Chapter 22: Moonlit Runes

Edyth sits with Dwalin, an empty plate in hand. This night the company have kept to themselves, breaking down wooden furniture to build a small fire pit and cook meat. Edyth doesn't complain about it all, not even when they snapped a chair into pieces. The Elves are far too solemn for her liking. Everybody, besides Bilbo, seems to be in a good mood, laughing and mucking around like children. Edyth doesn't join in but watches fondly much like Dwalin does.

"Where's Thorin?" she asks him.

"Talking with the blasted Wizard I think," Dwalin answers in his usual growl of a voice. "Don't wander off tomorrow, Thorin's getting antsy to move."

Edyth nods, already aware of their leaders growing impatience. He was pacing around today by himself, the only one who dared approach him being Balin. "I'll tell Bilbo that."

Dwalin huff through his nose, leaning back against a pole with his arms crossed over his chest. "Don't bother. Don't think we haven't seen how happy he is here. He won't be following us out."

Edyth glances over at Bilbo who is sitting quietly to himself. "And you don't think I want to stay?" She swaps back to Dwalin, raising her brows in a small challenge.

Dwalin breathes slowly, his chest rising high to his chin before flattening back out. "Honestly, lass? I think you've got a lot more determination to continue on than him. Whether or not you should, well, that's not up for me to decide. I don't want nobody on this quest that doesn't want to be here. Thorin called for volunteers, not a Halfling too scared to leave his living room. But you… you put your hand up without even being asked and I think that says a lot about you."

Edyth swallows, turning her eyes back to the small fire. A part of her is touched by Dwalin's recognition that she didn't believe they saw. She knows she is determined. Another part of her is insulted on her brother's behalf, but Dwalin's words do not lie in her eyes, especially after what she saw today. If Bilbo wishes to stay, she won't cast judgement on that. "Thank you," she mutters distantly.

She doesn't realise how lost in thought she becomes until Dwalin is nudging her side with the hard bone of his elbow. Her head snaps up to him and he gestures to the other side of camp with his head. Edyth follows his gaze, finding Thorin staring at her with his arms crossed.

"If you will come with me, Miss Baggins," he requests. Well, it is more like a demand coming from him, but he had clever intoning to make it sound like a request she has a choice in. Edyth immediately gets to her feet, interested as to why her presence is needed. Seeing her coming, Thorin looks to Bilbo next. "You too Master Baggins."

Edyth and Bilbo share a look as he strides over to join them. Balin is standing off to the side, joining them as they follow Thorin away from camp. "Any hint to where you're leading us," Edyth requests.

Thorin gives her a side glance, one that shows his annoyance. But to her surprise, he answers. "Gandalf has called us a council with Lord Elrond and requested that our burglars attend also."

Edyth nods. "Sounds fun," she mutters under her breath.

They are led to a chamber, barely lit by torches around the outside but it has large open windows, the crescent moon casting its light over them. Gandalf and Elrond are already waiting.

"You never gave answer as to why you and your company are travelling along the Great East Road," Elrond muses lightly, though everybody in the room can sense that his words are not said for simple conversation.

"Our business is no concern of Elves," Thorin drawls in a challenge.

"For goodness sake," Gandalf snaps. "Thorin, show him the map!"

Balin is pacing behind Thorin, while Edyth and Bilbo stand just a little off to the side, still wondering about their presence. "It is the legacy of my people. It is mine to protect! As are its secrets."

"Save me from the stubbornness of Dwarves. Your pride will be your downfall. You stand here in the presence of one of the few in Middle Earth who can read that map. Show it to Lord Elrond."

There is a moment of silence and Edyth watches Thorin carefully. She doesn't think he will do it, but slowly the Dwarf king reaches into the pocket of his jacket. "Thorin, no," Balin gasps, reaching out to stop him. Thorin knocks his hand away, about to walk forward.

Something overcomes Edyth that even she cannot yet explain. She steps forward, holding her arm out to the side to stop Thorin's movements as she stares up at Lord Elrond. "Can you promise that its contents will remain a secret?" She feels Thorin pressing up against her arm, but everybody in the chamber shifts their attention between the Hobbit and Elf.

Gandalf shifts his weight, turning his head to Lord Elrond with a raised brow. Elrond peers down at her with his chin pulled to his neck. "So long as it does not endanger my own people," Elrond answers skilfully.

Satisfied, she drops her arm, looking over her shoulder. Thorin is staring at her with neither a glare nor smile. Just as stoic as usual, with a hint of bemusement. He looks back to Elrond, handing him the map.

Elrond opens the map. "Erebor," he reads. "What is your interest in this map?"

