Thank you for your support! I can't believe I'm over 200 reviews.
Bit more emotion now, my humour got the better of me.
Ladyartemis39: I know! That's why I think blue and green goes better. And Christmas is not Christmas without those colours!
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Thorin stormed back through the corridors of Rivendell not caring if he attracted dirty looks from the elves that he passed. He was livid. And not just livid that the others had taken bets on him and Daisy, but the fact that he'd been an idiot and not seen it coming.
He rounded the corner that lead to where they were eating lunch.
The company went silent as they watched him enter, each nervously shifting in their seat. Thorin walked to the head of the table, and stared at each and every one of them before he spoke.
'Tell me, gentlemen. When did my private life become a topic of gossip? I confided in you, and this is what you do.' He said, too calmly. The others avoided his eye contact. 'Ori, give me your journal. I know that the list is in there.' Ori stared wide eyed and fumbled with his hands before handing the book over to Thorin. Thorin flicked through the pages until he came across what he was looking for. He tore the page out and showed it to the group.
'Thorin-' Balin began but Thorin silenced him with a glare and began reading the bets.
'I see Bilbo and Fili did not bet.'
'No I told them it was ridiculous-,' But Bilbo was shut up as Bofur kicked him. Thorin began to stride around the table.
'I will make myself clear.' Thorin said loudly. 'If anyone of you EVER puts the health of Daisy at risk for their own personal gain again, then that person will answer directly me. This wine,' He snatched up the jug from in front of Oin. 'Makes us feel drowsy. Imagine what it is doing to her? You-' He pointed at Gloin. 'Better pray that she has no lasting damage for your own sake. As for the rest of you, if I find you've been making bets on my private life again, then I can assure you this: do not expect help from me if you find yourselves in sticky situations on this quest. You have been warned.' Thorin grabbed a candle from the table and proceeded to burn the piece of paper.
'Uncle-,' Kili began.
'Silence. I understand the concept of betting.' Thorin said. 'And I understand why you enjoy it. It is a harmless game when played correctly. But today it went too far, and you better pray that it does not go this far again. All of you, training. NOW.' Thorin bellowed and everyone scrambled. Thorin flicked the bits of ash from his clothing and followed them. They thought he'd finished, but his training was going to be the toughest they'd ever done.
If he hadn't been so angry, Thorin would have been impressed by the area that Dwalin and Dori had managed to find to train in. It was open and had enough space, but wasn't overlooked by many buildings so they wouldn't be disturbed.
'Line up.' Thorin ordered. They obeyed, including Bilbo who was looking very nervous. 'Each of you will have a go in combat with me. Gloin, come here.' Gloin, a powerful warrior with an uncontrollable temper, walked forwards timidly.
'My Lord.' He said, facing the ground.
'The difficulty of the fight depends on what your bet was. Gloin here bet: Yes, 1 day,' And then, in his best Gloin voice: 'Gets her drunk. I'm glad that is your opinion of me, Master Gloin. Your fight shall be tough.'
'Sire I did not mean-'
'I do not care for excuses. Now let's begin.'
When Thorin said tough, he meant it. Not even five minutes into the fight and Gloin was already showing weakness. Thorin wasn't letting up anytime soon. In fact, he seemed to be releasing all his anger on Gloin. The others weren't normally so reluctant to help a fellow friend in need but, well, this really was a case of rather you than me.
Once Thorin had reduced Gloin to his knees, the king called Kili forward.
'Kili, if it wasn't for your ridiculous and rather obvious hinting which made it perfectly clear you wanted your gold; I would have let you off lightly. However…' Thorin engaged his nephew in a fight not as brutal as Gloin's, but equally as tiring.
It continued like this, going through each of the dwarves in turn. Thorin did not seem amused by Bofur's bet, although he wouldn't put it past the wizard to do such a thing. When Ori was called, Dori and Nori held him back protectively as they knew as well as the others that Ori was no use with a sword.
'Let him come.' Thorin said. Dori reluctantly let go of Ori's clothing and the young dwarf walked forwards. Thorin walked up to him and said in his ear: 'Your bet interested me Ori. I had said I wouldn't dare braid another's hair and yet you still proceeded to say I would. You show a strong amount of faith, and I hope you do not let others sway you. I will not fight you, for I am not cruel and I know your skills do not lie with a sword.'
