A/N: The Company reaches Laketown, and some feelings are finally exposed...
Before I can react, Dwalin moves in front of Ori, having picked up a thick branch. The man shoots his arrow, landing in the branch. Kili's first instinct is to grab a stone and throw it, but before he can, it's already shot out of his hand by yet another arrow. He was remarkable with the bow and arrow, even I could see that.
"Do it again and you're dead." The man speaks up.
"Ah, excuse me, but, you're from Laketown, if I'm not mistaken?" Balin speaks up, confusing me. What was he doing? Just in case, I prepare myself, magic roaring to life, waiting just underneath my skin.
"That barge over there, it wouldn't be available for hire, by any chance?" He continues, very cautiously. Ah, I see. Smart move, Balin, smart move.
"What makes you think I would help you?" The man asks, putting down his bow and arrow to move over to his ship. The others follow Balin towards the ship, and I find my eyes wavering off to land on Thorin. It's as if he senses it, his blue eyes moving to meet mine, and only when he gives me a nod in the man's direction, I follow them, slightly more at ease.
"Those boots have seen better days. As has that coat. No doubt you have some hungry mouths to feed! How many bairns?" Balin says kindly, all of us watching as the man begins moving barrels.
"A boy and two girls." The man answers, eyeing Balin briefly before continuing his actions.
"And your wife, I imagine she's a beauty." Balin continues, a smile on his face. Bard hesitates at that for a moment.
"Aye. She was." He mutters, a sad look crossing his face.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" Balin offers an apology, clearly thrown off by it.
"Ah, come on, come on, enough of the niceties." Dwalin grumbles, growing impatient.
"What's the hurry?" Bard asks at that, directing his attention to him now instead.
"What's it to you?" Dwalin fires back.
"I would like to know who you are. And what you are doing in these lands." Bard states, narrowing his eyes.
"We're humble merchants, sir. From the Blue Mountains, on a journey to visit our kin and friends in the Iron Hills. I apologize for my friend's behaviour, he can grow a bit impatient sometimes." I speak up, making my way to the front of the group. His expression softens at noticing that I'm a human too, as far as that's true at least, and I extend my hand for him to shake. He does so, and I smile at the strong, calloused grip.
"I'm Cameron. It's a pleasure to meet another human after this long on the road with only dwarves and a hobbit." I add kindly, making him smile back at me in return. Sometimes, a little feminine touch was all that was needed to calm everyone.
"I'm Bard. The pleasure is all mine. Simple merchants, you say?" Bard answers, returning to work on his barge.
"We need food. Supplies, weapons. Can you help us?" Thorin speaks up, making me curse him silently.
"I know where these barrels came from." Bard states.
"What of it?" Thorin fires back.
"I don't know what business you had with the elves, but I don't think it ended well." Bard says, looking at all of us. "No one enters Laketown but by leave of the Master. All his wealth comes from trade with the Woodland Realm and he would see you in irons before risking the wrath of King Thranduil."
"I wager there are ways to enter that town unseen." Balin speaks up.
"Aye, but for that you'd need a smuggler." Bard answers.
"For which we will pay. Double."
Now that draws his attention.
Soon enough, we're all on the boat. The widening river is covered with bits of ice, rocky formations hidden by fog. Luckily, our smuggler seems to know his way around. Still, there seem to be some amongst us who doubt him.
"Watch out!" Bofur exclaims as we near a rock rather closely.
"What are you trying to do, drown us?" Thorin snaps, glaring back at where bard is steering the boat. I'm sitting next to Bard, with Bilbo by my side.
"I was born and bred on these waters, Master Dwarf. If I wanted to drown you, I would not do it here." Bard fires back, not impressed in the slightest.
"He knows what he's doing" I add smugly, making Thorin glare at me.
"Oh, I've had enough of this slippery lakeman." Dwalin grumbles. "I say we throw him off here and we're done with it."
"Bard, his name's Bard!" Bilbo speaks up, sounding annoyed.
"How do you know?" Bofur asks, surprised.
"He told Cameron, remember? Also, I just asked him." Bilbo snaps, making me smile.
"I don't care what he calls himself, I don't like him." Dwalin grumbles.
