I'm sorry about the long wait.
Happy birthday to my beta Nauze! Thanks for helping me with everything. And thank you AppoApples for helping me to see what this chapter needed. They also have some love fanfics, go and check it out.
The sun was beginning to fade when Thorin decided that they had walked enough and, therefore, should set up camp for the second time that day. Once again, Katniss had been excused from their usual daily tasks. Despite her grunts of annoyance at not being included in their daily chores, she ended up deciding to use that free time to wash in a nearby small stream. Thorin and the others pretended not to hear the complaints that left her lips as she left the company to find some privacy further ahead.
As she cleaned away the dirt and grime from her body and clothes, her mind could not help but wonder about the recent developments in her relationship with Thorin. She gritted her teeth, irritated with the realisation that she was behaving pretty much like a silly Capitol bimbo girl every time the majestic dwarven king was around.
The guilt she felt for the role she somehow had played at Erebor's destruction in a distant possible future still remained, even with Thorin's affirmation that the future she experienced would likely no longer exist. His unexpected proposal, and also her prompt refusal, did not make things better. Despite that, every inch of her body still craved his touch. She cursed him for having blown what they were having, and she cursed herself for not being able to give what he needed.
When she returned to their camp, she was informed that she had been given the first watch alongside Gandalf, who had volunteered. As she had been the person who had slept the most at their previous stop, she found Thorin's decision to be more than fair. It wasn't hard for her grey eyes to lock onto Thorin's penetrating vivid blue ones. She felt her heart skipping fast. It was like their old gazing contests all over again.
This time, however, she did not feel like she wanted to win. She gave a small nod to thank him for trusting her to be on patrol, even though she only had one arrow left. He nodded back, and with her heart still pounding as if she had just sprinted a mile, she turned her face away from him. She then went to stay near where Gandalf, who was making splendid smoke rings, sat. Most of the rest of their company was already fast asleep.
Patrolling with Gandalf was a quiet and calm affair. They did not exchange a single word the whole time. However, that wasn't the only time that she had been left alone with the wizard at that camping spot. During the following morning, as soon as the members of the company were done with breakfast, it was decided that they would not wait to get to the Anduin river to have a proper wash. So she stayed behind, with Gandalf being her solo companion once again.
Her companions at the stream did not seem to be taking any precautions at being quiet, if the noises of laughter and merry tunes sung in their boisterous native language was anything to judge them by. Nonetheless, the wizard remained quiet and still as a statue, looking at her as if he was looking through her soul.
"Why do I feel like you want to tell me something?" she bluntly asked, unable to refrain herself any longer.
"Is there anything you would like me to say?"
"I… I don't know…" she began uncertainly but then the image of District Two, well, Erebor, came to her mind. "Do you really believe I can change what happened in the future?"
"I believe that you already have, my dear." Gandalf's kind smile made her feel like a small child who had just learnt to walk.
"Do you...?"
"You have eliminated not only one, but two powerful enemies not long ago, have you not?"
"Azog…" Katniss gave him a stern glare.
"And the chief of the Goblins, yes. And let's not forget about the trolls," Gandalf complemented, making Katniss' eyes open wide in surprise. "You are building quite the reputation here, Miss Everden. You are certainly calling some attention upon yourself. I'm honestly intrigued to see what is the next big thing we can expect from you."
Katniss felt her face burn as Gandalf dropped his praises on her lap, making her feel an urge to look away from him.
"There is something else…"
"And what would that be, my dear?"
"It is about Erebor. I've been there before."
After hearing her comment, Gandalf immediately changed his casual body posture to a more serious stance.
"I'm sorry, Katniss," he said full of pity and compassion. "If it makes you feel better, I do not believe you should count yourself accountable for that District's fate."
Katniss was baffled for a couple of seconds, trying to digest what the ancient wizard had told her. But it did not take more than ten seconds for her to realise what he had meant, and immediately frown her eyebrows and shout with daggers in her voice.
"You knew it! You knew that Two and Erebor were the same place! You knew it and you didn't tell me!"
Taken aback by her sudden outburst, Gandalf showed nothing but surprise. He took a step back and started mumbling.
