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Disclaimer: I still don't own anything that was originally in The Hobbit book OR movie series.
Chapter 12: Clearing the air
Marie couldn't help but jump when Thorin's voice roared through the room. She winced slightly as some of her tea splashed out of her cup and onto her hands. Heavy footfalls made their way toward her, causing her to look up as she shook the hot liquid from her fingers. Thorin Oakenshield stood before her, looking every bit the king under the Mountain he was as he silently seethed.
"What happened?" He asked. Marie shrank away from him as much as she could, pushing herself up against the wall behind her. She hadn't seen him this angry since he had suspected that she was a spy, the same anger shone in his eyes.
"Uncle." Fili cautioned softly, at the same time Balin pulled Thorin back by his shoulder firmly.
"Remember what we discussed, Thorin." The older Dwarf told his King.
Thorin sighed deeply, running a large hand down his face before he spoke again. This time he addressed her with a soft voice, although the anger still lingered in his features. "I'm sorry Marie. My nephew informed me of the position they found you in. I'm not angry with you, I assure you." He paused, waiting for her to indicate that she understood before he continued. "I would like you to tell me exactly what happened, leave nothing out. Whatever happened was not your fault, if you were indeed harmed by this Elf we will make sure that you are kept safe and he is punished severely."
Marie heaved a tired sigh, ready to tell the tale...again, when a loud knock came from the door.
Dwalin, being nearest to the door, went to open it, staggering back with an outraged roar as he recognized who had come to visit them. "What do you think you're doing here?" He growled out.
Sudden chaos erupted around her, the Dwarves all swarming around the room like an angry hive of bees. She was pulled from the couch in the melee and shoved behind Fili before she could protest.
"You have some nerve, to show your face here." Thorin snarled loudly from near the door, the metallic sound of a sword being pulled from it's sheath rang through the air. "I should remove your filthy head from your shoulders."
Things were quickly getting out of control. The rest of the company joined their leader, shouting curses and threats.
"Stop, please!" Marie shouted to be heard over the shouting voices. "QUIET!"
The sudden silence would have been entertaining, if there weren't 13 Dwarves hungry for blood crowding around the room. She moved out from behind Fili, dodging hands as first Kili and then Bofur attempted to pull her behind them once more. Someone needed to be willing to try to be peaceable, and it looked like it was going to have to be her.
She made her way to the door, surprised to see familiar faces standing in the entrance. "Aegnor, Lord Elrond! " Both Elves stood in the doorway, along with Aegnor's betrothed, who was holding what looked like a basket of bandages, herbs and ointments. Marie dipped her head to the unnamed Elf. The lady nodded politely in return before taking a shy step into the room, casting a nervous glance at Kili and Thorin who had come to stand beside Marie, arms crossed over their chests and eyes stormy.
"Aegnor informed us that you had been injured, Miss." She said softly. "I came to offer my services as a healer."
"Psh!" Kili snorted, looking angrily at the lady. "Did your sweet Aegnor tell you how Marie was injured?!"
Elrond stepped foreword, his features calm despite the looks of murder the Dwarves were sending him and Aegnor. "He did tell us that there had been a misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding?!" Kili interrupted loudly, taking a step toward Aegnor. "My brother and I heard her cry out. We saw him on top of her, pinning her down!"
"Kili..." Marie called to him softly, placing her good hand on his arm, trying to both calm and restrain him before blood could be spilled. He relaxed slightly as he turned to face her, his anger leaving his features as he looked at her. She turned her attention back to Elrond, satisfied that there would be no immediate violence, before speaking loud enough for the entire room to hear. "I'm glad that you came. I was just about to explain to everyone what happened. I would really like to only have to say all of this once, and then we can all be done with it." She turned to the lady Elf, addressing her softly. "Oin stitched my hand, but I would appreciate it if you would look at it as well, Miss..."
"Elowyn." She supplied as she stepped toward Marie again, eyeing Kili nervously.
"Elowyn. Should we sit while you look at my hand?" She waited until the other lady nodded before sitting on a nearby couch, giving her hand over for inspection, using the other hand to accept another warm cup of tea Bombur had brought over to her.
As Elowyn worked on her hand, slathering it in ointments and creams, Marie told the room full of people what had happened. "And when I looked back at the painting it was...moving. I knew exactly what has happened, but it wasn't like someone had told me the story. It was like I was there, I saw and heard everything that was happening."
"What type of sorcery was that?" Thorin growled to Elrond, who in turn looked just as confused as the Dwarf.
"There is no sorcery. The painting is nothing more than a simple piece of artwork." Elrond turned back to her, his face slightly troubled. "Please, continue."
