Wren had always praised herself on disciplined mind and reason. Sometimes she almost feared her own ability to be calculative when everyone else was running in panic, she would ask herself whether she was cold, perhaps insensitive. Among other things she would doubt herself as a healer then, in her life she had chosen a path of helping others, and still she was able to remain calm when people were dying or in pain around her. This ability allowed her to be a great surgeon, but self-doubt was one of the strongest emotions Wren had to carry with her every day.
At the moment when a short dark-haired woman suddenly darted by Thorin, screaming the name of his younger nephew as if it were the only word existing in the world, and Wren could hear through her magic the heart of the woman's unborn child beating frantically through its mother's distress, Wren did not think. She did not calculate or strategise, she acted on the sheer instinct of protecting a woman and her child, and doing what was right by her heart and her soul.
Two large men pinned the King to the floor, and she saw muscles bulging on his arms and chest under the soft tunic. Limp or not, he was immensely strong physically, and now that he had quickly recovered from the shock of events suddenly unfolding in the yard, Wren could clearly see he would overpower them in a matter of instants. She quickly assessed his position and saw his thighs strain. He would press his feet into the floor and roll, the smaller man with mad eyes would receive the first blow, and even if he managed to block it, their advantage over the King would be over.
She leaped ahead and sat on Thorin's chest. He froze, and she clasp her hand over his mouth. His eyes fixed at her, and she had never seen him like that. Her always so overly zealous mind noted two things. He was terrifying in his rage, and secondly, she was probably destroying her betrothal.
"Stop it right now!" Her voice was calm and authoritative, and she lifted her eyes on the bigger man. He seemed as the saner one, considering he took the knife away from the King's throat. "Both of you, step away from the King Under the Mountain." She noticed Thorin was still not moving, and she felt his burning eyes on her face. For the child, for the child, the thought kept whirling in her head, she was doing it for Kili's unborn child. The moment her gift showed her the babe she knew it was half-Dwarven. The woman's desperate howling explained the rest. "Release him and step away. You are assaulting a Dwarven King in the house of an Elven Lord." The bigger man blinked, and she knew her words reached his understanding. She quickly turned to the second one. She could see the blood thirst of a killer and the cold mind of an animal. This one was dangerous. She had heard what he said about Thorin manhandling the woman in Bree. Wren had no time to ponder who the woman was and what had happened but she knew one thing. The man with a strange cruel face was loyal to the short-haired woman. Wren understood that was her angle. "She is alright now. She is with Kili. She would not want you to assault his uncle. And," she also knew Balin was close, as well as Rivendell Elves that were gathering around, "We are ceasing this ridiculous scene. What do we look like to the Elves?" She hissed, adding conspiratory derisive tone into her voice, and both men let go of Thorin's arms. He remained still, and she had no strength to look at him. She did not allow herself think of what this scene meant for her, she was not going to think how little chance to stay by his side she had after this.
"I am certain Lindir will be happy to show the two of you, honourable guests of Lord Elrond," she added more steel into her tone, "Where you could repose and find some sustenance." She found the dark eyes of the Elf in the crowd, and for a second she saw disdain and defiance in his eyes. Wren clenched her teeth. For the next several minutes until the King Under the Mountain threw her out of his life, she was still the betrothed of Thorin Oakenshield. She narrowed her eyes at Lindir, and with vindictive satisfaction she saw his face waver.
He stepped ahead and invited the men to follow him in a welcoming gesture. Thorin stirred under her, and she quickly scampered off him. She was staring at the floor, at the heavy velvet of her dress, when she heard Balin's soft voice above them, "Well, that was quite a scene, laddie. Do you think that perhaps you and your future wife should take it to your chambers now?"
Wren was starting to come down from the emotional outburst, and her whole body was shaking. Suddenly she saw Thorin's hand in front of her nose. She gave him hers and heavily got up. He started marching into his chamber, pulling her after him, she followed obediently, still looking under her feet, his hand was scorching, and she felt like crying. Just a few minutes ago she had been playfully battering this very hand from snaking under her skirts.
He let her enter the chamber first, and then closed the door behind him. She was standing in the middle of it. He moved heavily around the room, and she thought that he probably wanted to sit, the leg probably bothering him, but he couldn't while she was standing, and he apparently didn't feel like talking to her, so she tucked herself on the nearest surface, which to her dire surprise turned out to be his bed. He immediately heavily dropped in a chair by the table, she was right.
"What is it about her being with child?" His voice was raspy, and she wriggled her fingers.
"I am… was a midwife for many year, my lord," her voice was quiet, but was not shaking. By his question he reminded why she acted the way she did, and she suddenly felt ready to face him. She lifted her face and looked at him. The eyes were dark, lips set in a stern line, and brows frowned. She was taken back to the months he had spent in her infirmary seven years ago, to his dark disposition and temper he had showed then, and she felt almost grateful to Maiar for this reminder. He was no enamoured youngling, he was a battle hardened Dwarf, a King and a rather temperamental male. She seemed to be forgetting it these days. She cleared her throat. "I can tell such things. She is expecting."
