**FULLY EDITED**
🏅#2 in LOTR out of 6,000 stories 4/3/2024
🏅#1in Thorin 5/08/23 and again on 6/14/23
🏅#1 in thehobbit on 7/2/23
#1 in Thorinoakenshield 12/15/22
#18 in mermaid on 1/22/23
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Thorin Oakenshield x OC!Mermaid because there need...
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While she ate the stew a few of the men came to sit on the bank. They had questions of their own that needed answering. That and, to be nearer to her was a privilege all on its own. She had pulled herself a little more into the shallow water, revealing her breathtaking tail, enough to sit in the shallow water.
The men secretly wanted to reach out and touch it, even Thorin but he would never dare admit it. She reflected the moonlight in the flecks of gold on her skin making her appear like the personification of divinity. Thorin found himself, on occasion, wondering if she was even real. In the light of the moon she seemed more like an apparition. A fleeting image there one moment and to be gone the next. He found it fitting. For given their meeting only moments ago, she haunted him. And he didn't know if he liked that. His mind was already too cluttered with this quest to have it distract by her ghost.
It still remained, however, that she was a living work of art that was too precious to touch. Bringing her into the real world would surely taint some of her shine.
As much sleep as Thorin needed, he wanted to hear some of what the maid had to say.
Bofur asked the next question, "so you've been here all of your life?"
She nodded shyly, "yes, from what I can remember. Gandalf says that I may be the last mermaid which is..." her eyes searched the water below her, "I don't have the words to describe it to you. I've prayed for so long to find others like me. To one day escape this lake...It used to be much bigger if you can believe it. But unfortunately it has shrunk over the last two-hundred years. One day, it will seize to exist, and surely me with it."
The men felt a twinge of sadness in their hearts. Loreth picked up on it and decided to change the subject, "but tell me, I've seen men before and you are not men." She looked them all over, "you're far too...small—but you look like men."
Fili nodded, "we're dwarves, miss. The smaller one over there-" he pointed to Bilbo who was fast asleep at the foot of a tree, "is a Hobbit. Gandalf is a wizard."
Dwarves. She had never seen dwarves before. But they weren't men so that was a plus in her book. Sometimes men would hear her singing—when she dared to— it was like they were drawn to the lake. They had to be close enough to the lake to hear it of course but the race of men caused her to put her guard up a bit more.
"I've never met any dwarves before. What are you doing here?" Loreth asked with some much interest that the dwarves were happy to tell her.
"Well, we were just on-" Bofur started but Thorin cut him off.
"It's not her business." The leader eyed the dwarf carefully. Bofur wanted to say more but he could not.
Loreth wasn't thinking when she reached out a soft hand and reassured the dwarf, "It's alright. Like he said, 'tis not my business. But it sounds like an adventure you're on and I wish you all the luck." She looked over the dwarves who smiled in response. She even looked up at Thorin who turned away. She didn't know what his issue was with her but she couldn't deny that she wanted to get to the bottom of it. She had done nothing to him—well nothing short of spying.
She finished with, "If there's anything you should need, that I may be able to help with. You know where to find me. The stars know that I'd give anything to leave this cursed pool."
"Have you tried?" Asked a dwarf she didn't know which.
"Tried what?" She looked up at Ori.
He was the youngest of the group and soft spoken much like her, "leaving the water?"
She pursed her lips in thought, "You know I have never really tried come to think of it. The idea has always frightened me too much. I worry I would never make it back to the water."
"Legend says that merfolk can walk on land if they choose, "Ori stated and a few of the other dwarves joined in with head nods and encouragement.
The woman chuckled nervously and looked dumbfounded, "I couldn't—that tale must be folly. How could my tail possibly turn into legs?" Loreth questioned aloud.
Oin shrugged, "Tis magic. We've seen stranger things happen." The dwarves nodded in agreement.
Time went on and most of the dwarves had gone off to sleep. Bofur stayed behind and continued to talk to Loreth. She welcomed his company but unknown to her she had also succumbed to the pull of sleep, right in the shallow water, her head resting on a smooth stone. She knew the dwarves would have to leave in the morning and for that her heart ached, she wanted nothing more than to go with them, to be a part of something, and see the great big world out there.
