Short Affections (Thorin x Reader x Bilbo) Book 2 of 3

{4}

Chapter 4

"You!"

You looked around, making sure he was actually talking to you and not someone else, but alas, everyone was standing next to Gandalf, gazing curiously up at the two of you, wondering what he meant.

Slowly, he made his way towards you, his feet making thunderous thuds in the ground with each step he took, but before he could reach you, Thorin stood in between, right in front of you, placing one of his arms behind him to try and push you back a bit, while the other lay threateningly on the hilt of his sword. "You will not touch her!"

In all honesty, it was a funny sight. A very short Dwarf almost being smushed between an 8ft man and a 5'6ft woman, it was almost as if he wasn't even there to begin with.

But Beorn noticed, because he growled down at the glaring Dwarf, who seem to growl back a bit. "Move. Dwarf. I not stupid, I would not dare harm her." That was all he said, no explanation, no nothing.

"Um..." You placed a hand on Thorin's shoulder. Your voice caught both of their attention, causing Beorn to speak again.

"Bear Heart... why do you travel with dwarves, halfling, and wizard? You supposed to be long gone..." His slightly broken English clearly leaking through his word as he spoke to you.

"Huh?" There was silence, before you finally began to work out what he was talking about. "I.... I know who you are... but how do you know me exactly?"

He seemed quite surprised by your answer. He went to take a step forwards, but remembered the angry dwarf who stood between them, who seemed to be unmovable.

There was a moment of tense silence before finally, something left his mouth. "Come." This caused some of the tension to die down.

Beorn moved around you and Thorin and began to walk into the house.

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This was how you got into your current situation.

After helping Bilbo into the abnormally large chair, to which be blushed feverishly about, seeing as to how you simply hoisted him up from the undersides of his arms.

The chairs come up a little past your stomach.

You climbed into the one next to him. But what made you uncomfortable, was how Beorn seemed to linger behind you, occasionally going around the table to fill someone's bucket sized tankard with some milk, but always ended up behind you again.

Then the silence was broken.

"So, you are the one they call Oakenshield." He finished filling Kili's mug and paced slightly. "Tell me... why is Azog the Defiler hunting you?"

Thorin glanced up at him from where he stood. "You know of Azog? How?"

Beorn stopped pacing for a moment and seemed to go into some kind of trance. "My people were the first to live in the mountains before the Orcs came down from the North. The Defiler killed most of my family." He glanced down at you, who was silently eating a piece of cheese. "But some he... enslaved."

You glanced up at this, seeing Bilbo quickly turn his gaze from Beorn's chains and onto your badly scarred wrists... as did many of the others, which caused you to stop feeding a mouse you found on the table and pull your arms under the table to hide them, rubbing them subconsciously.

He took no notice of your sudden movement. "Not for work, you understand, but for sport. Caging Skin-Changers and torturing them seemed to amuse him." He spat, seeming to almost relive it before him.

"There are others like you?" Bilbo asked suddenly.

Beorn nodded solemnly. "Once there were many."

Your short friend shifted besides you slightly. "And now?"

"Now... now there is only one."

There was a moment of silence before, to your surprise, Bilbo spoke up again, causing you to stiffen slightly. "This morning...you... you spoke to [Y/n] as if you had known her and called her..." He paused, seeming to have forgotten what Beorn had called you.

"Bear-Heart... yes." He nodded down at you, a small frown tugging at his lips.

"How... how do you know her exactly... if you don't mind me asking." He added quickly, glancing between the two of you.

"Bear-Heart is the one who helped me escape the Orcs, as she did many others, but I was the only one who made it out alive."

This caused you to snap your head up and look at him, noticing how many of the others around you looked at you questioningly.

From the other side of the room, Thorin couldn't help but question just how old you actually were... if you had helped the Skin-Changers escape Azog, then that would make you at least over 200 years old... older then himself... But how?

Seeing how everyone was focused on you, Gandalf cleared his throat and nodded to Beorn, who continued what he was saying before Bilbo had asked him about you. "You need to reach the mountain before the last day of autumn."

This caused everyone to focus back on Beorn.

"Before Durin's Day falls, yes." Gandalf nodded at him with a smile.

Beorn sat down on what looked to be a couch made of wood. "You are running out of time." He pointed out, looking over to Gandalf.

Gandalf removed his pipe from his mouth. "Which is why we must go through Mirkwood."

"A darkness lies upon that forest. Foul things creep beneath those trees. I would not venture there except in great need." He admitted honestly.

"We will take the Elven Road. That path is still safe."

" 'safe'?" Beorn questioned. "The Wood Elves of Mirkwood are not like their kin. They're less wise."

You watched in silence, a small smile on your face when Beorn called the Wood Elves dumb, as Thorin got up from his seat and began pacing away from the table.

Beorn seemed to notice too, since he looked over at him. "And more dangerous... but it matters not."

Thorin turned around to face him with a questioning glare. "What do you mean?" He asked quietly, almost a whisper.

"These lands are crawling with Orcs. Their numbers are growing. And you are on foot."

Bilbo turned to you, a frightened, but questioning look on his face as he watched you stuff your face with bread and honey. "[Y/n]... is it true?" He whispered.

You stopped eating for a second and nodded before continuing to gorge yourself on the food, not looking over at Bilbo, but instead deciding to focus on the menacing look that crossed Thorin's face when Beorn said they'd never reach the forest alive.

Bilbo turned away from you when Beorn stood up, watching him cross the room towards Thorin.

"I don't like Dwarves. They're greedy... and blind." He growled.

You couldn't help but agree with Beorn on this one, and since everyone was focused on what was happening before them, they didn't see you nodding slightly and almost choking on the piece of bread that you had stuffed into your face-hole.

"Blind to the lives of those they deem lesser then their own." He picked up the mouse that has been running around the table and brought it close to Thorin. "But Orcs I hate more."

You could almost see the relief that washed over Thorin when he said that.

"What do you need?"

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