"He's here."
CHAPTER TWO, the Golden Prince
They all sat back around the table as their leader, Thorin ate. Gwildû looked at him, saw how age was slowly but surely getting to him. The few strands of silver hair that shone in the faint candle light were something that she hadn't seen before. Had it truly been so long. The dwarf looked so very tired. He had gotten lost on his way, perhaps it was simply the journey. Gwildû knew very well what long journeys did to the body, she herself could feel soreness of her feet and the memory of a weight on her shoulders. With Thorin's arrival the mood had changed. He had brought with him dignity and repect. An air of something- something Gwildû had not sensed in a long time. Still, the mood was ever warm and inviting, but now there was a sense of anticipation. The lights had been dimmed and they all had pint in their hands. Everyone eagerly questioning the dark and sullen dwarf lord at the end of the table. Next to him a wizard sat in deep thought. The very beginning for a good story.
The dwarves went on and on with their questions, barely letting Thorin eat anything. He was beginning to look frustrated, Gwildû as well as she had nothing to say, she was beginning to feel rather tired even, bored with the level of stupidity that some very dear but very simple minds came up with. Even after eating and drinking more than she had in perhaps years she still couldn't be bothered. In a way it was relaxing, the sheer simplicity of some of the dwarves, maybe it could have been so had she not actually wanted to hear what he actually wanted to say. Gwildû looked around her. Went through every face of every single dwarf, going through each of their names. Most she remembered easily, having met them before. Some were a complete mystery to her, like the dwarf with the star like hair.
Then she glanced next to her. Fili was looking at his uncle. Taking in every word he was saying, not in the way his brother was, almost hero worshiping his uncle, but in a calm and collected way. Much like Gwildû remembered Thorin when he had been younger. There was a resemblance there, between Fili and his uncle, one she had noticed a long time ago. Everyone always compared Kili to the Oakenshield but other than the hair and the beard there was little true resemblance. Now with Thorin here, Fili had regained a certain serenity, a similar dignity with which he held his head with could be seen in his uncle even now, he was less like his brother and more like his uncle. He didn't have the same mischievous demeanour around him. Though all of the dwarves had regained some long lost pride, he most of all seemed poised. He was royal.
Fili noticed her gaze and smiled at her lazily. He had decided to take her under his wing, if she was going to be with them for the rest of the way, she might as well get along with everyone. He would make sure she would belong. It was only fair to treat her like he would treat all the dwarves. After all she was kin to Bofur, though he had some doubts about wether that kinship was in blood... Still, in only way that mattered she was part of the company, and if the hobbit failed to do his part, after seeing her in her element in the study, he was most certain she would do rather well. The young dwarf was sure he had seen her before as well. There was this nagging feeling at the back of his head that he'd seen those eyes before, they were not easy to forget. When she had looked at him, he had felt as if she knew everything- as if nothing could hide from her.
Fili looked at his brother and then at his uncle. He was with family. He felt tiny flutters in his stomach as he thought of the journey ahead, the adventure waiting just outside the Bagging's door. He had waited for something like this for so long. A chance for him and his brother to show everyone what they were made of.
"Is Dain with us?"
"They will not come." Answered Thorin with disappointment and Fili tried to focus once more. With all the excitement he was beginning to feel tiredness creep upon him. He wanted to have a good nights' sleep before tomorrow.
The hobbit brought more light and the mood of the room changed once more. The warm glow of the candle lit up all of the faces around the table and made strange shadows on the ceiling. They were all leaning in, trying to have a look as Gandalf pulled out a map of the Lonely Mountain.
It was what she had been waiting for. Finally the moment had come. She could almost feel the warmth of the walls and the stink of the dragon. Not perhaps the most pleasant of images, but it was something she had been hoping for for as long as she could remember. Because she could still remember.
She could remember everything.
"Gwilwildû, do my eyes deceive me?" she heard Thorin's voice boom as she walked out of the dining room and towards through the west corridor. She stopped and turned around. In her head she went through a thousand scenarios in which things went horribly wrong, but the moment she saw his face they all vanished to wherever they had come from, he looked calm.
"Thorin Oakenshield. It has been a very long time." she said and wrapped her fingers around his arm as he did with her, squeezing, Greeting each other.
"You came." he stated, perhaps not coldly but a tad bit blandly. He had not know she was coming too, he'd thought she wouldn't!
"I did. Did you doubt me?" she asked him, though she already knew. After the way they had parted, she herself was surprised she had come, but after all; home was more important than pride, more important than anything.
Thorin's expression was unreadable as he looked at her. Not even his eyes deceived emotion. He became a puzzle once more
"Gwildû was it? Come sit with us!" she heard Fili say and saw him behind his uncle. Gwildû glanced once more at Thorin before shrugging any thoughts of him out of her mind and smiled at the younger dwarf, she walked past Thorin and took the arm Fili was offering her, letting him lead her away.
"You should get to know everyone, did you know that Nori steals thing too? He doesn't want to admit it but everyone knows. Oh and Ori is a great writer—-" he hiccuped.
"How much have you drunk?" Gwildû laughed,
"Not enough, and neither have you" he said as he lead her to a wine cellar.
It was a small room with no windows and no candles, only light was the one that shone from the emptied pantry, creating a warm but eerie glow to the multitude of wine bottles and kegs and barrels and all sorts of strange little cups. Fili took out a random bottle and bit the cork off with his teeth.
"I did not know you could open bottles like that." Gwildû commented as Fili offered the wine too her, he just shrugged and sat down on the floor, leaning against the shelf.
Gwildû sat down next to him and took a big swig off the bottle. It was red wine. Old and spicy and very rich. Still it had a certain freshness to it, not too dark and murky as one might think but truly a nectar she imagined to be one of a kind.
"It tasted like Shire." she told him and offered the bottle, "I have not known many dwarves who drink wines you know." she added.
Fili took four long gulps out of the bottle and grinned, "I am not too picky, I even tried an elvish wine once- but don't tell my uncle."
Gwildû crossed her heart and took the bottle once more, this time counting to ten while drinking. The wine was going much too fast. She could already see the terrible out come of it, but for some reason it didn't seem too bad at the moment.
"I feel like I'm 50 years old again-" Fili sighed and looked up to the low ceiling, faint noises of the dwarves talking, telling tales could be heard clearly in the background.
Gwildû too felt younger, more like she had used to be- before everything. She was really beginning to enjoy the blonde dwarf's company.
Fili was looking at the dark haired woman next to him. He was not sure whether it was the wine or had she always looked so beautiful, he could almost see a beard growing from her chin, braided with care and with blue beads decorating it. He blinked and it was gone, He should take a break from the wine- he really should-
"Pass me the wine will you Gwildû"
Already this is taking a very different direction than before, please tell me what you think and GOOD YULE!
