Star-Crossed

Chapter 36

 Sorry it took so long to update! I had a pretty big test for school this week and got a bit distracted!! Thank you all for your support! It means the world to me! Now, please, Enjoy!!

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“If I may…” Bilbo interrupted. Beuren looked down at him, a soft smile returning to her face. “I suppose you are hungry? I may be able to scavenge up something from the pantry, though it was… mostly emptied.”

“Did they leave the greens?”

“Yes.” He replied, leading her to the pantry. “I came to believe that Dwarves don’t like them, greens I mean.”

“They don’t.” She said.

“Then why do you?” A small laugh escaped her lips. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and turned her head, he nearly dropped the bowl, an elf. There was an elf in his home! “Excuse me my lady.” He said giving her a bow.

“Oh no. No, no. No ‘my lady’ makes me sound too old.” She giggled. He smiled and rooted for anything else to go with her meal.

Meanwhile, Thorin, Balin, Dwalin, and the princes were arguing. Thorin was utterly confused about her behavior, they’d been perfectly content with one another only weeks ago, and now this? Balin tried to explain that she probably had changed from being away from people for so long, and that he needed to just warm up to her again. Kili agreed, of course, but Fili wasn’t so sure. That led to a fight between the two, which Dwalin had to break up. It was a mess, this, the whole lot of it.

Beuren munched gratefully on her food. Bread and cheese was all the hobbit could conjure up, but it was fine with her, went well with the red wine. She could hear the arguing from the hall. They were whispering, but her keen hearing could pick it up, every word. She felt bad about what she’d said, but she did have a point. He’d abandoned her when she’d needed him. He let her leave, in fact he made her leave, sent her into exile. And if that wasn’t enough to anger someone, then Beuren didn’t know what would.

“Go talk to her, but be kind, we don’t want her any madder than she already is.” Balin said. Heavy boots sounded on the wooden floor.

“Bilbo would you give Thorin and I a moment.” He nodded, exiting before the King even rounded the corner. When he did he was careful, walking slower, as if approaching a wounded animal.

“Beuren, I want you to listen for a moment, please, don’t speak, just listen.” She glared at him, taking a bite of food, he continued. “I want to tell you that I am sorry. What I did was wrong. I was acting on emotions, not rationally.”

“So that’s your excuse, emotions?” Beuren set her food aside, downing the rest of her wine.

“It’s not an excuse.”

“Then why didn’t you come looking for me, back when I would have easily forgiven you.”

“I didn’t know where to look.”

“Really? I have family in one other place, Thorin, how about starting there!” She growled. “Or did you not bother to look because you are a king, and a king can’t go back on his word?” Thorin cringed inwardly.

“I missed you, every second. Beuren, let me…”

“No. Just no. It’s my turn.” She stepped forward. “Did you mourn? I bet you didn’t. Probably had another election to run for.” Her jab at Frerin caused Thorin to clench his fists.

“I did, for months.”

“And I for years!” She barked. “You know, only recently have I really started to blame you. It’s been about twenty years or so when I started to finally realize who caused all of this. It was the day I watched my brother die; the arrow went right through his skull, his eye still skewered to the tip. I think that’s the day I really started to figure out that none of this would have happened if you would have just stopped me from leaving.” Thorin took a deep breath. “I lost my father too, trolls, my mother is dead. My nephew grew up without a father, your actions haven’t just affected me, they’ve affected everyone.” She turned to leave.