||Chapter 8||
<|Third Age 2974|>
Endor Baggins is determined to forget what she saw earlier in the day. One minute, she was loathing the very King Under the Mountain, and the next moment, staring at him shirtless. Her dramatic shift in perception of the king shocked even her as she moved momentarily from hate to attraction. But now that she has returned to her typical attitude towards him, dislike, she refuses to look upon him with adoration once more. She will not be a pushover of a woman.
She thinks all of this through, as she crouches behind a statue in one of the halls outside the room of Thorin Oakenshield. Dwalin leans over her in his standing position, though similarly hidden from the sight of the two dwarves, the king and his advisor. Endor is determined to forget her performance earlier, and thus, has set out to spy with renewed passion against the dwarven king. And Dwalin, not over his dislike of the king, is far too willing to come along in this escapade.
"Thranduil is demanding that you return the jewels, Thorin. He's threatening arms again," Balin tells Thorin with worry lacing his tone. This fails to surprise any of the company listening, whether their presence is known or not, as Thranduil marks them all as violent and brazen. He would be the king to threaten war over jewels.
"Blasted elf! I still have yet to understand the jewel's play in all this," Thorin exclaims, reassuring Endor of her assumption of last week. The jewel's are the focus of Thorin's search, but she still ponders the ultimate goal of said search. The last week has failed to reveal any answers to this pondering, but she hopes that tonight will change that.
"Maybe they have nothing to do with it," Balin offers, wishing that Thorin would drop this whole ordeal and return fully to the throne. Of course, this advisor is overjoyed by Thorin's return to the social scene, but his insanity over the search is tiring Balin to no end.
"Only a dark magic such as that in Mirkwood is capable of such feat as stalling age," Thorin remarks so simply that Endor does not catch the details at first. But "stalling age" is repeated over and over in her head, a light that illuminates the whole purpose behind Thorin's obsession with the jewels. Meeting eyes with Dwalin, she knows that their spying has paid off.
"Who ever told you that?" Balin asks, thoroughly confused as to where Thorin received this information.
"Gandalf," Thorin responds easily, his tone dropping into that of concern and seriousness. "He's noticed it too. No longer are we aging, Balin. At first I didn't notice anything, other than the fact that Bilbo appeared similar every time he visited. But now that it's been three decades, I ought to have more grey hairs and wrinkles."
"Aye, laddie. We can all see it, though you are the only one researching into it. Most of us will not scoff at immortality," Balin responds, never once hearing of the dwarves thoughts on their lack of aging. As far as Balin knows, the others have yet to notice. But dwarves are not that daft; they are simply pleased.
"You know me better than anyone, old friend," Thorin responds, that sound of complete care in his voice. His tone reflects on the ordeals that the two have overcome, a friendship that spans the greatest trials dwarves have ever seen. "And you know me to be curious. If there is something tainting our blood, I'll be the one to find it."
His words mark his departure from that hallway, thick boots thumping down the hidden halls with a renewed passion to discover the cause of his family's immortality. Balin attempts to keep up with his king, but gives up as he simply follows behind at a slower pace. It's not like Thorin's hiding, after all.
YOU ARE READING
Endotherm {Thorin/Hobbit}
Fanfiction"The world was young, the mountains green, No stain yet on the Moon was seen, No words were laid on stream or stone When Durin woke and walked alone. He named the nameless hills and dells; He drank from yet untasted wells; He stooped and looked in M...
