Star-Crossed

Chapter 33

As he passed he looked down at the boy and Beuren. He smiled down at them, earning a smile from the red haired boy. Beuren looked up, a small smirk on her lips. His smile instantly faded. Thorin stared at her in amazement, but then was pushed forward a bit. Dis grumbled something under her breath along the lines of ‘go damn it’ and he started forward again. Turning to look back at Beuren. She had hidden herself behind the boy, how she still had no clue, he wasn’t tall (obviously, he was a dwarf) but she did it. Thorin shook it off as his imagination and continued on. He couldn’t go back to check, he had something to do, he was attending (forced by Dis no doubt) the ball tonight.

“You,” Beuren said, turning the boy around to look him in the eye. “Were brilliant.” He giggled, a smile growing ever wider on his face. “Tell me lad, what is your name?”

“Gimli, son of Gloin!” He said proudly.

“Well, you tell your father just how well he taught you huh?” The boy giggled again. “Now, where is the King off to?” She asked, hoping he would give an intelligent answer.

“The ball of course.” He said, his voice raising a note or two. “It is tonight. Mother and Father are going, Mother likes dancing. Are you going?”

“Gimli! There you are!” A woman said.

“I think it’s best I don’t, Gimli.” She stood. “So sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going and accidentally tripped over him, just making sure he was alright.” Beuren said, looking up at his mother. She smiled down at Beuren then looked at Gimli.

“Well, no one was hurt, right?” His mother said, kneeling down next to him. He shook his head, looking at Beuren. “Good. So sorry miss.”

“Oh don’t be, I should have been watching for little ones.” Beuren replied, winking down at Gimli. She stood then nodded to Gimli’s mother. A thought arose in her mind. Dis said all those years ago that Thorin had kept her house tidy despite her being gone. She thought she ought to go check it out, just to see.

When she made it to her old home, she smiled. Around the front of her home she’d built a garden, it was the only one in the mountain. She smile when she saw how well maintained it was. The violet Fairy Lilies looked so elegant still, their small purple buds clustered together. Roses in an assortment of colors and sizes, bushes trimmed to perfection. Dahlias lined the inner most portion of the garden, leaning against the house. All sorts of colorful flowers still thrived, it made me smile, and no doubt that Dis had done this, Beuren taught her how to do so when she was young. She used to help the elf with the garden behind her cottage in Dale; she was good at it to.

She placed her hand on the iron door handle. Beuren was hesitant, but turned the handle slowly. When she opened the door she covered her lips lightly with her hand. She held back tears and looked around. Everything was in its exact place, the house looked lived in, no dust or dirt, that annoyingly clean state that she usually kept her home. She closed the door and stepped farther into the house.

She didn’t stay long however, she left fairly quickly after seeing that the bed was not made, only one explanation for that, Thorin lived here. Beuren reluctantly left, returning to the darkened wilderness along the border. With one last glance over her shoulder she crossed the river. She had decided to not take the bridge and to just wade across, keep her scent off of the bridge, just in case any of those wretched creatures and their Wargs came snooping.

For the next few months Beuren spent wandering in a huge circle around Bree, waiting for Gandalf, to be honest, she’d only missed him by an hour, but she had good reason to be late. It wasn’t the best reason, but it was ok, and hour was an hour, well unless you had two men trying to drown you in a barrel, then it seemed more like six hours.