Coming Of Age – Chapter 6
Author's note: here I go again…indecisions…after a long talk…very long talk with my beloved daughter who did not like my decision; we decided to continue our silly journey.
I do want to add here that should have been placed in the beginning of the first chapter is that this story is supposed to be humorous and slightly exaggerated, and the character Thoria and Thrain are very OOC – out of character- which I realized is a turn off for some of you intense Tolkien followers. For that I apologize if I offend for that is not my intention. I just want to do a lighter side of the story without making it totally ridiculous.
The entire story is not always humorous, I assure you, as there will at some point where they will be serious.
Thank you for your indulgence in my whims of this fantasy concocted purely for fun.
Now, please enjoy!
….
"I say, is there any beer left in that keg for some friends ?" Dwalin and Balin peeked into the Thorin's private chambers.
He looked up to them and waved them in happily, "Where have the two of been all day?" He had stood up and filled two mugs before setting them before his friends.
"I see you are looking slightly better, not a lot but just slightly, at least you can see out of both eyes again." Balin observed as he took a deep pull from his drink and gave a loud burp in return. "And that ugly nose of yours, I see Crimm had done a wonderful job in resetting it back. If you ask me, I'd leave it broke, it might lent itself a scary sight, frightening everyone away."
Thorin eyed him, "Then I'm glad I'm did not have to rely on you to reset it for me; you'd do a horrible job."
The other two laughed.
Thorin's left eye indeed had finally opened up, thanks to Crimm's constant medicinal ministration of poultices and salves which reduced the swelling, as well as his nose but he was now really sporting a rainbow of bruises. Besides, it was a known fact that Dwarves were hardy creatures and they heal quickly…well, not very quickly.
Dwalin nodded in agreement with his friend, "Yes Balin, he is looking better, not a whole lot because he wasn't that much better to look at to begin with but not even the great Aulё can do anything about it."
Thorin waved absently about him, "I'm fine, just bored to death being cooped in here all day. So, are you going to answer me or do I have to pry it out of you?"
Balin and Dwalin looked at each other than at Thorin, "We went to see the twins today."
"Who? What twins?"
They explained to Thorin their excursion to ThoraLee and her brother, including the run-ins with Crudd.
"Wait, you mean someone punched that girl?" They nodded. "And knocked her out cold?" Again, another nod.
"Oh ho…ho!" Thorin began to laugh heartily!
Balin and Dwalin certainly did not expect their friend to laugh at Lee!
Thorin then raised his mug into the air and said, "Here's to the young man for teaching that wench a fine lesson," he made an air salute and drained his mug, stood up and refilled his mug.
Dwalin slammed his mug hard on the wooden table sloshing the beer about but he didn't care as he stood up, "I am so ashamed of you Thorin! You know the rule; men do not hit woman. That young man was at least three times the size of Lee…"
"Four times, he was very big, I'd say four times her size." Balin interjected.
Dwalin nodded but continued his tirade, "Three, four times but that's beside the point, it is the rule of the Kingdom. It was uncalled for. And for you to cheer for him. I am too ashamed, Thorin, too ashamed. Good night, if there is anything good about a night like this night is for you." With a nod to Balin, he left the chambers slamming the door with a resounding bang knocking down a few books off the shelves.
Thorin arched a brow at the now closed door and said, "Well, what has gotten into his beer? "
"Thorin, Dwalin is right. That man should not have hit her."
Thorin frowned at his oldest friend, "Not you too; you've known her for less than a day and she has you eating out of her hand. She is nothing but trouble and a…a temptress. You should stay away from the likes of her. She is nothing but trouble."
"Thorin! She is your valet's niece, be watchful of your tongue. And she happens to be a very nice young lady."
Thorin ignored him as he took a drink.
"Damn you, Thorin! You are the most pig headed fool I've ever met! I cannot understand why you are harboring such hatred for her."
Thorin pointed to his own face, "Look at this, will you? This is her handy-work."
"Yes, yes," Balin waved his hand about. "It was an accident, as she had explained to you. And those bruises will fade eventually. You've had worst bruises before, and you've never acted like this… as if she had cut off your hand."
"Don't even think it. She might just do that."
"Damn it, Thorin! Will you stop condemning her?"
Thorin glared at him, "Will you stop singing about her. I am growing really tired of her and everything that's related to her already. From now on, I forbid anyone mentioning about her and her name…what's her name?"
