Chapter Seven

Tabitha's POV:

As I went to search for my parents, another concern popped in my head. What of Thorin and the rest of the Company? What happens if they find out who I really am? They're going to hate me, an oust me out of the company! But I dismissed the thought for the moment as I came near my parents quarters and I knocked on the door. The door opened, there stood my father. He looked really different now since the last time I saw him. He was dressed in silver robes, his brown hair down to his shoulders.

"Father?" I said. "My dearest daughter! You've made it! I never thought I ever see you again!" exclaimed my father, as he embraced me. It was then I remembered I felt angry at him and mother for withholding my true heritage from me. "Enough with the pleasantries father." I snapped, pushing him away from me. "Tabitha, what's wrong?" asked my father. I spun around and glared angrily at him. "I will tell you what's wrong! Why haven't you and mother told me the truth of who I am? What didn't you tell me we're elves?!" I shouted at him.

"Tabitha, we wanted to tell you. But by the time we wanted to tell you, the portal of bringing us here, opened, and we didn't want to miss it, so we took the portal to bring us back here." My father replied. "Sorry excuse father. This should've been told to me long ago! I'm going on a quest with thirteen dwarves, and if they were to find out who I really am, they would kick me out! And one of those dwarves I'm courting!" I snapped, and I quickly covered my mouth.

"Tabitha, please tell me you didn't say what I think you just said." said my father. "You heard me correctly, father. I'm courting a dwarf, in fact, none other than Thorin Oakenshield himself." I said. "Tabitha, I know its been years since we last seen you, and your heart is in the right place, but I fear this relationship between you and Thorin isn't going to work out. You deserve better than this." said my father. "You don't know Thorin Oakenshield as well as I do, Father! He's loving, he's cares for his people, courageous and brave! At least he's ten times better than Alex, who done nothing but hurt me!" I shouted.

"That's what I'm worried about, Tabitha. We all know dwarves are greedy and selfish-and I known of the Durin's history of the gold sickness. I really think you're making a bad choice of going, Tabitha." said my father.

"I cannot believe this crap! I've been brought here to Middle Earth to hear this?! Not only you lied to about my heritage, father, now you are telling me I cannot go on this quest! I wished I never came here!" I screamed, and bolted out of the room. I could hear my father calling behind me, but I chose to ignore him and headed for the dining hall. As I entered, I sat down with Thorin, Gandalf and Elrond. "Where have you been?" whispered Thorin. "I will tell you about it later." I grumbled.

"You seemed distressed, Tabitha. Are you alright?" asked Elrond. "No, Elrond. I'm not alright. I wished I never came here in the first place. Nice going, Gandalf!" I said sharply. Thorin just looked at me. "We should talk about this now, Tabitha." said Thorin. "No, not right now Thorin. Could we discuss it later? I'm too upset to talk!" I said. I stood up and excused myself as I went out onto the balcony and sat down looking up at the stars.

No one's POV:

No soon as Tabitha sat down on the bench, she could hear heavy footsteps behind her. "Tabitha?" spoke up a deep voice from behind her. Tabitha looked up and she saw Thorin approaching her. Great, there's Thorin! I'm going to explain this situation to him? thought Tabitha.

"Are you alright, Tabitha? You came into the dining hall very upset. What's going on?" asked Thorin gently as he sat down beside her. "I really shouldn't talk to you about this, Thorin. It's a personal issue I'm having, and if I tell you, you're going to hate me." said Tabitha. "Tabitha, go ahead and tell me. You know I would never hate you. Go ahead and tell me what is troubling you." said Thorin. "Oh alright, here it comes." said Tabitha, and she told him everything that was told to her from Elrond and Gandalf.

When she finished telling him, her fears indeed came true. Thorin became angry. "Which means you're an elf! You're a tree shagging elf!" snapped Thorin. "Thorin, this really isn't my fault-my parents lied to me about my heritage, I was never told about this until now! You have to believe me, Thorin!" I said. "Here I was, staying with you for two months, giving you my full trust! AND NOW THIS?! How could this happen?! Why would you do such a thing to me, Miss O Hara?!" shouted Thorin.

"Thorin, didn't you hear what I just said?! Oh come on, Thorin! Be reasonable!" Tabitha pleaded. "Reasonable? How can I be reasonable on this? You just lost my trust, Miss O Hara, and I will NOT have some low life ELF joining us on our quest!" barked Thorin.

And Thorin stormed back inside. Tabitha screamed, as she collapsed to the ground and wept. The dwarves saw Thorin storming back inside in a foul mood. Bofur had just finished his song, and they noticed the leader's change in mood. Balin approached the dwarf leader. "Thorin, are you alright?" asked the older dwarf. "We've been betrayed, Balin. Tabitha isn't really a human-she's an elf. She found that out today. That's explains we didn't see her much at dinner!" snarled Thorin.

"WHAT?!" shouted Dwalin. "And we trusted her too! What a shame!" said Fili. Balin honestly didn't know what to think of this. "Where is she?" asked Balin. "Still outside on the balcony. She will not be joining us on our quest. She has a home here." said Thorin, and he walked away, as he decided to take the rest of his rant out on Gandalf. As for Balin, he always believed there are two sides of a story, and the dwarf went to find Tabitha. He shortly found her sprawled out on the floor of the balcony, weeping hysterically.

"Miss O Hara?" began Balin. "Go away, Balin. I cannot face you right now." murmured Tabitha. "Let's talk about this, Tabitha." said Balin gently. "I don't want to talk about it! This is far too much for me to handle! My parents lied to me, Balin! And Thorin doesn't understand it! Now I'm treated like dirt! Its not my fault, Balin!" screamed Tabitha.

