What the Heart Wants: Book 3

3

Thorin's voice echoed off the walls in the room and everyone had turned towards him. When I looked into his eyes, I couldn't see anything but gold. The group seemed unsure of what to do next. It was clear they were hoping to celebrate but Thorin had other plans.

"It's good you are back. Get the others and get down here. We must find the Arkenstone," He said gruffly, turning back towards the pillar.

He made brief eye contact with me and seemed to think I would follow him. I rolled my eyes, annoyed with his shift in attitude and ran up the stairs to greet the returning dwarves up close. I smiled softly at the two brothers. Fili smiled back at me and pulled me into a hug. I happily hugged him back, giving Kili a hug as well.

"I'm so happy you all are ok. When the dragon fell, I feared the worst," I told them, standing beside Bilbo.

"We feared for you lot as well," Bofur smiled at me, "I'm just glad you are all still standing!"

"What's going on with our uncle?" Kili asked, finally speaking up.

"Dragon sickness. I'm sure Balin can explain it better than I can but, the gold has caused his mind to go into an obsession. He slips in and out of it, sometimes he is his old self and he is happy to be here. Other times it's like I can't even recognize him."

"What can be done?" Oin asked. Being the 'medic' of the group, I was sure he was hoping there was a herb he could find to cure the leader.

I looked towards Thorin in silence.

"Nothing," Bilbo answered for me, "There is no cure."

"So what? He just slowly gets worse? We just got our home back and now we're going to lose our uncle?" Kili asked, his voice rising in anger.

"Hey!" I cut off his ranting, turning towards him, "You aren't the only one losing him."

He sighed and looked away.

"Come on, we don't need to go turning on each other right now. Let's go find the others and let them know you're back," I told Kili, placing a hand on his arm to try and ease the tension.

It seemed to work. The young dwarf nodded and turned towards an exit. He paused briefly, realizing this was his first time in the mountain as well. He shyly looked back towards us and Oin cleared his throat, taking the lead. We followed him through a door, around a corner, down a hall, then through one more door.

"Balin!" Bofur called out happily, running up to the white-haired dwarf.

Balin turned around and greeted the dwarf with a big smile and open arms.

"Kili!" Nori called out as the brothers entered the room.

"Bombur!" Bofur called again.

Bilbo and I stood at the door's entrance watching the dwarves reunite. I rested my head on his shoulder and smiled. The dwarves looked so happy to see each other again it almost allowed me to forget about the sickened dwarf that waited for us in the treasure hall.

"You all look good! Kili! You're leg, what happened to the arrow wound?!" Dori said happily.

Kili did a little jump, landing on both legs with ease. The dwarves laughed and Fili smiled at his brother.

"What arrow wound!" Kili laughed.

Fili smiled again before his face grew serious.

"I hate to break this up, I am so happy to see you all. But..." He paused and looked over at me for help.

"Thorin is expecting us," I finished for him.

"Of course, he is," Balin sighed.

Balin took the lead this time, leading the group back to the treasure room. For most of the dwarves, this was their first time in the mountain. I hated feeling like this but it was nice to not be the only clueless one in the room.