Lori sank into the great marble tub, a pool really, and breathed a great sigh of relief as her tight, sore muscles unwound in the hot water. All of the stress and tension of the past weeks drained from her body, and she was content to just sit and stew for a while, letting the dirt cakes dissolve on their own.

When the water turned luke-warm and she was about to doze off - her nose accidentally slipping under the water - she decided it was time to start scrubbing. She grabbed the cloth and soap, and the water quickly started to get a murky brown quality to it. Wringing out the cloth with a grimace, she emptied the basin and refilled it with almost scalding water.

She started to undo her braids, but the rough trip and weather over the past weeks had clotted them into hopeless dreadlocks that she struggled greatly with until finally calling for help.

"Hello?" She tried.

"Yes, my lady?" Mariel's voice answered from the other side of the door.

"Could you help me? I'm having trouble with my hair…" She felt a smart of shame admitting it to the perfect and ever graceful elleth.

Mariel entered in her quiet, flowing style, "Certainly. What is the problem?"

"Err… Can't you tell?" Lori felt sure that the elleth must be making fun of her, for by now she had to look like she was growing a bush on her head, so tangled was her hair.

"Ah, yes my lady. I'll get the balm you need to undo your braids. Just a moment."

"Oh, and Mariel?"

"Yes?"

"Please, it's Lori. Ok?" She gave the elleth a shy smile.

"Very well." She returned the smile, bowed and left without a sound before returning with a jar of creamy substance that she rubbed into Lori's hair and let sit for a moment. Then she began to gently massage her scalp and slowly combed her hair out whilst rinsing it.

"Your hair is very beautiful. I would say it rivals even the queen of Lorien's in beauty and luster."

Lori, who had been dozing at the hypnotic pleasure of her pampering, tensed a bit but quickly tried to recover. "Thank you. That is high praise indeed. I suppose washing it helps."

"Yes," Mariel smiled. "I suppose it does."

She continued her ministrations in a comfortable silence. Lori heard a gruff voice outside her chamber door, but figured it was one of the men coming to stand guard. Silly and unnecessary as it was. Mariel's hands had finished combing and rinsing out the balm, and were removed for a few moments before returning and carefully running through the strands. Lori thought nothing of it and continued to unwind in the steam.

The hands seemed to linger when they touched her neck and cheekbones and there was warmth in them that made the experience even more relaxing. Lori sighed and leaned into the touch, and the hands began to knead her neck in a gentle and firm massage. She would never have thought the elleth had such strong hands, but the feeling was so wonderful she didn't want to do anything but enjoy it.

When a particularly sensitive spot behind her ears was massaged, she gave a pleasurable groan and leaned back further, lifting her torso partially out of the steaming, soapy bath water. She thought she heard a whisper saying "Mahal, help me",and the hands paused heavily for a minute on her shoulders. Lori chalked it up to water sluicing in her ears until the thumbs on her shoulders started to caress her skin in small circles in a disturbingly familiar way.

"Lori, may I braid your hair?"

In a split second her brain recognized the deep timbre of his voice, alerted her to the fact that she was bare-breasted and wet, and that it was Thorin who'd been tending to her for the past fifteen minutes or so.

"THORIN!" She whirled into the middle of the pool and covered herself in her hair and hands as she turned to him. "What on earth are you doing?"

He looked like a fish out of water as he sat gaping at her. "I… I was tending to your hair..?"

She stared at him as if he had gone and lost his marbles. "I'm in the bath. Naked." Her words were slow as she stated the obvious to him.

"I am aware…" He seemed uncomfortable as he shifted in the chair, but gathered his wits about him as he continued. "I came to check on you and when they wouldn't let me in, I insisted."

"You mean you grew suspicious and stubborn?" She almost smiled.

"They are elves, Lori. Not to be trusted," he reminded her.

Lori's heart sank a bit, but she already knew he felt this way. "Right. You were saying?"

"Well… I just thought you'd like some help with your braids?" Was he actually blushing?

"I see… Well, actually I would, but I'd like to get dressed first, if you don't mind?" She looked him up and down for second. "Speaking of which, what are you wearing?"

He examined his clothes for a second. "A bathrobe."

"And metal boots?"

"I'll not go around barefoot and unarmed." He stubbornly defended his unusual sense of fashion, arms crossed and a scowl on his face. "I am not a hobbit."