"Oh, well, Miss Everdeen, I don't see how this small detail like that would change any…"
But Katniss quickly cut him off before he had a chance to finish his phrase.
"Small detail? You made me look like a fool!"
"Knowing that wouldn't have done you any favours in getting you settled with the members of this company."
"I had the right to know!"
"And now you do. So tell me now, child, how is that making you feel?"
While the word 'bad' came to mind, Katniss refused to answer the grey wizard. Instead, she carried on fuming rage through her eyes.
"Telling you before wouldn't make you feel any better, but would likely make you carry this burden for much longer. At least now we do possess some proof that your passing through this age is certainly making some changes…"
"So you really believe that what happened in Two might never happen now?"
"I cannot say that with certainty but it is a possibility. Just try not to dwell too much on it. There is no way for us to know. It will be much better to focus your energies on more urgent, present matters, such as our current shortage of supplies"
Katniss did not reply to his last comment. Instead, she stomped furiously away from the grey wizard. She knew he had a fair point but that did not mean she liked or agreed with it in the slightest. Katniss had only walked a couple of steps away from Gandalf when she noticed some weird marks on the top of a red pine tree that immediately caught her attention. Her blood went cold. She hadn't seen that before but she had been warned of it by her father.
"Gandalf…" she called, a bit louder than a whisper, as she remained standing still in front of the clawed tree with her heart beating fast. The wizard promptly answered her call, and before she knew it, he was examining the signs with the same attention she had done.
"I can't believe that I almost forgot him," he said as if he had just remembered that he had gone out of the house and left the kettle on the stove.
"Forgot who?" she asked with a frown.
"There is a house, it's not far from here, where we might take refuge."
"Whose house?"
"You will see it soon enough; you better start packing, Miss Everdeen. We have several miles to cover before nightfall. I'm going to fetch the others."
And without giving her any more explanations, Gandalf turned around and started walking with long strides to the stream where she knew that thirteen dwarrows and a hobbit were probably having fun. Meanwhile, she remained there, feeling more lost than she had been before she started asking him questions.
Katniss wasn't sure of what Gandalf had shared with Thorin and the others at the stream, but their pace increased considerably after that. It was much later that day that the company crossed the Anduin river just before nightfall. Despite Thorin's wariness at getting them all wet for the second time in the day, and so close to sundown, Gandalf was insistent that they had to reach Beorn's lodges sooner rather than later. They had just reached the other side when Bilbo pointed at the top of the Carrock, where the eagles had dropped them less than two days ago. Even though they had to squint their eyes to see it, they had spotted a few Orc warriors mounted on wargs, announcing that they were still being hunted. That was more than enough incentive to keep them following Gandalf's lead at a hasty jogging pace.
A few miles ahead, they spotted the large farmhouse surrounded by oak trees just as the twilight started. However, their relief of finally reaching the destination they had been pursuing throughout the entire day had been short-lived. A loud grunt appearing from behind them made everybody suddenly stop and turn around, only to be confronted with the most gigantic and enormous black bear they had ever seen.
"To the house! Run!" Gandalf shouted at the group, which despite the collective shock, did not require a second invitation.
Everybody started sprinting at once. Katniss was particularly impressed with how the chubby Bombur was, all of a sudden, the fastest of them all. They flew by the tall oak trees, zoomed down the hill, and raced through the meadow until they reached an open door that seemed to be the entrance gate to the farmhouse they had been trying to reach before nightfall. They carried on charging until they got in front of a heavy ancient oak door, with a locked iron bar preventing their entrance.
Being the fast runner she was, it was not a surprise that Katniss was one of the first people to arrive in front of the door, just after Kíli did. They were desperately trying to open it, but nothing seemed to be doing the trick. The bear gave another huff, even louder, informing them that he was getting close to them. She tried to get out of the way from the dwarves, as she knew they were much more likely to have some success on it than she was. However, it was only Thorin that managed to open it. Immediately they all squeezed inside as quickly as it was possible, and just as they were about to close the door, the bear's colossal head seemed to prevent them from doing so.
