A Place to Belong

Chapter 18: New Beginnings

Thorin watched as Oin checked her over for injury but it seemed there were none. Despite the fact that she had been pummelled and battered while saving his neck, and to add to that had fallen a good 15 feet and then was almost burnt alive, the fact that she was unscathed was quite astonishing.

"The crystal?" he asked Gandalf, the wizard replied with a shrug of the shoulders, as far as he knew the Reaver required a donation of life essence to actually work. So it was a mystery at the moment.

Oin laid her out straight on the grass; Kili offered his jacket as a head rest. She looked tormented in her unconscious state, she writhed restlessly unable to wake, and Oin had to get help holding her down before forcing a sleeping draught down her throat.

She calmed soon after, but her face still wore a mask of pain.

Thorin regarded her carefully. Though he had accepted it, he still couldn't believe that it was actually her. The way she had looked at him when he had called her name, there was an underlying sense relief and liberation, as if she'd been waiting for him to recognise her.

He cursed himself for not doing so earlier; he had suspected it since he first laid eyes on her back in the Ettenmoors. But back then it had seemed more foolish to think of than it did now.

As Oin finished up and moved on, Thorin kneeled beside her and placed his hand on her forehead. He stroked back her hair, as he had done when she was a child. Simply re-enacting the small ritual after decades of mourning was comforting, but it also felt foreign. He felt like he shouldn't be doing it, and that it was wrong, but deep down he knew it wasn't. It was the right thing to do for a long lost daughter, and one he now planned to never lose again.

He took up his own position not far from her, leaning against the trunk of a tree. He watched as the company began to set up a camp with what little resources they had been able to save and those they found through scavenging and hunting.

Though they were thoroughly exhausted they had just enough energy left to ensure they filled their stomachs.

Thorin noticed that his nephews remained oddly close to her; Kili especially was looking miserable and forlorn, as if he'd lost something precious to him. Thorin also took note of how possessive Kili had become of her, and so quickly too. So much so as to risk his own life for her.

He chuckled silently to himself, remembering a time when he would've been so possessive too. Kili was like him in more ways than just appearance it seemed and in some ways it worried him.

The day dragged on and soon they had a small campfire burning. Oin was nearing the end of his round and Thorin was not looking forward to being put to scrutiny. He dreaded the concept of being put in a position where he was shown to be weak and vulnerable, he was a king, and a weak king wasn't what they needed.

Oin approached him, a dull apologetic look in his eyes that said, 'please make this easy, it has to be done'

Thorin sat with back against a large tree, it was the only way he found comfortable with his injuries. He had tried to make it seem like he was in a fit state but he was fooling no one. He sat resolute and unmoving, he didn't want the help.

"Come on Thorin, I need to check you!" sighed the old apothecary, when the he refused.

Some of the others joined him in his plight to persuade him otherwise. They presented countless arguments to him but each time he refused. It wasn't until a soft but confident female voice entered the fray that he began to see reason.

Kili sat right beside her, nibbling on some food he had found in her bag. He wasn't entirely sure what it was, it looked like bread and tasted just the same too but it was flat and wasn't as dry. He shared some of it out among those not busy with scavenging. He knew she wouldn't appreciate the fact that he'd been snooping but they needed something to eat and he knew for a fact that she had some.