"Thorin, don't you think that we should wake her up now?" Balin asked for the third time. The king in exile had been insistent that it was in Katniss best interest to miss breakfast with the company in exchange for extra minutes of sleep "She might need some time to recompose herself before we start the journey…"

This time, Thorin nodded in agreement and taking the hint, Balin went over to wake up the human woman who was still laying down at the same spot that Thorin had placed her.

"Miss Katniss… Lass… wake up," Balin gently placed a hand on her shoulders as he tried to wake her up.

"How long have I been sleeping for? Where is Thorin?" she said in the middle of a yawn.

"You have been sleeping for almost two hours, I think. Now, we are leaving in ten minutes. Here, I saved you some breakfast…"

"Thank you," she quickly stood up and took the piece of bread and fruit from Balin's hand and placed it inside her shoulder bag before she strapped it around her neck, grabbed her weapon and started running her way into the woods.

Ten minutes were just enough time for her to quickly do her business, clean herself at the water source and get back to the camp. But when she put her pants down, she realised that her monthly visitor had arrived. Katniss grunted in annoyance. Now she needed to add changing underwear and fixing a way to improvise some womanly cloth to the things she needed to do before she could go back to the camp. There was no way that she would be back in time.

His men were already on their ponies and everything was packed away. They were all ready to leave. The only problem was that they were one company member short.

"Balin, where is she?"

"She went to the woods as soon as she woke up. I haven't seen her since…"

Thorin grunted with frustration. Even though he hoped it was nothing serious, he knew he would be possessed if she was deliberately delaying them for no valid reason.

"Dwalin, Kíli," Thorin said as he dismounted his poney. Both warriors followed his lead inside the woods, trying to track the whereabouts of their heroine. The water source was an obvious candidate to start an investigation, and fortunately, it was exactly where she was. They couldn't have a full view of her body, as she seemed to be intentionally hiding it from them.

"Katniss," Thorin started to shout at her, but he was cut off by the only female member of his company.

"Don't come any further. Go back to the camp, I will join you as soon as I can."

"What is the matter?" Thorin asked regardless.

"Trust me - you don't really wanna know…"

"Lady Katniss… is that blood on your hands?" Kíli's mount was wide open.

"Are ye hurt, lass?" Dwalin asked full of concern.

"No, I'm fine. Just go away!"

"Is this… womanly issues?" Thorin felt his face burn, but he needed to be sure that it wasn't anything serious. Katniss's face was as red as a tomato when she nodded confirming his suspicions.

"Right, take as long as you need. Come on, let's leave Miss Everdeen in peace…" Thorin said before he quickly led them away from that place as quickly he could.

"Uncle, what do you mean by womanly issues?" Kíli asked when they no longer were within Katniss hearing range.

Thorin grunted. That was not a conversation he would like to have with his nephews. Not now, not ever. Dwalin saw Thorin's clear struggle and laughed at his king's embarrassment.

That day, Thorin decided to stop their journey and make camp much earlier than he would usually have done. Katniss could not help but think that she was probably one of the reasons for that when the dwarf refused to allow her to go for a hunt that evening. Despite her complaints on that matter, Thorin was insisting that she should rest and gave that task to both of his nephews instead.

Not wanting to feel completely useless, Katniss decided to help Bilbo to gather some firewood. The hobbit was very happy to distract her by chatting away about the Shire, his plants, his books and his armchair. Bilbo's cheerfulness was quite captivating, and she couldn't help but wonder how it would have been like to live such a peaceful and abundant life.

Katniss decided to make the most of the daylight and taught Bilbo how to make some fishhooks that she had learned from Mags at the Training Centre, during her second Hunger Games. When dinner was ready, they were joined by Bifur, Bombur and Bofur. Katniss was super impressed on how quickly the three dwarves mastered the fishhook crafting process and were already making a much better version of her own work.

"Did you use to do much fishing, Miss Katniss?" the young dwarf Ori asked her as he wrote in his journal.

"Not very often," she told him as she finished another hook. "It was a friend from the fishing district who taught me how to make these…"

"Fishing District?" the young dwarf asked, clearly wanting to learn more about it.

