The Three Women Of Durin

A Step In The Right Direction

Rosie stepped outside into the brisk morning air, the cold pinching at her cheeks and piercing her ears as she did so. Ahead of her, Thorin was stepping over the fallen stone from the gate, making his way over to the left and up. Sighing, Rosie followed. As she moved over the rough stones she felt the cold seeping through her clothes and skin, trickling into her bones and attacking her very core. Her fingers soon turned numb which was no help whilst climbing over rocks and her teeth chattered in her skull.

But eventually, as she climbed higher and higher, the stones evened out and a set of steps could be distinguished in the mess of rock. Rosie climbed the last few steps before moving onto a flat rock which was in the shape of a perfect circle, appearing to be their destination. The architecture of the stone was almost elven-like as it was delicate and refined rather than the rough exterior the dwarves were almost famous for.

Thorin was stood at the very edge of the stone, hands folded behind his back and looking out at the soon to be battlefield. Without speaking a word Rosie slowly moved forward and joined him, the bitter cold air now forgotten as Thorin's thrumming heat was now keeping her warm. Silence stayed between them, but this was normal for the two, they enjoyed each other's company, even if no words were passed between them.

After a while Rosie started looking at the stone once more, it was fascinating to look at, with detailed patterns carved into it, it looked to be one of the few remaining intact things in Erebor. However, the true age of the stone was visible. Weeds and plants grew in the cracks and crevasses of the ageing rock, and in some places, winter flowers had begun to bloom, Snowdrops, Winter Hazel and Flowering Quince to name a few, it gave the setting an even more magical look.

"Biological weathering," Rosie smiled, her middle school teachings coming back to her.

"Pardon?" Thorin asked turning to her, a smile now on his features. Rosie simply smiled back and nodded at where the flowers lay.

"It's where rock is weathered by plants getting into the cracks and crevasses of rock. As the plants grow they will push apart the stone and eventually the stone will break and wither away travelling down to water where it will break up along the way so by the time it reaches the water, it's sediment," Rosie said automatically after all those years of revising it over and over again. Thorin stared at Rosie before slowly raising an eyebrow. "What? I got an A* on my paper on different rocks, how they're shaped and smashed," The two chuckled slightly before turning back to the flowers.

"The virgin tears have always been a favourite of mine," Thorin smiled happily as if he was replaying a happy memory.

"The what, what's?" Rosie asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise and interest.

"Those ones there," Thorin said pointing down to where a group of snowdrops had clustered together.

"Oh," Rosie said, acknowledging her misjudgment, "Ah, we call those snowdrops but I guess you all have a completely different set of names for everything," Rosie smiled.

"Ah, I see how that might have been rather..." Thorin began.

"Yeah," Rosie sighed happily. There was a pause as the two surveyed the snowdrops.

"Virgin tears were my mother's favorite flower," Thorin smiled happily, "She said it was the only reason to look forward to winter," Rosie smiled as a memory of her own mum came flooding into her mind, "When it actually came to winter, she would plant as many as she could in the gardens so that when you walked in, you were surrounded by a waterfall of these white droplets," Thorin continued to smile dozily as he basked in memories from his childhood somewhere inside his mind and Rosie watched him, happy and content that there were no longer worry lines on his face and that his eyes were no longer dull and...cloudy.