Philophobia - Thorin Oakenshield - English version

Part 11

Two weeks after Thorin and Frerin arrived in the Iron Hills, it was about time for the princes to return home again although, of course, Terwyn thought otherwise. Frerin who was determined to take care of Terwyn and the child wanted her to come with him to Erebor, but that was something Terwyn couldn't agree with.

"Frerin if I go back King Thror will go mad! If he doesn't put me out right away he will do something worse! Do you think he will suddenly welcome me and this child?'" Spoke Terwyn as she paced around the room Frerin stood up after this too and took her hands in his.

"Terwyn I won't let that happen, I won't let him harm you and our child!" He said but Terwyn had grown older and wiser on her time in the Iron Hills, she no longer believed in fairy tales as she once did.

"He is your king Frerin, you can't do anything against him." Said the dwarf woman.

"Terwyn we cannot be pulled apart again!" Mumbled Frerin then.

"Then stay here with me my prince!"

Frerin looked at her in surprise "In the Iron Hills, what will King Gror say of this? What will Dain and Fain think of it?" Asked Frerin.

"King Gror is not a greedy king, he will welcome you, just as he once took me in as his son and now allowed Terwyn into his family as a guest. Thror doesn't have any power over you here." Thorin wisely spoke.

All this time he sat silently listening from the bench but now Terwyn too walked toward him "He is right Frerin, here we are safe!" She said.

"Frerin, I will arrange everything with father, I promise you this will not be a goodbye, we will soon meet again and live in Erebor as one big family. But all in due time. Terwyn needs enough rest, she is pregnant, unable to make such a trip to Erebor to possibly be shown the door again." Said the eldest dwarf prince.

Frerin slowly nodded "So be it. We will stay here and one day our families will reunite!" He replied. Terwyn immediately pressed a kiss to his lips and after this he knelt in front of Thorin and took his hands in hers.

"Thank you my prince, I hope to see both you and Dis again soon and be able to walk through the halls of Erebor again along with my child. But as you said, all in good time. On a dark winter day I arrived in Erebor, on a brighter day I will arrive again in the kingdom I call my home." Terwyn then said after which Thorin brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.

"We will see each other again soon Lady Terwyn, I promise!" Thorin smiled after which he stood up and went to get ready to leave while Terwyn and Frerin had some time to celebrate that they could finally be together.

Three days after Thorin's departure, Frerin and Terwyn received a raven carrying a note coming from Erebor. It was a letter Dis had sent. In it, she wanted to congratulate her brother and "sister" on their pregnancy and hoped they would return to Erebor soon. Thorin had apparently also already informed his father and grandfather, King Thror, about the pregnancy. Although Thror had run away enraged at first, Thrain had apparently accepted this fairly quickly and even promised to speak to the king.

So this was great news for Frerin and Terwyn; their happiness could not be better. Terwyn's life was finally going the way she could only have dreamed of until now. She had a mother of sorts, namely Fain. The dwarf woman loved to pamper Terwyn and was already making baby clothes.
Frerin was also accepted in the Iron Hills as a true prince. He kept up his training every day and fought alongside Dain so often. Frerin was clearly the best at archery while Dain's favourite weapon was some kind of hammer. But eventually they practised and played their games with any weapon they could find.

Unfortunately, the training was not meant to be a game and had to be taken seriously, because as beautiful as life was, there was another battle to come in the north. Once again the dwarf armies were called together which meant that Frerin and Dain would also have to leave again. Terwyn was glad she still had Fain to distract her a bit but at the same time she wished Frerin could somehow stay with her. After all, she was pregnant, had only just got him back. Of course, these were not valid reasons to allow the prince to stay with her and so he also had to go back to war with the Iron Hills army soon. Once again, Terwyn stayed close to her prince all night and they never let go of each other for a moment until they left where Frerin kissed his princess passionately then pressed a long kiss on her stomach and then left, only Durin could know for how long that would be.

The days ticked by but slowly, although she had managed to survive for longer periods without Frerin in the Iron Hills, it seemed doubly difficult now than before. Perhaps because she was otherwise sure that Frerin was safely at home in Erebor with his big brother and sister, or because she knew somewhere that they would see each other again soon. Now everything was different, nothing was certain, Frerin was not safe and she did not know if he would return. Fain tried to keep Terwyn busy as best he could, wanting to put her at ease but not always quite knowing how himself. Every day, Fain found Terwyn back in her favourite spot un

der a tree on the hill where she had a good view to see if the army was coming back yet.

As Terwyn sat back down in her spot in the sun on the tenth day after lunch, still with a scared little heart that was getting a little more scared every day, she suddenly felt a stab of pain go through her body.

At first she thought it was from the stress and anxiety but when she felt another strange contraction in her stomach, she feared this was not just from the stress.

Slightly panicking, she wrapped her arms around her stomach. 'No, no, no!' She muttered to herself 'Not now, you really can't come out now, I can't let this happen without Frerin!" The dwarf woman hissed looking around slightly desperat to see if there was still no sign of the army or Frerin in sight. As the pain intensified, Terwyn realised she could not stay in her spot, so she stumbled back towards her room where she thankfully ran into Fain who immediately supported her and asked if everything was alright.

'The baby.' Terywn managed to say, to which Fain only nodded and immediately took her to her bed and went to get help. When Fain returned, Terwyn grabbed her hand 'You can't let the baby come, I can't do this without Frerin.' She said fearfully. Fain took her hand a little tighter and rubbed her forehead and hair.

"Honey you have to do this, think of what a nice surprise will be awaiting Frerin when he gets back!" the dwarf woman wisely spoke, but Terwyn shook her head wildly.

"I want Frerin!" She almost cried. A couple of hours passed, Fain continued to hold Terwyn's hand tightly and talked her into courage "Just keep breathing calmly dear, this will pass soon." She said "Why isn't Frerin back yet?" Replied Terwyn only.

"Is he ever coming back?" She almost whispered with Fain nodding.

"Sure he is, don't worry about that now, you'll have to start a new life soon!" She said as cheerfully as possible. After a few more hours of having this kind of conversations, the time had come for the baby to come into the world. However, Terwyn still refused this.

"Frerin will come, I can wait a while longer!' She insisted as sweat ran down her forehead.

"Come on Terwyn, I'm here!" Tried Fain. However, Terwyn kept shaking her head wildly, a cry of pain rolling across her lips with every contraction.

"This baby cannot be born! Not without the father!"