Dearest Bilbo

Chapter Five

The bellow of anger that echoed throughout the damaged and darkened hallways of Erebor rose like a clap of thunder that originated from within the mountain itself. The time had come. The discovery had been made.

Balin remained busy with the fine details of the current trade agreement with the Elves of Mirkwood and pretended that the impending doom making its way down the hall wasn't meant for him. He couldn't fool himself. He was the King's Advisor, after all.

Thorin's temper had defused somewhat by the time the King had arrived in his office, but still, Balin could tell he was angry – angrier than he'd seen him in a long time.

"I've been betrayed! Someone has been in my office! They've taken what rightfully belongs to me!" Thorin announced with a growl, while producing the empty lockbox and dropping it onto the corner of the desk.

Balin had two choices. He could be honest and confess, or he could play dumb and hope the King didn't figure out all the details later. Much later.

"You're obviously upset," Balin replied calmly. "About what I'm not sure. Would you care to be more specific, laddie?"

Slowly, the rage in the King's eyes began to diminish, but his brow was still furrowed and his frown still mighty.

"The contents of this box were never meant to be seen. They were private!" The last word was punctuated with a slam of Thorin's hand down onto the desk, which nearly toppled the inkwell as well as a burning candle, but Balin smiled and held the King's eye. There was no sense in getting upset. It would only make matters worse.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but have you spoken with Dwalin? He is in charge of palace security after all."

Thorin placed both hands on the tabletop and leaned down to eye level; a rather intimidating pose, he hated to admit. The king had chosen to wear his black fur-lined coat today as well which was rather appropriate for his current mood, Balin thought absentmindedly. "Surely, you don't believe that one of us is capable of causing you grief or harm, Your Highness. You must realize that after all this time the Company owes you nothing but their loyalty and gratitude."

"Gratitude? This is a helluva way to show it! I swear to you Balin, by Mahal's beard, I will find out who is responsible for this and I'll...I'll..."

Before finishing his thought, Thorin stormed from the room and Balin released a heavy sigh of relief. That had gone better than he thought it was going to and he was honestly proud of the King. For the first time in a long while, Thorin hadn't followed through with a threat. It was a good sign.

There were two more visits to be made before he confronted the only Dwarf he thought might have the guts to rifle through his office and take his belongings. Bofur looked shocked and flustered the second Thorin spoke to him about it and Dori looked as if he were about to faint. Both denied any sort of knowledge of the whereabouts of Thorin's personal property nor did they have any idea who might have taken it. That left the third dwarf: his best friend, Dwalin. Thorin didn't consider him to be a suspect, but seeing he was in charge of the security of the kingdom, he thought he should bring such thievery to his attention. Maybe Dwalin could help him figure out why Nori would do such a thing.

He found the Captain of the Guard with a group of dwarves being assigned to various points in the city to help out with reconstruction where it was most needed. Dwalin seemed pleased with their response and in a fairly good mood, though he bowed his back and scowled as soon as he noticed Thorin approaching.

"I need to speak with you about a personal matter," he quietly requested, drawing the large Dwarf away from the main hall. "There's been a burglary," he explained once they were alone. "Someone has broken into my office and stolen some very important documents of mine. They were hidden very well. There's only one dwarf in this mountain capable of doing such a thing and you know of whom I speak."

Dwalin swallowed hard and his brows shot up. "Actually, I have no idea who you're talking about, but I'll look into the matter and see what I can do. Thank ye for bringing this to my attention."

The Captain tried to step away, but Thorin's grip on his arm was firm, and he was immediately filled with suspicion and concern. "Do you honestly believe you can brush me off just like that? You have no idea what's been taken from me! It's very personal and I want it back! Immediately!"

"Understood Your Highness," Dwalin replied with a slight grin. "As I said, I will put forth the required effort and inform you of my findings."

This time when his friend departed, Thorin didn't stop him, although he was rather confused by Dwalin's reply. They had known each other too many years to count and it was obvious the dwarf was hiding something. He just wasn't sure what. Surely, if Dwalin knew what was going on, he would let him know, wouldn't he? And if he was in on whatever conspiracy had been contrived to obviously make a fool out of him...No. That wasn't possible! Dwalin would never betray his trust like this! Unless, of course, his brother put him up to it. Balin had the tendency to put his nose into Thorin's private life, always with the same excuses of it being for his own good.

If whoever took those letters decided to make them public, he would be absolutely mortified! Unable to ever show his face to his friends again! It was one thing to be infatuated with a member of the Company, but something entirely else when it was someone everyone thought so highly of and was no longer even with them!

He shouldn't have written those damn letters in the first place, although it wasn't entirely his doing. Looking back, Thorin recalled it had been Balin's idea in the first place. Following the battle and reclamation of Erebor, he had a lot on his mind and although his Advisor actually hadn't exactly suggested letters, he did mention that putting his thoughts down with ink could be therapeutic.

Thorin hated to admit it, but Balin had been right. What had begun as entries into a journal, though, had quickly transformed into more personal messages directed at Bilbo himself. And once he had started down that slippery slope, there was no getting off it. Soon, he was scribbling down his innermost thoughts, desires, and feelings more and more often. As he did so, Thorin sometimes imagined Bilbo reading them. He fantasized about the hobbit responding in kind, although that would never happen since Bilbo was never supposed to receive any of them in the first place!

Dammit! This was a disaster! He had to find those letters and for the sake of his pride and his standing as Erebor's King, he had to destroy them!

Well, at least he should find a better hiding place for them. Destruction rang with the dreaded sound of finality which he wasn't quite ready to accept. Thorin realized that somewhere in the deepest part of his heart, burned the tiniest ember of hope; hope that he and Bilbo would be reunited, and his romantic feelings were not so unrequited. A hope he could not repress, even after all this time.