Hope and Memory[Thorin Oakenshield Love Story]

[Chapter Forty Eight]

The dwarves were now in the room filled with treasure, searching endless for the Arkenstone. Freya was searching with the two young brothers, in deep thought. Thorin was acting strange when the others were around but when it was just them alone, he seemed completely himself.

"Any sign of it?" Thorin asked them as he watched from up high, on a platform that looked over the mounds of gold. The company were all in different sections of the room searching. Hours had gone by since the return of Fili, Kill, Bofur and Oin and still haven't found it or even close to have searched half of the treasure.

"Nothing yet." Dwalin answered as he wiped the sweat that dripped down his forehead. Thorin went to another side of the platform he was on to see how the others were making out.

" Nothing here." Ori declared sadly.

" Keep searching!" Thorin ordered.

"That jewel could be anywhere." Oin stated, having a point, but the leader didn't want excuses he wanted the Arkenstone found.

"The Arkenstone is in these halls. Find it!"

" You heard him. Keep looking." Dwalin pushed. He noticed the others were slowing down, they were exhausted from the long hours of searching.

"All of you! No one rests until it is found." Thorin walked along the balcony until he spotted one person in particular. The woman was searching along side his nephews, she had been digging in the pile for the longest time and decided to move up further to search as she placed her foot down on the loose gold it sunk around her barricading her foot and she stuck. The woman grunted as she tried to get her foot out, with one final tug she managed to get her foot free but lost her balance and she let out a startled shriek as she fell backwards when she felt arms catch her.

" You alright, Freya?" Fili asked, as he steadied her.

" Yes, thank you." She said, with a smile.

" Get back to work." Thorin's voice ordered, startling the three of them. Freya looked at him, and turned to see her cousin leaving out of the treasure room. She thought about following him, but decided her cousin needed some space alone and the two brothers and Freya got back to searching.

After several more hours of searching and still hadn't found the stone, the dwarves decided to call it a night and head to their feasting room to eat dinner. The woman sat at the furthest table away, her head resting against her arm, her cousins words were circling in her mind. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard the sounds of someone approaching and she looked up to see Bombur carrying a bowl of stew. The woman was not one to complain when it came to being offered food, but she was to be honest tired of the same thing every night. " Oh Bombur, I'm not hungry. Thank you though." Freya insisted with a smile. Somehow the dwarf didn't believe her and shoved it closer to her, forcing her to take it and he smiled back at her and to get some stew for others and himself.

Freya stirred the little chunks of meat in her bowl, even got some on the spoon only to dump it back in the bowl. She finally took a spoonful and ate it. As she swallowed it seemed tasteless to her which was odd since she had rather enjoyed Bombur's cooking on this quest. The woman looked around, seeing the rest of them enjoying their dinner; even her cousin except her. Freya also noticed Thorin hadn't come to join them. She managed to take three more bites before she couldn't eat anymore and left the room.

The hobbit wandered down the hall, rubbing her arms when she felt the cool breeze blow by her. Every night seemed to get colder then the last. She entered the treasure room and saw Thorin still searching away. She exhaled before stepping onto the gold, trying to walk across it as quietly as she could, she didn't want to startle him. Freya was about halfway to him when she accidentally kicked a goblet, and clanged down the slop of treasure, making Thorin turn around.

"What are you doing in here?" Thorin questioned, slightly defensively, he had assumed he was alone.

" I came to find you. You weren't in the feasting room with us."

" I'm not hungry." He declared, turning away to continue on his search. Freya glanced out one of the windows. In the moonlight she could see that it was lightly snowing. The woman came up right beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder, and he turned around.

" Thorin your exhausted. You should come to bed and get some sleep and we can continue the search in the morning. You do need your rest too." She insisted, placing her hands on his face. The dwarf allowed himself to enjoy her touch on his skin. He lifted his hand a stroke the side of her cheek and saw her shiver when the breeze blew passed again and they both dropped their hands.

" Your cold?"

" I'm fine. Just not used to this weather yet." She admitted as she shivered again. The King removed his fur coat he had on and wrapped it around her. He took her hand and the two of them walked out of the treasure room and down the hall. He opened the door and pulled her in and shut the door behind him. He lit two candles for light. The dwarf removed his cloak from the hobbit and laid it over a chair. The two of them climbed into bed, the dwarf pulled the hobbit into his arms and held her close and kissed the top of her forehead and the two of them passed out soon after.