Thorin had lost his mind.

He didn't look like himself anymore. Clad in a coat of gold-plated rings, his sharp silver-hafter axe hanging in a belt crusted with expensive-looking scarlet stones, the heir of Thror looked as royal as ever. Unfortunately, his regal appearance was the only place where his nobility seemed to remain.

Katniss grunted in a foolish attempt to release some of her ongoing frustration for the thousandth time. It had been almost three weeks since they were living inside the Lonely mountain, and still, she thoroughly refused to wear anything but the ragged clothes that the people from Lake Town had given them. The murderous glare she bore every time the dwarven king suggested for her to put on a particularly heavy golden necklace, or wear one of the diamond-encrusted dresses they've found in the hoard was enough to make anyone run for the hills.

The truth was that Thorin was no longer the caring dwarf she had fallen in love with. If he remembered his promise of doing the toasting ceremony with her as soon as they reclaimed Erebor, he had failed to go through with it. And even though she didn't mention it, she resented him for not keeping his word.

Thorin would not touch her or seek her company anymore - not that she would want him to, considering his current attitude towards everyone and everything. All he cared about now was the whereabouts of his precious lost Arkenstone.

Nowadays, Thorin would barely eat. Katniss was pretty sure that it had been more than three days since he had a proper sleep too. But the worst of it all was that nobody else apart from her – and to some extent, Bilbo – seemed to have the balls to question or stand up against Thorin's clearly irrational decisions.

"When are you going to stop this?" her angry voice echoed throughout the enormous halls as she entered the place where Smaug had once nested for almost two hundred years. Now it was Thorin's hoard of madness instead.

"Don't go on blathering about things you cannot understand!" he chastised her without even looking at her. He stood far away from her, standing on the top of an enormous mountain of golden coins. That sight was enough to make Katniss feel sick. She tried to ignore her urge to turn around and forced herself to try to rationalise with him. Again.

"I understand well enough. You are wasting everyone's time looking for a stupid shiny trinket when you should be focusing your attention on turning this graveward into our home."

"This stupid shiny trinket, as you call it, is the legacy of my people!" he raised his voice slightly. Katniss remained unevenly calm and carried on as if she had not been interrupted.

"Our supplies will end soon. There is not enough prey around for me to hunt. Even you in your madness must be able to know that we can't eat gold!" she gritted her teeth as she finished her sentence.

"I already told you not to worry about this. I will call for my kin in Iron Hills. He will bring us supplies." Thorin still wouldn't turn his head and properly look at her.

Katniss clenched both fists.

"Then why don't you go and do that instead of burying yourself in this cursed hoard!?"

"I already told you. I will do that, once I have found the Arkenstone!" It was Thorin's turn to grit his teeth, as he also seemed to be trying hard to remain calm.

"Do it now. I don't know about you, but I am feeling sick of eating cram biscuits! We could do with more supplies."

"The Arkenstone is…" he said, rapidly raising his voice.

"...nothing but a fucking stone!"

"This is my birthright!" he spat back, finally moving his head to acknowledge her existence.

There was a long silence where they just glared at each other. Even though it was reminiscent of their longing glaring contests they had exchanged throughout their journey, it did not resemble that in the slightest. Now it was not the feeling of desire that was stamped in their eyes, but pure rage.

This time, she was the first one to break eye contact.

"I can't believe your lot is still here! Did he even let you sleep?" Katniss said, resting her eyes at Bifur and Bofur, who were both inside an enormous ornate basin made of pure gold. The basin was so huge that both dwarrowmen could be comfortable standing inside it. Both dwarrowmen immediately tensed and avoided looking at her.

"Thorin, they need to rest! You need to rest!" Katniss fumed, frowning her thick eyebrows back in his direction as she crossed both her arms.

"You don't get to tell me how to rule my kingdom, woman!" Thorin spat back with another frown of his own.

"I will say whatever I want whenever I want. And if they had any sense, they would do what I am saying instead of following you blindly!" she said the last part glancing at the other members of the company, who also immediately froze on their spot and looked at each other.

Even though she knew deep inside that they would rather eat dragon dung than stop obeying Thorin's crazy whims, seeing their awkwardness gave her a weird sense of satisfaction.

"They will do as I say! And if you will not help us, then leave!"

There was a long pause where she looked from Thorin to the others, who were doing everything possible to keep their gaze away from her.

"Carry on acting like this, and I might just do as you wish…" she muttered under her gritting teeth before she left the hoard. Once she was outside their sight range, she discreetly dried a tear that was threatening to escape her eye.

