That night I learned that Dis was to be married soon. I was to be her maid of honor. Though, I was upset. I did not want to be separated from my best friend. She was the closest thing I had to a sibling. For, Dis and I knew that she would have to live in the kingdom her new husband came from. He was from the Iron Hills. We would be so far apart. But there was an agreement that I could visit whenever I wished and stay as long as I wished.
It was the night before the wedding and I was spending the night with Dis, enjoying our last hours together before she had to leave. There was a quiet tapping on her chamber door. We opened it to see Thorin, Frerin, and Dwalin standing there.
"Since this is your last night with us, we thought we might have a little fun." Frerin said to Dis.
"Come on. But be very quiet. We don't want to wake anyone. I know of a way to slip past the guards." Thorin whispered.
The five of us tiptoed through the halls, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. Thorin led us through a secret side door and we managed to elude the guards. We ran through the streets of Dale. The city bustled even at night. We would not be noticed. We walked to the far side of the city where there was a little lake. It was a beautiful sight. Though I was not overly fond of what happened next.
The boys began to strip down to their undergarments and ran for the lake. All three of them jumped in without hesitating.
"Come on! It feels great!" Dwalin called.
Dis began to undress down to her slip. I was paralyzed. All these years and I was still deathly afraid of the water. I began to undress slowly. Dis ran to join the boys. She jumped off a rock face into the blackness of the deep water. I came to the same rock and just stared into the depths. I couldn't do it. I was shaking with fear. Why couldn't we have just played cards or hide and seek like when we were children? I thought to myself. I was still blankly staring into the water when I felt two large, warm hands on my shoulders. Then a deep, husky voice whispered to me.
"You are frightened." It wasn't a question. I had never told anyone of my irrational fear of water before.
"Yes." I manages to breath out. I had been holding my breath for sometime, trying to muster up even the smallest inkling of courage.
"Don't be." He turned me to face him. He looked into my eyes. "Do you trust me?" I nodded.
"Do you trust that I would never let any harm come to you?" I nodded again. "We will go together. Don't let go of my hand." I nodded again. Shaking with fear, he took my hand in his and I held it with a death grip. I was squeezing his hand as hard as I could.
"Are you ready?" He asked. I stared blankly into the dark water. I didn't respond.
"Hold your breath, on the counted of three, jump." I nodded.
"One... Two... Three!" I squeezed my eyes shut. My death grip became tighter as we plummeted into the water. I could not swim, obviously. If I were to let go, I would surely drown. We were deep beneath the surface. My eyes were closed tightly. Thorin let go of my hand. I panicked. I began flailing my arms in search of him. I felt his hands grasp my waist and push me to the surface. I gasped for air as I reached the surface. Thorin popped up in front of me and I grabbed his shoulders to keep from going under. The others clapped and cheered for us.
"Now, was it really that bad?" He grinned at me.
"Oh, Thorin!" I flung my arms around him, causing us to sink a little. He kept us both above the water. "Thank you." I whispered in his ear and I kiss his cheek. His grip around my waist tightened. I could have stayed in that moment forever.
He and Dwalin proceeded to teach how to swim. I started to get the hang of it. And the whole time Thorin would swim wherever I swam, never letting go of my slip. He always kept a hold on me.
