In a Father's Embrace

Chapter 14

They traveled for days without any major incident, besides the time Kili fell into a river. He still had no idea that he had been pranked, and the rest of the party had taken out wagers on whether it would be Fili or Thraya who cracked and revealed the secret first.

Thraya continued teaching Bilbo on nights when neither was too exhausted and eventually, he managed to parry more than one strike in a row before dropping his blade. Even more impressive was when he picked it back up and began again without first labeling himself as useless and telling Thraya she was wasting her time on a lost cause.  

For the most part, the dwarves were impressed with Thraya's ability to get through to him whereas the others could barely keep a semi-awkward conversation alive with the shy burglar. On occasion, Thraya would deal with a snide remark from a less friendly dwarf as to Bilbo's slow progress by dueling the offender to prove her point. Most of the time, she held her own for the allotted time period or successfully disarmed her opponent, but she still earned some respect from Dwalin for how long she lasted before he overpowered her.

Thorin was incredibly proud. Thraya had managed to do what she never thought possible mere months ago. She had begun to feel at home among dwarves. 

He could tell they were all starting to get rather attached to her even before the incident.

As they traveled through the Misty Mountains, they got caught in a violent storm. Thorin specifically instructed her care to Fili and Kili.

"Look out!" Dwalin screamed. Thraya tried to catch sight of what he was yelling about, but the brothers pulled her down as a rock exploded against the side of the mountain, raining rubble on the company.

"What in Mahal's name?" she shouted.

"This is no thunderstorm!" Balin yelled. "It's a thunder battle! Look!"

Through the rain and her straggling hair, Thraya craned her neck to see over the dwarves in front of her and made out the vague outline of a pair of giant figures doing their utmost to crush each other.

"Well, bless my nonexistent beard," she breathed. "That right there is the stuff of legend."

"Ay, the legends are true!" Bofur exclaimed. "Giants! Stone giants!"

As he spoke, enraptured, a stray boulder used in an attack made its way toward them.

"Take cover, you fool!" Thorin ordered. Thraya grabbed for his cloak but missed slightly and yanked him back by a fistfull of his hair.

"Youch!"

"Hold on!" Nori ever so helpfully suggested.

They weathered the onslaught from the most recent projectile but then the ground began shaking underfoot.

"Oh, dear Eru, we aren't on the mountain, are we?" Thraya muttered as cracks began forming in the stone at their feet. Kili pulled her close as the path beneath them began rumbling violently. Near her foot, a crevice opened and began widening.

"Grab my hand!" Fili shouted towards them as the space between them grew. Thraya reached out and clutched his arm without releasing her grip on Kili, thinking they could both make it over.

The next thing she knew, Kili lost his grip on her as the chasm between them opened exponentially.

"Thraya!" he screamed.

Her foot on the edge of Fili's ledge slipped and she let out a scream as the world blurred around her for a moment. Her grip on Fili's soaked sleeve slipped far too easily and she was falling.