As soon as I had made it back, Bilbo pulled me to the side away from everyone. "What's wrong?" I asked as soon as I saw the nervous expression on his face when he sat me down on a stone block on the ramparts of the front gate. Bilbo began to pace back at forth.
"Bilbo?"
He looked around, making sure no one was around before sitting across from me. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a bright jewel with every color of the rainbow beaming from inside of it. The Arkenstone. "Holy sh-" I began to yell when Bilbo sprung up and placed his hand over my mouth.
"You cannot scream. Do you understand?" He asked, pointing his finger at me as I nodded. Bilbo lowered his hand and went back to his seat after handing me the jewel. "How?"
"I picked it up the commotion. I don't know what to do with it. You saw Thorin, something is wrong with him." Bilbo explained. Technically I didn't see Thorin, I barely got to see anyone. They were all in the treasure room hunting for the Arkenstone. If only they knew where it was.
"I don't know Bilbo." I said messing with the jewel before handing it back to him. "But if it was me, I would toss it into the treasure room. Wash your hands of it. But the choice is yours. Whatever you decide to do, I would do it fast." I said, standing and patting his shoulder before heading off to my room.
The first item on my list of being back was to take a shower and eat. I found the kitchen and made me a sandwich, which looked suspicious, but I digress. I was hungry. I took a shower, while eating the sandwich, then promptly fell asleep in the shower. I woke up about an hour later, finished in the shower before I changed into some cleaner clothes. I changed into a cream sweater, my ripped jeans, my brown ankle boots, and a navy canvas jacket.
I found out that everyone was down in the treasure room, still hunting for the Arkenstone, except for Thorin, Dwalin, Balin, and Bilbo. They were in a large overhang over the city. In the middle of the room stood a large throne, where a large hole sat for the Arkenstone above it. "It is here in these halls – I know it." Thorin was telling the men, his back turned to them. I strolled up next to Bilbo and flashed him a small smile, thinking to myself that Thorin was correct. The Arkenstone was here, a lot closer that he would imagine.
"We have searched and searched…" Dwalin began.
"Not well enough!"
"Thorin… we all would see the stone returned."
"And yet, it is still not FOUND!" Thorin yelled, making me jump. I had never seen him like this. What had happened in the hours that I had been gone? I gazed over at Balin, he had to know what was going on with Thorin.
"Do you doubt the loyalty of anyone here?" Balin questioned. Thorin turned and slowly walked towards the two brothers. "The Arkenstone is the birthright of our people."
"It is the King's Jewel," Thorin said before he began to shout, "AM I NOT THE KING?"
I made a small gasp as I turned to Bilbo, now understanding why he was nervous. Thorin had changed. He had never acted like this during this entire trip. Everyone around him looked uneasy. No one knew what to say to him. "Know this – if anyone should find it and withhold it from me, I will be avenged." Thorin said before turning and walking out. Bilbo and I locked eyes, as everyone slowly went out and their separate ways.
"You need to talk to him." Bilbo said as soon as we rounded a corner. I stopped in my tracks. "Me?" I echoed pointing at myself.
"You are the only one he would listen to in this state."
"Ha! Yeah right, clearly you haven't seen how you two act together." I scoffed. Bilbo began to walk off in a different direction. "Oh no. You are not leaving me to deal with that!" I said to him as he continued to walk off.
"Bilbo Baggins… I'm gonna murder you tonight." I said, shaking my head before heading to where Thorin had gone off.
I understood where Bilbo was coming from, thinking I would be a good person to go talk to Thorin. But something was different with him. He wasn't his usual angsty self. Truthful, I was a little hesitant to go speak with him. I cared about Thorin, deeply. Hell, I probably had feelings for him, but I had been blinded by Bard. I thought I did have feelings for Thorin, but maybe I didn't. Maybe it was Bard I fell for. Maybe not.
I knew how Bard felt. But I couldn't read Thorin. I was so confused I didn't know what to think.
