Wandering into the wild

by Risa Zugva

Thorin had his life all planned up but then some dragon-fire later everything changed. Was it all for the worse? Or is there something bestowed for him? Much later Bilbo thought he knew everything there is to know of life. These two unrelated men seemed destined never to meet, but then again. What had life in stored for them they could never predict.

3. Calmness

Beta-ed: TattoedLibrarian

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Thorin's father Thrain wasn't a gentle man, but that wasn't expected for being a dwarf. Harshness, loudness, strength and rock-like endurance was needed to penetrate the mountain, to make the stone bow and listen.

Thorin's grandfather Thror sometimes seemed like he himself had turned to stone. He managed to sit still, not moving a muscle and that Thorin would have believed he died if it wasn't for his sharp eyes observing, waiting, inspecting. It was his grandfather that introduced him to their vaults, instructing him on the value of their gold and riches.

Thorin's father introduced him to the more direct things like fighting with swords, axes and bows. It soon became clear that his weapon is the sword.

"There's no shame in it" said his father "not all dwarves are ones to wield the axe on the battlefield. When blood is shed there is no room for pride or falsehood, to keep yourself alive, and your allies victorious you need to be truthful about what you can and can't do."

After that he was left to the trainers and he learned the joy of being in motion, of being strong and agile, of having power of your own, the one you didn't have to wait for decades to come.

As his skill with the sword grew, he stood taller feeling he was fulfilling his place honourably.

Being young in the dwarfish kingdom wasn't easy, especially if you were a young prince in which all eyes stared trying to decipher what the years to come would carve into his features. That's why he learned how to hide his inner doubts, his fear that he was too soft inside for a dwarf, for a king. But he hoped that it was only because of his age.

That was the reason he watch his father and grandfather even more closely trying to mimic their posture, to find within himself that kind of durance, calmness of the stone. He walked amongst other dwarves feeling the distance that they made as he walked by. He was the prince after all and it was needed, the distance and the dignity. But sometimes he caught himself watching them too long as they banged their heads, clapped their backs, drank their drinks and laughed out loud as the song and the story became louder and louder.

He was the still point of calmness in the sea of motion and that was the way things were, that was his place in the world.