Katniss didn't remember what she had thought their first days at Erebor would be like, but whatever picture she had once in her mind, it certainly wasn't anything like what was happening inside the wrecked ruined halls of Thorin's ancestors.

She marched alone through the almost familiar mazes of Erebor's narrow corridors and large halls.

Goldsickness. It felt like ages ago that she had overheard the conversation between Gandalf and Lord Elrond. It had been so long ago that she had almost completely forgotten about it. She had vowed at that time to shake that malady out of him, but right now, she wasn't sure if she would ever be capable of doing so. She wasn't sure she would even be able to carry on witnessing his mad spouts for much longer.

Katniss arrived at the ruined chamber that she had slowly tried to make habitable with Bilbo's help. She had learnt later that the chamber had once been known as Thror's halls, a place of feasting and council. In her opinion, its strategic position near the main birthplace of the Running River and Erebor's front gate made it a logical place for them to start the rebuilding process.

When they had first arrived, tables were rotting and chairs and benches were lying there overturned, charred and decaying. Skulls and bones were upon the floor among flagons and bowls and broken drinking horns covered by dust. Now, they had cleared most of the mess, set chairs and tables straight, lighted a fireplace, and improvised a working kitchen. Katniss knew it wasn't as neat as it would have been if Thorin had allowed some of the others to help them, but it was still better than nothing.

The only two dwarrowmen that Thorin had allowed outside the mountain were Fili and Kili, who, after much moaning and whining, he had allowed to go out to retrieve their ponies.

Katniss continued walking until she reached the crushed main gate, which used to be Smaug's only doorway in and out of the mountain. Four ponies and a horse were now tied near the front gate. She stroked the horse that had not long ago been hers and Thorin's mount.

The timid coral rising sun, accompanied by a bitter easterly breeze, hit her red cheeks, announcing the arrival of oncoming winter. She sat down, holding both her knees against her chest, finally allowing herself to crumble.

The silent tears streamed down her face as she looked at Dale, which now she was certain was also part of District Two. Katniss recognised it because she had been there before. The District Two Town Halls where she had stayed and witnessed as her fellow rebels exploded the Lone Mountain. It was an odd feeling, having the recollection of how a place would be one day in the distant future.

All these memories from her past felt like they were from such a long time ago, even though she knew that it had been much less than one year. She thought about her sister, her mother, Gale and Peeta, as she looked at the water running free from the stoned ground below her feet.

Peeta, the boy that had sworn to love her and who Snow had poisoned his mind so he would hate her forever. Katniss then thought about the Thorin she had once known and had fallen for, as she wondered if he would ever be the same again. Somehow, she doubted it.

She then spotted something tiny moving towards the gate, and she quickly loaded the bow she always carried alongside her at all times, only to realise it was their hobbit. Katniss gave a small sigh as she put her arrow back inside her quiver before she quickly dried her eyes with the back of her hand. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to think she had been weeping like a scared little girl.

"Miss Katniss!" Bilbo squeaked excitedly, as he noticed she was standing at the gate. "Look what I found when I went out for my morning walk!"

He was holding two handfuls of button mushrooms she knew for a fact were edible. She attempted to smile at him.

"Good job, Bilbo!"

"There is not enough for everybody, but I think I will roast them and we both can share them this morning," he said.

She tried again to force her lips to smile. The perspective of eating something else that was not cram biscuit was definitely exciting, though bittersweet.

"There is an ocean of gold inside this mountain, and here we are, rationing mushrooms because he is too busy trying to find a sodding stone instead of sending a messenger to get us supplies!" she ranted at the hobbit.

Bilbo's excitement faded immediately as he examined her demeanour more carefully. He sighed and looked down, shuffling his feet.

"I'm sorry Bilbo, I shouldn't have said that…"

"No… you are quite right," the hobbit said awkwardly as he tried to give her a gentle tap on the shoulders.

"First Snow poisoned Peeta with the jabberjay's venom… and now Thorin with this gold… madness!" She grunted to the horizon before looking back at her small companion. "Why, Bilbo? Why does this seem to happen to me?"

Bilbo's eyes were wide open. He opened and closed his mouth more than once before he finally got the courage to speak.

"Miss Katniss… do you… do you think that if Thorin had the stone… do you think he would… go back to his senses?" he said hesitantly.

There was a long pause, where Katniss looked down to her knees before she looked back at their burglar.

"I don't know, Bilbo… but I… I fear what will happen to all of us if he doesn't stop being an arse and call for aid soon!"

"What… what would you do… if you… hypothetically… if you found the Arkenstone?" Bilbo was fidgeting, and he hid both his hands inside his waistcoat.

