So Sayeth the King

Chapter 6

Some days after Arwen arrived to Erebor and reunited with her husband and daughter, a letter arrived for Thora...

January 2942

My Dearest Caladwel,

What I would not give to be with you. There is not a day that passes that I do not dream of you in my arms and my heart aches more everyday you are not so. I travel North again and fear it may be months before I see you and hold you once more. But do not let this sadden your heart for I will write as often as I can and dream of you always.  

With deepest love,

Aragorn.

Many letters came over the many years that passed, as the distance between them grew, so did their love. Though Caladwel wanted to run to the man she loved, she was loyal to her family and to her home. Her love would have to wait.

It was five years before Caladwel laid eyes on Aragorn again, on a day where she felt the strain of distance on their love the most. Lost deep in thought, wandering through Dale in all it's new and rebuilt glory, she heard a familiar voice on the wind.

"Caladwel!"

At first she cursed her mind for taunting her with tricks, but then she heard it again.

"Caladwel!"

There he was, through the crowd like she'd seen him so many times in her dreams. She ran to him and threw herself into his embrace, letting him sweep her feet from the ground as they held on like a lifeline.

"Aragorn! Oh my love, my heart, I have missed you!" She sobbed into his neck, tears of joy rolled down her cheeks.

"Words cannot describe how much I have longed to see you again, to hold you in my arms, to feel your embrace." Aragorn gently pulled her back and beheld her face delicately in his rough hands. Their lips met in a tender kiss, as though the moment was a dream that would fade if they moved to fast. 

"I have dreamed of this moment for so long I fear this is but my mind at torture." Caladwel sighed, her forehead pressed against his, treasury the realty of the moment.

"I swear by all the Gods this is real."

"Will you stay?"

Aragorn was painfully silent. The look of forlorn on his tired face made his answer all too clear. "What I would not give to say yes, but I must leave on the morrow." Aragorn dropped his hands to her arms and rubbed them soothingly. "But just for this moment, as long as you're mine, forget tomorrow and let us have this today."

"I will be yours long after my last breath leaves my body." Caladwel drew him in for a kiss of simple passion, for the words could not be expressed in any language on this earth. She was his, and he was her's. And they would be long after death took them.

Together they spent the day by the banks of the lake, stealing kissing and whispering sweet nothings as time drifted by. Away from prying eyes where they did not have to hide their feelings, where no duties bound them, where it was just them and nothing else.

Caladwel returned to Erebor long after a respectful hour, leaving Aragorn to spend the night at the tavern for their love was still a secret from her parents who could never understand why she would pick him. But they did not know him as she did, they did not know his heart. She returned to the safe confines of her chambers, the heavy reality of tomorrow sinking in. It hurt to know that the man she loved would be gone again the next time the sun rose. And a bitter sweet parting it would be, not knowing when she would see him again, hold him, kiss him, and hear his voice whisper in her ear his love for her. 

"Where have you been?" The gruff voice of her father broke her thoughts as she sat up from the comforts of her bed furs.

"Father I-ah-I, was in Dale, time escaped me it would seem." Caladwel stumbled over her words, her rather poor excuse not convincing her stern father.

Thorin stood in a rigid stance, his arms folded across his broad chest. He looked tired, the burdens of ruling were taking their toll on even the strongest of Dwarves. 

"You know you cannot lie to me so easily, Thora. Now I will ask once more; where have you been?"

Caladwel composed herself and stood up, hoping her height would give her conviction. "As I said, I was in Dale. It is no lie."

Thorin lifted his chin. "And who were you with that made you oblivious to the sun setting and the moon rising."

"No one." Caladwel avoided her father's eyes, their colour a perfect reflection of her own. 

"You used to be more convincing. Was it a man?"

Caladwel refused to answer, for fear of her father's reaction.

"Your mother speaks of a Ranger boy from Rivendell, she says you favour him. Was it he you met with?"

Caladwel crossed her arms across her chest defensively. "What of it?"

"It is not proper for a lady of your standings to be spending time with a Ranger of no nobility."

"To hell with propriety then!" Caladwel spat.

"You are a princess of Erebor, you are to marry someone worthy of your stature, what will the Kingdom think if they see you gallivanting with a low life Ranger?"

"You don't know him! He has more honour than any nobility and his heart is pure." 

"It does not matter of his honour, it is your duty that must be prioritised, not some foolish game with a boy." reprimanded Thorin.

"I am not your objective to gain lands and loyalties from whichever heartless lord's son you choose to wed me too," Caladwel growled. "I choose my own heart and whom I will give it too."

"So you would forsake your duties as princess for a boy with nothing to offer you?" Thorin scoffed.

"I love him."  

"What?! You are a child, what could you possibly know of love?!" Thorin bellowed.

"You left me for 60 years! What could you possibly know of me?! Of what I know? Of what I have felt? I found love and I know with all my heart for it to be true!" 

Thorin was taken back by her harsh words, though perhaps her words held truth. "Thora-"

"No!" Caladwel cut off sharply. "You lost all say in my future the day you abandoned me. If you cannot accept this man as the one I wish to give my heart to, then perhaps I should not stay here as your daughter. For I would hate to pose such disgrace and shame for the great King Thorin."

Caladwel stormed out of her chambers, her father left speechless, hurt, and guilt-ridden. Thorin had been so caught up in himself that he forgot her and all that he missed, the moments that he could never share haunt him like shadows in the night. What right did he have? To even call himself a father, her father. In truth he almost wasn't. And Mahal knows how much it killed him to know that he may never truly be.