Daughter of Starlight

Chapter Twenty Six: A Broken Promise

An hour. That was my guess of how long I had sat staring at the mountains of gold within the Lonely Mountain. The more I looked, the more I began to appreciate the beauty that lured Thorin's sickness into the light. I had contemplated many things during my time in the treasury. I wondered how many golden coins there were. I wondered how many precious gems were scattered among the gold. I wondered how much this accumulated wealth was worth. How much had it been worth to Thrór? Was it worth the family ties he broke, the political ties he had severed? Was it worth passing on his sickness to his grandson?

"What are you doing here?" The familiar deep voice didn't catch me completely off guard. I had heard footsteps behind me, but I assumed it would be Balin or Bilbo that followed me in here, trying to sway me from the decision I had made.

"I'm going to go talk to him," I had said, turning away from Balin and Bilbo to exit the library.

"No!" Bilbo had ran in front of me and blocked the open doorway. "Laerornien, that may not be the best idea."

"I don't care, Bilbo. Someone needs to try and get through to him."

"What do you think we've been trying to do?" Balin had asked me. "What you witnessed in the throne room was our last attempt."

"Well it's not mine," I'd said stubbornly, but neither of them looked eager to let me go and talk to Thorin alone.

"He listens to no one, Laerornien," Bilbo had said.

"You talking to him now would extremely unwise," Balin had insisted.

"Why?"

"You think we haven't noticed the way he's been treating you?" Bilbo had asked me.

"He hasn't been treating me any way," I'd tried to say, but the hobbit would have none of it.

"What about the glares, then? What about the suspicious and outright threatening looks towards you? You know it's been going on because you're always avoiding him."

"Why would I avoid him?"

"Because you know as well as the rest of us that he despises elves," Balin had told me. "He tolerated you on the journey here because he always kept in mind what you two had in common. Now he doesn't remember. All he knows anymore is that whatever lies in this mountain is his and his alone."

"But it's not!" I had practically shouted, shocking the both of them. The calm disposition I usually had was a pretty convincing disguise for my true feelings, but lately my exterior image had been cracking, revealing to everyone what stress I was under and the despair that was starting to overcome me. I truly was getting desperate. I had to know where Thorin and I stood in his greedy delirium.

"You have to let me do this, Balin." I was almost pleading with the elder dwarf who had become a sort of father figure to me in my time with the dwarves. After a moment of consideration, he nodded sadly. I knew he was afraid that my conversation with Thorin would end in my departure, but he also knew that I had waited long enough. These few days in the mountain had seemed endless, without any purpose other than slinking around the corridors to avoid Thorin. I couldn't do it anymore.

And now here we stood, the invaluable treasure beneath us. Now was my chance to find out what he truly had come to think of me. I wondered briefly if I was his enemy now, if he saw me as a threat to him, just as my own father saw me. The thought of losing someone else I cared about made my chest ache, and even if I knew I'd already lost most of Thorin's trust, it hurt to think I could lose the rest of it.

"I said," Thorin stepped closer to me intimidatingly. "What are you doing here?"

His show of trying to be threatening didn't faze me, and I stood my ground and met his gaze levelly. "I'm just looking, Your Majesty."