"Balin!" Bofur called as he entered the hall where the remainder of the company was, Fili, Kili, and Óin behind him. The old white-haired dwarf and Dwalin looked up at the dwarves entering the room, unbelievable relief washing over them. Laughter and joyous shouts soon filled the dusty room as the dwarves reconnected. Balin embraced his two unofficial nephews, happy to see them alive, along with Óin and Bofur. However, there was someone missing.
"Where is Thessa?" The laughter suddenly ceased and the company that had reclaimed Erebor looked over the group that had rejoined them, also noting the missing mermaid among their number. Fili stepped forward then to offer an explanation.
"She was wounded, when Smaug destroyed Laketown. We couldn't wait for her to regain her strength, so we left her with Bard and his children to watch over her." Fili held his breath for a moment as he waited for their reactions. He knew they wouldn't be happy that they had left her in Dale, but at least she was still alive, he hoped.
"You left the lass with that bowman?" Dwalin asked incredulously, brows shooting skyward. Thorin would not react well to that information at all, he thought. Dwalin halted his train of thought for a moment and turned to his brother.
"When was the last time you heard Thorin mention the lass?" he asked Balin, an eyebrow raised. Balin thought about the question, mulling it over and retracing the course of events in his mind.
"Not since he found the treasury, I believe." The dwarves and Bilbo all exchanged worried glances. Thorin had noticed the arrival of his two nephews and Óin and Bofur that they had presumed dead, but made no mention of his One.
"He hasn't forgotten again has he?" Bofur asked, hoping he didn't somehow slip back into that state that Thessa had rendered him in when they departed from Rivendell.
"No, no," Balin mumbled in thought. "He was quite distraught at the thought of her death when we watched Smaug destroy Laketown," he supplied. Bilbo caught Kili's gaze as Balin and the others tried to work out what exactly was going on with their king. The hobbit gave the dwarf prince a look that showed his anxiety with the situation and his desire to leave this godforsaken mountain.
Thessa opened her eyes to rays of sunlight filtering through the cracks in the walls of the crumbling home they had stayed in that night. The girls were huddled close together near the remnants of the fire in the old hearth and Bane was about a foot away from them. Bard lay slumped against the wall where the doorway was, a sword in his lap.
He looked so weary and tired, like all the weight of Laketown's misfortune rested on his shoulders. And now the refugees of that town looked to him alone to lead them out of that darkness. She did not envy that man, but she did have enormous respect for him. That is why she complied with his request to say her farewells to the company in person rather than through a letter.
Thessa lifted herself off the ground, wiping the dust on her hands on the blood-stained dress she still wore. She winced as she felt the still-healing wound tug as she moved. She had no shoes and so she carefully padded over to the door where Bard slept. She tried to ease the door open without waking the small family, but the old hinges of the door creaked as she opened it.
"And where might you be going?" the tired voice of the bowman asked, catching one of her hands in his own. Thessa paused, glancing at his hand around hers, recalling now that Bard had tried to kiss her once, although it seemed so long ago to her. The dream had severely altered her sense of time and reality, making it hard to readjust to the present time she found herself in.
"I'm going to say goodbye to the company," she whispered, glancing at his children to make sure they were still asleep. The bowman squinted and rubbed his eyes, dragging a hand down his face before standing.
"Let me accompany you," he offered. Thessa gave Bard a soft smile and shook her head.
"This is something I must do alone."
Bard searched her face for any signs of doubt or regret or really anything that might lead him to believe that she did not truly wish to leave them. But he saw nothing of the sort. He nodded to her and opened the door some more for them to both step through.
"I am planning on finding Alfrid, so if you would prefer not to run into him I would suggest taking the back road out the eastern gate and following it around until you arrive on the road that leads up to Erebor," he recommended.
"Great, thank you very much!" she gave the bowman a small smile and light hug as well. "Tell them I'll miss them," she nodded her head toward where the children slept. Bard nodded with a sad smile.
"I'm sure they'll miss you very much as well. Good luck with the dwarves, and remember that you are always welcome in our home," he squeezed her hand one last time before heading down a staircase that lead toward the center of the town. Thessa looked around for a walkway or another staircase that might lead her to the eastern gate as she quietly closed the door behind her.
