Erebor's Guardian

Chapter 15

I lazily got up brushing my hair from my shoulder before answering the door. I pulled the heavy pine door open to find Thorin standing in the moonlight before me. I stared at him blankly.

"Lakota, would you like to accompany me on an evening walk?" His rough voice sent shivers down my body.

I glanced back at Kylie and Jenna staring at us, mouths wide open. Jenna waved her hand at me for me to go while Kylie tossed a pillow at me. They both started a barrage of pillows and I slipped outside, shutting the door in time for the pillows to thump against the door. I laughed, smiling at Thorin. "Compared to that mess in there? A walk sounds wonderful."

Thorin led me down the stairs past the sleeping dwarves who snored loudly with the embers of their fire burning out. The cold stone pathway nipped lightly at my bare feet, keeping me awake. The sheer gold train from my gown followed elegantly behind us. We strolled through the sleeping city following the glowing fireflies into the garden.

"Couldn't sleep?" I asked, walking silently beside him.

Thorin sighed. "No, I could not." Thorin had even removed his bracers and outer layers of his armor leaving him in only his royal blue tunic. His raven black hair flowed freely down his back. It was the most relaxed I had ever seen him.

We had found a small private area in the garden. Water babbled from the small brooks that had cut their way from the waterfalls down into the small lagoon overlooking the mountains in the distance. A tall oak tree grew at the shore of the lagoon with a small bed of grass near its roots.

"Is this about Erebor?" I asked tracing my fingertips across the rough bark of the tree. "Or something else weighing on your mind?" I looked him over. "I'm thinking about the latter of the two."

Thorin chuckled, lightly settling down against the tree before the lagoon. "You read me well. I am worried about all of you getting hurt. We have yet to cross the Misty Mountains and you've been injured."

I settled down next to him. "Thorin I haven't been alive that long but I think my advice could be worth something once in a while. My injury was no one's fault but my own. I knew danger was coming, I knew that I lacked the space to dodge any attack and yet I foolishly stayed there." I rested my hand on his forearm feeling the heat radiate from him. "You can't protect everyone forever. They're going to get in harm's way again and again, especially Fili and Kili. The only thing you can do is prepare them." Thorin looked down. I brushed back the hair from his face leaning forward to make him look at me. "Your mistakes will either make you stronger or hold you back. The way I see it you can either run from them or learn from them." He smiled at me. "Thorin you are a great king with or without Erebor. You've taken care of your people, you've united your soldiers at the gates of Moria, you've even saved my life and the lives of my friends. This journey is like the journey to the Blue Mountains and Moria but this time you have us to help you. I've seen even one man take down a dynasty. I do believe this company will take down a dragon."

He leaned into my touch, making my heart race. "Amrâlimê." His voice was deep and rough.

I blushed with a smile I couldn't control. "There you go again speaking Khuzdul to me. I thought it was forbidden to speak it in front of outsiders."

Thorin realized what he said. "My apologies."

"For what? Were you calling me something bad?"

"Just the opposite."

I was dumbfounded as my stomach fluttered intensely.

"If I had offended you-"

"No Thorin." I smiled. "No, you didn't offend me. I love hearing you speak Khuzdul. It sounds so beautiful." I shivered a bit.