For the first time ever, Thorin was not one of the first dwarves to wake up. That was the reason why it had been Fíli who gave the orders for the breakfast to be made that morning, a task that exclusively befallen the leader of their company. The young prince gave a sly grin to his Uncle, who was still sleeping like a rock despite the low noises made by the other members of the company.
Katniss, on the other hand, had barely managed to close her eyes that night. Her mind would not stop worrying about what Balin had told her about 'Ones'. Balin's revelation of what was a One, and that Thorin's heart had already decided that she was his One, made her feel all sorts of mixed feelings.
For someone like Katniss, who had pretty much been averse to the idea of truly committing to a relationship that would lead to marriage and having children, that perspective was quite a daunting notion. Truth be said, she knew that she was most certainly not indifferent toward the dwarrow king. However, that added to what she had witnessed at Galadriel's mirror and left her feeling almost as if she no longer had a choice. And if she was already a bit unsure about what her feelings for Peeta and Gale before finding out about 'Ones' were, now it was almost like her future had already been decided for her. That is why she felt so trapped.
Truth be told, Balin did not know about Katniss's fears surrounding forming a long term bond, otherwise, the old dwarf would probably have kept it to himself in that regard. One thing that Katniss knew though, was that these fears were nothing but the fruit of years of witnessing the despair that families on Twelve being forced to go through the reaping. Almost losing her sister for the Games was bad enough. She could not even fathom what would be like having to live with the fear of having the name of her own children inside that bowl every single year. Especially considering that she would not be allowed to volunteer for them. That fear was real, and it was more than enough for her to never allow herself to even consider the possibility of having a family of her own. But the Games did not exist there, at least not yet. Thus, that fear now seemed to be almost pointless.
Though, was it really? Looking at Thorin's ancestors' premature demise showed that even though Hunger Games was not a thing yet, Middle-Earth was far from being all roses. Orcs, trolls, wars, battles, and dragons. Not really the safest of the environments to raise a family.
Was it possible that she would see that future she saw at Galadriel's mirror come true? Did she want that to come true? What were her feelings for Thorin? What were her feelings for Peeta and Gale? All these questions and more seemed to make her head spin in a not very nice way.
She sighed in frustration as she witnessed the group of merry dwarves whispering and signing in their own language amongst them. She frowned as she saw Bofur giving some gold to Balin and Kíli, who were looking extremely smug. She then yawned. Her eyes were feeling heavy from her tiredness and she had no idea how she was going to cope with the day ahead of her.
She looked away from them to find that Thorin was no longer sleeping, as she could no longer see him or his mat on the floor. She looked around until she finally spotted their leader loading something on one of the few ponies he had dared to bring along on that second part of their journey. He looked younger than ever as he laughed at something that Dwalin had just said to him. Dwalin was quick to spot her staring at them, and gave her a smug look as he called Thorin's attention to her direction. She could not help the blush that came to her face as he looked at her. She carried on looking at him as he approached her with a gleam of desire in his eyes and a jovial smile on his face. However, as soon as he grew closer, his smile faded away, giving place to an expression of worry instead.
"You are tired," he stated, leaving no room for denial.
"Just a little bit," she tried to brush off his concern. "Don't worry, I will be fine."
He looked at her unsure while he scratched his beard.
"We will make camp earlier tonight."
"You don't need to worry about me. I am well enough to keep up with the others."
"Let me be the judge of that, Amrâlimê," he said, touching her face with the caution that one would approach a wild animal. She did not flee from his touch, but it was clear that she was feeling tense by their sudden proximity. "I am sorry for waking you up last night…"
"That's ok. That wasn't your fault…" she said, raising her own hand to remove his own hand from her face and ease her own self-consciousness. Despite that, she kept holding his hand, not letting it go away from hers. "We should get going. We have lingered here for far too long."
He nodded in agreement and shouted something in his language to his men, who immediately started moving.
"You," he said, giving a gentle squeeze to her hand, "ride the pony,"
"Why?" she frowned.
"You are tired," he told her again. Before she could even have a chance to voice her disagreement, he rushed to press his fingers on her lips and say, "Please, Mizin, I know you are more than capable of keeping up with the others. Just do this to ease my heart."
