Date: TA 2941

Thorin: 195 years old

Lina: 192 years old

The prickling of the back of her neck alerted Lina to the eyes resting on her. Without moving her head, she flicked her eyes around the group before her. She caught the burglar watching her from across the small camp. As soon as he realized she had noticed him, he tore his eyes away. Lina was not sure if she should be annoyed or curious about the hobbit's newly developed habit of staring at her. Since the company left Beorn's house three days earlier, Lina had caught Bilbo staring at her with a mixture of curiosity and wariness at least three times a day. It was getting frustrating. If he wanted to ask her something, as it seemed he did, then he should just come right out and ask it.

Lina disliked this hobbit's rather indirect approach to her. Since they had landed on top of the Carrock, Bilbo had not spoken to her. His reluctance to interact with her was similar to that of the young male warriors after Lina had brained that goblin with a shovel over a century ago. He was torn between awe and fear.

Rising, Lina decided it was time to end this watchful silence once and for all. She no longer had the patience to deal with obvious, yet distant, admirers. Once she had been able to cope with a number of admirers, both male and female, following her around and watching her from a distance. Now, with so much at stake, Lina was not willing to let the burglar's fixation with her get in the way of the quest.

"What do you want?" Lina asked flatly, dropping down beside the hobbit. Bilbo's head whipped around and his eyes went wide as he fell over backwards. Apparently he had not heard her approaching. Lina waited, her expression blank, as the hobbit righted himself.

The hobbit took a moment to compose his features before replying. His answer was halting, though he tried not to stammer, and was what Lina had been expecting. He was curious about her status in the group, how she had become such a fierce warrior when he'd never heard of female warriors among the dwarves before her.

Lina took a moment to explain how her life had shifted so dramatically on the day the Dragon came. Apparently Bilbo had not been made fully aware that several of the dwarves in the company had, at one time, actually lived in Erebor. It seemed he'd spoken mostly to Fili and Kili about the Mountain, and received the impression that none of the company had ever been there. She told him briefly about life in Erebor, the coming of Smaug, and the wanderings before settling in Dunland. Her story touched on the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, the move to Belegost, and life there. It took her some time to relate the tale, and, even then, Lina was quite sure she'd be made to retell it several more times until the curious hobbit had ferretted out every detail. As much as possible, Lina had left out the interactions between the dwarves. She did not desire to place every event and action into light, feeling it might be a little too bold.

After taking in all this new information, Bilbo sat quietly for a moment. It was a lot to process. Yet one question remained on his mind. This was a question Lina, for all she had told him, had not answered.

"Why Thorin?" The question stunned Lina.

"What do you mean?" She tried to understand the question, yet could not.

"Why did you marry him? He's got a temperament that would make my cousin Lobelia look like a saint and is just about as frightening as that orc pack that ran us up the trees." Bilbo didn't seem to think before he said the last sentence. It simply came out accompanied by the most entertaining face Lina had seen anyone make in a very long time. She actually started laughing. Apparently the burglar had more spit and spirit in him than she'd initially thought. Bilbo looked surprised by her reaction for a moment, but readily joined in the laughter.

"He wasn't always so solemn," she answered finally, "nor so angry. This quest, or, rather, the longing for this quest, has made him short-tempered . . . even around me." She added the last three words quite softly. Thorin had done his best to hide his fixation with returning to Erebor from her, but had been unsuccessful. A number of times he snapped at her over some ridiculous little thing. He'd never failed to apologize to her, and always tried so hard not repeat his mistake. Yet he had changed, and not entirely for the better.

"I was quite young when I first saw Thorin. I was still the daughter of a nobody, selling jewelry in the markets to make ends meet. I never would have imagined the life I've lived since then. Not even in my wildest dreams would I have considered that I would fight in and survive a battle like Azanulbizar. I certainly would not have dared to dream of marrying Thorin. My station in life what fixed from the time I was born. Yet when the Dragon came, I was able to gain my freedom from males. Thorin's father gave me the ability to choose my own fate. I suppose the life I have now is due entirely to Smaug's arrival in Erebor." Lina went silent for a moment.

What the hobbit had seen of Lina and Thorin made it difficult to understand how two such different individuals could be married. Lina laughed easily and gave out teasing as good as she got. Thorin, on the other hand, was brooding and quiet, often sitting by himself or with one of the other dwarves. Only Balin, Dwalin, or Lina spent much time around him. His nephews both loved and feared him, but were usually too rambunctious for Thorin's taste. The leader of the company rarely smiled, and it was even rarer to see him laugh. Bilbo had never seen him laugh or smile until Lina had joined the group. Bilbo, a creature used to laughter and good cheer, was slightly frightened by the serious dwarf.

"Weren't you frightened by him?" Bilbo pressed.

"Oh, yes," Lina laughed, "Though, I imagine, not in the same way he frightens you. The strength and power he possesses stifled me back then. I could barely breathe in his presence, and my heart seemed to seize within me. Getting used to his presence is something I still have not been able to do."

"So what happened between you?"

"In Erebor, he was in a completely different world. Had Smaug never come, I know he and I would never have wed. When our people were forced to leave the city, we were able to move in the same circles. Obviously something about me drew him in, for I was still uncertain about approaching him. I wanted to be near him, yet I wanted to run the opposite direction whenever I saw him coming. He seemed to be drawn to me as much as I was to him. One day he made his interests clear, and we rarely spent a moment apart for many years."

Bilbo looked at the stocky female sitting beside him. So many emotions had flashed through her eyes as she spoke about her husband. The only emotion now was a vague sense of sadness and loss.

"Has he really changed so much?" Bilbo queried softly.

"Yes," Lina whispered. She said nothing more. The sense of sadness grew stronger, nearly overwhelming the hobbit. He had not known dwarves to possess such powerful emotions beyond anger and merriment.

"You still love him?"

Lina looked astounded that Bilbo could even ask such a thing.

"Of course! I could never not love him."

Bilbo smiled gently, more to himself than to her. Perhaps he had a thing or two to learn about love and life from the dwarves after all.