Origins: Balin
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Balin was everything she had ever hoped for in a husband- solid and steady and true. He treated her like a princess, always bringing her flowers and trinkets and leaving romantic notes on her pillow when he left for work in the morning. He was fiercely devoted, quietly passionate, and madly in love with her. She thought he hung the moon.
They had been set up on a blind date by a mutual friend and fell head over heals with each other. Eight months later that same friend stood as the maid of honor at their wedding. They bought a tiny house on the edge of town and filled it was happiness and laughter. The mantle over the fireplace was covered in photographs of them at various parties and picnics and holiday events- always together, always smiling. Soon after the wedding she announced they were pregnant and he danced her around the house, sobbing in his happiness.
The world outside was growing stranger and the newspapers began to tell stories of children developing unnatural powers. She was frightened and prayed every night for her unborn child to grow up healthy and normal. Neither she nor Balin had anything unusual in their families, so she was hopeful for their offspring. Balin asked her once what she would do if their child developed powers. She had cried so hard that he never asked again.
Balin was a good husband and boasted his excitement about becoming a father. He would run to the market late at night to feed her cravings and rubbed her swollen feet when she could no longer reach them. Even after long days at work he would rest a book on her belly and read fairy tales to his unborn child.
She was thrilled when the jeweler Balin worked for gave him a bonus, and used the money to decorate the nursery in shades of pale yellow and mint green. They spent countless nights pouring over books of baby names before finally deciding on Vigg for a boy or Nali for a girl. She daydreamed about family dinners, long walks in the park, and trips to the toy store. She could picture a smiling child who loved his mommy and thought his daddy hung the moon.
A month before the baby was due she received a call from the hospital. There had been an accident at the jeweler's shop and Balin had been injured. She rushed to the emergency room as fast as her swollen belly would allow and wept with relief when he smiled at her from the hospital bed. A stone Balin was cutting had ruptured and tiny pieces were imbedded in his arms. There would be scars, but he would be fine. She took him home and promised his new scars wouldn't change how much she loved him.
Two weeks later they sat together on the porch swing and talked about their future. The baby would be arriving soon and they wanted to give it a sister or brother as soon as possible. Her dream was three children, a house with a yard, and Balin at her side. She turned to tell him how happy she was, but Balin was staring at the ground, muttering under his breath with a frown. Without warning several pebbles from the garden path leaped into the air and floated in front of them, spinning in time with Balin's raised hand.
In an instant her perfect world shattered and she jumped up, pushing him away. He looked startled and hurt, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Her beloved husband had powers. Unnatural, horrifying powers. She couldn't -wouldn't- deal with that.
Balin begged and pleaded with her, proclaiming his love and reminding her of their plans for the future. She pretended to listen, afraid of what his new powers might make him do, but there was no love left in her heart. How could she care for someone so grotesque, someone with something so vile inside of him? This man was not her husband. Her husband was dead. She packed her bags and left that night, leaving him sobbing in the doorway to the nursery.
A taxi picked her up and took her straight to the hospital, where she lay retching and sobbing for two days until the baby came. He was tiny and wrinkled and pink, and she called him Vigg on the birth certificate. She refused to give Balin's name or her own, and slipped out during the night, leaving the child behind. She couldn't bear to look at him.
Years later she saw Balin's name in the newspaper, as part of a team of Supers who had saved a bus of children from the local orphanage. She stared hard at the accompanying photograph of her once-husband, standing proud with a dozen little faces beaming up at him, like he hung the moon. For a brief moment she thought of what their lives could have been, then crumpled up the newspaper and threw it away. It would be better if Balin never knew that one of the children he saved was probably his own.
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A/N: I know a lot of you were expecting to see Ori's origin this chapter... rest assured, his chapter is coming up (though it's not actually about his origin), it just has to come after a very specific moment in the story (yes, even more Ori-centric than this chapter!). But stay tuned Wednesday to find out what sort of fall out there is after the battle with Smaug! We'll also see if Ori is okay and find out a LOT more about his power!