'B-but Kili has a bow.' Ori protested. He didn't want to fight, but he was fed up of being let off things because of his young age.
'Kili is also my nephew and needs to learn his place sometimes.' Thorin gently guided Ori back, much to the relief of Dori and Nori. There were a few grumbles about Ori being let off but they were silenced by a glare from Thorin.
Thorin walked down the line of dwarves, trying to be intimidating as possible-not that he needed to try.
'Hobbit.' Thorin said to Bilbo. 'You did not bet. Why?' Thorin was genuinely curious.
'Because one: I did not want to hurt either of you, two: It's your personal matter and three: I have no money to bet with.' Bilbo replied shakily. Thorin nodded and turned to Fili.
'Thank you for not participating.' Fili nodded in response as Thorin addressed them all. 'I hope you all realise not to cross me. Do not let this happen again.'
'Thorin!' Thorin turned to see Gandalf striding towards them.
'Gandalf. I was just seeing that my men could still fight.'
'Yes yes, I came to see if you had eaten lunch. Where is young Daisy? I need to speak with her.' Gandalf exclaimed as he reached the group. The dwarves shifted uncomfortably. 'Well, where is she?'
'My men here decided to take bets on a…rather delicate subject and got carried away. Gloin gave her some of the elven wine and now she is sleeping in her room.' Thorin explained, casting glares at Gloin. Gandalf frowned.
'That wine is very strong! You were foolish master Gloin. It would seem I will have to wait until later to have my conversation.' He took a step closer to Thorin. 'Lord Elrond wishes to speak with you tonight. I suggest you bring a couple members of the company who you think it wise to confide in.'
Thorin watched as Gandalf left before turning to his men once more.
'I am sorry if I have injured you, but hopefully you have learnt your lesson. You are free to go, and let us hope dinner does end the same way.'
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It was dark, so so dark, and she was alone. She could hear voices echoing around her, sounding threatening. She longed for the darkness to clear, so she could see the scene before her.
'We don't know, she was always so happy,' A voice said.
'We gave her everything, we told her we loved her and she told us she did in return,'
'Teenagers, especially girls such as Daisy, do not confide in others if they are anxious or worried, they even try and deny it. She may have seemed happy on the outside, but a raging battle seemed to happening on the inside. I am truly sorry for your loss.'
The darkness faded and Daisy saw her parents in what looked like a hospital, with a man leaving them in peace. Her father turned to her mother.
'We need to leave the country. The police will understand-it's perfectly natural for us to want to get away. By the time they realise the truth we'll be long gone.'
'Yes, yes ok. But what about the funeral? We cannot miss that. It'll be too suspicious. And what are they putting as cause of death?'
'Damn, I'd forgotten about that. We'll have to wait till then. Suicide, depressed teen. Distraught parents, all very tragic.' Her mother nodded.
Did they not care?
'We'll have to make a quick exit. No one else will want to come to the brat's funeral so we shouldn't be delayed. She had no friends.'
The doctor entered again and her mother went back to snivelling.
'I'm going to have to ask you to fill out these forms. I know this is hard for you, but tell me about her.'
'She was polite, we taught her well. Took after me in her stubbornness though. I don't understand, we had given everything she could ever want, our love, our support…'
Daisy shook her head. No, the doctor couldn't be believing them!
'Stop it!' Daisy screamed, but no one did.
'Just sign here.'
'IT'S NOT TRUE!' Daisy screamed with all she had, and the doctor looked around him, as if he had heard something. 'Please, please!' Daisy cried but he went back to looking at her parents. 'NO!'
Daisy woke with a start and sat up quickly. She immediately regretted it, her head was spinning and she had to lie down until it stopped.
She hated these dreams; they just corrupted her and seemed so real.
Daisy looked to the window and saw that moonlight was spilling through into her room. What the? I was having lunch a moment ago. Daisy cautiously stood up and noticed that someone had laid out food and water by her bed.
