A Ruby's Shine (Thorin Oakenshield X OC)

56. Stir Crazy

I leaned my head against the wall, feeling stir crazy honestly. I couldn't tell exactly how much time has passed, could have only been two days, could have been a week. The same lighting, the same old cell, really makes you lose track of time. The only thing that might tell times is when the elves deliver food. I grimaced the first time they did. They gave us all slightly moldy bread, watered down nasty vegetable soup and water.

You know, there is a point where I draw the line on food and decide not to eat it. If that wasn't all we were given, then I would never eat it.

Then, I would start my routine. I keep myself from losing my mind by seeing the same four walls every day, I would exercise, push ups, sit ups, then I would practice my moves with an invisible sword, maybe punch the air like I was fighting something.

Anything to avoid the boredom. After that, I would pace. And pace. And pace. I found it almost therapeutic, even if it was wearing down the bottom of my already nearly destroyed boots. These boots really have seen better days. The other day I discovered a split in the leather of my right boot, which I proceeded to wrap tightly in a cloth I stole from the washroom before I threatened Thranduil. I knew it wouldn't last forever, but maybe it would last enough to make sure the leather didn't split all the way up the boot.

But, during the time I spent pacing, I wasn't just thinking.

No, I was stretching my senses out, testing them, forcing them. I never really put a lot of thought into what I can do otherwise with them, mostly because I have had my ability all my life, like suddenly figuring out you can bend your fingers backwards only because you never tried to. The same animals now so thoroughly ignored me I could hardly feel them, much like magical and intelligent creatures. But, I was getting the faintest of readings on the sickly feeling animals, which is shocking.

How far away might they be? A mile, two, three? That is a lot more distance than I have ever tried. Only downside to me trying to stretch my gift out is the exhaustion and pain in my head after. But I guess it is just like exercising to gain muscle, it is going to burn.

Then, as nightfall, or what I guess is nightfall, came around, Thorin and I would reach through the bars to just touch our fingers and speak of simple things. I about tell him about my teachings as a child in Rivendell, he would tell me about helping in raising Fili and Kili and their antics. I smiled at those. Fili and Kili were quite the handful, if Thorin's words tell me anything. Suddenly the grey hairs Thorin has make a lot more sense. Fili and kili put him through a lot of stress going up.

How different of lives we have led. I told Thorin of the first time I saw a human child, how living amongst elves that do not age, I never saw children. I told him of how I nearly frightened the child's mother, asking why he was so small and fragile. I mean, I read about human's in the book of Rivendell, but there are not a lot of mentions about human offspring, so I really didn't know children could be so small. Thorin laughed at that one, asking what else I learn once I stepped outside of Rivendell for the first time.

I told him of how I reacted to the first hobbit I ever met, my first question to the creature my height was why they have feet larger than their head, and why they walk across clearly uncomfortable ground with bare feet. I even told Thorin of the first group of dwarves I met in a pub, this one he listened interestedly to as I told him how I watched the dwarves curiously, seeing them chug down ale like it was water. I even challenged them to a drinking contest after a while, a drinking contest I barely won.

Thorin snorted in shock at that one.

"You can out drink a dwarf?" Thorin asked incredulously, not believing me at all.