Once she spotted an old crumbling staircase she carefully made her way down it, slipping at the end and earning a small cut on her foot from one of the broken stones. Unfortunately, she did not have time to search for a pair of shoes, and it wasn't important anyway considering she would be swimming home later that day. She slowly made her way through the old streets of the forgotten town and out the eastern gate. Well, it wasn't much of a gate anymore as it was a crumbling archway now.
She heard marching footsteps as she made her way around the outside of the city. It sounded like an army of armor-clad soldiers within the walls of Dale. She hoped it was help from some other kingdom or city of men there to lend aid. Whatever it was, she was sure Bard would know how to handle it, she told herself. It took a while to get all the way around Dale and to the road Bard had mentioned, but she finally made it and tread down the path and up to the from gates of Erebor, checking the makeshift bandage over her wound for fresh blood as she went.
Bilbo wandered about, battling with himself and the choice he made to withhold the Arkenstone from Thorin. He could give the dwarf king the thing he most desired, but would that only push him deeper into madness? Or would the endless pursuit of the stone drive him there as well, and bring them all along with him?
As Bilbo paced by a window he saw movement from outside the gate. He rushed to the ramparts to get a better look and spotted a young woman with long chestnut hair and a tattered yellow and red dress. It was Thessa! A joyous grin lit up the hobbit's face as he raced to find the company.
He found Bombur first, then Glóin, then Dori, and the rest heard the commotion he made and found him.
"It's Thessa!" Bilbo panted to the gathered Dwarves. "She's here! She's at the gates!" The dwarves scrambled over each other and nearly trampled the hobbit on their way down the front gate. As they made their way down, they spotted the barefoot woman stumbling her way over the rubble that lay at the entrance to the mountain.
"Thessa!" the dwarves shouted as they raced over to her. The mermaid's head whipped up in their direction, smiling at the company. She slipped on a rather large stone and lost her balance while she was distracted and crashed to the floor, tearing her dress sleeve and cutting her arm in the process. She was certainly starting to accumulate wounds at this point, she huffed to herself.
"Thessa!" Kili shouted as he was the first to reach her. The young dwarf helped her to her feet, checking her arm and surveying the wound she had just acquired. Soon they were both enveloped in a massive group hug and Thessa was nearly lifted off her feet. She let out a cheery laugh to cover the pain in her side, she would definitely miss this when she left.
"Hello, everyone," she laughed lightly as they set her down.
"We thought you had died!" Ori nearly shouted at her, relief evident in his features.
"I'm alright, Dori!" she replied with a soft glance at the smallest dwarf.
"I'm Ori," the small dwarf corrected, his face falling a bit at her mistake.
"Oh!," Thessa shook her head in apology. "I'm sorry, it's just been so long!" The company looked at her strangely when she said that.
"What do you mean?" Dwalin asked, stepping forward. "We've only been apart for a couple of days, lass." The balding dwarf gave her a suspicious raise of his brow as he leveled a concerned look at the mermaid. Thessa waved off the question as she turned her attention to the rest of the company still shouting questions at her.
"Your dress, lass!" Glóin pointed to the gaping hole in the side of her dress that was soaked in old blood around it. Thessa looked down at the where her wound was now bandaged.
"Oh yes, I was run through with a harpoon there and couldn't find a new dress before I came to say goodbye."
"Goodbye?" they all practically shouted. A shuffle of boots sounded from behind them and they all turned to see Thorin watching them from one of the causeways above them. He held their gazes as he slowly made his way down the stairs toward where they had gathered. Thessa felt her breath catch as she watched the dwarf king descend. He looked both regal and angry, and she did not like that look in his eyes. He looked almost alien to what she had remembered.
All was silent save for the echoing footsteps Thorin made as he crossed the dusty floor. Thorin stopped when he reached the group, looking at Thessa as the dwarves parted for him.
"Have you come to sing my gold away from me, serpent?" Thorin spat, a dark gleam in his eyes. Thessa was shocked at his word choice. He had never spoken to her that way, not even when they had first met. The rest of the company all had similar looks of shock at their leader and the way her spoke to his One.
"No, I've come to say goodbye," Thessa clarified. All eyes were on her now, looks of hurt, sadness, betrayal. Thorin looked her up and down before he turned his back.
"Good." He took a step back toward the stairs when something caught his eye. There was a light shining on the ground, a reflection from something behind him, something metal. He slowly turned his head, spying the shimmer of gold peeking out from the torn sleeve of Thessa's dress.
"Or perhaps,"he began again, "You would like to return what you stole."