Lori laughed loudly at his affronted manner and the ridiculousness of his male ego, to which he grew more uncomfortable and started fidgeting with his robe.

"Sorry… I'm sorry…" She giggled as she tried to compose herself.

"I don't think I believe you." He said with rueful smile. "I think you like laughing at me."

"Just your clothes, my King. Just your clothes." Her smile radiated at him as she stood in the pool with her hair surrounding her body and her cheeks flushed with heat. Thorin found her absolutely breathtaking and discovered that he was smiling back at her.

"Could you maybe hand me a towel?" She asked.

Thorin snapped out of it and looked around for the towels. They were large white sheets of soft, thick cotton, big enough to wrap any tall elf in and he held it up in front of him, urging Lori to come out of the water.

"Come. I won't look." He promised.

"If you'd asked me this morning, I'd have said that you would never do such a thing." She eyed him skeptically. "Now, I'm not so sure."

"Please forgive me… I meant no offense." He turned his head and closed his eyes to preserve her modesty and to demonstrate to her that he didn't intend to peek.

For a moment he thought he was going to have to get Mariel back to help her out instead, but then he heard her move out of the water. When her body backed into the sheet, he embraced and wrapped her in the soft fabric without opening his eyes.

"Thank you," She turned around, still encircled by his arms, and put her free hand on his chest. "You may look now."

And he did. He drank in her beauty as if he might never see it again, relishing in the darkening of her amethyst eyes when she stepped closer to him, turning them into a deep indigo. He was at a loss for words, and instead let his hands caress her wet hair, travelling his fingertips down her temples and cheekbones in reverence. His thumb caressed the perfect cupid's bow of her upper lip, and when it circled down to the lower, she kissed it and looked at him through her long lashes.

He was undone. Any protest he'd had against it, and any argument he had made with himself were pushed aside as he fluidly closed the distance between them, catching her lips with his in a soft melding. His soul roared in joy when she melted into him and raised her face to meet him. He let his fingers slide down to her curved neck, finding the pulse points drumming fast like two beating wings of a hummingbird.

When he moved his lips, she made a soft moan of pleasure, as the one he'd drawn from her by massaging her neck, and he had to restrain himself from immediately pulling the bath sheet off of her. His hands bunched the fabric in tight fists on her back and pulled her close to his body. He tried to find the reasons he'd had not to do this, but they seemed to have fled his mind the moment her sweet scent hit him and the taste of her summer breath assaulted his senses.

She was so petite against him it was unlike any dwarf girl he'd ever held before, yet her soft, strong and ample curves left no doubt in his mind that she was all woman. He loosened his grip on the bath sheet and let his hands travel to the plush landscape of her rear, finally giving in to the urge he'd had since he first saw the sway of her hips on a road in Hobbiton,;to grab and knead the plump muscle there.

Lori had lost sense of up and down the moment Thorin's lips had met hers, and the butterflies in her stomach had magically turned into fully fledged eagles. There was surprise, vaguely registering in her mind, when she didn't get prickled by his beard. It was softer than she had expected and caressed her chin instead of scratching it. It sensitized her lips and aroused her, especially when Thorin hummed deeply and hugged her tightly to him.

Lori gasped when she felt his intrepid hands grabbing her butt, incidentally giving him access to deepen the kiss and taste her mouth, to which he quickly took advantage of. She quivered against his solid form and returned his kisses the best she could, their tongues caressing in an ancient dance.

Underneath her fingertips, she tentatively touched the expanse of his chest and slowly parted the robe to reach more skin. It was hot and smooth to the touch and rippled as he moved with her. Lori grew bolder and slowly ran her free hand down towards his navel, further parting the cotton. When she reached the belt and started to fiddle with it, Thorin groaned and broke their embrace, grabbing her adventurous hand.

"No, wait Lori," he ground out.

"Oh… Right. Apologies…" She regained her senses.

"Don't apologize," Thorin caught her eyes with his, pleading with her to understand. "You did nothing wrong."

Lori looked at him for a while, trying to read his thoughts, which was mostly impossible for any being in Middle earth. Needless to say, she failed as well.

"Alright… What can I do for you, then?" She tried.

Thorin relaxed and took her by the hand. "You can let me braid your hair. It would be my honor."

