Endotherm {Thorin/Hobbit}

||Chapter 10||

The king then looks back at the female hobbit who seems overly curious as to the way his hair now exists.  As Endor stretches up to the leather holding his hair, he flinches away instinctively.  Huffing at the nonsense of this king, she quickly ties a bow out of the leather strip, smiling and backing away once she is done.  Thorin can only stare at her in irritation and surprise, though humor plays in his eyes.

"And how would you plan on dealing with Thranduil's refusal to meet?" Dwalin asks the hobbit, pulling Thorin out of his trance.  He clears his face of emotion, though acknowledges the subtle blush hiding under his beard.  If only Endor knew that she was playing him like he plays her...

"That's an issue for another day.  I only know this: the longer you wait, the greater the hostility," Endor remarks, waving the two of them off as she moves towards the sparring area once more.  The two of them watch her go in continued confusion over her character, though they doubt she will ever be fully understood.

"Does she fight?" Thorin asks, remembering Balin mentioning something of this sort, though not trusting his memory when it comes to the hobbit.

"She does now.  I've been teaching her with the lads, but mainly Fili," Dwalin says, looking at the hobbit who now stares at the shiny weapons upon a nearby rack.  If he didn't know any better, Endor could be a mindless creature that's entranced by shiny objects.

"I assume she uses a sword," Thorin remarks, knowing that Fili specializes in swordsmanship and knives.  Kili will always be the archer of the dwarves, just as Dwalin only fights with axes.

"Two actually--dueling swords," Dwalin responds, prompting the king to turn to him with a raised eyebrow.

"An interesting choice," Thorin mutters, silently asking for more information on how she came to wield two swords.  In no way is this a normal weapon choice, especially for dwarves.

"Well she's quick and agile, making her perfect for swordsmanship.  But she does not have the strength to handle a full blade.  Thus, we gave her two shorter ones and we've never looked back," Dwalin says, grinning proudly at his star pupil who now seems to be lost in space.

"How good is she?" Thorin asks, wondering how far she could have possibly progressed with two weeks of training.  However, the king knows he cannot underestimate her, given Dwalin's proud grin and Endor's sharpness.

"I'd say she got her ease of learning from Bilbo...she's a natural," Dwalin remarks, barely finishing his words before Thorin sets off towards the small hobbit.  The other dwarves, both stranger and friend, watch him walk with conviction towards the only female in the room.  When she finally meets his eyes, just feet away, Endor relapses into visible fear before stealing it up behind a blank expression.  Thorin can only grin at this reaction, seeing as he does the same, while grabbing two shined dueling swords from the rack nearby.  He offer them out to her, her eyes shining onto his in question before slowly rising to her feet and grabbing her own weaponry.  What is he planning now?

Thorin does not look back as she follows slowly behind him to the center of the dirt arena.  Both their faces reflect serious demeanors, though Thorin is filled with curiosity while Endor is terrified of what is happening.  The others in the room make quick work of circling around the two, though Endor knows this match will be nowhere as entertaining as that between Thorin and Dwalin.

"This is crazy!  I have no chance of winning," Endor addresses the king in a relapse of her filter, once again.  Thorin grins, almost maniacally, at her while beginning to circle her smaller form.  Not wanting to seem inferior, Endor follows after him, keeping him across the center of the circle and three feet away.

"Of course you don't, but it's not about winning," Thorin remarks, leaving Endor to question what he means.  But before she can go to asking him, the king is swinging Orcrist at her.