Born from Stone (A Thorin Oakenshield story)

Flower crowns and dark alcoves

Eilin kneeled to the ground and observed the families that were occupying the frozen shores of River Running this morning. Her misadventure with Karunn had left her rather raw and her dreams had been very disturbed, but the new light of day brought with it hope that not everything was as dark and menacing as she had felt it last night under Karunn's threats. Tauriel's tea and long conversation had calmed her down enough to return to her room and despite her nasty dreams she woke up rather, which today was a blessing as she had more than enough things to do under the orders of the princess.

She got dressed and was out the gates by first light of day, long before the bells of Erebor woke up the rest of the city. Today the masons were trying to lift up a new set of heavy hates, which was a nice change to the collapsed entrance. She gazed briefly at the huge dwarven statues left and right of the entrance and another optimistic smile brightened up her pretty face. When she reached the river she didn't expect to find so many families washing their clothes. Several children, despite the cold, were splashing at the shallow end of the river, proving the dwarven resilience against heat and cold rather impressively to her. Something that she really wanted to try, since she carried this blood in her, at least partly. Their laughter and easy going manner proved that the terror they went through a few days prior was already fading away. Even though it was the beginning of winter up here in the North, this day in particular was so sunny and bright that the thin layer of snow was starting to melt, revealing several winter flowers.

She left her bucket into the water and went to pick up some, when the voice of a young girl made her look up sharply.

"You can weave them".

Eilin looked up to see a pretty young girl with long auburn hair and eyes, that was wearing only her long underthings and was wet from head to toe, seemingly unaffected by the cold air on her skin. She was looking at Eilin's hands with mild interest. She pointed at the flowers once more, "you know...weave them to create a flower crown".

Eilin frowned at them, "Why would I?"

Girl flicked her shoulders, "Don't know".

Eilin's cheeks became crimson red and the heat that radiated from them moved slowly towards her neck, "I've never thought of making one until you mentioned it just now".

The girl smiled and kneeled down next to her, "Do you know how to do it?"

Eilin shook her head, "No".

"The flowers are very delicate, see their stems? They can break very easily, but if you take twigs like this...wait..." she searched around the snow, wiping it away, till she found three medium length twigs that seemed thin enough to twist and turn without breaking, "...you can twist the small flowers around them", she said and took two from Eilin's bouquet.

"But how can you make them stay on?" Eilin frowned.

"You need some thin rope...my mom's got some. Want me to bring it over?" The girl looked at her eager to help.

Eilin felt the need to say no, but the memory of Thorin's soft lips made her exhale in defeat and she smiled instead, "Sure, why not".

"Great!" The girl said and ran off.

Eilin frowned down at the twigs and tried to figure out how the flowers could fit around them without breaking their stems. If she was to make a flower crown, then she would damn well make a perfect job out of it for he deserved nothing less. The thought of giving him such an iconic token of romance was lacing her stomach with nervousness, but their kiss had been much more bold than this simple gesture. If there was a man she could possibly decide to give a flower crown someday, then he was the one. At the end of the day even if she didn't gather up the courage to offer it to him, she could at least settle in the thought that this was the first time she ever wanted to do such a thing. She stayed there letting her half forgotten bucket fill with cold fresh water as she tried to figure out how to make the crown and what leafs to add in order to enhance it when the girl returned with some rope made out of thin fabric. She informed Eilin that her name was Gylta and that her mom had taught her well how to make flower crowns so she could use them on her husband when she grew older.