And then Tabitha continued her rant. "I told my father I was going on a quest with dwarves, and he tells me I can't do it-and then Thorin had the nerve to tell me I can't go. I don't know, Balin. I'm so confused right now, and I'm this close of having a full melt down!" Tabitha screamed. "Now, lass. There is no reason you to melt down. We will fix this. I'm fond of you, Miss O Hara, and I understand this is very difficult for you." said Balin.

"I'm afraid you cannot fix this, Balin. Especially with me being an elf." said Tabitha. "No, I'm saying you and Thorin need to make amends again." said Balin. "Good luck with that, Balin, Thorin will never listen to reason." said Tabitha and she walked away heading for her room. That does it, I cannot stand to see Tabitha this distressed, I'm going to have a word with Thorin, thought Balin and he walked back inside. Meanwhile Tabitha was heading towards her room, and she bumped right into her mother.

"Tabitha, I've been looking everywhere for you. Elrond told me that you were here." said Tabitha's mother. "Look, mother, I'm not in the mood to talk right now. I wish to be alone." said Tabitha and she walked away. As Tabitha made it to her room, she closed her door, and climbed into bed.

Meanwhile, Balin caught up with Thorin. "Thorin, we should talk." said Balin. "Balin, if this is about Miss O Hara, I don't want to discuss it." grumbled Thorin. "Thorin, she is very upset right now. You don't understand her parents had lied to her all these years of her heritage, and she is torn. She is overwhelmed and confused. I suggest you put aside your elf differences and talk to her." said Balin, sternly. "What is there to discuss?"! snapped Thorin.

"Thorin, we all know you love her. And you still love her. You should look past her being an elf, and support her through this. She has having a difficult time through this situation. Its not her fault that this had happened. And she refuses to speak to her parents right now because of it this. I have to say, I wouldn't blame her, if that was me." said Balin. Thorin remained silent. "Just put yourself in her shoes, laddie. What would you do if your parents lied to you?" asked Balin.

"I would be angry, just like Tabitha." Thorin replied. "I'll leave you be to think about this." said Balin, and he walked away. Thorin stood there in deep thought. Balin's right, I have overstepped my ground. I should have been more supportive to Tabitha, with her being an elf or not, Thorin thought, and he decided to go find Tabitha to talk to her.

Later, Thorin approached Tabitha's room and he knocked on the door. "Tabitha!" Thorin called out. "Thorin, I wish to speak to nobody right now, especially you! Go away!" Tabitha called out from behind the door. "Tabitha, lets talk about this like civilized adults, please." said Thorin. "Thorin, you don't even know the meaning of the world 'civilized'!" Tabitha shouted. "Tabitha, I came to apologize of my actions towards you earlier-please let me in!" said Thorin. Suddenly the door of Tabitha's room, opened. "Well if you want to talk, lets talk." grumbled Tabitha, as she allowed Thorin to enter the room.

"Tabitha, I wouldn't blame for you being angry with me at the things I said to you. When I seen how overwhelmed and confused you felt, I felt guilty the way I treated you, I should have known it wasn't your fault for you finding out about your parents." said Thorin. "Yes, you had to pull out your distaste for elves card, Thorin, that's what pissed me off." said Tabitha. "Not all elves, I distaste Tabby. You're an exception." said Thorin, gently. "Even if I am Thranduil's niece?" said Tabitha. "Yes." said Thorin, as he remembered when Tabitha told him the first time that her mother is Thranduil's sister.

"Thorin, let me inform you I will follow you, and remain loyal to you no matter what. I maybe an elf, but I'm no where's near like my Uncle." said Tabitha. "That is good to hear you say that, Tabitha." said Thorin, smiling at Tabitha. And the two sat in silence. "So, do you forgive me?" asked Thorin. "I forgive you, Thorin." said Tabitha. Thorin smiled as he gently pulled Tabitha into his arms. "Elf, or not, I still love you. I spent three wonderful months with you and I enjoyed it. I love you, Tabby!" whispered Thorin, as he brushed his lips over hers in a slow kiss.

"I love you too, Thorin." Tabitha said quietly, after their kiss broke and she laid her head upon Thorin's chest. The next morning, Tabitha woke up for breakfast, joining the Company, and hardly anyone spoken to her except for Bilbo, Balin, Fili and Kili. "So, it is true! You're an elf! Well that explains your ears then!" said Fili, grinning. "Can we not talk about it?" said Tabitha. "Lads, its best that we shouldn't talk about it." said Balin. "Our apologies, Miss O Hara." said Kili. "So that does that mean you're still going with us?" asked Bilbo.

"Yes, Thorin and I discussed that this morning. We made amends." Tabitha replied.

"I'm not so sure about that, lass. Thorin seemed adamant last night of not letting you go with us after the little stunt you pulled." grumbled Dwalin. "DWALIN!" snapped Balin, glaring at his brother. "Hey, it wasn't my fault!" snapped Tabitha, standing up she glared angrily at the bald dwarf. "Oh, really? Why didn't you tell us sooner about you being an elf?" asked Gloin. "Damn it, I just found that out yesterday? What do you expect me to do? You don't understand that my parents never told me a thing about until now! Which means they lied to me most of my life, and it hurts! Trying be in my shoes for once!" Tabitha shouted.

"That will be enough!" Thorin shouted at the Company. "Any of you say one more unkind word about Miss O Hara, I will deal with you personally. Is that understood?!" demanded Thorin. "Yes, Thorin." The Company replied.