Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, except Marie. The Hobbit is not mine.

Chapter 3: The tale of Thorin Oakenshield

Kili sat between the still sleeping Marie and his brother in front of the small fire they had built, cleaning out his pipe to pass the time. Keeping watch was only ever exciting if something happened, otherwise you were just sitting in the dark while everyone slept.

He glanced over to Marie and was pleased to see that she still slept. Although she seemed to have a happy disposition at all times, she was completely relaxed and at peace when resting. He hoped that she was having pleasant dreams, remembering something nice, perhaps. He allowed his gaze to drift over the rest of the company as they slept on, some more restful than others. Gandalf was sitting against a rock off to the side of all of the sleeping bodies, smoking his pipe and gazing out over the small valley below them. Bilbo got up from his place on the ground, glaring at Bombur's noisy snoring, before getting to his feet and storming off to visit his pony, Myrtle.

Marie roused out of her sleep next to him, claiming his attention once more. He was about to ask her how her head felt when a ghastly scream ripped through the valley, followed quickly by another. Marie moved closer to him, grabbing on to his hand.

"What was that?" She whispered, eyes wide as she searched around for the source of the sound.

"Orcs." He supplied as he stared into the direction the sounds had come from, but even with his sharp eyes he saw nothing.

"Orcs, what are those?"

"Throat cutters." Fili spoke up as Bilbo hurried toward them so that he could hear. "There'll be dozens of them out there, the lowlands are crawling with them."

"They strike in the wee small hours when everyone's asleep." Kili said, feeling Marie move closer to his side. "Quick and quiet, no screams. Just lots of blood."

The horrified look on Bilbo's face was too much as he turned to his brother and the two chuckled softly, stopping when Thorin materialized next to them.

"You think that a night raid by Orcs is a joke?"

Instant shame slammed through him. Of course he didn't feel that way, Orcs were the monsters in the tales you told children. They were pure evil and their victims always had his sympathy. "We didn't mean anything by it." He said softly.

"No, you didn't." His uncle spat out, his voice deepened by disappointment as he walked away from them. "You know nothing of the world."

Kili looked down into the fire, hurt. It was true, he had been sheltered his whole life within the stone walls of the Blue Mountains by his brother, uncle and mother. Sometimes he wished he would think before he spoke.

"Don't mind him, laddie." Balin said, coming to rest against the stone. "Thorin has more cause than most to hate Orcs."

"What happened?" Marie's hushed voice came from beside him, his hand still clutched in hers. He noticed her hands had gone cold and laid his free hand over hers, offering her his warmth. He was pleased that she didn't pull away from him, accepting the heat instead.

"There was a dragon that once took our home from us, casting us out." Balin began, soft voice travelling in the night. "After he did, King Thror, Thorin's grandfather, tried to reclaim another ancient Dwarf Kingdom, Moria. But our enemy had got there first. Moria had been taken by legions of Orcs, lead by the most vile of all their race, Azog the Defiler. The giant Gundabad Orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began by beheading the king."

"No!" Marie gasped out next to him, her eyes traveling to Thorin quickly and back to Balin, distress plain to read on her kind face.

Balin nodded sadly. "Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing, taken prisoner or killed we did not know. We were leaderless. Defeat and death were upon us. That is when I saw him. A young Dwarf prince facing down the pale Orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe, his armor rent, wielding nothing but an Oaken branch as a shield. He took the foul creature's arm off and Azog learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken."

Kili felt Marie pull away from him and turned to see her get to her feet and make her way toward Thorin slowly. He moved to stop her, but Fili pulled him back to the ground, shaking his head. The three of them watched as she made her way to his uncle as Balin finished his tale.

Thorin stood looking out into the night sky, but he didn't see the beautiful scenery or the bright stars. He was trapped instead in the images of a war-torn battlefield. His grandfather's head being thrown at him from afar, fighting for his life and taking the hand of Azog the Defiler. conquering Moria and searching for survivors after the battle was over. He relived it all as Balin told their sad tale.

"And I thought to myself then, there is one I could follow." He heard Balin said behind him. "There is one I could call King."

Thorin turned, about to tell everyone to return to sleep, and came face to face with Marie. Tears streamed down her face as she threw her arms around his shoulders and hung off him in a hug. He froze, not quite knowing what to do as her peered over her shoulder at the shocked faces of the others. He couldn't cast her away, she was far too frail and would most likely break something vital as soon as she connected with the ground. Thinking back to the few times his sister, Dis, had shown such displays he opted to gently albeit awkwardly pat one of her shoulders before pulling away.