She eased her frown slightly as his fingers let go of her lips. He looked at her intensely, waiting for an answer. She considered him for a moment before she nodded in acceptance and walked towards the pony whose load was the lightest. Thorin smiled again before he turned around to hurry up his men in Khuzdul.
"I can't believe that I missed that!" Kíli grinned from one ear to the other as he secretly gave Katniss a sly look that she did not notice. "You should have woken me up!"
"That would have ended the moment they were having, your moron!"
"Oh, yeah, I did not think about that,"
"Why am I not surprised?" Balin said, shaking his head from one side to the other.
"But I can tell you that she kissed him on the forehead and everything! Did I mention that the song she sang had an 'I love you', in the end?" Fíli declared, feeling as excited as his younger brother was.
"You better pay up Bofur! I told you she would kiss him last night!"
Feeling a little bit begrudging, Bofur threw a small sack of coins to Kíli and Balin.
"How long do you think it will take for him to give the sword to her?" Ori asked.
"I reckon he will do it as soon as he gets a chance…" Balin grinned.
"We are going to have an aunty, Fee! Wait until mother hears about it. He will never live it down," Kíli said with a goofy childish smile.
They had already started making bets on when Thorin was going to give her the sword he had crafted when Dwalin joined them with a big smile on his face. All the dwarrow men had their heads turned to Katniss and Thorin, who were having a whispered conversation a little bit further away from the group. They were all going wild on the wagers when Thorin shouted that they should hurry up because they were going to be leaving in two minutes. A few sighs of protest were released from some of the members of their group, but they started to pack up nonetheless.
As they reached the bottom of the edge of the Mist Mountains, the weather had suddenly become very gloomy. The steep right passage to the mountain, the one Gandalf had urged him to take if the wizard had not caught up with them by that point, did not seem to be made for the ponies. Thorin knew that he had to let them go loose and pray they would find a good home. Katniss frowned at that decision, as she secretly thought the ponies could probably make it into a fine meal for the company. But again, she knew that they had never experienced hunger to the same extent she had.
The sky was dark even though it was not even half past twelve. Thorin knew that despite the sudden shadowy dismay, it had to be early still. He wanted to carry on and push the group to climb at least a little bit, hoping to find a good cave for them to spend the evening, in case of a storm. But then he remembered how tired Katniss had been feeling not too long ago, and was considering if it would be best for her to remain there in the open despite that awful weather which was creeping out the sky.
As if reading his mind, the brunette warrior approached him, calling his attention with a gentle touch from her cold hands on his own. He was suddenly aware that the temperature had sharply dropped as they had got closer to the mountain pass, and that her human frame made her more susceptible to the harshness of the weather than he was.
"I'm fine," she claimed his attention, making his gaze instantly lock on her own.
"You are tired," he stated with his usual broodiness.
"This is not the best place to spend the night and you know it."
Thorin nodded as her logic helped him to make up his mind. He immediately shouted in Khuzdul, ordering both his nephews to look after her during the climbing. Without another word, he marched to the front of the group and started guiding them, unaware it would soon become the worst storm he had ever witnessed in his life.
Sooner rather than later, he saw himself wishing they had remained at the pass, as they would still be soaking, but they would also be safe. At that moment, they were extremely wet as the result of that horrid storm, and in danger of being hit by the enormous stones that seemed to be cracking down from above them.
"Hold on!" he said as he witnessed a lightning strike not too far from where their group was. Bilbo then slipped, almost falling into the chasm below them, but Dwalin was quick enough to grab him. "We must find shelter!"
"Watch out!" Dwalin shouted as a huge boulder headed a few meters above where they were standing. It shattered into smaller pieces once it hit the mountain, making a rain of stones befall their heads.
"This is no thunderstorm; it's a thunder battle! Look!" Balin said as he pointed to a stone giant that was throwing stones towards another alike creature.
"Take cover, you'll fall!" Thorin warned as Katniss and Fíli pulled Bofur, who was too near the edge of the cliff against the mountain rock. Enormous stones carried on falling from the sky, narrowing the small path they were following even further.
