Reverie - 𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓷 𝓞𝓪𝓴𝓮𝓷𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓮𝓵𝓭 𝔁 𝓞𝓒

Chapter 14 - Understanding

The silence felt excruciating, but Blair couldn't seem to make herself say something. He stared back at her, eyes unchanged but his lips were slightly parted. He was always so hard to read and it wasn't until this moment that Blair realized this.

"I'm so sorry," Blair managed to say. She cleared her throat. "I heard the music and couldn't help myself from trying to find the source." She laughed awkwardly and smoothed her hands over her new dress. She quickly became very aware of her appearance and how she must look to him in attire made by a people he despised. She looked down at her feet, suddenly feeling quite warm.

"Don't be sorry," Thorin finally said. "I did not realize I was playing so loudly." It had taken a few moments for him to gain his own composure. The last person he expected to see while playing was her. In fact, he expected some elf to come and tell him to stop or leave. When she walked in, he did think it was an elf after a glance of a deep blue dress. Instead, he looked up and saw her, dark brown curls hanging around her shoulders and those warm green eyes watching with an expression he couldn't begin to describe. All he could think about was that she was here in front of him now. All aspects of the journey left his mind in her presence.

"Whatever tune you were playing was beautiful," Blair couldn't help but say, walking a bit closer. "How did you learn to play like that?"

Thorin looked back to the harp, eyes turning distant and far away. He was tempted to dodge the question in some way, or just ignore it, but something inside urged him to answer.

"My father taught me. Back in Erebor," he responded, carefully. "It's custom for every dwarf to learn and play an instrument." He had no clue why he felt the need to add that last part. Blair nodded in response and continued to stand there, holding her arms across her chest. "I was surprised to see you stray away from the group earlier."

"Oh, I didn't mean to. I sort of, got distracted and, um, didn't see where you all went," Blair quickly said. "It all worked out fine, though, someone found me. Obviously," she added, nervously. She wanted to run back to the room and hide, why was she acting so nervous?

Thorin stood up, readjusting the harp to its formal position. "You should be careful with these people. They are not as trusting and helpful as they seem."

Blair's arms fell to her side, confusion spreading across her face. "That's not the impression that I've gotten," she replied. She continued to stand there. He turned away from the harp and stared at her almost sternly. Slowly, he started walking up to her.

"They give you the impression of wanting to help, until the very moment you actually need it. They won't hesitate to turn their backs," he said in a low voice, saying the last part with disgust. He was now looking slightly down at Blair, inches away. His advice gave him confidence. She blinked at him, brow furrowing, and took a step back.

"I don't think Gandalf would take us here if we weren't going to get help," she said. After talking with Arwen before and seeing how she went out of her way to get her clean clothes and a nice bath, it was hard to imagine any of the elves not being helpful. Thorin looked at her, slightly squinting his eyes as if what she had just said didn't make sense. "What happened that made you hate the elves so much?" she blatantly asked. If he was going to try to convince her the elves were terrible, she had to know the root cause.

Thorin turned his head away, the memories all too clear in his mind. He hated thinking about that day, everything about it. Anyone who played a part in the events of that fateful day, he promised to rue for the rest of his life, in honor of his people and pride. "You wouldn't understand," Thorin said a tad harshly. He hadn't meant for it to come out that way. It was true, she wouldn't really understand, so he figured there was no need to burden her with the truth. He turned back to look at her, but only saw the back of her head, curls hanging against her back.