Balin stood up, "Well then, we have nothing else to say, Thorin, Good night. Like Dwalin said, there is nothing good about this night for you." He left right after, slamming the door just like Dwalin did, knocking the rest of the books off the shelf.
Thorin shook his head, "What the heck is going on with everyone tonight…and today?" As he drank some more beer by himself.
He recalled earlier in the day when his brother Frerin came to his room in a foul mood, "Father is sending me with the army for more weapons training. Said I needed more experience. For what? I don't know. He is always pushing me for more work. Archery, back sword, broadsword, double sword, the mace, the mattock, and the axe, if anyone comes up with anymore weapons, I'm going to shoot him with my bow and arrow, then cut his head off with the back sword, clubbed him with the mace and if he is still alive, I'll hack him with the double sword and the axe, and for good measure, my favorite mattock." Before Thorin could answer, Frerin left his room, slamming his door shut,
Thorin surprisingly found that he had spare time due to the fact that Crimm had forbade him to move about as he had placed poultices on Thorin's face to reduce the swelling. So he spent the day reading and drinking until that confrontational night with his friends.
With a shrug, he spent the rest of the lonely evening drinking more beer, getting drunk by the moment until Crimm came in and hauled him back to his bed.
Late that night, Thorin had some horrible dreams aided by extra imbibed beer; he dreamt that a big huge dwarf four times the size of an orc had punched Lee in the head and as she flew and landed onto a field, Frerin began to attack her with a backsword as she tried to crawl away from him but the giant orc was holding her as Thorin was laughing cruelly at her as he watched her being tortured by his brother. All this while Balin and Dwalin alternately passing Frerin the double sword, mace, axe as he hack and hewn at her. As she lay on the grass bleeding, Thorin kept on laughing...
He was up early before the sun was up but he couldn't go back to sleep; the dream or nightmare had shaken him quite a bit as the images was quite graphic and bloody. He sat by the window looking out beyond Erebor, lost in thoughts for the rest of the morning.
By the time the sun had risen, he knew what he had to do.
He hoped she was able to forgive him.
After breakfast he set out to Dale…and to Lee.
In Dale, ThoraLee was up and about her usual morning chores. She was looking and feeling much better as the swelling had gone down significantly that her left eye was now opened, The nly thing was there was purple bruise all around her eye. Dressed in her favorite work shirt and trousers, she saw that they were out of bread, cheese and fruit as well as beer; last evening's entertainment of their guests had depleted their supplies. A trip to the market was necessary.
She found her father and brother hard at work already in the workshop. She told them she was off to the market to resupply their food. With an absent-minded nod, her father waved her off.
"Well, and a good morning to you too, father." She shook her head as she swung a basket as she made her way down the dirt road. He probably had forgotten about her already, his head deep in concentration with his work.
The sun was already warm, it promised to be a hot day that day; a good day for dipping into the lake. It was a medium sized lake named after the town of Dale Many dwarves did not know how to swim but that didn't prevent them from wading into the shallow part of the water.
There were a few that knew how to, though. Lee and Jor were the rare ones that learned how to swim when they were little.
When the twins were four years old, Erimm had taken them deep into the forest in search of the wood elves he knew that dwelled there, his purpose was to trade his metal work. He was successful in his search. The twins were the ones that found the elves; their unusual likeness attracted the attention of the elves to them as they had never seen identical twin dwarves. Sensing their friendliness, the wood elves invited the family to live with them. For four years they lived amongst them which were not unusual as back in those days, elves and dwarves got along well. It was there that Lee learned how to read and write Ancient Runes, as well as metal etching while Jor learned more about sword making; he would have learned more were it not for Erimm eager to return to his people. In the woods, there was also a small lake where the twins learned how to swim from the elves. As they were young, they were fast learner, learning to dive into the deep end without fear, something most dwarves were, given their heavy and stocky built.
They were sad to leave the woods but they had to follow their father. It was hard to settle down in Dale, so used to the gentle life of elves that the dwarf lives seemed totally different. But as years went by, they began to integrate slowly back into their kind.
ThoraLee looked over to the lake beyond the road leading into the town, she saw that the kids were already enjoying the water.
"Lucky children," she smiled as she waved to some of them who had spotted her.
"Come on in, Lee!" one of them yelled and wave enthusiastically "Come join us, the water is nice right now!"
ThoraLee shook her head, pointing her basket and yelled back, "I have to go to the market! Need bread and cheese. I have work to do!"