Most of the dwarrow men immediately pushed the door back, trying to keep the beast away from the barn they had just entered. Katniss stayed at the back, next to Bilbo and Gandalf. She promptly got the last arrow from her quiver and loaded her bow. She would have only one shot. She wouldn't be able to use the explosive function of the arrow, or she would end up killing not only the bear but everybody else. And with a beast that size, she knew she would have to aim for its eyes, if she wanted to have any hope of slaying it for good. She tried to ignore her fast heartbeat that was fuelled by adrenaline and their recent speedy escape from that very same bear. She knew that her rapid breathing would do her no favours on getting a perfect shot, but she had no choice but to get it right.
Fortunately for all those involved, it was not necessary for her to use her last arrow. Everyone gave a huge sigh of relief when the bear was locked outside the barn.
"What is that?" Ori asked.
"That… is our host," Gandalf started making everybody look at him with shock. "His name is Beorn, and he is a skin-changer."
"What do you mean?" Katniss asked, already fearing his answer.
"Sometimes he's a huge black bear; sometimes he's a great strong man. The bear is unpredictable, but the man can be reasoned with. However, he is not overfond of dwarves."
"He's leaving!" Ori who was looking through the keyhole informed them.
"Come away from there! It's not natural, none of it. It's obvious: he's under some dark spell." Dori pulled his younger brother from the door as if he was expecting Ori to become a skin-changer if he remained there for much longer.
"Don't be a fool; he's under no enchantment but his own," Gandalf said glaring at Dori.
"Alright now, get some sleep, all of you. You'll be safe here tonight… I hope." Gandalf added the last part after they all heard a particularly loud wail that was probably done by Beorn himself outside.
While the majority of them were already on the hunt for a nice soft spot to spend the rest of the night, Katniss joined Thorin, Dwalin, Balin and Fíli who were scouting the place that was going to be their lodge that day. There was hay everywhere, a strong smell of manure, and more domesticated animals together than she had ever seen in her life before. Ponies, horses, cows, goats; just to name a few of them.
However, what was the most impressive about that place was how gigantic some working tools and furniture seemed to be. She could not help but think she was probably looking like a small toddler once again, when it was clear that she would need to stand up on her tiptoes to get a glance at what was on the top of the dining table. And considering she was one of the tallest members of their company, being shorter than only Gandalf, Thorin, and Kíli, she knew they were bound to have an interesting breakfast time when it was time for them to cook on that rudimentary kitchen and seat on that table.
"What sort of people live here?" Fíli asked from the other side of the barn as he examined a hammer that was bigger than his entire muscly arm.
"Nai hobbit, tha' is for sure…" Dwalin scratched his beard as he sized up the gargantuan broom that was pressed against the wall.
There was another door on the back, which was thankfully already locked, though Thorin decided that it would be better if they barricaded it just for good measure.
They were doing that when Katniss was startled by a bee bigger than her hand and ended up tripping over, only to be rescued by no one else than Thorin Oakenshield himself, who was not far behind her. As she tumbled over her feet, he managed to catch her by the waist before she could end up falling flat on the floor. She felt her face burn in embarrassment before she even got a chance to look him in the eyes.
"Careful, Amrâlimê," he said the second word in a whisper, making her entire body shiver. When she looked up to meet his stare, Thorin wasn't baring the half-smirk she had expected to see on him whenever he was being flirtatious. Instead, it was sorrow and pain which marred his semblance this time. That realisation made her immediately feel something shattering inside her chest as well.
"Thorin…" she whispered back, wanting to do nothing else but kiss him. However, it did not take long until Balin gave a loud cough to call their attention. Thorin, who was still holding her, placed her back to the floor and stayed at a respectful distance at once. It was the first time that Katniss had witnessed his cheeks going red, and he looked like a schoolboy that had been caught doing some mischief.
"Everything seems clear. Do you believe that there is a need to set a watch tonight?"
"No. Gandalf says that we are safe here. Let's all have a full night of rest."
Balin nodded at Thorin's decision and the four dwarrow were about to start walking back to the place where the rest of their company was sleeping when Katniss decided to intervene.
"Wait! Thorin, can we have a word?"
Taken aback at her request, Thorin gave a quick look to the other dwarrowman before answering her.
"Sure."
Fíli and Dwalin exchanged a smug glance but Balin seemed to take that much more seriously than the other two.
