There and Back Again

Chapter Fifteen: Thinking of the Future

Crossing her arms, Thalia leant against the doorway as she watched Samara and Theo run around the Palace of Dale's gardens; admiring the beautiful greenery that had not been there and the flowers that now blossomed there. 

In the centre of the garden was an oak tree that she had been informed that Bilbo had planted himself during the battle of the five armies in a hope to inspire Bard to keep fighting. 

It was the little symbol of hope that Thalia needed right now that things would get better, it had been a couple of days since her meeting with Thorin and she had not heard from him since. 

Thalia could only imagine just what was happening in the mountain, she had been escorted home by Dwalin who could barely look at her and his goodbye did not fill her with much confidence. 

Shaking her head, Thalia tried to shake away her concerns and focus on the twins; she was still trying to work out what her next move was going to be. 

Bain had been kind enough to offer her a place to stay for now and if her stay in Dale took a permanent turn then he had offered to find her and the twins a place to call home and a job that would offer them some income. 

It was not something that Thalia had considered, especially since she was not sure what was going to happen next but she wanted to give him time to adjust to this news she had dropped on him. 

"He looks just like his father," mused Balin appearing beside Thalia, his eyes locked on the two children that were running around the garden; he could not believe how much the little boy looked like Thorin. 

There would be no one that could deny that Thorin was the father even with the odd timings; the twins were only children and the fact they were Thorin's would change everything. 

Thalia peeked at him and nodded her head, she could imagine why he had come to see her and she felt a little guilty that he had to deal with this right now. 

Balin was silent as he watched the twins, he had been a little surprised to hear that Thalia had given birth to Thorin's children; it complicated things and there was a lot that would have to be dealt with rather quickly.

"I have made such a mess of this," Thalia murmured, she wished she could take back the fact that she had fled after the battle; she would do anything to make that mistake right and she knew that this mess was not going to fix itself. 

Thalia had stayed away from the mountain because she had no idea how he was going to react when he saw her again; not only that there were bound to be quite a few that would doubt the paternity of her children. 

Balin was silent not sure what answer Thalia wanted him to give, the entire situation was not an easy one and there was still a lot Thorin needed to deal with when it came to his council. 

"He's not angry at you lass," Balin said trying to encourage her, he could understand why she had decided to come her and it had little to do with the power that Thorin held now. 

Thalia had fallen for Thorin during the journey and each of the company that remained would happily be witness to that if anyone questioned her motives. 

Now they just needed to focus on what was going to happen next, there was so much that needed to be decided and Balin hoped that Thalia was prepared for what would come next. 

"The wizard that he's plotting to murder however..." Balin joked with a smile, he could only imagine what would happen if Thorin ever got his hands on the wizard that had caused all of this. 

He had missed six years of the twins lives and he had been separated from the woman that he had planned to marry once the war had been dealt with; everything had been thrown into disarray because of that bloody wizard.