ILL OMENS ‒ THE HOBBIT

☁CHAPTER V☁

 Inanna accidentally walked into the tail end of a conversation and immediately hid behind a wall.

"You don't have to do this," Balin's voice said, "You have a choice."

Inanna willed her mouth to remain closed, a choice for what? She wanted to ask. Inanna made a zipping motion over her lips and threw the key over her shoulder.

"You've done honorably by our people," Balin's voice was soft as he spoke. Was he talking to Thorin? "You have built a new life for us in the Blue Mountains."

Those mountains sounded very blue... she hasn't seen a mountain in a long time actually.

"A life of peace, and plenty. A life that is worth more than all the gold in Erebor." Inanna understood where Balin was coming from, but she pouted all the same. Shiny things. Gold was shiny. But, she'd rather have a good life than gold. Oh well. Gold is an object, and her horde of shiny objects in her room would do for her.

Thorin's gravelly voice filled the air, and this time, Inanna shivered, "From my grandfather to my father, this," She assumed he was showing the key, "Has come to me."

A pause, and Inanna really just wanted to go see what the key looked like up close by now.

"They dreamt of the day when the dwarves of Erebor would reclaim their homeland." Thorin was adamant and confident towards the end of that, his voice still hushed but getting louder.

"There is no choice, Balin," technically there was, Inanna thought as she munched on a trail mix she had in her room, you just have a desire that's lasted sixty years, "not for me."

A pause, a pause full of heavy silence as Inanna munched, "Then we are with you, Laddie."

Inanna scrunched her nose. Would she be killed if she called him Laddie? Just once? She wanted to try the word in her mouth. She mouthed the word. Laddie. Made a gruff face and mouthed it again. Laddie. Inanna shrugged and threw some trail mix into her mouth. The word didn't fit her voice.

Inanna trailed behind some of the dwarves with her bowl of trail mix as they led to the den, humming filled the air and gave her a pause. She was used to herself humming, but now the dwarves were. Inanna could tell it was not a happy tune, so she resisted the urge to twirl her skirt and sat down in her chair in the corner as the company stood around the fire. Bilbo was nowhere in sight, but Inanna was enjoying these new people. Fili and Kili had taken spots to her right and her left as Thorin stood by the mantel, holding a pipe.

Inanna kept her eyes sharp on Thorin as he sang while staring into the fire.

Far over the Misty Mountains cold

To dungeons deep and caverns old

We must away, ere break of day

To find our long forgotten gold

Thorin had turned around slowly, looking at the rest of the dwarves, and him and Inanna made eye contact when the rest of the dwarves began to sing the lament as well. They didn't look away from each other.

The pines were roaring on the height

The winds were moaning in the night

The fire was red, its flaming spread

The trees like torches blazed with light

She heard the wind howl as it swept away the embers of the fire from the chimney. There was a haunted look in Thorin's eyes, one she couldn't look away from even if she tried. As the song ended, no one moved for a good while. Thorin was still smoking his pipe as the dwarves stayed silent as if it was a moment of respect for the dead. She couldn't blame them. She did the same at meal times for her family.