Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings Imagines

Thorin ~ Accidents 6

Sure enough, when Louisa's bruised nose was simply a fierce black and purple under her eyes, the pain having dissipated, Thorin said that her lessons could continue soon.

Louisa kept silent on the issue, many of them have talked her down, and she simply grumbled in response.

It was several nights later that Thorin approached her again and told her to follow.

"Why?" She asked.

"Do you wish to still learn in front of everyone?"

This made her get to her feet and follow after him, however, it was when they stopped in a small clearing well out of sight that Louisa realised that it was only them.

"I take it Fili is no longer permitted to teach me?" She asked folding her arms.

Thorin faced her, reading her annoyance. "It is not that Fili was not teaching you well, nor that that incident happened," His gaze held on the bruises for a moment before his eyes returned to hers. "It is more that a different method must be used to teach you."

"Or, you could just admit I'm terrible at it." She said with a shrug. "You all know it."

She felt the amusement even though he didn't show it. "Hence why I am changing how we teach you."

Louisa sighed. "And how are you possibly going to do that?"

He draws his sword and then holds it out to her, making her stare at it, confused.

"Just take it." He said softly and she did, the weight a lot more than what she had been practicing with before. "Good, now I want you to adjust your grip."

Louisa hadn't been sure what to expect, but it certainly hadn't been this. Thorin was patient, adjusting her stance first, making her mimic his, and with gentle touches, he corrected her until she was standing strong, the sword out in front.

"Good, now try a swing." Thorin said, stepping back.

Louisa bit her lip but did as he asked, just trying a simple swing. For the first time, she didn't feel off balance, or out of sorts, and while the blade still felt uncomfortable in her hand, after just this one session, she felt the improvement.

Thorin nods in approval. "Better?"

She lowered the sword, frowning. "Much, but..." She was unsure whether to say what she was thinking, not wanting to upset him and return to the way the previous sessions were done.

"I am teaching you because you need to know and others would not have the patience to do so privately, nor the ability to not get distracted." He said simply to her unvoiced question. "You do not have an issue with this do you?"

Louisa stared at him, trying to read him, but getting only a mix of many emotions, ones that she knew she should be able to read. It terrified her that she could sense him so easily, with the others she could easily just settle in with, but for some reason, Thorin was different.

Mentally, she shook it off. "No, and thank you. You do not have to do this Thorin."

"I would feel better if I did." He said and held out his hand until she passed him back his sword. "That will do for this evening, we will continue tomorrow."

As much as Louisa was no longer anger about being trained, this new development had a new distraction on her mind. If she consciously thought about it, she could chase the thoughts away, not worry too much about it, but as soon as her training came along when they made camp, it would all come back.

Louise had known from the first time that she had seen Thorin that there was a deep seated pain within him, one that he hold close to his chest, that he didn't let the others see, not the true extent, but on top of that was the feeling of guilt, the feeling of not being worthy, and it was starting to eat her up more than she wanted it too.

He ignored his nobility, his kind heart, his courage, and it was breaking her heart that he couldn't see his own worth. Thorin was so focused on giving his people back what they had lost, on gaining their home back, that he wasn't focusing on what was important to him.

Half of her wanted to keep ignoring all this, but another part of her wanted to sit him down and talk about it, something she was very sure that she had no right to do, but as each session continued, it weighed more and more on her.

Which meant there was problem when she was practising her magic with Gandalf after dinner.

Louisa had yet to master fire, had barely even managed small flames, and it was clear that Gandalf was growing as equally as frustrated with her about it.

"You need to focus." He said sternly one night.

"I am." She growled back, staring hard at her hands. "I told you already, this isn't as easy for me."

"Then you are clearly not focusing." Gandalf puffed away at his pipe. "Otherwise you would be able to feel it as clear as any other magic."

Louisa cursed under her breath at the wizard, not daring to mention why she was so distracted because she knew he would want to explore it further, making her even more uncomfortable with being able to do it in the first place.

Unfortunately, this thought brought her focus back to Thorin, her eyes rising just enough to see him on the other side of camp, in a deep discussion with Balin. Whatever their conversation was about, it was irritating Thorin.

Gandalf tapped her. "See, you are not focusing."

Louisa sighed and returned her eyes to her hands, sending the magic flowing to her fingers and letting it pool as if she was about to create light, but instead she started to change it, trying to get it to turn to heat.

Just as she had started to get it into focus, the heat rising from her hand, there was a sudden out burst of anger from Thorin, making her jump as she felt it as clear as what she would her own and there was more cursing.

She stared in horror as Thorin's coat burst into flame and there were frightened shouts and panic as he fought to put it out.

Louisa scrambled to her feet, feeling the blood drain from her face as Thorin's anger beat at her.

Gandalf made it all worse when he chuckled. "Well, at least we now know you can produce fire."

Thorin's gaze went over to them, his blue eyes furious.

Louisa stared at her feet, her face flushing. "I'm so sorry Thorin, I didn't mean to, it was an accident."

His anger beat down on her. "This is precisely why I didn't want her to learn magic Gandalf! It is too dangerous. What would have happened if that had been more powerful?"

Gandalf was unfazed. "I think you simply wish to misinterpret the situation Thorin, Louisa is indeed more powerful than that, but that will come with time on how she intends to deal with that. As for now, you are assuming that I do not have most of this in control."

"She set me on fire Gandalf." Thorin growled, making Louisa flinch.

"It was not intentional, your anger startled me." She mumbled. "I was trying to focus and it just happened so suddenly-"

"So you were not focusing again?" Thorin asked. "After what happened to you last time you insisted on doing it again?"

Louisa felt her face burn and her anger bubbled up. "I did not do it on purpose, trust me, I am the last person that wants to see anyone get hurt. I have said sorry, I don't know what else you want me to do."

There was a silence around camp as Thorin glared at her, Gandalf looking between them, looking a mixed of amused and concerned.

It was Sirius that broke the tension, giving a small whine and jumping slightly on Louisa's leg. Louisa kneels down and picks up the pup, scratching his ears as she refused to meet Thorin's gaze.

Thorin huffs. "Keep her in control Gandalf." Louisa winces at the anger but says nothing as he storms away, feeling guilt from him.

"Well, that could've gone better." Gandalf returns to puffing his pipe. "Come on Louisa, we aren't done for the night."