A/N: I'm back with another chapter! I'm so happy you guys are enjoying this fic, because I wasn't sure anyone would be keen with the millions of Girl in ME fics out there. Thank you so much for reading and leaving comments, I read every single one of them.

I know I've kind of messed up the timeline in terms of when Smaug attacks Erebor and the start of the hobbit. It's 171 years between the two events and I know Thorin is 195 years old at the start of the hobbit, but bear with me please :)

Finally, I've decided to distinguish the scenes set in the "real world" and Middle-Earth, by having the ME scenes written in italics, just to make it easier.

And without much further ado - here's the next chapter.

Chapter Three

8 years ago

"I don't get it, why did you say no?"

"Because...I told you, I'm just not that into him."

Eleanor put her lips to the ceramic mug and sipped her coffee, enjoying all the flavors of the caramel letter. Goodness knows she'd deserved a treat like this after a week like this one. It felt like she'd spent most part of the school year studying and preparing for the end of year exams and this was the last week before they started. The calm before the storm, as Niamh dramatically called it, but she wasn't wrong.

Come autumn, everything would change and even though Eleanor had prepared for it, it still felt like it was too soon. It wasn't that she wasn't looking forward to starting university, but rather that leaving home after everything that happened felt strange.

Then, she knew, there was Thorin.

Ever since she was ten-years-old, the young dwarf prince had been a constant presence in her dreams. Except, a part of Eleanor wondered if they were dreams at all. Logically, she knew they had to be, because what else could it possibly be? The strange thing wasn't that she kept dreaming of Erebor, but that as she aged so did Thorin. Maybe it was the way that her brain sustained the dreamworld, but even so, something just felt different about these dreams. When she was little, the dreams would happen quite irregularly, but as Eleanor aged, they occurred more often. She always knew when they would happen as well, although she couldn't entirely explain how. There was just a particular feeling in her gut that told her it was time for another visit to Erebor.

If she was honest, a part of Eleanor was afraid that the dreams might stop happening when she moved away from home. She'd only ever had them when she fell asleep in her bedroom and therefore it made sense to her that maybe they'd stop once she moved away from home. There was no way she could know for sure, of course, but the worry was there.

"But he's always dying to talk to you." Niamh persisted and munched on a chocolate chip cookie.

"Why are you so keen for ...this to happen anyway?" Eleanor demanded, trying to not let her frustration show. "I thought you didn't like his friend group."

"No, I don't like Peter and Eddie. They're douchebags. The others are alright and even sweet. I just don't understand your reasoning is all, especially because you've been kind of flirty with him too."

Niamh was right. She had been flirty with Ash and he was both cute and an all around nice guy, unlike some of the company he kept. Even so, Eleanor thought it wouldn't be fair on either of them to start dating just before they both moved away for Uni. After all, Ash was going all the way to America and Eleanor would be in Scotland with Niamh. It just simply wasn't possible and besides, a part of her also felt like it was wrong.

"You like someone else, don't you?" Niamh teased with widened eyes.

"No!" Eleanor snapped, "Don't be ridiculous. Just because I don't want to go out with Ash, it doesn't mean there's someone else."

"Oh please Ellie, I've known you literally our whole lives. Do you think I can't tell when you fancy someone? I just don't know why you haven't told Zara and I about him."

How would Eleanor even begin to explain it to both of them? She loved her best friends dearly and they were like sisters to her, but Eleanor knew they wouldn't believe her. And anyway, it wasn't like she liked Thorin in that way. If anything, she saw him as a brother and a close friend. Not to mention that he was MUCH older than she was even if she liked him, which she did not. Eleanor wasn't even sure if he was real at all, even though every fibre of her being told her that he was.

Growing up, Eleanor had always dismissed her visits to Erebor as nothing but dreams, but the older she got she tried to make more sense of them. She started keeping a journal as a way to track them and see if there was any kind of pattern to follow. The other strange thing was that she was always the one who dreamt about Erebor and not the other way around. Every time she was there, Thorin was very much wide awake. In the beginning, Thorin commented on the fact that Eleanor always wore her nightgown during her visits, but it soon became normal.

At school, Eleanor decided to pick psychology for one of her a-level courses because it seemed to be the easiest way to learn about oneirology; the study of dreams. It didn't take long before she knew it would be the choice of study at university. It wasn't an obsession as such, but more an intense desire to understand why Eleanor dreamt about Erebor. Over the years, during her conversations with Thorin, she'd learned a fair amount about dwarves and their culture and she just didn't think it was all in her imagination. Out of her, Zara and Niamh, it was Zara who was the writer and artist. Eleanor was always more scientifically minded and sometimes envied Zara for her gift of words.

It was only a few days ago when the subject of lucid dreaming came up during one of her classes on psychology. Coincidentally, Mr Henderson had been talking about dreams and how they can be helpful in psychology and is often used in sessions. Apparently, Eleanor remembered, there is a technique called dream scripting which in layman's terms is an exercise wherein a person writes down their dreams (often nightmares) and writes a different ending, in an attempt to control the outcome of the dream. Mr Henderson explained that lucid dreaming was used in a similar way to scripting dreams, but allows the dreamer to take more direct control of their dreams.

"If I fancied, you and Zara would be the first ones I tell, I promise." Eleanor said in an attempt to change the subject. "Hey, I've got to run. Mum wanted help with shopping and I figured the sooner the better."

"I know you're just avoiding me, but I'll let you go."

Eleanor hugged her friend and grabbed her bag before hurrying out of the café. She hadn't lied to Niamh, she had promised to help her mum with the grocery run, but she also wanted an early night to try out some of the lucid dreaming techniques she had read about.

"You are getting sloppy, your highness."

