thorin grew indignant, "I haven't told anyone else!"

They were about to argue some more when more howls sounded, "an Orc pack." Thalia had whispered her words but she knew she'd been heard. Dori came running back into the clearing panting, "The ponies are gone, they've bolted. What are we going to do Thorin?"

Thorin looked about the clearing and was about to suggest a possible solution when Radagast piped up. "Let me, I've got an idea." He chuckled a bit while Gandalf shook his head, "you won't make it, and these are wargs." Radagast shook a hand in the air, "and I have Roscabell rabbits. I'll make it."

As he moved to get back on the sleigh with his rabbits, Thalia felt like she needed to say something so she moved over and smiled softly at him. "Thank you for helping us Radagast. I will never forget your kindness."

He looked at her for a long moment; the pupils of his eyes began to dilate until she was staring up into a pair of black pools. They seemed almost hypnotic, like they would swallow her up if she wasn't careful. His voice was raspy and cracked when he spoke. "Reborn of two races to fulfill a promise most pure, this promise is the key to break a dragon's curse. Break the curse or a dynasty will end."

Thalia blinked as she took in these words, they seemed to echo in her mind. Radagast shook himself and his eyes returned to normal, he looked at her in confusion for a moment before he smiled almost impishly. "Best step back miss, my rabbits can be a bit rough at takeoff."

Doing as he asked without a word, Thalia watched as the brown wizard whistled and the rabbits took off. He'd been right, his sleigh had jerked a bit before they were gone. She turned back around and looked for Gandalf; she needed to tell him what Radagast had said. She hoped he could help her make some sort of sense out of it.

Instead she found everyone packing up what they had quickly, Thorin looked around and sighting her he nodded at her. Thalia blinked in confusion before she understood and gave a nod back. Thorin wanted to make sure she was ready for the coming danger, even as they began to move out. She knew she had to be ready; she then sighted Gandalf at the edge of the clearing, peering around as he looked for danger.

She made her way over to him and he looked over at her with a raised brow. "Thalia...what is it?" Thalia rubbed her hands together nervously, "its Radagast. He said something strange to me right before he left, something I do not understand." Gandalf looked curious but hearing another howl nearby he knew now was not the time.

"We shall discuss this later Thalia, right now we'd best move on. Stay close to me and we shall reach our destination safely." Thalia smiled at the wizard and understood he was right, "Yes, let's get out of this mess first."

With that Thorin called for everyone to stay together and Gandalf shouted at them all to run, and run they did. Over hills and over a far stretch of terrain they ran, it seemed that they'd had to do a lot of doubling back thanks to the wargs darting all over the place. Even with Radagast's assistance, they were finding it hard to advance, but Gandalf seemed to know just where to lead them and Thalia had a sneaking suspicion about that.

When Thorin asked where they were being lead she knew he'd probably guessed as well. This didn't change the fact that they still had to keep running.

When they'd stopped for a moment, Kili quickly took down one of the scouts and Thalia jumped forward with Dwalin to kill the rider but his cries were silenced too late and they all knew it. Feeling her heart clench she looked to Thorin who had been watching her as one of the other's cried out, "where is Gandalf?!" "He's abandoned us!" Another shouted, Thalia sighed in frustration as she looked to her brother who looked scared but had held his ground.

She was proud of him for being brave like he was; she knew he was scared, for she was as well. She was about to reach out to him when a shout sounded from behind them. Looking they saw Gandalf as he waved at them, "this way you fools! Quickly!"

Not even thinking twice about it, she shoved her brother towards the wizard and began to run herself. She made sure to glance around as they ran, wanting to keep all of the company in her sights. She noticed that Fili and Kili were further away from the company than she would have liked and that there were three warg and riders closing in on them.

Feeling protective all of a sudden Thalia stopped, she picked up a few stones and with deadly accuracy threw them at the wargs. Two she hit in the face, one of them its nose snapped and it stopped dead. Kili took advantage of that and fired an arrow that struck the rider down.

The second wheeled her way, angered by her interference. Thalia pulled her sword and when it got close enough, she slashed the head of the warg. It fell, taking it's rider down as its body tumbled to land with a sickening 'crunch' on top of its rider.

The Third Fili cut down, killing both the rider and its mount. Thalia didn't spend time to celebrate she instead called to Fili and Kili. "Run idiots! Before more draw near."

The boys didn't need to be told twice. They both ran as if the very devil were on their heels. "Kili! Fili! Thaila!" Hearing Thorin's booming voice, Thalia turned and ran as well. She watched as Fili easily overtook her, passing and leaving her behind as he ran towards where Thorin stood. He was waving them on.

Thalia kept running, knowing that her body couldn't take much more before it had reached its limit. As soon as she reached Thorin's side, she turned to see if Kili had followed her. To her great pleasure he had and so she followed Thorin's instructions as he pointed down into the gloom of the cave before them.

She leapt down into the gloom, closing her eyes as she slid against the cave wall. A pair of arms caught her and she smiled when she saw that it was Balin. He nodded to her as he helped her to her feet, once upright Thalia turned to look up at the entrance, waiting.

Fili moved up to stand next to her, "why haven't they come down yet?" Thalia reached out and squeezed his arm in response, unable to say anything that would sound reassuring. It seemed forever before both Kili and Thorin finally came sliding down into the cave, Kili looked no worse for wear but Thalia was more concerned with looking Thorin over.

The entire company seemed to notice her distress and they quickly moved further into the cave, leaving Thalia standing before Thorin. He was looking up at the entrance and feeling she needed to do something, Thalia reached up to cup his cheek. "Thorin." He turned to look at her, his eyes troubled.

Her heart clenching in her chest, Thalia stood on her tiptoes as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a kiss. At first he didn't respond but after a moment he wrapped his arms about her and pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. They shared a beautiful moment before a sudden and sickening 'thud' sounded behind them.

They released each other immediately to face whatever it was only to find a dead Orc. Thorin bent down and pulled out the arrow that was protruding from its chest, he growled when he recognized it. "Elves." Thalia bit back a sigh as she grabbed his arm, "we're being left behind." He looked at her and after a moment nodded his head.

They caught up to the company easily; Gandalf and Bilbo had been waiting nearby. Thorin glared at the wizard, "where does this place lead?" Gandalf just raised his brows and before he could reply, Bofur called out, "There's a path!" Dwalin's voice responded, "Let's follow it!"

Everyone began to move down the aforementioned path and within minutes they'd left the cave. Her brother seemed awed by the clear feeling of magic in the air about them, but Thalia felt uncomfortable. As they moved on Thalia soon realized just where they had been led and felt her heart begin to race.

This was what Gandalf had been alluding too this whole time; he had brought them to the elves. She looked up at him with wide eyes and felt a sudden fear for what lie ahead. 'Am I ready to face my past self?' But he didn't see her fear instead he spoke in a maddeningly calm tone.

"Here lies the last homely house of the elves." Bilbo's whispered voice seemed to float on the air as he replied, "Rivendell."


A/N- Alright, a good a place as any to end this chapter. I hope to have the next chapter out soon.

Please stay with me.

May the Fluff be with you!

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