She chuckled as she followed him to the vanity in her bedroom where he helped her sit on the small padded bench, which was accommodating to her height, strangely enough . From the vanity in front of an oval mirror in rich wooden carving, he retrieved a brush and comb and started to work through her tresses.

"What is it with dwarves and hair, anyway?" She asked him with a teasing smile.

"Actually, it is tightly connected to our culture…" He started. "Didn't your mother tell you of it?"

"She told me the significance of me not having a beard, and what a dwarf's beard means to him or her. But not much about hair, no. Perhaps she meant to, but never got the chance before she died…" Lori turned her eyes down at the sudden and familiar pain that struck her when she thought of losing her mother.

"I'm sorry," Thorin said as his hands stilled in the pale golden strands. "I know what it is to lose family."

"It was long ago. But sometimes the pain is still there as fresh as the day she passed." She sighed and tried to force her agony back.

"It gets better with time. My father has been gone for a hundred years this summer, and though I still miss him, the fond memories are now stronger than the pain."

She stared in wonder at the man in her mirror, who was so openly discussing his feelings and family with her. "You never talked about him before."

"No, I never did." He started up on her hair again. "Not to anyone."

"Thank you." She whispered, earning her a gentle smile.

"The significance of a woman's braids tells which family she belongs to. This goes for a man's as well, but certain bits and baubles can be added to signify achievements he's made. Women usually only use hair jewelry when they're married."

"So wait… What are you going to do with mine? I've no family." She stopped his hands.

"I was hoping you'd let me do this, as a token of my… Courting you."

She was flabbergasted for a minute. "You mean to woo me? For me to be your lady? And to let all the men know it?" She tried to clarify.

"Yes." He said steadfastly as he held her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes through the mirror and smiled warmly at her.

"But you're going to be the King under the mountain. You'll need a queen, not someone like me."

"And why wouldn't someone like you be fit to be queen under the mountain?" He teased as he held her gaze and caressed her shoulders.

Lori broke his spell with a sigh. "Thorin… You need to know something about me."

He kissed the top of her head affectionately. "What is it?"

"My father… You never asked about him." She looked up to gauge his mood. He seemed only curious.

"You see, I know how you feel, but please bear in mind that I neither chose this, nor did I even know him." She begged.

"How I feel? What do you mean?" He looked at her perplexed. "How are my feelings related to your father?"

"I meant to tell you much sooner, I swear, but the opportunity never presented itself… My father's name was Lórindol; meaning Goldenhead in ancient sindarin, of the Greenwood Forest. Thorin, my father was an elf."

Dark clouds spread like a storm in Thorin's eyes, and the grip he had on her shoulders turned to iron. "This is not possible." He started.

"It is. He was travelling when he met my mother and her parents. She was devastated when he left and she found out she was with child." Her words were rushed, as if she was trying to douse the flames of his temper with them.

"An elf?" The low rumble of thunder couldn't have sounded more menacing than his voice, and Lori cringed in trepidation.

"Yes. He was. But he passed into the west before he even knew I existed." She bravely continued.

"And you? You neglected to tell me we were travelling with a treacherous half-breed! Are you as deceitful as the rest of your kin?!" The thunder broke loose in earnest. "I fell for it! You had me under your spell all along, witch. You poisoned my mind!"

He could have struck her. Or stabbed her, or pushed her off a cliff to her death, and it wouldn't have hurt as much. All she could do was to sit in shocked silence as he fumed and accused her of betraying him. As he called her a half-breed, a witch and sneered disgustedly at her. This man, who had gone out of his way to be courteous to her, who had just shared his inner truths and kissed her, asked to court her and make her his... A half-breed. With emphasis on the half that belonged to a race that he hated with all of his being.

He let her go with a push as he huffed in contempt and stomped out of the room as she sat in sheer panic, trying to gain control over her body and stop him. When the door slammed in a blast of noise, Lori broke into a long, silent scream before the violent sobs overtook her form.

She had lost him. And with him, her only family.

..o00Ô00o..

And now, for the ever annoying author's note: Bless every one of you for following, reading and reviewing this story. It keeps me going, so keep it up my friends :)

And if you're not into blessings, I'll offer cookies or ice cream instead for all reviewers! -Depending on your craving... :D