"When Isildur cut through Sauron's fingers there was bright light, painfully bright. Every time the light flashed in pounded through my head. It was quite painful, I couldn't help but cry out. I stumbled and grabbed onto Aegnor when I tripped. I meant to find my balance, but I ended up falling anyway, pulling him down on top of me. Fili and Kili arrived only moments after that."
Elrond nodded slowly, still looking troubled as the rest of the company sat in silence.
"Well," Balin finally spoke up. "I for one am most pleased to hear that we were wrong in our assumptions."
"As am I." Kili agreed, after heaving a deep sigh of relief. "Sorry about the...ah..." He added, gesturing toward Aegnor's darkly bruised cheekbone.
Aegnor waved a hand in dismissal. "Worry not. Knowing what you assumed was happening, I would be angry if you had not come to her defense."
The mismatched group sat for a while, discussing various things, before the trio of Elves decided to excuse themselves. Before leaving, Elowyn gave Oin some more ointment, along with instructions to apply it every few hours for the best results.
Marie heaved a relieved sigh herself as she sank into the comfort of the plush couch, content in the fact that everyone had made it out of the discussion alive and unharmed. She was aware of Kili settling on her couch near her feet as she laid down, suddenly exhausted.
The last thing she saw as she fell asleep, was his soft smile as he watched her drift away.
/
"Why will she not wake, Gandalf?!" Kili asked desperately, waving a hand in Marie's direction. She had been sleeping for the past two days! The first 10 hours, no one had thought anything of it, assuming that she was simply exhausted from her entire eerie ordeal. As she passed the 24 hour mark, the group was starting to get a little concerned. By the 38th hour of motionless, almost deathly, stillness Kili was in full panic. He had been trying, unsuccessfully, for the past hour to wake her. Despite his best efforts she remained still and unmoving, her chest barely rising and falling.
"I do not know why, Kili." Gandalf told him as he tended to her hand. During the entire process she hadn't stirred, even when the elderly wizard had caught one of the stitches on accident, nearly pulling it out.
Kili felt like he was going to go mad, or cry, when Bofur finally spoke up.
"Alright brother." He said as he pushed Bombur up to stand before Kili and Gandalf. "Just end this and tell them what you've done."
If they had been trying to get his attention, they had it. "Done? What have you done?"
Bombur had the good sense to look abashed as he answered. "I gave her a bit of sleeping drought in her tea. It must have been too much..."
"What?!"
"W-well, I just thought that if she had indeed been attacked it would help her to relax enough to rest while we took care of everything. I took the drought out of Oin's satchel, and gave her just enough to put a Dwarfling to sleep for the night. It seems that was far too much. "
Relief shot through Kili, almost knocking him off of his feet. He sat heavily on the side of the bed as Gandalf waved Oin over to make sure Marie hadn't been given a dangerous amount of herbs.
"She should be fine." Oin told them after he looked her over. "She'll probably be out for a few more hours if I had to guess."
The conversation turned to her experience with the painting, now that they were sure she was in no danger of sleeping eternally.
"No, I don't think it was an actual memory." Gandalf told him when he had asked later in the evening, as they sat next to the bed. Gandalf was once again tending to her almost healed hand, as Kili sat next to him, watching on. "I don't fully understand what happened, but Elrond assures me that she was not there." He continued. "He fought in that battle, and Elves have perfectly detailed memories."
Kili nodded in understanding as he pulled the blanket up over Marie's shoulders, pushing a loose wave of dark hair out of her face and behind her ear. "She said that her head hurt when it happened." He told Gandalf, worry snaking into his chest. "You didn't hear her Gandalf. When she cried out, it didn't sound like it was a slight or surprising pain. She sounded like she was being attacked...hurt. I feared the worst!"
Gandalf nodded sadly. "When I get the chance I will bring it up with Lord Elrond and Lady Galadriel. Perhaps one of them can take a look at her and find something."
Kili thanked the elderly man as he left the room to get some rest in his own room. As soon as Gandalf left Kili settled in for another lengthy night. He pulled one of his daggers from it's hidden sheath and a clean rag to clean it as he waited for Marie to stir.
Gloin and Bombur made short work of breaking apart one of the many tables in the room, using the wooden pieces to start a roaring bonfire in the middle of the room. Bombur took the time to fry up every sausage and piece of meat they had in their packs.
Kili looked up from his work just in time to witness Bofur throw a sausage to his brother, who caught it deftly and broke the bench he was sitting on. Food flew around as the ginger Dwarf fell back, causing everyone to explode into laughter.
"What?" A soft voice sounded next to him. The scene before them was forgotten as Marie stirred next to him, attempting to raise herself onto her elbows to better see the chaos. "Is that a fire...inside the room?"
"Oin!" Kili called, raising to his feet as he helped Marie lie back onto the bed. "Careful, you've been asleep for a while."
"Asleep? How long have I been sleeping?"
