The Gathering Storm. The Hobbit fanfic. A Thorin Oakenshield love story.

Chapter 36: The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down.

Taryn shifted in her sleep early in the morning. The feeling of being in someone's tight grasp woke her up. She opened her eyes, to see that it was Thorin's arm wrapped protectively around her waist. Her eyes widened as she thought of last night.

She was in her sleep like state, but elves are semi-conscious while resting their minds. So she felt the kiss that Thorin gave her on her forehead. And she heard him whisper that he loved her in Khuzdûl. Thorin did not know this, but she had been secretly practicing the language over the years. For she would not forget it.

Although she was semi-conscious while sleeping, she didn't remember him cuddling up to her. She just remembered a calming feeling, of instantly feeling safe and warm.

She slowly rolled over, facing away from Thorin. That is when she noticed she was mainly on Thorin's bedroll and not her own. She was about to move back to her own bedroll; when she heard Thorin mumble something in his sleep and felt him tightly pull her back to him.

She was shocked as she laid back down up against Thorin. She thought Thorin hated her now. She soon drifted back to sleep, even though her mind was fully at rest. As she laid back down Thorin shifted and moved his head for it was now nestled on her neck.

A bit later in the morning Taryn woke up still cuddled up with Thorin. He had his left arm still wrapped protectively around her waist and her right hand was intertwined with his left hand. She was now facing him again and her right leg was sort of wrapped around his leg. Her head was nestled against his shoulder, like she was using him for a pillow. It made her wonder why he had cuddled up against her and what he was thinking. She also noticed that most of the dwarves, Gandalf, and Bilbo had seen them. But she shrugged it off as she didn't care what they thought of it.

She simply wiggled out of Thorin's grasp as she sat up. She re-packed her bedroll and unpacked some of her vegetarian food for breakfast. As an elf she needed very little to eat, so it would last her for awhile.

She had been polite last night and ate Bombur's cooking even though it was not a vegetarian meal. But she couldn't see herself eating like that for the whole quest. Once her travel packs were re-packed, she took her breakfast and went to join Bilbo by the fire. She left Thorin still asleep on his own bedroll.

"Good morning," she said to Bilbo as she sat down beside him.

"Good morning Taryn," Bilbo said back to her in a grumbled tone of voice.

"Did you not sleep well?" Taryn asked since he sounded grumpy.

"Sorry, for the grumpiness. No I did not. I had some big rock under my back all night." He said with a sigh as he ate his breakfast.

"Oh I'm sorry. I slept great, surprisingly for being outside without a bed." She said with an almost giggle.

Bilbo looked at her and he rolled his eyes. 'Of course she slept well. She had Mr. Majestic for a pillow,' the hobbit thought to himself.

"I wonder why you slept so well Taryn!" Bilbo said to her with a small smile on his hobbit face.

"Well it didn't start out good. I had a terrible nightmare about my mother's death. But it ended whether quickly than when my nightmares usually do. I didn't know until I woke up, that Thorin was snuggling up against me," she said to the hobbit with a small sigh over the nightmare. But it turned into a smile when she thought of Thorin.

"Do you have a lot of nightmares?" Bilbo asked her curiously.

"Yes, whenever I go into my sleep like state usually. Since I am an elf, we do not need sleep. Instead we need to rest our minds for a few hours. During that time we can have dreams or nightmares and will appear to be sleeping. But really we are semi-conscious and can wake quite easily." She said to Bilbo trying to explain it to him as easily as possible.