"He's actually rather nice, you know!" I call out, making Dwalin grumble at me some more. When I glance upwards, there's a tiny smile on Bard's face.
"You don't have to like him, we simply have to pay him!" Balin interrupts. "Come on now, lads, turn out your pockets." Everyone complains about that, but they do so, and I can't help but roll my eyes at the small amount they manage to put together. They begin to argue about the ten coins they don't have, accusing Gloin, who then begins to protest and complain about how this journey has bled him dry, but the others are turning their attention elsewhere, and so do I.
The Lonely Mountain. It's covered in mist, but even then, the sight is magnificent from this close. My jaw drops, and I quickly close it, walking over to the dwarves, who are entranced by the sight of the mountain.
"Here, take it!" Gloin quickly says, shoving ten coins onto the pile, awestruck.
"You guys are terrible at counting. You still miss 15 coins, here." I speak up, having quickly counted the coins, then toss the needed coins onto the pile.
"Where did you get those?" Thorin asks, confused.
"You didn't think I would leave the Woodland Realm before taking something, did you? That's what Thranduil gets for keeping me from my dwarves. Also, I had a hunch we'd need money." I admit, grinning coyly at him. Instead of telling me off, like I'd expect him to, a soft smile appears on his face, and when he wraps an arm around my shoulder, squeezing me close for a moment, I'm pretty sure my heart skips multiple beats, a big smile appearing on my face. After that, we return our attention to the mountain. Our journey was coming to an end.
We're all hiding in the barrels as Bard nears Laketown. My stomach sinks at the sight of it, the homes built on the water displaying poverty, except for one big city hall in the middle. I can't see anything from within my barrel, and I find myself listening attentively to sounds that might alert me that something's wrong.
The boat stops, and I hear Bard walk off the boat.
"What's going on?" Thorin whispers, loud enough for all of us to hear.
"He's talking to someone." Bilbo whispers in return, somehow being able to watch them.
"Now he's pointing right at us." He adds, sounding a bit more worried now.
"Now they're shaking hands!" Bilbo sounds like he's on the verge of panicking.
"He's ratting us out!" Thorin whispers back, voice harsh.
"No, he's not!" I argue, right when a whole bunch of fish dump down on our heads. I quickly close my mouth and pinch my nose, the godawful smell filling my nostrils. Gross.
After that, we continue, and once we're out of hearing distance, the dwarves begin to complain. I don't know why they bother doing so, considering we're covered in fish from head to toe.
"This is disgusting!"
"So gross!"
"What a godawful idea!"
"I hate fish!"
"Just relax, boys! Think of it as a woman's private parts!" I shout teasingly, making Bard snort.
"I don't know 'bout you, lass, but that would be a rather foul smelling woman!" Dwalin shouts back, clearly annoyed.
"Cameron smells just fine!" Bilbo argues, making me snicker.
"And how would you know, hobbit!" Kili fires back.
"I live with her! She's never smelled bad before, I'm sure she doesn't smell down there!" Bilbo snaps back, which only makes me chuckle harder. Bifur barks something at that.
"Bifur says you smell very nice, Cameron!" Balin exclaims, making me throw a "thank you!" his way.
"Can you dwarves shut up for one second? We're about to pass the guard's post." Bard says, making us shut up quickly.
As we hear noises and people bustling about, we all become quiet. Tension hangs in the air, for now came the tricky part. I hear Bard talk to the guard in a friendly way, relief filling me, until…
"Wait a second. You have a permission slip for 'empty barrels coming from the Woodland Realm'. These are filled with fish!" A sleazy sounding man interrupts our way in, making me groan inwardly.
"Empty them, now." The voice orders, and that's when I begin to worry. I hear footsteps entering the boat, and someone grabbing my barrel. I place my hands against the sides of the barrel, bracing myself.
"People are hungry! What do you think they'll do when they find out the Master had ordered to toss all this fish back into the waters?" Bard asks, trying to save us from being discovered, as my barrel is being tilted to the side, fish beginning to fall into the water. Shit, I hoped he got us out of this.