I spent most of my life thinking that no one would ever truly love me. Especially when I lived in Rivendell, I thought none of the Elves could love me. Lindir was only attracted to me, he didn't care about loving me. Then my bother left, leaving me alone. I had no one, so why did I need someone now? What made now so different? Was it because I wasn't focused on finding my brother? Was it because I didn't pursue either one of them, I let fate decide?
I walked down the hallway to Thorin's office, which was originally his grandfather's. I knocked on the door before opening it. "Mind if I come in?" I asked. He was standing over the desk, staring down at various papers. Thorin nodded and I went over and sat down in one of the leather chairs in front of the desk.
"What did you want to speak about?" He asked.
I opened my mouth to speak and no words came out. I had no idea what I was supposed to say. I closed my mouth then opened it again to speak but no words came out…again. "Uh…I think you are being a little hard on everyone trying to find the Arkenstone. Smaug made a mess down there, it is going to be a while before anyone finds anything." I said rubbing the back of my neck, expecting him to explode.
Except he didn't explode. He didn't do anything. It was as if he didn't hear me. "Hello? Middle Earth to Thorin?" I waved my hand in front of him. Thorin made no move or comment, he just stared at the papers on his desk. I stepped around his desk and stood next to him and touched his hand gently. "Thorin? Is everything alright?" I asked, making the move to turn him to face me.
It wasn't Thorin. His eyes had gone dull, his face had no emotion. It was just a shell of a man. Or Dwarf. The light that use to be in him was gone. "Thorin?" I said, gazing into his blue eyes. Before I could even say anything, Thorin wrapped himself around me and placed his lips on mine. My eyes widened with disbelief as I stared at him while he continued to kiss me. He pulled away and began to breathe heavy. "I have been waiting to do that for a long time."
My jaw dropped.
What just happened?
Thorin chuckled to himself before sitting down in his seat. "And I believe that is the first time, you have no words." He teased. I blinked at him in confusion before placing my hands in the air to make a time-out signal.
"Hang on! What just happened?" I said, going back to stand in front of his desk.
"Being here, reclaiming my home-" Thorin said while motioning to the room "has made me realize how easily I lost this place and how time is fleeting. I must take what I want when I have the chance before I lose it." he explained as I felt myself drop to the seat behind me. Thorin had feelings for me.
It felt as if my world had crashed. I had no idea what to do with that information, nor how to process it. It stirred, however, feelings of love and warmth in myself. Something I had not felt in a long time. When my brother disappeared, I was so heartbroken by the fact that he had left that I had closed my heart off from the world. I made myself believe that no one loved me, my mother abandoned us, and my brother left. The male Elves in Rivendell barely gave me any attention the only time they did was for amusement, like I was an attraction at a carnival. The only one who did me attention was Lindir, but he simply worshipped a fantasy that he had created of me.
It was only when I came into this company that I began to realize what it felt like to be loved again. Here was a group of strangers, who knew nothing about me and was willing to defend my life. Standing before me was one of those strangers, who had somehow fallen in love with this mess of a human being before him. I insulted him, teased him, thought he was the most despicable being to have ever walked Middle Earth, but I was wrong.
Time and time again, he had protected me from the moment we stepped out of Bilbo's door in Bag End. He cared so much about me in Laketown, that I didn't know how to handle it. Maybe that was why I ran when Laketown was in trouble. Maybe I ran because I didn't want to deal with the fact that I did care about Thorin. Hell, I probably love him.
A light touch to my cheek sent chills down my back as I turned my eyes to see Thorin's hand on the side of my face to guide my gaze to him. "You drifted away to your thoughts." Thorin murmured. I reached up to grab his hand, moving it away from my face. "That I did." I answered, rubbing my thumb on top of Thorin's hand.
"What were you thinking of? Something weights your thoughts. I've seen it since you returned." Thorin said dropping down to kneel to face me at eye level.
