||Chapter 10||
<|Third Age 2974|>
Thorin Oakenshield cannot shake that darned hobbit out of his head. Whether conscious or asleep, Endor seems to haunt his every thought and breath, as if he's known her for years on end. But it has yet to even be a single day of friendship. Thorin wants to hit his head against the wall thrice in an attempt to jarr her from his thoughts and punish himself at the same moment.
Like any good dwarf, the king decides to take his anger out at himself through violence. And thus, that's how he finds himself on the way to training, sleep still hanging from his eyes as he ties his hair up with a piece of leather. True, this schedule of his is no different than normal, though today he is far more anxious for physical exercise than any day before this. He needs someone to punch the woman out of his mind...maybe that'll knock some sense into him.
When he arrives, Thorin is failed to feel surprise at the presence of others in the room, including the blasted woman herself. She stands in one corner of the sparring area, talking to Oin and Gloin with large movements of her arms. The two seem overly entertained by her company, as she seems to be recounting a story, although Thorin quickly looks away to avoid the temptation to join them.
Thorin heads closer to the Captain of the Guard, Dwalin, who seems to be warming back up to the king. Dwalin, of course, saw Thorin's staring at the hobbit moments ago, though he has no desire to address the king's obvious attraction to his friend. However, he questions why Thorin is staring at her in this moment, with her hair in a mess and face crumpled from sleep.
"How are they doing?" Thorin asks, shifting Orcrist between his hands as he sets it on the ground. It's a bad habit of the king, Dwalin has come to notice.
"They're all fit and quite prepared. It's their mindset that worries me," the captain responds, worry evident in his tone and words.
"In what way?" Thorin asks, looking to Dwalin with a raised and worried eyebrow that seems to be contagious.
"None of our people want to march into war Thorin, especially with the elves," Dwalin remarks, looking completely serious as only necessary and desired.
"I'm not planning on sending them," Thorin says, throughly wishing to avoid trouble with Thranduil. After the Battle of the Five Armies, Thorin developed a great hatred for the war scene, almost against the character of a dwarf. But with the scars of that battle, it is understandable why he hates it.
"You won't have much of a choice if you do not give those jewels back," Dwalin scoffs, annoyed that Thorin is still dawdling around in the mystery rather than trying to ease tensions. For a quick moment, the captain holds a hint of contempt for Endor's distraction of the king, but he wipes it away knowing that she only desires to stop the war.
"I am planning on it...but, I do not know how to do some effectively," Thorin says, admitting his weakness to the only confidant he had before yesterday. For some reason, the king wishes to trust Endor, though he knows far too little about her to be honest.
"Easy, you send a message by raven telling him to meet you someplace to exchange the jewels," Endor remarks, walking up behind the two and causing Thorin to whip around in surprise. She sends him a lazy grin, watching as Dwalin rolls his eyes at Thorin's surprise.
"How are you so quiet?" the king asks, counting the number of instances she has snuck up on him, not forgetting how she also spied on him without him noticing. It's as if she's a ghost upon her choosing.
"You forget that she is the niece of the silent burglar," Dwalin reminds Thorin, prompting the royal dwarf to grunt in acknowledgement of this truth. Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet.
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Endotherm {Thorin/Hobbit}
Fanfiction"The world was young, the mountains green, No stain yet on the Moon was seen, No words were laid on stream or stone When Durin woke and walked alone. He named the nameless hills and dells; He drank from yet untasted wells; He stooped and looked in M...
