The Split Horizons: The Love Of Two Dwarves

9

They spent the night in Graticia. Dwalin and Shadelia both were given their own guest quarters for the night, or until they departed.

Shadelia, however, had found the large open window in the hallway an attractive place to sit and play flute.

She was watching out the window, playing a blend of dwarvish melodies and Powernian folk music when Dwalin came to join her.

"You sound lovely," he commented, his voice sounding slightly sad.

"Thank you," she replied. When she turned to face him, she saw that his voice was portraying only part of his emotions as a single tear rolled down his face. "Are you okay?"

"My brother... one of his favorite instruments was the flute. And he always assured me I was far too 'gruff' to learn it."

"If I may ask, what happened to him? Your brother?"

"He... he died in a war shortly after we reclaimed Erebor. In fact today would be the anniversary. He was the only family I had remaining. And I guess... I guess days like today, seeing Ava with her brother... it makes me feel..." He trailed off as though he couldn't finish it and quickly turned away as a few more tears escaped.

"Alone." Shadelia knew what he wanted to say. "I know what you mean. My whole life, instead of parenting me, my parents forced me through all these things I didn't want. And then they basically don't trust me to do their job when the time comes. So I left, but now I don't even have my brothers. I don't know if I'm wanted at home or if they'd rather me be dead. I'm not sure if I have a family anymore."

"I guess we can be alone together," Dwalin replied with a weak chuckle.

"When you're around, I don't feel quite so alone though," she said, standing in front of him. "It sounds kinda corny, but when I'm around you, I feel... relaxed. Happy."

"You're right, it does sound corny," he told her. "My home has felt empty since Balin's death, so I found a friend in the bottom of a tankard. But I managed to break that when you and Ava came along. Showing you around Erebor and everything, it kinda gave me a purpose."

Shadelia talked the Dwarf into sitting down for a while and so they sat in silence for almost an hour, enjoying not being alone.

"Dwalin?"

"Yes?"

"I don't want to be alone anymore."

"Well, you aren't right now. I'm here." He put and arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick half hug before just leaving his arm there and holding her.

"I don't want to be alone ever again." She leaned over and laid her head on his shoulder.

"You won't have to be. As long as you can put up with me, I'll be here." She surprised him by wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Good. Because I don't ever want to lose you."

"It's getting late, Shadelia. We should get some sleep."

He walked her to the door of her quarters despite it being just around the corner, but found she would not let go of his hand.

"I don't want to be alone," she whispered, sounding almost afraid.

The dwarf couldn't stop the smile that split across his face at her words. A beautiful woman wanted him to comfort her, and he would get the comfort of being by her side on one of his most difficult nights of the year.

Once they were both dressed for bed, Dwalin motioned for her to come over to where he was sitting on the king sized guest bed. Once she did, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her on to the bed with him.

Once they stopped laughing, Dwalin laid on his back and Shadelia on her side using his chest as a pillow while his arm was around her.

"Much better than being alone," she whispered.

"That it is," he replied, kissing her forehead before closing his eyes for the night.

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Author's Note:

Sorry for the immense amounts of fluff, I was just kinda feeling fluffy when I wrote all this. Thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll be updating again soon!