The King placed an elbow on the armrest and hid his mouth behind a fist. She could see the storm gathering behind his brow. At least he was not rushing out of the chamber, she thought, she gained the woman some time with Kili.
"I am certain it is Kili's," Thorin spoke gravely. "She is loyal..." He was talking to himself, but Wren suddenly felt curious.
"She is a Futurian, is she not? I have heard of them. People from far away, lost here. They have quite different ways, I was told." She was speaking carefully. She had little hope he would forget about her presence here, she knew their conversation was coming. She also knew for certain the woman's child was half-Dwarf, but telling this to Thorin meant disclosing her magic, and she hardly felt comfortable with it. Especially if he were to throw her out now.
"I told her to stay away… Mahal knows what they are talking about..." Thorin was still mumbling, and then he sharply got up, as much as his limp allowed. Wren panicked, he was going to interfere!
"No!" She jumped on her feet as well, and he looked at her aghast. "You cannot go there. They need time, they need to talk…" Thorin squared his shoulders and gave her a heavy glare. She shrank away. The gravity of the situation was settling in. She challenged him, she as much as betrayed him. She quickly looked him over. One large fist was clenched, and she saw the tension in the shoulders. He was livid. Pain bloomed in her chest, seven years of ache woke up, and she suddenly felt suffocated. This time she would have no strength to shield herself from the pain of losing him. Last time he was nothing but a dream, and this time her loss would crush her.
And then, suddenly she jerked her chin up and gave him an haughty look. She was Wren of Enedwaith, she was her own woman, and even if that was the end of her association with the Dwarf, be it. She straightened her back and folded arms on her chest. "She is carrying his child, it is between the two of them." She saw Thorin's mouth twist in an enraged grimace.
"You know nothing about them," he snarled through bared teeth, but she knew what was the right thing to do. And she was grateful for her strange calculative mind at the moment. She would lament later, she would let her emotions overrule when he was gone. At the moment she needed to gain Kili and his beloved more time.
"I know that no one can stand between the Dwarf and his One. She is his One, is she not? She is the woman he was mourning the absence of..."
"She ran!" Thorin interrupted her, his voice cold and furious, "She abandoned him, and she broke him!"
"She did not!" Wren was quickly giving up any attempts of keeping her words in check. "She did not. How can you be so blind?!" She almost felt like screaming at him 'You did!' but whatever sense she had left halted her from rash words. If she hoped he would understand her, she needed to speak more cautiously. She had little hope though. "The war broke him. Kili is… different. He is not like you, or Balin, or any other Dwarf I know, for that matter. He is sensitive, perceptive, he..." She started pacing the room, her hands flying up energetically in her habitual gestures. "His state… His emotional wounds… They are not from her, they are from the battle… He needed help then, guidance, and you did not give it to him..." She saw Thorin open his mouth, but she had nothing to lose anymore. "You could not, of course, you are of Khazad, you do not understand. Souls like him cannot come out of the battle unscarthed. You and others… You recover from the wounds, and you drink, you celebrate the victory and mourn the dead, and you persevere. Kili is… He is still bleeding… What had happened will stay with him for long… Do you even know what it is like?!" Her voice suddenly broke into a scream, and he jerked his face up. He had been glaring at the floor, his arms folded, in a defensive posture, and she knew he was listening but not hearing. And she wanted him to hear her, at least for the last time. "You do not understand how it is to live like that. When every emotion you have is like a blade across an open wound. When you see more and feel more, and the world around is blind and deaf, and people hurt each other, and there is cruelty and corruption everywhere, and you cannot do anything about it! Kili saw death, he saw his kin die, he lost so much in those battles, and unlike you he cannot mourn and honour the dead and live on. He carries them with him!"
At some point of her speech she stopped in front of the table and was supporting herself, holding on to an armrest of a chair. Everything was too tall for her in the Elven house, she thought dully.
"Wren..." The King's voice was suddenly soft, and he made a step to her, and she suddenly saw red. He knew of course she was not just talking about Kili, she knew only too well what it was like to be in Kili's shoes, but she did not need his pity.
