Turning around, her purple eyes met Thorin's cobalt blue ones as she walked up to kneel down beside him.
"So, your majesty?" The woman asked, "are you ready to go back to your kingdom and call it a day?"
Thorin let out a content sigh. "I need a minute."
"Are you still feeling dizzy?" asked the woman.
"No." Thorin allowed himself to fully smile. "I just want a minute to…."
"Yeah." The woman nodded in understanding.
"Do you want to see your kingdom from here? The sight is amazing."
Thorin locked his eyes with hers, liking the sound of that idea. He held his hands up and the woman helped him to his feet. Together they walked to the edge of the cliff to take in the view before them.
Below, all around, the last of the Orcs were being dealt with. Fires littered the barren land in different areas. The Eagles had long but swooped in to take out any surviving Orcs!
Thorin smiled while he watched the battle come to an end. A hard won battle to end a very long, hard perilous journey to reclaim his people's ancestral homeland!
Mid afternoon had rolled around when the battle finally ended! Thorin didn't realize he was still holding the woman's hand in his until he tore his eyes from the scenery. He watched her also take in the scenery before them. But his eyes were picturing a different type of scenery: an elegant jeweled crown sat atop her head; long purple hair pulled back into a beautiful fishtail braid, pale skin covered by an elegant shimmering silver dress to match the jeweled crown; curve of her breasts peeking out from underneath the long silver garment shaping her toned, muscular abdomen and torso; silver slippers covering her feet! A beautiful ring adorning her left ring finger!
Thorin kept his cobalt blue eyes locked onto the woman even when she met his gaze. "What's wrong?" asked the woman.
"What's your name?" Thorin asked. He wanted to know the name of the woman who not only saved his life and killed his longtime enemy, but to also learn her name so he could ask more questions.
Turning to face the Dwarf, hand still held in his, her purple eyes looked directly into his cobalt blue ones. She felt her heart pull at a bond around her heart; tugging and pulling against the bond when the opposite end of the bond was pulled and tugged at! She and the Dwarf King stared at one another, mouths slightly parting! Their breathing hitched in their lungs and their hearts pounded hard against their chests! Realization dawned on both of them.
"Raven." The woman finally broke the silence. "My name is Raven."
"Raven." Thorin tested the woman's name on his tongue, loving how her name sounded. "Raven." He uttered her name again.
Raven gave a nod, understanding what the Dwarf was doing.
"Alright, Raven." Thorn's face grew serious. "You have my eternal thanks."
"It was nothing."
"Yes it was." Thorin squeezed her hand. "You saved me from being killed by my long time enemy, killing him yourself. So it was something. You have my eternal thanks and my life is forever in your debt."
"I'm just glad I could help is all. Even if it was only small."
"'Small?'" Thorin couldn't believe the words iterated by the woman standing before him, as if she viewed what she did was not worth much - what she did was not worth much! He growled. "Woman, what you did was huge." Thorin argued. "You not only saved me and killed my long time enemy, but you also saved the lives of everyone down below us." Thorin nodded to the humans, Elves, Dwarves - everyone who had participated in the battle to help bring the Orcs to their knees - or their death beds!
Raven took in the scenery that lay below at the doors of Erebor and Dale. She felt a hand gently cup underneath her chin and turn her head. Her eyes locked onto Thorin's cobalt blue eyes. "What you did was huge. We are eternally grateful for what you did." He considered his next words before he spoke. "I am eternally grateful for what you did. You are crazy, but you saved all of us by killing that stupid Orc."
Shifting her eyes away from Thorin's, Raven tried to find something else to lock her eyes on so she wouldn't have to look at him. But there was nothing except for the ground. So Raven let her eyes shift downward and to the side. This was the first time she had ever had someone tell her what she did meant a lot and her actions will forever be remembered and gratified.
Trying to keep her eyes off of the Dwarf King, Raven found that she wasn't successful at all when he moved his head to the side in her line of sight. She tried so hard to keep her eyes off of him, but those beautiful blue eyes of his were just too striking and she ended up giving in. Just barely. Raven allowed herself to look at the Dwarf King out the corner of her eye. But her heart gave a throb and a tug at the bond when she saw his eyebrows furrow. Apparently he didn't like what she was doing.
"Look at me." Thorin commanded. Raven obeyed and she found his gaze soften when her eyes locked onto his again. "Why are you trying to fight me?"
"You're the first person to ever tell me that what I do matters." She watched his mouth form into a thin line. "No one has ever told me that before."
Thorin pressed his forehead to hers. "What you do will always matter to me."
"Why?" Raven asked.
"'Why?'" Thorin gently quipped her question. "'Why?'" He moved his face closer to hers. "What you do will always matter to me because you're my One, Raven."
Raven heard a gasp burst forth from within her lungs and escape her mouth. "I'm your One?" She felt confused. "What does that mean?"
Thorin smiled. "You being my One, Love, basically means you're my soulmate. You were perfectly crafted by Mahal himself to fit against my body and be joined to me for the rest of your life." He tilted his head to the side when she didn't say anything. "Unless, of course, you have someone else?"
Raven shook her head. "I don't have anyone like that. At all." She tried to pull away but Thorin wouldn't allow her.
"Talk to me, Love. Tell me what's bugging you." Thorin urged.
Raven shook her head. "You and I just met, but yet, I feel like I have known you for forever."
"That's what's bugging you?" Thorin asked, raising a dark eyebrow.
"That's what scares me."
"I see." Thorin pulled Raven closer to him. He couldn't deny what was happening between them. "What do you need?" He asked so-very-gently, his voice made Raven's heart throb and her breathe catch.
"Clarification."
"About?"
"You're a king. I'm just - well me. I don't matter."
"Of course you matter!" Thorin couldn't believe the words he was hearing. "You matter to me."
"You can have any woman you want," Raven pointed out. " Why choose me? I am no one. I am nothing, while you are something because you're a king."
Thorin sighed. "I have never wanted a woman until now." He explained, "I thought my One had died when Smaug attacked Erebor. So I gave up on any notion and any thought of love and romance." He wiped a stray tear that fell down her face. "Until I met you."
Using both hands, Thorin gently grabbed Raven's face between both hands and, daring to do the one thing he always dreamed of doing; kissed her full on the mouth.
During the previous years, Thorin felt like he was drowning underneath the weight of the heavy burden he could hardly bare at times of being king! The heavy, burdening weight had yanked him underneath dark waters he seemed to not be able to resurface on!
As a result, Thorin had grown stiff and yes, a bit stuffy from keeping up his walls to hide all of his inner demons! But now? Now, he felt as if he had met his salvation in Raven: the woman whose mouth was pressed against his! It was true he had just met her, but he felt like he had known her all of his life! She had saved him and all of the people of Middle-Earth by ridding Azog from the face of the earth!
While he tenderly kissed her, Thorin felt pieces of his soul move into place - slowly closing up the hole in his now-aching-heart from the new emotions flooding over him. This woman was indeed his salvation, and he dared not let her go!