I sighed as I felt the water wash away the blood from my skin and out of my hair, down stream. It was a needed relief after my first meeting with the pale orc and fighting him, even if it was a short encounter. I ran my fingers threw the brown mess, tugging on the tangles and getting most of them free. As I stood in the waist deep water, I began to pull back my hair to start again when I heard heavy footfalls in the brush by my clothes.
Grabbing the dagger that I still had at my waist, I held it tightly and got into a fight stance. And none too soon as the figure came cursing through the brush, tugged at his foot that had become stuck in the weeds. Sighing out of annoyance, I stood up and let the dagger hang from my hands loosely.
"Really Thorin, do you even what the idea of being quite is?" I asked as I crossed my arms over my chest, patting myself on the back for having the sense to keep my underwear on. He jerked his head up from his shoe and I gave him a smirk as his eyes slowly trailed along my almost nude body before he turned a deep red and turned his back. I heard him clear his throat roughly and he began to twist his hands nervously.
Thorin, nervous? Never thought I would live to see that day...Course it might be because I'm in nothing but my underwear. Now self-aware of myself, I felt myself flush as well as I put away my dagger.
"I'm-I'm, sorry Sarah. I didn't think you would be this far up river." He explained to the trees in front of him as I made my way behind a large rock to cover myself. I smiled softly at his back but rolled my eyes none the less.
"You can blame Fili and Kili for that. They insisted that I bathe with them so I wouldn't be alone if there were any more orc's hanging about." I shrugged through he couldn't see. "I didn't really agree. So I just told them, nicely, to bugger off and made my way up stream." Then pulling my head behind the rock, I called out, "Okay, you can turn around."
I head the rocks shift under his feet as he turned to face the river.
"Sarah?" He called out, concern laced in the word. Probable thinking about how much trouble he's going to go through to find me, I thought bitterly, remembering all his cold looks he been given me since he woke up on the ridge.
I poke out my head from behind the rock and forced a smile on my lips. "Over here," I called. After he whipped his head around to my voice, I met his eyes and found them to be filled to the brim with relief. I suddenly felt a wave of pain as I met his stormy blue eyes, knowing that he only cared for me as a companion. I flinched and pulled back my head and closed my eyes as I felt tears prick at the back of my eyes. I cleared my throat and called out again from behind the rock.
"I'm not done with my washing just yet, so I'll...um stay behind here and you could.....um...." I trailed off, unsure with even what I was saying.
".......Would you like me to stay?" He asked softly long after I had fell silent. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the rock, feeling the pain in my chest as he pulled at my heart strings again.
"You can do what ever you want, I just thought it would be less trouble for us both to get wash up." I snapped out in pain at his question. He didn't reply, and for that I was grateful, as I heard him moving on the beach and step into the cool water with a hiss. I dropped to my knees again and began with my hair once more, the water behind the rock slightly lower. I was also aware of ever movement Thorin made in the water, ever sound, and it was slowly killing me.
Finishing with my hair, I moved to look at the cut I had on my upper right arm, courtesy of the pale orc himself before I was plucked up by an eagle. It wasn't too deep and had stopped bleeding by the time we had reached the ridge, and no black vain's had surrounded the wound, assuring me it was not infected. I gently poked at it with my finger-tips and let out a small hiss of pain at how tender it was.