"Fine, stop." The other man orders, clearly sounding displeased. I nearly sigh in relief when whoever had been holding my barrel puts it back down, footsteps leaving the boat.
"Don't forget we've got our eye on you, Bard. We know where you live." The man threatens him.
"This is a small village, Alfrid. Everyone knows where everyone lives." Bard fires back sarcastically. Turns out he was a man who stood his ground and stayed confident. The ship begins to move once more, and I'm relieved to know we'd made it inside. After a bit more time, the boat stops officially, and I hear Bard helping others out of their barrels, along with Dwalin grumbling that he can do it himself. When Bard nears my barrel, I raise my arm upwards, until my hand peeks out of the barrel of fish. I feel him grab my hand, and he pulls me out with ease, putting me down on the floor.
"Thanks, Bard! I knew you wouldn't rat us out." I say with a big smile, making him chuckle at it.
"Da! There's people watching our home!" A boy exclaims, rushing over to Bard. It's clear to see this is his son, the boy having equally brown curls, eyes, and a similar body, although he obviously hadn't hit his puberty yet. His eyes fall on me, then on the dwarves, and they widen slightly in shock.
"Bain, we'll have to sneak the dwarves inside. Here's the plan." Bard quickly explains to us what we should do, and we run off, silently and quickly, hiding in the shadows. After a few turns, I see the house he'd described, along with a boat that had two men watching it carefully.
"Who wants to go first?" Bofur asks, trying to lighten up the mood.
"I'm not going through a toilet!" Dwalin grumbles, some others protesting as well.
"Oh, you idiots! I'll go first." I say, rolling my eyes at them.
"Are you sure?" Thorin asks, placing a hand on my shoulder to stop me. When I glance up at him, I notice the worry in his blue eyes.
"It's just water and a toilet, Thorin. How bad can it be?" I answer, smiling softly. He nods at that, then lets me go. I take a deep breath, then jump into the water.
Shit, this water was freezing! I should've thought about this earlier. I quickly swim upwards, resurfacing with a gasp.
"Are you okay?" Thorin asks, and I open my eyes.
"Yeah, it's just very cold!" I answer, teeth already chattering. I turn around at that, until I face the bottom of the house where I can already see Bain get down the stairs, and dive under. After a few seconds under water, I raise my hand and feel the pole I had been swimming towards, then push myself further, moving my hands along the floor of the house until I find the toilet's hole, the smell filling my nose even underwater. I force myself to not gag, and grab onto the sides, pushing myself up. I gasp, taking in air, and Bain is quick to help me out of the toilet, making me mutter a quick thanks.
After me, Dwalin is surprisingly enough the first to come out of the toilet. Bain offers to help him, but Dwalin grumbles to keep his hands off him, making me roll my eyes. After him, Bain and I help all the dwarves and Bilbo out.
"You can put your clothes by the fire. Here are some clothes, they might not be the best fit, but they're dry." Bard says when we enter his house. I thank him and take the bundle of clothes from him, distributing them over the dwarves. After making sure everyone was getting dry and comfortable, I turn to look at Bard and his children.
"Hi! I'm Tilda, this is my sister Sigrid. You're very pretty." The youngest child, a little girl, says enthusiastically, making me smile and walk over to them before kneeling down so I'm at her height.
"Thank you, Tilda. I'm Cameron, it's very nice to meet you." I say kindly, and she smiles brightly at that.
"You're still in your wet clothes. You can borrow some of mine if you'd like, I'll go get them." Sigrid adds, giving me a polite smile.
"Thank you." I say in return, and she rushes off, quickly returning with a beige dress. Quickly, I take off my wet clothes, since there was no point in being proper anymore, not after all this time on the road, and I pull on her dress, glad to find it fitting me perfectly.
"You look good with it." She adds, making me smile. When I turn around to face the dwarves, Thorin is the first one to notice my new look, eyes widening slightly. Upon noticing their leader freeze up, all the other dwarves turn to look at me, making me blush.
"Blimey, Cam! I didn't know you could look so gorgeous in a dress!" Fili exclaims, whistling, which makes me roll my eyes at him.
"Manners, Fili." Thorin warns him, before looking at me once more, a tiny smile appearing on his face.
