Ali didn't have to run for long before she had lost the blasted dwarf, although it was enough to get her entirely too tangled in the low trees. As she tugged her hair out of yet another branch she cursed ever thinking that it would be a good idea to leave it down. There was simply too much hair and too many sticks. Finally she stumbled out, scalp sore, and scarf still intact at least.
"Well you look a right mess," Bilbo chuckled as Ali spun towards him surprised. "Feeling better today?"
Sheepishly Ali grinned, attempting to pull some leaves out of her hair without him noticing. "Yea, much better, think I may be getting things figured out."
Bilbo just rolled his eyes from his seat on the small stone wall. "Come here and I'll help," he motioned for her to sit in the space between his legs. Ali was hesitant for a moment as he tapped out his pipe and stashed it in a jacket pocket, but she moved over none the less.
They fell into a comfortable bit of small talk, mostly about the shire, Bag End, some sort of atrocious woman names Lobelia. It was pleasant as he pulled gently on her hair, ridding it of all debris that she had picked up during her escapade.
"Mind if I pull it up in a braid?" Bilbo asked, though from the feel of it he was already starting, so Ali just hummed in agreement. It was relaxing to say the least. It felt like something a mother would do for their daughter.
"What's going on?" Someone asked, pulling both Bilbo's and Ali's attentions down the path to see Balin watching them.
"Just having a bit of a chat is all," Bilbo said before returning to his work.
Balin didn't look good though as his eyes darted back the way he came. There was something wrong but Ali didn't know what. As she opened her mouth to ask Balin cut her off.
"Master hobbit, if you know what's good for you I would stop at once," Balin cautioned, looking more nervous than ever.
"What do you mean? I'm almost done as it is," Bilbo protested and continued his work.
Ali didn't know what to do. On one hand Bilbo was just braiding her hair, nothing that he should have to stop. On the other hand it made Ali worried to see a man like Balin looking so nervous, surely there was a proper reason.
"Balin, I do not believe this is the way to…" Thorin cut off as he walked around the last tree and saw them. His brows furrowed, "what's going on?" He asked echoing Balin's earlier question.
Ali felt as though someone had sucked all the air out of the clearing as Thorin's jaw clenched shut. It felt as though they had been caught doing something terrible, like writing in library books, or worse not returning them. Balin quickly moved between the Thorin and them, but he looked right past Ali and to Bilbo.
"I'd run as fast as those feet will carry you Bilbo," Balin snapped. This time Bilbo didn't argue, he was bolting around the corner before Ali even had time to register the snarl that ripped from Thorin's chest. Shoving the older dwarf Thorin tried to follow only to be spun around and dropped quickly on his back. Balin taking a seat on his chest, Ali made a note to remember how quick he was for his age. "Don't blame Master Bilbo, he was unaware of his actions."
Ali stood up awkwardly, feeling as if they had forgotten she was in the clearing at all. She wanted to ask what had just happened, maybe Bilbo had done something before she had arrived?
"And where do you think you're going?" Balin asked as Ali turned to slink off.
"To check on Bilbo?" Ali asked, hoping that was the right answer. As Balin shook his head she guessed it wasn't.
"You two," Balin motioned to her and then Thorin, who was still pinned under him, "have got some talking to do." Balin heaved himself up, pulling Thorin with him, "I will go have a word with our Burglar."
Ali wanted to stop him as he walked past, grab his arm and beg him not to leave her here alone with Thorin. Instead she watched him walk past and out of sight, staring at the path were he disappeared. Heart in her throat Ali turned back, the angry dwarf had pushed himself up entirely now. Though as he patted the dust from his clothes he glared at her, making it very clear that he was here out of duty not want.
He had shed his heavy coat earlier and stood in a royal blue tunic and black pants. Ali didn't know why she was noticing his clothes though and mentally kicked herself for letting her gaze linger before dropping it back down to the ground.
It had only been a day since he had seen her last, but Ali looked entirely different. She looked…well…beautiful, but that didn't seem enough. Before she had been gorgeous, in her strange baggy clothes, now she was mind blowing. Thorin felt as though he was actually seeing what she looked like, seeing the curves, her skin, her hair flowing.
If there was one thing that wasn't different from before it was her thoughts on Thorin. Ali stood with her arms crossed before her stomach, looking anywhere that wasn't him. He could see the red mark painted across her cheek, it made rage boil in his chest because he knew that he was at fault. Then there was that hobbit, Thorin's stomach churned when he realized what was going on a second ago.
"So…I should apologize I guess," Ali said clearing her throat. "I acted pretty stupid yesterday, and I understand why you would be mad."
Thorin was at a loss, he had never expected this. Immediately his anger subsided, "no I should apologize, my behavior was unacceptable, I should never have struck you." There, he had said it.
