The Fifteenth Member (Thorin Oakenshield/OFC)

Chapter 41

During the next month, nothing of note really happened. Tauriel and Kili became an official couple, my cats got here, and Lord Elrond and his children decided to stay until Thorin and I were married. Even though I wasn't a dwarf, we had decided to carry out a variation of one of the many traditions. The bride and groom don't see each other at all during the week right before the wedding. It would be torture, but it was better than the original month. We had decided to have the wedding about two weeks after Fili woke up no matter what. I was now about ten weeks pregnant and the morning sickness was starting to go away. My stomach had gotten a little bigger but it was all too easy for me to hide it. Thorin and I were both looking forward to the day that we would see evidence of our child growing within me, no matter what I was wearing. Momo was getting slower and lazier everyday, burdened under the weight of her kittens but Axel took great care of her. Lord Elrond had determined that Axel wasn't the father of the kittens, it was probably a stray hanging out near our village, but since he wasn't there, Axel took his place. My family had been moved to more permanent lodgings a few halls away (due to the fact that our hallway was reserved for royals and so they didn't have to hear Thorin and I whenever we decided to.......yeah).

Due to her interest in Fili, Thorin and Dis allowed Wani to stay in our hall until he woke up. Wani had done a good job keeping Dis and Kili in the dark about Fili until they had both taken a liking to her. Dis had even dropped several hints about her getting to know Fili. Kili had seen her as a partner in crime, Tauriel had never really been interested in playing pranks but Wani loved it. About once or twice a week they would do something and come back upstairs late at night giggling like hyenas. The next morning, Thorin and I always had to deal with the aftermath of whatever they did. Their most common pranks were setting up water bucket traps on the doors of Elladan and Elrohir's bedrooms. They had been none too happy about it at first, but soon, they had started a prank war. To the surprise of everyone, the four of them were very discrete and very good at making sure no one else got caught in their traps. We had eventually learned to stay out of it because whenever we tried to get involved, they ganged up on us and did something. Thorin had taken to tuning his harp every day but there were many strings and normally, by the time he had tuned the last one, the first one was horribly out of tune again. Doryan hadn't caused us trouble so far but Thorin feared that we hadn't seen the last of her, especially after I sassed her like I did.

Dis was doing her best to teach me how to knit and sew so I could make my own clothes when my belly finally got big and because of the fact that my chest had already outgrown three corsets. Oin checked up on me at least once a week just to make sure everything was alright with the baby he was ready to clear the matter up but what worried him most was the passage I found in the book. Childbirth for mermaids progresses much faster than any other species, it's also at least twice as painful. There was nothing in the book about what Bard had said about me being extremely fertile but I had told Oin anyway, all tales and legends are based off some type of truth. Both he and Thorin were very fearful when I told them this because it would be hard enough for me to give birth to one half-dwarfish child under normal circumstances and including the fact I would probably progress very quickly, Oin had warned me that it would be nearly impossible for me if I did have twins.

I woke up one morning when Thorin got up for the day. I felt the warmth of his body leave me so I opened my eyes, rubbing the sleep out of them and tensing up in case I got morning sickness.

"You need the bathroom?" I shook my head.

"Not today. Where are you off to?"

"Just a feeling. You sleep for a couple more hours. You've earned it." He gave me a tender kiss before getting dressed and leaving the room. I laid back down against the pillows and shut my eyes again. It was still dark so it should've been easy for me to fall back asleep but after an hour of trying, I was still wide awake. Thorin still hadn't come back yet and it was still dark outside. What time was it? Why would Thorin get up so early? Why be so vague about where he was going? Was he- no, he couldn't be. If not that, then what was going on? Troubled, I got up and hastily picked out a light pink dress to wear. I had gotten better at tying the strings up so within a few minutes, I was out in the hall. I peeked into Wani's room to find it deserted, the room Tauriel and Kili were sharing was the same. Where was everyone? I stopped by my parent's room and found them still fast asleep. It must be the middle of the night, normally my father was up before the sun! I found that the halls were deserted as I rushed down to the kitchens to see if there was anyone there but sadly, it was deserted. Dejected and utterly confused, I was walking slowly back to our room when I say the flicker of a torch. Curious, I followed the light down a hall I had never been down before. The light was always just ahead of me, always around the next corner so I couldn't see who was carrying it. After about ten minutes of debating whether or not to call out to the person, the light went out and I was left in the dark. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face, nor could I walk straight so it wasn't long before I hit a wall. It took all of my willpower to keep from screaming for help. Someone would eventually come looking for me, right? I couldn't help it. I sank down to the floor and put my head in my hands, screaming for Thorin in my mind.