There was a chorus of disappointing 'oohh's' as she left them behind; ThoraLee was a favorite of the children as she loved to play with them whenever she could. She was not shy about playing chase with them all, unlike most young female dwarves her age who were busy trying to catch the eyes of the male dwarves; she enjoyed the company of the children the most. She was always volunteering to babysit for the mothers when they had their hands full and needed a couple of hours of peace and respite.
Just as she was about to step foot into the bakery stop she heard a loud scream; it came from the direction of the lake.
Without hesitation, she dropped the basket and ran towards as one of the children, dripping wet, was waving at her, "ThoraLee! It's Bels! She's in the deep water! Hurry!"
ThoraLee looked over the water and saw a dark haired child struggling in the water, her hands tiny hands flailing above her.
By now, there was a crowd of adult dwarves gathering by the edge of the lake, some of them were parents clutching their children who were standing watching the tiny child struggling in the water, looking on helpless.
ThoraLee quickly waded into the water and as soon as it reached to her waist, she dived down and began to swim towards the girl who had stopped struggling; her body was still and facing down in the water.
As soon as she touched the girl, ThoraLee grabbed her and clutched her to her body and swam one-handed, a long and hard process but she kept on until her feet touched the bottom of the gravel.
Carrying the lifeless body, ThoraLee brought her to the shore and laying her down on the grass, she began to compress her chest, pleased to see water coming out of her mouth.
The crowd had gathered around them, marveling at her ministration. When they saw Bels' lifeless body, they thought she had died and was ready to mourn her, someone had already sent for her mother, Shoshin, the seamstress who had made ThoraLee's dress.
"ThoraLee, what are you doing?" Someone was asking her. "There's nothing you can do for her."
"Saving her," she replied huskily before she began opening the little girl's mouth and bending over, blew a gentle breath into her. There were gasps around the crowd as they were shocked at her strange actions.
ThoraLee repeated her actions a couple of times, as well as applying pressure on Bethina's chest and soon, she took a breath and began to cough and gurgled, Lee quickly moved the little girl to her side just as she threw up a lot of lake water and coughed more.
Then she started to cry.
ThoraLee smiled and hugged her, "Oh Bels, you're all right now. Come on, shh…it's okay, there…oh! Here's your mamma." Shoshin was on her knees, crying as she hugged her child who was had started to cry loudly. Shoshin had grabbed ThoraLee and thanked her, "Lee! You saved my baby! I am so grateful to you!" More tear rolled down from the grateful parent.
"Think nothing of it, Shoshin. I'm just glad that I'm nearby. Now, we both better get home and change so we don't catch our colds."
She stood up and that was when she realized the size of the crowd had grown. With a wet shrug of her shoulder, "Well, folks, as you can see, she's fine. How about letting us through." With that she began to move and headed back to her house, quickly.
What she didn't see as she walked home was a figure standing nearby watching her and then following her to her house.
It was Thorin; he had come to Dale to apologize to her but realize that he didn't know where she lived. He was about to ask for direction when he heard the screaming. He saw the little girl near drowning in the lake and was about to jump into the lake when he saw Lee jumped in before him. At first he wanted to stop her; not many dwarves could swim, he didn't know if she could.
Of course she could swim! Why did that fact not surprise him?
Lately there were many things she did that didn't surprise him at all. She seemed to have some sort of ...of amazing powers. As if she had some elf in her but that couldn't be so, for she was completely and totally dwarf. Every part of her features was dwarf…well, the parts he could see, that was.
Then again, she was slender, unlike most female dwarf. Not even his mother, bless her, was skinny. But then after bearing three children, she was bound to gain some weight. Although she still maintain her regal bearing.
Entering their front gate, he moved quietly by the side of her house, next to a tree, he saw her moving through an opened window what he presumed was her bedroom, he realized she was changing! His face was turning red as he didn't realize he was peeping! Embarrassed, he turned from looking at her and stood behind a tree. He began to look about him and saw a small building behind the house muttered, "That must be the forge Balin talked about." There was smoke coming out of the chimney.
Then he heard a soft sweet voice singing within the window. Curious, he turned back to look in; he saw that she was singing as she was removing her shirt. Some sort of song he didn't recognize but it was melodic and soothing. She had a very nice and gentle voice for a female dwarf.
She was in her undergarment and was about to pull down her trousers which were hard to do as it was stuck to her skin being that it was still damp. She had to bend over to slowly peel the material off her when she heard what sounded like a twig snapped outside her window! An intruder…no, a peeper! Straightening up fast, she turned around fast and grabbing a dagger she kept by her boots, she dashed to the window and saw a shadow, "Who's there? Show yourself you peeper!"
