Where She Went

Slightly Off

At the moment, the young woman hated the fact that sound travels well over water. She could hear many of the frightened screams of the people of Laketown as Smaug set the entire town on fire. The company was standing just outside the mountain, looking at the town in grief and fear. "Poor souls." Balin lamented.

As much as she wanted to, Talia couldn't take her gaze away from the burning town. She couldn't stop thinking about those they left behind. Fili and Kili. Bofur and Oin. The Terran could feel tears creeping up on her eyelids as she thought about them. Where were they now? Were they alright? Would they make it out? Or were they already dead?

The young woman did end up shifting her eyes towards something else. More like someone else. Talia looked to see that Thorin wasn't even with the company. He stood a little closer to the mountain. She saw him eyeing the front gate.

Talia really didn't know what to think of this sight. She couldn't see his face, so she couldn't exactly determine what was on his mind at the moment. Was he thinking about his mountain? His nephews? The Arkenstone? Talia hadn't forgotten the way he pointed his sword towards her over the stone. She only hoped that he wouldn't go back into...whatever that was again.

The Terran was about to step towards the leader when she heard an exceptionally loud roar. She turned around to see Smaug struggling to stay in the sky. He looked like he was clawing at the air, as if he were trying to climb up a wall. The next thing Talia knew, the dragon was falling from the sky and crashing into the remains of Laketown.

The young woman looked to see the Dwarves looking towards the town, and getting up from their spots. "What was that? What happened?" Ori asked.

"It fell, I saw." Talia said. She narrowed her eyes. Nothing was flying up from the smoke and flames. Then it dawned on her. "He's dead." Talia turned to face the Dwarves. "Smaug is dead." she repeated.

The Dwarves looked at each other. "By my beard, I think she's right! Look there! The ravens of Erebor are returning to the mountain!" Gloin exclaimed.

"Aye. Word will spread." Balin nodded. "Before long, every soul in Middle Earth will know the dragon is dead!" The company cheered at Balin's statement. Smaug was dead. The mountain was theirs. After everything they'd been through, the Dwarves finally had their home back.

It didn't take long for the company to make their way back inside the mountain. Very quickly after accepting the fact that Smaug was gone forever, the celebrations died down. Now they were wondering whether their kin had survived the damage or not. Talia was trying to hold on to the hope that maybe all four of them survived. However, she was finding that to be really hard to do with all the glum faces around her.

After finding a temporary place to sleep, she walked down a couple of the halls where she was sure she wouldn't get lost. She ended up meeting a certain figure at the end of the hall. "Thorin?" she called. The Dwarf king turned around slowly to face her.

Talia eyed him with concern. "Are you okay?" Thorin didn't respond right away. He walked towards her at a steady pace, and she was finally able to get a good look at his expression. He didn't exactly look like himself. He looked...sad and pained.

"Everything's fine. I just want to be alone." he told her.

Talia furrowed her brows. "You're lying. How many times do I have to tell you that I can tell when something's not "fine"?" she asked. Thorin sighed, and tried to walk past her. "How long is it gonna take you to actually let me help you?" she asked.

Thorin stopped dead in his tracks and turned around swiftly to glare at her. "How long will it take you to realize that perhaps there are times when I can't be helped?" he snapped.