Ali's eyes darted up, finally meeting his, "that was you?"
That was it, Thorin was done for. All this fear from her and she didn't even know that it had been him that had hit her. Now she would never look at him again, never sit close, never allow him to reach out. At that moment Thorin didn't want to live, if he could drive his One away so easily than he had no right to rule anyone.
"I would have done it to," Ali shrugged, catching him off guard, "I was being a total pain in the butt."
"So, you are not angry?" Thorin asked still guarding himself, this was not what he had expected.
"Angry? No, I'm not angry. Although I am just a bit shaken up still, there's just so much I don't really understand, and misunderstandings between myself and the company." Ali sat back against the little stone wall that Bilbo had just occupied.
"Maybe I can help, what is it you don't understand?" Thorin asked, hoping this was the chance he needed to get closer.
Ali just shook her head, "you would think I'm crazy."
"You could give it a try," Thorin prodded.
"I'm not from around here, obviously. Where I'm from all of this," Ali waved her hands around, vaguely gesturing to everything, "is considered fairy tales. There are no dwarves, or elves, or wizards. I thought, this was all fake, I thought this was just a game. I didn't realize I wasn't home anymore." Ali was drawing little squares in the dirt with the toe of her boot, obviously embarrassed.
This all sounded rather strange to Thorin, why would he play this as a game? Would someone really consider this sort of thing a game? Cautiously Thorin lowered himself onto the wall next to her, gauging her reaction, but there was none. "If this is not your home, then how did you get here? Why are you here?"
"I was pulled from my home by a woman named Galadriel so that I could travel with you," Ali said, still drawing her little shapes. "She says that I need to be with you at the final battle so that…"
That's where she stopped, Thorin didn't know what to make of it. Slowly she turned and looked up at him. It was almost too much for him to look down into her blue eyes and not get lost, not reach out and kiss her.
"So that I could be there when you reclaim your home," Ali muttered, looking away again.
Thorin knew she was hiding something, even if she wasn't his One she was as easy to read as a book. They had never spoken like this before though, it was something that he found he didn't want to end just yet. Instead he just cleared his throat, threading his fingers together between his knees. "That does sound rather strange. So there are no dwarves?"
"Nope, just humans," Ali muttered.
There were no dwarves, meaning that she didn't know about braids, or Ones, or any of that. Thorin could feel a bit of anxiety leave, he had to remember that most outside his own race did not know these things. He would apologize to the hobbit next time he saw him.
This was his moment though, he wanted to tell her everything, confess his love. Thorin wanted to place his own braid in her hair, hold her close and explain what being his One meant. These feelings burned like the hearths of Erebor, wild and hot, but under control for now. He wanted to do everything for her but couldn't. How could he when she so obviously didn't trust him. Even now she sat coiled and ready to spring at any given second, any movement of his that she didn't expect. If he were to add all that to this already shaky conversation, that would surely be the end of it all.
"Well, I…I should get going, have to check and make sure they didn't destroy the kitchen," Ali laughed half-heartedly and jumped up. It physically hurt to watch his One so ready to be out of his company. This was going to be harder than anything he had ever undertaken before.
Standing Thorin decided to see if Balin would be able to advise him on his next step.
Ali was still kicking herself for that stupid excuse to leave. Hell she didn't know if she could even find the kitchen again after this morning. It had just been too much, sitting there alone with Thorin.
Oh heavens, was Thorin…was Thorin…well…what exactly was Thorin? He was hot, but she was sure he knew that, but it was more than that. When he was so close she felt warm, heat literally rolled off of that man, although that might be a dwarf thing. Ali could have asked but she didn't know if that would be racist, like asking if all Asians were short. Being as she was always cold though, especially in this low cut top, it had been a chore not to shimmy over and warm up by him.
"Oh god I sound like some sort of reptile," Ali pouted, although she noted that she had stopped walking all together to stand in the sun.
There was more to him than that, Ali thought, beginning her now slow meander down the hall. She could tell that there was so much going on below the surface that he was trying to hide. She didn't know why though, was it because she wasn't a dwarf? Was it because he was a king? Was it because he was just that way?
Ali froze, Thorin was a king…if this was all real then that meant he was a king. Ali had just sat there spouting nonsense to a man who had real problems, people to lead, someone important. Actually he was the only king she had ever met, though she had met a lord before. Lord Vigtor (with a g, very important to note that he had said) lived in the same park she had frequented. He said that he had traveled through time and space to warn everyone of something that he could no longer remember. Even still that meant that Thorin was the most important person she had ever spoken to. Yet she had just run off, she hadn't even curtseyed, she had curtseyed for Lord Vigtor.
There it is :) The start of something wonderful I hope
Stay tuned for the next installment where they will be off again on their journey!