Chapter 14
Everyone stood on the shore waiting. Rafaella impatiently gestured to the barge and it started to swim faster. They all heard a small shout at this and had a chuckle. In a few minutes, it arrived and a man jumped out. He had black hair and beard, a bit intimidating, but Thorin noticed, that he also had kind eyes and smile lines around his eyes.
"Bard!" Rafaella's shout brought his attention back to the present in time to see her hug the man. The man, Bard, was smiling and hugging her back: "Hello, my friend!" They seperated, but everyone could see the happiness in the meeting.
Rafaella gestured to Thorin and Balin. "There are some people I want you to meet." Bard turned to look and froze, seeing the dwarves. He knew, why they were here and the possibilites, but he was polite. "This is Thorin, the King under the Mountain and his advisor, Balin." Bard bowed his head at that. One by one, the lady introduced every dwarf to Bard and then said: "This is Bard, one of my oldest friends and the descendant of the King of Dale."
Everyone was shocked at this. They all thought the line broken. Bard, on the other hand, blushed and looked down. "I am just a bowman." Thorin was a bit jealous, because Rafaella had her hand on Bard's shoulder this entire time. But she was oblivious to this. She turned to Bard and asked: "How is everyone?"
They all sat down around the small campfire, Bard sitting next to Rafaella with Thorin on her other side. Eeveryone could see, that Thorin was jealous, Dwalin chuckled at this along with Fili and Kili. Bard exhaled slowly, but answered her: "Things are getting better slowly. Sigrid has turned into a lady and takes care of everything. Bain and Tilda are growing so quickly. I just wish she could see them." Rafaella squeezed his shoulder and , turning to the company explained: "Sigrid, Bain and Tilda are Bard's children. His wife died a while back. Again, I am sorry, my friend." Bard nodded, but Thorin felt his heart squeeze. He could see the haunted demeanor of the man. But he had children, three children. Maybe, after the dragon and everything, he could have children. His eyes beheld Rafaella. There was only one woman in his mind for this. But for now, he needed to get a grip.
"You know, they are asking when you will visit. Bain wants to hear the stories of the world and the girls want to see their Auntie again." Everyone wondered how many people thought about the lady warrior as "Auntie"? It was a nice thought, that she had people around her everyone , who cared.
Rafaella smiled, blushing and said: "I will visit, but for now, I think you know why we are here." Bard lost his smile and nodded. "Yes, I understood after i saw everyone. But because you reached out to me, you know about the Master's real nature. And i knoe you, there is something else."
"Yes, you know about my visions." He nodded at this, deep in thought. "There are many possibilites now on the fate of Laketown." Bard sat up at this and turned to her. "How bad?''
"That depends on so many things. I see the posibility of everyone dying or living happily. The dragon dies by your black arrow or my magic combined with weapons." Bard nodded and thought deeply. "You want to evacuate the town in the possibility, that you will fail to contain the dragon." She nodded at this and Thorin liked this plan.
"But how to get them out and where would they go? The Master will not allow this."
"Yes, i know. There are many caves here, where everyone could hide. But how to get them to leave?''
The rest of the evening they tossed ideas left and right in order to find one that could work.