'Oh my.' She said, as she had a sudden memory of consuming wine. 'I think I was drunk.' She gingerly reached for the food as took small bites. Deciding that there was no hope of ever getting back to sleep, she moved towards her window to climb out onto the balcony. The night air was cool, and Daisy wondered what time it was. Lunch and dinner had obviously passed, and it looked as though breakfast would soon come.
Her dream still plagued her mind. If her parents got away with everything….it hurt too much to think about. She held back a sob; she refused to cry for the people who hurt her.
'Daisy?' A voice called softly from behind her. She turned slowly to see Thorin standing by her window.
'W-why are you in my room?' She asked shyly.
'I came to see how you were; you've been asleep for a while.' Thorin replied gently. 'I put some food out, I see you ate something. That's good.' Daisy's eyes widened in surprise.
'You gave me that?' She asked. Her stomach did a little flip when she though about Thorin actually caring. He nodded, climbing through her window.
'Do you remember what happened?' He asked.
'No. Well apart from obviously drinking wine. I'm afraid I loose my memory there.' Daisy sighed. 'Who gave me the wine?'
'Gloin' Thorin replied stiffly.
'Oh. Why?'
'He was trying to…win a round of bets they'd wagered.'
'What was the bet on? Oh! I remember Ori had a journal and everyone had their names written in it expect you and…' She trailed off, realising where this was going. 'There's a reason our names weren't in that book isn't there?'
'Y-yes.' Thorin replied, he really didn't want Daisy to find out this way. 'Listen, I was going to ask you this over lunch, but then they got carried away and it all went pear-shaped.' Daisy's heart was racing. She knew she harboured feelings for the dwarf, but never in a millions years did she dream he returned them. Thorin reached out to take her hand, but he brushed against her bandaged ribs.
'Ah!' Daisy gasped.
'Daisy? What is it?' Thorin asked, concerned.
'My ribs. Lord Elrond was meant to tend to them tonight but as I was asleep he never did it.' Daisy replied as she grabbed his shoulder for support. 'C-could you help me sit down for a second?' Thorin nodded as he helped her over to a stone seat a few metres away.
'Do you need me to do anything?'
'Just stay,' Daisy told him, then blushed. 'To, er, help me if I need it.' Thorin nodded.
'Do you have a keen interest in music?' Thorin asked her. 'You sing very well, and I was wondering if you learnt anywhere?'
'I have always liked little tunes. My grandmother could sing, and I just sang along with her. Do you like music?'
'The dwarves thrive on music, without it we would be a little lost.' Daisy looked at him. 'What?'
'I asked if you liked music, not the dwarves.'
'Oh. Well I do like music, and without it I would be lost. Listen, Daisy. I know I haven't been the most sociable of people.' He shifted so he was facing her properly. 'But that doesn't mean I cannot feel. I-I…..I….I….was wondering if you would like to accompany me for a walk.' He finished lamely. He couldn't tell her right now. He'd do it later. 'Perhaps tomorrow after lunch or dinner?' Daisy's eyes lit up at his suggestion.
'I would love to! Perhaps I could show you somewhere too.' Daisy told him, thinking of the waterfall pool.
'Y-yes of course.' Thorin said, not quite believing she'd accepted.
'Is it wrong for me to have slept for hours yet still feel tired?' Daisy yawned. Thorin chuckled.
'It is quite natural my Daisy.' Daisy hid her butterflies when he called her my. Daisy dared to lean into him, and to her great surprise and happiness he put his arm around her shoulders.
'You don't really realise how pretty the stars are,' Daisy said sleepily. She felt Thorin's chest rise slowly up and down.
'No, no you really don't.' Thorin replied, not really aware of the stars. He was just happy that he was sitting, practically cuddling Daisy, on a bench under a romantic night sky. Luck really was with him.
'Sorry if I fall asleep on you. You'll have to carry me back to my bed, I do apologise.' Daisy said faintly.
'Do not worry,' Thorin whispered. 'It's quite alright.' A few moments later the sound of her sweet soft breathing filled the air and Thorin smiled genuinely for the first time that day, perhaps even on this whole quest.
He had no intention of moving, at least for a while, and so he placed a soft kiss to Daisy's forehead and looked up at the night sky.
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YAY progress with the relationship.