A Ruby's Shine (Thorin Oakenshield X OC)

45. Teaching and Learning

I leaned back against the trunk of a tree, an old tattered coat in my hands and a sewing kit next to me, biting down on my tongue in concentration as I focused on pulling the thread through the light grey coat, lined with ratted white fur. It's a beautiful day today, cloudless, sun shining, the sound of clashing swords in the background. Not bad.

Shortly after we ate breakfast two days ago, Beorn asked for the story of what brought us to his house. While the dwarves were reluctant to speak of their plans, Gandalf wasn't. Gandalf told Beorn of our plans, drawing a few glares from Thorin.

Still haven't pieced together why Thorin seems to dislike Beorn so much. Something about Thorin's actions have changed, I can't place it but I haven't missed the fact that Thorin seems to almost always be close by, either sleeping with crossed arms against a tree or talking with the other dwarves a short distance away from me.

I watched these actions curiously, feeling like I am missing something here. I don't like not knowing answers, so it was making me irritable. Probably why Fairfin is avoiding me, plus most of the dwarves are avoiding me, especially Bilbo.

I kind of feel bad, but kind of don't. The only person, beyond Thorin, who seems unbothered my grumpy attitude, is Bifur. That kind of shocked me, I still don't understand why the silent dwarf seems okay with hanging out with me when I don't understand a word he says. I do my best though, learning more his actions and the emotions in his words to somewhat get the gist of his words. I am not one to back down from a challenge, even one as small as a language barrier.

But we have been relaxing here in Beorn's hospitality. We still have time before Durin's day and, after telling our story to Beorn, he vanished. Shortly after Beorn vanished, so did Gandalf. I trust that the wizard knows what he is doing, leaving without warning us, so we stayed around Beorn's home.

I wondered about the orc pack chasing us before, but now there is no sign of them. I could only guess the threat of Beorn is keeping them at bay. I don't imagine things would go well for us if the orc's figured out that Beorn isn't here right now. But, during these past two days, there has been no sign of the orcs.

So we all took this time to recuperate, regain our strength and heal. Beorn offered everything in his home to us, which is generous of him. The horse, goats, sheep, dogs, and cats acted... different here. The first time they prepared dinner for us, I think we were all shocked. Since then I have grown used to the animals roaming about.

I have had to work really, really hard to keep my emotions to myself. With animals this tame, I quickly learned they are all easily drawn to me and I do not want to have to try to explain that mess to the company. It was giving me a massive headache, holding my emotions in this long, which is probably not helping my grumpiness. This is the reason I don't like being around tame creatures, except for Fairfin. Tame animals just seem to love staying around me and it makes me uncomfortable.

Sometimes, I really dislike my gift, like right now.

I stopped sowing for a moment, rubbing between my eyebrows roughly, the headache seeming to intensify and pound in my head like a hammer on metal. I was seriously tempted to never set foot in that house again. At least, out here, I don't have to try so hard on reining in my emotions. Yet, even with that, my headache lingers.

My gift just had to be designed with no off switch? Would be mighty helpful right now. I looked to my left, seeing the very edge of the house through the trees. Shortly after our arrival, I found this nice small meadow inside the hedge lining of his yard, a nice place away from the house and the animals.

I sighed, picking the coat back up once more, drawing my cloak tighter around me. I was thankful for this coat. Turns out, Bilbo somehow found my pack while in the caves. While he couldn't salvage everything, Bilbo did grab this old coat of mine, my winter coat of last year, and a set of pants as well as a shirt. Bilbo told me he also found a bunch of splintered wood, which made me sad.