Loyalty, Honor, and a Willing Heart

Chapter 9 - Hot and demanding

It was a relief to have only morning trainings, as Thorin believed now that the three women were not so bad at fighting as he thought at first glance. This gave Iris time do what she liked better – nothing at all – and to get to know better her new friends. Together with Bofur, Ori and Nori, some of the younger ones, and also Bilbo, she used to spend most of the afternoons chatting as she would have with her friends on the internet, and sometimes with Fili and Kili also, who weren’t thinking about some mischief to do only when they were doing it altogether, and she enjoyed that kind of fun.

Lily, on the other hand, found company where she didn’t expect it, although at first it seemed awkward to her. It began when she was spending a late afternoon in a secluded courtyard, making some drawings of the architecture of Imladris. The dwarf girl was sure she was alone, and muttered to herself, as she used to when drawing.

“This is not right. Such a curve means the brickwork is stronger than it seems. It must be made of something else.” The wind in the leaves disguised some footsteps behind her. “This is misleading. A different inner structure, maybe?” She made some notes on the paper margin while mumbling. “Never confide in what you see in an elf dwelling.”

“And what makes you mistrust an elf dwelling?”

Thorin’s voice close to her ear made her jump to her feet, dropping paper and pencils on the ground.

“Ah, I...”

He helped to pick up her things.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No... no problem, sir.” She stammered. “I was just too absorbed in my thoughts, I didn’t hear you coming.”

He handled her some paper sheets and a pencil, smiling slightly.

“You draw finely.”

“Thank you.”

Lily thought it was the first time she saw him smiling, and she liked it.

“I couldn’t help hearing you. Do you mistrust this dwellings?”

To have someone beside his Company that mistrusted anything elvish was fair for him.

“Well, I see that by this curves it must be made from something stronger than it seems from the outside; it is not that it is not strong, but it seems so frail that can make one misjudge.”

Thorin weighed the statement in his mind and nodded.

“You do like buildings?”

“I am studying for it.”

“To be a builder?”

He arched his brows, a little surprised. It was not so usual along women.

“Yes, in a way. An architect plans, designs, calculates, and guides the ones who will really make the building. Or I was studying, before I came here.” She glanced down at her drawings. “I’m taking some notes for when I go home. If I ever go back home again.”

The dwarf touched her cheek, finding a small wet streak with his fingertips.

“Sometimes I wonder if I will ever be back at my home again, too. There is… a long way to go.”

“How long have you been away?”

He told her. Then, having kept it for too a long time, he told her more, far more than he intended; the struggle to rescue his people when Erebor was taken, the lack of help of the elven king, the years of wandering, the slow building of his halls at Ered Luin, the Blue Mountains, the battle at the gates of Khazad-dûm, the loss of his grandfather, of his father, of his brother, of his brother-in-law, father of Fili and Kili, and the sorrow of his sister; the long years in exile, working the forge to keep his arms strong for when the time to take Erebor would come; the prophecies, the recruitment of his Company, the denial of so many to join him, the hiring of Bilbo; and on he went up to when they met first time.