A Ruby's Shine (Thorin Oakenshield X OC)

63. Violin

I shook my head and looked back to the dwarves, smoothing my expression over to my usual calm look that hints at the fact that I can change around and be pissed off in the blink of an eye.

"I don't care what he calls himself, I don't like him." Dwalin grumbled, hugging his arms tighter around him as he looked to the back of the boat, glaring at Bard's form. I rolled my eyes at that, I wonder if I will ever see Dwalin as anything other than eternally grumpy.

Probably not.

"We do not have to like him, we simply have to pay him. Come on now, lads, turn out your pockets." Balin said, walking over and pulling up a box to stand in front of, looking around at the dwarves standing about. I watched in amusement as a few grumbled, pulling coin pouches out of their coats and pockets, tossing coins down on the box. I honestly felt a bit bad for the dwarves because I paid Bard quite a bit.

I wasn't against adding more to the pile if the dwarves couldn't pay Bard enough. I watched the meager pile of coins grow, realizing how much the dwarves probably lost on this journey and decided to play nice. I pulled out another of my coin pouches, the one so full of gold that I couldn't stuff any more into at and tossed it onto the box, the shifting of plenty of coins and the size of the pouch giving away how many coins are in there.

All the dwarves stopped and looked at me in shock, hands frozen to toss more gold onto the box.

"What?" I said, shrugging, "I make a nice living." I said casually, gesturing for Balin to open the pouch. Balin picked it up and opened in, pouring the gold out on a seperate part of the box and counting the 73 gold in the pouch.

"Where do you make that kind of money?" Bofur asked as he looked up in shock. I smiled at him, wistfully thinking of my violin.

"I don't just beat people up in pubs and take out orc packs, you know. I am actually a regular in a few pubs in the west that enjoy the violin, pays well that does, really draws in a crowd." I said, frowning, "Of course I lost my violin back in the goblin caves, though that violin was running on it's last leg, it was already worn down before I even bought it." I said thoughtfully.

Thorin looked up from where he was counting his gold and look at me with an interested, shocked expression on his face. Well, I wasn't one to talk much about my love for playing the violin, really breaks the I am a Tough Warrior image.

"You can play the violin?" Thorin asked with interest strong in his voice, making me smile more as I thought of all the pubs and the hundreds of songs I have learned, or made up. I still think my favorite will always be 'Drunk Under The Bar'. Hilarious, that song is, and a favorite of a few pubs I visited as well.

"Yes, I do. Learned it while on the road after picking up the first instrument I could, which happened to be a violin. The same one I lost in goblin town, so you can guess just how worn down that violin was. It was once a pretty instrument too, but wear and tear, and the fact that I hit an orc over the head with it once, really ruined it. Still, I have plenty of gold to purchase a new one in the future." I said, gesturing to the pouch Balin was putting my gold coins back into.

I frowned as Balin held out the pouch, half of the gold that was in it on the box, I looked up at Balin in confusion.

"Keep the rest, lass, we all need to pitch in and I don't want to drain all your gold. You already paid the bargeman a good amount." Balin said, holding the pouch out once more. I frowned more, but took it and put the pouch back inside my hidden pocket of my coat. Leaning back, I watched Bard navigate through more pillars of rock. I blinked, feeling a tickle of an odd feeling, reaching out my ability, furrowing my eyebrows as I tried to place this almost itching feeling.