Katniss truly did not want to talk about Panem to the company, but their eagerness in learning about the future was enough for her to decide to do it regardless of her own feelings about it. That is how she ended up starting to roughly explain the dynamic between the Capital and the thirteen Districts. Every single member of the company was listening with full attention to her descriptions of the Districts. Her eyes met Thorin's a couple of times as she deliberately avoided referencing darker triggering topics for her like the Hunger Games.

Despite that, she did expand on other things that she had only briefly talked about to him, like the hunger that plagued the majority of Panem's population, including her own family. Whereas people from the Capital plundered themselves in such a sick abundance, which even included special purging drinks during banquet feasts, just so they would be able to continue eating more and more.

"It was a sickening thing to witness. Especially knowing that people starve to death back home. I almost did, once, after my father died..." Katniss closed her eyes, thinking about the time that Peeta saved her life by giving her a loaf of bread. She tried to hide her feelings, as she did not feel like sharing something so personal with them.

"But then… something happened that made me remember that my father always taught me... that there are always lots of food sources out here in the wild. My father had taught me the basics of hunting and gathering, and even though that was forbidden, I had to take my chances, as it was our only hope to survive…"

"Are ye saying that even though people were hungry, they were not allowed to get food in the woods?"

"Yes. People were only officially allowed to get food from the Capitol…" she said, looking straight at Thorin. "But that did not stop my father, and did not stop me…"

"Your king has no honour," Thorin simply stated.

"Snow is not a king. Certainly not my king. He is a dictator. He is a vermin, a parasite. And I swear that I am going to kill him one day." There was a deadly glint in her eyes that Thorin recognised immediately. Vengeance. He did not know the details surrounding her hate, but it was clear that President Snow was to her what both Thranduil was and what Azog had once been to him.

"Er… Miss Katniss…?" Ori asked. "How did you end up getting invited to those luxurious banquets hosted by the Capitol that you described?"

Katniss' blood went cold. She did not want to talk about the Games with them. No, that would be too much to ask from her. She looked from Ori to Thorin and grabbed her belongings before she started running away from the group. Some dwarves stood up, ready to follow her, but Thorin made them stop with a hand gesture. Thorin followed her with his eyes as she climbed on a tree not too far away.

"Did I say something wrong?" Ori asked, feeling worried.

"No. She is just not ready to share some things about her past, that is all. Izhid!"

The sun had set and the moonlight shined brightly. Katniss was observing the company from the tree branch she had claimed about two hundred meters away from them. She knew they probably were wondering the reason behind her sudden disappearance, but she honestly couldn't care less. Few minutes after she left them, their talk and laughter had returned, and she busied herself trying to make her communicator work again. Needless to say that it was all in vain.

However, the good view she had from their camp meant that she was not caught by surprise when Thorin Oakenshield himself appeared at the bottom of her tree and asked.

"May I join you?"

"If you can make it up here, sure, why not?" she replied, giving him a sly smile.

Thorin smirked back at her and started his way up. Being a dwarf meant he was naturally a good climber. Even though that ability was usually used to mountain climbing, it seemed to work just fine with trees as well.

"You are a difficult woman to reach…" He was standing on a branch just below where she was seating, his upper body on the same level as she was.

"And you are a determined old man."

"Dwarf, I am not a man."

"Sorry, I forgot. You are not human. Which honestly sounds bizarre to me. Especially considering that most people from the Capitol look much less human than you do"

"I am not sure if I should take this as an offence or a compliment."

"Probably as a compliment, considering that I was merely saying that you are very different from those vultures..."

They remained staring at each other for several minutes without looking away. It was their private staring contest again. This time, Katniss seemed to be determined to not back down, despite the strange feelings on her chest that came along with it. Even though she did not stop looking at him, she was the one who finally broke their silence.

"Why did you come all the way up here?"

"To ensure you are well, Miss Everdeen. It is my duty as the leader of this company to ensure its members' wellbeing."

"As you can see, I am alive and still breathing…"

"Aye, I can see that your body is working just fine. But it is your mind that I am concerned with."

And that was what made she finally break eye contact with him and stare at her knees instead. She knew that her mind was definitely not OK. How could it ever be, after everything she went through? Katniss only looked back up when she felt his hands brushing on hers as he was trying to give her a warm cup that she had failed to notice he was carrying.

"Medicine?" she asked.