"Should I stay behind to…chaperone you?"
Katniss felt her heartbeat increase and her face burned as soon she heard Balin say those words. She immediately decided to look away to hide her own embarrassment from the others.
"No. We won't be long," Thorin said without taking his eyes off the young female.
Soon, the others moved off, leaving them alone again. Thorin crossed his arms in expectation of what she had to say. Meanwhile, Katniss returned his intense gaze as she mentally cursed herself for having asked to have a word with him in the first place. She wanted both to run away, and to throw herself in his arms at the same time.
"Go on…" Thorin prompted as she did not give any signs of starting the conversation.
"Can we just…" She briefly turned her head away and gave a sigh of resignation "I don't know… can we just go back to how we were before…"
She started to feel her face burn again, whereas Thorin frowned as he tried to understand what exactly she wanted him to do.
"How we were before what?"
"How we were before you asked me to marry you!"
She somehow managed to spit out the thought that had been on her mind since he had proposed. Thorin's eyes were wide open as he was caught by surprise by her request.
"Look… we were finally starting to get on well again. I was enjoying the thing we were having. And I'm pretty sure that you were enjoying that too. Can we just… carry on enjoying each other's company and… just forget about any thoughts of marriage?"
Thorin's muscle's stiffened and his eyes continued to stare at her in complete disbelief of what she was suggesting.
"What? Did I say something wrong?" she asked.
"Are you asking me to treat you like… a lady of leisure, Katniss?"
"No! I just… I don't want to officially court, or marry, but at the same time, I want to be with you."
"Katniss! What you are proposing is… it is highly immoral!"
"But… we were getting on so well before..."
"Then accept my court."
"Thorin..."
"No, you listen to me. I cannot treat you like you are an… adventure. You are my treasure of all treasures, ghivâshelûh, mizin. You are everything to me. Do you really believe I would lower myself to take advantage of you?"
"I think you are making it seem a much bigger deal than what it is."
She stepped ahead to narrow the gap between them and placed one of her hands at Thorin's trimmed beard and started stroking it, making him close his eyes and let a sigh of pleasure escape his lips.
"Katniss…" he whispered, giving her a warning as his body stiffened again.
Encouraged by the way his body seemed to be quickly responding to her touch, she seized that opportunity to press her lips against his with passion and haste, fearing that she would lose the courage to take the initiative if she waited any longer. He responded with the eagerness of someone who had walked days through the desert and had finally found an oasis.
Soon, one of his large hands was travelling from her back to her waist, hips and thigh, while the other was finding its way through her long wavy hair. Her answer to his boldness was to pull him even closer and began to give him some small kisses around his neck.
"I want you to braid my hair," she whispered in his ear.
That was enough to wake an even more primordial urge inside Thorin's lower body. He grabbed her by the waist and carried her as if she was a ragged doll, their temples brushing against one another. Her eyes focused on his lips, while she bit her own. He quickly found a soft mount of hay that seemed unused and threw her gently on top of it.
There was a moment where he contemplated her beauty that almost made him have second thoughts about his reproachable actions, but they were quickly ignored as Katniss pulled him closer to another embrace making him fall on top of her. She opened her legs, embracing his body with them and making both of their groins rub against the other, having nothing but the heavy fabric of their trousers preventing him from entering her core. He knew that he had never been harder, and she let a gasp of both surprise and pleasure escape her lips as she felt it.
Katniss then found a gap in the fabric in his vest and decided to run her hands through his muscled torso which was hairy and hard as a rock. Thorin had never been touched that way before and was finding it harder and harder to keep his own hands to himself and not start to do the very same thing to her.
"Accept my court. Accept my pledge. Take my bead. Be my wife. Be my Queen."
There was a hushed, begging despair in his voice that made her heart ache, because she knew that there was only one answer she could give him.
"I can't."
He sighed in resignation, and quickly untangled himself from her embrace, and kneeled just in front of where she was laying.
"Then this is wrong."
"Thorin, please!"
"No, Katniss. We cannot carry on doing this if you refuse to commit. I am not going to disgrace you."
She grunted.
"This is not fair!"
