Unnur's Line

Chapter 4:

   The next morning, dawned bright and clear as Dawn sat on the porch drinking a cup of tea. She sat thinking on Thorins words about Thrain from the past day wondering how this was going to affect the outcome of him taking the throne in Erebor. She was so deep in thought that she didn’t realize he had come out onto the porch with his own mug till he sat down next to her gazing off at the mountain.

   He was dressed in a blue shirt and dark pants and thick belt with his crest on the buckle with a dark overcoat and his boots. She admired that he looked like royalty and he held himself as such. His presence commanded respect and she liked that. He sipped his tea as he himself looked like he was deep in thought. “How are your ribs this morning” she inquired and he turned to look at her.

  She had only braided part of her hair back so it wouldn’t be in her face and she wore her pale red shirt and rough wool blend pants with her own boots. Her corset pinched a bit when she sat but ignored it while he looked at her. “Still sore, but the hot water from the bath house really helped yesterday.” She raised her eye at him and he looked away.

   Finishing her tea, Dawn got up leaving the cup on the arm of her chair and came to stand before him. He looked up at her in curiosity, and set his own cup down tilting his head at her.  “Your arm please” and she held out her hands towards his left arm and he reached up taking her hand. She took her hands which Thorin realized were warm to the touch compared to yesterday when she felt like ice.

  She moved to his left side of the chair and began to feel the muscles in his hand and then up his arm through his shirt till they came to his shoulder. Her fingers massaged the tendons and he stiffened when her fingers caused a sharp pain to race up his neck from his shoulder.

  She peered at his face noticing the pain on his features, as she felt how the loose the tendons were and then came to where they were tight. “Going to have to stretch your shoulder, let me know when it becomes too much” she told him and then took his arm in her hands and held it out in front of him and pulled a little. It didn’t hurt and she began to move his arm above his head and he felt it pull and as she stretched it he suddenly felt a burning and gasped and she stopped.  Dawn lowered his arm and put both her hands fingers spread wide over where the muscle was tight and closed her eyes and began to mutter under her breath. Thorin couldn’t make out what she was saying but her hands suddenly got hot through his shirt and he wanted to pull away as they burned but then the pain eased and he relaxed and she stopped to look at him.

   “Better” he swallowed and looked up at her, he hadn’t noticed her green eyes before and they were bright, and her hair braided back framed her face. “Yes” and she let go of his arm and came back around to stand by the porch rail looking out at the corral. “Does all of Unnurs line know how to heal” she turned to gaze at him. “Partly, we cannot heal outright but we can speed healing up to a point. You should have full movement now in your arm without pain” Thorin reached up and felt his shoulder in awe of how much power this woman held. She was a force to be reckoned with and he realized how much of a foe she would be if on the opposite side of a sword.

   Fili came out the door and crossed the porch with his uncle’s sword in his hands and stood in front of Thorin. “Is he ok to do some sword work?” he asked Dawn where she stood and she nodded. “Go on Thorin it would do you good, don’t push it too much as your ribs are still not healed yet” Thorin got up and stretched feeling the tightness in his chest from his healing ribs and nodded.

   He followed Fili off the porch and out onto the grass in front of the yard and took his sword Orcist from Fili’s hands. Hefting the sword in his grip he swung the sword in big sweeps feeling for the balance that he knew was there. Narrowing his eyes at Fili as he got a better grip on his own sword they both faced each other. Dawn watched as both dwarves took their own stance facing each other.