Before they could even realise what was happening, the rocks beneath where Katniss was standing started vibrating as the ground split, separating their company in two groups. Fíli quickly noticed that Katniss was about to fall into the abyss, so he quickly pulled her towards him. Kíli however, was left on the other side alongside Thorin among others.
"Kíli! Grab my hand! Ki..."
"Katniss!" Thorin shouted from the front of their group.
"Thorin, watch out!" Katniss screamed back at him since she could see another stone giant prepare an attack where they were standing. Her shout brought him back to their reality, and the imminent danger they were in. So, he followed his instincts and managed to guide his men to a different spot that was, thankfully, not a stone giant. However, they were forced to witness the others being smashed against the mountain that their group was standing.
"No! No! Katniss!" Thorin shouted, feeling his heart twist so strongly against his chest, as he wished it had been him who had taken the blow. He made his way through the rubble to reach the spot where she and the others had collided. He was expecting to see the worst when he saw Katniss safely pressed in between Dwalin and Fíli. Thorin was unable to hide his relief as he saw that they were all fine.
"We're alright! We're alive!" Balin said as they were slowly getting back on their feet.
Unable to restrain himself, Thorin went over to the spot where Katniss was still lying and got her up on her feet with the help of his strong arms. He carefully examined her face, not missing a bloody scratch above her eyebrow.
"I was afraid I had lost you," he said, bringing her face near to his, but she dogged his advances.
"Where's Bilbo? Where's the Hobbit?" Bofur asked the group.
"There!" Ori pointed to the edge of the cliff where Bilbo's hands were holding the ground.
"Bilbo!" Katniss screamed, marching ahead to the place where Ori had pointed. Thorin went on close behind her.
"Get him!" Dwalin shouted, and Ori and Bofur immediately bent down to get hold of the hobbit's hand just in time to prevent him from falling down from the cliff.
Katniss was about to go down the rock to try to retrieve the hobbit when Thorin pushed her to the side, doing that instead of her. Within seconds, Thorin had managed to pull the hobbit back to safety. However, he lost his balance and almost ended up falling himself, but Dwalin was quick to get a hold of his friend and pull him back up. Thorin heard Katniss rushing towards him, her face sharing the same panicky look his had when he had been forced to witness her and the others colliding against the mountain.
"Thorin!" she whispered as she forced her arms around his neck, engulfing him in a very strong embrace.
"Mizin," Thorin allowed a smug grin to escape his lips. Having her worrying for him like this made the near-death experience he had endured worth.
"I thought we'd lost our burglar," Dwalin said, but Thorin barely paid him any attention, as he was too busy contemplating the girl who was in his arms.
"We need to find shelter," she said, making him nod in agreement.
Thorin gently placed a kiss on her hand and signed for the others to follow him. However, this time he decided to keep her ahead of the group just beside him, not willing to chance to make them separate from each other again. They carried on walking forward for a while, until Thorin spotted a cave and hushed their whole group inside it.
"Finally!" Katniss said as she entered inside the cave, but Thorin did not let go from her.
"It looks safe enough," Dwalin said holding a lantern around.
"Search to the back; caves in mountains are seldom unoccupied," Thorin told him.
"Right then! Let's get a fire started," Gloin said as he unpacked a bunch of firewood to the centre of the cave.
"No, No fires, not in this place. Get some sleep. We start at first light," Thorin ordered.
Katniss then let go from his hold and started to find a spot for her to sleep, tired as she was feeling.
"We were to wait in the mountains until Gandalf joined us. That was the plan," Balin said.
"Plans change. Bofur, take the first watch," Thorin asked as he made his way to the place where Katniss had decided to claim as hers.
"Can I sleep next to you?" he asked.
"As far as I am concerned, you can sleep wherever you want. It is not like I am the campsite Queen or anything like that."
"I would like you to be…" he told her seriously.
"What?"
"The campsite Queen," he said, making her blush. However, instead of answering his comment, she just turned her back to him, covering herself with her blanket as she turned her head around and whispered.
"Goodnight Thorin," she said before she allowed herself to fall asleep almost immediately.