"Accept my court." He stared at her, begging, praying to Mahal that this time her answer would be different. "Be my wife."
"I'm sorry..."
"Then goodnight, Amrâlimê"
And pressing a last kiss on her temple, he turned his back to her as quickly as he could, as if he was afraid of being caught on her arms again and not be as strong as he had just managed to be this time. As he walked away, he couldn't help but hear her grunts of frustration.
Thorin smirked. Maybe they still had a chance to become a true couple after all.
Only Gandalf was awake, smoking his pipe at the other side of the house, near the barricade they had made last night when Thorin woke up just as the sun was rising. He silently stood up, trying to sneak through his men who were still in deep sleep and loudly snoring. He grinned when he saw Kíli hugging his older brother. Dwalin was still holding his axe even while he was lost to a deep slumber, and Dori was holding both of his brothers with a different hand very tightly.
However, his eyes only sparkled when he passed through Katniss, who remained hidden away from the other members of their company, at the exact spot on which he had left her. Despite all their recent fights with goblins, wargs, orcs, and escaping from an enormous bear, she did not seem to have any nightmare for the past couple of nights. The thought that she could be starting to heal from some of her traumas was enough to make him smile.
When he arrived at the place where Gandalf was seated, the wizard immediately offered him some of the pipeweed he was smoking. Without a word, Thorin accepted and filled up his own pipe. They remained in silence for long few minutes, but while the wizard's sight remained locked on the horizon so that they could still through a gap on the door, Thorin couldn't stop to send furtive glances to the only female of his company.
"I never thought I would live enough to see this again," the wizard said in a low voice while he pointed from Katniss to Thorin with his index finger.
"I beg your pardon?"
"The heir of Durin falling in love for a daughter of man."
"Katniss also has dwarrow blood. You told us yourself."
"Yes, but you know that she is much more menfolk than dwarrow. Not the first time this has happened, but it is certainly not a usual occurrence…"
Thorin's answer was to give a grunt at Gandalf's commentary.
"It must not be easy to build something like this with someone so different."
To that, Thorin gave him an intense glare.
"I just… I wish she would stop being so infuriatingly confusing," he said, shaking his head as he sneaked another glance at the young woman who remained in deep sleep.
"Infuriatingly confusing?"
"She won't accept formal courting, but at the same time… my affections doesn't seem to be unwanted. On the contrary,"
"Did you ever think that your attitudes might have seemed as confusing to her as hers are to you?"
"I've been nothing but clear about my intentions with her," he said with a frown.
"Your intentions, as good as they might be, doesn't seem to be what this girl needs at the present moment."
Thorin's frown deepened.
"And what would she need that I am failing to provide?"
"Time."
"Time?"
"Yes, time, Son of Thráin, Son of Thrór."
Thorin's frown did nothing but increase at the wizard's remarks, so Gandalf put out his pipe to give his full attention to the dwarf in front of him.
"This young woman is from another time, from a different culture, and their way of life is way beyond both mine and your understanding. As if this was not enough, she has suffered more than her fair share, fighting battles that she should never have fought in the first place. And need I remind you, this girl has been forced into an engagement against her will not long ago. It is probably unwise trying to do the same thing again. After everything this poor dear went through, you should count yourself lucky that she is even considering maintaining a relationship with you at all."
Thorin sighed. He looked again at the girl who was still asleep and completely unaware of the conversation they were having. Gandalf had given him more than enough things for him to ponder.
"There is no point in arguing. We won't be able to go through Mirkwood without Beorn's help." Gandalf tried to calm down the company, as Nori and Dwalin couldn't stop arguing over whether they should try to escape from Beorn's rage by fleeing, or if they should go ahead and greet the intimidating skinchanger. "We would be hunted down before we got to the forest. "
The wizard walked from one side to the other, looking over the company members who were all lined up waiting for instructions. Katniss and Bilbo remained a little further from the others.
"Now, this will require some delicate handling; we must tread carefully. The last person who startled him was torn to shreds."
Thorin exchanged a meaningful glance with both of his nephews and then looked towards the place where Katniss was calmly petting one of the goats. He was curious by her sudden affection for that farm animal, as until that moment, she had shown nothing but aversion to the idea of getting attached to any animal, even to the pony who carried her all the way to Rivendell.
