Where She Went

Reunions and Wary Changes

It had been a week since Smaug's death. Things were very quiet at the mountain, aside from the constant clanging of gold coins as the company searched for the Arkenstone. Talia was growing more and more worried. Every day, Thorin only seemed to be getting worse. His attention became more and more focused on the Arkenstone, and the treasure that the mountain held.

The Terran tried several times to focus Thorin's mind on something else, with little success. He just ended up starting the same two or three conversations over again concerning the treasure. Talia was afraid for him. She couldn't remember the last time he had a decent sleep, and no matter how hard she pushed, he was eating like a bird.

Another thing Talia seemed to notice was that Thorin seemed to be paying more and more of an uncomfortable attention towards her. When he found her lost in the halls last week, Talia thought that was an overreaction that Thorin would get over. Nope! If anything, he seemed to be having more outbursts concerning her safety and wandering around places that she didn't know. As she would dig through the gold, Talia could feel Thorin staring down at her back. What was he expecting? That she would just vanish in a puff of smoke?

Talia also noticed that Thorin was muttering that Khuzdul word much more frequently. Only now, his soft tone had grown darker. It was no longer a barely audible whisper that could have easily been taken for a misspoken mistake. This was intentional, and he sounded like he was trying to lure her to him, like he had a craving for her flesh.

It was almost starting to scare Talia in a way, even more so because she still had no idea what the word means. What was he saying that he wanted her to hear, but didn't want her to know? What was happening to Thorin? All these thoughts were flooding into her mind as she was walking down the familiar halls of Erebor.

The young woman was looking down, resisting the urge to give in to the sting that was developing in her eyes. She still didn't want to believe that Thorin was going...mad. She was losing him to what? Gold? Jewels? How was she supposed to get him through this, especially when he didn't show any signs of improvement?

What if...what if they left the mountain? What if they all just got away from the treasure? Would that bring Thorin back? It was a pretty long shot, especially since she doubted she could ever get Thorin to leave the treasure room, let alone Erebor.

The Terran's thoughts were interrupted when she heard the echoes of a voice. She expected it to be Thorin possibly looking for her again, but then it called out a second time. It almost sounded like...no. It was too good to be true. Was he really...? Talia felt her pace automatically beginning to pick up. She was running now, towards the sound of the voice. Bofur's voice.

As she was running, she began to think of Thorin once more. What if she could convince Bofur to leave? And the others...that is...if they survived? Would that be enough? She figured that it wouldn't. Dwarves were extremely stubborn, and Thorin was no exception. Still, when she saw a certain hat moving in the distance, she couldn't help herself. She had to warn them.

"Wait! Hold on!" she shouted. She was able to see them now. Thank God, they all survived! Talia felt that sting in her eye as she saw the figures of Fili and Kili. The younger of the two was looking much better now, and Talia was beyond relieved to see that he recovered from his wounds.

"It's Talia! She's alive!" Oin exclaimed to the other three. Talia could have brought them all into a hug right then and there, but as she continued to run towards them, her fears quickly returned to her mind.

"Stop! Stop!" she yelled, preventing them from taking another step. The smiles of the four Dwarves faded very quickly. "You need to leave. We all need to leave." she panted.