He expected to see pity written on her face, but was surprised instead to see genuine sadness and sympathy. He laid one hand gently against the side of her face and stepped away a small, sad smile on his face. He turned and began walking away, he needed to be alone for a while.

"And the pale Orc?" Bilbo asked. "What happened to him?"

Hatred filled Thorin as he spit out, "He slunk back to the hole whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago. Now enough of old tales, we head out at daybreak and I want everyone well rested."

The rest of the night passed quickly for Marie, dreams of war and destruction woke her a few times. Each time she was ripped from her sleep Kili would be roused from his to soothe her back into her fitful slumber. After the fourth or fifth time she gave up on the notion of sleep.

"Another nightmare?" Kili's voice came from next to her.

"Yes. I'm sorry I keep waking you up, you should go back to sleep. I'll be alright now."

Kili shrugged at her before standing and stretching. "It's no trouble. We actually need to wake everyone and gather the supplies, it's nearly dawn."

Just as the sun rose the sky opened and rain began to pour down onto them, making everyone miserable. After all but wrestling Kili into his cloak, refusing it's use multiple times, Marie settled in front of him on his pony wrapped tightly in every spare blanket the company possessed.

"Are you sure you're warm enough?" Kili asked loudly over the roar of the downpour.

"If I get any warmer I'll be cooked alive!" She shouted back, chuckling at his returning laughter. She could vaguely hear Dori asking Gandalf to make the rain stop and Gandalf's slightly grumpy response, but the layers of cloth were making it difficult to hear as well as breathe. She was starting to feel quite smothered by the time she finally threw the blankets covering her head back, her hair instantly being soaked by the blessedly cool rain.

"What are you doing? You'll catch your death!"

"I'll be fine!" She said, as she swatted Kili's hands as he continued to attempt to re-wrap her in wool. "Bilbo seems to be fine, he's not covered at all. I feel as if I'm about to die of suffocation!"

Finally he relented. "Fine, but if I feel so much as a shiver from you they all go back on."

Marie nodded in agreement before relaxing in the saddle, face turned up toward the rain. "I love the rain." She told Kili quietly. "The smell carries a familiarity. I can't place the memories that the feeling connects to, but it makes me feel happy. " She opened her eyes to find him gazing down at her, a look on his face that she couldn't quite place.

"I'm glad it makes you happy. At home we don't have to be out in the rain often. Living inside a mountain has it's advantages, it keeps us very dry. The only time I ever really spent out in the rain was if I got caught in it on my way to or from one of the towns nearby. It's nice to be out in it sometimes, but I much rather listen to it from inside the mountain. It beats down like drums and tinkles through the cracks like tiny bells."

"It's sounds beautiful! I would love to experience that."

"Maybe you will someday." He replied quietly, something in the tone he used caused a blush to rise into her cheeks before she looked away.

They rode on in comfortable silence for a few hours, Marie dozing of a few times, as the rain let up and they found themselves in a small wooded area staring at the burnt shell of what had once been a farm house.

"We'll stop here for now, we need to use the rest of the sunlight to dry things out." Thorin called ahead of them, dismounting. "Fili, Kili look after the ponies. Stay with them."

Kili nodded to his uncle as he helped Marie down before he collected ponies from everyone. He was following Fili when he turned and cast a doubtful look back at her.

"It's fine, I'll stick close to everyone. Don't worry." She gave him a smile which he returned before walking off, ponies trailing behind. She turned away as well, smiling at the feeling she had from his concerns for her, and followed Gandalf into the remains of the old house. Her giddiness quickly faded as she noticed ghostly signs of life around her. A charred rocking chair here, an overturned table there, a doll buried under some rubble. The tell-tale signs of a happy family life were made all the more disconcerting by the distressed look set into the shadows of Gandalf's weathered face.

"A farmer and his family used to live here."

"What happened to them?"

"I don't know. Let's hope we don't find out." They both turned as Thorin made his way toward them, picking his way through the rubble. Gandalf addressed him with a serious tone to match his features. "I think it would be wiser to move on."

Thorin looked at Gandalf, silently, until he turned to Marie. "Marie, please help Ori lay the cloaks and blankets out to dry, and then see if Bombur needs any help with dinner."

She sent Gandalf an apologetic look before moving to complete her assignment. She was drying one of the many blankets and laughing at a story Ori was telling her about the time Nori got caught stealing a very expensive ring from Thorin, when Gandalf stormed past them. The old wizard muttered something about needing time to himself as he huffed past.

She was sure that if she had to argue with the stubborn Dwarf King about camp placement she would need time alone too.

A/N: Chapter 3 is done! Thanks to all the reviewers! Next chapter will be up next Sunday, sorry for it getting out so late today.