HOBBIT X OC - Elastic Heart

Chapter 9 ~ Mirkwood

The next morning I awake and suddenly feel that I am not alone in my blankets. I look up to see that I had in fact once again fallen asleep on Fili's shoulder, only this time my head had rolled into his lap. I smile up at his sleeping form and as I sit up I make sure not to wake him. Then I gently lay him down so he is more comfortable before I walk over to Thorin who is wide awake. "Is this seat taken?" I say as I reach him. He gently shakes his head and as I sit down beside him I say, "I owe you an apology. You're not a selfish Dwarf. Well you are a dwarf but a good one." He chuckles lightly as he says, "How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Go on, after your father died."

My heart clenches and I sigh as I say, "I haven't really moved on. I don't believe I ever will. After my mother passed he was all I had and when he-" I pause for a moment as I fight tears that threaten to fall before I continue, "When he died and all the other stuff happened to me, I lost my mind. I have been roaming the west hills for centuries avoiding the people who reminded me the most of him. I am a perfect example of what not to do."

"I do not believe that. You mourned the only way you thought possible to ease your pain." He says as his blue eyes find mine.

"I must be truthful, when I saw you lying unconscious on the ground I saw my father and I couldn't move. All I could do was stare at you; and when you got up I felt a feeling of relief that I have never felt before. Is that strange?"

He chuckles as he says, "Perhaps a little, but it must mean that you see me as a father figure or that I remind you of him."

I glance back out over our companions and suddenly realize that I had in fact did see many similarities between the two of them. "You're right, my father had raven hair and blue eyes just like you do. He was also very prideful. In fact his pride ended up being his downfall." I feel his hand gently squeeze mine before he stands and walking over to his company starts waking them up. "I hope it's not yours." I say so only I can hear.

When everyone is awake and sitting around the kitchen table I sit myself between Dwalin and Bofur. After a few minutes Bilbo joins us where our host Beorn pours milk from a pitcher into Fili's cup. He is much taller than any human, even taller than Gandalf. "So you are the one they call Oakenshield. Tell me, why is Azog the Defiler hunting you?" Beorn says as he slowly walks behind the sitting dwarves.

"You know of Azog? How?" Thorin asks his curiosity peaked.

"My people were the first to live in the mountains, before the Orcs came down from the north. The Defiler killed most of my family, but some he enslaved. Not for work, you understand, but for sport. Caging skin-changers and torturing them seemed to amuse him."

"There are others like you?" I hear Bilbo ask and my heart clenches.

"Once, there were many."

"And now?"

"Now, there is only one." The dwarves, Bilbo, and Gandalf look on in silence. I fight the urge to go to his side and comfort him. "You need to reach the mountain before the last days of autumn?"

"Before Durin's Day falls, yes." Gandalf says as he nods his head.

"You are running out of time."

"Which is why we must go through Mirkwood." As Gandalf says its name my heart plummits. I had completely forgotten about going there.

"A darkness lies upon that forest. Fell things creep beneath those trees. There is an alliance between the Orcs of Moria and the Necromancer in Dol Guldur. I would not venture there except in great need."

"We will take the Elven Road. That path is still safe."

"Safe? The Wood-Elves of Mirkwood are not like Randír or her kin. They're less wise and more dangerous. But it matters not."