An Experiment Gone Wrong

Chapter 6: Rivendell (part 3)

The company was silent. Some had looks of admiration and wonder on their faces, others had curiosity and questions, but no one dared speak them until Thorin spoke up in almost a whisper. "Most?" 

Mara furrowed her brow as one word came to her mind, "Parrthurnax," before anyone could ask what that word meant, Mara felt a hot, burning sensation in her body. She excused herself from dinner and left the dining room gripping her head. Why did that word set her head ablaze? It must be a memory. 

Bilbo stood up to follow her but Thorin held up his hand to stop him, "No Master Baggins, let her be. She has been through a lot." 

No one questioned their leader, and Thorin went back to the conversation Gandalf and Elrond had resumed about their quest. 

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Hours had passed, Thorin had gotten the answers he needed from Elrond and convened with the company to tell them what was said. Mara didn't care for she had her own issues. The burning subsided when she remembered who Parrthurnax was. The memory that stuck the most with her was their last conversation together. She remembered telling him how the Blades wished him dead. She remembered Parrthurnax telling her to kill him if she thought that was the route she should take. 

Mara leaned on a stone wall and stared up at the singular, small moon of this world. There were no auroras, no beautiful moons, and it was slightly sad to her but there was still plenty of beauty to behold. She remembered her last words to him.

"I won't kill you Parrthurnax."

Mara let out a small sigh for she was still confused as to why she would have such a connection with a dragon like him. What had she accomplished? As Mara stared at the sky she didn't hear the semi-loud footsteps approaching her until someone cleared their throat. 

She turned her head to see Thorin standing a few feet from her looking a little uneasy. "Yes?" She asked him, turning her attention back to the moon and stars in the sky. 

Thorin took a place beside her and leaned against the wall. "I'm sorry that I have been a little judgmental of you because of your race." 

Mara's eyes widened and she looked at him out of her peripheral trying to determine why he would be apologizing like this to her. Turning to him she looked annoyed, "so you find out I have dealt with a dragon and you want to apologize? Well, Thorin, I accept your apology but don't expect me to think any better of your words any time soon."

Thorin turned his body so that he was facing her and thought long and hard for a second before deciding the truth was the best. 

"I heard your conversation with Gandalf and Elrond." He didnt look at the daggers he knew Mara was throwing his way and just kept on. "Did the dwarves of your land really do that to your people?"

Mara's gaze softened. "Yes and no," Mara walked away from the wall and sat on a bench motioning for Thorin to do the same. "You see, the Dwemer were the greatest architects of our time. For thousands of years they prospered under mountains building great machines and weapons. They were incredible." She looked at Thorin to make sure he was listening before continuing.

"Fast forward a hundred years or so, the Aldemeris - or snow elves as Enthir wished to be called - were in a battle over the land they inhabited with the elder version of Nords, er, men to you.

"The snow elves turned to the Dwemer for refuge, thinking that their kin would help them, and they did."

Thorin interrupted by holding a finger up, "so why do you resent them so?"

Mara turned to him, "I do not resent them Thorin Oakenshield. I loathe them. They poisoned the food they fed the snow elves with mushrooms that caused them to breed blind offspring." Her eyes grew cold and her lips tightened, "they enslaved the snow elves and turned a beautiful race into monsters that haunt their ruins."

She turned to Thorin, "I share nothing with the snow elves or the monsters they have become, except the title of elf, but I pity them, and in that pity hundreds of Falmer have fell by my hand. There is no saving them and there is no forgiveness for the dwarves that did it. As for their disappearance, it was sudden. Some say they were wiped out during the Battle of the Red mountain. I think they fled like cowards."

Thorin had no words for what he had just heard. The world she was from sounded complicated and mysterious. He was infatuated. Thorin found himself on the edge of his seat, and moving a little closer to Mara. "Tell me more. Tell me about that word you said at dinner. Parrthurnax?"

Mara looked at him a little amused. He looked like a small child waiting for war stories from his grandfather. She looked into his eyes and all witty words she had in response had escaped her. All she could muster was a whispered 'ok'.

"Parrthurnax is a very old and wise dragon. I cant remember much about him, but I do remember that I love him. He's almost like a father to me." Mara smiled at the memory of her talking with Parrthurnax for hours on end. "But this ancient group of dragon slayers wanted him dead. I had a choice."

"What did you do?" Thorin whispered enthralled.

Mara turned to Thorin and gave him a steely stare, "I killed the last of the Blades. The ancient dragon slayers are no more."

Thorin was shocked, but nodded in understanding. "You have seen a lot of bloodshed havent you... both yours," he let his fingers run down a large scar on her arm feeling her soft skin bump up at his touch, "and your enemies."

His voice was as smooth as velvet and it made her head go foggy. Maybe it was sleep deprivation. That was it. She had to be tired, and yet when she looked into those deep, blue eyes she felt herself incapable of getting up and of breathing. "Yes," she whispered.

The two of them found one another leaning in ever so slowly towards the other one. Mara could feel Thorins hot breath on her lips, and Thorin could smell the Lavendar emanating from her skin. Once their lips were a mere inches apart, Mara pulled away and stood up.

Every part of her screamed in protest, but on the outside she cleared her throat and hid her blush. "Well, it's getting late and we have a long journey tomorrow. Goodnight Thorin." She smiled a small smile and turned on her heels, practically running back to her room.

Thorin sat there dazed. He almost kissed her. That was incredibly inappropriate on his end and how could he ever fall for an elf? Although, she doesnt act like any elf hes ever met, and if he was honest with himself, she acted more like a dwarf than an elf.

Did he like her?

Thorin sat there and let that question swim around his thoughts before deciding it was only as a comrade and possible tool in his mission. This was the only way Thorin could bring himself to get some sleep that night.