Thorin opens his mouth to answer, but Gandalf beats him to it. "It's mainly academic. As you know, this sort of artifacts sometimes contains hidden text." Thorin nods to Gandalf, then looks back to Edyth. She breathes deeply, unsettled, which seems to be the most common feeling she associates with Rivendell. "You still read ancient Dwarvish, do you not?"

Elrond holds the map under the moonlight. "Cirth ithil," he reads, breaking Thorin's stare at her. Edyth exhales, finally free of his beady eyes.

"Moon runes," Gandalf smiles. "Of course. An easy thing to miss."

"Well in this case, that is true. Moon runes can only be read by the light of the moon of the same shape and season as the day on which they were written."

"Can you read them?"

Xx

Elrond leads them a cavern that makes her jaw drop open. It has a magnificently wide mouth, open to the sky with numerous waterfalls pouring down from above. Though the path they walk upon cuts short. She observes that it must have crumbled away years before, as a pattern on the stone cuts off. At the end of the rock is a table of sorts. Perhaps it is not meant to be a table at all as it is made from a sort of crystal, right on the edge of the drop.

Elrond walks forward, laying the map on the crystal top. "These runes were written on a midsummer's eve by the light of a crescent moon nearly two hundred years ago. It would seem you were meant to come to Rivendell." Gandalf, Bilbo, Edyth, and Balin circle around him. Edyth being the shortest, pushes close to the front. "Fate is with you Thorin Oakenshield. The same moon shines upon us tonight."

With immaculate timing, the soft cloud that had been covering the moon drifts away, revealing the very crescent moon that shone upon the night the runes were written. The crystal slab absorbs the light in front of her very eyes, illuminating itself. On the map, runes begin to reveal themselves, shining in the same light blue hue of the crystal below.

"Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole."

"What is Durin's Day?" Edyth questions. She recognises the name of Durin and what it means but she does not know of a day special to the name.

"It is the start of the Dwarves new year," Gandalf explains. "When the last moon of Autumn and the first sun of winter appear in the sky together."

Thorin turns away from the map. "This is ill news. Summer is passing, Durin's Day will soon be upon us."

"We still have time," Balin says.

"Time, for what?" Bilbo pipes in, not catching onto the message of the runes.

"To find the entrance," Balin sighs. "We have to be standing at exactly the right spot, at exactly the right time. Then, and only then, can the door be opened."

"So this is your purpose," Elrond remarks, "to enter the mountain."

"What of it?" Thorin growls, almost challenging the Elf to do something. Elrond stands back from the map. Edyth takes the opportunity to stand closer, running her fingers along the map's lines.

"There are some who would not deem it wise," Elrond warns.

Gandalf frowns, holding his staff close. "Who do you mean?"

Elrond gives his friend a pointed look. "You are not the only guardian to stand watch over Middle Earth." The Lord leaves, Gandalf on his trail no doubt wondering what he knows. Balin and Bilbo leave as well, leaving Thorin to remain, watching Edyth become engrossed by the map.

Thorin walks forward slowly back to the crystal. "I did not think you cared to protect its secrets."

Edyth finally pulls her eyes away from the map but can't find the courage to hold his gaze. "I care about this quest," she answers honestly. "I care about helping you. And as much as I don't like you, I respect you as a person and I will do what I can. I'm not stupid." She forces herself to meet his eyes again. "I know exactly what this map means to you and your people."

Thorin looks down at the map that is gently propped up within her fingers. "And why do you care?"

Edyth bears a smile, blinking at the moon. "I think in an odd way you forced me to. You came into my home unannounced, then proceeded to have a meeting where I learnt that it wasn't just strangers, but strangers on a quest to reclaim their lost homeland. I'm not pitying you if that's what you think," she adds quickly. "I've grown fond of the company."

Thorin looks her over, dipping his head. "Fond of my nephews."

Edyth breathes out a huff out laughter, nodding to his blatant insinuation. "Yes. I am fond of them both."

"You spend more time around them then your own brother," he adds, staring right into her eyes.

Edyth nods again, though a little more slowly. "I suppose," she whispers. She turns back around to the table, leaning against it. The map now folded within her hands. Thorin doesn't leave, only taking another step closer to the table as well. Edyth glances at him from the corner of her eye. "Bilbo and I… we have never been close," she confesses. "In fact, my entire childhood was spent fighting with him. We grew out of the fighting and we love each other as a family does but we don't share that bond that you see with your nephews." She chuckles pitifully, not believing that she is spilling this to Thorin himself. "I think I want to be near them because I adore what they have. I want to be a part of it because I never had it with my own brother."

Edyth shakes her head, knowing that he has no care for her words. She's never spoken them aloud before, and maybe it is the fact that he doesn't care that they pour so easily from her lips. She opens her mouth, about to begin her apology but Thorin starts speaking, letting her words die in her throat.