"Dwalin, must you call me that?"

"Yes, especially because I know it bothers you."

"You are an immensely annoying dwarf sometimes, you know that don't you?"

"Aye."

Dwalin lunged forward with a glint of cocky confidence in his eyes. Luckily, Thorin knew his friend well enough to anticipate some of his moves and so he was able to shift his weight and step aside just in time for the younger dwarf to miss and fall headfirst into the snow. Despite being younger than Thorin by some years, Dwalin always carried himself like a somewhat grumpy older dwarf with a remarkably short temper that often got him into trouble. The fact that Thorin was often the instigator of such troubles was of course never spoken of.

"You are getting sloppy, friend." Thorin teased

The dwarf prince reached out his hand and just as Dwalin was about to grab it, something caught Thorin off guard. A familiar laughter he'd heard many times before, but never outside the mountain. Dwalin saw this as his chance to take revenge and so, when Thorin's glance strayed away from his opponent, Dwalin seized the opportunity to disarm Thorin and tripped him so that it was now his turn to lay in the cold snow.

As Thorin lay on the ground, with his long raven curls covered in white, sparkly snow crystals, he heard someone gasp behind him and couldn't help but to smile.

"I yield," said Thorin as Dwalin pulled him back up on his feet. "I must admit, your footwork is getting much better."

"That is because some of us practice. Come on, I hear the cook has hidden his home brewed mead in a secret place."

"And how do you know where it is, if it's secret?"

"We all have our secrets, do we not, your highness?"

Thorin nodded in agreement, knowing that Dwalin was far more observant than others gave him credit for. Nobody else knew about Eleanor and even though he and Dwalin were best friends, there were some things that simply could not be explained. In fact, Thorin wasn't even sure he could explain it. Eleanor had simply become a part of his life since he was young and even though it was strange at first, he was used to it. There were, of course, still many questions left unanswered, but a part of Thorin didn't want those answers.

"Why don't you go ahead," said Thorin, "I shall be right behind you."

"Indeed…" Dwalin said

The younger dwarf studied Thorin, as if he was trying to read his mind, but eventually he grabbed the weapons and made his way back to the mountain. Thorin waited a few more minutes until he knew for certain that Dwalin was out of sight and earshot before he exhaled a relieved sight.

"You are terrible at hiding." said Thorin, "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to know that Dwalin kicked your ass." Eleanor chuckled, "You were pretty good too, though."

"Thank you for those words of encouragement. It is nice to see you again, Ellie."

Thorin wasn't sure when they'd stopped being formal, but at some point he stopped calling her Eleanor because she insisted that she was only ever Eleanor to her parents and teachers. Sometimes, Thorin thought, he felt a little guilty that she was the one with a nickname and not him although Ellie never seemed to mind. There were so many things about their friendship which Thorin didn't fully understand, yet still accepted.

"What's this place?" Ellie asked, "I've never been outside the mountain before."

"This our training ground." Thorin replied, "Dwalin and I often spar up here. It doesn't echo as much as in the mountain."

"That's a fair point, mountains do echo. How long has it been since my last visit?"

"A few months. You told me you were studying for some kind of test?"

"Yeah, I have my a-levels coming up. If I get good grades, it means I might get into the university of my choosing."

They walked through the snow slowly and in silence for a while. Thorin had always known that Eleanor was going to university and while he was happy she was following her passion, a part of him was still afraid that it meant he would see much less of her. There was no substantial reasoning behind this fear, yet it still lingered at the back of his mind.

"Where do you wish to study?" Thorin asked as they walked, eventually reaching a spot where they could see the whole mountain.

"I'm hopefully going to Edinburgh University." Ellie replied, "It's a city in Scotland which is much further north than my hometown. It's quite mountainous actually and very old. Niamh will be going as well, so I won't be completely on my own."

"It is a brave thing to do. I do not think I could ever live anywhere without my family, no matter how much my siblings-"

Before Thorin could finish his sentence, something cold and wet hit the back of his neck. He turned around and realised that Ellie had run off and hid behind a rock. The dwarf prince raised an eyebrow and simply rolled his eyes at the pure childishness of the situation, but a smile still tugged at his lips. Quietly, Thorin knelt down, grabbed a handful of snow which he shaped into a solid ball.

"You truly are terrible at hiding," Thorin teased

"In that case, why don't you catch me." Ellie retorted smugly

Just as Thorin thought he'd successfully sneaked up on Ellie, she jumped up and threw a snowball right at him and then took off running. Despite their years of friendship, Ellie still underestimated the abilities of dwarves and so Thorin set off after her. He managed to grab her waist and then reached for her other hand. However, the dwarf prince for about her feet, which Ellie used to playfully kick at him. To his surprise, Thorin lost his balance , which in turn caused them both to fall. Ellie landed on the ground and he on top of her with such an oomph that they both just burst out laughing.

"Thorin!" came an echo from the mountain and Thorin sighed.

"I am afraid I have to -" he started, "Ellie, there's something I have to tell you, but,,,"

"Bollocks, I'm fading again." Ellie cursed, "What was it you wanted to tell me,"

"It's just that my father has arranged…."

"THORIN!" came the voice from the mountain,

Thorin turned around to see who was calling after him.

"I shall be a moment!" he called back

He wanted to tell Ellie about his father's plans and how he had arranged for Thorin to meet dwarrowdams from Ered Luin and Iron Hills to see if they would perhaps be suitable for courtship. Thorin had no desire to participate and he felt that Ellie had a right to know. Unfortunately, by the time he turned back around, Ellie was already gone.

To be continued….

There we go! Another chapter done and a slightly longer one this time! I'm having so much fun writing this and I'm excited to update again later this week! Thank you for reading!