THE SILENT ROSE

Chapter 1

"You still upset about what Thorin said?" Bilbo asked, sitting down beside you. You were sitting a little farther away from the rest of the company.

"Uh.... no," you said quite blandly.

"You should stop taking everything he says so seriously," Bilbo replied.

"No, really. I don't mind his words. After all, he wasn't entirely wrong," you said with a quick smile, trying to suppress your emotions. You were actually hurt very much.

"That's in the past now Y/n," he added. "As for Thorin, well... he needs time."
You merely nodded.

Thorin was furious because you had led the company astray and very close to the dangers of the wild. All of you had managed to escape only by sheer luck. You knew that he considered you a burden and now, you had proved him right. Bringing this human along was an absolute blunder you thought.

"Lassie, please take this to Thorin," Bofur suddenly broke your chain of thought.

"What?... oh... all... all right," you replied, rather reluctantly.

You took the bowl of stew and made your way towards the edge of the hill where the mighty Dwarf lord had planted himself, distant from everyone. His back was turned towards you and his dark silhouette against the pale light of the moon seemed pretty daunting.

"Thorin," you called, nervousness very much evident in your voice. "I brought you supper." He turned and slowly came towards you. You did not look at him even as he took the bowl from you. You quickly turned and began walking with hurried steps when you heard him call your name. You stopped as you felt a sudden rush of blood.

"I want you to take the night watch," he spoke.
You nodded and walked away.

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Thorin's eyes had softened and a sad smile had come to his lips. He had overheard Y/n and Bilbo talk. He was sorry to have said those words. But he was beginning to wander. He was always glad to be near her but now, he wished that she would go away. He would probably be able to follow his head and most importantly, she would be safe.
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The night was quite cold and the bright moon shone brilliantly. You could hear the others snoring in the background as you tried to find peace in the lap of nature. "It's a good thing Thorin picked me for the night watch. I could never sleep in this noise," you said to yourself. Just then, you remembered the song that the Dwarves had been singing in Bilbo's house. "Far over.... the misty mountains cold..." you sang but lost it. You tried to hum the tune as you found difficulty in remembering it.

"You should keep your tunes to yourself," a deep voice startled you. You found Thorin standing behind you, in all his magnificence.

"I thought you were asleep," you remarked, quite embarrassed. "I'm sorry to have awakened you."

"I wasn't sleeping," he replied as he came and sat beside you. For a moment, you thought that he bore a faint smile on his usually stern and brooding countenance. You had always respected him despite his scornful attitude towards you and, you feared your growing attachment towards him.

After a moment's silence, he said, "I have never heard you sing before."

"Well, I haven't since I joined your company. But I'm actually very fond of singing," you replied.

You were surprised when he responded with "I know." He immediately cleared his throat and added, "I....uh... heard it from Bilbo."

A high wind began to blow and the sound of the rustling leaves echoed everywhere. While putting some logs into the fire, he abruptly said, "You're quite short for a human. "

"Uh... I know and I've been reminded of it numerous times," you said, without looking at him.

"I didn't mean.... "

"No, it's alright. I guess I just wasn't meant to be with humans," you laughed but then stopped as you traced your gaze back to his face.

"Really?" he asked quite sternly but then gave a rare smile. You felt a chill run down your spine as you looked at his eyes of pure sapphire. You became slightly breathless as you found him looking back at you, quite tenderly. However, you turned to face the fire as you knew you were only deceiving yourself- he would never have you.

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Y/n had not seen the tinge of disappointment in Thorin's eyes. He was hurt as he realised that he had been foolishly hoping beyond hope for things that he could never have.