"What would I do?" Katniss fumed, frowning her eyebrows and throwing him a murderous glare. "I would smash it into a million pieces and throw its remains inside a hole in the sea, burning it down so deep that nobody could ever find it again!"

"Don't let him hear you saying that, Lassy." They heard Balin's voice echoing from somewhere behind them. His voice was coarse, and when Katniss turned around to face him, she was almost certain that she wasn't the only member of their company that had been crying recently. "I wouldn't see past him to throw you in the dungeons for treason nowadays…"

"Oh, I would love to see him try!" she muttered with pure rage.

Balin sighed and shook his head, disgruntled.

"Dragon-sickness - I've seen it before. That look. That terrible need. It is a fierce and jealous love, Lassie. It sent his grandfather mad."

"I know. I saw Lord Elrond discussing this with Gandalf, but I thought…" but she didn't finish her sentence. Instead, she shocked her head and tried to focus her energy on not allowing herself to cry again in front of them.

"Balin, if-if Thorin...had the Arkenstone... if it was found - Would it help?"

"That stone crowns all. It is the summit of this great wealth, bestowing power upon he who bears it. Will it stay his madness? No, lad; I fear it would make it worse. Perhaps it is best that it remains lost."

Katniss clenched both her fists and then spun around and walked to the place where the ponies and the horse were resting. She closed her eyes as she stroked the animal, wondering what would happen if she got on that horse and abandoned Thorin and the others to their luck. Balin and Bilbo were both looking at her with an inquisitive frown, as she wasn't usually the type to be spending time stroking animals.

"I want to go home." She simply said while playing with the knot that was holding her horse.

"What do you mean, Lassie? You are Thorin's wife. You are our queen! This is your home." Balin raised his eyebrows. Katniss shrugged.

"No. I am not. That mad dwarf making ridiculous demands on top of a pile of gold is not the same man I pledged myself to."

Balin gave a tired sigh.

"Thorin's transformation is a sad thing for anyone to witness. I'm sorry, Lassie."

"Then do something! We can't let him carry on demanding that everyone carry on looking for that sodding stone while there are so many more important things that need to be done!" Katniss' fingers were wrapped around her horse's mane with such a strength that the animal neighed.

"She is right, Balin. Winter is approaching rapidly this year. I know Iron Hills is not too far, but it is going to be a harder journey to make when it is at full blast," Bilbo said, standing up next to where she was.

"What can we do!? Thorin is our king! We can't defy a direct order from our king. This would be treason!"

"Not even to protect him from his own insanity?" she said, placing a hand on Bilbo's shoulders.

She waited for an answer, but all Balin did was shake his head and look down at his own feet.

"You and Dwalin gave me your word that you would stand against him if his behaviour was anything like that again."

"Lassie," Balin's eyes were wide in shock.

"Your word, Balin."

There was another brief silence.

"I could try to reason with him, but I don't believe I will have more luck than you did, Lassie. If you could not make him see reason, I don't think anyone else can."

"If he doesn't change his way soon enough, I see no other choice but to leave."

"But you can't leave! If there is anyone who can get inside that thick Durin's skull, it will be you, Lassie. Don't abandon him now."

There was a pause, where she looked down at her feet and gave a small sigh before she looked up in the old dwarf's direction again.

"I can't stand watching this… gold sickness taking over him. We need supplies for the winter. We have established that. So if Thorin won't send a messenger to Iron Hills, I guess I will have to go there by myself."

Balin sighed.

"You really are a Durin's daughter, are you not? Stubborn as a rock," he said, shaking his head, but Katniss could swear she saw the shadow of a smile on his semblance. Unsure of what else to say, she remained silent.

"Balin, she is right. If you gave your word, then you should honour it," the hobbit said solemnly. This time, the small smile she gave to Bilbo was genuine.

"All right Lassie. I will get my brother and see if we can reason with him. Don't leave these halls before we try to reason with him."

Katniss nodded.

Three mornings had passed since Balin had given his word that he was going to try reasoning with their leader about the imminent need to buy provisions from Iron Hills. Still, no sign that any conversation had happened, and Katniss was considering whether she should ignore her veiled promise to the elderly dwarf and gallop away to Thorin's cousin's kingdom.

After being pointed to the location of the royal family quarters, Katniss and Bilbo had started the slow process of decontaminating that area. It had been Bilbo's idea, as he thought that having a space to call hers could make the only female in their group feel a bit more at home. Partially because she felt like they had little else to do, she ended up accepting his offer.

Even though this was an area that had been completely untouched by the dragon, there were almost two hundred years of dust, not to mention a few well-conserved skeletons from both servants and members of Thorin's family who had failed to escape the Lonely Mountain when Smaug invaded their homeland.

