𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬

A Cold Meeting | Thorin

It was snowing, snowflakes were falling from the sky and everything around me was covered with a thick layer of snow. I took my skis and started to head for the cableways that climbed the high summit of the mountain, so that I could slide down it and ski, feel the cold of the snow and the speed downhill. I was alone. Normally I always came with my best friend but this time I decided to come alone, it was not my best day and I preferred solitude.

I hugged myself, trying to comfort myself as the cableway came towards my position. Once I was ready to enter I sat down as comfortably as I could and waited to get to the top of the mountain. I climbed up, admiring the snowy landscape, the misty mountains surrounded the place and from the high pines hung big ice chunks, beautiful to my eyes. The windows of the cableway were fogging up as I reached the top of the peak, and when I finally stopped, the doors opened and, together with all the people who had sat with me, I left the cableway at great expense because my legs were heavy from the extreme cold.

I prepared myself and got into position to start descending, but the fog covered the area and gave me respect to start the descent, there were trees on the way down and I was afraid that I might bump into one. It was at that moment that I heard someone falling and grumbling reluctantly near me. I looked over there and, as there was so much fog, I couldn't see who it was. I went to that person and offered him my hand, as I could see that he was having trouble getting up and no one was helping him. As soon as I took his hand I felt that he had great strength, as he almost managed to throw me to the ground too, but he pushed himself up thanks to my help, and then I could see a pair of ice-cold blue eyes that pierced me from side to side like a lightning, he was a some kind of man with a penetrating gaze. He stood up and shook his clothes without looking at me. He looked reserved.
"Thank you," he said to me.

Once he was fully recovered he looked at me again with those eyes and, unexpectedly, a slight smile revealed his lips, but he seemed very serious and unwilling to open up to someone he had just met, even though I had helped him. I blushed slightly. He had caught my attention.
"Are you okay?" I asked doubtfully, looking at him more and more closely. He said nothing, only looked away from me after watching my face so carefully, looking at what was behind me, as if he had been speechless.
"The descent is quite risky, miss, I wouldn't risk my neck if you were here alone," he said without answering my question. I raised an eyebrow, especially because I saw that he was starting to walk and was leaving me behind.
"Excuse me, but, are you saying that I wouldn't know how to manage in a situation like this?" I asked a little annoyed by following him with my eyes, but he was focused on what he was doing, presumably ignoring my presence.
"With this storm even I would be disoriented," he answered to me.

I was disconcerted by such a comment.
"I don't see you with company either, aren't you in the same danger?" I asked, getting slightly closer, but he didn't want to look into my eyes, looking at the ground as if he were thinking about what to say. That guy seemed a bit strange so I decided to leave him behind and start descending despite the storm, I didn't feel like putting up with someone who doesn't even deign to answer you.

While the skis were picking up speed, I felt the wind was also picking up. The falling snowflakes clouding my vision and they didn't let me see what was in front of me. That made that, accidentally, one of the skis hit one of the trees and, consequently, I fell to the ground, giving me multiple hits against the frozen snow. Suddenly it was dark, I couldn't see anything, I had been trapped in so much snow and I could hardly hear what was outside. It was only for a short time that my consciousness lasted and I didn't notice anything at all. I stopped feeling the cold and listening to what was happening outside.

And, at one point, light. An orange light in the middle of the night enveloped me, it was the light of a small burning fire. But that wasn't what caught my attention and puzzled me the most, it was that unfriendly little man I had left behind. He was covering me with some blankets in a place that looked different from the ski slope. When he saw my face again his blue eyes opened wider than usual, in astonishment, and thanks to the light of the fire I could see him and his attractiveness better with a black, wavy lock of hair partially covering his face.
"You finally woke up... I thought you were worse, a many hours had passed and you were still unconscious," he said in a loud voice that flooded my senses.

I got up at great length and felt a sharp pain in my head, complaining about it.
"You'd better rest, you've had a pretty bad bump," he said. I was surprised that he helped me. I was very puzzled because I saw how cold he was before.
"Why... why did you help me and not pass by?" I asked, hoping that this time he would answer me. That little man, sitting, warming something on the fire, didn't look at me into my eyes this time, but maintained a seriousness that cut every good moment.
"I'm not going to leave you lying there, if I had done it, you probably wouldn't have survived...," he answered in a lower voice.

I looked at him carefully to see if, for once, he would avert his blue eyes from the ground and the food and put them on me, but that didn't happen.
"Hey... What's your name? I still don't know your name... If I can know it, of course, seeing that you don't answer half of my questions," I said, a bit annoying and cutting. He smiled slightly, and now he decided to look at me. At that moment, I don't know why, he transmitted more warmth to me.
"My name is Thorin Oakenshield, but you can call me Thorin," he answered me this time by handing me some of the food he was cooking in the fire.
"It's very hot, be careful," he said to me. It was a can of some kind of cow stew with vegetables. It wasn't what I most wanted at that time, but it was the only thing I could eat, being lost in the middle of a snowy forest. It was still cold.

Thorin, meanwhile, continued to prepare other things without saying anything, the only sound there was the flames of the fire that made his eyes shine with more intensity.
"Here, it will make you feel better for the cold, it's a pine needle tea," he told me by handing me a small bowl of hot liquid.
"Thank you."

And, with all the things that he had prepared for me, I gave myself a good dinner. It was at the moment I sipped the tea that I turned my eyes to him and, to my surprise, I found his eyes looking at me with more interest than before. I blushed slightly, but we didn't say anything to each other, he was very distant and cold.

And so much of the night passed, between nervous glances and cut off smiles. At the end I heard a slight sigh from him and he started to move.
"Tomorrow we will return to the city as soon as we can. I know this place as well as you...," Thorin said as he began to prepare his blankets by the fire near me. He sat down and moved a little closer, but kept his distance, avoiding looking at me. I followed him with my eyes. Then I could feel a slight tingling inside me from having him so close. A yawn escaped from his lips and it was then that he looked at me again and smiled slightly at me. I pulled behind my ear a lock of my hair, embarrassed, and he decided to look quickly at the floor again.
"Well, it's time to sleep. Tomorrow we'll leave soon, when the sun has barely risen. We must get home as soon as possible, it's not good to stay out here in the open, you'll catch cold and get sick," he said as he began to lie down, looking at the flames of the fire.

I couldn't help but focus my gaze on him, seeing him lying down.
"Good night," he said, and closed his eyes to start sleeping. After a few seconds of admiring his figure, I decided to go to bed next to him, his face on par with mine. I closed my eyes but, after a few seconds of keeping them closed, I couldn't help but look at him once more, seeing his eyes quiet and closed. And, suddenly, they opened to look at me again. Then I closed my eyes as fast as I opened them and I blushed again. That attractive blue-eyed man really seemed to have the same interest that was growing in me. I could see, of course, that this would be the beginning of a great adventure.