My Heart Burns [ThorinxOC]

Chapter 5

Nyrath sat outside on the porch, his head in his hands. He was dressed for battle, but he felt very little prepared for it, very much against everything that he was and everything that he had been raised to be. A warrior on the eve of a battle should not have felt the way he felt now, death already cushioned dark and deep inside his heart, where it had no place even if a blade were to pierce it.

A light arm, entirely unhoped for, wrapped around his back, and a small hand squeezed his shoulder through his tunic. "Hey," said Dis. "Are you all right?"

He let go of his head, pulled out of his funk only by her voice, sunny and warm as that day was not. He looked at her, but did not answer.

Dis read him well, as always. She gave him a light peck on the cheek. "For luck," she said. "Now everyone will think you're in love with me."

He conceded a smile, unable to resist the brightness in her face.

"Come inside and have something to eat," she said. "Thorin's up, too."

He looked away. The mention of his name struck him, so casual and familiar, as if it could be spoken in that way, or in any way that was not hushed, and secret.

"You're going to have to face him again at some point anyway, probably very soon," Dis pressed on, still not tasting his darkness. "Come on, you'll feel better once you've had some breakfast. I promise it'll be a good one."

Nyrath looked at her again. Breakfast, the warmth of a soft arm, and the warmer still comfort of a soft kiss, all promises of a princess, of things he had thought dead in his sleepless night. But they were not.

Dis stood up, her gaze never straying from Nyrath's. She waited until he decided to do the same. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't as hard as he had thought it would be either. He followed her back into the house.

He almost expected to find another Thorin sitting inside at the kitchen table, one that knew nothing of the night that had just passed, one that looked on only to what waited for them out on the battlefield. When they had parted earlier that morning, it felt as if they had parted forever, as if they were never going to see one another again, certainly not in the way they had until that moment. But what other way was there left?

Thorin did not appear different at all, however. He sat indeed at the kitchen table, his head slumping a little over his chest, as if he was not in any particular mood to start a new day. He looked up at the sound of steps. The pale cloud of anxiety in his face could not have been more familiar to Nyrath, and neither could the lovely blue of his eyes. To Nyrath's surprise, something brightened in them at his sight. He sat down opposite him, unable to let go of his gaze. Why it came as a surprise that Thorin's mood brightened in his presence, he could no longer tell. It usually did, after all.

They both waited quietly while Dis placed all the food on the table. Nyrath did not notice what exactly the good breakfast she had promised consisted of, but the lovely smell of eggs was indication enough that Dis would be keeping her promise. He could not look away from Thorin, whose eyes were set only on him as well. He only stole a glance to Dis, who placed a last cup of tea in front of him, smiled at him subtly, then walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

"This is quite a farewell meal," said Nyrath, looking down finally at a fuller, more royal-looking table that he had seen in a long time.

"All courtesy of our kin from the Iron Hills," said Thorin, a small, spidery smile curling his lips.

Nyrath smiled back in the same way.

"If only I had the appetite to go with it," continued Thorin. He looked pale, almost translucent.