No answer.
"Look, I can see you standing behind that tree. I have a weapon and I'll use it. Get out here, you coward."
No answer.
"Okay then. I'm not moving from here until you come out." She said as she began to climb out of her window, dagger in her hand, as she moved as softly as possible.
Thorin could hear soft rustling; and the soft crunch of dry soil. He closed his eyes for a moment, cussing his luck; she had crept out of the house and was on the other side of the tree, any moment, he would be discovered, there was no where he could make his escape. Time to come clean.
Just as he made up his mind to 'give himself up', Thorin took a step out from around the tree trunk, and at the same time ThoraLee stepped in front of him and screamed.
With a quick reflex, he covered her mouth with his large hand, effectively shutting off her scream; he was afraid her screams would alarm the neighborhood.
As soon as she recovered from her shock, she raised her dagger, ready to take care of her intruder; she still had not recognized Thorin up close, and the fact that both his eyes were opened this time. She had raised her dagger and was about to stab him but he was quick and grabbed her wrist hard, causing her to release it.
"It's me, Thorin. Nod once if you understand." He said behind her. She nodded once, she couldn't believe it was him but what was he doing here? And peeping into her window?
"Good, I'm going to release you and you're not going to hit me, right?" She nodded once again.
Pleased that she understood him, Thorin slowly released her.
ThoraLee glared at him, "What are you doing here? And why are you peeping at me changing?"
Thorin shook his head, "I…first of all, I was not peeping on you, second, I came by to apologize to you."
She looked him suspiciously, "Why?"
"For being mean to you the other night…for locking you."
She was quiet as she was contemplating his sincerity…and found that he meant it.
"All right, apology accepted."
Thorin nodded, "Thank you." He didn't move from where he was standing as he began to stare at her.
It was then that she glanced down at herself and blushed deeply; she remember immediately that she had not bothered to put on her shirt when she tried to catch 'her burglar'. Immediately she placed her hands across her chest, although she knew it was too late as he must have seen more than he should have.
"I...I...should go back in and get dressed," she said, her cheeks or one of her cheeks as the other one was still bruised, had turned deep red.
Thorin nodded in agreement as he was ashamed of himself for staring at her blatantly; he should be ashamed of himself but he realized she had a beautiful figure. Her damp pants had wrapped around her legs tightly showing off her shape which made it even more enticing to him.
"This is not happening again!" She almost yelled as she ran from the tree to the window and began to climb, stepping on a rock, to hoist herself up and in her hurry, she stumbled and rolled unladylike and fell into her room, hitting a piece of furniture as Thorin heard a crash and an unfeminine cuss.
"Are you okay?" He said through the window, trying not to look in but was concerned at the same time.
"Yes! I'm fine! Thank you." Then he saw her standing up as she approached the window and quickly closed it.
Thorin raised an eyebrow at being shut off but the window suddenly opened again as ThoraLee was putting on her shirt, "Wait! Come around the front door and I'll let you in, if you want to stay and visit, that is."
He nodded.
She smiled and then closed the window again.
Thorin smiled as he shook his head and headed out of the tree and went around the front of the house.
"Oh ho! Look who's here!" Thorin turned around and smiled as he saw his friends Balin and Dwalin riding up in their ponies.
Thorin went up to them, "Well, good morning to you two. What are you doing?"
Balin dismounted and brought a big package that was hanging from the side of the saddle of his pony.
Dwalin likewise did the same but it was two big jugs; one on each on either side instead.
"Since we supped with them yester eve, and we must have ate most of their food from their pantry. So we have brought them some replenishment."
"Ah, I see." Thorin said.
"What about you, Thorin, what are you doing here?" Dwalin asked, balancing two big jugs.
"Upon the advices of some wise friends," he eyed at his friends who grinned back at him. "I came to apologize to Ms. ThoraLee." Thorin said.
Balin looked at his friend closely trying to gauge his friend if this was more than an apology visit but for once he couldn't read the prince.
"And, "Thorin continued. "I wanted to apologize to my two best friends for my awful behaviour last night."
Balin and Dwalin exchanged looks and then nodded, "Apologies accepted, my dear Prince. Now, let's go inside and greet our new friends, we have much to discuss." Balin said.
Thorin nodded and all three moved to the front of the house and knocked on the door.
…..
End of Chapter 6
Thank you! Don't forget, a comment from you would be great!
J.