"I cannot say." I said, my voice barely above a whisper. I glanced up and stared at Thorin's eyes. They weren't empty and dull, his eyes looked peaceful.
That's when I did the unexpected. I pulled him close, placing my lips on his. We stayed that way for hours it felt like.
I let go first, much to Thorin's annoyance. "I need to go find Bilbo." I said before pecking him the lips and walking out of the office. As soon as I closed the door, I felt myself begin to breathe fast. I could not believe I had just done that.
I went back to my room, needing a break from everyone to digest what I had just done. It didn't last long when Ori had come found me to tell me that Bilbo needed to speak with me in the kitchen. I thanked Ori for the information and proceeded to make my way to the kitchen.
Bilbo was seated outside of the dining room, on a bench in the hall. I sat down across from him. "You requested my presence, barrel-rider?" I teased.
"Did you talk to Thorin?" He whispered, loud enough for both of us to hear.
"…sort of..." I answered, making a face.
"Aurora. You had one job. Well… maybe with you being there… doing whatever you were doing helped." He said, fidgeting with coat.
I shrugged my shoulders and watched at Bilbo pulled out an acorn and began to mess with it.
"What is that?!" a voice yelled out. We jumped and saw Thorin coming towards us. Bilbo stood up quickly. "In your hand!"
"It-it's nothing." Bilbo stammered, glancing over to me for help.
"Show me." Thorin demanded. Bilbo glanced again at me for help. I nodded for him to show Thorin the acorn. So, Bilbo opened his hand to reveal the acorn to Thorin. "I picked it up in Beorn's garden." Bilbo explained.
"You carried it all this way?" Thorin asked, his anger fading.
The hobbit nodded. "I'm gonna plant it in my garden, in Bag End." I smiled up at Bilbo. After all this, he still was thinking of his home in the Shire.
Thorin smiled down at his friend, "that's a poor price to take back to the Shire."
Bilbo chuckled. "One day it'll grow. And every time I look at it, I'll remember – remember everything that happened, the good, the bad. And how lucky I am that I made it home." The two continued to smile at each other. Yet there was something on Bilbo's mind. He opened his mouth to speak when Dwalin came running up.
"Thorin, survivors… from Laketown. They are streaming into Dale. There's hundreds of them." He said. I quickly stood up, relieved that the people of Laketown had made it. Thorin's facial expression changed, he looked angered at the news. "Call everyone to the gate." He told Dwalin before turning and striding off. "TO THE GATE! NOW!"
Bilbo and I exchanged looks, both of us unsure how to handle that information. We both headed towards the gate.
Halfway to the gate, Bilbo grabbed ahold of my arm and stopped. "Aurora, I don't think it would be wise to go to Dale. You saw Thorin. He has changed." I nodded at what Bilbo meant. I saw it with my own eyes. Thorin went berserk over an acorn, thinking it was the Arkenstone. If he found out what had happened between Bard and I, we would be dead.
"You're exactly right. Thorin's changed."
A/n: I really love Bilbo and Aurora's friendship so much! I love writing them in scenes.
Aurora really beats herself up for everything that has happened in her life. She never really got over how she was treated by the elves. Which I know sounds crazy (could elves really be that stuck up? Well I submit exhibit A: Thranduil). But I do see some of the elves looking down on her because she was human, and not only that she's supposed to be a princess. A princess of a ruined city. Which affects her even more- she KNOWS who she is meant to be/ would have been if she wasn't raised in Rivendell. Aurora has always been guilty of something that she couldn't control.
I also believe that even though I've never outwardly stated that Aragorn is her brother (Spoiler alert if you hadn't figured that out yet), if he knew that when he left to become Strider (which he does leave Rivendell to explore in the books) he didn't do it to hurt Aurora. Aurora has always had trust issues, so to have the Company care so much about her and then have Bard and Thorin who BOTH have feelings for her shocks her.
Wow…didn't think I would go that deep into that, but I felt like it needed to be explained.