Armies of dwarves, elves, and men were clashing their swords against orcs and other horrid creatures in the ruins of a ghost town that gave Katniss a vaguely creepy sense of deja-vu. She was still wearing her Mockingjay outfit, but the bow she was carrying was not the one made by Beetee. Her quiver was getting dangerously light, as she made her way through the battlefield. She was glad to feel the weight of a sword just alongside her quiver because it would not be long until she would be forced to use it, even though it was certainly not being her weapon of choice. She was running, dancing through the fire, dodging arrows and blades' mortal blows as if she had trained and waited for that moment for her entire life.
Katniss found a lonely horse that seemed to have lost its rider in the middle of the chaos and did not think twice before claiming the animal and riding fast with a purpose - she needed to find the frozen lake and rescue Thorin from his premature demise. She did not know how she knew where to go but she did. Katniss was impressed by her own ability of firing arrows while hiding the horse, or perhaps that was just the adrenaline of battle getting the best of her. Soon, she started to get away from the main battle and was riding in a more secluded path. She saw Thorin clashing swords against a pale Orc from a distance, and she knew that she was reliving what she had once witnessed in Galadriel's mirror, and she feared what would happen next. She pressed both her feet firmly against the horse's torso, pushing it to go even faster.
"Thorin!" she shouted, unsure if he could even hear her.
She could see Thorin laying on the floor, the orc on top of him trying to force his sword into Thorin's chest. Katniss's hand headed for an arrow, only for her to realise that her quiver was empty. She carried on running, even though logic told her that she was too far away to make it in time. The orc managed to pierce Thorin's armour and stabbed him in the chest.
"Thorin!" Katniss shouted as she felt her own heart stopping beating.
It was then she felt a familiar musky scent followed by a pair of hands getting hold of her head, firmly but gently. She slowly opened her eyes and sighed in relief by finding the most handsome pair of blue eyes she had ever laid her eyes on, looking straight at her.
"Katniss…" he whispered her name, making her shiver. "It is ok, Amrâlimê. It was only a bad dream."
"You are alive." She could not help but raise her hand to touch his face. She needed to feel that he was still with her. It was true that Thorin had broken her trust, but witnessing him dying again made her realise how much she came to need him.
"I am. You will not get rid of me that easy." He got a hold of the hand that was caressing his face and placed a kiss on it. She tensed.
"Thorin… I…" She could almost feel a magnetic force pulling her to his arms. Only then she realised that she loved Gale as her best friend, the same way she also loved Peeta as a brother she never had. But she wanted Thorin as her lover. She was not sure if she loved the dwarf just yet, but she clearly wanted him.
Thorin could almost pinpoint the moment when she reached that conclusion, and he was unable to refrain the wave of excitement that came out his chest and ran through his body. He narrowed the gap between them as he decided to challenge her.
"Come on, Amrâlimê. I dare you to say that you are not falling for me as hard as I am falling for you…"
And just as if he had said a magic word, she grabbed his neck and pulled him closer, making him lay down on top of her, and claimed his lips in an intense hungry kiss. It felt like the world had stopped spinning. She could feel her hands shaking as she tasted his woody, whisky, tobacco breath, and felt his beard scratching on her soft skin. His large hands were busy stroking her face and playing with her long braid, which was something he had been dreaming of doing for a long time. Katniss took that as an invitation to also run her hands through his long hair, pulling him even closer. This made him let escape a grunt of pleasure as she bit his lips. Soon their legs were intertwined and their hands were hastily exploring other parts of their bodies.
Thorin and Katniss would likely have carried on if it wasn't for an insistent noise of someone clearing his throat. They both left a sigh of annoyance as they turned their heads to witness Bofur giving a stupid smile and waving from the place he was doing his watch. They were also suddenly aware of the rattling loud snore noises from many members of the company, a reminder that they were far from being alone. Katniss hid her face on Thorin's chest, who immediately whispered a curse in Khuzdul to the toymaker, who enlarged his grin further as a response, which made Thorin even more annoyed. Trying to ignore him, the heir of Erebor stood up and offered his hand to Katniss, who promptly took it, doing the same.
"We need to talk," Thorin whispered close to her ear, as he armed himself and got hold of his most important possessions. Katniss did the same, wearing her bow, quiver and shoulder bag before she followed him to the cave's entrance. That dirty smelly cave was hardly the place that he had wished to declare his love and intentions to her, but their near-death experience, followed by that kiss, made it impossible for him to wait any longer. He wanted to make it clear, make it official.