"You look good." He says, surprising me and making me turn even redder.
"T-Thanks." I manage to bring out, and then Bard's kids are surrounding me, talking my ears off.
The following hours pass by in a blur, confusing me terribly. That night, there's a big feast in honour of us. First, we'd been caught sneaking into the armoury for weapons, and then Thorin somehow had managed to talk us out of it, swaying the Master of Laketown with promises of gold and trade between Erebor and them. Bard had argued, and we found out that he was the son of the great Lord Girion, who had attempted to kill the dragon Smaug when he attacked Dale, with the few black arrows that existed, which was also the only weapon to kill a dragon. I was a bit worried about that part now, realizing we couldn't just kill the dragon like that.
Thorin's speech was the best speech I'd ever heard, if I was being honest, with Thorin being all regal and emotional, the expression in his eyes hitting me straight in my heart. I'd known from the start that I wanted to help him, to help the Company, and that feeling had only become stronger on our journey, as did my feelings for him. I hadn't, however, expected the people of Laketown to support us, considering they'd been one of the groups who lost almost everything due to Smaug.
Nonetheless, the Master of Laketown had chosen to side with Thorin, his only motivation obviously being greed, and he had thrown us a big feast, to celebrate us and to say goodbye, since tomorrow morning, we'd leaving for the mountain.
Right now, I'm watching as the dwarves and humans alike are celebrating, some of the humans playing music, some dancing, others eating or drinking. It was nice to see these poor people worry-free for a moment, even though I was beginning to doubt if we'd succeed at all instead of being burned alive. My eyes roam the room and land upon Thorin, who seemed to be just as troubled as I was, a stern look on his face. There's no one sitting beside him, so I get up and walk over to him, and sit down on his right.
"Everything okay?" I ask him softly, making him turn to me with a surprised look in his eyes.
"Yes." He answers curtly.
"You don't have to lie, you know. I could tell you were worrying yourself all the way from there." I say, lightly nudging his shoulder.
"I've never doubted this journey, or myself. You know, never doubted that we'd succeed. But now that I'm here…" He begins, trailing off.
"You're scared that our plan will fail, and that we will all perish." I add, flashing him an understanding smile.
"Yes, that. What if I'm not the rightful King Under the Mountain? What if I brought all of you with me, just to be the reason you die?" He asks, blue eyes reflecting all his worry and uncertainty.
"We knew what we were getting ourselves into when we began this journey. Every single one of us would die for you, Thorin." I answer, turning serious.
"I don't want you to die for me. I dragged all of you away from your family, and for what? A lost mountain with tons of gold and a dragon as a guard." He mutters, his shoulders dropping slightly.
"We're here to get your kingdom back, to return the dwarves to their rightful home. Don't worry yourself too much about what comes next, Thorin, it will only make you doubt yourself. If there's one King whose fate is to rule over that mountain, it's you." He smiles at that, and I grab his hand, squeezing softly. Our eyes meet once more, and something in the air changes, making me subconsciously lean into him. His eyes drift down to my lips, and my stomach turns at it. Was this really going to happen?
"Cam!" Both Thorin and I jump away when Kili calls my name, and inwardly I groan. He hadn't been well ever since he got shot by the orc, but tonight he was so excited that it seemed as if he was all fine and dandy. I just hoped it would stay that way.
"What is it, Kili?" I ask him, my voice slightly higher than usual, clearly betraying me.
"Will you show me how hobbits dance? Bilbo says he'll only do it if you join us." He asks, a big grin on his face. I glance at Thorin for a moment, who gives me a nod.
"Sure! Come, Thorin." I answer, grabbing the King's arm. He gives me a startled look at that, spluttering protests.
"What? I need a dance partner." I say, not leaving room for any more protest, and he sighs at that, allowing me to drag him along to the "dancefloor", which was just an area of wooden planks where the humans were dancing along with some of the dwarves. I stop and Thorin follows, blue eyes searching mine with suspicion. I flash him a smirk, and I can tell he knows I'm up to something. When a familiar hobbit song begins to play, my eyes find Bilbo, who's talking to the band, a mischievous look on his face.