"Do not mistake the empathy for weakness, my lord," she pinned him with a glare, and he stopped, his hand slightly lifted to touch her shoulder, "His mind and his heart are his greatest weapons. Once he is certain of himself, once he feels safe and once he is loved and cherished, he will be stronger than any of you, thick skulled, single-minded, cantankerous, stubborn Dwarves." Thorin's brows jumped up, and she felt satisfied. She had felt expressing her opinion was way overdue. "He was not ready for what had come, and you did not help him. You let a beautiful boy spiral down, and I am certain," her tone was growing venomous, "You all thought he was nursing a broken heart, and you let him drink himself into oblivion! You thought she broke him, while she had a chance to help him. Was that why you kept them apart? Did you threaten her in Bree?" Wren had always been quick in piecing snippets of knowledge together. Thorin's face wavered. She guessed right then, and again with pleasure she watched shame spilling onto his features.
"She weakened him..." Wren suspected even for his own ears Thorin sounded uncertain.
"She did not. She is what he needs to feel safe." Wren did not know where the certainty came from. Perhaps she was just imagining it, perhaps just sharing her own hopes, her own longing, her own dream of what her marriage was to be. She suddenly felt angry with herself, she was naive. Did she indeed hope for finding somewhere she belonged to, the person to share herself with? The realisation of how mad her hopes were suddenly flooded her.
Wren stepped back and heavily sat on the bed again. She suddenly had no strength left. "Is this how you see me too?" She whispered, and she painfully clasped her hands together to hide their shaking. "That I am that sort of nuisance, the wrong woman to fall for, the one to weaken you..."
Thorin was silent, and she felt tears coming. She had her pride though, she needed to leave the room. He could not see them.
"You are being absurd, Wren." Thorin moved. She could not see, her eyes clouded. She was frantically trying to remember where the door was. He heavily sat down near her, and one long arm went around her shoulders. She jolted, he was scorching, and she sank her teeth into her bottom lip to suppress a sob. "We are not them."
"I am no different from her. I am a woman of Men, and not the best out of them..." She felt it came out in a very childish way, and to confirm her suspicion she heard a small chuckle from him. Added to the storm of emotions she was going through she felt irritation as well. He was mocking her. She shortly wanted to move away from him, but she felt the warmth coming off from his body, and the fresh spicy smell of his skin, and she sniffled. He was silent, and she was starting to reign her emotions. She looked at him from the corner of her eye. His face was pensive, but not angry anymore. She was worried to scare off this moment of closeness between them, her heart was still beating frantically in her chest, and she suddenly felt very cold.
"Frerin was the same..." Thorin suddenly spoke, his voice soft, "We just could not understand why he would… Too soft, too weak, they used to say. He was a good fighter though." She was looking at his profile and did not notice when tears started running down her cheeks until she felt their taste on her lips. "Makhaffi, they would say. Too much heart. How did I miss it?" He suddenly looked in her eyes, and her breathing hitched. He was smiling to her, she could not believe it, her lips trembled, and then he pulled her into tight embrace. She sobbed or hiccuped, from shock and still not allowing herself to hope for what seemed to be happening.
"You are wrong, Wren." His voice was soft and even, and she grabbed handfuls on his tunic at his back. "You make me stronger. I feel stronger… It hurts less, it is easier to breathe..." She started sobbing loudly, her reserve finally collapsing, and he stroked her hair and made comforting soft noises. She was quaking, from relief and from exhaustion. But then she remembered she had to finish what she had started.
"She can do the same for him," her nose was stuffed, and her voice was squeaky, but she needed to make sure she helped at least a bit. "She will give him a child, and will love him, and will cherish him. She will do anything for him, she will kill and die for him..."
"Are we still talking about Reese?" Thorin's voice was teasing, but it wavered for a second, and she felt acutely embarrassed for her blabbering her feelings towards him out, she jerked away from him, she wanted to hide her face. He did not let her. He softly pressed his lips to her temple, and she sniffled again.
"Is that her name? So beautiful and unusual..."
"And there is a child," Thorin's voice was gentle, he was nudging her towards the thought, and she gulped. She was not allowing herself the thought, but now he was talking about it and she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into herself.
"There is a child," her voice broke, and she sobbed again. "Maiar, a half Dwarven child..." She inhaled shakily and moved away from him, she needed to see his eyes. They were blazing, the blue irises shining, and she laughed with her nose still stuffed and probably red. He was smiling, and she hastily wiped her eyes. "Maiar..." She did not know what to say. They both knew the significance of the child the one called Reese carried, and Wren's heart was fluttering.
Thorin cupped her face and gave her a long loving look. She sniffed again. She was still wondering if he was going to address the fact that she helped two unfamiliar men tackle him on the ground in the Elven house, when he lunged ahead and caught her mouth. All thought vacated her head.
She came back to her senses on the bed in entanglement of limbs, his hot lips pressed to her breasts through her thin undertunic in the already unlaced bodice of the dress. On one hand, were they to proceed that would indeed keep him in the room and would give Kili and his beloved more time, on the other hand, was he not intending to wait till their wedding night?
A/N: And remember, if you want to know how the conversation between Kili and Reese is going in the meantime, check RagdollPrincess' What The Future Brings :)