There was some darkness upon the sky even though the storm seemed to have finally seized outside. Thorin had a quick scan from outside of their cave as if he wanted to ensure that it was still a safe location and that there was nobody nearby hearing them. Katniss followed his lead and loaded her bow, as she did the very same thing. When it was clear that neither of them had found anything, Thorin allowed himself to relax his guard ever so slightly and had a better look at the young woman who had stolen his heart. Her hands and face carried dirt from their journey. He noticed that she still had a cut above her eyes, and that the unclean wound had now dried. Her hair was full of grime from the road, and her braid clearly needed to be redone.
He cursed himself for bringing her to that dangerous journey. Was not his duty to protect her from all danger and peril after all? And there he was, leading her straight to a dangerous quest to recover a mountain from a dragon, having her almost die in the middle of a giant stone war only a few hours ago.
Katniss noticed that his attention was on her now and she decided to lower her bow as well, though precaution made her not unload it just in case they were suddenly startled by Orcs or any other foul creature.
"So, you wanted to tell me something…?" Katniss asked, hoping they would not stay outside for very long. Even though Cinna's outfit seemed to be able to keep her warm in cold temperatures so she would not freeze to death, and cool enough during warm weather, it would be nice to be sheltered from the wind that was still blowing outside despite the lack of storm.
"Amrâlimê," he whispered as he looked her straight in her eyes. "Do you know what this word means?"
Katniss felt her face burn and she looked away from him.
"I don't know," slowly her eyes went back to meet his "but I like when you call me that…"
"Love of mine. My love," he was slowly walking towards her, a smile crossed his lips when he noticed the same tension he was feeling on her face. "Amrâlimê"
"You have been calling me that for a while…" she whispered as she put back her arrow inside her quiver.
"Because I have known for quite a while that you are my…"
However, the sudden appearance of a loud crashing noise, closely followed by screams was coming from inside of the cave where their company was sleeping. That was enough to make both of them exchange panicked expressions before they rushed back in. It was Thorin who first noticed the newly formed cliff, and held Katniss back before she could have a chance to fall, like the rest of his men had, only a few seconds ago.
They remained standing on edge of the chasm, witnessing as every single member of their company crashed on the hard ground. While Katniss' attention was fully focused on the company, Thorin had also scanned the area and did not like what he was seeing. Crude constructions of stairs and bridges under a mountain like that could only mean one thing - goblins. He quickly grabbed Katniss, hiding them both from the view as he started to consider their possibilities.
Just at that moment, a small army of Goblins that would easily outnumber their company appeared and started to restrain them. Katniss immediately loaded her bow, but Thorin was quick to prevent her from firing it.
"You will reveal our position, Mizin"
"Thorin, they could kill them!"
"No, they won't. I am sure they will want to interrogate them first…" Thorin said, trying to convince himself of his own affirmation. And even so, not really fancying the perspective of his men be questioned by goblins on the slightest.
"Thorin! We cannot leave them!" Katniss protested as she pointed to the dwarrowmen that were now being dragged away against their will.
"I did not say that. I would never suggest to leave them," Thorin spat with frustration, leading her to the cave's entrance, away from the cliff. "But think, Mizin… look how many they are. We cannot fight against an entire kingdom of goblins!"
"But…"
"Reveal our position and we will have only two options: be captured with the rest of our company or run away. And honestly, I don't want to be forced to do either."
"I see. You are suggesting a rescue plan."
"Aye,"
"Enlighten me," she said crossing her arms, in a doubtful manner. Thorin was about to open his mouth when they both were caught by surprise by a more than welcome familiar voice just from behind them.
"Thorin, Katniss... nice to see you. Where are the others?" the Grey Wizard asked in his usual calm voice.
"Gandalf," Thorin frowned his eyebrow, "funny that you ask that…"
"They have been captured by goblins," Katniss was quick to fill him in.
"Oh no, that won't do. Let's go get them back. Follow me." And without another word, Gandalf went inside the cave where they were just a few moments before.
Thorin and Katniss exchanged a sceptical glance but they ended up following the wizard nonetheless.