Hope and Memory[Thorin Oakenshield Love Story]

[Chapter Thirteen]

That night the young woman slept peacefully. Not worrying about orcs, wargs or trolls coming to get them in the dark. Freya woke up just as the sun began to shine down over the great elven valley. The hobbit stretched and walked over to the open ledge and she gazed at the sight, enjoying the breeze blowing through her hair. She looked at the ground below and saw her cousin was already up and venturing through the home of Elrond.

Freya looked around her room, when out of the corner of her eye she saw an elven dress hanging on the back of a chair. She picked it up to look at it. The hobbit had never seen something so beautiful. She got out of her dirty clothes and put the dress on and was surprised it was just the right length for her. The young woman was grateful to be able to wear something clean whilst she was here; although she had no idea how long, they would have to leave soon if they were to reach the mountain before Durin's day.

The hobbit grabbed her book and shut the door behind her. As she walked down the halls of the elves she found herself stopping to stare at the paintings of battles past, the kings of old and ancient weapons that had defeated evil and saved Middle-Earth. Freya wandered out the doors that led outside and she could hear the distant laughter of the dwarves not far from her and she wondered if her cousin was with them.

Freya had been worried about her cousin lately, she noticed he didn't feel like the dwarves accepted him as part of the company. She followed the stone pathway, as she continued to listen to their chuckles become closer. The hobbit rounded the corner when she stopped and her eyes went wide to see some of the dwarves naked, bathing in the elves fountain.

After witnessing this the woman took off running down the first path she saw to get away from there.However two dwarves that were absent from the rest of the company had seen the whole thing. Thorin continued to stare at the young hobbit as she ran down the path until she disappeared from his view.

" Poor lass, she didn't need to come upon that." Balin mumbled to the leader who still hadn't looked away from the direction she had disappeared to. Thorin took a moment, ignoring the older dwarf. He had never noticed how beautiful she looked for a hobbit, until he saw her in the elven dress and he shook his thoughts from his mind.

" Someone should check on her." Thorin suggested, hopping Balin would do it, but the older dwarf had another idea.

" Right you are Thorin, you should go check on her." Balin insisted practically pushing the prince into her direction. The older dwarf quickly scurried off. The leader cursed under his breath but decided to go check up on the hobbit and made his way down the path the woman had ran down.

Freya had made it to the end of the path that led to the bottom of the waterfall. She climbed up on a rock. Leaned against the rock wall and pulled out her book, hopping the image in her mind of the dwarves in the fountain would go away if she got lost in her book. The woman began to read her favorite book as she listened to the sound of the water crash against the rocks.

Their was a sudden crunching sound in the woods and the hobbit looked up from her book. She slowly laid it beside her as the sound came closer. She looked down at her sword she had attached to her belt on her dress and pulled it out of her case and stood up on the rock, looking in the direction of the path she had come from.

The hobbit gripped her sword tight, waiting for whatever or whoever it was that was coming. She relaxed when she saw it was Thorin, although she didn't know why he was here. She lowered her sword.

" Sorry. Didn't mean to frighten you Freya." Thorin apologized. She sat back down on the rock, holding her book.

" Not with your comrades?" She stated as her eyes shifted down to her book.