Fire and Water ThorinxMermaid!OC

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Loreth followed the dwarves back to their chambers after dinner. She wanted to be with them until she had to retire to her own bed. Thorin took off with lord Elrond, Gandalf, Balin, and Bilbo to try and decipher the map.

The dwarves, who were very unhappy with the quality of dinner, had taken to making a fire out of elven furniture! Loreth voiced her opinion more than once at the disrespectful act but the dwarves simply did not care. From the fire they roasted sausages and venison, distributing it amongst themselves. Loreth helped herself to dessert. Well, she called it dessert. It was a can of Rivendell peaches and she couldn't stop consuming the sweet fruit.

Once Elrond had seen how she devoured the sweet spears, he had a can of it gifted to her. This was a poor decision thinking back because it was a more sugar than she was used to.

She was happily nibbling away at the delicacy in her hand when the dwarves' current conversation captured her attention.

"I remember when I found my one. There ain't nothin' like it lads. Truly." Gloin spoke fondly of this thing as he stared into the fire. His red hair, illuminated by the flame.

"But how did you know she was your one?" Ori asked sweetly.

Loreth's soft voice piped up, "what's a One?" Genuine curiosity filling her features.

The dwarves looked at each other like they knew something she didn't. She didn't like that feeling—feeling like she was left out.

Gloin stumbled for words, "Uh it's er...some dwarves have soulmates—it's a life partner that shares a part of their soul. We call it our One. It's very rare that a dwarf finds their One, so if they do find it, they never let them go."

"Oh," Loreth blinked, "So this is another person that you love?"

Gloin nodded, "More than love. A dwarf knows it the second they see them. It's really hard to explain, lassie, please forgive me. You would die for them. It doesn't matter your size, your shape, or your color. When you find your One, everyone else around just sort of fades away. I knew it and felt it when I first met me wife. Now we have a wee lad named Gimli. Takes after his pa, he does." He chuckled and a few of the dwarves joined in on the laughter.

Soulmates. It was a strange thing that Loreth didn't quite understand yet. Maybe she had a soulmate? She liked to think she did and that she would find him someday. Yes she very much liked that idea. All those years alone in that lake, a part of her yearns for more than anything someone to share this life with. She dropped the subject and let the dwarves go about their nightly routine.

She eventually stood and, at first, headed for her cottage, but then stopped. She couldn't possibly sleep on all the questions that weighed on her mind. She need to find out something substantive sooner rather than later. She turned and headed towards Lord Elrond's study. She had to ask a passing elf for directions. Loreth hoped that Elrond had finished meeting with everyone.

She peeked around the door and saw Lord Elrond sitting at a desk, table lit by moonlight.

"Lord Elrond?" She gently asked.

His eyes looked up to see her there, "Ah, Loreth, I had a feeling that you would want to talk after dinner today."

The woman bashfully smiled and entered the study. The walls were lined with hundreds of books, and stone pillars of the softest stone.

"Yes, I couldn't sleep without speaking to you. If you can tell me anything about myself or my kind, I'd love to hear it. —If you're not busy of course—I can always come back another time."

Elrond chuckled and gesture to the balcony, "Not at all. Please," The two walked over and laid their hands on the stone banister. The world that lay before Rivendell was breathtaking in the moonlight.

Elrond inhaled, "I don't know where I should start. Many ages ago, your kind, merfolk, resided in both the Bay of Belfalas and Belegaer, The Great Sea. They went to war hundreds of years ago with the orcs. A lot of them having been so close to the realm of Gondor, a land of men, were unfortunately captured by men."

Loreth's heart broke for her people. She had found that the race of men were the easiest to entice. She only put them in a trance to steal their belongings. It was a shame they were so cruel towards mermaids.

"As for your specific story I can't be certain. My guess is that you mother knew you would not have a chance with the impending war with the orcs, and men of Gondor so she did her best to hide you away from the world." He looked down at her.

Loreth scoffed, "well it worked a little too well. For two hundred years I've been shielded from the world until the company came upon my lake. I think I have fate to thank for that."

Lord Elrond nodded, "That is another thing entirely—your abilities. Mermaids can feel the pull of fate like an instinct; knowing what is right and wrong in a given situation. You already know that your voice has magic."

She stayed quiet for a moment. She knew there had to be something more to it when the dwarves were leaving her lake. There's a reason she felt like she should go with them. There's a purpose she's with the company. Fate was pulling her in.

Loreth asked a question that was on her mind, "do we have soulmates?"

Lord Elrond made eye contact with her at that. He shifted the weight on his feet, becoming visibly tense. "Yes."

Loreth beamed at him, "How do I know when I've met them?"

"That, my lady, I think you already know the answer to." He leaned down to rest his arms on the banister. Loreth looked at him like he'd grown a third eye.

"Come again?"

The elf lord sighed. He was going to have to be the one to explain this to her, " for mermaids, the water is your truth. A constant in this ever changing world. Your race, better than even that of elves, can bend water to your will. But even more than that. The water can speak if you have the right ear to listen. Merfolk are the only race who can provoke it do such a thing and that is by singing."

Loreth listened to every word, " so when I sang at supper..." Loreth's brows furrowed.

"Revealed a truth."

She shook her head, "are you saying that when I sang, the water revealed my soulmate?"

"Indeed." Lord Elrond grinned down at the puzzled mermaid. She was putting pieces together and for the first time so many things in her life made sense to her.

"Thorin is my soulmate." It was a statement that Elrond didn't feel the need to answer. She had figured it out and it was like everything made perfect sense. The pull she had towards him, the water orbiting him, the need to be by his side at all times.

Elrond remember something, "however there is one way to know for certain."

"How?" She looked at him with doe eyes. Even he found it hard to not give her what she wants.

"Tales of a mermaid's kiss say that when you kiss your soulmate, they stay as they are, alive and whole. If they are not...the one you kiss is said to die. Many men have died kissing mermaids as you can imagine and...it would serve them right in a sense. Abducting a mermaid and forcing her to kiss is cruel so the punishment should be cruel."

At his words, the light inside her died a little bit. Was Thorin her soulmate? Did she want to take that risk if he died from it? The answer was obviously no. Thorin had a home to reclaim, people to rule over. She wasn't about to commit regicide and prohibit all of that. He meant too much to so many.

She looked up to the elf, "Thank you lord Elrond," she did a little curtsy, "You don't know what this means to me. For the first time in my life I've got answers. I must go. Thank you again, you've been most helpful."

She walked a little slower back to her cottage. Her mind racing on thought of Thorin. A part of her felt deep down that he was her One but how could she be so sure? A kiss that could kill him. It was cruel.

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