It took some time before Alyssae was recovered from shock. Only when she didn't saw a reason to panic she carefully stepped to the window again. The pigeon was still on the ground. A wooden shield laid next to it and she was baffled. She climbed through the window and stared staggered at Thorin, whom leaned to the wall a few meters away and read the letter.
'What the hell do you think you're doing?' she yelled. She jumped from the window, stepped towards him and tried to hitch the parchment from his hands, but he turned his back to her.
'You are the most horrible king I've ever met!' she raged. She grabbed the piece of wood and threw it away angry. 'Give me my letter back.'
Slowly he turned his face towards her. 'Take back your words first.'
'Why? I never met such an idiot. Even those awful goblins were nicer to get on with, you retarded cow!'
His cheeks turned red, but Alyssae didn't care. 'You could have decapitated me!' She however insulted him so badly he wasn't able to speak, but she wasn't satisfied with his silence. Not this time.
She took a deep breath and shook her head. 'You wanted to check me out, didn't you? You wanted to see if I told no one about your little trip to Erebor!'
Thorin stared at his feet. His face was still red, but Alyssae didn't know if that was caused by anger or embarrassment.
'I guess it must be hard for you to find out I didn't even mention you! I even have written in a language you can read, as if I had foreseen this idiot action! Such a pity I turned out to be trustworthy, huh!' she yelled cynically.
She got the feeling she was talking to a wall. This afternoon she hoped to stroke him a little, but nothing seemed less true. She aimed at his hand and pulled out the letter. Dear God, she was so relieved the letter didn't reveal who she really was!
She placed her hands on her side and looked at him firmly. 'I expect your apologies.'
Thorin stared scornful at her, before he looked the other way. 'Don't give me orders.'
'That's something you should have thought about before. You didn't have the right to read my letter.'
'I couldn't take the risk.'
'No? Well, neither do I! I can't take the risk to travel with someone like you! You'll get us into trouble if you don't treat others respectfully and that isn't something a king should be proud of, hmm?' she sneered. 'Don't you know anything about diplomacy? How could you take the responsibility of others when you don't even dare to account for your own deeds!'
Because he was still avoiding her looks, she knew she had penetrated into his dull brains.
'Okay. Sorry.'
He spoke the word amidst a lot of sniffing and mumbling, which made it hard to hear, but Alyssae still believed it was a large step.
'Maybe you're right.'
She stepped back a little, out of his personal space, even though he exceeded hers twice today.
She turned her back to him and picked up the bird from the ground. 'If he's dead, you may explain it to Beorn.'
'It's just a bird,' the dwarf hummed.
Alyssae really wanted to throw a rock at his head. When he had tried to get to know their host a little, he should have known Beorn would never accept these heartless words.
'In his eyes you are just a dwarf.'
She whispered something to the little bird and slowly he moved again. She tied the letter to its feet again and looked at Thorin. 'Do I have your permission, majesty?'
Thorin ignored her irony and snatched his shield, after which Alyssae opened her hands so the animal could fly away.
'You are the only one who doesn't trust me,' she noticed while she watched the pigeon fly away.
'Which is troubling me. You even kiss Dwalin's ass now.'
Alyssae rolled her eyes. 'I'm kissing nobody's ass. You shouldn't flee the fun the whole time.'
'I don't get my throne back with fun.'
'It would make you at least less intolerable,' Alyssae answered while she closed the window. 'That would be good for everyone. I propose you come with me. I baked a pie with Ori and Bombur. You have to make up some things.'
Thorin looked at her with a threatening frown. 'Since I swallowed all your crude insults, I believe we're even now.'
She pouted. 'There's no poison in it?'
'What do we celebrate?' he sniffed.
'The fact that Thorin the Stupendous is on his way to chase away a big lizard from his royal residence. What else?'
For a moment there was a glimpse of a smile around his lips, but it disappeared so quickly she didn't know if it was more than just her imagination.
'It's almost dark and I assume you don't want to be torn apart by a bear.'
She didn't know why she wanted him so badly to come with her. Somehow she was constantly wondering what he was doing on his own and she wanted to forget that question for just one hour.
Thorin didn't admit verbally, but she noticed he walked after her towards the door. Content she closed the door behind them, glad she had cursed him without being chased away. Would others have done it so well too? She was probably the only one who dared to dig his heels. She probably went too far by calling him names, but she couldn't control her indignation.