"I will go first, and Bilbo, you'll go with me."
"Is-is this a good idea?" The hobbit's blood seemed to drain out of his face as he started to walk ahead to join the wizard looking like he had been sentenced to death.
"Yes, now the rest of you just wait here and don't come out until I give the signal."
"Right, wait for the signal," Bofur said, slightly shaken.
"No sudden moves or loud noises, and don't overcrowd him. Only come out in pairs!" Gandalf then placed his arm around Bilbo and started leaving the barn, only to go back seconds later "Actually, Bombur, you count as two, so you should come out alone."
Bombur, who was finishing eating a carrot, looked a bit shaken by that request but he nodded in agreement nonetheless. Satisfied that the dwarroman had understood how critical it was for them to make a first good impression with their host, Gandalf left the farmhouse with Bilbo just behind him. There was a generalized tension left inside the room, with Bofur being the one who was spying on what was going on through a window and narrating that with details to the others.
Thorin knew that they definitely required some food supplies, new cooking equipment and waterskins. Both Katniss and Kíli were also in deep need of new arrows. And considering how close their enemies were from them, he knew that their only chance to escape and get ahead would be by getting some sort of horseback aid.
"I think he gave the signal, quick!" Bofur urged.
Dwalin, who was the dwarf who was nearest to the door, adjusted his belt and started walking outside, with his brother Balin not far away from.
"What's happening, lad? Is the skin-changer attacking them?" Dori and Glóin asked Bofur at the same time he approached the door, as he wanted to try to get a glimpse of what was going on.
"Oh, he doesn't look very happy now," Bofur said looking a bit concerned.
"Is he attacking them?" Ori asked, slightly shaking and fearful.
"Quick, I think Gandalf is giving the sign again!" Bofur urged, and then Glóin and his brother Óin left the safety of Beorn's halls to join the others.
While most of the dwarves were holding their breath in anticipation of what would happen, Katniss seemed to have zoned out from the current issue and continued petting the two goats while feeding them some of the hay. Thorin's attention would swing between the companies' tension to Katniss who seemed to have decided to distance herself from them that morning.
"Go, go, go!" Bofur urged, and Ori and Dori began to rush away from the room.
Fíli and Kíli exchanged a glance and then quickly looked at their Uncle as if asking permission for being the next to take their leave. Thorin gave them a quick nod and the young princes immediately made their way to the door.
"Wait," Bofur whispered as there was a moment where Beorn seemed to have started to feel angered by the presence of so many dwarves. It only took him ten seconds for Gandalf to say something to appease his mood, and soon Bofur was urging them to join the others as well.
With more than half of their company in the presence of the skin-changer, Thorin went over to the place where Katniss remained with the goats.
"Mizin," he gently called her with a low husky voice, "it is going to be our turn soon."
She raised her eyes to face him. Her facial expression was completely emotionless as she nodded. He offered his arm and she wrapped her hand around it. They slowly started to walk forwards as if they were about to go on a stroll in the countryside. Meanwhile, Bofur, Bifur and Bombur started to chase Nori, who had thoughts of stealing Bifur's silver chain. This led to the four dwarves leaving the house slightly earlier than Gandalf had advised.
Thorin gave a severe stern glare to the group of dwarrowman who had no time to notice his annoyance, as they were stumbling over each other's feet as they squeezed past through the door at the very same time. Thorin's frown increased slightly while Katniss tried to suppress a giggle. They carried on slowly walking towards the door, as he looked back to the young woman. Katniss' light-hearted smile was enough to make him feel calmer. He noticed that her hair was in desperate need of care, and then he remembered his earlier talk with the wizard and what happened between them the previous night.
"Whenever we have time… can I braid your hair again?"
She opened her eyes widely in shock as she was taken back by his question. They were very near the door now, and it did not escape either of them Beorn's question about if there were any more of them. She gave him another smile.
"Sure."
And after that, they left Beorn's halls. Thorin left first, with Katniss' hands holding his muscly arm. Both looked magnificent and regal. The company beamed at them. Beorn's face softened immediately after he noticed the young female that Thorin Oakenshield held closer to his arms.