One day later
I heard Bilbo sit up next to me. I felt bad for him. He wasn't used to the snoring of dwarves. Unlike me and, well, the dwarves. As I watched Bilbo walk over to his pony, Myrtle, and feed her an apple, I heard an orc screech in the distance.
"What was that?" Bilbo asked.
"Orcs. Throat cutters," Kili answered. "They come in the wee hours when everyone's sleeping. No screams. Just lots o' blood."
Bilbo turned back towards the cliffs, and Fili and Kili started laughing. As I slapped them, Thorin said, "You think that's funny? That a night raid by orcs is a joke?"
"We didn't mean anything," Kili stammered.
"No, you didn't! You know nothing of the world."
"Why would he act like that?" I asked. "He never did that around me."
"Don't mind him," Balin said. "He has more reason than most to hate orcs."
"He didn't tell me anything about orcs."
"Well, after Erebor was lost, Thorin's grandfather, King Thror, tried to settle the Dwarves in the mines of Moria, but the enemy got there first."
I swore that I could hear the clang of swords as the fire popped.
"They were led by the most cruel of their kind; Azog the defiler, a giant gundabad orc. He swore that he would wipe out the line of Durin. He started by beheading the king. Thrain disappeared. Whether he ran away or was captured, we did not know. Leaderless, defeat was near. And that was when I saw him." Balin turned towards Thorin. He was near the cliff, his back to us.
"The young Dwarf prince facing down the pale Orc. He alone stood against this terrible foe. His armor rent, with nothing but an oak branch for a shield."
"'Oakenshield'," I noticed. Balin nodded before continuing.
"Azog the defiler learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily destroyed. Our forces rallied, and drove the enemy back, but there was no song, nor feast that night. Our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived."
I stood up and walked towards Thorin.
"Sorry about Moria. I didn't know about Azog. I know how it is. Losing your entire family."
"I lost my father, and grandfather, yes. But I gained something."
"Huh?"
"I gained you, didn't I?"