Words Like Wind ᚠ Thorin Oakenshield

twєntч-σnє: α lσng wαít

Fili looked up at her with an odd expression, the longer he looked into her violet eyes the more certain he became that it was the fairy, yet he had remembered seeing Azog drive his clawed hand into her stomach, he remembered his brother carrying her dying body across the river. The screams of his brother and Thorin still echoed in his head as the memories resurfaced plainly. She had been dead, he was sure of it. "We thought, I thought, you were dead?!"

Arethusa let out a light chuckle and the largest smile the company had been from her in days. "Shh, you'll give yourself a headache with that type of thinking." Fili had begun to laughing, so hard and so loudly he had to clutch his bruised ribs. The dwarf prince sat up and pulled the fairy into his arms, she felt as if the life was going to be squeezed from her, but the laughing died down and the only sign of his sadness was the wet spots from tears that had seeped through her tunic sleeves. "Everything will be alright, Fili, I promise." She worked her fingers through the knotted mass of his blond hair, hardly noticing that on the corner table a tray of food had been placed next to a pile of fresh linens to be used as bandages, the others had left the room, both relieved and saddened.

"Is Uncle Thorin going to make it?" The fairy pulled away from the dwarf and moved to sit at his side.

The penitent smile that formed on her lips was both somehow able to calm the dwarf and spur his concern. "In time." He looked across the room where his brother lay peacefully, a bandage wrapped around his torso and arm, another fastened around his forehead. "And my brother?" Arethusa's eyes followed Fili's to land upon Kili.

"I suspect he will wake in the coming days," his entire expression eased at the admission. Arethusa stood and fetched the tray of food, setting it down in the dwarf's lap, "Here," she spoke softly, claiming a seat bedside. "You will feel better after you have eaten something."

They shared little conversation as it felt like there was nothing to say. When Fili and finished and had nearly fallen asleep again, Arethusa collected the tray and moved to the door when a voice that belonged to a boy and not a prince filled the room. "Will you stay only a few more minutes?"

Her shoulders slumped in defeat as she turned and deposited the tray back to the table, "I will stay the night if it eases your worries and heart, Fili." Fili glanced up at her with a smile as she laid her hand upon his forehead, in the time she had spent with the company she had begun to think of Kili and Fili as her sons. She sat bedside, resting her head on folded arms, for tonight she would keep a watchful eye over the golden prince.

Fili cast a groggy glance to Arethusa, "G'night, Auntie." The phrase struck something inside of her, something that made sadness pool in the depths of her stomach and heart.

⌘⌘⌘

Four days after Fili woke Kili was beginning to wake as well. She hovered over him, the same way she had done to Fili. The company was quick to come to see the young dwarf and for the moment she slipped from the room and ventured to where Thorin still laid. Arethusa had exhausted herself over the past days, she rarely took time to sleep as her time was consumed with making settlements with allies and friends and looming over the three injured dwarves. Now she felt as if a large weight had been lifted from her shoulders knowing that the two brothers would live.

The fairy slipped into Thorin's room, her shoulders falling with the heavy sigh. She walked to the dwarf king and sat on the edge of the bed, her fingers deftly brushing over the healing cut on his forehead and into the matted mass of black and silver hair. "They're safe now, Thorin." She breathed, half wishing the words would bring him back in that very instant but they did not.

Her hand rested on the thick bandage wrapped around Thorin's torso. A warmth flooded her body as she summoned her magic and slowly the energy poured into the dwarf, she didn't know if it could be a boost to allow him to wake sooner or if it would only continue the healing process. If felt as if after many years that age was finally catching up to her. Sighing, Arethusa clumsily climbed onto the bed, she laid her head in the crook of his shoulder and neck never expecting that she would succumb to sleep so quickly.