Thorin just gave her a short nod to confirm. She took it to her nose and inhaled the mixture. What intrigued her was that it had a surprisingly similar smell from one of her mother's own concoctions. She blushed because the medicine made by her mother was for period pain.

"This is not the same thing you gave me yesterday…"

"And judging by your face, you know what it is supposed to be for…"

She nodded as she started to drink it. She was pleased to find that the Dwarrow version of her mother's monthlies' painkiller was sweet instead of bitter.

"My mother used to make something similar. She is a healer. But your version tastes much better…"

"I'm no healer, but I'm glad to be of service…"

"You made this?"

He nodded.

"I used to make it for my sister Dís…"

"The Dís from the song… Fíli's and Kíli's mother."

He nodded again.

"Thank you, Thorin, I really appreciate the gesture,"

After that, they went back to their usual long staring contest. They carried on staring at each other as the noises from the company started to fade and were replaced by the sound of owls' hooting instead. That was the first time when Thorin was the one who ended up breaking down their silence.

"Please return to the camp, Miss Everdeen. It is hard for me to ensure your safety if you decide to stay so far away from the others."

"I am perfectly capable of ensuring my own safety…"

"I have no doubt of that. But it will give me peace of mind knowing that all the members of my company are together. And in case this is troubling you, rest assured that no one is going to make any comment about the way you ran away earlier."

"How can you know that?"

"Because I asked them not to."

There was a five-second pause where she considered his request.

"Sure, why not? This tree branch can hardly beat sleeping surrounded by thirteen smelling dwarves, one whinging hobbit and a cryptic wizard. That is every girls' dream, right?"

Thorin gave a low growl, but he was smiling at her after that. And just after throwing one last glance at her, he started climbing down the tree closely followed by Katniss. They walked back to the camp in complete silence. When they arrived, Thorin placed his weapons on top of his sleeping mat before he went over to exchange a couple of gestures in Iglishmêk with Balin and Gloin, who were the ones taking the first watch.

Katniss scrunched her eyebrows at that, as she did not like being kept in the dark about whatever they were discussing. She grabbed her belongings and fixed a sleeping spot for herself just next to Thorin's the best way she could muster with the little supplies that she had. By the time he went over to sleep, he found out that she was already sleeping just next to his sleeping mat. He got his spare cloak and covered her body with it as if it was a blanket. This time, instead of throwing it away, she brought it near to her body.

It was a few hours from dawn, when Thorin was woken up by the noises made by Katniss turning her body from one side to the other. She was clearly having another nightmare. This time, instead of whispering the name of her sister Prim, she was whispering something about somebody else called Peeta.

Before she could wake up the entire company again, Thorin leaned over next to her and touched her forehead in a similar way that Óin had done the previous night. His lips got closer to her ears and he started to whisper an old lullaby in khuzdul that his father used to sing for him and that he used to sign to his nephews. A few moments later, her breathing started to even out and she was sleeping peacefully and sound again. Once the song was over, he stroked her cheeks and adjusted his spare cloak that was already laying on her to better cover her body.

When Thorin stood up, he found Gandalf, Dwalin and Kíli all with sparkling eyes and a smug on their faces. Thorin frowned and gave a low growl in annoyance with their reaction.

"No comments," Thorin demanded as he stood up to smoke his pipe a bit further away from the others.

There was no way that he would be able to avoid the gossip and bets that were certain to erupt among his men. Not even Mahal himself could do that now. But the worse thing was, he was not even sure if their assumptions would be truly unfounded.

Katniss Everdeen was definitely igniting new feelings on him, feelings that he had never felt before. The woman had taken over his thoughts more than it would be considered normal, and his body was definitely showing the signs of arousal that he had read and being told about so many times.

Dwarves rarely fall in love, but when they do, they fall hard. They bound only once, and for the duration of their lifetime. When a dwarf chooses their One, nobody else would be able to take that place. Their loyal and stubborn heart would never be able to settle down for another mate. Though the mere idea that the skinny young woman could end up filling that position in his life sounded utterly absurd. Besides not even being a dwarf, she was far too young for him.

Thorin could not allow his feelings for her to grow into something that he would not be able to control. He was on a quest to take back Erebor, and he could not afford to be distracted.