The song begins slow, and Thorin stands there, not knowing what to do. I begin to move like I would at a hobbit party, focusing on the King in front of me. I begin to slowly move my hips, and Thorin's ears turn red, making me smirk. Bilbo cheers, and joins me to dance, dragging along Fili and Kili, who try to imitate me as best as they can. I get into the movement, and begin to bust my moves, dancing in front of Thorin and going through my hair with my hands, his eyes trained upon me. I come closer, bodies touching, noses only a breath away, when I take his hands and put them on my waist, urging with my eyes for him to dance along with me. Clearly, no one knew that hobbits could dance very sensually, but their parties were legendary for this reason.
"Just follow my movements." I say to him with a wink, and to my surprise, he begins to move along. Honestly, Thorin's not bad at all, once he gets past his awkwardness. His hands pull me a little closer, his hips beginning to move along with mine, and a smile appears on his gorgeous face. He begins to get the hang of it and I chuckle when he twirls me around for a moment, then pulls me back into his arms.
"You're actually enjoying this, aren't you?" I ask him, smiling up at him as we continue to dance.
"It's hard not to enjoy dancing when you have a beautiful woman in your arms." He answers, voice deep, and my stomach does a flip.
"That's sweet. Thank you." I mutter, feeling myself turn red.
"Let's get out of here." He whispers suddenly, lips moving to my ear, the sweet words entering my mind seductively. When I look into his blue eyes, all I see is mischief, and I'm positive he's never looked this happy, this carefree, before this moment.
"Okay." It's all I can bring out, speechless to see this different side of him, and allow him to take my hand, fingers interlacing as he leads me away from the crowd. The sounds of people partying and music playing fades away into the background as we walk through Laketown, still holding hands. At one point, we cross a bridge, but Thorin stops halfway, head turning towards the Lonely Mountain. I stop as well, and follow his gaze, the mountain magnificent in the moonlight. Without thinking I let go of his hand, only to wrap my arms around his waist and hug him sideways, head resting on his chest, right where I can hear his heart beating strongly. My stomach does a flip, and I hold onto him more tightly so he can't feel that my hands are shaking badly. His left arm wraps around me, pulling me even closer. After a while, both of us just staying like that in comfortable silence, I pull back a bit, placing my hands on his shoulders so I can see his face, bathing in moonlight, his blue eyes shining like sapphires. He glances back down at me, blue eyes meeting my own brown ones, and I almost begin to feel breathless at the sight of him, still not used to his beauty after all these months, so I return my gaze to the mountain instead.
"It's beautiful." I whisper softly.
"Aye, it is." He whispers back, but when I look back at him, I realize he's looking at me instead, an intensity in those blue eyes that makes my cheeks blush. Our noses are nearly touching, and I find myself turning my head more towards him, eyes darting down to his lips before going back up to his eyes. I'm sure he can hear my heart hammering in my chest by now. Thorin searches my eyes for a moment, and I don't know what it is he sees there, but something has definitely changed in the air. He leans in closer, and slowly, as if he's scared that I'll break, he kisses me.
I shift slightly, my lips brushing his, and all I can feel is fireworks. I feel my magic burst out of my body, but Thorin is all I can think about, and I place my hands on his cheeks to pull him closer to me, the kiss turning rather passionate real quick. One hand grabs my hip and pulls me into him, the other moving up into my hair, lightly scratching the base of my neck, and I moan when I feel his tongue slide against my bottom lip, asking for entrance. It's all he needs to slip his tongue inside, and it's like a dam breaks inside of me, all my emotions being poured into the kiss, and in return I feel his. I would gladly stay like this until I die, but Thorin eventually pulls back, making me gasp for air that I didn't even realize I needed.
"Y-You're glowing, Cameron." He brings out, chest heaving up and down, and I'm glad that I'm not the only one who's breathless after that.
"I-I am? Shit, I'm glowing!" I exclaim, looking down at my arms to find a bright white light radiating from them. As I catch my breath, however, the light slowly fades, my magic retreating into my body.
"I hope that doesn't happen every time we kiss, because that would be awkward." I say, making him chuckle and pull me closer once more, a bright smile on his face.
"Let's find out."