"What?" Thessa asked in confusion. "I haven't stolen anything from you." Thorin stalked toward her, forcing Thessa to take a few steps back. Her foot stumbled over a rock behind her and she crashed to the ground, dust billowing into the air. She looked up from her position on the ground as Thorin came to stand over her. He hauled her up by her arm in vice-like grip, hand curling around her armband. Thessa shrieked as she tried to struggle out of his hold, but Thorin wrangled the golden band off of her.
Gasps came from behind him as he turned around with Thessa's armband in his hand. He let go of the mermaid, letting her fall back to the dusty ground.
"Thorin!" Thessa shouted, pulling herself to her feet, ignoring the sting of unshed tears and pinch from the harpoon wound. "Give that back." Her eyes turned dark with rage and her voice was cold and threatening. No one was going to take her armband, she swore, not even him.
"Thorin," Balin called to him, disappointment clear in his tone. "She did not steal this from you." Thorin cast his glare upon his oldest friend. Brows casting shadows over his unseeing eyes, lips curled into a sneer.
"She may not have, but how did an underwater kingdom come to possess gold and gems? Surely they came from this great mountain!" he accused. He was about to say something else when a stone struck the back of his head, clanking loudly when it hit the gold crown upon his head. He whipped around to see Thessa with two more stones in her hands, the crackling of anger coming from her almost tangible in the air.
"You dare strike you're king?" he ground out as he faced her. He fumed with rage as he stared down the mermaid.
"You are not my king," Thessa growled, eyes narrowed. Her chest was heaving now from how fast her heart was beating, thus causing her lungs to gulp in more of the musty mountain air. With every breath she took she could feel the wound on her side coming apart just a hair.
"Aren't I?" Thorin gave a sneer. "You stray too far away from my side and you'll die." Thessa froze for a moment, forgetting all about that little catch in their relationship. That meant she couldn't leave now. She felt her heart tighten at the thought of being stranded here so far from home. Her people needed her, but there was no way she could convince Thorin to leave this godforsaken mountain hole.
Thorin deposited the golden band into his pocket and produced a knife from his belt as he advanced toward Thessa. The mermaid tried to move back but the rubble was piled up behind her. Unless she could climb backwards over sharp rocks, she had to stand her ground.
"Uncle, what are you doing?!" Fili shouted from behind him. The dwarf king now stood inches away from his One and reached out for the familiar braid in her hair. Before Thessa could jerk back, Thorin had sliced the end of the courting braid off, taking the silver bead at the end with him.
"You are undeserving of this bead, snake," he growled. He grabbed hold of her left arm with his free hand, placing the silver bead in the same pocket as the arm band. Some of the company took a step toward the pair as if to stop him, but halted quickly when Thorin brandished the knife he still held.
"Please, Thorin," Balin gave the dwarf a sad, pleading look. "Don't do this." Thorin brushed passed the company, yanking the mermaid along behind him. Thessa struggled as much as she could to free herself, but the dwarf king had an iron grip. She felt fresh blood start to seep through the bandage and soak into more of the dress. Thorin yanked her up the stairs and down a few different hallways, snagging a golden goblet off the ground on his way. The others followed quickly behind the pair, speaking amongst each other in hushed whispers. They needed to help their friend before Thorin did something drastic that he would later regret once he had freed himself of the gold sickness.
They came upon a part of the mountain that housed holding cells with rusted iron bar doors and no light except that of the torches some of the dwarves carried. As they approached one of the cells, Thorin held the goblet he had picked up against one of the walls where a small vein of water trickled down the wet stone. Once the cup was full, he shoved Thessa into the first cell, and watching emotionlessly as she crashed to the floor, clutching her side. Thorin gave her a wicked sneer as he splashed the water over her exposed legs.
"Thorin!" Both Thessa and the others gasped in shock at their leader. Thessa watched helplessly as her scales came through her skin and her legs fused together, revealing her tail. Once Thorin caught sight of the golden scales of her tail, he took a step forward, only to be held back by Dwalin.
"Haven't you taken enough from the lass?" Thorin scowled at the balding dwarf, swiveling his gaze back to the mermaid.
"You will stay here indefinitely," he announced, his deep baritone echoing off the cool, damp stone walls. Thessa had tears now streaming down her cheeks. She was appalled that her soulmate could ever do something so horrid to her. He was definitely not the dwarf she remembered or fell in love with.