Thorin tried to convince himself that Alyssae only said those words because she was panicking, but still her words cut through his soul. He would give up anything for her - even his kingdom, he feared - but Thranduin's life seemed of more value than his. He tried to forget he reproaches, but he couldn't. Again he was doing things wrong in her eyes.

He just wanted to close the door fully when he suddenly heard hasty footsteps. He left the door a chink open, looking hopefully inside, although it could be only one person. The elf.

"You succeeded?" he asked, pulling the door a little more open to let Thranduin through.

"Yes. I - "

He had no time to give any explanation, for Alyssae threw herself into his arms. "You're alive!"

"Of course." He kissed her cheek, and a big smile appeared on her face.

Thorin turned around and closed the door. Although Thranduin had spread the gas, he didn't feel very comfortable. What if Smaug discovered something was wrong? Would he break out and find them? He was afraid the monster could appear behind them any moment, incinerating them with his fire.

"We have to hide," he spoke after sealing the door.

"Why?"

The muscles in his neck tightened. Why did she always have to question his orders?

Luckily the rest of his men stood up. "This is Smaug," Bofur explained. "You never know."

They returned to the mines where they had dug the last days. He sighed when she looked hesitating at the entrance. He didn't want to start a discussion again and he just walked past her. She had slept in a stable before, in a bed of dung, and he hadn't heard her complain then.

He didn't see Alyssae for the rest of the night. She kept sitting on the entrance of the mine, where she could watch the stars, while Thorin closed his eyes in the darkness of the mine, along with his men, trying to fall asleep.

Halfway the night he woke up because he thought to hear something roar. He stood up and walked outside, with leaden steps and a hammering heart.

Alyssae's eyes gleamed in the moonlight when she looked up to him.

Thorin looked away and stepped over her legs, that were spread across the ground, while staring to the horizon, afraid to see a red glow.

"What's wrong?"

Her voice sounded soft, as a whispering summer breeze. He shuddered a little when she wrapped her arms around him. "I regret my words. I didn't think and - "

"I thought I heard Smaug."

He didn't want her to think that her words kept him from sleeping. Meanwhile he was used to words like that and he worried more about the destroying power of a dragon than about the angry accusations of a quick-tempered elf.

"I heard nothing." With her thumbs she brushed his collar-bones. "It was just a dream. Smaug is dead, Thorin."

He did not answer. He would only believe those words when he would observe Smaug's carcass from very close.

For some time they stood that way. Her hands rested upon his upper arms and the back of his head leaned against her soft cushions.

"I was mean."

Thorin shrugged, but he couldn't say he didn't care. That would be a lie.

Alyssae turned him around and looked into his eyes. "I am sorry."

"I know," he groaned. "But thereby your words do not leave my thoughts."

"You did the right thing," she answered, touching his cheek. "I had left behind Thranduin. I could not think clearly."

Thorin kept silent, wondering if she had came to the same conclusion when Thranduin had not left Erebor in time.

She bowed forward to kiss his lips, but he turned his head away unwillingly.

"I know I am not your king, Alyssae, which I thoroughly respect, but sometimes it makes things very difficult when the largest part of this company are my followers. I don't want to justify my decisions all day."

Alyssae kept looking at him. "Then you know how I feel."

"But it is my task to guide this people. Not yours. I don't interfere with the way you lead your people. I don't want to deny that you have great ideas or claim that I don't need you, but it will not benefit my dominion if everyone knows that." He took a deep breath. "No matter how we put it: you will always be an elf and I will always be a dwarf."