An Unexpected Journey

Chapter Thirty-Six: Broken Chains

Thorin frowned as Thalia walked passed him with a flowers in her hair, his blue eyes had no problem at spotting the purple flower that had been woven into her golden blonde locks; he gritted his teeth wondering who else was trying to court her.

"Has someone been giving you flowers lass?" Bofur teased looking at Thalia, everyone was still quite relaxed and they wouldn't be leaving for a few more days. 

Thalia smiled nodding her head as she looked at him, she felt a lot more relaxed and she was glad that they wouldn't be leaving for a while yet. 

Thalia was still testing out her powers and she was glad that the Ambrosia had healed her arm and her powers were slowly starting to recover from the extensive use. 

"They're from Bilbo," Thalia said turning to show the dwarves what she had done to her hair with the hobbit's help, he had woven several flowers into her hair as a thank you for saving her life; she was a little surprised when he had handed her the flowers as a gift. 

Thorin glared at Thalia, he didn't know why she had allowed the hobbit to touch her hair while she knew that he as attempting to court her. 

Thalia turned around and glanced at Thorin, she wasn't sure what was going on with him at the moment and with everything that he kept giving her; she wondered if she should ask Balin about it. 

Thalia moved away from the dwarves to check on her washing as it dried, she was currently wearing her stone V-neck pleat waist knitted dress paired with black leather knee high boots while her other clothes dried; they had all needed washing after her trip off the mountain. 

Fíli frowned noticing that something was missing from around Thalia's neck, he perked slightly wondering where it had gone.

"Thalia... how come you aren't wearing your pendant?" the dwarf prince asked curiously as Thalia turned to look at him, he watched her curiously knowing she never took it off. 

Since the moment that Thalia had joined the company, she'd always had the white gold amethyst teardrop pendant and it was strange to see her without it now; it was like she was naked or something. 

"The chain snapped," Thalia admitted as her fingers moved to the place where her pendant usually sat, she had been disappointed when it had happened; she still wasn't used to it not being around her neck. 

Thorin sat up as an idea formed in his head, he knew that he wasn't going to allow the hobbit to win this; he was determined to prove himself worthy of dating Thalia. 

"I could fix it for you," Thorin offered making Thalia look at him hopefully, she had resigned herself to the fact that she might be traveling without her lucky pendant around her neck. 

The thought hadn't even crossed her mind that any of the dwarves would have an idea on how to fix the pendant that meant so much to her. 

Balin chuckled at the look of happiness that filled Thalia's face, he glanced at Thorin knowing that he was going to have his work cut out for him.

***

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Thorin focused intently on fixing Thalia's pendant for her as he listened to Dwalin and Bofur discuss his courtship of the blonde. 

They were discussing ideas on how to compete with the hobbit, the last thing Thorin needed was to lose Thalia to the Halfling; he was King of Durin's Folk and soon to be King under the Mountain, it wouldn't look good if he was beaten by the hobbit for Thalia's affections. 

"Maybe we should find out about her customs," Bofur mused sitting back in his chair, he knew that Thalia was from a different world and there would be a different set of customs for her world; she wasn't a dwarf and Bofur knew this might all be a little strange for her. 

Thorin paused and looked at his friends, he truly hadn't considered that only thinking about how as king he needed to stick to his own customs; he was an example to his own people and there were rules as such that needed to be followed. 

"You should have Fíli and Kíli ask her," Dwalin said knowing that the princes would be able to get anything out of Thalia, she was quite fond of them and they liked to ask questions about her world.

Thorin nodded his head in agreement as he returned to fixing the chain, he worked quietly before he heard someone approaching; he ignored them knowing that he wanted to get this right. 

"Thorin?" Bilbo said glancing at the two annoyed dwarves, he had heard from the others that the dwarf king was angry with him and he had come to clear the air. 

The hobbit had meant no disrespect when he had given Thalia the flowers, he had meant them as a thank you gift and nothing more; it was the blonde's idea to weave them into her hair to add some scent to it. 

"What is it you need Master Baggins?" Thorin asked remaining focused on fixing Thalia's pendant, he figured this was another way of gaining the blonde's acceptance to court her. 

Bilbo watched a little amazed as the dwarf worked with the hot gold, his eyes lingered for a moment before he looked at the tattoos that covered Thorin's bear arms. 

"I heard you were upset that I gave Thalia flowers," Bilbo said continuing to watch Thorin work in curiosity, he had never seen anything like it before and he did find it interesting. 

Dwalin snorted at Bilbo's words as he rested a hand on the top of his axe, he didn't know why the hobbit thought that he could compete with someone like Thorin Oakenshield for Thalia's affections. 

"I just wanted to ease your mind... I gave her those flowers as a thank you for saving my life, it's a hobbit custom," Bilbo said looking at Thorin stopped his work and looked at the hobbit, who suddenly seemed very nervous. 

The dwarf king stared at him for a moment wondering if he was telling the truth, he had no reason to doubt Bilbo but he didn't want to take the chance. 

"But you helped do her hair," Dwalin said sitting forward slightly, his eyes darkly watching the hobbit knowing that in dwarf customs it was a sacred and special thing.

"Only because she asked me too, she muttered something about her hair smelling bad," Bilbo said shrugging looking at Thorin hoping that he believed him, he didn't want any trouble and he truly only saw Thalia as a friend. 

Dwalin and Bofur looked at Thorin curious about what he would do, it was clear now that Bilbo had meant nothing by giving Thalia flowers; the cultural differences between their two worlds was clearly going to have to be dealt with soon.

"If you would like I could help you with Lia," Bilbo said as he looked at Thorin, he had seen the way that the blonde was around the dwarf king and he doubted that anyone would be able to compete with that. 

Thorin nodded his head knowing that he was going to need all the help that he could get, Thalia hadn't seemed interested with his first offer and he knew that fixing her pendant was his second. 

Thorin needed some ideas on how not only to follow in his own traditions and customs but how to get Thalia to agree to court him; it was a big problem especially since it was clear that she had no idea what he was trying to do.