"Very nearly two days my dear." Oin told her as he made his way up to the bed. "Bombur isn't qualified to dispense any sleeping draught, you may be out of it for a few hours still. Sit back and let me take a look at that hand of yours."
Kili watched as Oin examined her hand, both marveling at the fact that the wound had almost closed. What had been a gaping would just two days ago had been reduced to a small red line. Oin took a moment to remove the stitches carefully, instructing her in a series of movements to ensure that she had full range of motion before wrapping her hand one more time, pleased with her progress.
"Why are you all wandering through the wilderness?" She asked suddenly, not seeming to direct the question to anyone in particular. "Also, why were you guys being hunted?"
Silence filled the air as all the Dwarves turned to her, although she seemed not to notice. Thorin and Balin started toward them, their gazes unreadable. Kili tightened his grip on his dagger, torn between the urge to protect Marie from danger and the reluctance to harm his kin.
Balin must have been able to sense the internal struggle. "Easy lad." he told him. "We've actually been discussing this moment."
"Marie I will tell you of our quest, and if you would like, you are free to join us." Thorin said, taking a seat next to her. "It is imperative that our journey remain a mystery to others,, for there are many who would try to stop us."
"I won't tell anyone." She replied adamantly, determination setting her usually carefree features into a hard mask.
"Very well." Thorin settled in to tell her their tale. "Many, many years ago, Erebor belonged to the Dwarves. My grandfather, Thror, ruled the great mountain city. We mined the riches from within the Lonely Mountain and traded the ore and gems with the men of the towns around us. We were the most powerful and prosperous kingdom in all of Middle Earth, and it served our people well. The treasure soon became too much for my grandfather, he fell into gold sickness that drove him mad. It became so serious that he would refuse to leave the treasury for weeks at a time! I believe that it was that love of treasures that brought the dragon Smaug upon us. He came one day, destroying everything and killing without bias, before he made his way to the treasury, it was that distraction of gold that allowed us to evacuate the survivors. We had 'allies'." He spat angrily. "The Elven King Thranduil came to Erebor on that day, and did nothing! He sat on his elk, watching as women and children ran for their lives, and turned and left when I called out for aid. Nevertheless, the survivors made it out and we made our way to the Blue Mountains to build a new home." Thorin stopped for a moment, gazing into the fire. Kili knew that look, from years of seeing it on depressing days in their small home. His uncle was reliving that day, and every day of hardship since Smaug had destroyed everything.
"That's terrible." Marie said softly. laying one of her tiny hands on Thorin's, effectively snapping his uncle out of his daze.
"It was a long time ago. Recently things have changed in Erebor, birds have been reported flying back to the mountain and Smaug has not been seen or heard from in 60 years. We believe that the time has come to retake our homeland."
"So you're all going off to fight a dragon?"
"Yes." Balin answered, his expression grim. "We cannot ask you to join us on this journey, lass, for we cannot assure your safety."
"I want to go with you." She interrupted, seemingly undisturbed by the promise of danger. "For all I know, I have no family or home to return to. You all have been the only friends I can remember having, I want to help you get your home back!"
Balin nodded proudly as he patted one of her dainty shoulders, Thorin smiled down at her as well. "You will be entitled one fifteenth of the treasure of Erebor. I can also guarantee you a home among us in the mountain, if you wish."
"Thank you!" She cried out as she flung herself at Thorin, wrapping her arms around him tightly. Kili met his uncle's surprised gaze over her shoulder, shrugging as he did so. He doubted that he would understand women if he lived for an extra lifetime, with their sudden displays of emotion.
"If you'll be coming with us lass, you'll have to learn to defend yourself." Dwalin said gruffly, catching her attention. "You still have the weapons we gave you?"
'Weapons?' Kili thought. He hadn't noticed her carrying any. Then again, he had been a bit busy during their tumble with the Orcs, and she had been whisked away the second they had arrived. Judging by her nod, though, she had indeed acquired some.
"Rest up then. As soon as that hand heals enough you'll start your training."
With that matter settled the company began readying for bed, bedrolls laid our around the floor and the fire banked for the night. After much arguing Marie remained in the giant bed. Although she had argued that she had taken the bed for at least the last night, the others had insisted that she remain where she was. Although she was now an official member of the company, she was still a lady and they were still gentlemen. And that had been the end of that argument.
Kili made himself comfortable on one of the small couches near the bed, falling quickly into pleasant dreams of the Lonely Mountain and a pair of lively emerald eyes.
A/N: Sorry it took so long to update! I've been fighting a horrible case of writer's block, and I've been having trouble getting motivated. I'm not going to promise for sure an update on Sunday, but I'll try. I'm running low on buffer chapters.
Please review and tell me what you think, reviews from my readers make my day! ^_^