"I was never close with my brother either. Frenin." Edyth turns towards him, giving her full attention as Thorin looks to the moon as he speaks. "I was always closer with Fili and Kili's mother, Dis."

"Was?" she dares to ask.

Thorin's solemn eyes turn away from the moon, back to hers. "He died in the Battle of Azanulbizar. Moria."

"Is that the battle Balin spoke of? The one with the Pale Orc?"

"Yes," Thorin breathes. "He was a part of the many that died that day."

Edyth breathes deeply, already foretelling that any sorrows she tries to give would be thrown away. She hates pity as much as he does. "Are we leaving Rivendell soon?" she questions instead.

Thorin's stoic expression breaks, his lips twitching up. "Eager to leave or eager to stay?"

"Leave," she admits freely. "I always thought I would like the Elves but they're too…cloaked." She rolls her shoulders as though to shrug off an invisible hand. "They're…unsettling," she describes, only coming up with the word she constantly feels while she had been here. "Sorry, that's a terrible description."

Thorin shakes his head slowly, pushing out his lips. "No. I understand what you mean completely." He takes a long draw of air, glancing towards the sky. "Do me a favour and go make sure the others are behaving themselves."

Edyth snorts, a mirthful smile pulling at her lips. "Them? Behaving? Didn't think it was possible." Nevertheless, she begins walking back inside.

"Edyth?" Edyth snaps back around, more than shocked to hear her first name. Thorin gestures towards her with his chin, an amused smile on his lips. "The map."

Her lips round as she glances down to her own hands. Indeed, the folded map is still between her fingers. "Sorry," she gushes, handing it to him.

Her mood stays lifted as her feet take her back to the camp, as usual, their voices heard well before she sees them. The smile only grows as she watches Bombur break the chair he is sitting on. "I classify this as behaving well," she muses to herself, entering the scene. They have all stripped of their outer clothes, ready for sleep but nobody looks ready to retire just of yet.

Swerving through the Dwarves, she reaches down, plucking a sausage off Bofur's spit fork.

"Oi!" he cries, gaping up at her.

Edyth smiles innocently, taking a bite out of it. She sets her eyes on Fili, stepping over legs to get to him. Grinning, she plops down next to him, leaning against the stone pillar. "Sausage?" she offers.

"Don't mind if I do," he cheeks, taking it out of her fingers, taking a large bite out of it. Edyth sniggers at the loud groan he emits, eyes squinting together as her cheeks raise.

It takes another hour or so, but the Dwarves settle down for the night, many falling asleep exactly where they were sitting. Fili has lain down, half on his bedroll. Edyth shuffles to his side along her knees, picking up his legs and heaves them onto the bedroll. Puffing slightly, she rises to her feet and looks around. Everybody else if somewhat fine where they are.

Except for Kili who has somehow fallen asleep on the stone ledge he'd been smoking his pipe on. Tiptoeing over, she debates waking him as he has the most peaceful expression, but his neck is pushed in such a horrible position that guilt would riddle her if she let him stay there.

"Kili?" she squeezes his shoulder, running her hand along his arm. "Hey." Kili's eyes groggily open, blinking hard. He makes a noise of confusion, trying to rise back up. Edyth smiles softly, brushing his fringe off his eyes. "Come back to your bedroll."

Kili frowns, brows pinching together as he looks past her into the darkness. Edyth giggles, holding her hands out. He slides his hands into her own, standing up slowly. 'No doubt fuddled from sleep', she muses silently. She guides him through the mess of Dwarves over to his spot next to his brother. He follows her along like a child, barely missing Gloin's outstretched fingers. Once they arrive, he almost falls back down, crawling under his cover.

Edyth shakes her head with a smile, planting her hands on her hips in a satisfied manner. Ready for sleep herself, she turns around, ready to make her way over to it when she sees something out of the corner of her eye.

Every muscle freezes, the shadow of a man almost hidden completely in the night. But they step forward, letting the moon's white light grace them. "Thorin," she breathes, moving a hand from her hip to her chest. "Is your new hobby watching people from the shadows?"

"Just didn't want to disturb you from your mothering."

She snorts at the label. "Barely. I just don't want to hear them complaining tomorrow." Thorin hums, brushing past her to the far side of camp. "You called me by my name earlier," she says before he gets too far. Hearing his footsteps stop, she turns around. "My first as well. Do I still annoy you?"

Thorin looks down at the ground between their feet for a moment then looks back up at her. "Very much so." Though his tone is grave, there is a twinkle of mirth in his eye that brings a hint of a smile to her cheeks.