In her opinion, the master bedrooms were all hideous: covered with gold and precious stones from floor to the ceiling. There was so much gold that it surprised her at how the dragon hadn't found a way inside these chambers. The only redeeming quality of these rooms were the windows they all seemed to possess - some even seemed to be equipped with a balcony that allowed her to get some fresh air while she had a perfect view of the ruins of Dale.

It had been Katniss who had discovered what was highly likely to be the remains of Thorin's late mother. She found her skeleton laying on an enormous golden bathtub in the ensuite bathroom with an emerald-encrusted sword pressed against her chest. Katniss gave a small scream when she spotted this unexpected sight and was quick to order Bilbo to fetch Thorin, as she thought this was something he ought to see.

She was almost certain that when Bilbo returned with the King Under the Mountain, he would be upset and order at least some of his men to take upon the task of building her a permanent resting place worthy of a queen. However, when Bilbo returned with her husband on his heels, they had also been closely followed by Balin, Dwalin, Bofur, Nori and Kili. His face was indeed the one of concern when he first took the sight of the skeleton resting on the golden bathtub. He ran his large fingers through the sword the corpse was still holding, and through rings that were still adorning her fingers.

"Aye. It's her," he said, turning his back from the corpse to face the others, with an unreadable expression on his face.

Bofur and Nori immediately removed their hats solemnly. All the other dwarves immediately looked down at their feet.

"Thorin…" Katniss said after placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged her off, moving away from her touch.

"She is dead. There is nothing we can do about it. We must go back and find the Arkenstone."

Everybody in the room looked at him with eyes and mouths wide open. Katniss seemed to recover from her stupor quicker than anyone else, snapped on the top of her voice.

"Thorin! This was your mother!"

"There is nothing we can do to help her now."

"Are you just going to leave her laying in there?"

"There are more pressing matters at the moment."

"Don't tell me that sodding stone is more important than your mother!"

"Enough! You lot, back to the hoard!" Every single dwarf in the room immediately left the room. "You too, Mr Baggins." he quickly added as the hobbit had lingered in the room.

Thorin walked away from the bathroom and did a quick inspection of the old bedroom. He occasionally stopped to carefully look at a golden hairbrush or a detail on the hideously ornate walls.

"This is the crown prince's room. My parents' old bedroom," he said as touched a golden chest of drawers with his large hands. "It will be Fili's room, of course. At least until our firstborn son is born."

"Thorin…" she began, but he was quick to cut her.

"Have you seen the room on the left? That is our room. It is even more grandiose than this."

He said the last bit, pointing at the room they were standing with a strange glint of madness in his eyes. The idea of another bedroom with even more gold than that made her grimace in disgust.

"Thorin…please… take a break from the Arkenstone. Please… do something else, at least for a day."

But the look on his face was murderous. He clenched both his fists together and for the first time, Katniss felt scared about being alone with him. She discreetly tried to position herself near a sharp, ornate sword that was on display on the wall. Her move didn't go unnoticed by him. They both glared at each other silently for a moment. He took a deep breath and unclenched his hands. When he spoke again, it was in a controlled and calculating tone.

"You may do whatever pleases you in these halls but don't go meddling in my business. There are many things about my people you don't understand. The Arkenstone is one of them. Stop trying to recruit my men to talk me out of this, either."

"So Balin has talked to you, then? And still, you refuse to see reason!" she spat with rage.

"If someone else but me gets hold of the Arkenstone…"

"It is just a stone, Thorin!"

"Not having it could lead to an uprising! Some lowly Lord could question my right to rule among the seven dwarven kingdoms!"

"Isn't this enough!?" she grimaced at him while waving both her hands to the room. "Why do you need seven sodding kingdoms for? Can't this be enough?" she was shaking with rage.

He shook his head, and she lost all the remaining self-control she still had. Not wanting to see his face anymore, Katniss stormed out of the room. He followed her, and before he could reach her, she locked herself inside the room on the right of his old parent's bedroom. As soon as she put on the look, she could hear his fists slamming against the heavy wooden door, ordering her to open it.

"Go away!" she said with a muffled voice, as she took her first look at this bedroom.

It was nothing like what she had expected, considering what the other royal quarters were like. At least there weren't golden walls or diamond-encrusted chandeliers hanging from the ceiling at that one. Instead, it had a rustic wooden decoration. Surely, the wood was of fine quality and carefully sculpted, but it was a welcomed change from Thráin's old quarters.

"Open the door! This is an order!" His voice echoed through the solid wooden door as he slammed his fists against it.

