The Fifteenth Member (Thorin Oakenshield/OFC)

Chapter 8

I walked across the room to where there was an empty spot next to Lord Elrond.

"You look lovely Mereniver." Gandalf said.

"Thanks, I feel better too.  Have I missed much?"

"No my dear, you are right on time."  I looked around for Arwen but I found that she had disappeared.  I counted the dwarves, Fili, Bombur, Dori, Ori, Gloin, Balin, and Bilbo sat at the table in front of me and Bofur, Kili, Oin, Dwalin, Nori, and Bifur sat at the table in front of Gandalf.   I noticed that Thorin was not in the room and was about to comment on it when he came in.

"Excuse my tardiness."  He  walked and stood in front of the pillar behind the first table in the shadows after he grabbed a plate of food and a flask of something.  The dwarves were looking through their salads with dismay, complaining about the lack of meat and chips and 'not liking green foods' 

I laughed, then I got up, grabbed the plate of smoked fish from my place, and gave half to each table.  I stopped at Kili's table to listen to a bit of the conversation when Dwalin caught Kili grin and wink at the harp player in a flirtatious manner.

"Can't say I fancy elf maids myself, too thin.  Droll, high cheek bones, creamy skin, not enough facial hair for me although," he gestured to the elf walking behind him, "That one there is not bad."  Dwalin and I glanced up.

"Check again." I said.

"That's not an elf maid." Dwalin added.  Kili looked up just as the elf turned and saw that the 'she' was in fact a 'he'.  Dwalin winked at Kili and everyone at the table started laughing, Kili's was forced.

"Funny."

Lord Elrond gave me a disapproving look but didn't say anything to me as I sat back down.  Instead, he turned to Gandalf.

"Thirteen dwarves, a halfling, and a mermaid.  Strange travelling companions, Gandalf."

"These are the descendants of the House of Durin!  The noble, decent folk."  As he said this, I saw Nori slip a salt shaker into his coat. "They're surprisingly cultured and have a great love of the arts."  Nori turned to one of the musicians behind him.

"Change the tune, why don't you?  I feel like I'm at a funeral!"

"Has somebody died?" 

"Alright, lads, there's only one thing for it!"  Bofur got up on the pedestal between the tables and began to sing.  The soft music that had been playing when I first entered the room came to an abrupt halt as well. 

As the song picked up, Thorin grinned and the other dwarves began to stomp their feet and bang their fists on the table, some of them began to sing along.  It was at the end of the first verse when someone threw a roll between Lord Elrond and Gandalf.  Lord Elrond seemed confused, Lindir was looking rather stiff, and Gandalf was trying to look normal.  Everyone joined in one the throwing of food, but just at Bofur.  The musicians looked amongst themselves, no doubt wondering what the dwarves thought they were doing and whether or not to restart their song.  Bofur started the third verse and bread continued to go flying.  This whole time, I had watched Thorin out of the corner of my eye, he had taken several large gulps of whatever it was during the song and was now visibly thumping his foot on the ground.  Another roll flew between Gandalf and Lord Elrond and by now, Lord Elrond was beginning to look mad.  Even though the song had finished, the dwarves were still laughing and throwing food.  Kili threw a particularly large pastry but it went slightly off-course and hit me square in the face.

The room went silent.  Everyone looked at me.  Kili paled, his mouth wide open but no sound coming out.  I did my best to look furious and lifted my right hand to my face and began to wide off the paste.  With my left hand, which I kept hidden out of sight, I used my powers to lift a single drop of wine out of Kili's glass and moved it above his head.  Once it was there, I inflated it until it was twice the size of Kili's head.  I then lowered the temperature of the water until there was cold-steam coming off it.  Kili was still transfixed with terror but the other dwarves saw the steaming sphere of wine and began trying to choke back laughter.  Kili looked at them, then he looked up.  He scrambled back off the bench when he saw what I had planned but I just inflated it more and kept it over his head.  He stumbled and fell to the ground and that was when I let the freezing water drop on him.  Kili let out a very unmanly squeak when the wine touched him and the dwarves roared with laughter.  Even Thorin was having a hard time hiding his amusement.  I wiped the rest of the filling on my hand and whipped it at him, hitting him in the center of his chest.

The dwarves all thought this was extremely funny and some laughing so hard some of them rolled on the floor.  I heated the water up a bit and Kili started to giggle too, although he tried to look mad.  Even Thorin laughed a little.

"Go clean yourself up Kili, you deserved that."  Thorin said between snickers.  He was not as rigid as normal so I figured that he was just drunk.

"May I be excused Lord Elrond?  I would like to clean my face off as well."

"Very well, as long as you dry up the wine still on the floor."  I nodded did so, the wine evaporated with a small cloud of red-tinted steam and I walked out of the room.

I didn't bother going back to my room, I had eaten my fill and was very tired but I wanted to find a river to wash off in so I did not clog up the drains.  It did not take long to find a secluded clearing with a small waterfall and river near the edge.  It was rather close to the fountain the dwarves had been in earlier so it would not take me long to get back to my room but little did I know, that one of the dwarves had followed me.

I got into the river and began rubbing what was left off my face.

"You forgot to take an escort."  Thorin's voice sounded from the shadows.

"Well I'm not that far from my room so I don't need one."

"I beg to differ, Mereniver.  Lord Elrond said everywhere."

"Yeah, I'm starting to wish that was the only thing he said."  I suddenly realized what I said and began cursing in silence.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing!"

"Mereniver, I know you are lying.  Was it a threat?"

"No."

"Was it about your condition?"

"Not the one you're thinking of but yes and that's all I have to say on the subject."  I didn't want him finding out about my potential healing powers.

"You can trust me, Mereniver.  Do you not know that?  Anyway, it can't be as bad as what he's going to tell me tonight about the quest."  I remained silent. "Don't shut yourself off like this, please?" 

"Where is this coming from?  You never ask nicely for anything!  Scratch that, you never ask at all!  You give orders and yell!  What's going on here, Thorin?"  He stepped out of the shadows and walked up to the river bank.  His expression was unreadable.

"For reasons I do not know, my soul has chosen you, and whether I like it or not, you are the only person I will ever be able to love for the rest of my life." I gasped, out of all of the possible replies I had thought he would give me, that was the last one on the list!  No, that wasn't even on the list at all!  Our eyes were locked, I drifted towards him slowly and he sat down.  When our faces were about a foot apart, I began, "Thorin-"

"Thorin!" It was Balin, he hadn't found us but when I looked back at Thorin, the magic was lost.

"Meet me here tomorrow morning, I propose a deal, you tell me what Lord Elrond told you and in return, I will tell you what he told me."  I hesitated, there was no telling how he would react but I had to know ho long they would stay here.

"Deal."

I had fun writing this one. So sorry Kili! Not.