Where She Went

Time of Tears

The days had very quickly turned into weeks, and Talia had to admit that things were...miserable. The days consisted of searching for the Arkenstone, and Thorin was becoming impatient. It was all he could think about, and he didn't even seem to care that he was exhausting his own company.

The only person that could bring Thorin Oakenshield back, if only for a little while, was Talia. There were very few times when she could get Thorin to talk about other things besides the gold and treasure, but she was finding it much harder to do these days.

As for the attention that Thorin was paying Talia...she was beginning to wish that he would just ignore her the way he did when they first met! At this point, Thorin wasn't just giving her excessive, uncomfortable attention...he was monitoring her. If she thought that not going anywhere alone was too much...now, she could hardly even leave the treasure room!

Not only was Thorin watching her like a hawk, but he was timing her. How long it took her to go get something to eat, to get up in the morning, to go to sleep. Heck, he was even timing how long it took Talia to relieve herself and bathe! This was going too far...if she went so much as five minutes "overtime", she would receive some kind of scolding from Thorin...or worse.

At this point, Talia always had her jacket on, and she never rolled up her sleeves. Thorin had never hit her, but...more and more frequently, he would grab her by either her arms or her waist in his anger...tightly. He would squeeze her with crushing strength, leaving blue and black bruises wherever his hands were.

The poor girl was spending the first part of her nights softly crying herself to sleep. It wasn't because the bruises hurt, or because she couldn't take being under constant watch. It was because Thorin was gone. He was still there, but he was gone. It was almost as if he drowned, resurfacing only to be pulled back under.

This being that took over...Talia was afraid of him. His temper was unpredictable, and she never really knew when he would lash out. He was extremely suspicious, and was never afraid to show everyone just how angry he was. Every night, Talia prayed and prayed that some miracle might happen, and...her Thorin would return to her. She wasn't even sure if God would hear her in Middle Earth, but she had to try. It was all she had.

The Terran was sitting on the floor, looking over the gold. Thorin had never really pushed her into digging through the treasure, but there really wasn't anything better for her to do. But she was glad that she could take a break whenever she needed it. The others were not so lucky.

"What do you think? It's beautiful, is it not?" Talia turned around to see Thorin coming to sit next to her. He seemed...calm. He didn't look like he was about to have an episode, but Talia could still tell that he wasn't there. This wasn't the first time Thorin had asked for her opinion of the treasure. She usually just nodded, or gave him a simple statement, such as "yeah, it's really pretty" or "yeah, it's shiny". But today, she had enough. She didn't care if it did set him off. She was going to be honest.

"It's nice, but...it's really not as appealing to me as it would be for most people." she bluntly confessed.

Thorin looked at her at this, and he furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean? This is the life's work of my grandfather!" he hissed, and Talia did not hesitate to meet his eyes.

"I know, and I get that. It has meaning to you, but gold and money really don't have much meaning for me." she explained. Thorin narrowed his eyes even further, and the young woman could see that he was getting his defense ready. "I don't mean any disrespect, but...I don't value money because it can't give me what I really want." she said.

The Dwarf king's expression did not change. "What are you talking about? Talia, this gold could give you whatever you want! I could see to it! Whatever it is you want! Jewelry, your own house, your own palace! How could you be so blind to not see what-"