"Go away!" she shouted again, as she cleaned the dust on the window seal with the sleeve of her shirt. She could also see Dale from this room, though it didn't have a small balcony, and its windows were smaller.

Thorin stopped knocking, and she sighed in relief, observing the contents of the room. The bathroom was much smaller than the one in Thorin's parents' room. There were a few old books on a shelf, and a silver harp near the window, but what grabbed her attention was a variety of weapons on display. They weren't ornate like the ones displayed in his parents' room, but all of very fine make nonetheless. She got hold of a bow and a quiver half-full of arrows that were laying there on the floor. She ran a finger through the string. It seemed to be in good condition.

The door was suddenly slammed open, and she loaded her bow immediately as her warriors' reflexes had kicked in. Thorin was there alone, and she was pointing an arrow toward him, but he didn't seem much concerned about it in the slightest. He touched the walls and looked at the ceiling, which only now she realised that they had painted stars on top of it.

She unloaded her arrow, observing all his movements with a puzzled look on her face. He kneeled in a corner and removed a floorboard, revealing a hidden birch box. She thought she would see more diamonds or another shiny forsaken object, but when he opened it, she saw that it had some metal made soldiers and horses.

"They are still here. My childhood treasures," he said, looking at her with a sweet candour in his eyes.

She placed her newly claimed bow and quiver on her shoulders and walked to the place where he was standing. He raised his hand to stroke the head of a stuffed stag on the walls and smiled at her.

"My first game. I was seven." He was touching the animal's nose. Katniss' eyes were still wide open in shock. She was slowly realising where they were. To whom that room had once belonged.

"Come here, Mizin, let me show you," he said with a jovial smile plastered on his face.

She walked slowly, not believing her ears. It felt like a lifetime ago when she had heard him calling her by that name. Still, she approached him cautiously, almost as if she was expecting him to do something.

"Come," he whispered, wrapping a hand around her waist. "Look, this hunting knife is the first blade I ever made."

He gave it for her to inspect, but her attention was everywhere else but the blade in her hands. She looked at his eyes and noticed that they no longer had that glint of madness they bore not long ago inside his parents' old room.

"Thorin, you are…" she said, stroking his cheek with her palm. He closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation, and gave a tender kiss to the back of that hand, pulling her head near his, making them touch.

"This blade is very special for me," he said, pointing at the rustic hunting knife she was holding. "I want you to keep it."

"...you are back."

She blinked multiple times and allowed a smile to erupt on her lips, as she was barely daring to believe this miracle.

"What do you mean, I am back? I've never left!" he said, giving her a cocky smile. She smiled back and pulled him into a passionate kiss, which he eagerly answered.

"I missed you", she ran her hands through his hair while he busied himself by kissing her neck.

Thorin didn't answer with words. Instead, he whisked her from the floor, which she promptly answered by wrapping his torso with her legs. Their foreheads were touching, their lips intertwined. He carried her that way to the other side of the room and placed her on top of his desk. Katniss was trying her best to free him from his heavy royal attire, but the clothes were from too much of a fine making for her to tear or remove when she didn't know how. She grunted in annoyance, which made him stop fondling her breasts and give her a mischievous smile. Before she had any chance to retort his actions, he ripped her top with a single pull and shredded her trousers in half with the help of a knife.

She gasped.

"I want to see if you will carry on wearing these rags now," he said while his eyes simmered with desire.

"Oh, so that is what this is all about?" she said with a frown.

But she failed to remain mad at him, as he was way too good at knowing how to work her body right. Before she had time to protest, he had his face buried in her core. She was squirming with desire. She was moaning his name, wrapping both her hands on his head, not caring if she was hurting him in the process or not. It had been too damn long, and she was starving for his touch. It didn't take long for her to reach her peak, and when she did, somehow she ended up knocking an old ceramic vase, making it shatter into a thousand pieces. Both of them instinctively looked down to see the damage, and they were presented with the image of thousands of gold coins, hidden in the vase. Thorin immediately let go of her and turned away to leave the room.

"Thorin! What..?" she said, confused. He stopped in the doorway and gave a last look at her. She noticed the madness seemed to have returned to his eyes.

"The Arkenstone. We can't rest until it's found."

"Thorin! Wait…!"

But he had already left, leaving a completely naked, frustrated and thoroughly baffled Katniss behind.

A/N: another one from the series, who is alive sometimes will update. Yes, I am alive, even though postgrad coursework is trying to kill me. I can't name how many times I had to work on an essay when all I wanted was to write this instead.

Anyway, hope this was enough to keep you interested.