A Ruby's Shine (Thorin Oakenshield X OC)

7. Stories and Gates

Balin, who must have woken up at some point, started speaking from over beside the fire. I listened in curiously, though I did not let my attention get too distracted from watching.

"Don't mind him, laddie. Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain... King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient Dwarf kingdom of Moria. But our enemy had got there first. Moria had been taken by legions of Orcs... led by the most vile of all their race: Azog the Defiler." Balin said. I felt a shiver run down my spine at that name, I felt like I heard it somewhere before. Undoubtedly it was from all the orcs I taken out these past hundred years.

"The giant Gundabad Orc... had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began... by beheading the king." I heard gasps from others around the fire, the blurry image of my father covered in blood, running through someplace holding me rose in my mind. I knew he had hair as red as mine, but that is all I could tell from the memory, I didn't even know how old I was when that came about, my age was but a guess I had made. I quickly pushed the memory away, wanting to listen to this story. "Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing. Taken prisoner or killed... we did not know. We were leaderless. Defeat and death... were upon us." I looked towards the fire, listening much more closely, this story seems quite important in explaining a lot about this group of dwarves.

"That is when I saw him. A young Dwarf prince... facing down the pale Orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe. His armor rent... wielding nothing but an oaken branch as a shield. Azog the Defiler learned that day... that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken. Our forces rallied... and drove the Orcs back. And our enemy... had been defeated." I looked at Thorin's back, intrigued now. So, not only is he the leader of this band of dwarves, he is a prince. A lot more about him was making sense, especially his attitude.

"But there was no feast... nor song that night... for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived. And I thought to myself then... there is one who I could follow. There is one... I could call king." Balin finished, the story making me admire Thorin some more for standing up to the mantle that had fallen to him, standing up through grief and pain to face his foe and save his people. That side of Thorin seems like a great king, and I can see it now, him as a king. He definitly has the persona of a king and I finally understand him a bit better. That side of Thorin, the one Balin spoke of? That is the side he should show, but I wonder if that battle is what caused him to hide that side, or if something else did.

There is so little I can piece together about him. Learning people comes easy to me, I am good at reading expressions, at discovering what type of person they are. It frustrates me a lot that I can't get a good read on Thorin Oakenshield. I find him intriguing, there are not many that I can't read. But this was also something I didn't want to happen, getting close to people never ends well, as I have learned in the past.

I stared at Thorin standing on the rock, brooding and lost in thought. After a while, he turned, looking over the dwarves and nodding before his eyes landed on me. I nodded to him, showing him in this small act that, while I do not like him, I did respect him a touch more. He stared for a moment more before stomping off to his stuff, leaving me to wonder if he got my message. I have a feeling he did.

I sat on my bedroll, leaning against the tree and watching the clouds roll over the moon before Bilbo spoke once more, a few minutes later.

"And the Pale Orc? What happened to him?" Bilbo asked.

Thorin spoke as he walked past the fire, "He slunk back into the hole whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago." Thorin said in anger, seeming declaring the conversation as finished.